JP2023033556A - Article delivery means - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To develop an article conveyance apparatus and article storage apparatus with low vertical movement amount and high conveyance efficiency.

SOLUTION: An article conveyance apparatus includes row direction article conveyance means 7 and article placement means 10. The row direction article conveyance means 7 conveys an article in a direction along an article storage row. The article placement means 10 includes row direction travel means 21, article lifting means, a connecting conveyance portion 60, and article delivery means. The row direction travel means 21 moves the article placement means 10 in a direction along the article storage row. The article delivery means has a function that delivers an article between the article placement means 10 and a shelf portion. The connecting conveyance portion 60 includes a lifting function and a conveyance function, and connects an article loading table 11 and a conveyance surface of the row direction article conveyance means 7 when at a certain height.

SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

COPYRIGHT: (C)2023,JPO&INPIT

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article conveying apparatus which is installed near a shelf and arranges articles on each part of the shelf. The present invention also relates to an article storage device.

Patent Document 1 discloses an article storage device suitable for a large-sized automatic warehouse.
The article storage apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 is composed of a shelf having a two-level rack structure, and an article transport apparatus for storing articles in the shelf and taking out articles stored in the shelf.

A prior art article conveying apparatus has a lower conveyor for conveying articles horizontally at the bottom. Prior art article conveyors also include vertical conveyors. The vertical conveying device has a placing section for placing an article, and an elevating means for raising and lowering the placing section. The vertical transport device itself has a self-propelled function and moves linearly along the lower conveyor.

In prior art article conveying devices, the lower conveyor consists of a group of chain conveyors divided into a plurality of sections. The chain conveyor in each section has chains arranged in two rows at regular intervals.
In the prior art, a conveyor is also installed on the loading section of the vertical transport device.

When storing articles on a shelf using a conventional article transporting apparatus, the vertical transporting apparatus is self-propelled and moved to the side of a target storage section. Then, the mounting part is lowered and submerged between the chains of the chain conveyor.
The lower conveyor is then driven to move the articles onto the submerged receiver. After that, the placing section is raised to scoop up the article, and then the placing section is lifted to the height of the target accommodation position.
Then, the conveyor mounted on the placement section is driven to store the article in the storage section at the desired height.

JP 2015-44639 A

The prior art article transport apparatus lowers the pedestal below the lower conveyor and picks up the article from below to place the article on the pedestal.
Therefore, in the conventional article conveying apparatus, the vertical movement distance of the placing section is long, and the conveying efficiency is poor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to develop an article conveying apparatus and an article storage apparatus that have a small amount of vertical movement and a high conveying efficiency.

An aspect for solving the above-described problems is an article conveying device installed adjacent to a shelf for receiving and/or taking out articles from the shelf, wherein the shelf has a plurality of article arrangement portions at least in the column direction. The article conveying device has column-direction article conveying means and article placement means, and the column-direction article conveying means places articles on the shelves. The article arranging means has a row-direction traveling means, an article lifting means, one or a plurality of article placing tables, a connecting conveying section, and an article delivery means, The row-direction traveling means moves the article placement means itself in a direction along the article storage row, the article lifting means raises and lowers the articles, and the article placing table is for placing the articles. The article transfer means has a function of transferring an article between the article placing table and the shelf section, and the connecting conveying section has an elevating function and a conveying function, and is at a certain height. Secondly, the article conveying apparatus is characterized in that the article placing table and the column-direction article conveying means are connected.

The article conveying apparatus of this aspect has a connecting conveying section. The connecting conveying section has an elevating function and a conveying function, and connects the article placing table and the column-direction article conveying means when they are at a certain height.
In the article conveying apparatus of this aspect, when an article is placed on the article placing table from the column-direction article conveying means or when an article is transferred from the article placing table to the column-direction article conveying means, the article placing table is lowered to a certain height, The article placing table and the conveying surface of the column direction article conveying means are connected by a connecting conveying section.
The articles move through the connecting transport section, for example, from the article placement table to the column direction article transport means.
According to the article conveying apparatus of this aspect, since it is not necessary to lower the article mounting table below the column direction article conveying means, the lifting distance of the article mounting table is short.

2. The article conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the connecting conveying portion has a conveying device, and the conveying surface of the conveying device has an inclined posture when the conveyor device is at least at a certain height. be.

In the main body, the connecting transport section has a conveyor device. In the conveyor device, the conveying surface assumes an inclined posture and connects the article placing table and the conveying surface of the row-direction article conveying means.
Therefore, the level difference between the conveying surface of the connecting conveying section and the column-direction article conveying means is small, and the article can easily be transferred.

In each of the above-described modes, it is desirable that an article transfer means is installed on the article placing table.

In each of the above-described modes, the article raising/lowering means raises and lowers the article placing table, and raises and lowers the article placing table itself in a state in which an article is placed on one article placing table, thereby adjusting the height of the article to the target height. It is desirable that the

In each of the above modes, the article lifting means has a plurality of adjacently arranged shelf members and a lifting means for lifting and lowering at least one of said shelf members, and each of said shelf members has a plurality of height positions. The article placement table has a transport means capable of transporting articles in both forward and reverse directions, and the height of the article placement table belonging to one shelf member is adjusted to that of the other shelf member. In accordance with the article placement table to which the shelf member belongs, the conveying means executes a forward motion to move the article from the article placement table belonging to one shelf member to the article placement table belonging to the other shelf member, and further raises and lowers the shelf member to achieve the above-described The height of the article mounting table belonging to the other shelf member is adjusted to the height of the article mounting table belonging to the one shelf member, and the article is moved to the article mounting table belonging to the other shelf member by the forward movement. is moved by the conveying means to an article placement table belonging to the one shelf member and having a height different from that of the original article placement table. It is desirable to be able to move it to a desired height position.

In each of the above-described modes, the article delivery means has a main body and a moving table. When the lower roller is at the bottom, the upper roller is the contact part with the article, and the lower roller is the contact part with other members, and when the lower roller rotates, the upper roller is It is desirable that the lower roller receives power transmission from the lower roller and rotates in the opposite direction to the lower roller, and when the lower roller is positioned upward, the upper roller comes into contact with articles and other members.

In each of the above-described modes, the article storage device is characterized by having a shelf provided with a plurality of article storage rows in which a plurality of article arrangement portions are arranged in at least a row direction, and the above-described article transport device. It is an article storage device.

The article conveying device and the article storage device of the present invention have a small amount of vertical movement and little useless movement. Therefore, the article conveying device and the article storage device require a short time to accommodate and eject articles.

1 is a perspective view of a warehouse apparatus employing an article storage apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1, illustrating an article conveying device and a shelf; It is explanatory drawing which shows the mechanism which raises/lowers the article mounting base of an article conveying apparatus, (a) is a substantial drawing, (b) is simplified and illustrated the suspension path|route of a chain. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an article placing table of the article conveying apparatus of FIG. 2, showing a state in which a moving table of an article delivery means is accommodated in the main body; FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an article placing table of the article conveying apparatus of FIG. 2, showing a state in which a moving table of an article delivery means protrudes toward the shelf; FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the article mounting table of FIGS. 4 and 5, showing a mechanism for moving the movable table of the article delivery means; FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the article mounting table of FIGS. 4 and 5, showing a mechanism for raising and lowering the main body; FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the article mounting table of FIGS. 4 and 5; FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a row of rollers of the moving table of the article delivery means of the article placing table of FIGS. 4 and 5; 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a roller unit of the article delivery means; FIG. (a) and (b) are explanatory diagrams showing the operation of the article delivery means. (a), (b), (c), and (d) are explanatory diagrams showing an insertion operation of inserting the moving table under the article when pulling the article from the shelf side to the article conveying device side. (a), (b), (c), and (d) are explanatory diagrams showing the return operation of returning the moving table to the article placement table when pulling the article from the shelf side to the article conveying device side. (a), (b), (c), and (d) are explanatory diagrams showing an operation when an article is inserted from the article conveying device to the shelf side. It is a perspective view of the connection conveyance part of an article|item conveyance apparatus. (a) to (c) are explanatory diagrams showing the operation of the article conveying device. It is an explanatory view simplifying and explaining the side of an article conveying device. (a) to (d) are explanatory diagrams for explaining the operation of the article placing table and the connecting conveying section of the article conveying apparatus. (a) and (b) are side views showing modifications of the connecting conveying unit. FIG. 4 is a front view showing a state in which articles are stored in a shelf; FIG. 11 is a perspective view of an article conveying device according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 22 is a perspective view of an elevating unit of the article conveying apparatus shown in FIG. 21; 22. (a) to (e) are front views showing the operation of the article conveying apparatus of FIG. 22, showing the situation at each stage when an article is moved from the article placement table on the left fifth floor to the connecting conveyor on the right first floor. indicates (a) to (f) are front views showing the operation of the article conveying apparatus of FIG. 22, when articles are continuously moved from the article placement table on the left fifth floor to the connecting conveyor on the right first floor. Show the status of each stage. 22. (g) and (h) are front views showing the operation of the article conveying apparatus of FIG. FIG. 25 shows the stage situation and the operation following FIG. 24;

Embodiments of the present invention will be further described below.
FIG. 1 shows a warehouse device 15 in which three article storage devices 1a, 1b, and 1c of this embodiment are arranged side by side.
An article storage device 1 of this embodiment is composed of two shelves 2a and 2b and an article transport device 3 (FIG. 2) arranged therebetween.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the shelves 2a and 2b have a five-story structure, and six articles placement sections 5 are provided in series on each floor. In other words, each of the shelves 2a and 2b has five article storage rows 17 in which six article arrangement sections 5 are arranged in the row direction.

The article conveying device 3 has a lower conveyor (column direction article conveying means) 7 and an elevating tower (article placing means) 10 as shown in FIG.
The lower conveyor 7 is installed on the floor between the two shelves 2a and 2b. The lower conveyor 7 can convey the articles M in the direction of the article storage rows 17 of the shelves 2a and 2b.
The lower conveyor 7 is formed by arranging a plurality of known zone conveyors 8 . In this embodiment, the zone conveyors 8 are roller conveyors, each of which has its own drive source and can be started and stopped individually. The lower conveyor 7 can stop articles at any position (any zone).

The elevating tower 10 functions as article placement means, and has a tower frame 16 that runs along the rails 20 for the tower.
That is, a pair of tower rails 20 are installed along the lower conveyor 7 .
At the bottom of the tower frame 16 , there are running wheels (column direction running means) 21 , and the running wheels 21 are engaged with the tower rails 20 . The traveling wheels 21 can be rotated by a motor (not shown) to move the lifting tower 10 along the lower conveyor 7 . Also, the elevating tower 10 can be stopped at an arbitrary position.

Two article mounting tables 11a and 11b are installed within the framework of the tower frame 16, as shown in FIG.
One article placement table 11a is used to carry articles into and out of one shelf 2a, and the other article placement table 11b is used to carry in and carry out articles into and out of the other shelf 2b. It is used when

The article mounting tables 11a and 11b are lifted and lowered by an elevating mechanism 12 as shown in FIG. 3, for example.
That is, the elevating mechanism 12 has a long chain 13 or the like suspended along a suspension path as shown in FIG. The mounting table 11b descends. When the chain 13 is run in the direction opposite to the arrow, the article mounting table 11a is lowered and the article mounting table 11b is raised.
In this embodiment, the article placing table 11 and the lifting mechanism 12 constitute article lifting means.

In this embodiment, the article placement tables 11 a and 11 b also serve as article transfer means, and have a main body 22 and a moving table 23 . That is, in this embodiment, the article delivery means is composed of the main body 22 and the moving table 23 .
The body portion 22 is a roller conveyor device, and in this embodiment, four rollers 25 are arranged in parallel on a frame 63 at regular intervals as shown in FIG. The conveying direction by the rollers 25 is the same as that of the lower conveyor 7 serving as column direction article conveying means.
One of the four rollers 25 is a motor-incorporating roller in which a motor is incorporated in the roller body, and the other three rollers are idling rollers. Adjacent ones of the four rollers 25 are connected by a power transmission belt (not shown), and all the rollers 25 rotate when the motor-incorporating roller rotates.

