阅读说明：本技术 壳状牙科器械的分拣系统 (Shell-like dental instrument sorting system ) 是由 梁晓辉 于 2018-07-03 设计创作，主要内容包括：本申请的一方面提供了一种壳状牙科器械分拣系统,包括：闭合传送带,用于在各模块之间传送载具,其中,载具用于承载壳状牙科器械；上料模块,设置于所述闭合传送带的沿线,用于往所述闭合传送带传送至上料模块的空载具上装载待分拣的壳状牙科器械；以及至少两个缓存模块,设置于所述闭合传送带的沿线,每一缓存模块设有多个缓存仓,用于缓存预先分配给它们的壳状牙科器械。(One aspect of the present application provides a shell-like dental instrument sorting system comprising: a closed conveyor for conveying carriers between the modules, wherein the carriers are for carrying shell-like dental instruments; the feeding module is arranged along the line of the closed conveying belt and used for loading shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted on the idle tool which is used for conveying the closed conveying belt to the feeding module; and at least two buffer modules arranged along the closed conveying belt, wherein each buffer module is provided with a plurality of buffer bins for buffering shell-shaped dental instruments pre-distributed to the buffer bins.)

1. A shell-like dental instrument sorting system comprising:

a closed conveyor for conveying carriers between modules along the conveyor, wherein the carriers are used for carrying shell-shaped dental instruments;

the feeding module is arranged along the line of the closed conveying belt and used for loading shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted on the idle tool which is used for conveying the closed conveying belt to the feeding module; and

at least two buffer modules arranged along the closed conveying belt, wherein each buffer module is provided with a plurality of buffer bins for buffering shell-shaped dental instruments pre-distributed to the buffer bins.

2. A shell-like dental instrument sorting system according to claim 1, wherein each of the buffer bins is adapted to buffer a set of shell-like dental instruments pre-assigned to it.

3. A shell dental instrument sorting system as in claim 2, wherein the shell dental instruments are grouped by customer.

4. A shell-like dental instrument sorting system according to claim 1, wherein the loading module comprises a loading conveyor to which empty carriers delivered to the loading module by the closing conveyor are transferred for loading operation.

5. A shell-like dental instrument sorting system according to claim 4, wherein the feeding conveyor belt is substantially parallel to a section of the closed conveyor belt corresponding thereto.

6. A shell-like dental instrument sorting system according to claim 4, wherein the loading module further comprises a first carrier transferring device, an image capturing device, and a first carrier information reading/writing device, wherein the image acquisition device and the first carrier information read-write device are arranged along the feeding conveyor belt, the image acquisition device is used for acquiring the image of the shell-shaped dental instrument to be sorted carried by the carrier so as to extract the identity information of the shell-shaped dental instrument, the first carrier information read-write device is used for writing the extracted identity information of the shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted into the carrier for bearing the same, the first carrier transfer device is used for transferring the empty carrier transferred to the loading module by the closed conveyor belt to the loading conveyor belt, and transferring the carrier carrying the shell-shaped dental instrument and recording the identity information of the shell-shaped dental instrument to the closed conveyor belt.

7. A shell-like dental instrument sorting system according to claim 6, wherein the first carrier information reading and writing device is an RFID device.

8. A shell-like dental instrument sorting system according to claim 1, wherein the buffer module comprises a buffer conveyor to which carriers carrying shell-like dental instruments to be sorted, which are brought to the buffer module by the closed conveyor, are transferred for a buffer operation.

9. A shell-like dental instrument sorting system according to claim 8, wherein the buffer carousel is substantially parallel to a corresponding segment of the closed carousel.

