JPH0445003A - Carrying in and out system for automatic warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To secure high reliability and remarkably reduce the cost by making a constitution in which a floor rack conveyor is driven by motive power from a conveyor drive motor mounted at a stacker crane, and the carrying in or out of a work within the floor rack is conducted. CONSTITUTION:When a work 12 within a floor rack 1 is carried in or out, a stacker crane 4 ascends/descends by traveling to a warehousing shelf/carrying out shelf, and a motive power transmission device 8 on the crane 4 is connected to a motive power receiver 3 on the rack (1) side, and a floor rack conveyor 2 is driven by motive power from a conveyor drive motor 5 mounted on the crane, and the carrying in or out of the work 12 is conducted. As a result, the need of, as previously, equipping a drive motor at every conveyor 2 of the rack 1 or making a rack a free floor rack, is gotten rid of, so reliability is remarkably improved, and at the same time drastic cost cut can be realized.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a loading and unloading system for loading and unloading workpieces into and out of a flow rack in a flow rack-type automated warehouse equipped with a plurality of flow racks on a first-in, first-out basis. .

(Prior Art) There have conventionally been several types of automated warehouses, one of which is a flow rack type automated warehouse that is equipped with a plurality of flow racks on a first-in, first-out basis. In automated warehouses that use this type of Florack, the conventional methods for loading and unloading workpieces in the Florack are to provide a drive motor for each Flowrack conveyor, or to install a free-flow conveyor in the rack (workpieces are moved by gravity). There is a method of controlling the movement of the workpiece using a mechanical stopper or air pressure.

However, such a method has the following problems. In other words, in the former method, as the number of shelves in an automated warehouse increases, the number of electrical components such as drive motors installed in each column increases, and the supply of power to these components and the number of control points increase. There is a problem in that the number of wiring increases, resulting in an increase in cost. In addition, in the latter method, the hardware and software configurations for control become complicated, resulting in an increase in the number of I10 points in the control device, which not only increases costs as described above, but also reduces reliability. there were.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, the conventional loading/unloading method has the problems of not only extremely high costs but also low reliability.

An object of the present invention is to provide an automated warehouse loading and unloading system that can achieve significant cost reduction while ensuring high reliability.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention involves loading and unloading workpieces in flow racks in a 70-rack automated warehouse equipped with a plurality of flow racks on a first-in, first-out basis. In the warehousing and retrieval system, a flow rack conveyor disposed in a flow rack, a power receiving means disposed on the flow rack conveyor and receiving the driving force of the conveyor, and a warehousing and retrieval system that runs and ascends and descends in accordance with a warehousing command or a warehousing command. a stacker crane, a conveyor drive motor mounted on the stacker crane that generates driving force for driving the flow rack conveyor, and a conveyor drive motor that is arranged so as to be connectable to a power receiving means, and that is connected to the power receiving means to drive the conveyor drive motor. and a power transmission means for transmitting force.

(Function) Therefore, in the loading and unloading system for an automatic warehouse according to the present invention, a conveyor drive motor that generates a driving force for driving a flow rack conveyor and a conveyor drive motor that transmits the driving force are mounted on a stacker crane for loading and unloading. The stacker crane is equipped with a power transmission means, and the flow rack conveyor is equipped with a power receiving means that receives the driving force, so that when loading and unloading workpieces from the flow rack, the stacker crane travels to the receiving shelf or the receiving shelf. The stacker crane moves up and down, and the power transmission means on the stacker crane is connected to the power receiving means on the flow rack side, and the flow rack conveyor is driven by the power from the stacker crane, and works are loaded or unloaded.

This eliminates the need to provide a drive motor for each conveyor of the flow rack or to make the rack a free flow rack, thereby improving reliability and significantly reducing costs.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an automatic warehouse loading/unloading system according to the present invention. Although the diagram only shows the configuration on the output side of the automated warehouse, the configuration on the input side is actually exactly the same.

