CN116374459A - Warehouse system and warehouse method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a warehousing system and a warehousing method. The warehousing system comprises a supporting platform and a picking and placing mechanism. The bottom of the supporting platform forms a first storage area for storing the target objects, and the top of the supporting platform forms a second storage area for storing the target objects; a butt joint port which is communicated with the second storage area and the first storage area is arranged on the supporting platform; the pick and place mechanism is configured to move within the second storage region to a position of the docking interface and transfer the target between the first storage region and the second storage region through the docking interface. Set up the interface that communicates first storage district and second storage district on supporting platform, compare equipment or structure such as lifting machine, conveyer belt or slope among the prior art, the space occupancy of interface is littleer, and the cost is lower. The object can be transferred between the first storage area and the second storage area through the opposite interfaces by the taking and placing mechanism, so that the time for changing layers of the object is shortened, and the working efficiency is improved.

Description

Warehouse system and warehouse method

Technical Field

The disclosure relates to the technical field of warehousing logistics, in particular to a warehousing system and a warehousing method applied to the warehousing system.

Background

The warehouse system generally comprises a warehouse area and a transfer robot, wherein the warehouse area comprises a plurality of carriers, the carriers can store containers for loading cargoes, and the transfer robot walks in a roadway between the carriers and moves to the corresponding position of the appointed container to pick and place the containers.

In order to increase the storage density of the storage area, in the prior art, storage platforms with different heights are built in the storage area, for example, two layers of storage platforms are built, each layer of storage platform is provided with a corresponding storage area, the storage areas comprise carriers and roadways among the carriers, and a plurality of transfer robots can be configured to work on different storage platforms respectively or configured to perform cross-layer work.

However, in the prior art, although the utilization rate of the height space of the warehouse area is improved through the two-layer storage platform, the equipment or structure of the auxiliary transfer robot for changing the layers is required to be arranged, such as a lifting machine, a conveyor belt or a slope, etc., so that the transfer robot bypasses the carrier along the roadway, then needs to enter the lifting machine for changing the layers, transfer the layers through the conveyor belt or make climbing movement along the slope for changing the layers, the transfer robot needs long time for changing the layers, and additional space is required for arranging the layer-changing equipment or structure, and meanwhile, the manufacturing cost is increased.

Disclosure of Invention

The present disclosure provides a warehousing system and a warehousing method for solving the problems existing in the prior art.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a warehousing system comprising:

the support platform is provided with a first storage area for storing objects at the bottom and a second storage area for storing objects at the top; a butt joint port which is communicated with the second storage area and the first storage area is arranged on the supporting platform;

a pick-and-place mechanism configured to move within the second storage region to a position of the docking interface and transfer the target between the first storage region and the second storage region through the docking interface.

In one embodiment of the disclosure, the first storage area is provided with a buffer storage position located below the docking, and the fetching mechanism is configured to transfer the target object between the second storage area and the buffer storage position after the target object stored in the first storage area is configured to transfer to the buffer storage position.

In one embodiment of the disclosure, the picking and placing mechanism is configured to drive the first object at the first position in the second storage area to move to a position corresponding to the docking port, and then drive the first object to descend to pass through the docking port so as to place the first object on the cache position or place the first object on the second object located on the cache position;

And/or the number of the groups of groups,

the picking and placing mechanism is configured to drive a third object on the buffer position to rise to the upper side of the opposite interface, and then store the third object in a second position of the second storage area.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the pick-and-place mechanism includes:

a movement assembly configured to move within the second storage region;

a pick-and-place assembly coupled to the motion assembly, the pick-and-place assembly configured to move in a height direction to hoist a target object stored in the first storage area or the second storage area; or placing the target in the first storage area or the second storage area.

In one embodiment of the disclosure, the support platform forms a headrail region above the second storage region, and the pick-and-place assembly is configured to be coupled to the headrail region by a motion assembly and configured to drive the object to traverse over the object stored in the second storage region.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the motion assembly includes an X-axis motion unit and a Y-axis motion unit; the picking and placing assembly is driven by the X-axis moving unit to move along the X-axis direction, and driven by the Y-axis moving unit to move along the Y-axis direction;

The picking and placing component is connected to the moving component through a Z-axis moving unit and is driven by the Z-axis moving unit to move along the Z-axis direction so as to finish picking and placing of the target object.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a travel rail is disposed above the second storage area, the travel rail including a first rail extending in an X-axis direction and a second rail extending in a Y-axis direction, the moving assembly being configured to move in the X-axis direction along the first rail or in the Y-axis direction along the second rail to drive the pick-and-place assembly to move to a predetermined position;

the pick-and-place assembly is configured to move in a height direction to pick and place a target located on the second storage area or the cache location.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the movement assembly is a four-way vehicle configured to move to a predetermined position within the second storage area along a first rail, a second rail.

In one embodiment of the disclosure, the moving assembly comprises a first moving device moving along a first guide rail and a second moving device moving along a second guide rail, and the picking and placing assembly is arranged on the first moving device and is configured to move to a first target position along the first guide rail under the driving of the first moving device so as to pick and place a target object at the first target position; the first movement device is further configured to move into abutment with the second movement device, the second movement device being configured to move along a second rail with the first movement device to a second target position.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the pick-and-place assembly is configured to pick-and-place a target at a second target location;

or alternatively, the method can be used for processing,

the first moving device is configured to move to a second target position, then separate from the second moving device and move to a third target position along the first guide rail, so that the picking and placing component picks and places the target object at the third target position.

