JPH0891513A - Automatic warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To facilitate assignment control, and also keep housing efficiency. CONSTITUTION: A shelf plate 2, stretched over the columns 3 and 3 of a shelf 1, is a flat plate, and whereon loads of various load width sizes can be placed. When a load WL having load width wL is warehoused, only a load having neary the same load width can be warehoused on the shelf 1, consequently, the other center stop positions CL1 and CL2 are decided in the shelf 1. When the shelf 1 becomes void once, the stop position is changed by a load warehoused next (e.g. a load WS having load width wS) to be rewritten into a new center stop position CS.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse for temporarily storing loads, and more particularly to an automatic warehouse for storing loads of various widths.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a factory or a warehouse, an automatic warehouse is composed of a rack composed of a plurality of shelves for temporarily storing loads, and a crane for moving and elevating the front of the rack to transfer the loads. Is used. There are free-size types of automatic warehouses that have flat shelves or comb-shaped racks with wide frontage and cranes that can handle loads of various sizes. Is useful as

[0003]

In such a free-size automatic warehouse, there is a problem in balancing the storage efficiency in the rack and the load on the control device for managing shelves in the automatic warehouse. That is, when a load of a certain load width is stored in one shelf, the more optimally the remaining space of that shelf is to be used, the more complicated the load allocation method becomes, and the crane stop position is also increased. Since it becomes different, the calculation becomes complicated, and a heavy load is imposed on the control device, which adversely affects the operation efficiency and leads to an increase in the size of the control device.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic warehouse capable of ensuring rack storage efficiency without imposing an excessive load on a control device for managing shelves.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 provides a plurality of shelves capable of storing a plurality of loads and a crane capable of handling loads of various sizes. In each of the shelves, the automatic warehouse has a control means for managing shelves so that only one load having substantially the same load width can be stored in each shelf.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the control means performs shelf management so that only a load having a load width size substantially the same as a load initially stored in a certain empty shelf is stored.
Configured the automated warehouse described in.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the control means, when a load is stored in one empty rack and becomes a real shelf, only the load having a load width size substantially the same as the load is stored in the real shelf. The rack is managed so that when all the loads are put out from one real shelf, the real shelf becomes an empty shelf and the load width size of the load that can be stored can be changed. Configured an automated warehouse.

[0008]

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

In the automatic warehouse according to the first aspect of the invention, when a certain load is stored, it is stored in a shelf in which a load having a load width size substantially the same as that of the certain load is stored.

In the automatic warehouse according to the second aspect of the present invention, when a load is stored in an empty rack, only a load having substantially the same load width size as the first stored load is stored in that rack thereafter. To be done.

In the automatic warehouse according to the third aspect of the present invention, when a load is stored in an empty rack, only a load having substantially the same load width size as the first loaded rack is stored in the rack thereafter. To be done. When all the loads are delivered from the actual shelves, the actual shelves are treated as empty shelves, and the load width size of the loads that can be stored can be changed.

[0012]

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

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the process of load allocation control in one embodiment of the automatic warehouse according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a main part of a control structure of the same embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing one of a plurality of shelves arranged in a matrix on a rack of an automated warehouse. The shelf 1 is composed of a shelf plate 2 having a flat top surface and columns 3 and 3 around which the shelf plate 2 is bridged. A crane (not shown) slides the upper surface of the shelf plate 2 to push in and pull out the load, thereby loading and unloading the load. The automatic warehouse of the present embodiment configured by such a rack and a crane is a free-size automatic warehouse that can store loads regardless of size.

In FIG. 1A, only one load WL having a load width wL of a relatively large size is stored in the shelf 1. The load width here is the width of the load in the horizontal direction perpendicular to the direction in which the crane pushes the load into and out of the shelf 1, and is the width of the load along the frontage direction between the columns 3 and 3. In the present embodiment, the height and the depth of the load hardly matter, and the problem is only how much space the load width of the loaded goods occupies the frontage.

The load WL is loaded from the lifting platform of the crane stopped at the center stop position CL of the crane. The crane center stop position CL is derived from the load width wL of the load WL, as described later. At the same time, the crane center stop position CL1 at the time of loading another load to be loaded into the shelf 1 later,
CL2 is also fixed.

As shown in FIG. 1 (a), when one load WL is stored in the shelf 1, only two loads having a load width substantially the same as the load width wL of the load WL are stored in the shelf 1. It can be done. For loads with approximately the same load width,
A load of the same type as the load WL and a load of a different type are included. The different types of loads having substantially the same load width are the loads adjacent to each other and / or the columns 3 when the cranes are stopped from the lifts of the cranes that are stopped according to the center stop positions CL1 and CL2 of the other two cranes. It is a load having a load width such that the clearance with respect to 3 is within an appropriate range.

As a result, the stop position of the crane with respect to the shelf 1 is determined to be only CL, CL1 and CL2, and therefore the calculation for deriving the stop position is very easy, and which shelf is to be loaded depending on the type of load. Allocation control for determining whether or not it should be done is relatively simple. At the same time, by limiting the load width size, it is possible to avoid the useless space as much as possible, so that the rack storage efficiency can be ensured.

