JPH03115003A - Warehousing method for automatic warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten a delivery time at an automatic warehouse equipped with a stacker crane having an ascent/descent body furnished with two transfer devices, by arranging so that warehousing may be done preferentially at shelves except those at both ends of a stacker crane travel direction. CONSTITUTION:At three dimensional warehouses 20A, 20B having rows of (a) to (n), a computer 30 checks whether or not two horizontally adjoining empty shelves are available within rows of (b)-(m) excluding the row (a) and the row (n), and if there are, specifies warehousing shelves, and commands housing to a stacker crane 10, and transfer devices 11A, 11B conduct a simultaneous transfer. In case no adjoining empty shelves are available, checking for two empty shelves within rows except the (a) row and (n) row, is made, and if there are, housing is made in order at shelves at these rows. And if there are not, the examination of the presence of two horizontally adjoining shelves is made at two rows, an (m) row and the (n) row, and if there are, a simultaneous housing is made, and if there not, the processing of examination is done likewise at (a) and (b) rows.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a warehousing method for an automated warehouse consisting of a stacker crane and a vertical stack, each of which has two transfer devices on one elevating body. In particular, the present invention relates to a warehousing method for an automatic warehouse for a multi-story parking lot used in cloth.

[Conventional technology]

A stacker crane, which has two transfer devices on one elevating body, transports two loads at once from the storage entrance to the shelf and from the shelf to the storage exit. Therefore, it is possible to improve the time required for entering and exiting the warehouse. An automatic warehouse equipped with such a stacker crane is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 58-26706 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 6
2-72865, JP 62-90476, JP 62-129468, JP 62-17
This is shown in Publication No. 4461 and the like.

By the way, although the stacker crane is capable of transporting two loads at a time, various conditions are required in order to shorten the loading/unloading time.

For example, regarding warehousing operations, even if a stacker crane receives two loads at the warehousing entrance, in order to transfer the two loads to the shelves at the same time, the two empty shelves must be adjacent to each other. If they are not adjacent, it is necessary to perform the transfer work for each column.

On the other hand, regarding the unloading operation, unless the two items requested to be unloaded are stored on two adjacent shelves, the two items cannot be received at the same time and transported to the unloading port.

Therefore, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 58-26706, in order to be able to receive two loads at the same time when leaving the warehouse, the combination of the two articles at the time of leaving the warehouse is considered and the shelf to be stored is determined. ing.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-26706, the shelves to be stocked are determined based on the combination of goods to be delivered.

However, in reality, it is often not possible to determine in advance the combination of cargo to be shipped. For example, in a multi-story parking lot in Nuchu, each user (driver) requests to exit the vehicle individually, so the combination of exits cannot be determined in advance.

An object of the present invention is to provide a warehousing method that can shorten warehousing time.

[Means to solve the problem]

The configuration of the automatic warehouse will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. 10
is two transfer devices on one elevating body (not shown).
, IIB, and travels between two three-dimensional shelves 20A and 20B. Two transfers *111
A and 11B are arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction.

The three-dimensional shelves 20A and 20B have a large number of shelves arranged horizontally and vertically. (9) is a computer that stores cargo storage information and gives commands for loading and unloading the stacker crane. Communication is performed between the computer (9) and the stacker crane 10 by optical transmission.

The transfer devices 11A and IIB are, for example, fork devices.

The transfer devices 111A and IIB can each operate independently. For example, one transfer device 11A is a three-dimensional shelf 20A.
When protruding to the side, the other transfer device 11B is the three-dimensional shelf 2
Can stand out to 0B@.

The warehousing entrance and the warehousing exit are set as a set so that two loads can be transferred to and from the stacker crane at the same time. The positions and configurations of the entrance and exit, as well as the positions and configurations of various devices associated therewith, are described in, for example, Mayoi's JP-A-62-72865, JP-A-62-90476, and JP-A-62-129468. No. Publication, JP-A-62-
This is as shown in the publications such as No. 174461.

In FIG. 3, a three-dimensional shelf 2OA shows the arrangement of shelves in a certain horizontal section, and n shelves a-n are arranged along the traveling direction of the stacker crane 10. X and Y are storage exits, the storage exit X corresponds to the transfer device 11A, and the storage exit Y corresponds to the transfer device 5i11B. Among the shelves a-n, the shelf closest to a is the upper shelf, and the shelf closer to n is the lower shelf. For example, in the combination of a and b, a is the upper shelf and b is the lower shelf. In the combination of b and n, b is the upper shelf and n is the lower shelf.

Under the above conditions, looking at the combinations when the transfer devices 111A and IIB receive loads from two shelves, the transfer device 1
There is a first combination in which 1A receives the load on the upper shelf and transfer/loader HaB receives the load on the lower shelf, and a second combination that is the opposite. In other words, there is a first combination in which the goods on the upper shelf are taken out to exit X and goods in the lower shelf are taken out to exit Y, and a second combination in which the goods are taken out in the opposite manner.