In one embodiment of the disclosure, a plurality of storage bits arranged along the directions of the X axis and the Y axis are arranged in the second storage area; the first guide rail is provided with at least one, and the first movement device is configured to pass through the second movement device in a rotating way so as to move on different first guide rails to corresponding storage positions and/or interfaces.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the pick-and-place assembly is configured to pick and place the target object by clamping, grabbing, holding, magnetically adsorbing, negative pressure adsorbing, or snap fit.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first storage area includes a storage location, the warehouse system includes a transfer robot configured to transfer objects from the storage location to a cache location; and/or the transfer robot is configured to transfer out the target object located at the buffer location.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the warehousing system includes a workstation, and the transfer robot is configured to transfer the object between the first storage area and the workstation.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the target is at least one layer of a rack on which at least one container is stored; the brackets are configured to be stacked together to form a carrier; the first storage area and the second storage area are respectively configured for storing at least one carrier and/or at least one bracket.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the pick-and-place mechanism is configured to transfer at least one layer of the rack or at least one of the containers at a single time.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a warehousing method implemented by the warehousing system described above, including the steps of:

controlling the pick-and-place mechanism to move to a position corresponding to the interface;

the control picking and placing mechanism passes through the butt joint opening to descend to the first storage area, and the target object is transferred between the first storage area and the second storage area.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method comprises the steps of:

controlling the picking and placing mechanism to move to a first target position of the second storage area so as to pick up a target object positioned at the first target position;

Controlling the picking and placing mechanism to move to the position of the butt joint with the target object;

controlling the fetching and placing mechanism to pass through the butt joint to descend to a cache position of the first storage area;

and controlling the fetching and placing mechanism to place the target object on the cache position or other target objects positioned on the cache position.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method comprises the steps of:

controlling the picking and placing mechanism to move to the position of the butt joint with the target object;

controlling the fetching and placing mechanism to pass through the butt joint to descend to a cache position of the first storage area so as to fetch a target object positioned on the cache position;

controlling the pick-and-place mechanism to move upwards to pass through the butt joint opening;

and controlling the picking and placing mechanism to move to a second target position of a second storage area so as to place the target object at the second target position.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the transfer robot is configured to transfer the object on the first storage area to the cache location or to transfer the object located on the cache location.

The beneficial effects of the present disclosure are that, this disclosure has formed first storage district through supporting platform in the altitude space to and be located the second storage district of first storage district top, improved the utilization ratio to storage district altitude space, improved storage density. Set up the interface that communicates first storage district and second storage district on supporting platform, compare equipment or structure such as lifting machine, conveyer belt or slope among the prior art, the space occupancy of interface is littleer, and the cost is lower. The object can be transferred between the first storage area and the second storage area through the opposite interfaces by the taking and placing mechanism, so that the time for changing layers of the object is shortened, and the working efficiency is improved.

Other features of the present disclosure and its advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a support platform according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a head rail area according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 2A;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural view of a driving track according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a first motion device and a second motion device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a target object according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a picking and placing mechanism for picking and placing a target object according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a first storage area according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a second storage area according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

The one-to-one correspondence between the component names and the reference numerals in fig. 1 to 9 is as follows:

1. A support platform; 11. a first storage area; 111. caching bits; 112. a storage location; 12. a second storage area; 13. an interface;

2. a picking and placing mechanism; 20. a headrail region; 21. an X-axis movement unit; 22. a Y-axis movement unit; 211. a movable cross beam; 221 moving stringers; 222. a Z-axis movement unit; 23. a first guide rail; 24. a second guide rail; 25. a first movement device; 26. a second movement device;

3. a bracket;

4. a workstation.

Detailed Description

Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that: the relative arrangement of the components and steps, numerical expressions and numerical values set forth in these embodiments do not limit the scope of the present disclosure unless it is specifically stated otherwise.

The following description of at least one exemplary embodiment is merely illustrative in nature and is in no way intended to limit the disclosure, its application, or uses.

Techniques, methods, and apparatus known to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art may not be discussed in detail, but are intended to be part of the specification where appropriate.

It should be noted that: like reference numerals and letters denote like items in the following figures, and thus once an item is defined in one figure, no further discussion thereof is necessary in subsequent figures.

Specific embodiments of the present disclosure are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In this document, "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", and the like are used merely to indicate relative positional relationships between the relevant portions, and do not limit the absolute positions of the relevant portions.

Herein, "first", "second", etc. are used only for distinguishing one another, and do not denote any order or importance, but rather denote a prerequisite of presence.

Herein, "equal," "same," etc. are not strictly mathematical and/or geometric limitations, but also include deviations that may be appreciated by those skilled in the art and allowed by fabrication or use, etc.

The present disclosure provides a warehousing system including a support platform and a pick and place mechanism. The support platform may be configured to be constructed from a steel structure including a platform structure for forming a storage area and a support structure for supporting the platform structure at a height from a working surface such that the support platform forms an upper and a lower storage area bounded by the platform structure.

In detail, the bottom of the supporting platform forms a first storage area for storing the target object, the supporting mechanism can be directly supported on the working surface, and the working surface, the supporting structure and the platform structure form the first storage area. The top of the supporting platform forms a second storage area for storing objects, the bottom of the second storage area is of a platform structure, and the platform structure is similar to the working surface structure and can be used for bearing a carrier or a container. The first storage area and the second storage area may be used for storing the same kind of target objects or different kinds of target objects, and the target objects may be carriers common in the logistics field or containers common in the logistics field, which is not limited in this disclosure.

