JP6040893B2 - Sequential transport system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention includes a group of primary conveyance units that convey articles to each of a plurality of article dispensing units, and a secondary conveyance unit that conveys articles conveyed to the article dispensing unit by the primary conveyance unit to a conveyance destination; A control unit that controls operations of the primary transport unit and the secondary transport unit based on transport request information that specifies an article to be transported, and the control unit includes a plurality of transport request information. The plurality of articles transported to the plurality of article delivery sections by the primary transport section are transported to the transport destination in a transport order determined by a transport order set for each of the plurality of transport request information. Therefore, the present invention relates to a sequential transfer system configured to control the operations of the group of primary transfer units and the secondary transfer unit.

  As a conventional example of the sequential transport system as described above, a cutout conveyor that cuts out articles from the article discharge section is provided in the article discharge section corresponding to each of the group of primary transfer sections. There is one in which a line conveyor for conveying an article is disposed at a conveyance destination so as to pass through (for example, see Patent Document 1). In such a conventional sequential transfer system, a secondary transfer unit is configured by a plurality of cut-out conveyors and line conveyors.

  In the sequential transport system of Patent Document 1, a plurality of articles to be transported instructed by a plurality of transport request information are transported to a transport destination in a transport order determined by a transport order set for each of the transport request information. In this way, the operation of the secondary transport unit is controlled. That is, by controlling the timing at which the articles transported to the article dispensing section by each primary transport section are cut out to the line conveyor by the cutting conveyor while grasping the timing of the articles cut out from other cutting conveyors, The articles are conveyed in the order of conveyance.

JP 2009-184784 A

  However, with the above-described conventional sequential transfer system configuration, the cutout timing of the cutout conveyor corresponding to each of the group of primary transfer units is considered in consideration of the positions of articles cut out from other cutout conveyors to the line conveyor. While adjusting it. That is, since the control of the cutting conveyor is correlated with the operation of other cutting conveyors, the control form of the secondary transport unit becomes complicated.

  Therefore, it has been desired to realize an order transport system that can transport articles to a transport destination in a transport order determined by a transport order set for each of a plurality of transport request information, with a simple control configuration.

The sequential transport system according to the present invention for solving the above problems includes a storage shelf provided with a plurality of shelves in the vertical direction capable of storing articles, and a plurality of article delivery corresponding to each of the plurality of shelves. a Department, a group of primary transport unit for transporting articles to each of said plurality of article dispensing unit, and the secondary conveying section for conveying the articles conveyed to the article dispensing unit by the primary transport unit as the transport destination A control unit that controls operations of the primary transport unit and the secondary transport unit based on transport request information that specifies an article to be transported, and the control unit includes a plurality of transport request information. The plurality of articles transported to the plurality of article delivery sections by the primary transport section are transported to the transport destination in a transport order determined by a transport order set for each of the plurality of transport request information. Therefore, the group of primary transport units and the front A configured order transport system to control the operation of the secondary conveying section, the secondary conveying section, a single lift transport unit corresponding to the plurality of article dispensing portion, vertically movably has The up-and-down conveying unit is configured to receive articles between each of the plurality of article dispensing units, and is configured to be able to deliver articles to the secondary conveying unit, and the control unit is configured to transfer the up-and-down conveying unit. part is to convey to the transport destination receives the article from the plurality of article dispensing unit in the corresponding order to the transport order, which is characterized in that for controlling the operation of the elevating transport.

