JP2022077078A - Rack management system - Google Patents

Abstract

To suppress the deterioration of an operation rate of a robot for loading a plurality of articles.SOLUTION: A rack management system S is equipped with a plurality of robots 1 and 2, a discharging portion 7, and an adjusting portion 8. The robots 1 and 2 are for loading articles, and are installed along a passage 70 for a rack in which a plurality of racks 11 and 12 are carried. The discharging portion 7 collectively discharges the plurality of racks 11 and 12 loaded by each robot 1, 2. The adjusting portion 8 adjusts a timing when loading to each rack 11, 12 finishes. Preferably, the adjusting portion 8 is further equipped with a computing portion 9 and a supply portion 10.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a rack management system.

A device for loading an egg carton into a plurality of cardboard boxes is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1 below). In this egg pack loading device, a plurality of robots are installed side by side along a corrugated cardboard passage in which a plurality of cardboard boxes are transported. The cardboard boxes that have been loaded by this egg pack loading device are ejected together in pairs.

As a distribution form of egg packs, in addition to cardboard boxes, those loaded in racks with shelves are also known (see, for example, Patent Document 2 below). The major difference is that the rack can load more egg packs than the cardboard box, and the stacking method is more complicated than the cardboard box.

Although the egg carton is mentioned as an example of the article, the same can be said for other articles distributed in a rack-mounted state.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2018-177326 Utility Model Registration No. 3209255

In the case of cardboard boxes, the number of articles to be loaded is small and the stacking method is not complicated, so it is relatively easy to complete two cardboard boxes at almost the same timing.

On the other hand, in the case of a rack, the number of items to be loaded is larger than that of a cardboard box, the loading method is complicated, and the loading status of a plurality of robots may differ. Therefore, even though the loading of one rack is completed, there may be a waiting time until the loading of another rack is completed in order to eject the one rack.

An object of the present invention is to suppress a decrease in the operating rate of a plurality of robots for loading articles.

The rack management system of the present invention includes a plurality of robots, a discharge unit, and an adjustment unit. The robot is for loading articles and is installed along the aisle for racks in which a plurality of racks are conveyed. The discharge unit collectively discharges a plurality of racks loaded by each robot. The adjusting unit adjusts the timing at which loading into each rack is completed.

According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress a decrease in the operating rate of a plurality of robots for loading articles.

The above and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention as understood in connection with the accompanying drawings.

The plan view which shows the management system of the rack which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. A side view showing a robot for loading articles according to the same embodiment. The side view which shows the operation state of the robot for loading an article which concerns on the same embodiment. The plan view which shows the management system of the rack which concerns on the same embodiment.

Hereinafter, the rack management system S according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

The rack management system S of the present embodiment is a management system S relating to movable racks 11 and 12 dedicated to egg packs for loading a plurality of egg packs P. The racks 11 and 12 are provided on the downstream side of the egg pack P production line. The production line of the egg pack P is lined with various devices such as a device for storing eggs in the pack, a device for setting a label on the pack, and a device for inspecting eggs and labels. On the production line, eggs are housed in packs, labeled, and variously inspected egg packs P are produced one after another. At the stage of loading into the racks 11 and 12, each egg pack P is in a state where the lid is closed and a label is provided.

The racks 11 and 12 include a plurality of shelf boards 13, and an egg pack P is placed on each shelf board 13. In this state, the racks 11 and 12 are moved and can be displayed in the sales floor as they are. The racks 11 and 12 are surrounded by a frame 14 in three directions on the side surface. The racks 11 and 12 also have a spill prevention on the loading / unloading side. The racks 11 and 12 are provided with a plurality of shelf boards 13 and stack 4 to 6 (4 to 6) egg packs P per shelf. The egg pack P itself has a shape capable of suppressing lateral displacement of the vertically stacked egg pack P so that the egg pack P does not slide down in the lateral direction. Each shelf board 13 is a foldable type, and the state can be changed between a used state pulled out to the front side and a stored state that is folded and located on the back side. A storage space for storing the egg pack P is formed above each shelf board 13 in the used state. Egg packs P are stacked vertically in the storage space. The racks 11 and 12 further include a shelf board holder (not shown) provided inside the frame 14 and casters 16.

The plurality of racks 11 and 12 are conveyed on the aisle 70 for racks. The aisle 70 for the rack is, for example, a linear one, and the robot supplies the rack supply unit 71 for supplying the empty racks 11 and 12 to the robots 1 and 2, which will be described later, and the racks 11 and 12 for which loading has been completed. A discharge unit 7 for discharging from the 1st and 2nd sides is provided. The plurality of racks 11 and 12 are carried sideways on the rack aisle 70, that is, with the side frames 14 facing back and forth. In the present embodiment, two racks 11 and 12 are supplied, and two racks 11 and 12 are discharged. That is, the supply unit 71 for the rack supplies a plurality of racks 11 and 12 loaded by the robots 1 and 2 together, and the discharge unit 7 supplies the plurality of racks 11 and 12 loaded by the robots 1 and 2 together. Discharge all at once.

