JPH07165313A - Article collecting equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To take out an article designated by a display means by a designated quantity from a designated shelf onto a mobile vehicle correctly while omitting article checking after the completion of article collection work. CONSTITUTION:A shelf for accommodating multiple kinds of articles in a classified condition is installed along the running route of a mobile vehicle. The mobile vehicle is provided with a memory means 14 which stores article taking- out information consisting of the kind of an article to be taken out and its quantity to be taken out, a control means IC which operates a displaying means 18 for displaying the article taking-out information from the shelf on which an article to be collected based on the stored information is accommodated, and a mark reading means 23 which reads marks(m) assigned to respective articles accommodated on the shelf to indicate their kinds. The control means IC controls by determining whether or not the quantity of an article detected by the mark reading means 23 as the kind to be taken out from the shelf is equal to the quantity to be taken out based on the information from the memory means 14 and mark reading means 23.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention provides a shelf for storing a plurality of types of articles in a divided state along a traveling path of a mobile vehicle having an article storage section for storing articles taken out from the shelf. The mobile vehicle has storage means for storing article take-out information consisting of the type and quantity of articles taken out from the shelves, and the storage means for storing articles to be collected based on the storage information of the storage means. The present invention relates to an article collecting facility provided with a control unit that operates a display unit that displays the item removal information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the above-mentioned article collecting facility, the work is carried out in such a manner that an operator stores a taken-out article in an article storage section while a moving vehicle is traveling on a shelf section in which the article to be taken out is stored. Will be done. By the way, when the moving vehicle is run, the moving vehicle is equipped with destination information instructing means for instructing destination information based on the information in the storage means,
The worker drives based on the instructed destination information,
There are a so-called manual operation type and a so-called automatic operation type in which the traveling vehicle is equipped with a traveling control means for automatically traveling the traveling vehicle based on the information in the storage means.

In order to instruct the take-out information, the moving vehicle is equipped with a display means for displaying take-out information such as the type and quantity of taken-out articles based on the information in the storage means. Further, in order to instruct the article storage information for each article storage unit, it is often the case that the mobile vehicle is equipped with storage information instructing means for instructing the storage information based on the information in the storage means.

By the way, if the worker manages whether or not the designated quantity of the article instructed to be taken out by the display means is taken out from the shelf to the moving vehicle side, even a skilled person may make an operation error. There is. For this reason,
Conventionally, an operator has been allowed to perform an inspection work based on a slip or the like after the work for collecting the goods (for example,
(See JP-A-63-112302).

[0005]

Conventionally, since the inspection work is performed after the article collection work, the work amount of the worker per unit article collection processing amount is large, in other words, a predetermined amount of the article collection work. This requires a large number of workers to perform the operation, which has the disadvantage of increasing the operating cost of the equipment. In addition, since the inspection work is performed artificially, there is a possibility that an error may occur in the inspection work.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to instruct an article instructed to be taken out by the display means while omitting the inspection work after the article collection work. It is to ensure that the quantity and shelves can be taken out from the shelves to the moving vehicle side.

[0007]

In the article collecting equipment of the present invention, a shelf for storing a plurality of types of articles in a divided state is provided on a traveling path of a mobile vehicle having an article storage section for storing articles taken out from the shelf. Storage means for storing the article take-out information including the type and the quantity of the article taken out from the shelf, and the articles to be collected are stored in the mobile vehicle based on the storage information of the storage means. Control means for operating the display means for displaying the information for taking out the article from the shelves to be stored.
According to the characteristic configuration of the above, each article stored in the shelf is provided with a mark indicating the type of the article, and the moving vehicle has mark reading means for reading the mark of the article taken out to the moving vehicle side. The control means is provided, based on the information of the storage means and the mark reading means, whether the number of articles detected by the mark reading means as the type of article to be taken out of the shelf is the takeout quantity. It is configured to manage whether or not.

A second characteristic configuration is that the control means is
As the number of articles detected by the mark reading means as the kind of articles to be taken out from the shelf becomes the take-out quantity, the display of the display means displays the take-out information of the article to be collected next. It is configured to be changed to.

[0009]

According to the first characteristic configuration of the present invention, the type and quantity of the article taken out from the shelf are displayed on the display means on the moving vehicle side, and based on the display, the article is taken out from the shelf to the moving vehicle side. The mark of the article is read by the mark reading means to detect the type of the article taken out. Then, when the detected article is an article to be taken out of the shelf,
Whether or not the detected number of articles is the number of articles to be taken out from the shelf is managed.

