JP2002120907A - Ground rail device for automated storage and retrieval warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automated storage and retrieval warehouse of a stacker crane type, producing an increase in the mounting strength of a ground rail and a decrease in the cost of adjusting means. SOLUTION: Adjuster bolts 27 are inserted upward into the ground rail 13. Heads 27a of the adjuster bolts 27 are held and fixed to a floor 12 with a base 26. The lower face of the ground rail 13 is provided with engagement grooves 17 in which lower nuts 29 threaded to the adjuster bolts 27 are non- rotatably fitted. The ground rail 13 is fixed to the adjuster bolts 27 with upper nuts 30.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ground rail device mainly used for an automatic warehouse of a stacker crane type.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an automatic warehouse of the stacker crane type,
A ground rail that extends long along the front of the hangar is provided, and the stacker crane is movably supported by the ground rail.

[0003] In this case, the ground rails need to be arranged horizontally, while the floor is undulating or inclined, so that an adjusting means for adjusting the height and posture of the ground rails is required.

As an example of the adjusting means, Japanese Patent No. 2985450 discloses a method in which a base bolt fixed to the floor is provided with a support bolt (outer screw) having an external thread formed on an outer periphery and a female screw hole having an upward opening. The ground rail is supported by a square nut (internal screw) screwed into the support bolt from above, and the bolt inserted into the ground rail is further screwed into the female screw hole of the support bolt to hold the ground rail on the square nut. Is disclosed.

[0005]

From the viewpoint of suppressing the production cost, it is preferable to use a commercially available product as much as possible for the adjusting means.

However, in the above-mentioned publication, since the support bolt must be specially manufactured and fixed to the base by welding, there is a problem in that the manufacture of parts is troublesome and the cost is increased.

In general, in order to ensure the smoothness of screwing the square nut into the support bolt, it is necessary to provide a slight clearance between the male screw of the support bolt and the female screw of the square nut.
Since the bolt and the nut are often fitted with some backlash, there is a problem that the support stability of the ground rail (in other words, the mounting strength) may be reduced.

The object of the present invention is to improve such a situation.

[0009]

The above object can be achieved by the invention described in each claim.

[0010] The invention according to claim 1 is a ground rail for rotatably supporting a traveling wheel of a transfer device for loading and unloading luggage into and out of a hangar, and the ground rail is provided at appropriate intervals along a longitudinal direction thereof. Adjusting means for supporting the height of the ground rail so as to be freely adjustable, and a lower flange portion extending horizontally horizontally is provided below the ground rail.

On the other hand, the adjusting means includes an adjuster bolt penetrating the lower flange of the ground rail, a base for holding the adjuster bolt so as not to be laterally displaced with respect to the floor, and a lower flange of the ground rail from above and below. And upper and lower nuts screwed into the adjuster bolts in a sandwiched state, and the lower nuts are non-rotatably held on the ground rail.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a female screw hole into which an adjuster bolt is screwed is formed in the lower flange portion of the ground rail, instead of providing the lower nut in the first aspect.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a long groove in which a belt or a belt-like body for rotating a rotor of a rotary encoder provided in a transfer device is fitted to a lower flange portion of the ground rail, It is formed to extend long along the direction.

[0014]

In each of the claimed inventions, a commercially available adjuster bolt or nut can be used, so that it is possible to suppress the labor for manufacturing parts and the manufacturing cost.

In the case of the first aspect, the adjuster bolt is fixed to the lower flange of the ground rail by upper and lower nuts, and the adjuster bolt is fixed to the floor by the base. Stability can be improved. In other words, the mounting strength of the ground rail can be improved.

Also in the case of the second aspect, the adjuster bolt is screwed into the ground rail and fixed to the ground rail with the nut, so that the support stability of the ground rail can be improved as in the first aspect. .

Generally, a stacker crane is
It has a rotary encoder for detecting the traveling position.
This rotary encoder detects a traveling distance by counting pulses generated by rotation of a rotor, and applies a rolling element (roller) integrally provided to the rotor to a rail or another guide member to thereby detect the traveling distance. The rotor is rotated by the traveling of the stacker crane.

