CN114558803A

CN114558803A - Material sorting system, rail system and sorting vehicle

Info

Publication number: CN114558803A
Application number: CN202210252948.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王国鹏
Original assignee: Beijing Jingdong Qianshi Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Jingdong Qianshi Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-03-15
Filing date: 2022-03-15
Publication date: 2022-05-31

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a material sorting system, a rail system and a sorting vehicle. The material sorting system comprises: a rail system; the sorting vehicle comprises a vehicle body and two groups of wheels arranged on the vehicle body, and the wheel tracks of the two groups of wheels are different; wherein the rail system comprises: the multilayer guide rails are arranged at intervals along the vertical direction; and the connecting mechanism is arranged between two adjacent layers of guide rails in the multilayer guide rails and is provided with two groups of first rails with different track gauges, so that when the sorting vehicle moves from one layer of guide rails to the other layer of guide rails through the connecting mechanism, the two groups of wheels respectively pass through the two groups of first rails.

Description

Material sorting system, rail system and sorting vehicle

Technical Field

The utility model relates to a commodity circulation field especially relates to a material letter sorting system, rail system and letter sorting car.

Background

The related art sorting systems include cross-belt sorters wherein a sorting vehicle travels along a track surface and rotates a belt as the vehicle moves to a prescribed sorting position to perform the task of sorting and presenting items. In other related technologies, devices such as a horizontal roadway distribution wall and a vertical roadway distribution wall are used for three-dimensional distribution, and after an operator scans cargo information, the cargo is placed into corresponding units.

Disclosure of Invention

The inventor finds that the cross belt sorting machine in the related technology occupies a large area of a warehouse, is complex in structure and long in installation period, and a lower-layer sorting vehicle cannot be utilized, so that the line body is very long when the number of grids is large. In the related technology, the sorting vehicles are large rings connected end to end, and the vehicles cannot be increased or decreased according to the capacity requirement after the equipment is finished. Other three-dimensional distribution walls in related technologies need multiple sets of track transfer mechanisms, and the failure rate is high.

In view of this, the embodiment of the present disclosure provides a material sorting system, a rail system and a sorting vehicle, which can improve sorting efficiency and warehouse space utilization.

In one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a material sorting system comprising:

a rail system; and

the sorting vehicle comprises a vehicle body and two groups of wheels arranged on the vehicle body, and the wheel tracks of the two groups of wheels are different;

wherein the rail system comprises:

the multilayer guide rails are arranged at intervals along the vertical direction;

and the connecting mechanism is arranged between two adjacent layers of guide rails in the multilayer guide rails and is provided with two groups of first rails with different track gauges, so that when the sorting vehicle moves from one layer of guide rails to the other layer of guide rails through the connecting mechanism, the two groups of wheels respectively pass through the two groups of first rails.

In some embodiments, the planes of the two adjacent layers of guide rails are parallel to each other, and the connecting mechanism is configured to keep the vehicle body parallel to the planes of the two adjacent layers of guide rails when the sorting vehicle passes through the connecting mechanism.

In some embodiments, the sorting cart further comprises:

two groups of gears arranged on the vehicle body;

wherein, coupling mechanism still includes:

and the two groups of racks are respectively arranged on the two groups of first tracks so as to ensure that the two groups of gears are respectively kept meshed with the two groups of racks when the sorting vehicle passes through the connecting mechanism.

In some embodiments, the two sets of gears correspond one-to-one with the two sets of wheels, and each set of gears is disposed coaxially with a corresponding set of wheels.

In some embodiments, the difference between the farthest distances of the two first tracks of the connecting mechanism relative to the guide rails respectively in the extending direction of the guide rails is equal to the wheel base of the two wheels, so that the vehicle body and the plane where the two adjacent layers of guide rails respectively lie are kept parallel when the sorting vehicle passes through the connecting mechanism.

In some embodiments, in the two connecting mechanisms respectively disposed at the two ends of the guide rail on the same layer, the farthest distance of the first rail set with the shorter track pitch in the extending direction of the guide rail from the guide rail is greater than the farthest distance of the first rail set with the longer track pitch in the extending direction of the guide rail from the guide rail, and the farthest distance of the first rail set with the shorter track pitch in the other connecting mechanism in the extending direction of the guide rail from the guide rail is smaller than the farthest distance of the first rail set with the longer track pitch in the extending direction of the guide rail from the guide rail.

In some embodiments, the orthographic projections of the two sets of first rails in the connecting mechanism on a vertical plane parallel to the extending direction of the guide rail are both U-shaped.

In some embodiments, each set of tracks comprises:

the first ends of the two groups of straight sections are respectively connected with the two adjacent layers of guide rails and are respectively positioned in the planes of the two adjacent layers of guide rails;

and two ends of the arc-shaped section are respectively connected with the second ends of the two groups of straight sections.

In some embodiments, the curvatures of the arcuate segments in the two sets of first tracks are the same.

In some embodiments, the sorting cart further comprises:

two groups of gears arranged on the vehicle body;

wherein, coupling mechanism still includes:

and the two groups of racks are respectively arranged on the two groups of first tracks and at least comprise arc rack sections positioned on the arc sections.

In some embodiments, the connection mechanism further comprises:

a plurality of track transfer mechanisms disposed between the shorter gauge first track and the longer gauge first track in the two sets of first tracks, configured to pass the longer wheel gauge wheel through the shorter gauge first track, and to support the shorter wheel gauge wheel through the shorter gauge first track.

In some embodiments, the track transfer mechanism comprises:

one end of the rail changing plate is arranged on the straight section of the first rail with longer track gauge, and the other end of the rail changing plate is rotatably connected to the first rail; and

the elastic element is connected with the track transfer plate and is configured to restore the track transfer plate to the plane of the straight section after the track transfer plate enables the wheel with the longer wheel track to pass through the first track with the shorter track.

In some embodiments, two ends of one of the two adjacent layers of guide rails in the multi-layer guide rail are respectively connected with two ends of the other layer of guide rail through two connecting mechanisms.

In some embodiments, two ends of the middle rail in the three adjacent layers of rails in the multi-layer rail are respectively connected with one end of the upper rail and one end of the lower rail through two connecting mechanisms.

In some embodiments, the guide rail comprises:

and two groups of wheels with different wheel gauges of the sorting vehicle run on the second rails with corresponding rail gauges respectively.

In some embodiments, the rail system further comprises:

the electric brush rail is arranged in at least one layer of the guide rail;

wherein, the letter sorting car still includes:

and the electric brush piece is arranged at the bottom of the vehicle body and is electrically connected with the electric brush rail in the moving process so as to supply power to the sorting vehicle.

In some embodiments, the material sortation system further includes:

the sorting device comprises a plurality of sorting positions, wherein the sorting positions are arranged on at least one side of each layer of guide rail and are distributed along the extending direction of the guide rail.

In some embodiments, the sorting cart further comprises:

a wireless communication device configured to receive an externally input instruction to cause the sorting vehicle to move to a designated sorting location to unload the material.

In one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a rail system for running a sorting vehicle, comprising:

and the connecting mechanism is arranged between two adjacent layers of guide rails in the multilayer guide rails and is provided with two groups of first rails with different track gauges, so that when the sorting vehicle passes through the connecting mechanism and moves from one layer of guide rails to the other layer of guide rails in the two adjacent layers of guide rails, two groups of wheels with different wheel gauges of the sorting vehicle respectively pass through the two groups of first rails.

In some embodiments, the planes of the two adjacent layers of guide rails are parallel to each other, and the connection mechanism is configured to keep the body of the sorting vehicle parallel to the planes of the two adjacent layers of guide rails when the sorting vehicle passes through the connection mechanism.

In some embodiments, the connection mechanism further comprises:

and the two groups of racks are respectively arranged on the two groups of first tracks so as to ensure that the two groups of gears of the sorting vehicle are respectively kept meshed with the two groups of racks when the sorting vehicle passes through the connecting mechanism.

