JPH069013A - Carry-out control method for automated warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate loss time in carry-out working to enhance efficiency in an automated warehouse wherein traveling devices in plural stages in the up and down direction are provided with elevatable load transfer carriages, and a carry-out elevator device for receiving loads from respective stage traveling devices is provided at the side of home positions of respective stage traveling devices. CONSTITUTION:In the case where a carry-out destination is within a rack zone B1 near to a carry-out elevator device 7, carry-out work traveling devices 2-4 are returned to home positions thereof while a load loading carriage 12 is being retained at a carry-out level. In the case where a carry-out destination is within rack zones B2, B3 far from the carry-out elevator device 7, the load loading carriage 12 is lowered to lower end positions L1, L6, L11 in a hoistway thereof or intermidiate set levels L3, L8, L13, carry-out work traveling devices 2-4 are returned to home positions thereof and carry-out work traveling devices 2-4 are returned to home positions thereof so as to transfer for carry-out a load on the carriage 12 to the carry-out elevator device 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse, and more particularly, a traveling device capable of traveling horizontally along a rack is installed in a plurality of upper and lower stages, and each traveling device covers a plurality of upper and lower load storage compartments of the rack. A carriage having a load transfer means is provided, and a carriage elevating device for receiving a load from each stage traveling device is provided alongside a home position at one end of the traveling path of each stage traveling device. The present invention relates to a control method for issuing work of an automatic warehouse.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional automatic warehouse of this type, a fixed load transfer table is arranged beside the home position in correspondence with the lowering limit of the carriage of each stage traveling device (lowermost exit level). The elevating device for unloading is set to the elevating stop position corresponding to the fixed load transfer table of each stage, and the unloading work traveling device that receives the load from the rack on the ledge moves out the ledge. It moves down from the level to the lower limit and travels to the home position, transfers the load from the carriage to the fixed load transfer table at the home position, and raises and lowers it to the elevator stop position corresponding to this fixed load transfer table. In addition, the load is transferred from the fixed load transfer table onto the elevating device for shipping.

Generally, in this kind of automatic warehouse, the raising / lowering speed of the carriage of each stage traveling device having a short raising / lowering stroke is usually much slower than the raising / lowering speed of the said raising / lowering apparatus for leaving which has a long raising / lowering stroke. is there. Therefore, in the conventional shipping control method as described above, when carrying out the shipping work from the load storage section above the zone in which the traveling device is close to the home position and the traveling device is in the home position (fixed position). Since it is not possible to lower the carriage to the lower limit by the time it arrives at the load transfer table, the carriage will move to the lower limit after it reaches the home position (fixed load transfer table). until the end,
This means that the loading and unloading of the load to the shipping lifting device will be delayed. In other words, the loss time increased, and it was not possible to efficiently perform the shipping operation.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its features are shown by the reference numerals of the embodiments described later. According to the automatic warehouse outgoing control method of the present invention, in the automatic warehouse as described above, the outgoing elevator device 7 does not use the fixed intermediate load transfer table, but the carriage 12 of each stage traveling device 2 to 4. The racks 1A, 1 are arranged so that they can receive loads directly from the
B is divided into a plurality of zones B1 to B3 with respect to the traveling directions of the traveling devices 2 to 4, and the elevating / lowering device 7 is used for loading and unloading each stage of the carriage 12 in each of the traveling devices 2 to 4. The elevator stop position is set corresponding to the levels L1 to L15, and the delivery destination is the home position HP.
When it is in the rack zone B1 close to the home position H, the loading / unloading traveling devices 2 to 4 are moved to the home position H without moving the loading carriage 12 from the loading / unloading level.
When the vehicle is traveling to P and the delivery destination is in the rack zones B2, B3 far from the home position HP, the delivery operation traveling devices 2 to 4 are set to the load carrying carriage 12 at a predetermined level, for example, the lower end level of the ascending / descending path. L1, L6, L
11 or intermediate setting levels L3, L8, L13 of the ascending / descending path
While moving down to the home position HP, the elevating device 7 for exiting the warehouse moves the traveling work device 2 for leaving the warehouse.
It is characterized in that the carriage 12 is stopped at the ascending / descending stop positions corresponding to the stop positions of the carriage 12, and the cargo is transferred from the carriage 12 of the exit work traveling devices 2-4 to the exit elevator device 7.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1A and 1B in FIGS.
Is a rack arranged in parallel, and each rack 1A, 1B is divided into a lower zone H1, a middle zone H2, and an upper zone H3. Between the two racks 1A, 1B, the lower zone traveling device 2, the middle zone, The traveling device 3 for the upper stage and the traveling device 4 for the upper zone are installed, and the elevating device 5 for warehousing and the conveyor 6 for warehousing are attached to one end of the rack 1A, and the rack 1B.
An elevating device 7 for delivery and a conveyor 8 for delivery are attached to one end of the.

