JP2015151270A - Sequential transportation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize a sequential transportation system capable of pertinently improving transportation ability, in a case where one unit of transporting section has a plurality of delivery transporting sections.SOLUTION: The sequential transportation system comprises a plurality of unit transporting section comprising a number, two or more, of delivery transporting sections and a single initial transporting section from which products are transported to any of the delivery transporting sections. A controlling part makes control of initial transportation products in a manner where, with respect to the initial transportation products which would be transported from the initial transporting section to any of a number of delivery transporting sections in a sequence rearranged based on planned arrival time, transport destination of the initial transportation products is determined based on the state of the delivery transporting sections in each of the unit transporting sections and the initial transportation products are transported to the determined delivery transporting section; makes control of operation in the delivery transporting sections and a number of secondary transporting sections so that, with respect to each of the secondary transporting sections, the sequence of product reception matches with the planned arrival time sequence; and makes control of operation in the secondary transporting sections and a merging transporting section so that products transported from the plurality of secondary transporting sections and merged in the merging transporting section would be transported to a transport destination along with the planned arrival time sequence.

Description

  The present invention includes a plurality of unit delivery units each including a set number of delivery units of two or more and a single primary transport unit that conveys an article to any of the set number of delivery units. In the form corresponding to the set number of delivery units for delivery in each of the unit delivery units, the unit delivery unit is provided downstream of the plurality of unit delivery units, from any of the delivery units for delivery in the plurality of unit delivery units The set number of secondary conveyance units that selectively receive articles and the set number of secondary conveyance units are provided downstream of the set number of secondary conveyance units, and the articles are selectively joined from the set number of secondary conveyance units. A single merging / conveying unit that conveys articles to a conveyance destination set downstream of the set number of secondary conveying units, and a plurality of articles that are to be conveyed according to the conveyance request information In order, the primary transport unit, the output to be transported to the transport destination. Use conveyance unit, the second conveyance unit, and a control unit for controlling the operation of the merging conveyor section, regarding the order delivery system is provided.

  As a technique related to the above-described sequential transport system, there is a transport system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-118630 (Patent Document 1). In Patent Literature 1, a pair of temporary storage stands corresponding to each of a plurality of shelves are provided as a delivery transport unit, and a carriage as a primary transport unit provided separately for each of the plurality of shelves. However, the article can be conveyed to any one of the pair of temporary placement tables. And the downstream as a temporary placing stand is provided with the lift as a secondary conveyance part which conveys articles | goods to the delivery conveyor.

  Although not described in Patent Document 1, in such a transport system, the order in which the articles reach the transport destination may be determined in advance. This is because, for example, when an article delivered from the unit delivery section is loaded into a cart for each store to be delivered to the store, the loading order is the order in which the items are displayed at the store. is there. A transport system that transports articles to a transport destination in such a predetermined arrival order is called a sequential transport system.

  In the sequential transport system, the control unit joins each of the plurality of articles from the primary transport unit to transport the plurality of articles to be transported to the transport destination in a predetermined arrival order specified by the transport request information. Instruct each conveyance device to generate conveyance data in which a conveyance route in each conveyance device up to the conveyance unit is designated in advance, and to sequentially deliver and convey articles in each conveyance device based on the conveyance data. .

  By the way, in the conveyance system of the above-mentioned patent document 1, when the shipping unit is congested and it takes time to perform the transfer process in the shipping unit, the transfer is performed by a transfer device located downstream from the shipping unit. Since the work may be delayed, both of the pair of temporary placement tables can be used as the unloading transport unit.

JP 2000-118630 A

However, in the above-described control method, it is determined in advance in which of the above-mentioned two delivery transport units the article is to be transported in the transport data. Even if the transport unit is provided, there is a case where the delivery capacity cannot be improved.
That is, for example, when one outgoing transport unit is congested compared to the other outgoing transport unit, the predetermined outgoing transport unit is one outgoing transport unit that is congested. In such a case, the article is delivered to the congested delivery unit, and the situation where the subsequent conveyance work is delayed cannot be solved.
As described above, there is a problem in that although two unit shipping units are provided in one unit shipping unit, it is not possible to appropriately improve the shipping capability using the two unit shipping units.

  Therefore, in the case where a single unit shipping unit is provided with a plurality of shipping units, it is desired to realize a sequential transfer system capable of appropriately improving the shipping capability.

The sequential transport system according to the present invention for solving the above-described problems is a single primary transport unit that transports an article to either the set number of two or more outgoing transport units and the set number of outgoing transport units. A plurality of unit delivery units, and the plurality of unit delivery units provided downstream of the plurality of unit delivery units in a form corresponding to the set number of delivery units for delivery in each of the plurality of unit delivery units. Provided downstream of the set number of secondary conveyance units and the set number of secondary conveyance units that selectively receive articles from any of the unloading conveyance units in the unloading unit, and the set number of secondary conveyances A single merging / conveying unit that selectively merges articles from any of the units and conveys the articles to a conveyance destination set downstream of the set number of secondary conveyance units; and a conveyance target according to conveyance request information The order of arrival that was specified in advance for multiple items The primary transport unit so as to transport to the transport destination Te, the unloading conveying unit, the second conveyance unit, and, be those a control unit for controlling the operation of the merging conveyor section, are provided,
The said control part is based on the state of the said predetermined number of delivery conveyance parts in each of the said unit delivery parts about the primary conveyance article conveyed in the order based on the said arrival order in the said primary conveyance part. It is determined on the basis of a setting determination criterion to which of the set number of delivery parts for delivery, the primary delivery article is conveyed to the decided delivery part for delivery. The order of receiving articles from the corresponding delivery unit in the plurality of unit delivery units for each of the set number of secondary delivery units is controlled according to the expected arrival order by controlling the operation of the primary delivery unit. As described above, the upstream side merging control for controlling the operations of the unloading conveyance unit and the secondary conveyance unit, and the articles merged from the plurality of secondary conveyance units to the merging conveyance unit in the expected arrival order Transported to destination Characterized that it is configured to perform the downstream-side junction control for controlling the operation of said second conveyor section and the merging conveyor portion so that, the.

