JP3483048B2 - Entry and exit method of flat automatic warehouse - 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 method for a flat type automated warehouse for temporarily storing pallets loaded with articles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a manufacturing process, an automatic warehouse may be installed for the purpose of adjusting facility capacity between processes or for the purpose of arranging goods and delivering them to the next process. As this automatic warehouse, an automatic three-dimensional warehouse is generally used. However, there are cases where it becomes necessary to use a flat warehouse due to layout restrictions within the factory. When using a flat-type automated warehouse, the storage area will inevitably become smaller, so
It is important to efficiently circulate the pallets loaded with articles. As a flat type automatic warehouse, a plurality of conveyors that temporarily store pallets loaded with goods are installed side by side,
A method has been put to practical use in which one end is set as a receiving side and the other end is set as a receiving side, and a conveyor for returning empty pallets from the receiving side to the receiving side is installed. However, in these flat type automatic warehouses, when it becomes necessary to store empty pallets in the storage area, there is a risk that the operation efficiency of the automatic warehouse will be significantly reduced.

[0003]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention has improved the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional flat type automatic warehouse, and even if it is necessary to temporarily store an empty pallet in the storage area, a flat surface with good operation efficiency is provided. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method of loading and unloading an automated warehouse.

[0004]

According to the present invention, there is provided a storage conveyor group provided with a conveyor capable of storing a plurality of pallets for loading articles, and a traveling path installed at one end of the storage conveyor group. And a delivery vehicle that travels along a travel route that is also installed at the other end, and a pallet that has been delivered to a delivery station that is installed near the travel route of the delivery vehicle in the vicinity of the travel route of the entry vehicle. An empty pallet collection conveyor that conveys to the installed empty pallet collection station, an empty pallet delivery station installed between the traveling path of the delivery trolley and the empty pallet collection conveyor, the storage conveyor group, a loading trolley, a delivery trolley, and an empty pallet Central control of operation of equipment such as pallet collection conveyors and inventory management of pallets stored in the storage conveyor group In a flat type automatic warehouse system having a storage computer, a pallet loaded with the same articles is stored in one row of each storage conveyor, and when a preset number of empty pallets are stored in the empty pallet collection conveyor, It is a loading / unloading method for a flat type automated warehouse, characterized in that empty pallets of the empty pallet collection station are loaded into a storage conveyor by the loading truck. Further, in the present invention, the storage conveyor for storing empty pallets stores only empty pallets. Further, in the present invention, when the number of empty pallets in the storage conveyor group reaches a preset number, the empty pallets are delivered to the empty pallet delivery station.

[0005]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a plan view of a flat type automated warehouse for implementing the present invention. In the figure, 1 and 2 are storage stations, which serve as storage ports for loading articles conveyed from the previous process on a pallet. Numeral 3 is a dolly truck. The warehousing truck 3 travels along a rail 4 which is a travel route. 5
The storage conveyors a, 5b, 5c, .... A plurality of storage conveyor groups 5a, 5b, 5c, ... Are provided side by side in a direction perpendicular to the traveling path 4 and serve as a storage area for temporarily storing a plurality of pallets. Reference numeral 6 denotes a delivery carriage installed at the other end of the storage conveyor group, which travels along the travel route 7. 8
Is a delivery station, and 9 is a transfer machine for transporting the delivered articles to the next process. 10 is a shipping station 8
It is an empty pallet recovery conveyor for recovering empty pallets that have been shipped to. Empty pallet collection conveyor 10
Is connected to an empty pallet collection station 11 installed near the traveling route 4 of the warehousing truck 3. Delivery cart 6
The traveling route 7 along which the empty pallet travels, and the empty pallet collection conveyor 10
An empty pallet delivery station 12 is provided between the and. Reference numeral 13 is a transfer station for delivering the delivered goods to a subsequent process.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a control system for the flat type automated warehouse shown in FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 15 is a central management computer, which is a group of storage conveyors 5a, 5a.
It is a personal computer that manages the inventory of pallets stored in b, 5c, ... And the operation of the entire automated warehouse. Reference numeral 16 is a warehousing management device, which comprises a sequencer or a microcomputer.
The warehousing management device 16 includes warehousing request devices 17 and 18 for making warehousing requests from the warehousing stations 1 and 2, and a control device 19 for controlling movements of the empty pallet collecting station 11.
Are connected. 20 is a storage conveyor group 5a, 5
The storage conveyor control device for controlling the operations of b, 5c, ... Is composed of a sequencer and the like. Reference numeral 21 is a delivery management device. The delivery management device 21 is a delivery request device 2
Connected to 2. Further, the shipping management device 21 controls the operations of the shipping cart 6, the shipping station 8, the conveyor on the empty pallet shipping station 12, and the empty pallet collecting conveyor 10. Further, the delivery management device 21 is also connected to the sensors 23 and 24 installed near the empty pallet collection conveyor 10. The sensor 23
It is a sensor that detects an empty pallet moving on the empty pallet collection conveyor 10. Further, the sensor 24 is a sensor for detecting that the empty pallet stagnant in the collection conveyor 10 is full. These sensors 2
Proximity sensors, photoelectric switches, and the like can be used for 3 and 24.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described. The outline of the processing contents of the central management computer 15 is as shown in FIG. The central management computer 15 processes an incoming request, an outgoing request, an empty pallet detection signal of the sensor 23, etc. as an interrupt input. FIG. 3 shows an outline of processing when this interrupt signal is input. Details of each process are as follows.