The butt joint which is communicated with the second storage area and the first storage area is arranged on the supporting platform, the butt joint can be arranged in the middle or at the edge of the second storage area and can be constructed to be not smaller than the target object in size, so that the target object can smoothly pass through the butt joint, and the transfer from the first storage area to the second storage area or from the second storage area to the first storage area is realized.

The picking and placing mechanism is used for transferring the target object between the first storage area and the second storage area. Specifically, the pick-and-place mechanism is configured to move within the second storage area to a position opposite the interface and transfer the target between the first storage area and the second storage area through the interface.

For example, the picking and placing mechanism may move to the position of the object in the second storage area, then take the object out and carry the object to the position of the interface, then move to place the object in the first storage area through the interface, and return to the second storage area according to the reverse route after the placement of the object is completed, so as to perform subsequent other work. Or the picking and placing mechanism can move to the position of the butt joint, then move to the position of the butt joint to take out the target object in the first storage area through the butt joint, then return the target object to the second storage area according to the reverse route, then move to the corresponding storage position of the second storage area and place the target object on the storage position.

The first storage area is formed on the height space through the supporting platform, and the second storage area is located above the first storage area, so that the utilization rate of the height space of the storage area is improved, and the storage density is improved. Set up the interface that communicates first storage district and second storage district on supporting platform, compare equipment or structure such as lifting machine, conveyer belt or slope among the prior art, the space occupancy of interface is littleer, and the cost is lower. The object can be transferred between the first storage area and the second storage area through the opposite interfaces by the taking and placing mechanism, so that the time for changing layers of the object is shortened, and the working efficiency is improved.

For ease of understanding, the specific structure of the warehousing system of the present disclosure and its principles of operation are described in detail below with reference to fig. 1-9 in conjunction with the embodiments.

Referring to fig. 1, the present disclosure provides a warehousing system including a support platform 1 and a pick and place mechanism 2. The support platform 1 may be constructed from a steel structure, including a platform structure and a support structure. The steel structure may include vertically disposed support columns, and cross beams connected with the support columns in a horizontal direction. The support columns are arranged at preset edge positions and corner positions of the steel structure or are arranged on the working surface in a matrix mode to form a support structure with a certain coverage area. The cross beams are arranged vertically and horizontally in the horizontal direction and form a stable platform structure through being connected with the support columns. The above manner of constructing the steel structure to form the support platform 1 may refer to a construction manner of a steel structure common in the art, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

The support structure may be used to support the platform structure at a certain height from the working surface, with the platform structure being bordered, two storage areas being formed above and below the support platform 1. The height and storage area of the two storage areas may be determined according to practical situations, which is not limited by the present disclosure.

In detail, a first storage area 11 for storing objects is formed at the bottom of the supporting platform 1, the supporting mechanism can be directly supported on a working surface, the first storage area 11 is defined by the working surface, a supporting structure and a platform structure, and the working surface can be a ground, a floor or a walking platform built on the ground, etc. which are common in the logistics field. A second storage area 12 for storing objects is formed at the top of the support platform 1, the bottom of the second storage area 12 is a platform structure, and the platform structure is similar to the structure of the working surface, except that the platform structure is completely formed by a steel structure, and the platform structure can be used for carrying a carrier or a container. The object may be a carrier, container, etc. for storing goods, which are common in the logistics field. The first storage area 11 and the second storage area 12 may be used to store the same kind of objects or different kinds of objects, and the kinds of objects may be determined according to the actual situation, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

The supporting platform 1 is provided with the butt joint 13 which is communicated with the second storage area 12 and the first storage area 11, the butt joint 13 can be arranged at the middle part or the edge position of the second storage area 12, namely, the butt joint 13 can be arranged on the platform structure, can be selectively arranged at the middle part or the edge position according to actual conditions, and can be configured to be not smaller than the size of a target object so as to facilitate the target object to smoothly pass through the butt joint 13. The transfer of the target from the first storage area 11 to the second storage area 12 or the transfer of the target from the second storage area 12 to the first storage area 11 can thus be achieved through the interface 13.

The pick-and-place mechanism 2 is used to transfer objects between the first storage area 11 and the second storage area 12. Specifically, the pick-and-place mechanism 2 is configured to move within the second storage area 12 to the position of the docking port 13 and transfer the target between the first storage area 11 and the second storage area 12 through the docking port 13.

For example, the picking and placing mechanism 2 may move to the position of the object in the second storage area 12, take the object out and carry the object to the position of the interface 13, then move to place the object in the first storage area 11 through the interface 13, and return to the second storage area 12 according to the reverse route after the placement of the object is completed, so as to perform subsequent other work. Alternatively, the pick-and-place mechanism 2 may be moved to the position of the interface 13, to take out the object in the first storage area 11 through the interface 13, then return the object to the second storage area 12 along the opposite route, and then move the object to the corresponding storage position of the second storage area 12 and place the object on the storage position.

The first storage area 11 and the second storage area 12 positioned above the first storage area 11 are formed in the height space through the supporting platform 1, and the first storage area 11 and the second storage area 12 can be used for storing carriers or containers, so that the utilization rate of the height space of the storage area is improved, and the storage density is improved. The butt joint 13 which is communicated with the first storage area 11 and the second storage area 12 is arranged on the supporting platform 1, and compared with equipment or structures such as a lifting machine, a conveyor belt or a slope in the prior art, the butt joint 13 has smaller space occupation rate and lower cost. The taking and placing mechanism 2 can realize the layer change and transfer of the target object between the first storage area 11 and the second storage area 12 through the opposite interface 13, and the layer change is not needed to be assisted by a lifting machine or a driving belt or to be carried out through the movement along a slope. The time for transferring the target object layer is reduced by changing the layer of the interface 13, and the working efficiency is improved.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the pick-and-place mechanism 2 includes a motion assembly, a pick-and-place assembly. The movement assembly is configured to move within the second storage area 12. The pick-and-place assembly is connected to the motion assembly and is configured to move in a height direction. That is, the moving component is mainly responsible for driving the picking and placing component to move to the storage position of the target object, and after the picking and placing component moves to the storage position of the target object, the picking and placing component is used for lifting the target object stored in the first storage area 11 or the second storage area 12, or placing the target object in the first storage area 11 or the second storage area 12.

