EP3883866A1

EP3883866A1 - Area storage system

Info

Publication number: EP3883866A1
Application number: EP19806161.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Klaus Jeschke
Original assignee: Telejet Kommunikations GmbH
Current assignee: Telejet Kommunikations GmbH
Priority date: 2018-11-21
Filing date: 2019-11-15
Publication date: 2021-09-29
Also published as: DE202018106627U1; WO2020104319A1

Abstract

In order for it to be possible for a multi-storey area storage system having autonomous driverless robots and combined units (4+2) to be operated optimally, an important role is played by the utilization of space in respect of set-down regions (56) being as large as possible in comparison with the traffic areas (57). It is precisely the arrangement of the storage areas (56a, b) within the set-down regions (56) in relation to the positions of the supporting columns (51), which are inevitably present in the storage system (100) - usually both in the set-down regions (56) and in the traffic areas (57) - and form permanent obstacles, that makes it possible to optimize the utilization of surface area and the operation of the storage system (100).

Description

Area storage

I. Field of application

The invention relates to a surface storage, on the driving surfaces on the one hand driving autonomously and unmanned tractors and on the other hand teams with trailers coupled to a tractor. The trailers loaded with one or more products are parked in a storage area of the warehouse and the product is thereby stored. The storage areas within the storage areas on which a trailer is parked are virtually predefined, but not physically separated from one another. On the contrary, the driving surface should be interrupted by as few obstacles as possible.

II. Technical background

Such area storage with autonomously driving tractors are known in the industry.

The trailers with the products are parked, for example, within a hall in designated storage areas and, if necessary, hit by a tractor, automatically coupled and taken to a point of demand specified by the central control.

On the other hand, warehouses with a storage rack consisting of a plurality of levels spaced one above the other are known, in which the products or containers loaded with products are stored. In a typical high-bay warehouse, a so-called storage and retrieval machine moves in the aisles between the storage racks and automatically stores these containers in or out of the storage rack. If a storage area with a large number of autonomous tractors that move freely on the driving surface should also span several floors, this means on the one hand considerable additional control effort both for the central control and for the onboard control in the individual tractors and in addition there is a height -Transfer device necessary so that a tractor or a combination of tractor and trailer can move from one floor to another.

III. Presentation of the invention a) Technical problem

It is the object according to the invention to provide a warehouse that extends over several floors and that autonomously and freely tractors can freely couple and unhitch a trailer and park them for the purpose of storage in the storage rack can also switch from one floor to another automatically.

b) solving the problem

This object is solved by the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments result from the subclaims.

This task is solved by the fact that, despite the tractors moving freely without physically predetermined lanes, the area storage facility can drive with and without a coupled trailer on all floors of the storage rack and can use the existing height transfer devices automatically and for this both the height transfer devices and the central control and the onboard controls are equipped accordingly. One advantage of such multi-storey surface storage systems is that, especially when storing only relatively small products, for which the trailers only have to have a low height of, for example, less than 50 cm, the levels can be arranged at such a height distance that the clear height distance between them is only slightly larger than the height of the trailer - whereby the tractors can be built almost arbitrarily low - which results in a very high storage density. Then, however, a person can no longer get between the individual shelves - if their clearance is less than the height of a person lying flat - without shelves having to be at least partially removed from the individual floors, so that particularly high demands are placed on freedom from errors and maintenance of such a camp must be placed.

For this purpose, in particular the floor driving surfaces are virtual, that is, without physical delimitation, preferably by the central control system, divided into

- on the one hand storage areas on which trailers can be parked by the tractors for the purpose of storage and

- On the other hand, storage aisles, which preferably run straight, in particular parallel to one another, and extend between the parking areas and serve the direct approach to individual storage areas within the parking areas by tractors and teams. So that the storage areas between the storage aisles are as large as possible in depth, which favors the largest possible ratio of storage area in comparison to the area of the storage aisles, there are several storage areas in a row in the direction perpendicular to the direction of the storage aisles, the storage aisle direction, in the storage area of the storage area, preferably at least two or even three storage areas.

A storage area is a virtually, but not physically limited, area defined on the floor driving area for parking one trailer, for several Varieties of supervised sizes of trailers within a storage rack for parking a particular type of trailer.

