JP2007186320A - Automated warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stack articles together between delivered buckets and carry them into a warehouse again to stack them together simply without selecting a combination of buckets stacked together by an operator. <P>SOLUTION: When a mode for stacking together (priority is given to storage efficiency, stacking together in the same category, and stacking together by the same article number) is input, a time zone without carrying-in/out of warehouse is selected to stack articles together. When stacking them together, a list of buckets to be stacked together in accordance with the mode is prepared, and a combination for achieving the maximum effect in stacking together is found in the list to deliver the buckets to be stacked together. A shelf file is corrected by carrying them into the warehouse again after stacking them together. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse, and more particularly to stacking of stored items.

The applicant proposed in Patent Document 1 an automatic warehouse that searches and displays a combination of buckets whose filling rate after stacking does not exceed 100% from a shelf file of the automatic warehouse. When the operator selects one of the displayed combinations, carriers such as buckets of the combination are delivered, the stored articles are stacked on one carrier, re-entry, and other carriers are emptied. However, in subsequent operations, it has been found that it is an operator's burden to select a combination from the display and issue the goods, and the present invention has been reached.
Patent 3700300

An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic warehouse that can start a stacking operation with little operator judgment.
An additional problem in the invention of claim 3 is to allow the same kind of articles to be mixed as much as possible when the articles having different product numbers are mixed.

This invention comprises a rack for storing carriers holding articles, a station for loading and unloading carriers, and a transport device for automatically transporting carriers in an automatic warehouse, and a carrier with a low filling rate It is an automatic warehouse that stacks the goods of other goods on other carriers,
Based on the storage means for storing the ratio of the total volume of articles held by each carrier and the volume that the carrier can hold for each carrier, and the combination of carriers that can be stacked based on the ratio stored in the storage means And a determination means for
When the stacking mode is selected, there is provided means for causing the carrier of the combination determined by the determination means to be automatically delivered to the station by the transport device.
The combination to be stacked by the determining means may be determined before selecting the stacking mode or after selecting the stacking mode.

In addition, the present invention includes a rack for storing carriers holding articles, a station for loading and unloading carriers, and a transport device for automatically transporting carriers in an automatic warehouse, and has a low filling rate. It is an automatic warehouse that stacks the goods of the carrier on other carriers, and when the goods are received, the ratio of the total volume of the articles held by each carrier and the volume that the carriers can hold is obtained for each carrier and stored. Storage means for
A determining means for determining a combination of carriers that can be stacked based on the ratio stored in the storing means;
And a means for causing the carrier of the combination determined by the determination means to be automatically delivered to the station by the transport device after the goods have been received.
Note that the volume ratio only needs to be obtained for the carrier that received the goods.

Preferably, means for storing the category of the article is provided, and when the stacking of the articles having different product numbers is performed, the articles having the same category are preferentially stacked over the articles having the different categories. For this purpose, a mode may be provided in which only items having a common category are to be stacked, or if other conditions are equal, priority is given to stacking between items having a common category. You can do it.
What is necessary is just to determine suitably the time of actually starting the unloading for a stacking after the stacking mode is selected, or after a warehousing is completed.

  In the invention of claim 1, when the stacking mode is selected, a combination of carriers that can be stacked is automatically obtained from the viewpoint of the volume ratio, and the corresponding combination of carriers is automatically issued. For this reason, the operator only needs to execute the stacking between the delivered carriers, and anyone can execute the stacking.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, when an article is received, a combination of carriers suitable for stacking is automatically determined and the carriers are issued, so that anyone can execute the stacking.

  In the invention of claim 3, since articles having different category numbers are stacked together, it becomes easy to handle the articles after being stacked.

  In the following, an optimum embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be shown.