That is, a single lifting / lowering conveyance unit that is movable along a conveyance path that passes through a plurality of article dispensing units and that can exchange articles with the article dispensing unit is provided by any one of the plurality of article dispensing units. The goods are received and the goods are transported to the transport destination in the order of receipt.
Here, the order in which a single lifting / lowering conveying unit receives articles from a plurality of article dispensing units is controlled to be an order corresponding to the conveying order determined by the conveying order set for each of the plurality of conveying request information. Thus, the articles can be transported to the transport destination in an order corresponding to the transport order.
In other words, when transporting an article to the transport destination in the transport order, the single lift transport unit in the secondary transport unit operates the single lift transport unit while managing the order in which the single lift transport unit receives the articles from the plurality of article dispensing units. What is necessary is just to control, for example, the timing which cuts out the articles conveyed by the group of primary conveying sections to the plurality of article dispensing sections by one of the plurality of cutting conveyors in the secondary conveying section. Compared to a complicated control configuration that controls the operation of a plurality of cutting conveyors in the form of adjusting while managing the cutting timing and the position of the articles after cutting, the control configuration is simplified It becomes something that can be planned.

  As described above, the article can be transported to the transport destination in a state in which the transport order determined by the transport order set for each of the plurality of transport request information is reliably maintained with a simple control configuration.

  In the sequential transport system according to the present invention, a plurality of groups of the primary transport units are provided, and the secondary transport units corresponding to the primary transport units of the plurality of groups serve as the common transport destination. A third transport unit configured to transport the article from the junction to the junction transport destination is provided, and the transport order set in each of the transport request information includes the plurality of groups. The transport unit is set in a state that allows the transport order to overlap between the groups of primary transport units, and the control unit is configured such that the tertiary transport unit is based on the transport request information. Operation of the primary transport unit, the secondary transport unit, the confluence unit, and the tertiary transport unit in order to transport the articles that are transport targets of the transport request information to the confluence transport destination in the transport order. Preferably configured to control

That is, the articles conveyed from the group of primary conveyance units provided to the secondary conveyance unit to the secondary conveyance unit are arranged in the conveyance order determined by the conveyance order set for each of the plurality of conveyance request information as described above. They will be arranged in the corresponding order. The transport order set in each of the transport request information is set in a state in which the transport order is allowed to overlap between the groups of the plurality of primary transport units. Then, since the articles are arranged in the order corresponding to the transport order determined by the transport order set for each of the transport request information, the articles transported from the secondary transport device corresponding to each group of the primary transport units are Even if they are merged at the merging section that is their common conveyance destination, the conveyance order of the articles does not change for each of the merged articles. For this reason, the tertiary conveyance unit can convey the articles merged in the merge unit to the merged conveyance destination in the conveyance order determined by the conveyance order.
Thus, according to the said structure, the articles conveyed by the secondary conveyance part corresponding to each of the primary conveyance part of a some group are merged in a merge part, and a tertiary conveyance part is merged conveyance from a merge part. Even in a configuration in which an article is first conveyed, the article can be conveyed to the merging conveyance destination while maintaining the conveyance order appropriately.

  In the sequential transport system according to the present invention, the merging transport destination includes a sorting transport device that transports articles in a form for sorting a plurality of articles into a plurality of sorting stations, and the transport request information includes the sorting station and the sorting station. Station-specific order information indicating the order of transport to the sorting station, and the control unit determines, based on the plurality of transport request information, an article to be transported by the plurality of transport request information by station. Control the operations of the primary transport unit, the secondary transport unit, the merging unit, the tertiary transport unit, and the sorting transport device so as to be transported in the form of sorting into the plurality of sorting stations according to the rank information. It is preferable.

That is, the transport request information includes the sorting station and station-by-station order information indicating the transport order to the sorting station, and a plurality of articles to be transported by the plurality of transport request information according to the station-specific order information. However, in the tertiary transport unit, articles are transported in the transport order determined by the transport order set for each of the transport request information. Even so, the transport order is observed.
Accordingly, even when an article is transported in a form in which a plurality of articles are sorted into a plurality of sorting stations, the plurality of articles are kept in a state in which the transport order determined by the transport order set for each of the transport request information is maintained. It becomes possible to sort into sorting stations.

