JPH1159832A - Picking device and picking method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a temporal waste in wrong in/out-stock and confirming work of a location, in picking work. SOLUTION: A picking device is provided with an indication display part having an irradiation part 1 and a frame 2, to be fixed in the vicinity of a picking work position of a vessel 3 conveyed by a conveyer 4. The irradiation part 1 incorporates many halogen lamps, so that each divided part of the conveyed vessel 3 can be irradiated with light without being left off, to be arranged just on a position where the vessel 3 is stopped. In the vessel 3, various parts are stored, in order to classify each part thereof, the vessel 3 is divided into a plurality of storage spaces. By selectively applying irradiation of the many lamps provided in the irradiation part 1, irradiation can be applied to each storage position discriminated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a picking apparatus and a picking method for selectively picking out a desired article from a plurality of articles automatically conveyed via a conveyor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an automatic warehouse, as a method of notifying a worker of a picking position, a corresponding position of a container, a name of a handled article, and a quantity are displayed on a display screen attached to a computer device. Such an example is described in JP-A-6-40527.

[0003] Further, in picking work on a fluidized shelf, there is also known one in which a small dedicated display is installed in front of the fluidized shelf, a lamp is lit on a shelf on which an operator should work, and the number of items to be picked is displayed. .

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional apparatus for notifying the picking position to the operator, (1) the picking position cannot be instantly understood on the screen of the terminal, so that the picking position is incorrect due to a mistake in viewing the screen. (2) there is a risk that picking may be performed from an incorrect location due to a mistake between the location confirmed on the screen and the actual picking location.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned disadvantages of the related art, and has as its object to reduce the time waste of erroneous loading and unloading and location confirmation work in picking work. is there.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a conveying means for conveying a plurality of divided containers for storing a plurality of articles, and a picking means for picking the articles. A picking device having a picking station, wherein irradiation means for irradiating the container is provided in the vicinity of the picking station, and control means for selectively irradiating the irradiation means for each section in the container at the picking station is provided. It is.

The control means includes a computer, and a storage unit for storing all the division patterns of the container is provided in the computer, or the irradiation position of the irradiation means is controlled in accordance with the division pattern of the container. preferable. Further, voice guidance means may be provided near the picking station, or a display device for displaying information on the container may be provided at the picking station.

According to a second aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, the transport means transports articles stored in a plurality of divided containers, and when the containers reach a picking station, the transport means. And selectively irradiating at least one of the plurality of sections of the container.

That is, an irradiator is provided on the upper surface of a picking work place as a picking work assisting device so as to correspond to all location data, and when a worker picks, an instruction as to which location data is to be irradiated from a computer. Then, only the corresponding location is spot-irradiated. The container should be stopped at a fixed position so that the irradiation position does not shift.

According to the present invention, the location of a pallet of articles to be re-entered / retrieved and re-entered in a line is spot-irradiated, so that the operator can visually confirm the location of articles to be retrieved / retrieved. Further, the large display device and the voice guidance device allow the operator to grasp the correct work location and work contents without looking at the screen instructions of the computer.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Some embodiments of the picking device according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view around an instruction / display unit of the picking device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an irradiation device attached to the instruction / display unit, FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of a control system of the picking device, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a divided pattern diagram of a container for storing a plurality of articles, FIG. 5 is a conventional picking work method, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are perspective views of another embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the instruction / display unit used in the picking device includes an irradiation unit 1 and a gantry 2 and is fixed near the picking operation position of the container 3 transported by the conveyor 4. I have. As shown in FIG. 2, the irradiation unit 1 has a large number of halogen lamps 5 built therein, and is arranged so as to irradiate each divided portion of the conveyed container 3 without leakage. That is, in the picking operation, the irradiating unit is arranged right above the position where the container 3 stops when the transport conveyor is stopped for picking the container 3 to be transported. Since various kinds of parts are stored in the container 3, the container 3 is divided into a plurality of storage spaces in order to distinguish each part. Therefore, in order to speed up picking and prevent erroneous picking, it is necessary to specify each storage position. As described above, the irradiation unit 1 includes a large number of lamps 5.
Therefore, by selectively irradiating these lamps, it is possible to irradiate each storage position separately.

FIG. 3 shows a system configuration of a control system for controlling which storage position of the container is irradiated. That is, when a transfer instruction signal is output from the central control computer 6 to each equipment control device, the corresponding container 3 is transferred on the conveyor 4 from the automatic warehouse. When it is known from the output of the position detector or the transfer timer (not shown) that the container 3 has arrived at the work position, the arrival signal is input from the equipment control device 7 to the general control computer 6 and the work data is instructed to the terminal device 8. Is done.

