JPH01321204A - Commodity storage facility - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a lift base from shifting sideways by letting the lift base provided with guide members and a hanging-from-ceiling type mobile wheel provided with a commodity transferring means run along a shelf and joining thlift basse to the shelf by means of respective guide members as well as extending the transferring means. CONSTITUTION:A ceiling mobile wheel 10 is moved to a desired row of shelves with member 29 to be guided left in its retreated condition and is positioned to meet a desired shelf step by moving a lift base 12 up and down. and when a slide-fork device 27 is extended, a cam guide member 54 moves in the entrance direction F by the extensive action of a middle plate 26b to rotate an eccentric cam 55 to release engagement between a vertical rod 32 and a horizontal rod 57, the vertical rod 32 moves upward by means of a spring 36 to protrude a part 29 to be guided to the side of a stay 203 so as to engage it with the stay 203. Consequently, the lift base is supported by the stay even when commodity is transferred in and out, and is prevented from shifting sideways.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an article storage facility, and more particularly to an article storage facility that automatically takes articles into and out of each column in a warehouse.

In the above-mentioned goods storage warehouse, an automatic warehouse is constructed of shelving equipment made up of a plurality of racks, and a stacker crane that travels and ascends and descends along the shelving equipment to carry in goods from the racks. has been known for a long time.

Furthermore, the present applicant has previously developed an overhead self-propelled vehicle and multiple We are applying for an article storage facility consisting of the following ranks: The above-mentioned ceiling self-propelled vehicle has a traveling body that travels along a rail suspended from the ceiling along a predetermined route, and a lifting body that is located below the traveling body and can be raised and lowered relative to the traveling body. It is composed of a platform and an article transfer means provided on the platform, and after the platform is raised and lowered at a position to the side of the rack and stopped at a desired height, Articles are transferred between the elevating platform and the rank.

By the way, in this kind of goods storage equipment, after the lifting platform descends from the traveling body and stops at the loading/unloading position of the shelf, the sliding fork is used to load and unload the items. The movement of the slide fork causes lateral displacement of the lifting platform. Therefore, there is a risk that the lifting platform will collide with the rank, or that objects stored in the lifting platform may fall due to the lateral displacement of the lifting platform.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned technical problems and to provide an article storage facility that prevents horizontal displacement of a lifting platform when loading and unloading articles.

The present invention comprises a traveling body that travels along a rail suspended from the ceiling along a predetermined route, and a vehicle that is located below the traveling body and that travels. A ceiling self-propelled vehicle consisting of a lifting platform that can be raised and lowered relative to the body, and an extendable article transfer means installed on the lifting platform, and a plurality of racks installed on the side of the lifting position of the lifting platform. An article storage facility comprising a shelf facility, wherein the article transfer means is in a retracted position on the lifting platform in a retracted state, and moves to a position protruding from the elevator platform in an extended state. The shelf equipment is characterized in that a guided member is provided, and the shelf equipment is provided with a guide member that can engage with the guided member when projected.

According to the above configuration, the guided member is in the retracted position when the article transfer means is in the retracted state. Therefore, the elevator platform can be lowered and quickly reach a position facing the desired rack. In this state, when the article transfer means is extended for the article loading/unloading operation, the guided member moves to a position protruding from the lifting table. Then, it engages with a guide member provided on the shelf equipment. Therefore, during the operation of the article transfer means, it is possible to prevent lateral displacement of the elevator platform due to the engagement state between the guided member and the guide member.

Note that when the article loading/unloading operation is completed, that is, when the article transfer means is retracted, the guided member returns to the retracted position again. Therefore, the platform can be smoothly ascended in that state.

Figure 1 schematically shows the layout of an assembly line factory to which the present invention is applied. This assembly line factory is composed of an article storage zone 100, a shelving area 200, and an assembly line zone 300.

In the article storage zone 100, the articles B, which have been sorted by type and given a product number, are transported by conhairs 101 to 104 and accumulated at the ends of the conhairs. Reference numeral 90 indicates a station guide for positioning the ceiling self-propelled vehicle 10 when it is lowered.

