GB2250276A

GB2250276A - Materials handling and distribution system

Info

Publication number: GB2250276A
Application number: GB9101136A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Michael Schmied; Karl-Ernst Kaufmann
Original assignee: Mannesmann AG
Current assignee: Vodafone GmbH
Priority date: 1990-11-28
Filing date: 1991-01-18
Publication date: 1992-06-03
Also published as: GB9101136D0; DE4038297A1

Abstract

A materials handling and distribution system for selecting work pieces and parts from a storage rack and feeding them to a processing station such as an assembly line, includes at least one feeding device (6) which is arranged to traverse a storage rack, select an item therefrom and convey it to a transfer location, and loading means (14) at said location for receiving the item, wherein the loading means is movable from the transfer location to a processing station which is remote from the vicinity of travel of the feeding device. The loading means may be a trolley, or a slidable plate, and is arranged to receive a pallet (1) carrying the pieces or parts, which are transferred on to the loading means by a grab (7). <IMAGE>

Description

22552?6 1 MATERIALS HANDLING AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM This invention

relates to a materials handling and distribution system, particularly of the kind in which work pieces and parts for further assembly are taken from a storage rack and conveyed to a work station.

Handling systems of this kind are known and computercontrolled work stations to which parts may be supplied for further processing are also known - see, for example, British Patent No. 1254446. At the individual work stations the items taken from the store are frequently assembled with manual involvement and difficulties arise in safely correlating the automatic feed of the parts to the manual handling station.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a materials handling and distribution system which comprises a rack for storage of materials, at least one feeding device which is arranged to traverse said rack and select an item therefrom, and convey it to a transfer location and loading means at said transfer location for receiving said item, said loading means being movable from said transfer location to a processing station which is remote from the vicinity of travel of said feeding device.

The manual operating station may be protected from the vicinity of the automatic feeding device by a protective screen through which suitable apertures are provided to permit movement of the loading means between 2 the transfer location and the processing station. Alternatively, the protective screen may be replaced by a second rack for storage of materials and the second rack has suitable apertures permitting movement of the loading device. With such an arrangement, advantage can be taken of the additional storage capacity provided by the second storage rack and the feeding device may have access to the second storage rack.

The loading device preferably comprises one or more trolleys or drawers spaced at suitable intervals along the length of the rack to correspond with the work stations. If desired, for loading larger items, one or more trolleys or drawers may be arranged to be linked together and movable in unison into and out of the vicinity of the feeding device.

The trolley or trolleys may be guided on suitable rollers and tracks which are, e.g. supported in the protective screen or second rack and/or partially supported on one or more ground or rail-engaging wheels. The feeding device may be mounted on a track extending lengthwise of the storage rack and having means for incrementally advancing the feed device along said track, e.g. by use of a toothed rack adjacent a guide rail. The automatic feed device preferably includes a robotic crane and handling device for selecting desired parts under computer control from the storage rack and delivering 3 these to the desired transfer location.

The present invention will now be illustrated in the f.ollowing description and accompanying drawings of one embodiment in accordance with the invention. In the drawings:-

Figure 1 shows a plan view of the overall materials handing system, Figure 2 is an end view taken in the direction of the arrow A in Figure 1, Figure 3 is a side elevation of a trolley loaded with a pallet, Figure 4 is a plan view of the trolley shown in Figure 3, Figure 5 is an end elevation in the direction of the arrow X shown in Figure 3, Figure 6 shows a partial view of the supporting guide rollers of the trolley shown in Figure 5 on a larger scale, Figure 7 shows a shock absorber fitted to the trolley shown in Figure 3 for arresting extending movement of the trolley, Figure 8 shows a shock absorber for the trolley of Figure 3 for absorbing retraction movement, and Figure 9 shows a locking catch for retaining the trolley in its retracted position.

Referring to the drawings and in particular to 4 Figures 1 and 2, the handling system comprises a storage rack 2 for storing a plurality of work pieces, parts or other items. Items can be selected from the storage rack 2 by means of a feeding device 6, which is arranged to traverse the length of the rack 2 on a rail 3. Rail 3 may comprise a toothed rack to facilitate incremental movement of feeding device 6 along the track 3. Device 6 is controllable to select one or more items from the rack 2 and transfer these selectively to one of a plurality of desired transfer stations 5 or 4. A protective screen 34, which may be in the form of a grid or mesh screen, prevents access of personnel to the area traversed by the feeding device 6.

At each transfer station a trolley 14 is located for receiving work pieces delivered by the feeding device 6. The means for transfer of work pieces from the feeding 6 may include a robot 8 mounted for movement on a support beam 9 and fitted with a grab 7 for transferring a work piece from the feeding device 6 to the receiving surface 1 of the trolley 14. The transfer means 8 may be incorporated in the feeding device 6 or separate transfer means may be provided.

Conveniently, the work pieces are delivered on a pallet 10. As shown in Figure 5, the items may be nested in a corrugated surface 11 to ensure that they are not displaced during delivery from the transfer station to the 1 ultimate processing station 12 or 13. The work station may be constructed and arranged in accordance wih U.K. Patent No. 1254446. Each trolley 14 comprises a stationary trestle base 15 on which a pallet support 20 is slidably guided. Each pallet support 20 is guided for movement towards and away from the track 3 of the feeding device 6 so that in its extended position itoccupies a position 5A, which lies outside of the screen 34. The items on the pallet can then be removed for further processing, e.g. assembly at a station 12 or 13. After unloading of the parts, the pallet may be returned to the storage rack, or passed to a further station for further treatment or processing.

