JPH05139507A - Delivery operation device for automated warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a drop in speed of and efficiency of loop carriages due to the entry of many empty carriages by assigning FROM-TO data to passing carriages for automatic operation, when products are delivered on the loop carriages from a plurality of warehouse rows to a warehousing/delivering gate. CONSTITUTION:An automated warehouse section 1 is equipped with a plurality of warehouse rows S1 to S4, and stacker cranes 2 travelling on a track for each warehouse row. Also, product warehousing buffer conveyor 3 is installed at the end of each warehouse row. In this case, loop carriages 5 are caused to travel along a loop track 4 laid at the end of the automated warehouse section 1. In an automated warehouse so constructed, the carriages 5 receive and save FROM-TO data from the signal transmission means 7 of the track 4 via a signal transmission means 14. On the other hand, the number of each warehouse row is detected from the signal transmission means 12 of the conveyor 3, and each carriage 5 is made to automatically stop at a position corresponding to a specified warehouse row number. Then, a delivery condition is transmitted to the conveyor 3, and this conveyor 3 is thereby driven to deliver a product to each carriage 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a delivery operation device in an automatic warehouse, and more particularly to a delivery operation device for efficiently delivering products randomly stored in a warehouse in response to a delivery request.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In conventional automated warehouses, the stored products are managed in a plurality of warehouses, but the products are often stored randomly. In this case, when a delivery request arrives, the product is replaced by a part of the warehouse queue according to the delivery request destination, or it is carried out by a stacker crane directly from the randomly stored location in the order of the delivery request, and then shipped by the loop cart to the shipping entry / exit gate. It is common to carry and leave the warehouse.

[0003]

However, in the method of replacing the product in the warehouse before the product is shipped, if the shipping request is congested, the replacement takes a long time and the replacement becomes difficult. On the other hand, in the method of transferring products from the warehouse to the loop carriage by the stacker crane to the loading and unloading gate in the order requested from the randomly placed place, if you issue to multiple loading and unloading gates at the same time according to different shipping requirements, It is difficult to adjust the mutual timing, and the waiting time of the loop carriage increases.

[0004] In addition, since a loop carriage, which is usually several times the number of entrance / exit gates, travels on the loop track, a carriage for receiving and transporting products and a carriage for empty goods circulate back and forth, and a warehouse queue,
There is a problem that the waiting time of the carriage at the entry / exit gate becomes long, the circulation time of the loop carriage becomes long, and the efficiency of the leaving operation deteriorates. The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a delivery operation device for an automatic warehouse that improves the efficiency of delivery operation.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention connects a plurality of warehouse rows and a loading / unloading gate by a loop track, and provides a stacker crane and a warehouse buffer conveyor to the warehouse rows, respectively. In an automatic warehouse that is provided with a buffer conveyor for loading and unloading gates at the loading and unloading gate, it is equipped with a warehouse management computer and a control device, and a loop track, a stacker crane track edge position, a buffer conveyor for a warehouse, and a loading and unloading gate. Is a delivery operation device for managing the address of a product to be stored by providing a signal transmission means on a buffer conveyor for a loop, a loop carriage and a stacker crane, and transmitting and receiving a signal between the signal transmission means, wherein the computer requests a delivery. The warehouse row number that receives the product corresponding to and the entry / exit gate number that ships the product It is provided with a portion for calculating a designated shipping order as ROM-TO data, and has a configuration for designating and transmitting the FROM-TO data to the loop carriage via the control device and the signal transmission means, and the loop carriage is transmitted via the signal transmission means. It is characterized in that the warehouse buffer conveyor in the designated warehouse row and the loading / unloading gate buffer conveyor in the loading / unloading gate are discriminated and the products are automatically shipped and transported.

In addition, the specified data to be transmitted as FROM-TO data from the far side of the warehouse row, or the data to be specified and transmitted as the FROM-TO data from the far side of the loading / unloading gate as a sequential FROM-TO data. Automatically drive the passing loop cart and warehouse.

