CN110626692A

CN110626692A - Movable intensive storage and picking device, combined type storage system and assembling method thereof

Info

Publication number: CN110626692A
Application number: CN201910883187.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张俊; 李林子; 李秀刚; 张孟文
Original assignee: Shenzhen Whale Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Whale Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-09-18
Filing date: 2019-09-18
Publication date: 2019-12-31

Abstract

The invention provides a movable intensive storage and picking device, a combined storage system and an assembly method. The storage containers are combined together to form a combined storage area, and a track assembly, a box taking robot and a plurality of material boxes are arranged in the combined storage area. The internal space of at least one rail-changing container is communicated with the internal space of at least one storage container of a plurality of storage containers, a rail-changing device is arranged in the rail-changing container, and the rail-changing device is configured to switch a box taking robot in the at least one storage container from a current running track where the box taking robot is located to a target running track. The internal space of at least one warehouse-in and warehouse-out container is communicated with the internal space of the rail-changing container, and a warehouse-in and warehouse-out device is arranged in the warehouse-in and warehouse-out container and used for executing warehouse-in and warehouse-out operation of goods.

Description

Movable intensive storage and picking device, combined type storage system and assembling method thereof

Technical Field

The invention relates to a logistics storage technology, in particular to a movable intensive storage and picking device, a combined storage system and an assembling method thereof.

Background

A large number of shelves are required in the existing logistics warehouse or warehouse. The existing goods shelves are mostly moving goods shelves with rollers, the moving goods shelves are arranged on a track, and the goods shelves run back and forth on the track through a driving device to convey goods. To improve efficiency, shelves typically have multiple levels, each of which has goods placed thereon. Because the goods are loaded on the goods shelf, the goods shelf needs to consume more electric energy when moving, and the whole goods shelf system needs to be started and moved integrally aiming at the actions of sorting, loading and unloading of a certain goods shelf, so that the energy consumption is higher, especially, the invalid electric energy consumption is high, and the electric energy utilization rate is low. Each movable goods shelf usually weighs hundreds of kilograms, and the movable goods shelves have large loss such as mutual collision and the like in the integral moving process, thereby having high requirements on a track and a braking system. In the existing goods shelf circular motion system, the common goods shelf turning design is a track loop design, namely, the goods shelf track has a larger turning radius, and the goods shelf is turned and circulated on the turning track. In the current design of changing the track of the goods shelf, a transverse moving device is also adopted, namely transverse moving tracks are designed at two ends of the tracks, a goods shelf transferring device is arranged on the transverse moving tracks, and the goods shelf is transferred to the other track through the transferring device. Since the goods shelves are of a multi-layer structure and have a large weight, the transfer device needs large dragging power after the goods shelves are transferred to the transfer device. The structure has higher requirements on the bearing strength, the impact strength and the power of the transfer device. Such patents are identified as chinese patent application No. 201610955227.0, entitled: an automatic dense warehouse device, which is disclosed in patent documents with the publication date of 2017, 2, month and 8, discloses a warehousing system with shelves placed on rails. The shelf warehousing system is also applicable to the condition that the goods are not high in stack height, but the goods are too high in stack height, unsafe in the moving process and too large in energy loss of invalid transportation.

Moreover, the shelf system discussed above cannot be applied to mobile retail systems, such as small retail vehicles that are temporarily present at an exhibition. The existing small retail vehicle is generally operated manually, and an automatic warehousing system is rarely used.

In addition, the existing automatic warehouse is complex in field installation and high in technical requirement. And once installed, the expansion or reduction is not easy, and the market demand which is rapidly changed at present cannot be used.

Disclosure of Invention

The technical problem to be solved by the invention is to provide a movable intensive storage and picking device, a combined type storage system and an assembly method thereof, wherein a brand-new automatic storage system is adopted, so that the movable retail system can also adopt the automatic storage system.

Another technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a combined warehousing system which is easy to install on site, can flexibly construct a warehouse with a capacity meeting requirements, has low cost and convenient fixation, saves the time for constructing infrastructure, and realizes the rapid deployment and the moving arrangement of an automated warehouse.

In one aspect, a mobile dense picking device proposed herein includes: the skid-mounted outer box is internally provided with a storage area and defines a delivery end; the plurality of bins are positioned in the storage area, and each bin is used for containing commodities; the delivery platform is positioned at the delivery end of the skid-mounted outer box; the rail assembly is installed in the skid-mounted outer box and is positioned above the material box; the box taking robot is slidably mounted on the rail assembly and located above the material box, and the box taking robot is used for carrying the material box where the order commodity is located from the storage area to the delivery platform.

In another aspect, a modular warehousing system is presented herein, comprising: the storage containers are combined together to form a combined storage area, a track assembly, a box taking robot positioned on the track assembly and a plurality of material boxes positioned below the box taking robot are arranged in the combined storage area, the material boxes are used for storing goods, and the box taking robot can move back and forth on the track assembly to carry out access operation on the material boxes; at least one rail-changing container, wherein the internal space of the rail-changing container is communicated with the internal space of at least one of the storage containers, a rail-changing device is arranged in the rail-changing container, and the rail-changing device is configured to switch a box taking robot in the at least one storage container from the current operation track where the box taking robot is located to a target operation track; and at least one warehouse entry container, wherein the inner space of the warehouse entry container is communicated with the inner space of the rail replacing container, and a warehouse entry and exit device is arranged in the warehouse entry container and used for executing warehouse entry and exit operation of goods.

In another aspect, a method of assembling a modular warehousing system is provided herein, comprising: combining a plurality of storage containers to form a combined storage area, each storage container defining a length direction and a width direction, the combined plurality of storage containers including one or more layers of storage containers, each layer including a plurality of storage containers arranged in parallel and combined in the width direction, the combined storage area having tracks for a box picker robot to run, wherein the tracks have been installed in the plurality of storage containers before combining the plurality of storage containers; installing a rail change container to at least one end of each of the plurality of storage containers in the length direction, communicating a space within the rail change container with a space within the storage container on a same floor, and having a transition track within the rail change container perpendicular to a track within the storage container on a same floor, the transition track configured for a rail change robot to travel to and from, wherein the transition track within the rail change container has been secured within the rail change container prior to installing the rail change container to the end of the plurality of storage containers.

On the other hand, the utility model provides a workbin snatchs mechanism for snatch a workbin, including liftable tongs platform and install the tongs on the tongs platform, the tongs is used for grabbing the frame of workbin, its characterized in that still includes counterpoint mechanism, counterpoint mechanism includes a plurality of counterpoint pieces that set up the corner position of tongs platform, and every counterpoint piece includes perpendicular downwardly extending's vertical extension portion and from the bottom of perpendicular extension portion downwards and outside extension counterpoint inclined plane, and when the workbin snatchs the mechanism has snatched the workbin, all counterpoint piece's vertical extension portion all paste with the frame surface of workbin, and counterpoint inclined plane all is located the bottom below of workbin, counterpoint inclined plane is constructed so that when the workbin that has snatched has had and a second workbin below has the deviation in vertical direction, the alignment inclined plane is in sliding contact with the upper edge of the frame of the second material box.

In another aspect, a modular warehousing system is provided herein, comprising: the storage container assembly comprises a plurality of storage containers, a plurality of storage containers and a plurality of storage containers, wherein the storage containers are combined together to form a combined storage area, a track assembly, a container taking robot located on the track assembly and a plurality of storage containers located below the container taking robot are arranged in the combined storage area, the storage containers are used for storing goods, the container taking robot can move back and forth on the track assembly to carry out storage and taking operation on the storage containers, and the track assembly is fixed on a plate body of the storage container; and the warehouse-in and warehouse-out container is internally provided with a warehouse-in and warehouse-out device used for executing warehouse-in and warehouse-out operation of goods, and the internal space of the warehouse-in and warehouse-out container is communicated with the combined storage area, so that the box taking robot can transport the material box between the combined storage area and the warehouse-in and warehouse-out device.

The beneficial effects of the various schemes disclosed by the application are as follows:

the invention provides a movable intensive storing and picking device, which comprises: skid-mounted outer boxes, a plurality of material boxes, a delivery platform, a rail assembly, a box taking robot and a picking robot. The skid-mounted outer box is provided with a storage area and defines a delivery end. A plurality of bins are located in the storage area, each bin for holding goods. The delivery platform is positioned at the delivery end of the skid-mounted outer box. The track assembly is installed in the skid-mounted outer box and located above the material box. The box taking robot is slidably mounted on the rail assembly and located above the material box, and the box taking robot is used for carrying the material box with the order commodities from the storage area to the warehouse-out table. The picking robot is located in the skid-mounted outer box and is arranged adjacent to the delivery platform, and the picking robot is used for picking the order goods from a bin located on the delivery platform. The movable intensive storage and picking device can be realized as an automatic retail vehicle or a display vehicle and the like, a skid-mounted outer box is adopted, most of elements are installed in the skid-mounted outer box, and the movable function of the whole storage system can be realized. Besides, the box taking robot can realize accurate alignment in the vertical direction due to the arrangement of the alignment mechanism of the grabbing mechanism, a high-cost position detection mechanism is not required to be arranged on the box taking robot, and cost is effectively reduced. Moreover, the design of the slidable picking robot can improve the picking operation without lengthening the manipulator.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a modular warehousing system including one or more of storage containers, rail change containers, and in-out warehousing containers. The combined type warehousing system with the warehouse capacity meeting the requirement can be flexibly constructed, the cost is low, the fixation is convenient, the time for constructing the infrastructure is saved, and the rapid deployment and the moving arrangement of the automatic warehouse are realized.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an assembling method of the above-mentioned combined storage system, wherein standardized and modularized containers are formed, the standardized containers are stacked and combined according to a set manner, and container bodies of the standardized containers are respectively formed to have detachable or reversible side plates, so that in the process of stacking and combining the containers, the adjacent side plates can be detached or turned over and then connected to form an integral combined storage system with communicated inner spaces, thereby realizing rapid deployment and moving arrangement of the automated warehouse.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of one embodiment of a mobile dense picking device.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the skid-mounted outer box of the mobile dense picking apparatus of fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the mobile compact pick and place device of fig. 1 with the skid case removed.

