Conveyor system having a plurality of carrier position sensors

Claim 2

A conveyor system having a plurality of carriers to receive articles from at least one input console for delivery to one of a plurality of destined stations, and means for selectively designating the destined station for each of said articles, said system comprising: console sensor means associated with each said input console and being responsive to actuating means disposed on each of said carriers for detecting the presence of said carriers as they traverse said console, carrier counter means coupled to each of said console sensor means for identifying by means of the count therein relative to a designated reference carrier the specific carrier into which an article is deposited by said console for conveyance to a preselected destined station, said plurality of destined stations being arranged in a predetermined number of zones, zone sensor means located in each of said zones and being responsive to said actuating means for detecting the presence of said carriers in said zones, the location of each of said stations in a given zone being specified by its base distance to the zone sensor means in that zone, zone counter means coupled to each of said zone sensor means for providinG count information including a count of the carriers that traverse each of said zone sensor means relative to said reference carrier, means adapted to receive said carrier count from said carrier counter means and said base distance of said preselected destined station and to generate therefrom conveyor position data, comparator means coupled to receive said conveyor position data and said count information from the zone counter means for the zone encompassing said preselected destined station, said comparator means comparing said data and said count information and providing an output signal solely in response to the occurrence of identity therein, said output signal being indicative of the arrival of said specific carrier at said predetermined destined station.

Claim 3

A system as defined in claim 1 wherein said actuating means for each of said carriers comprises a single means for actuating said console sensor means and said zone sensor means, and the actuating means for said designated reference carrier comprises an additional actuating means, each of said carrier counter means and said zone counter means being adapted to be reset to its initial state in response to the double actuation of its associated sensor means by said reference carrier.

Claim 4

A system as defined in claim 2 wherein said console sensor means and said zone sensor means are photocells and said actuating means are flags adapted to actuate said photocells.

Claim 5

A system as defined in claim 2 wherein said console sensor means and said zone sensor means are reed switches and said actuating means are magnets.

Claim 6

A system as defined in claim 1 further including unloading means associated with each said destined station to unload a particular carrier, said unloading means being adapted to be energized for a predetermined period of time.

Claim 7

A system as defined in claim 1 wherein the respective base distances of the stations in a given zone are measured in terms of whole multiples of carrier pitch and fractions thereof expressed in predetermined increments of carrier advancement in said conveyor system.

Claim 8

A system as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said carriers includes a plurality of compartments, said carrier counter means further comprising means for providing in conjunction with said carrier count a fixed number of bias increments as a function of the particular compartment in said specific carrier in which an article is deposited.

Claim 9

A system as defined in claim 7 further including an increment position sensor operatively connected in said conveyor system for supplying an output signal for each predetermined incremental distance advanced by said carriers.

Claim 10

A system as defined in claim 8 wherein said increment position sensor is a rotary incremental shaft encoder connected to the shaft that drives the conveyor medium.

Claim 11

A system as defined in claim 8 wherein said zone counter means comprises a zone conveyor position counter for providing said count of the carriers that traverse each of said zone sensor means and a zone increment counter which is coupled to said increment position sensor, said zone increment counter being responsive to the output signals from said increment position sensor and providing a count of the incremental distances advanced by said carriers between the times of detection of successive carriers by the associated zone sensor means, said zone increment counter being adapted to be reset to zero and the count in said zone conveyor position counter being concurrently advanced by one in response to the actuation of the associated zone sensor means by one of said carriers.

Claim 12

A system as defined in claim 5 wherein said unloading means include a station solenoid decoder having a pair of input terminals and an output terminal, the output signal from said comparator means being applied to one of said input terminals, means for providing to the other of said input terminals the designation of said preselected destined station, said station having a door-opener solenoid for uNloading a carrier, and solenoid driver means coupled to said output terminal of said station solenoid decoder for actuating said door-opener solenoid.

