AU2009212908B2

AU2009212908B2 - Storage automat

Info

Publication number: AU2009212908B2
Application number: AU2009212908A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Tobias Campe; Werner Schmitt; Jens Willach
Original assignee: Gebr Willach GmbH
Current assignee: Gebr Willach GmbH
Priority date: 2008-09-11
Filing date: 2009-09-01
Publication date: 2013-10-31
Anticipated expiration: 2029-09-01
Also published as: DE202008012069U1; EP2163491A2; EP2163491B1; AU2009212908A1; EP2163491A3; CN101670932B; CN101670932A

Abstract

Storage automat A storage automat comprises storage places and a controllably moveable manipulator (Ml) for servicing the storage places. The manipulator (Ml) comprises a load-bearing surface (44). A slider (54), provided for moving an object resting on the load-bearing surface (44), is drivable in opposite directions so that the slider (54) can selectively engage a first end of the object or a second end opposite to said first end. (Fig. 2) (NN (N0

Description

AUSTRALIA Patents Act COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (ORIGINAL) Class Int. Class Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority Related Art: Name of Applicant: Gebr. Willach GmbH Actual Inventor(s): Jens Willach, Werner Schmitt, Tobias Campe Address for Service and Correspondence: PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys 367 Collins Street Melbourne 3000 AUSTRALIA Invention Title: STORAGE AUTOMAT Our Ref: 864255 POF Code: 468407/495414 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to applicant(s): -1 - 2 Gebr. Willach GmbH Sg/Dt TITLE OF THE INVENTION Storage automat This application claims priority from German Application No.20 2008 012 069.1 filed on 11 September 2008, the contents of which are to be taken as incorporated herein by this reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a storage automat comprising storage places and a controllably moveable manipulator for servicing said storage places, said manipulator comprising a support surface. It is known that storage automats wherein goods are stored and removed from storage in a fully automated manner, can be provided with a manipu lator adapted for movement to the individual storage places for transfer and removal of goods to and respectively from these storage places. Of particu lar use for frequently demanded items are shelves of the type with inclined bins wherein the individual goods are kept on an inclined surface and, in this condition, are confined within channels which are separated from each other by lateral delimiting elements. Upon removal of a lowermost object, the other objects will slide on to fill the gap. Normally, a given channel is used for storage of objects of the same type. The objects are generally con tained in box-shaped packings, wherein packings of identical format will be inserted into a channel having a width adapted to the packing size. How ever, shelves with inclined bins are also useful for storage of goods of dif ferent shapes, e.g. goods of a cylindrical shape and other formats, within the same channel. The manipulator of a storage automat is provided to transport the goods, once they are entered into the storage system, from an infeed station to a 3 selected storage place. The manipulator further has the purpose to remove goods from a storage place and to convey them to a discharge device. Con trol of the manipulator is performed by the storage management computer. Normally, a piston/cylinder unit is used for advancing the goods arranged on the load-bearing surface of the manipulator. Said piston/cylinder unit will be actuated to push the object from the load-bearing surface into the stor age shelf. It is a desirable outcome of the invention to provide a storage automat wherein the manipulator has an extended functionality allowing the manipu lator to service not only a shelf on the front side but also a shelf on the rear side. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the invention provides a storage automat comprising storage places and a controllably moveable manipulator for servicing the storage places, said manipulator comprising a load-bearing surface, the storage places being shelves of the type with inclined bins and the load-bearing sur face of the manipulator being an oblique surface so that objects can slide down from the shelves onto the inclined load-bearing surface of the ma nipulator, wherein a slider, provided for moving an object resting on the load-bearing surface, is drivable in opposite directions in a manner allowing the slider to selectively engage a first end of said object or a second end of said object opposite to said first end. In embodiments of the storage automat, the manipulator is provided with a slider which, for moving an object resting on the load-bearing surface into opposite directions, can be driven in a manner allowing the slider to selec tively engage the first end or an opposite second end of the object. Thus, the slider can 3a move an object in the forward direction as well as in the rearward d direction. The term "forward" in the present context is to be understood is referring to the