JP2009062173A - Lifting device of automated warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lifting device of an automated warehouse capable of independently lifting a fork part to a lifting part, with a simple structure having no driving system. <P>SOLUTION: This lifting device 4 has the lifting part 8 liftably supported by two masts 7, the fork part 15 arranged on a base 12 of the lifting part 8, and a fork lifting mechanism 16 for lifting the fork part 15 with respect to the lifting part 8. The fork lifting mechanism 16 has a rack gear 17 arranged in an upper part of the masts 7, and a pinion gear 18 arranged in the lifting part 8 and meshing with the rack gear 17. An auxiliary gear 19 meshes with the pinion gear 18, and a wire pulley 21 is connected to the auxiliary gear 19. A wire pulley 22 is arranged in the lifting part 8, and a wire 23 is wrapped around the wire pulleys 21 and 22. A wire 26 for suspending the fork part 15 is also wrapped around the wire pulley 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a lifting device for an automatic warehouse that stores work such as luggage in a rack.

  The automatic warehouse is a facility that automatically stores a work such as luggage in a rack (storage shelf) by a lifting device such as a stacker crane. The lifting device includes two masts, a lifting part supported by each mast so as to be lifted and lowered, and a fork part which is disposed on a base of the lifting part and transfers a workpiece.

  In such an automatic warehouse, if the height of the work to be stored is lower than the overall height of the lifting section, even if there is an apparent storage space at the top of the rack, the fork is moved to that height. If the section cannot be raised, it becomes a useless space that is not used as a storage shelf. Note that there is a limit to lowering the elevating unit from the viewpoint of rigidity of the elevating unit, the balance of device arrangement, and maintainability. Therefore, in order to solve the above problem, it is only necessary to raise and lower only the fork portion independently.

For example, Patent Document 1 includes a lifting platform having a fork and a secondary lifting platform provided on the lifting platform so as to freely move up and down, and rotating the screw rod by a drive motor to move the secondary lifting platform up and down. A stacker crane is described to lift a pallet on a fork with a fork.
JP-A-61-64604

  However, the above prior art has a structure in which the auxiliary lifting platform is moved up and down by a complicated drive mechanism having a drive motor, a screw rod, a ball screw device, and the like, so that a demerit in cost is increased. Moreover, since the weight of the raising / lowering part increases, the weight of the workpiece | work which can be conveyed with an raising / lowering apparatus must be made light.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an elevating device for an automatic warehouse capable of elevating and lowering a fork part independently of an elevating part with a simple structure without a drive system.

  The present invention relates to an elevating device for an automatic warehouse that stores a work in a rack, and is arranged on at least two masts, an elevating part supported by the two masts so as to be movable up and down, and a base of the elevating part. And a fork lifting / lowering means for lifting / lowering the fork part with respect to the lifting / lowering part. The fork lifting / lowering means is provided at the upper part of the two masts and extends in the vertical direction of the mast; A pinion gear that is provided on both sides of the rack portion and meshes with the rack gear, a rotating body that is provided on both sides of the lifting section and holds a lifting member that lifts the fork section, and a rotation transmission means that transmits the rotation of the pinion gear to the rotating body. It is characterized by having.

  In such a lifting apparatus of the present invention, when the lifting part is raised to the upper part of the mast, the pinion gear is engaged with the rack gear, and the fork part is raised with respect to the lifting part by the fork lifting means. Specifically, when the elevating part is further raised, the pinion gear rotates while meshing with the rack gear, and this rotation is transmitted to the rotating body by the rotation transmitting means, so that the rotating body rotates. And a fork part raises with respect to a raising / lowering part via a lifting member by rotation of this rotary body. By providing the rack gear, pinion gear, lifting member, rotating body, and rotation transmission means as described above, the fork unit can be used as a lifting unit with a simple structure even without a complicated drive system including a drive motor. It can be raised and lowered independently.

  Preferably, the lifting member is a lifting wire, and the rotating body is a holding wire pulley around which the lifting wire is wound. In this case, by rotating the holding wire pulley and winding up the lifting wire, the fork portion can be raised smoothly relative to the lifting portion.

  At this time, the rotation transmission means includes an auxiliary gear meshing with the pinion gear, a rotation transmission wire pulley coupled to the auxiliary gear, and a rotation transmission wire wound around the holding wire pulley and the rotation transmission wire pulley. Is preferred. In this case, when the pinion gear rotates while meshing with the rack gear, the auxiliary gear meshing with the pinion gear rotates, and further, the rotation transmission wire pulley connected to the auxiliary gear rotates. Via which the holding wire pulley rotates. At this time, since not only the holding wire pulley but also the rotation transmitting wire is wound around the holding wire pulley, it is not necessary to increase the number of wire pulleys.