Plan view of sequential transfer system Side view of main part of sequential transfer system Schematic diagram showing the contents of transport request information The figure which shows the arrival pattern to the delivery conveyor of goods when goods are conveyed in the order of instructions of conveyance request information The figure which shows the conveyance order of the article | item when leaving goods in the order of arrival at the delivery conveyor Control block diagram Flow chart showing control of control unit The figure which shows the 1st step of merge order determination processing The figure which shows the 2nd step of merge order determination processing The figure which shows the 3rd step of merge order determination processing The figure which shows the conveyance order of the articles | goods of the result of having corrected the merge order based on the merge order determination process

An embodiment of a sequential transfer system of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of automatic warehouses R that can store a plurality of articles W are provided (in FIG. 1, three automatic warehouses R1 to R3 are provided). As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, each of the automatic warehouses R includes a pair of storage shelves 1 each including a plurality of shelf boards 3 that can store articles W side by side in a vertical direction so that the front faces are opposed to each other. Has been. The shelves 3 in the pair of storage shelves 1 are configured so that those belonging to the same level are positioned at the same height, and a traveling rail for a transport vehicle is attached to each level. One transport vehicle 2 is provided corresponding to each stage of the shelf 3, guided by a travel rail, and configured to travel along the longitudinal direction of the shelf 3. Moreover, the transfer vehicle 2 is provided with a transfer device, and is configured such that the article W can be transferred between the shelf board 3 and itself.

  Adjacent to the end portions of the shelf boards 3 of the respective stages, the delivery conveyors 4 capable of transporting the articles W toward the lifter 7 are provided for the respective shelf boards 3 of the respective stages. A lifter 7 is provided adjacent to the end of the delivery conveyor 4 opposite to the shelf 3. The traveling rail is provided along the longitudinal direction of the shelf board 3 and extends from the shelf board 3 to the exit conveyor 4, and the carriage 2 can be guided to the lateral side of the delivery conveyor 4 by the traveling rail. It is configured. The delivery conveyor 4 is configured to receive the article W from the transport vehicle 2 and to deliver the received article W to the lifting and lowering conveying unit 7L of the lifter 7 described later. The lifter 7 is provided with a single elevating / conveying portion 7L that can be moved up and down along the elevating support column. The elevating / conveying section 7L is configured to be able to receive the articles W between the delivery conveyors 4 at each stage and to be able to deliver the articles W to the single rack connection conveyor 8.

  One rack connection conveyor 8 is provided for each of the automatic warehouse R1 to the automatic warehouse R3 (see the rack connection conveyor 8a, the rack connection conveyor 8b, and the rack connection conveyor 8c in FIG. 1). A main conveyor 9 is connected to the downstream end of each rack connection conveyor 8. A connecting portion between the rack connection conveyor 8 a and the main conveyor 9 is provided with a main conveyor junction device 11 a that switches between the conveyance direction of the rack connection conveyor 8 a and the conveyance direction of the main conveyor 9. Similarly, a main conveyor merging device 11b is provided at a connection portion between the rack connection conveyor 8b and the main conveyor 9, and a main conveyor merging device 11c is provided at a connection portion between the rack connection conveyor 8c and the main conveyor 9. . Hereinafter, when it is not necessary to distinguish the main conveyor junction devices 11a, 11b, and 11c, they are collectively referred to as the main conveyor junction device 11.

Although not shown, the main conveyor merging apparatus 11 includes a plurality of conveying rollers arranged with the rotation axis centered perpendicular to the conveying direction of the main conveyor 9 in plan view in order to convey articles in the conveying direction of the main conveyor 9. A transport chain wound in the transport direction of the rack connection conveyor 8 between the plurality of transport rollers, the transport surface of the transport chain (the part that contacts the article W) is more than the transport surface of the transport roller It is configured to be movable up and down in a state in which it is positioned upward in the vertical direction and a state in which it is positioned below.
Therefore, when joining the articles from the rack connection conveyor 8 to the main conveyor 9, the transport chain is switched to the raised state, the article W is positioned on the main conveyor junction device 11, and then the transport chain is switched to the lowered state. Article W can be delivered to main conveyor 9.