In this case, if the rolling element is directly applied to the rail or the guide member, the rotation of the rolling element may be incomplete due to wear of the rolling element or bouncing of the stacker crane. For this reason, it is preferable that the rotor be forcibly rotated by a belt (preferably a timing belt) disposed along the ground rail. However, mere laying of the belt along the ground rail may cause problems such as a belt dancing phenomenon.

In this respect, when the belt or the belt-like body is provided with a long groove into which the belt or the belt-like body is fitted, the belt or the belt-like body can be held in a stable state, so that the rotary encoder can be operated accurately. There are advantages that can be.

[0020]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(1) Overall Overview First, an overall overview will be described with reference to FIG. 1 (schematic perspective view). The automated warehouse is composed of a pair of hangars 1
And a stacker crane 2 arranged in a passage between both hangars 1.

Although not shown in detail, the hangar 1 has a framework composed of a number of columns and horizontal rails, and supports the shelves 3 arranged in multiple stages with columns and horizontal frames. That is, the shelves 4 of the flat shelf type, which can store a large number of packages W arranged side by side in the frontage direction, are arranged in multiple stages.

The structure of the hangar 1 can be changed according to the form of the load. For example, it is possible to adopt a matrix system in which unit storage sections in which one package can be placed are arranged vertically and horizontally, or a hanging system in which articles can be arranged and suspended in parallel.

The stacker crane 2 includes a bogie portion 5 extending long along the frontage of the hangar 1, a pair of front and rear masts (posts, columns) 6 erected on the bogie portion 5, and a front and rear mast 6
An upper connecting frame 7 connected to the upper end of the upper and lower ends, and a transfer unit 8 attached to the front and rear support masts 6 so as to be able to move up and down. The mast 6 is formed in a hollow shape.

The upper connecting frame 7 is provided with a pair of front guide rollers 10 which are arranged so as to sandwich the top rail 9 from both right and left sides. The top rail 9 is fixed to an upper aggregate 11 connecting the two hangars 1. The stacker crane 2 runs on a ground rail 13 arranged on the floor 12 of the passage.

(2) Ground Rail 13 Next, the form and mounting means of the ground rail 13 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in the middle of mounting.

The ground rail 13 of the present embodiment includes a vertical portion 14
Upper and lower flanges 1 projecting left and right at the top and bottom
5 and 16 are formed in a substantially "character" shape. In the present embodiment, the ground rail 13 is formed by extruding a metal (light metal) such as aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and the vertical portion 14 is hollow in order to equalize the thickness while maintaining the supporting strength. It is formed in a shape.

The vertical portion 14 of the lower flange portion 16
A mounting portion 16a having a downwardly opening engaging groove 17 is provided on both sides of the mounting portion 16a. One mounting portion 16a
A long groove 18 that opens upward is formed on the outside, and a dovetail groove 19 that opens horizontally horizontally is formed outside the other mounting portion 16a.

A timing belt 20 is fitted in the long groove 18 with its rack teeth facing down.
Both ends of the timing belt 20 are fixed to the ground rail 13. A dovetail groove 19 is provided with a marking plate 22 having a number of notches 21 formed at regular intervals. The marking plate 22 is formed by a nut (not shown) inserted into the dovetail groove 19 and a bolt 23. It is fixed to the ground rail 13.

(3) Adjusting Means 25 The ground rails 13 are adjusted at appropriate intervals.
Supported by. The adjusting means 25 includes the ground rail 1
3, a base 26 made of a metal plate extending across the base 3, and an adjuster bolt 27 penetrating the base 26 from below, and a mounting hole 28 through which the adjuster bolt 27 passes is provided in the mounting portion 16 a of the ground rail 13. Spaced at appropriate intervals.

The adjuster bolt 27 is attached to the ground rail 13.
A lower nut 29 fitted non-rotatably in the engaging groove 17 of the first screw member and screwed into the adjuster bolt 27, and the mounting portion 16a
And an upper nut 30 screwed into the adjuster bolt 27 from above. A slit 31 is formed at the upper end of the adjuster bolt 27.

A portion of the base 26 located below the ground rail 13 projects upward, and an end protruding outward from the ground rail 13 is fixed to an anchor bolt 32 embedded in the floor 12 with a nut 33. ing. When the base 26 is fixed to the floor 12, the head 27 a of the adjuster bolt 27 is pressed and fixed to the floor 12.

