JP2783015B2 - Automatic warehouse storage and retrieval cranes - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a loading / unloading crane for an automatic warehouse, and more particularly to a lifting carriage provided for a loading / unloading crane.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, loading and unloading of cargo into and out of a compartment storage space of an automatic warehouse using a fork of a loading and unloading crane is performed when the load is too small to be lifted by a fork.
This was done using buckets or pallets loaded with loads.

[0003]

However, in the conventional loading and unloading of small loads by the conventional loading and unloading cranes, a required number of loads cannot be collected from a bucket or a pallet and unloaded. Warehouse loading dock (transportation section)
The required number of loads should be taken out of the bucket or pallet that has been delivered to the warehouse, and the work must be repeated by returning the bucket or pallet to the original compartment storage space to collect the load. There was a problem that it took time to collect.

[0004] The present invention is to solve the above problems,
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a crane for entering and exiting an automatic warehouse, which can automatically and efficiently collect necessary multi-tiered articles from a plurality of compartment storage spaces.

[0005]

[MEANS FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEMS] To solve the above problems.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic storage and retrieval crane for an automatic warehouse, comprising: a first movable fork for transferring a bucket capable of taking in and out articles stacked in multiple stages between a compartment storage space and a loading table; A second fork, which is capable of transferring the bucket between itself and a table, and a multi-tiered article in the bucket on the first fork which is slid from the upper-level article by sliding the second fork; Transfer means for transferring to a bucket on a fork, and the first fork
Depending on the height of the stacked items in the upper bucket,
A second fork or a bucket on the second fork
And a lifting carriage provided with lifting means for lifting and lowering . In addition, the automatic warehouse of the second invention
Of the automatic warehouse according to the first invention.
A storage crane, which includes a first fork
Bucket or bucket on the first fork or transfer
Second lifting means for raising and lowering at least one of the means
It is characterized by having. In addition, the third invention
The warehouse entrance / exit crane is the first invention or the second invention
A storage and retrieval crane for an automatic warehouse in Ming
With the front and rear side plates standing on the bottom plate,
An upright side plate with a vertical opening is configured to allow articles to be
So that the center of the bucket coincides with the center of the opening.
In the first fork and the second fork,
The open side of the bucket is in contact with the side plate of the bucket.
Are placed so as to face each other.
You. In addition, the storage and retrieval crane for an automatic warehouse according to the fourth aspect of the present invention is
The front and rear side plates are erected on the plate, and
A bucket configured by erected side plates with openings is
Between the image storage space and the
The retractable first fork and the loading tray
Retractable second fork for delivery of bucket
And a multi-stage load in the bucket on the first fork.
By sliding the knocked article from the upper article,
And a transfer means for transferring the data to the bucket on the second fork.
It is characterized by having a lifting carriage equipped with
is there.

[0006]

According to the configuration of the first aspect of the present invention , the bucket taken out of the compartment storage space by the first fork is moved by the transfer means to the multi-stage inside the bucket on the first fork.
The required number of multi-tiered articles are transferred to the buckets placed on the second fork , which are raised and lowered according to the height of the piled-up articles, and the bucket on the first fork is stored in the original compartment. Returned to space. By performing this operation on a plurality of compartments, the necessary articles are collected in the bucket placed on the second fork, and the bucket is discharged to the receiving table by the second fork. In the second invention,
According to the configuration, the first fork or the first fork
Lift at least one of the upper buckets or transfer means
By doing so, multiple stages in the bucket on the first fork
The transfer means is placed close to the article stacked on the
Will be Further, according to the configuration of the third aspect, the bucket
Transfer that moves through the opening of the bucket due to the structure and placement of
The slide transfer of the article is performed by the means. Also the above
According to the configuration of the fourth aspect, the compartment is stored by the first fork.
The front and rear side plates are erected on the bottom plate taken out of the space and left and right
One side has a side plate with a vertical opening in the center
The second fork is transferred from the set bucket by the transfer means.
The front and rear side plates are erected on the bottom plate placed on
A bar composed of an upright side plate with a vertical opening in the center
The required number of multi-tiered articles are transferred to the ket.