The traveling devices 2 to 4 of the respective stages have the same structure, and as shown in FIG. 3, each of the zones H1 to H3.
Is horizontally supported by a pair of left and right guide rails 9 supported by both racks 1A and 1B at the lower end level of the rack, and can be moved up and down along an up-and-down guide rail 10 and a load transfer means 11 It has a carriage 12 having. Various types of load transfer means 11 are known, but the one shown in this embodiment is a free roller conveyor 13a, 1 that supports a load so that it can move in the load transfer direction.
3b and a pair of left and right load-carrying conveyors 14a, 14 that can move in and out in the load transfer direction and can move toward and away from each other.
b and.

Zones H1 to H3 of both racks 1A and 1B
A plurality of (five in the illustrated example) load supporting bases 15 are erected on each of the stages, and the load can be moved in the load transfer direction to each load storage compartment 16 on the load supporting base 15 of each stage. Free roller conveyors 17a and 17b that support the above are laid. or,
The loading / unloading elevating devices 5, 7 are supported so as to be able to ascend / descend over the entire height range of the racks 1A, 1B along the elevating guide rails 18 provided upright at the ends of the racks 1A, 1B, and transfer the load. Means 19 are provided. This load transfer means 19
Is a roller conveyor 20 which conveys a load in the load transfer direction between the conveyors 6 and 8 and a roller conveyor 20 which movably supports the load in the load transfer direction between the traveling devices 2 to 4 and the rollers. It is composed of free roller conveyors 21a and 21b that can move up and down with respect to the load supporting level of the conveyor 20.

As shown in FIG. 4, each stage traveling device 2 to
4 is provided with a traveling drive device 22 and its controller 23, a carriage elevating drive device 24 and its controller 25, and a load transfer means drive device 26 and its controller 27. Is provided with a lifting drive device 28 and its controller 29, and a load transfer means drive device 30 and its controller 31. Further, a main controller 32 for controlling each of the controllers 23, 25, 27, 29, 31 is provided side by side.

The carriage 12 of each of the traveling devices 2 to 4
Are the levels L1 to L1 corresponding to the respective rack support bases 15 of the rack.
It can be stopped at L15, and the ascending / descending path of the carriage 12 is divided into two ascending / descending zones h1 and h2. On the other hand, the raising / lowering device 7 for unloading is provided in each of the traveling devices 2 to 2.
The raising / lowering stop position is set so as to coincide with each stage stop level L1 to L15 of the carriage 12 of No. 4. Further, the racks 1A and 1B include a rack zone B1 close to a home position HP (position adjacent to the loading / unloading elevating devices 5 and 7) of each of the stage traveling devices 2 to 4, an intermediate rack zone B2, and the home. It is partitioned into a rack zone B3 far from the position HP. In addition, as the raising / lowering control method of the carriage 12 in the loading / unloading raising / lowering devices 5 and 7 and the traveling devices 2 to 4, a pulse count value preset for each raising / lowering stop position and a pulse encoder interlocking with raising / lowering are used. A pulse encoder method that controls lifting based on the difference between the transmitted pulse count value (current pulse count value) and the detection plate installed at each lift stop position is detected by the detector on the lift side and counted. Various methods are known, such as a detection target plate detection method.

A delivery control program according to the present invention is set in the main controller 32. An automatic warehousing procedure based on this warehousing control program will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, which of the traveling devices 2 to 4 is selected by the warehousing setting for the main controller 32. The travel stop position information is stored in the controller 23 for the carriage drive device of the selected travel devices 2 to 4 and the controller 25 for the carriage lift drive device.
To the load transfer means drive device controller 27 and operation direction information (information on the rack 1A side or the rack 1B side), respectively.
Operates the traveling drive device 22 based on the given traveling stop position information and the present traveling position information, and the controller 25 operates the elevating drive device 24 based on the given leaving level information and the present level information. As a result, the traveling devices 2 to 4 automatically travel to the exit destinations in the zones H1 to H3 to which they belong and stop, and the traveling devices 2 to 4 concerned.
Carriage 12 is a delivery-ready level L1-L5, L6-
L10 and L11 to L15 are automatically lifted and stopped.