When attaching the ground rail 13 to the floor 12, first, as shown in FIG.
The base 26 is lightly fastened to the anchor bolt 32 with the nut 33 and the upper nut 30 is loosened so that the base rail 13 can be rotated by the driver 34.
Is set in a plan view.

Then, the height, horizontality and inclination of the ground rail 13 are corrected by rotating each adjuster bolt 26, and then the base 26 is firmly fixed to the floor 12 and the upper nut 30 is screwed. Then, the ground rail 13 is fixed to the adjuster bolt 27.

After mounting, the ground rail 13 is fastened to the adjuster bolt 27 by upper and lower nuts 29, 30 and the adjuster bolt 27 is fixed to the floor 12 by the base 26 so as not to be displaced. 13 can maintain the mounting strength.

(4) Another Example of Ground Rail 12 and Adjusting Means 25 In another example shown in FIG. 4, a female screw hole 35 is formed in the mounting portion 16a of the ground rail 13, and an adjuster bolt 26 is screwed into this from below. The ground rail 13 is fixed to the adjuster bolt 27 with an upper nut (lock nut) 30.

The adjuster bolt 27 is supported by a support plate 36 disposed below the base 26. Base 2
6 and the support plate 36 are the anchor bolt 32 and the nut 33
Are fastened together. Providing the support plate 36 in this manner has an advantage that the adjusting function of the adjuster bolt 27 can be improved because the floor 12 is not rubbed.

In this embodiment, the dovetail groove 19 is formed so as to open upward. Although not shown,
Also in this example, the long groove 18 of the upward opening into which the belt 20 fits.
Is formed.

(5) Dolly 5 of Stacker Crane 3 Next, the dolly 5 of the stacker crane 2 will be described mainly with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a plan sectional view, and FIG. 6 is a view taken along line VI-VI of FIG.

The bogie unit 5 of the stacker crane 2 has a structure in which a pair of left and right side frames 38 formed in a substantially C shape are connected by a connecting frame 39. An auxiliary traveling wheel 41 is arranged at an end. Both running wheels 40 and 41 are rotatably supported by receiving members 42 arranged on the left and right, respectively. The driving traveling wheel 40 has a large diameter and the auxiliary traveling wheel 41 has a small diameter.

A driving motor 44 is attached to a portion of the bogie unit 5 on a side of the driving traveling wheel 40 via a deceleration box 43, and the driving traveling wheel is mounted on a rotating shaft 45 protruding from the deceleration box 44. 40 is attached.

End brackets 46 connected to left and right side frames 38 are provided at all ends and a rear end of the bogie unit 5, and a pair of left and right lower guide rollers 47 are horizontally mounted on the end brackets 46. It is rotatably mounted. As shown in FIG. 6, the lower guide roller 47 is in contact with the vertical portion 14 of the ground rail 13 and the upper flange portion 15, thereby preventing the stacker crane 2 from shifting laterally and tilting forward and backward.

In the case of the above publication, since the guide roller is in contact with only the side surface of the upper flange portion of the ground rail,
Although this embodiment does not have the function of preventing the stacker crane from falling back and forth, this embodiment has the advantage that positioning in the left-right direction and suppression of the front-back inclination can be performed by the pair of lower guide rollers 47 in the front and rear.

(6) Encoder 48 for detecting travel position As shown in FIG. 5, a rotary encoder 48 for detecting the travel position is disposed at a substantially middle portion between the front and rear of the bogie unit 5. This is shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. FIG.
7 is a sectional view taken along line VII-VII of FIG. 5, and FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII of FIG. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the timing belt 20.

The rotary encoder 48 includes a mounting plate 50 fixed to a bracket plate 49. The mounting plate 50 includes a rotor 52 supported by a bearing 51 and a detector 53 for calculating a traveling distance from the rotation. Provided. A gear 54 with which the timing belt 20 meshes is attached to the tip of the rotor 52. The gear 54 includes a side plate that prevents the timing belt 20 from coming off.

The mounting plate 50 has a bifurcated hanging piece 5 in a side view.
The idle pulley 55, which comes into contact with the timing belt 20 from above, is rotatably attached to the lower end of the hanging piece 50a. As shown in FIG. 7, the idle pulley 55 partially enters the long groove 18, so that the timing belt 20 does not come off from the long groove 18. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the state where the timing belt 20 is turned upside down.