direction towards one shelf, and the term "rearward" as eferring to the direction towards the other shelf. The manipulator is adapted to push objects into a front or rear shelf and to remove them from thq respective shelf. In this manner, a sole manipulator can be used for servicing two mu tually opposite bins. According to a preferred embodiment, said slider is arranged on an endless belt. Along with the endless belt, the slider can be moved in a fu l circle and thus is adapted to selectively engage one end or the other end of the ob ject. Preferably, the shelves are of the type with inclined bins. In this case, the load-bearing surface of the manipulator is an inclined surface so that 4 objects can slide down from the front shelf onto the inclined load-bearing surface of the manipulator. Further, objects can be transferred from the in clined load-bearing surface to the rear shelf. The slider which is moveable over the load-bearing surface can cooperate in both of these processes, no tably, in the first case, as a slider for pushing the object upwards or as a support element for slowly lowering an object which is sliding from the in clined surface and, in the second case, as a slider for advancing an object resting on the manipulator so as to transfer said object into the rear shelf. Preferably, said belt is arranged in an upright configuration and forms a lat eral delimitation. Arranged opposite thereto is a lateral guidance means for the object resting on the load-bearing surface, said lateral guidance means being displaceable for changing the effective width of the load-bearing sur face. Thereby, it is rendered possible to set a defined take-up width for the object, which is adapted to the width of the object. Thus, the object is posi tionally fixed in an exactly defined manner, allowing for well-aimed insertion of the object into the channel of an adjacent shelf. Under the constructional aspect, the manipulator comprises a carriage ar ranged for movement along two axes and supporting a displaceable carrier which is guided for linear movement, with the load-bearing surface being located on said carrier. The manipulator can comprise a controlled inclining mechanism so as to effect a lateral inclination of the load-bearing surface for adaptation to laterally inclined storage places. Laterally inclined storage places are suitably used in cases where, in a shelf with inclined bins, a given channel is to accommodate not only objects with identical dimensions but smaller-dimensioned objects and larger-dimensioned objects alike. As a re sult of the inclination of the storage spaces, the storage places have an abutment wall, with the objects laterally sliding thereonto. Thus, also smaller objects can be accommodated in defined positions on a storage place which otherwise would be too large for such defined accommodation. The manipulator of the invention which comprises a controlled inclining mechanism is capable of servicing laterally horizontal and laterally inclined 5 storage places. This aspect is of independent importance irrespective of the configuration of the pushing mechanism of the manipulator. Said inclining mechanism can be mounted to the displaceable carrier and adjust the load bearing surface relative to the carrier. For moving the inclining mechanism, an adjustment mechanism, e.g. of the pneumatic type, can be provided. According to a further aspect of the invention which also is of independent importance, it is provided that the manipulator comprises measurement de vices for measuring the dimensions of an object before, during or after takeover. Thus, an object to be stored can be measured for detecting whether its dimensions will allow it to fit into the desired storage place of the respective shelf. In EP 1 900 654 Al (Willach), a goods receiving auto mat is described which is provided with a measurement station for measur ing the objects to be stored. This measurement station, however, is ar ranged at the goods receiving automat which is stationary and is operable to separate and identify the objects that are to be stored, and to bring them into an orientation suitable for storage. The present invention abandons the concept of a stationary measurement station and adopts a concept wherein the manipulator is included in the process of measuring the objects. In this regard, use is made of the manipulator movements. According to a pre ferred variant, the measurement devices comprise a first sensor which is responsive to the object and which during the transverse movement of the manipulator will detect the width of the object while the object is arranged in a shelf or another holding device. Further, a sensor for detection of the height of the object can be provided. Detection of the length of the object is suitably performed in that a light barrier is provided near the front and/or rear transfer side of the load bearing surface of the manipulator, and that, when the light barrier passes through the front side of an object facing away from the slider, the distance of the slider from the light barrier is detected and the length of the object is determined thereby.