[0007]

[Function] When the randomly packed products are simultaneously delivered from a plurality of warehouse lines to a plurality of delivery / reception gates in accordance with different delivery requests, the mutual delivery order is performed by the method separately invented by the inventors. It is well resolved, and the present invention can exhibit excellent effects when used in combination with such a carrying-out order. Generally speaking, the delivery order is such that the corresponding product is searched for the address by the quantity classification that combines each delivery request for each delivery at the delivery / ingress / egress gate, the product to be delivered is assigned to each warehouse row, and each warehouse row is assigned. It is arranged that products are sent out to the buffer in the ascending order of loading requests, and products that are lined up in the buffer are selected in the ascending order of loading / unloading gate co-loading requests and taken out on the loop carriage.

According to the present invention, the loop cart receives the FROM-TO data consisting of the warehouse row number and the loading / unloading gate number in the preceding order through the signal transmitting / receiving means in accordance with the prepared order as described above, and designates it by the automatic operation. Receives the products from the warehouse queue, runs, sends the products to the designated storage gate, and circulates them. Therefore, the traveling of the empty carriage is eliminated, and the circulation speed is prevented from decreasing due to the mixing of the empty carriage. Further, in the present invention, the dolly passing through the signal transmission point receives the FROM-TO data from a distant place to the front in the order of the warehouse row number or the entry / exit gate number.

FROM in the order of warehouse row numbers
When the TO data is received, the trucks that receive the data in that order receive the products in parallel from the traveling trucks in the distant warehouse row, so that the trailing trucks do not have to wait for a pause after the preceding trucks. Even when receiving the FROM-TO data in the order of the loading / unloading gate numbers, similarly, the trucks send products in parallel on the loading / unloading gate side, and there is no waiting time for the succeeding trucks to temporarily stop after the preceding trucks.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the automated warehouse 1 includes a plurality of warehouse rows S1 to S14 and a stacker crane 2 that travels on a track (not shown) for each warehouse row. The warehouse buffer conveyor 3 which is a buffer conveyor of the above. A signal transmission means 7 is arranged along the loop track 4 in front of the automatic warehouse section 1, and each warehouse row S
The signal transmission means 8 is arranged at the ends of 1 to S14.
For the warehouse buffer conveyor 3 and the stacker crane 2,
Warehouse buffer signal transmitting means 12 and S / C runway signal transmitting means 15 are provided respectively.

Further, a loop track 4 is provided along the end of the automatic warehouse 1, that is, the ends of the plurality of warehouse rows S1 to S14. On the loop track 4, there are many loops which are automatic traveling type carriages. The dolly 5 is circulating. The loop carriage 5 has
A signal transmission means 14 is provided for each. Four entrance / exit gates G1 to G10 are arranged in contact with each other near the end of the loop track 4, and a plurality of warehouse rows S1 are arranged by the loop track 4.
~ S14 and the loading / unloading gates G1 to G10 are connected. Each of the loading / unloading gates G1 to G10 has a loading / unloading gate buffer conveyor which is a buffer conveyor, and the loading / unloading gate buffer conveyor is provided with a signal transmission means 13, respectively.

Further, a warehouse management computer 10 and a control device 11 are arranged in a warehouse management room or the like. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the control device 11 includes the signal transmission means 7,
The signal transmission means 14 of the loop carriage 5 connected to 8 and 13
And the signal transmission means 7, 12, and 13 of the loop track, the warehouse buffer, and the loading / unloading gate buffer via the transmission / reception unit, and the signal transmission means 15 of the stacker crane 2 and S / A signal is transmitted and received between the C route signal transmitting means 8 and the transmitting and receiving portion, and the signal is passed to the warehouse buffer signal transmitting means 12.

