JPH1017117A - Storage device using rotary shelf - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a storage device to perform an efficient input and output work, reduce an installation space, and reduce a cost. SOLUTION: A conveyor 8 is arranged to be driven in a reverse direction to a shelf unit 3 along the straight part of the movement route of the shelf unit 3 of a rotary shelf 2 and an article W is delivered between the rotary shelf and a conveyor by a transfer machine 9. The transfer machine 9 is provided with an arm 13 for input integrally moved backward in a horizontal direction, and an elevation body on which an arm 14 for output is mounted. Article holding tools to perform operation to hold an article and operation to release the article are arranged approximately in the same level. Since the article holding tools perform operations reverse to each other in linkage with each other, operation to input and output an article in and from the rotary shelf is performed through one forward and backward movement action of the arm 13 for input and the arm 14 for output.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a storage apparatus for articles using a rotating shelf, and more particularly to a storage apparatus for efficiently performing first-in first-out.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-223605, a plurality of shelves for storing articles are circulated along an elliptical movement path by connecting a shelf unit endlessly. 2. Description of the Related Art There has been known a storage apparatus in which articles are automatically taken in and out of a rotating shelf driven by a transfer machine. In the device, a swivel is provided on an elevating platform that moves up and down along a column, and a transfer machine equipped with an article push-pull device that can move forward and backward in the horizontal direction is installed on the revolving platform of the rotary shelf on the swivel. ing.

[0003]

However, in the conventional storage apparatus as described above, since the loading and unloading is performed by a single transfer machine from the rotating shelf, the article loading and unloading operations are alternately performed. In such a case, there is a problem that the working efficiency becomes very poor.

[0004] In order to solve this problem, there are two transfer machines that perform only the warehousing operation and two transfer machines that perform only the unloading operation.
It is also conceivable to perform the loading and unloading work independently using a table, but in that case, a large installation space is required and the problem that the cost is greatly increased occurs.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and to provide a low-cost storage device which can perform a loading / unloading operation efficiently, and requires a small installation space.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a storage apparatus using a rotating shelf according to the present invention comprises a plurality of shelf units having shelves for storing articles, connected endlessly, and having a horizontal section including a linear portion. A rotating shelf that is intermittently driven to circulate along a closed path, and a conveyor that is arranged along a linear portion of the path and that is driven in a direction opposite to the moving direction of the shelf unit;
A lifting unit that moves up and down along the machine frame, and a storage arm and a storage arm that move in and out of the rack unit that passes from the lifting unit in a horizontal direction to a shelf unit that passes through the linear portion of the path. A transfer machine for transferring articles to and from a shelf, wherein the stocking arm and the stocking arm are provided with article holders for holding and releasing articles at substantially the same level, respectively. The article holders are configured to perform opposite operations in conjunction with each other.

[0007] It is desirable that the center interval between the storage arm and the storage arm is substantially equal to the pitch between the shelf rows in the linear portion of the rotating shelf. It is also desirable that the conveyor is arranged between a rotating shelf and a transfer machine.

[0008]

When no goods have been stored in the rotating shelf, the rotating shelf is stopped, and the goods to be stored are carried by the conveyor to the position of the transfer machine, where the conveyor stops. Next, after the lifting / lowering body moves and the article holding tool of the stocking arm holds the articles to be stocked on the conveyor,
The elevating body moves to the height of the lowermost shelf of the rotating shelf, and further, the stocking arm is extended to release the article from the article holder and place the article on the shelf. At this time, the retrieval arm also extends integrally with the retrieval arm and enters the shelf in a different row from the shelf into which the retrieval arm enters, but since the inside of the shelf is still empty, the items held by the retrieval arm are held. The fixture does not hold anything.

[0009] Then, after the arm for retrieval and the arm for retrieval are retracted, the elevating body moves to the height of the conveyor, receives the next article conveyed by the conveyor in the same procedure as described above, and returns to the rotating shelf. Store in the next shelf. When the articles are completely stored in the top row of one shelf row, the rotating shelf is rotated by one pitch of the row and stopped, and the similar loading operation is repeated. On the other hand, when the row of shelves in which articles have already been stored circulates and moves to a position corresponding to the unloading arm of the transfer machine, the unloading operation is started simultaneously with the unloading operation.

[0010] That is, at the same time that the storage arm holds the article in the article holder and enters the empty shelf, the delivery arm integrated therewith is placed in the shelf in the shelf row in which the article is already stored. Get in. Then, in conjunction with the operation of the article holding tool of the arm for storing and releasing the article on the shelf, the article holding tool of the arm for leaving and holding holds the article mounted on the shelf.