Next, the controller 2 for the load transfer means driving device
7, the load transfer means drive device 26 is operated based on the given operation direction information, and as a result, the load holding / conveying conveyor 1
4a and 14b advance to the side of the load W stored in one load storage section 16 in the rack 1A or 1B, which is the delivery destination, and then move closer to each other, and move toward the front end of the load W at the delivery destination. Clamp from both sides. As a result, the load W at the unloading destination is moved onto the carriages 12 of the traveling devices 2 to 4 by the load-carrying transfer conveyors 14a and 14b, on the free roller conveyors 17a and 17b on the load storage section 16 side and on the carriage 12 side. It is drawn in while sliding on the roller conveyors 13a and 13b. At the same time, the load-carrying conveyors 14a and 14b move backward to the home position on the carriage 12.

When the loading and unloading transfer from the rack 1A or 1B to the traveling devices 2 to 4 is completed as described above, the controller 23 operates the traveling drive device 22 again, and the traveling device 2
4 to 4 are run to the home position HP adjacent to the raising / lowering device 7 for delivery, and the following control is performed in the delivery control program of the present invention. That is,
When the delivery destination of the traveling devices 2 to 4 is in the rack zone B3 far from the home position HP, after the delivery transfer from the rack 1A or 1B to the traveling devices 2 to 4 is completed,
Regardless of the shipping level, the carriage 12 is moved to the lower limit position of the lower elevating zone h1, that is, the levels L1, L6, L1.
The traveling devices 2 to 4 are caused to travel toward the home position HP while being lowered to 1.

When the delivery destinations of the traveling devices 2 to 4 are in the middle rack zone B2 and correspond to the upper elevating zone h2 of the carriage 12, the traveling devices 2 to 4 are moved from the rack 1A or 1B. After the transfer of goods is completed, the carriage 12 is lowered to the lower limit position of the upper elevating zone h2, that is, the levels L3, L8, and L13.
4 is run toward the home position HP. Of course, the delivery destination of the traveling devices 2 to 4 is the middle rack zone B2.
When it is inside and corresponds to the inside of the lower lift zone h1 of the carriage 12, as in the case where the delivery destination is inside the rack zone B3, from the rack 1A or 1B to the traveling device 2
After completion of the transfer to and from the warehouse, the carriage 12 is moved to the lower limit position of the lower elevating zone h1, that is, the levels L1, L6.
The traveling devices 2 to 4 are caused to travel toward the home position HP while being lowered to L11.

If the delivery destinations of the traveling devices 2 to 4 are in the rack zone B1 near the home position HP, the delivery from the rack 1A or 1B to the traveling devices 2 to 4 is performed regardless of the delivery level. After the transfer is completed, the carriages 2 to 4 are made to travel toward the home position HP while the carriage 12 is not moved up and down and is kept at the shipping level.

On the other hand, the exit elevator 7 is operated based on the delivery destination rack zone information, the exit destination level information, and the current level information provided from the main controller 32 to the elevator drive controller 29. The level L1, L6, L11, or L at which the carriage 12 of the leaving work traveling devices 2 to 4 is stopped by 28.
3, L8, L13, or L1 to L15 are raised to an elevator stop position and stopped.

