JPH0651524B2 - Article storage device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an article storage device that stores articles, and more particularly to an article storage device that stores articles in multiple stages.

"Prior Art" Conventionally, an article storage device generally includes an article storage for storing articles, an article transport conveyor for transporting the articles, and an article delivery for delivering the article between the article storage and the article transport conveyor. And a mechanism.

And, a product provided with a plurality of stages of shelves in the above-mentioned article storage, or an endless article storage conveyor for holding the articles suspended vertically in a meandering manner (Japanese Patent Publication No. 54-1992).
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 58-18635) is known.

"Problems to be solved by the invention" However, in the case where a plurality of shelves are provided in the article storage, there is an advantage that necessary articles can be taken out from each shelf, but the article delivery mechanism is Since it is necessary to move up to the uppermost shelf, there is a drawback that the article delivery mechanism is large and expensive, particularly in an article storage device having a large number of shelves.

On the other hand, in the case where the endless article accommodating conveyor is hung vertically in a zigzag manner in the article accommodating warehouse, the articles can be delivered at a predetermined position, so that the article accommodating apparatus becomes large in size. There is an advantage that the article delivery mechanism can be kept small, but on the other hand, in the worst case, when taking out the required articles, the article accommodation conveyor is moved by a distance of 1/2 of the total length of the article accommodation conveyor. Since it has to be moved, it takes time to deliver the article.

"Means for Solving the Problem" In view of such circumstances, the present invention provides the above-described article storage device, wherein an article is held in the article storage box with a first vertical movement trajectory and a first horizontal movement trajectory. An endless first article-accommodating conveyor that moves the article over at least the first horizontal movement path, and independently of the first article-accommodating conveyor, retains the article and moves a second up-and-down direction. The second endless conveyor is provided which is moved over a locus and a second horizontal movement locus below the first horizontal movement locus, and which has at least a second article accommodating conveyor for accommodating articles on the second horizontal movement locus. An article storage conveyor is provided, the second article storage conveyor B is provided inside the first article storage conveyor A, and the second horizontal movement locus is arranged below the first horizontal movement locus. The mechanism is The articles are transferred between the article transport conveyor, the first article storage conveyor on the first vertical movement locus, and the second article storage conveyor on the second vertical movement locus.

[Operation] According to the above configuration, by moving an appropriate article storage conveyor among the article storage conveyors, the required articles can be quickly delivered, and the article delivery mechanism has a vertical movement trajectory of each article storage conveyor. Since the articles can be delivered while being located above, it is not necessary to raise and lower the article delivering mechanism largely even if the article accommodating conveyor has a large number of stages. Therefore, in the case where a multistage article accommodating conveyor is provided. Even if there is, it is possible to reduce the size of the article delivery mechanism.

"Example" Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the illustrated examples.
In FIG. 2 and FIG. 2, the article storage device 1 is provided with an article storage box 2, and the articles 4 transported by the article transport conveyor 3 are stored in the article storage box 2 by the article delivery mechanism 5 provided at the carry-in position X. It can be carried into the article storage 2 through an entrance formed in the right side wall 2a.

Further, an outlet is formed in the left side wall 2b of the article storage 2 and the article delivery mechanism 6 provided at the delivery position Y carries out the article 4 in the article storage 2 onto the article conveyor 7. Is able to.

In the present embodiment, the article storage conveyors A, B, C, and D having four stages are provided in the article storage 2 in this embodiment.
That is, in the article storage 2, a pair of drive shafts 11 is provided at the same height in the upper position close to each side wall 2a.
Are horizontally supported, and the pair of drive shafts 12, 13 and 14 are respectively supported at positions below the pair of drive shafts 11 with the heights being successively lowered.

Each of these drive shafts 11 to 14 is separately driven to rotate by a drive source (not shown), and a pair of support shafts 15 is further provided below the lowermost drive shaft 14.

A pair of sprockets 21 to 24 are fixed to both ends of each of the drive shafts 11 to 14, and each pair of sprockets has the sprocket 21 provided on the uppermost drive shaft 11 as compared to the other sprockets. The distance is maximized so that it is on the outside, and the distance between each pair of sprockets is gradually reduced so that the pair of sprockets 22-24 provided on the lower drive shafts 12-14 are on the inner side of the upper sprockets. It is attached to each drive shaft.

On the other hand, on the lowermost support shaft 15, eight sprockets 25 are freely rotatable for each support shaft 15 in correspondence with the respective positions of the sprockets 21-24 provided on the drive shafts 11-14. Installed on.

