CH679661A5 - - Google Patents

Description

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description

The invention relates to a continuous storage system for piece goods, with storage shafts running between a loading end and a removal end, in which the piece goods can be stored one behind the other, with carriages which can be moved in the storage shafts for receiving the piece goods, the carriages coupling devices for automatically coupling the carriages to one another have pullable wagon train from the removal end, and with a conveyor for advancing the wagons.

In a continuous storage known from CH-PS 408 776, a first wagon is loaded at the end of the loading and then shifted by the length of the wagon, after which the next wagon is coupled and loaded. In this case, the advancement takes place by means of a conveyor device formed, for example, by a chain conveyor. The storage shaft is therefore filled by gradually advancing the wagons from the loading end. If there is a delivery requirement at the end of removal, the row of wagons is moved to the end of removal using the conveyor.

A new row of wagons can then be put together at the end of the loading. If a wagon has been unloaded at the removal end, it is removed from the relevant storage shaft, after which the wagons still loaded are advanced by one wagon length by means of a further conveyor device.

In the case of such a continuous storage system, each storage shaft must be equipped with the mentioned conveying devices, which requires correspondingly high investments. These conveyor systems must also be maintained and serviced on an ongoing basis, which results in corresponding operating costs.

The procedure is also relatively complex, since each row of wagons is first put together at the end of the loading and then only moved to the end of removal in a further process step, and since the end of the unloading of the loaded wagons only takes place after the unloaded wagon has been removed. This requires a considerable amount of time. In addition, there is a gap between the removal-side and the entry-side wagon row, so that the entire length of the storage shaft is not available for general cargo storage.

The invention is therefore based on the object of creating a continuous storage of the type mentioned at the outset, which does not require stationary conveying devices arranged in the storage shafts and in which the process sequence is simplified.

This object is achieved according to the invention in that the conveying device is formed by a satellite car which is carried by a feed device approaching the loading end of the respective storage shaft and can be moved back and forth between the latter and the respective end of the car train in the approached storage shaft in such a way that the satellite car Has lifting device for the respective carriage, the retracted carriage can be coupled in the raised state to the carriage placed in front of it, and that at the removal end of the storage shafts a stop for the foremost carriage and a decoupling device are arranged such that the foremost carriage by means of a Removal device can be lifted over the stop and can be transported out of the storage shaft, the foremost carriage with the subsequent connecting coupling device remaining effective until the following carriage has reached the stop and the decoupling device ng the coupling device releases.

A common satellite carriage is thus assigned to the storage shafts, which is driven to the loading end of the respective storage shaft with the aid of the feed device, the loaded carriage already being on the satellite carriage and thereby on its lifting device. The satellite car then moves from the feed device into the relevant storage shaft, with the car raised. When the satellite wagon reaches the end of the wagon train already arriving from the removal end of the storage shaft, the arriving wagon is automatically coupled, after which the lifting device is lowered and the satellite wagon is moved back. This results in a wagon train going from the removal end to which the respective arriving wagon is attached, so that on the one hand a wagon is ready for removal at the beginning of the removal and on the other hand there is no gap in the storage shaft. Furthermore, the carriage removed from the storage shaft by means of the removal device is simultaneously used as a traction device in order to advance the entire carriage train by one carriage length. When the foremost carriage is removed, the latter is simply lifted over the stop, the coupling device connecting it to the next carriage being still effective, which is only uncoupled when the next carriage has reached the removal position.

It can be seen that this process sequence is very simple and allows the entire length of the storage shaft to be used. This is achieved without stationary conveyors in the storage shafts.

Another advantage is that the removal device can be a conventional forklift, with which the foremost carriage can be lifted over the stop and transported out of the storage shaft. This is particularly advantageous if the removal side of the continuous storage area is opposite another storage area that leaves individually narrow items to be removed while leaving a narrow path free. The same forklift can then be used for both bearings.

Continuous storage with satellite cars are known per se, for example, from the magazine “Förder und Heben” 21 (1971) No. 14, p. 841. However, the piece goods are simply deposited in the storage shaft by the satellite car on the entrance side. There is another satellite car on the withdrawal side for the removal of the piece goods,

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which then fetches the foremost piece goods from the storage shaft. Here, too, the entire length of the storage shaft is not used for the storage of piece goods, unless one takes the whole row of pieces located in the storage shaft by one piece length when removing each piece of goods, which would be time-consuming. Quite apart from the fact that the piece goods are not stored on wagons, so that there is no connected wagon train, there are completely different conditions, especially at the end of unloading.

