JP2002167008A - Article transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an article transfer device without a slide-fork. SOLUTION: This article transfer device comprises a lifting table 21; one pair of right and left clamping pieces 28 for clamping left and right side portions of a case 8; and a transfer device 23 with a carrying direction oriented frontward and rearward mounted on the lifting table 21.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article transfer device suitable as an elevator for a stacker crane in an automatic warehouse.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The following automatic warehouses are known. A pair of front and rear rack devices having a large number of article storage shelves provided so as to open the stacker crane passage, and a stacker crane provided to be able to move left and right in the stacker crane passage, wherein the stacker crane is A traveling trolley, a lift provided on a mast provided on the traveling trolley so as to be movable up and down, and a slide fork provided slidably in a front-rear direction on the lift, and the article storage shelf is a slide fork. It is known to have a fork passage gap that allows vertical movement.

[0003] The slide fork pulls the article into the elevator by performing an operation of lifting the article downward and retreating to the side of the elevator by raising the elevator.
The article can be put down on the article storage shelf or the like by the reverse operation.

The vertical mounting interval of the article storage shelf is
The height of the articles to be stored is determined in consideration of the height and a predetermined allowance (play) required for exchanging the articles by the slide fork, as described in the paragraph 0003. .

[0005]

Disadvantages of the prior art The conventional automatic warehouse has the following disadvantages. As described in the paragraph 0003, it was necessary to increase the vertical mounting interval of the article storage shelves by the height required for exchanging articles by the slide fork. There was a drawback that the article storage efficiency was reduced.

[0006]

The present invention employs the following means to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks. The invention according to claim 1 includes a loading platform, and a pair of left and right holding pieces that are provided on the loading platform so as to be able to move back and forth, and hold the left and right portions of the article.
And a transport device provided on the carrier such that the transport direction is directed in the front-rear direction. According to a second aspect of the present invention, the holding device having the holding piece includes:
A pair of left and right moving bodies provided so as to be able to approach and separate from each other at a predetermined interval, a pair of left and right moving bodies provided to be able to move back and forth on the left and right moving bodies, and the front and rear portions of the front and rear moving bodies are opposed to each other. 2. The holding device according to claim 1, further comprising: The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the conveying device comprises a conveyor which can convey articles in both forward and backward directions. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the article storage space is formed above the conveyor so as to form an article storage space therebetween. Although the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, the scope of use of the present invention is not limited to automatic warehouses.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained by the above-described configuration. According to the first aspect of the present invention, articles can be exchanged without moving the carrier up and down. Therefore, when the present invention is applied to an automatic warehouse, it is necessary to exchange articles by a slide fork which was conventionally required. In this case, the vertical mounting intervals of the article storage shelves can be shortened by an amount that does not require the required height, and the article storage efficiency of the rack device can be increased. Further, since the article can be moved on the carrier using the holding piece and the transport device, the longitudinal movement distance of the holding piece can be made as short as possible, and the effect described in the column of paragraph number 0021 can be obtained. . According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to smoothly and quickly transfer articles to and from the article storage shelves and the like located in front and rear of the article transfer device. According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the actuator for the left and right moving body and the actuator for the front and rear moving body are provided above the conveyor so as to form an article storage space with the conveyor, a compact article moving apparatus is provided. Mounting device.

[0008]

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

A pair of front and rear rack devices 1 are erected on the floor so as to open the stacker crane passage 12. 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 plurality of article support members 4 provided at predetermined intervals in the height direction, and a pair of left and right article support members 4 opposed to each other without the support pillar 2 interposed therebetween.
Is configured. A stopper 5 is provided upright at an end of the article support member 4 facing the stacker crane passage 12. The entrances 6 of the article storage shelves 3 of the front and rear rack devices 1 face each other.

The article storage shelf 3 has a case 8 with an open top.
Are stored. The case 8 has a flange 9 at the upper and lower peripheral portions, and has ribs 10 at the front and rear portions of the left and right side walls, the longitudinal direction of which is directed vertically.

A loading and unloading roller conveyor (not shown) is provided on the left side of the rack device 1 with the transport direction directed in the left-right direction.

