JPH08133417A - Stacker crane - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To reduce power consumption until a new instruction is received after stoppage of operation. CONSTITUTION: A crane controller 1 counts a predetermined time by means of at timer, after stoppage of operation, and when a predetermined time elapses, it opens a mode change-over switch 11 so as to cut off the supply of power from a power unit 10 to a motor system 5 or the like. The supply of power to the mode change-over switch 11, a communication controller 2 and an optical communication 3 is not cut off, and accordingly, a conveying instruction can be received from a higher rank controller 4, whereby it is possible to restart the conveying work.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stacker crane provided in an automatic warehouse, and more particularly to a stacker crane capable of reducing power consumption.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Automated warehouses have been put into practical use in factories and warehouses for the primary storage of products and workpieces. The automated warehouse is composed of a rack having a plurality of frontages arranged in a matrix, and a stacker crane that travels and moves up and down in front of the frontages to convey articles. The stacker crane performs loading and unloading work according to a transport command from a host computer that manages the transport system.

[0003]

The stacker crane is
The loading / unloading work is carried out in accordance with the transfer command sent from the host computer, and when there is no next transfer command at the end, the process is stopped and the standby state is entered. When in the standby state, the drive device system of the stacker crane such as traveling drive motor, lift drive motor, fork drive motor, magnet switches, relays, limit switches, switches such as photoelectric sensors, and sensors keep the stopped state. In order to warm up the stacker crane so that the stacker crane can be operated immediately after receiving the transport command, the power is supplied for warming up. If this standby state continues for a long time, the power consumption during that time increases and the operating cost increases.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a stacker crane which can save power consumption while the stacker crane is stopped, and can realize energy saving and operating cost reduction.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a control means for receiving a transportation command transmitted from a host computer and controlling the operation of each device in accordance with the transportation command. In the mounted stacker crane, after a lapse of a predetermined time after the stacker crane stops operating, the stacker crane is configured with a control unit that shuts off the power supply to the electric devices other than the communication unit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the control means configures the stacker crane according to the first aspect so that when the predetermined time has elapsed, the stacker crane is returned to the origin and then the power is cut off. did.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the stacker crane according to the first aspect is configured such that the length of the predetermined time can be changed by an operation from an operating means provided on the stacker crane.

[0008]

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

In the stacker crane according to the first aspect of the present invention, the predetermined time is counted when the stacker crane finishes the carrying work and stops its operation. After a lapse of a predetermined time, the power supply to the electric equipment other than the communication means is cut off.

In the stacker crane according to the second aspect of the present invention, after a lapse of a predetermined time, the stacker crane is returned to its original position before the power supply is cut off.

In the stacker crane according to the third aspect of the present invention, the length of the predetermined time can be changed by operating the operation means provided in the stacker crane.

[0012]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of a control structure of an embodiment of a stacker crane according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the crane controller 1 mounted on the stacker crane receives a transfer command from the host controller 4 installed on the ground via the communication controller 2 through the optical communication devices 3 and 3. The crane controller 1 uses each device such as a drive device system (motor system) 5 for a motor and an inverter unit, a magnet switch 6, a relay 7, a limit switch 8, a photoelectric sensor 9 and the like to perform a transfer operation.

Power is supplied from the power unit 10 to the communication controller 2, the optical communication device 3, and the mode changeover switch 11. Communication controller 2, optical communication device 3
Other than that, power is supplied through the mode changeover switch 11 which is opened and closed by the communication controller 2.

The mode selector switch 11 is opened and closed by switching between the normal mode and the sleep mode. It is closed in the normal mode, and power is supplied to each device to keep it running or stopped and to warm it up, but it is opened in the sleep mode to cut off the power supply to each device such as the motor 5. To be done.

