JPH0586908U - Pallet storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To simplify the structure of the pallet accommodating device and downsize the entire system. [Constitution] An empty pallet accommodating section 23 is provided in a part of a rack provided along a traveling path of a stacker crane.
The empty pallet accommodating portion 23 has pawls 41 to 44 that can hold the pallets P in a stacked state and a lifter 60.
The pallet P is supplied to the empty pallet housing portion 23 by a slide fork and placed on the lifter 60. The lifter 60 lifts the pallet P and transfers it to the claws 41 to 44. The claws 41 to 44 hold the stacked pallets, and the newly supplied pallets P are stacked at the bottom.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a device for storing empty pallets in an automated warehouse.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 In the conventional automated warehouse, a rear picking system is known that allows a worker to take out a load on a pallet from the back of a rack. In this system, when all the cargo on the pallet has been taken out, only empty pallets remain on the rack shelf members, so this empty pallet is placed in the vicinity of the rack by the stacker crane. Supply to magazine. The empty pallet magazine holds the supplied empty pallets in a stacked state, and the empty pallets are transferred between the stacker crane and the empty pallet magazine by a chain conveyor or the like.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, if the empty pallet magazine is placed near the rack and the empty pallet is transferred between the stacker crane and the empty pallet magazine by a chain conveyor, etc., the whole system becomes complicated, and the empty pallet magazine and chain A space for arranging the conveyor is required. An object of the present invention is to provide a pallet storage device having a simple structure and capable of downsizing the entire system.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 A pallet accommodating apparatus according to the present invention is a palette accommodating apparatus including a rack having an empty pallet accommodating section and a stacker crane for loading and unloading an empty pallet accommodating section. A holding means for holding the empty pallet and a lifter for transferring the empty pallet between the stacker crane and the holding means are provided.

[0005]

【Example】

 The present invention will be described below with reference to illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 shows a schematic structure of an automatic warehouse having a pallet storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The first and second racks 10 and 20 are provided in parallel to each other, and a rail 31 for guiding the stacker crane 30 is laid on the floor surface between the racks 10 and 20. That is, the stacker crane 30 travels along the racks 10 and 20 to load and unload the racks 10 and 20. The racks 10 and 20 are provided with a large number of accommodating portions 11 and 21 for accommodating luggage. These accommodating parts 11, 21 are provided in a plurality of stages in the height direction of the racks 10, 20 (a direction perpendicular to the paper surface), and a plurality of rows (7 rows in the illustrated embodiment) along the traveling direction of the stacker crane 30. It is provided. The cargo is supplied to the loading stations 12 and 22 by a forklift or the like while being placed on a pallet, and is accommodated in the predetermined accommodation units 11 and 21 from the loading stations 12 and 22 by the stacker crane 30.

A picking station 13 is provided on the back side of the first rack 10, and in the present embodiment, the picking station 13 covers five rows of storage parts excluding both ends of the rack 10. In this position, the worker M can take out the load from the pallet stored in the lowermost storage section 11 of the rack 10 or place the load on the empty pallet of the lowermost storage section 11.

In the second rack 20, one storage unit at the bottom is an empty pallet storage unit 23 provided to store only empty pallets. Some of the storage units 21 are used to store empty pallets stacked in multiple stages, while the other storage units 21 are used to store luggage.

The pallets, ie, empty pallets, from which all the loads have been taken out at the picking station 13, are taken out by the stacker crane 30 and stored in the empty pallet housing portion 23 of the second rack 20 (arrow A). The empty pallets stored in the empty pallet storage section 23 are taken out one by one as needed, and are supplied to the lowermost storage section 11 of the first rack 10 by the stacker crane 30 (arrow B). At this time, when there is no empty pallet in the empty pallet storage section 23, the empty pallets stored in the predetermined storage section 21 of the second rack 20 in a stacked state are unloaded by the stacker crane 30 and the empty pallet is stored. It is supplied to the housing portion 23 (arrow C). On the contrary, when the empty pallet storage section 23 is full, the stacking empty pallets are stored in the predetermined storage section 21 by the stacker crane 30 (arrow D).

FIG. 2 is a view of the empty pallet accommodating section 23 as viewed from the back side (lower side in FIG. 1) of the rack 20, and FIG. 3 is a view of the empty pallet accommodating section 23 and the stacker crane 30 as viewed from above. The configuration of the empty pallet housing portion 23 will be described with reference to these drawings.

As is well known in the art, the rack 20 is configured by fixing a shelf receiving member 25 at a predetermined height position of a rack column 24 which stands upright on the floor surface, whereby a large number of accommodating portions 21 are provided. Is formed. The empty pallet storage section 23 is provided as one of the storage sections at the bottom of the rack 20, but the shelf receiving member 25 is not provided here, and only the empty pallet P is stored.

The empty pallet P is supported by the four claws 41 to 44 in the empty pallet storage section 23. The claws 41 to 44 are adapted to be horizontally rotated by the opening / closing drive means 45, support the pallet P in the closed position, and open the pallet P in the open position.

Below the pawls 41 to 44, a lifter 60 for lifting the empty pallet P is provided. The lifter 60 has a base 61 and a lift 62, and the base 61 and the lift 62 are connected by a link 63. The base 61 is fixed to the rack columns 24, 24 and attached to a support member 64 extending in the horizontal direction. The lift table 62 is driven up and down by a hydraulic cylinder 65 fixed to the support member 64. A recess 66 is formed on the upper surface of the lift table 62, and the slide fork 34 of the stacker crane 30 can enter the recess 66.

