CH628852A5 - Storage apparatus for palletised goods - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a storage device for palletized goods according to the preamble of claim 1. If the rows can also be inclined to a small extent in such a storage device, they preferably run horizontally. The storage device is preferably designed as a continuous storage, in which the pallets are fed to the rows from one side and removed from the other side. However, it can also be designed so that the storage location and the removal location coincide. The former construction is structurally complex. The second construction has the disadvantage that the palletized goods first stored are removed last, while the goods last stored are removed first.

Known storage devices according to the preamble of claim 1, in which a plurality of storage rows arranged parallel to one another is provided in a plurality of floors. A cross conveyor extends in front of the storage rows to feed the inputs of the individual storage rows. The cross feed dog is formed by a carriage that can be moved on a pair of rails. In the storage rows, a pallet trolley can be moved on rails as a transport device, which carries a pallet that can be raised and lowered and can be moved onto the trolley as a transverse conveyor.

This bearing construction is complex and in particular also requires a complicated control. Among other things, this is to be avoided in the invention.

If a storage line is to be loaded in the known warehouse, a pallet is first taken over by the cross conveyor by means of the pallet carriage and brought to the end of the storage line on the output side. The car then moves back and forth until, for example, two thirds of the line is filled. If, for example, three pallets are now to be removed from the storage row, the trolley must move under another pallet, as in the case of loading the storage row, lift it and transport it to the exit end.

A major disadvantage of this design is that the pallet truck has to be steered into a different position, not only to put down a pallet, but also to lift a pallet, which position must also be approached precisely.

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Another disadvantage of the known construction is that the cross conveyor's transfer car can only serve one storage row at a time.

These three essential disadvantages of the known bearing construction are avoided in the invention by the design according to the characterizing features of claim 1. In principle, all storage rows can accommodate a new pallet at the same time, so that the cross conveyor can basically be stacked full of pallets and all pallets can be fed into the respective row at the same time. Controlling the construction is extremely simple, since the only movable mechanism in each line, namely the lifting rail that can be moved by a pallet length, executes only a single movement cycle, namely moving by a pallet length into the area of the cross conveyor, lifting while simultaneously lifting the on the Cross conveyor located pallet, drive back into the storage row by the same length and lower again below the storage level of the mounting rail. Such a process is easy and precise to control. In principle, it can even be precisely limited by simple stops.

The invention thus creates by the design according to the characterizing part of claim 1 a storage device according to the preamble of this claim, which is characterized by low structural complexity, easy and precise controllability and implementation of the transport movement in one or both directions of the line, protecting the stored, palletized Goods and pallets, high operational safety, small space requirements and simple workflow and low wear distinguishes. If desired, a row of stacked, packed pallets can be accommodated in each storage row if the storage rows are sufficiently high. The easy controllability of the relocation of the palletized goods in the storage rows is a particularly great advantage, since the automation of the entire warehouse operation, i.e. the fully automatic loading and unloading of the pallets, is made considerably easier. Nevertheless, the invention is not limited to fully automatic storage facilities, since its advantages also have an impact on partially automated storage operations.

The invention makes it possible to lift the row of loaded pallets standing on the fixed support rails by means of the movable lifting rails and to set them down again after a predetermined longitudinal displacement, which is preferably equal to the extension of a pallet in the longitudinal direction of the line plus a small safety margin. Since the movable lifting rails extend over the length of the storage line, all pallets in the storage line are lifted, moved and put down again evenly, whereupon the lifting rails move back to their starting position and come to rest there or, after placing another pallet, the entire pallet strand again Transport by a pallet width or length. The vertical stroke can be very short. In their idle state, the lifting rails only have to run so much below the stationary mounting rails that the pallets then lie on the mounting rails to such an extent that they are not taken up again when the movable lifting rails are lifted back. To transport them, they only have to be lifted so much above the stationary wing that the pallets will then rest with certainty on the carrier rails and be carried by them. In practice, it is sufficient if the supporting surface of the movable lifting rails extends a few millimeters to about 1 cm below the supporting surface of the stationary mounting rails in the idle state, while it can run a few millimeters to 1 cm above the stationary mounting rails in the raised conveying state.