Further, the shelf a can transfer loads only between the transfer device f 11 A, and the shelf n can transfer loads only between the transfer device 111B.

Considering that only one transfer device can accommodate the shelves a and n at the ends in the running direction and the second combination, it is preferable that the shelves a and n at the ends not be stocked. For example, when a command is given to unload the load on shelf n and then the load on shelf a, the stacker crane IO cannot transport the two loads at the same time, so it has to transport one load at a time, which takes a lot of time. Requires.

In addition, two transfer devices of stacker crane IO [11A,
Even if one of the 11B is out of order, it is necessary to use the other normal one to leave the warehouse. For example, in a multi-story parking lot, even if parking is stopped, parking is still required. Now, if the transfer device 11A breaks down, the cargo on shelf a cannot be delivered.

If the transfer equipment [11B] is out of order, the cargo on shelf n cannot be delivered.

Therefore, even if the second combination does not exist, if it is necessary to take out the warehouse at the time of this failure, it is not preferable to put the goods in the shelves a and n.

The present invention is based on this knowledge.

That is, according to the present invention, stocking is carried out preferentially on the intermediate shelf excluding the shelves at both ends in the traveling direction of the stacker crane, and by substantially eliminating empty shelves on the intermediate shelf, the inventory is stored on the shelves at both ends. It is characterized by being made to be stocked.

[For production]

Generally, it is rare that all the shelves are filled with cargo. Normally, warehouses are often loaded and unloaded with a relatively large number of empty shelves. In this state, it is necessary to shorten the delivery time.

According to the present invention, since, in principle, no goods are stored in the end shelves a and n, the probability that two goods are taken out at the same time is increased in normal times, and the time can be shortened.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained below with reference to an embodiment shown in FIG.

In the following embodiment, a case will be described in which there are two items that have entered the warehouse and there are two empty shelves. Also, stub cuff lane 10. The structure of the multi-story warehouse 2OA, 20B and the exit gate is as explained in FIGS. 2 and 3 and in the section "Means for Solving the Eight Problems".

In the following embodiments, two horizontally adjacent shelves may be a combination within one three-dimensional shelf 20A or mB, but may also be composed of three-dimensional shelves 20A and 2OA. To explain the latter, for example, b of the three-dimensional shelf 20A
This is a combination of the row shelf and the 0th row shelf of 3D shelf 2 [IB.

This is because the two transfer bags fillA and IIB are simultaneously transferred in opposite directions and S is blocked.

When there is a request to receive two shipments, calculation 8130 executes FIG.

Step 811 First, in the multi-story warehouse 2) A and 20B consisting of rows a to n, there are two empty shelves adjacent in the horizontal direction among the shelves consisting of rows (b-m) excluding rows a and n. Find out whether there is. If there is an empty shelf adjacent in the horizontal direction, it is determined that there is an empty shelf, and the process moves to step 820. This is to increase the ratio of two devices being stored simultaneously in rows b to m.

Step 813 If “None” in step 811, row a and n
It is determined whether or not there are two empty shelves in the shelf consisting of the row (b-m) excluding the row. If there are two empty shelves, it means "existence", so the process moves to step 830. This is to store data in the middle rows (b to m) as much as possible.

Step 815 If step 813 is "absent", it is determined whether there are two empty shelves adjacent to each other in the horizontal direction in rows m and n. If “Yes”, the process moves to step 820.

Step 817 If step 815 is "absent", determine whether there are two empty shelves adjacent to each other in the horizontal direction in rows a and b. If “Yes”, the process moves to step 820. "Nothing"
If so, the process moves to step 830.

Step 820 In the row targeted in the upper step, two horizontally adjacent empty shelves (a to be stocked) are identified, and the stacker crane IO is ordered to transfer two units to these two empty shelves at the same time. command.

Step 830 In the row targeted in the upper step (all rows in the case of step SI7), two empty shelves (shelves to be stocked) are identified, and one unit is transferred to each empty shelf one by one. A command is given to the stacker crane 10.

Note that even if there is a request for warehousing of only one vehicle, the warehousing is performed preferentially on the intermediate shelf between rows b to m.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, priority is given to storing two vehicles at the middle shelf where it is easy to take them out at the same time.
Normally, there is a high probability that two vehicles will leave the warehouse at the same time, so the time it takes to leave the warehouse can be shortened.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view of an automated warehouse, and Fig. 3 explains the relationship between one three-dimensional shelf, an exit port, and a stacker crane. X, γ---Ichirikikuguchi

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Preferentially warehousing is carried out on the intermediate shelf excluding the shelves at both ends in the running direction of the stacker crane, and the stocking is carried out on the shelves at both ends when there are substantially no empty shelves on the intermediate shelf. A method of receiving goods in an automated warehouse characterized by the following.