The stacker crane 30 itself has a conventionally known configuration. That is, the main body 32 is provided with the elevating table 33 so as to be movable up and down, and the elevating table 33 is provided with a pair of slide forks 34. The slide fork 34 can project toward the racks 10 and 20, and loads and unloads luggage and pallets P into and from the storage portions 21 and 23. That is, a transfer device such as a conveyor is not provided between the stacker crane 30 and the empty pallet accommodating section 23, the empty pallet P is directly supplied to the empty pallet accommodating section 23 by the slide fork 34, and the empty pallet accommodating section 23 is also supplied. The empty pallet P accommodated in 23 is directly discharged from the empty pallet accommodation section 23 by the slide fork 34.

Next, with reference to FIG. 4, an operation when the empty pallet storage unit 23 stores empty pallets one by one in the stacker crane 30 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 4A, it is assumed that the pallets P1 to P5 are stacked in the initial state, and the lowest pallet P5 is supported by the claws 41 to 44. That is, the claws 41 to 44 are inserted into the opening of the lowest pallet P5 and hold the five pallets P1 to P5. At this time, the lift table 62 of the lifter 60 is in the lowered position. In this state, the slide fork 34 of the stacker crane 30 (FIG. 3) projects above the lifter 60, and transfers the pallet P6 between the lowest pallet P5 and the lift table 62. Next, the lift table 33 (FIG. 3) of the stacker crane 30 descends, whereby the slide fork 34 enters the recess 66, and the pallet P6 is placed on the lift table 62 of the lifter 60 as shown in FIG. To be done. After that, the slide fork 34 retracts toward the lift table 33 side.

The fact that the pallet P6 is placed on the lift table 62 and the slide fork 34 is retracted in this way is detected by, for example, an optical sensor. When the optical sensor detects this state, the hydraulic cylinder 65 of the lifter 60 starts and the lift table 62 starts to move up. As shown in FIG. 4B, the lift table 62 rises until the pallet P6 abuts the lower surface of the lowest pallet P5 and lifts the six pallets P1 to P6.

When the pallet P5 is separated from the claws 41 to 44 by the lifting operation of the lift table 62, the lift position of the lift table 62 is detected by, for example, a position sensor. As a result, the opening / closing drive means 45 is operated, and the pawls 41 to 44 are opened to release the pallet holding state as shown in FIG. That is, the six pallets P1 to P6 are held by the lift table 62 of the lifter 60.

The opening of the claws 41 to 44 is detected by, for example, a proximity switch, which causes the hydraulic cylinder 65 to further operate, and as shown in FIG. It rises by a minute. That is, the lowest pallet P6 is located at almost the same height as the claws 41 to 44.

The raised position of the lift table 62 at this time is detected by the position sensor as described above. The opening / closing drive means 45 operates based on the output signal from this sensor, and as shown in FIG. 4E, the claws 41 to 44 close and enter the opening of the lowest pallet P6. Next, when the closed state of the claws 41 to 44 is detected by the proximity switch as described above, the hydraulic cylinder 65 of the lifter 60 is actuated to move the lift table 62 to its original position as shown in FIG. 4 (f). Descend to. As a result, the six pallets P1 to P6 are held by the claws 41 to 44.

By repeating such an operation, the pallets supplied by the stacker crane 30 are stacked on the lower side of the pallets already held by the claws 41 to 44.

Since the operation of taking out the pallets held by the claws 41 to 44 one by one is only performed in the reverse order of the operation described with reference to FIGS. 4A to 4F, the description thereof will be omitted. .. Further, the operation of supplying a plurality of stacked empty pallets to the empty pallet housing portion 23 or discharging the empty pallet housing portion 23 is performed in substantially the same manner as the operation of supplying and discharging one empty pallet. , The description is omitted.

As described above, in this embodiment, the empty pallet storage section 23 is provided on the rack 20, and at the same time, the empty pallet P is placed on the lifter 60 of the empty pallet storage section 23 directly by the slide fork 34 of the stacker crane 30. Is supplied or the empty pallet P placed on the lifter 60 is taken out. That is, according to the present embodiment, a transport mechanism such as a chain conveyor conventionally provided between the empty pallet accommodating portion and the stacker crane 30 can be omitted, and the structure for accommodating the empty pallets can be greatly improved. It can be simplified. Further, in this embodiment, since the place for accommodating the empty pallets P is not provided separately from the rack, it is possible to downsize the entire system.

For the purpose of increasing the storage capacity of the empty pallet storage section 23, a pit may be dug in the floor and the lifter 60 may be arranged in this pit.

[0025]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain the effects that the configuration is simple and the entire system can be downsized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an automated warehouse having a pallet storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing an empty pallet storage portion.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an empty pallet container and a stacker crane.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an operation of supplying an empty pallet to an empty pallet storage section.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 and 20 racks 23 empty pallet accommodating section 30 stacker cranes 41 to 44 claws 60 lifters P, P1 to P6 empty pallets

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A pallet accommodating apparatus comprising: a rack having an empty pallet accommodating section; and a stacker crane for loading and unloading the empty pallet accommodating section, wherein the empty pallet accommodating section holds the empty pallet. Holding means,
A pallet accommodating device comprising a lifter for transferring an empty pallet between the stacker crane and the holding means.