The embodiment according to claim 2 has the advantage that slippage between the pallets and the movable wing is avoided during the lifting and lowering of the pallets.

A particular advantage of the invention is that the stationary mounting rails do not have to be separate components, but rather can be integrated as supporting components in, for example, the steel structure of the storage building.

A design of the rails according to claim 3 is preferred. In this case, the surfaces of the stationary mounting rails run laterally close to the surfaces of the lifting rails guided in the mounting rails. In this way it can be achieved, for example, that the pallets are carried exactly under the runners or under the pillars connecting the top plate and the bottom plate of the pallet, both from the stationary and from the movable rails. Another advantage of this design is that the system can be prefabricated from two fixed mounting rails and a movable lifting rail as a closed unit, which either already contains the servomotors for lifting and moving the lifting rail or can be easily connected to them, which then Lift and move all lifting rails in a row at the same time.

The lifting rails are preferably U-shaped beams open at the bottom. This makes it possible to attach the lifting mechanism under the lifting rails, so that it is largely secured against dirt falling from above. Furthermore, a rigid design of the lifting rail is possible with simple means. The training according to claim 5 offers not only constructive advantages. It also facilitates the above-mentioned formation of the rails as a prefabricated component for the manufacture of a memory.

The design according to claim 6 allows the lifting movement to be carried out with little effort and also with little structural effort. The overall height of such a wedge stroke mechanism is small. The construction effort too.

The design according to claim 8 allows the lifting rails to be raised and lowered without moving them horizontally.

Claim 9 indicates an advantageous development of claim 8.

It goes without saying that in the invention, a large number of lifting wedge arrangements must be provided under each rail, since this can have a relatively large length of, for example, ten to fifty meters. At least one lifting wedge arrangement for each movable rail is expediently located under each of the pallets.

The design according to claim 10 allows the transfer of the pallets or pallet towers from the cross conveyor into the storage rows with particularly simple means. A separate conversion mechanism is not required.

The design according to claim 11 makes it possible to stack several rows of pallets in a storage row. Preferably three rows of pallets are stacked one above the other in a row.

Advantageous further developments of the lifting device are characterized in claims 12 and 13.

Using the cross conveyor, each loaded pallet is brought in front of the entrance to the storage line and lifted there by the lifting device so that a next pallet can be moved underneath, onto which the first

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Pallet is deposited. Now the lifting device can lift both pallets and place them on a third pallet conveyed underneath, and so on, until a tower of loaded pallets is fully used, which is then brought into the line. To empty the line, a pallet tower is first placed on the corresponding cross conveyor; the lifting device lifts the tower with the exception of the lowest pallet, and this is moved by the cross conveyor. The lifting device then places the rest of the tower on the cross feed dog and lifts it off with the exception of the lowest pallet and so on until the top pallet of the tower is placed on the cross feed dog.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings, which show a preferred embodiment in highly schematic form as an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 1 shows a horizontal section through part of a pallet storage device according to the invention with a plurality of storage rows arranged side by side and one above the other, each of which can accommodate a plurality of rows of loaded pallets one above the other;

FIG. 2 shows the view of part of the storage device according to FIG. 1 on an enlarged scale from the loading side, that is to say seen from below in FIG. 1;

3 shows, on a larger scale, a longitudinal section through a rail unit formed by two support rails and a movable lifting rail extending between them;

Fig. 4 shows the section VI-VI of Fig. 3 in natural size;

FIG. 5 shows the section III-III from FIG. 4, the displacement position of the lifting wedge, however, being different from that in FIGS. 3 and 4;

FIG. 6 shows approximately on the scale of FIG. 2 the lifting device arranged in front of the cross conveyor in the view from the left in FIG. 2.

The high bearing schematically indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is carried by a plurality of vertically running double T-beams 1, between which horizontal cross members 2 each extend. Each storage line of this high-rise warehouse is delimited on the right and left in FIG. 2 by a row of double-T beams 1 and above and below by a row of horizontal cross members 2. In this respect, the structure is common and can also be replaced by any other common structure. The vertical distance between the traverses 2 allows three loaded pallets 5 to be stacked one above the other in each storage line.

