JPH10279017A - Control device of automatic warehouse system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To ensure the reliability in connection, and to improve the maintenance, by respectively connecting a plug for a safety door, an emergency switch and a passing and loading of baggage detecting switch, with the controllers, connecting the outputs of the controllers by a pair of electrical wires, and inputting the same to a control device and a condition monitoring device. SOLUTION: An emergency stop switch 101 or a door safety plug 201 are respectively connected with the controllers 1101, 1102. A control device 901 can output an address from a control part 1115 through a communication part 911 first, and then can take an on/off condition of the switch transmitted from the controllers 1101, 1102, into a control part 912 through the communication part 911. A monitoring device 1201 totally monitors an automatic warehouse system, and monitors whether or not the system is normally operated, and in a case of abnormality, a position where an abnormality is generated is monitored. By connecting the data of the switches by a pair of cables, the monitoring device can be installed. A monitoring device control part 1212 can totally grasp the address on the data cable and the condition of the switch.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for an automatic warehouse system, and more particularly to a control device in which the number of contact signals indicating the state of equipment is reduced.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional automatic warehouse system, the state of a plug for a safety gate, an emergency stop switch, and a switch for detecting passage of a load and a load is connected between a switch and a control device by an electric wire. The safety gate plug and the emergency stop switch are divided into blocks for each device (stacker crane or the like) to be stopped when the switch is operated, and are connected to a series.

[0003]

For this reason, when the device stops, it is not known from the circuit which switch was activated. The number of safety gate plugs, emergency stop switches, and the passage of loads and load detection switches are very large in an automatic warehouse system, and the cables are long, so a lot of time is required for wiring checks at system startup and maintenance. In short,
In addition, since the number of cables is large, there is also a problem in reliability such as disconnection and poor contact. An example of this kind is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 6-104503.

[0004] The present invention makes it possible to clearly identify the switch which has been operated when the device is stopped, which is a problem in the prior art as described above.・ To maintain maintainability
It is necessary to reduce disconnection and poor contact.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a safety door plug, an emergency stop switch, and a passage / load detection switch for a load are connected to a controller which outputs the state of a contact point as a serial signal. . The output of the controller is connected by a pair of electric wires and input to the control device and the state monitoring device. The control device sequentially outputs addresses from 1 to each controller connected to the pair of cables. When the controller outputs its own address, it outputs the state of the connected contact. The controller includes a circuit for acquiring the state of the contact, a circuit for determining an address transmitted by a serial signal, and a circuit for outputting the state of the contact to a pair of cables. The above object can be achieved by connecting the controller to a pair of cables.

By connecting the controller, the control device, and the condition monitoring device to a pair of data cables, a plug for a safety gate, an emergency stop switch, and a passage / load detection switch for luggage can be taken into the control device and the condition monitoring device. Can be.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an automatic warehouse system.
Stacker cranes 401 to 412 for transporting the load are arranged in the load storage units 301 to 315, and the stacker cranes travel to load and unload the load between the crane and the rack. Stacker cranes are loading and unloading conveyors 501 to 5
From 15 the loading or unloading of luggage is performed. The luggage is transferred between the loop conveyor 601 or the traversers 701 and 702 and the entrance / exit conveyor.

[0009] The loop conveyor or traverser exchanges luggage with the picking stations 801 to 812. These devices operate in accordance with commands from the control devices 901 and 902, and store luggage from the picking station to the luggage storage unit, or unload desired luggage from the luggage storage unit to the picking station.

[0010] Since it is dangerous if a person enters while each device is operating, safety plugs 201 to 214 are all installed in the entrance door. The safety plugs are all connected to the control device, and when the safety plug is removed, the control device forcibly stops the corresponding device. For example, when the safety plug 201 is removed, the control device stops the stacker crane 401.

In addition, emergency stop switches 101 to 112 that are operated when the operator senses danger are provided. The emergency stop switches are all connected to the control device, and when the operator operates the emergency stop switch, the control device forcibly stops the corresponding device. For example, when the emergency stop switch 109 is operated, the control device stops the stacker crane 410, the loading / unloading conveyor 513, and the picking stations 804 and 805.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the picking station 801. The picking station 801 and the traverser 701 have loading switches 1003, 1004, 1007 for detecting the presence / absence of luggage and passage switches 1001, 1002, 1 for detecting the passage of luggage.
008 are installed and all are connected to the control device. When storing or unloading luggage, the switch confirms that luggage is moving according to a sequence in the control device.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of the controller. The emergency stop switch 101 or the door safety plug 201 is connected to controllers 1101 and 1102, respectively. The power supply 913 of the control device 901 is connected to the controller. The output voltage of the in-controller voltage stabilizer 1114 is applied to the switch 101. When the switch 101 is turned on, the photocoupler 11
The control unit 1115 receives the ON state of the switch via the switch 11. When the switch is off, no current flows through the photocoupler, so that the control unit 1115 captures the switch state. If the address transmitted via the communication unit matches the own address stored in the control unit in advance, the control unit outputs the ON / OFF state of the switch via the communication unit 1116. Control device 90
1 can output an address from the control unit via the communication unit 911, and can take in the on / off state of the switch transmitted from each controller to the control unit 912 via the communication unit 911.

The entire automatic warehouse system is monitored, and the monitoring device 1201 monitors whether the system is operating normally, or at any point in the event of an abnormality. By connecting the data of each switch with a pair of cables, this monitoring device can be installed. The monitoring device control unit 1212 can grasp the state of each switch via the communication unit 1211 via the address on the data cable and the state of the switch. FIG. 4 shows the timing of addresses and data on the data cable.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, a safety plug, an emergency stop switch, a loading switch, a passing switch, and the like, and a control device can be connected with a pair of data cables and a pair of power cables, and the connection reliability is improved. Can be secured and maintainability can be improved. Further, since the monitoring device can be easily connected to the pair of data cables, it is possible to monitor which switch has been operated in the event of an abnormality.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an automatic warehouse system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a picking station.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a controller.

FIG. 4 is a time chart diagram on a data cable.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 to 112 ... emergency stop switch, 201 to 214 ...
Door safety plug, 1101, 1102: controller, 1114: voltage stabilizer, 912, 1115, 1212: controller, 91
1,1116,1211 ... communication unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] At least one rack in which a luggage storage section is formed in a matrix is arranged, a traveling rail is provided along a direction in which the racks are arranged, and a stacker crane travels on the traveling rail to load the luggage between the crane and the rack. In an automatic warehouse system for loading and unloading cargo from a traverser arranged at right angles to a stacker crane and loading and unloading cargo from a picking station to a traverser, a plug for safety door, The automatic stop switch is connected to a controller that transmits the status of the emergency stop switch and the passage of the load and the load detection switch in a time-division manner, and is transmitted to the control device in a time-division manner with a pair of cables to reduce the number of signal cables. Control system for warehouse system.