10. A shell-like dental instrument sorting system according to claim 8, wherein the cache module further comprises a first carrier information reading device, a second carrier transferring device, and a shell-like dental instrument grasping device, wherein the first carrier information reading device is used for reading the information in the carrier transmitted to the cache module by the closed conveyor belt, so as to judge whether the shell-shaped dental instruments carried on the carrier are allocated to the cache module or not, the shell-shaped dental instrument grabbing device is used for grabbing the shell-shaped dental instruments on the carrier on the cache conveyor belt to the corresponding cache bins, the second carrier transfer device is used for transferring the carriers transferred to the buffer module by the closed conveyor belt to the buffer conveyor belt for buffer operation and transferring the empty carriers on the buffer conveyor belt to the closed conveyor belt.

11. A shell-like dental instrument sorting system as recited in claim 10, wherein the first carrier reading device is an RFID device.

12. A shell-like dental instrument sorting system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least two buffer modules is provided with an error buffer bin for buffering unrecorded shell-like dental instruments.

13. A shell-like dental instrument sorting system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least two buffer modules is provided with an overflow buffer bin for buffering shell-like dental instruments belonging to a group of temporarily unallocated buffer bins.

14. A shell-like dental instrument sorting system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least two cache modules is provided with a non-identifiable cache bin for caching shell-like dental instruments for which identity information is not identifiable.

15. A shell-like dental instrument sorting method comprising:

transferring an empty first carrier which is sent to a feeding module by a closed conveyor belt to the feeding conveyor belt of the feeding module which is positioned along the closed conveyor belt, then loading shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted on the first carrier, writing the identity information of the shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted into the first carrier, and then transferring the first carrier to the closed conveyor belt;

if the shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted are distributed to a first cache module in a plurality of cache modules located along the closed conveyor belt, transferring the first carrier loaded with the shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted, which is sent to the first cache module, to the cache conveyor belt of the first cache module, then grabbing the shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted to the corresponding cache bin of the first cache module for caching, and then transferring the empty first carrier to the closed conveyor belt; and

if the corresponding group of shell-shaped dental instruments cached in one cache bin in the first cache module is already assembled, transferring the shell-shaped dental instruments in the cache bin to other places for subsequent processing.

Technical Field

The present application relates generally to a sorting system for shell-like dental instruments.

Background

Shell-like dental instruments (e.g., shell appliances and retainers) based on polymeric materials are becoming increasingly popular because of their aesthetic, convenience, and cleaning benefits. In the case of shell appliances, repositioning a patient's teeth from an original arrangement to a desired arrangement typically requires a number of successive shell appliances, e.g., tens or even hundreds of shell appliances. This creates a large demand for shell-like dental instruments and also presents a great challenge to the production of shell-like dental instruments.

To maximize production efficiency, shell dental appliances of different patients/users may be produced in a mixed manner, which requires that the mixed shell dental appliances be sorted by patient/user prior to packaging. Accordingly, there is a need to provide an efficient sorting system.

Disclosure of Invention

One aspect of the present application provides a shell-like dental instrument sorting system comprising: a closed conveyor for conveying carriers between modules along the conveyor, wherein the carriers are used for carrying shell-shaped dental instruments; the feeding module is arranged along the line of the closed conveying belt and used for loading shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted on the idle tool which is used for conveying the closed conveying belt to the feeding module; and at least two buffer modules arranged along the closed conveying belt, wherein each buffer module is provided with a plurality of buffer bins for buffering shell-shaped dental instruments pre-distributed to the buffer bins.

In some embodiments, each of the cache bins is for caching a set of shell-like dental instruments pre-assigned to it.

In some embodiments, the shell-like dental instruments are grouped by customer.

In some embodiments, the loading module comprises a loading conveyor to which empty vehicles delivered to the loading module by the closing conveyor are transferred for loading operations.

In some embodiments, the infeed conveyor belt and the corresponding segment of the closed conveyor belt are substantially parallel.

In some embodiments, the loading module further includes a first carrier transferring device, an image collecting device, and a first carrier information reading and writing device, where the image collecting device and the first carrier information reading and writing device are disposed along the loading conveyor, the image collecting device is configured to collect an image of a shell-shaped dental instrument to be sorted carried by a carrier to extract identity information of the shell-shaped dental instrument, the first carrier information reading and writing device is configured to write the extracted identity information of the shell-shaped dental instrument to be sorted into the carrier carrying the shell-shaped dental instrument, the first carrier transferring device is configured to transfer an empty carrier, which carries the shell-shaped dental instrument and records the identity information of the shell-shaped dental instrument, to the loading conveyor, and transfer the carrier, which carries the shell-shaped dental instrument and records the identity information of the shell-shaped dental instrument, to the closing conveyor.

In some embodiments, the first vehicle information reading/writing device is an RFID device.

In some embodiments, the buffer module comprises a buffer conveyor to which carriers carrying shell-like dental instruments to be sorted, which are brought to the buffer module by the closed conveyor, are transferred for a buffer operation.

In some embodiments, the buffer carousel is substantially parallel to a segment of the closed carousel corresponding thereto.

In some embodiments, the buffer module further includes a first carrier information reading device, a second carrier transferring device, and a shell-shaped dental instrument grabbing device, wherein the first carrier information reading device is configured to read information in the carriers transferred to the buffer module by the closed conveyor to determine whether the shell-shaped dental instruments carried on the carriers are allocated to the buffer module, the shell-shaped dental instrument grabbing device is configured to grab the shell-shaped dental instruments on the carriers on the buffer conveyor to the corresponding buffer bin, and the second carrier transferring device is configured to transfer the carriers transferred to the buffer module by the closed conveyor to the buffer conveyor for buffer operation, and transfer empty carriers on the buffer conveyor to the closed conveyor.

In some embodiments, the first vehicle reading device is an RFID device.

In some embodiments, at least one of the at least two cache modules is provided with an error cache bin for caching unrecorded shell-like dental instruments.

In some embodiments, at least one of the at least two buffer modules is provided with an overflow buffer bin for buffering shell-like dental instruments belonging to a group of temporarily unallocated buffer bins.

In some embodiments, at least one of the at least two cache modules is provided with a non-identifiable cache cartridge for caching shell-like dental instruments whose identity information cannot be identified.

Yet another aspect of the present application provides a shell-like dental instrument sorting method, including: transferring an empty first carrier which is sent to a feeding module by a closed conveyor belt to the feeding conveyor belt of the feeding module which is positioned along the closed conveyor belt, then loading shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted on the first carrier, writing the identity information of the shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted into the first carrier, and then transferring the first carrier to the closed conveyor belt; if the shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted are distributed to a first cache module in a plurality of cache modules located along the closed conveyor belt, transferring the first carrier loaded with the shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted, which is sent to the first cache module, to the cache conveyor belt of the first cache module, then grabbing the shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted to the corresponding cache bin of the first cache module for caching, and then transferring the empty first carrier to the closed conveyor belt; and if the corresponding group of shell-shaped dental instruments cached in one cache bin in the first cache module is already assembled, transferring the shell-shaped dental instruments in the cache bin to other places for subsequent processing.

Drawings

The above and other features of the present application will be further explained with reference to the accompanying drawings and detailed description thereof. It is appreciated that these drawings depict only several exemplary embodiments in accordance with the disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. The drawings are not necessarily to scale and wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts, unless otherwise specified.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a shell-like dental instrument sorting system in one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of a loading module in one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of a cache module in one embodiment of the present application; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic side perspective view of a cache module in one embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification. The exemplary embodiments mentioned in the description and the drawings are only for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application. Those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that many other embodiments can be devised which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present application. It should be understood that the aspects of the present application, as described and illustrated herein, may be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which are within the scope of the present application.

Currently, the more common shell-like dental instrument manufacturing process is a hot-press film forming process. In the process, a film is pressed on a dental model by a heated high polymer material film to form a corresponding female die, and then the dental appliance is cut and polished to obtain a shell-shaped finished product.