In some embodiments, the difference between the two sets of first tracks of the connecting mechanism and the farthest distance of the two sets of first tracks relative to the guide rail in the extending direction of the guide rail is equal to the wheel base of the two sets of wheels of the sorting vehicle, so that the vehicle body of the sorting vehicle and the plane where the two adjacent sets of guide rails are located are kept parallel when the sorting vehicle passes through the connecting mechanism.

In some embodiments, in the two connecting mechanisms respectively disposed at the two ends of the guide rail on the same layer, the farthest distance of the first rail with the shorter track pitch in the extending direction of the guide rail relative to the guide rail is greater than the farthest distance of the first rail with the longer track pitch in the extending direction of the guide rail relative to the guide rail, and the farthest distance of the first rail with the shorter track pitch in the other connecting mechanism in the extending direction of the guide rail relative to the guide rail is less than the farthest distance of the first rail with the longer track pitch in the extending direction of the guide rail relative to the guide rail.

In some embodiments, each set of first tracks comprises:

In some embodiments, the connection mechanism further comprises:

a plurality of track changing mechanisms, the track changing mechanisms are arranged between the first track with the shorter track gauge and the first track with the longer track gauge in the two groups of first tracks, and are configured to enable wheels with the longer wheel gauge of the sorting vehicle to pass through the first track with the shorter track gauge and support the wheels with the shorter wheel gauge of the sorting vehicle to pass through the first track with the shorter track gauge.

In some embodiments, the track transfer mechanism comprises:

one end of the rail changing plate is arranged on a straight section of one group of first rails with longer track gauges, and the other end of the rail changing plate is rotatably connected to the first rails; and

the elastic element is connected with the track transfer plate and is configured to reset the track transfer plate to the plane of the straight section after the track transfer plate enables the wheels with longer wheel track of the sorting vehicle to pass through the first tracks with shorter track of the sorting vehicle.

In some embodiments, the guide rail comprises two sets of second rails with different track gauges, so that the two sets of wheels with different wheel gauges of the sorting vehicle respectively run on the second rails with corresponding track gauges.

In some embodiments, the rail system further comprises:

and the brush rail is arranged in at least one layer of the guide rail and is configured to be electrically connected with a brush sheet arranged at the bottom of the sorting vehicle body in the relative movement process so as to realize power supply of the sorting vehicle.

In one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a sorting vehicle for running on the aforementioned rail system, comprising:

a vehicle body; and

the two groups of wheels are arranged on the vehicle body, the wheel tracks of the two groups of wheels are different, and the two groups of wheels are configured to respectively pass through the two groups of first tracks when the sorting vehicle moves from one layer of the adjacent two layers of guide rails to the other layer of guide rails through the connecting mechanism.

In some embodiments, the sorting cart further comprises:

two sets of gears are arranged on the vehicle body and are configured to be respectively kept meshed with two sets of racks respectively arranged on the two sets of first tracks when the sorting vehicle passes through the connecting mechanism.

In some embodiments, the sorting cart further comprises:

a brush blade disposed on the bottom of the vehicle body and configured to be electrically connected to a brush rail disposed in at least one of the layers of the guide rails when moving relative to the brush rail to supply power to the sorting vehicle.

In some embodiments, the sorting cart further comprises:

a wireless communication device configured to receive an externally input instruction to cause the sorting vehicle to move to a designated sorting location of a plurality of sorting locations disposed on at least one side of each layer of the guide rail and distributed along an extending direction of the guide rail to unload the material.

Therefore, according to the embodiment of the disclosure, multilayer guide rails are arranged in a rail system, a plurality of groups of connecting mechanisms with two groups of first rails with different track gauges are arranged to connect two adjacent layers of guide rails, and when the sorting vehicles are moved in the connecting mechanisms, the wheels with longer wheel gauges of the sorting vehicles pass through the first rails with longer track gauges and the wheels with shorter wheel gauges pass through the first rails with shorter track gauges, so that the sorting vehicles can move from one layer of guide rails to the other layer of adjacent guide rails. Compared with the related art, the sorting vehicle in the embodiment can independently realize the carrying and sorting of the materials on the plane where each guide rail is located.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

The present disclosure may be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic overall block diagram of some embodiments of the material sorting system of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2A is a schematic illustration of a sorting vehicle in some embodiments of the material sorting system of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2B is a top view of a sorting vehicle in some embodiments of the material sorting system of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3A is a side view of a sorting vehicle operating on a coupling mechanism in some embodiments of the material sorting system of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3B is a side view of a sorting vehicle ejecting a track plate on a linkage mechanism in some embodiments of the material sorting system of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3C is a side view of a sorting vehicle after being diverted on a connecting mechanism in some embodiments of the material sorting system of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a top view of a sorting vehicle positioned in a coupling mechanism in some embodiments of the material sorting system of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a brush blade of a sorting vehicle and a brush rail of a rail system in accordance with some embodiments of the material sorting system of the present disclosure.

It should be understood that the dimensions of the various parts shown in the drawings are not drawn to scale. Further, the same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar components.

Detailed Description

Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The description of the exemplary embodiments is merely illustrative and is in no way intended to limit the disclosure, its application, or uses. The present disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. These embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. It should be noted that: the relative arrangement of parts and steps, the composition of materials, numerical expressions and numerical values set forth in these embodiments are to be construed as merely illustrative, and not as limitative, unless specifically stated otherwise.

The use of "first," "second," and similar terms in this disclosure is not intended to indicate any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another. The word "comprising" or "comprises", and the like, means that the element preceding the word covers the element listed after the word, and does not exclude the possibility that other elements are also covered. "upper", "lower", "left", "right", and the like are used merely to indicate relative positional relationships, and when the absolute position of the object being described is changed, the relative positional relationships may also be changed accordingly.

In the present disclosure, when a specific device is described as being located between a first device and a second device, there may or may not be intervening devices between the specific device and the first device or the second device. When a particular device is described as being coupled to other devices, that particular device may be directly coupled to the other devices without intervening devices or may be directly coupled to the other devices with intervening devices.

All terms (including technical or scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs unless specifically defined otherwise. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Techniques, methods, and apparatus known to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art may not be discussed in detail but are intended to be part of the specification where appropriate.

The belt faces upwards when the sorting vehicle in the related art moves on the upper layer of the track, and the belt faces downwards when the sorting vehicle runs to the end of the track and turns to the lower layer of the track, so that the sorting vehicle cannot normally work to carry goods.

In addition, the related art sorting system is formed by several hundreds of sorting vehicles which are connected end to end in a mechanical structure to form a loop, and the distances between the sorting vehicles must be the same. If the number of the sorting vehicles needs to be adjusted, the loop line structure needs to be disassembled, the pitches among all the sorting vehicles need to be adjusted again, program parameters need to be calibrated again, and the sorting device is complex and low in efficiency.

In view of this, this disclosure provides a material sorting system, rail system and letter sorting car, can improve letter sorting efficiency, increase storehouse space utilization, simple structure, the fault rate is low.

Referring to fig. 1, the present disclosure provides a material sorting system comprising: a rail system 2 and at least one sorting car 1, which sorting cars 1 can run on the rail system 2 independently of one another, so that the sorting car 1 can be moved at a relatively high speed, for example 3m/s, within the rail system 2. The rail system 2 includes: multilayer guide rail 3 and coupling mechanism 4, multilayer guide rail 3 sets up along vertical direction interval, and coupling mechanism 4 sets up between the adjacent two-layer guide rail 3 in multilayer guide rail 3. The extension direction of every layer of guide rail 3 is provided with letter sorting position 6 for letter sorting car 1 is in with material letter sorting to letter sorting position 6, letter sorting car 1 is in when the plane in guide rail 3 place moves, can realize the letter sorting of material.

