JPH0958814A - Layer unit transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance picking efficiency of packed articles by eliminating an event to delay a processing time when both the kinds of handling articles and the number of sorting addresses are much. SOLUTION: When packed articles are placed on a carriage 5 mounted on the load platform 47 of a stacker crane 4 running along a pallet stacked articles storing shelf, placed articles are pressed from the side opposite to the pick up roller of the carriage 5 by means of the regulation arm 9 of a spreader 6 so as to facilitate delivery of the packed article and also to prevent falling down, etc., of the packed article.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a layer-by-layer transfer device for picking up a packaged product stacked on a warehouse shelf in layer units from the uppermost packaged product and transferring it to a predetermined position.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a device for sorting palletized boxes of products into individual packaging units and sorting them by destination, for example, a flow rack type picking system, an automatic picking system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 52807/1990, Kaihei 5
The layer-by-layer picking system and the like described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 155405 are used.

Flow-rack picking systems are often used to ship palletized boxes of items such as detergents and toilet paper. This flow rack type picking system is provided with products 131 stacked and carried on a pallet as shown in the explanatory view of FIG.
Are temporarily stored in the product storage shelf 132, and a large amount of the products 131 stored in the product storage shelf 132 are depalletizer 13.
It is put into the flow rack 136a after being divided into individual packaging products 134 by 3 or the like. Among the products 131 stored in the product storage shelf 132, small and medium-sized products are once discharged from the product storage shelf 132, manually take out the necessary amount of products and store them in the small flow rack 136b, and then the rest are stored again. It is stored on the shelf 132. Flow rack 136a, 13
The commodities stored in 6b are picked up according to the request and sorted by the sorting device 137 for each delivery destination. This makes it possible to ship multiple types of products and multiple destinations.

Further, in order to ship fragile products such as beer bottles, an automatic picking system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 52807/1990 is used. JP-A-2-52
The automatic picking system disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 807 is, for example, as shown in the plan view of FIG.
After carrying out the pallet of the single product case stored in the storage 140 using the 8, 139 by the pallet unit to the storage station 142 outside the storage, use a forklift or the like. Place each single product pallet in the specified position 14
3a to 143n. Then empty pallet 14
The sorting pallets 145 that have been sorted by picking the required number of sheets in No. 4 are carried out to the next process or re-stored in the storage shelves 141 in the warehouse. As a result, the installation space is reduced, and the product is prevented from being damaged.

Further, in the layer-by-layer picking system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-155405, as shown in FIG. 10, the item pallet 151 is placed on the depalletizing position 147 of the picking device 146, and the shipping pallet 150a ... It is designed to carry 150e. When one item pallet 151 is placed at the depalletizing position 147, the plurality of shipping pallets 150a to 150e on the loop formed by the transport path 149 are sequentially sent to the palleting position 148, and each of the shipping pallets 150a to 150e.
If there is a request for packing the item every 150e, picking is performed, and if there is no request, the item is skipped. When the packing of the item on each of the shipping pallets 150a to 150e is completed, the item pallet 151 moves, and the same processing is performed on the other item pallets. As a result, the installation space is reduced, and the number of reciprocations between the inside and outside of the refrigerator is reduced.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION However, the flow
In the rack-type picking system, it is necessary to separate all the products on the pallet from the automated warehouse into individual packages at a time and replenish them to the flow rack, resulting in an increase in the size of the flow rack. In addition, in order to prevent the size of the flow rack from increasing,
If the specified quantity is divided into individual packaging units and replenished in the flow rack, the rest of the products must be restocked, and the load on the automated warehouse will be doubled.

Further, in the automatic picking system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-52807 and the layer-by-layer picking system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-155405, the pallets of the goods to be shipped are matched to the picking timing and the shelves of the automatic warehouse. The pallets must be shipped from the warehouse, the required quantity must be taken out, and the rest must be reloaded. Therefore, if both the number of product types and the number of sorting destinations are large, the load on the automated warehouse doubles,
Processing time will be slow. For this reason, there is a limitation that it can be used only when either the number of varieties or the number of sorting destinations can be reduced.

The present invention has been made in order to eliminate such disadvantages, and even when both the number of products handled and the number of sorting destinations are large, the processing speed is not lowered and the space is small. An object of the present invention is to obtain a picking device that can reliably sort.