In the assembly line zone 300, 301 to 303
304 indicates a transfer means such as a conhair, and 304 indicates an assembly worker.The worker sequentially assembles the article B to be transferred on the transfer means 301 to 303.The assembly operation is completed and the assembly is completed. The goods that have become products are transferred to the above-mentioned transport means 301 to 30.
An unmanned transportation vehicle waiting at the end of the 3rd section transports the materials out of the system. In FIG. 1, R is a ceiling self-propelled vehicle 10
This shows the running rails arranged along the desired route within this building.

Reference numeral 80 indicates a branching or merging device of the overhead self-propelled vehicle 10. Note that in this embodiment, "articles" refer to parts and the like used in the assembly line.

The above-mentioned shelf equipment 200 has shelves 20 on both sides of the aisle 201.
2 are arranged in parallel with their backs to each other, and as shown in FIG.
It consists of

Next, the configuration of the above-mentioned ceiling self-propelled vehicle 10 will be explained.

This self-propelled vehicle 10 includes a traveling body 11 that can run along a rail R that is suspended from the ceiling along a predetermined route, and a traveling body 11 that is located below the traveling body and can be raised and lowered with respect to the traveling body. It is composed of a lifting platform 12.

The configuration of the traveling body 11 will be explained below based on FIGS. 3 to 5. Note that, for ease of illustration, FIG. 4 shows the slide fork device 26 in an extended state. This running body 11 has driving wheels 13 running on the rail shape.
and driven wheels 14, and further includes a travel motor 15 for driving the driving wheels 13. Furthermore, a power supply device (not shown) called a trolley for supplying power to the traveling motor 15 is provided on the rail R side, and a current collector 1G corresponding to the power supply device is provided on the ceiling self-propelled vehicle 10 side. is provided. In order to prevent the overhead self-propelled vehicle IO from rolling on the rail R, a plurality of guide rollers 17 that engage with appropriate positions on the rail R are provided.

Next, a mechanism for suspending the lifting platform 12 will be explained. A drum 20 around which a belt 19 is wound is attached to both ends of the horizontal shaft 18, and the horizontal shuffles 18 are connected to each other via a timing belt 21 so as to be rotated by 1υ1 and ζ. One horizontal shaft 18
is rotated by a lifting motor 23 via a belt 22,
The belt 19 is wound up and let out. An encoder 24 is provided at the end of the other horizontal shaft 18 to measure the amount of winding or edge extension of the heald 19. At the lower end of the belt 19 is a lifting platform 12, which will be described below.
is fixed.

The lifting platform 12 has a penetrating space 25 on both sides,
A known slide fork device 26 is installed at the bottom of the space 25.
is set so that it can protrude from both sides. In addition, lifting platform 1
A moving device 30 for a guided member 29 is installed on the front surface 27 and the rear surface 28 of 2. The moving device 30 includes a vertical rod 32 that can slide within a slide guide 31 fixed to the front surface 27 or the rear surface 28, and a vertical rod 32 that is rotatably connected to the vertical rod 32 by a pin 33, 33. It is composed of four connecting links 34 and the guided member 29 fixed to the tips of the connecting links 34. A locking piece 35 is fixed to the vertical rod 32, and a compression spring 36 is interposed between the engaging piece 35 and the slide guide 31, and the biasing force of the spring 36 causes the vertical opening and door 32 to move up and down. The base 12 is always urged upward. Further, the connecting link 34 has a long hole 3.
9 is drilled, and a pin 40 implanted on the front surface 27 or the rear surface 28 of the lifting platform 12 is inserted into the core elongated hole 39, and the elongated hole 39 and the connecting link 34 can be moved along the pin 40. ing. The guided member 29 has a substantially U-shape with an inner taper in plan view, and the inner recess 41 can engage with the support column 203 of the shelf 202.

In addition, in this example, without providing a special guide member,
The support column 203 also serves as a guide member.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the vicinity of the slide fork device 26. The slide fork device 26 is connected to the top plate 2 (i
a, middle plate 26b, and base plate 26c
Consists of. The top play 1-26a is extendable and retractable with respect to the middle play 1-26b by a roller 50.

Moreover, the middle plate 26b is extendable and retractable with respect to the base plate 26c by the rollers 51. A rack 52 is formed on the lower surface of the middle plate 26b, and a pinion 53 can be engaged with the rack 52.

