JP2012153502A - Automatic warehouse system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic warehouse system capable of moving a loading/unloading device requiring the maintenance or the like promptly from an automatic warehouse unit to a traverser and charging quickly an alternative loading/unloading device to the automatic warehouse.SOLUTION: The automatic warehouse system includes a rack and the loading/unloading device which runs along a rail to enter into/exit from the rack. Traverser rails are laid so as to connect a plurality of automatic warehouse units, while running the traverser for which two rails where one is used for receiving and the another is used for charging, and the loading/unloading device can freely transfer to/from the automatic warehouse unit through the two rails.

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse system, and more particularly to shortening the time during which an automatic warehouse unit is down due to a failure or maintenance of a loading / unloading apparatus.

  2. Description of the Related Art There is known an automatic warehouse system in which a plurality of automatic warehouse units including a loading / unloading device such as a stacker crane and a rack are provided. In such an automatic warehouse system, if the loading / unloading device of any automatic warehouse unit requires maintenance or a failure occurs, the automatic warehouse unit goes down and cannot be loaded / unloaded. In order to reduce the time required for the automatic warehouse unit to go down, it is known to provide a first carriage for unloading the loading / unloading apparatus from the automatic warehouse unit and a second carriage for loading the spare loading / unloading apparatus to the automatic warehouse unit. (Patent Document 1: JP4091311B).

  However, in the system of Patent Document 1, when maintenance of the loading / unloading device or the like is required, after the first cart travels to the automatic warehouse unit, the second cart needs to travel to the automatic warehouse unit in question, The automatic warehouse unit is down for a long time. Moreover, since the 1st trolley | bogie and the 2nd trolley | bogie drive | work without a track, a large driving space is required.

JP4091311B

An object of the present invention is to quickly move a loading / unloading apparatus requiring maintenance or repair from an automatic warehouse unit to a traverser, and to quickly insert a replacement loading / unloading apparatus into the automatic warehouse unit.
An additional problem of the present invention is to further reduce the time for the automatic warehouse unit to go down.
An additional problem of the present invention is to back up an automatic warehouse unit having a high load by a spare loading / unloading apparatus.

  The present invention is an automatic warehouse system provided with a plurality of automatic warehouse units provided with a rack and a loading / unloading device that runs along the rail and moves into and out of the rack, wherein the plurality of automatic warehouse units A traverser rail laid so as to connect between the rail, and a rail that travels on the traverser rail and that can be transferred between the warehouse and the automatic warehouse unit. It is characterized by having at least two traversers for receiving and for loading the loading / unloading apparatus to / from the automatic warehouse unit.

  In this invention, when it becomes necessary to move the loading / unloading device from the automatic warehouse unit due to maintenance, failure, etc., the traverser runs on the traverser rail, transfers the loading / unloading device to the receiving rail, and puts it in. The alternate loading / unloading equipment is put into the automatic warehouse unit from the rails for use. Accordingly, it is possible to shorten the time for the automatic warehouse unit to be down. Further, since the traverser is provided with two rails for receiving and loading, it is possible to promptly receive the loading / unloading device from the automatic warehouse unit and quickly load the replacement loading / unloading device. Although the traverser rail is a single wire, since the receiving rail and the loading rail are provided in one traverser, the receiving rail is connected to the rail of any automatic warehouse unit first, An input rail can be connected to the. One traverser means that two carts are connected to form one traverser.

  Preferably, the number of automatic warehouse units is equal to the number of automatic warehouse units + 1, and one storage / exit device is mounted on the traverser as a spare storage / exit device for input to the automatic warehouse unit. If it does in this way, after receiving the loading / unloading apparatus which needs maintenance from an automatic warehouse unit in a traverser, a standby loading / unloading apparatus can be thrown in to an automatic warehouse unit in a short time. Accordingly, it is possible to further reduce the time for the automatic warehouse unit to go down. Note that the number of loading / unloading devices may be made equal to the number of automatic warehouse units, and the loading / unloading devices may be taken out for replacement from automatic warehouse units with low load. However, in this case, the automatic warehouse unit with a low load goes down. The number of storage / exit devices may be the number of automatic warehouse units +2, +3, or the like. In this case, the second and third spare loading / unloading devices are arranged in the automatic warehouse unit to perform loading / unloading. However, it is rare that two or more spare entry / exit devices are required, and it is often inefficient to provide the second and third spare entry / exit devices.

  Particularly preferably, by detecting an automatic warehouse unit having a high loading / unloading load, the spare loading / unloading apparatus is loaded into the high loading / unloading apparatus so that two loading / unloading apparatuses have a high load. A controller is provided to allow entry / exit of units. In this way, the spare loading / unloading apparatus can be used as a backup for loading / unloading in an automatic warehouse unit with a high load.

Block diagram showing the automatic warehouse system of the embodiment Flowchart showing traverser control in the embodiment

  In the following, an optimum embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be shown. The scope of the present invention should be determined according to the understanding of those skilled in the art based on the description of the scope of the claims, taking into account the description of the specification and well-known techniques in this field.

  1 and 2 show an automatic warehouse system 2 of the embodiment. In the automatic warehouse system 2, a plurality of automatic warehouse units 4 are provided, and each automatic warehouse unit 4 includes at least one rack 6 and at least one stacker crane 8. The stacker crane 8 lifts and lowers a lifting platform 9 including a transfer device such as a slide fork along a mast (not shown), and conveys articles between the rack 6 and the station 14. The stacker crane 8 travels on the rail 10 along the longitudinal direction of the rack 6 and is controlled by the ground control panel 12. In addition, instead of the stacker crane 8, as a loading / unloading device in the automatic warehouse unit 4, for example, a transport cart provided with a transfer device for each stage of the rack 6 may be run. A rack step is the height of one frontage. Further, the arrangement and number of the stations 14 and the type of the transported article are arbitrary.