6 According to a further aspect of the invention which again is of il dependent importance, it is provided that the manipulator has mounted thereon a dis tance sensor for determining the depth of a storage place, it bei g then de tected by a computer whether the size of the storage place will be sufficient for the object on the load-bearing surface. In this manner, measurement of a desired storage place is performed by the manipulator so as to assess whether the storage place will suffice for the object to be stored. An embodiment of the invention will be explained in greater detail hereun der with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is understood that any acknowledgment of any prior art in this specifica tion is not to be taken as an admission that this acknowledged prior art forms part of the common general knowledge in Australia or elsewhere. Where the terms "comprise", "comprises", "comprised" or "comprising" are used in this specification (including the claims) they are to be interpreted as specifying the presence of the stated features, integers, steps or compo nents, but not precluding the presence of one or more other features, inte gers, steps or components, or group thereof. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a plan view of a storage automat, Figure 2 is a perspective view of a manipulator in the storage automat, Figure 3 is a frontal view of the manipulator in a situation with non-tilted load-bearing surface, Figure 4 is a frontal view of the manipulator in a situation with laterally tilted load-bearing surface, 6a Figure 5 is a view of the discharge side of a goods infeed de ice as seen in the direction marked by V-V in Figure 1, Figure 6 is a view of the infeed side of the first storage arei as seen in the direction marked by VI-VI in Figure 1, and Figures 7-10 are schematic representations of a storing process for an object.