In FIG. 1, a flow rack conveyor 2 is installed in a flow rack 1 in a flow rack type automated warehouse. In addition, the exit side end of this flow rack conveyor 2 (
On the warehousing side, a power receiving device 3 for receiving the driving force of the conveyor 2 is disposed at the warehousing side tip.

On the other hand, the stacker crane 4 for loading and unloading receives a loading/unloading command (
On the warehousing side, it travels and ascends and descends in accordance with warehousing commands. A conveyor drive motor 5 for generating a driving force for driving the flow rack conveyor 2 and a conveyor drive motor 5 are disposed on the stacker crane 4 so as to be connectable with the power receiving device 3. a gear unit 6 that transmits the driving force of the conveyor drive motor 5 to
A drive shaft 7 and a power transmission device 8 are respectively mounted.

Furthermore, a rack end presence detection sensor 9 and a conveyor drive detection sensor 10 are respectively installed at the exit side tip of the flow rack conveyor 2 (or the input side tip for the storage side), and above the loading platform of the stacker crane 4. , a presence detection sensor 11 is installed above the stacker crane. Note that 12 in the figure indicates a workpiece.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a control device for the stacker crane 4 in FIG. 1.

This control device operates a traveling drive motor 21 of a stacker crane 4, a lifting drive motor 22, and a fork drive motor 2.
3, conveyor drive motor 5, traveling direction fixed position stop control device 24, vertical direction fixed position stop control device 25, rack tip presence detection sensor 9, and conveyor drive detection device 1
0, a stacker crane upper occupancy detection sensor 11, a warehouse management CPU 26, and a warehouse entry/exit control CPU 27.

Here, the traveling drive motor 21 is connected to the stacker crane 4.
This is for driving the vehicle in the running direction.

Further, the lifting drive motor 22 is for driving the stacker crane 4 in the lifting direction. Furthermore, the fork drive motor 23 is for driving the fork of the stacker crane 4.

On the other hand, the running direction fixed position stop control device 24 controls the stacker crane 4 to stop at a fixed position in the running direction. Further, the stop control device 25 controls the stacker crane 4 to stop at a fixed position in the vertical direction. The rack end presence detection sensor 9 detects that the workpiece 12 is present at the exiting end of the flow rack 1 (the receiving end on the receiving side), that is, the workpiece 12 has reached the exiting position (the receiving position on the receiving side). This is to detect what has been done (completion of movement). Further, the conveyor drive detection device 10 detects whether the flow rack conveyor 2 is being driven. In addition, occupancy detection sensor 1 on the stun car crane
1 detects that the workpiece 12 is present on the stacker crane 4, that is, the conveyor drive motor 5 has stopped, and the unloading operation (or the warehousing operation on the warehousing side) has been completed.

On the other hand, the warehouse management CPU 26 outputs a warehousing command (or a warehousing command for the warehousing side).

In addition, the warehousing/discharging control CPU 27 follows the warehousing command (or the warehousing command for the warehousing side) from the warehouse management CPU 26.
It outputs drive commands to drive the travel drive motor 21, the elevation drive motor 22, the fork drive motor 23, and the conveyor drive motor 5, respectively.

Next, the operation of the automatic warehouse loading/unloading system configured as above will be explained.

First, when unloading the workpiece 12 from the flow rack 1, the loading/unloading control CPU 27 drives the travel drive motor 21, the lift drive motor 22, and the fork drive motor 23 in accordance with the unloading command from the warehouse management CPU 26, and moves the workpiece 12 to the corresponding shelf address. The stacker crane 4 travels, moves up and down, and stops.