According to the second characteristic constitution, in the first characteristic constitution, the articles of which the types are detected by the mark reading means are the articles to be taken out from the shelf, and the number of the detected articles is When the number of articles to be taken out from the shelf is reached, the display state of the display means is changed to a state in which the take-out information of the article to be collected next is displayed.

[0011]

Therefore, according to the first characteristic configuration, while detecting that the article taken out to the moving vehicle side is the kind of article to be taken out from the shelf, at the same time, the number of the articles taken out from the shelf is detected. Since it is automatically controlled whether or not the quantity to be taken out is reached, the articles instructed to be taken out by the display means can be surely taken out from the shelves to the moving vehicle side without excess or deficiency, so that after the article collecting work, It has become possible to perform a good article collecting work while omitting the inspection work.

Further, according to the second characteristic configuration, when the work of taking out one type of article is completed, the take-out information of the article to be taken out from the shelf next is automatically displayed on the display means. While lightening the operation burden on the worker, the worker presses the completion switch at the end of the work of taking out the one type of the article and displays the take-out information of the article to be taken out next from the shelf on the display means. However, it is possible to move to the next article collecting operation more quickly, and thus a suitable means for implementing the first characteristic configuration can be obtained.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG.
A moving vehicle A having a storage frame 1 for storing articles and a shelf B for storing a plurality of types of articles in a divided state and arranged along the longitudinal direction of the traveling path of the moving vehicle A are provided. There is.

Each of the shelves B is divided into a plurality of pieces along the longitudinal direction thereof, and each of the divided shelves 2 is provided with upper and lower three-stage loading sections, and each of the loading sections is provided. Is
Three types of articles X can be stored in the lateral direction.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the movable vehicle A includes a pair of left and right idler wheels 3 arranged at the front and rear ends thereof, respectively.
And a pair of left and right handle portions 4 for steering, which is configured as a so-called hand truck type.
A display board 5 which also serves as a setting board for displaying the article take-out information is provided near the. The storage frame 1 is provided with upper and lower two-stage shelves, and each of the shelves accommodates four article storage containers 6 as article storages arranged side by side in the vehicle front-rear direction. Further, the distribution and supply means K for distributing and supplying the articles taken out to the moving vehicle side to each of the containers 6 includes the storage frame 1
It is provided in. Each container 6 corresponds to each shipping destination.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, at the empty container loading position D, the worker loads the empty container 6 into the moving vehicle A.
After loading in the storage frame 1 of
The work data for collecting the articles including the destination information, the article removal information, and the article storage information are stored in the mobile vehicle A.
To enter. Then, the vehicle travels to the shelf portion 2 in which the articles to be taken out are stored based on the destination information, and the shelf portion 2
The article is taken out to the moving vehicle side based on the article take-out information. The articles taken out to the moving vehicle side are supplied to each container 6 for storing articles by the distribution / supply means K.
When all the work is completed, the vehicle travels to the container unloading location E and supplies the container 6 in which the articles are stored to the collecting conveyor 10.

Next, based on the block diagram shown in FIG.
The article collecting work will be described while describing the control configuration. That is, when the contents of the order form 11 issued by the customer or the like are input to the host controller HC, the order form 12 is created in accordance with the contents of the order form 11 by the host controller HC, and the order form 12 is created. The goods are purchased in accordance with the contents of the above, and the storage data 13 of the purchased goods are also input to the host controller HC.

The host controller HC manages the inventory of various articles based on the contents of the purchase order 12 and the receipt data 13, and inputs the purchase order 11 entered in advance.
Create work data for collecting goods based on the contents of
The work data is output to the work controller SC. The work data for collecting the articles is necessary for creating the destination information, the position information of the shelf portion 2 in which the articles to be collected are stored, and the article removal information. , Information indicating the type and quantity of the article to be taken out from the shelf portion 2, and information indicating the type and quantity of the article to be stored in each article storage container 6 necessary for creating the article storage information. Consists of. Further, this work data is formed in a state in which it can be divided for each work amount by one mobile vehicle A.