Egg packs P come in various sizes and shapes. In the figure, an egg carton P containing 10 pieces and having a flat top surface of a lid called a "flat pack" is shown.

The rack management system S of the present embodiment is mainly composed of a plurality of robots 1 and 2 for loading the egg packs P into the racks 11 and 12, a discharging unit 7, and an adjusting unit 8.

The robots 1 and 2 are installed along the aisle 70 for the rack. In this embodiment, two robots 1 and 2 are arranged side by side. The two robots 1 and 2 perform the same work in that the egg pack P is loaded from the bottom to the top of the racks 11 and 12 to complete the work, but the robots 1 and 2 perform the same work. The loading method of the egg pack P into 12 may be different from each other. One robot 1 loads the egg pack P into the one rack 11. One robot 1 loads the egg pack P from the bottom to the top of the rack 11. One robot 1 does not perform a loading operation with respect to the other rack 12. Another robot 2 different from one robot 1 loads the egg pack P into the other rack 12. The other robot 2 loads the egg pack P from the bottom to the top of the other rack 12. The other robot 2 does not perform a loading operation on one rack 11. The other rack 12 is located upstream of one rack 11. The other rack 12 is discharged from the same discharge unit 7 as the one rack 11.

Each robot 1 and 2 includes a robot head 3 and a robot arm 4.

The robot head 3 includes a holding portion 5. The holding unit 5 holds a plurality of egg packs P. The holding portion 5 is composed of a plurality of suction members 6. Each suction member 6 sucks the top surface side of the egg pack P with the lid closed. Each suction member 6 is connected to a vacuum mechanism. One egg pack P is held by a plurality of suction members 6.

The robot arm 4 can change the position and posture of the robot head 3. The robot arm 4 moves the robot head 3 between the temporary standby area 17 and the racks 11 and 12. As the robot arm 4, a conventional articulated robot that operates arbitrarily, such as a 6-axis vertical articulated robot, is applied. In addition to this, various robot arms 4 such as a robot or a device capable of arbitrarily moving the robot head 3 with respect to the X-axis, the Y-axis, and the Z-axis can be adopted.

The temporary standby area 17 is provided on the downstream side of the article transport device 18. The article transport device 18 transports a plurality of egg packs P. In this embodiment, an article transfer device 18 is provided for each of the robots 1 and 2.

The adjusting unit 8 adjusts the timing at which loading into the plurality of racks 11 and 12 discharged from the same discharging unit 7 is completed. The adjusting unit 8 includes a calculation unit 9 and a supply unit 10.

In the calculation unit 9, the number of remaining egg packs until one robot 1 completes loading into one rack 11 and the other robots 2 arranged adjacent to one robot 1 to another rack 12 Compare with the number of remaining egg packs until the loading is completed. The arithmetic unit 9 is composed of a dedicated computer such as a CPU, an internal memory, an input / output interface, and an AD conversion unit, or a general-purpose computer. The function as the arithmetic unit 9 is exhibited by the cooperation of the CPU and its peripheral devices according to the program stored in the internal memory.

Based on the result of the calculation unit 9, the supply unit 10 supplies the egg pack P sequentially transported from one production line to one robot 1 and the other robot 2. In the present embodiment, using a robot similar to the robots 1 and 2 described above, the article transfer device 18 for one robot 1 and the article transfer device 18 for the other robot 2 are sent from the production line. Distribute multiple egg packs P to come. In other words, the supply unit 10 adjusts the quantity of egg packs P to be supplied to one article transfer device 18 and the other article transfer device 18 based on the result of the calculation unit 9.

Next, an example of the management method of the racks 11 and 12 using the rack management system S will be described.

First, the two empty racks 11 and 12 are moved in front of the loading robots 1 and 2. The racks 11 and 12 are temporarily fixed. An example will be described in which 200 egg packs P are loaded in one rack 11 and 250 egg packs P are loaded in the other rack 12.

First, one robot 1 sucks and lifts a plurality of egg packs P from one article transporting device 18 and puts them on one rack 11. This operation is repeated, and when one stage of the shelf plate 13 is completed, the upper shelf plate 13 is pulled out. When placing the egg pack P on the shelf board 13 of the next stage, the standby positions of one robot 1 and one article transfer device 18 are moved upward. The other robot 2 also performs the same movement as that of one robot 1.