The mode is switched by receiving the conveyance command to the communication controller 2 and measuring the time by the timer 12. That is, when the execution of the carrying work according to the carrying command is finished and the operation of each device is stopped, and there is no carrying command to be executed next, the timer 12 starts the time measurement for a predetermined time (for example, 5 minutes). It When 5 minutes have passed after the operation was stopped, the crane controller 1 and the communication controller 2 open the mode selection switch 11 to cut off the power supply to each device.

The length of the predetermined time counted by the timer 12 depends on the operation panel 13 provided on the stacker crane.
It can be changed by the operation of.

During the time measurement of 5 minutes, that is, when the transfer command is transmitted from the host controller 4 in the normal mode, the crane controller 1 immediately starts the transfer work, the time measurement is interrupted, and the count by the timer 12 is reset. To be done.

After a lapse of 5 minutes, that is, when the transport command is transmitted from the host controller 4 in the sleep mode, the power supply to each device such as the motor system 5 is cut off, but the communication controller 2 and Since the energization of the optical communication device 3 is maintained, the communication controller 2 can receive the conveyance command.

When the transfer command is received, the communication controller 2 closes the mode changeover switch 11 to restart the energization of each device and carry out the transfer work. At this time, if the warm-up time is required, the operation is performed after the warm-up time has elapsed. The count by the timer 12 is reset by the start of the operation.

When shifting to the sleep mode,
The origin of the stacker crane is returned. The origin of the stacker crane is the product transfer position with the storage station. The crane controller 1 allows the stacker crane to move / lift and return to the origin, so that if the transfer command transmitted from the host controller 4 is the storage command, the work can be started more quickly. Of course, if the previous work was a delivery work, the stacker crane has finished the work at the origin, so there is no need to move the stacker crane to return to the origin.

As described above, in the stacker crane according to this embodiment, the mode changeover switch 1 is operated after a lapse of a predetermined time after the operation of each device of the stacker crane is stopped.
1. Since the power supply to other than the communication controller 2 and the optical communication device 3 is cut off, it is possible to save the power for holding the stopped state and warming up each device such as the motor system 5 and from the host controller 4. It is possible to restart the operation by receiving the transport command of.

Further, by making it possible to adjust the time from the operation panel 13 to the shift to the sleep mode,
It is possible to operate in consideration of the balance between transport efficiency and power consumption reduction. For example, some stacker cranes may intermittently concentrate a plurality of operations or intermittently enter one operation at a time. Moreover, the intervals are also different. Therefore, it is possible to set the time for counting so that the transport efficiency and the power consumption can be balanced after taking the warm-up time into account.

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.

[0026]

As described above, according to the stacker crane of the first aspect of the present invention, the electric power required for maintaining the stopped state and warming up is cut off by cutting off the power supply to each device after the elapse of a predetermined time. Savings can be made and thus operating costs can be saved. Further, since the communication device is ensured to be energized, it is possible to receive the transfer command from the host computer even after a predetermined time has elapsed.

According to the stacker crane of the second aspect of the present invention, the stacker crane is returned to its original position before the power is cut off after the elapse of a predetermined time, so that the next work is the warehousing work. In this case, the work can be started more quickly.

According to the stacker crane of the third aspect of the present invention, since the length of the predetermined time can be easily changed, it is possible to achieve a balanced operation between the transfer efficiency and the power consumption reduction.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a control structure of an embodiment of a stacker crane according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Crane controller 2 Communication controller 3 3 Optical communication device 4 Host controller 5 Motor and inverter unit drive equipment system (motor system) 10 Power unit 11 Mode switching unit 12 Timer

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A stacker crane equipped with a control means for receiving a transfer command transmitted from a host computer and controlling the operation of each device in accordance with the transfer command, and a predetermined time has elapsed after the stacker crane stopped operating. After that, the stacker crane is provided with a control means for cutting off electric power to electric equipment other than the communication means. 2. The stacker crane according to claim 1, wherein when the predetermined time has elapsed, the control means returns the origin of the stacker crane and then cuts off the power supply. 3. The stacker crane according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined time can be changed in length by an operation from an operation means provided in the stacker crane.