JP2003063615A - Automatic warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic warehouse to stop and control traveling and elevation of a stacker crane and a carriage in accordance with generating points of failure. SOLUTION: Whether an emergency stop command is generated or not is checked, both of a traveling system and an elevation system are suddenly stopped when there is the emergency stop command and whether the failure is detected or not is checked when there is no emergency stop command. When the failure is detected, whether the failure is failure of a traveling system or not is discriminated by a failure point detection means 10, when it is the failure of the traveling system, the traveling system is suddenly stopped and the elevation system is decelerated and stopped, continuously when it is not the failure of the traveling system, whether it is failure of elevation system or not is discriminated, and when it is the failure of the elevation system, the elevation system is suddenly stopped. Additionally, when both of the traveling system and the elevation system have no failure and some others have, both of the traveling system and the elevation system are decelerated and stopped. When there is no failure detected, whether a cargo loaded on the carriage breaks loose or not is checked, when loose breaking is detected, both of the traveling system and the elevation system are decelerated and stopped, and when no loose breaking is detected, normal traveling and elevation is continued.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse,
In particular, it relates to a control method for a stacker crane and a carriage that travel in an automatic warehouse.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The outline of an automated warehouse is constructed as shown in FIG. That is, the storage shelves 1 provided with a large number of storage frames 2 for storing individual articles are arranged in the front and rear, and the stacker crane 3 travels in parallel between the front and rear storage shelves. A carriage 4 for loading and unloading goods is moved up and down on the stacker crane 3, and the carriage 4 is extended to the carriage 4 to store the stored goods. A fork 9 is mounted for storing in the frame 2 or retracting with respect to the carriage 4 to take out the stored items from the storage frame 2. Further, the fork 9 can be extended and retracted on either side of the storage racks 1 arranged at the front and rear sides, and one stacker crane 3 takes charge of both loading and unloading of the front and rear storage racks 1. Is able to.

The stacker crane 3, the carriage 4,
The operation of the fork 9 is controlled by the ground setting machine 17,
The ground setting machine 17 further comprises a traveling control means 16 for controlling the stacker crane 3, a carriage control means 14 for raising and lowering and positioning the carriage 4, and a fork control means (not shown) for controlling extension and retraction of the fork. ing.

In the above structure, when a failure occurs in the stacker crane 3 or the carriage 4, it operates as shown in FIG.

That is, first, when a dangerous state occurs in operation (for example, when a safety door is opened or a person invades the traveling path of the stacker crane), an emergency stop command is issued, and ascending and descending and traveling are sudden. Stop. Further, a failure detection sensor is provided at a position where failure of the stacker crane or carriage is likely to occur, and when any of the failure detection sensors detects a failure, the stacker crane,
The carriage is also stopped suddenly. further,
The carriage of the stacker crane is provided with a load collapse detection means, for example, a light emitting and receiving sensor that detects the protrusion of the load when light is blocked, and the stacker crane travels even when the load collapse detection means detects the load collapse, It is designed to stop suddenly when the carriage moves up and down.

[0006]

Since the emergency stop command is issued when the minimum necessary condition inevitably occurs even after an emergency stop, the stacker crane 3 is suddenly stopped. Sudden stop of the carriage 4 is an unavoidable and necessary process.

However, in the case of a failure, it may not always be necessary to stop suddenly. For example, in the case of a failure of the traveling system such as detection of the traveling end, it is necessary to make an emergency stop, but in the case of a failure that does not belong to both the traveling system and the lifting system, such as the pallet protrusion sensor, an emergency stop is not necessarily It seems not necessary. Sudden stoppage of running and lifting for all failures as described above is not preferable because it may increase the impact on the equipment, reduce the service life, or cause unnecessary load collapse. It will be.

The present invention has been proposed in view of the above conventional circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic warehouse for stopping and controlling the traveling and ascending / descending of the stacker crane and the carriage depending on the location of failure.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a stacker crane that travels along a storage rack and a carriage that moves up and down along the stacker crane. In an automatic warehouse for loading and unloading articles into and from a frame, when a failure occurs, a failure point detection means for detecting the failure point and a stop control means for controlling traveling and lifting according to the kind of the failure are provided. It is characterized by having.

According to this structure, when a failure occurs, the failure point can be discriminated, and the stacker crane and the carriage can be controlled to stop moving up and down according to the failure point.

Further, in the present invention, the stop control means is
When the faulty part is the traveling system, the traveling is suddenly stopped and the elevating / lowering is decelerated and stopped, and when the faulty part is the elevating system, the traveling is decelerated and stopped and the elevating / lowering is suddenly stopped.

