JP2001158504A - Automated storage and retrieval warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate the requirement of a lifting device of an article elevator every storing/shipping conveyer 8. SOLUTION: A deck 27 comprises a fork passing clearance 28 for allowing a slide fork 17 to project to the deck 27 side and vertically pass on a deck surface 27a of the deck 27, and a lifted article receiving table passing clearance 29 for allowing the lifting of a lifted article receiving table 24 of a truck 20 and allowing the deck 27 to move to the storing/shipping conveyer 8 without colliding against the lifted article receiving table 24 in a lifting up state.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the following types of automatic warehouses are known. A pair of front and rear rack devices provided at predetermined intervals in the front and rear direction, a stacker crane provided to be able to move left and right between the front and rear rack devices, and a transfer direction to the left side or the right side of each rack device. A loading / unloading conveyor provided so as to face each other so as to face in the left-right direction, a bogie that can run in the front-rear direction on the outside of the end of the loading / unloading conveyor opposite to the rack device, The conveyor has an article elevator provided on the rack device side, and the stacker crane is provided with a traveling bogie, an elevating platform that can be raised and lowered on a mast provided on the traveling bogie, and a front-rear direction on the elevating platform. A sliding fork provided slidably on the upper and lower pedestal, wherein the article elevator is vertically movable by a known elevator below the entrance and exit conveyor. Have been erected in vertical movement table, those having or protruding from the conveying surface of the entry and leaving conveyor, and a pair of article supporting frame or downward is known. The article lifter lifts the article by the article support frame to form a fork insertion gap between the conveying surface of the loading / unloading conveyor and the lower surface of the article, or removes the article from the slide fork by the article support frame at the raised position. Upon receiving, and then descending, the articles are taken down on the entry / exit conveyor. In short, the article elevator is necessary for realizing the transfer of articles between the loading / unloading conveyor and the slide fork of the stacker crane.

[0003]

Disadvantages of the prior art The conventional automatic warehouse has the following disadvantages. There is a drawback that the cost is high because an elevator for the article elevator is required for each entry and exit conveyor.

[0004]

The present invention employs the following means to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks. The invention according to claim 1 is a stacker crane provided to be able to move left and right between the front and rear rack devices, an input / output conveyor provided on the side of each rack device, and an input / output conveyor provided on the opposite side of the rack device. It has a trolley provided to be able to move back and forth outside the end, and a loading platform mounted on a loading / unloading conveyor, wherein the trolley allows the lifting / lowering article receiving table and the lifting / lowering of the lifting / lowering article receiving table. Having a conveyor with the transport direction oriented in the left-right direction, wherein the loading platform allows the slide fork of the stacker crane to protrude toward the loading platform side and that the protruding slide fork passes up and down the loading platform surface of the loading platform. Allowable fork passage gap, lifting and lowering objects that allow the lifting and lowering of the lifting and lowering article cradle and that can be moved to the loading and unloading conveyor side without colliding with the ascending lifting and lowering article cradle Those having a cradle passage gap. The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor provided on the cart is a chain conveyor. The invention according to claim 3 is that the pair of front and rear rack devices, the stacker crane, the loading / unloading conveyor, and the loading / unloading conveyor are formed as one rack unit, and at least two rack units are provided at the front and rear. The bogie travels outside the ends of all the in-and-out conveyors.

[0005]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained by the above configuration. According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the cost without requiring a lifting device of an article elevator for each entry / exit conveyor. According to the invention of claim 2, the conveyor in which the conveying direction allowing the elevating and lowering of the elevating and lowering table is allowed in the left-right direction is a chain conveyor having a pair of front and rear endless conveying chains. Can be provided with a lifting / lowering article receiving stand, and it is easy to arrange the lifting / lowering article receiving stand and the conveyor. According to the third aspect of the present invention, one truck can handle a large number of rack units.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this description, the front means the lower side of FIG. 1, the rear means the upper side of the figure, the left means the left side of FIG. 1, and the right means the right side of the figure.