Two cam followers 27 are provided on each side surface of the body portion 22 . The cam follower 27 is a roller.
7 and 8, a direct-acting cam 28 is provided at the lower portion of the body portion 22, and the cam follower 27 of the body portion 22 is in contact with the direct-acting cam 28. As shown in FIGS. The direct acting cam 28 has a concave portion 31 and a convex portion 32 as shown in FIGS. A rack 82 is formed on the linear cam 28 and the pinion 26 rotated by the motor engages with the rack 82 . The direct acting cam 28 is linearly moved by the rotation of the rack 82 .

As described above, the cam follower 27 of the body portion 22 is in contact with the direct acting cam 28, and when the cam follower 27 falls into the concave portion 31 of the direct acting cam 28, the body portion 22 descends. Further, when the direct acting cam 28 moves linearly and the cam follower 27 rides on the convex portion 32 of the direct acting cam 28, the body portion 22 rises.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 8, the moving table 23 has a frame 53 having two slits 33 and three rows of rollers 35a, 35b, and 35c.
That is, the moving table 23 has three rows of rollers 35a, 35b, and 35c, and slits 33 are formed by elongated openings between the rows of rollers 35a, 35b, and 35c.

In this embodiment, each of the roller rows 35a, 35b, and 35c includes two upper rollers 37 and one lower roller 38 to form one roller unit 40, as shown in FIG. Four sets are arranged in series.
Both the upper roller 37 and the lower roller 38 are short, and their rotating shafts 42 and 46 both extend in a direction perpendicular to the rotating shaft of the roller 25 of the main body 22 .
Therefore, the conveying direction of the moving table 23 is orthogonal to the conveying direction of the main body portion 22 .

Both the upper roller 37 and the lower roller 38 are idle rollers and have no power. The upper roller 37 is always in contact with the lower roller 38, and when one rotates, the other follows it and rotates.
The roller unit 40 is composed of two upper rollers 37 and one lower roller 38 as described above.
As shown in FIGS. 9, 10, and 11, the upper rollers 37 are arranged above the lower rollers 38, and the lower rollers 38 are sandwiched between the two upper rollers 37. As shown in FIGS.
The rotating shaft 42 of the upper roller 37 is engaged with a guide hole 43 horizontally provided in the frame, and has flexibility only in the horizontal direction.
On the other hand, the rotating shaft 46 of the lower roller 38 is engaged with a guide hole 45 vertically provided in the frame, and has flexibility only in the vertical direction.

The two upper rollers 37 are biased toward each other by biasing means 47 such as rubber or springs, and are always in contact with the lower rollers 38 .
A cam hole 50 provided in a plate cam (height changing means) 48 is engaged with the lower roller 38 . The cam hole 50 has a high area 51 and a low area 52 as shown in FIGS.

The plate cam 48 is linearly moved by driving means (not shown), and the contact position between the cam hole 50 and the rotating shaft 46 of the lower roller 38 changes.
When the lower region 52 of the plate cam 48 engages with the rotating shaft 46 of the lower roller 38, the lower roller 38 is lowered as shown in FIG. 11(a).
In this state, the lower surface of the lower roller 38 protrudes below the upper roller 37 as shown in FIG. 11(a).

When the plate cam 48 linearly moves and the high region 51 engages with the rotating shaft 46 of the lower roller 38, the lower roller 38 rises. As described above, the upper rollers 37 have a degree of freedom in the horizontal direction.
In this state, as shown in FIG. 11(b), the lower surface of the lower roller 38 is located above the upper roller 37, and the lower roller 38 is hidden between the upper rollers 37. As shown in FIG.

A stopper plate 55 is provided on the frame 53 of the moving table 23 on the opening side of the slit 33 .
Auxiliary guides 75 are engaged with the side surfaces of the frame 53 of the carriage 23 .
A linear moving means 58 for linearly moving the moving table 23 is provided below the moving table 23 .
The linear movement means 58 is a belt transmission mechanism having a motor-incorporating roller and an idle roller as pulleys, and a part of the belt 57 is engaged with the moving table 23 .
When the motor-incorporating roller rotates and the belt 57 runs, the moving table 23 moves linearly.

The article mounting table 11 has the body portion 22 and the moving table (item delivery means) 23 as described above, and the moving table 23 is superimposed on the body portion 22 so as to be linearly movable.
The state in which the moving table 23 is superimposed on the body part 22 is as shown in FIG.
When the body portion 22 is lifted by the action of the direct acting cam 28 , the rollers 25 of the body portion 22 are lifted so that the running surfaces of the rollers 25 are positioned above the moving table 23 .
When the body portion 22 is lowered by the action of the direct-acting cam 28 , the rollers 25 of the body portion 22 are lowered, and the running surface of the rollers 25 sinks below the carriage 23 .
Further, by driving the linear movement means 58, the moving table 23 itself advances and protrudes from the main body 22 in a cantilever manner as shown in FIG.

The tower frame 16 is provided with connecting conveyors (connecting conveying units) 60 at front and rear positions. The connecting conveyor 60 is a small belt conveyor. 15 and 16, the connecting conveyor 60 has a driving pulley 62 and a driven pulley 65 attached to a pair of frame pieces 61, and a conveyor belt 66 suspended between the driving pulley 62 and the driven pulley 65. It is. A plurality of rollers 67 for supporting the load are arranged inside the conveyor belt 66 .

The frame piece 61 has a vertical member 68 as shown in FIG.
A rack 77 is provided on the leg portion 72 of the tower frame 16 . The longitudinal members 68 of the tether conveyor 60 engage the inner surfaces of the legs 72 of the tower frame 16 so that the longitudinal members 68 of the tether conveyor 60 travel along the legs 72 of the tower frame 16 . Gears 71 of tether conveyor 60 are also engaged with racks 77 in tower frame 16 . Therefore, when the gear 71 is rotated by the drive motor, the connecting conveyor 60 moves up and down on the front or rear side of the tower frame 16 .
The connecting conveyor 60 has a standby position at a certain height. The height of the standby position is the lower side of the tower frame 16 and is high enough to allow the article M to pass thereunder.

In this embodiment, the connecting conveyor 60 is a belt conveyor, and the drive pulley and the driven pulley have the same diameter, but the diameter of the pulley on the free end side may be reduced as shown in FIG. . The connecting conveyor 60 may also be a roller conveyor. In the example shown in FIG. 19(b), a roller with a small diameter is used on the free end side.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 15 , the connecting conveyor 60 extends forward and backward of the tower frame 16 . The transfer surface of the joint conveyor 60 is inclined downward on the free end side as shown in FIGS. A guide plate 73 is provided at the tip of the connecting conveyor 60 on the free end side.
In this embodiment, the connecting conveyor 60 is attached in an inclined posture, and the angle of inclination is constant. may be determined.

Next, functions of the article storage device 1 will be described.
Articles M are stored in the article arrangement portion 5 of the shelf 2 of the article storage apparatus 1 as shown in FIG. Articles M are placed on a pallet 80, and the article placement section 5 is held at a constant height with respect to the floor surface 81. As shown in FIG.

First, the operation for taking out the article M from the shelf 2 will be described.
When an article M is taken out from the article storage apparatus 1, the traveling wheels 21 of the tower frame 16 are driven to move the elevating tower (article placement means) 10 in front of the portion of the article storage row 17 where the desired article M is placed. to move. Then, one article mounting table 11 is lifted, and the article mounting table 11 is adjusted to the height of the article placement section 5 in which the desired article M is accommodated.
Subsequently, the moving means 58 is driven to move the moving table 23 itself forward from the article placing table 11 toward the shelf 2 side, projecting from the main body 22 in a cantilever manner as shown in FIG. At this time, the roller 25 of the body portion 22 is lowered.

Also, as shown in FIG. 12(a), the lower roller 38 is set at the lowered position.
In this state, the lower surface of the lower roller 38 protrudes below the upper roller 37, as shown in FIG. 12(a).
When the movable table 23 itself is advanced and reaches the article placement section 5 , the lower roller 38 comes into contact with the floor surface 81 of the article placement section 5 . The lower roller 38 rotates as the moving table 23 advances. Since the lower roller 38 is rotated by the force that advances the movable table 23, the direction of rotation thereof is forward with respect to the forward direction of the movable table 23, as shown in FIG. 12(a).

Since the upper rollers 37 are always in contact with the lower rollers 38 , the upper rollers 37 receive rotational force from the lower rollers 38 and rotate in the direction opposite to the forward direction of the carriage 23 .
The moving table 23 moves forward, and the leading roller 37 of the moving table 23 hits the end of the pallet 80 as shown in FIG. 12(b). Since the leading upper roller 37 rotates in the direction of scooping up the pallet 80 as shown in FIG.

When the moving table 23 moves forward further, the moving table 23 gets into between the pallet 80 and the floor surface 81 as shown in FIG. 12(c).
Therefore, the pallet 80 receives a force in the pushing direction due to the forward movement of the moving table 23 and tries to move toward the inner side of the shelf 2 .
On the other hand, in this state, the upper roller 37 contacts the bottom surface of the pallet 80 as shown in FIGS. 11(a) and 12(c).

Here, the upper roller 37 rotates in a direction opposite to the forward direction of the moving table 23 . Therefore, the pallet 80 is urged by the upper rollers 37 in the direction of moving toward the lifting tower 10 side. That is, the pallet 80 receives force in the direction of being pushed into the shelf 2 and moves in the direction of being pushed into the rack 2 as the movable table 23 advances, but receives force in the opposite direction by the upper rollers 37 and moves toward the elevator tower 10 . Therefore, the movement of the pallet 80 in the pushing direction due to the forward movement of the carriage 23 is offset by the movement toward the entrance side due to the action of the upper rollers 37, and the pallet 80 remains at that position as shown in FIG. 12(c).
Therefore, without changing the position of the pallet 80, the moving table 23 gets under the pallet 80 as shown in FIG. 12(d). Although the moving table 23 may be completely retracted directly under the pallet 80, in the present embodiment, the pallet 80 is retracted to the extent that the pallet 80 is lifted up, as shown in FIG. 12(d).

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 13, the moving table 23 is pulled back toward the main body 22 side.
When the movable table 23 is pulled back, the lower roller 38 is raised as shown in FIG. 11(b).
In this state, the lower rollers 38 are hidden by the upper rollers 37, and the lower rollers 38 are lifted from the floor surface 81, as shown in FIG. 13(b).
Therefore, the upper rollers 37 are brought into contact with the floor surface 81 .

Then, the moving table 23 itself is retracted. As described above, since neither the upper roller 37 nor the lower roller 38 has power, the upper roller 37 rotates due to the contact with the floor surface 81 and the retreat of the carriage 23 .
On the other hand, looking at the relationship between the upper roller 37 and the pallet 80, the upper roller 37 acts in the direction of pulling the pallet 80 back toward the main body 22 side. Therefore, the pallet 80 is moved on the moving table 23 by the upper rollers 37 as shown in FIG. 13(c).
In this manner, the pallet 80 is moved toward the main body 22 by the force from the upper rollers 37 in addition to the backward movement of the moving table 23 itself. Therefore, the pallet 80 is pulled back toward the main body 22 at high speed and over a longer distance.

Therefore, even if the carriage 23 is in a state in which about half of the pallet 80 has slipped into the pallet 80 as shown in FIG. , the pallet 80 is housed in the center of the carriage 23 . Since the moving table 23 is provided with a stopper plate 55 , the pallet 80 does not overshoot the moving table 23 .

Immediately after the pallet 80 moves to the main body part 22 side of the article placing table 11, the rollers 25 of the main body part 22 are raised, and the pallet 80 is transferred from the moving table 23 to the rollers 25 of the main body part 22.例文帳に追加

Then, the article mounting table 11 is lowered to the bottom as shown in FIG. 18(a).
In parallel with this, the connecting conveyor 60 is lowered. 16 and 18(a) show the positional relationship between the article placing table 11, the connecting conveyor 60, and the lower conveyor 7 at this time. That is, the connecting conveyor 60 is in an inclined posture, and the upper end of the running surface is at substantially the same height as the rollers 25 of the article placing table 11 . The lower end of the running surface of the joint conveyor 60 is at a height near the running surface of the lower conveyor 7, and the guide plate 73 contacts the running surface of the lower conveyor 7. As shown in FIG.