The middle zone traveling device 3 will be specifically described. When the destination of the traveling device 3 is the load storage section 16 in the rack zone B1, the destination level is L6 to L10. In any of the above, the loading carriage 12 does not move up and down, and its delivery destination level L6 to L10.
Held in. When the delivery destination of the traveling device 3 is the load storage compartment 16 in the rack zone B3, the lower limit of the lower elevating zone h1 is set regardless of the delivery destination level of L6 to L10. It is lowered to the position, that is, level L6. The delivery destination of the traveling device 3 is the rack zone B.
In the case of the load storage section 16 in 2, if the delivery destination level is the level L6 or L7 belonging to the lower lift zone h1, the load carrying carriage 12 reaches the lower limit position of the lower lift zone h1, that is, to the level L6. If the delivery destination level is the level L8 to L10 belonging to the upper lifting zone h2, the load carrying carriage 12 is lowered to the lower limit position of the upper lifting zone h2, that is, the level L8. Of course, when the delivery destination level is the levels L6 to L8, it may be lowered to the level L6, and when the delivery destination level is L9 or L10, it may be lowered to the level L8. The elevating / lowering device 7 for exit then rises to a level L6 or L8 at which the load-carrying carriage 12 of the evacuation work traveling device 3 is stopped to stop, and rises to a level corresponding to the exit destination level among L6 to L10, and stands by to stop.

The unloading work traveling devices 2 to 4 return to the home position HP, and the unloading elevating device 7 stands by at a level corresponding to the descent stop levels L1 to L15 of the load carrying carriage 12 of the traveling devices 2 to 4. If so, the controllers 27 and 31 are arranged so that the load W on the carriage 12 is transferred onto the elevating / lowering device 7 for unloading.
Run 6, 30. As a result, after the free roller conveyors 21a and 21b on the raising / lowering device 7 for raising the goods have risen to the load receiving level, the conveyors 14a, 14b for holding the load W holding the load W on the carriage 12 move to the raising / lowering device 7 for leaving the goods. At the same time that the load W is pinched and transferred to the side, the load W moves forward in the same direction, and the load W slides on the free roller conveyors 13a and 13b on the side of the carriage 12 and the free roller conveyors 21a and 21b on the side of the raising / lowering device 7 for delivery. While being transferred, it is transferred onto the elevating device 7 for delivery. After that, the conveyors 14a and 14b for gripping and carrying the load are moved backward to the home position on the carriage 12.

Although the work of leaving the load W on the lifting / lowering device 7 for warehousing is completed as described above, the lifting / lowering device 7 for unloading has received the load W.
As a result of the controller 29 operating the elevating and lowering drive device 28, the controller 29 descends to the lower limit and connects with the delivery conveyor 8. Then, the controller 31 causes the load transfer means driving device 3
As a result of operating 0, the free roller conveyors 21a and 21b supporting the load W descend, the load W is transferred onto the roller conveyor 20, and then the roller conveyor 20.
The load W is sent out onto the delivery conveyor 8 by driving.

The lengths of the rack zones B1 and B2 (the distance from the zone start end to the zone end on the home position HP side) are set as follows. That is, it is desirable that the level at which the raising / lowering device 7 for delivering goods receives the load from the traveling devices 2 to 4 is basically low in order to shorten the time until the delivery of the load to the conveyor 8 for delivering goods. Therefore, the intermediate level L3, L which is the lower limit position of the upper lift zone h2.
It is desirable that the rack zone B2 in which the carriage 12 may be lowered and stopped at 8, L13 and the rack zone B1 in which the carriage 12 may be stopped at a level above the intermediate level are basically short. For this reason, the time required for the traveling devices 2 to 4 at the start end portion of the rack zone B3 near the home position HP to travel to the home position HP is lower than that of the load carrying carriage 12 at the upper limit position of the upper elevating zone h2. The start end of the rack zone B3 on the home position HP side should be as close as possible to the home position HP so that the time required to descend to the descent limit position of the side lifting zone h1 is approximately the same as that of the rack zone B2. Set the position of the terminal end, and then the home position H of the rack zone B2.
The time required for the traveling devices 2 to 4 located at the start end portion near P to travel to the home position HP is the lift zone h1.
The starting end of the rack zone B2 on the home position HP side is brought as close as possible to the home position HP so that the time required for the load carrying carriage 12 to descend from the upper end to the lower end of the (or hoisting zone h2) is approximately the same. In this way, the position of the end of the rack zone B1 may be set.

The warehousing operation for warehousing the cargo W conveyed by the warehousing conveyor 6 into the vacant cargo storage compartment 16 in the rack 1A or 1B is carried out by the warehousing elevator 5 and the traveling device 2.
It is possible to use the traveling device corresponding to the receiving destination level among the items 4 to 4 and perform the procedure in the reverse order of the above-mentioned leaving operation, but the description thereof will be omitted.