  That is, in order to deliver an article from the primary conveyance device to the set number of delivery units for delivery in each unit delivery unit, it is determined in advance to which of the set number of delivery units for delivery the primary conveyance article is to be conveyed. Since it is determined based on the setting determination criteria based on the state of the set number of delivery transport units instead of the predetermined delivery transport unit, appropriate transport for delivery according to the state of each of the set number of delivery transport units The part can be selected and delivered.

  As the setting determination criterion, for example, priority is given to an unloading transport unit with a small number of unprocessed transports that have not yet been transported according to a transport command that has already been transported based on transport request information. A standard or a standard that does not select the failed delivery transport unit when the transport speed is reduced due to a failure or the like of any of the set number of delivery transport units can be considered.

In the case of a conventional system that transports articles that are transported in the order based on the scheduled arrival order in the primary transport unit to the transport destination in the scheduled arrival order, the unloading transport unit and the transport speed are large. When an article is delivered to a low delivery transport unit, the product to be transported after that cannot be transported due to the fact that the transport of the article to be transported in advance is not completed in the transport unit for delivery There is a risk that the entire transport operation will be delayed.
In this regard, according to the invention of the present application, the delivery unit for delivery delivered from the primary conveyance unit is determined based on the setting determination criterion set so as not to decrease the conveyance efficiency of the article as described above. Even in the case where articles conveyed in the order based on the planned arrival order by the transport unit are transported to the transport destination in the planned arrival order, it is possible to avoid delaying the transport work.
Therefore, it is possible to appropriately share the transportation of articles by the set number of shipping transport units, and it is possible to improve the shipping capacity.

  As described above, according to the present invention, in the case where a plurality of shipping units are provided in one unit shipping unit, it is possible to realize a sequential transfer system capable of appropriately improving the shipping capability.

  In the sequential transport system according to the present invention, the setting determination criterion is a transport command for which transport has already been commanded based on the transport request information among the set number of shipping transport units for each of the unit shipping units. It is preferable that this is a criterion for preferentially selecting an unloading transport unit with a small number of unprocessed transports that have not yet been transported.

  That is, as a setting determination criterion, priority is given to a delivery transport unit with a small number of unprocessed transports, so that the transport work can be evenly distributed to the set number of delivery transport units. For this reason, the sequential conveyance system which can aim at the improvement of the delivery capability more appropriately is realizable.

  In the sequential transfer system according to the present invention, a plurality of unit output unit groups each including the plurality of unit output units and the set number of secondary transfer units are provided, and each of the secondary transfer units is a single unit. It is preferable to be connected to different positions along the transport direction of the merging transport unit.

That is, when a plurality of unit delivery unit groups are provided, the articles are joined from a set number of secondary transport units that transport the articles downstream from each unit delivery unit group to a single joining transport unit. become. Even in such a case, the merging / conveying unit can merge the articles so that the articles merged from the plurality of secondary conveyance units are conveyed to the conveyance destination in the order of arrival.
In addition, since each unit shipping unit group can improve the shipping efficiency as described above, while improving the shipping efficiency from a plurality of unit shipping unit groups, from each of these unit shipping unit groups The delivered goods can be transported to the transport destination in the order of arrival.

  In the sequential conveyance system according to the present invention, the conveyance destination includes a branch conveyance device that conveys the plurality of articles to be conveyed to a plurality of branch conveyance destinations, and the conveyance request information includes the plurality of conveyance destinations. Branching destination information indicating which one of the branching destinations is present, and the control unit, based on the transporting request information, transfers the plurality of articles to be transported for the transporting request information to the branching transporting Controls the operations of the unloading transport unit, the primary transport unit, the secondary transport unit, the merging transport unit, and the branch transport device so as to transport to the branch transport destination according to the destination information. It is preferable.

That is, the branch transport device transports a plurality of articles that are transport targets of a plurality of transport request information into a plurality of branch transport destinations according to the branch transport destination information. Since the articles are transported in the transport order based on the scheduled arrival order, the articles are transported in the transport order based on the scheduled arrival order to a transport destination provided with at least a plurality of branch transport devices. Accordingly, the articles are also conveyed to the plurality of branch conveyance destinations while the arrival schedule order is maintained.
Therefore, even when an article is transported in a form in which a plurality of articles are sorted into a plurality of branch transport destinations, it is possible to sort the plurality of articles into a plurality of branch transport destinations in a state where the scheduled arrival order is maintained.

  In the sequential conveyance system according to the present invention, each of the secondary conveyance units includes an upstream merging conveyance unit that selectively receives articles from each of the plurality of unit evacuation units and the upstream merging conveyance. A buffer conveyance unit that is provided downstream of the unit and holds a plurality of articles received from the upstream merging and conveying unit and maintains the order in which the articles are received from the upstream merging and conveying unit and merges with the merging and conveying unit. Is preferred.

Regarding the articles to be merged into the merging / conveying section, the conveyance of the articles by the secondary conveying section is not necessarily completed at the timing at which the articles should be merged. There may be a time lag between the timing at which the articles should be joined together.
Therefore, after receiving the articles from the delivery transport units in the plurality of unit delivery units at the upstream junction transport unit, the buffer transport unit holds the received articles in a state in which the order received by the upstream junction transport unit is maintained. Thereby, the articles to be merged can be held in the secondary conveyance section until the timing at which the articles should be merged with the merging conveyance section. Moreover, the upstream merging and conveying section
The article to be transported next can be received from the unloading transport section and transferred to the buffer transport section. For this reason, the secondary conveyance unit can receive the article to be conveyed next from the unloading conveyance unit while holding the article until the timing to be merged with the merging conveyance unit, and can further improve the unloading capability. A simple sequential transport system can be realized.

