JP2001010704A - Carrying unit for automated storage and retrieval system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To smoothly store a corrugated cardboard box, avoiding an accident of being caught by a rail, even in the case of the flowering-plants packing box with flap dully hanging down. SOLUTION: In this carrying unit, a roller, on which a corrugated cardboard box W' rides and touches during storage/takeoff, is arranged on the outside of a cargo mounting plate 13 of a moving carriage 7. Even if a flap W1 of the corrugated cardboard box W' hangs down, since the flap is guided upward by the roller, the box W' is prevented from being caught by the rail 6. Thus, the corrugated cardboard box W' can be stored smoothly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer unit for an automatic warehouse.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An automatic warehouse is provided with a storage unit having a plurality of shelves and a transport unit for loading and unloading luggage to and from the shelf. The transport unit moves to an arbitrary position of the storage unit. There is a stacker crane system for loading and unloading luggage, a trolley system in which a movable trolley is arranged for each stage of a shelf, or a lift system for lifting and lowering a lift to load and unload luggage to an arbitrary stage.

[0003] Among them, a truck type automatic warehouse has a rail 22 disposed along the front surface of a shelf 21 as shown in FIG.
Is provided, and the luggage W is transferred between the luggage placing plate 24 of the movable trolley 23 and the shelf 21 via the rail 22. In order to smoothly transfer the load W, the edge 24a of the load placing plate 24 is inclined obliquely downward.

[0004]

In recent years, an automatic warehouse often stores cardboard boxes as they are.
In this case, there are various types of cardboard boxes, one of which is a flower packaging cardboard box W 'shown in FIG.

[0005] That is, the flower packaging cardboard box W 'is provided with flaps W1 connected to each other on the upper surface (front surface) and the lower surface (back surface) of the main body in a state where the directions are changed from each other. It has a structure that can be opened in any direction. The cardboard box W 'for packing flowers is generally tied up by a synthetic resin belt B, and both ends of the belt B are fixed by heat fusion or fixed by metal fittings.

[0006] This cardboard box W 'for flowers is generally
The moving carriage 23 and the shelf 2 are moved in the longitudinal direction.
1, the flap W1 is cantilever-shaped, the function of holding the flap W1 by the belt B is weak because it is elongated as a whole, and the cardboard box W 'is As shown in FIG. 9, there is a tendency that the end of the flap W1 is drooped due to the conditions such as easy wettability.

For this reason, when the flap W1 is stored on the shelf 21, the flap W1 is
Or, the metal fittings are easily caught on the rails 22, which makes it impossible to store them or damages the cardboard box W ′ and the packaged flowers.

Also, in the case of a normal cardboard box having a pair of flaps whose bottoms are double-opened, corners of the flaps may fall if the flaps are stapled. , There is a risk that smooth storage may be hindered.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a transport unit capable of smoothly storing and removing a cardboard box having any structure.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a transport unit moving along a front surface of a shelf, and a transfer unit for sliding a load between the load storage unit and the shelf. In an automatic warehouse provided with a loading device, a part of the transport unit along the side edge of the load placing portion, a roller that goes over in a state where the load slidingly moving between the transport unit and the shelf is in contact with the roller, It is characterized in that it is arranged to extend in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the load.

In this case, the transport unit is not limited to a movable trolley, but also includes a stacker crane and a lift.

[0012]

According to the structure of the present invention, the ends of the flaps tend to hang down like the above-mentioned cardboard box for wrapping flowers, or the belts and metal fittings protrude from the bottom of the cardboard box. Even so, the transition of those flaps, belts, or metal fittings is guided by rollers, eliminating flaps and other accidents,
A cardboard box or the like can be smoothly transferred between the transport unit and the shelf.

[0013]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The present embodiment is applied to a trolley type automatic warehouse, and the outline of the automatic warehouse is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The automatic warehouse includes a pair of shelf units 1 arranged opposite to each other, and shelves (shelf plates) 2 are arranged in multiple stages in both shelf units 1.

