JP3652933B2 - Refrigerated automatic warehouse - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a refrigerated automatic warehouse in which items to be stored are refrigerated at a temperature of, for example, about 4 ° C., and the stored items can be automatically loaded and unloaded.
[0002]
[Prior art]
For example, in the manufacturing process of a product such as a pharmaceutical product whose temperature state may cause alteration, it is necessary to store the product and intermediate products in the middle of manufacture at a temperature of, for example, about 4 ° C. Is used. This refrigerated warehouse generally takes the form of a refrigerated automatic warehouse capable of automatically taking in and out stored items.
[0003]
By the way, when refrigerated storage in the manufacturing process as described above, due to the temperature difference between the refrigeration temperature of the product and the temperature environment after delivery, the product delivered from the refrigerated automatic warehouse for the next process Condensation occurs, and this condensation may interfere with process operations. For example, taking a vaccine production process as an example, the cultured vaccine is filled in a bottle, temporarily stored in a refrigerated automatic warehouse, and then commercialized through several types of inspection processes and labeling processes. In the inspection process, for example, in the bottle inspection process, the inspection of whether there is a contaminant or the like in the bottle is performed by visual inspection. It becomes an obstacle to inspection and greatly affects the time required for inspection. In addition, products that have been inspected are stored again in the refrigerated automatic warehouse, and when shipped as final products, labels are attached to the surface of the bottle by a labeling machine, etc., but condensation is also a major obstacle in this labeling operation. It becomes.
[0004]
As described above, there are processes in which dew condensation is an obstacle to refrigerated storage of items in the manufacturing process, and therefore measures are taken to prevent dew condensation before entering the work process. Conventionally, as a measure such as this, the goods delivered from the refrigerated automatic warehouse are stored for a certain period of time in an air-conditioned room maintained at a predetermined temperature, so that the temperature of the goods is higher than the temperature of the work place for the process work. I was trying to adjust the temperature.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, conventionally, temperature control for preventing condensation is performed in an air conditioning room provided separately from the refrigerated automatic warehouse. The inventors of the present invention have studied the conventional system and found the following problems. First of all, since it is necessary to handle items in the air-conditioning room, for example, with a forklift, at least one worker is required, and the air-conditioning room takes a large space for the operation of the forklift. There is a problem of becoming. Then, as a particularly important problem, there is a problem that the time for placing the item in the air-conditioning room may become longer than necessary. In other words, if there is an article that takes 6 hours to adjust the temperature in order to prevent condensation, and if this is supplied to the bottle inspection line early in the morning, the time left in the air-conditioned room is minimized. In order to do this, it is necessary to leave the goods from the refrigerated automatic warehouse and put them into the air-conditioning room at dawn from midnight. However, it is difficult to take such a work form due to various circumstances. As a result, it will be put in the air-conditioning room, and as a result, the time for placing the item in the high-temperature air-conditioning room will be longer than necessary.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of the problems in the conventional temperature control system as described above, and can minimize the time for placing the product under high temperature conditions for temperature control. The purpose is to provide a refrigerated automatic warehouse that can further improve the effectiveness of refrigerated storage and can save labor and save space.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, the temperature of the refrigerated warehouse main body for storing the item in a refrigerated state and the item to be delivered prior to delivery is higher than the room temperature of the work place where the item is handled after delivery. In a refrigerated automatic warehouse equipped with a temperature control station provided in the middle of a route for automatic entry / exit to / from the refrigerated warehouse main body in order to prevent condensation of goods at the work place by adjusting the temperature In addition, the present invention is characterized in that a control system is provided for controlling the movement of the goods to be delivered from the refrigerated warehouse main body to the temperature control station based on the temperature adjustment time and the delivery time required for each article .
[0008]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows an external configuration of a refrigerated automatic warehouse according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a configuration of its control system. As can be seen in these figures, the refrigerated automatic warehouse has a refrigerated warehouse main body 1 that refrigerates and stores items at a temperature of, for example, about 4 ° C., a temperature control station 2 that controls the temperature of the items to prevent condensation prior to delivery, and In addition to a picking station 3 which is a part for carrying in / out goods to / from a refrigerated automatic warehouse, a control system 4 for controlling these is provided.
