JPH0672512A - Control method for automatic warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce loss time to improve the efficiency of taking in work by arranging a taking in elevator so that a load may be directly transfered onto the carriage of a travel device not through a fixed middle load transfer base. CONSTITUTION:When travel devices 2 to 4 return from the inside of a rack zone B1 to a home position HP, they are travelled to HP without the ascent and descent of a carriage 12. When B3 returns, the carriage 12 is travelled to HP as it is raised or lowered to the next taking in work level only when the next taking in work rack zone is B1, and when the next taking in rack zone is B3, the carriage 12 is travelled to HP as it is lowered to the lowering limit on the lower side of the ascent and descent zone h1, and when the next taking in work rack zone is within B2, the carriage 12 is travelled to HP as it is raised and lowered to the lowering limit of the ascent and descent zone h1 or h2 to which the next taking in destination belongs. When the travel devices 2 to 4 return from the inside of B2, the carriage is lowered to the lowering limit of h2 or h1, and a taking in elevator 5 directly takes in and transfers a load W onto the carriage 12 of returning travel devices 2 to 4 not through a fixed load transfer base.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse, and more particularly to a lifting device provided with load transfer means for covering a plurality of upper and lower load storage compartments of a rack on a traveling device capable of traveling horizontally along a rack. A possible carriage is provided, and at the side of the home position at one end of the traveling path of the traveling device, an automatic warehouse is provided with an elevating device for warehousing that transfers loads to the traveling device.
The present invention relates to a control method for the warehousing operation.

[0002]

[Prior Art and its Problems] In this kind of automatic warehouse,
The rack is divided into a plurality of upper and lower zones, and the traveling device is arranged in each zone. In such a case, in the conventional warehousing control method, when the traveling device after warehousing and transferring the load in the rack is returned to the home position for the next warehousing operation, the empty carriage is lowered to its descent limit. In the state in which the traveling device has returned to the home position and the empty carriage has reached the lower limit position, the load is transferred from the storage lifting device to the empty carriage.

Generally, in this kind of automatic warehouse, the raising / lowering speed of the carriage of each stage traveling device having a short raising / lowering stroke is usually much slower than the raising / lowering speed of the above-mentioned storage elevator having a long raising / lowering stroke. is there. Therefore, in the conventional control method as described above, when the traveling device performs the warehousing operation to the load storage section near the home position and above the zone in which the traveling device is in charge, the traveling device is used for the next warehousing operation. When returning to the home position, the empty carriage cannot be lowered to the lower limit before reaching the home position. Therefore, after the return traveling device reaches the home position, the carriage is lowered to the lower limit. Until, the loading and unloading of the load from the loading and unloading elevator will be delayed. In other words, the loss time increased, and it was not possible to efficiently operate the warehousing elevator and to perform the warehousing work efficiently.

In order to solve such a problem, a fixed load transfer table is provided in correspondence with the lower limit position of the carriage in each of the above-mentioned traveling devices so that the load is temporarily transferred from the elevating device for storage. It has been considered that the load is transferred onto the fixed load transfer table and the load is transferred from the fixed load transfer table onto the carriage of the traveling device. Installation space was required, which inevitably led to a large increase in equipment costs and a decrease in floor surface utilization efficiency.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its features are shown by the reference numerals of the embodiments described later. The storage control method of the automatic warehouse of the present invention is such that, in the automatic warehouse as described above, the storage lifting device 5 does not use a fixed intermediate load transfer table, but the carriage 12 of each stage traveling device 2-4. Arrange so that the load can be directly transferred onto the racks 1A, 1B
Is a plurality of zones B in the traveling directions of the traveling devices 2 to 4.
1 and B2, and the raising and lowering paths of the carriage 12 in the traveling devices 2 to 4 are the two upper and lower zones h1,
Partition in h2. Then, when the traveling devices 2 to 4 return to the home position HP from within the rack zone B1 closest to the home position HP, the return traveling devices 2 to 4 and the carriage 12 thereof are irrelevant regardless of the next storing work rack zone. The vehicle is allowed to travel to the home position HP without being raised or lowered from the work level at that time. When the traveling devices 2 to 4 return to the home position HP from within the rack zone B3 farthest from the home position HP, the return traveling devices 2 to 4 only when the next storing work rack zone is the zone B1 closest to the home position HP. While moving the carriage 12 up and down to the next storage work level to the home position HP, and when the next storage rack zone is the zone B3 farthest from the home position, the return traveling devices 2 to 4 are moved to the carriage 12. The lower limit of the lower elevating zone h1 (levels L1, L6, L1
1) While traveling down to the home position HP, the next storage rack zone is the middle rack zone B.
When it is within 2, the return traveling devices 2 to 4 are moved to the lower limit (levels L1, L6, L11 or L3, L8, or L3, L8, or L2) of the carriage lifting zone h1 or h2 to which the next storage destination belongs.
While moving the carriage 12 up and down to L13), the carriage 12 travels to the home position HP. When the traveling devices 2 to 4 return to the home position HP from within the middle rack zone B2, the return traveling devices 2 to 4 are moved to the lower limit (levels L3, L8, L13) of the upper carriage elevating zone h2 or to the lower position. The carriage 12 is lowered to the home position HP while being lowered to the lower limit (levels L1, L6, L11) of the side carriage lift zone h1. The warehousing lifting device 5 is stopped at a stop position corresponding to the stop level of the carriage 12 of the return traveling devices 2 to 4, and the load W is transferred onto the carriage 12 of the return traveling devices 2 to 4. Is characterized by.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1A and 1B in FIGS.
Is a rack arranged in parallel, and each rack 1A, 1B is divided into a lower zone H1, a middle zone H2, and an upper zone H3. Between the two racks 1A, 1B, the lower zone traveling device 2, the middle zone, The traveling device 3 for the upper stage and the traveling device 4 for the upper zone are installed, and the elevating device 5 for warehousing and the conveyor 6 for warehousing are attached to one end of the rack 1A, and the rack 1B.
An elevating device 7 for delivery and a conveyor 8 for delivery are attached to one end of the.