An embodiment of the invention will now be explained in detail with reference to the drawing. Show it:

1 is a storage shaft of a continuous storage for the basic explanation of the process flow,

2a to 2c schematically the shaft loading process,

3a to 3d schematically the removal process,

4a to 4h the coupling and uncoupling of the car and

Fig. 5 is a schematic plan view of a through-bearing according to the invention.

The continuous storage comprises, in a conventional manner, as can be seen in FIG. 1, a support structure made of vertical static supports 1, which stand on a base 3 in a two-dimensional grid. The supports 1 carry a plurality of essentially horizontal storage shafts which extend in one of the grid dimensions and are fixed by horizontal supports 5. In Fig. 1, only such a storage shaft 7 is shown schematically, which is arranged between the horizontal support 5 and a dashed upper boundary.

With the aid of a feed device in the form of a loading vehicle which can be moved forwards and backwards in the direction Y shown, a piece of goods 11 to be stored in the storage shaft 7 is moved on a carriage 13 equipped with rollers to the loading end 15 of the storage shaft 7 to be loaded in each case. The general cargo / wagon unit 11, 13 can also be moved in the Z direction with the feed device 9, provided that several layers of storage shafts 7 are arranged one above the other.

The carriage 13 with the piece goods 11 placed thereon is introduced into the storage shaft 7 in the direction of arrow F in a manner to be described in detail. A series of such units is created in the storage shaft 7 by the successive introduction of such general cargo / wagon units 11, 13. The first unit 11, 13 inserted into the storage shaft 7 is advanced to the removal end 17 of the storage shaft 7, so that even if the storage shaft is not completely filled, a general cargo wagon unit 11, 13 is shown schematically in FIG. 1 Position of unit number 1 is.

If the unit No. 1 is at the removal end 17, as shown, the further units 11, 13 are pushed in successively, with coupling devices 19 shown schematically in FIG. 1 being provided on the wagons 11, as in the case of a toy train, such that the units 11, 13 are mechanically coupled to each other automatically, i.e. the unit no. 2 couples to the no. 1, no. 3 then to no. 2, finally no. 4 to no. 3, etc. until the storage shaft 7 is filled.

A conventional removal vehicle 21 is in turn used to empty the storage shaft 7. This can also be moved in two axes Y and Z along the flow bearing. Both the loading device 9 and the removal device 21 are conventionally high-precision devices, which carry out the loading or emptying in a known manner exactly in alignment with the storage shafts 7.

In Fig. 1, a unit 11, 13 No. 0 that has just been removed is shown, which previously stood in the position Pi, in which unit No. 1 is now located. During this removal, the entire train of coupled piece car wagon units 11, 13 is advanced in the direction of arrow F, so that unit no. 1 is pulled into the predetermined position Pi. When unit 11, 13 no. 1 is subsequently removed, unit no. 2 moves to position Pi, etc. As soon as a unit 11, 13, for example unit no. 0, is removed, the next, i.e. In Fig. 1, the number 1, is pulled into the required removal position Pi, the coupling device 19 is released between the unit just removed and the unit just pulled into position Pi, whereupon the unit 21 just removed can be removed with the removal device 21. Thus, through the respective storage shaft 7, following the principle of first-in, first-out, a general cargo flow in direction F arises, the flow of general cargo 11 being subordinate to a flow of wagons 13.

The trolleys 13 can also be formed by rolling up pallets on which the piece goods 11 are delivered in packed packaging. Bearings, for example plug-in bearings, can also be provided on other conventional pallets, to which rollers are attached.

In Fig. 2, a sequence is schematically shown how a storage shaft 7 is loaded with a loading device 9 of known type, the details of which will therefore not be discussed in further detail, and how the automatic coupling of the carriages 13 takes place.

A schematically represented satellite car 23 is provided on the loading device 9. The satellite car 23 can e.g. Shown with the cable connection 25, can be moved from the loading device 9 precisely in a conventional manner into a rail guide 27 on the horizontal support 5 of the storage shaft 7. The rails 27, which guide the satellite car 23, extend over the entire length of the storage shaft 7, as can be seen from FIG. 1. The satellite car 23 is motor-operated and drives, preferably by means of a friction drive, on the rails 27 through the storage shaft 7. With the loading device 9 and the satellite car 23, as is known per se, the loading end 15 of the

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Storage shaft 7 controlled. Then the satellite car 23 is moved into the storage shaft 7. The satellite carriage 23 has a lifting device 29, preferably operated by an electric motor, on which the carriage 13 which is being fed with the piece goods 11 rests. Before moving the satellite car 23 onto the rails 27 on the horizontal support 5 of the storage shaft 7, the car 13 and the piece goods 11 are raised by means of the lifting device 29, so that the satellite car 23 with the car 13 and the piece goods 11 as a load on its rails without further ado 27 can retract. The loading process is therefore dependent only on the precision of the loading device 9 and on the drive and guidance of the satellite car 23. Each carriage 13 is provided with a coupling device, generally designated 30 in FIG. 2, which automatically creates a mechanical coupling between these carriages 13 when two carriages 13 move together.