Then, between the pair of outermost sprockets 21 provided on the drive shaft 11 and the pair of outermost sprockets 25 provided on the support shaft 15, the endless first chain forming the article storage conveyor A is formed. 31 are hung in parallel with each other, and between the other sprockets 22 to 24 and the sprocket 25, in parallel with the pair of first chains 31, the pair of second article storage conveyors B to D respectively. A thirty-two, a third thirty-third and a fourth thirty-four are crossed over.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, each of the pair of chains 31 to 34 described above.
In between, the bridge 35 (third part) on which the article 4 is placed is covered over a range slightly narrower than the interval between the pair of drive shafts 11 to 14.
(See Fig. 4).

Therefore, each bridge 35 is moved vertically by the movement of each pair of chains 31-34 on the vertical movement locus between each drive shaft 11-14 and the support shaft 15, and between each drive shaft 11-14 and the support shaft 15. It will be circulated and transported along the movement locus. The lower horizontal movement locus and the left and right vertical movement loci of each bridge 35 are formed in the same plane, but the upper horizontal movement locus has a different height for each chain 31 to 34. The article 4 is placed on the bridge 35 stopped on the upper horizontal movement locus, and is accommodated in the article storage 2 in four stages.

Next, in this embodiment, the article 4 is formed in a cylindrical shape, and the bridges on which the article 4 is placed are accompanied by the article 4.
A plurality of columnar engagement pins 36 are attached to the upper surface of the pipe 35 in a vertically upward direction, and the inside of the cylindrical article 4 is fitted onto the outer periphery of the engagement pins 36, so that the articles 4 are mounted on the bridge 35. It can be held without falling off.

Each of the bridges 35 has a shaft, as shown in FIGS.
37 is swingably attached to each chain 31 to 34 (only the first chain 31 is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4), and a cam follower 38 provided on each bridge 35 is fixed to the article storage 2 The cam member 39 is engaged.

The cam member 39 maintains the bridges 35 in a horizontal state so that the engagement pins 36 are directed vertically upward or downward when the bridges 35 are conveyed horizontally on the upper and lower horizontal movement loci. Further, when being conveyed in the vertical direction on the left and right vertical movement loci, each of the bridges 35 can be tilted so that the engaging pins 36 can be directed to the outer side of the article storage 2 and obliquely upward. It has become.

That is, the engagement pin 36 faces vertically upward when the bridge 35 is conveyed horizontally on the upper horizontal movement locus, and when the bridge 35 is conveyed vertically on the vertical movement locus from there. When the bridge 35 is conveyed horizontally on the lower horizontal movement locus, the bridge 35 faces vertically downward on the outside of the article storage 2.
Therefore, the bridge 35 and the engagement pin 36 do not interfere with the adjacent bridge 35 and the engagement pin 36.

Further, the article transfer mechanisms 5 and 6 are composed of, for example, robots, and are operated by a computer (not shown) in synchronization with the operations of the article conveyors 3 and 7 and the drive shafts 11 to 14. The article delivery mechanism 5 carries the article 4 on the article conveyor 3 onto the bridge 35 of the required chains 31 to 34, and the article delivery mechanism 6 delivers the article 4 on the bridge 35 of the required chains 31 to 34.
Can be carried out onto the article transport conveyor 7.

In the above configuration, for example, the bridge 35 of the first chain 31
When accommodating the article 4 on the top, the drive shaft 11 around which the first chain 31 is suspended is rotationally driven. When the leading bridge 35 provided on the first chain 31 is moved to the carry-in position X, the engagement pin 36 provided on the bridge 35 is directed obliquely upward as described above. In synchronization with the operation of the chain 31, the articles 4 conveyed by the article conveyor 3 by the article transfer mechanism 5 are fitted into the engagement pins 36, respectively.

Thereafter, similarly, when the articles 4 are sequentially fitted to the subsequent engagement pins 36 and the articles are fitted to all the engagement pins 36 of the first chain 31, the bridges provided to the first chain 31 are arranged. As shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 1, 35 is moved along the upper horizontal movement locus and stopped, and the article 4 is accommodated and held therein. At this time, the article 4 fitted to the above-mentioned diagonally upward engaging pin 36 is directed vertically upward when the engaging pin 36 is moved from the vertical movement locus to the upper horizontal movement locus. Therefore, the article 4 is also directed vertically upward from the state in which it is directed obliquely upward. At this time, of course, there is no interference between the adjacent articles 4.

Following the first chain 31, if the same or another article 4 is housed in the second chain 32, for example, before the article 4 is placed on the last bridge 35 of the first chain 31, The first bridge 35 of the second chain 32 comes to wait immediately after the last bridge 35 of the first chain 31, and the first chain 31
When the article 4 is placed on the last bridge 35 of the second chain 32, the article is immediately started to be loaded into the first bridge 35 of the second chain 32.