Referring to fig. 2, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the support platform 1 forms a headrail region 20 above the second storage region 12, and the pick-and-place assembly is configured to be coupled to the headrail region 20 by a motion assembly and configured to move the object through above the object stored in the second storage region 12.

The layout of conventional storage areas in the logistics field is to set storage locations for objects and aisles between these storage locations. In this embodiment, the space rail region 20 is provided for the pick-and-place mechanism to travel above the second storage region 12, so that an aisle for the pick-and-place mechanism to travel is not required to be provided in the second storage region 12, and each position of the second storage region 12 can be used for storing the target object. In contrast, the present embodiment is more beneficial to increase the storage density of the second storage area 12, and increases the utilization rate of the storage space.

Referring to fig. 2 and 3, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the moving assembly includes an X-axis moving unit 21 and a Y-axis moving unit 22, and the pick-and-place assembly is configured to move in an X-axis direction under the driving of the X-axis moving unit 21 and in a Y-axis direction under the driving of the Y-axis moving unit 22. The X-axis moving unit 21 may be configured as a moving beam 211 disposed in the X-axis direction, and the Y-axis moving unit 22 may be configured as a moving beam 221 disposed in the Y-axis direction. The movable cross beam 211 and the movable longitudinal beam 221 are coupled together to drive the picking and placing assembly to move in the X-axis and Y-axis directions.

For example, referring to the view direction of fig. 3, two moving beams 211 and 221 may be respectively provided, the moving beam 221 may be driven by the moving beam 211 to move along the direction of the X axis so as to adjust the position of the picking and placing component in the direction of the X axis, and the picking and placing component may be driven by the moving beam 221 to move along the direction of the Y axis so as to adjust the position of the picking and placing component in the direction of the Y axis, and by adjusting the positions of the X axis and the Y axis, the picking and placing component may be accurately stopped above the target object, or in a state of carrying the target object, stopped above the storage position of the target object. Of course, the above process may also be that the moving beam 211 is driven by the moving beam 221 to move along the Y-axis direction, and then the moving beam 211 drives the picking and placing assembly to move along the X-axis direction, so that an equivalent moving effect may be achieved.

With continued reference to fig. 3, the pick-and-place assembly is configured to be connected to the motion assembly through the Z-axis motion unit 222, and configured to move along the Z-axis direction under the driving of the Z-axis motion unit 222, so as to complete the pick-and-place of the target. The Z-axis moving unit 222 may be a telescopic mechanism disposed on the X-axis moving unit or the Y-axis moving unit, where the lower end of the telescopic mechanism is connected to the picking and placing assembly, and the telescopic mechanism may stretch along the Z-axis direction to drive the picking and placing assembly to move in the Z-axis direction. The X-axis movement unit 21, the Y-axis movement unit 22 and the Z-axis movement unit 222 drive the picking and placing assembly to move in the three-dimensional space of the second storage area 12 together, so that all positions in the second storage area 12 can be covered, and no movement blind area exists.

The Z-axis moving unit 222 may not only drive the picking and placing component to move in the Z-axis direction of the second storage area 12, but also further move downward to the first storage area 11, when the picking and placing component moves above the docking port 13 under the drive of the X-axis moving unit 21 and the Y-axis moving unit 22, the Z-axis moving unit 222 may drive the picking and placing component to move downward in the Z-axis direction to pass through the docking port 13 to reach the first storage area 11, and the picking and placing component may pick up the object in the first storage area 11 and transfer the object to the second storage area 12 for storage, or place the object carried by itself in the first storage area 11 and then return to the second storage area 12.

Referring to fig. 4, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, a travel rail is provided above the second storage area 12, the travel rail including a first rail 23 extending in the X-axis direction and a second rail 24 extending in the Y-axis direction, and the moving assembly is configured to move in the X-axis direction along the first rail 23 or in the Y-axis direction along the second rail to drive the pick-and-place assembly to a predetermined position, which may be a position where the object is located or above the predetermined storage position.

In this embodiment, similar to the previous embodiment, the driving track is located above the second storage area 12, so that dense storage of the target objects in the second storage area 12 can be achieved, and the utilization rate of the storage space is increased. Unlike the previous embodiment, in this embodiment, the running track is set as a bearing structure of the moving component, when the storage area is large, not only one picking and placing mechanism 2 may be set, but also more picking and placing mechanisms 2 may be set to run on the running track through respective moving components so as to move to the position above the position of the respective corresponding target object, where each picking and placing mechanism 2 can independently complete the picking and placing work of the target object, thereby improving the working efficiency of the whole storage system.

The picking and placing assembly may be configured to move in a height direction, for example, the picking and placing assembly may be connected to the moving assembly by a lifting mechanism commonly known in the art, such as a telescopic rod, a lifting belt, or the like, which can drive the picking and placing assembly to move in the height direction relative to the moving assembly, so as to facilitate the picking and placing assembly to pick and place the container located on the first storage area 11 or the second storage area 12.