According to this structure, when the faulty part is the traveling system, the traveling is suddenly stopped and the elevating system is decelerated and stopped, and when the faulty part is the elevating system, the traveling is decelerated and stopped and the elevating system is Since it stops suddenly, unnecessary sudden stop can be eliminated.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the following embodiments are examples embodying the present invention and do not limit the technical scope of the present invention (Embodiment 1). Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. , Will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of a main part of the control device, FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing its operation procedure, and FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the automatic warehouse of this embodiment, when a failure occurs in a main part such as the traveling part and the elevating part of the stacker crane 3 and the carriage 4, it may be a failure of the traveling system depending on the failure point. A failure point detecting means 10 for determining whether or not the elevator system has a failure is provided. The failure location detecting means 10 is, for example, the failure detection sensor 11-1, ...
11-n, the number of the failure detection sensors corresponds to the failure location of the failure type table 100 as shown in FIG. 5, for example.

On the other hand, the stacker crane 3 that moves and moves up and down in the automatic warehouse, the carriage 4, and the fork 9 that extends and retracts are controlled by the ground setting machine 17. When a failure is detected by the failure point detection means 10 in the control state, the traveling control means 16 sends a stop command to the traveling motor stop control means 19 under the control of the ground setting machine 17 and the stacker crane 3 described above. The traveling motor 21 for driving the traveling of the carriage is stopped, and further, the carriage control means 14
Sends a stop command to the carriage motor stop control means 18 to drive the carriage 4 up and down.
0 is stopped (hereinafter, the traveling motor stop control means 19 and the carriage motor stop control means 18 may be collectively referred to as stop control means). The traveling motor 21 drives the traveling system, and the carriage motor 20 drives the elevating system.

The ground setting machine 17 distinguishes between a major failure and a minor failure in accordance with the sensors 11-1, ..., 11-n for detecting a failure location, and the failure type table 100 shown in FIG. Is provided, and information indicating a failure state such as a failure location, a failure type, and a failure level is generated, and the information is sent to, for example, an operation unit (not shown) of the ground setting machine 17. Further, when at least one of the failure sensors 11-1, ..., 11-n detects a failure, the failure point detection means 10 refers to the failure type table 100 and the failure is a failure of the traveling system. It is determined whether there is a failure in the lifting system.

When a failure is detected while the stacker crane 3 is traveling or the carriage 4 is being moved up and down, the failure point detecting means 10 corresponds to the failure position of the failure and the traveling system is moved up or down. Determine if the system is faulty. In accordance with the result of this determination, the travel motor stop control means 19 causes the travel motor 21 (travel system) and the carriage motor stop control means 18 causes the carriage motor 20 (elevation system) to suddenly stop or decelerate. This process will be described with reference to the flow chart of the operation procedure of FIG.

First, for example, when the safety door is opened,
Check if an emergency stop command has been issued because the stacker crane has become dangerous to operate (S
1) If there is an emergency stop command, both the traveling system and the lifting system are suddenly stopped (S6), and if there is no emergency stop command, it is checked whether or not the failure point type detecting means 10 has detected a failure (S).
2). When a failure is detected, the failure type table 100 described above.
With reference to the above, the failure point detecting means 10 determines whether the failure is a failure of the traveling system (S3). If the failure is a failure of the traveling system, the traveling system is suddenly stopped and the lifting system is decelerated. It is stopped (S7), and it is further determined whether or not the failure is a failure of the lifting system (S4). If the failure is a failure of the lifting system, the traveling system is decelerated and stopped, and the lifting system is suddenly stopped ( S
8). If neither the traveling system nor the elevating system has a failure and there is another failure, both the traveling system and the elevating system are decelerated and stopped (S9a). By the way, the traveling control means 16 sends a traveling sudden stop (or deceleration stop) command to the traveling motor stop control means 19, and the traveling motor stop control means 19 causes the traveling motor 21 to suddenly stop (or decelerate stop), while the carriage is stopped. The control means 14 sends a command for sudden stop of elevation (or deceleration stop) to the carriage motor stop control means 18, and the carriage motor stop control means 18 performs an operation of suddenly stopping (or decelerating stop) the carriage motor 20.

If no failure is detected in the failure detection procedure (S2), the load on the carriage 4 is checked by a load collapse detection means (not shown) to determine whether there is a load (S5). ), If the load collapse is detected, the traveling system and the elevating system are decelerated and stopped so that the load collapse is not increased further (S9a), and if the load collapse is not detected, the normal traveling / lifting is continued (S9b). . After that, the procedure returns to the start position and the procedure of the above failure detection operation and stop control is repeated.

By the way, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state of sudden stop and deceleration stop. In the case of sudden stop, the traveling motor 21 or the carriage motor 20 rotating at a constant speed has an emergency stop command or a serious failure. Shows a state in which the rotation speed is suddenly reduced to make a sudden stop, while, in the case of deceleration stop, a state in which the motor rotation speed is gradually reduced to decelerate due to a light failure or load collapse detection.