The storage area is at least in width, preferably also in length, larger than the corresponding dimension of the trailer to be placed on it, in order to provide safety clearance when parked, but above all to provide the maneuvering space required for parking and uncovering to offer everything in the width of the storage area, i.e. the direction of the bearing row. In this case, trailers loaded with products that are used less frequently are not arranged in the foremost row of storage areas facing the storage alley, but rather further back.

As a rule, the coupling for coupling the tractor is located on a narrow side of the trailer, which is roughly rectangular when viewed from above, which should point towards the warehouse aisle in the stored state, which is why the bearing surfaces in the longitudinal direction one behind the other in rows in the depth of the parking area, i.e. transversely to Direction of the warehouse lane. In addition, the - preferably both - mouths of a storage aisle are connected to one another via traffic areas which serve the approach of the individual storage aisles by the tractors and teams.

With such a virtual division of the storey areas, the width of the storage aisles can be chosen to be greater than the width of the storage aisles, by a maximum of 10 cm, better only by 5 cm larger than the width of the storage aisle required to turn a team in the storage aisle, in particular than that largest diagonal of a team viewed in supervision. This not only allows a team to be turned, but generally also allows two teams to move past each other in the opposite direction, but costs a lot of space for the storage aisles. Therefore, in the virtual division of the storey areas, the width of a storage aisle is preferably chosen such that the width of the storage aisle is less than the width of a storage aisle required for turning a team in the storage aisle, in particular as the largest diagonal of a team, as viewed from above. in particular less than the length of a team.

This reduces the space required for the storage aisles.

Of course, the width of the storage aisles is set at least so large that the tractor of the team can maneuver the trailer into a free storage position between two trailers parked on the adjacent parking area.

This prevents a team from turning in an aisle, but saves a lot of space in the aisle in favor of the storage areas. Of course, the width of the warehouse aisles is always larger than the width of a team, because otherwise a team would not be able to enter the warehouse alley. The width of the storage aisles is also sufficiently large that from the storage aisle a team can maneuver its trailer backwards onto a storage area between two trailers already standing on the adjacent storage areas.

The possibility of choosing the storage aisles so wide that two teams can drive past each other, i.e. larger than twice the width of a team, is generally only useful for relatively long storage aisles.

The choice of the width of the storage aisles is always a middle way between saving detours for tractors and teams on the one hand and the largest possible proportion of storage areas on one floor space on the other. In the case of several types of trailers and storage areas within a warehouse that differ in terms of their size, preferably only the same types of storage areas are arranged in the storage areas on both sides of a storage aisle, - At least for the storage areas immediately adjacent to the storage lane

- In particular for all storage areas of the two adjacent storage areas except for the last row of storage areas, which may be facing away from the storage aisle in question and which can generally be approached from the next adjacent storage aisle.

Especially when determining the width of the storage aisles, there is the additional problem that in the case of a multi-storey storage rack, as a rule distributed over the base area of the storage rack, this has a large number of vertical support columns, which usually go through all floors and to which the shelves are attached and which are usually arranged in regular rows - usually in the longitudinal and transverse directions of the storage rack.

Of course, when defining storage areas on the one hand and storage aisles and traffic areas on the other hand, the arrangement of the support columns, which run vertically through each floor as an obstacle, can be taken into account to a limited extent, but it will generally not be avoidable that these support columns on the one hand within the parking areas and on the other hand within the traffic areas and above all within the relatively narrow storage alleys. The storage areas on the one hand and storage aisles on the other hand are usually defined in such a way that the storage aisle direction corresponds to one of the directions of the storage rack, usually its longitudinal direction

If a row of support columns is present in a storage aisle and then usually in its direction, the storage aisle direction, the above statements regarding the width of the storage aisles apply to the greatest clear width between the row of support columns running along the storage aisles and the edges the adjacent storage areas, in particular for the greatest clear width transverse to the direction of the storage alley between each support column and the storage areas adjacent to this support column. Furthermore, in the case of support pillars standing in the storage aisles, the bearing surfaces are fixed relative to the positions of the support pillars such that the support pillars standing in the storage aisles, as viewed from above, are further away from the adjacent edge from at least one of the adjacent storage areas than the width of a combination, so that the teams can drive along the Lagergasse.