Next, the power transmission device 8 on the stacker crane 4 is connected to the power receiving device 3 on the flow rack 1 side, and the loading/unloading control C
The conveyor drive motor 5 is driven by the PU 27, and its driving force is transmitted via the gear unit 6, drive shaft 7, power transmission device 8, and power receiving device 3, and the flow rack conveyor 2 is driven. At this time, while checking the drive of the flow rack conveyor 2 by the conveyor drive detection device 10, the rotation speed is corrected by the pulse count of the encoder of the detection device 10 and the pulse count of the encoder on the conveyor drive motor 5 side. The flow rack conveyor 2 is driven and the workpiece 12 is moved to the tip of the flow rack 1.The rack tip presence detection sensor 9 detects that the tip of the workpiece 12 is ON.
The workpiece 12 is taken into the stacker crane 4. Further, when the tip of the work 12 is turned OFF and the top of the stunk car crane is turned ON, normal completion is achieved, and the process moves to the exit.

In addition, when the work 12 is stored in the flow rack 1, a doujin unloading system provided on the warehousing side of the automated warehouse is used to
On the receiving side of the flow rack 1, which is opposite to the receiving side, the operation is performed in the opposite manner to that at the time of leaving the warehouse.

As described above, the automatic warehouse loading/unloading system according to the present embodiment includes a flow rack conveyor 2 disposed in a flow rack 1, and a power receiving device disposed on the flow rack conveyor 2 and receiving the driving force of the conveyor 2. 3 and warehouse management C
A stacker crane 4 for loading and unloading runs and moves up and down by a loading/unloading control CPU 27 in accordance with a loading command or a shipping command from the PU 26, and is mounted on the stacker crane 4 and generates driving force for driving the flow rack conveyor 2. It is composed of a conveyor drive motor 5, a gear unit 6, a drive shaft 7, and a power transmission device 8, which are arranged so as to be connectable to the power receiving device 3 and transmit the driving force of the conveyor drive motor 5 to the power receiving device 3. It is.

Therefore, when loading or unloading workpieces 12 into or out of the flow rack 1, the stacker crane 4 travels to the storage shelf or the storage shelf and ascends and descends, and the power transmission device 8 on the stacker crane 4
is connected to a power receiver W3 on the side of the flow rack 1, and the flow rack conveyor 2 is driven by power from a conveyor drive motor 5 mounted on a stacker crane, and works 12 are loaded or unloaded. Therefore, unlike in the past, there is no need to provide a drive motor for each conveyor 2 of the flow rack 1 or to use a free flow rack, which significantly improves reliability.
It becomes possible to achieve significant cost reductions.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the flow rack conveyor is driven by the power from the conveyor drive motor mounted on the stacker crane, and works are loaded into or taken out of the flow rack. , it is possible to provide an automated warehouse loading and unloading system that can significantly reduce costs while ensuring high reliability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure IJ1 is a block diagram showing an example of the loading/unloading system for an automated warehouse according to the present invention, and Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a control device for a stacker crane in the same embodiment. 1...Flow rack, 2...Flow rack conveyor, 3...Power receiving device, 4...Stacker crane,
5... Conveyor drive motor, 6... Gear unit,
7... Drive shaft, 8... Power transmission device, 9
... Rack end presence detection sensor, 10 ... Conveyor drive detection sensor, 11 ... Stacker crane upper presence detection sensor, 12 ... Workpiece, 21 ... Travel drive motor, 22 ... Lifting Drive motor, 23... Fork drive motor, 24... Traveling direction fixed position stop control device,
25... Lifting direction fixed position stop control device, 26... Warehouse management CPU, 27... Warehouse entry/exit control CPU. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim] A loading/unloading system for loading and unloading works in a flow rack in a flow rack-type automated warehouse equipped with a plurality of first-in, first-out flow racks, comprising: a flow rack conveyor disposed in the flow rack; A power receiving means disposed on the flow rack conveyor and receiving the driving force of the conveyor; a stacker crane for loading and unloading that runs and moves up and down in accordance with the loading command or the unloading command; a conveyor drive motor that generates a driving force for driving the conveyor drive motor; and a power transmission means that is arranged to be connectable to the power receiving means and that transmits the driving force of the conveyor drive motor to the power receiving means. An automatic warehouse loading/unloading system characterized by: