JP2015157685A - Carrier truck - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a carrier truck that enables carrying-in and carrying-out operations for some articles to be accurately and manually performed within a row of each frontage in each case.SOLUTION: A self-propelled carrier truck 1 for traveling within a storage rack 2, the upper part of which comprises a plurality of loading parts 4a capable of being loaded with an article and a plurality of travel parts 4b and 4b for making wheels of the carrier truck travelable, includes a communication part that receives a position confirmation signal transmitted from the outside, and notification means that is actuated by reception of the position confirmation signal to provide notification to the outside.

Description

  The present invention relates to a transport carriage for transporting articles.

  A large-scale warehouse system capable of large-scale article storage management has been spread, in which a plurality of storage racks having a plurality of upper and lower steps and a plurality of rows of openings on the left and right are installed. An upper part on which the article can be placed and a traveling part on which the wheels of the transport carriage run extend in the depth direction with respect to the frontage. By doing so, there is known a transport facility such as Patent Document 1 in which an article is carried into or out of a placement unit in a predetermined opening by a transport carriage. In such a large-scale warehouse system, there is one in which a specified article can be carried in and out fully automatically by using a stacker crane that moves a transport carriage to each frontage (see Patent Document 1). ).

Japanese Patent No. 3138983 (page 4, FIG. 10)

  In addition, depending on the size of the warehouse, without using such a fully automatic article transport facility, an operator moves individual transport carts to each frontage with a forklift or the like, and partially operates within the frontage by operating the operation terminal. There is a demand for a warehouse system that can manually carry in and out the goods. However, in such a warehouse system by manual operation, there is a possibility that it is difficult to confirm the position of the transport carriage to be operated.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to such a demand, and an object of the present invention is to provide a transport carriage that can carry out a manual operation of a part of articles in each frontage row accurately and manually. And

In order to solve the above problems, the transport carriage of the present invention is
A self-propelled transport carriage that travels in a storage rack that includes a plurality of placement sections that allow an article to be placed on the upper portion and a traveling section that can travel the wheels of the transport carriage.
The transport carriage includes a receiving unit that receives a position confirmation signal transmitted from the outside, and an informing unit that operates by receiving the position confirmation signal to notify the outside.
According to this feature, the operator can confirm the position of the transport carriage in the storage rack by the notification means by transmitting a position confirmation signal to the transport carriage. Can be done accurately.

The informing means informs an appropriate positional relationship between the transport carriage and the fork of the forklift by light and / or sound.
According to this feature, the operator can confirm visually and / or audibly the position of the transport carriage in the storage rack at the frontage.

The notification means is attached to the transport carriage so as to emit light and / or sound toward the front side of the storage rack.
According to this feature, since light and / or sound is emitted toward the front side of the storage rack, the operator can surely confirm the position of the transport carriage from the front side.

It is a side view which shows the state which the conveyance trolley | bogie in an Example drive | works the traveling rail of a storage shelf. It is a front view which shows the state which the mounting base of the conveyance trolley lifted the articles | goods. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of a conveyance trolley | bogie. It is a top view which shows a vehicle body. It is a figure which shows the control system of a conveyance trolley. It is a figure which shows the conveyance trolley | bogie selection screen of an operation terminal. It is a figure which shows the operation instruction means screen of an operation terminal. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the alerting | reporting by an alerting | reporting means.

  EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION The form for implementing the conveyance trolley | bogie which concerns on this invention is demonstrated below based on an Example.

  The transport cart according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the transport carriage 1 stores a specified article 3 in a large warehouse or the like in which a plurality of storage racks 2, 2,... It is used when carrying in or out of a predetermined slot 2a of the rack 2. As shown in FIG. 3, each frontage 2 a of the storage rack 2 has a pair of running rails 4, 4 that extend in the depth direction of the frontage 2 a in a L-shape and an inverted L-shape when viewed from the front, 2,... Are mainly constituted by frame bodies 2b and 2b. A plurality of pallets 5 on which the articles 3 are placed are supported along the depth direction of the running rail 4 on the placing portion 4 a on the upper side of the running rail 4. Further, a warping portion 4 c is provided on the outer side portion of the placement portion 4 a of the traveling rail 4 so as to prevent the pallet 5 from falling.