Plan view of sequential transfer system Side view of main part of sequential transfer system Perspective view of main part of sequential transfer system Control block diagram Diagram showing the shipping plan created by the control unit The figure which shows the relationship between article | item ID and destination which are determined based on a delivery plan The figure which shows the conveyance data for every conveyance ID The figure which shows the conveyance work which a control part allocates to each conveyance apparatus The figure which shows the overload situation of the unprocessed article which is conveyed with the layer conveyor The figure which shows the confluence control table of each right and left lifter The figure which shows the result of having allocated the conveyance work for every right and left lifter based on the confluence | merging control table of FIG. The figure which shows a response | compatibility with article | item ID of each article | item being conveyed, and a joining order. Flow chart showing control performed by control unit The top view which shows the sequential conveyance system of 2nd Embodiment The top view which shows the sequential conveyance system of 3rd Embodiment

[First Embodiment]
An embodiment of a sequential transfer system of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the sequential transport system is a picking location (work for loading the articles W on the cart C by the picking robot 70) with the articles W taken out from the automatic warehouse J that can store a plurality of articles W as a transport destination. It is used for transporting to the point where

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the automatic warehouse J has a left storage shelf 10 </ b> L and a right storage shelf 10 </ b> R each provided with a plurality of shelf plates 11 to 15 that can store articles W side by side. A pair is provided in the form of facing each other.
The shelves 11 to 15 in the left storage shelf 10L and the right storage shelf 10R are configured so that those belonging to the same level are positioned at the same height, and a traveling rail for a transport carriage is attached to each level. ing. The transport carriage M is provided one by one corresponding to each stage of the shelf plates 11 to 15, guided by the traveling rail, and configured to travel along the longitudinal direction of the shelf plates 11 to 15. In addition, the transfer carriage M is provided with a transfer device, and with respect to the shelves 11 to 15 that belong to the same level, both the left and right shelves 10L and 10R have the shelves 11 to 15 as well. The article W can be transferred.

  A layer conveyor 20 (corresponding to each stage of the shelf plates 11 to 15) that can convey the article W toward the lifter 30 adjacent to the end portions of the shelf plates 11 to 15 of the left storage shelf 10 </ b> L and the right storage shelf 10 </ b> R. The layer conveyors 21 to 25 are provided separately. Hereinafter, the layer conveyor 20 corresponding to the left storage shelf 10L is referred to as the left layer conveyor 20L, and the layer conveyor 20 corresponding to the right storage shelf 10R is referred to as the right layer conveyor 20R.

  The traveling rail is provided along the longitudinal direction of the shelf boards 11 to 15 from the shelf boards 11 to 15 to the portion where the layer conveyor 20 is present, and the transport carriage M is guided by the traveling rail to the side of the layer conveyor 20. It is configured to be able to travel to the part. The layer conveyor 20 is configured to receive an article W from the transport carriage M and to deliver the received article W to a lifter 30 described later.

  An end of the left layer conveyor 20L opposite to the left storage shelf 10L can be moved up and down along the column 30S and can receive articles selectively from any of the layer conveyors 21 to 25 in the left layer conveyor 20L. A left-side lifter 30L is provided, and an end of the right-side layer conveyor 20R opposite to the right-side storage shelf 10R can be moved up and down along the column 30S and selected from any of the layer conveyors 21 to 25 in the right-side layer conveyor 20R In particular, a right lifter 30R capable of receiving articles is provided. The left lifter 30L and the right lifter 30R are collectively referred to as the lifter 30.

  Further, a single left delivery conveyor 40L that can receive a plurality of articles W from the left lifter 30L and cut out into the downstream main conveyor 50 in the order of receipt is provided downstream of the left lifter 30L. There is provided a single right delivery conveyor 40R that receives a plurality of articles W from the lifter 30R and can be cut out to the downstream main conveyor 50 in the order of receipt. In addition, when calling the left delivery conveyor 40L and the right delivery conveyor 40R collectively, it is called the delivery conveyor 40.

The main conveyor 50, the left delivery conveyor 40L, and the right delivery conveyor 40R are connected to each other at a right angle in plan view, and the conveyance direction of the article W is set to the right delivery conveyor at a connection position of the main conveyor 50 with the right delivery conveyor 40R. A conveyance direction conversion device 51 that converts the conveyance direction of 40R from the conveyance direction of the main conveyor 50 is provided, and the conveyance direction of the article W is conveyed to the left delivery conveyor 40L at the connection position with the left delivery conveyor 40L in the main conveyor 50. A transport direction conversion device 52 that converts the direction to the transport direction of the main conveyor 50 is provided.
In addition, about the goods W which the main conveyor 50 received from the right delivery conveyor 40R, the conveyance direction conversion apparatus 52 can convey now along the conveyance direction of the main conveyor 50, without changing a conveyance direction. Yes.

The picking location is provided downstream of the main conveyor 50 connected to the left delivery conveyor 40L. At the picking location, a first shipping line conveyor 61 that can transport the article W to the picking location by the first picking robot 71 and a second shipping line conveyor 62 that can transport the article W to the picking location by the second picking robot 72. The first shipping line conveyor 61 and the second shipping line conveyor 62 are connected to the main conveyor 50.
In addition, the conveyance direction conversion apparatus 53 which converts the conveyance direction of the articles | goods W from the conveyance direction of the main conveyor 50 to the conveyance direction of the 1st shipment line conveyor 61 in the connection location with the 1st shipment line conveyor 61 in the main conveyor 50. A conveyance direction conversion device 54 that converts the conveyance direction of the articles W from the conveyance direction of the main conveyor 50 to the conveyance direction of the second shipment line conveyor 62 at a connection location of the main conveyor 50 with the second shipment line conveyor 62. Is provided.

  Hereinafter, when the first picking robot 71 and the second picking robot 72 are described together, they are referred to as the picking robot 70 and when the first shipping line conveyor 61 and the second shipping line conveyor 62 are described together. This is referred to as a shipping line conveyor 60.

Although not shown in detail, the picking robot 70 includes a pedestal that can be pivoted, an arm that is supported by the pedestal and can bend and stretch, and a suction pad attached to the tip of the arm. Yes. The suction pad includes a plurality of vacuum suction nozzles, and can switch between an adsorption state that acts on the surface of the article W and a non-adsorption state that does not act on the surface of the article W. It has become.
The picking robot 70 turns the downstream end portion of the first shipping line conveyor 61 or the downstream end portion of the second shipping line conveyor 62 and the cart C corresponding to them by the turning operation of the pedestal portion and the bending operation of the arm portion. The articles W supported by the first shipping line conveyor 61 or the second shipping line conveyor 62 can be stacked on the cart C.

