BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to a conveying system for shock-sensitive items, in particular eggs.

In detail, the present invention refers to a conveying system for shock-sensitive items, in particular eggs, which comprises a plurality of conveying devices and in which the items are transferred from one conveying device to another one.

Poultry facilities for laying hens are known inside which hens are housed in cages arranged in parallel rows and stacked on top of each other on a plurality of levels. The eggs laid by the hens are taken from the laying nests provided in the cages and conveyed to one end of the rows of cages by means of longitudinal conveyor belts extending along the rows of cages on each level.

From the longitudinal conveyor belts, eggs are transferred to a transfer device which comprises a conveyor belt on which a plurality of individual seats are secured and arranged aligned to one another, each seat being suitable for receiving a respective egg. The conveyor belt is designed so as to comprise an upwardly moving section and a downwardly moving section, connected to each other by a deflection element. The eggs coming from the longitudinal conveyor belts arranged along the rows of cages are transferred to the conveyor belt of the transfer device at its upwardly moving section (each egg being received in a corresponding individual seat) and are carried upwards, up to the deflection element; subsequently, the eggs—always contained in their respective individual seats—advance along the downwardly moving section of the conveyor belt of the transfer device, and from there they are further transferred to a transverse conveying line that carries the eggs to the subsequent treatment steps to which they have to be subjected for their packaging.

A conveying system of the type illustrated above is disclosed for example in documents FR 2030824 and NL8002232.

A similar conveying system is also shown in international patent application WO 2019/048949 in the name of the Applicant.

It is evident that eggs—due to their fragile nature—are likely to be damaged while being conveyed from the laying nests to the transverse conveying line which takes them out to the subsequent treatment steps to which they have to be subjected for their packaging.

In order to reduce or suppress the risk of damaging eggs when transferring them from the longitudinal conveyor belts arranged along the rows of cages to the seats of the transfer device, WO 2019/048949 discloses a conveying system in which the forward movement of the longitudinal conveyor belts is a movement at variable speed, namely an alternately accelerated and decelerated movement, so that eggs carried by the longitudinal conveyor belts are transferred to the seats of the transfer device when the forward speed of the longitudinal conveyor belts is at its minimum, thus minimizing the risk of shocks and consequent damages to the transferred eggs.

In order for the solution described in WO 2019/048949 to be implemented effectively, it is necessary that the forward movement of the longitudinal conveyor belts and the movement of the transfer device are correctly synchronized to each other.

The main object of the present invention is therefore to provide a conveying system for eggs (and more generally for shock-sensitive items) suitable for guaranteeing that eggs (and more generally shock-sensitive items) are transferred from a conveying device oriented in a substantially horizontal direction to an adjacent conveying device oriented in a substantially vertical direction wherein the conveying devices advance in a synchronized manner, so as to ensure that the transfer takes place in the smoothest possible way and without risk of damages.

This and other objects are achieved by the conveying system as claimed in the appended claims.

SUMMARY

The conveying system according to the invention comprises a first conveying device or conveying device with a substantially horizontal orientation and a second conveying device or conveying device with a substantially vertical orientation, which conveying devices are arranged adjacent to each other so that items can be transferred from the first conveying device to the second conveying device.

In order to synchronize the movement of the conveying devices and optimize the transfer of items, the conveying system according to the invention is equipped with a motion transmission assembly arranged between the first and the second conveying devices and comprising:a first shaft or driving shaft, which receives motion from one of the conveying devices;a second shaft or driven shaft, mounted on the other one of the conveying devices;a first pinion mounted on the first shaft or driving shaft;a second pinion mounted on the second shaft or driven shaft;a transmission chain mounted between the first pinion and the second pinion, so as to transfer motion from the driving shaft to the driven shaft and, consequently, from the one of the conveying devices to the other one of the conveying devices;

wherein:the first shaft or driving shaft has a polygonal cross-section;the second shaft or driven shaft has a polygonal cross-section, having a number of sides equal to the number of sides of the polygonal cross-section of the first shaft or driving shaft;the first pinion has a number of teeth equal to the number of sides of the polygonal cross-section of the first shaft or driving shaft;the second pinion has a number of teeth equal to the number of teeth of the first pinion or to a multiple thereof.

Thanks to the geometry of the motion transmission assembly described above, synchronization of the first and second conveying devices can be effectively guaranteed.

This synchronization is guaranteed regardless of the orientation of the pinions during installation.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the motion is transmitted from the second conveying device to the first conveying device. Correspondingly, the first shaft or driving shaft receives motion from the second conveying device and transfers it to the second shaft or driven shaft which is mounted on the first conveying device.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the motion transmission assembly comprises a motion transmission element which is configured so as to transform a motion at constant speed of the second conveying device into an alternately accelerated and decelerated motion of the first conveying device.

The motion transmission element preferably consists of a cam wheel, mounted on the driving shaft and comprising a number of arms equal to the number of sides of the polygonal cross-section of the driving shaft. Thanks to the presence of the cam profiles of the cam wheel, the motion at constant speed of the second conveying device transmitted to the cam wheel is transformed by this cam wheel into an alternately accelerated and decelerated motion which is transmitted to the first conveying device.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the second conveying device carries a plurality of seats for the items to be transported, and items are transferred from the first conveying device to a corresponding seat of the second conveying device.

According to this embodiment:if the number of teeth of the second pinion is equal to the number of teeth of the first pinion, the transfer of the items takes place in all the seat consecutively arranged on the second conveying device;if the number of teeth of the second pinion is equal to twice the number of teeth of the second pinion, the transfer of the articles takes place in alternate seats.

In a preferred and non-limiting embodiment of the invention:the first shaft or driving shaft has a square cross-section;the second shaft or driven shaft has a square cross-section;the first pinion has four teeth;the second pinion has four teeth or eight teeth.