Referring to fig. 2A-2B, the sorting vehicle 1 includes a vehicle body 11 and two sets of wheels 12 disposed on the vehicle body 11, and the track widths of the two sets of wheels 12 are different, and one set of wheels 12 and the other set of wheels 12 of the two sets of wheels 12 are disposed on two axles, respectively. The two sets of wheels 12 comprise: a shorter track width wheel 12a and a longer track width wheel 12 b.

Referring to fig. 3A-3C and 4, the connecting mechanism 4 has two sets of first rails 41 with different gauges. The two sets of first rails 41 include: the first track 41a that the gauge is shorter and the first track 41b that the gauge is longer cooperate with two sets of wheels 12 of different gauges respectively to make two sets of wheels 12 pass through respectively when sorting car 1 passes through coupling mechanism 4 is followed one deck guide rail 3 in adjacent two-layer guide rail 3 moves to another deck guide rail 3 two sets of first tracks 41 that the gauge is different. Wherein, the set of tracks 41 includes, but is not limited to, an even number of tracks, such as 2, 4, etc.

The embodiment sets up multilayer guide rail 3 in track system 2 to connect adjacent two-layer guide rail 3 through setting up the multiunit coupling mechanism 4 that has two sets of first tracks 41 that the gauge is different, set up the wheel 12 that the gauge is different that corresponds with the first track 41 that the gauge is different on letter sorting car 1, so that letter sorting car 1 is in when moving in coupling mechanism 4, the longer wheel 12b of the gauge of letter sorting car 1 passes through the longer first track 41b of gauge, and the shorter wheel 12a of gauge passes through the shorter first track 41a of gauge, thereby makes letter sorting car 1 realize the removal from one deck guide rail 3 to between the adjacent guide rail 3 of another deck. Compared with the prior art that the sorting vehicle 1 can only carry materials on the same plane of the guide rail 3, the sorting vehicle 1 in the embodiment can independently carry and sort the materials on each plane of the guide rail 3.

When the sorting vehicle 1 moves up and down between the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3, the two groups of wheels 12 are in the connection mechanism 4 and are in contact with the first rail 41, so that the stability of the sorting vehicle 1 is improved, and the situation that the vehicle body 11 is inclined due to the offset of materials on the vehicle body 11 is avoided. In addition, the running speed of the sorting vehicle 1 can be guaranteed not to be limited due to the weight and the shape of the materials, and the sorting efficiency of the system is guaranteed.

In addition, letter sorting car 1 still can be in 2 inner loop operations of rail system to can adjust the quantity of letter sorting car 1 according to operation demand adaptability in a flexible way, thereby effectively improve letter sorting car 1's utilization ratio, promote system's material sorting efficiency.

Referring to fig. 1, in some embodiments, the planes of the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 are parallel to each other, and the connecting mechanism 4 is configured to keep the vehicle body 11 parallel to the planes of the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 when the sorting vehicle 1 passes through the connecting mechanism 4.

In this embodiment, through setting adjacent two-layer guide rail 3 is parallel to each other, so that sorting car 1 also can keep automobile body 11 and guide rail 3 place plane parallel when passing through coupling mechanism 4 and removing between adjacent two-layer guide rail 3 to guarantee the even running of sorting car 1, avoid the material to drop from sorting car 1, effectively improve the stability of sorting car 1 transportation and letter sorting material improves the reliability of material letter sorting system.

In other embodiments of the present disclosure, the planes where the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 are respectively located are not limited to be parallel to each other, when the sorting cart 1 moves between the two adjacent layers of non-parallel guide rails 3 through the connecting mechanism 4, the sorting cart 1 keeps translation, and the turning angle of the cart body 11 is smaller than 90 degrees, so that the material is always kept on the sorting cart 1, and the material is prevented from falling off due to the turning of the sorting cart 1.

Referring to fig. 2A-2B and 3A-3C, in some embodiments, the sorting cart 1 further comprises: two sets of gears 13 are provided on the vehicle body 11. The connecting mechanism 4 further includes: two sets of racks 42 are provided on the two sets of first rails 41 so that the two sets of gears 13 are kept in mesh with the two sets of racks 42, respectively, when the sorting cart 1 passes the connecting mechanism 4.

The gear 13 includes, but is not limited to, being disposed coaxially with the wheel 12, and the rack 42 includes, but is not limited to, being disposed within the first track 41. The meshing relationship between the gear 13 and the rack 42 includes, but is not limited to, a straight gear meshing with a straight rack, such as a helical gear meshing with a helical rack.

In this embodiment, the gear 13 is arranged on the sorting vehicle 1 to engage with the rack 42 on the first track 41, so that the wheels 12 and the first track 41 are more closely matched when the sorting vehicle 1 passes through the connecting mechanism 4, and the running stability of the sorting vehicle 1 between two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 is further improved.

Referring to fig. 2A-2B, in some embodiments, the two sets of gears 13 correspond to the two sets of wheels 12 one-to-one, and each set of gears 13 is disposed coaxially with a corresponding set of wheels 12. In this embodiment, the gear 13 and the wheel 12 of the sorting vehicle 1 are coaxially arranged, so that the rolling of the wheel 12 on the first track 41 and the meshing of the gear 13 on the first track 41 are mutually matched, thereby enhancing the moving synchronism of the wheel 12 and the gear 13, and further improving the stability and flexibility of material sorting.

Referring to fig. 3A-3C and fig. 4, in some embodiments, the difference between the farthest distances of the first rail 41 of the connecting mechanism 4 relative to the guide rail 3 in the extending direction of the guide rail 3 is equal to the wheel base of the two sets of wheels 12, so that the vehicle body 11 and the plane where the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 are located are kept parallel when the sorting vehicle 1 passes through the connecting mechanism 4.

Compared with the related art, in the embodiment, the difference between the farthest distances of the two groups of first rails 41 with different track gauges, which define the connecting mechanism 4, relative to the guide rail 3 in the extending direction of the guide rail 3 is respectively made to be matched with the wheel base of the sorting vehicle 1, so that the sorting vehicle 1 can realize the up-and-down movement between the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 through the connecting mechanism 4, and the vehicle body 11 is always kept parallel to the planes of the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 in the moving process, thereby improving the reliability of carrying goods in the moving process of the sorting vehicle 1 and increasing the sorting efficiency of the material sorting system.

Referring to fig. 3A to 3C and fig. 4, in some embodiments, in two connecting mechanisms 4 respectively disposed at both ends of the same-layer guide rail 3, the farthest distance of the first shorter-gauge track 41a in one connecting mechanism 4 with respect to the guide rail 3 in the extending direction of the guide rail 3 is greater than the farthest distance of the first longer-gauge track 41b with respect to the guide rail 3 in the extending direction of the guide rail 3, and the farthest distance of the first shorter-gauge track 41a in the other connecting mechanism 4 with respect to the guide rail 3 in the extending direction of the guide rail 3 is smaller than the farthest distance of the first longer-gauge track 41b with respect to the guide rail 3 in the extending direction of the guide rail 3.

Referring to fig. 3A-3C, in the present embodiment, when the first track set 41 with the shorter track pitch in the connecting mechanism 4 is provided at a greater distance with respect to the guide rail 3, the wheels 12a with the shorter track pitch of the sorting cart 1 are engaged with the first track set 41 with the greater distance when the sorting cart 1 moves in the connecting mechanism 4, and therefore, the shorter track pitch end of the sorting cart 1 is at a greater distance with respect to the guide rail 3 in the extending direction of the guide rail 3 than the longer track pitch end. And the wheels 12b with longer track of the sorting car 1 are matched with the group of first rails 41 with the shorter distance, so that one end of the sorting car 1, which is provided with the wheels 12b with longer track, is at the shorter distance relative to the guide rail 3 in the extending direction of the guide rail 3 than the wheels 12a with the shorter track.