  The automatic warehouse 2 of an Example is shown in FIGS. In the figure, 4 is a pair of left and right racks, and 5 to 8 are stations. Of these, station 5 is, for example, a delivery station at the time of stacking, and station 6 is a re-entry station at the time of stacking. In cases other than stacking, the stations 5 to 8 may be appropriately used as a receiving station and a leaving station. Reference numeral 10 denotes a stacker crane, which is an example of a transport device that automatically transports a carrier holding an article in the automatic warehouse 2. Here, a bucket is used as the carrier, and preferably a bucket that can set a partition is used, but a pallet or the like may be used in addition to the bucket. Reference numeral 12 denotes a stacking conveyor, which transports the bucket delivered to the station 5 to the station 6 side, and stacks articles between the carriers during this period to create an empty carrier. Reference numeral 14 denotes a control unit of the automatic warehouse 2, in which a stacking terminal 15 is provided near the stacking conveyor 12 and a terminal 16 is provided near the other stations 5 to 8. The stacked carriers are automatically re-entered into the automatic warehouse 2 when the operator inputs “complete” from the terminal 15 or the like, and the data of the control unit 14 stores the inventory of the two carriers stacked together. Combine and store in carrier inventory.

  In the control unit 14, the stacker crane 10 is controlled by the crane control unit 20, and the conveyor provided in the stations 5 to 8 and the stacking conveyor 12 are controlled by the conveyor control unit 21. The communication unit 22 communicates with the terminals 15 and 16, and the scheduler 23 determines a schedule such as preparation for warehousing to the automatic warehouse 2, warehousing work, warehousing preparation and warehousing work, and stocktaking and stacking of stored articles. Is operated in the mode corresponding to it. For example, as a preparatory work before warehousing, an empty bucket and an empty shelf are prepared near the warehousing station. Also, as a preparatory work before leaving, move the bucket to be delivered to the vicinity of the station for delivery, or deliver the items to be delivered to the stacking conveyor 12 and perform picking and stacking if possible There are things.

  There is an inventory file 24 as a file of the automatic warehouse 2, which stores data such as the product number and quantity, the warehousing time and the reserved delivery of all articles in the automatic warehouse 2 regardless of the inventory position. The shelf file 25 stores, for each shelf of the rack 4, the product number and quantity of the stored article, the warehousing time, the allocation data such as the reservation of the warehousing, the filling rate, and the like. In addition, since one bucket is arranged on one shelf, the data on the shelf is equal to the data on the bucket, and an ID for each bucket is provided and read by the stacking conveyor 12, or the ID of the bucket is You can ignore it. The filling rate is the ratio of the volume occupied by the article to the space that can be accommodated in the bucket. The filling rate is determined by the ratio of the total volume of articles in the bucket and the volume of the bucket × safety factor. The safety coefficient is a coefficient for preventing an article from protruding from the bucket, for example, by holding the article up to the limit of the volume of the bucket, and is 1 or less. If the bucket is provided with a partition, it is difficult to pack the articles. Therefore, the safety factor of the bucket with the partition is preferably smaller than that without the partition.

  The entry / exit reservation file 26 stores reservation data for entry / exit, which includes the scheduled time of entry / exit, the product number and quantity of the goods to be entered / exited. The loading / unloading file 27 is a file for storing the record of loading and unloading, and stores the number of goods received, the number of goods to be shipped, the quantity, the distinction between loading and unloading, and the like.

  The stacking processing unit 30 determines a combination of buckets to be stacked, and stacks the corresponding bucket combination by the stacker crane 10 using a time zone such as a daytime when the load of the automatic warehouse 2 is small as a working time zone. The goods are delivered to the conveyor 12. The operator inputs, for example, the stacking and the mode at that time from the terminal 15 or the like. In addition, when it is determined in advance that the stacking will be performed between the morning warehousing time and the evening shipping time, and the default mode is used for the warehousing mode, the warehousing work can be performed without any input from the operator. The stacking is executed in a predetermined time zone after the end.