  A traverser 16 is provided so as to connect the plurality of automatic warehouse units 4, and a traverser rail 18 is provided in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the rail 10 in the horizontal plane. The traverser 16 includes two rails 19 and 20 that can be connected to the rail 10, one for receiving the stacker crane 8 from the automatic warehouse unit 4 and the other for the spare stacker crane 8 b to the automatic warehouse unit 4. Assign for input. The roles of the rails 19 and 20 are alternately changed between receiving and charging. The spare stacker crane 8b has the same structure as the other stacker cranes 8 in the automatic warehouse unit 4, and the spare stacker crane and other stacker cranes are switched by maintenance and repair of the stacker crane in the automatic warehouse unit 4. . Furthermore, the floor surface of the traveling space of the traverser 16 is lower than the surface on which the rail 10 is laid, and the rails 19 and 20 are arranged at the same level as the rail 10.

  A controller 22 controls the entire automatic warehouse system 2 and communicates with a host controller (not shown) and the ground control panel 12 of the automatic warehouse unit 4, a crane management unit 26, an entry / exit management unit 28, and traverser control. The unit 30 is provided. The crane management unit 26 manages the state of each of the stacker cranes 8 and 8b. When maintenance is necessary or a failure occurs, the crane management unit 26 retracts the stacker crane 8 to, for example, the rail 19 of the traverser 16, and The spare stacker crane 8b is moved to the rail 10 of the automatic warehouse unit 4 where the stacker crane 8 requiring maintenance or repair is located. For example, maintenance or repair of the stacker crane 8 is performed on the traverser 16.

  The entry / exit management unit 28 manages entry / exit so that goods are received into and out of the rack 6 according to a request from the host controller or input to the ground control panel 12. The control of the stacker crane 8 for executing loading / unloading is left to the ground control panel 12. In addition, the warehouse management unit 28 manages the number of warehouse commands for each automatic warehouse unit, that is, the level of the load, and when an automatic warehouse unit 4 having a load exceeding a predetermined level is generated, the spare stacker crane 8b is loaded. Is required to be put into an automatic warehouse unit 4 having a high height. The traverser control unit 30 causes the traverser 16 to travel in accordance with requests from the crane management unit 26 and the storage management unit 28, and accepts a stacker crane that requires maintenance or repair, and inputs a spare stacker crane.

  FIG. 2 shows the control of the traverser in the embodiment. With this control, the stacker crane requiring maintenance or repair is pulled out from the automatic warehouse unit 4, and a spare stacker crane is inserted instead. The crane management unit of the controller manages the state of each stacker crane, and the state is classified into three types: normal / maintenance required / failure (step 1). In addition, the warehouse management unit manages the load of each automatic warehouse unit (step 2). If there is a stacker crane that requires maintenance or has failed (step 3), the traverser is moved to the automatic warehouse unit where the stacker crane is located, and the stacker crane is moved onto the rail for receiving the traverser (step). 4). Next, the traverser is caused to travel a small distance, and the spare stacker crane is moved to the automatic warehouse unit (step 5). Next, maintenance or repair of the stacker crane is performed on, for example, a traverser (step 6). When step 6 is complete, a spare stacker crane is placed on one of the traverser rails and the other is an empty rail for receiving.

  If neither maintenance nor repair of the stacker crane is required, the storage management section detects the presence or absence of an automatic warehouse unit whose load exceeds a predetermined level (step 7), and if there is such a unit, the traverser travels to that unit. The spare crane is moved onto the rail of the unit (step 8). When the load on the unit in which the spare stacker crane is inserted decreases, the spare stacker crane is recovered onto the traverser 16.

With the above operation, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) When a stacker crane requiring maintenance or having a failure is generated, the traverser 16 can be moved and replaced with a spare stacker crane. As a result, the time required for the automatic warehouse unit to be down can be shortened.
(2) Since one traverser 16 travels on a single traverser rail and receives a stacker crane and inputs a spare stacker crane, the automatic warehouse unit 4 can be restored in a short time.
(3) When an automatic warehouse unit with a high load is generated, a spare stacker crane is inserted, and loading / unloading is performed with two stacker cranes, thereby temporarily increasing the loading / unloading capacity.

2 Automatic warehouse system 4 Automatic warehouse unit 6 Rack 8 Stacker crane 9 Lift platform 10 Rail 12 Ground control panel 14 Station 16 Traverser 18 Traverser rail 19, 20 Rail 22 Controller 24 Controller main body 26 Crane management section 28 Entry / exit management section 30 Traverser control Part

Claims (3)

An automatic warehouse system in which a plurality of automatic warehouse units provided with a rack and a loading / unloading device that runs along the rail and moves into and out of the rack are provided,
A traverser rail laid to connect the plurality of automatic warehouse units;
A rail that travels on the traverser rail and that allows the warehouse to be transferred to and from the automatic warehouse unit is used to receive the warehouse from the automatic warehouse unit and to input the warehouse to the automatic warehouse unit. An automatic warehouse system comprising: a traverser provided with at least two for each use.   The number of automatic warehouse units as the number of the warehouse units is +1, and a single warehouse device is mounted on the traverser as a spare warehouse device for loading into the automatic warehouse unit. 1 automatic warehouse system.   By detecting an automatic warehouse unit with a high loading / unloading load, the spare loading / unloading device is loaded into the high-loading automatic warehouse unit, and two loading / unloading devices are loaded at the high-loading automatic warehouse unit. The automatic warehouse system according to claim 2, further comprising a controller for performing delivery.

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