JP2001341999A - Cargo lifting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stably load cargoes up and down in always proper fashion by detecting the deflection amount of a mast for adjusting the shift-out amount of a turret head. SOLUTION: A lifting motor is driven (S1), a lifting speed V of cargoes is calculated in accordance with the number of pulses N per preset time T generated from a lifting encoder by a controller while a carriage is lifted up and down (S3), and the weight of the cargoes is calculated in accordance with the lifting speed V and data stored in a memory (S4, 5). A lifting distance for the carriage is calculated from the number of pulses N output from the lifting encoder to find a height H from a reference position of the cargoes (S6), a deflection amount Δ corresponding to the height H in terms of the corresponding weight W of the cargoes is read out of the memory and a deflection amount Δ of the mast is determined from the weight W and the height H of the cargoes (S7, 8), and the shift-out amount of the turret head is adjusted corresponding to the deflection amount Δ (S9).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a luggage elevating carriage which moves at least up and down with respect to a mast, a turret head mounted on the carriage so as to be horizontally shiftable, and an The present invention relates to a luggage elevating device comprising a fork mounted to be able to turn left and right.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, rack forks are shown in FIGS.
It is configured as shown in FIG. That is, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the rack fork 1 is provided with a luggage elevating carriage 3 so as to be able to move up and down in a mast 2, and a turret head 4 is mounted on the carriage 3 so as to be able to shift left and right. A fork 5 is mounted so as to be able to turn left and right with respect to the axis of the turret head 4.

When the vehicle travels to the designated rack position, the fork 5 is turned so that the fork 5 is opposed to the rack and the turret head 4 is moved in order to load and unload the luggage 6 with the pallet on the rack. It moves in the rack direction by a predetermined shift-out amount, and unloads and loads cargo 6.

At this time, in the case of an unmanned rack fork, a magnetic body buried along a track on the floor surface is detected by a magnetic sensor provided on the vehicle body, and the vehicle is controlled to travel autonomously while detecting a traveling position. When the vehicle reaches the stop position, the stop control is performed, and the unloading control of the package is performed as described above.

By the way, with such a rack fork, as shown in FIG. 9A, when loading and unloading the package 6 on a designated shelf of the rack 8, as shown in FIG. Since the mast 2 is bent according to the weight of the mast 6 and the height at which the unloading is performed, the unloading position of the load 6 varies according to the amount of deflection Δ, and a smooth unloading operation cannot be performed.

That is, when the deflection of the mast 2 is large, as shown in FIG. 9 (c), the luggage 6 may be placed extra deeper than a predetermined position on the shelf of the rack 8, or the deflection of the mast 2 may occur. When the amount is small, when the fork 5 is inserted into the pallet and the luggage 6 is taken out, there is a possibility that the insertion amount of the fork 5 is insufficient and the luggage 6 cannot be stably lifted together with the pallet.

[0007]

However, the above-described conventional rack fork 1 does not have a control function for adjusting the shift-out amount of the turret head 4 in consideration of the deflection of the mast 2. However, there is a problem that the rack fork 1 cannot stably load and unload the cargo 6.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to detect the amount of deflection of the mast, adjust the shift-out amount of the turret head, and always stably realize proper loading / unloading of cargo.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a luggage elevating carriage which moves up and down with respect to a mast, and a turret head mounted on the carriage so as to be able to shift horizontally. And a fork mounted on the turret head so as to be able to turn left and right with respect to the axis of the turret head, a speed detecting means for detecting a lifting speed of the load, and a lifting speed of the load detected by the speed detecting means. Load detecting means for detecting the weight of the load from the size of the load, height detecting means for detecting the height of the load, weight of the load detected by the load detecting means, and detection by the height detecting means A deflection amount deriving means for deriving a deflection amount of the mast corresponding to the height of the luggage to be loaded, and a deflection amount derived by the deflection amount derived by the deflection amount deriving means. It is characterized in that it comprises a shift-out amount adjusting means for adjusting a shift out of the turret head.

According to such a configuration, the weight of the mast corresponding to the weight of the load detected by the load detection means and the height of the load detected by the height detection means are derived by the deflection amount derivation means. The shift-out amount of the turret head is adjusted by the shift-out amount adjusting means in accordance with the derived amount of deflection of the mast. It is possible to stably load and unload luggage.

Further, according to the present invention, the deflection amount deriving means includes a storage unit storing deflection amount data for each height of the load at each weight of the load previously derived, and the deflection amount is detected by the load detecting means. The deflection amount corresponding to the weight of the baggage to be detected and the height of the baggage detected by the height detecting means is read out from the storage unit and is derived.