In the present embodiment, each of the layer conveyors 21 to 25 provided in the respective stages of the left storage shelf 10L and the right storage shelf 10R corresponds to a delivery transport unit, and each stage of the left storage shelf 10L and the right storage shelf 10R. Each of the transport carts M1 to M5 provided in the above corresponds to the primary transport unit.
And the unit delivery part is comprised by the shelf board in a remarkable, the two layer conveyors 20, and the conveyance trolley M which conveys the goods W to either of them, and the unit delivery part is arranged in multiple numbers by the up-down direction. In the present embodiment, the automatic warehouse J corresponds to a unit shipping unit group. In the present embodiment, the lifter 30 and the delivery conveyor 40 correspond to the secondary transport unit. Furthermore, the main conveyor 50 which conveys the article W to the picking location set downstream from the delivery conveyor 40 corresponds to the merging and conveying unit.
That is, in this embodiment, the layer conveyor 20, the conveyance trolley M, the lifter 30, and the delivery conveyor 40 are provided as two or more set numbers.

  That is, a five-stage unit delivery unit including two layer conveyors 20 (a left layer conveyor 20L and a right layer conveyor 20R) and a single transport carriage M that transports articles to one of the two layer conveyors 20; , In a form corresponding to the two layer conveyors 20 in each of the five-stage unit delivery sections, provided downstream of the two layer conveyors 20, and selectively from any of the layer conveyors 20 in the five-stage unit delivery section The lifter 30 (the left lifter 30L or the right lifter 30R) that receives the articles W and the corresponding unloading conveyors 40 (the left unloading conveyor 40L or the right unloading conveyor 40R), and downstream of the two lifters 30 and the unloading conveyors 40. Select from either left delivery conveyor 40L or right delivery conveyor 40R By merging the articles into, a single main conveyor 50 for conveying the article W to pick locations that have been set downstream than the two outgoing conveyors 40, it is provided.

Next, based on FIG. 4, the control form of each conveyance apparatus in this order conveyance system is demonstrated. The conveyance control unit H1 is configured by a general-purpose computer such as a personal computer or a PC server that includes a central processing unit and a storage device such as a hard disk.
The transport control unit H1 includes a cart control unit HM that controls the operation of the transport cart M, a layer conveyor control unit H20 that controls the operation of the layer conveyor 20, a lifter control unit H30 that controls the operation of the lifter 30, and a delivery conveyor 40. Buffer conveyor control unit H40 for controlling the operation, main conveyor control unit H50 for controlling the operation of the main conveyor 50, shipping line conveyor control unit H60 for controlling the operation of the shipping line conveyor 60, and a picking robot for controlling the operation of the picking robot 70 The control unit H70 and the higher-level management device H0 are connected to be able to communicate with each other. In addition, the main conveyor control part H50 controls the action | operation of the conveyance direction conversion apparatuses 51-54.

The host management device H0 is constituted by a general-purpose computer such as a personal computer or a PC server provided with a central processing unit and a storage device such as a hard disk, and is equipped with a database program. As shown in FIG. 5, the upper management device H0 sends an article of any type code (for example, a code assigned to each product name such as potato chips, rice crackers, nuts, etc.) downstream of the first shipping line conveyor 61. In any order, either the side end (indicated as “A” in FIG. 5) or the downstream end of the second shipping line conveyor 62 (indicated as “B” in FIG. 5) Plan what you want to reach. Note that the “group” subsequent to the “destination” in FIG. 5 is set so that a group of articles set in the same group continuously reach the destination.
In addition, the database program in the upper management apparatus H0 includes each storage position (hereinafter referred to as a shelf address) of the articles stored in the automatic warehouse J, the type code of the articles, and the attributes (contents, year of manufacture) of the articles. It is managed as a relational database together with incidental information such as whether or not it is a campaign product.

Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the upper management device H <b> 0, according to the above-described relational database, the articles with various codes are on the level of any shelf plate 11 to 15 in either the left storage shelf 10 </ b> L or the right storage shelf 10 </ b> R. The storage location (hereinafter referred to as a shelf address) is searched for, the type code in FIG. 5 is allocated to each item, and the item ID is stored.
Furthermore, the upper management apparatus H0 uses the storage address (FROM) as the shelf address in which the article with the article ID is stored based on the allocated article ID as shown in FIG. The transport request information having the transport destination (TO) as the 2 picking location is generated.
Then, the upper management apparatus H0 transmits the transport request information generated as described above to the transport control unit H1 in the order of the transport ID.

Based on the transport request information received from the higher-level management device H0, the transport control unit H1 generates transport data to which a transport device in charge of transport is assigned when transporting the article with the transport ID, as shown in FIG. .
The transport data corresponds to the transport ID, and each of the transport cart M, the layer conveyor 20, the lifter 30, the delivery conveyor 40, the main conveyor 50, the shipping line conveyor 60, and the picking robot 70 as a transport device (hereinafter summarized). In this case, it is determined in advance which device is in charge of conveyance.
Among these, the layer conveyor 20, the lifter 30, and the delivery conveyor 40 are transported by the left transport device group including the left layer conveyor 20L, the left lifter 30L, and the left delivery conveyor 40L, or the right layer conveyor 20R and the right lifter. It is not determined in advance whether or not the right side transport device group including 30R and the right delivery conveyor 40R is used for transport.

