JP2008162795A - Automated warehouse system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To use a lifter for a buffer between a stacker crane and a carriage, by lowering the height of the carriage. <P>SOLUTION: The lifter and the carriage 16 are arranged in an upper part of an automated warehouse unit. The lifter can freely deliver an article between the lifter and the stacker crane. The carriage 16 can freely deliver the article between the carriage and the lifter. The mutual automated warehouse units are connected by the carriage 16. An article bottom part is formed higher than a carrying surface of the carriage 16 in a lifted position of the lifter, and the article bottom part is formed lower than the carrying surface of the carriage 16 in a lowered position. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse system in which a plurality of automatic warehouse units are connected, and more particularly to the conveyance of articles between automatic warehouse units.

  There is known an automatic warehouse in which a plurality of automatic warehouse units are connected by a cart for conveying goods. In this case, for example, an article is delivered between a carriage such as a stacker crane and a carriage, and the article is conveyed to an adjacent automatic warehouse unit by the carriage. However, if this is done, the carriage needs transfer means such as a lifter and a conveyor, and the article is transferred to and from the stacker crane, so an insertion space such as a slide fork from the stacker crane is required on the carriage side. . Furthermore, it is necessary to run the stacker crane and the carriage in synchronization with each other. If the synchronization is not achieved, the person who arrives at the delivery position first waits.

In Patent Document 1, for sorting using an automatic warehouse, a lifting shelf is provided on each of the warehousing side and the unloading side, and one stack of articles is transported from the warehousing side lifting shelf to the unloading side lifting shelf by a stacker crane. Is disclosed. When the upper and lower shelves are provided with multiple upper and lower shelves, and articles of a required stage are conveyed by the stacker crane, sorting using the stacker crane can be performed.
JP 2004-359432 A

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic warehouse system that can save a space because a short cart can be used and that does not require synchronization between the transport device and the cart in the automated warehouse.
An additional problem in the invention of claim 2 is to make the steering mechanism unnecessary from the carriage.
An additional problem in the invention of claim 3 is that the automatic warehouse units can be connected even if the space between the automatic warehouse and the ceiling of the building is small, and the passage space such as a person or an unmanned vehicle between the automatic warehouse units is blocked. There is to be no.

The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse system in which an automatic warehouse unit provided with a rack and a conveyor device in a warehouse is connected by a cart for conveying articles,
The automatic warehouse unit is provided with a plurality of vertically movable placement units, and can directly transfer articles to and from the warehouse transfer device, and the carriage can enter and leave the space between the placement units, A lifter is provided in which the bottom of the article is higher than the conveying surface of the carriage at the raised position of the placing section, and the bottom of the article is lower than the conveying surface of the carriage at the lowered position of the placing section. To do.

Preferably, the traveling route of the carriage is linear.
Preferably, the traveling route of the carriage is separated from the floor surface of the building, for example, near the ceiling of the building or at the top of the rack.

  In this invention, since the cart delivers the article by raising and lowering the lifter, no article transfer means is required, and the carriage can be made small and short. In addition, since the cart delivers goods to and from the lifter, and the transport device in the warehouse delivers goods to the lifter, there is no need to insert a slide fork or the like of the transport device in the warehouse into the cart, and the cart can be further miniaturized. . Furthermore, there is no need for the cart and the in-warehouse transport device to wait for each other, and the lifter can be used as a buffer between the cart and the in-store transport device.

Here, if the traveling route of the carriage is linear, the steering of the carriage becomes unnecessary, and the carriage can be further miniaturized.
When the travel route of the carriage is arranged away from the floor of the building, the lower part can be used for a passage or the like. And since the bogie and lifter can be lowered, a passage with a space in the height direction can be obtained.

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

  1 to 4 show an automatic warehouse system 2 in the embodiment. In each figure, 4 is an automatic warehouse unit, which is provided with a stacker crane 6 as a transport device in the warehouse, and 7 is its traveling space, and racks 19 shown in FIG. A processing device 8 such as a liquid crystal or a semiconductor is provided integrally with the rack 19, and the upper part of the rack 19 is allocated to the storage space 10. Reference numerals 12 and 13 denote passage spaces between the automatic warehouse units 4, which are used by people, automated guided vehicles, and the like.