This embodiment also allows the pick and place assembly to be moved to various positions in the second storage area 12, reducing movement obstruction.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the motion assembly may be a four-way vehicle configured to move in the X-axis direction along the first rail 23 and in the Y-axis direction along the second rail 24. Those skilled in the art will recognize the manner in which a four-way vehicle is mated with a four-way guide rail and will not be described in detail herein.

The picking and placing component can be connected to the four-way vehicle through the lifting mechanism, so that the four-way vehicle can drive the picking and placing component to move in the directions of the X axis and the Y axis, and the lifting mechanism can drive the picking and placing component to move in the direction of the Z axis.

Referring to fig. 5, in another embodiment of the present disclosure, the movement assembly includes a first movement device 25 that moves along a first rail 23, and a second movement device 26 that moves along a second rail 24. That is, the first moving device 25 can move in the X-axis direction, the second moving device 26 can move in the Y-axis direction, and the first moving device 25 and the second moving device 26 can cooperate together to drive the picking and placing assembly to move to the corresponding target position.

The picking and placing assembly may be disposed on the first moving device 25, and configured to move to the first target position along the first guide rail 23 under the driving of the first moving device 25, so as to pick and place the target object at the first target position. The first movement means 25 is configured to move into abutment with the second movement means 26, the second movement means 26 being configured to move along the second guide rail 24 with the first movement means 25 to the second target position. For example, the first movement device 25 and the second movement device 26 may be a mother-son vehicle, wherein the first movement device 25 is a mother-son vehicle and the second movement device 26 is a mother-son vehicle. The sub-car is responsible for moving to the corresponding position of the target object in the X-axis direction, and the mother car is responsible for driving the sub-car and the picking and placing assembly on the sub-car to jointly move to the corresponding position of the target object after being in butt joint with the sub-car. For convenience of distinction, two different positions are defined with "first target position" and "second target position".

For example, when the pick-and-place assembly corresponds to the Y-axis coordinate of the target position, the first moving device 25 may directly drive the pick-and-place assembly to move along the first guide rail 23 to correspond to the X-axis coordinate of the target object, that is, to be the first target position, and then the pick-and-place assembly may descend along the Z-axis direction to correspond to the pick-and-place position of the target object; when the Y-axis coordinates of the picking and placing component and the target position do not correspond, the first moving device 25 needs to be moved to be in butt joint with the second moving device 26, and then the second moving device 26 drives the first moving device 25 to move to the Y-axis coordinates of the picking and placing component and the target object, namely the second target position.

When the second target position is just above the storage position of the target object, the picking and placing assembly can pick and place the target object at the second target position after the second movement device 26 is moved. Or, when the second target position corresponds to the Y-axis coordinate of the target storage position only, after the second moving device 26 drives the first moving device 25 to move to the second target position, the first moving device 25 is separated from the second moving device 26 and moves to the third target position along the first guide rail 23, and the third target position corresponds to the X-axis coordinate and the Y-axis coordinate of the target, and the picking and placing assembly can pick and place the target at the third target position.

The above first target position, second target position, and third target position may be the storage bits 112 set in the second storage area 12, or may be the interface 13. The second storage area 12 may have a plurality of storage locations 112 arranged therein along the X-axis and the Y-axis directions. At least one first rail 23 is provided, and the first rail 23 is located above the plurality of storage locations 112. For example, as shown in fig. 5, a plurality of first guide rails 23 are arranged along the Y-axis direction, and all of the storage locations 112 may be arranged along the X-axis direction below the first guide rails 23. The first movement device 25 can be configured to be pivoted past the second movement device 26, i.e. the second movement device 26 assists the first movement device 25 in changing the different first guide rail 23 for movement on the different first guide rail 23 to the respective storage location 112 or the docking opening 13.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the pick-and-place assembly is configured to pick and place the target object by clamping, grabbing, holding, magnetically adsorbing, negative pressure adsorbing, or snap-fit. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the specific structure for implementing the above pick-and-place mode is not specifically set forth herein.

Referring to fig. 6, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the target may be at least one layer of a rack 3, on which rack 3 at least one container is stored. The brackets 3 are configured to be stacked together to form a carrier. The first storage area 11 and the second storage area 12 are each configured for storing at least one vehicle and/or at least one rack 3.

Referring to fig. 7, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the pick-and-place mechanism 2 is configured to transfer at least one layer of the stent 3 or at least one container at a time. For example, the taking and placing mechanism 2 can take out one bracket 3 at a time and drive the bracket 3 to move to the corresponding storage position, or take out a plurality of layers of brackets 3 at a time and transport the brackets to the corresponding storage position at a time. The number of the above picking and placing brackets 3 or the number of the picking and placing containers are selected according to the actual situation, and are not listed here.

Referring to fig. 1 and 8, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, a buffer bit 111 is disposed in the first storage area 11 below the counter interface 13. The buffer bit 111 may be used to temporarily store the target. After the objects stored in the first storage area 11 are configured to be transferred to the buffer location 111, the pick-and-place mechanism 2 may transfer the objects between the second storage area 12 and the buffer location 111.

For example, the buffer memory 111 may be used to temporarily store an object to be transferred from the first storage area 11 to the second storage area 12, or to temporarily store an object to be transferred from the second storage area 12 to the first storage area 11. In the first case, the object in the first storage area 11 is from a storage location other than the buffer location 111, or from the outside, and after the object is transported to the buffer location 111, the pick-and-place mechanism 2 moves to above the docking port 13, and transfers the object from the buffer location 111 to the corresponding storage location in the second storage area 12 through the docking port 13. In the second case, the picking and placing mechanism 2 transfers the target object in the second storage area 12 to the position above the docking port 13, and then moves to the position where the target object is placed on the buffer memory location 111 through the docking port 13 or other target objects placed on the buffer memory location 111, so that subsequent processing is facilitated.