According to such a configuration, it is possible to accurately derive the amount of deflection of the mast corresponding to the weight of the load detected by the load detecting means and the height of the load detected by the height detecting means. it can.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the shift-out amount adjusting means adjusts the shift-out amount to be small when the deflection amount derived by the deflection amount deriving means is large.

According to such a configuration, when the deflection of the mast is large, the shift-out amount is adjusted to be small. Therefore, unlike the conventional case where this adjustment is not performed, the load is extra than a predetermined position on the rack shelf. There is no need to leave behind. On the other hand, if the amount of deflection of the mast is small, the shift-out amount is adjusted to be larger than when the mast is large, so that when the fork is inserted and the luggage is taken out, the amount of insertion of the fork does not become insufficient.

Further, according to the present invention, the speed detecting means calculates an ascending / descending speed by counting the number of pulses per predetermined time and an encoder for generating a number of pulses corresponding to the ascending / descending distance of the carriage. Features.

According to such a configuration, the lifting speed of the load can be detected, and the weight of the load can be accurately detected from the magnitude of the detected lifting speed.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the height detecting means derives the height of the luggage from the lifting distance of the carriage based on the number of pulses from the encoder of the speed detecting means. According to such a configuration, the height of the luggage can be accurately derived.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an unmanned rack fork will be described with reference to FIGS. However, FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control system,
2 to 5 are operation explanatory diagrams, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart for operation explanation.

The rack fork according to the present embodiment does not have a driver's seat for automatic operation.
8 is basically the same as the configuration shown in FIG. 8, and in the following description, the external configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, and the configuration and operation of the control system will be mainly described.

As shown in FIG. 1, the control system of the unmanned rack fork in the present embodiment includes a traveling drive device 11 for controlling a traveling motor and the like, a steering device 12 for steering driving steered wheels (not shown), and a carriage. 3 lift drive device 13 and turret head 4 shift drive device 14
, A turning drive device 15 for the fork 5, and a controller 16 for these components.

The traveling drive unit 11 includes a traveling motor 111 for driving a driven steering wheel (not shown), and the traveling motor 11.
1 and a traveling motor 111
And a travel encoder 113 for deriving the travel distance from the number of rotations.

At this time, although not shown, the vehicle autonomously travels while detecting a traveling position by detecting a magnetic substance buried along a track on the floor surface by a magnetic sensor provided on the vehicle body.
The travel motor drive unit 112 is controlled by the controller 16 so that the stop control is performed when the stop position is reached.

The lifting drive device 13 includes a lifting motor 131 for the carriage 3 and a lifting drive unit 1 for driving the lifting motor 131 based on a lifting control signal from the controller 16.
32 and a lifting encoder 13 that generates a number of pulses according to the lifting distance of the carriage 3 by the lifting motor 131
The number of pulses per predetermined time by the elevation encoder 133 is counted by the controller 16 to calculate the elevation speed.

At this time, the lifting encoder 133 is composed of, for example, a rotary encoder, and one end of a wire or a chain is fixed to the carriage 3, and the other end of the wire or the chain whose middle portion is guided by a guide roller at the upper end of the mast 2. The carriage 3 is raised and lowered by winding or unwinding the end side by the rotation of the lifting / lowering motor 131, and generates a number of pulses corresponding to the lifting / lowering distance of the carriage 3 by the rotation of the lifting / lowering motor 131 at that time.

The shift drive unit 14 includes a drive motor 141 for the turret head 4 and a shift drive unit 142 for driving the drive motor 141 based on a shift control signal from the controller 16. The shift driving device 14 constitutes a shift-out amount adjusting means together with the controller 16.

The turning drive unit 15 includes a turning motor 151 for turning the fork 5 and a turning drive unit 15 for driving the turning motor 151 based on a turning control signal from the controller 16.
2 is provided.

The controller 16 is composed of a ROM having a control program stored therein, a memory M having a data storage RAM and the like, and a microcomputer having an arithmetic processing unit. Here, the memory M may be configured by an external storage device other than the built-in memory as shown in FIG.

In the memory M, data indicating the relationship between the weight W of the load 6 as shown in FIG. 2 and the lifting speed V of the load 6 under each load as shown in FIG. Height H of load 6 at each weight W of load 6 as shown
Data showing the relationship with the amount of deflection Δ of the mast 2 for each
It is stored in a table in advance. At this time, the deflection amount Δ is, for example, a horizontal movement distance based on the deflection amount of the mast 2 when the load is zero, that is, when there is no luggage.

That is, when the load 6 placed on the fork 5 is lifted and lowered, when a large load is applied to the fork 5, the speed at the time of ascent is reduced and the speed at the time of descent is increased. As shown in FIG. 2, the memory M of the controller 16 shows the relationship between the load W and the ascending / descending speed V when the load 6 is lifted so as to be able to cope with the state when the load 6 rises and when it drops. Data (solid line in the figure) and package 6
The data (a broken line in the figure) indicating the relationship between the load W and the ascending / descending speed V when the is lowered is stored.