  The rotation transmitting means has a first sprocket connected to the pinion gear, a second sprocket connected to the holding wire pulley, and a chain spanned between the first sprocket and the second sprocket. May be. In this case, when the pinion gear rotates while meshing with the rack gear, the first sprocket connected to the pinion gear rotates, and accordingly, the second sprocket rotates via the chain, and further connected to the second sprocket. The holding wire pulley thus rotated rotates. At this time, since it is not necessary to use an auxiliary gear that meshes with the pinion gear, the number of parts of the rotation transmitting means can be reduced.

  Preferably, one of the base and the fork is provided with a protrusion for positioning the fork with respect to the base, and the other of the base and the fork is fitted with the protrusion. A hole is provided. In this case, during the normal operation in which the fork part is placed on the base of the elevating part, the projection part enters the hole part, so that the fork part is prevented from moving with respect to the base. The

  Further preferably, guide bars extending in the vertical direction of the elevating part are provided on both sides of the elevating part, and a pair of guide rollers engaging with the guide bar are sandwiched between the guide bars on both sides of the fork part. Is provided. In this case, when the fork part moves up and down relative to the lifting part, each guide roller of the fork part is guided along the guide bar of the lifting part. Therefore, the fork part is prevented from being tilted or twisted when the fork part is raised or lowered.

  According to the present invention, the fork portion can be lifted and lowered independently of the lifting portion with a simple structure without a drive system. This makes it possible to reliably use the uppermost space of the rack as a work storage space without increasing the cost of the lifting device and the weight of the lifting device.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of an automatic warehouse lifting apparatus according to the invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an automatic warehouse equipped with an embodiment of a lifting device according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, an automatic warehouse 1 includes a rack (storage shelf) 3 for storing a work 2 such as a luggage, and a stacker crane 4 that is an elevating device for handling the rack 3. .

  The stacker crane 4 is disposed between a traveling platform 6 traveling along the traveling rail 5, two masts 7 erected on both front and rear sides of the traveling platform 6, and each mast 7. The elevating unit 8 is supported by the elevating unit 8, the traveling motor 9 operates the traveling table 6, and the elevating motor 10 moves the elevating unit 8 up and down.

  The raising / lowering part 8 is suspended with respect to each mast 7 by the two chains 11 (refer FIG. 2) so that raising / lowering is possible. The elevating part 8 has two bases 12 (see FIG. 2) and a pair of lift brackets 13 erected on both front and rear ends of the upper surface of the base 12. Two sets of guide rollers 14 for guiding the elevating part 8 along the mast 7 are provided on the outer surface of each lift bracket 13 so as to sandwich the mast 7. On the base 12, a fork portion 15 for carrying out and carrying in the workpiece 2 with respect to the storage portion 3 a of the rack 3 is arranged. The fork unit 15 is detachable from the elevating unit 8. In addition, in FIG. 1, the raising / lowering part 8 is simplified and shown.

  FIG. 2 is a side view showing a first embodiment of a stacker crane 4 which is a lifting device according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. . In each figure, the stacker crane 4 has a pair of fork elevating mechanisms 16 that elevate and lower the fork portion 15 with respect to the elevating portion 8 independently.

  The fork elevating mechanism 16 is provided on the inner side surface of the upper portion of each mast 7 and is provided on each rack gear 17 extending in the vertical direction of the mast 7 and each lift bracket 13 of the elevating unit 8, and the elevating unit 8 is located at a predetermined height position. And a pinion gear 18 that meshes with the rack gear 17 when it is raised. An auxiliary gear 19 is engaged with the pinion gear 18. A rotation transmission wire pulley 21 is connected to the auxiliary gear 19 via a shaft 20.

  A holding wire pulley 22 is provided at a position above the wire pulley 21 in each lift bracket 13. One end side of the rotation transmission wire 23 is wound around the wire pulley 21, and the other end side of the rotation transmission wire 23 is wound around the wire pulley 22.

