JPH0336721B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a work priority determining method in an automated warehouse system.

[Background of the invention]

In automated warehouses, stacker cranes are used for loading cargo into each shelf from the storage entrance and for unloading luggage from each shelf to the exit exit. Techniques for efficient loading and unloading operations using stacker cranes are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 7142-1982, 11482-1982, and 43110-1982.

By the way, conveyors and the like have conventionally been used to transport cargo between the entrance and exit of an automated warehouse and each station. However, each time a station is added or changed, it is necessary to add or change a conveyor line, resulting in a lack of flexibility. Therefore, recently, it has been considered to use a transport vehicle to transport cargo between the storage entrance and each station. In such a case, the problem remains as to what priority order should be used to perform the work on this transport vehicle.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to provide a work priority determination method in an automated warehouse system that improves the efficiency of transport work (warehousing work and unloading work) by means of a transport vehicle between a warehouse entrance and each station.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention takes as parameters the waiting time after issuing a work request and the time required for transportation when performing the work, and prioritizes the work so that the work corresponding to the maximum value of the sum of these is performed. It is characterized by determining.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail based on specific examples.

First, a schematic configuration example of an automated warehouse system will be explained with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 10 indicates running lines of the truck, and in this example, there are lines L1 to L7. Reference numeral 20 denotes a loading/unloading conveyor. 30
is a transport vehicle, and each station (marked with ○ in the figure)
Transports cargo between the incoming and outgoing conveyors. Work commands to the transport vehicle 30 are issued by a transmitting/receiving device 40 provided near the loading/unloading conveyor 20.
In other words, the trolley 30 receives a work command from a computer (not shown) at this position, and moves to the designated line (L
1 to L7), or transports the cargo at a designated station on a designated line to the loading/unloading conveyor 20. As shown in FIG. 3, the warehousing request signal is turned on (ON) when the cargo to be stored at the corresponding station exists in a state that can be delivered to the trolley 30, and is turned OFF (OFF) when the cargo at the corresponding station is taken into the trolley. ). The same applies to the delivery request signal.

The process of determining the work order according to the embodiment of the present invention is as follows:
This is performed every time a warehousing request signal (or a warehousing request signal) is generated. The incoming or outgoing request signal is randomly generated from each station, so usually a plurality of request signals are generated.

Among these multiple tasks, which task should be performed is processed from the viewpoint of increasing overall efficiency, and the order of priority is determined. This processing flow is
It is shown in FIG. First, in step A in FIG. 1, the time in the OS (operating system), which is automatically updated by the computer, is imported. next,
The number (No.) indicating which line and station the request signal is generated from is determined via the input/output device. If there is corresponding case data, the difference between the request generation time and the current time is set in the time table. These are performed for all cases. The processing up to this point is B5~B20
This is the step. Subsequently, if there is corresponding case data for the time table (step B25), the result of addition of the time table and distance cable is set in the priority order table (step B30). These processes are performed for all cases (step B35).
Note that the distance table is created by measuring the time required for transportation between the incoming and outgoing conveyors at each station in advance.
These are made into a table for each station. Generally, the time at which the request signal was generated is memorized, and the difference between it and the current time at which the work decision is to be made is calculated (time table).
If this is Tn, priority is given to the corresponding station with a larger Tn, thereby eliminating the need to wait for a long time after a request is generated. However, because of the transport distance, determining the work order mark and having the work performed in descending order of Tn does not necessarily improve the overall work efficiency. Therefore, Tn
When there is not much difference between the one with the largest (maximum waiting time) and the second largest, the time Ht required for transportation corresponding to the transportation distance was considered as a selection factor. That is, ΣT=Tn+Ht is calculated, and the work order is selected in order of the largest ΣT. Therefore, the process of creating ΣT is performed in steps B25 to B35. When processing for all cases is completed (step B35), the priority table is used to determine the order of work. This determination process is performed in order of increasing ΣT value.
Steps C05 to C40 and D are to find the maximum value of ΣT and determine the station corresponding to the maximum value. Step F is a process performed when there is no work to be done to the cart, and a timer is set to restart the series of processes after a certain period of time. Step E instructs the cart to perform the determined work.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the tasks are determined in order of the maximum value of the priority table obtained as the sum of the waiting time and the time required for transportation of each task.
Contributes to improving overall efficiency.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a work priority determination process according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a layout diagram of an automated warehouse system, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a warehousing request signal. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10...Traveling line, 20...Input/output conveyor, 30...Transportation truck, 40...Transmission/reception device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a method for determining the work priority order of a square transport vehicle in an automated warehouse system in which a transport vehicle transports cargo between the entrance or exit of an automated warehouse and each station, A step of storing the required time, a step of calculating the difference between the time when the work request was issued from the station and the current time to obtain the waiting time, and a step of calculating the sum of the waiting time and the time required for the transport. and a step of determining the work request from the station that maximizes the value of the sum.