For reasons of space, only the lowest pallet 5 and part of the middle pallet are shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 1, which shows a horizontal section through the bearing, one row of the store is filled with pallets 5.

Two pairs of rails 3 and 4 run parallel to each other in a fixed position on the crossbeams in each storage line in the longitudinal direction of the rows. The pairs of rails 3, 4 are spaced from each other in such a way that each pair of rails on a loaded pallet 5 placed thereon is at least approximately under one runner or row of columns of the loaded pallets 5 to be stored in the warehouse, as indicated in FIG. 2.

Between the stationary rails 3 and 4 of each pair of rails, which are at a sufficient distance from one another, a movable rail 6 is arranged, which is movable not only in the horizontal direction, i.e. in FIG. 2 perpendicular to the plane of the drawing and in FIG. 1 from top to bottom, but also in Vertical direction, that is in Fig. 2 up and down and in Fig 1 perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. It can be seen in particular from FIG. 2 that when the movable rails 6 are lifted from the position shown in FIG. 2, they lift the pallets resting on the stationary rails 3 and 4, take them with them when moving horizontally in the longitudinal direction of the line and when they are lowered again into the Fig. 2 shown position the pallets again on the stationary 5 rails 3.4. Each horizontal step of the movement of the movable rails 6 has a length which corresponds to the extension of the pallets in the longitudinal direction of the row, that is to say from top to bottom in FIG. 1, plus a small safety distance of the order of 5% of this pallet extension.

To feed the pallets into the individual rows of rows arranged one above the other, a roller conveyor 7 provided on the loading side of the store serves as the cross conveyor for each floor, the supporting surface of which lies in a plane with the supporting surfaces of the stationary rails 3, 4 of the respective floor. In front of the roller conveyor 7 there is a pair of rails 30 on which a forklift 31 can be moved. The forklift 31 has a portal 32, on which a carriage 20 carrying the lifting fork 34 can be moved up and down. The lifting fork can be moved horizontally on the slide 33, in the direction of the fork extension.

An analog arrangement with a cross conveyor and a lifting device for each floor is provided on the removal side, not shown.

If the roller conveyor 7 has, for example, brought a loaded pallet in front of the loading opening of a line, the forklift 31 moves with its lifting fork 34 into the pallet and lifts it so far that the cross conveyor can bring a second pallet in place of the first. Now the lifting device places the first pallet 5 on the second pallet 5, as shown in FIG. 6. The fork of the lifting device is now pulled to the left in FIG. 6 and downwards in FIG. 1 from the upper pallet, lowered and pushed into the lower pallet 5 35. Now both pallets are raised and the cross conveyor 7 brings a third pallet under the raised pallets, which are now placed on the third pallet. Then the lifting fork 34 in FIG. 6 is pulled out to the right out of the middle pallet of the pallet tower constructed in this way. Then, by lifting the movable rails 6, the pallet tower is raised slightly, and by moving the movable rails 6 horizontally by one step, they are placed on the beginning of the stationary rail pairs 3, 4 of the corresponding row. For this purpose, the movable rails 6 extend beyond the loading opening of the respective storage line in each case between two rollers of the roller conveyor 7 up to their end facing away from the bearing, as can be seen from FIG. 1. This saves a separate device for moving the pallet tower built up by the lifting device 31 in front of the entry of the corresponding line into the line.

To load another storage line, the lifting device 31 is simply moved on the rails 30 in front of their entrance.

55 The storage at the other end is emptied analogously.

The structure of the stationary and the movable rails in the rows of the bearing is only schematically indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2. A preferred embodiment of this rail arrangement is described in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5 60.

As can be seen from FIGS. 3 to 5, each stationary pair of rails has two C-profile, rolled or drawn steel rails 3 and 4 which face their openings 65 towards one another. Between each two rails 3 and 4, the likewise rolled or drawn movable steel rail 6 extends at a small horizontal distance of half a centimeter to one centimeter from the stationary rails.

which, as can be seen from Fig. 4, is formed by a U-shaped rod, the opening of which points downwards.

