JPH0517009A - Automatic warehouse using store in and out tramcar - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the vertical space between tramcar traveling paths of the respective stages by providing a pair of right and left linear motor main bodies opposed to the secondary conductor faces for the linear motors of a pair of right and left guide rails on a store in-and-out tramcar. CONSTITUTION:In an automatic warehouse, electric power is supplied from a feeder 14 to linear motor main bodies 13a, 13b in a store in-and-out tramcar 5 of traveling paths of each stage through current collecting units 16a, 16b. Thus, the thrust of a designated direction is applied to the store in-and-out tramcar 5 by the magnetic action between the linear motor main bodies 13a, 13b and the guide rails 7a, 7b, so that each store in-and-out tramcar 5 self-runs along the guide rails 7a, 7b. Further, electric power is supplied also to a load transfer means which the store in-andout tramcar 5 loads from the feeder 14 through current collecting units 16a, 16b. The travel control such as departure, speed change and stop for the store in and out tramcar 5 is automatically conducted automatically according to a control signal from a controller on the tramcar 5 through a signal conductor 15 and a current collecting unit 17.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse provided with a plurality of upper and lower traveling paths for shelving trains between shelves, and more particularly to a traveling drive system for the shelving trains.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the above-mentioned automated warehouse, since the traveling routes of the loading and unloading trains of the respective stages are provided corresponding to the load storage sections of the respective stages of the shelves, the vertical intervals of the traveling routes of the respective stages are If the load to be handled is too large compared to the height of the load, the storage efficiency of the shelves will be reduced. So in this kind of automated warehouse,
It is necessary to narrow the vertical distance of each stage travel route as much as possible. Thus, in the conventional automatic warehouse of this type, a rotating motor for rotationally driving a pair of left and right driving wheels and a speed reducer are mounted on the train as traveling drive means for the entry / exit train.

[0003]

In the conventional structure as described above, the rotary motor becomes large in size when an attempt is made to apply a necessary thrust to the train for loading and unloading, and accordingly, the speed reducer also becomes large in size. Since it becomes necessary to mount the traveling drive means composed of these motors and speed reducers on the train bottom between the load carrying surface of the train and the guide rail, the height of the load carrying surface of the train with respect to the guide rail becomes high. As a result, the vertical intervals of the traveling paths of the respective steps are widened, and the storage efficiency of the shelves cannot be improved.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its features will be shown with reference numerals of the embodiments described later. In an automated warehouse that has a plurality of upper and lower tiers for the entry and exit trains 5 between the shelves 1 and 2, the left and right shelves are separately supported on the left and right shelves for each tier travel route. The guide rails 7a and 7b are installed, and the upper and lower surfaces of the pair of left and right guide rails are configured as the secondary conductor surface 27 for the linear motor, and the loading and unloading is supported by the pair of left and right guide rails 7a and 7b so that they can travel. The electric train 5 is provided with a pair of left and right linear motor bodies 13a and 13b facing the linear motor secondary conductor surfaces 27 of the pair of left and right guide rails.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In FIGS. 1 to 3, reference numerals 1 and 2 denote shelves standing upright with a passage 3 therebetween. It is provided with a large number of load storage sections 4 partitioned in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, and the passage 3 is provided with a traveling path of a loading / unloading train 5 for each level of the load storage sections of the shelves 1 and 2. .. The train travel route of each step is
A pair of left and right guide rails 7a and 7b, which are separately supported via brackets 6a and 6b, are installed on both shelves 1 and 2 so as to approach the central side of the passage 3 from both shelves 1 and 2 by an appropriate distance. The entry / exit train 5 is movably supported by a pair of guide rails 7a and 7b. Further, an elevating / conveying apparatus 8 for warehousing is provided outside one end of one shelf 1, and an elevating / conveying apparatus 9 for unloading is attached outside one end of the other shelf 2. Then, on the loading / unloading train 5 at each stage, the load 10 for transferring the load 10 between the optional load storage section 4 of the shelves 1 and 2 and the loading / unloading elevating / conveying devices 8 and 9 is loaded. Transfer means is provided.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the train 5 for loading and unloading, four supporting wheels 11 rolling on the guide rails 7a and 7b and one guide rail 7a are provided at the front and rear sides.
Positioning guide roller 12 to be pinched from both left and right sides
Are rotatably supported, and the guide rails 7a, 7b are located directly above the guide rails 7a, 7b between the front and rear support wheels 11, respectively.
A pair of left and right linear motor main bodies 13 parallel to a and 7b
a and 13b are provided.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, of the guide rails 7a and 7b, a plurality of feeder lines are arranged in parallel in the vertical direction on the side surface of one guide rail 7a opposite to the shelf 1 side. A plurality of signal lines 15 are laid in parallel in the vertical direction on the side surface of the other guide rail 7b opposite to the shelf 2 side. Further, two front and rear current collecting units 16a and 16b which are in sliding contact with the power supply line 14 and a current collecting unit 17 which is in sliding contact with the signal line 15 are attached to the loading and unloading train 5 while being distributed to the left and right sides. Has been.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, a bracket 18 and a horizontal support shaft 19 fixed to one end upper side of the linear motor main bodies 13a and 13b are provided outside one end of the linear motor main bodies 13a and 13b in the traveling direction. The supporting roller 20 is axially supported via the linear motor main body 13a,
The bracket 2 fixed to the upper end of one end of the linear motor body 13a, 13b is provided outside the other end of the traveling direction of 13b.
1 and the horizontal support shaft 22, an auxiliary roller 23 is axially supported, and the horizontal support shaft 22 that supports the auxiliary roller 23.
A support member 24 having an inverted L-shaped side surface is swingably supported around the horizontal support shaft 22.