Furthermore, the positions of the storage areas relative to the positions of the support columns in the storage aisles are determined such that a row of support columns running in the direction of the storage aisle does not run in the middle of the storage aisle, but at most 30%, better at most 20%, better at most 10% the width of the storage aisle from one edge of the storage aisle in order to keep the space required for the storage aisles as small as possible. Furthermore, the positions of the bearing surfaces relative to the positions of the support pillars in the storage aisles are determined in such a way that the support pillars, when viewed from the top, stand in the outer 30% of the width of a row of bearings that is extended in their direction of travel.

If the support columns are in a storage area, the - usually rectangular - storage areas and the storage areas arranged one behind the other for one trailer each, running across the storage aisle direction, rows of bearings are usually arranged parallel to the direction of a row of such support columns. The bearing surfaces are thus arranged in such a way that the rows of support columns in the storage areas are between two rows of bearings and the row of support columns runs in the direction of the rows of bearings.

However, the clear distance between two rows of support columns usually does not exactly correspond to the integer multiple of the width of a row of bearings, even if there are trailers and thus storage areas with different widths in such a warehouse. As a rule, a trailer is not parked between two supporting columns adjacent in the entry direction - the direction transverse to the direction of the adjacent storage lane - within their width range measured transversely to the entry direction, but only at a clear distance across the entry direction in storage areas and the rows of bearings between the support columns .

Therefore, the clear distances between adjacent support columns or rows of support columns are preferably set so that they exceed an integer multiple of the transverse extent, i.e. the width, of such a bearing surface or row of bearings in the direction of the relevant support column distance as little as possible, preferably by no more than 30 %, better not more than 20%, better not more than 10% of this width, in particular the integer multiple of the narrowest storage areas used in the warehouse. In order to be able to change floors, in the simplest case a height transfer device can be provided, in particular instead of part of a floor driving surface, which connects the floor driving surfaces of two adjacent floor surfaces with one another. However, since this takes up a relatively large proportion of the floor space, an elevator, in particular an elevator that runs through all floors, is preferably used as the height transfer device, which is either attached to the side of the storage rack or is arranged inside the storage rack, that is to say of all of them Floor driving surfaces are surrounded on all sides.

Preferably, the elevator - which can preferably be requested independently by the tractors on a specific floor - usually only has a single entry and exit or drive-through direction, so that when stopping on a floor only at one or two opposite ends of the platform which is movable in height the gap between the elevator and the adjacent floor driving surface must be so small that it can easily be run over by a team or a tractor. The storage rack preferably comprises a central area, which is characterized in that the same areas are stacked on the individual floors between the support columns with shelves. Outside such a central area, there may be additional areas, for example a staircase consisting of floors:

Each floor area extends laterally around a staircase area beyond the central area, with the front edges of the individual staircase areas gradually receding from bottom to top, so that the staircase areas in the

Side view of these staircase surfaces, that is, viewed in the direction of the front edges, result in a staircase over the fleas of the shelf.

If the stair surfaces have such a distance between fleas - for example a flea corresponding to the fleas of a floor - that a person can manage, an operator can use this staircase to get to the top floor of the storage rack, as there is usually enough space above the top floor for this Is available, among other things, due to the parts of the elevator protruding upwards on the top floor, and performing maintenance or repair work there.

These staircase areas can also be used as traffic areas during the operation of the warehouse or - at least partially - as storage areas and therefore do not represent lost areas.

The shelves of such a storage rack can be equipped on the top with navigation markings along which the tractors orient themselves, for example by means of a corresponding sensor, such as a floor camera directed against the ground.

In this case, preferably all of the shelves used in the storage rack are identical with regard to the arrangement of their navigation markings and are also identical overall, differing at most by existing ones or not Existing corner recesses in the corners of the shelves, which create space for extending the supporting columns of the support frame.

This reduces the cost of manufacturing the shelves, but the resulting increased control effort is low.