The work controller SC is configured to comprehensively manage the operation of collecting articles while exchanging various information such as work data with the mobile vehicle controller IC provided in the mobile vehicle A. The work controller SC
Information exchange between the mobile vehicle controller IC and the mobile vehicle controller IC is performed by the controller 14A for read / write control, the ROM 14B, and
The operation is performed while using the IC card 14 including the RAM 14C, and a card writer 15a for writing work data to the IC card 14 and a card reader 15b for reading various written data are attached to the work controller SC. And the IC card 1
A card reader 16a for reading the stored information of No. 4 and a card writer 16b for writing are attached to the mobile vehicle controller IC. By the way, the IC card 14 corresponds to a storage means for storing work data for collecting articles on the moving vehicle side.

The display panel 5 is provided with a monitor 18 using a CRT display and a touch panel 19 installed on the front side of the monitor 18, and is configured as a so-called touch screen type. Incidentally, the touch panel 19
Are various types such as an optical system in which a plurality of optical signals are projected horizontally and vertically across the display surface of the monitor 18 and the contact position is read based on the position of the area where light is blocked by the contact of the operator. Stuff available.

The mobile vehicle controller IC stores the above-mentioned work data for collecting the articles, the storage information of the articles stored in each shelf portion 2 and the sorting information for sorting which of the shelf portions 2 is the sorting information. Based on the destination information for traveling the moving vehicle A, the information for taking out the article from the shelf portion 2 on which the moving vehicle A has traveled, and the article storage information for instructing the container 6 for storing the retrieved article and the storage quantity, respectively. To determine. Then, the destination information and the article take-out information are output to the display board 5 and the quantity display 30, and the article storage information is used as information for operating the distribution / supply means K.

In order to operate the distribution / supply means K, in addition to the above-mentioned article storage information, information on the type of article taken out to the moving vehicle side is also necessary. Therefore, each article X stored in the shelf B is provided with a bar code-use mark m for displaying the type of the article, and the moving vehicle A is provided with the mark m of the article taken out to the moving vehicle side. A manually operated bar code reader 23 as a mark reading means for reading is provided. Incidentally, the read information of the barcode reader 23 is also used as information for checking whether or not the taken-out article is the article to be taken out. That is, the take-out article is automatically inspected.

The mobile vehicle controller IC is constructed by using a microcomputer, is provided with a memory 20, and the IC card 14 is set in the mobile vehicle side when the IC card is set. The work data for article collection stored in 14 is transferred to the memory 20. In other words, the mobile vehicle controller IC uses the IC card 1 transferred to the memory 20.
Controlling display of destination information and article takeout information by the monitor 18 based on the stored information of No. 4, and selection of the display state based on input information by the touch panel 19. become. Therefore, the mobile vehicle controller IC is the IC card 1
It corresponds to the control means for operating the monitor 18 as the display means for displaying the article take-out information from the shelf B in which the articles to be collected are stored based on the stored information of No. 4.

Reference numeral 21 in FIG. 6 is a voice output device for outputting information corresponding to the display contents displayed on the monitor 18 by voice, and is taken out to the moving vehicle side as described later. When it is determined that the type of the article and the type of the article instructed to be taken out are inconsistent, it also functions as an informing unit for informing the inconsistency.

Explaining the display state by the monitor 18, all the shelf portions 2 are simultaneously displayed in a state corresponding to the layout of the shelf B in a state where only a portion corresponding to the shelf portion 2 in which the taken-out articles are stored is turned on. Only the shelf portion position display state to be displayed (see FIG. 8 (a)) and only the load placement section having the taken-out article, that is, the portion corresponding to the article to be taken out, in one shelf portion selected and designated in the shelf portion position display state Is displayed, the article display state in which one shelf portion is graphically displayed (see FIG. 8B) and one loading section selected in the article display state, that is, the type and quantity of the taken-out article are displayed. Display quantity display status (Fig. 8
(See (c)). In each display state, the position corresponding to the shelf part 2 or the loading section displayed in the lighting state is selected and instructed based on the detection information of the contact position of the operator read by the touch panel 19. Along with this, the display state is switched to the next work.