Support brackets 25 are fixedly provided on both the left and right sides of the loading / unloading train 5, and the support brackets 2 are provided.
A pair of left and right vertical lifting guide rods 26 supported by
Further, the support members 24 on the side of the linear motor bodies 13a and 13b are fitted so as to be able to move up and down within a certain range. Thus, as shown in FIG. 6, the linear motor main bodies 13a, 1
The supporting roller 20 of 3b is the guide rails 7a, 7
Although it rides on the upper surface of b, the auxiliary roller 23 has a small gap d.
Thus, the guide rails 7a and 7b are floated above. That is, the linear motor main bodies 13a and 13b have guide rails 7a,
7b, the other end of which is supported by the horizontal support shaft 22 and the support member 24 on the loading / unloading train 5 side supporting bracket 25.
Supported by the linear motor body 13
The a and 13b face the guide rails 7a and 7b with a required gap D therebetween. In addition, a minute gap d between the auxiliary roller 23 and the guide rails 7a and 7b.
Is smaller than the required gap D between the linear motor bodies 13a, 13b and the guide rails 7a, 7b.

On the other hand, both the guide rails 7a and 7b are
As shown in FIG. 5, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, a strip-shaped iron plate 28 is continuously embedded in the rail length direction so as to embed a strip-shaped iron plate 28 near the top surface of the rail main body made of an aluminum molding material so that the top surface also serves as the secondary conductor surface 27 for the linear motor. It has become. Of course, an aluminum coating layer may be formed on the upper surface of the rail body made of an iron molding die.

In the automatic warehouse constructed as described above, the linear motor main bodies 13a, 13b in the entry / exit train 5 on the respective traveling paths from the power supply line 14 through the current collecting units 16a, 16b. By feeding the electric power to the loading / unloading train 5, a known magnetic action between the linear motor main bodies 13a, 13b and the secondary conductors (guide rails 7a, 7b) causes a thrust force in a predetermined direction to act on the loading / unloading train 5. The electric train 5 can be self-propelled along the guide rails 7a and 7b. In addition, power can be supplied to the load transfer means mounted on the loading / unloading train 5 from the power supply line 14 via the power collection units 16a and 16b. Further, the running control of starting / shifting / stopping of the loading / unloading train 5 or the control of starting / stopping of the load transfer means is performed by a control device on the ground side via the signal line 15 and the current collecting unit 17. It can be automatically performed as well known in the art by a control signal passed between the controller for the loading and unloading train 5 side.