In the present embodiment, the first rails 41 of the connecting mechanism 4 having a longer track width are arranged at a greater distance from the guide rail 3, and when the sorting vehicle 1 moves in the connecting mechanism 4, the wheels 12b of the sorting vehicle 1 having a longer track width are engaged with the first rails 41 of the longer distance, and the longer track end of the sorting vehicle 1 is located at a greater distance from the guide rail 3 in the extending direction of the guide rail 3 than the shorter track end. And the wheels 12a with the shorter track width of the sorting vehicle 1 are matched with the group of first rails 41 with the shorter track width, so that one end of the sorting vehicle 1, which is provided with the wheels 12b with the longer track width, is at a shorter distance relative to the guide rail 3 in the extending direction of the guide rail 3 than the wheels 12a with the shorter track width.

Compared with the prior art, the embodiment enables the sorting vehicle 1 to move up and down at two ends of each layer of guide rail, and when the adjacent layer of guide rail 3 moves, the vehicle body 11 of the sorting vehicle 1 always keeps horizontal, so that the materials carried by the sorting vehicle 1 cannot be overturned and fall.

Referring to fig. 3A-3C, in some embodiments, the orthographic projections of the two sets of first rails 41 in the connecting mechanism 4 on a vertical plane parallel to the extending direction of the guide rail 3 are both U-shaped. In this embodiment, first track 41 is the U-shaped, makes the removal of letter sorting car 1 between adjacent two-layer guide rail 3 is more smooth and easy, thereby prevent letter sorting car 1 with thereby the first track 41 collision breaks down, has also practiced thrift the space utilization in storehouse place simultaneously.

Referring to fig. 3A-3C, in some embodiments, each of the two sets of first rails 41, each having a U-shape in orthographic projection on a vertical plane parallel to the extending direction of the guide rail 3, includes: two sets of straight segments 411 and one set of curved segments 412.

The first ends of the two groups of straight sections 411 are respectively connected with the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 and are respectively located in the respective planes of the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3. Wherein, the first end of the first group of straight sections 411 in the two groups of straight sections 411 is connected with the first layer of guide rail 3 in the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3, and the first end of the second group of straight sections 411 in the two groups of straight sections 411 is connected with the second layer of guide rail 3 in the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3. Two ends of one set of arc-shaped segments 412 are respectively connected with the second ends of the two sets of straight segments 411.

In this embodiment, the straight section 411 of the connecting mechanism 4 is connected to the first rail 41 of the guide rail 3, and the arc-shaped section 412 of the connecting mechanism 4 is connected to the straight section 411, so that the connecting mechanism 4 is connected to the adjacent two layers of guide rails 3, the sorting vehicle 1 can freely move between the multiple layers of rails, and efficient transportation and sorting of materials are realized.

In some embodiments, the curvature of the arcuate segments 412 in the two sets of first tracks 41 is the same. In this embodiment, the curvature parameters of the arc-shaped sections 412 in the two sets of first tracks 41 are set to be the same, so that the sorting vehicle 1 and the connecting mechanism 4 are better matched, and the operation in the connecting mechanism 4 is more stable.

Referring to fig. 2A-2B and 3A-3C, in some embodiments, the sorting cart 1 further includes two sets of gears 13 disposed on the cart body 11. The connecting mechanism 4 further comprises two sets of racks 42. The two sets of racks 42 are respectively disposed on the two sets of first rails 41, and at least include an arc-shaped rack segment located at the arc-shaped segment 412. In other embodiments, the rack 42 may also include a linear rack segment located in the straight segment 411.

In this embodiment, the rack 42 is disposed in the arc-shaped section 412 of the first track 41, and the shape of the rack 42 is matched with the shape of the arc-shaped section 412 of the first track 41, so that when the sorting vehicle 1 runs in the connecting mechanism 4, the rack is matched with the first track 41 more tightly, thereby improving the stability of the sorting vehicle 1 and the sorting efficiency of the material sorting system.

Referring to fig. 3A-3C and 4, in some embodiments, the attachment mechanism 4 further comprises: a plurality of track transfer mechanisms. The track-changing mechanism is provided between the first track 41a with the shorter track gauge and the first track 41b with the longer track gauge in the two sets of first tracks 41, and is configured to pass the wheel 12b with the longer track gauge through the first track 41a with the shorter track gauge and support the wheel 12a with the shorter track gauge through the first track 41a with the shorter track gauge.

In this embodiment, when the sorting vehicle 1 moves up and down in the connecting mechanism 4 by providing the track changing mechanism at the position of the first track 41b with a longer track gauge, the wheel 12b with a longer wheel gauge passes through the first track 41a with a shorter track gauge to reach the first track 41b with a longer track gauge by means of the track changing mechanism, so that the axle where the wheel 12b with a longer wheel gauge is located is prevented from interfering with the first track 41a with a shorter track gauge. In addition, the track transfer mechanism can also support the wheel 12a with the shorter track to reach the arc-shaped section 412 from the straight section 411, so that the wheel 12a with the shorter track is prevented from falling from the first track 41, and the running stability and safety of the sorting vehicle 1 are guaranteed.

Referring to fig. 3A-3C, in some embodiments, the orbital transfer mechanism comprises: a track plate 43 and a resilient element 44. The track changing plate 43 has one end disposed on the straight section 411 of one of the sets of the first tracks 41b with longer track pitches, and the other end rotatably connected to the first track 41. The elastic element 44 is connected to the track-changing plate 43, and is configured to restore the track-changing plate 43 to the plane of the straight section 411 after the track-changing plate 43 makes the wheel 12b with the longer track width pass through the first track 41a with the shorter track width. Wherein the track changing plate can be arranged on the upper layer straight section 411 and/or the lower layer straight section 411 in a group of connecting mechanisms 4, and the elastic element 44 comprises but is not limited to a spring.

In this embodiment, the sorting vehicle 1 moves clockwise as shown in a direction a in fig. 3A-3C, the rail changing plate 43 and the elastic element 44 cooperate with each other to enable the wheel 12b with the longer track width to pass through the first track 41a with the shorter track width, and the rail changing plate 43 can be timely reset after being pushed open by the wheel 12b, so as to support the wheel 12a with the shorter track width to pass through. The sorting vehicle 1 is prevented from falling off from the track system 2, the sorting vehicle 1 is prevented from colliding with the track system 2, and the operation safety is improved.

Referring to fig. 3A-3C, in some embodiments, two ends of one layer of the guide rail 3 in two adjacent layers of the guide rails 3 in the multi-layer guide rail 3 are respectively connected with two ends of the other layer of the guide rail 3 through two connecting mechanisms 4. The two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 include, but are not limited to, each two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 and every two adjacent layers of guide rails 3. In this embodiment, the connecting mechanism 4 and the guide rails 3 form a ring shape, and the sorting vehicle 1 circularly moves in the two adjacent layers of the guide rails 3.

In some embodiments, two ends of the middle rail 3 of the adjacent three layers of rails 3 in the multi-layer rail 3 are respectively connected with one end of the upper rail 3 and one end of the lower rail 3 through two connecting mechanisms 4. In this embodiment, each layer of guide rail 3 is connected with upper guide rail 3 and lower floor' S guide rail 3 respectively, multilayer guide rail 3 and coupling mechanism 4 form the S type, and letter sorting car 1 has bigger operating range on multilayer guide rail 3, can realize more distant transportation and letter sorting.