[0007] A pair of front and rear rack devices 1 are erected on the floor so as to open the stacker crane passage 10. The rack device 1 includes a plurality of front columns 2 arranged side by side at predetermined intervals, a rear column 2 arranged behind the front columns 2 with a predetermined interval therebetween, and front and rear columns 2. And a large number of article support members 4 provided at predetermined intervals in the height direction.
Is configured. A space between the pair of left and right article support members 4 is a fork passage gap 5 that allows the slide fork 17 to be described later to move vertically. The entrances 6 of the article storage shelves 3 of the front and rear rack devices 1 face each other.

On the right side of the rack device 1, there is provided a loading / unloading conveyor 8 from a chain conveyor which can be driven forward / reversely with the conveying direction directed to the left / right direction.

A pair of upper and lower guide rails 11 are arranged in the stacker crane passage 10 such that the longitudinal direction thereof is directed to the left and right. The stacker crane 13 is guided by these guide rails 11 so as to be movable left and right. , This stacker crane 13
A lift 16 which can be moved up and down on a mast 15 provided on the traveling vehicle 14, and a slide fork 17 which can be horizontally slidably moved in the front-rear direction by a known reciprocating mechanism on the lift 16. are doing. As is well known, the slide fork 17 performs an operation of projecting the article downward and lifting the article by lifting the elevator 16 and retreating to the elevator 16 side to draw the article into the elevator 16, and By the reverse operation, the article can be dropped on the article storage shelf 3 or the like.

The pair of front and rear rack devices 1, the stacker crane 13, and the loading / unloading conveyor 8 constitute one rack unit, and at least two rack units are provided at the front and rear.

Outside the right end portion of all the conveyer 8 of the rack unit, the bogie 20 is free to run in the front-rear direction along a guide rail 21 whose longitudinal direction is in the front-rear direction. The bogie 20 includes a body 22
And a lifting and lowering article receiving stand 24 which can be moved up and down by a well-known lifting and lowering device 23 on the vehicle body 22, and a pair of front and rear endless transfer chains located on the front and rear sides of the lifting and lowering article receiving stand 24, and And a conveyer 25 such as a chain conveyor or the like that can be driven forward and backward, with the direction being directed to the left and right.

A loading platform 27 is placed on each of the loading and unloading conveyors 8. The loading platform 27 is a slide fork 1
A fork passage gap 28 that allows the slide fork 17 to protrude upward and downward on the loading surface 27 a of the loading platform 27 while allowing the projection 7 to protrude toward the loading platform 27 side;
0 is allowed to ascend and descend, and the loading platform 2 does not collide with the ascending / descending elevator 24.
7 has an ascending and descending article receiving table passage gap 29 that allows the 7 to move to the loading / unloading conveyor 8 side. At four corners of the loading platform 27, guide members 30 each having an article guide surface extending outward upward are provided.

An incoming line conveyor 32 and an outgoing line conveyor 33 are provided on the right side of the traveling path of the bogie 20 so that the conveying direction is directed to the left and right. The transfer surface of the loading and unloading conveyor 8, the transfer surface of the conveyor 25, the transfer surface of the storage line conveyor 32, and the transfer surface of the transfer line conveyor 33 have the same height or almost the same height.

[0014]

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, an operation of placing an article on the slide fork 17 of the stacker crane 13 on the loading platform 27 located at the left end of the loading / unloading conveyor 8 will be described. The stacker crane 13 is stopped at a position where the center in the left-right direction of the slide fork 17 on which the article is placed coincides with the center in the left-right direction of the carrier 27. Thereafter, the upper surface of the slide fork 17 (the lower surface of the article placed on the slide fork 17)
The elevator 16 is moved up and down so as to be located above the upper end of the loading platform 27 (specifically, the upper end of the guide member 30). Thereafter, the slide fork 17 is made to protrude toward the loading platform 27, and the article is positioned directly above the loading platform 27. Then, lift 16
Is lowered to drop the articles on the loading surface 27a of the loading platform 27. Thereafter, the elevating table 16 is slightly lowered to separate the slide fork 17 from the article. Thereafter, the slide fork 17 is retreated to the lift 16 side. Slide fork 1
7, the slide fork 17 does not collide with or interfere with the loading platform 27 due to the fork passage gap 28 formed in the loading platform 27. By the operation reverse to the above, the articles on the loading platform 27 located at the left end of the loading / unloading conveyor 8 can be transferred to the slide fork 17.