7 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As illustrated in Fig. 1, there is provided an insertion station 10 comprising a goods reception automat 11 and a goods insertion apparatus 12. Said goods reception automat and said goods insertion apparatus correspond to those described in EP 1 902 983 A2 which is herewith incorporated into the present application by reference. Goods reception automat 11 includes an entry site 13 for random drop-in of goods which thereafter will be sepa rated, identified and successively fed to a transfer station. Goods insertion apparatus 12 serves for manual insertion of goods so that these goods will be stored in the various storage areas. Arranged in a storage region 15 is a first channel-type storage area Li con sisting of a shelf of the type with inclined bins. Said shelf comprises a plu rality of mutually superposed shelf boards whose surfaces are subdivided into channels 18 by shelf dividers 17. Said channels 18 comprise channel bottoms and extend from an insertion end 19 to a discharge end 20 of channel 18. Due to the inclination of the channel bottoms, objects which have been inserted into insertion end 19 will slide under the influence of gravity to the discharge end 20. At the discharge end 20, a stopper 21 is provided, causing the lowermost object in the respective channel to be stopped until removal of said object by the appertaining manipulator. The following object will then slide on to fill the gap. The channels 18 can have different widths. By repositioning the shelf dividers 17, the cannel width can be adjusted to the respective objects which are to be stored. The central computer of the storage facility safeguards that each channel will receive identical types of objects. Near the insertion ends 19 of channels 18, the moving path 22 of the first manipulator M1 is arranged. Said moving path 22 extends transversely to the direction of channels 18 along the whole length of the first storage area Li and, beyond said length, on to a position within insertion station 10. Thus, manipulator M1 can be moved as far as into the insertion station 10 8 and therein receive goods from the goods insertion apparatus and/or the goods reception automat. Along the length of its moving path 22, manipulator M1 is movable in length direction as well as in height direction and thus can be positioned in front of the insertion end 19 of any one of the channels 18 in order to insert an ob ject from manipulator M1 into channel 18. At the load-bearing surface 44 of manipulator M1, a controllable slider 54 is arranged for displacement so as to move the object on the load-bearing surface upwards or downwards. Manipulator M1 services the insertion side of first channel-type storage area L1. On the side of the moving path 22 opposite channel-type storage area L1, a second channel-type storage area L2 is arranged, being likewise formed as a multi-level shelf with inclined bins. Said second storage area L2 comprises a plurality of channels 28 delimited by partition walls 27. The channels 28 are generally wider and shorter than the channels 18 of the first storage area L1. They are not provided for a specific packing size but serve for accommodation of different packings. The channel bottoms of the channels 28 have the same direction of inclination as well as the same an gle of inclination as the channel bottoms of the channels 18. Channel-type storage area L2 is operated by the same manipulator M1 which is also pro vided for the servicing of channel-type storage area Li. The manipulator M1 will fill the channel-type storage area Li from above, and will fill and evacu ate the channel-type storage area L2 from below. The manipulator is opera tive to push an object carried on its load-bearing surface upwards onto the channel bottom of channel-type storage area L2. Said object will then be supported and retained by a stopper 29 at the lower end of the channel bot tom. For retrieving the object from channel-type storage area L2, a finger, arranged to be extended from out of manipulator M1, will be advanced through a slot in the bottom of the respective channel 28. In this state, ma nipulator M1 will be moved upwards, while the object is being lifted by said finger and will slide beyond the stopper onto the load-bearing surface 44 of 9 manipulator M1. The lower end of channel 28 forms the insertion and dis charge end 33. The lower discharge end 20 of the channels of the first channel-type storage area Li is arranged adjacent to the moving path 35 of the second manipula tor M2. The load-bearing surface of said second manipulator M2 has the same inclined orientation as the channel bottoms 16 of the first channel type storage area L1. Said load-bearing surface serves for taking up the objects leaving the channels 18. Subsequent to taking up an object, mani pulator M2 will be moved along moving path 35 to a discharge station 36. There, the objects can be taken over by a conveyer or another device. Between the moving paths 22 and 35, a transfer station 37 is arranged, adapted to take over objects from manipulator M1 and to transfer them to manipulator M2 for discharge. For storing objects, the objects are inserted into the goods insertion appara tus 12 or the goods reception automat 11. The objects will be identified on the basis of a bar code applied to them. Then, the computer will determine the channel-type storage area to be used for storage, and also the respec tive channel therein. When objects are to be removed from the combined storage system, the computer will detect the channel where the requested object has been stored, and will control the manipulators to the effect that the object will be removed and presented to the discharge station 36. In Figs. 2-4, the configuration of manipulator M1 is shown. The manipulator comprises a carriage 40 guided for movement along two axes and con trolled by a storage management computer. Carriage 40 has an inclined top side 41 whose inclination corresponds to that of the channel bottoms. On said top side, a displaceable carrier 42 is arranged on rails for movement transverse to the longitudinal direction of the moving path 22 in the direc tion of the downward slope. Carrier 42 is driven by a cylinder 43. Moveable carrier 42 carries the load-bearing surface 44 which is formed by a plate.