When the stacker crane 2 travels, the gear 54 is rotated by the timing belt 20, so that the traveling position can be detected. Since the timing belt 20 is fitted in the long groove 18, it does not shift laterally, and as a result, the traveling position (distance) can be accurately detected.

The timing belt 20 includes a gear 54
Further, an appropriate tension is applied so as to be deformed while being wound around the idle pulley 55.

As a means for driving the rotary encoder, a belt-like body such as a wire can be used instead of a belt such as a timing belt. The dimming belt may be arranged in a state where the rack teeth are exposed upward and tension is applied without being wound around the gears, and the gears of the rotary encoder may simply mesh with the rack teeth.

The long groove 18 can be used for other purposes such as a wiring gutter. It is also possible to provide a plurality of long grooves 18 and use them for different purposes.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a portion of the carriage 5 located above the marking plate 22 is provided with a light emitting and receiving device (photoelectric sensor) 56 disposed with the marking plate 22 interposed therebetween. A position sensor 57 is provided. By reading the notch 21 of the marking plate 22 with the position sensor 57, the absolute position of the stacker crane 2 can be detected. (By using the position sensor 57 and the rotary encoder 48 together, accurate travel control can be performed. Done).

(7) Elevating Means of Transfer Unit 8 Next, the outline of the transfer unit 8 and its lifting mechanism will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 10 is a plan view for explaining the elevating structure of the transfer unit 8, FIG. 11 is a plan view of the transfer unit 8, and FIG. 12 is a view along XII-XII in FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 10, a platform (base frame) 59 made of a mold steel is disposed between the front and rear masts 6, and the transfer unit 8 is attached to the platform 59. A pair of front and rear brackets 60 are fixed to both front and rear ends of the platform, and as shown in FIGS.
Both ends of the elevating chain 63 are fixed via the first and the second 62.

As clearly shown in FIG.
Are provided with two first guide members 64 extending to the closing side, and the bracket 6 of the platform 59
At 0, a plurality of pairs of first guide rollers 65, which correspond to the side surfaces of the first guide member 64, are provided in a rotatable manner. The first guide roller 65 prevents the platform 59 from shifting in a direction perpendicular to the running direction.

As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, one mast 6 is provided with a second guide member 66 protruding laterally, and a second guide roller 6 provided on one bracket 60 is provided.
7, the second guide member 66 is sandwiched from front and rear. Second
A plurality of guide rollers 66 are arranged vertically. The second guide roller 66 prevents the platform 59 from shifting in the traveling direction of the stacker crane 2.

Since the mast 6 is long (high), the interval between the front and rear masts 6 may differ depending on the height position due to bending or processing error. However, as in this embodiment, the second guide member 66 and the second guide Providing the roller 67 only at one of the masts 6 has the advantage that the platform 59 (and the transfer unit 8) can be moved up and down smoothly by absorbing the difference in the distance between the front and rear masts 6.

As schematically shown in FIG. 11, the transfer unit 8 includes a machine frame 69 screwed to the platform 59.
And a pair of picking units 70 disposed on the upper surface of the machine casing 69.
The space between the two is a place where the luggage W is placed.

Each of the picking units 70 has a picking frame 72 provided with plate-like pickers 71 at both front and rear ends, and the luggage W is provided by a combination of a rotating operation of the picker 71 and a forward / backward movement of the picking frame 71. Can be transferred between the transfer unit 8 and the shelf 4.
The interval between the picking units 70 can be freely changed according to the width of the load W.

(8) Structure of Wrapping the Elevating Chain As shown in FIG. 12, a main sprocket 74 around which the elevating chain 63 is wound is provided on both upper and lower ends of the opposing surfaces of both masts 6. It is rotatably mounted.

The main sprocket 74 is arranged so that its rotation axis extends in the traveling direction of the stacker crane 2, and the part of the elevating chain 63 that is attached to the platform 6 and extends vertically is connected to the left and right sides of the mast 6. It is set to be located at the center line.

At the lower ends of the front and rear masts 6, a bracket plate 7 fixed across the side frame 38 of the bogie unit 6 is provided.
The idle sprocket 76 and the drive sprocket 77 are rotatably mounted on the bracket plate 75. The front and rear drive sprockets 77 are connected to each other by an interlocking shaft 78 as an example of interlocking means, and the interlocking shaft 78 is driven by an elevating motor 79 with a speed reducer fixed to one bracket plate 75.