In this state, the rollers 25 of the article placing table 11 and the connecting conveyor 60 are driven. As a result, as shown in FIG. 18(b), the pallet 80 advances on the article placing table 11 toward the connecting conveyor 60 and is transferred to the connecting conveyor 60. As shown in FIG. Then, it goes down an inclined running surface and is handed over to the lower conveyor 7 as shown in FIG. 18(c). The pallet 80 is discharged to the end by the lower conveyor 7 .
When the pallet 80 is transferred to the lower conveyor 7, the article mounting table 11 is raised as shown in FIG. 18(d). Also, the connecting conveyor 60 is raised to the standby position. As a result, there is no obstacle on the lower conveyor 7, and other articles M can be passed.

When storing the articles M in the article storage device 1, the steps described above are generally reversed. That is, the articles are placed on the end of the lower conveyor 7 .
In parallel with this, the traveling wheels 21 are driven to move the elevating tower 10 to the row in which the articles M are to be accommodated. Then, one article mounting table 11 is lowered to the lowest position. In parallel, the connecting conveyor 60 is lowered, and the connecting conveyor 60 connects the rollers 25 of the article mounting table 11 and the running surface of the lower conveyor 7 .

Then, the lower conveyor 7 is driven to move the articles M to the position of the lift tower 10 and then put them on the connecting conveyor 60.例文帳に追加
Here, since the guide plate 73 of the joint conveyor 60 is in contact with the running surface of the lower conveyor 7, transfer from the lower conveyor 7 to the joint conveyor 60 is performed smoothly. Then, the article M rises on the inclined surface of the connecting conveyor 60 and is pulled into the article placing table 11 .

After that, the article placing table 11 is raised to a desired height, and in parallel with this, the rollers 25 of the main body 22 are lowered, and the pallet 80 is transferred from the rollers 25 of the main body 22 to the moving table 23 .
Then, as shown in FIG. 14, the moving table 23 is protruded from the article placing table 11 to move the article M placed on the pallet 80 to the article placement portion 5 of the shelf 2. As shown in FIG.

The behavior at this time is as shown in FIG.
That is, from the state in which the pallet 80 is placed on the moving table 23 as shown in FIG. 14(a), the moving table 23 is projected as shown in FIG. 14(b). At this time, the lower roller 38 is raised as shown in FIG. 11(b).
In this state, the lower rollers 38 are hidden by the upper rollers 37, and the lower rollers 38 are lifted from the floor surface 81, as shown in FIGS. 14(a) and 14(b).

When the movable table 23 itself is advanced and reaches the article placement section 5 , the lower roller 38 comes into contact with the floor surface 81 of the article placement section 5 . The upper roller 37 rotates as the moving table 23 advances. Since the upper roller 37 is rotated by the force that advances the movable table 23, the direction of rotation thereof is forward with respect to the forward direction of the movable table 23, as shown in FIG. 14(b).
Therefore, the pallet 80 is moved forward by the upper rollers 37 on the carriage 23 .
The pallet 80 on the carriage 23 is moved forward not only by the forward movement of the carriage 23 itself but also by the urging force from the upper rollers 37 . Therefore, the pallet 80 moves to the rack 2 side at high speed and a long distance.
As a result, as shown in FIG. 14B, the tip of the pallet 80 protrudes from the moving table 23 and a part of it lands on the floor surface 81 of the shelf 2 .

When this situation is reached, the lower roller 38 is lowered, and the moving table 23 is returned to the main body 22 side, as shown in FIG. 14(c).
The lower roller 38 rotates by retreating the moving table 23 . Since the lower roller 38 is rotated by the force that causes the moving table 23 to move backward, the direction of rotation thereof is forward with respect to the moving table 23 moving backward, as shown in FIG. 14(c).

Since the upper rollers 37 are always in contact with the lower rollers 38 , the upper rollers 37 receive rotational force from the lower rollers 38 and rotate in the direction opposite to the retreating direction of the carriage 23 .
Therefore, the pallet 80 receives a force in the direction of the main body 22 due to the retreat of the moving table 23, and tries to move toward the elevating tower 10 side.
On the other hand, in this state, the upper roller 37 contacts the bottom surface of the pallet 80 as shown in FIG. 14(c).

Here, the upper roller 37 rotates in a direction opposite to the retreating direction of the moving table 23 . Therefore, the pallet 80 is urged by the upper rollers 37 in the direction of moving to the rear side.
That is, the pallet 80 receives force in the retracting direction and moves toward the lift tower 10 by retreating the moving table 23 , but receives force in the opposite direction from the upper rollers 37 and moves toward the back of the shelf 2 . Therefore, the movement of the pallet 80 in the drawing direction due to the retraction of the moving table 23 is offset by the movement toward the inner side due to the action of the upper rollers 37, and the pallet 80 stays at the position.
Therefore, without changing the position of the pallet 80, the moving table 23 leaves the pallet 80 and returns to the main body 22 as shown in FIG. 14(d).

As described above, in the article conveying apparatus 3 of the present embodiment, it is not necessary to lower the article placing table 11 below the lower conveyor (row-direction article conveying means) 7 when accommodating the articles M. FIG. Therefore, the amount of vertical movement of the article mounting table 11 is small, and the transportation efficiency is high.

Next, a second embodiment of the article conveying device will be described.
In the article conveying apparatus 3 of the first embodiment described above, the article placing table 11 is provided with a moving table (a part of the article delivery means) 23, and the article M placed on the moving table 23 is moved up and down. On the other hand, the article conveying apparatus 200 of the second embodiment is different in that a separate apparatus for raising and lowering articles is provided.

In the article conveying apparatus 200 of the second embodiment, the article lifting means has a plurality of adjacently arranged shelf members 106 and 107 and a lifting means for lifting and lowering at least one of the shelf members. Each of the shelf members 106 and 107 has article placement tables at a plurality of height positions. Note that the article mounting bases provided on the shelf members 106 and 107 are different in structure from those described above, so in order to distinguish between the two, they are simply referred to as mounting bases. The mounting tables of the shelf members 106 and 107 are provided with transport means capable of transporting articles in both forward and reverse directions. The mounting table belonging to one shelf member 106, 107 is adjusted in height to the mounting table belonging to the other shelf member 106, 107, and the mounting table belonging to one shelf member is moved to the other shelf member 106, 107 by a conveying means. By executing the forward motion to move the article to the placing table and further moving the shelf member up and down, the height of the placing table belonging to the other shelf members 106 and 107 is changed to the other height belonging to the one shelf member. Align with the table. A return operation is performed to move the article moved to the mounting table belonging to the other shelf member 106 or 107 by the forward movement to a mounting table belonging to one shelf member and having a different height from the original mounting table by the conveying means. do. Further, the forward movement and the return movement are repeated as necessary to move the article to a desired height position.

An article conveying apparatus 200 of the second embodiment uses an elevating unit 102 as shown in FIG. 21 as an article elevating means. 60 is provided.
The article mounting bases 11a and 11b have a lifting function as in the above-described embodiment, and can be stopped at an arbitrary height.
A connecting conveyor (connecting conveying section) 60 is located near the lower portion and moves up and down near the lower portion as in the above-described embodiment.

As shown in FIGS. 21 and 22, the lifting unit 102 is a combination of two shelf members 106 and 107 and lifting means 108 . For convenience of explanation, the shelf member 106 drawn on the left side of each figure is called the first shelf member 106 and the shelf member 107 drawn on the right side is called the second shelf member 107 .

Since the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 have the same structure except for the rollers 131 and guides 132 at the boundaries, the first shelf member 106 will be described as a representative.
The first shelf member 106 has an elevating frame 118a as shown in FIG. 22, and a four-story mounting table A (article mounting table) is installed in the elevating frame 118a.
For convenience of explanation, the mounting table A on each floor is referred to as a first-floor mounting table A1, a second-floor mounting table A2, a third-floor mounting table A3, and a fourth-floor mounting table A4.
The four mounting tables A are installed in the elevating frame 118 at regular intervals in the height direction. The height interval of each floor of the mounting table A is the same.

The mounting table A on each floor has the same structure, and a small conveyor device (conveying means) 110 is installed. The conveyor device 110 has a motor-incorporating roller 112 and a driven roller 113 attached to a frame. The motor-incorporating roller 112 has a motor (not shown) and a speed reducer (not shown) built in the roller body, and the roller body rotates by energizing the internal motor. The driven roller 113 is a freely rotating roller.
A belt 115 is suspended between the motor-incorporating roller 112 and the driven roller 113 and between the driven rollers 113. When the motor-incorporating roller 112 rotates, the other driven rollers 113 are driven to rotate.
In this embodiment, the conveyor device 110 installed on each mounting table A can convey the article M in both the normal direction and the reverse direction.

A load sensor 117 is provided on the mounting table A on each floor. The load sensor 117 is a transmissive photoelectric sensor and has a light projecting member (not shown) and a light receiving member 121, and the light receiving member 121 receives light emitted by the light projecting member. When the light is blocked by the article M and the light receiving member 121 cannot receive the light, the existence of the article M on the mounting table A is detected.
The type of load sensor 117 is not limited, and may be a reflective photoelectric sensor. Alternatively, other physical phenomena may be used.

As described above, the second shelf member 107 has the same structure as the first shelf member 106, so redundant description is omitted by assigning common numbers.
However, for convenience of explanation, the second shelf member 107 has changed the alphabetical symbols A and a of the placing tables on each floor to B and b.
Therefore, the second shelf member 107 has an elevating frame 118b as shown in FIG. 22, and a mounting table B having a four-story structure is installed in the elevating frame 118b.
The mounting tables on each floor are referred to as a first-floor mounting table B1, a second-floor mounting table B2, a third-floor mounting table B3, and a fourth-floor mounting table B4.

As will be described later, the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 are arranged to hang from the outer frame 130 while being adjacent to each other. is provided with rollers 131 and guides 132 .
That is, rollers 131 are provided on vertical members 120a of the elevating frame 118a of the first shelf member 106 and facing the second shelf member 107. As shown in FIG.
A guide 132 is provided on the vertical member 120b of the lifting frame 118b of the second shelf member 107 facing the first shelf member 106. As shown in FIG.
A roller 133 is provided on the outer side of the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 when they are adjacent to each other.

As shown in FIG. 21, the outer frame 130 of the elevating unit 102 is a rectangular parallelepiped made of steel.
As shown in FIGS. 21 and 22 , two upper sprockets 135 and 136 are provided inside the outer frame 130 at positions on the upper end side. Two lower sprockets 137 and 138 are also provided inside the outer frame 130 at the lower end side.
Guides (not shown) are installed on the four vertical members 123 installed at the corners of the outer frame 130 .

The first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 are suspended from the outer frame 130 by wire rods (connection means) 140 such as chains and wires. In this embodiment, a chain is employed as the wire rod 140 .
That is, the top surfaces of the lifting frame 118a of the first shelf member 106 and the lifting frame 118b of the second shelf member 107 are joined together by the wire 140. As shown in FIG. Specifically, one end of the wire rod 140 is connected to the lift frame 118a, and the other end of the wire rod 140 is connected to the lift frame 118b.
21 and 22, the intermediate portion of the wire rod 140 is engaged with the upper sprockets 135, 136 installed on the upper end side of the outer frame 130. As shown in FIG.
As a result, the weight of the lifting frames 118a and 118b is supported by the upper sprockets 135 and 136, and the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 are suspended by the wire 140 hanging from the upper sprockets 135 and 136. It's becoming

In addition, when looking at the lower side of the lifting frames 118a and 118b, the bottom surfaces of the lower sides of the lifting frames 118a and 118b are also joined together by wire rods 141, and the wire rods 141 are installed on the lower side of the outer frame 130. It engages with the lower sprockets 137,138.
As a result, the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 are in a state of being annularly connected via wires 140 and 141, and like a balance, when one is raised, the other is moved by the same distance. descend.
The rollers 133 of the lifting frames 118a and 118b are engaged with guides (not shown) provided on vertical members at the corners of the outer frame 130. As shown in FIG.
Further, rollers 131 and guides 132 provided at the boundaries of the lift frames 118a and 118b are engaged with each other.
Therefore, the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 have flexibility only in the vertical direction.

Next, the lifting means 108 will be described.
In this embodiment, an elevating means 108 applying a crank mechanism is employed.
Specifically, the lifting means 108 has a rotary disk 150 and a rod-shaped link 151 as shown in FIG. The rotating disk 150 and the rod-shaped link 151 are rotatably connected by a pin 152 . A pin 153 is also rotatably connected between the other end of the rod-shaped link 151 and the lift frame 118a.