Each movable rail 6 has, at intervals which are advantageously equal to a pallet length plus safety distance or an integer multiple thereof or an integer fraction thereof, two vertical support plates 11 fastened to the inside of the legs 6a of the rail 6. The support plates 11 can, for example, by means of the screw connections 10 in the manner shown in FIG. 4 to be attached to the legs 6a. They each have holding bores 12 lying opposite one another near their upper edge, which hold a horizontal transverse axis 13 between them with a press fit to a sliding fit. On the center of the axis 13, axially held by spacer bushes 14, runs a roller 15 by means of a needle bearing 16. The roller 15 runs on the inclined surface of a lifting wedge 17. The lifting wedges 17 are on a support rod which extends over the length of the movable rails 6 18 welded on, for example, as indicated in FIG. 5. The distances between the lifting wedges 17 from one another are equal to the distances between the pairs of support plates 11 from one another.

The lifting wedges 17 are supported on the support rod 18. The latter is a drawn rectangular steel tube. The support rod 18 is mounted vertically under the rollers 16 each on a strong cross shaft 20 on which it rolls. This shaft 20 is guided in its position vertically under the roller 16 through two downwardly open slots 1 la in the support plates 11 in the vertically displaceable manner shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Against lateral migration in the axial direction of the shaft 20, the movable rail 6 is secured by track rings 21 shrunk onto the shaft 20, which, as can be seen from the drawing, also allow a certain lateral play of the rail, such as the elongated holes IIa are slightly wider than that Diameter of the shaft 20. The shaft 20 is secured against emigration in the axial direction by running its ends against the vertical webs of the stationary rails 3, 4 and for this purpose carries protective caps 23 made of wear-resistant plastic that are pressed over their ends.

The shaft 20 is supported near its ends in roller bearings 22. The roller bearings 22 are pressed on or shrunk on. The outer rings of the roller bearings 22 run, as can be seen in FIG. 5, on the upper side of the lower legs of the fixed C-profile rails 4 in the longitudinal direction of the rails.

At one end, preferably at the end towards which the lifting wedges 17 sink, the pull rod 18 is articulated to a servomotor 24 designed as a hydraulic piston, which in turn is articulated on the movable rail 6, as can be seen in FIG. 3.

At one end, as can also be seen in FIG. 3, the movable rail 6 is articulated to a servomotor 25, preferably also a hydraulic cylinder. The servomotor

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25 is in turn articulated at its other end with a fixed part, e.g. a plate 27 welded between the mounting rails 3 and 4.

The servomotors 24 and 25 do not have to be provided separately for each movable rail. For example, a servomotor can be provided for moving both rods 18 of a row, while both movable rails 6 of a row are rigidly connected to one another and are likewise displaced in the longitudinal direction by a common servomotor.

The described device works as follows:

It is assumed that the movable rails 6 of the row are in their lowered rest position. To carry out a lifting and conveying step, the rods 18 are first pulled to the right by means of the servomotor 24 in FIG. 3. Here, the rollers 15 roll on the lifting wedges 17 “up the hill” and in the process lift the movable rail 6, so that with its support surface 6b it lifts the pallets located on the fixed rails or on the roller conveyor 7. Movable rail 6 does not yet move horizontally. The lifting movement is effected here exclusively by the pulling in of the wedge arrangement 17, 18 between the roller 15 and the shaft 20, in which the roller 15 rotates on the axis 13, while the shaft 20 rotates in the roller bearings 22 and at most a very slight one Can perform longitudinal movement within the game predetermined by the slots IIa. Now, by actuating the servomotor 25, the movable rail 6 is displaced horizontally by a little more than a pallet length. Since the movable rail 6 is rigidly connected to the rod 18 via the actuator 24 blocked here, the movable rail 6 remains at its height and travels the pallets carried by it in the longitudinal direction of the rail. Here, the movable rail 6 rolls with the help of the rollers formed by the outer rings of the roller bearings 22 on the stationary rails 3 and 4. After reaching the desired end position and blocking the servomotor 25, the servomotor 24 is actuated in the direction opposite to its previous direction of movement, so that now the wedge assemblies 17, 18 are pushed out of the area between the roller 15 and the shaft 18, so that the movable rail 6 sinks downward, the pallets carried by it again onto the stationary surfaces 3a, 4a forming the fixed wing Rails 3 and 4 attaches.