Appropriately and as shown schematically in FIG. 2, the coupling device 30 comprises on one side of the carriage 13 a hook 33 which can be pivoted about an axis 31 against a force, for example a spring force, but preferably only against the force of gravity.

On the other hand, at the other end of the carriage 13, the coupling device 30 has a suspension part 35, for example a suspension cam essentially parallel to the axis 31 of the hook 33. The hook 33, as can be seen schematically from FIG. 2, has a control curve on the outside, such that when the hooking cam 35 moves onto the hook 33 at a predetermined height, the hook 33 is raised in direction a. If the satellite car 23 with the raised car 13 now moves onto the last car 13 already deposited in the storage shaft 7, as shown in FIG. 2b, the hook 33 is only raised by the raising action of the hook-in cam 35 and then clicks, driven by gravity, on hook 35. Subsequently, as can be seen from FIG. 2c, the lifting device 29 of the satellite carriage 23 is lowered, which also lowers the articulation point between the hanging cam 35 and the hook 33 while simultaneously lowering the carriage 13 with the piece goods 11 resting on it. The carriage 13 is parked on carriage rails 37 on which it can roll along the storage shaft 7. The satellite wagon 23 is then returned in the direction of the arrow RH to the loading vehicle 9 in order to use it to bring another piece goods 11 with wagon 13 for storage in the same or in another storage shaft 7. As can be seen, thanks to the lowering of the carriage 13 and thus the hooking-in cam 35, which the hook 33 swivels downward, the hooking-in cam 35 comes into a position on the hook 33 in which it stresses the hook in the closing direction - a under tensile stress. With regard to the construction of a preferred coupling, reference is made to FIG. 4, which will be described further below.

In Fig. 3, again schematically, the procedure for removing a cart 13 with general cargo

11 from the shaft 7 shown. At the removal end 17 of the storage shaft 7, a stop 39 is rigidly arranged in the movement path corresponding to the rails 37 for the carriage 13. As soon as only one general cargo / wagon unit 11, 13 has been moved into the storage shaft 7, it is, as explained, in the position Pi in which a stop part 41 is in contact with the respective wagon 13 at the stop 39. All of the following general cargo / wagon units 11, 13 are coupled. For removal, a removal vehicle of a known type, not shown here, is preferably driven, preferably with a telescopic loading fork 43, under the piece goods / trolley unit 11, 13 which is present at the stop 39.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3b, the carriage 13 to be removed with the piece goods 11 stored thereon is raised by means of the telescopic fork 43. As a result, the hook 33 of the carriage 13 in question pivots down into a position in which, as will be explained with reference to FIG. 4, the coupling created is maintained even in the event of tensile stress.

On the underside of the carriage 13 or the upper side of the telescopic fork 43, for example, cams (not shown) are arranged which engage one another so that, by train Z from the removal vehicle via the telescopic fork 43, the carriage 13 to be removed is pulled out via the stop 39 becomes. In this case, the entire train of coupled units 11, 13 is pulled in the storage shaft 7.

When viewed in the direction Z, the stop 39 along the extension path of the carriage 13 is followed by a decoupling device with an actuating cam 45 which does not impair the pulling out of the carriage 13, as can be seen from FIG. 3c. The carriage 13 with its general cargo load 11 is thus pulled out via the stop 39 and the actuating cam 45, and only when the hook 33 sweeps over the area in which the actuating cam 45 projects does the hook 33 come into contact, for example with a control cam 47 brought with the actuating cam 45 so that the hook 33 is pivoted up in the direction a and disengages from the hanging cam 35. The actuating cam 45 is positioned in front of the stop 39 in such a way that the release or decoupling occurs when the next following carriage 13 with its stop part 41 is in contact with the stop 39 and is thus in its desired position Pi. Now the uncoupled carriage 13 with its general cargo is carried away by the removal vehicle in a known manner.

