CN112319659A

CN112319659A - Automatic picking truck

Info

Publication number: CN112319659A
Application number: CN202011257960.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张孟文; 张俊; 李林子
Original assignee: Shenzhen Whalehouse Science And Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Whalehouse Science And Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-11-12
Filing date: 2020-11-12
Publication date: 2021-02-05

Abstract

An automatic picking truck comprises a truck body and a picking basket arranged on the truck body, wherein the picking basket comprises an outer frame and at least one basket in sliding connection with the outer frame; the outer frame is movably connected with the vehicle body, and the at least one goods basket slides outwards relative to the outer frame along a first direction or a second opposite direction to a goods picking position; in the picking position, the goods to be picked fall into the at least one basket, and the automatic picking truck can automatically pick the goods in the goods warehouse according to the order of the customer, so that the goods are accurately prepared and the efficiency is high.

Description

Automatic picking truck

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of truck picking, in particular to an automatic truck picking device.

Background

In recent years, with the rapid development of the e-commerce industry, a large amount of online shopping orders generated therewith drive the rapid development of the logistics and warehousing industry. The e-commerce logistics mainly relates to two links, namely, the e-commerce center bin distributes goods to the store bins according to the needs of the stores, and the store bins sort the goods according to user orders and pack the goods out of the warehouse. At present, most storehouses pick goods manually, namely, a picker pushes a goods picking vehicle to pick goods, so that the labor intensity is high, the efficiency is low, and mistakes are easily made.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the present invention provides an automatic picking truck capable of efficiently and accurately picking commodities according to an order of a user.

The invention provides an automatic picking truck which comprises a truck body and a picking basket arranged on the truck body, wherein the picking basket comprises an outer frame and at least one basket in sliding connection with the outer frame; the outer frame is movably connected with the vehicle body, and the at least one goods basket slides outwards relative to the outer frame along a first direction or a second opposite direction to a goods picking position; in the picking position, items to be picked fall into the at least one basket.

Furthermore, a guide rod is vertically arranged on the vehicle body, and the outer frame of the picking basket is slidably connected to the guide rod and can move up and down along the guide rod to adjust the height of the at least one basket.

Further, the at least one basket includes a first basket and a second basket arranged up and down, the first basket slides outwards relative to the outer frame along the first direction to a picking position, and the second basket slides outwards relative to the outer frame along the second direction to a picking position.

Further, the first basket slides outwards relative to the outer frame along the second direction to another picking position, and the second basket slides outwards relative to the outer frame along the first direction to another picking position.

Further, goods are selected by the automatic goods picking vehicle in the bin bearing the goods, the goods picking basket is further provided with a bin bearing position, and the bin bearing position is used for placing an empty bin after the goods are selected.

Furthermore, the automatic picking truck further comprises a bin gripper, and the empty bin after the commodity is picked is grabbed to the bin bearing position by the bin gripper.

Further, the automatic picking truck picks goods in a bin carrying goods, the bin comprises one or more sub-bins, each sub-bin comprises one or more subspaces, each subspaces contains one part of goods, each subspace of each sub-bin contains the same kind of goods, when the at least one basket is in a picking position, at least one sub-bin of one bin is pulled outwards to enable at least one subspace of the at least one sub-bin to be located above the basket, and the bottom of the at least one outwardly pulled subspace is in an open state to allow the goods contained in the at least one subspace to fall to the basket.

Further, the automatic picking truck further comprises one or more mechanical grippers, and the number of the mechanical grippers is the same as that of the sub-boxes of the material box; when the at least one basket is at the picking position, the mechanical hand grips draw the at least one sub-box of the material box to enable at least one sub-space of the material box to be located above the basket.

The controller comprises a communication module, a control module connected with the communication module, and a driving module connected with the control module, wherein the driving module comprises a first driver for driving the vehicle body to move and a basket driver for driving the at least one basket to slide relative to the outer frame.