A first loading point Na and a second loading point Nb are provided at the downstream end of the main conveyor 9 as loading points for loading the articles W delivered from the automatic warehouse R onto the cart C.
Further, in the conveyance path of the main conveyor 9, a branching device 12a for branching the article W to the first branching conveyor 13a heading from the main conveyor 9 toward the first loading point Na, and from the main conveyor 9 to the second loading point Nb. A branching device 12b for branching the article W to the second branching conveyor 13b is provided.

In the present embodiment, a plurality of delivery conveyors 4 corresponding to a plurality of shelves 3 of each automatic warehouse R correspond to a plurality of article delivery units, and a plurality of shelves 3 corresponding to the plurality of shelves 3 of each automatic warehouse R. The transport vehicle 2 corresponds to a group of primary transport units T1 that transport the product W to each of the plurality of product delivery units. In addition, the rack connecting conveyors 8b and 8c corresponding to the automatic warehouses R2 and R3, the rack connecting conveyor 8a corresponding to the automatic warehouse R1, the main conveyor merging device 11a, and the transport unit including the transport part 9a of the main conveyor 9, This corresponds to the secondary transport unit T2 (T2a to T2c in FIG. 1) that transports the articles W transported to the delivery conveyor 4 by the transport vehicle 2 to the transport destination.
Further, in the present embodiment, the lifting and lowering conveying portion 7L of the lifter 7 corresponds to a conveying moving body. That is, the secondary transport unit T2 has a lifting / lowering transport unit 7L of a single lifter 7 that is movable along a transport path that passes through a plurality of the delivery conveyors 4 and that can transfer articles to and from the delivery conveyors 4. doing.

In the present embodiment, a group of transport vehicles 2 (that is, a group of transport vehicles 2 for each automatic warehouse R) is provided in a plurality of groups, and main conveyor junction devices 11b and 11c, and a main conveyor 9 positioned therebetween. The part including the transport part 9b is the joining part Y.
That is, the rack connection conveyor 8 corresponding to each of the groups of the plurality of groups of transport vehicles 2 is configured to transport the article to the junction Y as a common transport destination.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the part including the branching devices 12a and 12b in the main conveyor 9 corresponds to the merging and transporting destination S, and the transporting part 9c in the main conveyor 9 transports the article W to the merging and transporting destination S. Corresponds to T3.
That is, the tertiary conveyance part T3 which conveys the articles | goods W from the merge part Y to the merge conveyance destination S is provided.

  In addition, in the present embodiment, the first loading location Na and the second loading location Nb correspond to a plurality of sorting stations, and the merging and transport destination S converts the plurality of articles W into the first loading location Na and the second loading location Na. This corresponds to a sorting / conveying apparatus that conveys the article W in the form of sorting into the loading locations Nb.

Although the detailed illustration is omitted, the loading robot P includes a pedestal that can be swiveled, an arm that is supported by the pedestal and can be bent and stretched, and a suction pad attached to the tip of the arm. ing. The suction pad includes a plurality of vacuum suction nozzles, and can switch between an adsorption state that acts on the surface of the article W and a non-adsorption state that does not act on the surface of the article W. It has become.
The loading robot P moves the suction pad across the first loading location Na, the second loading location Nb, and the cart C corresponding to each by the turning operation of the pedestal portion and the bending operation of the arm portion. Be able to.

As shown in FIG. 6, the control part H which manages the action | operation of the said automatic picking installation is provided. The control unit H is configured by a general-purpose computer such as a personal computer or a PC server that includes a central processing unit and a storage device such as a hard disk.
A rack controller H1, a lifter controller H2, a conveyor controller H3, a robot controller H4, and a host management device Hu are connected to the control unit H so as to communicate with each other.