Therefore, the article 4 can be quickly loaded into the bridge 35 of each chain 31 to 34, and in the same manner, each chain 31 can be loaded.
It is clear that the articles 4 can be quickly unloaded from the bridges 35 to 34 to the article conveyor 7 by the article transfer mechanism 6.

When the articles are carried in or out of the bridge 35 of the four-stage article storage conveyors A to D having different heights, the article delivery mechanisms 5 and 6 deliver the articles 4 at substantially the same height. Therefore, it is not necessary to raise and lower the article delivery mechanisms 5 and 6 in accordance with the height of each step, and it is possible to reduce the size of the article delivery mechanism as compared with a conventional device that raises and lowers the article delivery mechanism. it can.

In addition, when loading or unloading the article 4 into or from the bridge 35 of each of the article storage conveyors A to D, necessary chains 31 to 34 are required.
Can be activated by selecting, for example, each chain.
When different types of articles 4 are placed for each of 31 to 34, it becomes possible to quickly deliver the required articles.

Next, FIGS. 5 and 6 show a second embodiment of the present invention. In the first embodiment, the chains 31 to 34 are hooked on a sprocket 25 provided on a common support shaft 15. In contrast to this, in the present embodiment, the sprockets 25 in which the chains 31 to 34 are provided on the dedicated support shafts 151 to 154, respectively.
It is designed to be handed over from 1 to 254.

In this embodiment, the spacing between the sprockets 21-24 provided on the drive shafts 11-14 and the spacing between the sprockets 251-254 provided on the support shafts 151-154 are all the same, and the upward horizontal movement is performed. The first chain 31 having the uppermost locus circulates on the outermost side, and the lower chains 32 to 34 sequentially circulate on the inner side.

In the second embodiment having the above-mentioned configuration, the article delivery mechanisms 5 and 6 can deliver articles at substantially the same height position, but the vertical movement loci of the chains 31 to 34 are different from each other in the vertical plane. Formed within each chain 31-34
It is necessary to transfer the articles by changing the position in the horizontal direction for each.

However, on the other hand, except for the part of the vertical movement locus for delivering the goods, the bridge 35 is provided over the entire area of each chain 31-34.
In addition, the engaging pins 36 can always be directed vertically upward or obliquely upward, which makes it possible to remarkably increase the number of articles 4 accommodated.

Although the two article conveying conveyors 3 and 7 and the article delivering mechanisms 5 and 6 are provided in the above embodiment, they can be shared and the article delivering mechanisms 5 and 6 may have any configuration. Good.

[Advantages of the Invention] As described above, in the present invention, the article accommodating conveyors having a plurality of stages that are separately operated are provided, so that the articles can be delivered quickly by moving the necessary article accommodating conveyors. Moreover, the article delivery mechanism can deliver articles when each article storage conveyor is located on the vertical movement path. Therefore, even when a multistage article storage conveyor is provided, the article delivery mechanism It is not necessary to move up and down significantly, and it is possible to obtain the effect that the size can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a right side view of the main part in the drawing, FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the main part of FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of FIG. 3, and FIG. An example is a front view, and FIG. 6 is a right side view of the main part of FIG. 1 ... Article storage device 2 ... Article storage cabinet 3, 7 ... Conveyor conveyor 4 ... Article 5, 6 ... Article transfer mechanism 11-14 ... Drive shaft 31-34 ... Chain 35 ... Bridge 36 ... ... Engagement pin X ... Carry-in position Y ... Carry-out position A to D ... Article storage conveyor

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An article storage 2 for accommodating an article 4, and an article 4
In the article accommodating apparatus, the article accommodating apparatus is provided with article conveying conveyors 3 and 7 for conveying an article, and article delivering mechanisms 5 and 6 for delivering the article 4 between the article storage 2 and the article conveying conveyors 3, 7. An endless first article storage that holds the article 4 in the cabinet 2 and moves along the first vertical movement locus and the first horizontal movement locus and accommodates the article 4 at least on the first horizontal movement locus. Independently of the conveyor A and the first article storage conveyor A, the article 4 is held and moved along the second vertical movement locus and the second horizontal movement locus, and at least on the second horizontal movement locus. An endless second article accommodating conveyor B for accommodating the article 4 is provided, and the second article accommodating conveyor B is provided inside the first article accommodating conveyor A, and the second horizontal movement locus is the first horizontal movement locus. Place it below In addition, the article delivery mechanisms 5 and 6 are provided with the article transfer conveyors 3 and 7 and the first vertical movement locus on the first vertical movement path.
An article accommodating apparatus for delivering an article 4 between the article accommodating conveyor A and a second article accommodating conveyor B on a second vertical movement path.