ARTICLE TRAY AND HANDLING OF ARTICLES WITH THE TRAY
An article-handling system and method of handling articles with article trays having a support surface and a plurality of generally parallel grooves in said support surface includes loading articles on trays with an article-traying subsystem and unloading articles from trays with an article-detraying subsystem. The article-traying subsystem has a tray conveyor and a loading article conveyor. The loading article conveyor has a plurality of fingers adapted to fit within the grooves of a tray traveling on the tray conveyor at the article conveyor. An article is transferred to the tray support surface with the loading article conveyor. The article-detraying subsystem has a trayed article conveyor and an unloading article conveyor. The unloading article conveyor has a plurality of fingers adapted to fit within the grooves of the tray of a trayed article traveling on the trayed article conveyor at the unloading article conveyor. An article is removed from the tray support surface with the unloading article conveyor.
1 . An article-handling system for use with article trays having a support surface and a plurality of generally parallel grooves in said support surface, said system comprising:
an article-traying subsystem, said article-traying subsystem having a tray conveyor and a loading article conveyor, said loading article conveyor having a plurality of fingers adapted to fit within the grooves of a tray traveling on said tray conveyor at said article conveyor to deposit an article at the tray support surface; and
an article detraying system, said article-traying subsystem having a trayed article conveyor and an unloading article conveyor, said unloading article conveyor having a plurality of fingers adapted to fit within the grooves of the tray of a traded article traveling on said trayed article conveyor at said unloading article conveyor to remove an article from the tray support surface.
2 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said loading article conveyor is at an acute angle to said tray conveyor.
3 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 2 wherein said tray conveyor is more horizontal than said loading conveyor.
4 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said unloading article conveyor is at an acute angle to said trayed article conveyor.
5 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 4 wherein said unloading article conveyor is more horizontal than said trayed article conveyor.
6 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said loading article conveyor comprises a plurality of powered conveyors, each at one of said fingers to propel an article toward the tray support surface.
7 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 6 wherein said powered conveyors each comprise a travelling belt.
8 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said unloading article conveyor comprises a plurality of powered conveyors, each at one of said fingers to propel an article away from the support surface.
9 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 8 wherein said powered conveyors each comprise a travelling belt.
10 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 1 including an article storage subsystem that is adapted to store trayed articles.
11 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 10 wherein said article storage subsystem comprises a plurality of storage locations and a tray transfer mechanism that is adapted to insert a trayed article to one of said storage locations and to extract a trayed article from one of said storage locations.
12 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 11 wherein said storage locations are defined by vertically arranged rows of a rack.
13 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 12 wherein said tray transfer mechanism is vertically moveable along a vertically extending mast.
14 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 12 wherein said tray transfer mechanism is positioned at a carriage that travels horizontally along at least one of said rows.
15 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 11 wherein said tray transfer mechanism includes a tray mover and a base supporting said tray mover, wherein said base is moveable toward a storage location in order to insert or extract a trayed article and is moveable away from the storage location to transport the trayed article between the storage location and another location.
16 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 15 wherein said tray transfer mechanism includes at least one tray-engaging extension and a propulsion system to move said at least one tray-engaging extension along a motion circuit to thereby engage and move a trayed article.
17 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 16 wherein said at least one tray-engaging extension comprises at least two tray-engaging extensions that are spaced apart in the direction of motion of said propulsion system in order to engage a trayed article with different ones of said at least two tray-engaging extensions when engaging the trayed article from the right than from the left.
18 . A method of handling articles with article trays having a support surface and a plurality of generally parallel grooves in said support surface, said method comprising:
loading articles on trays with an article-traying subsystem, said article-traying subsystem having a tray conveyor and a loading article conveyor, said loading article conveyor having a plurality of fingers adapted to fit within the grooves of a tray traveling on said tray conveyor at said article conveyor and including depositing an article at the tray support surface with said loading article conveyor; and
unloading articles from trays with an article detraying system, said article-traying subsystem having a trayed article conveyor and an unloading article conveyor, said unloading article conveyor having a plurality of fingers adapted to fit within the grooves of the tray of a trayed article traveling on said trayed article conveyor at said unloading article conveyor and including removing an article from the tray support surface with said unloading article conveyor.
19 . The method as claimed in claim 18 wherein said loading article conveyor is at an acute angle to said tray conveyor.
20 . The method as claimed in claim 19 wherein said tray conveyor is more horizontal than said loading article conveyor.
21 . The method as claimed in claim 18 wherein said unloading article conveyor is at an acute angle to said trayed article conveyor.
22 . The method as claimed in claim 21 wherein said unloading article conveyor is more horizontal than said trayed article conveyor.
23 . The method as claimed in claim 18 wherein said loading article conveyor comprises a plurality of powered conveyors, each at one of said fingers and including propelling an article toward the tray support surface with said powered conveyors.
24 . The method as claimed in claim 23 wherein said powered conveyors each comprise a travelling belt.
25 . The method as claimed in claim 18 wherein said unloading article conveyor comprises a plurality of powered conveyors, each at one of said fingers and including propelling an article away from the support surface with said powered conveyors.
26 . The method as claimed in claim 25 wherein said powered conveyors each comprise a travelling belt.
27 . The method as claimed in claim 18 including an article storage subsystem and including storing trayed articles with said storage subsystem.
28 . The method as claimed in claim 27 wherein said article storage subsystem comprises an plurality of storage locations and a tray transfer mechanism that is adapted to insert a trayed article to one of said storage locations and to extract a trayed article from one of said storage locations.
29 . The method as claimed in claim 28 wherein said storage locations are defined by vertically arranged rows of a rack.
30 . The method as claimed in claim 29 including moving said tray transfer mechanism vertically along a vertically extending mast.
31 . The method as claimed in claim 29 including positioning said tray transfer mechanism at a carriage and moving said carriage horizontally along at least one of said rows.
32 . The method as claimed in claim 28 wherein said tray transfer mechanism includes a tray mover and a base supporting said tray mover and including moving said tray transfer mechanism toward a storage location prior to inserting or extracting a trayed article and positioning said base away from the storage location while transporting the trayed article between the storage location and another location.
33 . The method as claimed in claim 32 wherein said tray mover includes at least one tray-engaging extension and a propulsion system and including moving said at least one tray-engaging extension along a motion circuit with said propulsion system to engage and move a trayed article.
34 . The article-handling system as claimed in claim 33 wherein said at least one tray-engaging extension comprises at least two tray-engaging extensions that are spaced apart in the direction of motion of said propulsion system in order to engage a trayed article with different ones of said at least two tray-engaging extensions when engaging the trayed article from the right than from the left.