  The fork unit 15 includes a base plate 24 placed on the base 12 of the elevating unit 8, and a slide fork 25 fixed to the base plate 24 and capable of extending and contracting with respect to the storage unit 3 a of the rack 3. The workpiece 2 is transferred by the slide fork 25. One end of a lifting wire 26 that lifts the fork 15 is connected to both front and rear ends of the base plate 24. The other end side of the lifting wire 26 is wound around the holding wire pulley 22.

  Here, the wire pulley around which the rotation transmission wire 23 for transmitting the rotation of the pinion gear 18 and the wire pulley around which the lifting wire 26 for lifting the fork portion 15 are wound are shared as one wire pulley 22. Of course, different wire pulleys may be used. However, by sharing the wire pulley, the number of parts is reduced, which is advantageous in terms of cost.

  Plural (in this case, two) positioning pins 27 for projecting the fork portion 15 with respect to the base 12 project from the upper surface of each base 12 of the elevating unit 8. In addition, a plurality of through holes 28 that fit with the positioning pins 27 are formed at portions corresponding to the positioning pins 27 in the base plate 24 of the fork portion 15. When the fork portion 15 is placed on the base 12, each positioning pin 27 enters the through hole 28, and the fork portion 15 is restrained from front to back and left and right with respect to the base 12. The fork part 15 is prevented from moving out of position.

  On the inner side surface of each lift bracket 13 of the elevating unit 8, guide bars 29 extending in the vertical direction of the elevating unit 8 are provided on both the left and right sides. In addition, two pairs of guide rollers 30 that engage with each guide bar 29 are provided at both front and rear ends of the base plate 24 of the fork portion 15 so as to sandwich the guide bar 29 therebetween.

  In the stacker crane 4 configured as described above, when the elevating unit 8 is moved up to the upper part of the mast 7 by driving the elevating motor 10, the pinion gear 18 is engaged with the rack gear 17 provided on the mast 7. When the elevating unit 8 is further raised, as shown in FIG. 4, the pinion gear 18 rotates in the direction of the arrow P while meshing with the rack gear 17, and the auxiliary gear 19 that meshes with the pinion gear 18 rotates in the direction of arrow Q. Therefore, the wire pulley 21 also rotates in the arrow Q direction. Then, the wire 23 is wound around the wire pulley 21 and pulled downward, and accordingly, the wire pulley 22 rotates in the direction of arrow R. As a result, the wire pulley 22 winds the wire 26, and the fork portion 15 connected to the wire 26 separates from the base 12 and rises. That is, the fork part 15 rises independently with respect to the lifting part 8 while the lifting part 8 rises.

  On the other hand, when the elevating part 8 is lowered from a state almost at the top of the mast 7, the pinion gear 18 rotates in the direction opposite to the arrow P direction in mesh with the rack gear 17, so that the auxiliary gear 19 and the wire pulley 21 are moved to the arrow Q. Rotate in the opposite direction. Then, since the wire 23 is drawn out from the wire pulley 21 and wound around the wire pulley 22, the wire pulley 22 rotates in the direction opposite to the arrow R direction. For this reason, the wire 26 is drawn out from the wire pulley 22, and the fork portion 15 is lowered toward the base 12. That is, the fork unit 15 descends independently of the lifting unit 8 while the lifting unit 8 is lowered.

  When the fork unit 15 is raised and lowered, the fork unit 15 moves so that the guide roller 30 of the fork unit 15 is guided by the guide bar 29 provided on each lift bracket 13 of the elevating unit 8. Therefore, the fork part 15 does not tilt up and down with respect to the lifting part 8.

  By the way, when the fork portion 15 is not fixed up and down independently of the elevating portion 8 and is completely fixed, if the height of the workpiece 2 is sufficiently lower than the height of the elevating portion 8, the fork portion 15 However, the uppermost storage unit 3a of the rack 3 may become a useless space because the uppermost storage unit 3a of the rack 3 cannot reach the height position of the uppermost storage unit 3a. For example, in the automatic warehouse shown in FIG. 5, the work 2 can be stored in the (n + 1) -th and (n + 2) -th storage units 3a in appearance, but the fork unit 15 cannot be raised to its height position. Therefore, the n-th storage unit 3a is the uppermost stage that can be stored.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, since the fork unit 15 can be lifted / lowered independently of the lifting / lowering unit 8 by the fork lifting / lowering mechanism 16, the fork unit 15 has a height of the (n + 2) -stage storage unit 3a. Can be raised to position.

  Here, conditions for setting the uppermost stage of the storage unit 3a capable of storing the workpiece 2 to the (n + α) stage will be described.

