JP2009067524A - Automated storage and retrieval warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automated storage and retrieval warehouse capable of preventing the generation of a dead space wherein a load cannot be housed in the lowest part of a rack. <P>SOLUTION: This automated storage and retrieval warehouse comprises racks 2 provided on the floor surface 6 of the first floor so as to store loads 8 and a stacker crane 1 for carrying the loads 8 along the front surface or the back surface of the rack 2. The stacker crane 1 has a travelling carrier moving on travelling rails 4 in the horizontal direction, an elevating stand 106 moving in the vertical direction along a mast 103 provided on the travelling carrier, and a slide fork 110 provided at the elevating stand 106 so as to transfer the load 8 by moving forward and backward relative to the rack 2. The rack 2 has at least one stage of a shelf receiver 121 for supporting the bottom of the load 8, and has a space enough to place the load 8 on the floor surface 6 with the slide fork 11 under the lowest shelf receiver 121 among the shelf receivers 121. The installation surface 15 of the travelling rails 4 is formed lower than at least the lowest floor surface 6 of the floor surface. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse having a rack for storing a load and a traveling transfer device for transferring the load.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an automatic warehouse having a stacker crane that automatically runs and a rack that stores luggage has been widely put into practical use. The stacker crane has a function of picking up a baggage coming in from a station and transporting it to a rack, and taking out a baggage coming out from the rack and transporting it to the station. In addition, the rack has a function of storing luggage by a plurality of shelves provided in a lattice shape.

  FIG. 6 is an external perspective view of a conventional automatic warehouse. The automatic warehouse includes a rack 202, a stacker crane 201, and a station 203 for loading and unloading.

  The stacker crane 201 includes a traveling carriage 205, a mast 206, a lifting platform 207, and a slide fork 208.

The traveling carriage 205 travels on a traveling rail 204 laid on the floor surface.
On the other hand, the rack 202 is disposed on one side or both sides of the stacker crane 201 in the traveling direction, and is installed on the floor like the stacker crane 201. The rack 202 also includes a plurality of shelf supports 209 that support the bottom of the luggage 210.

  The traveling carriage 205 travels on the traveling rail 204 and moves the slide fork 208 in the horizontal direction, and the lifting platform 207 moves up and down along the mast 206 and moves the slide fork 208 in the vertical direction. Further, the slide fork 208 enters the left and right racks 202 and transfers the load 210.

When the luggage 210 is stored in the rack 202 with this configuration, the luggage 210 is transported from the station 203 to the predetermined storage space by the stacker crane 201. Then, the bottom of the load 210 is supported by the shelf receiver 209 of the rack 202 by the expansion and contraction of the slide fork 208 and the lifting and lowering of the lifting platform 207, and the load 210 is stored.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-97018

  However, since the stacker crane includes a traveling rail, a traveling carriage, and a lifting platform between the slide fork and the floor surface, the slide fork cannot be lowered to the floor surface. In other words, the surface on which the slide fork places the load can only be lowered to a predetermined height (for example, 30 cm) from the floor surface.

  Therefore, it corresponds to the case where the stacker crane makes the slide fork enter the bottom of the load stored in the lowest level of the rack and picks up the load, or the case where the load on the slide fork is placed on the lowest level of the rack. In addition to the thickness of the slide fork itself, the shelf support position at the bottom of the rack must be raised from the floor by the height of the traveling rail, traveling carriage, and lifting platform.

  Then, the dead space D described in FIG. 6 exists at the bottom of the rack.

  That is, there arises a problem that the storage space for the luggage in the automatic warehouse is not effectively used.

  In view of the above, the present invention provides an automatic warehouse having a rack for storing luggage and a stacker crane for transporting the luggage, and does not generate a dead space where no luggage is stored at the bottom of the rack. Objective.

  In order to achieve the above object, an automatic warehouse according to the present invention includes a rack that is installed on the floor surface of the first floor and stores luggage, and a traveling conveyance device that conveys the luggage along the front or back surface of the rack. The traveling conveyance device includes a traveling carriage that moves horizontally on a traveling rail, and an elevator platform that moves up and down along a lifting mast installed on the traveling carriage. A fork that is installed on the elevator and moves in and out of the rack in the direction of the rack, and the rack has at least one shelf support that supports the bottom of the luggage, A lower part of the bottom shelf receiver of the receiver has a space in which the load can be placed on the floor surface of the first floor by the fork, and the laying surface of the traveling rail is at least the reference surface Located below the floor It is characterized in.