Based on this data, the general control computer 6 retrieves where the article to be handled is stored, while the terminal device 8 gives an instruction to the irradiation control device 9. Irradiation unit 1 according to a signal from irradiation control device 9
Turns on the corresponding one of the halogen lamps 5.

The division pattern of the container 3 is not limited, but is shown in FIG.
A total of seven patterns of four divisions 14, six divisions 16, and eight divisions 17 can be applied to actual operation. The auxiliary device is shared so that it can cope with all of these seven patterns.

In the conventional picking operation, the operator checks the instruction on the display screen 18 of the terminal device 8 installed next to the operation position as shown in FIG. However, there has been a difference in confirmation of the work instruction screen, dispensing of goods from an incorrect picking position, and the like. According to this embodiment, since only the lamp corresponding to the position to be picked is irradiated, erroneous picking can be prevented.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the present invention. In the case of FIG. 6, voice guidance is used. The location of the picking, the quantity, and the name of the article are instructed to the worker by voice from the speaker 19. While the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 utilizes the visual sense of the worker, this embodiment utilizes the auditory sense.

FIG. 7 shows still another embodiment of the present invention.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, a large display device 20 is used. Since the display device is arranged in front of the worker, the worker can check the work content (the picking location, quantity, and article name) on a large screen without changing the direction. As a result, erroneous picking can be prevented, and the picking operation can be sped up. It should be noted that the methods described in the above embodiments can be used in combination. In the case of this combination, erroneous picking can be more reliably prevented.

In each of the above embodiments, the conveyor is described as the conveying means. However, the conveying means is not limited to this, and may be a belt, a crane type, or a gondola type. Further, the storage information referred to when picking up the articles in the container is stored in the general control computer, but is not limited thereto, and may be stored in a terminal device or a separately provided computer device. Further, the irradiation device is a halogen lamp, but this may be another lamp.
Then, a display means such as a liquid crystal or an irradiation means such as a lamp may be provided for each section of the container, and the irradiation apparatus may send an irradiation command to them by a wireless signal. Alternatively, a fluorescent substance may be applied to each section of the container, and the irradiating means may selectively irradiate the portion to which the fluorescent substance has been applied. In short, the above embodiments are illustrative and not restrictive. Accordingly, all modifications that come within the true spirit and scope of the invention are intended to be covered by the appended claims.

[0020]

According to the present invention, in the picking work in the automatic warehouse system, the worker can check the work position without performing the work while checking the division position between the terminal screen and the container. Can concentrate on their consciousness, which can improve the reliability of work. Further, since the work of confirming the work position is omitted, the work time can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a picking unit of a picking device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an example of an irradiation unit used in the picking device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a control system diagram of the picking device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a division pattern of a container used in the picking device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a conventional picking device.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of still another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Irradiation part, 2 ... Stand, 3 ... Container, 4 ... Conveyor, 5 ... Halogen lamp, 6 ... General control computer, 7 ... Equipment control device, 8 ... Terminal device, 9 ... Irradiation control device, 10 ... Picking work assisting device, 11 ...
One division (container division pattern), 12 ... two divisions (container division pattern), 13 ... two divisions (container division pattern),
14: 4 divisions (container division pattern), 15: 3 divisions (container division pattern), 16: 6 divisions (container division pattern), 17: 8 divisions (container division pattern), 18 ...
... display screen, 19 ... speaker, 20 ... display device.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A picking apparatus, comprising: a conveying means for conveying a plurality of divided containers storing a plurality of articles; and a picking station for picking the articles, wherein the containers are illuminated near the picking station. A picking device, wherein the picking station is provided with control means for selectively irradiating the irradiating means for each section in the container at the picking station. 2. The picking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes a computer, and a storage unit for storing all the division patterns of the container is provided in the computer. 3. The picking apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said control means controls an irradiation position of said irradiation means in accordance with a division pattern of said container. 4. The picking device according to claim 1, wherein voice guidance means is provided near the picking station. 5. The picking device according to claim 1, wherein a display device for displaying information on the container is provided at the picking station. 6. A transporting means for transporting an article stored in a plurality of divided containers, stopping the transporting means when the container reaches a picking station, wherein at least one of the plurality of containers has a plurality of containers. A picking method characterized by selectively irradiating one section.