In FIG. 6, when the height of the opening of each storage unit 3 a of the rack 3 is L, and the lifting unit 8 is raised by U from the (n−1) stage storage height, the pinion gear 18 is rack gear. 17 shall be engaged. Further, the pitch circle diameter of the pinion gear 18 and the auxiliary gear 19 is R _G (assumed to be equal here), the wire winding portion diameter of the wire pulley 22 is R _P , and the elevating unit 8 is stored in the (n−1) -th stage. the height of rise of the fork portion 15 with respect to the lifting unit 8 when H _F at the time elevated from one state only H the height,
H _F = H + R _P × (H−U) / R _G (where H ≧ U) (A)
It becomes. Here, if H is the maximum height that can be raised from the state in which the elevating unit 8 is at the (n−1) -th stored height, the fork unit 15 rises to the (n + α) -th stored height. The conditions are as follows.
H + H _F = L × (α + 1) (B)
When _HF is deleted from the equations (A) and (B),
L × (α + 1) −H = H + R _P × (H−U) / R _G (C)
It becomes. And when transforming equation (C),
R _P / R _G = {L × (α + 1) −2H} / (H−U) (D)
It becomes.

Thus, (D) from equation, _U so as to satisfy the following _formula, R P, if determined the _{R G,} (n + α) increases and the fork portion 15 to store a height of stage, (n + α) th stage storage portion 3a The work 2 can be stored in
R _P : R _G = {L × (α + 1) −2H} :( H−U) (E)

For example, when α = 2, H = 1.2L (= 6L / 5), and U = L / 3, from equation (E),
R _P : R _G = {L × (2 + 1) −12L / 5} :( 6L / 5−L / 3) = 9: 13
R _P and R _G may be determined so that

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the rack gear 17 is provided on the top of each mast 7, the pinion gear 18, the auxiliary gear 19, the wire pulleys 21 and 22, and the wire 23 are provided on each lift bracket 13 of the elevating unit 8. Further, since the elevating part 8 and the fork part 15 are connected by the wire 26, the fork part 15 can be moved up and down independently of the elevating part 8 without adding a dedicated driving device including a drive motor. Can be made. As a result, the uppermost storage unit 3a of the rack 3 can be used as a storage space for the work 2 without incurring extra costs and without increasing the weight of the elevating unit 8, so that the entire rack 3 can be effectively used. It becomes possible to plan.

  FIG. 7 is a side view showing a second embodiment of a stacker crane 4 which is a lifting device according to the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view (partially broken) of the stacker crane 4 shown in FIG. Part). In the figure, the same or equivalent members as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.

  In each figure, the stacker crane 4 of this embodiment is provided with a fork lifting mechanism 40 instead of the fork lifting mechanism 16 in the first embodiment.

  The fork elevating mechanism 40 is provided on each lift bracket 13 of the elevating unit 8 and has a pinion gear 41 that meshes with the rack gear 17 when the elevating unit 8 is raised to a predetermined height position. A first sprocket 43 is connected to the pinion gear 41 via a shaft 42. A second sprocket 44 is provided above the first sprocket 43 in each lift bracket 13. A chain 45 is stretched around the sprockets 43 and 44. A holding wire pulley 47 is connected to the sprocket 44 via a shaft 46. The lifting wire 26 for lifting the fork portion 15 is wound around the wire pulley 47.

  In such a fork elevating mechanism 40, the auxiliary gear 19 as in the first embodiment is not required, so that the number of parts can be minimized.

  In the stacker crane 4 as described above, when the elevating part 8 rises to the upper part of the mast 7 and the pinion gear 41 meshes with the rack gear 17 provided on the mast 7, the pinion gear 41 rotates in the direction of arrow P. Then, this rotation is transmitted to the wire pulley 47 through the sprocket 43, the chain 45, and the sprocket 44, and the wire pulley 47 rotates in the direction of arrow R. For this reason, the wire pulley 47 winds up the wire 26, and the fork portion 15 connected to the wire 26 separates from the base 12 and rises.

  On the other hand, when the elevating part 8 is lowered from the state that is substantially at the uppermost part of the mast 7, the pinion gear 41 rotates in the direction opposite to the arrow P direction with the rack gear 17 engaged. Then, this rotation is transmitted to the wire pulley 47 through the sprocket 43, the chain 45, and the sprocket 44, and the wire pulley 47 rotates in the direction opposite to the arrow R direction. For this reason, the wire 26 is drawn out from the wire pulley 47 and the fork portion 15 is lowered toward the base 12.