Thereafter, the article is withdrawn from the shelf by the retreating operation of the retrieval arm, and then placed on a conveyor stopped by the movement of the elevating body, and released from the article holder. At the same time, the article holding device of the stocking arm holds the articles to be newly stocked on the conveyor.
The above operation is repeated. Articles released on the conveyor from the delivery arm are conveyed to the downstream by the movement of the conveyor, and at the same time, new articles to be stored are carried from the upstream side, and continuous loading and unloading operations by first-in first-out on the rotating shelf are performed. Repeated.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing one embodiment of a storage device using a rotating shelf according to the present invention.
Has a rotating shelf 2. The rotating shelf 2 is composed of a plurality of shelf units 3 connected endlessly and intermittently driven to circulate along a horizontal closed path.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the rotary shelf 2,
As shown in the figure, each shelf unit 3 constituting the rotating shelf 2 has a plurality of shelves 3A for storing articles W, and is provided on an oval guide rail 4 forming the path. It is movably supported by support wheels 5.

As shown in FIG. 1, these shelf units 3
Are connected to the chains which are wound around the sprockets 6 and 7 provided at the reversing portions of the moving path of the shelf unit 3, respectively. And the sprockets 6, 7
Is connected to a drive source (not shown), and the drive source is configured to intermittently drive the shelf unit 3 in one direction by one pitch P.

A conveyor 8 is provided along a linear portion of the moving path of each shelf unit 3, and articles W stored in the rotating shelf 2 are carried in from the upstream side by the conveyor 8, and are unloaded. The article W is sent to the downstream side.
On the opposite side of the conveyor 8 from the rotating shelf 3, a transfer machine 9 for transferring articles W between the rotating shelf 3 and the conveyor 8 is installed. FIG. 3 is a side view of the storage device 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the transfer machine 9 includes an elevating body 12 that is moved up and down along a machine frame 10 by an elevating drive device 11. The storage arm 12 is provided with a storage arm 13 and a storage arm 14 that are driven to advance and retreat in the horizontal direction from directly above the conveying surface of the conveyor 8 into the shelf 3A of the shelf unit 3 of the rotating shelf 2.

The storage arm 13 and the storage arm 14
Are connected to each other, as shown in FIG.
An air cylinder 15 mounted on the elevating body 12 is driven integrally forward and backward. Further, as shown in FIG.
Is set to be substantially equal to the pitch between adjacent shelf rows in the linear portion of the rotating shelf 3 shown in FIG.
In this embodiment, since one shelf row is formed in one shelf unit 3, the pitch between the shelf rows is equal to the pitch P of the linear portion between the respective shelf units 3.

An article holder for detachably holding an article W is attached to the tip end of each of the stocking arm 13 and the stocking arm 14. In this embodiment, the article holder is constituted by suction pads 16 and 17 for vacuum-sucking the upper surface of the article W, and these suction surfaces are set at substantially the same level. The suction pad 1
When one of the suction pads 6 and the suction pad 17 holds the article W by suction, the suction of air is controlled so that the other is in an open state.

The elevating body 12 has guide rollers 1 rotatably provided at upper and lower positions on both sides thereof.
8 and 19 are adapted to be guided and supported by an elevating rail 20 attached to the machine frame 10 shown in FIG. 3, and to supply air to the air cylinder 15 and air from suction pads 16 and 17. Is performed from the machine frame 10 side via the flexible pipe 21 shown in FIG.

In a state where no article W has been stored in the rotating shelf 2 of the storage apparatus 1 of the present invention configured as described above, the rotating shelf 2 has two adjacent shelf units 3 transferred. The machine 9 is stopped at a position facing the storage arm 13 and the storage arm 14, respectively.

The articles W to be stored are transferred on the conveyor 8 by the transfer machine 7.
Is transported to a position below the storage arm 13 of
The article W is detected by detecting means (not shown), and the conveyor 8 is positioned so that the article W is located immediately below the suction pad 16 of the storage arm 13 and stops.

Next, after the lifting / lowering body 12 is lowered and the suction pad 16 of the storage arm 13 sucks and holds the article W, the lifting / lowering body 12 is moved to the height of the lowest shelf 3A of the stopped shelf unit 3. The article W is placed on the shelf 3A by ascending and extending the storage arm 13 to release the article from the suction pad 16. At this time, the storage arm 14 integrated with the storage arm 13 is the shelf 3 into which the storage arm 13 enters.
A enters the shelf 3A of the shelf unit 3 next to A, but the interior of the shelf 3A is still empty and the suction pad 1
7 holds nothing.

Next, after retracting the stocking arm 13 and the stocking arm 14, the elevating body 12 is lowered, and the next article W conveyed by the conveyor 8 is received in the same procedure as described above. The goods are stored in the shelf 3A at the upper stage of the shelf unit 3. In this way, when the articles W are stored up to the uppermost row of the shelf row of one shelf unit 3, the shelf unit 3 is moved to 1
After rotating by the pitch, the storage operation is similarly repeated for the next row of shelves.

