Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of transfer systems with a pushing device for the transfer of piece objects onto a conveyor, as well as to the field of methods for the transfer of piece objects onto a conveyor by a pushing device.
Description of Related Art
Amongst other things, conveyors are used for conveying piece objects. The transfer of piece objects onto the conveyor in order to convey them with the conveyor over a predefined stretch is a commonly known procedure. Various devices and systems already exist for this. Pushing procedures and pushing devices for the transfer onto the conveyor are widespread in the case that the piece object is connected to the conveyor essentially by way of static friction and thus by way of a pressing force upon the conveyor. Here, pushers are used and these transfer the piece object onto the conveyor by way of the piece object being pushed onto the conveying surface of the conveyor. Such a transfer system is known for example from EP 0 391 301 A1.
With each pushing procedure, the known pushers are at risk of pushing the piece object which is to be transferred to the conveyor, into a piece object, which is already located on the conveyor. These pushers, after they have transferred the piece objects onto the container and are to be moved out of a conveying region of the conveyor again, can also collide with piece objects, which are located on the conveyor. Here, the piece object, the pushing device, the conveyor and/or other parts of the transfer system or parts of devices surrounding the transfer system can become damaged. The conveying by the conveyor can be disrupted or even prevented.
With known pushers, the piece object must mostly be pushed between piece objects, which are already located on the conveyor. For this, the conveyor must be moved accordingly slowly or possibly even temporarily braked and/or distances between piece objects on the conveyor need to be selected in a suitably large manner. The utilisation and conveying capacity of the conveyor can therefore be reduced. Moreover, the conveyor and the pushers need to be controlled and monitored in a precise manner. This is cumbersome, complicated and technically difficult.