Explaining the distribution supply means K,
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, an upper-stage supply section K1 corresponding to the upper-stage container 6 for storing articles and a lower-stage supply section K2 corresponding to the lower-stage container 6 for storing articles are provided. ing. Each of the supply units K1 and K2 receives the conveyor 24 for conveyance having an inclined article conveying surface, receives the conveyed articles from falling to the lower inclined side, and arranges them one by one in correspondence with each container 6. And a plate-shaped receiving frame 25. Each receiving frame 25 is pivotally supported so that it can be opened and swung with its lower end as a fulcrum.
A fluid pressure cylinder 26 that opens and closes each receiving frame 25 is provided. An electric motor 27 for driving the conveyor 24 for transportation is provided, and an encoder 28 for detecting the transportation amount of the conveyor 24 is provided (see FIG. 6). An optical sensor 29 that detects passage of an article is provided to determine the starting point of article transportation. A quantity indicator 30 is provided corresponding to each of the upper and lower supply parts K1 and K2, and it is possible to determine to which side of the upper and lower supply parts K1 and K2 the picked-up article should be supplied.

The distribution and supply will be described in detail below while explaining the operation. The worker causes the bar code reader 23 to detect the type of the article taken out to the moving vehicle side, and the worker can move up and down based on the content displayed on the quantity display 30. Supply Department K
Articles will be supplied to either of No. 1 and K2. However, if it is determined that the type of the article detected by the barcode reader 23 is not the article stored in the container 6,
As described above, this is notified by voice.

Further, as the kind of the article is discriminated as described above, the carrying distance required to carry the article to the desired container 6 is set. By the way, the articles are distributed and supplied to each container 6 from the rearmost one to the front one among the containers 6 arranged in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body or from the most frontward one to the rear one. Therefore, the setting of the transport distance is performed according to the supply order. As described above, the articles supplied to the upper and lower supply sections K1 and K2 are conveyed by the conveyor 24. When the optical sensor 29 detects the passage of the article along with the conveyance, the conveyance distance from that point is obtained from the information of the encoder 28. Then, when the detected transport distance reaches the set transport distance, the receiving frame 25 is opened and the article is dropped and supplied to the container 6. By the way, the driving of the transport conveyor 24 is started when the bar code reader 23 first detects an article, and is continued until the storage of articles sequentially supplied is completed.

Next, based on the flow chart shown in FIG. 7, the operation of the moving vehicle A will be described while describing the control operation of the moving vehicle controller IC. First,
A work data reading process for reading the information of the set IC card 14 is executed. After reading the information, in a state where only the shelving portion with work is lit up, shelving portion display processing is executed in which all shelving portions are graphically displayed in a state corresponding to the layout of the shelving B. The moving vehicle A is caused to travel to a portion and waits until the shelf portion on which the work is performed is selected on the touch panel 19 (FIG. 8A).
reference). That is, the destination information of the moving vehicle A, that is, the position information of the shelf portion 2 in which the articles to be collected are stored is indicated by the process of graphically displaying the entire shelf portion 2 where the work is performed.

As the shelving part with work is selected,
After switching to an article display state in which the entire shelf portion is displayed in a state where only the loading section having the article to be taken out of the selected shelf portion 2 is lit, the same as in the selection of the shelf portion 2 described above. The touch panel 19 waits until any of the displayed loading portions is selected (see FIG. 8B). As a load carrying section with work is selected, the shelf section number and the load carrying section No to which the selected load carrying section belongs
And the product number and the product name indicating the kind of the taken-out article and the display state for displaying the taken-out quantity, and the voice output device 21 is operated to output the article take-out information displayed on the monitor 18 by voice. (See FIG. 8C). It also activates the quantity display 30 for distribution and supply. That is, when a shelf portion with work is selected, only the loading portion of the selected shelf portion 2 having the article to be taken out lights up, and the shelf portion is graphically displayed. When the existing load placement section is selected, the article removal information is instructed by the process of displaying the article number indicating the type of the article to be retrieved and the article name and the retrieval quantity, and at the same time, the upper and lower supply sections K1, K
The quantity of goods to be supplied to the two is also indicated.

The worker takes out the article from the selected loading section to the moving vehicle side, detects the type of each article taken out using the bar code reader 23, and supplies the article to the distribution / supply means K. When the kind of the taken-out article and the kind of the article currently instructed to be taken out do not match, the voice output device 21 informs the fact as described above, and the wrong article is supplied to the distribution / supply means K. Is avoided. Next, as described above, the distribution and supply process of supplying the articles supplied to the upper and lower supply sections K1 and K2 to the respective containers 6 is performed.