Preferably, a karee formed in the top view, consisting of support columns arranged in a square and adjacent to one another, is not only occupied by such a shelf, but by two adjoining shelves

In order to be able to place these securely and resiliently, this also requires an intermediate crossmember in the central area of the square in addition to the longitudinal and transverse crossbars connecting these four supporting columns in the longitudinal and transverse directions, but this design enables one of the shelves to be viewed from below , especially one-sided, push up and

- either on another adjacent shelf arch, in particular on the other shelf of the same square

- or to remove it from the storage rack in an obliquely raised state, for example if it is defective, in particular if its navigation markings have become illegible.

If there is only one shelf per karee and the floor height is low, even a shelf that is inclined within one floor cannot be pulled out of the storage shelf, since the shelves, viewed horizontally, reach behind the support columns due to their corner recesses.

Above all, by lifting up and putting aside such shelves from bottom to top, extending over several floors, the shaft within the storage rack can be opened, through which an operator can get to any location on the storage rack from below can.

The warehouse preferably has a picking area which is used for loading and unloading a trailer standing on this picking area with products, usually only on one floor. The picking area is preferably arranged outside the central area and preferably at the operator's working height if the loading and unloading is carried out manually. In contrast, when loading and unloading using a robot, the flea position is less relevant.

However, the manual loading and unloading of a trailer can also be accelerated, for example by arranging a signaling device above the picking surface and a trailer placed thereon, which comprises a signaling device such as a steerable laser beam or light beam. By connecting to the controller, such a light source can illuminate a light marking on the compartment or compartment or other location within the trailer from which a product is to be removed or into which a specific product is to be inserted, which greatly affects the work of the human order picker accelerates.

c) working examples

Embodiments according to the invention are described in more detail below by way of example. Show it:

FIG. 1: the central area of an empty storage rack in a perspective view,

Figure 2a: a top view of a floor surface of a first type of construction

Storage rack with tractors and trailers on it,

FIG. 2b: a side view of the storage rack from FIG. 2a,

FIG. 2 c: another side view of the storage rack from FIG. 2 a,

FIG. 3: a second design of a storage rack in a side view,

Figure 4: the storage rack with elevator according to Figure 3 in supervision. FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an empty storage rack 50 of a first design with storey running surfaces 50 "a, 50" b etc. in a plurality of storeys 50a, b one above the other. The individual floor driving surfaces are formed by the adjoining shelves 55, more precisely their upper sides, which abut one another without gaps and are each supported by a supporting structure 60:

The structure 60 consists of horizontally extending longitudinal beams 52 and transverse beams 53, on which the individual shelves 55, with their outer edges 55a to d, as viewed from above, each rest, since the shelves 55 are generally rectangular. The horizontally running longitudinal cross members 52 and cross members 53 in turn are at their ends at vertical

Support columns 51 attached, for example only suspended, viewed in supervision in a regular grid in rows of columns in the longitudinal direction and

Transverse direction, are arranged.

Four adjacent support columns 51, viewed from above, form a square, which does not necessarily form a square, but usually forms a rectangle.

Such a square, viewed from the top, can be filled by a single shelf 55 or by several adjacent shelves. In the area of the support columns 51, the shelves 55 have corner

Recesses 67, so that in the four adjacent

Shelf 55 created space, the vertical support column 51 can be accommodated and thus the shelves 55 abut with their edges 55a to c as seamlessly as possible in the area between the support columns.

There are preferably two adjacent, each rectangular, shelf shelves 55 within a square, which - apart from the corner recesses 67 provided therein - are preferably of identical design. As is known, such an overall cubic support frame is stiffened by, for example, carrying out a diagonal bracing between the adjacent support columns 51, be it the two outermost support columns of the bearing 50 or only two adjacent support columns, both in the longitudinal direction and in the transverse direction of the bearing 50. In addition and / or instead, there may be transverse tensions between support columns 51 which are spaced apart from one another in a horizontal plane.

Figures 2a and 2b show a top view and a side view of a warehouse 100 which, in addition to the storage rack 50, as shown in perspective in Figure 1, a number of storage vehicles in the form of autonomous and unmanned tractors 4 and non-self-driving trailers 2, which, however, of the tractors 4 can be automatically coupled, moved and uncoupled and parked again.