Referring to fig. 4, in some embodiments, the guide rail 3 comprises: two sets of second tracks 31 with different track gauges. Two groups of wheels 12 with different wheel gauges of the sorting vehicle 1 respectively run on the second tracks 31 with corresponding track gauges. The first track 41a with the shorter track gauge and the first track 41b with the longer track gauge extend to the plane where the guide rail 3 is located, and are respectively connected with the two groups of second tracks 31 with different track gauges. In this embodiment, when the sorting vehicle 1 runs on the guide rail 3, the longer wheel-tread wheels 12 move in cooperation with the larger second rail 31, and the shorter wheel-tread wheels 12 move in cooperation with the smaller second rail 31.

Referring to fig. 5, in some embodiments, the track system 2 further comprises: brush rail 5, sorting car 1 still includes: a brush blade 14. The electric brush rail 5 is arranged in at least one layer of the guide rail 3, the electric brush piece 14 is arranged at the bottom of the vehicle body 11, the electric brush piece 14 is electrically connected with the electric brush rail 5 in the moving process so as to supply power to the sorting vehicle 1, and the sorting vehicle 1 is driven to move by a motor of the sorting vehicle 1. In other embodiments, each layer of guide rail 3 is provided with a brush rail 5, and the brush piece 14 is continuously electrically connected with the brush rail 5 when the sorting vehicle 1 moves on the guide rail 3.

The sorting vehicle 1 can also store electric energy provided by the electric brush rail 5, the sorting vehicle 1 is driven to move upwards in the connecting mechanism 4, and when the sorting vehicle 1 moves downwards in the connecting mechanism 4, the sorting vehicle 1 can also flexibly adjust the moving speed through the stored electric energy. The power storage mode of the sorting vehicle 1 includes but is not limited to battery power storage, such as capacitive power storage.

The mode that this embodiment adopted brush piece 14 to be connected with brush rail 5 electricity to supply power, simple structure, and make letter sorting car 1 continuously moves on multilayer guide rail 3, improves material letter sorting system work efficiency.

Referring to fig. 1, in some embodiments, the material sorting system further comprises: a plurality of sorting places 6. The sorting positions 6 are arranged on at least one side of each layer of guide rail 3 and distributed along the extending direction of the guide rail 3. In this embodiment, the number of sorting locations 6 may be increased or decreased according to the length of the guide rail 3 in the extending direction and the number of layers of the guide rail 3. Compared with the related art, the number of the effective sorting positions 6 in the unit space is greatly increased, and the utilization rate and the sorting capacity of the warehouse site are enhanced. For example, in fig. 1, 25 sorting places are arranged along each side rail 3 in the plane of each layer of rails 3, and a total of 100 sorting places 6 may be arranged in the plane of two layers of rails.

In some embodiments, the sorting cart 1 further comprises: a wireless communication device. The wireless communication device is configured to receive an externally inputted instruction, and to move the sorting vehicle 1 to a designated sorting location 6 to unload materials, including goods, parcels, and the like.

In this embodiment, the staff sweeps the sign indicating number and acquires material information, places the material on the automobile body 11 of letter sorting car 1. The communication device receives the information of the sorting positions 6 corresponding to the materials, and enables the sorting vehicle 1 to operate to the target sorting positions 6 according to the instructions. The running direction of the belt 15 of the sorting vehicle 1 is perpendicular to the moving direction of the sorting vehicle 1, the sorting vehicle 1 unloads the materials after reaching the sorting position 6, and then the sorting vehicle continues to run to the position of a worker to receive and sort the next material.

Referring to fig. 1, in the material sorting system according to the present disclosure, a worker is located near the connecting mechanism 4, the sorting cart 1 moves from the lower guide rail 3 to the adjacent upper guide rail 3 in the connecting mechanism 4 near the worker side, and the sorting cart 1 moves from the upper guide rail 3 to the adjacent lower guide rail 3 in the connecting mechanism 4 at the other end far from the worker. After scanning the material bar code, the staff places the material on the sorting car 1 to the communication device input sorting position 6 information that the material corresponds of sorting car 1, sorting car 1 can move between multilayer guide rail 3, thereby unloads the material to target sorting position 6. After the sorting vehicle 1 arrives at the target sorting location 6 and unloads the materials, the vehicle can move back to the position of the worker, and new materials are loaded for continuous transportation. Track system 2 can set up the multilayer in vertical direction to realize sorting position 6 and the three-dimensional arranging of 1 removal route of letter sorting car, effectively practice thrift the floor area in storehouse, promote letter sorting efficiency.

Referring to fig. 1 and 3A-3C, the present disclosure provides a track system 2 for running a sorting cart 1, comprising: multilayer guide rail 3 and coupling mechanism 4, multilayer guide rail 3 sets up along vertical direction interval, and coupling mechanism 4 sets up between the adjacent two-layer guide rail 3 in multilayer guide rail 3. When the sorting vehicle 1 moves on the plane of the guide rail 3, sorting of materials can be achieved.

Referring to fig. 3A-3C and 4, the connecting mechanism 4 has two sets of first rails 41 with different gauges. The two sets of first rails 41 include: the first track 41a with the shorter gauge and the first track 41b with the longer gauge are respectively matched with wheels 12 with different gauges of the sorting car 1, so that when the sorting car 1 passes through the connecting mechanism 4 moves from one layer of the two adjacent layers of the guide rails 3 to the other layer of the guide rails 3, the two groups of wheels 12 with different gauges of the sorting car 1 pass through the two groups of first tracks 41 with different gauges respectively. Wherein, the set of tracks 41 includes, but is not limited to, an even number of tracks, such as 2, 4, etc.

In the embodiment, a plurality of layers of guide rails 3 are arranged in the track system 2, and a plurality of groups of connecting mechanisms 4 with two groups of first tracks 41 with different track gauges are arranged to connect two adjacent layers of guide rails 3, so that when the sorting vehicle 1 moves in the connecting mechanisms 4, the sorting vehicle can move from one layer of guide rails 3 to the other layer of adjacent guide rails 3. Compared with the prior art that the sorting vehicle 1 can only carry materials on the same plane of the guide rail 3, in the embodiment, each plane where each layer of guide rail 3 is located can independently realize the carrying and sorting of the materials, and the transportation efficiency of the rail system is improved.

Referring to fig. 1, in some embodiments, the planes of the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 are parallel to each other, and the connecting mechanism 4 is configured to keep the body 11 of the sorting vehicle 1 parallel to the planes of the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 when the sorting vehicle 1 passes through the connecting mechanism 4.

In this embodiment, the adjacent two layers of guide rails 3 are parallel to each other, so that the sorting vehicle 1 can keep the plane where the vehicle body 11 of the sorting vehicle 1 is located parallel to the guide rails 3 when moving between the adjacent two layers of guide rails 3 through the connecting mechanism 4, thereby ensuring the stable operation of the sorting vehicle 1 and effectively improving the transportation and reliability of the track system 2.

In other embodiments of the present disclosure, the planes where the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 are respectively located are not limited to be parallel to each other, the sorting cart 1 keeps moving horizontally when moving between the two adjacent layers of non-parallel guide rails 3 through the connecting mechanism 4, and the track system 2 in this embodiment can ensure that the material is always located on the sorting cart 1, thereby avoiding the material from dropping due to the overturning of the sorting cart 1.

Referring to fig. 3A-3C, in some embodiments, the connecting mechanism 4 further includes two sets of racks 42 disposed on the two sets of first rails 41 so that the two sets of gears 13 of the sorting cart 1 are respectively maintained in engagement with the two sets of racks 42 as the sorting cart 1 passes by the connecting mechanism 4. The rack 42 includes, but is not limited to, being disposed within the first track 41. The meshing relationship between the gear 13 and the rack 42 includes, but is not limited to, a straight gear meshing with a straight rack, such as a helical gear meshing with a helical rack. So that the wheels 12 of the sorting vehicle 1 are matched with the first track 41 more closely when the sorting vehicle passes through the connecting mechanism 4 on the track system 2, and the running stability of the sorting vehicle 1 on the track system 2 is further improved.