[0009]

A layer-by-layer transfer device according to the present invention has a stacker crane, a carriage and a spreader, and the stacker crane is equipped with a loading platform that moves vertically along a mast and along a warehouse shelf. As the carriage runs, the picking roller arm that expands and contracts in the direction of the warehouse shelf and the tip of the most advanced arm of the picking roller arm are provided to pick up the packaged goods stacked on the warehouse shelf It is equipped with a carriage roller for loading products and is mounted on the loading platform of a stacker crane and moves vertically with the loading platform of the stacker crane to transfer the packaged items.

The spreader includes a rear pressing arm that expands and contracts in the direction of the warehouse shelves, and a regulating arm that is provided at the tip of the frontmost arm of the rear pressing arm and presses the packaged product from the side opposite to the pickup roller. The package is mounted along the upper part of the carriage on the loading platform, and when the packaged product is taken out by the pickup roller, the packaged product is pressed from the side opposite to the pickup roller to facilitate the removal of the packaged product and prevent the packaged product from falling over.

Further, the regulating arm vertical moving means is the tip of the frontmost arm of the rear pressing arm, and moves the regulating arm in the vertical direction with respect to the rear pressing arm in accordance with the height of the packaged product, thereby rear pressing the rear pressing arm. Align the arm carriage in the vertical direction and press the packaged item from the side opposite to the pickup roller with the regulation arm.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The layer-by-layer transfer device includes a stacker crane that travels along a warehouse shelf by a traveling device, a carriage that is mounted on a bed of a stacker crane that moves up and down by a driving force of a lifting unit, and a stacker crane It has a spreader that is mounted along the top of the carriage on the loading platform.For example, a boxed package that is stacked and stored on a warehouse shelf is pressed by a control arm and placed on the carriage, and the packaged items are transferred in layers. To do.

The carriage is provided with a carriage roller for carrying the packaged product picked up by the pickup roller, and the packaged products stacked on the warehouse shelf are taken out from the uppermost layer and transferred in layers. After the carriage mounted on the loading platform of the stacker crane has moved to the front of the package to be taken out, the picking roller arm consisting of, for example, a slide arm extends toward the warehouse shelf and the pickup roller is directed toward the bottom of the package to be taken out. Move horizontally. The pick-up roller rotates in the direction of lifting the packaged product, and the packaged products stacked on the warehouse shelf are taken out from the uppermost layer in units of layers and transferred.

The spreader is mounted on the bed of the stacker crane along the upper part of the carriage, and has a rear pressing arm that expands and contracts in the direction of the warehouse shelf, and a regulating arm provided at the tip of the most distal arm of the rear pressing arm. . The rear holding arm supports a regulating arm that presses the packaged goods from the side opposite to the pickup roller when the packaged goods are taken out by the carriage. After the carriage moves to the front of the packed goods to be taken out, the rear holding arm drive unit With the driving force of (1), it expands and contracts in the direction of the warehouse shelf in accordance with the size of the packaged goods on one plane, and adjusts the horizontal position of the regulating arm.

When the carriage takes out a packaged product, the regulation arm presses the packaged product to be removed from the side opposite to the pickup roller to facilitate the removal of the packaged product and prevent the packaged product from falling over.

Further, the control arm picks up the packaged product to be taken out and the packaged product below the packaged product to be taken out when the packaged product to be taken out and the packaged product to be taken out are not the lowest packaged product when the packaged product is taken out by the carriage. It is pressed from the side opposite the roller to prevent the package from collapsing.

Further, the regulating arm vertical moving means includes a swinging motor and a swinging motor provided between the frontmost arm of the rear pressing arm and the regulating arm, for example, provided at the tip of the frontmost arm of the rear pressing arm. Has a link mechanism section that moves the restriction arm in the vertical direction with respect to the rear pressing arm in accordance with the height of the packaged product by the driving force. In the link mechanism, the back holding arm expands and contracts in the direction of the warehouse shelf according to the size of the package for one flat surface, and adjusts the horizontal position of the control arm. The carriage is moved in the vertical direction with respect to the back holding arm, the back holding arm is vertically aligned with the carriage, and the regulating arm presses the packaged article from the side opposite to the pickup roller. Here, the link mechanism unit is provided, for example, on a swinging motor at the tip of the foremost arm of the left and right back holding arms, and the tip is slidably provided with respect to the back holding arm, and the left and right link arms are provided. The back pressing arm is moved in the vertical direction by rotating in the opposite directions by the driving force of the swing motor.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a side view of a layer-by-layer transfer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the layer unit transfer device 1
Is, for example, taking out the boxed packaged products 3 stacked and stored in the pallet-loaded product storage shelves 2a to 2n in layer units,
For example, it is transferred to a horizontal conveyor, a flow rack or a layer unit storage shelf.