In the state of FIG. 1 (a), the stop position of the crane with respect to the shelf 1 is fixed, but as shown in FIG. 1 (b), when all the loads are unloaded from the shelf 1, the data is reset. It is treated as an empty shelf where the stop position of the crane has not been determined.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1 (c), when a load WS having a relatively small load width wS is loaded into the shelf 1, a crane center stop position CS for the shelf 1 and another crane center stop position CS1, CS2 and CS3 are automatically determined. Since the load width wS of the load WS is smaller than the load width wL of the load WL, the rack 1
Can store four loads WS, and crane center stop positions CS1, CS2, CS3 are defined. FIG. 1 (a)
Similar to the case, the load widths of the three loads that can be stored are obtained based on the clearance.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the load width size of the load initially loaded determines the load width size of the other loads to be stored in the shelf, so that allocation control is very easy. Also, when all the loads have been emptied and become empty shelves, the load width size of the load that can be stored is changed. It is possible to increase the degree of freedom in the operation of automated warehouses and improve the operating efficiency by reducing the space for

FIG. 2 shows the main part of the control structure of the same embodiment. The automated warehouse includes a host controller 10 installed on the ground and a crane controller 2 provided for a crane.
Controlled by 0 and.

The host controller 10 includes a transfer command creating unit 11 for creating a transfer command in accordance with a purchase order, an inventory management database 12 for registering the types and numbers of loads in stock in the automatic warehouse, and an automatic warehouse. The empty shelf management database 13 stores empty shelves.

The crane controller 20 includes a computing unit 22 for instructing the crane drive unit 21 about stop positions and the like, a stop position database 23 for each load size that stores stop positions for each load size, and a rack layout. A default database 24 for the size of the in-shelf load that summarizes the limits of the size of the load that can be stored in the shelf, a database 25 for the in-shelf load that stores the size of the load stored in the shelf, and an automatic warehouse It consists of an empty shelf management database that stores empty shelf.

The host controller 10 determines to which shelf a particular type of load is to be stored, based on the status of the inventory management database 12, and creates a transportation command. At this time, if the load width size of the load to be stored is substantially the same as the load WL in FIG. 1, for example, the load WL has already been stored, but a shelf with an empty space is searched for and stored in that shelf. To order.

Crane controller 2 which has received the transfer instruction
0 indicates that the calculation unit 22 has a database 25 of the size of the in-shelf load.
From, the size of the load already stored in the specified shelf is read. If more than one load is on the shelf,
As shown in, a plurality of stop positions for loading and unloading the load have already been determined. Next, the stop position for the corresponding shelf is read from the stop position database 23 for each load size. The calculation unit 22 gives a drive command to the crane drive unit based on the read stop position.

If there are no shelves in which loads of almost the same size are stored and empty spaces remain, the host controller 10 selects an appropriate empty shelf from the empty shelf management database 13. Create a command to select and store on that shelf. Since the stop position of the empty shelf has not been determined, the size of the load is newly registered in the database 25 of the size of the in-shelf load. Before that, it is checked by the data of the default database 24 of the size of the in-shelf load whether or not the size of the load that can be stored, which is determined by the instructed shelf layout, is exceeded. The upper controller 10 is replied that the command cannot be accepted.

The calculation unit 22 reads the stop position from the size of the load, gives a drive command to the crane drive unit 21, and rewrites the empty shelf management database 26. The data of the empty shelf management database 26 is reported to the empty shelf management database 13. The empty shelf management database 13 determines whether the data reported from the empty shelf management database 26 is correct.

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.

[0030]

As described above, in the automatic warehouse according to the present invention as set forth in claim 1, since the loads are stored in the shelves in which the loads having substantially the same width are already stored, the allocation control is very easy. Is.

In the automated warehouse according to the second aspect of the present invention, the load width size of the load initially loaded will determine the load width size of the other load loaded on the shelf.
Allocation control is very easy, and control of load width size determination for each shelf is also easy.

Further, when all the loads have been emptied and become empty shelves, the load width size of the load that can be stored is changed. It is possible to easily change the layout such as reducing the space for a small load, increase the degree of freedom in operating the automated warehouse, and improve the operation efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 (a), (b) and (c) are front views showing a part of a rack of an embodiment of an automatic warehouse according to the present invention.

2 is a block diagram showing a control structure of the embodiment of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 shelf 2 shelf board 3 pillar WL, WS load wL, wS load width CL, CS center stop position

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An automated warehouse comprising a plurality of shelves capable of receiving a plurality of loads and a crane capable of handling loads of various sizes, each shelf having substantially the same size. An automated warehouse characterized by having control means for managing shelves so that only loads of a load width size can be stored. 2. The automated warehouse according to claim 1, wherein the control means performs shelf management so that only a load having a load width size substantially the same as a load initially stored in a certain empty shelf is stored. 3. The control means, when a load is loaded into one empty shelf to become a real shelf, only a load having a load width size substantially the same as that of the load is loaded into the real shelf, and one real shelf is loaded. 3. The automated warehouse according to claim 2, wherein when all the loads have been delivered from the shelves, the actual shelves are empty shelves and shelf management is performed so that the load width size of the loads that can be stored can be changed.