Fig. 4 is a side schematic view of the mobile dense picking device of fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a simplified schematic of a bin arrangement.

Figure 6 is a schematic perspective view of a bin.

FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view of another angle of the bin.

Fig. 8 is a schematic perspective view of an embodiment of the delivery table.

Figure 9 is a partial schematic view of one track unit of the track assembly.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of the box picker robot of the movable dense picking device of fig. 3.

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the grasping mechanism of fig. 10.

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of an alignment member of the grasping mechanism of fig. 11.

Fig. 13 is a partial perspective view of an alignment member of the grasping mechanism of fig. 11.

Fig. 14 is a perspective view of a picking robot of the mobile dense picking device of fig. 3.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the picking robot of FIG. 14 with the mounting base removed.

Fig. 16 is a perspective view of the mounting base of the picking robot of fig. 14.

Fig. 17 is a schematic top view of a modular warehousing system.

Fig. 18 is a side view schematic of a modular warehousing system.

Figure 19 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a modular warehousing system.

Fig. 20 is an enlarged view of a portion of the modular warehousing system showing the track-change robot, the docking track, and the transition track.

Fig. 21 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a modular warehousing system.

Fig. 22 is a perspective view of yet another embodiment of a modular warehousing system.

FIG. 23 is a flow chart of one embodiment of a method of assembling a modular warehousing system.

FIG. 24 is a schematic view of one embodiment of a bin having a side panel that is deployable relative to a top panel during a method of assembling the modular warehousing system.

FIG. 25 is a schematic view of another embodiment of a modular warehouse system with two opposing side panels that are deployable relative to a top panel.

Detailed Description

Before the embodiments are described in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangements of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of embodiments in other forms of implementation. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of "including," "comprising," "having," and the like, herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. In particular, when "a certain element" is described, the present invention is not limited to the number of the element being one, and may include a plurality of the elements.

The application discloses device is picked to intensive depositing of movable, this device is picked to intensive depositing of movable includes: skid-mounted outer boxes, a plurality of material boxes, a delivery platform, a rail assembly, a box taking robot and a picking robot. The skid-mounted outer box is provided with a storage area and defines a delivery end. A plurality of bins are located in the storage area, each bin for holding goods. The delivery platform is positioned at the delivery end of the skid-mounted outer box. The track assembly is installed in the skid-mounted outer box and located above the material box. The box taking robot is slidably mounted on the rail assembly and located above the material box, and the box taking robot is used for carrying the material box with the order commodities from the storage area to the warehouse-out table. The picking robot is located in the skid-mounted outer box and is arranged adjacent to the delivery platform, and the picking robot is used for picking the order goods from a bin located on the delivery platform. The movable intensive storage and picking device can be realized as an automatic retail vehicle or a display vehicle and the like, a skid-mounted outer box is adopted, most of elements are installed in the skid-mounted outer box, and the movable function of the whole storage system can be realized.

Embodiments of the components of the movable dense picking device are described below with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a perspective assembly view of one embodiment of a mobile dense picking device. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the skid-mounted outer box of the mobile dense picking apparatus of fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the movable dense picking device of fig. 1 after the skid outer box is removed, and the internal structure of the movable dense picking device can be seen. Fig. 4 is a side schematic view of fig. 3, and the general arrangement of the internal components of the mobile dense picking device can be seen.

Referring to fig. 1-4, the movable dense storage and picking apparatus includes a skid-mounted outer box 10, and a plurality of bins 12, an out-warehouse table 14, a rail assembly 16, a box picking robot 18, a picking robot 20, etc. accommodated in the skid-mounted outer box 10.

Referring to fig. 2, the skid mounted outer case 10 is shown in a container type design, comprising a top wall 22, a bottom wall 24, and two side walls 26. In this embodiment, a storage area 28 is formed in the skid-mounted outer case 10, and the front and rear ends are open ends, wherein one end (rear end) is defined as a storage end 30 and the other end (front end) is defined as a storage end 32. The warehousing end 30 is responsible for warehousing the goods, and in this embodiment, specifically, the bins containing the goods are added to the warehousing area 28 from the warehousing end 30, for example, when the warehousing is first built, the bins containing the goods are transported to the warehousing area 28, or when a part of the bins located in the warehousing area 28 are empty, the bins containing the goods are supplemented from the warehousing end 30 to replace the empty bins in the warehousing area 28. The delivery end 32 is responsible for delivering goods, and in this embodiment, when a user orders goods (hereinafter referred to as "order goods") in the storage area 28, the bin 12 containing the order goods is transported to the delivery end 32, and then the order goods are picked from the bin 12 for the user to pick up. When the picking operation is complete, the bin 12 is moved back to the storage area 28.

To facilitate viewing of the working conditions of the storage area 28, side windows 34 may be provided in the side walls 26. The skid-mounted outer case 10 may further be provided with a user interface, for example, a display 36 is installed, the display 36 is in communication connection with the order system of the movable intensive storage and pickup device, so as to show the user a shopping interface for the user to directly shop for goods, or show the two-dimensional code for the user to scan for goods shopping on his/her own terminal device.

With reference to fig. 3, 4 and 5, the bins 12 are densely arranged in the three-dimensional direction to form a stereoscopic warehouse, and the bins 12 are directly stacked without a shelf, so as to further increase the bin density. Specifically, bin 28 has a plurality of bin locations 40 (FIG. 5) defined in two-dimensional coordinates in a horizontal plane, and a plurality of bins 12 stacked in a vertical direction at each bin location 40. Each bin can therefore be identified according to three-dimensional coordinates (lateral, longitudinal, height). More specifically, the illustrated plurality of bins 12 are laterally divided into three columns, four rows in the length direction and four layers in the height direction, and thus can be identified by the number of columns, rows and layers of bins 12.

In an optional embodiment, the plurality of bins are arranged in N rows in a horizontal plane, the track assembly includes N tracks corresponding to the N rows of bins, the movable dense picking device may further include transition tracks perpendicular to the N tracks and a track-changing robot running on the transition tracks, the track-changing robot is provided with a docking track matching with the tail end of the track in the track assembly, and the transition tracks allow the track-changing robot to move along, so as to switch the box-taking robot between N different tracks. The butt joint tracks are aligned with the tail ends of the tracks in the corresponding track assemblies and can be used as the extension of the tracks, so that the box taking robot can move to the butt joint tracks from the tracks in the track assemblies and then move to the tail end of the next switching track along the transition tracks by the rail changing robot, and the switching of the box taking robot among N different tracks is completed.

Fig. 6 and 7 are perspective views of a single magazine 12. The bin 12 includes four side walls 42 and a bottom wall 44, the side walls 42 and the bottom wall 44 defining a receiving space 46 for receiving the merchandise, and the upper end of the bin 12 defining an opening 48 opposite the bottom wall 44. The bottom surface of the bottom wall 44 forms a boss 50, the shape of the boss 50 conforming to the shape of the opening 48, such that when a plurality of magazines 12 are stacked vertically, the boss 50 of a previous magazine 12 is received in the opening 48 of the immediately next magazine 12. Because the boss 50 conforms to the shape of the opening 48, once the boss 50 is received in the opening 48, relative movement of the stacked bins 12 in the horizontal plane does not occur, ensuring a very clean stack in the vertical direction. The magazine 12 is shown in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped having four corners, viewed from above, with the openings 48 and the bosses 50 each having a rectangular shape. It should be understood that the shape shown is merely exemplary and that other suitable shapes may be used.

The upper portions of two opposite side walls 42 of the magazine 12 are each provided with a gripping aperture 52 for gripping by a gripper of a gripping robot 18 (as will be described below in connection with the figures).

As shown in fig. 3, 4 and 8, the delivery platform 14 is disposed at the delivery end 32 of the skid-mounted outer case 10 and rests on the bottom wall 24 of the skid-mounted outer case 10. The delivery station 14 is adapted to receive the bins 12 from the storage area 28. The delivery table 14 has a support surface 53 for supporting the received magazine 12. In order to be able to receive a plurality of magazines 12 simultaneously, the delivery table 14 is provided with a plurality of delivery locations 54, each delivery location 54 occupying a part of the support surface 53. In the embodiment shown, the ex-warehouse station 14 is provided with 3 ex-warehouse locations 54. Each delivery station 54 corresponds to a column of bins 12.