  Thereby, in an automatic warehouse consisting of the first floor, a dead space in which no luggage is stored at the bottom of the rack does not occur, and effective use of the storage space is realized. Furthermore, it is not necessary to install a shelf holder to support the load placed at the bottom of the rack, and the manufacturing cost of the automatic warehouse can be reduced by reducing the necessary number of shelf holders.

  Further, an automatic warehouse according to the present invention includes a rack that is installed on a floor surface of a plurality of floors and stores luggage, a traveling conveyance device that conveys the luggage through the plurality of floors along the front or rear surface of the rack, and The traveling and conveying device includes a traveling carriage that moves in a horizontal direction on a traveling rail, and a lifting platform that moves in the vertical direction along a lifting mast installed on the traveling carriage, A fork that is installed on the elevator and moves in and out in the direction of the rack, and the rack has at least one shelf support that supports the bottom of the luggage, and the shelf It is good also as having the space where the said load can be mounted on the said floor surface by the said fork in the lower part of the shelf holder of the lowest step among receptacles.

  As a result, in an automatic warehouse having racks arranged on multiple floors and traveling transport devices that transport the luggage through the multiple floors, shelves are installed to support the luggage placed at the bottom of the rack This reduces the manufacturing cost of automatic warehouses by reducing the required number of shelves.

  Moreover, the laying surface of the traveling rail may be provided at least below the lowest floor surface which is a reference surface among the floor surfaces.

  Thus, in an automatic warehouse having racks arranged on a plurality of floors and a traveling conveyance device that conveys the luggage through the plurality of floors, there is no dead space in which the luggage is not stored at the bottom of the rack, and the storage space Is effectively used.

  The traveling carriage has a wheel that rotates in contact with the traveling rail at the bottom, and the laying surface of the traveling rail has a wheel bottom of the traveling carriage at the time when the fork reaches the lowest position and the wheel It is preferable that the distance between the fork and the bottom surface is provided below the reference surface by a distance obtained by adding the thickness of the rail.

  As a result, it is not necessary to secure a space in consideration of the height of the stacker crane at the bottom of the lowermost load of the rack, and it is only necessary to secure a space where the slide fork can enter. Use is realized.

  The rack may further include an opening through which the luggage can pass on a back surface facing a surface on which the traveling transfer device and the luggage are transferred.

  As a result, the cargo placed at the lowermost part is simply stored or unloaded by a hand lift truck or the like without using a stacker crane, and the work efficiency of loading and unloading can be improved.

  According to the present invention, in an automatic warehouse having a rack for storing a load and a traveling transfer device for transferring the load, a dead space in which the load is not stored disappears at the bottom of the rack. Therefore, the total volume of luggage that can be stored even in the same space is increased, and the storage density and storage efficiency of the warehouse are improved.

(Embodiment 1)
Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a configuration of an automatic warehouse in the first embodiment. The automatic warehouse shown in FIG. 1 includes a stacker crane 1, a rack 2 provided along a path of the stacker crane 1, and a station 3 on which articles are placed at the time of loading and unloading.

  The stacker crane 1 has a function of taking a load 8 to be received from the station 3 and transporting it to the rack 2, taking out the load 8 to be discharged from the rack 2, and transporting it to the station 3. The racks 2 may be provided on both sides of the stacker crane 1.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of the automatic warehouse in the first embodiment of the present invention. Here, it is assumed that racks 2 are provided on both sides of the path of the stacker crane 1.

  The stacker crane 1 includes a lower carriage 101, an upper carriage 102, a mast 103, a lifting platform 106, and a control device 5.

  The lower carriage 101 includes wheels 104 for traveling on the laid traveling rail 4 and a traveling motor 105 for driving the wheels 104, and moves on the traveling rail 4 in the horizontal direction.

  A lifting platform 106 is attached to the mast 103 so as to be movable up and down, and a winch motor 107 is attached. The elevator 106 is suspended by a wire rope 109 guided by a sheave 108 and moves up and down along the mast 103 in accordance with the operation of the winch motor 107.

  A slide fork 110 is provided on the lifting platform 106. The slide fork 110 includes a plurality of plates 1101 that are movably connected to each other, and a transfer motor 111 that moves the plates 1101 back and forth from the lifting platform 106. The uppermost plate 1101 functions as a mounting table on which the luggage 8 is mounted.

  The luggage 8 is assumed to be a luggage in which the slide fork 110 can be inserted into the bottom, that is, a luggage such as a cage pallet.