Further, the driving module further comprises a second driver for driving the picking basket to move up and down.

Compared with the prior art, the automatic picking truck can automatically pick commodities in the goods warehouse according to orders of customers, and is accurate in goods distribution and high in efficiency.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural view of an automatic pick-up truck according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic view of the automated pick-up vehicle of fig. 1 in use.

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a bin for carrying goods.

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of the bin of fig. 3 in a condition for shipment.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of the automatic goods picking truck and the bin in cooperation for picking goods according to the invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the status of the recovery bin of the automated pick-up vehicle of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the automated pick-up cart of the present invention.

Detailed Description

To facilitate an understanding of the invention, the invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. One or more embodiments of the present invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings to provide a more accurate and thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It should be understood, however, that the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein.

The pick-up truck 100 of the present invention is preferably applied to an unmanned store house, and can automatically pick up the goods ordered by the consumer according to the order of the consumer. Typically, as shown in fig. 5, a plurality of rows of shelves 200 are provided in the store, the shelves 200 being spaced apart to provide an aisle for facilitating the travel and picking of the automated pick-up truck 100. The various items are stored in portions in respective columns of the shelf 200, each portion constituting the lowest order unit of the consumer. The management system of the warehouse records the commodity information stored in each column of each shelf 200, including the name and the number of copies of the commodity. When the consumer orders the goods, the management system compares the order information of the consumer with the recorded goods storage information to obtain the specific position of each goods ordered by the consumer in the warehouse and plan the traveling route of the automatic picking truck 100 according to the specific position.

In one order, the consumer orders one part of item number 1, two parts of item number 2, and five parts of item number 3. Firstly, the management system obtains the storage positions of the commodities by comparing the recorded commodity storage information, for example, a column A5 where one part of the No. 1 commodity is stored on the shelf A, columns D1 and D2 where two parts of the No. 2 commodity are stored on the shelf D, and columns B3-B8 where five parts of the No. 3 commodity are stored on the shelf B. The management system then plans the route of travel for the automated pick-up truck 100, such as a- > B- > D, etc., according to the location arrangement of the No. A, B, D racks within the warehouse. The present invention is mainly described with respect to the automated picking truck 100, and the management system of the warehouse is only described as a simple exemplary illustration, and the specific structure thereof is not described in detail herein.

As shown in fig. 1-2, an automated pick-up truck 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a truck body 10, and a pick-up basket 20, a mechanical grip 30 and a controller provided on the truck body 10.

The controller comprises a communication module, a control module and a driving module. The communication module is preferably a wireless communication module, such as a bluetooth communication module, and wirelessly communicates with the management system of the warehouse to obtain information of the goods to be picked, including names, numbers, locations, and the like of the goods, and a traveling route of the automatic picking truck 100 for picking the goods. The driving module includes a plurality of drivers, such as a first driver for driving the vehicle body 10 to travel, a second driver for driving the picking basket 20 to move, and a third driver for driving the mechanical gripper 30 to extend and retract. The actuators are preferably motors, cylinders, etc. and may be directly coupled to the vehicle body 10/picker basket 20/mechanical gripper 30, etc. or may be drivingly coupled thereto via a driving element, such as a gear mechanism, etc. The control module generates corresponding control signals according to the information received by the communication module, starts corresponding drivers, controls the operation of the whole automatic picking truck 100, and realizes automatic picking.