  Reference numerals 14 and 15 denote lifters, and the lifter 14 delivers articles between the carriage 16 and the stacker crane 6. The lifter 15 is a lifter with a turntable and delivers goods to and from the carriage 16. Reference numeral 18 denotes a cassette, which is an example of a transported article. Here, it is assumed that a liquid crystal substrate, a semiconductor, and the like are accommodated. The transported article is arbitrary, and may be a stack of trays or a pallet in addition to the cassette 18.

  Reference numerals 20 and 21 denote bridges that connect the automatic warehouse units 4, and the bridge 20 connects between the ends of the automatic warehouse units 4 and is located above the passage space 12. The bridge 21 connects between the central parts of the automatic warehouse unit 4 and is above the passage space 13. Then, the lifter 15 reverses the direction of the cassette 18 by, for example, 180 ° to align it with a direction suitable for handling in the processing apparatus 8. As described above, the rack 19 and the processing device 8 are integrated, the storage space 10 and the travel path of the lifter 14 and the carriage 16 are provided in the upper space of the rack 19, and the automatic warehouse unit 4 is connected between the automatic warehouse units 4 by the bridges 20 and 21. Connecting.

  2 and 3 show a state where the carriage 16 has entered the space between the lifter mounting portions 24. The lifter 14 includes, for example, four placement units 24, and each placement unit 24 is moved up and down by the lifting units 14a to 14d. The carriage 16 may travel along the guide rails 22 by wheels 25 and may be self-propelled with a traveling motor mounted thereon, or may be pulled by a chain, belt, wire, or the like. Further, the primary side of the linear motor may be disposed on the traveling route side, and the secondary side may be disposed on the carriage 16. Reference numeral 23 denotes a support portion which supports the guide rail 22 and the lifters 14 and 15 and corresponds to the travel route of the carriage 16 and is linear. Below the support portion 23 forms a rack 19 of an automatic warehouse unit and accommodates the cassette 18. A space necessary for transferring the articles is left in the height direction between the support portion 23 and the cassette 18. Reference numeral 26 denotes a ceiling of a building such as a clean room.

  FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the lifter 15 with a turntable. The four placing parts 24 are raised and lowered by the raising and lowering parts 14 a to 14 d, and the guides only on the lifter 15 are separated from the other guide rails 22. Rails 22b are arranged and connected to each other. Then, the lifter 15 is rotated by, for example, 180 ° by the turntable drive motor 30.

  The operation of the embodiment will be described. For example, a plurality of liquid crystal substrates are stored in the cassette 18, and are transported between the processing apparatuses 8 by the stacker crane 6 and the carriage 16. The rack 19 and the storage space 10 are used as storage locations for the cassette 18. When the conveyance between the automatic warehouse units 4 is necessary, the stacker crane 6 places the corresponding cassette on the lifter 14. Since the corners and edges of the cassette 18 are supported by the placement portions 24 of the lifter 14, a large space can be provided between the placement portions 24. As shown in FIG. 3, since there is a space between the placing portion 24 and the guide rail 22, the cassette 18 is delivered by inserting a slide fork or the like of the stacker crane 6. When delivering the cassette 18 between the stacker crane 6 and the lifter 14, the delivery may be performed by raising and lowering the elevator platform of the stacker crane, and conversely by raising and lowering the lifter mounting portion 24. Also good.

  The carriage 16 can enter / exit into the space between the placement portions 24 of the lifters 14 and 15. The height of the upper surface of the mounting portion 24, that is, the height of the bottom surface of the cassette 18 on the lifter 14 is higher than the upper surface of the carriage 16, that is, the conveying surface of the carriage 16 at the raised position H, and from the upper surface of the carriage 16 at the lowered position L. Is also low. Therefore, the cassette 18 can be exchanged between the lifter 14 and the carriage 16 by raising and lowering the mounting portion 24. The lifter 14 serves as a buffer for the cassette 18 between the carriage 16 and the stacker crane 6, so that the stacker crane 6 and the carriage 16 do not have to wait for each other, and the slide fork of the stacker crane 6 is inserted into the carriage 16. There is no need to provide a space or a transfer device.