  As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the transport cart 1 can move up and down with respect to the vehicle body 6 by placing and supporting the vehicle body 6 that can travel in the depth direction along the traveling parts 4 b and 4 b of the traveling rails 4 and 4. And a traveling drive unit 8 that allows the transport carriage 1 to travel on the traveling rail 4.

  The transport cart 1 travels on the traveling portions 4b and 4b of the traveling rails 4 and 4 in the lowest lowered state where the mounting table 7 is separated from the lower surface of the pallet 5 and enters the lower side of the pallet 5, and then raises the mounting table 7. Thus, the article 3 is lifted together with the pallet 5, and the pallet 5 and the article 3 are lifted from the placement portions 4 a and 4 a of the traveling rails 4 and 4 and transported. In this embodiment, the mounting table 7 mounts the pallet 5 on which the article 3 is placed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the mounting table 7 may directly place the article 3.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the vehicle body 6 includes a base member 10 having a bottom plate 10a and front and rear side plate portions 10b, 10c formed by bending the front and rear of a metal plate into a U-shaped cross section, and a base member. The side plates 11 and 11 are attached to the left and right sides of the base member 10, and are detachably fixed to the base member 10 by bolts, nuts and the like (not shown). The vehicle body 6 includes a traveling drive unit 12 for traveling, a lifting device 8 for lifting and lowering, a control device, and batteries 44 and 44 as power supply devices. The control device includes a drive motor control unit that drives and controls the driving motors 12a and 12a for traveling, a lift motor control unit that drives and controls the lift motor 17 for lifting, a storage unit, a communication unit as a reception unit, and a transmission unit. ing. The storage unit has a function of storing a drive signal history of the control device, an operation history of the transport carriage 1, and the like. The communication unit includes a wireless LAN transmission / reception device, and receives a drive command from the outside, transmits data stored in the storage unit, an operation instruction unit described later, and the like.

  The traveling drive units 12 and 12 are mainly composed of drive motors 12a and 12a, traveling wheels 13 and 13, and a plurality of driven wheels 14, 14,. The drive motors 12a and 12a are connected to a drive motor control unit by a cable (not shown), and the drive motor control unit is further connected to batteries 44 and 44 built in the vehicle body 6. The drive motor control unit supplies electric power to the drive motors 12a and 12a based on the command signal, rotationally drives the drive motors 12a and 12a, and the traveling wheels 13 and 13 driven by the drive motors 12a and 12a By traveling on the traveling surfaces 4b, 4b of the traveling rail 4 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the driven wheels 14, 14,... Follow and the vehicle body 6 travels stably.

  Also, for the lifting device 8 for lifting the mounting table 7, the lifting motor control unit supplies power to the lifting motor 17 based on the command signal to drive the lifting motor 17 to move up and down. Is raised and lowered.

  In addition, when the voltage of the batteries 44 and 44 falls by the drive of the conveyance trolley | bogie 1, etc., the batteries 44 and 44 can be removed from the vehicle body 6, and it can charge with the charging means of a control panel mentioned later. And after charging, it can be attached to the vehicle body 6 of the transport carriage 1 and used repeatedly as the batteries 44, 44 of the transport carriage 1.

  Also, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, bumpers 60 and 60 formed of a cushioning material such as rubber are attached to the side plate portions 10 b and 10 c in both the front and rear traveling directions of the transport carriage 1. It has a buffering action when the transport cart 1 collides with an object during traveling. Each bumper 60 has a hollow tube shape, and a switch 61 that is a contact-sensitive sensor is provided inside. The bumper 60 is elastically deformed when the transport carriage 1 collides with an object during traveling, and the inner surface of the bumper 60 comes into contact with the switch 61 by this elastic deformation, and the switch 61 is turned on.

