JPS5974827A - Automatic picking device in stacking automatic warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To completely automatize putting-in and-out works by connecting a manipulator equipped with a sensor (eye) to an electronic computer, in a stacking warehouse where plural articles arranged and placed on one pallet are housed in said warehouse. CONSTITUTION:In a stacking warehouse provided with a stacker crane 2 freely traveling between each pair of opposing racks 1, a pallet 14 is transferred to a conveying truck 4 via a delivery bench 3 located at the end part of each rack 1. The conveying truck 4 travels on a rail 5, and transfers the pallet 14 to and from load placing tables 7, 8 in a load sorting area 6. In this case, and automatic picking device 9 and conveyors 10, 11 are set in the load sorting area 6, and the automatic picking device 9 is provided with a sensor 12 for detecting the presence of the articles 15 on the pallet 14 and a vacuum pad 13 for handling articles. And, the placing positions of the articles 15 on the pallet 14 are determined from the detected output of the sensor 12, allowing the automatic picking device 9 to be controlled.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method for storing incoming goods in storage bars 1 to 2 at the time of warehousing, when a plurality of types of goods are arranged and placed on one pallet and stored in a multi-level warehouse. Automatically arranges and places this information and transmits this information to one machine.
This invention relates to an automatic picking device which automatically picks the goods to be taken out by calling a barrel 1 on which the goods to be taken out are placed in response to a delivery command.

It is common for goods to be stored in a multi-storey warehouse where one item is placed on one pallet, but in a multi-storey warehouse where the goods are small relative to the pallet and have a wide variety of products in small quantities. In this case, it may be necessary to store a plurality of types of articles in one baleno.

In such a case, the unloading operation involves unloading the pallet on which the items to be unloaded are placed, and picking only the necessary items at the handling area.

Labor-saving in this picking operation is still slow, and the current situation is that workers check out the goods from the group of goods on the outgoing barre that has arrived for sorting, and then take them out from the pallet.

The worker confirms the goods to be delivered from the warehouse by placing the goods of the type to be delivered on the valet 1- based on the delivery command from the computer.
The item must be found without error from the group of items.

In addition, when placing incoming goods on a pallet, it calls a barresor 1~ that has a vacant seat on which the goods can be placed, and transmits information to the computer that the goods have been placed on it and have entered the multi-storey warehouse. At the same time, the articles to be stocked must be arranged in line on the barrels 1 to 1.

This loading/unloading process requires a lot of patience and attention in order to avoid mixing up different types of goods, is a simple job that is repeated, and is difficult to carry out if the goods are heavy. It is desirable to save labor.

However, in order to save labor, it is possible to replace the transfer (loading or unloading) of articles with a machine, but it is possible to
At present, there is no suitable method for finding a vacant seat and placing an article at an appropriate position in the vacant seat, or for quickly taking out the article placed on the seat without making an error, and automation has been delayed.

The present invention installs a manipulator with eyes (sensors) for cargo handling and connects it to a computer to completely automate the loading and unloading work, thereby reducing the burden on workers. This makes it possible to perform loading and unloading operations without any errors, reliably, and at high speed, while freeing the user from certain conditions.

That is, based on the warehousing command, it is detected that there is a vacant seat on the warehousing pallet that has arrived for cargo handling, and at the same time, the manipulator accurately places the goods for which the warehousing command has been received at the article placement position on the warehousing pallet. Information is directly transmitted from the manipulator to the computer, and when the manipulator picks up the goods to be dispatched from the pallet that has been dispatched based on the dispatch command, the computer simultaneously transmits the dispatch information and information on the occurrence of vacant seats to the valet 1. By transmitting information to the system, it is possible to reliably speed up the loading/unloading process and save labor.An example of this will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates racks in a multi-level warehouse, and a stacker crane 2 runs between opposing racks.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a home position (warehousing/unloading table) installed at the end of the rack, and the stacker grain 2 transfers the barrels 1 to 4 to the loading/unloading carriage 4.

The loading/unloading carriage 4 travels on the rails 5 and delivers pallets to the loading/unloading table 3 or the loading platform 7.8 installed in the loading/unloading table 6.