A relay conveyor 3 is disposed at one end of each stage shelf 2, and a load (cardboard box) W is delivered by a lift 5 to an arbitrary relay conveyor 3 and a loading / unloading conveyor 4. Rails 6 are arranged on the steps of each shelf 2, and a movable trolley 7 is mounted on the rails 6 so as to run freely.

{First Embodiment} FIGS. 3 to 5 show an example of a specific form of the movable carriage 7. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the movable cart 7, FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG.
4B is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 4A, and FIGS.

The movable trolley 7 has a main body frame 8 formed of a channel steel or the like in a rectangular shape in plan view. The main body frame 8 has a pair of front and rear running wheels 9 and a running motor 10.
And so on. On the main body frame 8, a fixed guide frame 11 and a movable guide frame 12 extending in a direction orthogonal to the traveling direction are arranged to face each other. A load carrying plate 13 is integrally fixed to both guide frames 11 and 12, and the location of the load carrying plate 13 serves as a load carrying portion.

The movable guide frame 12 can be moved toward and away from the fixed guide frame 11 by the motor 14 for adjusting the distance.
Are vertically overlapping. Both guide frames 11, 1
2, a first moving arm (not shown) is attached to the first moving arm so as to be movable laterally, and a second moving arm is attached to the first moving arm so as to be laterally movable. The picking plate 15 is mounted so as to be horizontally rotatable.

The first moving arm and the second moving arm provided on both guide frames 11 and 12 are simultaneously moved in the same direction by one transfer motor 16 so that the picking plate 15 pushes the load W. By pulling, the luggage W can be transferred between the movable cart 7 and the shelf 2. Therefore, the guide frames 11 and 12, the moving arm, the picking plate 15, and the like constitute a transfer device described in the claims.

Rollers 17 extending along the traveling direction of the movable trolley 7 are arranged on both left and right sides of the luggage placing plate 13. As shown in FIG.
Is located between the luggage mounting plate 13 and the rail 6, and both ends thereof are rotatably supported by brackets 18 provided on the side surfaces of the main body frame 8. The roller 17 is set so as to protrude upward from the upper surfaces of the luggage placing plate 13 and the rail 6 by a slight dimension H.

In the above configuration, even if the luggage W is a cardboard box and the tip of the flap W1 is slightly drooping, as shown in FIG. Since a state in which the roller 17 is raised upward by the guide function of the roller 17, the flap W <b> 1 passes over the roller 17 and smoothly moves to the rail 6. Conversely, also when the flap W1 is pulled into the movable carriage 7, the flap W1 moves over the rollers 17 and smoothly moves to the luggage placing plate 13.

Therefore, during storage, the flap W1, belt, metal fittings, etc. of the luggage (cardboard box) W do not get caught on the rail 6, and as a result, the luggage W may be damaged or deformed, resulting in poor storage. Can be prevented or significantly reduced.

{Other Embodiments} FIGS. 7 and 8 show a second embodiment. FIG. 7 is a plan view of an essential part, FIG. 8A is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. FIG. 8B is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 7.

In this embodiment, the luggage placing plate 13
Notches 19 are formed at appropriate intervals at the end of the roller, and the rollers 17 are intermittently arranged at the positions of the notches 19. When the interval between the luggage placing portions is not changed, such a mode can be adopted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view showing an example of an automatic warehouse.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of a structure of an automatic warehouse.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the movable cart.

4A is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3, and FIG. 4B is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operation.

FIG. 7 is a partial plan view of the second embodiment.

8 is a sectional view taken along line AA and a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a conventional technique.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a cardboard box for packaging flowers.

[Explanation of symbols]

 W 'Cardboard box for packaging flowers 6 Rail 7 Moving cart 11, 12 Guide frame 13 Luggage placing plate 15 Picking frame 17 Roller 18 Bracket

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an automatic warehouse, a transport unit that moves along the front of a shelf is provided with a luggage storage portion and a transfer device for sliding the luggage between the luggage storage portion and the shelf. A roller orthogonal to the moving direction of the luggage, in which a part of the transfer unit along the side edge of the luggage placing portion is overlaid with the luggage sliding between the transfer unit and the shelf in a state of contact with the luggage; A transport unit for an automatic warehouse, wherein the transport unit is arranged so as to extend to a side.