JPH1191907A - Automated storage and retrieval system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce cycle time of an automated storage and retrieval system by providing a traveling passage for an automatic guided vehicle on the opposite side of a rack, seen from the traveling track for a transport means of an automated storage, and putting in and out articles to the rack address of the lowermost layer of the rack by the automatically guided vehicle from the road side. SOLUTION: A stacker crane 4 is adapted to transport articles between an in-and-out station and the individual rack addresses. This operation is the main transport function in the automated storage. To bypass the transport path of the stacker crane 4, an automatic guided vehicle 16 enters the bottom of the rack address of the lowermost layer of the rack 3 from a traveling passage 14, and lifts a pallet 10 by a lifter 18 to be stored or delivered. Accordingly, for the rack address of the lowermost layer of the rack 3, the articles are put in and out without the stacker crane 4. The automatic guided vehicle 16 can be also used for transfer-loading the articles from the rack address where the article is carried in by the automatic guided vehicle 16 to rack address in the vicinity thereof by the crane 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse system using a transport means such as a shelf and a stacker crane.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An automatic warehouse system in which shelves and transport means such as a stacker crane are used for storing articles. In such an automatic warehouse system, a loading / unloading station is provided at an appropriate position along a traveling track of a stacker crane or the like, and articles are transported between shelves and the station to perform loading / unloading. The transfer between the station and the outside is performed by a manned / unmanned forklift or the like.

[0003] The cycle time of loading and unloading in an automatic warehouse system is determined by a stacker crane or the like. To shorten the cycle time, it is necessary to increase the capacity of the crane or the like. On the other hand, the inventor has studied to reduce the cycle time of loading and unloading of the automatic warehouse system using something other than the crane, and has arrived at the present invention.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to make it possible to omit the transfer of articles between a shelf and a loading / unloading station by a stacker crane or the like, and to shorten the cycle time of loading / unloading of an automatic warehouse system. . An additional object of the second aspect of the present invention is to enable the automatic guided vehicle used in the first aspect of the present invention to enter and leave articles without blocking a traveling path. Another object of the present invention is to prevent interference between the automatic guided vehicle and a stacker crane.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system in which a plurality of shelves having a plurality of shelf addresses are provided in the up and down and left and right directions along a traveling path of a conveying means. Is provided, and articles are moved into and out of the shelf at the lowest layer of the shelf by the automatic guided vehicle from the side of the travel passage.

The invention according to claim 2 is further characterized in that a lifter is provided in the automatic guided vehicle, and the automatic guided vehicle enters the bottom of the lowermost shelf address to enter and exit the warehouse.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a means for interlocking the automatic guided vehicle with the transport means.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a traveling path for the automatic guided vehicle is provided on the opposite side of the shelf when viewed from the traveling path of the transportation means of the automatic warehouse, and the automatic guided vehicle is moved from the path side to the uppermost position of the shelf. Items are moved in and out of the lower shelf address. As a result, the automatic guided vehicle can bypass the transporting means such as the crane, and can shorten the cycle time of loading and unloading in the automatic warehouse system.

In the invention of claim 2, a lifter is further provided on the automatic guided vehicle, and the automatic guided vehicle is caused to enter and leave the warehouse by entering the bottom of the lowest shelf address. As a result, the automatic guided vehicle does not block the traveling passage during the loading and unloading.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, there is further provided means for interlocking the automatic guided vehicle with a transport means such as a crane. Therefore, they do not access the same shelf address at the same time and interfere with each other.

[0011]

1 to 3 show an embodiment. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the automatic warehouse system 1. As shown in FIG. 1, reference numerals 2 and 3 denote shelves having a large number of shelf addresses at the top, bottom, left and right, 4 is a stacker crane, and 5 is its track. 6 is a column for the shelves 2 and 3, and 8 is a cantilever for supporting the pallet 10,
Reference numeral 10 denotes a pallet placed between the pair of canches 8, 8,
For example, an article 12 is mounted.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a traveling path of the automatic guided vehicle, which is provided on the opposite side of the track 5 as viewed from the shelf 3 in the embodiment. For example, when a number of automatic warehouse units are arranged in parallel, the automatic warehouse units are arranged along the outermost shelf along the unit. Provided. In the embodiment, the traveling path 14 is not provided on the shelf 2 side. An automatic guided vehicle 16 is provided with, for example, a lifter 18, enters the bottom of the lowest shelf address of the shelf 3, lifts the pallet 10 by the lifter 18, and moves articles in and out. Although the shelves 2 and 3 have a large number of shelves at the top, bottom, left and right, only the lowest shelf of the shelves 3 can enter and leave the automatic guided vehicle 16. Further, the automatic guided vehicle 16 travels by, for example, magnetic guidance or laser guidance. For example, a magnetic guiding line is laid on the floor below the shelf 3 to guide the automatic guided vehicle 16 magnetically or to the support 6 for laser guidance. A reflector is provided and laser induced. Since the automatic guided vehicle 16 can enter and leave each of the lowermost shelf addresses of the shelf 3,
The automatic guided vehicle 16 can enter and leave the article at one location for each row.