A pair of upper and lower guide rails 13 are arranged in the stacker crane passage 12 such that the longitudinal direction thereof is directed to the left and right, and the stacker crane 15 is guided by these guide rails 13 so as to be movable left and right. .

The stacker crane 15 has a traveling vehicle 16 and an article transfer device 17 provided on a mast 18 provided on the traveling vehicle 16 so as to be able to move up and down.

The article transfer device 17 includes a lifting platform 21 (a loading platform in the claims), a clamping device 22 provided on the lifting platform 21,
And a transfer device 23 provided on a lifting platform 21 which is composed of a drive roller conveyor capable of transferring both directions.

As described in detail below, the holding device 22 is provided with a pair of left and right moving bodies 26 provided at predetermined intervals so as to be able to approach and separate from each other, and is provided on the left and right moving bodies 26 so as to be movable back and forth. A pair of left and right moving members 27 and a pair of right and left holding pieces 28 provided to face the front and rear portions of the front and rear moving members 27 so as to face each other.
And the front and rear moving body 2 so as to be located below the holding piece 28.
7 and a support piece 29 provided at a lower portion of the support member 7.

An actuator 31 for the left and right moving bodies for operating the left and right moving bodies 26 and an actuator 32 for the front and rear moving bodies for operating the front and rear moving bodies 27 are provided in an article storage space 33 between the conveying apparatus 23 and the article.
(The front and rear ends are formed as article entry / exit ports) and are provided above the transport device 23.

The right and left moving body 26 is adapted to move left and right along a guide rod 36 provided on a fixed frame 35 provided on the elevating table 21 so that the axis thereof is directed in the left and right direction. The actuator 31 for the left and right moving body includes a fixed frame 3
5, a ball screw 38 whose axis is oriented in the left-right direction, a female screw member 39 screwed to the ball screw 38, and fixed to the left and right moving body 26; And a motor 40 for driving. In addition,
The screw type (right-handed screw / left-handed screw) of the ball screw 38 is determined in consideration of the rotation direction of the ball screw 38 so that the left and right moving bodies 26 approach and separate from each other by the rotation of the left and right ball screws 38. .

The front-rear moving body 27 has a guide rail 42 provided on the left-right moving body 26 with its longitudinal direction oriented in the front-rear direction, and a shaft center directed to the left-right moving body 26 in the left-right direction so as to be aligned in the front-rear direction. It is guided by a plurality of guide rollers 43 provided rotatably to move back and forth. The means for guiding the forward and backward movement of the forward and backward moving body 27 may be an LM guide or the like. As shown in FIG. 5, the front-rear moving body operating device 32 is
A chain actuating device 46 including an endless chain 47 provided on the upper part of the front end, and a rack-shaped engaging tooth 48 provided on the upper part of the front-rear moving body 27 to be engaged with the lower part 47a of the endless chain 47. ing. The actuator 32 for the front and rear moving body may be of a type using a rack and a pinion. The chain actuating device 46 includes a pair of front and rear wheels 50 rotatably provided so that the axis of the left and right moving body 26 is oriented in the left and right direction, and the left and right moving body 2.
6, a drive wheel 51 rotatably provided with its axis oriented in the left-right direction, and the endless chain 4 hung on these wheels 50 and the drive wheel 51.
7 and a drive shaft 52 rotatably provided on the fixed frame 35 so as to allow the left and right movement of the drive wheel 51 (the left and right movement of the left and right moving body 26) while not rotating relative to the drive wheel 51.
And a motor 53 for rotating the drive shaft 52 in the forward and reverse directions, and a pressing rail 5 fixed to the left and right moving body 26 for pressing the lower portion 47a of the endless chain 47 against the engaging teeth 48.
And 4.

The holding piece 28 has a groove 56 into which the rib 10 of the case 8 fits.