  Here, the luggage 8 into which the slide fork 110 can be inserted will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the shape of the luggage 8 into which the slide fork 110 can be inserted. FIG. 3A shows a cage pallet 81 having legs below, for example. On the other hand, FIG. 5B shows an example in which the load itself does not have a space in which the slide fork 110 can be inserted, such as a cardboard box, but is integrated with a pallet having a space in which the slide fork 110 can be inserted. A baggage 82 is shown.

Returning to FIG. 2 again, each component will be described.
The control device 5 controls operations of the travel motor 105, the winch motor 107, and the transfer motor 111.

  The stacker crane 1 travels on the traveling rail 4 to the desired position of the rack 2 or to the station 3 under the control of the control device 5, raises and lowers the lifting platform 106, and moves the slide fork 110 out and back. The load 8 is transferred between the elevator 106 and the rack 2 or the station 3.

  Here, a structure in which the present invention does not generate a dead space at the bottom of the rack 2 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, when the thickness of the traveling rail 4 is H1, the thickness of the lower carriage 101 including the bottom of the wheel 104 is H2, and the thickness of the bottom plate of the lifting platform 106 is H3, the slide fork 110 is at the lowest point. A distance of H1 + H2 + H3 is generated between the bottom surface 14 of the slide fork 110 and the laying surface 15 of the traveling rail 4 when it reaches. Therefore, the groove 7 of the traveling rail is provided on the floor surface 6 and the laying surface 15 of the traveling rail 4 is lowered by at least H1 + H2 + H3 from the floor surface 6 that is the reference surface, so that the slide fork 110 reaches the lowest point. The bottom surface 14 of the slide fork 110 coincides with the floor surface 6 or is lower than the floor surface. As a result, the slide fork 110 can be lowered to a position where it can approach the floor surface 6.

  On the other hand, in the conventional automatic warehouse, since the traveling rail is laid on the floor surface, a dead space of at least H1 + H2 + H3 occurs between the floor surface and the lowermost load.

  Furthermore, when storing the basket-type pallet 81 and the luggage 82 integrated with the pallet shown in FIG. 3, the automatic warehouse of this embodiment does not require the shelf holder 121 as the lowest-level luggage storage means. The luggage can be stored directly on the floor surface 6. However, in this case, it is a precondition that the leg length Ha or Hb shown in FIG. 3 is larger than the thickness H4 of the slide fork 110.

  With such a structure, the shelf holder 121 for storing the lowermost luggage 8 over the entire floor surface becomes unnecessary.

  As a result, the storage space in the automatic warehouse is effectively used, and the number of shelf holders 121 necessary for the construction of the automatic warehouse is reduced, thereby reducing the construction cost.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an automatic warehouse in a modification of the first embodiment of the present invention.
The rack 12 shown in the figure is provided with a luggage passage opening 122 through which the luggage 8 can pass. As a result, at the time of loading / unloading, the lowermost luggage 8 stored directly on the floor surface 6 is taken out by a transport means other than the stacker crane 1, for example, a hand lift 9, via the luggage passage opening 122. obtain.

  Thereby, it is not always necessary to take in and out the lowermost package via the station 3, and there are more choices of means for loading and unloading the lowermost package, thereby improving the work efficiency of loading and unloading.

(Embodiment 2)
Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic front view of the automatic warehouse according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The automatic warehouse in the figure includes a plurality of floor surfaces 6, a stacker crane 1, a traveling rail 4, and a rack 12. This figure shows the structure of an automatic warehouse that stores, for example, the car-type pallet 81 shown in FIG. 3 and the luggage 82 integrated with the pallet on a plurality of floor surfaces 6. Compared to the structure of the automatic warehouse shown in FIG. 2 having only the first floor, the automatic warehouse shown in FIG. 5 has a rack 12 installed on each of the plurality of floor surfaces 6, and the stacker The crane 1 is installed through a plurality of floor surfaces 6. The description of the same points as the configuration of the automatic warehouse described in FIG. 2 will be omitted, and different points will be described below.

  As shown in FIG. 5, racks 12 are installed on the respective floor surfaces 6, and the stacker crane 1 moves through the respective floor surfaces 6, and the luggage 8 is stored and taken out from each rack 12. Execute. Further, the lowermost luggage 8 on each floor surface 6 is placed directly on the floor surface 6 without being supported by the shelf holder 121. In this case, it is possible to reduce the lowermost shelf holder 121 of each floor surface 6 and to exhibit an effect that no dead space is generated in the lower portion of the luggage 8 placed directly on each floor surface 6.