[0009]
As shown in FIG. 3, the refrigerated warehouse main body 1 has racks 5 provided in multiple rows and multiple stages so that goods can be stored in a form of being stacked on a transport container called a pallet. A loading / unloading conveyor 7 for performing exchanges between the stacker crane 6 and the temperature control station 2 is provided.
[0010]
In the present embodiment, the temperature control station 2 is provided so as to be interposed in the entry / exit route to the refrigerated warehouse main body 1, and as shown in FIG. 4, a buffer conveyor 8 provided in multiple rows and multiple stages, The vertical conveyor 9 is provided for exchange between the buffer conveyor 8 and the picking station 3 and exchange between the buffer conveyor 8 and the loading / unloading conveyor 7 of the refrigerated warehouse main body 1. The buffer conveyor 8 has a structure capable of temporarily storing a pallet on which goods are loaded and transporting the pallet placed on the pallet from the front side to the rear side of the temperature control station 2. . In the figure, only the vertical transfer device 9 for exchanging with the picking station 3 appears.
[0011]
The control system 4 includes an operation control system 11 and an air conditioning system 12. The operation control system 11 is a computer system 13 which is an operation management system for managing the entire operation of the refrigerated automatic warehouse, the refrigerated warehouse main body 1 and the temperature control station. The air conditioning system 12 includes a refrigerated warehouse air conditioner 15 for air conditioning the refrigerated warehouse body 1 and a temperature control station air conditioner 16 for air conditioning of the temperature control station 2. .
[0012]
The goods are loaded and unloaded in such a refrigerated automatic warehouse as follows. Items that need to be refrigerated after a predetermined manufacturing process are first loaded on the picking station 3 in the form of being loaded on a pallet. Then, when warehousing data such as the product name and quantity of the product is input to the computer system 13, the computer system 13 issues a warehousing instruction to the operation control means 14, and based on this, the operation control means 14 causes the temperature control station 2 and the refrigerated warehouse body. The pallet is stored in the refrigerated warehouse main body 1 by sequentially controlling each of the transfer devices 1, that is, the vertical transfer machine 9, the buffer conveyor 8, the loading / unloading conveyor 7, and the stacker crane 6. More specifically, the pallet on which the picking station 3 is loaded is transferred to one of the buffer conveyors 8 (which is designated by the computer system 13) by the vertical transfer machine 9, and then transferred to the buffer conveyor. 8 is conveyed to the rear side in the temperature control station 2 and is transferred to the loading / unloading conveyor 7 by a vertical transfer machine (not shown in the drawing). The position of the rack for storing the pallet delivered to the loading / unloading conveyor 7 is automatically assigned by the computer system 13, and the operation control means is operated under the instruction output from the computer system 13 based on this assignment. 14 controls the stacker crane 6 and is transported to the target rack for storage. That is, the goods simply pass through the temperature control station 2 at the time of warehousing.
[0013]
For items that are refrigerated, delivery settings such as the delivery date and time, the delivery quantity, and the necessity of temperature control to prevent condensation are required according to the manufacturing process. For temperature control, a temperature control time is set in advance to prevent condensation, which is required according to the type of product and the number of items on the pallet. The unloading operation is started at the time when is expected. When the goods are delivered, the computer system 13 issues a delivery instruction to the operation control means 14 based on the delivery setting, and the operation control means 14 controls the stacker crane 6 based on this to issue the goods from the refrigerated warehouse main body 1. The pallet of the target item is taken out to the loading / unloading conveyor 7, and then the pallet is delivered from the loading / unloading conveyor 7 to the vertical transfer machine (not shown in the drawing) of the temperature control station 2 under the control of the operation control means 14. A vertical conveyor (not shown in the figure) passes it to one of the buffer conveyors 8 (which is specified by the computer system 13). If the product requires temperature control to prevent dew condensation, for example, the temperature control station air-conditioning means 16 operates when the computer system 13 issues an instruction at the timing when the pallet is removed from the refrigerated warehouse body 1. The temperature control station 2 is set to a temperature required for temperature control. Then, the pallet is kept in the temperature control station 2 for the above-mentioned temperature adjustment time under the temperature environment, and thereby the temperature of the article loaded on the pallet is raised to a temperature at which no condensation occurs on the pallet. When the temperature adjustment time elapses, the pallet is sequentially delivered from the buffer conveyor 8 to the vertical transfer machine 9 and the picking station 3 to be delivered. On the other hand, if the product does not require temperature control to prevent dew condensation, the pallet placed on the buffer conveyor 8 is conveyed as it is through the temperature control station 2 to the front side, and there is a vertical conveyor there. 9 is delivered to the picking station 3 for delivery.