[0007]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view of a storage and retrieval crane and a shelf according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of a lifting carriage portion of FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a loading / unloading crane that can travel on a fixed route, and includes a column (intermediate frame) 2.
Lifting carriage 3 that is guided by the pallet and rises and falls. The truss 5 on the shelf 4 and the arm 6
3 for transferring a bucket 8 containing stacked books 10 shown in FIG. 3 between a compartment storage space (load receiving section) 7 and a receiving table (not shown). A fork 9 (first fork), an up-and-down movable running fork 11 (second fork) for transferring a bucket 8 for receiving a book 10 picked up and down between the fork 9 and the load receiving stand; Are provided adjacent to the left and right sides, and a picking unit 12 of an up-and-down type is provided above the forks 9 and 11. The bucket 8 is, as shown in FIG.
It is large enough to store A4 size books 10 in a flat stack, with front and rear side plates 8B and 8C standing on the bottom plate 8A, and standing on the left or right side plate 8E with a vertical slit 8D in the center. It is configured to be installed. The bucket 8 is placed on the forks 9 and 11 such that the open side surface of the bucket 8 is in contact with the side plate 8E of the bucket 8. When the B5 book 10 is stored in the bucket 8, spacers 8F are attached along the front and rear side plates 8B and 8C, respectively, as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG.
The book 10 is sandwiched from the front-back direction.

The picking unit 12 is a conveyor for rotating an endless belt 13 having a width passing through the slit 8D of the bucket 8.
The book stored in the bucket 8 on the belt 13 is provided with a conveyor drive motor 15 for the conveyor 14 which supports the conveyor 14 horizontally.
The picking unit 12 is provided with a book detecting device 16 composed of a photoelectric switch for detecting that the forks 9 are close to each other. Go up and down the headspace. In addition, the belt 13 has claws 18 attached to the outer two places in contrast, and when the belt 13 is driven,
With the pawls 18, one book 10 close to the belt 13 is pushed horizontally in the rotation direction of the belt 13 and moves.

1 and 2, reference numeral 20 denotes a traveling motor for driving the loading / unloading crane 1; 21, a lifting motor for driving the lifting carriage 3 up and down; and 22, a running fork lifting motor for driving the running fork 11 up and down. As shown in FIG. 4, the lifting motor 21 is controlled by a control device 24 constituted by a microcomputer via an inverter 23, and the traveling motor 20, the fork motor 25 of the fork 9 for loading and unloading, and the running fork 11 Fork motor 26 is a traveling / fork dual-purpose inverter
27, controlled by the control device 24 via the switching means 28, the unit elevating motor 17, the running fork elevating motor 22, and the conveyor driving motor 15
Controlled by 24.

Further, a pulse encoder provided on the lifting carriage 3 and linked to the lifting movement of the picking unit 12.
Pulses from the pulse encoder 30 interlocked with the up-and-down movement of the running fork 11 and 29 are input to the control device 24, and are read as the current position values of the picking unit 12 and the running fork 11 by addition and subtraction counting. Further, a book detection signal of the book detection device 16 is also input to the control device 24.

As shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 24 includes a loading / unloading control unit 31 for controlling a lifting / lowering motor 21, a traveling motor 20, a fork motor 25 of the loading / unloading fork 9, and a fork motor 26 of the running fork 11. A picking control unit 32 for controlling the unit elevating motor 17, the running fork elevating motor 22, and the conveyor driving motor 15; and a unit elevating motor 17 and a running fork elevating motor 22, respectively, according to a drive command signal of the picking control unit 32. The driving units 33, 34, and 35 for driving the conveyor driving motor 15 and the pulses of the pulse encoders 29 and 30 are added / subtracted according to the up / down signals of the picking control unit 32, and the picking unit 12 and the running unit Counters 36 and 37 for outputting the current position values A and B of the fork 11 and a bar for calculating the height of the book 10 stored in the receiving bucket 8 It comprises a ket book height calculation unit 38 and a general control unit 39 for controlling the whole.

The entry / exit controller 31 includes the motors 20, 21,
25 and 26 are controlled by a known control method of the loading / unloading crane 1 so that the detection signal of the position detecting means (not shown) is used as a feedback signal to drive the loading / unloading crane 1 and to move the lifting / lowering carriage 3 up and down. The entrance / exit of the bucket 8 is executed by controlling the withdrawal of the entrance / exit fork 9 and the running fork 11. Details are omitted.

The bucket book height calculator 38 resets the height C of the book 10 upon input of the retrieval command signal from the general controller 39, and inputs the thickness of one book 10 for performing picking. Each time a one-book picking end signal is input from the picking control unit 32, the book thickness is added to update the height C and stored, and the bucket book height C is output to the picking control unit 32.

A transmission means (not shown) is provided in the general control section 39.
Via a warehouse control means (not shown) from the automatic warehouse control means (not shown), a storage command signal including data consisting of the address of the compartment storage space 7 for storing the bucket 8, a bucket 8 storing a book 10 to be taken out.
The input of the output command signal including the data of the address of the compartment storage space 7 and the number and thickness of the books 10 to be taken out, and the address of the compartment storage space 7 in which the entry and exit are carried out, are entered and exited each time.
31 and at the time of unloading, output the unloading command signal and the thickness data of one book 10 to the bucket book height calculator 38,
The picking control unit 32 outputs a retrieval command signal and data including the number of books 10 to be transferred to the receiving bucket 8,
When a picking end signal is input from the picking control unit 32, the next compartment storage space 7 is retrieved. The entry / exit controller 31 stores in advance the shelf address data (stop position value) of the entry / exit crane 1 and the lifting / lowering carriage 3 for each of the compartment storage spaces 7 of the shelf 4.

