JP2723036B2 - Equipment for processing stacked articles - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for supplying data on the appearance of a loaded article as work data of another machine in a subsequent process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a distribution center or the like, a plurality of articles of the same type stacked on a pallet from an automatic warehouse are delivered out to a picking place, and the necessary goods are picked up by a picking robot at the picking place. Each pallet is gripped and placed on a pallet assigned to a required number of customers. A pallet on which several types of articles are placed is conveyed to a binding device by a conveying device, and the articles are bound and unloaded so that the pallets are unloaded.

[0003]

However, conventionally, since the height of the binding device has been manually adjusted, it takes a long working time,
In addition, there is a problem that it is not suitable for automatic operation such as night work. In addition, when the binding device is automatically operated, it can only cope with the case where only the same package is processed, and cannot cope with various packages of different stacked articles depending on the case. In addition, it is necessary to tie each pallet according to the shape of the stacked articles, and if the shape is determined incorrectly, the tying may be insufficient and the string may be loosened, causing collapse of the load. It took a long time to determine the binding position based on the appearance of the stacked articles at the location. Therefore, the present invention is intended to make it possible to use the packing form data for stacking articles on a pallet after picking and placing articles on the pallet as it is.

[0004]

The problem to be solved by the present invention is as described above, and means for solving the problem will be described. A first aspect of the present invention provides a robot for stacking a plurality of articles on a pallet, a binding machine for performing a bundling operation on the articles stacked by the robot in a later process, and an optimal binding based on packing form data of the stacked articles. Means for sending the work data whose position is determined to the binding machine, wherein the binding machine performs a binding work on the stacked articles based on the work data.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the binding machine that operates in a later process is included in the packing form data of a plurality of types of articles placed on one pallet by the picking robot. The work data at the possible optimum position is created, and the work data allows the position at the optimum height to be bound by the binding machine before being carried out.

[0006]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a distribution center, FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of a processing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a side view of the embodiment in which the binding position by the binding machine can be changed up and down, and FIG. 5 is a binding string when only luggage is placed on a pallet at a low position. It is a side view in case not missing.

Referring to FIG. 1, a description will be given of a case where, for example, a delivery center takes out desired articles from a plurality of pallets on which articles of the same type are placed, and carries out a work in which a required number of articles are mixed and placed on the pallets for each customer. Then, one side (Fig. 1
A rack 1 of an automatic warehouse is arranged on the right), a transport device A (left side in FIG. 1) for unloading the picked goods is arranged on the other side, and an article loading section B and an article unloading section C are arranged behind,
The article carry-in section B, the article carry-out section C, the rack 1, and the transport device A
A picking device P is provided in a central portion surrounded by.

[0008] In the article loading section B, a loading conveyor 4 is provided.
A string cutting machine 5 is arranged in the middle of the carry-in conveyor 4 and a straightening machine 6 is arranged at the end. The string which binds the article W placed on the pallet is cut by the string cutting machine 5 and the straightening machine 6 before entering the warehouse. It corrects the misalignment of luggage in front, back, left and right. A turntable 7 is disposed on the unloading side of the straightening machine 6, the luggage W is changed in direction by the turntable 7 and is conveyed to the storage station 9. The stacker crane is moved from the storage station 9 to a predetermined shelf of the rack 1. Conveyed by S.

Conveyor stations 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d and 10e are arranged in parallel with the rack 1, and the conveyor stations 10a, 10b and 10
The item c allows the articles on the pallet taken out of the rack 1 to be placed and transferred to and from the conveyors 12a, 12b and 12c, and the articles placed on the conveyors 12a, 12b and 12c are transported to the depalletizing position. The loading stations 20a, 20b are disposed on opposite sides of the conveyors 12a, 12b, 12c so as to sandwich the picking device P therebetween.
20c is arranged, and a desired article is picked up by the picking device P from the article at the depalletizing position, and is loaded to the loading stations 20a, 20b, and 20c.
Each is placed on the upper pallet.

The conveyor station 10d is for transporting the empty pallets picked up on the conveyors 12a, 12b and 12c to the transport device A side and transporting the empty pallets to the loading section as pallets for loading. The conveyor station 10e conveys the empty pallets to the empty pallet magazine 11 for temporary storage, and also allows the empty pallets magazine 11 to be unloaded to the loading side when necessary. In the transport apparatus A, the unmanned transport vehicle 22 reciprocates on the rails 21 and 21 and can be stopped at a station or a conveyor position so that the article can be delivered and received. A binding machine 24 is provided on the turntable 23 and the carry-out conveyor 25 to bind the load on the pallet so as not to collapse.