When this pinion 53 is driven by a drive source (not shown), the middle play 26b moves in the in/out direction F (see FIG. 4).

A cam guide member 54 is connected to the side surface of the middle plate 26b. The cam guide member 54 includes a connecting portion 54a and a longitudinal cam guide portion 54b extending along the base plate 26c as shown in FIG. A recess 54c that opens downward is formed in the cam guide portion 54b.

An eccentric cam 5 is located below this cam guide portion 54b.
5 is placed. A roller 5.5a is attached to the upper end of this eccentric cam 55, which roller 55a can rest on the underside of the cam guide part 54b and can engage in a recess 54c. Note that the slide fork device 26 is in a state where it does not move in and out, that is, the middle plate 2
6b is in the retracted state, the roller 55a is in the recess 54.
c. Further, as will be described later, when the slide fork device 26 moves in and out, that is, when the middle plate 26b moves along the in and out direction F, the roller 55a leaves the recess 54C and is attached to the lower surface of the cam guide member 54b. The eccentric cam 5 comes into contact with the rotational driving force.
5, which causes the eccentric cam 55 to rotate.

The lower end of the eccentric cam 55 is in contact with an abutting member 56 .

This abutting member 56 is fixed to a horizontal rod 57.

The horizontal rod 57 extends to the front side or the rear side by passing through a long hole 70 formed in the base plate 26C, and further through a long hole 58 formed in the front surface 27 and the rear surface 28, and extends vertically to the end thereof. A rod 32 is connected. As previously mentioned, vertical rod 32 is biased upwardly by spring 36, and therefore horizontal rod 57 is also biased upwardly. However, since the contact member 56 is in contact with the lower end of the eccentric cam 55, the horizontal rod 57,
Therefore, upward movement of the vertical rod 32 is prevented.

The operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be explained next.

The overhead self-propelled vehicle 10 has station guides 90 corresponding to desired conveyors 101 to 104 in the article loading zone 100.
It stops at the position and lowers the elevator platform 12. The lifting platform 12
is positioned along the station guide 90, and after picking up the articles B on the conveyors 101 to 104 with the slide forks 26, the lifting platform 12 is raised again and the ceiling self-propelled vehicle 1O starts moving. At that time, information on the shelf position where the article should be stored is commanded from the ground-side control panel to the ceiling self-propelled vehicle IO, and at the same time, commands are sent to the two branching devices 80 to place the ceiling self-propelled vehicle on the desired shelf. The branching device 80 is slid so that 10 can arrive.

The above-mentioned shelf position information consists of information about the number of rows in the horizontal direction and information about the number of tiers in the vertical direction, and the above-mentioned row information is given by detecting the number of passage shielding plates 42 with a detector 43, The above stage information is the belt 1 that suspends the lifting platform 12.
It is given by detecting the unwinding amount of 9 with the encoder 24.

Incidentally, while the ceiling self-propelled vehicle 10 is traveling and before the lifting platform 12 is lowered to the desired stage and the slide fork device 26 starts operating, the moving device 30 is in the retracted position shown in FIG. be. That is, as shown in FIG. 7(1), since the slide fork device 26 is in the retracted state,
The contact roller 55a of the eccentric cam 55 is in a state of being fitted into the recess 54c. Therefore, the upward movement of the horizontal rod 57 is restricted, and therefore the vertical rod 32
upward movement is also restricted. by this,
The guided member 29 connects to the lifting platform 12 via the connecting link 34.
It is in a retracted position where it does not engage with the support column 203.

After the ceiling self-propelled vehicle 10 stops at a desired row, the belt 19 wound around the drum 20 is unwound and the elevator platform 12 is lowered to the desired row.

Even during such a downward movement, the slide fork device 26 is not moving in and out, so the guided member 2
9 is in the retracted position.