Next, the operation of placing articles on the loading platform 27 on the conveyor 25 of the truck 20 will be described. The loading / unloading conveyor 8 is driven to convey the loading platform 27 on which the articles are placed to the right end of the loading / unloading conveyor 8. Meanwhile, the carriage 20 is stopped to the right of the entrance / exit conveyor 8. Then, loading bed 2
7 is transferred to the conveyor 25 of the carriage 20. At this time, the elevating article receiving table 24 is in a state of being lowered from the conveying surface of the conveyor 25. Thereafter, the lifting / lowering article receiving base 24 is raised, and the articles are lifted by the lifting / lowering article receiving base 24 such that the lower surface of the article is higher than the upper end of the loading platform 27 (specifically, the upper end of the guide member 30). Then, conveyor 2
5. Operate the loading / unloading conveyor 8 in the reverse direction to move the empty loading platform 27 to the left end of the loading / unloading conveyor 8.
After that, the lifting / lowering article receiving stand 24 is lowered, and the conveyor 2 is moved down.
Put the goods on 5. By such an operation, the loading platform 27
The above article can be placed on the conveyor 25 of the trolley 20, and the article on the conveyor 25 can be placed on the carrier 27 by the reverse operation.

The articles on the conveyor 25 are stopped by arranging the carts 20 on the unloading line conveyor 33 and stopping them.
5. The delivery line conveyor 33 is sent to the delivery line conveyor 33 by driving the delivery direction to the right. The goods on the incoming line conveyor 32 are the cart 2
After arranging 0 on the storage line conveyor 32 and stopping it, the conveyor 25 and the storage line conveyor 32 are placed on the carriage 20 by driving the conveyance direction to the left.

The articles placed on the article storage shelves 3 are sent out through a stacker crane 13, a loading platform 27, and a trolley 20, to a retrieval line conveyor 33, and then to a retrieval line conveyor 32.
Are carried into the article storage shelf 3 via the trolley 20, the loading platform 27, and the stacker crane 13.

[0018]

[Modifications and the like] Modifications and the like will be described below. (1) The structure and shape of the loading platform 27
It is optional as long as it has the ascending and descending article receiver passage gap 29. (2) In the invention of claim 1, at least one rack unit may be used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a horizontal cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention, with an intermediate portion omitted.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion A in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a partially crushed section taken along line III-III in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rack apparatus 3 Article storage shelf 8 Entry / exit conveyor 13 Stacker crane 14 Traveling trolley 15 Mast 16 Elevating stand 17 Slide fork 20 Carry 22 Body body 23 Elevating device 24 Elevating goods receiving stand 25 Conveyor 27 Carrier 27a Carrier surface 28 Fork passage gap 29 Passage gap for lifting goods cradle

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A stacker crane provided to be able to move left and right between front and rear rack devices, an input / output conveyor provided at the side of each rack device, and an input / output conveyor.
It has a truck provided to be able to move back and forth outside the end opposite to the rack device, and a loading platform placed on a loading / unloading conveyor, wherein the truck is a lifting article receiving table, a lifting article receiving table, A conveyor in which the transport direction allowing the elevation of the platform is oriented in the left-right direction, wherein the loading platform allows the slide fork of the stacker crane to protrude toward the loading platform side, and the protruding slide fork projects the loading platform surface of the loading platform. A fork passage gap that allows passage up and down, and an elevating article receiver that allows the elevating article receiver to move up and down and moves to the loading and unloading conveyor side without colliding with the ascending elevating article receiver. Automatic warehouse with a table passing gap. 2. The automatic warehouse according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor provided on the cart is a chain conveyor. 3. A pair of front and rear rack devices, a stacker crane, a loading / unloading conveyor and a loading / unloading conveyor are formed as one rack unit, and at least two rack units are provided at the front and rear. 3. The automatic warehouse according to claim 1, wherein the carriage travels outside an end of the entrance / exit conveyor.