The picking device P includes a picking robot 14 having a hand 14a that can rotate and expand and contract (bend), and a gripping portion 14b provided at the tip of the hand 14a for sucking (or gripping) an article.
Of the conveyors 12a, 12b, and 12c, and the pallets on the loading stations 20a, 20b, and 20c. So that it can be placed on The picking robot 14 is controlled by a control circuit 15. As shown in FIG. 2, a computer 16 including a CPU, a RAM, and a ROM is connected to an actuator such as a motor of the picking robot 14 via an I / O interface 17. And the drive circuit 27 of the binding machine 24.

In such a configuration, articles picked up from the rack 1 of the automatic warehouse are unloaded to the unloading stations 10a, 10b, and 10c by the stacker crane S, and are conveyed to the depalletizing positions by the conveyors 12a, 12b, and 12c. When stopped, the distance between the article and the article is detected by a displacement detection sensor, and the difference from the set value is calculated by the CPU to generate correction data.

The position of the picking robot 14 is corrected during the picking operation using the correction data.
4b is capable of accurately picking up a predetermined article, transported to the loading station 20, and lowered on the pallet 2 in a predetermined order to a set position and stacked. The order of this loading is in accordance with the packaging data, and when the customer requests the desired product, the computer efficiently and according to the shape of one product and the number of products to be placed on the pallet 2, the most stable packaging is achieved. The packing data is created according to a certain rule. When the driving circuit 26 is controlled in accordance with the packing data and the loading operation is completed, the pallet is placed on the transport device A and carried out to the article discharge section C.
As shown in (2), the binding machine 24 binds the binding strap 29 to the highest position where it can be bound so as not to collapse. Wa is a fractional article.

The binding position (height H) of the binding strap 29 is based on the packing form data when the pickup device P places it on the pallet 2 on the loading side. Calculate the highest possible binding position to create work data, and use this work data as I / O
Drive circuit 2 of binding machine 24 via interface 17
7 and at the position of the optimum height H at which it can be bound.
Is tied up.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the load easily collapses.
In the case of tall luggage W or fractional goods Wa, the binding machine 2
4 shows a case where the binding position is set to two upper and lower positions. That is, the binding strap 29 is bound vertically (height H).
And the binding position (height h). Of course, usually, one binding string 2 is placed at the binding position (height H).
9 is multiplied.

Since the cargo W and the fractional goods Wa may be easily collapsed depending on the package, FIG. 4 shows that the position of the center of gravity differs depending on the luggage W and the articles in the box constituting the fractional goods Wa. In the case where it becomes easy to collapse the load, the optimum binding position (height H) can be changed up and down based on the packing form data and the data of the luggage W even if the binding strap 29 is only one.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, if only one stage of the load W is placed on the pallet 2, the possibility of collapse of the load is low. It is useless to hang the binding strap 29 in such a case. This makes it possible to reduce the cycle time of the work, and to save the cost of the binding band required for binding.

According to the present invention, work data for setting a binding position is created from the package data.
In addition, if the acceleration is large when the transfer is performed by the transfer device A, the load collapses. Therefore, data for speed control is supplied to the transfer driving device as work data, or after the product is unloaded from the article unloading section C, the automatic operation is performed again. When entering the warehouse, the stacking height of the packing data is supplied as work data to the control circuit of the automatic warehouse so that the stacked articles are stored on the shelf of the optimum height, It is also possible to improve the storage efficiency of the automatic warehouse, and also to use the order when loading on trucks etc. as work data,
These work data can be applied to the work of the post-process after the picking work without limitation.

[0019]

As described above, the present invention has the following advantages. That is, since the configuration is made as in claim 1, the binding machine in the post-process can reduce the time without creating new work data. In addition, only one control mechanism is required between the picking device and the binding machine in the post-process, work data can be shared, and optimal binding work can be performed, and cost can be reduced. Then, based on the work data, the binding machine can perform the binding work at the optimum position for the stacked articles, eliminating binding errors, preventing collapse of the load, shortening the binding time, and minimizing the binding material. Work efficiency was improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a distribution center.

FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of the processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the embodiment in which the binding positions by the binding machine are two places.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the embodiment in which the binding position by the binding machine can be changed up and down.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a case where a binding strap is not hung when only luggage is placed at a low position on a pallet.

[Explanation of symbols]

 P picking device 2 pallet 15 control circuit 16 computer 17 I / O interface 24 binding machine 27 drive circuit 29 binding strap

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A robot for stacking a plurality of articles on a pallet, a binding machine for performing a binding operation on the articles stacked by the robot in a post-process, and an optimal binding based on packing form data of the stacked articles. Means for sending work data whose position has been determined to the binding machine, wherein the binding machine performs a bundling operation on the stacked articles based on the work data.