JPH07101554A - Cargo loading and unloading system for truck - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform palletizing and depalletizing between a pallet and the load-carrying platform of a truck without needing a man power. CONSTITUTION:Pallets P is conveyed by a self-running forklift 3 between the input output station 2 and the cargo delivery place of an automatic warehouse l. A mobile robot 6 depalletize articles W loaded on a solid pallet P on the load-carrying platform 5 of a truck 4 and load them in bulky state. The articles W loaded in a bulky state on the load-carrying platform 5 are palletized on an empty pallet P.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a truck unloading system for loading and unloading loose articles regularly loaded on a truck bed and palletized articles on a pallet. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At a distribution center or the like, the packing style of goods to be received and shipped may be in pallet units or may be bulk-packed on a truck bed. In order to deal with bulk loading, in the case of loading, the worker goes up on the bed of the truck and uses the forklift to load the articles piled up from the pallets carried on the bed of the truck.
Take one by one and stack on the truck bed. In the case of unloading as well, the worker had to stack the articles stacked on the bed of the truck on a pallet and carry them by a forklift.

[0003]

According to such a method for dealing with bulk loading, an operator must always intervene, which is a great obstacle to automation and labor saving in the transfer system. Therefore, conventionally, a loading / unloading system has been proposed in which a palletizing robot is attached to the tip of a conveyor that conveys articles one by one onto the loading platform of a truck.
However, in such a loading / unloading system, not only the work of palletizing and depalletizing with the pallet on the conveyor is required, but also the loading / unloading can be performed only one by one, which is not efficient. It was bad.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to efficiently transfer goods between a palletized state handled in a distribution center and a state where the goods are stacked on the bed of a truck, without requiring human labor. It is to provide a truck unloading system that can be carried out.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a pallet-unit transport vehicle for transporting palletized articles with a palletized article as an end point or a starting point inside or near a cargo bed entrance of a truck. A unloading system for trucks was constructed from a mobile robot that palletizes and depalletizes loose items from and on the loading platform.

[0006]

Since the present invention has the above-mentioned structure, it has the following effects.

In the truck unloading system according to the present invention, when the truck is loaded, the palletized unit transporting vehicle transports the palletized article to the inside of the loading platform of the truck or near the loading platform entrance. If the pallets can be loaded together, they will be loaded directly on a pallet-based carrier. The mobile robot depalletizes the articles on the pallet placed inside the loading platform of the truck or in the vicinity of the loading platform entrance, and stacks them as loose articles on the loading platform of the truck. When unloading from a truck, the mobile robot palletizes the loose articles stacked on the truck bed on a pallet placed inside the truck bed or near the truck entrance. The palletized article is transported by a pallet-unit transport vehicle. If the pallets are loaded inside the truck bed, they will be unloaded directly by the pallet-based carrier.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The embodiments shown in the drawings will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a truck unloading system according to the present invention by cutting out a part of a truck bed, and FIG. 2 shows the same embodiment II-II.
It is a perspective view.

In each drawing, this embodiment is applied to a distribution center, and a plurality of articles W are palletized and stored on a pallet P on each shelf of the automated warehouse 1. The articles W are loaded and unloaded through the loading / unloading station 2 provided near the end of the automated warehouse 1.

The self-propelled forklift 3 receives a work command from a host computer (not shown) via a wireless communication device (not shown), and transfers the pallet P to and from the loading / unloading station 2. The forklift 3 reciprocates between the loading / unloading station 2 and the cargo receiving area, and carries empty pallets and real pallets.

A truck 4 mounted from the rear at the receiving place
Has a luggage carrier 5 whose rear door is opened. A mobile robot 6 travels through the entrance of the rear door into the loading platform 5 and can enter through the loading area. The mobile robot 6 has an arm 8 to which a suction pad 7 is attached at its tip, and the suction pad 7 is sucked onto the upper surface of the article W to grip and convey the articles W one by one, and open at an arbitrary position. It is possible to stack them.

The mobile robot 6 receives work instructions from a host computer (not shown) via a wireless communication device (not shown), and loads and unloads articles. The mobile robot 6 also has a laser beam generator (not shown), and irradiates the laser beam upward and on both sides in a wide range. A plurality of reflectors 9 are attached at fixed positions on the side wall and the inner surface of the ceiling of the loading platform 5. The mobile robot 6 detects the laser light reflected by these reflectors 9 by a sensor (not shown) and performs a calculation.
Can know the position and posture of the inside of the cargo bed 5. Further, the mobile robot 6 has a built-in storage device that stores the size of each product, palletizing pattern, and the like, and includes a bar code reader that reads a different barcode for each product.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. When loading, first the mobile robot 6
Invades the empty carrier 5. Next, the forklift 3 conveys the actual pallet P unloaded from the automated warehouse 1 to the loading area and places it inside the loading platform 5 as illustrated. If the pallet P can be loaded together, the forklift 3
To directly pack. The mobile robot 6 runs the inside of the loading platform 5 and operates the arms 8 and the suction pads 7 to depalletize the articles W on the pallet one by one and stack the articles W from the front end of the loading platform 5. Empty pallet P
Are collected by the forklift 3.

When the work progresses and the loading platform 5 approaches the full load, the mobile robot 6 gradually retreats, and the real pallet P cannot be placed inside the loading platform 5, so that the loading platform near the entrance of the loading platform 5 is placed. Placed (shown in phantom). In this case, the mobile robot 6 travels not on the inside of the cargo bed 5 but on the cargo receiving area to perform work.

At the time of unloading, the mobile robot 6 palletizes the articles W stacked in bulk in the loading platform 5 on the empty pallet P initially placed at the position shown by the phantom line. Go. When the number of articles W in the loading platform 5 decreases, the mobile robot 6 enters the loading platform 5 and palletizes the empty pallets P placed in the loading platform 5. Forklift 3
Supplies the empty pallet P, conveys the real pallet P, and places it on the loading / unloading station 2 of the automatic warehouse 1. When the pallet P is loaded in the loading platform 5, the pallet P is directly unloaded by the forklift 3. The above work is performed according to the instruction of the host computer.

As described above, according to the truck loading / unloading system of the present embodiment, the articles W palletized on the pallet P and the loading platform 5 of the truck 4 are required without the need for manpower.
Since it is possible to load and unload loads onto and from articles that are stacked in bulk, it is possible to realize labor saving and efficiency of loading and unloading. Also, if you can load and unload loads for each pallet, it is possible to load and unload by pallet unit.
The efficiency can be further improved.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above.
It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments and can be appropriately modified within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

[0019]

As described above, according to the truck unloading system of the present invention, the palletizing and the palletizing between the bed and the pallet of the truck are performed without manpower, so the unloading can be automated. Labor saving and efficiency can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment applied to a distribution center of a truck unloading system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a II-II view of FIG. 1.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Automatic warehouse 2 Storage / receipt station 3 Forklift 4 Truck 5 Loading platform 6 Mobile robot P Pallet W Goods

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Palletizing and depalletizing of loose articles between a pallet-based carrier that transports palletized goods with an end point or a starting point inside or near a cargo bed entrance of a truck and between a pallet and a truck bed. A truck unloading system characterized by being composed of a mobile robot.