JPH11301808A - Automatic warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic warehouse where articles can be transferred to a main conveyor without stopping a flow of the articles and a carrying-in conveyor can manage with a small installation area. SOLUTION: This warehouse comprises a plurality of article storage devices, a transferring device moving along a width of the article storage device, a main conveyer 3 with an article carrying-in-and-out part, and a plurality of carrying-in conveyers 4 and carrying-out conveyers 5 located between the main conveyer 3 and the transferring device, wherein the main conveyer 3 has a conveyer part 3a which comprises a carrier 13 for carrying an article A and a pressing shoe 14 which can move together with the carrier 13 so as to move to a direction at right angle to a carrying direction, and a plurality of the carrying-in conveyers 4 are an orthogonal carrying-in conveyer which branches to a carrying direction of the conveyer part 3a so that, when the article A on the conveyer part 3a is transferred to the orthogonal carrying-in conveyer 4, a plurality of the pressing shoes 14 are to be linear along the carrying direction so as to press and transfer the article.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plurality of article storage devices having a large number of article storage sections for storing articles,
A transfer device that moves along the frontage of the plurality of article storage devices and transfers the article to and from each article storage unit; a main conveyor including an article loading unit and an article unloading unit; A plurality of carry-in conveyors located between the conveyor and the transfer device for carrying articles on the main conveyor into the transfer device; and articles from the transfer device located between the main conveyor and the transfer device. And an automatic warehouse provided with a plurality of unloading conveyors for unloading the main conveyor onto a main conveyor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In such an automatic warehouse, conventionally,
An article storage device in which the main conveyor is constituted by a roller conveyor having a large number of rollers, and the carry-in conveyor is constituted by a chain conveyor having a rotatable chain, and articles conveyed by the main conveyor are to be stored. Once it reaches the location of the carry-in conveyor corresponding to, the conveyance of the goods by the main conveyor is stopped once, the chain of the carry-in conveyor is rotated and raised, and the goods on the main conveyor are picked up by the chain of the carry-in conveyor and transferred. An arrangement configured to carry the information is known.

Further, the main conveyor and the carry-in conveyor are both constituted by roller conveyors having a large number of rollers, and the carry-in conveyor is branched so as to be bent obliquely forward with respect to the main conveyor conveyance direction. Compositions are also known.

[0004]

However, in the former of the prior art described above, when the articles on the main conveyor are transferred to the carry-in conveyor, the articles are temporarily stopped by the main conveyor and the articles are transferred to the carry-in conveyor. Due to the need to transfer, the flow of goods stops when transferring to the carry-in conveyor,
Therefore, there is an inconvenience that it takes time to carry in the articles.

In the latter case, articles can be transferred to a carry-in conveyor without stopping the flow of articles. However, articles conveyed by a main conveyor are gradually directed by a curved roller-type carry-in conveyor. Therefore, the length of the carry-in conveyor is increased, so that a certain distance is required between the main conveyor and the article storage device, and the installation area is increased.