The rotating disc 150 is slowly rotated by the geared motor 143 . The stop position of the rotating disk 150 is determined by an encoder and limit switches (not shown).
In this embodiment, the rotating disc 150 is positioned at a raised position where the pin 152 is positioned substantially directly above the center of rotation 155 of the rotating disc 150 and a lowered position where the pin 152 is positioned substantially directly below the center of rotation 155 of the rotating disc 150 . 150 stops.

In this embodiment, when the rotating disk 150 stops at the raised position, the heights of the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 are shifted so that the first shelf member 106 is on the top and the second shelf member 107 is on the bottom. Become.
The mounting tables A and B on each floor of the two shelf members 106 and 107 have the same height while being shifted one step at a time.
In this embodiment, the first shelf member 106 has a first-floor placing table A1, a second-floor placing table A2, a third-floor placing table A3, and a fourth-floor placing table A4, and the second shelf member 107 also has a first-floor placing table B1. , second-floor mounting table B2, third-floor mounting table B3, and fourth-floor mounting table B4. The second-floor mounting table B2 of the member 107 is at the same height, the second-floor mounting table A2 of the first shelf member 106 and the third-floor mounting table B3 of the second shelf member 107 are at the same height, and the first shelf member 106 is mounted on the third floor. The mounting table A3 and the fourth-floor mounting table B4 of the second shelf member 107 have the same height (FIG. 23(a)).

Further, when the rotating disc 150 stops at the lowered position, the heights of the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 are shifted so that the second shelf member 107 goes up and the first shelf member 106 goes down.
The mounting tables A and B on each floor of the two shelf members 106 and 107 have the same height while being shifted one step at a time.
That is, the second-floor mounting table A2 of the first shelf member 106 and the first-floor mounting table B1 of the second shelf member 107 are at the same height, and the third-floor mounting table A3 of the first shelf member 106 and the second-floor mounting table of the second shelf member 107 are the same. B2 has the same height, and the fourth floor mounting table A4 of the first shelf member 106 and the third floor mounting table B3 of the second shelf member 107 have the same height (FIG. 23(b)).

In the lift unit 102 of this embodiment, the mounting tables A and B belonging to one of the shelf members 106 and 107 are aligned with the mounting tables A and B belonging to the other shelf member 107 and 106, and in this state, the mounting tables A and B are moved. The conveyor device (conveying means) 110 moves the article M from the mounting tables A, B belonging to one of the shelf members 106, 107 to the mounting tables A, B belonging to the other shelf member 106, 107.
Next, the elevating means 108 is driven to elevate the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107, and the heights of the mounting tables A and B belonging to one of the shelf members 106 and 107 are adjusted to the heights belonging to the other shelf member 106 and 107. It is matched with mounting tables A and B of other heights.
Then, the return operation is performed to move the article M previously moved by the forward movement to a mounting table belonging to one of the shelf members 106 and 107 and having a different height from the original mounting tables A and B by the conveying means.
Furthermore, the forward movement and the return movement are repeated as necessary. As a result, the article M reciprocates in a zigzag pattern between the mounting tables A and B belonging to the adjacent shelf members 106 and 107, changes its height, and is discharged to a desired height.

Specific examples will be described below.
In this embodiment, the forward movement and the return movement are performed by driving the conveyor devices (conveying means) 110 of the mounting tables A and B having the same height. That is, the conveyor devices 110 of the mounting tables A, B on which the article M is placed are driven in the direction of the other mounting table A, B, and the mounted article M is delivered to the other mounting table A, B. On the other hand, the other mounting table A, B drives the conveyor device 110 so as to pull the article M into the mounting table A, B itself.

In this embodiment, since each of the mounting tables A and B is provided with the load sensor 117, it is possible to identify whether or not there is an article M on the mounting tables A and B of itself.
In this embodiment, the conveyor device 110 of the mounting tables A and B is driven under the condition that there is an article M on the mounting table A or B itself and that there is no article M on the mounting table A or B to be conveyed. An action or return action is performed.

Also, the articles M are transferred between the article mounting tables 11a and 11b and the mounting tables A and B of the shelf members 106 and 107, respectively. Similarly, articles M are transferred between the connecting conveyor 60 and the mounting tables A and B of the shelf members 106 and 107, respectively.
In this embodiment, the article placement tables 11a and 11b and the connecting conveyor 60 are also provided with load sensors, so that it is possible to identify whether or not there are articles M on the connecting conveyor 60 and the like.
In the present embodiment, the conditions for transferring the article M between the article placement tables 11a and 11b and the connecting conveyor 60 and the placement tables A and B of the shelf members 106 and 107 are the articles on the placement tables A and B described above. It is the same as the delivery condition of M, and on the condition that there is an article M on its own article mounting table 11a, 11b, the connecting conveyor 60, the mounting table A, B, and there is no article M at the conveying destination, the conveyor device 110 and the main body The part 22 and the like are driven, and the article M is delivered.

As an example, the operation of moving the article M from the article placing table 11a on the fifth floor on the left to the connecting conveyor 60 on the first floor on the right will be described.
FIG. 23 shows the state of each stage when moving the article M from the article placing table 11 stopped on the fifth floor on the left to the connecting conveyor 60 stopped on the first floor on the right.

First, the raising/lowering means 108 is driven, and as shown in FIG. In this state, the article mounting table 11 stopped on the left fifth floor and the fourth floor mounting table A4 of the first shelf member 106 match in height.
While maintaining this posture, the roller conveyor device of the main body 22 of the article placing table 11 and the conveyor device 110 of the fourth floor placing table A4 are driven to send out the article M from the article placing table 11 and place it on the fourth floor. The article M is pulled in on the stand A4.

In the state shown in FIG. 23(a), the article M is detected on the article mounting table 11 stopped on the fifth floor on the left, so the presence sensor of the article mounting table 11 detects the article M. FIG. On the other hand, the loading table A4 of the first shelf member 106 is in an empty state, so the inventory sensor 117 does not detect the article M. Therefore, the driving conditions for the conveyor device 111 of the article table 11 and the conveyor device 110 of the fourth floor table A4 are satisfied, and the conveyor devices 111 and 110 are driven.
When the load sensor of the article placing table 11 stops detecting the article M and the load sensor 117 of the fourth floor placing table A4 detects the article M, then the conveyor device 110 of the fourth floor placing table A4 is driven a little. After maintaining, the conveyor apparatus 110, 111 is stopped.
As a result, the article M is moved from the article table 11 to the fourth floor table A4.

Subsequently, the elevating means 108 is driven and stopped in a state where the second shelf member 107 is higher than the first shelf member 106 as shown in FIG. 23(b). In this state, the height of the fourth-floor platform A4 of the first shelf member 106 matches the height of the third-floor platform B3 of the second shelf member 107. FIG.
While maintaining this posture, the conveyor device 110 of the fourth-floor placing table A4 of the first shelf member 106 and the conveyor device 110 of the third-floor placing table B3 of the second shelf member 107 are driven, and the fourth-floor placing table is driven. The article M is sent out from A4, and the article M is pulled in on the third-floor table B3. In this way, forward movement is performed. The load sensor 117 on the fourth floor table A4 no longer detects the article M, and the load sensor 117 on the third floor table B3 detects the article M. After maintaining the drive, the conveyor devices 110, 111 are stopped.
As a result, the article M moves from the fourth-floor platform A4 of the first shelf member 106 to the third-floor platform B3 of the second shelf member 107 .

Subsequently, the lifting means 108 is driven again, and stops in a state where the first shelf member 106 is higher than the second shelf member 107 as shown in FIG. 23(c). In this state, the height of the third-floor platform B3 of the second shelf member 107 matches the height of the second-floor platform A2 of the first shelf member 106 .
While maintaining this posture, the conveyor device 110 of the third-floor placing table B3 of the second shelf member 107 and the conveyor device 110 of the second-floor placing table A2 of the first shelf member 106 are driven, and the third-floor placing table B3 is driven. The article M is sent out from the second-floor table A2, and the article M is taken in. Thus, the return operation is executed.

Subsequently, the lifting means 108 is driven again, and as shown in FIG. The mounting table A2 and the first-floor mounting table B1 of the second shelf member 107 are aligned in height, and the conveyor device 110 is driven to move the article M from the second-floor mounting table A2 to the first-floor mounting table B1. In this way, the second go operation is performed.

Subsequently, the lifting means 108 is driven again, and as shown in FIG. The height of the first-floor station R1 is aligned, and the conveyor devices 110 and 111 are driven to carry out the article M from the first-floor placing table B1 to the connecting conveyor 60. - 特許庁
In this way, the article M is moved in a zigzag manner, and the height is gradually changed so that the article M can be taken in and out at a desired height.

The usage example described in FIG. 23 is the case of lowering the height of the article M, but it is of course possible to raise the height and lift the article M upstairs.

In the example of use described above, the articles M are moved one by one, but the articles M can also be moved continuously.
24 and 25 show an example of moving an article M from the article placing table 11 stopped on the fifth floor on the left to the connecting conveyor 60 stopped on the first floor on the right, similar to the example of FIG. 23 described above. By the time the article M1 reaches its destination, the next article M2 reaches the article placing table 11 and is introduced to the fourth floor placing table A4.
That is, in FIG. 24, the steps (a) and (b) are the same as those in FIG. 23 illustrated above, but in FIG. When the empty fourth-floor mounting table A4 is lifted, the next article M2 is moved to the fourth-floor mounting table A4.
As a result, the added article M2 reaches the connecting conveyor 60 stopped on the right first floor, as in the previous example.

The movement with respect to the preceding article M1 is the same as in the case of FIG. 23 described above.
The article M2 carried in later also follows the same moving locus as in the case of FIG.

Then, the connecting conveyor 60 is lowered with the articles M placed thereon, and the lower end of the running surface of the connecting conveyor 60 is lowered to a height near the running surface of the lower conveyor 7 . At this time, the guide plate 73 contacts the running surface of the lower conveyor 7 .

In this state, the joint conveyor 60 is driven. As a result, as in the previous embodiment, the article M descends the inclined running surface of the tether conveyor 60 and is delivered to the lower conveyor 7 . The pallet articles M are discharged to the end by the lower conveyor 7 .
When the articles M are transferred to the lower conveyor 7, the connecting conveyor 60 is raised to the standby position. As a result, there is no obstacle on the lower conveyor 7, and other articles M can be passed.

In the article conveying apparatus 200 of the second embodiment, the article placing tables 11a and 11b are provided separately from the lifting unit 102. It may have a function. That is, the mounting table may function as the article mounting table 11 and the article M may be transferred directly between the mounting table and the shelf 2 .

In each of the above-described embodiments, the roller unit 40 including the upper roller 37 and the lower roller 38 is used as the article delivery means. In each of the above-described embodiments, the upper roller 37 and the lower roller 38 do not have any power and are rotated by coming into contact with other members.
The present invention does not limit the structure of the article delivery means, and may use rollers or belt conveyors having power.
For example, an article mounting table having a pusher or the like may be employed, and the article M on the article mounting table may be pushed out toward the shelf 2 by the pusher or the like. Alternatively, a conveyor may be provided on the shelf 2 side, and the articles may be transferred from the article conveying device to the conveyor of the shelf 2 .
The article delivery means may be a robot.

1 article storage device 2 shelf 3 article conveying device 7 lower conveyor (column direction article conveying means)
10 lifting tower (item arrangement means)
11 Article Placement Table 12 Elevating Mechanism 16 Tower Frame 21 Running Wheel 22 Main Body 23 Moving Table 37 Upper Roller 38 Lower Roller 47 Biasing Means 48 Plate Cam (Height Changing Means)
60 connecting conveyor (connecting conveying section)
200 article conveying device 102 elevating unit (article elevating means)
106 first shelf member (article placing table)
107 second shelf member (article placing table)
110 conveyor device (conveying means)

The present invention relates to an article transfer means. The invention related to the present invention relates to an article conveying apparatus which is installed near a shelf and arranges articles on each part of the shelf. The present invention also relates to an article storage device.

Patent Document 1 discloses an article storage device suitable for a large-sized automated warehouse.
The article storage apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 is composed of a shelf having a two-level rack structure, and an article transport apparatus for storing articles in the shelf and taking out articles stored in the shelf.

A prior art article conveying apparatus has a lower conveyor for conveying articles horizontally at the bottom. Prior art article conveyors also include vertical conveyors. The vertical conveying device has a placing section for placing an article, and an elevating means for raising and lowering the placing section. The vertical transport device itself has a self-propelled function and moves linearly along the lower conveyor.