In the above embodiment, the elevating and lowering device 5 for warehousing and the elevating and lowering device 7 for unloading are separately provided, but one elevating device can be used for both warehousing and unloading. Further, the load transfer means 11 provided on the carriage 12 of the traveling devices 2 to 4 and the load transfer means 19 provided on the loading / unloading elevating devices 5 and 7 are not limited to those of the above embodiments. Is. Further, an intermediate rack zone B2 is set in which the load carrying carriage 12 is stopped to descend at the intermediate setting level of the ascending / descending path, but this rack zone B2 can be omitted.

[0022]

As described above, according to the shipping control method of the present invention, when shipping from the rack zone close to the home position where the shipping elevating device stands by, the shipping that receives the load from the rack on the carriage is carried out. The work traveling device is
The carriage is allowed to travel to the home position without being lifted from the shipping level, and the lifting device for shipping is
Since it is stopped at the raising / lowering stop position corresponding to the shipping level of the carriage of the shipping work traveling device and the load is transferred from the carriage of the shipping work traveling device to the shipping lifting device, the shipping destination is temporarily the home. Even if it is close to the position and above the zone that it is responsible for, the raising / lowering for the leaving operation is performed by the raising / lowering for the leaving operation before the returning work traveling device that has received the load from the rack side on the carriage returns to the home position. As long as it is on standby at the same level as the shipping level of, the load can be transferred to the shipping elevator from the carriage at the same time when the shipping work traveling device arrives at the home position. Waiting time can be eliminated or reduced.

Moreover, regardless of the delivery destination, instead of returning the loading carriage unconditionally to the home position while holding it at the shipping level, the loading carriage can be lowered to the lowermost end of the ascending / descending path or an intermediate set level. If there is enough time, that is, when the cargo is loaded from the rack zone far from the home position, the loading carriage is lowered to the lowest position of the ascending / descending path or the intermediate set level and returned to the home position. It is possible to reduce the level at which the lifting device for receiving goods from the unloading work traveling device is as low as possible, and it is possible to eliminate or reduce unnecessary waiting time as described above.
It is possible to efficiently carry out the shipping operation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view in which a front rack and a storage peripheral device are omitted in an automated warehouse.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the entire automated warehouse.

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

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a drive device and a controller for controlling the drive device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure when the traveling device is leaving the warehouse.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure of the raising / lowering apparatus for exiting a warehouse.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1A rack 1B rack 2 lower zone traveling device 3 middle zone traveling device 4 upper zone traveling device 5 warehousing lifting device 6 warehousing conveyor 7 unloading lifting device 8 unloading conveyor 11 load transfer means 12 elevating carriage 13a free Roller Conveyor 13b Free Roller Conveyor 14a Cargo Conveying Cargo 14b Cargo Conveying Cargo 16 Cargo Storage 17a Free Roller Conveyor 17b Free Roller Conveyor 19 Cargo Transfer Device 20 Roller Conveyor 21a Elevator Free Roller Conveyor 21b Elevator Free Roller conveyor L1 to L15 Storage and loading work level h1, h2 Carriage lift zone B1, B2, B3 Rack zone

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A traveling device capable of traveling horizontally along a rack is installed in a plurality of upper and lower stages, and each traveling device is provided with a load transfer means for covering a plurality of upper and lower load storage compartments of the rack. In the automatic warehouse, which is provided with a possible carriage, and an elevating / lowering device for receiving a load from each stage traveling device is provided next to the home position at one end of the traveling route of each stage traveling device, The device is arranged so as to be able to directly receive a load from the carriage of each stage traveling device without going through a fixed intermediate load transfer table, and partitions the rack into a plurality of zones in the traveling direction of the traveling device, The raising / lowering device for exiting the rack is set to a raising / lowering stop position corresponding to the work entry / exiting work level of each stage of the carriage in each of the above-mentioned traveling devices so that the exit destination is close to the home position. When the delivery destination is in the rack zone far from the home position, the delivery work traveling device is moved to the home position without raising and lowering the load carrying carriage from the delivery work level. The shipping operation traveling device is caused to travel to the home position while lowering the load carrying carriage to a predetermined level, and the shipping elevating device is stopped at an elevating stop position corresponding to the stop position of the carriage of the shipping operation traveling device. hand,
A shipping control method for an automatic warehouse, wherein a load is transferred from a carriage of the shipping operation traveling device to the lifting device for shipping.