  The “processed flag” in the right column is data indicating whether or not the transfer by the transfer device has been completed. If the transfer has not been completed, “0” is set. If the transfer has been completed, “1” is set. Is set. That is, it is possible to manage to what extent a series of transfer operations has been completed by the processed flag. In FIG. 8, only four of transport IDs 1 to 4 are taken out from the many transport IDs generated based on the transport request information received from the upper management apparatus H0.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the conveyance control unit H <b> 1 sets the number of unprocessed conveyances, which is the number of conveyance operations that have not been completed yet, based on the conveyance request information based on the conveyance request information, The left layer conveyor 20L and the right layer conveyor 20R are managed.
Based on the information related to the unprocessed number of conveyance, the conveyance carriage M determines whether to wholesale the article to the left layer conveyor 20L or the right layer conveyor 20R. The determination method will be described later.

The conveyance control unit H1 instructs conveyance to each conveyance device in the order of conveyance ID based on the conveyance data of FIG. At this time, in the same transport ID, the transport device having the processed flag of “0” on the most upstream side is the transport device in charge of transporting the article with the transport ID. That is, taking FIG. 8 as an example, it can be seen that the article with the conveyance ID “1” has been completely conveyed to the shipping line conveyor 60, and the picking robot 70 is in charge of the next conveyance.
In addition, for the article with the conveyance ID “4”, the conveyance by the layer conveyor 20 has been completed, and it is understood that the lifter 30 is responsible for the next conveyance.

Next, based on the table | surface of FIGS. 5-12 and the flowchart of FIG. 13, the control regarding the conveyance which each conveyance apparatus performs is demonstrated for the goods of conveyance ID "1" as an example. Since the same control is performed for other transport IDs, the description of the transport other than the transport ID “1” is omitted.
As shown in the flowchart of FIG. 13, the upper management apparatus H0 generates the transport request information (FIG. 7) in the order of arrival based on the delivery schedule (FIG. 5) (step # 11).
Subsequently, the upper management apparatus H0 delivers the generated transport request information to the transport control unit H1 in the order of the transport ID. The transport control unit H1 generates transport data as shown in FIG. 8 according to the transport request information, and sequentially instructs the transport device to transport according to the transport data.

The conveyance data of conveyance ID1 in FIG. 8 will be described as an example. First, the cart control unit HM is instructed to pick up the article at the 12th storage position of the first shelf 11 in the left storage shelf 10L (step). # 12).
The cart control unit HM that has received the scooping command operates the transport cart M1 to scoop the articles W stored in the storage position, and transports the articles W to the transfer position to the layer conveyor 20 by the transport cart M1. The fact that the transport carriage M1 has reached the transfer position to the layer conveyor 20 is detected by a travel position sensor (not shown) and notified to the carriage control unit HM (step # 13).

When the transfer control unit H1 receives information indicating that the transfer carriage M1 has reached the transfer position to the layer conveyor 20 from the carriage control unit HM, the transfer control unit H1 subsequently determines the number of unprocessed transfers in the left layer conveyor 20L and the right layer conveyor 20R. It is determined which of the unprocessed conveyance number is larger (step # 14). If the transfer control unit H1 determines in step # 14 that the number of unprocessed transfers on the left layer conveyor 20L is smaller than the number of unprocessed transfers on the right layer conveyor 20R (step # 14: Y), the left layer conveyor The operation of the transport carriage M1 is controlled so as to deliver the article W to 20L (step # 15).
In the present embodiment, the criterion for determining the size of the unprocessed number of conveyances in the left layer conveyor 20L and the unprocessed number of conveyances in the right layer conveyor 20R corresponds to the setting determination criterion. In other words, as a setting determination criterion, among the two layer conveyors 20 (the left layer conveyor 20L and the right layer conveyor 20R), the transfer operation based on the transfer command for which transfer has already been instructed based on the transfer request information has not yet been completed. A criterion for preferentially selecting the layer conveyor 20 having a small number of unprocessed items is set.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 10, the transport control unit H1 operates the apparatus to the lifter control unit H30 to operate the left lifter 30L so as to receive articles in the order based on the transport ID from the five left layer conveyors 20L. Command (step # 16).
Furthermore, the conveyance control unit H1 controls the operations of the left lifter 30L and the left unloading conveyor 40L to deliver articles to the left unloading conveyor 40L in the order received by the left lifter 30L (shown in FIG. 11) (step # 17). ).

On the other hand, if the transfer control unit H1 determines in step # 14 that the number of unprocessed conveyances in the left layer conveyor 20L is greater than the number of unprocessed conveyances in the right layer conveyor 20R (step # 14: N), the right side The operation of the transport carriage M1 is controlled so as to deliver the article W to the layer conveyor 20R (step # 19).
Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 10, the conveyance control unit H1 commands the operation of the right lifter 30R to operate the right lifter 30R so as to receive articles from the five right layer conveyors 20R in the order based on the conveyance ID ( Step # 20).
Furthermore, the conveyance control unit H1 controls the operations of the right lifter 30R and the right delivery conveyor 40R to deliver the articles to the right delivery conveyor 40R in the order received by the right lifter 30R (shown in FIG. 11) (step # 21). ).
In step # 14, whether the left layer conveyor 20L or the right layer conveyor 20R receives the article is determined so as to preferentially select the one with the smaller number of unprocessed conveyances. When the number of processes is equal, the layer conveyor 20 that is closer to the picking location that is the transfer destination in the transfer direction of the main conveyor 50 is preferentially selected.

  At this time, the conveyance control unit H1 combines the left lifter 30L that selectively receives articles from the five left layer conveyors 20L and the right lifter 30R that selectively receives articles from the five right layer conveyors 20R into one merge. Operation of the left lifter 30L and the left unloading conveyor 40L, and the right lifter 30R and so as to join the articles W in the order shown in FIG. The operation of the right delivery conveyor 40R will be controlled. The table shown in FIG. 12 is referred to as a merging control table. In the present embodiment, the control of steps # 17 and # 21 corresponds to the upstream merging control.