FIG. 2 shows a state where the shelf 3 is viewed from the traveling passage 14 side. The automatic guided vehicle 16 enters the bottom of the lowest shelf address from the traveling passage 14, and uses the lifter 18 to enter and exit the pallet 10. The stacker crane 4 has a traveling portion, which needs a certain height. Since the stacker crane 4 exchanges goods with the lowest shelf address, the traveling passage 14 is also provided at the lowest shelf address. Some height is necessary from the viewpoint. And low-floor unmanned transport vehicle 1
6, the automatic guided vehicle 16 can easily enter the bottom of the lowermost shelf address if the floor is continuous without providing a step or an obstacle between the shelf 3 and the traveling passage 14.

FIG. 3 shows a control system 20 of the automatic warehouse system. Each AGV 16 is connected to an AGV control unit 22, and is connected to a top-level computer 26 and a crane control unit 28 via a local area network 24. The individual stacker cranes 4 are controlled by a crane control unit 28, and the transfer of the articles in the entire automatic warehouse system is performed by the top-level computer 26 by assigning a transfer command to the automatic guided vehicle control unit 22 and the crane control unit 28.

Here, it is assumed that the automatic guided vehicle control unit 22 instructs the automatic guided vehicle 16 to carry in / out an article to / from the bottom of the shelf 3. Then, the automatic guided vehicle control unit 22 also inputs the shelf address of the article to be loaded / unloaded to the crane control unit 28, and the crane control unit 28 blocks the shelf address with respect to the stacker crane 4, and the automatic guided vehicle 16 enters. The crane 4 is prevented from touching the shelf address until the delivery is completed. When the automatic guided vehicle 16 finishes entering and exiting the warehouse, the automatic guided vehicle control unit 22 inputs to the crane control unit 28 that the block can be released.

Similarly, when the crane control unit 28 instructs a certain shelf address to enter / exit with the crane 4, the address is changed on the condition that the shelf address is the lowest shelf address of the shelf 3. Input to the automatic guided vehicle control unit 22. As a result,
Until the crane 4 completes the entry / exit to the corresponding shelf address, the automatic guided vehicle control unit 22 prevents the automatic guided vehicle 16 from accessing the shelf address. As a result, the stacker crane 4 and the automatic guided vehicle 16 are prevented from entering and leaving the same shelf address at the same time, so that interference between the crane 4 and the automatic guided vehicle 16 can be prevented.

In operation of the embodiment, the stacker crane 4 transports articles between the loading / unloading station and the individual shelf addresses, and this is the main transport function in an automatic warehouse. In order to bypass the carrying capacity of the stacker crane 4, the automatic guided vehicle 16 enters the bottom of the lowest shelf address of the shelf 3 from the traveling path 14, lifts the pallet 10 with the lifter 18, and performs loading and unloading. For this reason, it is possible to enter and exit the lowermost shelf address of the shelf 3 without using the stacker crane 4.

The automatic guided vehicle 16 not only makes the traveling of the crane 4 unnecessary between the loading / unloading station and the lowest shelf address of the shelf 3, but also removes the goods from the shelf address where the automatic guided vehicle 16 has carried the articles. The crane 4 can be used to transfer articles to a nearby shelf address. Then shelf 3
The traveling distance of the crane 4 and the cycle time of loading and unloading can be shortened not only for the lowest shelf address of the above, but also for other general shelf addresses. Even when the pallet 10 occupies the loading / unloading station of the automatic warehouse, it is extremely unlikely that all the lowermost shelf addresses of the shelf 3 can be loaded / unloaded. Therefore, if the unmanned transport vehicle 16 stores goods into the empty shelf address in the lowest shelf address of the shelf 3, or unloads the goods from the lowest shelf address of the shelf 3 by the unmanned transport vehicle 16 In addition, it is possible to carry out warehousing even when the warehousing station of the automatic warehouse is not used, so that the warehousing capacity of the automatic warehouse system can be enhanced.

Although a specific example is shown in the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the automatic guided vehicle 16 may use a fork other than the one using the lifter 18. In this case, the pallet 10 is loaded and unloaded from the travel path 14 with a fork without allowing the automatic guided vehicle 16 to enter the bottom of the shelf address. However, in this case, the automatic guided vehicle 16 blocks the traveling path 14 during the loading and unloading. On the other hand, in the embodiment, since the automatic guided vehicle 16 enters the bottom of the lowest shelf address, the traveling passage 14 is not blocked while the articles are transferred. In the embodiment, the articles are transported in units of pallets, but the invention is not limited to this.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an automatic warehouse system according to an embodiment with a partially cut-out portion.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the automated warehouse system according to the embodiment as viewed from a traveling passage side of the automatic guided vehicle.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control system of the automatic warehouse system according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic warehouse system 2, 3 shelf 4 Stacker crane 5 Track 6 Prop 8 Canch 10 Pallet 12 Article 14 Travel path of automatic guided vehicle 16 Automatic guided vehicle 18 Lifter 20 Control system 22 Automatic guided vehicle control unit 24 Local area network 26 Top level Computer 28 Crane control unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A system in which shelves having a large number of shelf addresses are provided up, down, left, and right along a traveling path of a conveying means, wherein a traveling path of an automatic guided vehicle is provided on a side opposite to the shelf when viewed from the traveling path. An automatic warehouse system, wherein articles are moved into and out of a shelf address at the lowest level of a shelf by an automatic guided vehicle from a traveling passage side. 2. The automatic warehouse system according to claim 1, wherein a lifter is provided on the automatic guided vehicle, and the automatic guided vehicle is allowed to enter and exit the bottom of the lowest shelf address. 3. A means for interlocking the automatic guided vehicle and the transporting means is provided.
The automatic warehouse system according to claim 1 or 2.