On the other hand, when the shelf unit 3 in which the articles W have already been stored circulates and moves to a position corresponding to the retrieval arm 14, the retrieval operation starts simultaneously with the retrieval operation. That is, at the same time that the storage arm 13 holds the article on the suction pad 16 and enters the empty shelf 3A, the delivery arm 14 that moves integrally therewith is the shelf in the shelf row in which the article is already stored. Intrudes into 3A. Then, in conjunction with the operation of the article holder of the storage arm 13 separating the article and placing it on the shelf, the suction pad 17 of the delivery arm 14 suctions and holds the article W placed on the shelf. .

The article W is withdrawn from the shelf 3A by the retreating operation of the unloading arm 14, and then placed on the stopped conveyor 8 by the lowering of the elevating body 12,
It is released from the suction pad 17. At the same time, the suction pad 16 of the storage arm 13 holds a new article W on the conveyor 8. Thereafter, a continuous in / out operation of first-in first-out to the rotating shelf is repeated.

In the above-described embodiment, only one shelf row is formed in one shelf unit. However, a plurality of shelf rows may be formed in one shelf unit. In that case, the pitch between adjacent rows of shelves in the linear portion may be set to be the same both within one shelf unit and between two adjacent shelf units. Further, in this embodiment, the interval between the arm for entry and the arm for exit is set substantially equal to the pitch between the rows of shelves in the linear portion of the rotating shelf. Alternatively, the conveyors may be separately installed on the entry side and the exit side for entry and exit, respectively, and both conveyors may be driven synchronously with the entry / exit timing.

Further, in the present embodiment, the rotating shelf is provided so as to move along an elliptical path. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a linear portion is provided only in a part of the path. It is only necessary to be configured so as to be able to enter and leave the conveyor. Further, by using a transfer machine having a structure in which the storage arm and the storage arm can be extended to both sides of the lifting column, the transfer machine can be arranged between the rotating shelf and the conveyor. Also, depending on the shape and weight of the article,
When the suction pad cannot be used as the article holder, a gripper or the like having a structure like a robot hand that holds the article from both sides may be used.

[0027]

As described above, according to the storage device using the rotating shelf of the present invention, the loading / unloading operation of the articles to / from the rotating shelf can be performed by one transfer machine by one of the receiving arm and the discharging arm. It can be installed in a small space because it can be performed by the forward and backward operation of the number of times, and can reduce the cost of the equipment.
The advance delivery system eliminates the need for complicated shelf address management, allows easy and reliable control of the transfer equipment, and is particularly useful when articles are stored in and out of the rotating shelf without interruption. Provides a very high working efficiency.

When the interval between the arm for entry and the arm for exit is substantially equal to the pitch between the rows of rotating shelves, the empty shelves from which articles are taken out at the exit position have
Since new articles are immediately stored at the next storage position, there is no useless empty row of empty shelves, and the article storage efficiency of the entire rotating shelf can be increased.

Further, when the transfer machine is installed on the side opposite to the rotary shelf with respect to the conveyor, the storage arm and the storage arm of the transfer machine are moved from the elevating body to the rotary shelf side. Since the structure only extends, there is no waste in the operation, the warehousing operation can be performed quickly at the shortest distance, and the operation mechanism of the arm for warehousing and the arm for warehousing is simplified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing one embodiment of a storage device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a rotating shelf used in the storage device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing one embodiment of the storage apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of an elevating body of a transfer machine used for the storage apparatus of the present invention, and a storage arm and a storage arm.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a lifting / lowering body of a transfer machine used for a storage device of the present invention, a storage arm, and a storage arm.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Storage apparatus 2 Rotating shelf 3 Shelf unit 3A shelf 4 Guide rail 5 Support wheel 6,7 Sprocket 8 Conveyor 9 Transfer machine 10 Machine frame 11 Elevating drive unit 12 Elevating body 13 Arm for stocking 14 Arm for unloading 15 Air cylinder 16, 17 suction pad (article holder) 18, 19 guide roller 20 lifting rail

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A rotating shelf that is connected endlessly to a plurality of shelf units having shelves for storing articles, and that is intermittently driven to circulate along a horizontal closed path including a linear portion; A conveyor driven along a direction opposite to the moving direction of the shelf unit, a lifting unit that moves up and down along a machine frame, and a shelf unit that passes from the lifting unit and passes through a linear portion of the path. A transfer machine for transferring articles between the conveyor and the rotating shelf, the transfer arm having a receiving arm and a discharging arm integrally moving in and out in the horizontal direction; and Are provided with article holders for holding and releasing articles at substantially the same level, and these article holders are configured to perform opposite operations in conjunction with each other. Storage device using. 2. The storage using a rotating shelf according to claim 1, wherein a center interval between the storage arm and the storage arm is set substantially equal to a pitch between shelves in a straight portion of the path. apparatus. 3. The storage device using a rotating shelf according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor is disposed between the rotating shelf and a transfer machine.