Referring to fig. 3A to 3C and fig. 4, in some embodiments, the difference between the two sets of first rails 41 of the connecting mechanism 4 and the farthest distance of the guide rail 3 in the extending direction of the guide rail 3 is equal to the wheel base of the two sets of wheels 12 of the sorting cart 1, so that the cart body 11 of the sorting cart 1 and the plane of the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 are kept parallel when the sorting cart 1 passes through the connecting mechanism 4.

Compared with the related art, in the embodiment, the difference between the two groups of first rails 41 with different track gauges, which define the connecting mechanism 4, and the farthest distances of the first rails in the extending direction of the guide rails 3 relative to the guide rails 3 respectively enables the first rails to be better matched with the sorting vehicle 1, so that the sorting vehicle 1 can realize up-and-down movement between two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 through the connecting mechanism 4, and the vehicle body 11 is always kept parallel to the planes of the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 respectively in the moving process, thereby improving the transportation efficiency of the rail system.

Compared with the prior art, the sorting vehicle 1 can be guided to move up and down at two ends of each layer of guide rail, and the vehicle body 11 of the sorting vehicle 1 is always kept horizontal to avoid overturning and dropping when moving between adjacent layers of guide rails 3, so that the reliability of the track system 2 is improved.

In some embodiments, the curvature of the arcuate segments 412 in the two sets of first tracks 41 is the same. In this embodiment, the curvature parameters of the arc segments 412 in the two first tracks 41 are set to the same parameters, so that the connecting mechanism 4 can be better matched with the sorting vehicle 1, and the operation in the track system 2 is more stable.

Referring to fig. 2A-2B and 3A-3C, in some embodiments, the attachment mechanism 4 further includes two sets of racks 42. The two sets of racks 42 are respectively disposed on the two sets of first tracks 41, and at least include an arc-shaped rack segment located in the arc-shaped segment 412. In other embodiments, the rack 42 may also include a linear rack segment located in the straight segment 411.

In this embodiment, the rack 42 is disposed in the arc-shaped section 412 of the first track 41, and the shape of the rack 42 is matched with the shape of the arc-shaped section 412 of the first track 41, so that the sorting vehicle 1 is matched with the first track 41 more closely, the carrying stability of the track system 2 is further improved, and the sorting efficiency is improved.

Referring to fig. 3A-3C and 4, in some embodiments, the attachment mechanism 4 further comprises: a plurality of track transfer mechanisms. The track changing mechanism is provided between the first track 41a with the shorter track gauge and the first track 41b with the longer track gauge in the two sets of the first tracks 41, and is configured to pass the wheels 12b with the longer track gauge of the sorting vehicle 1 through the first track 41a with the shorter track gauge and support the wheels 12a with the shorter track gauge of the sorting vehicle 1 through the first track 41a with the shorter track gauge.

In this embodiment, the rail-changing mechanism is disposed at the position of the first rail 41b with a longer rail gauge, so that when the sorting vehicle 1 moves up and down in the connecting mechanism 4, the sorting vehicle is prevented from falling off from the first rail 41 or interfering with the first rail 41, thereby ensuring the stability and safety of transportation.

Referring to fig. 3A-3C, in some embodiments, the orbital transfer mechanism comprises: a track plate 43 and a resilient element 44. The track changing plate 43 has one end disposed on the straight section 411 of one of the sets of the first tracks 41b with longer track pitches, and the other end rotatably connected to the first track 41. The elastic element 44 is connected to the track changing plate 43 and configured to restore the track changing plate 43 to the plane of the straight section 411 after the track changing plate 43 makes the wheel 12b with the longer track width of the sorting car 1 pass through the first track 41a with the shorter track width. Wherein the track changing plate can be arranged on the upper layer straight section 411 and/or the lower layer straight section 411 in a group of connecting mechanisms 4, and the elastic element 44 comprises but is not limited to a spring.

In this embodiment, the track system 2 guides the sorting cart 1 to move clockwise in the direction a as shown in fig. 3A-3C, and the track changing plate 43 is matched with the elastic element 44, so that the track changing plate 43 can be timely reset after being pushed open by the long-wheel-base wheels 12b of the sorting cart 1, thereby supporting the short-wheel-base wheels 12a of the sorting cart 1 to pass through. The sorting vehicle 1 is prevented from falling off from the track system 2, the sorting vehicle 1 is also prevented from colliding with the track system 2, and the transportation safety is improved.

Referring to fig. 3A-3C, in some embodiments, two ends of one layer of the guide rail 3 in two adjacent layers of the guide rails 3 in the multi-layer guide rail 3 are respectively connected with two ends of the other layer of the guide rail 3 through two connecting mechanisms 4. The two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 include, but are not limited to, each two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 and every two adjacent layers of guide rails 3. In this embodiment, the connecting mechanism 4 and the guide rails 3 form a ring shape, so that the sorting vehicle 1 circularly moves in the two adjacent layers of the guide rails 3.

In some embodiments, two ends of the middle rail 3 of the adjacent three layers of rails 3 in the multi-layer rail 3 are respectively connected with one end of the upper rail 3 and one end of the lower rail 3 through two connecting mechanisms 4. In this embodiment, each layer of guide rail 3 is connected with upper layer of guide rail 3 and lower floor' S guide rail 3 respectively, multilayer guide rail 3 and coupling mechanism 4 form the S type, can realize more distant transportation and letter sorting.

Referring to fig. 5, in some embodiments, the track system 2 further comprises: and the brush rail 5 is arranged in at least one layer of the guide rail 3 and is configured to be electrically connected with a brush piece arranged at the bottom of the vehicle body 11 of the sorting vehicle 1 in the relative movement process so as to realize the power supply of the sorting vehicle 1. In other embodiments, each layer of guide rail 3 is provided with a brush rail 5, and the brush sheets 14 are continuously electrically connected with the brush rails 5 of each layer when the sorting vehicle 1 moves on each layer of guide rail 3.

Referring to fig. 2A and 2B, a sorting cart 1 is provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. The sorting vehicle is adapted to run on the track system of the previous embodiment. The sorting vehicle 1 comprises a vehicle body 11 and two groups of wheels 12 arranged on the vehicle body 11, and the wheel tracks of the two groups of wheels 12 are different. The two sets of wheels 12 comprise: a shorter track width wheel 12a and a longer track width wheel 12 b. The two sets of wheels 12 are configured to pass through the two sets of first rails 41 respectively when the sorting vehicle 1 moves from one of the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3 to the other layer of guide rail 3 through the connecting mechanism 4.

When the sorting vehicle 1 moves in the track system 2, the wheels 12b with longer wheel track of the sorting vehicle 1 pass through the first track 41b with longer track pitch of the track system 2, and the wheels 12a with shorter wheel track pass through the first track 41a with shorter track pitch of the track system 2, so that the sorting vehicle 1 can move between the adjacent guide rails 3 in the track system 2. Compared with the prior art that the sorting vehicle 1 can only carry materials on the same plane of the guide rail 3, the sorting vehicle 1 in the embodiment can independently carry and sort the materials on each plane of the guide rail 3.

When the sorting vehicle 1 moves up and down between the two adjacent layers of guide rails 3, the two groups of wheels 12 are in contact with the track system 2, so that the stability of the sorting vehicle 1 is improved, and the situation that the vehicle body 11 is inclined due to the offset of materials on the vehicle body 11 is avoided. In addition, the running speed of the sorting vehicle 1 can be guaranteed not to be limited due to the weight and the shape of the materials, and the sorting efficiency of the system is guaranteed.

The sorting vehicle 1 further comprises two groups of gears 13 arranged on the vehicle body 11, so that when the sorting vehicle 1 passes through the connecting mechanism 4 of the track system 2, the two groups of gears 13 are respectively meshed with two groups of racks 42 arranged on the two groups of first tracks 41, and the running stability of the sorting vehicle 1 is improved. The gear 13 includes, but is not limited to, a gear coaxially disposed with the wheel 12, and the gear includes, but is not limited to, a spur gear, a helical gear, and the like.