A train 5 for entering and leaving by a linear motor drive
6, the linear motor main bodies 13a, 13b swingable up and down around the horizontal support shaft 22 shown in FIG. 6 have the support rollers 20 on the free end side of the guide rails 7a, 7b.
Since it abuts on b and rolls, the guide rail 7a,
A required gap D is formed between the upper surface of 7b, that is, the secondary conductor surface 27.
Is secured.

A wheel 1 for supporting a train 5 for loading and unloading
1 wears to have a small diameter, and the vehicle height of the loading / unloading train 5 with respect to the guide rails 7a and 7b is significantly lower than the minute gap d between the auxiliary roller 23 and the guide rails 7a and 7b, The auxiliary roller 23 comes into contact with the guide rails 7a and 7b, and with the upward movement of the support member 24 with respect to the elevating guide rod 26, the ends of the linear motor bodies 13a and 13b on the auxiliary roller 23 side are relatively pushed up. .. Therefore, the linear motor body 13a,
13b of the auxiliary roller 23 side and the guide rail 7
The gap between the upper surface (secondary conductor surface 27) of a, 7b is reduced from the required gap D to (D-d), but the linear motor bodies 13a, 13b contact the guide rails 7a, 7b. I can avoid that. Of course, the linear motor body 13
The required gap D is maintained between the end portions of a and 13b on the supporting roller 20 side and the upper surfaces of the guide rails 7a and 7b (secondary conductor surface 27). Therefore, the secondary conductor surface 27
On the other hand, the linear motor main bodies 13a and 13b are slightly tilted, but since the tilt is minute, the action of the linear motor does not substantially change.

The above-described operation is performed by the guide rail 7 having a step.
The same is done when the train 5 for loading and unloading passes through the connection points of a and 7b, and it is possible to prevent the linear motor bodies 13a and 13b from colliding with the stepped portions of the guide rails 7a and 7b.

[0015]

As described above, according to the automatic warehouse of the present invention for use in the entry / exit train, a linear motor that does not require a speed reducer is used as the traveling drive means for the entry / exit train for each stage. By providing a pair of left and right linear motor bodies provided on the train side so that a small one can be used for each linear motor body while obtaining the required thrust as a whole, the traveling drive on the train side is achieved. Even if the traveling drive means is mounted on the bottom of the train between the load-carrying surface of the train and the guide rail, the height of the car-carrying surface of the train with respect to the guide rail can be kept low. Therefore, it is possible to narrow the vertical distance between the train traveling routes of each stage, and particularly in the case of a large automatic warehouse having a large number of stages of the train traveling route, it is possible to significantly enhance the storage efficiency of the shelves and improve the economic effect. Can be done.

Further, the suction force acting between the pair of left and right linear motor main bodies on the train side and the pair of left and right guide rails for the linear motor, which are also used as secondary conductors, is installed on the left and right sides of the train. Since it works to push it against the guide rail, even if the center of gravity of the load mounted on the train is biased to the left or right from the center position of the train, the train runs straight and stably and smoothly. It can be driven and safety is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a main part of an automated warehouse.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing an entrance / exit train and left and right shelves.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view showing details of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view for explaining the configuration of an entry / exit train.

5 is an enlarged front view showing details of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a partially longitudinal side view showing a mounting structure of the linear motor body.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 2 ... a pair of left and right shelves, 3 ... passages between shelves, 5 ... train for loading and unloading, 7a, 7b ... guide rails that also serve as secondary conductors for linear motors, 11 ... supporting wheels, 12 ... positioning guide rollers , 13a, 13b ... Linear motor main body, 14 ... Power supply line, 15 ... Signal line, 16a, 16b, 17 ... Current collecting unit, 20 ... Supporting roller, 23 ... Auxiliary roller.

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. In an automatic warehouse having a plurality of upper and lower shelving paths for loading and unloading trains between shelves, each shelving path is supported separately on the left and right shelves. The pair of left and right guide rails for train guidance are installed, and the upper and lower surfaces of the pair of left and right guide rails are configured as a secondary conductor surface for a linear motor, and the loading and unloading is supported movably by the pair of left and right guide rails. An automatic warehouse using a train for loading and unloading, wherein the train has a pair of left and right linear motor bodies facing the secondary conductor surfaces of the pair of left and right guide rails for the linear motor.