The cargo handling device 6 includes an automatic picking device 9 and a conveyor 10.
11 is installed, and the automatic picking device 9 is equipped with a sensor 1.
2 and a vacuum pad 13 are provided.

The automatic picking device 9 uses a vacuum pad 13 to transfer the articles between the conveyor 10.11 and the pallet on the loading table 7.8.

The sensor 12 detects the presence or absence of an article 15 placed on the pallet 14 as shown in FIG. Detect location.

When the article 15 is composed of a metal lid 1G and a body 17 made of non-metal (for example, paper), when light is irradiated onto the object, the lid 1G reflects stronger light than the body 17. .

The sensor 12 is equipped with a light emitter/receiver, and when light is irradiated from the sensor as shown by the dotted line, a region 18 with a high light response level is obtained as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, when light is applied to the article in the XYZ axis directions, areas x1 and yl with a low light reaction level and areas x2 with a high light reaction level are formed. Since we obtain y2, article 15
The center position xO1yO is determined by the following equation.

X=X+- y"y+- The calculation of the above formula is performed by the calculation mechanism of the control panel, and the position information of the article 15 placed on the outgoing pallet 14 is sent to the picking device 9, or the position information on the incoming pallet! Information on the placement position of the article 15 to be placed on the vacant seat is transmitted.

As shown in FIG. 5, the structure of the cargo storage tables 7, 8 includes sliders 19, 20 and pushers 21, 22.
The pallet 14 is positioned accurately so that no relative positional error occurs with respect to the picking device 9.

The conveyors 10 and 11 are also equipped with all kinds of positioning devices so that the articles 15 to be stored on the conveyor are accurately sucked and transferred by the pads 13.

(Drawings omitted) Next, the warehousing and warehousing operations will be explained with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

As shown in FIG. 6, when goods 15A of type A are received, the stored pallets 14 have types B, C, and C, respectively.
If there is a vacant space shown by a dashed line on which the articles 15B and 15C115D D are placed, the article 15A can be placed there.

As shown in FIG. 7, when the warehousing command for the article 15A is input to the warehousing setting device 23, the warehousing command is transmitted to the computer 25 which displays inventory management, and the computer 25 indicates that there is a vacant space available for warehousing. Ballens 1-14 are selected.

Next, a command to take out the warehousing valet is issued from the 9 machine 25 through the warehousing/unloading device control panel, and the pallet 14 with empty seats is transferred to the cargo handling area 6 via the stunker crane 2, the warehousing table 3, and the warehousing/unloading carriage 4. The cargo is sent to one of the loading tables 7 and 8.

If we assume that the loading platform 7 is used for warehousing and the loading platform 8 is used for unloading, the loading barrel 1-14 is sent to the loading platform 7 and then positioned by pushers 21 and 22.

The warehousing command from the computer is automatically controlled by the pinking device g12.
7 to the picking device 9.

The position of the articles 15B, 15C115D placed on the pallet 14 is measured by the sensor] 2 provided in the picking device 9, and the position of the vacant seat area is read.

The center of the article to be placed on the vacant seat area is determined from the range of the vacant seat area, and the incoming article 15A on the conveyor IO is placed on the pad 13.
and is placed on the dot-dashed line on the pallet 14.

The location where the article 15A was placed and the loading completion signal are transmitted to the computer 25 via the automatic picking device control panel 27, and the information is transmitted to the computer 25 via the automatic picking device control panel 27, and the information is transmitted to the barens I to 14 on which the article 15A is placed.
Jr. is transferred from the storage platform 7 to the loading/unloading carriage 4, and then transferred to the rack 1 of the multi-level warehouse via the loading/unloading carriage 4, loading/unloading table 3, and parking crane 2 according to the command from the loading/unloading device control panel 26. Stored.

In this way, all information such as the placement position of the article 15A on the pallet 14 and the storage position of the pallet 14 is stored in the computer 25.