In the process that the fetching and placing mechanism 2 transfers the target object from the buffer storage position 111 to the second storage area 12 and transfers the target object from the second storage area 12 to the buffer storage position 111, the fetching and placing mechanism 2 can directly drive the target object to ascend or descend due to the buffer storage position 111 being positioned below the opposite interface 13, and the transfer of the target object between the first storage area 11 and the second storage area 12 can be completed through a very short movement distance.

Referring to fig. 8, a plurality of buffer bits 111 may be provided, and accordingly, one docking port 13 may be provided above each buffer bit 111. This has the advantage that when the storage area is large, the efficiency of transferring the target object layer is already satisfied through one interface 13, and the arrangement of a plurality of buffer locations 111 and the interface 13 can satisfy a plurality of positions to simultaneously perform the work of transferring the target object layer. In addition, the plurality of pairs of interfaces 13 and the buffer storage bits 111 can be correspondingly arranged at the corresponding positions of the two storage areas according to a certain interval or rule, and each group of pairs of interfaces 13 and the buffer storage bits 111 can radiate a certain range, so that the pick-and-place mechanism 2 can move to the interface 13 closest to the pick-and-place mechanism according to a near principle or the interface 13 closest to the final storage position of the target object, the transfer of the target object is completed at the interface 13, the self-moving time is greatly reduced, the subsequent working time is shortened to a certain extent, and the working efficiency is improved.

In a specific embodiment of the present disclosure, the pick-and-place mechanism 2 is configured to drive the first target at the first position in the second storage area 12 to move to the position corresponding to the docking port 13, and then drive the first target to descend to pass through the docking port 13 to place the first target on the cache location 111, or place the first target on the second target located at the cache location 111. The first location may be any location for storing the object in the second storage area 12 other than the interface 13, and similarly, there may be a second location, a third location, a fourth location, etc. for storing the object. The transfer of the target from the first location to the cache location 111 and the transfer of the target from the cache location 111 to the second location of the second storage area 12 are exemplified below.

The taking and placing mechanism 2 takes out the first object at the first position, moves to the position above the butt joint 13 with the first object, and when no other object exists in the buffer memory position 111 below the butt joint 13, the taking and placing mechanism 2 can directly move to pass through the butt joint 13 and place the first object on the buffer memory position 111; when another object has been stored under the docking port 13, the one closest to the docking port 13 is designated as the second object, and the pick-and-place mechanism 2 is moved to pass through the docking port 13 and place the first object over the second object.

Similarly, the pick-and-place mechanism 2 transfers the third object on the buffer 111 to the second storage area 12 for storage according to the opposite route. For example, the pick-and-place mechanism 2 moves to a corresponding position of the docking port 13, descends to take out the third object located in the buffer position 111 through the docking port 13, ascends to return to the original height position through the docking port 13, and moves to the second position of the second storage area 12 to store the third object.

Referring to fig. 8, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first storage area 11 includes a storage location 112 and the warehousing system includes a transfer robot. The storage bit 112 may be disposed adjacent to the cache bit 111, and a plurality of cache bits 111 may be disposed. The first storage area 11 further comprises a tunnel arranged between the storage locations 112 for the transfer robot to walk in, the transfer robot being configured to walk in the tunnel, transfer the objects from the storage locations 112 to the buffer locations 111, and/or the transfer robot being configured to transfer out the objects located at the buffer locations 111.

For example, referring to fig. 8 and 9, when the target in the first storage area 11 needs to be transferred to the second storage area 12 for storage, the transfer robot may move to the storage location 112 corresponding to the target, then transfer the target from the storage location 112 to the buffer location 111, and the docking port 13 is located above the buffer location 111. The pick-and-place mechanism 2 transfers the target object from the buffer 111 to the second storage area 12 for storage through the counter interface 13.

With continued reference to fig. 8 and 9, when the object in the second storage area 12 needs to be transferred out, the pick-and-place mechanism 2 moves to above the object and transfers the object to above the docking port 13, and then places the object on the cache location 111 through the docking port 13. The transfer robot can transfer out the objects transferred to the buffer storage position 111 to prevent the excessive objects from being stacked on the buffer storage position 111, which makes the subsequent transfer work difficult.

The counter interface 13 and the buffer memory location 111 below the counter interface 13 may be provided with a plurality of buffer memory locations to facilitate the layer exchange of the object between the first storage area 11 and the second storage area 12 by the pick-and-place mechanism 2 by selecting the nearest counter interface 13 according to the proximity principle.

In addition, it should be noted that, in the present disclosure, the second storage area 12 is also provided with the storage bits 112 arranged in a matrix, and compared with the first storage area 11, the second storage area 12 does not need to be provided with a channel for the pick-and-place mechanism 2 to travel, so that the second storage area 12 can store the target objects more densely, and the utilization rate of the storage space is improved.

Referring to fig. 8, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the warehousing system includes a workstation 4, and the transfer robot is configured to transfer the target object between the first storage area 11 and the workstation 4.