  Although this switch 61 is not shown here, it is connected to a control device, and when the transport carriage 1 collides with an object during traveling, a signal that the switch 61 is turned on is transmitted to the control device. That is, it is a detection means for causing the control device to detect the collision. Based on this signal, the control device transmits a signal for braking and stopping the drive motor in the traveling device 12 to the drive motor control unit, and has a function of stopping the transport carriage 1.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, a light emitting device 62 such as an LED is fixed to the side plate portion 10c, and a speaker 63 is built in the vehicle body 6, and each is connected to a control device. When receiving a signal that the switch 61 is turned on, the control device turns on the light emitting device 62 and outputs a predetermined sound from the speaker 63. That is, the light emitting device 62 and the speaker 63 constitute a notification unit that notifies the outside that the switch 61 is turned on. By utilizing this notification means, it is possible to notify the worker of which conveyance cart 1 collides with an object in the storage shelf 2 and is in a stopped state, so that the restoration work can be smoothly performed. Can be done.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, control panels 30 are respectively provided on the front side and the rear side of the vehicle body 6 of the transport carriage 1. As will be described later, the control panel 30 is a touch panel connected to the control device, and displays an operation instruction means screen (not shown) for driving, monitoring and operating the transport carriage 1. The conveyance carriage 1 can be driven by touching the operation instruction means screen. As will be described later, the operation instruction means screen displayed on the control panel 30 can be displayed on the operation terminal 40 connected to the transport carriage 1 by the control system for the transport carriage described later, and the operation displayed on the operation terminal 40. The conveying cart 1 can be operated remotely by operating the instruction means screen 51 (see FIG. 8).

  Next, the warehousing operation will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the articles 3 are sequentially carried in the direction of the chain arrow from the opening 2 a of the storage shelf 2 of FIG. 1. More specifically, the article 3 placed on the pallet 5 is carried into the frontage 2a of the storage shelf 2 using a forklift or the like. The conveyance carriage 1 moves toward the article 3, detects the position of the article 3 by a sensor (not shown) provided in the conveyance carriage 1, and stops immediately below the article 3. Next, the article placement member 7 is moved up to lift the article 3 together with the pallet 5, and in that state, travels along the traveling path 4 b of the storage unit 1 a, and is pre-packed by the sensor provided in the transport carriage 1. The position of the article 3 is detected and stopped before another pre-packed article 3, and the transport carriage 1 moves the article placement member 7 down to place the article 3 together with the pallet 5 on the load placement surface 4a. To complete the warehousing.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the control system for the transport carriage receives and stores an operation terminal 40 for selectively or collectively remotely controlling a plurality of transport carriages 1,..., A transport carriage control signal and an operation history. And an access point 55. The operation terminal 40 and the plurality of transport carts 1, 1,... Can be connected via the access point 55 by a wireless LAN. it can. Furthermore, the operation terminal 40 and the ground 50 can be connected via a wireless LAN via an access point 55.

  Here, the operation terminal 40 will be described. The operation terminal 40 is a touch panel PC (personal computer). Although not shown here, the operation terminal 40 displays a transport carriage connection button and a ground connection button for selecting a transport carriage connection or ground connection, When the transport cart connection button is touched, a transport cart selection screen 52 as shown in FIG. 6 is displayed. The transfer cart selection screen 52 displays selection buttons 53a, 53b,... With unique identification numbers (for example, No. 1, No. 2, No. 2, etc.) assigned to a plurality of transfer carts 1, 1,. When the selection button 53a is touched, identification information such as a password for connecting to the first unit transport carriage from the operation terminal 40 and the MAC address of the operation terminal 40 is conveyed via the access point 55 together with the ID of the first unit transport cart. The control unit of the No. 1 transport carriage that is transmitted to the carriage and is subject to drive control inquires whether the connection is from a regular operation terminal based on the received identification information, and is a connection from a regular operation terminal. In this case, the operation terminal 40 is allowed to be linked with the operation terminal 40 on a one-to-one basis, and the remote operation from the operation terminal 40 is accepted.