In prior art article conveying devices, the lower conveyor consists of a group of chain conveyors divided into a plurality of sections. The chain conveyor in each section has chains arranged in two rows at regular intervals.
In the prior art, a conveyor is also installed on the loading section of the vertical transport device.

When storing articles on a shelf using a conventional article transporting apparatus, the vertical transporting apparatus is self-propelled and moved to the side of a target storage section. Then, the mounting part is lowered and submerged between the chains of the chain conveyor.
The lower conveyor is then driven to move the articles onto the submerged receiver. After that, the placing section is raised to scoop up the article, and then the placing section is lifted to the height of the target accommodation position.
Then, the conveyor mounted on the placement section is driven to store the article in the storage section at the desired height.

JP 2015-44639 A

The prior art article transport apparatus lowers the pedestal below the lower conveyor and picks up the article from below to place the article on the pedestal.
Therefore, in the conventional article conveying apparatus, the vertical movement distance of the placing section is long, and the conveying efficiency is poor.
The related invention of the present invention focuses on the above-described problems of the prior art, and aims to develop an article conveying device and an article storage device that have a small amount of vertical movement and high conveying efficiency.

An aspect (related invention) for solving the above-described problems is an article conveying device installed adjacent to a shelf for receiving and/or taking out articles from the shelf, wherein the shelf has a plurality of An article storage row in which article placement portions are arranged is provided over a plurality of stages, and the article conveying device has column-direction article conveying means and article placement means, and the column-direction article conveying means includes an article. is conveyed in the direction along the article storage row of the shelf, and the article arrangement means includes row-direction traveling means, article lifting means, one or more article placing tables, a connecting conveying section, and article delivery means The column-direction traveling means moves the article placement means itself in a direction along the article storage row, the article lifting means raises and lowers the articles, and the article placement table moves the articles. The article transfer means has a function of transferring an article between the article placing table and the shelf section, and the connecting conveying section has an elevating function and a conveying function, and has a certain height. The article conveying apparatus is characterized in that the article placing table and the column-direction article conveying means are connected when the article is in the second position.

The article conveying apparatus of this aspect has a connecting conveying section. The connecting conveying section has an elevating function and a conveying function, and connects the article placing table and the column-direction article conveying means when they are at a certain height.
In the article conveying apparatus of this aspect, when an article is placed on the article placing table from the column-direction article conveying means or when an article is transferred from the article placing table to the column-direction article conveying means, the article placing table is lowered to a certain height, The article placing table and the conveying surface of the column direction article conveying means are connected by a connecting conveying section.
The articles move through the connecting transport section, for example, from the article placement table to the column direction article transport means.
According to the article conveying apparatus of this aspect, since it is not necessary to lower the article mounting table below the column direction article conveying means, the lifting distance of the article mounting table is short.

2. The article conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the connecting conveying portion has a conveying device, and the conveying surface of the conveying device has an inclined posture when the conveyor device is at least at a certain height. be.

In the main body, the connecting transport section has a conveyor device. In the conveyor device, the conveying surface assumes an inclined posture and connects the article placing table and the conveying surface of the row-direction article conveying means.
Therefore, the level difference between the conveying surface of the connecting conveying section and the column-direction article conveying means is small, and the article can easily be transferred.

In each of the above-described modes, it is desirable that an article transfer means is installed on the article placing table.

In each of the above-described modes, the article raising/lowering means raises and lowers the article placing table, and raises and lowers the article placing table itself in a state in which an article is placed on one article placing table, thereby adjusting the height of the article to the target height. It is desirable that the

In each of the above modes, the article lifting means has a plurality of adjacently arranged shelf members and a lifting means for lifting and lowering at least one of said shelf members, and each of said shelf members has a plurality of height positions. The article placement table has a transport means capable of transporting articles in both forward and reverse directions, and the height of the article placement table belonging to one shelf member is adjusted to that of the other shelf member. In accordance with the article placement table to which the shelf member belongs, the conveying means executes a forward motion to move the article from the article placement table belonging to one shelf member to the article placement table belonging to the other shelf member, and further raises and lowers the shelf member to achieve the above-described The height of the article mounting table belonging to the other shelf member is adjusted to the height of the article mounting table belonging to the one shelf member, and the article is moved to the article mounting table belonging to the other shelf member by the forward movement. is moved by the conveying means to an article placement table belonging to the one shelf member and having a height different from that of the original article placement table. It is desirable to be able to move it to a desired height position.

In each of the above-described modes, the article delivery means has a main body and a moving table. When the lower roller is at the bottom, the upper roller is the contact part with the article, and the lower roller is the contact part with other members, and when the lower roller rotates, the upper roller is It is desirable that the lower roller receives power transmission from the lower roller and rotates in the opposite direction to the lower roller, and when the lower roller is positioned upward, the upper roller comes into contact with articles and other members.

In each of the above-described modes, the article storage device is characterized by having a shelf provided with a plurality of article storage rows in which a plurality of article arrangement portions are arranged in at least a row direction, and the above-described article transport device. It is an article storage device.

The article conveying device and the article storage device of the present invention (related invention) have a small amount of vertical movement and little useless movement. Therefore, the article conveying device and the article storage device require a short time to accommodate and eject articles.

1 is a perspective view of a warehouse apparatus employing an article storage apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1, illustrating an article conveying device and a shelf; It is explanatory drawing which shows the mechanism which raises/lowers the article mounting base of an article conveying apparatus, (a) is a substantial drawing, (b) is simplified and illustrated the suspension path|route of a chain. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an article placing table of the article conveying apparatus of FIG. 2, showing a state in which a moving table of an article delivery means is accommodated in the main body; FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an article placing table of the article conveying apparatus of FIG. 2, showing a state in which a moving table of an article delivery means protrudes toward the shelf; FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the article mounting table of FIGS. 4 and 5, showing a mechanism for moving the movable table of the article delivery means; FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the article mounting table of FIGS. 4 and 5, showing a mechanism for raising and lowering the main body; FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the article mounting table of FIGS. 4 and 5; FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a row of rollers of the moving table of the article delivery means of the article placing table of FIGS. 4 and 5; 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a roller unit of the article delivery means; FIG. (a) and (b) are explanatory diagrams showing the operation of the article delivery means. (a), (b), (c), and (d) are explanatory diagrams showing an insertion operation of inserting the moving table under the article when pulling the article from the shelf side to the article conveying device side. (a), (b), (c), and (d) are explanatory diagrams showing the return operation of returning the moving table to the article placement table when pulling the article from the shelf side to the article conveying device side. (a), (b), (c), and (d) are explanatory diagrams showing an operation when an article is inserted from the article conveying device to the shelf side. It is a perspective view of the connection conveyance part of an article|item conveyance apparatus. (a) to (c) are explanatory diagrams showing the operation of the article conveying device. It is an explanatory view simplifying and explaining the side of an article conveying device. (a) to (d) are explanatory diagrams for explaining the operation of the article placing table and the connecting conveying section of the article conveying apparatus. (a) and (b) are side views showing modifications of the connecting conveying unit. FIG. 4 is a front view showing a state in which articles are stored in a shelf; FIG. 11 is a perspective view of an article conveying device according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 22 is a perspective view of an elevating unit of the article conveying apparatus shown in FIG. 21; 22. (a) to (e) are front views showing the operation of the article conveying apparatus of FIG. 22, showing the situation at each stage when an article is moved from the article placement table on the left fifth floor to the connecting conveyor on the right first floor. indicates (a) to (f) are front views showing the operation of the article conveying apparatus of FIG. 22, when articles are continuously moved from the article placement table on the left fifth floor to the connecting conveyor on the right first floor. Show the status of each stage. 22. (g) and (h) are front views showing the operation of the article conveying apparatus of FIG. FIG. 25 shows the stage situation and the operation following FIG. 24;

Embodiments of the present invention will be further described below.
FIG. 1 shows a warehouse device 15 in which three article storage devices 1a, 1b, and 1c of this embodiment are arranged side by side.
An article storage device 1 of this embodiment is composed of two shelves 2a and 2b and an article transport device 3 (FIG. 2) arranged therebetween.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the shelves 2a and 2b have a five-story structure, and six articles placement sections 5 are provided in series on each floor. In other words, each of the shelves 2a and 2b has five article storage rows 17 in which six article arrangement sections 5 are arranged in the row direction.

The article conveying device 3 has a lower conveyor (column direction article conveying means) 7 and an elevating tower (article placing means) 10 as shown in FIG.
The lower conveyor 7 is installed on the floor between the two shelves 2a and 2b. The lower conveyor 7 can convey the articles M in the direction of the article storage rows 17 of the shelves 2a and 2b.
The lower conveyor 7 is formed by arranging a plurality of known zone conveyors 8 . In this embodiment, the zone conveyors 8 are roller conveyors, each of which has its own drive source and can be started and stopped individually. The lower conveyor 7 can stop articles at any position (any zone).

The elevating tower 10 functions as article placement means, and has a tower frame 16 that runs along the rails 20 for the tower.
That is, a pair of tower rails 20 are installed along the lower conveyor 7 .
At the bottom of the tower frame 16 , there are running wheels (column direction running means) 21 , and the running wheels 21 are engaged with the tower rails 20 . The traveling wheels 21 can be rotated by a motor (not shown) to move the lifting tower 10 along the lower conveyor 7 . Also, the elevating tower 10 can be stopped at an arbitrary position.

Two article mounting tables 11a and 11b are installed within the framework of the tower frame 16, as shown in FIG.
One article placement table 11a is used to carry articles into and out of one shelf 2a, and the other article placement table 11b is used to carry in and carry out articles into and out of the other shelf 2b. It is used when

The article mounting tables 11a and 11b are lifted and lowered by an elevating mechanism 12 as shown in FIG. 3, for example.
That is, the elevating mechanism 12 has a long chain 13 or the like suspended along a suspension path as shown in FIG. The mounting table 11b descends. When the chain 13 is run in the direction opposite to the arrow, the article mounting table 11a is lowered and the article mounting table 11b is raised.
In this embodiment, the article placing table 11 and the lifting mechanism 12 constitute article lifting means.

In this embodiment, the article placement tables 11 a and 11 b also serve as article transfer means, and have a main body 22 and a moving table 23 . That is, in this embodiment, the article delivery means is composed of the main body 22 and the moving table 23 .
The body portion 22 is a roller conveyor device, and in this embodiment, four rollers 25 are arranged in parallel on a frame 63 at regular intervals as shown in FIG. The conveying direction by the rollers 25 is the same as that of the lower conveyor 7 serving as column direction article conveying means.
One of the four rollers 25 is a motor-incorporating roller in which a motor is incorporated in the roller body, and the other three rollers are idling rollers. Adjacent ones of the four rollers 25 are connected by a power transmission belt (not shown), and all the rollers 25 rotate when the motor-incorporating roller rotates.

Two cam followers 27 are provided on each side surface of the body portion 22 . The cam follower 27 is a roller.
7 and 8, a direct-acting cam 28 is provided at the lower portion of the body portion 22, and the cam follower 27 of the body portion 22 is in contact with the direct-acting cam 28. As shown in FIGS. The direct acting cam 28 has a concave portion 31 and a convex portion 32 as shown in FIGS. A rack 82 is formed on the linear cam 28 and the pinion 26 rotated by the motor engages with the rack 82 . The direct acting cam 28 is linearly moved by the rotation of the rack 82 .

As described above, the cam follower 27 of the body portion 22 is in contact with the direct acting cam 28, and when the cam follower 27 falls into the concave portion 31 of the direct acting cam 28, the body portion 22 descends. Further, when the direct acting cam 28 moves linearly and the cam follower 27 rides on the convex portion 32 of the direct acting cam 28, the body portion 22 rises.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 8, the moving table 23 has a frame 53 having two slits 33 and three rows of rollers 35a, 35b, and 35c.
That is, the moving table 23 has three rows of rollers 35a, 35b, and 35c, and slits 33 are formed by elongated openings between the rows of rollers 35a, 35b, and 35c.

In this embodiment, each of the roller rows 35a, 35b, and 35c includes two upper rollers 37 and one lower roller 38 to form one roller unit 40, as shown in FIG. Four sets are arranged in series.
Both the upper roller 37 and the lower roller 38 are short, and their rotating shafts 42 and 46 both extend in a direction perpendicular to the rotating shaft of the roller 25 of the main body 22 .
Therefore, the conveying direction of the moving table 23 is orthogonal to the conveying direction of the main body portion 22 .