[0020]

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, a case where the case 8 is carried out from the article storage shelf 3 (the article storage shelf 3 shown in FIG. 2) of the front rack device 1 will be described. The left and right support pieces 29 are opened so as not to collide with the rib 10 of the case 8. Thereafter, the traveling carriage 16 travels to the left and right, and the elevating platform 21 moves up and down, the holding pieces 28 face the left and right sides of the case 8 to be carried out, and the upper surface of the support piece 29 is slightly lower than the lower surface of the case 8. So that it is located below. Then, the front and rear moving body 27
Project toward the case 8 and make the groove 56 of the front holding piece 28 face the rib 10. Thereafter, the right and left moving bodies 26 approach each other, and the case 8 is held by the holding pieces 28 on the front side, and the ribs 10 are fitted into the grooves 56. With this operation, the support piece 29 supports the lower surface of the case 8. Note that the column 2 and the article support member 4 on the stacker crane passage 12 side are
It is needless to say that the holding piece 28 and the bearing piece 29 do not collide with or interfere with each other. Then, the elevator 21
Is slightly raised, and the case 8 is slightly lifted by the support piece 29 so that the lower surface of the case 8 does not hit the stopper 5. Thereafter, the transport device 23 moves the case 8 to the elevating table 2.
1 and the moving body 27 moves in the direction of pulling the case 8 into the lift 21. By this operation, the case 8 is placed on the transport device 23 and
I am drawn to 1. During the operation, the bearing piece 2
It is needless to say that the device 9 does not collide with or interfere with the transport device 23. When the case 8 is substantially pulled into the lift 21 (before the rear end of the front and rear moving body 27 protrudes from the rear end of the lift 21), the holding piece 28 separates from the case 8 and the front and rear moving body 27 stops. . for that reason,
The case 8 is further fed to the elevating platform 21 only by the transport device 23, and when the longitudinal center of the case 8 matches the longitudinal center of the elevating platform 21, the transport device 23 stops.

The significance (effect) of the above operation is as follows. If the case 8 is moved to a position where the center in the front-rear direction of the case 8 and the center in the front-rear direction of the elevating platform 21 coincide with each other only by the front holding piece 28 without the transport device 23, Need to move so as to protrude considerably from the rear end of the lifting platform 21, and the front and rear moving body 27 protruding rearward collides with the rear rack device 1.
You need space to avoid interference,
That is unnecessary.

Thereafter, the stacker crane passage 12 is
The elevator 21 moves toward an entrance / exit conveyor (not shown), and descends so that the transport surface of the entrance / exit roller conveyor and the transport surface of the transport device 23 are equalized. Thereafter, the operation is substantially the reverse of the above (there is no operation to prevent the case 8 from colliding with the stopper 5), and the case 8 is carried out to the entry / exit roller conveyor. Needless to say, the entrance / exit roller conveyor does not collide with or interfere with the holding piece 28 and the support piece 29.

Then, the case 8 of the entrance and exit roller conveyor can be carried into the article storage shelf 3 by the operation reverse to the above. The case 8 can be carried in and out of the article storage shelf 3 of the rear rack device 1 by using the rear holding piece 28 and the transport device 23 in the same manner as described above.

[0024]

[Modifications and the like] Modifications and the like are described below. (1) The transport device 23 may be other than a drive roller conveyor. (2) The structures of the left and right moving body operating device 31 and the front and rear moving body operating device 32 are arbitrary. (3) The article to be processed is not limited to the case 8. (4) The loading platform may not be moved up and down.

[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. 1 from which a transport device and the like are omitted.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line VV of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 17 article transfer device 21 elevating platform (loading platform) 22 clamping device 23 transport device 28 clamping piece

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A loading platform, a pair of left and right holding pieces, which are provided on the loading platform so as to be able to move back and forth, and hold the left and right portions of the article, and a transport device provided on the loading platform so that the transport direction is directed in the front-rear direction. Article transfer device having. 2. A pair of left and right moving bodies provided so as to be able to approach and separate from each other at a predetermined interval, and a pair of left and right front and rear parts provided to be movable back and forth on the left and right moving bodies. The article transfer device according to claim 1, further comprising a moving body, and holding pieces provided so as to face each other at front and rear portions of the front and rear moving body. 3. The moving device according to claim 1, wherein the conveying device comprises a conveyor capable of conveying the article in any direction, and an operating device for the right and left moving body for operating the left and right moving object and an operating device for the front and rear moving object for operating the front and rear moving object are provided with the conveyor. The article transfer device according to claim 2, wherein the article transfer apparatus is provided above the conveyor so as to form an article storage space therebetween.