The purpose of the grinding is to passivate the edges of the shell-like dental instrument so that it is less prone to cause trauma to the user. Currently, a more common shell-shaped dental instrument grinding mode is three-dimensional vibration polishing, and in order to improve efficiency, hundreds of shell-shaped dental instruments can be ground in one batch. Many users' shell appliances and holders may be included in the hundreds of shell dental appliances. Therefore, it is necessary to sort these shell-like dental instruments by user before packaging and delivery.

The shell appliance is a one-piece shell that forms a cavity that receives a plurality of teeth and has a geometry that repositions the teeth from a current configuration to a next configuration. The shell-like retainer is also an integral shell that defines a cavity for receiving a plurality of teeth, typically having a geometry that substantially conforms to the configuration of the teeth to be retained.

After a great deal of research and development work, the inventor of the present application has developed an efficient shell-like dental instrument sorting system.

Referring to fig. 1, a shell-like dental instrument sorting system 100 in one embodiment of the present application is schematically illustrated.

The shell-like dental instrument sorting system 100 includes a computer (not shown), a closed conveyor 101, a loading module 103, buffer modules 105 a-105 e, a carrier 107, rails 109 a-109 c, truss robots 111 a-111 c, a transfer cart 113 (see fig. 4), a collection box 115, and a conveyor 117.

The computer is used to control the shell dental appliance sorting system 100 to automatically sort the shell dental appliances.

A closed conveyor belt (also referred to as a carousel) 101 is used to transport the carriers 107 between the various functional areas. The closed conveyor belt can circulate without the need to collect carriers at the end and reload to the head end like an open conveyor belt, thus simplifying the system and process.

In one embodiment, the closed conveyor belt 101 is endless. It will be appreciated that the shape of the closed conveyor belt may be determined according to specific requirements and space conditions, and any suitable shape may be used.

In one embodiment, the spacing between the locations on the endless conveyor 101 for placement of the carriers 107 may be fixed for pipelining. In one embodiment, the operation of the closed conveyor 101 may be stepwise, for example, each time the conveyor is moved by a distance equal to the distance between the carriers, and the conveyor may stop for a predetermined time interval after completing one movement to wait for the operation of the loading module 103 and the buffer modules 105 a-105 e.

Fig. 2 is a schematic side view of a loading module 103 in one embodiment of the present application. The feeding module 103 is used to feed the shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted into the closed conveyor belt 101 for sorting. Referring to fig. 1 and 2, the feeding module 103 includes a conveyor 1031, robot arms 1033 and 1035, an image capturing device 1037, and a vehicle information reading/writing device 1039.

In one embodiment, the spacing between the locations on the transfer belt 1031 for placement of the carriers 107 may be fixed for pipelining. For example, after one station completes the operation on the carrier 107, the transfer belt 1031 may travel an equal distance from the fixed spacing to transfer the carrier 107 to the next station.

In one embodiment, the transfer belt 1031 is conveyed in the a direction. Under computer control, the robot 1033 transfers the empty carrier 107 from the closed belt 101 to an end of the belt 1031 adjacent the robot 1033. At this time, the worker may manually place the shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted on the empty carriers 107, or the computer may control an automatic feeding device (not shown) to automatically place the shell-shaped dental instruments to be sorted on the empty carriers 107.

When the carrier 107 carrying the shell-shaped dental instrument is transferred to the lower side of the image capturing device 1037, the computer controls the image capturing device 1037 to capture an image of the shell-shaped dental instrument, and extracts an identification of the shell-shaped dental instrument based on the captured image, and according to the identification, unique identification information corresponding to the identification can be found in the database, for example, which patient the shell-shaped dental instrument belongs to and which step of the orthodontic process the shell-shaped dental instrument belongs to. The identification carried on the shell-shaped dental appliance can be in the forms of characters, codes, bar codes or two-dimensional codes and the like. In one embodiment, the identification may be laser-etched on the shell-like dental instrument. In one embodiment, image capture device 1037 may be a digital camera.