In order to enable the box taking robot 18 to accurately take the box 12 or place the box 12 in an accurate position, the delivery station 54 is provided with a box positioning mechanism. In the illustrated embodiment, the magazine positioning mechanism includes lateral positioning tabs 56 and longitudinal positioning tabs 58, the lateral positioning tabs 56 and the longitudinal positioning tabs 58 extending vertically upward from the support surface 53 of the outfeed table 14 for positioning the magazine 12 in the lateral and longitudinal directions, respectively, at the outfeed location 54.

The warehousing end 30 of the skid-mounted outer box 10 is provided with a warehousing platform 60, and the warehousing platform 60 is similar to the ex-warehouse platform 14 in structure and function. In the illustrated embodiment, three loading positions are also provided, which are capable of receiving three bins simultaneously, each loading position corresponding in position to one of the columns of bins 12 in the storage area 28. The docking station 60 may be identical in structure to the docking station 14 and will not be described in detail. In operation, the bin 12 with the merchandise therein is transported to the loading location either manually or by other means, and then to the storage area 28 by the box extractor robot 16.

As an optional embodiment, an in-out warehouse container is arranged at the warehouse-out position, the in-out warehouse container comprises an in-out warehouse box body, a cargo conveying device, an out-warehouse platform and the picking robot, the cargo conveying device, the out-warehouse platform and the picking robot are located in the in-out warehouse box body, the in-out warehouse box body comprises a top plate, a bottom plate and a detachable side plate connected between the top plate and the bottom plate, and the in-out warehouse box body of the in-out warehouse container is perpendicular to the skid-mounted outer boxes arranged in parallel on the same layer along the horizontal direction and communicated with the inner space. The warehouse-in and warehouse-out box body of the warehouse-in and warehouse-out container is perpendicular to the plurality of skid-mounted outer containers which are arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction, and the space in the warehouse-in and warehouse-out container is communicated with the warehouse-out end of the skid-mounted outer containers.

In another optional embodiment, an in-out warehouse container is arranged at the position of the warehouse entry end 30, the in-out warehouse container comprises an in-out warehouse box body, a cargo conveying device, the warehouse entry platform and a picking robot, the cargo conveying device, the warehouse entry platform and the picking robot are located in the container box body, the in-out warehouse box body comprises a top plate, a bottom plate and a detachable side plate connected between the top plate and the bottom plate, and the in-out warehouse box body of the in-out warehouse container is perpendicular to the skid-mounted outer boxes arranged in parallel on the same layer along the horizontal direction and the inner space of.

It should be noted that the warehouse entry container at the warehouse entry end and the warehouse entry container at the warehouse exit end can be formed as the same standardized container, in different embodiments, the warehouse entry container only includes the warehouse entry container at one end of the skid-mounted outer container, and the warehouse entry container and the warehouse exit container at one end can simultaneously realize the warehouse entry and warehouse exit functions of the commodity, or the warehouse entry container and the warehouse exit container respectively at two ends of the skid-mounted outer container can respectively realize the warehouse entry and warehouse exit functions of the commodity. It should be noted that, according to the internal arrangement of each in-out container, each in-out container may have only an out-warehouse function, only an in-warehouse function, or both an out-warehouse function and an in-warehouse function.

In the above-described embodiment in which the components at the delivery end position and the loading end position are formed as independent delivery containers, the picking robot and the delivery/loading table may be provided in the delivery container without being provided in the skid-mounted outer box. When the warehousing system is built, only the modularized storage containers and the modularized warehouse-in and warehouse-out containers in required quantity need to be selected and combined according to a set mode to build. This modular construction scheme will be discussed in more detail in the following description.

Referring to fig. 3, 4 and 9, a track assembly 16 is mounted within the skid mounted outer case 10 above the bin 12 in the storage area 28. In the illustrated embodiment, the track assembly 16 includes 3 track units 62 located above the 3 column bins 12, each having a box picker robot 18 slidably mounted thereon. Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, there are a total of three box picker robots 18, with each box picker robot 18 corresponding to a column of bins 12.

In the above embodiment, three rows of the bins 12, three delivery positions 54, three storage positions, three track units 62, and three box picking robots 18 are provided, and correspond to each other. In other embodiments, there are N magazines 12, N delivery positions 54, N deposit positions, N track units 62, and N box picker robots 18, corresponding to each other, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1. In other embodiments, the number of columns of the bins 12, the number of the delivery positions 54, the number of the storage positions, the number of the track units 62, and the number of the box taking robots 18 may not correspond to each other, and may be selected according to actual situations.

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a partial structure of one of the rail units 62. The rail unit 62 comprises two rails 64 spaced apart in the transverse direction, each rail 64 being provided with a rail groove 66, the rail grooves 66 of the two rails 64 of the same rail unit 62 being opposed for cooperation with the cartoning robot 18. Each rail comprises a side wall 67 and a top edge 68 and a bottom edge 69 extending from the upper and lower edges of the side wall 67 towards the other rail 64, wherein the side wall 67, the top edge 68 and the bottom edge 69 together form a C-shaped cross-section.

As shown in fig. 3, 4, and 10, the box extracting robot 18 includes a traveling mechanism 70 and a grasping mechanism 72 suspended below the traveling mechanism 70 and liftable with respect to the traveling mechanism 70. The travel mechanism 70 is slidably mounted to the track assembly 16 for horizontal movement along the track assembly 16 to move the gripper mechanism 72 horizontally. The traveling mechanism 70 is provided with traveling rollers 74 and guide wheels 76 on both sides thereof, and a driving device for driving the traveling rollers 74 to roll is provided inside thereof. Four travel rollers 74 are provided on each side of the travel mechanism 70, two on each side. The two running rollers 74 on one side run on the bottom side 69 of one of the guide rails 64 of the rail unit 62, and the two running rollers 74 on the other side run on the bottom side 69 of the other guide rail 64 of the rail unit 62. While the guide wheels 76 on both sides run on the side walls 67 of both guide rails. The traveling mechanism 70 can move longitudinally along the guide rail by driving the traveling roller 74 with an internal driving device.

Under the driving of the driving device, the 4 walking rollers 74 are synchronously powered to move in the track, and the load of the box taking robot 18 is uniformly distributed to the 4 walking rollers 74. Because the walking rollers 74 move in the tracks, contact between the rollers and the side walls 67 of the guide rails can occur, and therefore, the guide wheels 76 can solve the problem, the walking rollers 74 and the side walls 67 of the guide rails keep a stable distance under the action of the guide wheels 76, shaking of the vehicle body can be reduced and controlled, stability of the vehicle body is improved, and unfavorable shaking of the bin 12 below the box taking robot 18 is avoided.

As shown in fig. 11, the gripper mechanism 72 includes a gripper platform 78, a gripper 80, and an alignment mechanism.

A lifting mechanism is arranged between the gripper platform 78 and the travelling mechanism 70 and is used for lifting the gripper platform 78. In the illustrated embodiment, the lift mechanism includes a lift bar 82 and a lift drive. The upper end of the lifting bar 82 is connected to the lift drive and the lower end of the lifting bar 82 is secured to the gripper platform 78. The lifting of the gripper platform 78 may be accomplished by the lift drive lifting the lift bar 82 upward or lowering it downward. In the illustrated embodiment, the lifting driving device is disposed in the traveling mechanism 70, and includes a driving motor and a winder connected to the driving motor, the upper end of the lifting bar 82 is wound on the winder, and the winder performs a winding operation under the driving of the driving motor, thereby performing a lifting and lowering operation of the lifting bar 82. The lifting bar 82 may be a flexible steel bar or rope or the like.

Hand grips 80 are provided on the sides of the hand grip platform 78 for gripping the side walls 42 of the magazine 12. In the illustrated embodiment, two fingers 80 are provided, one on each of opposite sides of the finger platform 78, for gripping the two gripping apertures 52 of the magazine 12. The gripper platform 78 is also provided with gripper drive means for driving the gripper 80 to rotate about a rotation axis 86 between the gripping and release positions. Wherein in the gripping position the hand grip 80 is rotated to extend into the gripping aperture 52 and in the release position the hand grip 80 is rotated outwardly out of the gripping aperture 52. The gripper drive means may be embodied in any suitable form. In the illustrated embodiment, the gripper driving means includes a motor 84 and a linkage mechanism driven by the motor, one of the links 85 of the linkage mechanism being connected to the upper end of the gripper 80. When the motor 84 drives the linkage to move, the link 85 rotates the gripper about the axis of rotation 86 between the gripping and release positions.