Both the upper roller 37 and the lower roller 38 are idle rollers and have no power. The upper roller 37 is always in contact with the lower roller 38, and when one rotates, the other follows it and rotates.
The roller unit 40 is composed of two upper rollers 37 and one lower roller 38 as described above.
As shown in FIGS. 9, 10, and 11, the upper rollers 37 are arranged above the lower rollers 38, and the lower rollers 38 are sandwiched between the two upper rollers 37. As shown in FIGS.
The rotating shaft 42 of the upper roller 37 is engaged with a guide hole 43 horizontally provided in the frame, and has flexibility only in the horizontal direction.
On the other hand, the rotating shaft 46 of the lower roller 38 is engaged with a guide hole 45 vertically provided in the frame, and has flexibility only in the vertical direction.

The two upper rollers 37 are biased toward each other by biasing means 47 such as rubber or springs, and are always in contact with the lower rollers 38 .
A cam hole 50 provided in a plate cam (height changing means) 48 is engaged with the lower roller 38 . The cam hole 50 has a high area 51 and a low area 52 as shown in FIGS.

The plate cam 48 is linearly moved by driving means (not shown), and the contact position between the cam hole 50 and the rotating shaft 46 of the lower roller 38 changes.
When the lower region 52 of the plate cam 48 engages with the rotating shaft 46 of the lower roller 38, the lower roller 38 is lowered as shown in FIG. 11(a).
In this state, the lower surface of the lower roller 38 protrudes below the upper roller 37 as shown in FIG. 11(a).

When the plate cam 48 linearly moves and the high region 51 engages with the rotating shaft 46 of the lower roller 38, the lower roller 38 rises. As described above, the upper rollers 37 have a degree of freedom in the horizontal direction.
In this state, as shown in FIG. 11(b), the lower surface of the lower roller 38 is located above the upper roller 37, and the lower roller 38 is hidden between the upper rollers 37. As shown in FIG.

A stopper plate 55 is provided on the frame 53 of the moving table 23 on the opening side of the slit 33 .
Auxiliary guides 75 are engaged with the side surfaces of the frame 53 of the carriage 23 .
A linear moving means 58 for linearly moving the moving table 23 is provided below the moving table 23 .
The linear movement means 58 is a belt transmission mechanism having a motor-incorporating roller and an idle roller as pulleys, and a part of the belt 57 is engaged with the moving table 23 .
When the motor-incorporating roller rotates and the belt 57 runs, the moving table 23 moves linearly.

The article mounting table 11 has the body portion 22 and the moving table (item delivery means) 23 as described above, and the moving table 23 is superimposed on the body portion 22 so as to be linearly movable.
The state in which the moving table 23 is superimposed on the body part 22 is as shown in FIG.
When the body portion 22 is lifted by the action of the direct acting cam 28 , the rollers 25 of the body portion 22 are lifted so that the running surfaces of the rollers 25 are positioned above the moving table 23 .
When the body portion 22 is lowered by the action of the direct-acting cam 28 , the rollers 25 of the body portion 22 are lowered, and the running surface of the rollers 25 sinks below the carriage 23 .
Further, by driving the linear movement means 58, the moving table 23 itself advances and protrudes from the main body 22 in a cantilever manner as shown in FIG.

The tower frame 16 is provided with connecting conveyors (connecting conveying units) 60 at front and rear positions. The connecting conveyor 60 is a small belt conveyor. 15 and 16, the connecting conveyor 60 has a driving pulley 62 and a driven pulley 65 attached to a pair of frame pieces 61, and a conveyor belt 66 suspended between the driving pulley 62 and the driven pulley 65. It is. A plurality of rollers 67 for supporting the load are arranged inside the conveyor belt 66 .

The frame piece 61 has a vertical member 68 as shown in FIG.
A rack 77 is provided on the leg portion 72 of the tower frame 16 . The longitudinal members 68 of the tether conveyor 60 engage the inner surfaces of the legs 72 of the tower frame 16 so that the longitudinal members 68 of the tether conveyor 60 travel along the legs 72 of the tower frame 16 . Gears 71 of tether conveyor 60 are also engaged with racks 77 in tower frame 16 . Therefore, when the gear 71 is rotated by the drive motor, the connecting conveyor 60 moves up and down on the front or rear side of the tower frame 16 .
The connecting conveyor 60 has a standby position at a certain height. The height of the standby position is the lower side of the tower frame 16 and is high enough to allow the article M to pass thereunder.

In this embodiment, the connecting conveyor 60 is a belt conveyor, and the drive pulley and the driven pulley have the same diameter, but the diameter of the pulley on the free end side may be reduced as shown in FIG. . The connecting conveyor 60 may also be a roller conveyor. In the example shown in FIG. 19(b), a roller with a small diameter is used on the free end side.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 15 , the connecting conveyor 60 extends forward and backward of the tower frame 16 . The transfer surface of the joint conveyor 60 is inclined downward on the free end side as shown in FIGS. A guide plate 73 is provided at the tip of the connecting conveyor 60 on the free end side.
In this embodiment, the connecting conveyor 60 is attached in an inclined posture, and the angle of inclination is constant. may be determined.

Next, functions of the article storage device 1 will be described.
Articles M are stored in the article arrangement portion 5 of the shelf 2 of the article storage apparatus 1 as shown in FIG. Articles M are placed on a pallet 80, and the article placement section 5 is held at a constant height with respect to the floor surface 81. As shown in FIG.

First, the operation for taking out the article M from the shelf 2 will be described.
When an article M is taken out from the article storage apparatus 1, the traveling wheels 21 of the tower frame 16 are driven to move the elevating tower (article placement means) 10 in front of the portion of the article storage row 17 where the desired article M is placed. to move. Then, one article mounting table 11 is lifted, and the article mounting table 11 is adjusted to the height of the article placement section 5 in which the desired article M is accommodated.
Subsequently, the moving means 58 is driven to move the moving table 23 itself forward from the article placing table 11 toward the shelf 2 side, projecting from the main body 22 in a cantilever manner as shown in FIG. At this time, the roller 25 of the body portion 22 is lowered.

Also, as shown in FIG. 12(a), the lower roller 38 is set at the lowered position.
In this state, the lower surface of the lower roller 38 protrudes below the upper roller 37, as shown in FIG. 12(a).
When the movable table 23 itself is advanced and reaches the article placement section 5 , the lower roller 38 comes into contact with the floor surface 81 of the article placement section 5 . The lower roller 38 rotates as the moving table 23 advances. Since the lower roller 38 is rotated by the force that advances the movable table 23, the direction of rotation thereof is forward with respect to the forward direction of the movable table 23, as shown in FIG. 12(a).

Since the upper rollers 37 are always in contact with the lower rollers 38 , the upper rollers 37 receive rotational force from the lower rollers 38 and rotate in the direction opposite to the forward direction of the carriage 23 .
The moving table 23 moves forward, and the leading roller 37 of the moving table 23 hits the end of the pallet 80 as shown in FIG. 12(b). Since the leading upper roller 37 rotates in the direction of scooping up the pallet 80 as shown in FIG.

When the moving table 23 moves forward further, the moving table 23 gets into between the pallet 80 and the floor surface 81 as shown in FIG. 12(c).
Therefore, the pallet 80 receives a force in the pushing direction due to the forward movement of the moving table 23 and tries to move toward the inner side of the shelf 2 .
On the other hand, in this state, the upper roller 37 contacts the bottom surface of the pallet 80 as shown in FIGS. 11(a) and 12(c).

Here, the upper roller 37 rotates in a direction opposite to the forward direction of the moving table 23 . Therefore, the pallet 80 is urged by the upper rollers 37 in the direction of moving toward the lifting tower 10 side. That is, the pallet 80 receives force in the direction of being pushed into the shelf 2 and moves in the direction of being pushed into the rack 2 as the movable table 23 advances, but receives force in the opposite direction by the upper rollers 37 and moves toward the elevator tower 10 . Therefore, the movement of the pallet 80 in the pushing direction due to the forward movement of the carriage 23 is offset by the movement toward the entrance side due to the action of the upper rollers 37, and the pallet 80 remains at that position as shown in FIG. 12(c).
Therefore, without changing the position of the pallet 80, the moving table 23 gets under the pallet 80 as shown in FIG. 12(d). Although the moving table 23 may be completely retracted directly under the pallet 80, in the present embodiment, the pallet 80 is retracted to the extent that the pallet 80 is lifted up, as shown in FIG. 12(d).

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 13, the moving table 23 is pulled back toward the main body 22 side.
When the movable table 23 is pulled back, the lower roller 38 is raised as shown in FIG. 11(b).
In this state, the lower rollers 38 are hidden by the upper rollers 37, and the lower rollers 38 are lifted from the floor surface 81, as shown in FIG. 13(b).
Therefore, the upper rollers 37 are brought into contact with the floor surface 81 .

Then, the moving table 23 itself is retracted. As described above, since neither the upper roller 37 nor the lower roller 38 has power, the upper roller 37 rotates due to the contact with the floor surface 81 and the retreat of the carriage 23 .
On the other hand, looking at the relationship between the upper roller 37 and the pallet 80, the upper roller 37 acts in the direction of pulling the pallet 80 back toward the main body 22 side. Therefore, the pallet 80 is moved on the moving table 23 by the upper rollers 37 as shown in FIG. 13(c).
In this manner, the pallet 80 is moved toward the main body 22 by the force from the upper rollers 37 in addition to the backward movement of the moving table 23 itself. Therefore, the pallet 80 is pulled back toward the main body 22 at high speed and over a longer distance.

Therefore, even if the carriage 23 is in a state in which about half of the pallet 80 has slipped into the pallet 80 as shown in FIG. , the pallet 80 is housed in the center of the carriage 23 . Since the moving table 23 is provided with a stopper plate 55 , the pallet 80 does not overshoot the moving table 23 .

Immediately after the pallet 80 moves to the main body part 22 side of the article placing table 11, the rollers 25 of the main body part 22 are raised, and the pallet 80 is transferred from the moving table 23 to the rollers 25 of the main body part 22.例文帳に追加

Then, the article mounting table 11 is lowered to the bottom as shown in FIG. 18(a).
In parallel with this, the connecting conveyor 60 is lowered. 16 and 18(a) show the positional relationship between the article placing table 11, the connecting conveyor 60, and the lower conveyor 7 at this time. That is, the connecting conveyor 60 is in an inclined posture, and the upper end of the running surface is at substantially the same height as the rollers 25 of the article placing table 11 . The lower end of the running surface of the joint conveyor 60 is at a height near the running surface of the lower conveyor 7, and the guide plate 73 contacts the running surface of the lower conveyor 7. As shown in FIG.

In this state, the rollers 25 of the article placing table 11 and the connecting conveyor 60 are driven. As a result, as shown in FIG. 18(b), the pallet 80 advances on the article placing table 11 toward the connecting conveyor 60 and is transferred to the connecting conveyor 60. As shown in FIG. Then, it goes down an inclined running surface and is handed over to the lower conveyor 7 as shown in FIG. 18(c). The pallet 80 is discharged to the end by the lower conveyor 7 .
When the pallet 80 is transferred to the lower conveyor 7, the article mounting table 11 is raised as shown in FIG. 18(d). Also, the connecting conveyor 60 is raised to the standby position. As a result, there is no obstacle on the lower conveyor 7, and other articles M can be passed.

When storing the articles M in the article storage device 1, the steps described above are generally reversed. That is, the articles are placed on the end of the lower conveyor 7 .
In parallel with this, the traveling wheels 21 are driven to move the elevating tower 10 to the row in which the articles M are to be accommodated. Then, one article mounting table 11 is lowered to the lowest position. In parallel, the connecting conveyor 60 is lowered, and the connecting conveyor 60 connects the rollers 25 of the article mounting table 11 and the running surface of the lower conveyor 7 .

Then, the lower conveyor 7 is driven to move the articles M to the position of the lift tower 10 and then put them on the connecting conveyor 60.例文帳に追加
Here, since the guide plate 73 of the joint conveyor 60 is in contact with the running surface of the lower conveyor 7, transfer from the lower conveyor 7 to the joint conveyor 60 is performed smoothly. Then, the article M rises on the inclined surface of the connecting conveyor 60 and is pulled into the article placing table 11 .