When the carrier 107 carrying the shell-shaped dental instrument is transferred to the carrier information read-write device 1039, the computer controls the carrier information read-write device 1039 to write the extracted identification mark into the carrier 107. In one embodiment, the carrier information reader/writer 1039 may be an RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) reader/writer, and the carrier 107 has an RFID chip mounted thereon, which can be used for storing the Identification of the shell-shaped dental instrument. It will be appreciated that vehicle information reader 1039 is not limited to RFID devices and may be any suitable information reader, including contact and wireless.

After the carrier 107 is written to the shell-like dental tool identifier, the computer controlled robot 1035 transfers the carrier 107 to the closed conveyor 101 for the buffer modules 105 a-105 e to sort and buffer. The cache modules 105a to 105e are similar, and only the cache module 105a will be described in detail below, and the description of the other cache modules will not be repeated.

Fig. 3 is a schematic top view of the buffer module 105a, and fig. 4 is a schematic side perspective view of the buffer module 105 a.

Referring to fig. 3 and 4, the buffer module 105a includes a conveyor 1051a, manipulators 1052a and 1053a, manipulator 1054a, buffer platforms 1055a and 1057a, and a carrier information reader 1059 a.

In one embodiment, the direction of travel of the conveyor 1051a coincides with the direction of travel of the corresponding segment of the closed conveyor 101. In one embodiment, the conveyor 1051a is substantially parallel to the corresponding segment of the closed conveyor 101.

In one embodiment, the buffer module 105a may be provided with manipulators 1052a and 1053a near the ends of the conveyor 1051a for transferring carriers 107 from the endless conveyor 101 to the conveyor 1051a and from the conveyor 1051a to the endless conveyor 101, respectively.

In one embodiment, shell dental appliance sorting system 100 may sort shell dental appliances by patient. When the loading module 103 brings the carrier 107 carrying shell-shaped dental appliances belonging to a new patient onto the closed conveyor 101, the computer allocates a buffer module to the patient, from which all the shell-shaped dental appliances belonging to the patient are buffered.

In one embodiment, a carrier information reader 115a may be disposed below the closed belt 101 near the robot 1052 a. When a carrier 107 is sent to the vicinity of the cache module 105a, the carrier information read/write device 115a reads the information stored by the carrier 107 and sends the information to the computer. If the information stored by the carrier 107 indicates that the shell-like dental instruments it carries are assigned to the buffer module 105a, the computer controlled robot 1052a transfers the carrier 107 from the closed carousel 101 to the carousel 1051 a; if the information stored in the carrier 107 indicates that it is an empty carrier, or that the shell-like dental instrument it carries is assigned to another cache module, then the cache module 1051a does not operate the carrier.

The cache module 105a includes two cache platforms 1055a and 1057 a. It will be appreciated that the number of cache platforms per cache module may be increased or decreased depending on the particular design and circumstances, as taught by the present application. The cache platform 1055a includes a plurality of cache bins 1056a, and the cache platform 1057a includes a plurality of cache bins 1058 a. In one embodiment, each cache cartridge is used to cache shell-like dental instruments of the same patient. In some cases, a single patient may have an excessive number of shell-like dental instruments and one buffer bin may not accommodate all of the shell-like dental instruments of the patient, at which point two or more buffer bins may be allocated to the patient. Shell-like dental instruments assigned to the same cache cartridge may be referred to as a set of shell-like dental instruments.

After a carrier 107 is transferred from the closed conveyor 101 to the conveyor 1051a, the computer controls the manipulator 1054a to transfer the shell-like dental instruments on the carrier 107 to the cache bins allocated to the respective patient based on the information read from the carrier 107.

The carrier information read/write device 1059a may be disposed below the conveyor 1051a at a position close to the robot 1053 a. When an empty carrier 107 is transferred above the carrier information read/write device 1059a, the computer controls the carrier information read/write device 1059a to rewrite the information of the empty carrier 107 to "empty". The computer then controls the robot 1053a to transfer the empty carrier 107 from the conveyor 1051a to the closed conveyor 101.