Referring also to fig. 12 and 13, the alignment mechanism includes a plurality of alignment members 90 disposed at corner locations of the gripper platform 78. In the illustrated embodiment, the number of alignment members 90 is four, corresponding to the four corners of the bin 12. Each alignment member 90 includes a vertically extending portion 92 extending vertically downward and an alignment bevel 94 extending downward and outward from a bottom end of the vertically extending portion 92. When the gripper mechanism 72 grips a bin 12, the vertical extensions 92 of all of the alignment members 90 abut the outer surface of the side walls of the bin 12, and the downward extension of the vertical extension 90 is such that the alignment ramp 94 is entirely below the bottom of the gripped bin 12. During the process of stacking the gripped bin 12 on a lower bin 12, if the gripped bin 12 and the lower bin 12 are not aligned, the boss 50 of the gripped bin 12 will be misaligned with the opening 48 of the lower bin 12, and normal stacking cannot be achieved. At this point, the alignment ramp 94 will slide into contact with the upper edge of the sidewall of the lower bin 12, thereby fine-tuning the position of the upper bin 12 in the horizontal plane and thereby aligning the gripped bin 12 with the lower bin 12. This application adopts to set up counterpoint mechanism on snatching mechanism 72 and realizes the ascending accurate counterpoint of vertical side, need not to set up costly position detection mechanism on getting punch-out equipment robot 18, effective reduce cost.

In the illustrated embodiment, the vertical extension 92 of each alignment member 90 includes a first alignment plate 92A and a second alignment plate 92B. The first and second alignment plates 92A and 92B are perpendicular to each other such that the cross-section of the alignment member 90 parallel to the horizontal plane is L-shaped. The first counterplate 92A and the second counterplate 92B are intended to abut the outer surfaces of two adjacent side walls of the gripped bin 12, i.e. the outer surfaces of two adjacent side walls forming one of the corners. Accordingly, the alignment ramps 94 include a first alignment ramp 94A extending downwardly and outwardly from a bottom end of the first alignment plate 92A and a second alignment ramp 94B extending downwardly and outwardly from a bottom end of the second alignment plate 92B.

The first registration ramp 94A and the second registration ramp 94B of each registration member 90 intersect or have a small gap (which may be considered to intersect) therebetween. For each alignment member 90, the first and second alignment plates 92A, 92B have a first line of intersection 92C, the first and second alignment ramps 94A, 94B have a second line of intersection 94C, and the first and second lines of intersection 92C, 94C lie in the same vertical plane. Thus, the relative positions of the upper and lower bins 12 can be corrected smoothly by the first aligning inclined surface 94A and the second aligning inclined surface 94B.

The alignment mechanism is provided with a mounting member 96 for each alignment member 90 that is secured to the gripper platform 78. The alignment member 90 is mounted to the gripper platform 78 with a mount 96.

When the gripper mechanism 72 grips a bin and moves to a bin position, the bin may be above another bin (i.e., the bin is above the first floor in the elevation direction) or may be placed directly on a platform or floor (i.e., the bin is above the first floor in the elevation direction). If the latter, the retainer 90 may first come into contact with the platform or ground, resulting in the gripped bin not being able to come into contact with the platform or ground if the retainer 90 has already come into contact with the platform or ground. If the gripper 80 were to be released at this point, the bin 12 would fall on a platform or floor and could potentially damage the merchandise within the bin 12. Therefore, this application is equipped with the slide rail set spare between installed part 96 and counterpoint piece 90 for setting element 90 can be under the effect of platform or ground reaction force and upwards slide, lets workbin 12 slowly fall to the ground. As described above, during the process of stacking the gripped bin 12 on the lower bin 12, if the gripped bin 12 is not aligned with the lower bin 12, the alignment inclined surface 94 of the positioning member 90 is in sliding contact with the upper edge of the sidewall of the lower bin 12, and the upper edge of the sidewall of the lower bin 12 exerts an oblique upward pushing force on the alignment inclined surface 94. In order to prevent the thrust force from pushing the positioning member 90 to slide upwards, the damping force of the slide rail assembly is designed to be larger than the component force of the thrust force exerted by the lower material box on the alignment inclined plane 94 in the vertical direction.

Referring to fig. 13, the positioning member 90 is removed to more clearly show the mounting member 96 and the slide rail assembly. A mount 96 extends vertically downward from the gripper platform 78 and the slide assembly includes a first rail 98A secured to the mount and a second rail 98B secured to the alignment member 90, the first rail 98A and the second rail 98B being a sliding fit. In the illustrated embodiment, the first rail 98A includes two tabs, each tab forming a guide channel facing the surface of the second rail 98B, and the second rail 98B is slidably received in the guide channels of the two tabs. Furthermore, the gripper platform 78 is provided with a mounting hole 99 corresponding to each of the aligning members 90, and the aligning members 90 are slidably mounted in the mounting holes 99. In the illustrated embodiment, the mounting hole 99 is L-shaped.

Referring to fig. 14-16, the picking robot 20 includes a mobile dock 100 and a robot arm 102. Mobile station 100 is movable with respect to magazine 12. The robot 102 is supported by the moving base 100 to be movable with the moving base 100. The robot 102 is configured to pick the ordered items in the bins to at least one shipment outlet 104 (fig. 1 and 3). After a user orders an item, the bin 12 containing the ordered item is carried by the box extractor robot 18 to the delivery location 54 of the delivery table 14, and the robot 102 picks the ordered item from the bin 12 to the delivery port 104 for pick-up by the user.

As previously described, the delivery station 14 has a plurality of delivery locations 54, each delivery location 54 for receiving a bin 12. The movable seat 100 is movable along the direction of the array of the delivery positions 54, so that if the bin 12 in which the order item is located at a position farther from the robot 102, the movable seat 100 can slide toward the bin 12 to improve the picking operation without the need to lengthen the robot 102.

The picking robot 18 is located in the skid-mounted outer box 10, and the movable base 100 is movably supported on a fixed base 106, wherein the fixed base 106 is fixedly disposed in the skid-mounted outer box 10 at a position adjacent to the delivery table 14. The fixed base 106 is provided with a support platform 108, one of the support platform 108 and the movable base 100 is provided with a guide rail, and the other of the support platform 108 and the movable base 100 is provided with a guide groove, and the guide rail is slidably accommodated in the guide groove, so that the movable base 100 can move on the fixed base 106.

In the illustrated embodiment, at least one protrusion 110 is disposed on each of two side edges of the bottom surface of the movable base 100, and each protrusion 110 has a groove 112, and the groove 112 forms the guiding groove. As shown in fig. 15, the bottom surface of the movable base 100 is provided with four protrusions 110, wherein the grooves 112 of two protrusions 110 form one guide groove, and the grooves 112 of the other two protrusions 110 form the other guide groove. Two guide rails are correspondingly and fixedly installed on the supporting table-board 108 of the fixing base 106. A stop 116 is disposed at each of the four corners of the supporting platform 108 to limit the movement of the movable base 100.

The support table 106 is provided with a rack 118, and the rack 118 is parallel to the moving direction of the picking robot 20. A motor 120 is disposed on the movable base 100, and a gear 122 is fixedly disposed on an output shaft of the motor 120, so that the gear 122 can rotate along with the output shaft. The gear 122 is engaged with the rack 118. When the gear 122 is driven by the motor 120 to rotate, the gear 122 will travel along the rack 118, thereby moving the movable base 100. Of course, the rack and pinion arrangement is only an example, and other suitable driving arrangements may be used for the movable base 100 in other embodiments.

In the illustrated embodiment, as shown in fig. 1 and 3, the number of the outlets 104 is four, and in other embodiments, the number of the outlets 104 may be other numbers, which is not limited in the present application.

Additionally, in the illustrated embodiment, the picking robot 18 is positioned between the delivery table 14 and the delivery opening 104, and the delivery opening 104 is positioned outside of the skid mounted outer bin 10. In other embodiments, the outlet 104 may be located within the skid mounted outer bin 10.

With the above description of the picking robot 18 in mind, the present application also discloses an article picking assembly for an automated storage and retrieval system, comprising:

at least one bin 12, said bin 12 for containing goods;

at least one output port 104 (e.g., four output ports as shown) for receiving a product from the at least one bin 12;

a picking robot 18, the picking robot 18 comprising:

a mobile seat 100, said mobile seat 100 being mobile with respect to said magazine 12; and

a robot 102 supported by the movable base to be movable with the movable base 100, the robot 102 being configured to pick the order items in the bin 12 to the output port 104.

The article picking assemblies of the automated warehousing system described above may be used in other automated warehousing systems in addition to the mobile dense picker shown.

In summary, the above embodiments of the present invention provide a movable dense picking apparatus, which includes: skid-mounted outer boxes, a plurality of material boxes, a delivery platform, a rail assembly, a box taking robot and a picking robot. The skid-mounted outer box is provided with a storage area and defines a delivery end. A plurality of bins are located in the storage area, each bin for holding goods. The delivery platform is positioned at the delivery end of the skid-mounted outer box. The track assembly is installed in the skid-mounted outer box and located above the material box. The box taking robot is slidably mounted on the rail assembly and located above the material box, and the box taking robot is used for carrying the material box with the order commodities from the storage area to the warehouse-out table. The picking robot is located in the skid-mounted outer box and is arranged adjacent to the delivery platform, and the picking robot is used for picking the order goods from a bin located on the delivery platform. The movable intensive storage and picking device can be realized as an automatic retail vehicle or a display vehicle and the like, a skid-mounted outer box is adopted, most of elements are installed in the skid-mounted outer box, and the movable function of the whole storage system can be realized. Besides, the box taking robot can realize accurate alignment in the vertical direction due to the arrangement of the alignment mechanism of the grabbing mechanism, a high-cost position detection mechanism is not required to be arranged on the box taking robot, and cost is effectively reduced. Moreover, the design of the slidable picking robot can improve the picking operation without lengthening the manipulator.