4, the design of the hook coupling and the action of stop 39 and actuating cams 45 are shown in more detail. Each carriage 13 is only shown with its front section 50 and rear section 52, which are formed, for example, by a front or rear frame support. On the front section 50, viewed in the loading direction F, the hook-in cam 35 protrudes, which at the same time forms the actuating member. It is essentially parallel to the axis 31, about which on the back 52 of the respective

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gen wagens 13 the hook 33 is pivotable. The hook 33 has a lever arm 54 which on the one hand is pivotably mounted on the axis 31 and on the other hand carries a sickle-shaped hook section 56. This defines, on the one hand, a hooking-in indentation 58 and, on the other hand, a control cam 60 which extends from the bottom upwards and thereby leads away from the axis 31. In addition, the control cam 47 projecting downwards is arranged on the hook 33 on the axis 33.

4a shows the carriage 13 with the front section 50, as was explained with reference to FIG. 2, in a position raised by the satellite carriage 23 (not shown here). When this carriage is pushed forward, the cam 35 strikes the cam 60 of the hook 33, the course of the cam curve causing the cam 60 to slide up the advancing cam 35 as the two carriages move further towards one another, causing the hook to move in the direction a swings up until it reaches the position shown in Fig. 4b. Upon further advancement of the carriage 13 with the front section 50, the cam 35 now slides under the end of the hook section 56, after which the hook 33 hooks onto the still raised cam 35 with its hook section 56, as shown in FIG. 4c.

Now, as has already been explained in principle with reference to FIG. 2 and as is shown in FIG. 4d, the carriage which has just been fed in is lowered with its general cargo load and the front section 50, so that the position shown in tension under FIG. 4e is finally reached. As can be seen, the position of the cam 35 is still above the axis 31 here, such that when there is a tensile load in the -Z direction, the cam exerts a moment on the hook 33 in the -a direction, i.e. a moment that holds the hook securely on cam 35.

4f to 4h, the removal of an auxiliary pallet, as shown in FIG. 4e, is shown. As has already been explained with reference to FIG. 3, the last or foremost carriage in the removal direction is raised together with its rear part 52, to which the hook 33 is articulated, with the removal vehicle, preferably with its telescopic fork (FIG. 4f). The hook 33 on the next, not raised carriage with the front section 50 is pivoted slightly in the direction - a, the hook indentation 58 on the hook 33 ensuring that, even in this relative position between the hook 33 and the cam 35, there is no loosening of the hooking under tensile stress.

The removal vehicle is now used to pull on the carriage having the rear section 52, as has already been explained with reference to FIG. 3, until, according to FIG. 4g, the second carriage, viewed in the removal direction, which has the front section 50, is practically at the stop 39 and the actuating cam 45 engages with the control cam 47 on the hook 33. While the actuating cam 45, by acting on the control cam 47, lifts the hook 33 out of engagement with the cam 35 in direction a, the second-last carriage, with the front section 50, hits the stop 39 completely.

In Fig. 4h is the second last car, with the front section 50, at the stop 39, while the car to be removed, with the back section 52, can be removed from the carriage train in the storage shaft 7 by the removal vehicle (not shown here).

In Fig. 5, a continuous storage is shown in schematic supervision. It is subdivided into an actual storage zone 70 with a multiplicity of storage shafts 7, into an inlet zone 72 and into an outlet zone 73. Bulk goods 11 are palletized from the inlet zone 72, for example directly from the factory, for example by means of a conveyor belt (not shown) into the storage zone 70 and conveyed to a location S2 where they are automatically placed on a trolley 13. From the point S2 in the storage zone 70, the carriage 13 with the picked-up piece goods 11 is advanced, for example again by means of a conveyor belt, to the point S3, where the loading vehicle or its satellite car takes over the piece goods with the car. With the loading vehicle, the general cargo / wagon unit 11, 13 is now conveyed along the channel 74 to a predetermined storage shaft 76 corresponding to the YZ coordinates and there, as described above, by means of the satellite wagon of the loading vehicle, corresponding to the number in the storage shaft 76 Existing general cargo / wagon units, moved into the depth x in the storage shaft, where they are deposited on the rails for the wagons 13 by the satellite wagon in the manner described. In this case, the introduced piece goods 11 with the carriage 13 assigned to it are coupled to the last of the units 11, 13 already deposited in this storage shaft 76. After depositing the supplied unit 11, 13, the satellite car is withdrawn and the loading vehicle in the channel 74 is brought back to the storage location 53, where it takes over the next general cargo / car unit 11, 13 in the same way. At the same, i.e. monostructured piece goods 11 to be stored, the following unit 11, 13 is transported behind the previously stored one and set down until the storage shaft 76 under consideration is filled, whereupon the next storage shaft is filled with the other YZ layer. The direction of flow of the piece goods / wagon units 11, 13 through the respectively considered storage shaft 76 is represented by the arrow F.