The present invention focuses on such a conventional problem, and its purpose is to transfer articles from a main conveyor to a carry-in conveyor and to transfer articles from a carry-out conveyor to the same main conveyor. And the transfer of the article can be performed without stopping the flow of the article, and the time required for the transfer of the article can be reduced, and
An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic warehouse capable of shortening the length of a carry-in conveyor and reducing an installation area.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of carry-in conveyors for carrying articles on the main conveyor to an article storage device are provided. And a plurality of unloading conveyors for unloading articles stored in the article storage device onto the main conveyor, so that articles can be unloaded and loaded using the same main conveyor. The main conveyor includes a conveyor for placing and conveying the articles, and a pressing shoe that moves integrally with the conveyor and is movable in a direction substantially orthogonal to the direction of conveyance by the conveyor. A plurality of carry-in conveyors, the plurality of carry-in conveyors comprising an orthogonal carry-in conveyor branching in a direction substantially perpendicular to the carrying direction with respect to the conveyor part, and transferring articles on the conveyor part to the orthogonal carry-in conveyor. Since a plurality of pressing shoes are to be pressed and transferred in a substantially straight line along the conveying direction of the conveyor portion, the flow of the articles is stopped when transferring the articles from the main conveyor to the carry-in conveyor. The transfer conveyor can be shortened, the transfer time can be shortened, and the carry-in conveyor is made orthogonal so that the length of the carry-in conveyor is relatively short and the installation floor area is reduced. It can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the plurality of unloading conveyors are also constituted by the orthogonal unloading conveyors for unloading articles from the conveyor portion in a direction substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction. In addition to the carry-in conveyor described above, the length of the carry-out conveyor can also be shortened, and the article storage device and the main conveyor can be brought close to each other to further reduce the installation floor area.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the main conveyor is composed of a pair of conveyor parts arranged side by side with the conveyance directions of the conveyance bodies being opposite to each other, and the two conveyor parts at the ends of the pair of conveyor parts. With a pair of turn conveyors to be connected, the conveyor is configured to form a loop-shaped conveyance path, and on a conveyor part different from a conveyor part provided with a carry-in conveyor and a carry-out conveyor, the article carry-in part and the article carry-out part. Is provided, the article can be unloaded to the article unloading section by the pressing shoe without stopping the flow of the article even when unloading the article from the main conveyor to the article unloading section. It is possible to efficiently transfer articles to the main conveyor without stopping the main conveyor configured in the shape.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the turn conveyor is configured so that the posture of the article conveyed from one of the conveyor portions is turned substantially 180 degrees in the horizontal direction and is conveyed to the other conveyor portion. Therefore, the direction of the article is always kept constant with respect to the transport direction of the main conveyor formed in a loop shape, for example,
This is particularly effective for articles that need to specify the direction of storage when the articles are stored in the article storage device.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the carrier is composed of a large number of slats, and the pressing shoe is movably supported on each slat. For example, the pressing shoe is separate from the slat. The structure can be simplified as compared with the case where the supporting member is provided.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An automatic warehouse according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This automated warehouse, as shown in Figure 1,
Article storage shelves 1 as an article storage device are installed in pairs with their fronts facing each other, and a plurality of paired article storage shelves 1 are installed in parallel with each other. Between them, a stacker crane 2 as a transfer device that can move along the frontage of the article storage shelf 1 is provided. Each stacker crane 2 is provided with an elevating platform having a fork that can move in and out, and a container that stores various articles by the self-propelled operation of the stacker crane 2 and the up and down movement of the elevating platform, and the operation of fork moving in and out. An article A such as a cardboard box or a cardboard box can be placed and carried into or out of the article storage section of the article storage shelf 1.

A loop-shaped main conveyor 3 for carrying in / out the articles A is provided on the carry-in / out side of each article storage shelf 1, and between each pair of the article storage shelves 1 and the main conveyor 3 is provided. A carry-in conveyor 4 for carrying the articles A on the main conveyor 3 to the stacker crane 2;
And an unloading conveyor 5 for unloading the articles A from the main conveyor 3. The loading conveyor 4
The main conveyor 3 is constituted by an orthogonal type conveyor which branches in a direction substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction and conveys the articles A. The conveying end of the orthogonal type conveyer 4 is connected to the stacker crane 2. There is provided a carry-in lifter 6 for transferring the articles A between them. The unloading conveyor 5 is also composed of an orthogonal conveyor that unloads the articles A from a direction substantially orthogonal to the transport direction of the mains conveyor 3, and has a stacker crane 2 at the starting end of the orthogonal unloading conveyor 5 in the transport direction. And a carry-out lifter 7 for transferring the article A between them.

The main conveyor 3 has a shelf-side slat conveyor 3a as a conveyor portion arranged close to the article storage shelf 1 side, and the conveying direction of the main slat conveyor 3a is opposite to the conveying direction of the shelf-side slat conveyor 3a. And a handling-side slat conveyor 3b as a conveyor part arranged side by side adjacent to the shelf-side slat conveyor 3a, and the carry-in conveyor 4 and the carry-out conveyor 5 are provided with respect to the shelf-side slat conveyor 3a. A is configured to carry in and out. A loading conveyor 8 is provided for the loading side slat conveyor 3b as a loading section for loading the articles A, and the loading area 9 is provided with the loading section A.
9a as an article carrying-out section for carrying out the goods A after carrying the goods A after carrying out the goods A after carrying out the goods.
Are provided.

As described above, the pair of slat conveyors 3a and 3b which are arranged side by side so that the conveying directions are opposite to each other,
Driven at the same transport speed, and at both ends,
The direction of the articles A from the shelf side slat conveyor 3a is changed by 180 degrees while the orientation of the articles A from the shelf side slat conveyor 3a is changed to 180 degrees while maintaining the horizontal posture, and the direction of the articles A from the cargo handling side slat conveyor 3b is changed. The main conveyor 3 is composed of a pair of slat conveyors 3a and 3b and a pair of turn conveyors 3c and 3d, which are connected to each other by a turn conveyor 3d which is transported and transferred to the shelf side slat conveyor 3a while changing the position by 180 degrees while maintaining the horizontal posture. Have been.