After that, the article placing table 11 is raised to a desired height, and in parallel with this, the rollers 25 of the main body 22 are lowered, and the pallet 80 is transferred from the rollers 25 of the main body 22 to the moving table 23 .
Then, as shown in FIG. 14, the moving table 23 is protruded from the article placing table 11 to move the article M placed on the pallet 80 to the article placement portion 5 of the shelf 2. As shown in FIG.

The behavior at this time is as shown in FIG.
That is, from the state in which the pallet 80 is placed on the moving table 23 as shown in FIG. 14(a), the moving table 23 is projected as shown in FIG. 14(b). At this time, the lower roller 38 is raised as shown in FIG. 11(b).
In this state, the lower rollers 38 are hidden by the upper rollers 37, and the lower rollers 38 are lifted from the floor surface 81, as shown in FIGS. 14(a) and 14(b).

When the movable table 23 itself is advanced and reaches the article placement section 5 , the lower roller 38 comes into contact with the floor surface 81 of the article placement section 5 . The upper roller 37 rotates as the moving table 23 advances. Since the upper roller 37 is rotated by the force that advances the movable table 23, the direction of rotation thereof is forward with respect to the forward direction of the movable table 23, as shown in FIG. 14(b).
Therefore, the pallet 80 is moved forward by the upper rollers 37 on the carriage 23 .
The pallet 80 on the carriage 23 is moved forward not only by the forward movement of the carriage 23 itself but also by the urging force from the upper rollers 37 . Therefore, the pallet 80 moves to the rack 2 side at high speed and a long distance.
As a result, as shown in FIG. 14B, the tip of the pallet 80 protrudes from the moving table 23 and a part of it lands on the floor surface 81 of the shelf 2 .

When this situation is reached, the lower roller 38 is lowered, and the moving table 23 is returned to the main body 22 side, as shown in FIG. 14(c).
The lower roller 38 rotates by retreating the moving table 23 . Since the lower roller 38 is rotated by the force that causes the moving table 23 to move backward, the direction of rotation thereof is forward with respect to the moving table 23 moving backward, as shown in FIG. 14(c).

Since the upper rollers 37 are always in contact with the lower rollers 38 , the upper rollers 37 receive rotational force from the lower rollers 38 and rotate in the direction opposite to the retreating direction of the carriage 23 .
Therefore, the pallet 80 receives a force in the direction of the main body 22 due to the retreat of the moving table 23, and tries to move toward the elevating tower 10 side.
On the other hand, in this state, the upper roller 37 contacts the bottom surface of the pallet 80 as shown in FIG. 14(c).

Here, the upper roller 37 rotates in a direction opposite to the retreating direction of the moving table 23 . Therefore, the pallet 80 is urged by the upper rollers 37 in the direction of moving to the rear side.
That is, the pallet 80 receives force in the retracting direction and moves toward the lift tower 10 by retreating the moving table 23 , but receives force in the opposite direction from the upper rollers 37 and moves toward the back of the shelf 2 . Therefore, the movement of the pallet 80 in the drawing direction due to the retraction of the moving table 23 is offset by the movement toward the inner side due to the action of the upper rollers 37, and the pallet 80 stays at the position.
Therefore, without changing the position of the pallet 80, the moving table 23 leaves the pallet 80 and returns to the main body 22 as shown in FIG. 14(d).

As described above, in the article conveying apparatus 3 of the present embodiment, it is not necessary to lower the article placing table 11 below the lower conveyor (row-direction article conveying means) 7 when accommodating the articles M. FIG. Therefore, the amount of vertical movement of the article mounting table 11 is small, and the transportation efficiency is high.

Next, a second embodiment of the article conveying device will be described.
In the article conveying apparatus 3 of the first embodiment described above, the article placing table 11 is provided with a moving table (a part of the article delivery means) 23, and the article M placed on the moving table 23 is moved up and down. On the other hand, the article conveying apparatus 200 of the second embodiment is different in that a separate apparatus for raising and lowering articles is provided.

In the article conveying apparatus 200 of the second embodiment, the article lifting means has a plurality of adjacently arranged shelf members 106 and 107 and a lifting means for lifting and lowering at least one of the shelf members. Each of the shelf members 106 and 107 has article placement tables at a plurality of height positions. Note that the article mounting bases provided on the shelf members 106 and 107 are different in structure from those described above, so in order to distinguish between the two, they are simply referred to as mounting bases. The mounting tables of the shelf members 106 and 107 are provided with transport means capable of transporting articles in both forward and reverse directions. The mounting table belonging to one shelf member 106, 107 is adjusted in height to the mounting table belonging to the other shelf member 106, 107, and the mounting table belonging to one shelf member is moved to the other shelf member 106, 107 by a conveying means. By executing the forward motion to move the article to the placing table and further moving the shelf member up and down, the height of the placing table belonging to the other shelf members 106 and 107 is changed to the other height belonging to the one shelf member. Align with the table. A return operation is performed to move the article moved to the mounting table belonging to the other shelf member 106 or 107 by the forward movement to a mounting table belonging to one shelf member and having a different height from the original mounting table by the conveying means. do. Further, the forward movement and the return movement are repeated as necessary to move the article to a desired height position.

An article conveying apparatus 200 of the second embodiment uses an elevating unit 102 as shown in FIG. 21 as an article elevating means. 60 is provided.
The article mounting bases 11a and 11b have a lifting function as in the above-described embodiment, and can be stopped at an arbitrary height.
A connecting conveyor (connecting conveying section) 60 is located near the lower portion and moves up and down near the lower portion as in the above-described embodiment.

As shown in FIGS. 21 and 22, the lifting unit 102 is a combination of two shelf members 106 and 107 and lifting means 108 . For convenience of explanation, the shelf member 106 drawn on the left side of each figure is called the first shelf member 106 and the shelf member 107 drawn on the right side is called the second shelf member 107 .

Since the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 have the same structure except for the rollers 131 and guides 132 at the boundaries, the first shelf member 106 will be described as a representative.
The first shelf member 106 has an elevating frame 118a as shown in FIG. 22, and a four-story mounting table A (article mounting table) is installed in the elevating frame 118a.
For convenience of explanation, the mounting table A on each floor is referred to as a first-floor mounting table A1, a second-floor mounting table A2, a third-floor mounting table A3, and a fourth-floor mounting table A4.
The four mounting tables A are installed in the elevating frame 118 at regular intervals in the height direction. The height interval of each floor of the mounting table A is the same.

The mounting table A on each floor has the same structure, and a small conveyor device (conveying means) 110 is installed. The conveyor device 110 has a motor-incorporating roller 112 and a driven roller 113 attached to a frame. The motor-incorporating roller 112 has a motor (not shown) and a speed reducer (not shown) built in the roller body, and the roller body rotates by energizing the internal motor. The driven roller 113 is a freely rotating roller.
A belt 115 is suspended between the motor-incorporating roller 112 and the driven roller 113 and between the driven rollers 113. When the motor-incorporating roller 112 rotates, the other driven rollers 113 are driven to rotate.
In this embodiment, the conveyor device 110 installed on each mounting table A can convey the article M in both the normal direction and the reverse direction.

A load sensor 117 is provided on the mounting table A on each floor. The load sensor 117 is a transmissive photoelectric sensor and has a light projecting member (not shown) and a light receiving member 121, and the light receiving member 121 receives light emitted by the light projecting member. When the light is blocked by the article M and the light receiving member 121 cannot receive the light, the existence of the article M on the mounting table A is detected.
The type of load sensor 117 is not limited, and may be a reflective photoelectric sensor. Alternatively, other physical phenomena may be used.

As described above, the second shelf member 107 has the same structure as the first shelf member 106, so redundant description is omitted by assigning common numbers.
However, for convenience of explanation, the second shelf member 107 has changed the alphabetical symbols A and a of the placing tables on each floor to B and b.
Therefore, the second shelf member 107 has an elevating frame 118b as shown in FIG. 22, and a mounting table B having a four-story structure is installed in the elevating frame 118b.
The mounting tables on each floor are referred to as a first-floor mounting table B1, a second-floor mounting table B2, a third-floor mounting table B3, and a fourth-floor mounting table B4.

As will be described later, the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 are arranged to hang from the outer frame 130 while being adjacent to each other. is provided with rollers 131 and guides 132 .
That is, rollers 131 are provided on vertical members 120a of the elevating frame 118a of the first shelf member 106 and facing the second shelf member 107. As shown in FIG.
A guide 132 is provided on the vertical member 120b of the lifting frame 118b of the second shelf member 107 facing the first shelf member 106. As shown in FIG.
A roller 133 is provided on the outer side of the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 when they are adjacent to each other.

As shown in FIG. 21, the outer frame 130 of the elevating unit 102 is a rectangular parallelepiped made of steel.
As shown in FIGS. 21 and 22 , two upper sprockets 135 and 136 are provided inside the outer frame 130 at positions on the upper end side. Two lower sprockets 137 and 138 are also provided inside the outer frame 130 at the lower end side.
Guides (not shown) are installed on the four vertical members 123 installed at the corners of the outer frame 130 .

The first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 are suspended from the outer frame 130 by wire rods (connection means) 140 such as chains and wires. In this embodiment, a chain is employed as the wire rod 140 .
That is, the top surfaces of the lifting frame 118a of the first shelf member 106 and the lifting frame 118b of the second shelf member 107 are joined together by the wire 140. As shown in FIG. Specifically, one end of the wire rod 140 is connected to the lift frame 118a, and the other end of the wire rod 140 is connected to the lift frame 118b.
21 and 22, the intermediate portion of the wire rod 140 is engaged with the upper sprockets 135, 136 installed on the upper end side of the outer frame 130. As shown in FIG.
As a result, the weight of the lifting frames 118a and 118b is supported by the upper sprockets 135 and 136, and the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 are suspended by the wire 140 hanging from the upper sprockets 135 and 136. It's becoming

In addition, when looking at the lower side of the lifting frames 118a and 118b, the bottom surfaces of the lower sides of the lifting frames 118a and 118b are also joined together by wire rods 141, and the wire rods 141 are installed on the lower side of the outer frame 130. It engages with the lower sprockets 137,138.
As a result, the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 are in a state of being annularly connected via wires 140 and 141, and like a balance, when one is raised, the other is moved by the same distance. descend.
The rollers 133 of the lifting frames 118a and 118b are engaged with guides (not shown) provided on vertical members at the corners of the outer frame 130. As shown in FIG.
Further, rollers 131 and guides 132 provided at the boundaries of the lift frames 118a and 118b are engaged with each other.
Therefore, the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 have flexibility only in the vertical direction.

Next, the lifting means 108 will be described.
In this embodiment, an elevating means 108 applying a crank mechanism is adopted.
Specifically, the lifting means 108 has a rotary disk 150 and a rod-like link 151 as shown in FIG. The rotating disk 150 and the rod-shaped link 151 are rotatably connected by a pin 152 . A pin 153 is also rotatably connected between the other end of the rod-shaped link 151 and the lift frame 118a.

The rotating disc 150 is slowly rotated by the geared motor 143 . The stop position of the rotating disk 150 is determined by an encoder and limit switches (not shown).
In this embodiment, the rotating disc 150 is positioned at a raised position where the pin 152 is positioned substantially directly above the center of rotation 155 of the rotating disc 150 and a lowered position where the pin 152 is positioned substantially directly below the center of rotation 155 of the rotating disc 150 . 150 stops.

In this embodiment, when the rotating disk 150 stops at the raised position, the heights of the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 are shifted so that the first shelf member 106 is on the top and the second shelf member 107 is on the bottom. Become.
The mounting tables A and B on each floor of the two shelf members 106 and 107 have the same height while being shifted one step at a time.
In this embodiment, the first shelf member 106 has a first-floor placing table A1, a second-floor placing table A2, a third-floor placing table A3, and a fourth-floor placing table A4, and the second shelf member 107 also has a first-floor placing table B1. , second-floor mounting table B2, third-floor mounting table B3, and fourth-floor mounting table B4. The second-floor mounting table B2 of the member 107 is at the same height, the second-floor mounting table A2 of the first shelf member 106 and the third-floor mounting table B3 of the second shelf member 107 are at the same height, and the first shelf member 106 is mounted on the third floor. The mounting table A3 and the fourth-floor mounting table B4 of the second shelf member 107 have the same height (FIG. 23(a)).