Hereinafter, the picking control by the picking control unit 32 of the control device 24, which is a main part of the present invention, will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 5 and the explanatory diagram of FIG. Now, in response to the retrieval command signal, the entrance / exit crane 1 stops at a predetermined crane stop position under the control of the well-known entry / exit control unit 31, while the lifting / lowering carriage 13 stops at a predetermined load scooping position and enters / exits. A predetermined bucket 8 is taken out from the compartment storage space 7 by the fork 9 and placed on the fork 9 for loading and unloading.
It is assumed that it is placed on 11

When the general control unit 39 inputs a retrieval command signal and data including the number of books 10 to be transferred to the bucket 8 (step-1), the number M of books 10 to be transferred to the bucket 8 is set (step S-1). Step-2), reset the count value N of the number of books picked (Step-3), output a lowering command signal to the drive unit 33 of the unit elevating motor 17, and start the lowering of the picking unit 12 (Step-).
4). Then, when the book detection signal of the book detection device 16 is input, that is, when the book 13 comes close to the belt 13 (step-5), a stop command signal is output to the drive unit 33 of the unit lifting / lowering motor 17 to lower the picking unit 12. Is stopped (step-6). Then books 10 in each bucket 8
(L is the distance between the predetermined position (upper end position) of the picking unit 12 and the predetermined position (lower end position) of the running fork 11) (step L). -7) It is confirmed whether or not the distance K matches a predetermined value α of the height of the book 10 between the buckets 8 at the time of transfer (step-8). If the distance K does not match the predetermined value α, it is checked whether the distance K is larger than the predetermined value α (step-9).
A raising command signal is sent to the drive unit 34 of the motor 22 to start raising the running fork 11 (step-10), and step-7
Returning to step 9, if the distance K is smaller than the predetermined value α, the driving unit of the running fork elevating motor 22
A descending command signal is signaled to 34 to start the descending of the running fork 11 (step-11), and the process returns to step-7. In Step-8, when the distance K becomes the predetermined value α of the height of the book 10 between the buckets 8 when the book 10 is transferred, a stop command signal is sent to the drive unit 34 of the running fork elevating motor 22 so that the running fork 11 Stop driving (Step-1
2). Subsequently, a drive command signal is output to the drive unit 35 of the conveyor drive motor 15 for a predetermined time to rotate the belt 13,
One book 10 close to the belt 13 is pushed horizontally by the 13 claws 18 to transfer the book 10 from the bucket 8 on the loading / unloading fork 9 to the receiving bucket 8 on the running fork 11 (step). -13). Then, a one-book picking end signal is output to the bucket book height calculator 38 to update the bucket book height C (step-14), and the count value N of the number of picked books is updated (step-15). It is checked whether the count value N has reached the number M of books 10 to be transferred to the bucket 8 (step-16). If the number of picked books still does not reach the number of books 10 to be transferred to the bucket 8, the process returns to step 4 to perform the picking operation again, and the number of picked books is transferred to the bucket 8.
Drive unit 17
33 to output a command signal to start raising the picking unit 12 (step 17).
That is, when the picking unit 12 is raised to the upper end position (step-18), the drive unit of the unit lifting / lowering motor 17 is driven.
A stop command signal is output to 33 to stop raising the picking unit 12 (step-19). Subsequently, a lowering command signal is sent to the driving unit 34 of the running fork elevating motor 22 to start lowering the running fork 11 (step-2).
0) When the value B of the counter 37 is zero, that is, when the value of the counter 37 is lowered to the lower end position of the running fork 11 (step 21), a stop command signal is sent to the driving unit 34 of the motor 22 for raising and lowering the running fork 11 to lower the running fork 11. Is stopped (step-22). Then, a picking end signal is output to the overall control section 39 (step-23), and the processing ends.

In steps -7 to -11, even if the current position value of the running fork 11 becomes zero (the value of the lower end position), the predetermined value α of the height when the books 10 are transferred between the buckets 8 is set. If the book 10 of the bucket 8 on the loading / unloading fork 9 cannot be moved by the book 10 of the receiving bucket 8 on the running fork 11, the alarm signal is output to the general control unit 39. End the picking operation.