In this case, the storage rack 50 has a central area 50 *, in which - as in FIG. 1 - the floor driving surfaces 50 '"a, 50" b are all of the same size, that is to say all floors are of the same design, laterally facing the central area 50 * however, can connect expansion areas, as explained later:

The individual floor driving areas 50 '"a, 50" b are - mostly in agreement over all floors 50a, b ... in the central area 50 * in traffic areas 57 on the one hand, on which tractors 4 or teams 4 + 2 travel and on the other hand parking areas 56, in which trailers 2, sometimes also tractors 4, can be parked.

In the example in FIG. 2a, a parking area 56 extends along the two sides in the longitudinal direction and in the central area in the longitudinal direction of the storey surface 50 "a, between which storage aisles 58 which also extend in the longitudinal direction 101 of the store 50 remain free as part of the traffic area 57, on which the tractors 4 or teams 4 + 2 move.

At the front, here left and right, ends of the storage lanes 58, these are connected to one another by remaining traffic areas 57 running in the transverse direction 102. Defined storage areas 56a, b are virtually predefined in the storage areas 56, on each of which a trailer 2a, b, c can be placed, the corresponding storage area 56a, b, viewed from above, being dimensioned somewhat larger than the corresponding trailer 2a, 2b, in order to have appropriate maneuvering space available for parking and uncovering using the tractor 4.

As can be seen, there are three different sizes of trailers 2a, b, c, and accordingly three different sizes of bearing surfaces 56a, b, c, which are designed to accommodate the corresponding size of the somewhat smaller trailer 2 in this example are.

As FIG. 2a shows, these bearing surfaces 56a, b, c are arranged next to one another in the longitudinal direction 101, the bearing surfaces 56a, b, c, and thus also the trailers 2a, b, c in the state placed thereon, with their greatest extension as viewed in the supervision extend in the transverse direction 102 of the storage rack 50.

As can be seen in the middle storage area 56 and lower storage area 56 in FIG. 2a, these storage areas in the transverse direction 102 comprise a plurality of bearing surfaces 56a, b, c one behind the other, which form a bearing row 59.

It goes without saying that a storage area 56a, b, c, which does not form the outer edge of such a storage area 56, can only be accessed if the upstream, for example outermost, storage area 56 in this storage row 59 is empty. If this is not the case, a trailer 2 standing on this outer bearing surface 56 must first be removed from a tractor 4 by coupling on its narrow side and removed from the tractor 4 in order to be able to couple the trailer 2 behind in this storage row 59. For storage, a trailer 2 is parked on one of the bearing surfaces 56a, b, c in a parking area 56 by means of a tractor 4, which is assigned to it by the central control 9 *, which the tractor 4, however, automatically by means of its on-board control 9 starts, while the central control 9 * sets at most milestones, mostly only the final destination, of the respective trip. For retrieval, a tractor 4 picks up a parked trailer 2, at least partially filled with products, from a predetermined storage area 56 based on a travel order from central control 9 and transfers it to a picking area 68, on which a human operator 20 or a robot (not shown) removes the desired product P from the trailer 2 and adds it to a picking container.

In the present case, this is carried out by a human operator 20, which is why the picking surface 68 is at the working height of an operator 20 standing on the ground, that is to say, for example, on the second or third floor 50e, 50d from below, as can be seen better in FIG. 2b. In this case, viewed from above, the picking area 68 is also located outside the central area 50 ^{* of} the storage rack 50, in that the floor area on the corresponding floor, for example 50e, has been expanded beyond the central area 50 ^* and serves as an expanded traffic area 57 , on which a team travels to the predetermined picking area 68 and stops there, which is part of this extended traffic area 57. In order to make the work of the operator 20 easier, there is, for example, a signaling device 69 above the picking surface 68, which directs a light marking 69 * from above to that position in the trailer 2, for example to a specific compartment 31 in the trailer 2, from which a Product P is to be taken for picking a delivery.

Conversely, this order-picking area 68 can also serve to load a partially empty trailer 2 with products P delivered from the outside, that is to say to insert the correct product in a given compartment 31 and thus to refill the warehouse 100.

A height transfer device 61 is necessary so that the tractors 4 and combinations 4 + 2 can get from one floor to the other. In this first design - as shown in the side view of FIG. 2b - the height transfer device 61 consists of a simple ramp instead of part of a floor surface on which a tractor 4 or a team 4 + 2 moves to the next higher or lower one Floor can reach.