Further, the left lifter 30L and the right lifter 30R deliver the articles W received from the left layer conveyor 20L and the right layer conveyor 20R to the corresponding left delivery conveyor 40L and the right delivery conveyor 40R, and the left delivery conveyor 40L and the right delivery conveyor 40R. In the main conveyor 50, the articles W are joined to the joining portion in the main conveyor 50 so that the order of the group numbers is not changed for each destination.
As long as the order of the group numbers for each destination is not changed in the main conveyor 50, the left delivery conveyor 40L and the right delivery conveyor 40R may cut out the articles so that any of the articles is on the downstream side.
That is, taking “Destination-Group” of each transport ID in FIG. 5 as an example, “A-1”, “A-2”, “A-2”, “A-3”, The arrangement order of “A-4” and the arrangement order of “B-1”, “B-1”, “B-1”, “B-2”, “B-2” for the destination B are maintained. As long as it is made, for example, in the order of “A-1”, “B-1”, “A-2”, “B-1”, “A-2”, “B-1”, the main conveyor 50 The articles W may be cut out from the left delivery conveyor 40L and the right delivery conveyor 40R so as to be conveyed.
In addition, for the articles belonging to the same group number conveyed to the same destination, the left delivery conveyor 40L and the right delivery conveyor 40R can cut out the articles so that any of those articles is on the downstream side. Good. That is, in FIG. 12, the joining order (joining order 2 and joining order 3) of the article with the article ID 10302 and the article with the article ID 20101 whose “destination-group” is “A-2” may be reversed.

  Moreover, the conveyance control part H1 regards the merge point with the left delivery conveyor 40L and the merge point with the right delivery conveyor 40R in the main conveyor 50 as one merge part (indicated by a broken line G2 in FIG. 1), and the merge part. In G2, the operations of the left delivery conveyor 40L or the right delivery conveyor 40R, the main conveyor 50, and the conveyance direction changing devices 51 and 52 are controlled so as to join the articles W in the order shown in FIG. 12 (steps # 18 and #). 22). In the present embodiment, the control in steps # 18 and # 22 corresponds to the downstream side merge control.

Subsequently, the transport control unit H1 determines whether the transport destination (To) is the first picking location or the second picking location based on the transport data (step # 23).
In step # 23, when it is determined that the transport destination (To) is the first picking location (step # 23: Y), the transport control unit H1 transfers the article W transported by the main conveyor 50 to the first shipping line conveyor 61. The operation of the transport direction changing device 53 is controlled so as to branch to (step # 24).
When the article W transported by the first shipping line conveyor 61 reaches the half-way downstream single part of the first shipping line conveyor 61, the transport control unit H1 performs a picking operation for stacking the article W on the cart C. The operation of the first picking robot 71 is controlled (step # 25).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step # 23 that the transport destination (To) is the second picking location (step # 23: N), the transport control unit H1 transfers the article W transported by the main conveyor 50 to the second shipping line. In order to branch to the conveyor 62, the operation of the transport direction changing device 54 is controlled (step # 26).
When the article W transported by the second shipping line conveyor 62 reaches the half-way downstream single part of the second shipping line conveyor 62, the transport control unit H1 performs a picking operation for stacking the article W on the cart C. The operation of the second picking robot 72 is controlled (step # 27).

Note that, in the processing of step # 12 to step # 27, the transfer work related to the next transfer ID is started before all the transfer work related to the transfer ID is completed.
When the work of step # 25 or step # 27 is completed, it is then determined whether or not the transport request information corresponding to the transport ID is the last transport request information to be processed on that day (step If it is determined that it is the last transport request information (step # 28: Y), a series of processing is completed.
If it is not the last transport request information (step # 28: N), the process returns to knowing step # 12.

In the present embodiment, the above-described upper management device H0 and the transport control unit H1 correspond to a control unit.
That is, the upper management device H0 and the conveyance control unit H1 are configured to convey the plurality of articles W to be conveyed according to the conveyance request information to the conveyance destination in the scheduled arrival order specified in advance. The operations of the lifter 30, the delivery conveyor 40, and the main conveyor 50 are controlled.

  And the conveyance control part H1 manages the unprocessed number of conveyance in the left layer conveyor 20L and the right layer conveyor 20R as the state of the set number of delivery conveying parts, and the conveyance unprocessed in the left layer conveyor 20L and the right layer conveyor 20R Based on the number of processing, priority is given to the unloading conveyance unit with a small number of unprocessed conveyances as a setting determination criterion as to which of the left layer conveyor 20L and the right layer conveyor 20R to convey the primary conveyance article. It is determined based on the reference, and the operation of the transport carriage M is controlled so as to transport the primary transport article to the determined layer conveyor 20.

  Further, the layer conveyor is configured so that the order in which the conveyance control unit H1 receives the articles W from the corresponding layer conveyors 20 in the plurality of unit delivery units for each of the left layer conveyor 20L and the right layer conveyor 20R follows the expected arrival order. 20 and the upstream side merging control for controlling the operation of the lifter 30 and the delivery conveyor 40, and the delivery so that the articles W joined from the two delivery conveyors 40 to the main conveyor 50 are conveyed to the picking location in the order of arrival. The downstream side merging control for controlling the operation of the conveyor 40 and the main conveyor 50 is configured to be executed.

In the present embodiment, the first picking unit and the second picking unit correspond to the branch conveyance destination. 5 and 6 corresponds to branch transport destination information indicating the branch transport destination. That is, the transport request information has destination information indicating which of the plurality of first picking units and second picking units the transport destination is.
In the present embodiment, the transport direction changing devices 53 and 54 correspond to a branch transport device.
The picking location has transport direction changing devices 53 and 54 that transport a plurality of articles W to be transported to the first picking unit or the second picking unit, and the transport control unit H1 is based on the transport request information. In order to transport a plurality of articles W to be transported with respect to the transport request information in the form of sorting into the first picking unit or the second picking unit according to the destination information, the layer conveyor 20, the lifter 30, the delivery conveyor 40, and The operations of the main conveyor 50 and the conveyance direction changing devices 53 and 54 are controlled.

