JP2003002411A - Automated storage and retrieval warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automated storage and retrieval warehouse capable of suppressing attitude change with respect to a guide rail of a base and securing stable running while suppressing enlargement and weight increase of a crane. SOLUTION: This warehouse comprises the base 24 mounted runnably on the guide rail 22, a mast 25 stood on the base, a fork 26 hoisted along the mast, and a running device 27 that is disposed on the base and runs the base. The running device has a first drive roller 29a butted on the upper surface of a flange 22a of the guide rail and a second drive roller 29b butted on the lower surface of the flange. An energizing member 31 for butting the first drive roller or the second drive roller on the flange is mounted on at least one of the first drive roller and the second drive roller.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a crane for loading and unloading articles to be stored, and a crane provided along the traveling path of the crane, and provided with a large number of article storage portions in the horizontal and vertical directions. The present invention relates to an automated warehouse equipped with shelves.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of automatic warehouse, for example, an automatic warehouse having a structure shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is known.
The conventional automated warehouse shown in these figures is provided along both sides of a crane 1 for loading and unloading the articles C to be stored and a traveling route R of the crane 1, and has a large number of articles in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction. It is configured by a shelf 2 provided with a storage section B.

The crane 1 has a
A traveling device 3 that horizontally reciprocates the crane 1 on the traveling route R, a mast 4 that is erected on the traveling device 3, and a mast 4 that is mounted so as to be able to move up and down and carries an article C. And a fork 5 to be formed.

A lower guide rail 6 is provided on the traveling route R along the traveling direction of the crane 1, and the traveling device 3 is movably mounted on the lower guide rail 6. ing. Further, a plurality of connecting beams 7 are provided at intervals in the length direction of the traveling route R so as to connect the upper portions of the shelves 2, and the mast 4 of the mast 4 is provided between the connecting beams 7. An upper guide rail 8 that guides the upper end is provided. Then, a pair of guide rollers 9 provided on the upper portion of the mast 4 are rotatably abutted on both sides of the upper guide rail 8 so that the upper end portion of the mast 4 is shaken. It is designed to prevent it.

Further, as described in detail with reference to FIG. 5, the traveling device 3 includes a base 10 arranged above the lower guide rail 6 and end portions of the base 10 in the front-rear direction. A pair of running rollers 11 which are rotatably mounted on the lower guide rail 6 and are connected to one of these running rollers 11 to rotate the running rollers 11 in the forward and reverse directions. And a driving motor 12.

The lower guide rail 6 has a substantially T-shaped cross section, and is rotatably brought into contact with both side portions of the base 10 on both side surfaces of the web of the lower guide rail 6. A plurality of side rollers 13 are provided.

Further, the base 10 is provided with an elevating device 14 for elevating the fork 5.
The lifting device 14 is wound around the mast 4 in the vertical direction, and both ends thereof are installed on a towing line 15 such as a chain fixed to the fork 5 and the base 10.
The tow cable 15 is reciprocally moved in the lengthwise direction thereof, and is constituted by a motor 16 for raising and lowering the fork 5.

In the conventional automatic warehouse constructed in this way, the article C is taken in by the fork 5 at the loading / unloading section (not shown) of the article C provided at one end of the transport path R. , Traveling device 3 and lifting device 1
By activating 4, the fork 5 is moved to the article storage section B in which the taken-in article C is stored, and then the fork 5 is moved toward the article storage section B so that the article C The articles are stored, and the articles C are unloaded from the article storage section B by the reverse operation.