  Also in this embodiment as described above, the fork unit 15 can be moved up and down independently of the lifting unit 8 without adding a dedicated driving device including a driving motor. Thereby, it becomes possible to use the uppermost storage portion 3a of the rack 3 as a storage space for the work 2 while suppressing an increase in cost and an increase in the weight of the elevating portion 8.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, the fork portion 15 and the elevating portion 8 are connected using the winding drum type wire pulleys 22 and 47 and the wire 26. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a chain, a sprocket, or the like is used. The fork unit 15 and the elevating unit 8 may be connected.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although it was set as the structure which provided the positioning pin 27 in each base 12 of the raising / lowering part 8, and provided the through-hole 28 which fits the positioning pin 27 in the fork part 15, it is not restricted to this in particular, A plurality of positioning pins may protrude from the lower surface of the fork portion 15, and a hole for fitting with the positioning pin may be formed in each base 12.

It is a schematic perspective view which shows the automatic warehouse provided with embodiment of the raising / lowering apparatus concerning this invention. It is a side view which shows 1st Embodiment of the raising / lowering apparatus concerning this invention. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 2 (including a partially broken portion). It is a side view which shows the state which the fork part shown in FIG. 2 raises / lowers independently with respect to the raising / lowering part. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the uppermost part of a rack, and a raising / lowering part. It is a figure which shows a mode that the fork part shown in FIG. 2 raises to the height position of the uppermost part of a rack. It is a side view which shows 2nd Embodiment of the raising / lowering apparatus concerning this invention. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view in the front-rear direction (including a partially broken portion) of the lifting device shown in FIG. 7.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Automatic warehouse, 2 ... Work, 3 ... Rack, 4 ... Stacker crane (elevating device), 7 ... Mast, 8 ... Elevating part, 12 ... Base, 15 ... Fork part, 16 ... Fork elevating mechanism (fork elevating means) ), 17 ... rack gear, 18 ... pinion gear, 19 ... auxiliary gear (rotation transmission means), 21 ... rotation transmission wire pulley (rotation transmission means), 22 ... holding wire pulley (rotary body), 23 ... rotation transmission wire ( Rotation transmission means), 26 ... Lifting wire (lifting member), 27 ... Positioning pin (projection), 28 ... Through hole (hole), 29 ... Guide bar, 30 ... Guide roller, 40 ... Fork lifting mechanism (fork) Lifting means), 41 ... pinion gear, 43 ... first sprocket (rotation transmission means), 44 ... second sprocket (rotation transmission means), 45 ... chain (rotation transmission means) 47 ... holding wire pulley (rotor).

Claims (6)

In an automatic warehouse lifting device that stores work in a rack,
At least two masts,
An elevating part supported by the two masts so as to be movable up and down;
A fork part disposed on a base of the elevating part and transferring the workpiece;
Fork elevating means for elevating the fork part with respect to the elevating part;
The fork elevating means is
A rack gear provided on top of the two masts and extending in the vertical direction of the mast;
Pinion gears provided on both sides of the elevating part and meshing with the rack gear;
A rotating body that is provided on both sides of the elevating part and holds a lifting member that lifts the fork part; and
A lifting device for an automatic warehouse, comprising rotation transmission means for transmitting rotation of the pinion gear to the rotating body. The lifting member is a lifting wire,
The lifting device for an automatic warehouse according to claim 1, wherein the rotating body is a holding wire pulley around which the lifting wire is wound.   The rotation transmission means includes an auxiliary gear meshing with the pinion gear, a rotation transmission wire pulley connected to the auxiliary gear, a rotation transmission wire wound around the holding wire pulley and the rotation transmission wire pulley. The lifting device for an automatic warehouse according to claim 2, further comprising:   The rotation transmission means includes a first sprocket coupled to the pinion gear, a second sprocket coupled to the holding wire pulley, and a chain spanned between the first sprocket and the second sprocket. The lifting device for an automatic warehouse according to claim 2. Either one of the base and the fork part is provided with a protrusion for positioning the fork part with respect to the base,
The lifting device for an automatic warehouse according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a hole for fitting with the protrusion is provided on the other of the base and the fork. Guide bars extending in the vertical direction of the elevating part are provided on both sides of the elevating part,
6. The automatic according to claim 1, wherein a pair of guide rollers that engage with the guide bar are provided on both sides of the fork portion so as to sandwich the guide bar. 6. Warehouse lifting equipment.

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