In the present embodiment, the lifter 30 corresponds to the upstream merging and conveying unit, the unloading conveyor 40 located downstream thereof corresponds to the buffer conveying unit, and the lifter 30 and the unloading conveyor 40 correspond to the secondary conveying unit.
In other words, each of the secondary transport units holds a plurality of lifters 30 that selectively receive articles from the respective layer conveyors 20 of the plurality of unit delivery sections, and a plurality of articles W that are provided downstream of the lifters 30 and received from the lifters 30. And a delivery conveyor 40 that maintains the order in which the articles W are received from the lifter 30 and joins the main conveyor 50.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, although 2nd Embodiment of the sequential conveyance system of this invention is described, this 2nd embodiment is equipped with two automatic warehouses J in 1st Embodiment in the conveyance direction of the main conveyor 50, and provided it, Since it is the same structure as 1st Embodiment, description is abbreviate | omitted about the point which is the same, and only a different point is demonstrated.
In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 14, two automatic warehouses J1 as unit shipping unit groups and two automatic warehouses J2 as unit shipping unit groups are provided along the conveyance direction of the main conveyor 50. ing. The configurations of the automatic warehouse J1 and the automatic warehouse J2 are the same as the automatic warehouse J described in the first embodiment.

And the left delivery conveyor 41L and the right delivery conveyor 41R in the automatic warehouse J1, and the left delivery conveyor 42L and the right delivery conveyor 42R in the automatic warehouse J2 are the right delivery conveyor 41R, the left delivery conveyor 41L, in order from the upstream side. They are connected to different positions along the conveying direction of the main conveyor 50 so as to be aligned with the right delivery conveyor 42R and the left delivery conveyor 42L. At each connection location, conveyance direction changing devices 501 to 504 are provided.
That is, two automatic warehouses J each including a plurality of unit delivery units and two delivery conveyors 40 are provided, and each of the delivery conveyors 40 is connected to a different position along the transport direction of the single main conveyor 50. .

  In the present embodiment, the conveyance control unit H1 collectively regards the left lifter 31L and the right lifter 31R in the automatic warehouse J1 as one merger G1, and merges the articles W according to the merge control table at the merger G1. As described above, the operation of the left lifter 31L and the left unloading conveyor 41L and the operation of the right lifter 31R and the right unloading conveyor 41R are controlled, and the left lifter 32L and the right lifter 32R in the automatic warehouse J2 are combined into one merger. The upstream side that controls the operation of the left lifter 32L and the left delivery conveyor 42L and the operation of the right lifter 32R and the right delivery conveyor 42R so that the articles W are merged according to the merge control table at the merge part G1. Execute merge control.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, the conveyance control part H1 is a merging part (FIG. 1) about the confluence | merging location with the right delivery conveyor 41R, the left delivery conveyor 41L, the right delivery conveyor 42R, and the left delivery conveyor 42L in the main conveyor 50. 1, the left delivery conveyor 40L or the right delivery conveyor 41R, the left delivery conveyor 41L, the right delivery conveyor 42R, and the left side so that the articles W are merged according to the merge control table at the junction G2. The downstream side merging control for controlling the operations of the delivery conveyor 42L, the main conveyor 50, and the conveyance direction conversion devices 501 to 504 is executed.

[Third Embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment of the sequential transfer system of the present invention will be described.
In the third embodiment, there is provided a stacker crane SC that can travel along the traveling rail, and an article storage shelf that is provided along the traveling path and faces the front, and is taken out from the article storage shelf by the stacker crane SC. A plurality of warehouses AR (four in FIG. 15) provided with a pair of two delivery conveyors 200 for delivering the collected articles are provided.
In the present embodiment, the shipping conveyor 200 corresponds to the shipping transport unit, and the stacker crane SC corresponds to the primary transport unit. Accordingly, each of the four warehouses AR1 to AR4 corresponds to a unit delivery part, and an automatic warehouse J as a delivery part group is configured by the warehouses AR1 to AR4.
A total of eight delivery conveyors 200 are provided from the left delivery conveyor 201L and the right delivery conveyor 201R in the warehouse AR1 to the left delivery conveyor 204L and the right delivery conveyor 204R in the warehouse AR4.

A plurality of transport carts ST for selectively receiving and transporting articles from the eight delivery conveyors 200 are provided so as to be able to travel along an annular transport path 80.
In the present embodiment, the transport carriage ST corresponds to the secondary transport unit and the merging transport unit. Further, adjacent to the conveyance path 80, a conveyance upstream end of the main conveyor 500 is provided as a merging conveyance unit that conveys articles to a conveyance destination. A shipping line conveyor 600 (first shipping) that transports articles to a picking robot 70 (first picking robot 71 or second picking robot 72) that performs a picking operation of stacking articles on the cart C along the transport direction of the main conveyor 500. The line conveyor 601 and the first shipping line conveyor 602) are provided in a branched state. A place where the picking robot 70 performs a picking operation is referred to as a picking place.

  The transport control unit H1 includes a stacker crane SC, a delivery conveyor 200, a transport cart ST, and a plurality of articles W to be transported according to the transport request information, in order to transport them to a transport destination in a predetermined arrival order. The operation of the shipping line conveyor 600 is controlled.

  At this time, the transfer control unit H1 sets the number of unloading conveyors 201L, 202L, 203L, and 204L as the state of the set number of unloading transfer units, and the unloading conveyors 201R, 202R, 203R, and 204R on the right unloading conveyor. The number of unprocessed conveyances is managed, and based on the number of unprocessed conveyances in the left-hand shipping conveyor and right-hand shipping conveyor, whether the primary transported article is transported to the left-hand shipping conveyor or the right-hand shipping conveyor Is determined based on a criterion for preferentially selecting the delivery conveyor 200 with a small number of unprocessed conveyances as a setting determination criterion, and the operation of the stacker crane SC is controlled so as to transport the primary transported article to the determined delivery conveyor 200. It has come to do.

  Further, for the delivery control unit H1, the order for receiving the articles W from the corresponding delivery conveyors 200 in the plurality of warehouses AR for each of the left delivery conveyor and the right delivery conveyor follows the expected arrival order. Upstream merging control for controlling the operation of the conveyor 200 and the transport cart ST, and the operation of the transport cart ST and the main conveyor 500 so that the articles W received by the transport cart ST are delivered to the main conveyor 500 in the order of arrival. And downstream side merging control for controlling the control.