[0009]

By the way, in such a conventional automatic warehouse, there are the following problems to be improved. That is, since the mast 4 is supported by the base 10 on which the mast 4 is erected, the lower part of the mast 4 is centered on the mast 4 especially at the time of acceleration / deceleration at the start or stop of traveling. This is a problem in that a moment is generated and the mast 4 falls or shakes in the front-back direction of the traveling direction. In order to prevent the occurrence of such a problem, the weight of the traveling device 3 supporting the mast 4 is increased, or the traveling device 3 has a lower guide rail 6 in the longitudinal direction. It is necessary to increase the dimension, that is, to increase the span of the traveling roller 11. If such measures are taken, not only the weight and size of the crane 1 are increased, but also the driving force required for traveling the crane 1 is increased, or the inertial force is large, so that the loading / unloading operation time is increased. The problem is that the length becomes longer.

Further, for example, when a force that causes the mast 4 to fall in the traveling direction is applied, the base 10 is
It is assumed that one traveling roller 11 rotates upward, and the other traveling roller 11 floats above the lower guide rail 6.
Then, in this way, the traveling roller 11 that floats,
When the motor 12 of the traveling device 3 is connected, friction between the traveling roller 11 and the lower guide rail 6 is reduced, and as a result, traveling of the crane 1 becomes unstable.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and suppresses a change in the posture of the base with respect to the guide rails, and suppresses an increase in the size and weight of the crane, and stable traveling. The purpose is to provide an automated warehouse that can be secured.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an automatic warehouse according to claim 1 of the present invention is provided with a crane for loading and unloading articles and a traveling path of this crane, An automatic warehouse comprising a guide rail for guiding the crane and a shelf provided along the traveling path of the crane and provided with a large number of article storage units in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, the crane being the crane. But,
A base movably mounted on the guide rail, a mast erected on the base, a fork that can be moved up and down along the mast, and a travel of the base provided on the base. And a guide device, wherein the guide rail includes a flange extending in the horizontal direction,
The traveling device is rotatably brought into contact with the guide rail and is driven by a traveling motor, and a drive roller is provided at a distance from the drive roller and is rotatably brought into contact with the flange. And a second drive roller abutting on the lower surface of the flange, wherein the drive roller comprises a first drive roller abutting on the upper surface of the flange, and a second drive roller abutting on the lower surface of the flange. A biasing member for elastically abutting the first drive roller or the second drive roller on the flange is attached to at least one of the first drive roller and the second drive roller. Automatic warehouse to do.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic warehouse comprising the first drive roller or the second drive roller according to the first aspect.
A drive motor is connected to either one of the drive rollers, and gears are provided coaxially on each of the first drive roller and the second drive roller, and these gears have the same number of teeth. It is characterized by being engaged with each other.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the automatic warehouse, a pair of the flanges according to the first or second aspect are provided at intervals in the vertical direction, and the load roller has an upper flange. The first load roller is brought into contact with the lower surface of the above, and the second load roller is brought into contact with the upper surface of the lower flange.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 20 indicates an automated warehouse according to this embodiment.

The automated warehouse 20 according to this embodiment has a crane 21 for loading and unloading articles, a guide rail 22 provided on a traveling route R of the crane 21 and guiding the crane 21, and the crane 21. Driving route R
It is an automated warehouse comprising a shelf 23 provided along a horizontal direction and a large number of article storage parts B along the vertical direction, and the crane 21 is movably mounted on the guide rail 22. A base 24, a mast 25 provided upright on the base 24, a fork 26 that can be moved up and down along the mast 25, and the base 24 provided on the base 24 to run the base 24. The guide rail 22 includes a pair of parallel flanges 22a and 22b extending in the horizontal direction, and the travel apparatus 27 is brought into rolling contact with the guide rail 22. A drive roller 29 that is driven to rotate by a traveling motor 28, and the drive roller 29 that is provided at a distance from the drive roller 29,
Road roller 3 which is rotatably brought into contact with a and 22b
0, the drive roller 29 is configured by a first drive roller 29a abutting on the upper surface of the upper flange 22a and a second drive roller 29b abutting on the lower surface of the flange 22a. Is
The second drive roller 29b is provided with a biasing member 31 for elastically abutting the second drive roller 29b on the flange 22a.