The trolleys 14 are movable through the protective screen 34, through appropriate apertures permitting this movement. Such apertures may be automatically closable after passage of the trolley, e.g. by springloaded doors covering the apertures.

As shown in Figure 1, a second storage rack 2A may be mounted back to back with the first and served by a feeding device guided on the side remote from the first feeding device 6. However, alternatively the feeding device may be mounted to travel between a pair of storage racks 2, access for the trolleys being attained through suitable apertures in one of the storage racks.

The construction of the trolleys is shown in detail 6 in Figures 3 to 9.

Referring to these Figures, the pallet 1 is received on a pallet support frame 20 which is arranged for sliding movement on top plate 16 of trestle base 15 by means of running rollers 18 and lateral guide rollers 19 supported on longitudinal members 17. Projections 22 extend upwardly in a diverging manner from frame 20 for locating the pallet securely on the trolley. The front part of support frame 20 is attached via a post 21A to a castor 21 which rests on the floor. Thus, when the support frame is extended to take up the position SA, its forward part is supported on the floor-engaging wheel. Alternatively, the trolley may have no floor or rail-engaging support wheel and may take the form of a drawer. However, in this case it is preferred that the trestle base is extended towards the processing station so as to provide support for the drawer in its extended condition.

Pallet support frame 20 is slidable to the right as shown in Figure 3 by pulling on handle 28 so as to move support frame 20 towards the right as shown in Figure 3. Adjacent to the pulling handle 28 is a locking catch operated by a handle 29. The locking catch as shown in detail in Figure 9, includes a pawl 33 engageable with a projection 33A on extension 20A of support frame 20. The locking arm 29 is urged into the locking position by a spring 32 and is pivotable about a pin 31 held in block 41 7 30. In operation, locking arm 29 is pressed downwardly to release the support frame 20 which may then be pulled towards the right as shown in Figure 3 by pulling on handle 28. The pallet 1 or the items on it may then be unloaded from the support frame 20, and then returned to its rest position. A light beam detecting device 36 - 36A is mounted on the support trestle 14, and is connected to the control means for the automatic feed device 6. The light beam detecting means 36 - 36A is mounted adjacent to the trestle base 14, (see Figure 5) and is able to detect the position of the pallet, and establish whether it is in the parked position 5 or in the removable position 5A. The output from the detecting means 36 - 36A can be fed to the central computer control and thus prevent, for example, the feeding device attempting to load a pallet to the support frame 20 unless it is in the parked position 5.

As shown in Figures 7 and 8, the drawer is equipped with shock absorbing devices 23A and 23B. Shock absorbing device 23A provides a damped limitation of the extension movement of the support frame 20 in moving from the position 5 to 5A, and shock absorber 23B damps the movement of the support frame 20 back into the parked position. Shock absorber 23A is secured to a bearing plate 25A at the rear end of the pallet support frame 20 and on pulling out the trolley, the bearing plate comes up 8 against a fixed stop 26A on the trestle base 15, (see Figures 3, 4 & 7).

As best shown in Figure 8 the shock absorber 23B is mounted on a front bearing plate 25B extending from the pallet support frame 20. When the trolley is pushed back, the shock absorber 23B bears against stop 26B secured to the trestle base 15. A small air gap 27 of about 0.5 mm (see Figure 8) exists between the trestle base 15 and the bearing plate 25B. The shock absorbers are preferably hydraulic dampers having weak return springs.

The detecting device 36 - 36A may cooperate with indicator blades 24 on the shock absorbers todetermine the precise position of the pallet and trolley. Output from the detecting device 36 - 36A and the indicator blades 24 may be linked through a terminal box 35. These detecting devices may be employed to control a telescopic fork 6A attached to the feeding device 6 in that the telescopic fork can only extend when 14 is in its parked position 5A.

1 such a way the trollev 9

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A materials handling and distribution system which comprises a storage rack for storage of materials, at least one feeding device which is arranged to traverse said rack, select an item therefrom and convey it to a transfer location, and loading means at said location for receiving said item, said loading means being movable from said location to a processing station which is remote from the vicinity of travel of said feeding device.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein said loading means is a trolley which is movable between said transfer location and said processing station.

3. A system according to claim 2 wherein said trolley is at least partially supported on one or more ground or rail-engaging wheels.

4. A system according to claim 2 or 3 wherein the trolley is guided for movement into and away from the vicinity of travel of said feeding device.

5. A system according to claim 4 wherein the trolley is guided on rollers engaging with tracks extending in the direction of movement of said trolley.

6. A system according to any one of claims 2 to 5 wherein the trolley is adapted to receive a pallet on which an item is supported.

1

7. A system according to claim 6 wherein means are provided for linking two or more trolleys so as to jointly receive a pallet and to be movable in unison away from the vicinity of said transfer location.

8. A system according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the feeding device is arranged to travel along a track between said rack and a protective screen, said screen having apertures to permit passage of said trolley.

9. A system according to claim 8 wherein the protective screen is replaced by a second storage rack which has apertures permitting passage of said trolley.