Fully Automated Bag Palletizing System: Integrated Robotic Solution

2yrs + staff 1000+m² US$300,000,000+ China

I. Solution Overview

This solution aims to provide a highly efficient, fully automated transfer system for bagged items. Traditional manual operations or semi-automated robotic methods suffer from issues such as low efficiency, high labor requirements, numerous safety hazards, and high management costs. By integrating innovative conveyor lines and intelligent robot technology, this solution designs a seamlessly connected system composed of "Bag Tipping - Flattening - Deceleration Stopping - Queuing for Palletizing - Robot Gripping" stages. It ultimately achieves fully automated and intelligent transfer of bagged items from the packaging outlet to the designated stacking point, significantly enhancing production efficiency and safety.

II. Technical Background & Design Objectives

Technical Background & Existing Problems

Currently, the transfer process for bagged items in many factories still heavily relies on manual labor or semi-automated equipment with inherent flaws. The traditional process typically requires workers to carry sealed bags onto a conveyor, and then workers or robots unload and stack them at the destination. This approach has the following core deficiencies:

Low Automation Degree: Key stages still require manual intervention, preventing full-process automation.
Unified Positioning & Posture Lacking: Bags are placed on the conveyor at random angles, prone to deviation, making precise grasping by subsequent robots difficult and resulting in messy stacking.
Uneven Item Morphology: Uneven material distribution inside filled bags makes direct stacking prone to collapse. To ensure stability, manual arranging is often required at key stations, increasing labor costs and management difficulty.
Safety & Efficiency Risks: Manual work near conveyors and robotic arms poses safety risks. Furthermore, production cycle times are unstable, making it difficult to improve overall efficiency.

Design Objectives

To address the above pain points, the design objectives of this solution are as follows:

High Automation: Create a rationally structured, fully automated transfer system requiring no direct manual operation.
Precise Positioning & Posture Control: Ensure bags arrive at the picking point with a uniform, stable posture and position, laying the foundation for precise robot operation.
Enhance Efficiency & Safety: Significantly improve transfer efficiency through optimized processes and coordinated control, and completely remove personnel from hazardous work environments.
Reduce Comprehensive Costs: Drastically reduce labor requirements, thereby lowering direct labor costs and subsequent management costs.

III. System Structure & Key Components

The system adopts a modular design, with components connected sequentially to form a complete closed-loop workflow.

Overall Layout: The system sequentially consists of a Bag Tipping Conveyor, Flattening Conveyor, Deceleration Stopping Conveyor, and Queuing-for-Palletizing Conveyor. A high-performance industrial robot (robotic arm) is configured at the end of the Queuing-for-Palletizing Conveyor. The process path is: Bag Tipping Conveyor → Flattening Conveyor → Deceleration Stopping Conveyor → Queuing-for-Palletizing Conveyor → Robot Gripping & Stacking.
Component Details:

Bag Tipping Conveyor

Function: Receives upright bagged items from the packaging/sealing mechanism and completes their posture change from "upright" to "lying flat."
Key Components:

Adjustable Baffle: Installed above the conveyor, set at a preferred 60° angle to the belt surface, height-adjustable, used to contact and guide the bags to tip over.
Support Plate: Located on the side, works with the baffle to receive the tipped bags.
Guide Rollers: Located at the rear of the baffle, assist in adjusting bag direction, ensuring smooth entry into the next stage.

Flattening Conveyor

Function: Rolls the bags to redistribute the internal material, making it even, preventing local bulges, and preparing them for stable stacking.
Key Components & Features:

Square Transmission Rolls: Unique design causes the bags to roll during conveyance, promoting even material distribution and reducing slippage.
Adjustable Guide Edges: Height-adjustable edges on both sides of the conveyor effectively prevent bag deviation.
Low-Speed Operation: Controlled by an independent frequency conversion motor, its speed is significantly lower than the Tipping Conveyor, ensuring sufficient time for flattening.

Deceleration Stopping Conveyor

Function: Buffers and reduces bag transport speed, stabilizes the conveyance cycle, and creates a stable waiting state for robot picking.
Key Components: Also equipped with adjustable guide edges on both sides to prevent deviation.

Queuing-for-Palletizing Conveyor

Function: Serves as the robot's "feeding table," accurately transporting pre-processed bags to the picking station.
Key Components: Equipped with adjustable guide edges to ensure precise centering. Its end connects to the industrial robot.

Industrial Robot (Robotic Arm)

Function: Positioned at the end of the Queuing Conveyor. Uses a custom end-effector (e.g., vacuum suction cups or mechanical grippers) to reliably grip bags and accurately place them at designated locations (e.g., pallets, shelves, or vehicles) according to a preset program.

Drive & Control System

Independent Drives: Each conveyor is equipped with an independent frequency conversion motor drive, enabling precise speed control.
Coordinated Control: A central control system adjusts the frequency of each motor, setting and matching the speeds of each conveyor section and the robot to ensure smooth, coordinated operation without congestion or waiting.

IV. System Workflow

Automatic Loading & Bag Tipping: Sealed upright bags enter the Bag Tipping Conveyor. While moving forward, they contact the adjustable baffle and naturally tip onto the side support plate, transitioning to a lying-flat state.
Material Flattening: Bags enter the Flattening Conveyor. Under the low-speed operation and the rolling action of the square rolls, the internal material is redistributed, becoming flat and even.
Speed Buffering & Positioning: Bags enter the Deceleration Stopping Conveyor, where their speed is further reduced, achieving smooth deceleration and precise positioning.
In Position, Awaiting Pick: Bags enter the Queuing-for-Palletizing Conveyor and move steadily to the designated picking point at its end.
Robot Gripping & Stacking: The industrial robot identifies the bag's position, executes the gripping action, transfers it, and accurately places it onto the preset stacking position or transport vehicle.
Cyclical Operation: The entire process runs continuously and automatically in a cycle until the task is complete.

V. Core Advantages of the Solution

End-to-End Automation, Cost Reduction & Efficiency Gain: Achieves full-process automation from "infeed - arranging - conveying - palletizing," significantly reducing manual input, directly lowering labor and management costs, while ensuring stable production cycles and substantially improving production efficiency.
Precise Process Control, Reliable Quality: Specialized tipping, flattening, and deceleration stopping designs ensure uniform bag posture, even material distribution, and accurate positioning, fundamentally solving grasping difficulties and unstable stacking, thereby improving transfer quality.
Revolutionary Safety Improvement: Completely eliminates the risk of workers operating near mechanical transmission components, providing fundamental protection for personal safety.
High Flexibility, Intelligent Control: Each module is independently driven by frequency conversion motors. Combined with an intelligent control system synchronized with the robot, system operating parameters can be easily adjusted to adapt to different bag specifications or production rhythm requirements, offering strong flexibility.