Next, when the article 15A is to be delivered, a delivery command is input to the delivery setting device 24, the computer 25 searches for the storage shelf of the item 15A to be delivered, and the pallet 15 to be delivered is searched for.
A shipping order is issued.

This unloading command is transmitted to the warehousing/unloading device control panel 26, and the pallet 4 is transferred to the loading platform 8 via the stacker crane 2, the warehousing/unloading table 3, and the warehousing/unloading carriage 4.

The barrels 1-14 are positioned on the loading platform 8 by means of stops 19,20.

The automatic pinking control panel 27 causes the sensor 12 installed in the picking device to be placed on the pallet 14, and reads the position of the article 15A to search for the center position.

Next, the pad 13 attracts the article 15A and transfers it to the conveyor 11.

With the above, the unloading operation is completed, and the unloading completion information is transmitted to the computer 25 through the automatic picking control panel 27.

As described in detail in the above embodiments, a picking device with eyes calculates the position of the loaded items and the vacant seat area, and based on these calculated values, the picking device automatically transfers the items. This system organically combines a computer with a computer, and has the following advantages over the conventional method in which articles have been placed on or removed from the barres 1 to 1 by hand.

(1) The empty space on the pallet 14 is measured by the sensor 12, and the articles 15 are correctly placed in the empty space based on computer calculation, so that orderly loading is possible.

(2) Since the sensor 12 measures the position of the article 15 to be taken out from the pallet 14, the pad 13 can attract the center of the article.

(3) Since the article 15 is automatically taken out or placed on the pallet by the pinking device 9, the information on the taking out and placement can be automatically transmitted to the computer as is/immediately, so the information transmission is easy. It is error-free and quick.

Furthermore, since the process is completed in a shorter time than the loading/unloading operation by an operator, the amount of loading/unloading per unit time can be increased by shortening the loading/unloading operation, which has been a bottleneck up until now.

(4) When workers enter and exit the warehouse, it is easy for mistakes to occur in the delivery of warehouse information, and workers were always nervous and had to perform careful work, but this relieves workers from such tedious work. You can.

(5) It has become possible to automate the picking work, which has been the slowest to automate, and it has become possible to completely unmanned the complicated warehouse management such as storing different types of goods on one pallet.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, with Fig. 1 showing a three-dimensional warehouse and a picking device, etc., and Fig. 2 showing a sensor 1.
2 is a front view showing the method for detecting the position of an article or vacant seat according to 2;
FIG. 3 is a plan view showing how to measure the position of an article by the sensor 12, FIG. 4 is a graph showing the reaction level of light detected by the sensor 12, and FIG. , FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the state of articles placed on the barrette, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the relationship between the computer and the control panel. (1) Rack of multi-story warehouse, (2) Stacker crane, (3) Loading and unloading platform, (4) Loading and unloading carriage, (5) Rule, (6) ...Cargo handling area, (
7) (8) Loading platform, (9) Picking device, (10) (11) Conveyor, (12) Sensor, (13) Vacuum pad (14) ... Pallet, (15) ... Article, (IG) ... Lid, (I7)
...Torso, (18)...High level area, (19)
(20)...Stopper, (21) (22)...
Pusher, (23)...Sleeping setting device, (24)...
Output setting device, (25) Computer, (26) ... Input/output device control panel, (27) Automatic picking control panel

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a multi-story warehouse in which a large number of barrels 1-2 are arranged and placed on one cylinder of barrels 1-2, articles with a W number f/R are placed in a row, the Baum position (
A loading/unloading goods transport device runs between the loading/unloading table (loading/loading table) and the handling area and moves the goods between the loading/unloading table of the multi-level warehouse and the αjj handling area. A picking manipulator is equipped with a sensor that detects the availability of an empty seat on an incoming pallet and detects the position of an article to be picked up from an outgoing bar (1), which is also located on a warehousing pallet.
And 2 Incoming goods and Valet 1-1 Incoming goods and Valet! - An automatic picking device in a multi-level automatic warehouse, which is constituted by: - a retrieval bar I that stores the above article placement position Tt and instructs a picking manipulator to place the outgoing article at the time of unloading;