In one embodiment, for each allocated cache bin, there is a list in the computer that records the identity of the shell-like dental instruments that should be cached in that cache bin and which of the shell-like dental instruments have been cached in that cache bin. Each time a shell dental instrument is placed in the cache cartridge, the computer determines whether all shell dental instruments on the list have been cached in the cache cartridge. If yes, the computer controls to open the door at the bottom of the buffer bin, and the shell-shaped dental instruments in the buffer bin slide into the collection box 115 along the funnel-shaped channel at the bottom of the buffer platform where the shell-shaped dental instruments are located; then, the computer controls the cart 113 carrying the collection box 115 to travel along the rail 109a to one end thereof; then, the truss robot 111a grasps the collection box 115 to the conveyor belt 117, and conveys it to a corresponding place for subsequent processing; finally, the truss robot 111a grabs an empty collection box and places it on the cart 113 to collect the next complete set of shell-like dental instruments.

Referring again to FIG. 1, in one embodiment, the two cache platforms 1056a and 1058a of the cache module 105a are both located above the track 109a and share the same cart 113. The 4 cache platforms of cache modules 105b and 105c are located above track 109b, sharing the same cart. The 4 cache platforms of cache modules 105d and 105e are located above track 109c, sharing the same cart. In one embodiment, the corresponding rails 109a to 109c are provided with truss robots 111a to 111c, respectively, for gripping the cassettes 115 carried on the carts 113 running on the respective rails to the conveyor belt and for gripping empty cassettes and replacing the carts 113 with the empty cassettes. In yet another embodiment, the rails 109 a-109 c may share the same truss robot.

In one embodiment, the cart 113 carrying the collection cassette 115 is free to move, without the need for rails, to a desired position as desired by computer control based positioning.

In one embodiment, several cache bins may be selected in the cache modules 105 a-105 e as overflow cache bins, error cache bins, and unrecognizable cache bins. When the computer can not extract the identity information of the shell-shaped dental instrument based on the image of the shell-shaped dental instrument acquired by the image acquisition device 1037, the shell-shaped dental instrument can be cached to the unrecognizable cache bin, and then manual identification and identity information input can be concentrated, so that the efficiency is improved. When the identity information of the shell-shaped dental instrument extracted by the computer is not in the system, the shell-shaped dental instrument can be temporarily stored in the error cache bin. When all buffer bins are allocated/occupied, then one of the bins belonging to a new set of shell-like dental instruments can be buffered in an overflow buffer bin and re-sorted after the other buffer bins have been emptied.

The feeding module 103 and the buffer modules 105a to 105e are distributed at different positions of the closed conveying belt 101, so that the overall efficiency of the sorting system can be improved, and the sorting system is suitable for large-scale production.

The feeding module 103 and the buffer modules 105a to 105e are provided with respective conveyor belt branches, which is beneficial to reducing blockage caused by local problems and improving the overall efficiency of the sorting system.

In one embodiment, all the conveyor belts are operated in a stepping mode, and the positions of the carriers loaded on the conveyor belts can be fixed, so that the computer can record the positions and states of all the carriers, and a carrier information reading and writing device is not needed.

While various aspects and embodiments of the disclosure are disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to be limiting. The scope and spirit of the application are to be determined only by the claims appended hereto.

Likewise, the various diagrams may illustrate an exemplary architecture or other configuration of the disclosed methods and systems that is useful for understanding the features and functionality that may be included in the disclosed methods and systems. The claimed subject matter is not limited to the exemplary architectures or configurations shown, but rather, the desired features can be implemented using a variety of alternative architectures and configurations. In addition, to the extent that flow diagrams, functional descriptions, and method claims do not follow, the order in which the blocks are presented should not be limited to the various embodiments which perform the recited functions in the same order, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, the terms and phrases used herein, and variations thereof, are to be construed as open-ended as opposed to limiting. In some instances, the presence of an extensible term or phrases such as "one or more," "at least," "but not limited to," or other similar terms should not be construed as intended or required to imply a narrowing in instances where such extensible terms may not be present.