It should be noted that the storage and picking of the bins in the movable dense storage and picking device can also be formed as standardized independent container components, for example, a skid-mounted outer box, a bin, a rail assembly and a bin picking robot can be formed as a standard independent storage container together; the warehouse entry table and the picking robot can be jointly formed into a standard and independent warehouse entry container; the rail replacing components such as the rail replacing robot and the rail replacing rail can be jointly formed into a standard and independent rail replacing container, and the container components with corresponding quantity can be conveniently selected to be spliced according to the capacity requirement of a required storage system. The components in the warehouse-in container and the components in the rail-changing container can be integrated in the same container according to actual conditions. The rail replacing component is not arranged or is integrated in the in-out container.

Referring to fig. 17 to fig. 20, a combined warehousing system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of storage containers 200, at least one rail-change container 202, and at least one warehousing container 204.

As shown in fig. 17, a plurality of storage containers 200 are combined in the length direction and the width direction of the storage containers 200 in the horizontal plane, one or more rail change containers 202 are disposed at both ends of the length direction of the plurality of storage containers 200, and one or more out-put containers 204 are disposed outside the rail change containers 202. In the illustrated embodiment, the storage containers 200, the rail change containers 202, and the in-out containers 204 are standardized containers, the number of which increases or decreases as needed for a given splicing pattern. For example, the number of the rack-change containers 202 is changed depending on the number of the storage containers 200 to be combined in the width direction, and similarly, the number of the storage containers 204 is also changed.

As shown in fig. 18, the modular stocker system may have one or more layers in the height direction of the container, and the layout of each layer may be as shown in fig. 17.

Fig. 19 and 20 illustrate the combination and principle of the present application in detail in a simplified embodiment. The example of fig. 19 is a two-tier structure, in which 5 storage containers 200 are combined in the width direction of the storage containers 200 at the same tier, and 1 rail-change container is provided at each end of the storage containers, and the rail-change containers are arranged vertically to the storage containers 200. In this embodiment, the rail-changing container and the warehouse-in container are integrated, that is, the components in the rail-changing container and the components in the warehouse-in container are integrated in the same container. Therefore, the container can be called a track-changing container with a function of entering and exiting (having an entering and exiting device), and can also be called an entering and exiting container with a function of track-changing (having a track-changing assembly). For convenience of description, this container is referred to as a rail change container 202 in the present embodiment.

A plurality of the storage containers 200 are combined together to form a combined storage area, a track assembly 206, a box taking robot 208 positioned on the track assembly 206 and a plurality of bins 210 positioned below the box taking robot 208 are arranged in the combined storage area, and the bins 210 are used for storing goods. The bin pick robot 208 can shuttle on the track assembly 206 to access the bins 210. The structure and principles of the track assembly 206, the box extractor robot 208, and the bin 210 may be identical to those of the embodiment illustrated in fig. 1-16, and thus, the details thereof will not be repeated.

The combined storage area is understood to be the sum of the storage areas formed by the containers. In the illustrated embodiment, the combined storage area includes 5 sub-storage areas 212, each formed by one storage container 200. Each substorage area 212 is provided with the above-described track assembly 206, box picker robot 208 and bin 210.

The storage container 200 comprises a container body comprising a bottom plate 214, a top plate 216, two side plates 218 attached to the long sides of the top plate 216 and the bottom plate 214, and two end plates 220 attached to the short sides of the top plate 216 and the bottom plate 214. Track assembly 206, box picker robot 208, and bin 210 are all disposed within a container box of storage container 200. Prior to transporting the storage container 200, at least the track assemblies 206 have been mounted within the container body, such as to the top panel 216 or side panel 218 of the container body by connectors. The rails of the rail assembly 206 extend along the length of the storage container 200.

Like the storage container 200, the rail change container 202 also has a bottom panel 214, a top panel 216, two side panels 218 attached to the long sides of the top panel 216 and the bottom panel 214, and two end panels 220 attached to the short sides of the top panel 216 and the bottom panel 214. When the rail replacement container 202 is assembled to one end of the storage containers 200 in the longitudinal direction, the internal space of the rail replacement container 202 communicates with the internal space of the storage containers 200 (i.e., the individual sub-storage areas 212). A rail changing device is provided in the rail changing container 202, and the rail changing device is configured to switch the container taking robot 208 in at least one of the storage containers 200 from a current operation track where the container taking robot is located to a target operation track. In the illustrated embodiment, as shown in fig. 20, the rail changer includes a transition rail 222 and a rail change robot 224. Prior to transporting the rail change container 202, at least the transition rail 222 is already installed into the rail change container 202, for example, by connectors to the roof 216 or side panels 218 of the container body of the rail change container 202. The rail-changing robot 224 is located on the transition track 222 and can move back and forth on the transition track 222. The track change robot 224 is configured to receive the box extractor robot and transport the box extractor robot along the transition track 222 to the target travel track. The rail-changing robot 224 is provided with a docking rail 226 that mates with the end of the rail assembly 206.

The transition track 222 extends along the length of the rail change container 202 and is perpendicular to the travel track 206 within each column of storage containers. The rail-changing robot 224 includes a vehicle body and a traveling mechanism mounted on the vehicle body and adapted to the transition rail, and the traveling mechanism is connected to the driving device and driven by the driving device to drive the rail-changing robot to move back and forth along the transition rail. The docking track 226 is arranged on the vehicle body of the rail-changing robot 224, when the rail-changing robot 224 moves along the transition track 222 to align with the operation tracks 206 in a row of storage containers, the docking track 226 is just level with the height of the operation tracks 206 in the storage containers, the docking track 226 on the vehicle body of the rail-changing robot 224 is aligned with the tail ends of the operation tracks in the row of storage containers and connected with each other, and at this time, the container taking robot 208 in the storage containers can directly slide onto the docking track 226 on the rail-changing robot 224 along the operation tracks 206. And then the rail-changing robot 224 is driven to move along the transition track, so that the rail-changing robot 224 is opposite to the running tracks in the storage containers in different rows, and the butt joint track 226 on the vehicle body of the rail-changing robot 224 is aligned with the tail ends of the running tracks in the storage containers in the row and connected with each other, at the moment, the container taking robot 208 in the storage containers can slide to the running tracks in the storage containers in the different rows from the butt joint track 226 on the rail-changing robot, and the switching between the track assemblies 206 of the storage containers in the different rows is realized by the container taking robot 208 through the rail-changing containers 202. The structure and principle of the rail-changing mechanism are described in detail in the chinese patent application entitled "stereoscopic warehousing system" filed by the applicant on 24/7/2018, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

As previously mentioned, in the embodiment shown in fig. 19, the functions of the in-out container are integrated into the rail change container 202. The rail-changing container 202 is provided with an in-out device for performing an in-out operation of goods. In the illustrated embodiment, the in-out device includes a stand 228, the stand 228 being disposed on the floor 214 of the in-out/staging container 202 and below the transition track 222 for temporary storage of bins. Wherein the entry and exit means are already installed into the rail change container 202 before the rail change container 202 is installed into one end of the plurality of storage containers 200. The bin 210 in the storage container 200 is taken out by the box taking robot 202, and the rail replacing robot 224 moves with the box taking robot 202 to place the bin 210 at a predetermined position on the placement table. At this point, an operator or robot may be deployed in the in-out/staging container 202 to perform a cargo picking action. The warehouse-in/warehouse-out container/rail-changing container 202 can also be provided with cargo conveying equipment which is responsible for transporting the material boxes out of the warehouse. As an embodiment of the warehousing-in-and-out device, fig. 19 illustrates a fixed warehousing-in-and-out type, that is, a bin is not moved on a placing table.

Fig. 21 illustrates another warehousing device, which is a pipelined warehousing device. Although two warehouse entry and exit methods are exemplified herein, it should be understood that the warehouse entry and exit device may have more embodiments as long as the warehouse entry and exit function of the goods is realized. In addition, although they are referred to as "warehousing devices", they may implement only a warehousing function, or both a warehousing and ex-warehousing function depending on the case.

Fig. 22 is similar to fig. 21 except that each level shows two access containers.

In the embodiment of fig. 19-22, a rail-change container 202 having both entry and exit means therein, i.e., a container having both rail-change and entry and exit functions, is combined with the storage container 200. In another embodiment, a container without a rail-changing function and only with an in-and-out function may be combined with the storage container 200, that is, the in-and-out container 202 without a rail-changing function may be combined with the storage container 200.