As shown in the perspective view of FIG. 2, the layer-by-layer transfer device 1 is a stacker crane 4 that travels along the pallet-loaded item storage shelves 2a to 2n by the driving force of the traveling device 48.
It has a carriage 5 and a spreader 6. The stacker crane 4 includes, for example, pallet-loaded item storage shelves 2a to 2
The vehicle travels along the traveling guide rail 42 on the traveling rail 41 provided in the horizontal direction along n by the driving force of the traveling device 48. The stacker crane 4 includes a loading platform 47, a mast 44 that guides the loading platform 47 in the vertical direction, an elevating unit 45 that raises and lowers the loading platform 47 along the mast, and operates the layer-unit transfer device 1 on the layer-unit transfer device 1. On-board control panel 4 for inputting
6 and 6. Carriage 5 is a pallet-loaded item storage shelf 2
Picking roller arm 51 that expands and contracts in the direction of a to 2n
a, 51b, 51c and the picking roller arm 51a,
The stacker is provided with a pickup roller 52 that is provided at the tip of the most advanced arm 51a of the 51b and 51c, and that picks up a packaged product loaded on a warehouse shelf, and a carriage roller 53 that carries the packaged product picked up by the pickup roller 52. It is mounted on a loading platform 47 that moves up and down along the mast 44 of the crane 4, and moves up and down along with the loading platform 47 to the front of the packaged item 3 to be taken out along the mast 44 of the stacker crane 4 to transfer and transport the packaged item 3. . Picking roller arms 51a, 51b, 51c composed of slide arms
Is moved up and down to the front of the package 3 to be taken out by the carriage 5, and then extends toward the pallet-loaded item storage shelves 2a to 2n to obtain the most advanced picking roller arm 51a.
The pickup roller 52 provided at the front end of the pallet is moved toward the packaged items 3 stacked on the pallet loaded item storage shelves 2a to 2n. The pick-up roller 52 rotates in the direction of lifting the packaged product 3, and the pallet-loaded product storage shelves 2a to 2
The packages 3 stacked in n are lifted from the topmost package 3. Note that the upper end of the pickup roller 52 is lower than the upper end of the carriage roller 53 so that the packaged product 3 can be easily loaded.

The spreader 6 includes rear pressing arms 7a and 7a.
b, 7 c and a regulating arm 9. Rear presser arm 7
a, 7b, and 7c are mounted on the loading platform 47 of the stacker crane 4 along the upper portion of the carriage 5, move vertically and horizontally along with the carriage 5 along the palletized product storage shelves 2a to 2n, and the carriage 5 attempts to take out. Package 3
After the vertical movement of the arm, the driving arm of the rear holding arm drive unit (not shown) expands and contracts in the direction of the palletized goods storage shelves 2a to 2n in accordance with the size of the package 3 for one plane. 9 position in the horizontal direction.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the spreader 6 is provided between the frontmost arm 7a of the rear pressing arms 7a, 7b, 7c and the restriction arm 9 as a vertical movement means for restricting arms. A swing motor 8 provided at the tip of the most advanced arm 7a of the arms 7a, 7b, 7c
2a, 82b and link mechanisms 8a, 8b for vertically moving the regulating arm 9 with respect to the back holding arms 7a, 7b, 7c in accordance with the height of the packaged product by the driving force from the swing motors 82a, 82b. Having. In FIG. 3, the swinging motors 82a and 82b are provided between the link arms 81a and 81b of the link mechanism portions 8a and 8b and the frontmost back pressing arm 7a. For example, one is provided beside the mast 44. The link arms 81a and 81b may be driven by one swing motor. Further, instead of using the swing motors 82a and 82b, a hydraulic cylinder or a solenoid may be used. The link arms 81a and 81b include slide arms 83a and 83b that slide along the slits 9a and 9b of the regulating arm 9 at the distal ends. The slits 9a and 9b of the regulating arm 9 are provided in the longitudinal direction of the regulating arm 9. Link arms 81a, 81b
Is, for example, as shown in FIG.
From the state where a and 83b are extended horizontally, as shown in FIG. 3B, the slide arms 83 are rotated in the opposite directions.
By directing a and 83b downward, the regulating arm 9 is moved from the same height as the front-end rear presser arm 7a as shown in FIG. 4 (a) to the front-end rear presser as shown in FIG. 4 (b). The package 3 taken out vertically with respect to the arm 7a is lowered to the lower height. The regulating arm 9 is a link arm 81
a, 81b, which presses the packaged product 3 from the side opposite to the pickup roller 52.