First, the processing of the storage request will be described from the state where empty pallets are placed in the storage stations 1 and 2 as an initial state. 1) The articles conveyed from the previous process are loaded on the empty pallets on the storage station 1 or 2, and when the number reaches a predetermined value, the storage request device 17 or 18 is operated to make a storage request. At this time, the product name code of the goods to be stored,
The number of stored goods, etc. are set in advance in the storage requesting devices 17, 18 or the central management computer 15. 2) Upon receipt of the warehousing request from the warehousing request device, the warehousing management device 16 transfers the warehousing request data to the central management computer 15. The data of this warehousing request includes the number of the warehousing station that issued the warehousing request.

3) When the central management computer 15 receives the warehousing request data, it confirms whether or not the warehousing truck 3 is in operation. If it is in operation, the warehousing request data is registered in the warehousing request storage area. deep. 4) When the warehousing truck 3 is not operating, the central management computer 15 retrieves the inventory data for each storage conveyor. At this time, the storage conveyor that stores the article having the same article name code as the article name code for which the storage request has been made is searched for one that can still be stored. If the corresponding conveyor has only one row, the storage conveyor is used as a conveyor for storing the pallet requested to be stored, and the transfer instruction data is transferred to the storage management device 16. Further, when there are a plurality of storage conveyors storing the articles having the same article name code as the article name code requested to be stored, the conveyor having a small margin for storing the pallet is selected. In this way, the pallets loaded with articles of one type (the same article name code) are always stored in the one-row storage conveyor.

5) When the warehousing management device 16 receives the warehousing instruction data, it transfers an operation signal to the warehousing truck 3.
Then, the pallet on the receiving station is transferred to the receiving carriage 3, and then the receiving carriage 3 travels to the storage conveyor where the storing instruction is given. 6) When the warehousing truck 3 stops beside the storing conveyor to be stored, the pallets that have been conveyed are transferred to this storing conveyor. Upon completion of this transfer, the storage management device 16
Transmits the completion signal to the central management computer 15, and the central management computer 15 updates the inventory data. 7) When the pallet requested to be stored is transferred to the storage conveyor, the storage conveyor is always moving toward the shipping side, so that the pallet is moved to the shipping side and packed.

[0011] 8) The central management computer 15, the sky Palais
The number of empty pallets near the tray collecting station 11 is also managed. Therefore, when there is an empty pallet in the empty pallet collection station 11, the central management computer 15 further moves the empty pallet collection station 11 to the loading carriage 3 and loads the empty pallet. It issues an operation command to convey this empty pallet to the storage station that requested storage. When there is no empty pallet in the empty pallet collection station 11, the loading carriage 3 moves to the home position (position of the loading carriage 3 shown in FIG. 2) and stops. Even when 9) goods receipt request has not occurred, the central management computer 15, in a state where the empty pallet recovery station 11 has an empty pallet, and pallet goods receipt station is not conveyed, an empty pallet recovery stays
Issue a command to transport the empty pallet in section 11 to the receiving station.

Next, the processing of the delivery request will be described. 1) First, the delivery requesting device 22 or the central management computer 15 sets the product name code for the delivery request,
The delivery request button of the delivery request device 22 is pushed. At this time,
The delivery request is until the product name of the item to be processed in the next process changes,
It is also possible to automatically issue a request signal by the central management computer 15 each time the delivery processing by the delivery cart 6 is completed. 2) When the shipping management device 21 receives a shipping request from the shipping request device 22, it transfers the data of the shipping request to the central management computer 15. As the data of this issue request,
The item name code to be delivered, etc. 3) When the central management computer 15 receives the delivery request data, the central management computer 15 confirms whether the delivery vehicle 6 is operating, and if it is operating, registers the delivery request data in the delivery request storage area. 4) When the delivery cart 6 is not operating, the inventory data for each storage conveyor stored in the central management computer 15 is searched. At this time, when the storage conveyor that stores the article having the same product name code as the product request code is in one row, the pallet of the storage conveyor is to be delivered, and the delivery management device 21 is issued a delivery command. To transfer. Further, when there are two or more rows of storage conveyors that store articles having the same product name code as the delivery request, the storage conveyor having the larger number of stored pallets is selected. The reason for this is that the probability of first-in first-out is high.

5) When the shipping management device 21 receives the shipping command data, it transfers an operation signal to the shipping cart 6.
Then, the delivery cart 6 travels to the storage conveyor instructed to deliver, receives the rightmost pallet on the storage conveyor, and conveys it to the delivery station 8. With the completion signal of this operation, the central management computer 15 updates the inventory data. 6) The pallets delivered to the delivery station 8 are transported to the transfer station 13. When the pallet is transferred to the transfer station 13, the articles in the pallet are transferred to the next process by the automatic transfer device 9. 7) When all the articles in the pallet unloaded to the transfer station 13 are conveyed to the next step, the transfer device 9 outputs a transfer signal of an empty pallet to the transfer station 13. Then, the emptied pallet is replaced by the empty pallet collection conveyor 1
It moves to 0 and is conveyed to the empty pallet collection station 11.

8) When the empty pallet is conveyed on the empty pallet collecting conveyor 10, the sensor 23 detects the passage of the empty pallet. This detection signal is transferred to the central management computer 15 through the delivery management device 21. Based on this detection signal, the central management computer 15 determines the empty
The number of empty pallets stored in the pallet collection station 11 is measured and the value is stored. 9) The central management computer 15 uses the empty pallet collection step.
When the number of empty pallets stored in the partition 11 becomes equal to or larger than a preset value P, the storage management device 16 is instructed to store the empty pallets. It should be noted that the empty pallet storage command may employ the input of a full signal by the sensor 24. 10) When the warehousing management device 16 receives the empty pallet warehousing instruction, the warehousing cart 3 receives the vacant pallet collecting station.
Transferring operation signal for storing the empty pallets ® down 11 to the storage conveyor. At this time, as the storage conveyor for storing the empty pallets, a storage conveyor that does not store anything or a conveyor that already stores the empty pallets is selected. This storage conveyor selection is
It is also possible to previously register several rows of storage conveyors in the central management computer 15 exclusively for empty pallets. 11) When the number of empty pallets in the storage conveyor reaches or exceeds a preset value Q, the central management computer 15 transfers the empty pallet shipping command to the shipping management device 21. Then,
The shipping management device 21 transfers an empty pallet shipping operation signal to the shipping cart 6. Subsequently, the delivery cart 6 travels to a storage conveyor for delivering the empty pallets, receives the empty pallets, and conveys the empty pallets to the empty pallet delivery station 12. The empty pallets conveyed to the empty pallet delivery station 12 are transferred to the empty pallet collection conveyor 10
And is moved to the empty pallet collection station 11 direction. In the above description, the empty pallet shipping process is automatic, but an empty pallet shipping request device may be provided so that the central management computer 15 can be requested to ship the empty pallet as needed.

In the embodiment of the present invention described above,
The number of rows of the receiving station, the issuing station, and the storing conveyors may be determined optimally from the layout of the preceding and following processes and the number of product types.

[0016]

The present invention described above has the following effects. 1) Since the empty pallets can be stored in the pallet storage conveyor group and a dedicated shipping station for shipping the empty pallets is installed, the operation efficiency of the flat type automated warehouse is extremely good. 2) Since one type of goods is stored in the one-row storage conveyor, it is possible to promptly respond to the delivery request from the subsequent process.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration for implementing the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an example of a flat type automated warehouse for carrying out the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an outline of processing of a central management computer used in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Entry Station 2 Entry Station 3 Entry Vehicle 5a Storage Conveyor 5b Storage Conveyor 5c Storage Conveyor 6 Entry Vehicle 8 Entry Station 10 Empty Pallet Collection Conveyor 11 Empty Pallet Collection Station 12 Empty Pallet Entry Station 15 Central Management Computer 16 Entry Management Device 21 Entry Management apparatus

Front page continuation (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65G 1/00-1/20

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A storage conveyor group provided with a conveyor capable of storing a plurality of pallets for loading articles, a warehousing truck traveling along a traveling route installed at one end of the storage conveyor group, and another storage trolley. A delivery cart that travels along a travel route installed at an end, and a pallet that has been delivered to a delivery station installed near the travel route of the delivery vehicle is transported to an empty pallet collection station installed near the travel route of the entry vehicle. An empty pallet collection conveyor, an empty pallet delivery station installed between the traveling path of the delivery dolly and the empty pallet collection conveyor, and operation of the storage conveyor group, loading trolley, shipping trolley, empty pallet collection conveyor, etc. It has a central management computer that controls and manages the inventory of pallets stored in the storage conveyor group. That in a plan automatic warehouse system, causes warehoused pallet loaded with the same article in a row of each storage conveyor, the empty pallets collecting Stacy
When a preset number of empty pallets are stored in the storage compartment, the empty pallets of the empty pallet collection station are loaded into the storage conveyor by the loading trolley, and the loading / unloading method of the flat type automated warehouse. 2. A storage conveyor for storing empty pallets,
2. The storage of only empty pallets.
How to enter and leave the described flat type automated warehouse. 3. The loading / unloading method for a flat type automated warehouse according to claim 1, wherein when the number of empty pallets in the storage conveyor group reaches a preset number, the empty pallets are unloaded to an empty pallet shipping station. .