10 Load-bearing surface 44 has a front transfer side 44a and a rear transfer side 44b. It is pivotable about an axis 45 of a linear guidance so that the load-bearing surface 44 can be oriented at a lateral inclination as shown in Fig. 4. The side opposite to axis 45 is connected to carrier 42 by links 46. Said links form a linkage system configured as a parallelogram, adapted to laterally tilt the load-bearing surface 44. The tilting movement is effected by the linear movement of a cylinder 47 on one side and the resultant upward pivoting of the links 46 on the other side of carrier 42. On the load-bearing surface 44, a belt conveyer 50 is arranged which com prises an endlessly circulating belt 51 formed as a toothed belt. Said belt 51 is arranged in an upright position and is trained around toothed-belt wheels 52,53. Further, belt 51 comprises a laterally extending slider 54 for displac ing the object on the load-bearing surface 44. Belt 51 can run in a full circle in both directions so that the slider can be brought into abutment with the rear side as well as with the front side of an object resting on the load bearing surface 44. Thus, the slider 54 can push an object via said front transfer side 44a or via said rear transfer side 44b. Consequently, the ma nipulator M1 can service the first channel-type storage area Li as well as the second channel-type storage area L2. Located opposite to said belt conveyer 50 is an adjustable lateral guide means 55 arranged for controlled movement by a drive unit 56 with toothed rack and designed for automatic adaptation to the width of the received ob ject. Within load-bearing surface 44, fingers 58 are arranged in recessed posi tions. Said fingers consist of a fork which is moveable in a controlled man ner for lifting an object above load-bearing surface 44. The fingers serve for levering out objects by lifting an object resting on the channel bottom of the shelf so as to move the same beyond the stopper, thus avoiding the block ade at the lower end of the channel. Further, during the storing process, the fingers serve to exert the final push on an object which has been advanced 11 by belt conveyer 50, so that the rear edge of this object can overcome the stopper 29 of the channel bottom. Manipulator M1 includes measurement devices for measuring the dimen sions of an object before, during and after transfer of the object onto the manipulator. These measurement devices comprise a first sensor S1 ar ranged at the front side of the manipulator and provided to direct a meas urement beam MS1 in the forward direction. Sensor S1 is a light-reflection sensor detecting the presence of an object in the shelf in front of the manip ulator. During a horizontal movement of the manipulator, the measurement beam MS1 will scan the object in front of it for determining the width of the object on the basis of the length of the manipulator route covered. A second sensor S2 provided on the manipulator and having its measure ment beam directed downwards, serves for determining the height of an object. Said sensor S2 is a distance sensor. During the horizontal move ment of the manipulator, the sensor will scan the top side of an object ar ranged in front of it. In this manner, the height of the object relative to the bottom of the bin is determined. Further, the shape of the object can be detected. A third sensor S3 is formed by a light barrier generating a meas urement beam MS3. During transfer of an object to the manipulator, sensor S3 is operative to detect when the front side of the object will clear the way for the measurement beam MS3. The position assumed by the slider 54 in this state is representative of the length of the object, i.e. the distance be tween the measurement beam MS3 and the slider 54. Subsequently to determining the width of the object, drive unit 56 is actu ated to set the lateral guide means 55 in correspondence to the measured width. A fourth sensor S4 is provided on the rear side of the manipulator. This sensor generates a measurement beam MS4 which is directed to the rear, i.e. in the direction of the first storage area L1, for detecting the depth of 12 the free space of the respective storage place. Thereby, it is detected whether the depth of the storage space is sufficient to accommodate the object lying on the manipulator. The sensor S1 can further be used for detecting the positions of the parti tion walls 27 of channel-type storage area L2 during the movement of the manipulator. The partition walls 27 can be displaced manually. With the aid of a search run of the manipulator, it is detected whether or not changes of the partition walls 27 have been performed. The detected positions of the partition walls will be stored. In this manner, the computer will know the size to which a given channel 28 has been set. The same function can be performed by sensor S4 for channel-type storage area Li. Storage area Li is provided to keep available, in any one of the channels 18, objects of identical dimensions. Storage area L2 is designed to the ef fect that its channels 28 can accommodate objects of different dimensions. The channels 18 of the first storage area Li have no lateral inclination. They are inclined only in the longitudinal direction towards the discharge end 20. The channels 28 of the second storage area L2, by contrast, do have a lat eral inclination. Also the channels 60 of goods insertion apparatus 12 are laterally inclined. This is illustrated in Fig. 5. Shown in Fig. 5 are the dis charge openings, facing towards moving path 22 of manipulator M1, of the channels 60, with the objects being transferred to manipulator M1 via these openings. Since the channels 60 are not assigned to a specific size of ob jects, they have to be able to accommodate objects of different sizes. For this purpose, different sizes of the channels 60 are provided, namely sizes 60a, 60b and 60c. All of the channels depicted in Fig. 5 are inclined, having an inclined bottom 61 and an inclined side wall 62. These walls 61,62 serve as abutment walls for an object G so that this object, even if it does not fit into the channel with exact correspondence of sizes, will assume a defined position in the channel. The inclining mechanism of manipulator M1 makes it possible for the manipulator to service channels with lateral inclination as 13 well as channels without lateral inclination (Fig. 6). The angle of inclination of manipulator M1 corresponds to the lateral angle of the channel bottoms. In the present embodiment, the channels 28 of the second storage area L2 are provided for different sizes of objects. Thus, the channels 28 again have a lateral inclination. Therefore, the view along line A-A in Fig. 1 substantially corresponds to Fig. 5. With its load-bearing surface 44 tilted, i.e. laterally inclined, manipulator M1 can service the channels of storage area L2 and, if its load-bearing surface is oriented without a lateral tilt, it can service the channels of storage area Li. Figs. 7-10 sequentially depict the process of storing an object G in storage area L2. Manipulator M1 will move to a position in front of the respective channel 28 (Fig. 7). Then, the load-bearing surface 44 will be advanced from carriage 42 in the forward direction, taking the fingers 58 along with it (Fig. 8). The slider 54 will then push the object G ahead on the load-bearing surface (Fig. 9) until object G has passed the front ends of the lowered fin gers 58. Then, the fingers 58 will be lifted above the load-bearing surface 44 so that their front ends will engage the object. By advancing the fingers 58, the object will be transferred into channel 28 while moving beyond the stopper 29 (Fig. 10).