  The range determination unit 31 determines the range of buckets to be stacked in the stacking mode. In the embodiment, three kinds of modes, an efficiency priority mode, an in-category mode, and an in-product number mode, are provided as stacking modes. In the efficiency priority mode, mixed loading of articles with different product numbers is permitted, so the stacking range is all buckets in the rack 4. In the same intra-category mode, the stacking range is limited to the category because the stacking is allowed only between articles having the same category. In the same product number mode, stacking is permitted only for the same product number, so the stacking range is a range of one product number.

  As a list for stacking, there is a stacking range list 34 in which buckets to be stacked are described. This list is divided for each category in the same category mode, and for each product number in the same product number mode. . The category definition file 35 is a file in which the category and volume of the article are recorded. As shown in FIG. 3, the category number, the lower category, the upper category, and the volume per article are recorded. The lower category is a range of categories that are narrower than the upper category, and may be limited to one category without being distinguished from each other, or three or more categories may be recognized for one product number. For example, in the case of clothing and miscellaneous goods, it is convenient to make the same items different in color and common to the lower category, and make the size difference etc. common to only the upper category. As a broader concept, different colors and sizes may be sub-category ranges, and upper categories may be defined according to the type of clothing, manufacturer, application, etc.

  The combination list 36 records combinations of buckets to be stacked. When the creation from the stacking range list 34 to the combination list 36 is shown in FIG. 4, the stacking range list 34 is created using the shelf file 25 in accordance with the stacking mode. In the same category mode, the list 34 is classified by the upper category or the lower category, and in the same item number mode, the list 34 is classified by the same item number. Next, a combination of buckets to be stacked is listed in the combination list 36 in order from the highest-efficiency, with the sum of the filling rate and priority of the buckets after stacking as the effect. Note that three or more buckets may be included in one combination as in the case of stacking three buckets into one bucket. The filling rate is the product of the quantity of articles in the bucket and the volume of each article divided by the volume of the bucket times the safety factor. When there are a plurality of article numbers in one bucket, the volume of the article is the sum of the total volumes for each article number. When one bucket is divided into a plurality of partitions and the volume for each partition is recorded, the filling rate is obtained for each partition that partitions the bucket. The effect is, for example, the same product number +20, the same up to the lower category, +15, only the upper category is the same +10, the others are 0, etc. To do. In this way, even if the filling rate after stacking is close to 100% and there is no restriction by product number in the efficacy priority mode, etc., so as to preferentially stack articles with the same product number or the same category, A combination is determined. Here, the sum of the priority and the filling rate is used as an effect, but the priority may not be provided, and the number of buckets that can be emptied by stacking instead of the filling rate may be maximized.

  FIG. 5 shows a stacking algorithm in the embodiment. An operator inputs a stacking mode from a stacking terminal or the like. As described above, there are three modes, for example, storage efficiency priority, stacking in the same category, and stacking in the same product number as described above. The operator can specify the execution time of the stacking at this time, and when the time is not specified, the stacking is started immediately. When the time is specified, the stacking is waited until that time. First, a stacking range list is created, and then a combination list of buckets to be stacked is created based on filling efficiency and priority so as to maximize the effectiveness. Then, in the combination list, the buckets that are combined in order from the highest effect are automatically delivered to the stacking conveyor, that is, without the operator's request.

  The operator performs stacking with the stacking conveyor, and if necessary, newly installs a partition in the bucket. In this process, an empty bucket and a bucket to be re-stocked are generated, and when the operator instructs the re-stocking, that is, the completion of the stacking from the stacking terminal or the like, the stacked bucket is re-stocked, and the empty bucket is, for example, Move manually from the stacking conveyor to the outside. The control unit corrects the shelf file, the stacking range list, and the combination list by re-entry. Then, the stacking operation is executed until the operator inputs the end of stacking, outputs all combinations in the combination list, or the scheduler switches the operation mode of the automatic warehouse to other processing such as preparation for shipping.

