Variable reservoir device

1 . A reservoir device for feeding loose one-piece fixing ties (OPTs), the loose OPTs each including a cable tie head part with a window, a strap part, a neck part connecting a foot part to the head part, and a foot part with a fixing connector, to an automatic bundling tool device (ABT), the reservoir device comprising:

a plurality of carrier units linked to each other via a unified mechanical connection interface, the plurality of carrier units comprising at least two different carrier unit types, each carrier unit type of the two carrier unit types configured to hold exactly one OPT and structurally adapted to a specific type of the loose OPT that differs in at least one part of the foot part, the head part, or the neck part, wherein the reservoir device is configured to detachably hold the OPTs on the respective carrier units, in a row, with the carrier units having a base and being configured to be moved to or through the ABT in order to have the OPTs detached from the carrier unit, wherein the carrier unit is a unit separate from the OPTs and is not materially joined with the respective OPT and configured to hold loose OPTs, and wherein the carrier unit is structurally configured to have the respective loose OPT detachably attached to the respective carrier unit by a respective interface element configured to receive, hold, and release the respective loose OPT on the carrier unit by providing a form fit for the head part of the respective OPT preventing motion of the OPT along a main extension plane of the base of the respective carrier unit and a form fit for support of the foot part of the OPT when it is held on the carrier unit, and to secure the OPTs from unintended release such that the reservoir device is a reusable reservoir device, wherein the unified mechanical connection interface comprises a male protrusion connection element arranged on an end of the carrier unit base and a female recess connection element arranged on an opposite end of the carrier unit base and is configured to link adjacent carrier units by linking the male protrusion connection element of one carrier unit to the female recess connection element of another carrier unit with a predetermined number of degrees of freedom for spatial movements of two adjacent carrier units linked to each other with respect to each other.

2 . The reservoir device according to claim 1 , wherein the male protrusion connection element further comprises a finger or a ball, and wherein the female recess connection element further comprises a gap or a socket.

3 . The reservoir device according to claim 1 , wherein each carrier unit comprises:

a unified guiding structure, the unified guiding structure comprising at least two guiding elements arranged at least one of:

at opposite ends of the base of the respective carrier unit;

in form of a unified recess defined in the base; or

in form of unified spatial dimensions of the base.

4 . The reservoir device according to claim 1 , wherein each carrier unit comprises:

a unified conveyor structure, wherein the unified conveyor structure comprises two conveyor elements extending from the base, the conveyor elements arranged on the base oppositely to the interface element.

5 . The reservoir device according to claim 1 , wherein the interface element comprises:

two protrusions that extend from the base that define a recess configured for accommodating the respective OPT; and

another protrusion that extends from the base that is configured to support the OPT when it is held on the carrier unit.

6 . The reservoir device according to claim 5 , wherein the two protrusions are configured to at least one of:

clamp a head part of the respective OPT by means of an elastic pre-load acting on two opposed side surfaces of the head part of the OPT; or

provide a form fit for the head part of the OPT preventing motion of the OPT along a main extension plane of the base of the respective carrier unit.

7 . The reservoir device according to claim 5 , wherein the two protrusions comprise a respective hook section at a respective remote end, which is the end remote from the base of the respective carrier unit, the hook sections reducing a width of the recess defined by the protrusions such that the hook sections secure OPTs held by the carrier unit from unintended release.

8 . The reservoir device according to claim 1 , wherein each carrier unit of the plurality of carrier units belongs to a carrier unit type of several different carrier unit types, where the different carrier unit types are each adapted to a specific type of OPT which differs in at least one of a foot part, a head part, or a neck part from the other types of OPT.

9 . The reservoir device according to claim 8 , wherein the carrier units of the different carrier unit types are configured such that respective windows of the head parts of different OPTs which are held by two subsequent carrier units of different carrier unit type are at least one of:

equidistant for any combination of the different carrier unit types; or

arranged on a straight line parallel to a direction of main extension of the reservoir device.

10 . A system comprising:

a reservoir device for feeding loose one-piece fixing ties (OPTs), the loose OPTs each including a cable tie head part with a window, a strap part, a neck part connecting a foot part to the head part, and a foot part with a fixing connector, to an automatic bundling tool device (ABT), the reservoir device comprising a plurality of carrier units, comprising at least two different carrier unit types, each carrier unit type of the two carrier unit types structurally adapted to a specific type of the loose OPT that differs in at least one part of the foot part, the head part, or the neck part, wherein the reservoir device is configured to detachably hold the loose OPTs on the carrier unit, in a row, with the carrier unit having a base and being configured to be moved to or through the ABT in order to have the loose OPTs detached from the carrier unit, wherein the carrier units are units separate from the OPTs, and wherein the carrier units are configured to have the respective loose OPT detachably attached to the respective carrier unit by a respective interface element configured to receive and hold the respective loose OPT on the respective carrier unit by providing at least one of a form fit for the head part of the respective OPT preventing motion of the OPT along a main extension plane of the base of the respective carrier unit or a form fit for support of the foot part of the OPT when it is held on the carrier unit, and to secure the OPTs from unintended release;

a feeding device configured to feed the loose OPTs to the ABT, with a guiding slot unit configured to guide the reservoir device through the feeding device;

a stepwise conveyor mechanism unit configured to stepwise move the reservoir device along the guiding slot unit; and

an actuator unit configured to eject the respective loose OPT from the reservoir device holding the respective loose OPT.

11 . The system according to claim 10 , wherein the actuator unit is configured to eject the respective OPT from the reservoir device by a mechanical interaction with a head part of the OPT.

12 . The system according to claim 10 , wherein each carrier unit comprises:

a unified guiding structure, the unified guiding structure comprising at least two guiding elements, wherein the guiding slot unit is configured to guide the reservoir device through the feeding device by a mechanical interaction with the unified guiding structure.

13 . The system according to claim 10 , wherein each carrier unit comprises:

a unified conveyor structure, wherein the unified conveyor structure comprises two conveyor elements extending from the base, the conveyor elements arranged on the base oppositely to the interface element, wherein the reservoir device is stepwise moved along the guiding slot unit by mechanical interaction with the unified conveyor structure.

14 . The system according to claim 10 , wherein the feeding device is configured to feed the OPTs to the ABT, with a guiding slot unit configured to guide the reservoir device through the feeding device, guiding slot unit comprising a slit configured for a tail part of the OPTs extending through the slit into an environment of the feeding device.

15 . A method for feeding loose one-piece fixing ties (OPTs) to an automatic bundling tool device (ABT), comprising:

attaching one or more loose OPTs to one of a plurality of respective carrier units of a reservoir device, the plurality of carrier units comprising at least two different carrier unit types, each carrier unit type of the two carrier unit types structurally adapted to a specific type of the loose OPT, the loose OPTs each including a cable tie head part with a window, a strap part, a neck part connecting a foot part to the head part, and a foot part with a fixing connector, the types of loose OPT differ in at least one part of the foot part, the head part, or the neck part, where the respective carrier units are flexible with respect to each other by being linked to each other via a mechanical connection interface with a predetermined number of degrees of freedom for spatial movements of two adjacent carrier units;

holding the attached OPTs individually on the reservoir device by the respective carrier unit;

pulling the reservoir device to the ABT by a feeding device, detaching the OPTs, one by one, from the respective carrier unit by an actuator unit of the feeding device; and

feeding the respective detached OPT to the ABT by the feeding device.