During the loading operation of the robots 1 and 2, for example, when the robots 1 and 2 complete the loading of the egg pack P up to the second stage of the shelf board 13, the calculation unit 9 moves to the racks 11 and 12. Calculate the number of remaining egg packs until the loading of the egg is completed. For example, it is assumed that one robot 1 has completed loading 120 pieces, and similarly, another robot 2 has completed loading 120 pieces. In this case, the number of remaining egg packs until one robot 1 completes loading into one rack 11 is 80, and the remaining number of egg packs until another robot 2 completes loading into another rack 12. The number of egg packs is 130. Based on the result of the calculation unit 9, the supply unit 10 supplies more egg packs P to the other robot 2 than to the one robot 1, and the other robot 2 has more eggs than the one robot 1. Adjust so that more packs P can be loaded. This makes it possible to complete the loading of the racks 11 and 12 at almost the same time.

From the beginning of the loading operation of each of the robots 1 and 2, for example, the egg pack P may be supplied to one robot 1 and the other robot 2 at a constant ratio. That is, until the calculation unit 9 has 200 remaining egg packs until one robot 1 completes loading into one rack 11, and another robot 2 completes loading into another rack 12. Based on the result of calculating that the number of remaining egg packs is 250, the supply unit 10 may supply the egg packs P to one robot 1 and the other robot 2 at a ratio of 4: 5. ..

In this way, two egg packs P, which have been loaded into one rack 11 and the other rack 12 at substantially the same timing, are ejected together from the ejection unit 7.

As described above, the rack management system S according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of robots 1 and 2, a discharge unit 7, and an adjustment unit 8. The robots 1 and 2 are for loading articles, and are installed along the aisle 70 for racks to which a plurality of racks 11 and 12 are conveyed. The discharge unit 7 collectively discharges a plurality of racks 11 and 12 loaded by the robots 1 and 2. The adjusting unit 8 adjusts the timing at which loading into the racks 11 and 12 is completed.

It is preferable that the adjusting unit 8 further includes a calculation unit 9 and a supply unit 10. In the calculation unit 9, the number of items remaining until one robot 1 completes loading into one rack 11 and another robot 2 arranged adjacent to one robot 1 to another rack 12 Compare with the number of items remaining until the loading is completed. The supply unit 10 supplies an article to one robot 1 and another robot 2 based on the result of the calculation unit 9.

Further, the rack management system S of the present embodiment has one rack 11 on which the egg pack P is loaded by one robot 1, and another rack 11 located upstream of the one rack 11 and different from the one robot 1. The robot 2 manages the other racks 12 in which the egg pack P is loaded and discharged from the same discharge port as the one rack 11. The rack management system S includes a calculation unit 9 and an adjustment unit 8. The arithmetic unit 9 compares the number of remaining egg packs until the loading of one rack 11 is completed with the number of remaining packs until the loading of the other rack 12 is completed. The adjusting unit 8 adjusts the quantity of egg packs P to be supplied to one robot 1 and the other robot 2 based on the result of the calculation unit 9.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

The calculation unit 9 may perform a calculation when some trouble occurs in the robots 1 and 2. For example, if a problem occurs in the loading operation of one of the two robots 1 and 2, the loading operation of the other robot 2 can be continued during the restoration work. Then, for example, even if the number of remaining egg packs until the loading of the racks 11 and 12 is completed is the same or almost the same before the trouble occurs, the loading of the racks 11 and 12 is carried out after the restoration work. There will be a difference in the number of remaining egg packs until it is completed. It is preferable to apply the present invention even in such a case.

The article is not limited to the egg pack P. Further, the rack is not limited to the racks 11 and 12 for egg packs.

Three or more robots 1 and 2 may be arranged with respect to the aisle 70 for one rack. Further, the passage 70 for one rack is not limited to a linear one, and the plurality of robots 1 and 2 may not be arranged adjacent to each other.

The embodiments disclosed this time are examples and are not limited thereto. The present invention is shown by the scope of claims, not the scope described above, and is intended to include all modifications in the sense and scope equivalent to the scope of claims.

The present invention can be used in a rack management system.

1, 2 ... Robot 7 ... Discharge unit 8 ... Adjustment unit 9 ... Calculation unit 10 ... Supply unit 11, 12 ... Rack 70 ... Rack passage S ... Rack management system

Claims (2)

Multiple robots for loading goods installed along the aisle for racks where multiple racks are transported, and
A discharge unit that collectively discharges multiple racks loaded by each robot,
A rack management system with an adjustment unit that adjusts when loading into each rack is complete. The adjusting unit completes the number of items remaining until one robot completes loading into one rack, and another robot placed adjacent to one robot completes loading into another rack. An arithmetic unit that compares the number of items remaining up to
The rack management system according to claim 1, further comprising a supply unit for supplying articles to the one robot and the other robot based on the result of the calculation unit.

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