Then, as the number of articles detected by the bar code reader 23 becomes the number of articles to be stored, it is judged that the article taking-out work in one loading section is completed, and the other articles are placed. It is determined whether or not there is a taken-out article in the set. When there is an article to be taken out in another load placement section, the article display state is entered with the display of the load placement section for which the article removal work is completed turned off. If the work of taking out all the articles on the selected shelf is completed, it is checked whether there is any remaining work on the other shelves, and if there is, the display of the shelves where the work is completed is displayed. The process from the above-mentioned shelf portion position display state is repeated in the state where is turned off. However, when the work on all the shelf parts is completed, the whole process is ended.

From the above, the mobile vehicle controller IC
But the IC card 14 and the bar code reader 2
Based on the information of No. 3, whether or not the number of articles detected by the barcode reader 23 as the type of article to be taken out from the shelf B becomes the take-out quantity is managed, and further, from the shelf B As the number of articles detected by the barcode reader 23 as the type of article to be taken out becomes the take-out quantity, the monitor 1
The display of 8 will be changed so as to display the takeout information of the article to be collected next.

[Other Embodiments] In the above embodiment, the case where the display panel 5 is configured by using the CRT type monitor 18 and the display state is switched and various information is input by using the touch panel 19 will be described. Although illustrated, for example, the number of lamps corresponding to the shelves 2 in which the articles to be taken out are stored is used to indicate destination information, and the number of illuminated pushbuttons corresponding to the load placement section in one shelf 2 is also provided. Is provided to instruct an article to be taken out, and a numerical display is used to instruct the quantity to be taken out. The specific configuration of the display board 5 and the specific configuration of the destination information instruction and the article removal information instruction are as follows. , Various changes can be made.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the moving vehicle A is constituted by the push cart type is exemplified, but the concrete constitution can be variously changed such as by providing the electric propulsion wheels.

In the above embodiment, the articles are stored in the container 6, but the storage frame 1 may be divided to form an article storage section for storing the articles.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case of instructing the article take-out information is configured to be performed only on the moving vehicle side, but it may also be instructed on the shelf side.

In order to transmit the work data for collecting articles to the moving vehicle side, instead of using the IC card 14, various kinds of data can be transmitted by communication between the work controller SC and the moving vehicle controller IC. Can be changed.

Further, the specific configuration of the distribution / supply means K can be variously changed according to various conditions such as the target article and the article storage section 6.

In addition, various changes can be made to the specific configuration of each part necessary for carrying out the present invention. It should be noted that reference numerals are added to the claims for convenience of comparison with the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the configurations of the accompanying drawings by the entry.

[Brief description of drawings]

[Figure 1] Side view of a moving vehicle

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a moving vehicle.

[Fig. 3] Front view of a moving vehicle

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of an article collecting facility.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a shelf and a moving vehicle.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a control configuration.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a control operation.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a display state

[Explanation of symbols]

 B shelf 6 article storage unit A mobile vehicle 14 storage means 18 display means IC control means m mark 23 mark reading means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A traveling path of a mobile vehicle (A), wherein a shelf (B) for storing a plurality of types of articles in a divided state has an article storage section (6) for storing the articles taken out from the shelf (B). A storage means (14) provided along the storage means (14) for storing the article take-out information including the type and the quantity of the article taken out from the shelf (B) in the moving vehicle (A). An article collection facility provided with a control means (IC) for activating a display means (18) for displaying the information for taking out the article from the shelf (B) in which the articles to be collected are stored based on the stored information. Then, each article stored in the shelf (B) is provided with a mark (m) indicating the type of the article, and the moving vehicle (A) has the mark of the article taken out to the moving vehicle side. Mark reading means (23) for reading the mark (m) The control means (IC) is provided with the mark reading means (23) as the type of the article to be taken out from the shelf (B) based on the information of the storage means (14) and the mark reading means (23). An article collection facility configured to manage whether or not the number of articles detected in 1. becomes the number of articles to be taken out. 2. The control means (IC) includes the shelf (B).
As the number of articles detected by the mark reading means (23) as the kind of articles to be taken out from the mark becomes the taken-out quantity, the display of the display means (18) is taken out information of the article to be collected next. The article collection facility according to claim 1, wherein the article collection facility is configured to be changed to a state of displaying.