Both slat conveyors 3a and 3b have the same structure, and as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, a pair of left and right frames 10 are provided when viewed from the transport direction.
A pair of left and right endless chains 11 is wound between the two sprockets, and a pair of right and left chains is driven by rotating the driving sprocket by an electric motor 12. 11 is configured to move in the transport direction above the frame 10 and move in the opposite direction below the frame 10. Between the pair of left and right chains 11, a slender slat 1 as a carrier for placing and transporting the article A
3 are attached, and each slat 13 has an article A
To transfer it to the orthogonal loading conveyor 4 side,
A pressing shoe 14, which is pressed and transferred to the conveyor 9a side to the cargo handling area 9, is externally fitted to be movable integrally with each slat 13.

A pin 15 protrudes below each pressing shoe 14, and a guide wheel 16 is slidably mounted on the pin 15. Inside the pair of left and right frames 10, a guide wheel of each pressing shoe 14 is provided. The main guide 17 that guides 16
A pair of right and left is provided along the chain 11. Above the pair of left and right main guides 17, as shown in FIG. 5, the two main guides 17 are diagonally connected to each of the orthogonal carry-in conveyors 4 and the conveyor 9 a to the cargo handling area 9. In this state, a plurality of branch guides 18 are provided. Further, below the main guide 17, one return guide 19 that connects the two main guides 17 diagonally is provided.
(See FIG. 3). One of the pair of left and right main guides 17 is provided along the entire length of the endless chain 11, and the other is provided along the upper chain 11 and the return guide 19. At the end. In the vicinity of the branch guide 18, a direction change tool 20 having a plurality of direction change portions 20a is provided in order to turn the plurality of guide wheels 16 guided by the main guide 17 toward the branch guide 18 at once. The direction changing tool 20 is provided so as to be able to move back and forth by an air cylinder 21.

The shelf-side slat conveyor 3a and the unloading-side slat conveyor 3b are configured as described above.
When the pair of left and right chains 11 is rotationally driven by the driving sprocket, the slats 13 and the pressing shoe 14 fitted to the slats 13 are also rotationally driven together with the chain 11, and the slats 1 are rotated.
3 transports the article A placed thereon. When the article A is transferred to the orthogonal carry-in conveyor 4 or the conveyor 9a to the cargo handling area 9, the direction changing tool 20 is moved to the main guide 17 side by the air cylinder 21 as shown in FIG. The pins 15 projecting and supporting the plurality of guide wheels 16 that have moved along the main guides 17 are brought into contact with and guided by the respective direction change portions 20a, and the plurality of guide wheels 16 are simultaneously moved to the respective branch guides 18 side. Turned to Then, due to the movement of each slat 13 in the transport direction and the guiding action of the branch guide 18 to each guide wheel 16, as shown in FIG. 2, the plurality of pressing shoes 14 are moved along the transport direction of the slat conveyors 3a, 3b. In a substantially linear state, the article A is pressed and transferred to the orthogonal carry-in conveyor 4 or the conveyor 9a. Thereafter, the pressing shoe 14 used for transferring the article A is returned to the original state by the return guide 19. It is returned to the main guide 17 side.

The turn conveyors 3c and 3d have the same structure, and as shown in FIG.
2 and a substantially semicircular guide frame 23, and each drive roller 22 is rotationally driven in synchronization with each other by an electric motor (not shown), so that the driving force of the drive roller 22 and the guide action of the guide frame 23 are used. The article A is configured to be conveyed while changing its direction by 180 degrees in the horizontal posture.

The orthogonal carrying conveyor 4 and the conveyor 9a to the cargo handling area 9 have the same structure and are constituted by a roller conveyor having a plurality of rollers, and a plurality of carrying rollers having different lengths. 24 are arranged so as to change the angle rapidly, and these carry-in rollers 24 are configured to be rotationally driven in synchronization with each other by an electric motor (not shown). The orthogonal carry-out conveyor 5, the carry-in conveyor 8, and the conveyor 9b from the unloading area 9 are all of the same structure, and include a first roller conveyor 25 having a plurality of rotationally driven rollers and a plurality of idler conveyors. A second roller conveyor 26 provided with rollers, and the second roller conveyor 26 moves along the transport direction of the shelf-side slat conveyor 3a or the unloading-side slat conveyor 3b,
A horizontally long pressing member 27 that presses the article A is provided, and a pressing body 28 is rotatably provided on the pressing member 27, and moves along the longitudinal direction of the pressing member 27 in the protruding posture. It is configured to press the article A.