Claim 13

A conveyor system having a plurality of carriers each including a plurality of compartments for receiving articles from at least one input console for delivery to one of a plurality of destined stations, and means for selectively designating the destined station for each of said articles, said system comprising: console sensor means associated with each said input console and being responsive to actuating means disposed on each of said carriers for detecting the presence of said carriers as they traverse said console, carrier counter means including compartment increment fixed bias means coupled to each of said console sensor means for identifying by means of the carrier count relative to a designated reference carrier and increment bias the specific carrier and compartment thereof into which an article is deposited by a given console for conveyance to a preselected destined station, said plurality of destined stations being arranged in a predetermined number of zones, zone sensor means located in each of said zones and being responsive to said actuating means for detecting the presence of said carriers in said zones, the location of each of said stations in a given zone being specified by its base distance to the zone sensor means in that zone, zone conveyor position counter means coupled to each of said zone sensor means, increment sensor means operatively connected for detecting predetermined incremental distances advanced by said carriers, zone increment counter means coupled to said zone sensor means and being further coupled to said increment sensor means, said zone conveyor position counter means and said zone increment counter means providing respectively counts of the carriers that traverse said zone sensor means relative to said reference carrier and the incremental distances advanced by said carriers between the times of detection of successive carriers by the associated zone sensor means, memory storage means adapted to provide in response to input data relative to said preselected destined station the numerical designation of said destined station and the base distance and zone number assigned thereto, conveyor position computing logic means coupled to receive said carrier count and increment bias from said carrier counter means and said base distance of said preselected destined station from said memory storage means and to generate therefrom conveyor position data, said memory storage means storing said last mentioned data, comparator means coupled to receive said conveyor position data from said memory storage means and said counts from said zone conveyor position counter means and said zone increment counter means for the zone encompassing said preselected destined station, said comparator means comparing said data and said last mentioned counts and providing an output signal solely in response to the occurrence of identity therein, said output signal being indicative of the arrival of said specific carrier and compartment thereof at said preselected destined station.

Claim 14

A conveyor system having a plurality of carriers each including a plurality of compartments for receiving articles from at least one input console for delivery to one of a plurality of destined stations, and means for selectively designating the destined station for each of said articles, said system comprising: console sensor means associated with each said input console and being responsive to actuating means disposed on each of said carriers for detecting the presence of said carriers as they traverse said console, carrier counter means including compartment increment fixed bias means coupled to each of said console sensor means for identifying by means of the carrier count relative to a designated reference carrier and increment bias the specific carrier and compartment thereof into which an article is deposited by a given console for conveyance to a preselected destined station, said plurality of destined stations being arranged in a predetermined number of zones, zone sensor means located in each of said zones and being responsive to said actuating means for detecting the presence of said carriers in said zones, the location of each of said stations in a given zone being specified by its base distance to the zone sensor means in that zone, zone conveyor position counter means coupled to each of said zone sensor means, increment sensor means operatively connected for detecting predetermined incremental distances advanced by said carriers, zone increment counter means coupled to said zone sensor means and being further coupled to said increment sensor means, said zone conveyor position counter means and said zone increment counter means providing respectively counts of the carriers that traverse said zone sensor means relative to said reference carrier and the incremental distances advanced by said carriers between the times of detection of successive carriers by the associated zone sensor means, memory storage means adapted to provide in response to input data relative to said preselected destined station the numerical designation of said destined station and the base distance and zone number assigned thereto, conveyor position computing logic means coupled to receive said carrier count and increment bias from said carrier counter means and said base distance of said preselected destined station from said memory storage means and to generate therefrom conveyor position data, said memory storage means storing said last mentioned data, comparator means coupled to receive said conveyor position data from said memory storage means and said counts from said zone conveyor position counter means and said zone increment counter means for the zone encompassing said preselected destined station, said comparator means comparing said data and said last mentioned counts and providing an output signal solely in response to the occurrence of identity therein, said output signal being indicative of the arrival of said specific carrier and compartment thereof at said preselected destined station.

Claim 15

A system as defined in claim 12 further including means for scanning during each said incremental advancement of said carriers the computed conveyor position data stored in said memory storage means for comparison in said comparator means with the counts in the conveyor position counter means and said zone increment counter means.

Claim 16

A system as defined in claim 12 wherein said memory storage means is adapted to supply in response to input data relative to said preselected destined station, the numerical designations and corresponding base distances and zone numbers assigned to at least one alternate destined station in addition to said preselected destined station, said conveyor position computing logic means generating conveyor position data for both said preselected destined station and said alternate station.