Solystic

Luc Chirol

Emmanuel Miette

Bruno Volta

François Madar

Christophe Czukor

Thierry Garnier

An installation for sorting postal parcels or packets, has a carousel sorting conveyor having transport bins that are moved around a closed loop over a plurality of sorting outlets formed by respective storage receptacles, a feed magazine in which bulk stored parcels are put into series and then injected into the transport bins of the conveyor while it is moving, and a monitoring and control unit that acts on the bins of the sorting conveyor so as to open each of them over a receptacle that corresponds to a delivery address of the article following a sorting plan, includes a first sorting pass to sort parcels into first receptacles that are of high bulk storage capacity, and a subsequent sorting pass where the parcels are sorted into second receptacles that are smaller than the first receptacles.

Installation for sorting postal parcels or packets

A method of palletizing non-uniform objects comprises using shuttle robots controlled by a monitoring and control system () to control trolleys, each of which carries an object, from a feed point () to a palletizing station () via a device () for determining the morphologies of the objects so as to characterize the outside shapes of all of the objects forming a batch before the start of the operation of stowing the objects on the pallet, so as to calculate a stowage plan that optimizes stowage of the batch on a pallet ().

Method of palletizing non-uniform articles

A parcel-sorting facility for sorting parcels () comprises a conveyor () and receptacles () situated at sorting outlets () and corresponding to destination addresses of the parcels. Each sorting outlet is shared between a plurality of receptacles, only one of which is in a position (P) for receiving parcels. A receptacle exchanger device () for exchanging receptacles is assigned to each outlet, and is configured for exchanging the receptacle in the receiving position at a given outlet with another of the receptacles sharing the outlet, and the sorting facility anticipates the arrival of a parcel at the outlet by placing the receptacle associated with the destination of this parcel in the receiving position whenever necessary.

Sharing of parcel sorter outlets

Shuttle robots () are used that are suitable for moving trolleys (') under the control of a monitoring and control unit () for handling objects so as to move them from a collection point () to a palletizing station () remote from the collection point, the shuttle robots being autonomously movable and being suitable for hitching to and unhitching from the trolleys, the monitoring and control unit controls the shuttle robots so that they move the objects on trolleys from the collection point to a buffer storage zone () where the articles on the trolleys are grouped together into batches of articles for palletizing, and the monitoring and control unit controls the shuttle robots so that they take the objects on trolleys grouped together in batches from the buffer storage zone and move them in sequence to the palletizing station.

Centralized method of palletizing articles at the outlets of production lines

A sorting facility () for sorting parcels (), has a sorting conveyor (), sorting outlets () distributed along said conveyor, and a monitoring and control unit () for controlling the conveyor so as to sort the parcels into the outlets as a function of their destination addresses. Each outlet is arranged to store a plurality of receptacles (), each of which is associated with a parcel destination address in a memory of the unit. At each outlet, the facility has a swap-over device () for swapping the receptacles over. The unit controls the swap-over device so that a receptacle for which the destination address associated with it in the memory of the monitoring and control unit corresponds to the destination address of a current parcel to be sorted is held stationary in a filling position in which the receptacle is positioned under the sorting outlet so as to receive a parcel.

Parcel-sorting facility with a system for swapping receptacles over at sorting outlets

Equipment for sorting parcels into bags comprises a bag support having a modular structure with modules that are provided with braked wheels and that are arranged to be coupled together in separable manner, at least one mobile shuttle robot cart and trolley assembly that is caused to be moved by being remotely controlled by a monitoring and control unit to move parcels to be sorted along the bags, and floor marking that is arranged along the bag support modules and that is detectable by the shuttle cart and trolley assembly while said shuttle cart and trolley assembly is moving along the bag support modules.

Modular and separable equipment for automatically sorting parcels into bags

The storage-and-retrieval cell for a parcel-handling logistics platform includes shuttle robots that position parcels in storage locations and that retrieve the parcels therefrom, which locations form two rows of storage locations that extend along a longitudinal direction, and four half-rows of storage locations that are disposed back-to-back in the longitudinal direction between the two rows, a hopper being open in the upper floor between one pair of half-rows and the other pair of half-rows, the hopper being designed to allow the parcels to pass through it while they are being retrieved, the cell further including nesting trolleys each of which is suitable for being hitched to a shuttle robot and which are suitable for nesting together in the same storage location, and, at the edge of the hopper, an unloading device for unloading a nesting trolley by sweeping its deck.