Claims

1. A storage automat comprising storage places and a controllably move able manipulator for servicing the storage places, said manipulator comprising a load-bearing surface, the storage places being shelves of the type with inclined bins and the load-bearing surface of the manipu lator being an oblique surface so that objects can slide do n from the shelves onto the inclined load-bearing surface of the manipulator, wherein a slider, provided for moving an object resting on the load bearing surface, is drivable in opposite directions in a manner allowing the slider to selectively engage a first end of said object or a second end of said object opposite to said first end.

2. The storage automat according to claim 1, wherein sa d slider is mounted to an endless belt adapted to run in a full circle.

3. The storage automat according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a finger is ar ranged recessed in the load-bearing surface, said finger being adapted to be lifted above the plane of the load-bearing surface and to be ex tended beyond an edge of the load-bearing surface.

4. The storage automat according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein said belt is arranged in an upright configuration and forms a lateral delimi tation, and wherein a lateral guidance means is provided for the object resting on the load-bearing surface, said lateral guidance means being displaceable for changing the effective width of the load-bearing sur face.

5. The storage automat according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the manipulator comprises a controllably moveable carriage supporting a displaceable carrier, said carrier being guided for linear movement and carrying the load-bearing surface thereon. 15

6. The storage automat according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the load-bearing surface has a front transfer side and, on the opposite end, a rear transfer side.

7. The storage automat according to claim 5 or 6, wherein # controlled inclining mechanism is provided to effect a lateral inclination of the load-bearing surface for adaptation to laterally inclined storage places.

8. The storage automat according to claim 7, wherein said inclining mechanism is mounted to the displaceable carrier and is operative to adjust the load-bearing surface relative to the carrier.

9. The storage automat according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the manipulator comprises measurement devices for measuring the dimensions of an object before, during or after takeover of the object by the load-bearing surface.

10. The storage automat according to claim 9, wherein said measurement devices comprise a first sensor which is responsive to the object and is operative to detect the width of an object.

11. The storage automat according to claim 9, wherein said measurement devices comprise a second sensor which is responsive to the object and is operative to determine the height of an object.

12. The storage automat according to claim 9, wherein said measurement devices comprise a sensor provided near the front and/or rear transfer side of the load-bearing surface, and wherein an apparatus is provided which, when said sensor passes through the front side of an object, is operative to detect the distance by which a slider engaging the rear side of the object is spaced from said sensor and to determine the length of the object thereby. 16

13. The storage automat according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the manipulator comprises a distance sensor for determining the depth of a storage place, with a computer detecting whether the size of the storage place is sufficient for the object on the load-bearing surface.

14. A storage automat substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying figures.