  Since the carriage 16 is not provided with a transfer device such as a lifter or a conveyor, the height can be lowered. For example, when the carriage 16 is pulled and run from the ground side, it can literally be as high as the wheel 25. Even when a traveling motor is mounted on the carriage 16, a thin motor can be mounted to reduce the height. For this reason, the height of the cassette 18 on the carriage 16 and the height of the cassette 18 on the mounting portion 24 can be reduced, and can be prevented from interfering with the ceiling 26 of the building. Therefore, even in a building where a carriage with a transfer device cannot be arranged, it can be arranged as long as the carriage 16 and the lifters 14 and 15 of the embodiment are present.

  Since the cassette 18 has a direction, it is necessary to reverse the direction by, for example, 180 °. Therefore, the carriage 16 loaded with the cassette is moved into the lifter 15, the placement unit 24 is raised, the cassette 18 is moved onto the placement unit 24, and the lifter 15 is rotated 180 °, and then the placement unit 24. Is lowered. In this way, the direction of the cassette on the carriage 16 can be reversed by 180 °. Alternatively, instead of the lifter 15, a turntable on which the carriage 16 can enter and leave is provided, and the direction of the cassette 18 may be reversed 180 ° together with the carriage 16 without being transferred to the placement unit 24.

In the embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) Since the transfer device is not mounted on the carriage 16, it can be made into a small and small carriage. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the cassette 18 on the carriage 16 or the placement unit 24 from interfering with the ceiling 26.
(2) The lifter 14 can be used as a buffer between the stacker crane 6 and the carriage 16. For this reason, it is not necessary for the stacker crane 6 and the carriage 16 to stop after waiting for the delivery partner.
(3) Since the traveling route of the carriage 16 is linear, the steering of the carriage 16 is not necessary.
(4) Since a space equivalent to the rack 19 remains in the lower part of the bridges 20 and 21 in the height direction, passage of people or automatic guided vehicles is not hindered.
(5) If a plurality of lifters 14 are provided on both sides of the bridge 20, the stacker crane 6 is less likely to wait. Further, the carriage 16 itself can be used as a buffer for accommodating the cassette 18.
(6) If a plurality of bridges 21 are provided in parallel and the traveling direction of the carriage 16 is reversed between the bridges, the conveyance capacity of the cassette 18 can be increased.
(7) The lifter 15 can rotate the direction of the cassette 18 by 180 °.

Main part plan view of the automatic warehouse system of the embodiment The top view which shows the lifter and trolley | bogie in an Example The side view which shows the lifter and trolley | bogie in an Example The top view which shows the lifter with a turntable and trolley | bogie in an Example

Explanation of symbols

2 Automatic warehouse system 4 Automatic warehouse unit 6 Stacker crane 7 Traveling space 8 Processing device 10 Storage space 12, 13 Passage space 14, 15 Lifter 16 Cart 18 Cassette 19 Rack 20, 21 Bridge 22 Guide rail 23 Support section 24 Mounting section 25 Wheel 26 Ceiling 30 Turntable drive motor

Claims (3)

In an automatic warehouse system in which automatic warehousing units equipped with a rack and a conveyor device in a warehouse are connected by a cart for conveying goods,
The automatic warehouse unit is provided with a plurality of vertically movable placement units, and can directly transfer articles to and from the warehouse transfer device, and the carriage can enter and leave the space between the placement units, A lifter is provided in which the bottom of the article is higher than the conveying surface of the carriage at the raised position of the placing section, and the bottom of the article is lower than the conveying surface of the carriage at the lowered position of the placing section. Automatic warehouse system. The automatic warehouse system according to claim 1, wherein a travel route of the carriage is linear. The automatic warehouse system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a travel route of the carriage is arranged away from a floor surface of the building.

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