The operation of the layer-by-layer transfer device 1 having the above-mentioned configuration when taking out the packaged products 3 stacked and stored on, for example, the palletized product storage shelf 2a will be described with reference to the operation process chart of FIG. To do.

When the stacker crane 4 travels along the pallet-loaded product storage shelves 2a to 2n and advances to the pallet-loaded product storage shelves 2a in which the packages 3 to be taken out are stored and stopped, as shown in FIG. 5 (a). First, the loading platform 47 of the stacker crane 4 is moved up or down along the mast 44 to be aligned with the front surface of the packaged item 3 from which the carriage 5 is to be taken out. After that, the layer-by-layer transfer device 1 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the rear pressing arms 7a, 7b, 7c are extended until the regulating arm 9 reaches the rear of the packaged item 3. After the regulating arm 9 reaches the rear of the packaged item 3, the link mechanism 8 causes the regulating arm 9 to take out the regulating arm 9 as shown in FIG. Lower to the height of both items 3. When the packaged product 3 to be taken out is the lowermost packaged product 3, the link mechanism 8 lowers the regulating arm 9 to a height suitable for restricting the movement of the packaged product 3 to be taken out. in this way,
When the regulating arm 9 is inserted, the rear holding arms 7a, 7a
Since it is raised to the same height as b and 7c and lowered to a predetermined height when the packaged items 3 are taken out, it is possible to reduce the space for inserting the regulating arm 9 on the upper side of the stacked packaged items 3 The space of the pallet-loaded product storage shelves 2a to 2n can be effectively used. If the height of the rear pressing arms 7a, 7b, and 7c is the same when the restriction arm 9 is inserted, the link arms 81a and 81b of the link mechanism portions 8a and 8b are moved to the restriction arm 9 when hitting the uppermost packaged item 3. The regulating arm 9 may be lifted above the rear surface holding arms 7a, 7b, 7c by rotating in the direction opposite to the direction of lowering.

As described above, in the state in which the packed product 3 is held by the regulating arm 9, the layer-unit transfer device 1 rotates the pickup roller 52 as shown in FIG. Move horizontally in direction 3. When the pickup roller 52 hits the lower front part of the package 3, the package 3 is pressed against the pickup roller 52 because the movement of the carriage 5 in the traveling direction is regulated by the regulating arm 9. The packaged product 3 is lifted up by the frictional resistance between the packaged product 3 and the pickup roller 52, and is placed on the carriage roller 53 as shown in FIG.

After that, when the carriage 5 advances in the same manner and all of the uppermost package 3 is placed on the carriage roller 53, the regulating mechanism 9 is raised by the link mechanism portion 8 and then the carriage 5 and the back-side pressing arms 7a and 7b. , 7c is retracted to complete the removal of the packaged item 3. As described above, since the regulation arm 9 presses the uppermost package 3 and the lower package 3 to be taken out, the lower package 3 may collapse when the package 3 is taken out. Can be prevented. Further, since the height of the regulation arm 9 with respect to the packaged item 3 can be freely changed, the regulation arm 9 can be set to an optimum height in accordance with the shape such as the length and the height of the packaged item 3.

In the above-described embodiment, the package 3 stored in the pallet-loaded article storage shelves 2a to 2n and stacked and stored is the flow rack on the opposite side of the layer unit transfer device 1 or the layer unit storage shelf. However, as shown in the perspective view of FIG. 6, the delivery arm 10 is provided at the end of the rear-side presser arm 7a at the final stage on the side opposite to where the link mechanism 8 is provided.
Is provided, and the packed products 3 stacked and stored on the pallet-loaded product storage shelves 2a to 2n are stored on the pallet-loaded product storage shelves 2a to 2n.
It may be pushed out and transferred to a flow rack provided on the same side as n or a layer unit storage shelf.

Further, in the above embodiment, the distance between the carriage 5 and the spreader 6 is not changed, but, for example, a strut composed of a ball screw and an elevating / lowering drive unit for generating a driving force for rotating the ball screw are provided to make the carriage The interval between the spreader 5 and the spreader 6 may be freely changed.

Further, when the center of gravity of the packaged product 3 to be taken out is likely to move and fall over, the regulating arm 9 may be provided with a tilt stopper 11 so that the packaged product 3 does not tilt more than a certain amount. In this case, it is preferable that the tilt stopper 11 is housed in the regulation arm 9 when the regulation arm 9 moves.