For removal, a removal rack operating device is moved in a removal channel 78 to the storage shaft 76 under consideration. By means of the telescopic fork, the piece goods / wagon unit 11, 13 which is present, for example, in the storage shaft 76 at the removal channel 78 is lifted in the manner described and pulled out of the storage shaft 76, the entire wagon train being pulled in the storage shaft 76 when it is pulled out. After disengaging the coupling device between the just taken general cargo / wagon unit 11, 13 and the next one, which in turn now to the

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Edge of the removal channel 78, the removed unit 11, 13 is transported by means of the removal vehicle in the channel 78 to an removal point S *. There the piece goods 11 are lifted off the carriage 13 and conveyed to the exit and into the outlet 73 by means of conventional conveying elements. The now empty wagons 13, with the interposition of a wagon / traffic jam element, are conveyed from the removal point S4 to the placement point S2, where they can in turn hold a supplied piece goods 11.

The continuous storage described serves for the storage of so-called monostructured piece goods 11. Here one understands monostructured piece goods assortments those assortments which are characterized by a small number of different articles, but large quantities per article.

The removal ends of the storage shafts 7, to which the storage shaft 76 under consideration belongs, are opposite a conventional shelf storage 80 at the removal channel 78, the depth of which corresponds essentially to the depth of polystructured piece goods 82 to be stored and handled. Polystructured general cargo ranges are understood to mean those ranges which are characterized by a large number of different general cargo, with a relatively small quantity being provided for each general cargo. Such piece goods 82 of a polystructured additional assortment are fed from the exit zone 73 to the storage zone 70, where they are picked up with the vehicle otherwise serving as a removal vehicle, which preferably has a telescopic fork, and placed on the shelf 80 for polystructured piece goods and from there, if necessary, be removed again. The grid 80 of the rack for polystructured piece goods is selected such that, for example, three piece goods 82 with their long side in the X direction have space in a shelf compartment, as shown, the Y length of these shelf compartments corresponding to the Y length of two storage shafts 7, in which the piece goods 11 are stored with their longitudinal extension in the Y direction. This results in a common grid dimension for the continuous storage and the rack storage for the control of the removal vehicle also serving as the loading vehicle in the case of the rack storage. To increase the output speed into the outlet zone 73, the piece goods 11 and 82 can, as shown, be discharged from the actual storage zone 70 at two or more exits, for example alternately.

Since the piece goods 11 are always moved and stored together with the assigned carriage 13 in the storage zone 70, automatic storage operation can be carried out by tracking and identifying the carriage 13. For this purpose, these are encoded, for example using a bar code.

Claims (3)

Claims 1.Continuous storage for piece goods, with storage shafts running between a loading end and a removal end, in which the piece goods can be stored one behind the other, with carriages which can be moved in the storage shafts for receiving the piece goods, the carriages coupling devices for automatically coupling the carriages to one another from the removal end have a pullable wagon train, and with a conveying device for advancing the wagons, characterized in that the conveying device is formed by a satellite wagon (23) which is carried by a feeding device (9) approaching the loading end (15) of the respective storage shaft and between this and The respective end of the wagon train located in the approached storage shaft can be moved back and forth in such a way that the satellite wagon (23) has a lifting device (29) for the respective wagon (13), the retracted wagon (13) being raised in the state in front of it Dare ( 13) can be coupled, and that at the removal end (17) of the storage shafts a stop (39) for the foremost carriage (13) and a decoupling device (45, 47) are arranged in such a way that the foremost carriage by means of a removal device the stop (39) can be lifted and transported out of the storage shaft, the coupling device connecting the foremost carriage with the succeeding carriage remaining effective until the following carriage has reached the stop and the decoupling device releases the coupling device. 2. Continuous storage according to claim 1, characterized in that on each carriage (13) on the one hand against a force, preferably gravity, pivotally mounted hook (33) and on the other hand a hooking section (35) and one when opening the carriage (13) on each other the hook (33) for hooking onto the hooking section (35) is arranged, preferably formed by the hooking section (35), the actuating member, the actuating member swiveling up against the force when it hits the hook (33), after which the hook (33 ) swings down behind the hooking section (35). 3. Durchiauflager according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the decoupling device in the removal direction (S) the stop (39) downstream, on the hook (33) to the system and this this pivoting actuating cam (45). 5 10th 15 20th 25th 30th 35 40 45 50 55 60 65