  When the operation terminal 40 and the selected specific transport cart 1 are linked on a one-to-one basis, an operation instruction means screen 51 (see FIG. 7) is displayed on the operation terminal 40, and the operator can select this operation instruction means screen 51. The operation of driving the carriage 1 and checking the state of the carriage 1 can be performed. Although not particularly illustrated, an operation instruction means screen similar to the operation instruction means screen 51 is also displayed on the control panel 30 of the transport carriage 1. Thus, since the desired conveyance cart 1 can be operated by operating the operation instruction means screen 51 displayed on the operation terminal 40, it is possible to obtain a situation where the operation is performed near the conveyance cart 1. Further, in FIG. 5, it is described that the plurality of transport carts 1, 1,... Are operated from one operation terminal 40, but the plurality of operation terminals 40, 40,. It is good also as a control system of the conveyance trolley which consists of 1, .... Furthermore, it goes without saying that the operation terminal 40 and the transport carriage 1 can be used on a one-to-one basis.

  Normally, a plurality of transport carts manufactured with the same specifications are used in one warehouse. However, there is also a demand to use a single transport warehouse with a mixture of different transport carts used in other warehouses. Even in such a case, since the operation instruction means is transmitted to the single operation terminal 40 from the transport carriage and displayed, the displayed operation instruction means can be operated even for a plurality of transport carriages having different specifications. The conveyance cart can be driven by operating the terminal 40.

  As shown in FIG. 7, a call button 54 is displayed on the operation instruction means screen 51. When this call button 54 is selected, a position confirmation signal is transmitted to the control device of the specific transport carriage 1 linked one-to-one with the control panel 30, and the control device that has received this position confirmation signal The light emitting device 62 as the notification means is caused to emit light and a predetermined sound is output from the speaker 63. When the position confirmation signal is received, the emission color of the light emitting device 62 and the sound output from the speaker 63 are the same as the emission color and sound when the switch 61 in the bumper 60 is turned on, that is, the collision. It is distinguished. As described above, the operator can select the call button 54 and the storage rack 2 is often placed in a dim warehouse, and in addition, the operator cannot see the transport cart 1 behind the stored articles 3. Even in such a case, since the position of an arbitrary carriage 1 in the storage rack 2 can be visually and audibly confirmed by the notification means, the carrying-in / out operation of a predetermined article in the storage rack 2 can be accurately performed. Can be done.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the light emitting device 62 is fixed to the side plate portion 10 c so that the directivity thereof is parallel to the traveling direction of the transport carriage 1, and the speaker 63 is similarly traveled by the transport carriage 1. It is installed so that sound is output in the direction. Therefore, light and sound are emitted in the traveling direction of the transport carriage 1, that is, toward the frontage 2a side of the storage rack 2, so that an operator who performs work on the frontage 2a side surely confirms the position of the transport carriage 1 be able to. Note that some storage racks 2 have a carry-in side and a carry-out side provided at both ends in the depth direction of the storage rack 2. In this case, the light emitting device and the speaker are not limited to one side plate portion 10c, but the other side. By providing also in the side plate part 10b, the operator can confirm the position of the conveyance trolley | bogie 1 reliably in any front side of a carrying-in side and a carrying-out side.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 6, an all call button 56 is displayed on the transport cart selection screen 52, and when this all call button 56 is selected, the access point 55 is accessed from the operation terminal 40. A position confirmation signal is transmitted to all the transport carts 1, 1,. This position confirmation signal is a predetermined request signal or the like, and can be transmitted regardless of the establishment of the link between the operation terminal 40 and the transport carriages 1, 1,. The all call button 56 has been described as an example of means for sending the position confirmation signal to all the transport carts. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the selection buttons 53a, 53b,... For each transport cart on the transport cart selection screen 52 are not limited thereto. A call button may be arranged in the vicinity of each of them so that a position confirmation signal can be transmitted individually.

  By selecting the all-call button 56, each carriage 1, 1,... That has received the position confirmation signal causes the light-emitting device 62 that is a notification means to emit light and outputs a predetermined sound from the speaker 63. At that time, it is possible to visually and audibly discriminate the conveyance cart that is closest to the worker, and the efficiency of the work of carrying in and out the articles is high.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to these embodiments, and modifications and additions within the scope of the present invention are included in the present invention. It is.