Storage-and-retrieval cell for a parcel-handling logistics platform

Equipment for handling parcels between loading points at which said parcels are loaded and drop-off points at which the parcels are dropped off in a logistics center, the equipment having sorting receptacles placed at the loading points and into which the parcels are poured loosely in bulk, further having trolleys, each of which is configured to carry a removable receptacle, and shuttle robots configured to dock with the trolleys and to move them automatically, and a monitoring and control unit for automatically and remotely controlling the movement of the shuttle robots as a function of a sorting plan so as to place trolleys with empty receptacles at the loading points and so as to place each of the trolleys with a receptacle loaded with parcels at a drop-off point where the receptacle loaded with parcels is replaced with an empty receptacle.

Equipment for handling parcels using shuttle robots that move bags or the like

Equipment for sorting parcels in a logistics center, the equipment comprising an automated sorting conveyor mounted at a height over a platform and with sorting outlets equipped with sorting chutes in the form of ramps sloping downwards from respective sorting outlets of the conveyor to the platform below the conveyor, and shuttle trolleys mounted on wheels and for automatically moving non-standard parcels that cannot be machine-sorted on the sorting conveyor, the shuttle trolleys travelling along travel aisles passing under the ramps so as to optimize the footprint of the equipment.

Equipment for automatically sorting non-standard parcels

An installation for identifying handled parcels, said installation including a linear conveyor for conveying parcels in series. The installation further includes a monitoring and control central unit suitable for instantly determining the three-dimensional position of each parcel on the conveyor, and at least one handheld electronic unit that is suitable for detecting identification information on a parcel when it is placed in the vicinity of said parcel, and for transmitting said information to the central unit. The central unit is arranged to read an instantaneous three-dimensional position for said handheld unit in response to receiving said information coming from said handheld unit, and to detect a match between said instantaneous three-dimensional position of the handheld unit and said instantaneous three-dimensional position of the parcel as determined by the central unit.

Installation for identifying handled parcels

A shuttle trolley for a parcel-sorting logistics center, which trolley has a deck for carrying a non-standard parcel to be sorted, wherein the deck has a central portion in the shape of a trough of V-shaped cross-section, and two side portions on either side of the central portion and that both extend in the same horizontal plane.

Shuttle trolley having a deck structured for sorting non-standard parcels

A logistics installation () for sorting articles, the installation including a looped conveyor () comprising P pre-sorting devices (PT, PT) for pre-sorting the articles, injection zones (ZI-, ZI-, ZI-, ZI-, ZI-, ZI-) for injecting the pre-sorted articles onto the conveyor, and outlet zones (ZS-, ZS-, ZS-, ZS-, ZS-, ZS-) for unloading the articles from the conveyor, the injection zones alternating with the outlet zones along the conveyor, each injection zone being followed by an outlet zone, in which installation each injection zone is connected to one pre-sorting device only, and each pre-sorting device is connected to one in every P injection zones considered sequentially around the conveyor.

Sorting center architecture including a looped conveyor

Equipment for handling postal articles, in particular for preparing a delivery round, includes a sorting machine () with a feed inlet () and sorting outlets (). The articles () sorted into the sorting outlets are transported in storage trays () by shuttle robot carts (). A monitoring and control unit () causes the shuttle robot carts with full trays of articles to move from the sorting outlets to the feed inlet and causes the shuttle robot carts with empty trays to move past the sorting outlets, where the shuttle robot carts move in convoys and in a target-seeking mode.

Postal sorting equipment with shuttle robot carts that transport trays

Sorting equipment for sorting articles (), into receptacles () that are open at their tops, comprises shuttle cart and trolley assemblies () that can move independently so that each of them moves an article from a loading point () to a receptacle, wherein each shuttle cart and trolley assembly has a carrying deck () for carrying an article, which deck is suitable for overlying the opening in the top of a receptacle, and retaining means () above the openings in the receptacles, which leave a space () for allowing a carrying deck to pass between the retaining means and the opening in a receptacle, and retain the article loaded on the carrying deck above the opening in the receptacle when the shuttle cart and trolley assembly moves away from the receptacle in such a manner that the article falls by gravity into the receptacle.

Equipment for sorting articles into bags

A method of handling articles in a logistics center uses an unloading zone for unloading the articles arriving at the center and an article stowage zone where the articles are stored in ordered manner, nesting racks coupled to shuttle robot carts, and also trays placed on lift trolleys coupled to the shuttle robot carts, and at least one vertical tray rack for storing the trays loaded with the articles in superposed manner in the stowage zone. If an article is loaded on a nesting rack in the unloading zone, the shuttle robot cart stores the article with the nesting rack in a lower portion of the tray rack.

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Paris, France

Luc Chirol