JPH11278607A - Automatic warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To carry an article in and out of at least two-stage article storing shelves with only one truck. SOLUTION: Because a truck 11 in this automatic warehouse is provided with an elevating carrier 14 to freely move up and down, the elevating carrier 14 can be moved down such that it faces to an article storing shelves 6 in a step disposed one step or two steps below the article storing shelves 6 in a step on which the truck 11 travels left and right. Therefore, an article W is carried in and out of the article storing shelf 6 facing to the elevating carrier 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the following types of automatic warehouses are known. That is, it has a rack device having a large number of article storage shelves vertically and horizontally, a cart provided horizontally and horizontally movable in front of an article storage shelf group in each stage, and an article transfer device provided on the cart. Things are known. With respect to the article storage shelf group in the same stage, articles are stored and carried out by a cart provided horizontally and horizontally movable in front of the article storage shelf group in the stage.

[0003]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The above-mentioned conventional automatic warehouse stores and unloads articles from a group of article storage shelves in the same stage by a cart provided horizontally and horizontally movable in front of the group of article storage shelves. Therefore, a truck must be provided for each group of article storage shelves in each stage.
The present inventor has thought that it is possible to reduce the number of bogies compared to the conventional automatic warehouse, and as a result, has completed the present invention.

[0004]

Means for Achieving the Object The present invention employs the following means to achieve the object. The invention according to claim 1 is a rack device having a large number of article storage shelves vertically and horizontally, a cart provided horizontally and horizontally movable in front of a group of article storage shelves in a predetermined stage, and an article above or below the cart. It has a lifting platform provided on a cart so as to be able to move up and down so as to be able to face the storage shelf, and an article transfer device provided on the lifting platform. According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the first aspect of the present invention, further comprising an elevating device for moving the bogie in front of another group of article storage shelves.
The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the bogie can travel horizontally and horizontally in front of the group of article storage shelves of the rack device.

[0005]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained by the above configuration. According to the first aspect of the present invention, articles can be stored in and carried out from at least two levels of article storage shelves by one cart, so that a small number of carts can be effectively used to efficiently store and store articles. Can be carried out. According to the second aspect of the present invention, the cart can be moved to the front of the article storage shelf group in another stage, so that the cart can be moved to an area where storage / unloading is requested frequently, and articles can be efficiently collected with a small number of carts. It can be stored and carried out. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the trolley can move horizontally and horizontally in front of the article storage shelves in all stages, so that the position of the trolley according to the frequency of article storage / unloading requests. By making changes freely, by raising and lowering the platform of each truck so that they do not interfere with each other,
The efficiency of storing and unloading articles can be dramatically improved.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this description, the front means the lower side of FIG. 1, the rear means the upper side of the figure, the left means the left side of FIG. 1, and the right means the right side of the figure.

[0007] A pair of front and rear rack devices 2 are erected on the floor so as to open a long bogie passage 3 in the left-right direction.
The rack device 2 includes a plurality of front columns 4 arranged side by side at a predetermined interval, a rear column 4 arranged behind the front columns 4 with a predetermined interval therebetween, and a front column 4 And an article mounting plate 5 which is provided at predetermined intervals in the height direction and is long in the left-right direction. The article mounting plate 5 includes:
A plurality or a large number of articles W are placed so as to be arranged in the left-right direction. That is, since the portion of the article placement plate 5 on which one article W is placed is the article storage shelf 6, the article placement plate 5 that is long in the left-right direction forms a plurality or a large number of article storage shelves 6. Things.

The truck passages 3 of the front and rear rack devices 2 are located at substantially the same height as the article placing plates 5.
A guide rail 9 whose longitudinal direction is directed to the left and right is provided on the side. Front and rear guide rails 9 located at the same height
Are paired.

Along the front and rear set of guide rails 9,
A cart 11 [having a traveling device such as a traveling motor (not shown) and capable of self-propelling] is guided to be able to move left and right. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the carts 11 are arranged one by one in the even-numbered-stage article storage shelves 6. However, the number of the carts 11 and the manner of dispatching are as follows.
The present invention is not limited to this embodiment,
What is necessary is just to determine suitably according to the frequency of unloading. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the cart 11 has an article storage space 12 that is open frontward, rearward and downward, and the carriage 11 is attached to the carriage 11 so as to face the article storage space 12 from below. Are provided so as to be able to move up and down by four known lifting devices 13 which operate synchronously. Known lifting device 13
For example, a telescoping type elevating device that is telescopic is used. The elevating device 13 may be any device as long as the elevating table 14 can be opposed to the group of article storage shelves 6 at least one stage below. In this embodiment,
The elevator 14 can be opposed to the group of article storage shelves 6 two steps below.

The elevating table 14 is provided with a pair of left and right standing walls 16 which are long in the front-rear direction.
The front and rear moving plates 18 are provided on these left and right moving plates 18 so as to be slidable back and forth by a known sliding device. The known sliding devices include an intermediate sliding body interposed between the left and right moving plate 18 and the front and rear moving plate 19 and capable of moving back and forth with respect to both, an operating motor for the intermediate sliding body, and an intermediate sliding body. Moving plate 1 in conjunction with movement
Although it is very common to have an interlocking mechanism for sliding the intermediate sliding body 9 in the same direction as the intermediate sliding body, the invention is not limited to this.