Further, when the rotating disc 150 stops at the lowered position, the heights of the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107 are shifted so that the second shelf member 107 goes up and the first shelf member 106 goes down.
The mounting tables A and B on each floor of the two shelf members 106 and 107 have the same height while being shifted one step at a time.
That is, the second-floor mounting table A2 of the first shelf member 106 and the first-floor mounting table B1 of the second shelf member 107 are at the same height, and the third-floor mounting table A3 of the first shelf member 106 and the second-floor mounting table of the second shelf member 107 are the same. B2 has the same height, and the fourth floor mounting table A4 of the first shelf member 106 and the third floor mounting table B3 of the second shelf member 107 have the same height (FIG. 23(b)).

In the lift unit 102 of this embodiment, the mounting tables A and B belonging to one of the shelf members 106 and 107 are aligned with the mounting tables A and B belonging to the other shelf member 107 and 106, and in this state, the mounting tables A and B are moved. The conveyor device (conveying means) 110 moves the article M from the mounting tables A, B belonging to one of the shelf members 106, 107 to the mounting tables A, B belonging to the other shelf member 106, 107.
Next, the elevating means 108 is driven to elevate the first shelf member 106 and the second shelf member 107, and the heights of the mounting tables A and B belonging to one of the shelf members 106 and 107 are adjusted to the heights belonging to the other shelf member 106 and 107. It is matched with mounting tables A and B of other heights.
Then, the return operation is performed to move the article M previously moved by the forward movement to a mounting table belonging to one of the shelf members 106 and 107 and having a different height from the original mounting tables A and B by the conveying means.
Furthermore, the forward movement and the return movement are repeated as necessary. As a result, the article M reciprocates in a zigzag pattern between the mounting tables A and B belonging to the adjacent shelf members 106 and 107, changes its height, and is discharged to a desired height.

Specific examples will be described below.
In this embodiment, the forward movement and the return movement are performed by driving the conveyor devices (conveying means) 110 of the mounting tables A and B having the same height. That is, the conveyor devices 110 of the mounting tables A, B on which the article M is placed are driven in the direction of the other mounting table A, B, and the mounted article M is delivered to the other mounting table A, B. On the other hand, the other mounting table A, B drives the conveyor device 110 so as to pull the article M into the mounting table A, B itself.

In this embodiment, since each of the mounting tables A and B is provided with the load sensor 117, it is possible to identify whether or not there is an article M on the mounting tables A and B of itself.
In this embodiment, the conveyor device 110 of the mounting tables A and B is driven under the condition that there is an article M on the mounting table A or B itself and that there is no article M on the mounting table A or B to be conveyed. An action or return action is performed.

Also, the articles M are transferred between the article mounting tables 11a and 11b and the mounting tables A and B of the shelf members 106 and 107, respectively. Similarly, articles M are transferred between the connecting conveyor 60 and the mounting tables A and B of the shelf members 106 and 107, respectively.
In this embodiment, the article placement tables 11a and 11b and the connecting conveyor 60 are also provided with load sensors, so that it is possible to identify whether or not there are articles M on the connecting conveyor 60 and the like.
In the present embodiment, the conditions for transferring the article M between the article placement tables 11a and 11b and the connecting conveyor 60 and the placement tables A and B of the shelf members 106 and 107 are the articles on the placement tables A and B described above. It is the same as the delivery condition of M, and on the condition that there is an article M on its own article mounting table 11a, 11b, the connecting conveyor 60, the mounting table A, B, and there is no article M at the conveying destination, the conveyor device 110 and the main body The part 22 and the like are driven, and the article M is delivered.

As an example, the operation of moving the article M from the article placing table 11a on the fifth floor on the left to the connecting conveyor 60 on the first floor on the right will be described.
FIG. 23 shows the state of each stage when moving the article M from the article placing table 11 stopped on the fifth floor on the left to the connecting conveyor 60 stopped on the first floor on the right.

First, the raising/lowering means 108 is driven, and as shown in FIG. In this state, the article mounting table 11 stopped on the left fifth floor and the fourth floor mounting table A4 of the first shelf member 106 match in height.
While maintaining this posture, the roller conveyor device of the main body 22 of the article placing table 11 and the conveyor device 110 of the fourth floor placing table A4 are driven to send out the article M from the article placing table 11 and place it on the fourth floor. The article M is pulled in on the stand A4.

In the state shown in FIG. 23(a), the article M is detected on the article mounting table 11 stopped on the fifth floor on the left, so the presence sensor of the article mounting table 11 detects the article M. FIG. On the other hand, the loading table A4 of the first shelf member 106 is in an empty state, so the inventory sensor 117 does not detect the article M. Therefore, the driving conditions for the conveyor device 111 of the article table 11 and the conveyor device 110 of the fourth floor table A4 are satisfied, and the conveyor devices 111 and 110 are driven.
When the load sensor of the article placing table 11 stops detecting the article M and the load sensor 117 of the fourth floor placing table A4 detects the article M, then the conveyor device 110 of the fourth floor placing table A4 is driven a little. After maintaining, the conveyor apparatus 110, 111 is stopped.
As a result, the article M is moved from the article table 11 to the fourth floor table A4.

Subsequently, the elevating means 108 is driven and stopped in a state where the second shelf member 107 is higher than the first shelf member 106 as shown in FIG. 23(b). In this state, the height of the fourth-floor platform A4 of the first shelf member 106 matches the height of the third-floor platform B3 of the second shelf member 107. FIG.
While maintaining this posture, the conveyor device 110 of the fourth-floor placing table A4 of the first shelf member 106 and the conveyor device 110 of the third-floor placing table B3 of the second shelf member 107 are driven, and the fourth-floor placing table is driven. The article M is sent out from A4, and the article M is pulled in on the third-floor table B3. In this way, forward movement is performed. The load sensor 117 on the fourth floor table A4 no longer detects the article M, and the load sensor 117 on the third floor table B3 detects the article M. After maintaining the drive, the conveyor devices 110, 111 are stopped.
As a result, the article M moves from the fourth-floor platform A4 of the first shelf member 106 to the third-floor platform B3 of the second shelf member 107 .

Subsequently, the lifting means 108 is driven again, and stops in a state where the first shelf member 106 is higher than the second shelf member 107 as shown in FIG. 23(c). In this state, the height of the third-floor platform B3 of the second shelf member 107 matches the height of the second-floor platform A2 of the first shelf member 106 .
While maintaining this posture, the conveyor device 110 of the third-floor placing table B3 of the second shelf member 107 and the conveyor device 110 of the second-floor placing table A2 of the first shelf member 106 are driven, and the third-floor placing table B3 is driven. The article M is sent out from the second-floor table A2, and the article M is taken in. Thus, the return operation is executed.

Subsequently, the lifting means 108 is driven again, and as shown in FIG. The mounting table A2 and the first-floor mounting table B1 of the second shelf member 107 are aligned in height, and the conveyor device 110 is driven to move the article M from the second-floor mounting table A2 to the first-floor mounting table B1. In this way, the second go operation is performed.

Subsequently, the lifting means 108 is driven again, and as shown in FIG. The height of the first-floor station R1 is aligned, and the conveyor devices 110 and 111 are driven to carry out the article M from the first-floor placing table B1 to the connecting conveyor 60. - 特許庁
In this way, the article M is moved in a zigzag manner, and the height is gradually changed so that the article M can be taken in and out at a desired height.

The usage example described in FIG. 23 is the case of lowering the height of the article M, but it is of course possible to raise the height and lift the article M upstairs.

In the example of use described above, the articles M are moved one by one, but the articles M can also be moved continuously.
24 and 25 show an example of moving an article M from the article placing table 11 stopped on the fifth floor on the left to the connecting conveyor 60 stopped on the first floor on the right, similar to the example of FIG. 23 described above. By the time the article M1 reaches its destination, the next article M2 reaches the article placing table 11 and is introduced to the fourth floor placing table A4.
That is, in FIG. 24, the steps (a) and (b) are the same as those in FIG. 23 illustrated above, but in FIG. When the empty fourth-floor mounting table A4 is lifted, the next article M2 is moved to the fourth-floor mounting table A4.
As a result, the added article M2 reaches the connecting conveyor 60 stopped on the right first floor, as in the previous example.

The movement with respect to the preceding article M1 is the same as in the case of FIG. 23 described above.
The article M2 carried in later also follows the same moving locus as in the case of FIG.

Then, the connecting conveyor 60 is lowered with the articles M placed thereon, and the lower end of the running surface of the connecting conveyor 60 is lowered to a height near the running surface of the lower conveyor 7 . At this time, the guide plate 73 contacts the running surface of the lower conveyor 7 .

In this state, the joint conveyor 60 is driven. As a result, as in the previous embodiment, the article M descends the inclined running surface of the tether conveyor 60 and is delivered to the lower conveyor 7 . The pallet articles M are discharged to the end by the lower conveyor 7 .
When the articles M are transferred to the lower conveyor 7, the connecting conveyor 60 is raised to the standby position. As a result, there is no obstacle on the lower conveyor 7, and other articles M can be passed.

In the article conveying apparatus 200 of the second embodiment, the article placing tables 11a and 11b are provided separately from the lifting unit 102. It may have a function. That is, the mounting table may function as the article mounting table 11 and the article M may be transferred directly between the mounting table and the shelf 2 .

1 article storage device 2 shelf 3 article conveying device 7 lower conveyor (column direction article conveying means)
10 lifting tower (item arrangement means)
11 Article Placement Table 12 Elevating Mechanism 16 Tower Frame 21 Running Wheel 22 Main Body 23 Moving Table 37 Upper Roller 38 Lower Roller 47 Biasing Means 48 Plate Cam (Height Changing Means)
60 connecting conveyor (connecting conveying section)
200 article conveying device 102 elevating unit (article elevating means)
106 first shelf member (article placing table)
107 second shelf member (article placing table)
110 conveyor device (conveying means)

Claims (7)

In an article conveying device that is installed adjacent to a shelf and puts in and / or takes out articles from the shelf,
The shelf has a plurality of article storage rows in which a plurality of article placement portions are arranged in at least a row direction, and is provided over a plurality of stages,
The article conveying device has column direction article conveying means and article placement means,
The column-direction article conveying means conveys articles in a direction along the article storage column of the shelf,
The article arranging means has column-direction traveling means, article lifting means, one or more article placement tables, a connecting transport section, and article delivery means,
The row-direction traveling means moves the article placement means itself in a direction along the article storage row,
The article lifting means lifts and lowers the article,
The article placement table is for placing an article,
The article transfer means has a function of transferring an article between the article placement table and the shelf,
An article conveying apparatus, wherein the connecting conveying section has an elevating function and a conveying function, and connects the article placing table and the column direction conveying means when they are at a constant height. 2. The article conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the connecting conveying section has a conveyor device, and the conveying surface of the conveyor device has an inclined posture when at least at a certain height. 3. An article conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an article delivery means is installed on the article placing table. The article elevating means raises and lowers the article placing table, and raises and lowers the article placing table itself in a state in which articles are placed on one article placing table to change the height of the article to a desired height. 4. The article conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The article lifting means has a plurality of adjacently arranged shelf members and a lifting means for lifting and lowering at least one of the shelf members,
The shelf members each have the article placement table at a plurality of height positions,
The article placing table has a conveying means capable of conveying articles in both forward and reverse directions,
matching the height of the article mounting table belonging to one shelf member with the article mounting table belonging to the other shelf member,
executing a forward movement of moving the article from the article placement table belonging to one shelf member to the article placement table belonging to the other shelf member by the conveying means;
Further, by elevating the shelf member, the height of the article mounting table belonging to the other shelf member is adjusted to the article mounting table having the other height belonging to the one shelf member,
A return operation of moving the article moved to the article placement table belonging to the other shelf member by the forward movement to the article placement table belonging to the one shelf member and having a height different from that of the original article placement table by the conveying means. and run
4. An article conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the forward movement and the return movement are repeated as necessary to move the article to a desired height position. The article transfer means has a main body and a moving table, and the moving table has an upper roller, a lower roller, and a height changing means for changing the relative height of the upper roller and the lower roller,
When the lower rollers are positioned downward, the upper rollers come into contact with the article. When the lower rollers rotate, the upper rollers receive power transmission from the lower rollers and rotate in the opposite direction to the lower rollers. 6. The article conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: An article storage comprising: a shelf provided with a plurality of article storage rows in which a plurality of article placement sections are arranged in at least a row direction; and the article transport apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6. Device.

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