The cross belt sorter is a closed loop conveying and sorting system consisting of sortation carriers which sort product perpendicular to the main direction of travel. The sortation carriers run at high speed in a fixed rail to carry and sort items. The number of sortation carriers can vary greatly from dozens to hundreds of carts. It can be used for sorting and handling a variety of items including parcels, express mail, cartons, boxes, totes, clothes and other items (excluding fragile products). It is a high speed, highly efficient sorting system which may be used in industries such as express delivery, e-commerce, clothing, logistics, etc. The system is comprised of four main elements: the infeed system, sorting host, discharge outfeed system and control system. Under command from the control system, the goods are fed from the infeed system to the sorting host for sorting. The sorter discharges the goods to the outfeed system according to the classification of goods and physical sorting position to complete the sorting function. The cross belt sorter is available in two general arrangements including single layer and double layer carts. The double layer cross belt sortation carts are arranged with two belts, one mounted directly above the other optimizing the footprint of the cross belt sorter, improving the sorting efficiency and meets the requirements for more sorting destinations. The upper and lower sortation belts can operate synchronously or independently.

 

• Infeed system
  The infeed system provides efficient and accurate positioning of goods onto the sorter host. It’s function is to automatically identify and measure the physical parameters of the goods to be sorted to ensure the goods are accurately inducted onto the high speed sorting carts. These cross belt sorting systems can be customized for each customer to provide a fully automatic, semi-automatic or manual infeed system according to the working environment.
   

• Sorting host
  The sorter host is the main system component to achieve sortation with the function of delivering items to the correct sorting outfeed locations according to the item, s identification information. These cross belt sorter system adopts servo direct drive technology providing instant start in milliseconds to ensure:

  • Items locate in the center of the cart during loading

  • Significant reduction of sorter errors
     

• Outfeed system
  The outfeed system is the final stage of the sorting system. It temporarily stores the items delivered by the sorter host. At the same time, it will capture and display the related identification information of items and transmit this information to the master control system. Different types of outfeeds are available to match the diverse range of items that can be handled. Items can be directly sorted to outfeeds such as chutes, bag racks, roll cages etc. based on the size and shapes of the items to be sorted.
   

• Control system
  The control system is the brain of the entire sorting system. It integrates mobile power supply technology, mobile communication technology, field bus, OPC communication, Industrial Ethernet communication, PLC servo and frequency conversion technology. The control system not only controls the function of each module but also exchanges data and sorting analytics with the upstream management systems / reporting systems. Through this exchange, the sorting system becomes an integral part of the total logistics management system.