At the front and rear ends of the left and right front and rear moving plates 19, hooking pieces 20 facing each other are provided. Note that the front and rear length of the article W is shorter than the length between the opposing surfaces of the front and rear hook pieces 20 facing each other. Elevator 14
The upper article W is pushed out of the lift 14 by the following operation. First, the left and right moving plates 18 are brought closer to each other, and the hook pieces 20 are opposed to the front and rear surfaces of the article W. Thereafter, the article W is pushed out of the lifting platform 14 by the hook pieces 20 by projecting the front and rear moving plate 19 forward or backward. Thereafter, the left and right moving plates 18 are separated from each other so that the hook pieces 20 are separated from the article W. After that, the protruding front and rear moving plate 19 is retracted onto the lift 14. The article W can be pulled into the lift 14 by the reverse operation. As is clear from the above description, the left and right operating devices 17, the left and right moving plates 18, the left and right moving plates 19, and the left and right hook pieces 20 constitute the article transfer device 21. The article transfer device may be like an article transfer robot having a robot hand.

As described above, since the carriage 14 is provided on the carriage 11 so as to be able to move up and down, the carriage 11 can be moved up and down. By moving the elevator 14 so as to face the group of shelves 6, the articles W can be stored and carried out to and from the article storage shelves 6 facing the elevator 14. When exchanging articles W between the elevator 14 and the article storage shelf 6, and when exchanging articles W between the elevator 14 and a drive roller conveyor 24 of the elevator 22, which will be described later, these articles are supported. The surface is flush or slightly lower in the article bearing surface on the side receiving the article W.

The right end 9a of each guide rail 9 protrudes rightward from the rack device 2 so that the carriage 11 can protrude rightward from the rack device 2. A loading lift 22 is provided behind the rear right end 9a group along the mast 23 so as to be movable up and down along the mast 23, and is movable up and down along the mast 23 in front of the front right end 9a group. A lifting platform 22 for carrying out is provided. A drive roller conveyer 24 is provided above the elevating table 22 so that the conveying direction is oriented in the front-rear direction. A loading drive roller conveyor 25 is provided on the floor behind the loading / unloading platform 22 so that the transport direction is in the front-rear direction. Is provided on the floor surface. With such a configuration, the articles W conveyed by the carry-in drive roller conveyor 25 are placed on the carry-in elevator 22 and conveyed to a predetermined height of the group of article storage shelves 6 at a predetermined level.
The trolley 11 stopped on the right end 9a facing the article W
Is transferred to the elevating table 14. The article W on the lift 14 of the carriage 11 is carried out via the lift 22 for carrying out and the drive roller conveyor 25 for carrying out.

On the right side of the right end 9a of the guide rail 9, there is provided an elevating device 28 for moving the trolley 11 to the trolley passage 3 corresponding to the group of article storage shelves 6 in another stage. The elevating device 28 includes a pair of front and rear masts 29, an elevating table 30 provided on the mast 29 so as to be able to move up and down,
And an operating device (not shown) for moving the elevating table 30 up and down. The elevating platform 30 is provided with guide rails 31 that are aligned with the guide rails 9 when the elevating platform 30 stops corresponding to the article storage shelves 6 in each stage. With such a configuration, by the following operation,
The carriage 11 can be moved to the carriage passage 3 corresponding to another group of article storage shelves 6 in another stage. Guide rail 9 of predetermined step
After the elevator 30 is stopped so that the guide rails 31 are arranged side by side, the carriage 11 is moved to the elevator 30 along the guide rails 31. Thereafter, the elevator 30 is raised or lowered, and the elevator 30 is stopped so that the guide rails 31 are arranged on the guide rails 9 of the article storage shelves 6 in another stage. Thereafter, the carriage 11 is transferred to the guide rail 9.

[0015]

[Modifications and the like] Modifications and the like will be described below. (1) The lift 14 may be moved upward with respect to the carriage 11. (2) The lifting platform 22 and the drive roller conveyor 25 may be provided on the left and right sides of the rack device 2, and two carts 11 may be allocated to one group of article storage shelves 6 in one stage. (3) There may be no rack device 2 on the front side.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified horizontal cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention, with an intermediate portion omitted.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an elevation view of a truck.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 rack device 6 article storage shelf 11 carriage 14 elevating platform 21 article placement device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A rack device having a large number of article storage shelves in up, down, left and right, a trolley provided horizontally and horizontally movable in front of a group of article storage shelves in a predetermined stage, and an article storage shelf above or below the trolley. An automatic warehouse having an elevating platform provided on a cart so as to be able to move up and down so as to be able to face the same, and an article transfer device provided on the elevating platform. 2. An elevating device for moving the cart in front of another group of article storage shelves is provided.
Automatic warehouse described. 3. The automatic warehouse according to claim 1, wherein a bogie can run horizontally and horizontally in front of a group of article storage shelves in the rack device.