In this embodiment, the lifting / lowering chains 63 separately arranged on the front and rear masts 6 are driven synchronously by the interlocking shaft 78, so that even if the stacker crane 2 is high, the transfer unit 8 can be moved. It is possible to move up and down quickly and smoothly (if the transfer device is moved up and down by one chain as described in the above-mentioned publication, it is difficult to move the transfer unit up and down uniformly at both front and rear ends because the chain has some elongation. Also, if the chain is long, it is difficult to drive at high speed).

Further, even if the front and rear chains 63 are extended with use, the elongation of both is uniform.
Can be stably and smoothly moved up and down over a long period of time.

Further, the length of the chain 63 can be reduced because the chain 63 may be disposed only at the location of the front and rear masts 6. The elevating motor 79 and the interlocking shaft 7
8 are located outside the mast 6, so that they do not interfere with the transfer unit 8. Therefore, while the configuration is such that the front and rear chains 63 can be driven synchronously,
The transfer unit 8 can be lowered to the lower end,
The hangar can be used effectively down to the bottom.

The main sprocket 74 may be arranged in such a position that its axis of rotation extends in the running direction of the stacker crane 2 (in this case, the main sprocket 7
4 will be largely hidden inside the mast 6). In this case, a lower main sprocket 7 is provided by an interlocking means such as an interlocking shaft having bevel gears at both ends.
4 may be rotated synchronously.

(9) Others The present invention can be variously embodied in addition to the above-described embodiment.

For example, the specifics of the ground rail can be set as required, and the ground rail can be manufactured by sheet metal working. In the case of a stacker crane type automatic warehouse, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to a one-mast type one.

The present invention is not limited to an automatic warehouse equipped with a stacker crane type transfer device, but can be applied to various automatic warehouses equipped with ground rails.

The matters disclosed in this specification and the drawings, such as providing a long groove on the ground rail and a structure for winding a chain, can be independently independent inventions.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an automatic traveling according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a ground rail and an adjusting unit.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a state in which the ground rail is being mounted.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing another example of the ground rail and the adjusting means.

FIG. 5 is a plan sectional view showing a lower portion of the stacker crane.

FIG. 6 is a view taken along the line VI-VI of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line VII-VII of FIG.

8 is a sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a state in which the timing belt is turned upside down.

FIG. 10 is a plan view for explaining a lifting structure of the transfer unit.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the transfer unit.

FIG. 12 is a view along XII-XII in FIG. 5;

[Brief description of reference numerals]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Hangar 2 Stacker crane 4 Shelf 5 Cart unit 6 Mast 8 Transfer unit 9 Top rail 13 Ground rail 14 Vertical part 15 Upper flange part 16 Lower flange part 18 Long groove 19 Dove groove 22 Marking plate 25 Adjusting means 26 Base 27 Adjuster bolt 29 , 30,33 Nut 32 Anchor bolt 35 Female thread hole

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A ground rail for rotatably supporting a traveling wheel of a transfer device for loading and unloading luggage into and out of a hangar, and a height adjustable for supporting the ground rail at appropriate intervals along its longitudinal direction. Adjusting means, and a lower flange portion extending horizontally and horizontally is provided at a lower portion of the ground rail, while the adjusting means is provided with an adjuster bolt penetrating the lower flange portion of the ground rail, A base for holding the adjuster bolt so that it cannot be laterally displaced with respect to the floor, and upper and lower nuts screwed into the adjuster bolt while sandwiching the lower flange portion of the ground rail from above and below,
An automatic warehouse ground rail device that holds the lower nut on the ground rail so that it cannot rotate. 2. The automatic warehouse ground rail according to claim 1, wherein a female screw hole into which an adjuster bolt is screwed is formed in a lower flange portion of the ground rail instead of providing the lower nut on the ground rail. apparatus. 3. A long groove extending along the longitudinal direction of the ground rail, wherein a belt or a belt-like body for rotating a rotor of a rotary encoder provided in the transfer device is fitted to a lower flange portion of the ground rail. The ground rail device for an automatic device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the ground rail device is formed in the ground rail device.