Further, the computer 10 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in Fig. 4, the address of the product to be shipped, the warehouse row index calculation unit, the stacker crane-specific shipment order calculation unit, the warehouse buffer line to the shipment gate-specific shipment order extraction cycle calculation unit, and FROM-
It is composed of a TO shipping data designation order calculation unit and is connected to an input device and a storage device (including a product number storage device and a shipping condition storage device). Therefore, when a vehicle, for example, is stored in the automated warehouse 1 as a product, the vehicle is loaded on the empty pallets placed on the loading / unloading gates G1 to G10.
When the driver gets off, the automatic control by the controller 11
The pallet is sent from the loading / unloading gates G1 to G10 onto the loop carriage 5, and the loop carriage 5 runs, and the computer 1
0 is sent onto the buffer conveyors 3 of the designated warehouse rows S1 to S14 managed by 0, and the warehouse row S is transferred by the stacker crane 2.
1 to S14 are randomly accommodated in the empty sections and the addresses are managed by the computer 10.

The operation of the automatic warehouse unloading operation device having the above structure will be described. FIG. 4 shows a control flow performed using the warehouse management computer 10 and the control device 11 in the automated warehouse. In FIG. 4, when shipping products from the warehouse, first, for example, shipping request data for the next day is collectively input to the computer 10. The delivery request data includes a truck number, an entry / exit gate number, an arrival time, a shipping destination, a shipping type, a quantity, a loading order, and the like.

First, when the delivery request data is set, the computer 10 searches the address of the corresponding product, designates the warehouse row to be delivered, and outputs the delivery schedule table for the current day shown in FIG. In this day's delivery schedule table, the computer 10 sets the number of the warehouse row to be shipped to each entry / exit gate by search assignment based on the issue request data. For example, the entry / exit gate G1 has a warehouse row S2. S4, S11, S11, S
It shows that the product corresponding to the shipping request is delivered in order from 2, S13. In the figure, the numbers arranged vertically and horizontally are warehouse row numbers, which are denoted as S / C No. in the figure. In addition, OPE.No.
Indicates the order of shipping requests. The same applies hereinafter.

Next, the computer 10 uses the stacker crane (S / S in the figure) of each warehouse row based on the same-day delivery schedule table of FIG.
(Described as C or SC), the shipping order is sorted and set in ascending order of the required loading order, and the shipping order list by stacker crane shown in FIG. 7 is created. Stacker crane 2 in each warehouse row
The delivery order is sent via the signal transmission means 8 in the delivery order of FIG. 7, and the stacker crane 2 automatically carries out the delivery. In the figure, the numbers / numbers arranged vertically and horizontally indicate the shipping / unloading gate / loading order.

Further, the computer 10 sorts and sets the cycle order for continuously taking out products from each stacker crane output / shipment order list shown in FIG. 7 in the required loading order to each input / output gate, and the output by input / output gate shown in FIG. Create a cycle list. As shown in FIG. 8, for example, in the first transfer cycle, the loading / unloading gates G2, G3, G6, G7, G
7 loop carts for 8, G9 and G10 are used to receive products from the warehouse row in the figure, transfer them to each entry / exit gate, and repeat the transfer up to 10 times. Further, the entire quantity can be smoothly transported in the order in which each warehouse row is carried out. In the figure, numbers / numbers / numbers are loading order / SCN
o./SC transmission order.

Subsequently, the computer 10 selects a warehouse row number from the far side to the near side in the order of products to be taken out to the loop carriage 5 from the goods sequence in the shipping order arranged on the buffer conveyor 3 of each warehouse row (in the figure, Sorting setting is performed in the order specified by warehouse row number) or by the entry / exit gate number (indicated as entry / exit gate number in the figure). That is, the computer 10 sorts the shipping cycles indexed in FIG. 8 from the far side to the near side of the warehouse row and rearranges them to give priority to the product receiving side, that is, the FROM side, and determines the receiving source priority shipping designation list. Are created as shown in FIG. In FIG. 9, in the first cycle unloading, seven loop trolleys are lined up from the front in order from the distant place to the front S13, S12, S8, S
Since the products are received from 7, S4, S3, S1, 7 units can be stopped in parallel to the relevant warehouse row, receive the load, and restart, and when the loading / unloading gate is reached, the first unit, the 2nd unit When the third and third loop trucks drop the product, the succeeding trucks wait three times.