When the rack controller H1 receives a delivery instruction of the article W transmitted from the control unit H based on the conveyance request information described later, the rack controller H1 is placed on any shelf 3 of any automatic warehouse R based on the delivery instruction. Whether to store the stored articles W is allocated. Then, in order to deliver the allocated article W, the traveling operation of the transport vehicle 2 in the automatic warehouse R and the transfer operation of the transfer device (not shown) are controlled, and the transport operation of the delivery conveyor 4 is controlled. Has been. Further, the rack controller H <b> 1 transmits the allocated information to the control unit H when the allocation of the item W is completed based on a delivery instruction of the item W from the control unit H.
The lifter controller H <b> 2 is configured to control the lifting / lowering operation of the lifting / lowering conveyance unit 7 </ b> L and the transfer operation of the article W in the lifter 7.
The conveyor controller H3 is configured to control the operations of the main conveyor 9, the rack connection conveyor 8, the main conveyor merging device 11, and the branching device 12. In addition, about the main conveyor 9, the conveyance part 9a from the main conveyor merging apparatus 11a to the main conveyor merging apparatus 11b, the conveyance part 9b from the main conveyor merging apparatus 11b to the main conveyor merging apparatus 11c, the branching apparatus from the main conveyor merging apparatus 11c Each of the transport portions 9c up to 12a is configured to be able to control the transport operation separately.
The robot controller H4 transfers the articles W that have been transported to the first branching conveyor 13a to reach the first loading location Na or the articles W that have been transported to the second branching conveyor 13b and have reached the second loading location Nb, respectively. The operation of each loading robot P is controlled to be loaded on the corresponding cart C.
Further, the upper management device Hu manages inventory information indicating in which automatic warehouse R the article W is stored. The inventory information does not include information on which position of the shelf 3 in the automatic warehouse R the article W is placed.

  Based on the transport request information that designates the article W to be transported, the control unit H is based on the transport vehicle 2, the delivery conveyor 4, the lifter 7, the rack connection conveyor 8, the main conveyor 9, the main conveyor junction device 11, the branch device 12, And it is comprised so that the operation | movement of the 1st branch conveyor 13a and the 2nd branch conveyor 13b (Hereinafter, these apparatuses may be abbreviated collectively as a "conveyance apparatus") is controlled.

Here, the conveyance request information is data specifying the type of the article W, the automatic warehouse R that is the conveyance source of the article W, and the conveyance destination of the article W. Further, as shown in FIG. The conveyance ID corresponding to the requested conveyance order, the first loading location Na and the second loading location Nb that are the merged conveyance destination (final conveyance destination) (“A” and “B” in FIGS. 3 and 8 to 10, respectively). And a group number (displayed as a group number in FIGS. 3 and 8 to 10) as a transport order in association with each other and managed. This transport request information is managed by the host management device Hu. The group number set in each of the transport request information is set in a state in which the group number is allowed to overlap between the groups of the plurality of transport vehicles 2 (that is, the plurality of automatic warehouses R). The group number is set for each of the first loading location Na (A) and the second loading location Nb (B). That is, the transport request information includes the order of transport to the first loading location Na (A) or the second loading location Nb (B) and to the first loading location Na or the second loading location Nb. Station-specific rank information indicating the transport group of the station. The conveyance request information is set so that the same group number is a continuous conveyance ID for each of the first loading location Na (A) and the second loading location Nb (B).
Then, the upper management device Hu transmits the conveyance request information to the control unit H, and requests conveyance of the article W.

  The conveyance request information for the plurality of articles W is sequentially processed by the control unit H in the order of the conveyance ID that is the requested conveyance order. The control unit H instructs the rack controller H1 to carry a conveyance command for operating the conveyance vehicle 2 to unload the articles W from the shelf board 3 to the unloading conveyor 4 in the order of conveyance ID. The rack controller H1 allocates an article of the type instructed by the conveyance request information, and operates the conveyance vehicle 2 to take out the article. Then, when the delivery conveyor 4 receives the article W, the rack controller H1 operates the delivery conveyor 4 so as to convey the article W to the end on the delivery side to the lifter 7 (hereinafter referred to as the exit side end). To control. In addition to the delivery of the article W, the rack controller H1 transmits delivered information indicating that the article W has been delivered to the upper management apparatus Hu. Thereby, the upper management apparatus Hu can update the inventory information of the article W.