When the article A is sent from the first roller conveyor 25, the pressing member 27 moves along the conveying direction of the shelf-side slat conveyor 3a or the unloading-side slat conveyor 3b, and the pressing member moves. The pressing body 28 in the protruding posture moves along the 27 toward the shelf-side slat conveyor 3a and the unloading-side slat conveyor 3b. Therefore, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 2, the article A crosses the second roller conveyor 26 diagonally and at a speed synchronized with the transport speed of the shelf-side slat conveyor 3a and the unloading-side slat conveyor 3b. It is configured to be transferred onto the shelf side slat conveyor 3a and the cargo handling side slat conveyor 3b.

The operation of the automatic warehouse having the above configuration is controlled by a control device (not shown) using a microcomputer. Specifically, when the articles A are to be carried in from the carry-in conveyor 8, information about the articles A to be carried in is input to an operation device (not shown). The storage shelf 1 and its article storage section are selected. Then, the pressing member 27 and the pressing body 28 are operated based on a signal from a non-illustrated load detection means provided on the second roller conveyor 26 of the carry-in conveyor 8, and the article A is handled on the slat conveyor on the handling side. The slat conveyor 3 on the handling side in synchronization with the conveying speed of the conveyor 3b
b.

Thereafter, the articles A transported by the shelf-side slat conveyor 3a via the handling-side slat conveyor 3b and the turn conveyor 3d are transferred to the article storage shelf 1 to be carried in.
When it reaches a predetermined position with respect to the orthogonal carrying conveyor 4 corresponding to the above, the air cylinder 21 is operated based on a signal from the presence detection means (not shown) to project the direction changing tool 20 toward the main guide 17. Let it. Then, a predetermined number of pressing shoes 14
The guide wheel 16 is turned from the main guide 17 to the branch guide 18 side, and the predetermined number of pressing shoes 14 presses the article A in a state of being linearly formed along the transport direction of the shelf-side slat conveyor 3a. Then, it is branched and transferred to the orthogonal type carry-in conveyor 4.

When the article A reaches the carry-in lifter 6, the carry-in lifter 6 is raised based on a signal from the presence detecting means, and the article A is scooped by the fork of the stacker crane 2. Thereafter, the fork of the stacker crane 2 is retracted, the article A is transferred onto the lift of the stacker crane 2, the self-propelled movement of the stacker crane 2 and the vertical movement of the lift,
Further, the article A is placed and stored in the article storage section of the article storage shelf 1 by the withdrawal operation of the fork, and the loading operation of the article A is completed.

When carrying out the unloading operation by unloading the article A, information on the article A is input to the operation device. Then, based on the input information, the control device selects the article storage shelf 1 in which the article A to be carried out is stored and the article storage section. Then, contrary to the above-mentioned loading operation, the stacker crane 2 unloads the article A from the article storage section of the selected article storage shelf 1 and transfers the article A onto the unloading lifter 7. It is lowered and transferred onto the orthogonal carry-out conveyor 5. Then, the pressing member 27 and the pressing body 28 are actuated based on a signal from a non-illustrated presence detection means provided on the second roller conveyor 26 of the orthogonal discharge conveyor 5, and the article A is moved to the shelf side slat conveyor. It is carried out onto the shelf side slat conveyor 3a in a state synchronized with the transport speed of 3a.

When the article A to be handled reaches a predetermined position on the handling-side slat conveyor 3b via the shelf-side slat conveyor 3a or the turn conveyor 3c, similarly to the above-described shelf-side slat conveyor 3a, FIG. The air cylinder 21 is actuated based on a signal from the outside presence detection means, and the articles A are pressed by a predetermined number of pressing shoes 14 to be diverted and transferred to the conveyor 9a in the unloading area 9, where the conveyor 9a is moved. It is transported to the unloading area 9. When the operation device is operated after the cargo handling operation is completed, the conveyor 9b in the cargo handling area 9 transfers the articles A onto the cargo handling side slat conveyor 3b, and, like the above-described carrying-in operation, the articles after handling. A
Is carried in and stored in the original article storage section of the article storage shelf 1, and the cargo handling operation is completed.