Similarly, the computer 10 sorts the shipping cycles of FIG. 8 from the far side of the loading / unloading gate to the rear side and rearranges them, that is, the product delivery side, that is, the destination priority shipping designated list determined by giving priority to the TO side. It is created as shown in FIG. Looking at the first cycle in FIG. 10, when the third, fourth, and fifth trolleys receive products from the warehouse row, waiting for the subsequent trolleys occurs three times, and the product is dropped off at the entrance / exit gate side. Sometimes there is no waiting. On the other hand, for example, if the loop trolleys leading from the top to the bottom are randomly applied in the first exiting cycle shown in FIG. 8, three times in front of the warehouse row and seven times in front of the entry / exit gate, a total of 10 times. Waiting for the succeeding trolley occurs many times.
The control device 1 selects one of the delivery designation lists in FIG. 9 or FIG.
In the automatic operation through 1, the transmission is designated in order to the loop carriage 5 passing through the signal transmission point as FROM-TO data consisting of the warehouse row number and the loading / unloading gate number through the signal transmission means 7 provided at the signal transmission point, The loop carriage 5 is automatically put out together with the stacker crane 2.

FIG. 5 shows a control flow of the automatic unloading operation of the loop carriage 5. As shown in the figure, the loop carriage 5 receives FROM-TO data from the signal transmission means 7 of the loop track 4 via the signal transmission means 14, and the FROM-TO data is received.
Store TO data. Then, the loop carriage 5 detects the warehouse row number from the signal transmission means 12 of the warehouse buffer conveyor via the signal transmission means 14, and automatically stops at the position of the designated warehouse row number. After that, the shipping conditions are sent to the warehouse buffer conveyor, the warehouse buffer conveyor is driven to deliver the product to the loop carriage, and the carriage conveyor is received and driven. After the delivery is completed, the warehouse buffer conveyor is automatically stopped, and after the receipt is completed, the carriage conveyor is stopped and the loop carriage 5 resumes traveling.

Subsequently, the loop carriage 5 is moved from the signal transmission means 13 of the loading / unloading gate buffer conveyor to the signal transmission means 1.
The loading / unloading gate number is detected via 4, and the corresponding buffer conveyor is detected to stop the automatic alignment. After that, a shipping signal is transmitted to the loading / unloading gate buffer conveyor, the loading / unloading gate buffer conveyor is received and driven, the product is transferred to the loading / unloading gate buffer conveyor, and the cart conveyor is driven to be driven. After the receipt is completed, the loading / unloading gate buffer conveyor is automatically stopped, and after the delivery is completed, the carriage conveyor is stopped and the loop carriage is restarted.
It should be noted that the operating condition is that the sensor automatically stops when the previous loop carriage stops and the sensor automatically detects the running start of the previous loop carriage.

In the present invention, using either of the above-mentioned delivery designation list of FIG. 10 or FIG. 9, FROM-TO data is transmitted from the signal transmission means 7 to the loop carriage 5 passing therethrough, and the loop carriage 5 is in the corresponding warehouse row. Is detected and stopped, the product is received and the vehicle runs, the relevant entrance / exit gate is detected and stopped, the product on the dolly is sent out, and the vehicle is automatically driven to run. In each warehouse row, automatic unloading is repeated as long as there are empty seats on the buffer conveyor 3 until all the products to which the stacker crane 2 has been allocated have been unloaded. If there is no empty seat on the buffer conveyor 3, the next product is held and the buffer conveyor is held. Three
It is operated so as to pause in front.

When the product on the leading end side on the buffer conveyor 3 is sent to the loop carriage 5, the product on the subsequent buffer conveyor 3 is sent to the leading end by conveyor driving, and the control device 11 causes the buffer conveyor 3 to move. After confirming that all the products are in the front row, the signal is transmitted to the next trolley group through the signal transmission means 7 and the FROM-TO data is designated.

