FI111534B - Automatic collection system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a collection system for collecting and delivering stored products, which comprises products stored in a warehouse, actuators for transferring products from the warehouse to a further processing station for further transportation of the products to a storage and intermediate storage station, provided with one or more pick-up rails along which 10 pick-up wagons are arranged to move, and a plurality of actuators are disposed between the pick-up rack and the intermediate storage for transferring products from the intermediate storage to the collection trolley.

The invention thus relates to the collection and further transfer of products from storage.

In particular, the invention is used in warehouses with dozens or hundreds of products which are usually stored on a per-item basis, for example on pallets. The product is packed on pallets in modular unit packs. For each customer, there is a customer-specific picking plan that defines the customer-specific contents of pallet loads so that the transport chain can easily purge the goods by customer according to the transportation route. The goal is to collect the pallet wagons according to the collection plan. The pallet truck contains different products according to the customer's order.

Many different solutions for such stock picking are now known.

25 In manual picking, the collector moves a forklift or other transport means amongst the pallets and collects the products on the pallet he has transported according to the collection instructions.

In semi-automatic picking, the automated system makes product pallets or -30 packs available to collectors from stock. Once the required product has been picked up, the pallet returns to the warehouse. This can be the case, for example, with the so-called. pater-noster-storage.

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In automatic picking, pallets are brought to the system according to order. The equipment arranges the products for picking on the conveyor or floor-to-floor storage. Collectors, robots or similar picking products as planned and arrange on a pallet. The transport of the pallet can be handled by conveyor system wedges or green wagons.

2 111534 These known systems have several drawbacks or shortcomings. Their capacity, i.e. the finished pallets per unit of time, is limited. This is partly due to the small number of actuators, resulting in 5 simultaneous picking events. little. The large space requirement is also a major drawback, as is the limited amount of products that can be collected. The trolley system is very expensive. A malfunction of the pickup device can stop the line from working.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a collection system for storage products without the above drawbacks. The picking system according to the invention is characterized in that the intermediate storage consists of two or more picking stations, each picking station having more than one channel for products so that each channel has only one kind of products, and the different picking stations having at least partially the same products.

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A preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that each channel has several successive and overlapping product modules, and that the channel preferably consists of an elongate conveyor.

Another preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that between each collecting station and said collecting path there is a collecting device for transferring product modules from a collecting station to a collecting trolley, and that a collecting path is provided for positioning the stacking trolley at each picking station.

Another preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized in that a floor storage is formed adjacent to the collector device of product models containing different products, in which the product modules are generally stacked less than in the collector station.

Advantages of the invention include the small space requirement, since a large number of products to be collected may be simultaneously available. The pickup conveyor can be placed in a small space. The picking system of the invention also has a high capacity of 35 because the design solutions of the picking track, duct system and picking device allow for multiple simultaneous functions in the system. If necessary, the pallet load is completed in one pass. Another advantage of the invention is the expandability of the system, i.e. the amount of products to be collected can be increased by modules. The pickup track will be extended to the new station area. The picking system is also very reliable. However, in the event of a technical malfunction, a single collection station can operate most of the system. The defective drive products 5 can be collected either manually or in an additional dedicated drive station for which a defective drive product range is run. The system is also very simple. It consists of similar modules. maintenance, spare parts service and operator training are easy to arrange.

The invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Figure 1 is a top view of the principle of a collecting system according to the invention.

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Figure 2 is a side elevational view of a stacking trolley according to the invention and loaded.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the wagon of Fig. 2.

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Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the moving midsole of a collection trolley.

Figure 5 is a top view of a stacking trolley.

Figure 1 illustrates the principle of a collecting system according to the invention. The invention is not limited to any particular warehouse, but the invention will, however, be described below in order to understand the invention in connection with a brewery warehouse. In this case, the product is a soft drink (bottle, can, etc.) and the product module is, for example, a soft drink basket. Breweries produce a variety of soft drinks and beers. Of course, the sales of these vary, some are volume products that are plentiful and some are specialty products that are less • ♦ 'less. Thus, the system must be optimized so that the collection system does not create bottlenecks for volume products.