Instead of such a ramp, an elevator (not shown here) is also possible as a height transfer device 61, which can be requested in particular by the tractors 4 themselves. In FIG. 2a, a second extension of the central area 50 ^* is also shown on the left edge in the form of a staircase 65:

Although the proportions shown in FIG. 2b show that an operator 20 is not able to crawl into the individual floors or even walk, it may still be necessary for such an operator 20 to either get to the top floor 50a - Above which there is usually more free space - and carries out inspections or maintenance work there, or also takes a look at a certain floor from the side in the middle height range, for which purpose he has to reach the appropriate height, since the height of such a floor-level one Area storage can be a multiple of the size of a person.

In order not to need a conventional ladder or more complex constructions for this purpose, the storey surfaces of the individual storeys 56a, b are each expanded by an area beyond the left edge of the central area 50 ^* in FIG. 2a, which - as best in the side view of the figure 2c - to form a staircase 65 in that the front edge 63a of each of these staircase surfaces 63, which expand the central floor surface, are offset from one another in the direction of the stairs 64 and are also offset in height by such a height distance H that they can be mastered by a person can, preferably the height of a floor 56th

An operator 20 can therefore go up this staircase 65 to the top floor 50a and in between can take a look at each floor 50a, b, c at any height. The staircase surfaces 63 can be used during the operation of the warehouse 100 are also used as traffic areas 57 and thus do not represent a lost area.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show a second design of the storage rack 50, in which an elevator 70 is provided as the height transfer device 61.

In the left part of FIG. 4, the elevator 70 is installed in the storage rack 50 in this traffic area 57, that is to say it is surrounded on all sides, or, as viewed from the top, is attached to it laterally, as indicated on the left edge.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, the support columns 51 of the storage rack 50 usually pass over the entire height of the storage rack 50. In such a storage rack 50, the built-in elevator 70 is arranged in a karee between four supporting columns 51 which are adjacent to one another in the square - as can be seen in the top view in FIG. 4 - in which preferably no shelves 55 at all are used as storey floor space, e.g. 50 "a are available. These four support columns 51 - viewed from the top - limit the elevator shaft, so to speak, but it does not otherwise have any vertical walls.

Viewed from the top, the elevator 70 comprises four guide columns 73 arranged in a rectangle with respect to one another, each formed here as a hollow rectangular profile, wherein viewed from the top, two outer surfaces of two adjacent rectangular profiles are preferably aligned with one another.

The guide columns 73 are fastened to the supporting structure 60 of the storage rack 50, either on the supporting columns 51 of the carousel in which the elevator 70 is located, or in this case - as can be seen in FIG. 3 - on the longitudinal cross members 52 of the supporting structure 60, specifically via Spacers 83 with a suitable thickness.

The height-controlled platform 71 on which the load to be transported stands during operation - and which, in contrast to the elevator car, is one usual elevator preferably has neither walls nor a roof - extends in the area between the four guide columns 73 in such a way that it extends beyond the corresponding clear column spacing in one direction, the drive-through direction 100, across the interior space, as viewed from above, between the four guide columns 73 is elongated and has at least a length which corresponds to the distance between the outer surfaces of the adjacent guide columns 73 facing away from one another in this drive-through direction 100.

The platform 71, which is generally horizontal, is moved in height by attaching it to each strand of this endless tension element near each of its corner areas with an endless tension element, in this case a toothed belt 77.1, 77.2 or 77.3, 77.4 , wherein each toothed belt runs over an upper toothed roller 91a and one under toothed roller 91b, one of which, here in each case for reasons of accessibility, the upper toothed roller 91a, is driven in a controlled manner, as described later.

3, 4, the toothed belts are arranged in such a way that two adjacent toothed belts 77.1 and 77.2 rotate in a common circumferential plane 77 ", ie the axes of the toothed rollers 91 a, 91 b of these two toothed belts 77.1 , 77.2 each perpendicular to this common

Circulation level 77 ". The revolving planes 77 ″ of these two pairs of toothed belts 77.1, 77.2 and 77.3, 77.4, which are opposite one another with respect to the platform 71, run in the drive-through direction 100, that is to say the direction in which the platform 71 extends beyond one of the two column spacings.