The body 10 serves as a base for the entire automated picker 100 and may travel between the shelves 200 according to a travel route given by a management system. Preferably, the ground of the cargo compartment is formed with a track for guiding the travel of the car body 10, and correspondingly, a groove 12 is formed at the center of the bottom of the car body 10 to fit the track on the ground. When the first driver is started, the vehicle body 10 is driven to travel to the corresponding position of the shelf 200 where the goods to be picked are stored according to the planned route. Thereafter, the second actuator is activated to move the picking basket 20 to a position corresponding to the field in which the items to be picked are stored. Finally, the third actuator is activated and the mechanical gripper 30 is extended to drop the item to be picked into the picking basket 20, completing the picking of the item. When a plurality of commodities are ordered in one order, the first driver is started again after the picking of a certain commodity is finished, the vehicle body 10 is driven to the corresponding position of the shelf 200 where the next picked commodity is stored according to the traveling route, and the picking process is repeated until all the commodities in the order are picked completely.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, a vertical guide bar 14 is provided on one side of the vehicle body 10. The direction in which the automatic picking truck 100 travels is the front-rear direction (i.e., the X direction in the figure), the guide bar 14 is provided on the front side of the vehicle body 10, and the picking basket 20 is located on the rear side of the guide bar 14. The front side of the picking basket 20 is formed with a sleeve portion 22, the sleeve portion 22 is slidably sleeved with the guide bar 14, so that the picking basket 20 can slide up and down along the guide bar 14 under the driving of the second driver, and the height of the picking basket 20 is adjusted to match the height of the column of the goods to be picked stored on the shelf 200. As shown in fig. 7, in another embodiment of the present invention, a guide bar 14 is respectively disposed at the front and rear sides of the vehicle body 10, and a nesting portion 22 is respectively formed at the front and rear sides of the picking basket 20 to be slidably nested with the two guide bars 14, so as to form a more stable support for the picking basket 20 and avoid the problem of unstable center of gravity due to over-weight of the goods.

The pick-up basket 20 includes a frame 24 and first and

second baskets

26, 28 slidably coupled within the frame 24. The outer frame 24 is a vertically disposed square frame structure, the socket portion 22 is formed on a side surface of the outer frame 24, and the first basket 26 and the second basket 28 are vertically arranged and can slide in a left-right direction (i.e., a Y direction in the figure) relative to the outer frame 24 to extend outward. The picking position is reached when the first/

second baskets

26, 28 are slid outward relative to the frame 24 to extend toward the shelf 200; when the first/

second baskets

26, 28 slide in opposite directions to retract into the frame 24, they are in the non-picking position. The sliding of the first basket 26 and the second basket 28 may be driven by two basket drives of the drive module, respectively. In some embodiments, the first and

second baskets

26, 28 may also be driven by the same basket drive; alternatively, the first and

second baskets

26, 28 may be driven by the second drive without a separate drive.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the first baskets 26 extend outwardly in a first direction (e.g., to the left) relative to the frame 24 to a picking position, and retract into the frame 24 by sliding in a second, opposite direction (e.g., to the right) relative to the frame 24; the second basket 28 slides to the right relative to the frame 24 to extend out of the frame 24 to the picking position and slides to the left relative to the frame 24 to retract into the frame 24. Thus, when the automatic picking truck 100 travels between the two rows of shelves 200, the products on the left shelf 200 are received by the first basket 26, and the products on the right shelf 200 are received by the second basket 28, that is, the automatic picking truck 100 can pick the products on the two rows of shelves 200 in one travel, and relatively, the speed of picking the products can be increased by nearly one time.

In some embodiments, the first and

second baskets

26, 28 may be slidably extendable outwardly in both directions relative to the frame 24, i.e., both outwardly and outwardly from the frame 24 in a leftward or rightward direction, such that depending on the location of the items to be picked, the direction of extension of the first and/or

second baskets

26, 28 may be selected to provide substantially equal amounts of items received within the two

baskets

26, 28, ensuring that the two

baskets

26, 28 are fully utilized. In some embodiments, if the same order is ordered in excess of the upper limit that can be carried by two

baskets

26, 28 at one time, the warehouse management system may pre-split the order into a plurality of sub-orders, which are then respectively allocated to a plurality of picking trucks 100, ensuring that the items to be picked by each picking truck 100 are within its carrying range.

In one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3-4, each column of the shelf 200 is placed with a bin 300, and the goods are carried in the bin 300.

Each bin 300 includes a plurality (shown as 4) of sub-bins 310, each sub-bin 310 including a plurality (shown as 4) of subspaces 312. Each sub-space 312 holds one product and each sub-space 312 of each sub-box 310 holds the same product. Different sub-boxes 310 may contain the same type of merchandise or different types of merchandise. The goods storage information recorded by the warehouse management system is specific to the subspace 312 of the bin 300, such as: no. 1 commodity is stored in the sub-space No. 1-3 of the sub-box No. 1 of the material box No. 3 of the column No. A3 of the shelf No. A, No. 2 commodity is stored in the sub-space No. 1-4 of the sub-box No. 2 of the material box No. 1 of the column No. B5 of the shelf No. B and the sub-space No. 1-2 of the sub-box No. 3, No. 3 commodity is stored in the sub-space No. 1-4 of the sub-box No. 4 of the material box No. 1 of the column No. B5 of the shelf No. B, and.

Preferably, each sub-box 310 of the magazine 300 is of a drawer-type construction, and each sub-box 310 can be individually withdrawn. The bottom of the sub-box 310 is open, and when the sub-box 310 is pulled outward, the goods in the sub-space 312 drawn out of the sub-box 310 automatically fall down through the bottom opening. According to the type and quantity of the required goods, the required drawing length of the bin 300, the sub-bin 310 and the sub-bin 310 can be determined. If two No. 3 commodities need to be picked, the No. 4 sub-box of the No. 1 bin needs to be pulled out of two grids, namely the No. 1-2 subspaces of the No. 4 sub-box are pulled out. For another example, when 5 parts of the No. 2 commodities need to be picked, the No. 3 sub-box of the No. 1 bin can be completely drawn out, and the No. 1-3 subspaces of the No. 2 sub-box can be drawn out; of course, at this time, the number 2 sub-box of the number 1 bin may be completely drawn out and the number 3 sub-box may be drawn out of the grid, and specifically, which manner is to be adopted may be predetermined by the management system of the warehouse according to an algorithm.

Referring to fig. 5, when the automatic picking truck 100 picks goods, the truck body 10 travels along the passage between the shelves 200 under the driving of the first driver, so that the picking basket 20 moves to a position corresponding to the bin 300 to be picked, and then the second driver drives the picking basket 20 to move to a proper position in the up-and-down direction according to the height of the bin 300. When the bin 300 is on the left, the first basket 26 is driven to extend to the left to a picking position; when the bin 300 is on the right, the second basket 28 is driven to extend to the right to the picking position. Preferably, the first basket 26/the second basket 28 are adjacent to or in contact with the shelf 200, and the first basket 26/the second basket 28 are adjacent to the bin 300 to be picked in the height direction and are located below the bin 300 to be picked.

When picking, the mechanical hand 30 is extended outwards under the action of the third driver to draw the sub-box 310 of the bin 300 to be picked to a predetermined length, and the sub-space 312 of the extracted sub-box 310 is located right above the extended first basket 26/second basket 28, so that the goods fall into the extended first basket 26/second basket 28 under the action of their own gravity. Preferably, the number of mechanical fingers 30 is the same as the number of sub-boxes 310 of a magazine 300, and all sub-boxes 310 of a magazine 300 can be drawn simultaneously. Since the picking basket 20 is close to the bin 300 to be picked by height adjustment, the distance that the goods fall is approximately the depth of the first basket 26/the second basket 28, thereby avoiding the damage of the goods during the falling to the picking basket 20 and ensuring the good condition of the goods. In one embodiment, the mechanical gripper 30 may extend in both directions to pull the sub-boxes 310 of the magazine 300 on the left and right sides, respectively. In this way, during the picking process, the first basket 26 extends to the left and the second basket 28 extends to the right, and the mechanical grippers 30 pick up the two

baskets

26 and 28 at the same time, thereby further improving the picking efficiency of the automatic picking truck 100.