(Embodiment 2) Furthermore, in addition to the above control, when the kind of failure differs depending on the location of failure, for example, the traveling system of the stacker crane 3 is a major failure,
In the case where the lift system of the carriage 4 has a minor failure, or conversely,
The traveling system of the stacker crane 3 has a minor failure and the carriage 4
It can be assumed that the elevating system of Fig. 4 has a serious failure, and an embodiment taking these into consideration can be proposed.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation procedure of the embodiment when the type differs depending on the above-mentioned failure point. First, as in the first embodiment, first, it is checked whether or not an emergency stop command is issued due to, for example, a safety door being opened or the stacker crane traveling dangerously (S10). If there is a command, both the traveling system and the lifting system are suddenly stopped (S25), and if there is no emergency stop command, it is checked whether or not the failure location detecting means 10 has detected a failure (S11). If a failure is detected here, referring to the failure type table 100, whether the failure has occurred in either the traveling system, the lifting system, or both, and whether the failure is a major failure or a minor failure. Find out (S1
5).

Here, if a failure occurs in both the traveling system and the lifting system and both are serious failures (S16), both the traveling system and the lifting system are suddenly stopped (S25). If a failure occurs in both the traveling system and the lifting system, the traveling system is a major failure and the lifting system is a minor failure (S17), the traveling system is suddenly stopped and the lifting system is decelerated. Stop (S2
6). If the failure occurs only in the traveling system and is a serious failure (S18), the traveling system is suddenly stopped and the lifting system is decelerated and stopped (S26).

If a failure occurs in both the running system and the lifting system, and the running system is a minor failure and the lifting system is a major failure (S19), the running system is decelerated and stopped, and the lifting system is suddenly stopped. It is stopped (S27). If a failure occurs in both the traveling system and the lifting system and both the traveling system and the lifting system are minor failures (S20), both the traveling system and the lifting system are decelerated and stopped (S28), and the failure occurs only in the traveling system. If it occurs and if it is a minor failure (S21), both the traveling system and the lifting system are decelerated and stopped (S28). Further, if the failure occurs only in the lifting system and is a serious failure (S22), the traveling system is decelerated and stopped, and the lifting system is suddenly stopped (S27).
If the failure occurs only in the lifting system and is a minor failure (S
23), the traveling system and the lifting system are both decelerated and stopped (S2).
8). If there is no failure in the traveling system and the lifting system, and a failure occurs in other than that, for example, when an emptying abnormality is detected (S24), both the traveling system and the lifting system are decelerated and stopped (S2).
8).

If no failure is detected in the failure detection procedure (S11), the load collapse detection means (not shown) checks the condition of the load loaded on the carriage 4 (S12). ), If the load collapse is detected, the traveling system and the elevating system are decelerated and stopped so that the load collapse is not increased further (S28), and if the load collapse is not detected, the normal traveling / lifting is continued (S29). . After that, the procedure returns to the start position and the procedure of the above failure detection operation and stop control is repeated.

By performing the failure detection control in the above-described procedure, for example, a failure occurs in both the traveling system and the elevating system, or when a failure occurs in either one of them, or in the traveling system. Even if a serious failure (light failure) occurs and a light failure (major failure) occurs in the lifting system, the type of failure for the traveling motor 21 of the stacker crane 3 and the carriage motor 20 that moves the carriage 4 up and down. It is possible to perform stop control according to.

Here, an example of the failure type table 100 is shown in FIG.
Shown in. The table is a table showing a failure code, a failure name, a failure occurrence location, and an operation impact degree. When a failure occurs due to the failure code, the failure location detection unit 10 determines the failure based on the table. It is possible to discriminate between the failure of the above and the failure of the lifting system. For example, failure codes 5, 6, 14, 17, 19 and the like in the table are failures in the traveling system, and failure codes 3, 4, 15, 18, 22 and the like are failures in the lifting system.

In the above-described embodiment, there are two types of faults, a major fault and a minor fault, but the types of faults are the most severe fault, the major fault, the medium fault, the minor fault, or more faults. The present invention can be applied to the case of controlling for the types of.

[0029]

The state of various failure detection sensors for detecting a failure of the traveling part of the stacker crane, the elevating part of the carriage, etc., which are components of the automatic warehouse, is checked, and when it is judged that a failure has occurred, Based on the failure, it is determined whether the failure is a failure of the traveling system or a failure of the lifting system by referring to the failure type table. Depending on the result, the traveling motor of the stacker crane and the carriage motor that raises and lowers the carriage are stopped suddenly or deceleratively.Therefore, unnecessary sudden stop is eliminated, and at the time of stopping, there is no impact on the equipment or the loaded luggage. It is possible to soften and prevent the collapse of cargo.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation in the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which a motor speed is suddenly stopped or decelerated.

FIG. 5 is an example of a failure type table used in the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the entire automatic warehouse.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 storage shelf 2 storage frames 3 Stacker crane 4 carriage 9 forks 10 Failure location detection means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A failure has occurred in an automatic warehouse that comprises a stacker crane that travels along a storage rack and a carriage that moves up and down along the stacker crane, and that stores and stores articles in and from each storage frame of the storage rack. Sometimes, an automatic warehouse is provided with a failure point detecting means for detecting the failure point and stop control means for controlling traveling and ascending / descending according to the failure point. 2. The stop control means suddenly stops the traveling and decelerates the ascending / descending when the faulty portion is the traveling system,
The automatic warehouse according to claim 1, wherein when the failed portion is an elevator system, traveling is decelerated and stopped and elevator is stopped suddenly.