Further, the regulating arm 9 is constituted by a roller or the like to reduce the frictional resistance force with the packaged article 3 so that the rear part of the packaged article 3 is directed downward by the frictional resistance force when the last row of the packaged article 3 is taken out. May be prevented from being pulled.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, the carriage mounted on the loading platform that moves up and down along the mast of the stacker crane that moves along the warehouse shelves has a picking roller arm that expands and contracts in the direction of the warehouse shelves. Also, the carriage roller is moved in the direction of the warehouse shelf, and the uppermost packaged articles that are stacked and stored are taken out by the rotation of the pickup roller and placed on the carriage roller, so that the packaged articles can be transferred layer by layer.

Further, the rear pressing arm is mounted on the bed of the stacker crane along the upper part of the carriage and expands and contracts in the direction of the warehouse shelf to align the position of the regulating arm with respect to the packaged item, so that it is regulated according to the width of the packaged item. The arm can be moved to an optimum position, and when the packaged product is taken out by the pickup roller, the regulation arm can press the packaged product to prevent the packaged product from falling over.

Further, since the regulating arm presses the packaged product from the side opposite to the pickup roller, the packaged product can be prevented from falling, and the friction between the packaged product and picking is small, and the packaged product can be easily tilted. , The pickup roller can easily pick up the packaged item.

Further, since the regulating arm is moved in the vertical direction with respect to the rear pressing arm, the regulating arm can be moved to the optimum position according to the height of the packaged item.

Furthermore, since the regulating arm can be moved to the optimum position according to the height of the packaged item, the boxed item can be prevented from falling and the packaged item can be taken out reliably.

Furthermore, the position of the regulating arm can be changed according to the height of the packaged item, and the packaged item to be picked up and the packaged item below it can be simultaneously pressed from the side opposite to the pickup roller. It is possible to prevent collapse and the like.

Further, because of the above-mentioned effect, the uppermost layer packaged goods which are stacked and stored are surely taken out and transferred to a horizontal conveyor, a flow rack or a layer unit storage shelf, etc.
Even when both the number of varieties handled and the number of sorting destinations are large,
Sorting can be performed with a small space without lowering the processing speed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a layout view of a pallet-loaded item storage rack and a layer-by-layer transfer device.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a layer unit transfer apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an operation process diagram showing the operation of the regulating arm when viewed from the top.

FIG. 4 is an operation process diagram showing the operation of the regulating arm when viewed from the back.

FIG. 5 is an operation process chart showing the operation of the layer-by-layer transfer device.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a back pressing arm according to another embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the regulating arm and the inclination stopper showing the arrangement of the inclination stopper.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of products using a flow rack.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a conventional automatic picking system.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing the operation of the conventional stratified picking system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1-layer unit transfer device 2 Pallet-loaded item storage shelf 3 Packing item 4 Stacker crane 44 Mast 47 Packing platform 5 Carriage 51 Picking roller arm 52 Pickup roller 53 Carriage roller 6 Spreader 7a ~ 7c Rear pressing arm 8 Link mechanism part 82 Swing motor 9 regulating arm 10 delivery arm 11 tilt stopper

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Katsumi Ikusawa, 1-2, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nihon Kokan Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor, Shinichiro Eto 1-2-1, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Steel Tube Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A stacker crane, a carriage, and a spreader are provided. The stacker crane includes a mast and a loading platform that vertically moves up and down along the mast, and runs along a warehouse shelf. The carriage has a picking roller arm, a pickup roller, and a carriage. It is equipped with a roller and mounted on the loading platform of a stacker crane, the picking roller arm expands and contracts in the direction of the warehouse shelf, and the pickup roller is installed at the tip of the most advanced arm of the picking roller arm and packed on the warehouse shelf. The carriage roller carries the packaged goods picked up by the pickup roller, the spreader is equipped with the rear holding arm and the regulating arm, and is mounted along the top of the carriage on the loading platform of the stacker crane. It expands and contracts in the direction of the shelves, and the regulation arm is the front end of the rear holding arm. A layer-by-layer transfer device, which is provided at a tip of an end arm and presses a packaged product from a side opposite to a pickup roller. 2. The regulating arm vertical moving means for moving the regulating arm in the vertical direction with respect to the rear pressing arm in accordance with the height of the packaged product at the tip of the most distal arm of the rear pressing arm. Layer transfer equipment.