  Here, the article W is received for each of the automatic warehouses R by the receiving logic considering the receiving efficiency. Therefore, there is regularity between the transport order and the automatic warehouse R in which the articles W to be transported are stored, the vertical position of the shelf 3, and the placement position of the article W in the longitudinal direction on the shelf 3. Absent. Therefore, even if the control unit H sequentially operates the transport vehicle 2 and the unloading conveyor 4 to transfer the transfer request information in the order of the transfer IDs, the arrival order is transferred There is a possibility that the order is not in the ID order. That is, for example, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, even if the articles W are to be transported in the order of the group numbers, the order of the group numbers may be switched by the rack connection conveyor 8. In addition, if the group numbers are switched in this way, when joining at the joining portion Y, it becomes impossible to join the article with the higher group number before the article with the lower group number, resulting in deadlock. There is a fear.

  For this reason, the control unit H is configured to transport the group of transport vehicles 2, the lifter 7, and the rack connection conveyor 8 (automatically) in order to transport to the junction unit Y in the transport order determined by the group number set for each of the plurality of transport request information. The warehouse R1 is configured to control the operation of the main conveyor 9 (including the transfer portion 9a) (referred to as a joining order determination process).

Specifically, the lifting and lowering of the lifter 7 is performed so that the control unit H receives the articles W from the plurality of delivery conveyors 4 and transports them to the junction Y in the order corresponding to the transporting order. The operation of the transport unit 7L is controlled.
Then, based on the plurality of pieces of conveyance request information, the control unit H is configured to transfer the articles W in which the conveyance portion 9c of the main conveyor 9 is the conveyance target of the plurality of pieces of conveyance request information in the above-described conveyance order (final conveyance). In addition to the lifter 7, a group of transport vehicles 2 and a rack connection conveyor 8 (for the automatic warehouse R 1, transport of the main conveyor 9) to be transported to the first loading location Na and the second loading location Nb. (Including the portion 9a), the confluence Y, and the operation of the conveying portion 9c of the main conveyor 9 are controlled.
Further, based on the plurality of pieces of conveyance request information, the control unit H applies the first loading portion Na or the second piece of the article W, which is the conveyance target of the plurality of pieces of conveyance request information, according to the station order information. The lifter 7, the group of transport vehicles 2 and the rack connection conveyor 8 (including the transport portion 9a of the main conveyor 9 for the automatic warehouse R1), the junction Y, and the main conveyor 9 In addition to the transport portion 9c, the operation of the confluence transport destination S (the branch device 12a, the branch device 12b, and the transport portion of the main conveyor 9 existing therebetween) is controlled.

  Next, specific control when the control unit H executes the joining order determination process will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. In the following description, the junction point G refers to the main conveyor junction device 11b, the main conveyor junction device 11c, and the lifters 7a, 7b, and 7c in FIG. Moreover, in the following description, the main conveyor junction device 11c is represented by a symbol (I) for convenience, the lifter 7c is represented by a symbol (II), the main conveyor junction device 11b is represented by a symbol (III), and the lifter 7b is denoted by a symbol. It is represented by (IV), and the lifter 7a is represented by symbol (V). In addition, when starting from the most downstream junction (I), the junction (II) and the junction (III) are upstream and the same level, and the junction (III) is the starting point. The confluence (IV) and the confluence (V) are the confluence of the same level on the upstream side.