For example, in the warehouse-in work, the transfer robot may transfer the target object in the workstation 4 to the storage location 112 of the first storage area 11 for storage, or may transfer the target object to the cache location 111, and then transfer the target object on the cache location 111 to the second storage area 12 for storage by the pick-and-place mechanism 2. In the ex-warehouse work, the transfer robot may transfer the target object on the storage site 112 to the workstation 4 for processing, or may transfer the target object on the cache site 111 to the workstation 4 for processing.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a warehousing method implemented by the warehousing system above is provided, the method comprising the steps of:

the pick-and-place mechanism 2 is controlled to move to a position corresponding to the docking port 13. The control picking and placing mechanism 2 passes through the opposite interface 13 and descends to the first storage area 11, and the target object is transferred between the first storage area 11 and the second storage area 12. The picking and placing mechanism 2 moves in the second storage area 12, when the picking and placing mechanism 2 is at the position corresponding to the interface 13, the object carried by the picking and placing mechanism can be transferred to the first storage area 11 through the interface 13, or alternatively, the picking and placing mechanism 2 can take out the object in the first storage area 11 through the interface 13, and then returns to the second storage area 12 according to the original route, so that the object is driven to move to the corresponding storage position. The specific structure and movement of the pick-and-place mechanism 2 to transfer objects between the first storage area 11 and the second storage area 12 has been described in detail above and will not be described in detail herein.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a warehousing method includes the steps of:

the pick-and-place mechanism 2 is controlled to move to the first target position of the second storage area 12 so as to take out the target object located at the first target position. The first target location may be the current storage location of the target in the second storage area 12. The picking and placing mechanism 2 is controlled to move to the position of the interface 13 with the target object. For example, the pick-and-place mechanism 2 may move the object over the docking station 13. The pick-and-place mechanism 2 is controlled to pass through the docking interface 13 to descend to the cache location 111 of the first storage area 11. The buffer position 111 is below the interface 13, and the pick-and-place mechanism 2 can continue to move to the pick-and-place height of the pick-and-place mechanism 2 after moving through the interface 13. The control pick-and-place mechanism 2 places the object on the buffer position 111 or on another object located at the buffer position 111. The buffer memory position 111 and the interface 13 are arranged along the same height direction, so that the time for the taking and placing mechanism 2 to drive the target object to perform layer changing movement can be reduced, and the layer changing efficiency is improved.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a warehousing method includes the steps of:

the picking and placing mechanism 2 is controlled to move to the position of the interface 13 with the target object. The fetching mechanism 2 is controlled to pass through the counter interface 13 to descend to the buffer memory location 111 of the first storage area 11, so as to fetch the target located on the buffer memory location 111. The pick-and-place mechanism 2 is controlled to move upwards to pass through the opposite interface 13. The pick-and-place mechanism 2 is controlled to move to a second target position of the second storage area 12 to place the target object at the second target position. The second target location may be a predetermined storage location of the target in the second storage area 12.

In contrast to the way the pick-and-place mechanism 2 transfers the objects in the second storage area 12 to the buffer location 111, the pick-and-place mechanism 2 first moves to the buffer location 111 to pick up the objects and moves to the second target location after passing through the docking interface 13 in the opposite route to transfer the objects from the first storage area 11 to the second storage area 12. The buffer memory position 111 and the interface 13 are arranged along the same height direction, so that the time for the taking and placing mechanism 2 to drive the target object to perform layer changing movement can be reduced, and the layer changing efficiency is improved.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the transfer robot is configured to transfer the object on the first storage area 11 onto the cache location 111 or to transfer the object located on the cache location 111 out. The warehouse system comprises a transfer robot, and the transfer robot and the picking and placing mechanism 2 are matched together to realize that target objects are transferred among the first storage area 11, the second storage area 12 and the outside. For example, the transfer robot may transfer the target object on the storage location 112 in the first storage area 11 to the workstation 4 for processing, or transfer the target object on the buffer location 111 to the workstation 4, so as to realize the delivery of the target object. Alternatively, the transfer robot may transfer the target object in the workstation 4 to the corresponding storage location 112 of the first storage area 11, or transfer the target object to the cache location 111, and then transfer the target object to the second storage area 12 for storage by the pick-and-place mechanism 2. In this way, it is possible to transfer the target between the first storage area 11 and the second storage area 12, or between the first storage area 11, the second storage area 12, and the outside. The specific structure described above has been described in detail above and will not be described in detail here.

The foregoing description of the embodiments of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the various embodiments described. The terminology used herein was chosen in order to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application, or the technical improvements in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

Claims (20)

1. A warehousing system, comprising:

a support platform (1), wherein a first storage area (11) for storing objects is formed at the bottom of the support platform (1), and a second storage area (12) for storing objects is formed at the top of the support platform (1); a butt joint (13) which is communicated with the second storage area (12) and the first storage area (11) is arranged on the supporting platform (1);

-a pick-and-place mechanism (2), the pick-and-place mechanism (2) being configured to move within the second storage area (12) to a position opposite the interface (13) and to transfer the object between the first storage area (11) and the second storage area (12) through the interface (13).

2. The warehousing system according to claim 1, characterized in that a buffer location (111) is provided in the first storage area (11) below the docking interface (13), the picking and placing mechanism (2) being configured to transfer objects between the second storage area (12) and the buffer location (111) after the objects stored in the first storage area (11) are configured to be transferred to the buffer location (111).

3. The warehousing system according to claim 2, characterized in that the pick-and-place mechanism (2) is configured to drive a first object at a first position in the second storage area (12) to a position corresponding to the docking port (13), and then drive the first object to descend to pass through the docking port (13) to place the first object on the cache location (111) or on a second object located at the cache location (111);

and/or the number of the groups of groups,

the picking and placing mechanism (2) is configured to drive a third object on the buffer position (111) to rise above the butt joint (13), and then store the third object in a second position of the second storage area (12).