Accordingly, an embodiment of the present invention provides a combined warehousing system, including:

the storage container assembly comprises a plurality of storage containers, a plurality of storage containers and a plurality of storage containers, wherein the storage containers are combined together to form a combined storage area, a track assembly, a container taking robot located on the track assembly and a plurality of storage containers located below the container taking robot are arranged in the combined storage area, the storage containers are used for storing goods, the container taking robot can move back and forth on the track assembly to carry out storage and taking operation on the storage containers, and the track assembly is fixed on a plate body of the storage container; and

the warehouse entering and exiting container is internally provided with a warehouse entering and exiting device used for executing warehouse entering and exiting operation of goods, and the inner space of the warehouse entering and exiting container is communicated with the combined storage area, so that the box taking robot can convey the material box between the combined storage area and the warehouse entering and exiting device.

The warehouse entry device is the same as the warehouse entry device of the previous embodiment, and is not described herein again. Without the rail replacing device, the case taking robot directly transports the goods to the in-out device, for example, to the storage table, without the assistance of the rail replacing robot.

When there are a plurality of storage containers combined in the width direction of the storage containers, the in-out storage container is perpendicular to the plurality of storage containers combined in the width direction, and an internal space of the in-out storage container communicates with an internal space formed by the plurality of storage containers arranged in the width direction.

When at least two warehouse-in and warehouse-out containers are arranged, the at least two warehouse-in and warehouse-out containers are combined along the length direction of the warehouse-in and warehouse-out containers, and adjacent end plates are detached to realize mutual communication of the interior when the at least two warehouse-in and warehouse-out containers are combined. .

FIG. 23 illustrates a method of assembling a modular stocker system. The method comprises the following steps:

combining a plurality of storage containers to form a combined storage area, each storage container defining a length direction and a width direction, the combined plurality of storage containers including one or more layers of storage containers, each layer including a plurality of storage containers arranged in parallel and combined in the width direction, the combined storage area having tracks for a box picker robot to run, wherein the tracks have been installed in the plurality of storage containers before combining the plurality of storage containers;

installing a rail change container to at least one end of each of the plurality of storage containers in the length direction, communicating a space within the rail container with a space within the storage container on a same floor, and having a transition track within the rail change container perpendicular to a track within the storage container on a same floor, the transition track configured for a rail change robot to travel to and from, wherein the transition track within the rail change container has been secured within the rail change container prior to installing the rail change container to the end of the plurality of storage containers.

As mentioned above, each storage container and rail change container comprises a container body comprising a bottom plate, a top plate, two side plates connecting the long sides of the bottom plate and the top plate, and two end plates connecting the short sides of the bottom plate and the top plate. When assembling the derailed container 202 and the storage container 200, one of the side plates of the derailed container 202 facing the storage container 200 is removed, and one of the end plates of each storage container 200 facing the derailed container 202, which are in communication with the inside of the derailed container 202, are removed, so that the communication of the internal space is realized, and the box taking robot 208 can operate from the storage container 200 to the derailed container 202.

When at least two rail change containers 202 are combined along the length direction of the rail change containers 202 (see fig. 17 and 18), the adjacent end plates are removed when the at least two rail change containers 202 are combined, and the communication of the inner spaces of the adjacent rail change containers is realized.

When the in-out containers 204 are independently arranged from the rail-change containers 202, the assembling method further comprises arranging the in-out containers 204 outside the rail-change containers 202 in parallel, and the number of the in-out containers 204 is the same as that of the rail-change containers. Similarly, the container body of the warehouse-in and warehouse-out container also comprises a bottom plate, a top plate, two side plates connecting the long sides of the bottom plate and the top plate, and two end plates connecting the short sides of the bottom plate and the top plate. When the warehousing-in and warehousing-out containers 204 are assembled along the length direction, the adjacent end plates are detached to realize the communication of the internal spaces of the adjacent warehousing-in and warehousing-out containers 204, and when the rail change container is assembled with the warehousing-in and warehousing-out container, the rail change container 202 and the side plates adjacent to the warehousing-in and warehousing-out container 204 are detached to realize the communication of the internal spaces between the two.

When the storage containers 200 are combined in the length direction, the adjacent end plates are removed, and the inner spaces of the adjacent storage containers 200 are communicated.

When the container is provided with multiple layers, the containers are arranged in order, so that the container corner fittings are aligned, the container corner fittings are fixed in the height direction through the connecting pieces, and the gaps of the containers are sealed through the sealing pieces.

In the foregoing embodiment, upon assembly, each container is densely packed, with no change in the respective volumes of the storage containers 200, except for the partial panel removal of each container, with each subzone being formed by one of the storage containers 200, and the total volume of the combined storage zones being substantially equal to the sum of the volumes of all of the storage containers 200. In some other embodiments, however, the combined storage area may have a total volume greater than the sum of the volumes of all of the storage containers.

Fig. 24 and 25 illustrate another container assembly or splicing method. Wherein combining a plurality of the storage containers comprises:

arranging a plurality of storage containers in parallel in a width direction of the storage containers such that adjacent storage containers are spaced apart by a distance; and

a horizontally disposed plate is used to bridge between two adjacent storage containers.

Unlike the dense packing of storage containers in the previously described embodiments of the assembly method, in which adjacent storage containers are spaced apart by a distance and then bridged by a horizontal plate, additional sub-storage areas can be formed below the plate for storing more cargo. There are various embodiments of the horizontally disposed plate, two of which are shown in fig. 24 and 25 and described below.

As shown in fig. 24, in step 24(a), a storage container 200 is first provided. The container body of the storage container 200 has a bottom plate 214, a top plate 216, and two side plates 218 connected to the long sides of the top plate 216 and the bottom plate 214. One edge 230 of one of the side panels 218 is pivotally connected to the top of the storage container 200.

In step 24(b), the other side of the side plate 218 of each storage container 200 is rotated outward and upward by 90 degrees to be horizontal.

In step 24(c), the other free edge of the side panel 218 is held in a horizontal position by an adjacent storage container support. The storage containers are connected in sequence in such a way that the storage containers are spliced in the width direction of the storage containers. Thus, an additional sub-storage area is formed under each side panel 218 that is turned horizontally to store additional bins.

In step 24(d), another layer of the structure is spliced in the same manner to realize a multi-layer warehousing system.

In the embodiment of fig. 24, the panels are reversible side panels of the storage container. In summary, each storage container 200 forms 2 subregions by unfolding the single-sided side panels, i.e. a doubled storage space of the bins is achieved with the same number of storage containers. It should be noted that the above steps are not limited to the execution sequence, for example, in steps 24(b) and 24(c), the side plate 218 that has been turned to the horizontal state may be first supported and connected to an adjacent storage container, and then the side plate 218 of the adjacent storage container may be turned. Before the storage container is transported, rails on which the box extractor robot 208 runs are already installed on the inner side of the side plates 218. After flipping, the rails are located on the lower surface of the horizontally disposed side panel 218. Thus, in this embodiment, the top panel of the storage container and one of the side panels to be inverted are pre-assembled with rails.

As shown in fig. 25, in step 25(a), a storage container 200 is first provided. The container body of the storage container 200 has a bottom plate 214, a top plate 216, and two side plates 218 connected to the long sides of the top plate 216 and the bottom plate 214. One edge 230 of each side panel 218 is pivotally connected to the top of the storage container 200.

25(b), the other side of the two side plates 218 of the storage container 200 is rotated outward and upward by 90 degrees to be horizontal.

25(c), the two side panels 218 of an adjacent storage container 200 are also turned to the horizontal position in the same manner. A support 232 is provided between two adjacent storage containers 200. In this embodiment a plurality of support posts 232.

25(d), the other sides of the two side plates 218 are butted against each other and supported by a support 232 so that the two side plates 218 are maintained in the horizontal state. In this way, an additional sub-storage area is formed below each side panel 218 turned in a horizontal state, which corresponds to two additional sub-storage areas formed between two adjacent storage containers 200, and additional bins can be stored. In this way, more containers can be spliced. In the illustrated embodiment, the support post 232 is located at a position intermediate two adjacent storage containers 200.

In 25(e), another layer structure is spliced in the same way to realize the multi-layer warehousing system.

In the embodiment of fig. 25, the plate bodies are two side plates of the storage container which can be turned upside down, and in combination, each storage container 200 forms 3 sub-storage areas by unfolding the two side plates, that is, a storage space of a bin which can be turned three times is realized by using the same number of storage containers. It should be noted that the above steps are not limited to the execution sequence, for example, in the steps 25(c) and 25(d), the side plate 218 of the storage container that has been turned to the horizontal state may be supported by the supporting member 232, and then the side plate 218 of the adjacent storage container may be turned. Also, rails on which the container picker robot 208 travels are already installed inside the side panels 218 before the storage containers are transported. After flipping, the rails are located on the lower surface of the horizontally disposed side panel 218. Thus, in this embodiment, both the top and side panels of the storage container are pre-installed with rails.