In some embodiments, the two sets of gears 13 correspond to the two sets of wheels 12 one to one, and each set of gears 13 is disposed coaxially with a corresponding set of wheels 12. In this embodiment, gear 13 and the wheel 12 coaxial arrangement of letter sorting car 1, the synchronism that reinforcing wheel 12 and gear 13 removed further promotes the stability and the flexibility of carrying the material.

In some embodiments, the sorting cart 1 further comprises a brush 14. The brush piece 14 is arranged at the bottom of the vehicle body 11, and when the brush piece 14 moves relative to the brush rail 5 arranged in at least one layer of the guide rail 3, the brush piece is electrically connected with the brush rail 5 to supply power to the sorting vehicle 1, and the sorting vehicle 1 is driven to move by a motor of the sorting vehicle 1.

The sorting vehicle 1 can also store electric energy provided by the electric brush rail 5, the sorting vehicle 1 is driven to move upwards in the track system 2, and when the sorting vehicle 1 moves downwards in the track system 2, the sorting vehicle 1 can also flexibly adjust the moving speed through the stored electric energy. The power storage mode of the sorting vehicle 1 includes but is not limited to battery power storage, such as capacitive power storage. The power supply mode of the electric brush piece 14 is simple in structure, the sorting vehicle 1 continuously operates, and the work efficiency of the material sorting system is improved.

In some embodiments, the sorting cart 1 further comprises: a wireless communication device. The wireless communication device is configured to receive an externally input instruction, so that the sorting vehicle 1 moves to a designated sorting position in a plurality of sorting positions 6 which are arranged on at least one side of each layer of guide rail 3 and distributed along the extending direction of the guide rail 3 to unload materials, wherein the materials comprise cargos, express packages and the like. The operator can scan the sign indicating number and acquire material information, places the material on the automobile body 11 of letter sorting car 1. The communication device receives the information of the sorting positions 6 corresponding to the materials, and enables the sorting vehicle 1 to operate to a target position according to instructions. The running direction of the belt 15 of the sorting vehicle 1 is perpendicular to the moving direction of the sorting vehicle 1, the sorting vehicle 1 unloads the materials after reaching a target position, and then the materials continue to run to a worker to receive and sort the next material.

Thus, various embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail. Some details that are well known in the art have not been described in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the present disclosure. It will be fully apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description how to practice the presently disclosed embodiments.

Although some specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail by way of example, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing examples are for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the above embodiments or equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A material sorting system, comprising:

a rail system (2); and

the sorting vehicle (1) comprises a vehicle body (11) and two groups of wheels (12) arranged on the vehicle body (11), and the wheel tracks of the two groups of wheels (12) are different;

wherein the rail system (2) comprises:

the multi-layer guide rails (3) are arranged at intervals along the vertical direction;

the connecting mechanism (4) is arranged between two adjacent layers of guide rails (3) in the multilayer guide rails (3) and is provided with two groups of first rails (41) with different track gauges, so that when the sorting vehicle (1) passes through the connecting mechanism (4) to move from one layer of guide rails (3) in the two adjacent layers of guide rails (3) to the other layer of guide rails (3), the two groups of wheels (12) respectively pass through the two groups of first rails (41).

2. The material sorting system according to claim 1, wherein the planes in which the two adjacent layers of guide rails (3) respectively lie are parallel to each other, and the connecting mechanism (4) is configured to keep the vehicle body (11) parallel to the planes in which the two adjacent layers of guide rails (3) respectively lie when the sorting vehicle (1) passes through the connecting mechanism (4).

3. The material sorting system according to claim 1, wherein the sorting cart (1) further comprises:

two sets of gears (13) arranged on the vehicle body (11);

wherein the connection mechanism (4) further comprises:

two sets of racks (42) respectively arranged on the two sets of first tracks (41) so as to keep the two sets of gears (13) respectively engaged with the two sets of racks (42) when the sorting vehicle (1) passes through the connecting mechanism (4).

4. The material sorting system according to claim 3, wherein the two sets of gears (13) correspond one-to-one to the two sets of wheels (12), and each set of gears (13) is arranged coaxially with the corresponding set of wheels (12).

5. The material sorting system according to claim 1, characterized in that the difference between the farthest distances of the two sets of first rails (41) of the connecting mechanism (4) in the extending direction of the guide rail (3) relative to the guide rail (3) is equal to the wheel base of the two sets of wheels (12) so as to keep the vehicle body (11) parallel to the plane of the adjacent two sets of guide rails (3) when the sorting vehicle (1) passes through the connecting mechanism (4).

6. The material sorting system according to claim 5, characterized in that, of the two connecting mechanisms (4) respectively arranged at both ends of the same-layer guide rail (3), the farthest distance of the first shorter-gauge track (41a) in one connecting mechanism (4) with respect to the guide rail (3) in the extending direction of the guide rail (3) is greater than the farthest distance of the first longer-gauge track (41b) with respect to the guide rail (3) in the extending direction of the guide rail (3), and the farthest distance of the first shorter-gauge track (41a) in the other connecting mechanism (4) with respect to the guide rail (3) in the extending direction of the guide rail (3) is smaller than the farthest distance of the first longer-gauge track (41b) with respect to the guide rail (3) in the extending direction of the guide rail (3).

7. The material sorting system according to claim 1, characterized in that the orthographic projections of the two sets of first rails (41) in the connecting mechanism (4) on a vertical plane parallel to the extension direction of the guide rail (3) are both U-shaped.

8. The material sorting system according to claim 7, wherein each set of first tracks (41) comprises:

two groups of straight sections (411), wherein the first ends of the straight sections are respectively connected with the two adjacent layers of guide rails (3) and are respectively positioned in the planes of the two adjacent layers of guide rails (3);

and two ends of the group of arc-shaped sections (412) are respectively connected with the second ends of the two groups of straight sections (411).

9. The material sorting system according to claim 8, wherein the curvatures of the arcuate segments (412) in the two sets of first tracks (41) are the same.

10. The material sorting system according to claim 8, characterized in that the sorting cart (1) further comprises:

two sets of gears (13) arranged on the vehicle body (11);

wherein the connection mechanism (4) further comprises:

and two groups of racks (42) which are respectively arranged on the two groups of first tracks (41) and at least comprise arc-shaped rack sections positioned on the arc-shaped sections (412).

11. The material sorting system according to claim 8, wherein the connecting mechanism (4) further comprises:

and a plurality of track change mechanisms provided between the shorter-gauge first rails (41a) and the longer-gauge first rails (41b) of the two sets of first rails (41), configured to pass the wheels (12b) with a longer track gauge through the shorter-gauge first rails (41a), and to support the wheels (12a) with a shorter track gauge through the shorter-gauge first rails (41 a).

12. The material sorting system of claim 11, wherein the orbital transfer mechanism comprises:

the track changing plate (43), one end of the track changing plate (43) is arranged on a straight section (411) of a first track (41b) with a longer track gauge, and the other end of the track changing plate is rotatably connected to the first track (41); and

an elastic element (44), wherein the elastic element (44) is connected with the track transfer plate (43) and is configured to reset the track transfer plate (43) to the plane of the straight section (411) after the track transfer plate (43) enables the wheel (12b) with the longer wheel track to pass through the first track (41a) with the shorter track.

13. The material sorting system according to claim 1, characterized in that both ends of one layer of guide rails (3) of two adjacent layers of guide rails (3) in the plurality of layers of guide rails (3) are connected with both ends of the other layer of guide rails (3) through two connecting mechanisms (4), respectively.