  First, the control unit H determines whether or not new transport request information has been generated in a standby state where no transport request information has been generated (step # 11). If it is determined that new conveyance request information has been generated (step # 11: Yes), then the starting point merging point is set to the most downstream merging point G (indicated by (I) in FIG. 1). Subsequently, it is determined whether or not there are two or more merging points in the upstream hierarchy (step # 13). When there are two or more merging points in the upstream hierarchy (step # 13: Yes), the merging order is determined. Execute the decision process. Subsequently, it is determined whether or not there is another merging point G for which the merging order determination process is not executed in the same hierarchy (step # 15), and the merging point G for which the merging order determination process is not performed in the same hierarchy is determined. If there are others (step # 15: Yes), the process returns to step # 13. Further, when it is determined No in Step # 11, Step # 13, and Step # 15, the series of processes is terminated.

  The control unit H also monitors the generation of new transfer request information at a predetermined time interval while controlling the operation of the transfer device based on the generated transfer request information. One or a plurality of new transport requests in a state where there is transport request information (referred to as unallocated transport request information) that has not received the allocated information from the rack controller H1 among the transport request information for which the determination process has been executed. When the information is generated, the newly generated transport request information is obtained by executing the processes after step # 11 on the transport request information group including the unallocated transport request information and the newly generated transport request information. Redo the merge order determination process in a state that includes. Thereby, even in a system in which transport request information is generated at any time, it is possible to appropriately determine the joining order.

Here, a specific processing method of the merging order determination process will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 8, the merging points (I) to (I) to which the article W to be conveyed passes through all of the plurality of conveying request information. V) is listed.
In the following, for the sake of simplicity, an example will be described in which an article W is delivered only from the automatic warehouse R2 and the automatic warehouse R3. Therefore, the most downstream junction is the junction (I), and the upstream junction is the junction (II) and the junction (IV).

  In FIG. 8, for the conveyance request information with the conveyance ID 01, the article whose conveyance destination is A (first loading location Na) and whose group number is 001 passes through the junctions (I) and (II). For the transport request information with transport ID 02, the article with transport destination A and group number 001 passes through junctions (I) and (IV), and the transport destination is B (second The article having the loading location Nb) and the group number 001 passes through the joining points (I) and (II), and the article having the transport destination B and the group number 003 is the joining point (I ) And (II), and the passing points of the respective articles are listed.

When the passing points written in FIG. 8 are arranged for each confluence G, the result is as shown in FIG. Then, as shown in FIG. 10, the order of passage of articles at the upstream junction (II) and junction (IV) is rearranged in ascending order of group numbers. The order of passage of the articles at the merge point (II) and the merge point (IV) rearranged as described above is the order in which the articles W are received by the lifter 7.
In addition, when there are a plurality of merging points as in the present embodiment, the above-described processing is repeated from the merging point existing on the downstream side toward the merging point one upstream side. In other words, the merge point upstream of the merging point (I) is the merging point (II) and the merging point (III), but if the merging point (III) is the starting point, there are two more merging points upstream of the merging point (III). (Confluence (IV) and Confluence (V)) exist. In this case, after determining the passing order at the joining point (II) and the joining point (III) starting from the joining point (I), the passing order at the determined joining point (III) has been described above. By applying the procedure, the order of passage at the junction (IV) and the junction (V) will be determined.

  Thus, by setting the passage order of the articles W at the upstream junction G in the order of passage of the articles W at the downstream junction G, as shown in FIG. The articles W are arranged in the order of conveyance determined by the above, and the articles W are arranged in the order corresponding to the order of conveyance in the merging portion Y that is the conveyance destination and the first loading location Na or the second loading location Nb that is the merging conveyance destination. Can be transported.

[Another embodiment]
( 1 ) In the above-described embodiment, the configuration including a plurality of automatic warehouses R including a plurality of transport vehicles 2 as a group of primary transport units has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. Only one R may be provided. In this case, the junction Y is not necessary.

( 2 ) In the said embodiment, it has the 1st loading location Na or the 2nd loading location Nb as a sorting station as a merging conveyance destination, and the several goods W are 1st loading location Na or a 2nd loading location. The configuration including the branching devices 12a and 12b as sorting and transporting devices that transport articles in the form of sorting into Nb is exemplified, but the first loading location Na or the second loading location Nb as the sorting station is not provided, and It may be a station. Moreover, it is good also as a structure provided with three or more sorting stations.