As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the picking control unit 32 lowers the picking unit 12 to the belt 13 until a book detection signal from the book detection device 16 is input. The running fork 11 is raised or lowered so that the book 10 is brought close to, and subsequently the height of the book 10 between the buckets 8 when the book 10 is transferred is a predetermined value α.
Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 6 (c), the belt 13 is rotated, and one book 10 close to the belt 13 is slid horizontally by the claws 18 of the belt 13, so that the Bucket 8 for receiving on running fork 11 from bucket 8
Transfer Book 10 to Books to be picked after transfer
Re-picking is performed according to the number of the ten books, and after the picking is completed, the picking unit 12 is raised to the upper end position and the running fork 11 is lowered to the lower end position as shown in FIG.

By performing such a picking operation in the plurality of compartments 7, necessary books 10 are collected in the receiving bucket 8, conveyed to the receiving table, and taken out. In this manner, the necessary books 10 can be automatically collected from the plurality of compartments 7, so that the worker does not need to manually pick the necessary books 10 from the bucket 8 as in the conventional case, and the work efficiency is reduced. Can be improved.

In this embodiment, the book in the bucket 8 is
Although 10 is picked, the same action and effect can be obtained for articles stacked in the bucket 8 in multiple stages, for example, notebooks, soap boxes, folded boxes, and the like. In the present embodiment, the picking unit 12 is moved up and down.
The same operation and effect can be obtained by raising and lowering the fork 9 for loading and unloading or the bucket 8 on the fork 9 for loading and unloading. Further, in this embodiment, the lining fork 11 is raised and lowered, but the lining fork 11
The same operation and effect can be obtained even if only the upper bucket 8 is moved up and down.

As shown in FIG. 7, the storage fork 9 and the running fork 9 are substantially at an intermediate position between the loading and unloading fork 9 and the running fork 11 on the lifting carriage 3.
11), the second book 10 ′ from the top of the book 10 in the bucket 8 on the loading and unloading fork 9 is slid by the claw 18 of the belt 13 at the uppermost position. In order to prevent the book 10 from sliding with the book 10, a stopper 40 that can move up and down and that can prevent movement of the second book 10 'and below from the top can be provided. With this stopper 40, it is possible to always slide only the uppermost book 10 and only one book, and to prevent the books 10 below it from collapsing. The stopper 40 is a control device.
24, the books 10 in the bucket 8 on the loading / unloading fork 9
Is controlled in accordance with the position of the second book 10 ′ from the upper row, for example, the position of (the height of the book 10 C-1 the thickness of the book 10).

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, necessary articles can be automatically collected from a plurality of compartments, and there is no need for an operator to manually pick from a bucket. And work efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an entrance / exit crane and a shelf of an automatic warehouse according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of a lifting and lowering carriage portion of the storage and retrieval crane.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a bucket that is moved in and out of the storage and retrieval crane.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a control device for the storage and retrieval crane.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a picking operation of the control device of the storage and retrieval crane.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the loading / unloading crane during a picking operation.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a picking operation in which a stopper is added to the loading / unloading crane.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Entry / exit crane 3 Elevating carriage 5 Shelf 7 Section storage space 8 Bucket 9 Entry / exit fork 10 Books 11 Running fork 12 Picking unit 14 Conveyor 15 Conveyor drive motor 16 Book detector 17 Unit elevating motor 22 Running fork elevating motor 24 Control device 29, 30 pulse encoder

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] Claims: 1. A storage space and a receiving table,
A retractable first fork for delivering a bucket capable of taking in and out articles stacked in multiple stages, a retractable second fork for delivering the bucket between the load receiving table, and the first fork; and transfer means for transferring the buckets on the second fork by sliding the multistage stacked articles in the bucket on the fork from the upper of the article of a multi-stage in a bucket on the first fork Goods stacked on
Depending on the height of the second fork or the second
An entrance / exit crane for an automatic warehouse, comprising a lifting carriage provided with lifting means for lifting and lowering a bucket on the fork . 2. A lifting fork having a first fork.
Or a small number of buckets or transfer means on the first fork.
That there is at least one lifting means
The clay for entering and leaving an automatic warehouse according to claim 1, characterized in that:
N. 3. A bucket, and front and rear side plates are erected on a bottom plate.
And a side plate with a vertical opening in the center
The article, the center of which is the center of the opening
The first fork is accommodated in the bucket so as to coincide with the first fork.
And on the second fork, the open side of the bucket
The buckets are placed so that the surfaces touch and the side plates of the bucket face each other.
The automatic warehouse according to claim 1 or 2, wherein:
Storage and retrieval crane. 4. The front and rear side plates are erected on the bottom plate, and one of the left and right
And a vertical side plate with a vertical opening in the center.
Between the compartment storage space and the loading tray,
A first fork that can be delivered and received, An outlet for transferring the bucket to and from the loading tray
A retractable second fork, Multi-tiered in the bucket on the first fork
By sliding the article from the upper article,
Transfer means for transferring to a bucket on the second fork With
Automatic warehouse, which is equipped with a raised elevator
Storage and retrieval crane.