  For example, the notification when the position confirmation signal is received and the notification when the switch 61 in the bumper 60 is turned on are configured to share the light emitting device 62 and the speaker 63 which are the same notification means. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a notification unit may be provided for each notification.

  Further, the notification means is not limited to the light emitting device 62 and the speaker 63, but may be the light emitting device 62 alone or the speaker 63 alone.

  Further, the light emitting device 62 is not limited to the case where the position confirmation signal described above is received and the case where the switch 61 in the bumper 60 is turned on. During operation, for example, the remaining amount of charge of the batteries 44 and 44 may be identified by displaying light of three colors in three stages. In addition, the light emission color when the light is turned on during the normal operation is set to be different from that when the position confirmation signal is received and the switch 61 in the bumper 60 is turned on, and during the normal operation. It is desirable that the amount of light is set to be relatively small.

  In addition, the control system for the transport cart is not limited to the mode in which the operation terminal 40 and the transport cart 1, 1,... Are connected via the access point 55, but the operation terminal 40 and the transport cart 1, 1,. A configuration that allows direct connection by ad hoc communication may be used. Further, by connecting the access point 55 to the Internet, the operation and status confirmation of the transport carts 1, 1,... May be performed from outside the network in the warehouse.

  Further, the operation terminal 40 and the transport carts 1, 1,... Are not limited to a configuration in which one operation terminal 40 and one transport cart 1 are connected, and a plurality of transports are performed with respect to one operation terminal 40. It is also possible to connect the carts 1, 1,... In this case, by dividing the operation instruction means screen displayed on the operation terminal 40 and displaying the operation instruction means screens for a plurality of vehicles at the same time. The operation terminal 40 can operate and confirm the state of the plurality of transport carts 1, 1,.

  In addition, the operation terminal 40 and the control panel 30 are not limited to a touch panel, and may include, for example, a display unit that displays an operation instruction unit screen and the like, and physical buttons for operation. Further, the operation terminal 40 is not limited to the touch panel PC, and may be a notebook PC or the like as long as the terminal can be connected to the access point 55.

  Further, the call button 54 and the all call button 56 are not limited to the use of causing the light emitting device 62 to emit light and outputting a predetermined sound from the speaker 63 as a notification means. For example, the call button 54 and the all call button 56 can be controlled by long pressing the call button 54. A recall command signal is transmitted to the control device of a specific transport cart 1 linked one-to-one with the panel 30, and the control device that has received this signal interrupts tasks being executed such as unloading and loading, The transport carriage 1 may be caused to travel by the drive motor control unit and may function to stop at the end of the frontage 2a. According to this, the conveyance carriage 1 that the operator has lost sight can be moved to a position where it can be surely seen, and the position can be notified with certainty. At this time, the light emitting device 62 may emit light and a predetermined sound may be output from the speaker 63.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Conveying cart 2 Storage rack 2a Frontage 3 Goods 4 Traveling rail 4a Mounting part 4b Traveling part 5 Pallet 6 Car body 7 Mounting base 8 Lifting device 10 Base member 12 Traveling device 12a, 12a Drive motor 30 Control panel 40 Operation terminal 51 Operation instruction Means screen 52 Transport cart selection screen 53 Select button 54 Call button 50 Ground 55 Access point 56 All call button 60 Bumper 61 Switch 62 Light emitting device 63 Speaker

Claims (3)

A self-propelled transport carriage that travels in a storage rack that includes a plurality of placement sections that allow an article to be placed on the upper portion and a traveling section that can travel the wheels of the transport carriage.
The transport carriage has a receiving means for receiving a position confirmation signal transmitted from the outside, and a notifying means that operates by receiving the position confirmation signal to notify the outside. .   The conveyance vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit is configured to notify an appropriate positional relationship between the conveyance vehicle and a fork of the forklift by light and / or sound.   3. The transport carriage according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit is attached to the transport carriage so as to emit light and / or sound toward the front side of the storage rack.

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