( 3 ) In the above embodiment, the group number set in each of the transport request information is exemplified as a configuration set in a state in which it is allowed to overlap between the plurality of automatic warehouses R. It is good also as a structure which does not permit duplication of the group number between warehouses R. In this case, in the junction Y, the transport order is controlled so that the transport order is determined by the group number.

( 4 ) In the above embodiment, when one or more new transport request information is generated in a state where unallocated transport request information exists, the unallocated transport request information and a newly generated transport request Although the configuration has been described in which the merging order determination process is performed again for the transport request information group including information, the configuration is not limited to such a configuration. For example, the control unit H is configured to execute the merging order determination process for each batch conveyance request information that is a collection of a plurality of conveyance request information, and until the conveyance of the article W corresponding to the batch conveyance request information is completed. Even when new transport request information is generated, it can be configured to wait for execution of the joining order determination process for the new transport request information.

2 Primary transport unit T1 Group of primary transport units 4 Article delivery unit 7L Elevating transport unit T2 Secondary transport unit T3 Tertiary transport unit Y Transport destination, confluence unit 12a, 12b Sorting transport device H Control unit Na, Nb Sorting station S Conveyance destination W Goods

that's all

Claims (3)

A storage shelf having a plurality of vertical shelves that can store articles;
A plurality of article dispensing sections corresponding to each of the plurality of shelves;
A group of primary transport unit for transporting articles to each of said plurality of article dispensing portion,
A secondary transport unit for transporting an article transported to the product dispensing unit by the primary transport unit to a transport destination;
A control unit that controls operations of the primary transport unit and the secondary transport unit based on transport request information that specifies articles to be transported; and
The control unit determines a plurality of articles conveyed by the primary conveyance unit to the plurality of article dispensing units based on a plurality of conveyance request information according to a conveyance order set for each of the plurality of conveyance request information. A sequential transport system configured to control the operation of the group of primary transport units and the secondary transport unit to transport to the transport destination in a predetermined transport order,
The secondary transport unit has a single lift transport unit corresponding to the plurality of article dispensing units, and can be lifted and lowered.
The up-and-down conveyance unit is configured to be able to receive articles between each of the plurality of article delivery units, and is configured to be able to deliver articles to the secondary conveyance unit,
Wherein the control unit, so that the lift transport unit is transported to the transport destination receives the article from the plurality of article dispensing unit in the order corresponding to the transport order, the order conveying system for controlling the operation of the elevating transport unit . A plurality of groups of the group of primary transport units are provided,
The secondary transport unit corresponding to each of the plurality of groups of primary transport units is configured to transport articles to a common confluence unit as the transport destination,
A tertiary transport unit that transports articles from the merging unit to the merging transport destination is provided,
The transport order set in each of the transport request information is set in a state that allows the transport order to overlap between the groups of the primary transport units of the plurality of groups,
The control unit, based on a plurality of the transport request information, the tertiary transport unit to transport the articles that are transport targets of the plurality of transport request information to the merging transport destination in the transport order, The sequential conveyance system according to claim 1, wherein the sequential conveyance system is configured to control operations of a primary conveyance unit, the secondary conveyance unit, the merging unit, and the tertiary conveyance unit. The merging transport destination has a sorting transport device that transports the articles in a form for sorting the plurality of articles into a plurality of sorting stations,
The transport request information includes rank information by station indicating the sorting station and a transport rank to the sorting station,
Based on the plurality of transport request information, the control unit should transport the articles to be transported by the plurality of transport request information to the plurality of sorting stations according to the station order information. The sequential transport system according to claim 2, wherein the primary transport unit, the secondary transport unit, the merging unit, the tertiary transport unit, and the sorting transport device are controlled in operation.

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