The first drive roller 29a is shown in FIG.
As will be described in detail below, the drive shaft 32 is integrally attached to the drive shaft 32 attached to the base 24. The drive shaft 32 is arranged so as to cross the guide rail 22 in the width direction, and the traveling motor 28 is connected to one end of the drive shaft 32 via a gear box 33.

Further, swing plates 34 extending to both widthwise sides of the guide rail 22 are mounted near both ends of the first drive roller 29a, respectively.
The second drive rollers 29b are rotatably attached to the swing ends of the swing plates 34, respectively.

Further, the first drive roller 29a
Near both ends of each of the second drive rollers 2
Gears 35 are coaxially provided on each of the gears 9b, and these gears 35 have the same number of teeth and are meshed with each other. Therefore, when the first drive roller 29a is twisted and driven to rotate by the traveling motor 28, the first drive roller 29a and the second drive rollers 29b rotate synchronously in opposite directions. It is supposed to be done.

A tension coil spring is used as the urging member 31 in the present embodiment, and the urging member 31 is mounted between the oscillating plate 34 and the base 10 to attach the oscillating plate 34. By elastically pulling upward, the both second drive rollers 29b
Is pressed against the lower surface of the flange 22a above the guide rail 22.

Further, in the present embodiment, the load roller 30 has the upper flange 2 as shown in FIG.
The first load roller 30a brought into contact with the lower surface of 2a
And a second member that is brought into contact with the upper surface of the lower flange 22b.
Load roller 30b.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, a towing line 36 such as a chain is wound around the mast 25 in the longitudinal direction via a plurality of guide pulleys 37 mounted on the mast 25. Both ends of the tow line 36 are fixed to the top and bottom of the fork 26.

Further, an elevating device 37 which is engaged with a part of the tow line 36 is provided near the mast 25 of the base 24, and the tow line 36 is fed in the longitudinal direction thereof. The fork 26 is moved up and down.

Next, the operation of the automatic warehouse 20 according to this embodiment having the above structure will be described. First,
When the article C is stored in the article storage section B of the shelf 23, the crane 21 is moved to the article loading position, the article C is taken in by the fork 26, and then the crane 2 is loaded.
By moving 1 and moving the fork 26 to a predetermined height, the fork 26 is aligned with the intended article storage section B. As a result, after the fork 26 is sent toward the article storage section B, the fork 26 is lowered a predetermined distance to store the article C in the article storage section B, and the fork 26 is returned to the mast 25 side to stand by. State.

When the crane 21 travels as described above, the second drive roller 29b is urged by the urging member 31 so that the upper flange 22a of the guide rail 22 can be prevented.
Is pressed against the lower surface of the first drive roller 29a and the second guide roller 29b, and as a result, the flange 22a is always sandwiched by the second guide roller 29b and the first drive roller 29a. Therefore, the base 24
That is, the posture with respect to the guide rail 22 is kept constant, and the posture of the crane 21 during traveling is stable.

On the other hand, even when the inertial force acting on the base 24 is large and the drive roller 29 side of the base 24 tries to float up, the action of the biasing member 31 causes the first member 24 to move. The second drive roller 29b is in contact with the lower surface of the upper flange 22a, and the driving force is constantly transmitted to these second drive rollers 29b via the first drive roller 29a. As a result, the friction with the guide rail 22 is always secured, and as a result, the traveling force or the braking force of the crane 21 is surely obtained, and the stable operation of the crane 21 is obtained.

Further, in this embodiment, the load roller 30 supporting the other end of the base 24 is brought into contact with the upper and lower flanges 22a and 22b of the guide rail 22 so as to be in contact with the pair of load rollers 30a and 30b. Due to being configured by the both drive rollers 2 described above.
By the cooperation with 9a and 29b, lifting of the base 24 is effectively suppressed.