  Moreover, since the number of floors increases as the automatic warehouse becomes higher, the number of shelves 121 is reduced, and the contribution to the reduction of the manufacturing cost is increased overall.

  As mentioned above, although the automatic warehouse which concerns on this invention was demonstrated based on embodiment, this invention is not limited to this embodiment.

  For example, in FIG. 5, when the automatic warehouse has racks 12 on each of the plurality of floor surfaces 6, the luggage 8 stored at the bottom of each floor is placed directly on the floor surface 6. The lowermost luggage 8 on a part of the floor may be supported by the shelf holder 121.

  Further, in the case of an automatic warehouse having racks 12 on a plurality of floor surfaces 6, the traveling rail grooves 7 need not be provided below the floor surface of the first floor, which is the reference surface. At this time, a dead space is generated at the bottom of the rack on the first floor. However, on the second and higher floors, when the lowermost load 8 is transferred, the elevator 106 is placed at a position lower than each floor surface 6. Therefore, no dead space is generated on each floor surface 6. Therefore, when viewed as the entire automated warehouse, the storage space for the luggage is effectively used, and the density of the automated warehouse is increased.

  The present invention can be used, for example, as an automatic warehouse equipped with a rack and a traveling conveyance device.

It is a perspective view which shows an example of a structure of the automatic warehouse in embodiment of this invention. It is a front schematic diagram of the automatic warehouse in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the shape of the luggage | load 8 which can insert the slide fork 110. FIG. It is a perspective view of the automatic warehouse in the modification of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a front schematic diagram of the automatic warehouse in Embodiment 2 of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows an example of a structure of the conventional automatic warehouse.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,201 Stacker crane 2, 12, 202 Rack 3, 203 Station 4, 204 Travel rail 5 Control device 6 Floor surface 7 Groove of travel rail 8, 210 Luggage 9 Hand lift 13 Upper surface of slide fork 110 14 Bottom surface of slide fork 110 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 Laying surface of traveling rail 21, 121, 209 Shelf holder 81 Cage-type pallet 82 Luggage integrated with pallet 101 Lower carriage 102 Upper carriage 103, 206 Mast 104 Wheel 105 Traveling motor 106, 207 Lifting base 107 Winch motor 108 Sheave 109 Wire rope 110, 208 Slide fork 111 Transfer motor 122 Cargo passage opening 1101 Plate

Claims (5)

A rack installed on the floor of the first floor for storing luggage,
An automatic warehouse comprising a traveling conveyance device that conveys the luggage along the front surface or the rear surface of the rack;
The traveling conveyance device is a traveling carriage that moves horizontally on a traveling rail;
A lifting platform that moves up and down along a lifting mast installed on the traveling carriage;
A fork installed on the elevator and moving in and out of the rack in the direction of the rack;
The rack has at least one shelf holder that supports the bottom of the luggage,
In the lower part of the lowest shelf holder among the shelf holders, there is a space where the luggage can be placed on the floor surface of the first floor by the fork,
The automatic warehouse, wherein the running surface of the traveling rail is provided at least below the floor surface of the first floor which is a reference surface. A rack installed on the floor of multiple floors to store luggage,
An automatic warehouse comprising a traveling conveyance device that conveys the cargo through the plurality of floors along the front or rear surface of the rack,
The traveling conveyance device is a traveling carriage that moves horizontally on a traveling rail;
A lifting platform that moves up and down along a lifting mast installed on the traveling carriage;
A fork installed on the elevator and moving in and out of the rack in the direction of the rack;
The rack has at least one shelf holder that supports the bottom of the luggage,
The automatic warehouse characterized by having a space in which the load can be placed on the floor surface by the fork at the lower part of the lowest shelf receiver of the shelf receivers. The automatic warehouse according to claim 2, wherein a laying surface of the traveling rail is provided below at least a lowermost floor surface which is a reference surface among the floor surfaces. The traveling carriage has a wheel at the bottom that rotates in contact with the traveling rail,
The laying surface of the traveling rail is lower than the reference surface by a distance obtained by adding the thickness of the rail to the distance between the wheel bottom of the traveling carriage and the bottom surface of the fork when the fork reaches the lowest position. The automatic warehouse according to claim 1, wherein the automatic warehouse is provided. 5. The rack according to claim 1, further comprising an opening through which the luggage can pass on a back surface facing a surface on which the traveling and conveying device and the luggage are transferred. The automatic warehouse according to any one of items.

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