In the above embodiment, by forming the standardized and modularized storage container and the rail-exchanging container, the standardized storage container and the rail-exchanging container are stacked and combined according to a set mode, and the standardized storage container body and the rail-exchanging container body are respectively formed to have the detachable side plates, so that in the process of stacking and combining the storage container and the rail-exchanging container, the adjacent side plates can be detached and then connected to form the integral combined type warehousing system with the communicated inner space. The invention has the modularized thought, can be expanded, and can adjust the warehouse capacity size through the number and arrangement mode of the containers. The storage container, the rail-changing container and the warehouse-in and warehouse-out container are all standardized containers, are easy to manufacture, have low cost and convenient fixation, save the time of infrastructure construction, and realize the rapid deployment and the mobile arrangement of the automatic warehouse.

The concepts described herein may be embodied in other forms without departing from the spirit or characteristics thereof. The particular embodiments disclosed should be considered illustrative rather than limiting. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. Any changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

Claims

1. A mobile dense storage and picking device, comprising:

the skid-mounted outer box is provided with a storage area and defines a delivery end;

the plurality of bins are positioned in the storage area, and each bin is used for containing commodities;

the delivery platform is positioned at the delivery end of the skid-mounted outer box;

the rail assembly is installed in the skid-mounted outer box and is positioned above the material box;

the box taking robot is slidably arranged on the track assembly and is positioned above the material box, and the box taking robot is used for carrying the material box in which the order commodity is positioned from the storage area to the delivery platform;

the warehouse-in and warehouse-out end is provided with a warehouse-in and warehouse-out container, the warehouse-in and warehouse-out container comprises a container body, a warehouse-out platform, a cargo conveying device and a picking robot, the picking robot is used for picking order commodities in a material box on the warehouse-out platform, the container body comprises a top plate, a bottom plate and a detachable side plate connected between the top plate and the bottom plate, the container body of the warehouse-in and warehouse-out container is perpendicular to the skid-mounted outer containers arranged on the same layer along the horizontal direction in parallel, and the container body of the warehouse-in and warehouse-out container is communicated with the inner space of each skid-mounted outer container.

2. The mobile dense picking device of claim 1, wherein the skid outer box is a container.

3. The mobile dense picking apparatus of claim 1, wherein the storage area has a plurality of bin positions defined in two-dimensional coordinates in a horizontal plane, wherein a plurality of bins are stacked in a vertical direction at each bin position.

4. The movable dense picking device according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of bins are arranged in N rows in a horizontal plane, the track assembly comprises N tracks corresponding to the N rows of bins, each track is slidably mounted with one of the box picker robots, wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

5. The movable dense picking device according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of bins are arranged in N rows in a horizontal plane, the track assembly includes N tracks corresponding to the N rows of bins, a transition track perpendicular to the N tracks, and a track-changing robot located on the transition track and capable of moving back and forth along the transition track, the track-changing robot is provided with a docking track matching with the end of the track in the track assembly, and the transition track is used for the track-changing robot to move along, so as to switch the box-taking robot between N different tracks.

6. The mobile dense picking apparatus of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the transition track is mounted within the in-out container.

7. The movable dense picking device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the skid-mounted outer box further defines a warehousing end, the warehousing end is provided with a warehousing platform, and the box taking robot is further used for transporting the bins on the warehousing platform to the storage area.

8. The movable dense picking apparatus of claim 7, wherein the plurality of bins are arranged in N rows in a horizontal plane, the warehousing station has N warehousing positions corresponding to the N rows of bins, each warehousing position is used for placing one bin, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

9. The movable intensive storage and picking device according to claim 7 or 8, wherein an in-out container is disposed at the storage end, the in-out container comprises a container body, the storage platform, a cargo conveying device and another picking robot which are located in the container body, the container body comprises a top plate, a bottom plate and a detachable side plate connected between the top plate and the bottom plate, the container body of the in-out container is perpendicular to the plurality of skid-mounted outer boxes which are arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction on the same layer, and the container body of the in-out container is communicated with the inner space of each skid-mounted outer box.

10. The mobile dense picking apparatus of claim 1, wherein the box picker robot comprises a traveling mechanism and a grabbing mechanism suspended below the traveling mechanism and capable of being lifted and lowered relative to the traveling mechanism, the traveling mechanism being slidably mounted on the rail assembly to move horizontally along the rail assembly to move the grabbing mechanism horizontally.

11. The mobile dense picking apparatus of claim 11, wherein the gripping mechanism comprises a gripper platform, a gripper, and an alignment mechanism, the gripper is arranged on the side edge of the gripper platform and used for gripping the side wall of the material box, the alignment mechanism comprises alignment pieces arranged at the corner positions of the gripper platform, each alignment piece comprises a vertical extension part extending vertically downwards and an alignment inclined plane extending downwards and outwards from the bottom end of the vertical extension part, the downward extension length of the vertical extension part is set to ensure that the alignment inclined plane is completely positioned below the bottom of the gripped bin after the gripping mechanism grips the bin, the alignment bevel is adapted to slidingly contact an upper edge of a sidewall of a lower bin during stacking of the gripped bin on the lower bin to align the gripped bin with the lower bin.

12. The transportable dense picking apparatus of claim 11, wherein the vertical extension of each alignment member includes a first alignment plate and a second alignment plate, the first alignment plate and the second alignment plate being perpendicular to each other such that the alignment member has an L-shaped cross-section parallel to a horizontal plane, the first alignment plate and the second alignment plate being adapted to abut the outer surfaces of two adjacent side walls of the bin being gripped, the alignment ramp including a first alignment ramp extending downwardly and outwardly from a bottom end of the first alignment plate and a second alignment ramp extending downwardly and outwardly from a bottom end of the second alignment plate.

13. The mobile dense picking device according to claim 12, wherein the aligning mechanism is provided with a mounting member and a slide rail between the mounting member and the aligning member for each aligning member, and the damping force of the slide rail is designed to be larger than the component of the thrust force of the lower bin on the aligning inclined surface in the vertical direction.

14. The mobile dense picking apparatus of claim 1, wherein the picking robot includes a moving base and a robot arm supported by the moving base, the moving base being movable relative to the delivery table.

15. The mobile dense picking device according to claim 15, wherein the delivery table has a plurality of delivery positions, and the movable seat is movable along an arrangement direction of the plurality of delivery positions.

16. A modular warehousing system comprising:

the storage containers are combined together to form a combined storage area, a track assembly, a box taking robot positioned on the track assembly and a plurality of material boxes positioned below the box taking robot are arranged in the combined storage area, the material boxes are used for storing goods, and the box taking robot can move back and forth on the track assembly to carry out access operation on the material boxes;

at least one rail-changing container, wherein the internal space of the rail-changing container is communicated with the internal space of at least one of the storage containers, a rail-changing device is arranged in the rail-changing container, and the rail-changing device is configured to switch a box taking robot in the at least one storage container from the current operation track where the box taking robot is located to a target operation track; and

the inner space of the warehouse-in and warehouse-out container is communicated with the inner space of the rail-changing container, and a warehouse-in and warehouse-out device is arranged in the warehouse-in and warehouse-out container and used for executing warehouse-in and warehouse-out operation of goods.

17. The modular warehousing system of claim 16, wherein the storage containers define a length direction, a width direction, and a height direction, the track assemblies within the storage containers extend along the length direction, the plurality of storage containers includes a plurality of storage containers grouped along the width direction, the rail change container is perpendicular to the plurality of storage containers grouped along the width direction, and an interior space of the rail change container communicates with an interior space formed by the plurality of storage containers arranged along the width direction.

18. The modular warehousing system of claim 17, wherein each of the storage containers and the staging containers comprises a container body including a floor, a roof, two side panels connecting the long sides of the floor and roof, and two end panels connecting the short sides of the floor and roof; one of the side panels of the rail change container facing the storage container is removed, and each of the storage containers communicating with the interior of the rail change container is removed facing one of the end panels of the rail change container.

19. The modular warehousing system of claim 17, wherein the at least one rail change container comprises at least two rail change containers combined along a length of the rail change container and communicating internally.

20. The modular warehousing system of claim 19, wherein each re-trackable container comprises a container body including a bottom plate, a top plate, two side plates connecting long sides of the bottom plate and the top plate, and two end plates connecting short sides of the bottom plate and the top plate; when the at least two rail changing containers are combined, the adjacent end plates are removed.

21. The modular warehousing system of claim 19, wherein the warehousing containers are arranged in parallel with the rail-change containers, the warehousing containers are the same in number as the rail-change containers, and the warehousing containers are combined along the length direction of the warehousing containers and are communicated with each other.

22. The modular warehousing system of claim 21, wherein each of the in-out containers comprises a container body including a bottom plate, a top plate, two side plates connecting the long sides of the bottom plate and the top plate, and two end plates connecting the short sides of the bottom plate and the top plate; and when the warehousing containers are combined, the adjacent end plates are detached.

23. The modular warehousing system of claim 22, wherein each re-trackable container comprises a container body including a bottom plate, a top plate, two side plates connecting the long sides of the bottom plate and the top plate, and two end plates connecting the short sides of the bottom plate and the top plate; and the adjacent side plates of the rail-changing container and the warehouse-in and warehouse-out container are dismantled.

24. The modular warehousing system of claim 17, wherein the plurality of storage containers comprises a plurality of storage containers grouped along the length direction, the plurality of storage containers arranged along the length direction being grouped and interconnected along the length direction.