14. The material sorting system according to claim 1, characterized in that both ends of the middle guide rail (3) of the adjacent three layers of guide rails (3) in the multi-layer guide rail (3) are connected with one end of the upper guide rail (3) and one end of the lower guide rail (3) respectively through two connecting mechanisms (4).

15. The material sorting system according to claim 1, wherein the guide rail (3) comprises:

two groups of second tracks (31) with different track gauges, wherein two groups of wheels (12) with different wheel gauges of the sorting vehicle (1) respectively run on the second tracks (31) with corresponding track gauges.

16. The material sorting system according to claim 1, wherein the rail system (2) further comprises:

an electric brush rail (5) arranged in at least one layer of the guide rail (3);

wherein the sorting cart (1) further comprises:

the electric brush piece (14) is arranged at the bottom of the vehicle body (11), and the electric brush piece (14) is electrically connected with the electric brush rail (5) in the moving process so as to supply power to the sorting vehicle (1).

17. The material sorting system of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of sorting positions (6), wherein the sorting positions (6) are arranged on at least one side of each layer of guide rail (3) and are distributed along the extending direction of the guide rail (3).

18. The material sorting system according to claim 17, wherein the sorting cart (1) further comprises:

-a wireless communication device configured to receive an externally input instruction to move the sorting vehicle (1) to a designated sorting location (6) to unload material.

19. A rail system for running sorting vehicles (1), characterized in that it comprises:

the connecting mechanism (4) is arranged between two adjacent layers of guide rails (3) in the multilayer guide rails (3) and is provided with two groups of first rails (41) with different track gauges, so that when the sorting vehicle (1) passes through the connecting mechanism (4) and moves from one layer of guide rails (3) in the two adjacent layers of guide rails (3) to the other layer of guide rails (3), two groups of wheels (12) with different wheel gauges, which are arranged on the sorting vehicle (1), pass through the two groups of first rails (41) respectively.

20. The rail system according to claim 19, characterized in that the planes in which the two adjacent layers of guide rails (3) respectively lie are parallel to each other, and the connecting mechanism (4) is configured to keep the bodies (11) of the sorting carts (1) parallel to the planes in which the two adjacent layers of guide rails (3) respectively lie when the sorting carts (1) pass the connecting mechanism (4).

21. The rail system according to claim 19, wherein the connection mechanism (4) further comprises:

two sets of gear racks (42) are respectively arranged on the two sets of first tracks (41) so as to enable two sets of gears (13) of the sorting vehicle (1) to be respectively meshed with the two sets of gear racks (42) when the sorting vehicle (1) passes through the connecting mechanism (4).

22. The rail system according to claim 19, characterized in that the difference between the two sets of first rails (41) of the connecting mechanism (4) in the direction of extension of the guide rails (3) respectively at the furthest distance from the guide rails (3) is equal to the wheelbase of the two sets of wheels (12) of the sorting cart (1) in order to keep the body (11) of the sorting cart (1) parallel to the plane of the two adjacent sets of guide rails (3) respectively when the sorting cart (1) passes the connecting mechanism (4).

23. A rail system according to claim 22, characterized in that, of the two connecting means (4) respectively arranged at both ends of the rail (3) of the same layer, the first shorter-gauge rail (41a) of one connecting means (4) is arranged at a greater farthest distance in the extension direction of the rail (3) with respect to the rail (3) than the first longer-gauge rail (41b) is arranged at a farthest distance in the extension direction of the rail (3) with respect to the rail (3), and the first shorter-gauge rail (41a) of the other connecting means (4) is arranged at a lesser farthest distance in the extension direction of the rail (3) with respect to the rail (3) than the first longer-gauge rail (41b) is arranged at a farthest distance in the extension direction of the rail (3) with respect to the rail (3).

24. The rail system according to claim 19, characterized in that the orthographic projections of the two sets of first rails (41) in the connection mechanism (4) on a vertical plane parallel to the extension direction of the guide rail (3) are both U-shaped.

25. A rail system according to claim 24, characterized in that each set of first rails (41) comprises:

26. The track system according to claim 25, wherein the curvature of the arcuate segments (412) in the two sets of first tracks (41) is the same.

27. The rail system according to claim 25, wherein the connection mechanism (4) further comprises:

two sets of racks (42) are respectively arranged on the two sets of first tracks (41) and at least comprise arc-shaped rack sections positioned on the arc-shaped sections (412).

28. The rail system according to claim 25, wherein the connection mechanism (4) further comprises:

and a plurality of track changing mechanisms which are arranged between the first track (41a) with the shorter track pitch and the first track (41b) with the longer track pitch in the two groups of first tracks (41), are configured to enable the wheels (12b) with the longer track pitch of the sorting vehicle (1) to pass through the first track (41a) with the shorter track pitch, and support the wheels (12a) with the shorter track pitch of the sorting vehicle (1) to pass through the first track (41a) with the shorter track pitch.

29. The track system of claim 28, wherein the track transfer mechanism comprises:

an elastic element (44), wherein the elastic element (44) is connected with the track transfer plate (43) and is configured to reset the track transfer plate (43) to the plane of the straight section (411) after the track transfer plate (43) enables the wheel (12b) with longer wheel track of the sorting vehicle (1) to pass through the first track (41a) with shorter track of the sorting vehicle (1).

30. The rail system according to claim 19, characterized in that the two ends of one layer of guide rail (3) of the two adjacent layers of guide rails (3) in the plurality of layers of guide rails (3) are respectively connected with the two ends of the other layer of guide rail (3) through two connecting mechanisms (4).

31. The track system according to claim 19, characterized in that the two ends of the middle rail (3) of the adjacent three rails (3) of the multi-layer rails (3) are connected to one end of the upper rail (3) and one end of the lower rail (3) by two connecting mechanisms (4), respectively.

32. The rail system according to claim 19, characterized in that the guide rail (3) comprises two sets of second rails (31) with different track gauges, so that the sorting cart (1) has two sets of wheels (12) with different wheel gauges running on the second rails (31) with corresponding track gauges, respectively.

33. The track system of claim 19, further comprising:

and the electric brush rail (5) is arranged in at least one layer of the guide rail (3) and is configured to be electrically connected with an electric brush piece arranged at the bottom of a vehicle body (11) of the sorting vehicle (1) in a relative movement process so as to realize the power supply of the sorting vehicle (1).

34. A sorting vehicle for operating on a track system as claimed in any one of claims 19 to 33, comprising:

a vehicle body (11); and

two sets of wheels (12) are arranged on the vehicle body (11), the wheel tracks of the two sets of wheels (12) are different, and the two sets of wheels (12) are configured to respectively pass through the two sets of first tracks (41) when the sorting vehicle (1) moves from one layer of guide rail (3) to the other layer of guide rail (3) in the two adjacent layers of guide rails (3) through the connecting mechanism (4).

35. The sorting vehicle of claim 34, further comprising:

two sets of gears (13) disposed on the vehicle body (11) and configured to maintain engagement with two sets of racks (42) respectively disposed on the two sets of first rails (41) when the sorting vehicle (1) passes the connecting mechanism (4).

36. Sorting vehicle according to claim 35, characterised in that the two sets of gear wheels (13) correspond one-to-one to the two sets of wheels (12), and that each set of gear wheels (13) is arranged coaxially to the corresponding set of wheels (12).

37. The sorting vehicle of claim 34, further comprising:

a brush blade (14) arranged at the bottom of the vehicle body (11) and configured to be electrically connected with the brush rail (5) when moving relative to the brush rail (5) arranged in at least one layer of the guide rail (3) so as to supply power to the sorting vehicle (1).

38. The sorting vehicle of claim 34, further comprising:

-a wireless communication device configured to receive externally inputted instructions to move the sorting cart (1) to a designated sorting location of a plurality of sorting locations (6) arranged on at least one side of each level of the guideway (3) and distributed along the extension direction of the guideway (3) to unload the material.