4. Warehousing system according to claim 1, characterized in that the pick-and-place mechanism (2) comprises:

A movement assembly configured to move within the second storage region (12);

a pick-and-place assembly coupled to the motion assembly, the pick-and-place assembly configured to move in a height direction to hoist a target object stored in the first storage area (11) or the second storage area (12); or placing the object in the first storage area (11) or the second storage area (12).

5. The warehousing system according to claim 4, characterized in that the support platform (1) forms a ceiling-track zone (20) above the second storage zone (12), the pick-and-place assembly being configured to be connected to the ceiling-track zone (20) by means of a movement assembly and to drive the objects through above the objects stored in the second storage zone (12).

6. The warehousing system according to claim 4, wherein the movement assembly includes an X-axis movement unit (21) and a Y-axis movement unit (22); the picking and placing assembly is configured to move along the X-axis direction under the drive of the X-axis movement unit (21), and move along the Y-axis direction under the drive of the Y-axis movement unit (22);

the picking and placing component is connected to the moving component through a Z-axis moving unit (222) and is driven by the Z-axis moving unit (222) to move along the Z-axis direction so as to pick and place the target object.

7. The warehousing system according to claim 4, characterized in that a travel track is provided above the second storage area (12), the travel track comprising a first rail (23) extending in the X-axis direction and a second rail (24) extending in the Y-axis direction, the movement assembly being configured to move in the X-axis direction along the first rail (23) or in the Y-axis direction along the second rail (24) to bring the pick and place assembly to a predetermined position;

the pick-and-place assembly is configured to move in a height direction to pick and place objects located on the second storage area (12) or the cache location (111).

8. The warehousing system according to claim 7, wherein the movement assembly is a four-way vehicle configured to move to a predetermined position within the second storage area (12) along a first rail (23), a second rail (24).

9. The warehousing system according to claim 7, characterized in that the movement assembly comprises a first movement device (25) moving along a first guide rail (23), and a second movement device (26) moving along a second guide rail (24), the pick-and-place assembly being arranged on the first movement device (25) and being configured to move along the first guide rail (23) to a first target position under the drive of the first movement device (25) for picking and placing a target object at the first target position; the first movement means (25) is further configured to move into abutment with the second movement means (26), the second movement means (26) being configured to move with the first movement means (25) along a second guide rail (24) to a second target position.

10. The warehousing system of claim 9, wherein the pick and place assembly is configured to pick and place the target object at the second target location;

or alternatively, the method can be used for processing,

the first moving device (25) is configured to move to a second target position, then separate from the second moving device (26) and move to a third target position along the first guide rail (23), so that the picking and placing assembly picks and places the target object at the third target position.

11. The warehousing system according to claim 9, wherein a plurality of storage locations (112) arranged along the X-axis and Y-axis directions are provided in the second storage area (12); the first guide rail (23) is provided with at least one, the first movement device (25) being configured to be pivoted via the second movement device (26) for movement on a different first guide rail (23) to a respective storage location (112) or docking port (13).

12. The warehousing system of claim 4, wherein the pick and place assembly is configured to pick and place the target object by clamping, grabbing, holding, magnetic attraction, negative pressure attraction, or snap fit.

13. The warehousing system according to claim 1, the first storage area (11) comprising a storage location (112), the warehousing system comprising a transfer robot configured to transfer objects from the storage location (112) to a cache location (111); and/or the transfer robot is configured to transfer out the object located at the buffer location (111).

14. The warehousing system according to claim 13, characterized in that the warehousing system comprises a workstation (4), the transfer robot being configured to transfer objects between the first storage area (11) and the workstation (4).

15. The warehousing system according to claim 1, characterized in that the target is at least one layer of rack (3), on which rack (3) at least one container is stored; the brackets (3) are configured to be stacked together to form a carrier; the first storage area (11) and the second storage area (12) are each designed to store at least one of the carriers and/or at least one of the holders (3).

16. The warehousing system according to claim 15, characterized in that the pick-and-place mechanism (2) is configured to transfer at least one layer of the rack (3) or at least one of the containers at a time.

17. A warehousing method implemented by the warehousing system of any one of claims 1 to 16, comprising the steps of:

controlling the pick-and-place mechanism (2) to move to a position corresponding to the butt joint (13);

the picking and placing mechanism (2) is controlled to pass through the butt joint opening (13) to descend to the first storage area (11) so as to transfer the target objects between the first storage area (11) and the second storage area (12).

18. The warehousing method of claim 17 including the steps of:

controlling the picking and placing mechanism (2) to move to a first target position of the second storage area (12) so as to pick up a target object positioned at the first target position;

controlling the picking and placing mechanism (2) to move to the position of the butt joint (13) with the target object;

controlling the fetching and placing mechanism (2) to pass through the butt joint (13) so as to descend to a cache position (111) of the first storage area (11);

and controlling the fetching and placing mechanism (2) to place the target object on the cache position (111) or other target objects positioned on the cache position (111).

19. The warehousing method of claim 17 including the steps of:

controlling the picking and placing mechanism (2) to move to the position of the butt joint (13) with the target object;

controlling the fetching and placing mechanism (2) to pass through the butt joint (13) to descend to a cache position (111) of the first storage area (11) so as to fetch a target object positioned on the cache position (111);

controlling the pick-and-place mechanism (2) to move upwards to penetrate through the butt joint (13);

and controlling the picking and placing mechanism (2) to move to a second target position of a second storage area (12) so as to place the target object at the second target position.

20. The warehousing method according to claim 18 or 19, characterized in that the transfer robot is configured to transfer objects on the first storage area (11) to the cache location (111) or to transfer objects located on the cache location (111) out.

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