25. The modular warehousing system of claim 24, wherein each storage container comprises a container body including a floor, a roof, two side panels connecting long sides of the floor and roof, and two end panels connecting short sides of the floor and roof; the adjacent end panels are removed when the storage containers are assembled in the length direction.

26. The modular warehousing system of claim 17, wherein the staging container and an access container are provided at both ends of the length of the modular storage area.

27. The modular warehousing system of claim 17, the plurality of storage containers comprising at least two tiers of storage containers disposed in the elevation direction, the modular warehousing system being provided with the staging container and an access container for each tier of storage containers.

28. The modular warehousing system of any of claims 16-22 and 24-26, wherein the rail change container and the in-out container are the same container.

29. The modular warehousing system of claim 16, wherein the modular storage area comprises a plurality of sub-storage areas, each sub-storage area having one of the track assemblies, at least one of the box extractor robots, and a portion of the bins of the modular warehousing system.

30. The modular warehousing system of claim 29, wherein each of the sub-storage areas is formed by one of the storage containers.

31. The modular warehousing system of claim 29, wherein each storage container forms two of the sub-storage areas.

32. The modular warehousing system of claim 29, wherein the storage containers define a length direction, a width direction, and a height direction, the track assemblies within the storage containers extending along the length direction, the plurality of storage containers including a plurality of storage containers grouped along the width direction; each storage container comprises a container body, and the container body comprises a bottom plate, a top plate and two side plates for connecting the long edges of the bottom plate and the top plate; in the width direction, the top plates of two adjacent storage containers are separated by a distance, and a horizontally arranged plate body is bridged between the top plates of the two adjacent storage containers, so that a sub-storage area is formed below the plate body.

33. The modular warehousing system of claim 32, wherein the panel is a side panel of one of the two adjacent storage containers, the side panel having one side pivotally connected to a top of the one storage container and another side pivoted outward and upward by 90 degrees and supported by the other of the two adjacent storage containers.

34. The modular warehousing system of claim 29, wherein each storage container forms three of the sub-storage areas.

35. The modular warehousing system of claim 34, wherein the storage containers define a length direction, a width direction, and a height direction, the track assemblies within the storage containers extending along the length direction, the plurality of storage containers including a plurality of storage containers grouped along the width direction; each storage container comprises a container body, and the container body comprises a bottom plate, a top plate and two side plates for connecting the long edges of the bottom plate and the top plate; in the width direction, the top plates of two adjacent storage containers are separated by a distance, and a horizontally arranged plate body is bridged between the top plates of the two adjacent storage containers, so that two sub-storage areas are formed below the plate body.

36. The modular warehousing system of claim 35, wherein the block comprises two adjacent side panels of the two adjacent storage containers, each side panel having one side pivotally connected to a top of a respective storage container and the other side pivoted outwardly and upwardly by 90 degrees to present the two side panels in a horizontal position such that one of the two sub-storage areas is formed beneath each side panel.

37. The modular warehousing system of claim 36, wherein the other of said two side panels is supported by a support body such that said two side panels are maintained in said horizontal position.

38. The modular warehousing system of claim 16, wherein the track assembly is secured to a corresponding storage container panel.

39. The modular warehousing system of claim 16, wherein the rail replacement device comprises:

the transition track is fixed on a top plate or a side plate of the rail replacing container and is vertical to the tail end of a track assembly in the at least one storage container; and

the rail replacing robot is located on the transition track and can move back and forth on the transition track, the rail replacing robot is configured to receive the box taking robot and convey the box taking robot to the target running track along the transition track, and a butt joint track matched with the tail end of the track assembly is arranged on the rail replacing robot.

40. The modular warehousing system of claim 39, wherein the warehousing entry device includes a staging platform disposed on the floor of the warehousing entry container and below the transition track for temporary storage of bins.

41. The modular warehousing system of claim 40, wherein the warehousing device comprises a sorting facility for sorting the goods from the bins stored on the shelving units and a goods transport facility for moving the goods out of the warehouse.

42. A method of assembling a modular warehousing system, comprising:

installing a rail change container to at least one end of each of the plurality of storage containers in the length direction, communicating a space within the rail change container with a space within the storage container on a same floor, and having a transition track within the rail change container perpendicular to a track within the storage container on a same floor, the transition track configured for a rail change robot to travel to and from, wherein the transition track within the rail change container has been secured within the rail change container prior to installing the rail change container to the end of the plurality of storage containers.

43. The method of assembling a modular warehousing system of claim 42, wherein each storage container and rail-change container comprises a container body including a floor, a roof, two side panels connecting the long sides of the floor and roof, and two end panels connecting the short sides of the floor and roof; the assembling method comprises the steps of dismantling one side plate of the rail-changing container facing the storage container, and dismantling each storage container communicated with the inner space of the rail-changing container facing one end plate of the rail-changing container.

44. The method of assembling a modular warehousing system of claim 43, wherein the installing of the staging containers includes assembling at least two staging containers along a length of the staging containers with adjacent end panels removed to interconnect the at least two staging containers when assembled.

45. The method of assembling a modular warehousing system of claim 43, further comprising assembling an in-out container to the rail-change container, the in-out container comprising a container body including a bottom plate, a top plate, two side plates connecting the long sides of the bottom plate and the top plate, and two end plates connecting the short sides of the bottom plate and the top plate; the assembling method comprises the step of disassembling the rail-changing container and the side plates adjacent to the warehousing-out container which are assembled with each other, so that the internal spaces of the warehousing-out container and the rail-changing container are communicated.

46. The method of assembling a modular warehousing system of claim 43, wherein the combining of a plurality of the storage containers includes combining at least two storage containers in the length direction with adjacent end plates removed when the at least two storage containers are combined in the length direction so that the interior spaces of the at least two storage containers are the same.

47. The method of assembling a modular warehousing system of claim 42, wherein an in-out garage is provided within the rail-change container, the in-out garage including a staging platform below the transition track for temporary storage of bins, wherein the in-out garage has been installed into the rail-change container prior to installing the rail-change container to the end of the plurality of storage containers.

48. The method of assembling a modular warehousing system of claim 42, wherein combining a plurality of the storage containers comprises:

arranging a plurality of storage containers in parallel in the width direction such that adjacent storage containers are spaced apart by a distance; and

49. The method of assembling a modular warehousing system of claim 48, wherein the panel is a side panel of one of the two adjacent storage containers, one side of the side panel being pivotally connected to a top of the one storage container, the method comprising pivoting the other of the side panels outwardly and upwardly by 90 degrees and supported by the other of the two adjacent storage containers in the horizontal position to form one of the sub-storage areas below the side panel.

50. The method of assembling a modular warehousing system of claim 48, wherein the panels comprise two adjacent side panels of the two adjacent storage containers, each side panel having one edge pivotally connected to a top of a respective storage container, the method comprising pivoting the other edge of the two side panels outwardly and upwardly and maintaining the two side panels in a horizontal position such that a sub-storage area within the modular storage area is formed beneath each side panel.

51. The method of assembling a modular warehousing system of claim 50, wherein maintaining the two side panels in a horizontal position includes supporting the other side of the two side panels with a support.

52. A modular warehousing system comprising:

53. The modular warehousing system of claim 52, wherein the storage containers define a length direction, a width direction, and a height direction, the track assemblies within the storage containers extend along the length direction, the plurality of storage containers includes a plurality of storage containers grouped along the width direction, the in-out storage containers are perpendicular to the plurality of storage containers grouped along the width direction, and the interior spaces of the in-out storage containers communicate with the interior spaces formed by the plurality of storage containers arranged along the width direction.

54. The modular warehousing system of claim 53, wherein the at least one warehousing container comprises at least two warehousing containers combined along a length of the warehousing container and communicating internally with each other.

55. The modular warehousing system of claim 54, wherein each of the in-out containers comprises a container body including a bottom panel, a top panel, two side panels connecting the long sides of the bottom panel and the top panel, and two end panels connecting the short sides of the bottom panel and the top panel; and when the at least two warehousing containers are combined, the adjacent end plates are removed.

56. The modular warehousing system of claim 53, wherein the plurality of storage containers comprises a plurality of storage containers grouped along the length direction, the plurality of storage containers arranged along the length direction being grouped and interconnected along the length direction.

57. The modular warehousing system of claim 56, wherein each storage container comprises a container body including a floor, a roof, two side panels connecting the long sides of the floor and roof, and two end panels connecting the short sides of the floor and roof; the adjacent end panels are removed when the storage containers are assembled in the length direction.

58. The modular warehousing system of claim 52, wherein a rail-changing device is provided within the warehousing container, the rail-changing device comprising:

the transition track is fixed on a top plate or a side plate of the warehousing-in and-out container and is vertical to the tail end of a track assembly in at least one storage container; and

59. The modular warehousing system of claim 52, wherein the warehousing entry device comprises a shelving station disposed on the floor of the warehousing entry container and below the transition track for temporary storage of bins.

60. The modular warehousing system of claim 59, wherein the warehousing device comprises sorting equipment for sorting the goods from the bins stored on the shelving units and goods transport equipment for moving the goods out of the warehouse.