All four toothed belts 77.1, 77.2 and 77.3, 77.4 are driven by a common motor 90 via mediator belts 92a, b, which are arranged above the height of the uppermost floor driving surface 50 "a, which is why the guide columns 73 are generally also above the support columns 51 of the storage rack 50 protrude. REFERENCE SIGN LIST

2 followers

4 tractor

4a coupling side

4b front

4 + 2 teams

20 operators

50 Storage rack 50 ^* central area

50a, b floor

50 “a, b floor deck

51 support column

52 cross member

53 crossbar

54 intermediate traverse

55 shelves

55a-c edge

56 storage area

56a, b storage area

57 traffic area

58 Lagergasse

59 bearing series

60 support 61 elevation transfer device 62 ramp

63 stairs

63 a front edge

64 stairs direction

65 stairs

66

67 corner recess

68 picking area

69 Signal device

69 ^* light marking

70 elevator

83 spacer

90 engine

91 a, b sprocket

92a, b mediator belt

100 bearings

101 longitudinal direction

102 transverse direction

Claims

PATENT CLAIMS

1. Area storage with

a storage rack with a plurality of levels spaced apart from one another by a supporting structure,

- whose storey running surfaces are formed by the tops of a number of shelves which are contiguous (define) within a storey,

- Unmanned, autonomously driving tractors (4) and trailers (2) which can be coupled / uncoupled and which can be moved or parked on the shelves,

a height transfer device for transferring a tractor (4) or a team (4 + 2) from one floor to another,

- A central control that is wirelessly in contact with all tractors (4) and all controlled movable parts of the warehouse. 2. Bearing according to claim 1,

characterized in that

the clear height distance between the floors is smaller than the height of a person lying flat, in particular less than 35 cm, in particular less than 30 cm.

(Area division)

3. Bearing according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized in that

the virtual floors, in particular by the central control (9 *), are divided into

Storage aisles, which in particular run straight and / or in particular parallel to one another, and serve to drive tractors (4) or teams (4 + 2) along and in - Storage areas for trailers, each extending on both sides of this storage lane and the depth perpendicular to the direction of the storage lanes is in particular a multiple of the length of a trailer (2), as well as in

- Traffic areas that connect the mouths of the parallel parallel storage aisles at the analog end and serve to approach the storage aisles.

4. Bearing according to claim 3,

characterized in that

the width of the storage aisles is a maximum of 10 cm, better only 5 cm larger than the width of the storage aisle required to turn a team in the storage aisle, in particular as the largest diagonal of a team viewed in supervision,

- In particular the width of the storage aisles is less than the width of the storage aisle required to turn a team in the storage aisle, in particular as the largest diagonal of a team viewed from above, in particular less than the length of a team.

- However, larger than the width of the storage aisle that is required so that the tractor of the team can maneuver the trailer into a free storage position between 2 trailers parked on the adjacent parking area.

(Column grid unlike storage grid) 5. Bearing according to one of the preceding claims,

the structure (60)

- Upright, in particular vertical, standing support columns extending over the entire height of the storage rack, which are arranged in the longitudinal direction and in the transverse direction of the storage rows, straight rows, - Includes longitudinal beams and cross beams on which the shelves rest, the longitudinal beams and Cross beams are attached directly or indirectly to the support columns,

characterized in that - In the course of the storage lanes (58) the clear distance between adjacent support columns exceeds the integer multiple of the extent of a storage position in this direction by a maximum of 30%, better a maximum of 20%, better a maximum of 10%.

6. Bearing according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the supporting structure (60)

comprises upright, in particular perpendicular, standing support columns (5), in particular extending over the entire height of the storage rack (50), which are arranged in the longitudinal direction (101) and in the transverse direction (102) of the storage rack (50), straight rows,

- Longitudinal cross members (52) and cross members (53) on which the shelves (55) rest, the longitudinal members (52) and cross members (53) being attached directly or indirectly to the support columns (51),

characterized in that

in the case of support columns (51) standing in the storage aisles (58), the bearing surfaces (56a, b) are fixed relative to the positions of the support columns (51) in such a way that