  Here, the operator started the operation by moving to the stacking mode and inputting the mode type in the stacking mode. You may make it match. In this case, when the scheduler considers that the warehousing operation has been completed, the stacking range list and the combination list are created. In addition, the inventory file and the shelf file are updated every time the bucket is loaded and unloaded, and when the bucket filling rate changes due to loading, the bucket file is also reflected in the shelf file. Even if the stacking range list or combination list is deleted after the completion of the stacking operation, it is also saved after the stacking operation is completed, and the bucket or combination in which the stacking has been executed is deleted from the stacking range list or the combination list. And you can make a draft of the next list.

  The automatic warehouse 2 of the embodiment is composed of a single automatic warehouse unit in which one stacker crane 10 and a rack 4 are combined. However, a plurality of automatic warehouse units are arranged in parallel, for example, and these inventory data are processed by the common stacking processing unit 30. For example, the automatic warehouse unit A bucket and the automatic warehouse unit B bucket are stacked. You can go. In other words, the range of stacking may be limited to one automatic warehouse unit. However, stacking between automatic warehouse units can more efficiently reduce the number of carriers such as buckets that store articles. it can.

In the embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) When an instruction is given from the terminal to execute the stacking or when the warehousing time period elapses, a combination of buckets for automatically stacking is delivered to the stacking conveyor. Whether to matching loading for any combination for this, there is no need to determine the operator. Anyone can therefore perform the assembling.
(2) You can select the mode of stacking within the same product number, stacking within the same category, or stacking regardless of product number.
(3) In the same category mode, related items of different product numbers can be collected in one bucket, which is convenient when leaving. Moreover, even if different colors or the like are mixed in the same bucket without partitioning, no confusion will occur. If the size is different, add a divider.
(4) When the efficacy is evaluated, even when stacking is permitted without restricting the product number, it is possible to execute the stacking between the products of the same product number or the same category.

The top view which shows the layout of the automatic warehouse of the execution example Block diagram of the control system of the automatic warehouse of the embodiment The figure which shows the category definition file which is used with execution example typically The figure which shows typically the preparation to the combination list from the stacking range list in the embodiment Flow chart showing a stacking algorithm in the embodiment

Explanation of symbols

2 Automatic warehouse 4 Rack 5 to 8 Station 10 Stacker crane 12 Stacking conveyor 14 Control unit 15 Stacking terminal 16 Terminal 20 Crane control unit 21 Conveyor control unit 22 Communication unit 23 Scheduler 24 Inventory file 25 Shelf file 26 Entry / exit reservation file 27 Entry / exit file 30 Stacking processing unit 31 Range determining unit 32 Combination determining unit 34 Stacking range list 35 Category definition file 36 Combination list

Claims (3)

It is equipped with a rack for storing carriers holding articles, a station for loading and unloading carriers, and a transport device for automatically transporting carriers in an automatic warehouse. Storage means for storing for each carrier the ratio of the total volume of articles held by each carrier and the volume that can be held by the carrier,
Based on the ratio memorized in the memory means, providing a determining means for determining a combination of carriers that can be stacked,
An automatic warehouse comprising means for causing a carrier to automatically deliver a combination of carriers determined by the determination means to a station when a stacking mode is selected. It is equipped with a rack for storing carriers holding articles, a station for loading and unloading carriers, and a transport device for automatically transporting carriers in an automatic warehouse. Storage means for obtaining and storing, for each carrier, the ratio of the total volume of articles held by each carrier and the volume that can be held by the carrier when the articles are received. ,
A determining means for determining a combination of carriers that can be stacked based on the ratio stored in the storing means;
An automatic warehouse, comprising: means for automatically unloading a combination of carriers determined by the determination means to a station by a transfer device after completion of goods receipt. A means for storing the categories of articles is provided, and when performing the stacking of articles with different product numbers, the goods with the same category are prioritized over the articles with different categories. The automatic warehouse according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by the above.

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