[Another Embodiment] (1) In the above embodiment, an example was shown in which the main conveyor 3 was formed in a loop shape. However, for example, the main conveyor was constituted only by the shelf-side slat conveyor 3a of the above embodiment. Alternatively, the slat conveyor 3a may be provided with an article carry-in section on the transport start end side and an article carry-out section on the transport end side.

(2) In the above embodiment, the carry-out conveyor 5
Has been shown as an example of an orthogonal conveyor, but the conveyor 5 is, for example, a roller conveyor having a large number of rollers, and the main conveyor 3 is bent obliquely from the rear in the conveying direction. It is also possible to configure so as to merge and transfer. Similarly, it is not always necessary to make the conveyor 9b from the loading conveyor 8 or the handling area 9 as an article loading section into an orthogonal type, and the same applies to the conveyor 9a to the handling area 9. Conveyors 8, 9a and 9b may be of various structures.

(3) In the above embodiment, an example is shown in which the turn conveyors 3c and 3d constituting the main conveyor 3 are constituted by a plurality of drive rollers 22 and a substantially semicircular guide frame 23. Various changes can be made to 3c and 3d, and it is not always necessary to convey the article A while changing its orientation by 180 degrees while keeping the horizontal attitude. For example, in the case where the shape of the article A is a square in a plan view, or in the case of the article A which does not require directivity when stored in the article storage shelf 1, the article A is translated in the lateral direction in the posture as it is. It can also be constituted by a conveyer of the type of transport.

(4) In the above embodiment, each slat 13
Although the example in which the pressing shoe 14 is fitted to the outside is shown, a supporting member for supporting the pressing shoe 13 may be provided separately from the slat 13 and the supporting member may be mounted between the pair of left and right chains 11. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall plan view of an automatic warehouse.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main conveyor and a carry-in / out conveyor.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a slat conveyor.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a slat conveyor.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a guide rail of the slat conveyor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Article storage apparatus 2 Transfer apparatus 3 Main conveyor 3a, 3b Conveyor part 3c, 3d Turn conveyor 4 Orthogonal carry-in conveyor 5 Orthogonal carry-out conveyor 8, 9b Article carry-in part 9a Article carry-out part 13 Slat as carrier 14 Pressing shoe A goods

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of article storage devices having a plurality of article storage sections for storing articles, and moving along the frontage of the plurality of article storage apparatuses to transfer the articles between the respective article storage sections. A transfer device for transferring, a main conveyor having an article carry-in section and an article carry-out section, and a plurality of articles which are located between the main conveyor and the transfer apparatus and carry articles on the main conveyor into the transfer apparatus. Automatic conveyor provided with a plurality of carry-out conveyors and a plurality of carry-out conveyors located between the main conveyor and the transfer device for carrying out articles from the transfer device onto the main conveyor. However, a conveyor portion having a transport body for placing and transporting articles, and a pressing shoe movable integrally with the transport body and movable in a direction substantially orthogonal to a transport direction by the transport body. Having the plurality of carriers The conveyor is composed of an orthogonal carry-in conveyor that branches in a direction substantially perpendicular to the conveying direction with respect to the conveyor portion, and when transferring the articles on the conveyor portion to the orthogonal carry-in conveyor, the pressing shoe An automatic warehouse configured to press-transfer a plurality of articles in a substantially linear shape along a conveying direction of the conveyor portion. 2. The automatic warehouse according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of unloading conveyors are configured as orthogonal-type unloading conveyors for unloading articles from said conveyor portion in a direction substantially orthogonal to a conveying direction thereof. 3. A pair of said conveyor parts, wherein said main conveyors are arranged side by side in a direction opposite to each other by a conveying body, and a pair of turn conveyors connecting both conveyor parts at ends of said pair of conveyor parts. By
Configured to form a loop-shaped transport path, and
The automatic warehouse according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the article carry-in section and the article carry-out section are provided on a conveyor section different from the conveyor section provided with the carry-in conveyor and the carry-out conveyor. 4. The turn conveyor according to claim 1, wherein the posture of the article conveyed from one of the conveyor portions is substantially one in the horizontal direction.
4. The automatic warehouse according to claim 3, wherein the automatic warehouse is configured to be turned by 80 degrees and transported to the other conveyor portion. 5. The automatic warehouse according to claim 1, wherein the carrier is constituted by a plurality of slats, and the pressing shoe is movably supported on each slat.