1 shows a pallet transport system designated by reference numeral 1 for loading baskets packed on pallets into pallets 2 and then on pallet conveyor 3 to transport trolleys 4 which further transfer baskets to intermediate storage 4 111534 consisting of pick-up stations 5. Each of the baskets are placed one after the other and on top of each other. To optimize the system, volume products can be placed in multiple channels 6. Each channel 6 has only one type of product. In this 5 embodiment, the collection stations 5 are 11 in parallel. At the end of each pick-up station 5 is a pick-up device 7, which may be a pivot boom robot or the like. Preferably, the different collection stations have at least partially the same products.

In the direction of the intermediate storage, one or more picking tracks 8 are provided on the other side of the pick-up device, along which the pick-up trolleys 9 pass. Each track 8 has an exact position at each pick-up station 5 where the pick-up car 9 will stop if necessary. In the exemplary embodiment shown in Fig. 1, there are three pick-up tracks in parallel, thus allowing the simultaneous loading of several pick-up wagons.

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Each collection station also has a floor storage 13 with fewer baskets in the stack. Thus, these can be used when a product does not require the entire stack that is in a single channel 6.

Thus, the loads are collected by the pick-up devices 7 into the pick-up wagons 9, which run along their tracks 8 through the pick-up stations 5. The lane continues along the route marked with reference numeral 10 to the loading station 11, where the load of the stacker wagon is transferred to the pallets for further transportation.

The structure of the collection trolley is illustrated in more detail in Figures 2-5. Fig. 2 shows a loaded pick-up trolley 9 with a predetermined number of certain carts, some more some less, however, according to the customer's particular needs. In Figure 3, the same is shown in end view.

Figure 4 shows a vertically movable midsole 12 for the baskets for the baskets. When the trolley is in motion, the midsole is in the lowered position so that the basket remains firmly in place and does not slide. On the other hand, when the stacking trolley has arrived at the pallet station 11, the midsole is raised by means of the actuator, so that the crate or crates can be pushed onto the pallet 35 by means of a suitable actuator. It will be seen from Figure 5 that the collection trolley 9 may have, for example, eight such seats for the baskets.

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It will be clear to one skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments set forth above, but may be varied within the scope of the appended claims. Thus, for example, a pick-up device 7 may be provided with a product-specific gripper and be placed in the respective pick-up. products within its domain. However, it is standard practice to use universal stickers suitable for all products. The duty cycle of the picking system can be increased by increasing the number of picking lanes. This makes it more likely that each pickup device has a pickup tray that needs products from this pickup area. There may be a stop between the "downtime" of the picking tracks, where the ship can be driven to receive the next wagon, and the floor can be filled by the pick-up when it is "idle". The channel 6 may function in a conveyor or the like in one or more planes. The collection path may also include "shortcuts" to speed up the operation of the system. The collection trolley can be equipped with so-called. wagons used by the dairy and beverage industries for distribution. In this case, there is no need for a loading station 15 11 as described above, but another suitable handling station for transferring the wagons for further transportation.

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Claims (6)

1. Collection system for collection and forwarding of stored products, which system comprises a layer of stored products, control devices (3) for forwarding the products from the warehouse and a forwarding station (11) for placing the products in order for the forwarding, the forwarding station (11) is provided with an intermediate layer (5), and which collection system is provided with one or more collection paths (8) along which are arranged to move collection trolleys (9), and that between the collection path (8) and the intermediate layer (5) are located several actuators (7) for transferring the products from the intermediate layer (5) to the collecting carriage (9), characterized in that the intermediate layer consists of two or more collection stations (5), each comprising more than one channel (6) for the products. , that each of the channels contains products of only one type and that at different collection stations there are at least partially breastfeeding products. Assembly system according to claim 1, characterized in that each of the channels (6) contains several pieces of the same product module after and on one another and that the channel preferably consists of an elongated conveyor. 20 Collection system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that between each of the collection stations (5) and said collection path (8) there is a collecting device (7) for transferring the product modules from the collection station to the collecting carriage (9) and that on the collection path (8) ) in the middle of each collection station (5) is provided a parking space for the collection trolley to bring it in exactly the correct position in relation to the collection device for loading at the collection station (5). Collection system according to claim 3, characterized in that next to the collection device (7) is built a floor layer (13) of product modules containing different products where there are usually fewer product modules stacked on each other than on the collection station (5). • * Collection system according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that the volume product, ie. The product that is collected most is found in several channels (6) and at several different collection stations (5). 111534 Assembly system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the assembly trolley (9) is provided with several vertically movable intermediate bottoms (12) for the product modules, the intermediate bottom during transport being in its lower position to prevent the product modules from moving. 5