The sliding fork device 26 then begins an extension motion to move items into and out of the rack. That is, the middle plate 26b and the top plate 26a perform an extension operation. At this time, the cam guide member 54 also moves along the in/out direction F due to the extension action of the middle plate 26b. As a result, the eccentric cam 55 rotates as shown in FIG. 7(2). That is, the roller 55a separates from the recess 54c and is pressed against the lower surface of the cam guide portion 54b, thereby rotating the eccentric cam 55 in the direction of arrow H shown in FIG. 7(2). As a result, the upward restraining force on the horizontal rod 57 and the vertical rod 32 is released as shown in FIG.
As the eccentric cam 55 rotates, it moves upward by the spring force of the spring 36. By this movement of the vertical rod 32, the connecting link 34 moves from the pin 40 along the long hole 39 to a substantially horizontal position. At that time, the guided member 2
9 moves to a position where it can engage with the support column 203. Note that the movement of the vertical rod 32 and the connecting link 34 stops when the pin 40 moves to the end of the elongated hole 39. In this way, the guided member 29 changes from the state shown in the third figure to the state shown in the ninth figure. In such a state shown in FIG. 9, the slide fork device 26 performs an operation for carrying in articles of a higher rank. Then, when the slide fork device 26 is retracted again, the operation is opposite to that described above, that is, the eccentric cam 55 rotates in the direction opposite to the direction of arrow H, and the vertical rod 3
2 moves downward, and the movement of the horizontal rod 57 and the vertical rod 32 is stopped in a state where the roller 55a is fitted into the recess 54c. As a result, the guided member 29 returns to the retracted position as shown in the third figure.

In this way, the guided member 29 protrudes and engages with the column 203 only during the operation period of the slide fork device 26, so even if there is vibration due to the operation of the slide fork device 26, the lifting platform 12 does not shift laterally. This prevents the articles from falling or the lifting platform 12 from colliding with the support column 203 or the rack during the loading/unloading operation of the articles.

Incidentally, the lifting platform 12 used for carrying in goods is raised and is driven to travel together with the traveling body 11 again.

For reference, it is conceivable that the guided member 29 engages with the column 203 when the lifting platform 12 is separated from the traveling body 11; Since the guided member 29 engages with the column 203 even during the lifting operation, the lifting platform 12 cannot be moved up and down quickly.In contrast, in the present invention, the guided member 29 is engaged only during the operation of the slide fork device 26. This problem does not occur because the support 203 is engaged with the support 203.

As described above, according to the present invention, the lifting platform is prevented from shifting laterally when loading and unloading articles. Therefore, when loading and unloading goods, the lifting platform will not collide with the ranks due to lateral displacement (
Moreover, there is no danger that the articles being carried in and out will fall, and it is possible to carry out extremely safe loading and unloading operations of articles.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of a system to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a side view showing shelf equipment and a ceiling self-propelled vehicle, and FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway front view showing a ceiling self-propelled vehicle. FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway plan view showing the overhead self-propelled vehicle, FIG. 5 is a side view of the overhead self-propelled vehicle, FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the vicinity of the slide fork device 26, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the slide fork device 26. 8 is a sectional view of the vicinity of the slide fork device 26 when the slide fork device 26 is in an extended state, and FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the operation and the related operation of the eccentric cam 55. FIG. 3 is a side view of the ceiling self-propelled vehicle showing a state in which it is engaged with a support column 203; 10... Ceiling self-propelled vehicle, 11... Traveling body, 12...
Elevating platform, 26...Slide fork (article transfer means)
, 29... guided member, 30... moving device, 54
...Cam guide member, 54c...Recess, 55...
Eccentric cam, 56... Contact member, 57... Horizontal rond, 200... Shelf equipment, 202... Shelf, 203...
Support column (guide member), 205...Rack, B...Article, R...Rail. Patent applicant: Murata Machinery Co., Ltd. Figure 3 Figure 7 Figure 8

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A traveling body that travels along a rail suspended from the ceiling along a predetermined route, a lifting platform located below the traveling body and capable of raising and lowering with respect to the traveling body, and the lifting platform This article storage facility consists of an overhead self-propelled vehicle consisting of an extendable article transfer means installed on a platform, and a shelf facility consisting of a plurality of racks installed on the side of the lifting position of the lifting platform. The lifting platform is provided with a guided member that is in a retracted position when the article transfer means is retracted and moves to a position protruding from the elevator table when the article transfer means is extended; An article storage facility characterized in that it is provided with a guide member that can engage with the guided member.