Further, since the amount of deflection Δ of the mast 2 is affected not only by the height H of the load 6 but also by the weight W of the load, as shown in FIG. Indicating the relationship between the height H of the baggage 6 and the amount of flexure Δ in accordance with the weight W (W0, W1, W2,...) ing.

The controller 16 includes a counter for counting the number of pulses generated by the elevation encoder 133 per predetermined time T. The controller 16 counts the number of pulses per predetermined time T from the number of pulses per predetermined time T. Is calculated. Further, the controller 16 reads from the memory M the weight W of the package 6 corresponding to the magnitude of the elevating speed V calculated as described above.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, when the number of pulses generated in the predetermined time T is large, the ascending and descending speed is high, and as shown in FIG. When the number is small, the lifting speed is slow. The speed calculation processing by the controller 16 corresponds to speed detection means, and the processing of deriving the weight W by the controller 16 corresponds to load detection means.

The controller 16 further includes a counter for counting the total number of pulses generated by the elevation encoder 133, and derives the height H of the load 6 from the elevation distance of the carriage 3 based on the number of pulses counted by the counter. I do. At this time, the lifting encoders 133 to 1
Since the up-and-down distance of the carriage 3 per pulse is associated in advance, counting the total number of pulses indicates the up-and-down distance of the carriage 3 and the height of the package based on the up-and-down distance from the reference position. . The height detection processing by the controller 16 corresponds to height detection means.

Then, when loading and unloading the package 6 on the designated shelf of the rack 8, as shown in FIG.
Of the load 6 and the height H of the load 6 at that time, the mast 2 is bent. The weight W and the height H are respectively detected by the controller 16, and the detected weight W and the height H are detected. Is read from the memory M,
The shift-out amount of the turret head 4 is adjusted according to the read deflection amount Δ, and as shown in FIG.
The loading and unloading of the package 6 is performed in an appropriate state. Such a process of deriving the deflection amount Δ by the controller 16 corresponds to a deflection amount deriving unit.

At this time, when the deflection amount Δ derived by the controller 16 is large, the turret head 4
Is adjusted to be small, and conversely, if the amount of deflection Δ is small, the amount of shift out is adjusted to be large as compared with the case where it is large.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Now, when loading / unloading the cargo 6 on the designated shelf of the rack 8, as shown in FIG. 6, the ascending / descending motor 131 is driven by the ascending / descending drive unit 132 while traveling to a predetermined position (S1), and the carriage is moved. 3 is raised or lowered to the designated shelf height. While the carriage 3 is moved up and down in this way, the weight of the luggage 6 being transported is detected by the controller 16 based on the pulse generated by the up / down encoder 133.

That is, the pulse generated from the elevation encoder 133 is taken in by the controller 16, the number of pulses N per predetermined time T is counted by the counter (S2), and V = k · N / T (where k is 1) The lifting speed V of the baggage 6 is calculated according to the following equation (Sliding distance corresponding to each pulse) (S
3).

Subsequently, the weight W of the package 6 is calculated based on the elevation speed V calculated by the controller 16 and the data of FIG. 2 stored in the memory M (S4, S4).
5). That is, when the load 6 is lifted by the lifting motor 131, the value of the load W corresponding to the lifting speed V according to the above equation is determined using the data indicated by the solid line in FIG. On the other hand, when the load 6 is lowered by the lifting motor 131, the value of the load W corresponding to the lifting speed V according to the above equation is determined using the data indicated by the broken line in FIG.

The controller 16 calculates the elevating distance (= kN) of the carriage 3 from the number N of pulses output from the elevating encoder 133, and places the load 6 on the specified shelf of the rack 8 with the pallet. When the fork 5 is held at a height at which the load 6 can be held, the height H of the load 6 from the reference position is obtained (S6).

Further, based on the weight W and the height H of the package 6 derived by the controller 16, the data at the time of the weight W of the corresponding package 6 among the data shown in FIG. The deflection amount Δ corresponding to the height H of the mast 2 is read, and the deflection amount Δ of the mast 2 is determined (S7, S7).
8) The deflection amount Δ determined by the controller 16
, The shift-out amount of the turret head 4 is adjusted (S9).

By doing so, the deflection amount Δ of the mast 2
Is large, the shift-out amount is adjusted to be small, so that it is possible to prevent the luggage 6 from being placed extra deeper than a predetermined position on the shelf of the rack 8. On the other hand, if the amount of deflection of the mast is small, the shift-out amount is adjusted to be larger than when the mast is large, so that when the fork 5 is inserted into the pallet to take out the load 6, Can not be stably lifted together with the pallet.

Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, the amount of deflection Δ of the mast 2 corresponding to the weight W of the load and the height H of the load is derived, and the turret head 4 is provided in accordance with the derived amount of deflection Δ. The shift-out amount of the load 6 is adjusted, so that the unloading position of the load 6 does not occur as in the related art, and the proper loading and unloading of the load 6 can always be stably realized.

Further, the number of pulses per predetermined time generated by the elevation encoder 133 according to the elevation distance of the carriage 3 is counted to calculate the elevation speed V, and the weight W of the load 6 is calculated from the elevation speed V. Therefore, the weight of the package 6 can be accurately detected.

Further, since the height H of the load 6 is obtained from the lifting distance of the carriage 4 based on the total number of pulses generated by the lift encoder 133, the height of the load 6 can be derived accurately.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the lifting speed V, the weight W, and the height H of the load are detected based on the pulse from the lifting encoder 133 has been described. Of course, the elevation speed V, the weight W of the load, and the height H may be detected.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, a case where an unmanned rack fork is used as an example has been described. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to a case where the system is not an unmanned rack fork. An equivalent effect can be obtained.

In short, the present invention provides a luggage elevating carriage that moves at least up and down with respect to the mast, a turret head mounted on the carriage so as to be able to shift horizontally, and a left and right pivot about the axis of the turret head. The present invention can be applied to any luggage lifting / lowering device including a fork mounted so as to be possible, and does not need to have a traveling function.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various changes other than those described above can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0049]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the mast corresponding to the weight of the load detected by the load detecting means and the height of the load detected by the height detecting means. Is derived by the deflection amount deriving means,
Since the shift-out amount of the turret head is adjusted by the shift-out amount adjusting means in accordance with the derived deflection amount, there is no positional displacement of the conventional loading and unloading of the load, and the proper loading and unloading of the load is always performed. Can be stably realized, and a luggage elevating device such as a rack fork with excellent reliability can be provided.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the weight of the load detected by the load detecting means and the amount of deflection of the mast corresponding to the height of the load detected by the height detecting means can be accurately determined. Can be derived.

According to the third aspect of the invention, when the deflection of the mast is large, the shift-out amount is adjusted to be small.
There is no need to put the luggage further behind the predetermined position on the rack shelf. On the other hand, if the amount of deflection of the mast is small, the shift-out amount is adjusted to be larger than when it is large, so when inserting a fork and taking out the luggage,
There is no shortage of fork insertion.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the lifting speed of the load can be detected, and the weight of the load can be accurately detected from the magnitude of the detected lifting speed. .

According to the invention described in claim 5, it is possible to accurately derive the height of the load.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a side view showing an external configuration of a conventional example.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing an external configuration of a conventional example.

FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rack fork 2 Mast structure 3 Carriage 4 Turret head 5 Fork 6 Luggage 13 Elevation drive device 13 16 Controller (speed detection means, load detection means, height detection means, deflection amount derivation means, shift-out amount adjustment means) 131 Motor 132 Lift drive unit 133 Lift encoder

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A luggage elevating carriage moving up and down with respect to a mast, a turret head mounted on the carriage so as to be able to shift horizontally, and a turret head mounted to be able to turn left and right with respect to the axis of the turret head. A load detecting device configured to detect a lifting speed of the load, a load detecting device configured to detect a weight of the load based on a magnitude of the lifting speed of the load detected by the speed detecting device, Height detecting means for detecting the height of the load, the weight of the load detected by the load detecting means, and the amount of deflection of the mast corresponding to the height of the load detected by the height detecting means And a shift amount adjusting means for adjusting a shift-out amount of the turret head according to a deflection amount derived by the deflection amount deriving means. Luggage lifting device, characterized by comprising a preparative amount adjusting means. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the deflection amount deriving unit includes a storage unit storing deflection amount data for each height of the luggage at each weight of the luggage derived in advance, wherein the luggage amount detected by the load detection unit is stored. The luggage elevating device according to claim 1, wherein the amount of deflection corresponding to the weight and the height of the luggage detected by the height detecting means is read out from the storage unit and derived. 3. The load lifting device according to claim 1, wherein the shift-out amount adjusting means adjusts the shift-out amount to be small when the deflection amount derived by the deflection amount deriving means is large. . 4. The encoder according to claim 1, wherein the speed detecting unit generates a number of pulses corresponding to a moving distance of the carriage.
4. The luggage elevating device according to claim 1, wherein the number of pulses per predetermined time is counted to calculate an elevating speed. 5. The load elevating apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said height detecting means derives the height of the load from the vertical distance of said carriage based on the number of pulses from an encoder of said speed detecting means. apparatus.