According to the above-mentioned method, after the products sent out from the warehouse line to the buffer conveyor 3 are confirmed, the product receiving position and the descending position as FROM-TO data are determined by the signal transmission device 7 immediately before the warehouse line. Since it is specified, empty trolleys will not enter between trolleys loaded with products, and it is possible to prevent a decrease in speed and a drop in shipping efficiency due to the circulation of a large number of vacant trolleys. Further, since the shipping order is changed to either the distant order of the warehouse line or the distant order of the entry / exit gates and designated by the signal transmission device 7 as FROM-TO data,
It is possible to minimize the occurrence of waiting for the preceding loop carts and the waiting of the subsequent loop carts due to the unloading, and to improve the efficiency when all the automated warehouses are simultaneously dispatched.

[0025]

As described above in detail with reference to the embodiments, the present invention has the following effects. When a product is to be delivered from a plurality of warehouse rows to a loading / unloading gate using a loop carriage, a signal transmission means is provided between the warehouse carriage row and the loop carriage, and a signal transmission means is provided between the warehouse row and the loop carriage to pass FROM- Since the warehouse row number that is the recipient of the product and the entry / exit gate number that is the destination are specified as the TO data, and automatic operation is performed, no empty trucks will enter between the trucks loaded with the products, and many empty trucks It prevents the trolley speed from dropping and the efficiency from dropping. Further, if the designated shipping order is sorted into either the distant order of the warehouse row or the distant order of the loading / unloading gates and designated as the FROM-TO data, the receipt of the preceding loop carriage,
Minimize the occurrence of waiting for the trailing loop truck due to unloading. In addition, by doing so, it is possible to significantly improve the efficiency of simultaneous delivery of products of this kind of automated warehouse compared to the conventional one.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a layout view of a delivery operation device for an automated warehouse according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a delivery operation device for an automatic warehouse in the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a main part of a delivery operation device of an automatic warehouse in the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing control in the shipping operation device of the automatic warehouse in the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing control relating to the automatic driving shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a day-to-day shipping plan created by a warehouse management computer.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a shipping order according to stacker cranes created by a warehouse management computer.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a delivery cycle for each entry / exit gate created by a warehouse management computer.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing designation of receipt-source-prioritized shipping that has been rearranged and sorted from the shipping cycle of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing destination-prioritized shipping designation, which is rearranged and sorted from the shipping cycle of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Automatic warehouse department S1, S2-S14 Warehouse line G1, G2-G10 Storage gates 2, S / C, SC Stacker crane 3 Buffer conveyor for warehouse 4 Loop track 5 Loop truck 7 Signal transmission means to loop truck 8 Stacker crane Signal transmission means 10 to warehouse management computer 11 control device 12 signal transmission means of warehouse buffer 13 signal transmission means of gate buffer 14 signal transmission means of loop track 15 signal transmission means of stacker crane

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of warehouse rows and a loading / unloading gate are connected by a loop track, a stacker crane and a warehouse buffer conveyor are arranged in each of the warehouse rows, and a loading / unloading gate buffer conveyor is further provided in the loading / unloading gate. In an automated warehouse equipped with, equipped with a warehouse management computer and control device, and equipped with a loop track, stacker crane edge position, warehouse buffer conveyor, loading and unloading gate buffer conveyor, loop carriage and stacker crane signal transmission means. A shipping operation device for managing the address of a product to be received by transmitting and receiving a signal between the signal transmission means, wherein the computer ships a warehouse row number for receiving the product corresponding to the shipping request and the product. A part that calculates the designated order for delivery using the entry / exit gate number as FROM-TO data The FROM-TO data is designated and transmitted to the loop carriage via the control device and the signal transmission means, and the loop carriage is connected to the warehouse buffer conveyor and the storage buffer conveyor in the warehouse row designated via the signal transmission means. A delivery operation device for an automated warehouse, which identifies a buffer conveyor for an entry / exit gate at an exit gate and automatically transports and conveys products. 2. The data according to claim 1, wherein the data designated and transmitted from the computer is prioritized in order from a distant place in a warehouse queue.
A delivery / operation device for an automatic warehouse, characterized by being passed as ROM-TO data to a loop trolley for automatic operation. 3. A delivery operation device for an automatic warehouse according to claim 1, wherein the data designated and transmitted from the computer is prioritized in order from the far end of the entry / exit gate and is passed to a loop carriage as FROM-TO data for automatic operation. ..