[0014]
The temperature to be set in the temperature control station 2 may be slightly higher than the temperature condition in which the temperature-controlled product is exposed to the manufacturing process because the temperature of the temperature-controlled product should be higher than the dew point temperature in the manufacturing process. It is preferable to adjust the temperature to an efficient temperature including energy saving. For this, a detection means 17 for detecting the temperature and humidity of the manufacturing process is provided in the temperature control station air conditioning means 16 or the computer system 13, and the temperature of the temperature control station 2 is based on the data obtained by this detection means 17. More preferably, the settings can be optimized. The temperature control station air conditioning means 16 can be provided with a timer function, and the timer function can be used to end the air conditioning operation with the end of the temperature control time.
[0015]
As described above, temperature control for preventing condensation can be automatically applied to the refrigerated product as a function of the refrigerated automatic warehouse. Therefore, even if the temperature adjustment time is anticipated and the shipping operation start time is late at night or at dawn, the shipping operation can be started on time. As a result, the time required to expose the product to a high temperature state can be minimized and the effectiveness of refrigerated storage can be further enhanced. In addition, by incorporating temperature control to prevent condensation as a function of a refrigerated automatic warehouse, facilities such as the conventional air-conditioning room that require manpower and a large space become unnecessary, saving labor and saving space. .
[0016]
Here, an example of how to determine the required number of buffer conveyors 8 in the temperature control station 2 will be briefly described. It is assumed that there are n types of items stored in the refrigerated automatic warehouse, each of which requires different temperature control times, and that each item is delivered on average m times a day. That is, there are kinds of items M1, M2, M3... Mn, and the respective temperature adjustment times are T1, T2, T3... Tn, and for each of these items, for example, 9 o'clock, 11 o'clock, 13 o'clock. As described above, if it is necessary to issue m times on average per day, the maximum necessary number of buffer conveyors 8 is n × m. For example, m rows may be provided in n rows.
[0017]
In the above embodiment, the temperature control station 2 is provided so as to be interposed in the entry / exit route to the refrigerated warehouse main body 1, but other forms are also possible. For example, in the configuration of FIG. 1, the loading / unloading conveyor 7 may be extended in the horizontal direction in parallel with the temperature control station 2, and goods that do not need to be stored or temperature-controlled can be discharged from there. it can.
[0018]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, temperature control for preventing condensation can be automatically performed as a function of a refrigerated automatic warehouse. However, it becomes possible to carry out according to an accurate time schedule, thereby minimizing the time required to expose the product to a high temperature state, thereby further improving the effectiveness of refrigerated storage. In addition, it is possible to eliminate the need for a manpower and a large space such as a conventional air-conditioning room, which can contribute to labor saving and space saving.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a simplified external view of a refrigerated automatic warehouse according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a control system in the refrigerated automatic warehouse shown in FIG.
3 is a simplified external view of a refrigerated warehouse body in the refrigerated automatic warehouse of FIG. 1. FIG.
4 is a simplified external view of a temperature control station in the refrigerated automatic warehouse of FIG. 1. FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Refrigerated warehouse 2 Temperature control station 3 Picking station (route for delivery)
4 Control system 7 Entry / exit conveyor 7 (route for warehousing)

Claims (1)

A refrigerated warehouse body for storing items in a refrigerated state and adjusting the temperature of the item to be delivered to a temperature higher than the room temperature of the working place where the item is handled after delivery. In order to prevent the dew condensation of the goods, in the refrigerated automatic warehouse equipped with a temperature control station provided in the middle of the route for automatic entry and exit to and from the refrigerated warehouse body, the temperature adjustment time and delivery required for each item A refrigerated automatic warehouse provided with a control system for controlling the movement of goods to be delivered from the refrigerated warehouse body to the temperature control station based on time .

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