- The support columns (51) standing in the storage aisles (58), viewed from above, are further away from the adjacent edge of at least one of the adjacent storage areas (56) than the width of a team (4 + 2), and / or

- The support columns (51) standing in the storage aisles (58), viewed from above, stand in the outer 30% of the width of a row of bearings (59) (defined) that is extended in their direction of travel. 7. Bearing according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the supporting structure (60)

- Includes cross members (52) and cross members (53) on which the

Shelf bases (55) rest, the longitudinal cross members (52) and cross members (53) being attached directly or indirectly to the support columns (51),

characterized in that in the case of support columns (51) standing in the storage areas (56), the bearing surfaces (56a, b) are fixed relative to the positions of the support columns (51) in such a way that

- Rows of support columns (51) standing in the storage areas (57) either stand between two bearing rows (59) or stand between two bearing surfaces (56a, b) within a bearing row (59), in particular always the same two bearing surfaces (56a, b) within the bearing series (59).

8. Bearing according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized in that

in the case of several types of trailers (2a, b, c) and storage areas (56 a, b, c) which differ in terms of their size, in the storage areas (56) on both sides of a storage aisle (58), at least those to the storage aisle (58 ) immediately adjacent storage areas, in particular all storage areas of the two adjacent storage areas (56), with the exception of the last row of storage areas possibly facing away from the storage lane (58), is the same type (56 a, b or c) of storage areas.

(Height transfer) 9. Bearing according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized in that

the height transfer device (61), in particular an elevator (70) which is continuous over all floors (50a, b) and which, viewed from above, is arranged within the traffic areas (57).

10. Bearing according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized in that

the height transfer device (61) comprises ramps (62), which each connect two floors (50a, b) and are preferably part of the traffic areas (57). (Stairway)

11. Bearing according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized in that

the storage rack (50) comprises a central area (50 *), in that the same surfaces are placed between the support columns (51) with shelves (55) on each floor (50a, b),

the ramps (62) are arranged outside the central area (50 ^* ), in particular along a long side (101) of the central area (50 ^* ),

- Each floor surface (50 ^" a, b) outside the central area (50 ^* ) considered in the supervision comprises a stair surface (63) and

- The front edges (63a) (define) of the stair areas (63) along a long side or narrow side of the central area (50 ^* ) from one floor 50a, b) to the next in the same stair direction (64) are arranged offset to one another, so that they form a staircase (65),

- The preferably from underground U to the top floor of the shelf warehouse

(50) runs and

- In particular, the stair gap T between two stair surfaces 63 adjacent in the fleas is less than 1 m. (Identical shelves)

12. Bearing according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized in that

if the shelves (55) carry (define) navigation markings (66) on the top,

- All shelves (55) are identical in terms of navigation markings (66),

- Except at most the different presence of corner recesses (67) in the corners of the shelves (55) for receiving a part of the cross section of a support column (51). (At least 2 plates per square)

13. Bearing according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized in that

- viewed from above within a polygon, in particular a

Square forming squares of e.g. four adjacent support columns (51) at least two shelves (55) are arranged side by side,

- In particular on an intermediate crossmember (54), with its ends on the longitudinal crossmembers (52) or between the crossmembers (53), - in particular their mutually adjacent edges (55a, c) rest on the intermediate crossmember (54).

14. Bearing according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized in that

- The plurality of shelves (55) within a polygon, in particular one

Squares, at least in terms of navigation markings (66), are identical,

- Except at most the different presence of corner recesses (67) in the corners of the shelves (55) for receiving a part of the cross section of a support column (51).

(Picking station)

15. Bearing according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized in that

a picking surface (68) for loading / unloading a trailer (2) with products P is present,

- Which is preferably arranged outside the central area (50 ^* ) and / or preferably at the working height of an operator (20), in any case preferably in alignment with the height of a floor (50a, b).

16. Bearing according to one of the preceding claims,

characterized in that

- A commissioning robot is arranged on the picking surface (68) for automatically loading / unloading a trailer (2) with products (P) and / or

- Above the picking surface (68) there is a signaling device (69) which identifies the compartment in the trailer (2) from or into which the compartment is marked by a light marking (69 *) radiated from above onto the trailer (2) human order picker (20) should remove or insert a product (P).