Therefore, the weight of the base 25 supporting the lower part of the mast 25 can be minimized, or the support span of the base 25 can be small, and as a result, the size and weight of the apparatus can be reduced. be able to.

The shapes, sizes, etc. of the respective constituent members shown in the above embodiment are examples, and can be variously changed based on design requirements and the like.

[0030]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention.
According to the automatic warehouse described in, when traveling the crane,
The second guide roller, the first drive roller, and the biasing member hold the flange of the guide rail in a state in which the flange of the guide rail is always sandwiched, whereby the posture of the base with respect to the guide rail is stabilized, and the crane Can be driven stably. Further, if the automatic warehouse according to claim 2 of the present invention is twisted, the first drive roller and the second drive roller are made to rotate synchronously by the gears, so that they temporarily act on the base. Even if the drive roller side of this base tries to float up, the friction with the guide rail is generated via either the first drive roller or the second drive roller. It is possible to secure the traveling force or the braking force of the crane without fail, and also from this point, it is possible to secure the stable operation of the crane.

Further, when twisted to the automatic warehouse according to claim 3 of the present invention, the load roller supporting the other end of the base is
With the pair of load rollers abutting on the upper and lower flanges of the guide rail, the lifting of the base can be effectively suppressed. Therefore, by these synergistic effects, the weight of the base portion supporting the lower part of the mast can be minimized or the support span of the base can be reduced, resulting in an increase in the size and weight of the device. Can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram in which a part of an automated warehouse as viewed from the width direction of a transport path is omitted.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention and is a side view showing a main part of a traveling device.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the present invention and is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a main part of a traveling device.

FIG. 4 shows a conventional example, and is a view of an automated warehouse seen from one end of a transfer path.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side view showing an outline of a traveling device, showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 crane 2 shelves 3 traveling devices 4 masts 5 forks 6 Lower guide rail 7 connecting beam 8 Upper guide rail 9 Guide roller 10 bases 11 Traveling roller 12 motors 13 Side roller 14 Lifting device 15 Tow lines 16 motor 20 automated warehouse 21 cranes 22 Guide rail 23 shelves 24 bases 25 masts 26 forks 27 Traveling device 28 Traveling motor 29 Drive roller 29a First drive roller 29b Second drive roller 30 Road roller 30a First road roller 30b Second road roller 31 biasing member 32 drive shaft 33 gearbox 34 Swing plate 35 gears 36 Towline 37 Lifting device B Item storage C goods R travel route

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A crane for loading and unloading articles, a guide rail provided on the traveling route of the crane and guiding the crane, and provided along the traveling route of the crane in the horizontal and vertical directions. An automated warehouse consisting of a shelf provided with a number of article storage sections along the base, wherein the crane is mounted on the guide rail so as to be movable, and is erected on the base. The guide rail includes a mast, a fork that can be moved up and down along the mast, and a traveling device that is provided on the base to perform traveling of the base. The guide rail includes a flange extending in a horizontal direction. The drive roller is rotatably abutted on the guide rail and is rotated by a traveling motor, and there is a space between the drive roller and the drive roller. A first drive roller that is brought into contact with the upper surface of the flange, and a lower surface of the flange that is brought into contact with the lower surface of the flange. And a second drive roller which is abutted on at least one of the first drive roller and the second drive roller and elastically abuts the first drive roller or the second drive roller on the flange. An automatic warehouse characterized by having a biasing member attached to it. 2. The first drive roller or the second drive roller
A drive motor is connected to either one of the drive rollers, and gears are provided coaxially on each of the first drive roller and the second drive roller, and these gears have the same number of teeth. The automatic warehouse according to claim 1, wherein the automatic warehouse is engaged with each other. 3. A pair of the flanges are provided at intervals in the vertical direction, and the load roller contacts a first load roller that abuts a lower surface of the upper flange and an upper surface of the lower flange. The automatic warehouse according to claim 1 or 2, which is configured by a second load roller that is brought into contact with the second load roller.