After the picking of all the goods in an order is completed, the first driver is activated again to make the automatic picking truck 100 travel to the delivery area of the warehouse, and the

baskets

26, 28 loaded with goods in the delivery area are delivered to the predetermined delivery window, so as to complete the automatic picking of the goods. And taking the corresponding commodity from the predetermined delivery window according to the order by the distributor and distributing the commodity to the consumer, so that the whole order is finished. After the goods are removed, the

baskets

26, 28 are returned to an empty state and transferred to the transfer area of the warehouse for temporary storage, and then are assembled to the automated picking truck 100 again for automated picking of the next order. Preferably, as shown in fig. 6, the top of the outer frame 24 of the picking basket 20 is provided with a bin loading position 29, and the bin loading position 29 is located above the

baskets

26, 28. When all the goods in a bin 300 are picked and empty, a bin gripper (not shown) grips the empty bin 300 to the bin loading position 29 and transports the empty bin to the bin recycling area of the warehouse by the automatic pick-up truck 100 of the present invention to reload the goods for replenishment to the warehouse.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and other changes and modifications can be made by those skilled in the art according to the spirit of the present invention, and these changes and modifications made according to the spirit of the present invention should be included in the scope of the present invention as claimed.

Claims

1. An automatic picking truck comprises a truck body and a picking basket arranged on the truck body, and is characterized in that the picking basket comprises an outer frame and at least one basket in sliding connection with the outer frame; the outer frame is movably connected with the vehicle body, and the at least one goods basket slides outwards relative to the outer frame along a first direction or a second opposite direction to a goods picking position; in the picking position, items to be picked fall into the at least one basket.

2. The automated picking truck of claim 1, wherein a guide bar is vertically disposed on the truck body, and the outer frame of the picking basket is slidably connected to the guide bar and can move up and down along the guide bar to adjust the height of the at least one basket.

3. The automated pick-up truck of claim 1, wherein the at least one basket includes first and second baskets arranged one above the other, the first basket sliding outwardly relative to the housing in the first direction to a pick-up position and the second basket sliding outwardly relative to the housing in the second direction to a pick-up position.

4. The automated pick-up truck of claim 3, wherein the first basket slides outwardly in the second direction relative to the housing to another pick-up position and the second basket slides outwardly in the first direction relative to the housing to another pick-up position.

5. The automated picking truck of claim 1, wherein the automated picking truck picks items from bins carrying items, and the picking basket is further provided with bin carrying positions for placing empty bins after items are picked.

6. The automated pick truck of claim 5, further comprising a bin grip by which an empty bin after an item has been picked is gripped onto the bin load-bearing level.

7. The automated picking cart of claim 1, wherein the automated picking cart picks items from a bin carrying items, the bin comprising one or more sub-bins, each sub-bin comprising one or more subspaces, each subspaces containing a single item, each subspaces of each sub-bin containing a single item, the at least one basket in the picking position, wherein at least one sub-bin of a bin is drawn outwardly with at least one of the subspaces above the basket, the bottom of the at least one outwardly drawn sub-space being open to allow items contained in the at least one sub-space to drop to the basket.

8. The automated pick truck of claim 7, further comprising one or more mechanical fingers equal in number to the sub-bins of the bin; when the at least one basket is at the picking position, the mechanical hand grips draw the at least one sub-box of the material box to enable at least one sub-space of the material box to be located above the basket.

9. The automated pick-up truck of any one of claims 1-8, further comprising a controller disposed on the truck body, the controller including a communication module, a control module coupled to the communication module, and a drive module coupled to the control module, the drive module including a first drive to drive the truck body to travel and a basket drive to drive the at least one basket to slide relative to the housing.

10. The automated pick-up truck of claim 9, wherein the drive module further comprises a second driver that drives the pick-up basket up and down.