[Another embodiment]
(1) In the first or second embodiment, the configuration including the two layer conveyors of the left layer conveyor 20L and the right layer conveyor 20R as the two or more set number of delivery conveyors has been described. The number of parts may be three or more. Further, in the third embodiment, the example in which the left-side shipping conveyor and the right-side shipping conveyor are provided as two shipping parts has been described, but a configuration in which three or more shipping conveyors are provided may be employed.
In this case, the setting determination criterion may be a criterion for preferentially selecting the one having the smallest number of unprocessed conveyances among the three or more layer conveyors or the delivery conveyors.

(2) In the first to third embodiments, an example is shown in which the upper management device H0 that plans the transportation of articles and the transport control unit H1 that controls the operation of each transport device are configured as different hardware. However, the upper management apparatus H0 and the transport control unit H1 may be configured by the same hardware.

(3) In the first to third embodiments, the example in which two picking locations are provided as the transport destination is illustrated, but this may be one or three or more picking locations.
Alternatively, the cart C may be loaded manually by an operator without using the picking robot 70.

(4) In the first and second embodiments described above, an example in which the secondary transport unit is configured by the lifter and a delivery conveyor that is connected downstream and has a function of holding a plurality of articles and delivering them downstream in the order of receipt. However, a configuration in which the secondary transport unit is only the lifter may be used. Moreover, it can also be set as the structure which does not have a function which hold | maintains several articles | goods in a delivery conveyor and delivers them downstream in order of receipt.

(5) In the first to third embodiments, the setting determination criterion is set to the unloading conveyance with a small number of unprocessed conveyances that have not yet been completed by the conveyance command for which conveyance has already been commanded based on the conveyance request information. However, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. For example, the conveyance speed is managed and the delivery conveyance section having a high conveyance speed is selected with priority. It is good also as a reference | standard or the reference | standard which manages whether it is out of order and selects the unloading conveyance part.

(6) In the first or second embodiment, as shown in Steps # 13 and # 14 of the flowchart in FIG. 13, the conveyance control unit H1 confirms that the conveyance carriage M1 has reached the transfer position to the layer conveyor 20. When the information to be shown is received from the carriage control unit HM, it is determined whether the number of unprocessed conveyances in the left layer conveyor 20L or the number of unprocessed conveyances in the right layer conveyor 20R is large. Although it is configured so as to determine which of the left layer conveyor 20L and the right layer conveyor 20R should be used for wholesale, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. For example, immediately before the conveyance control unit H1 instructs the carriage control unit HM to start the carriage to start the conveyance of the article W, the number of untreated conveyances in the left layer conveyor 20L and the number of untreated conveyances in the right layer conveyor 20R Which one is larger is determined, and it is determined from the transport carriage M to the left layer conveyor 20L or the right layer conveyor 20R, and then the carriage control unit HM is instructed to operate the carriage. You may comprise.

20 Unloading conveyance unit 30, 40 Secondary conveyance unit 50 Merge conveyance unit H0, H1 Control unit J Unit unloading unit group M Primary conveyance unit W Article

Claims (5)

A plurality of unit delivery units including a set number of delivery units of two or more and a single primary transport unit that conveys an article to any of the set number of delivery units;
In the form corresponding to the set number of delivery units for delivery in each of the plurality of unit delivery units, any of the delivery units for delivery in the plurality of unit delivery units provided downstream of the plurality of unit delivery units The set number of secondary transport units for selectively receiving articles from
Provided downstream of the set number of secondary transport units, and selectively merge the articles from any of the set number of secondary transport units, and set downstream of the set number of secondary transport units. A single merging and conveying unit that conveys the article to the destination
The primary transport unit, the unloading transport unit, the secondary transport unit, and the confluence to transport a plurality of articles to be transported to the transport destination in a predetermined order of arrival specified by the transport request information A control unit that controls the operation of the transport unit, and a sequential transport system,
The controller is
For the primary transported articles that are transported in the order based on the scheduled arrival order by the primary transport unit, for the set number of shippings based on the state of the set number of shipping transport units in each of the unit shipping units It is determined based on a setting determination criterion to which of the transport parts the primary transport article is transported, and the primary transport section is configured to transport the primary transport article to the determined transport section. Control the operation,
For each of the set number of secondary transport units, the order of receiving articles from the corresponding transport unit for delivery in the plurality of unit delivery units follows the planned arrival order, and Upstream merging control for controlling the operation of the secondary transport unit;
The downstream side that controls the operations of the secondary conveyance unit and the merging conveyance unit so that articles merged from the plurality of secondary conveyance units to the merging conveyance unit are conveyed to the conveyance destination in the expected arrival order. A sequential transfer system configured to perform merge control;   Conveyance in which the conveyance operation by the conveyance command for which conveyance has already been instructed based on the conveyance request information is not yet completed among the set number of unloading conveyance units for each of the unit output units, The sequential transfer system according to claim 1, which is a criterion for preferentially selecting an unloading transfer unit with a small number of unprocessed items. A plurality of unit delivery unit groups each including the plurality of unit delivery units and the set number of secondary transport units are provided,
The sequential conveyance system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein each of the secondary conveyance units is connected to different positions along the conveyance direction of the single merging conveyance unit. The transport destination includes a branch transport device that transports the plurality of articles to be transported to a plurality of branch transport destinations,
The transport request information includes branch transport destination information indicating which of the plurality of branch transport destinations is the transport destination,
The control unit is configured to transfer the plurality of articles to be transported for the transport request information to the branch transport destination according to the branch transport destination information based on the transport request information. The sequential conveyance system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which controls operations of a conveyance unit, the primary conveyance unit, the secondary conveyance unit, the merging conveyance unit, and the branch conveyance device.   Each of the secondary transport units is provided downstream of the upstream merging and transporting unit and an upstream merging and transporting unit that selectively receives articles from each of the plurality of unit shipping units. 5. A buffer transport unit that holds a plurality of articles received from a transport unit and maintains the order in which the articles are received from the upstream merging transport unit and joins the merging transport unit. 5. The described sequential transport system.

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