The length of each movable rail is expediently equal to the length of each stationary rail plus a transverse conveyor width.

If the pallets in the rows are not to be stacked on top of one another, the clear height in the rows can be correspondingly lower. The lifting devices 31 and the roadway 30 for the lifting devices can also be omitted. The construction can be kept lighter.

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Claims (13)

628 852 PATENT CLAIMS 1.Storage device for palletized goods with several floors, each of which has a plurality of storage rows arranged parallel to one another, in which loaded pallets can be stored one behind the other, with spaced-apart supporting rails which carry the pallets and run along the storage row at a distance from one another the support rails movable in the longitudinal direction of conveyors for pallet transport in the storage rows, which have lifting members that can be raised from a position below the supporting surface of the mounting rails to a position that is superior to this surface, and with a cross conveyor arranged on the input side in front of the storage rows of the respective floor for loading the rows Floor, characterized in that the lifting members are lifting rails (6) which extend over the row length and run close to the support rails (3, 4), that the transverse conveyors are roller conveyors (7), their conveying plane coincides with the support plane of the support rails (3, 4), and that the lifting rails (6) can be moved with their corresponding ends in their lower position between the rollers of the associated roller conveyor (7), there for lifting a pallet located in front of the line entrance into its upper one The position can be raised, moved back into the storage row and lowered back into its lower position. 2. Bearing device according to claim 1, characterized in that the lifting and lowering movements of the lifting rails (6) take place at least approximately vertically. 3. Bearing device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that two pairs of mounting rails (3, 4) are provided and that between the two rails (3, 4) of the pair in each case a lifting rail (6) runs, which is mounted in the pair of mounting rails and is led. 4. Bearing device according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the lifting rails (6) are downwardly open U-profile supports, in which the means for lifting the lifting rail are arranged. 5. Bearing device according to one of claims 3 to 4, characterized in that the lifting rails (6) on longitudinal members (18) are mounted such that they can be raised and lowered, which can be moved on the stationary rails (3, 4). 6. Bearing device according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the lifting rails (6) can be raised and lowered by means of flat wedges running in the longitudinal direction of the row. 7. Bearing device according to claim 6, characterized in that either the wedges (17) or the rollers (20, 22) carrying them sit on the longitudinal member (18) and relative to the lifting rail (6) by means of a servomotor (24) attached to the latter. are movable. 8. Bearing device according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the longitudinal beams (18) are supported by shafts (20) which, with roller bearings at their ends (22) on the lower legs of the two, the associated fixed pair of mounting rails ( 3,4) forming, with the cavities facing each other C-profile rails. 9. Bearing device according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the longitudinal movement of the lifting rails (6) relative to the mounting rails (3, 4) takes place by means of a hydraulic servomotor (25). 10. Storage device according to one of claims 4 to 9, in which the inputs of the storage rows arranged next to one another are in alignment and the transverse conveyor is a roller conveyor serving to feed and / or remove the pallets, characterized in that the lifting rails (6) in their end position on the roller conveyor between the Rollers of the roller conveyor (7) protrude, the conveying surface of which lies with the fixed supporting surface (3a, 4a) in one plane so that they can lift the pallets (5) located there and convey them into the storage row. 11. Storage device according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the row height allows the storage of several pallets one above the other, and that each transverse conveyor is assigned at least one longitudinally movable lifting device (31) which allows loaded pallets to be stacked on top of one another or pallet stacks dismantle. 12. Storage device according to one of claims 4 to 11, characterized in that the lifting device (31) is a forklift, the lifting fork (34) protrudes in the longitudinal direction of the row and can be moved in this direction by at least the extent of a pallet in this direction. 13. Storage device according to one of claims 4 to 12, characterized in that the lifting height of the lifting device is somewhat greater than the height of a loaded pallet.