The traveling devices 2 to 4 of the respective stages have the same structure, and as shown in FIG. 3, each of the zones H1 to H3.
Is horizontally supported by a pair of left and right guide rails 9 supported by both racks 1A and 1B at the lower end level of the rack, and can be moved up and down along an up-and-down guide rail 10 and a load transfer means 11 It has a carriage 12 having. Various types of load transfer means 11 are known, but the one shown in this embodiment is a free roller conveyor 13a, 1 that supports a load so that it can move in the load transfer direction.
3b and a pair of left and right load-carrying conveyors 14a, 14 that can move in and out in the load transfer direction and can move toward and away from each other.
b and.

Zones H1 to H3 of both racks 1A and 1B
A plurality of (five in the illustrated example) load supporting bases 15 are erected on each of the stages, and the load can be moved in the load transfer direction to each load storage compartment 16 on the load supporting base 15 of each stage. Free roller conveyors 17a and 17b that support the above are laid. Further, the loading / unloading elevating devices 5 and 7 are provided in the racks 1A and 1A, respectively.
A load transfer means 19 is provided so as to be vertically movable along the entire height range of the racks 1A and 1B along an elevating guide rail 18 provided upright at the end of B. This load transfer means 1
Reference numeral 9 denotes a roller conveyor 20 that conveys a load in the load transfer direction between the conveyors 6 and 8, and a load movably supported in the load transfer direction between the traveling devices 2 to 4 and The roller conveyor 20 is composed of free roller conveyors 21a and 21b that can move up and down with respect to the load supporting level.

As shown in FIG. 4, each stage traveling device 2 to
4 is provided with a traveling drive device 22 and its controller 23, a carriage elevating drive device 24 and its controller 25, and a load transfer means drive device 26 and its controller 27. Is provided with a lifting drive device 28 and its controller 29, and a load transfer means drive device 30 and its controller 31. Further, a main controller 32 for controlling each of the controllers 23, 25, 27, 29, 31 is provided side by side.

The carriage 12 of each of the traveling devices 2 to 4
Are the levels L1 to L1 corresponding to the respective rack support bases 15 of the rack.
It can be stopped at L15, and the ascending / descending path of the carriage 12 is divided into two ascending / descending zones h1 and h2. On the other hand, the loading / unloading elevating / lowering devices 5 and 7 have stop levels L1 to L1 of respective stages of the carriage 12 of the respective traveling devices 2 to 4.
The lift stop position that matches 5 is set. Further, the racks 1A and 1B have a rack zone B1 close to the home position HP (positions adjacent to the loading / unloading elevating devices 5 and 7) of the respective stage traveling devices 2 to 4 and an intermediate rack zone B.
2 and a rack zone B3 far from the home position HP. In addition, the loading and unloading lifting device 5,
7 and the carriage 12 in the traveling devices 2 to 4 are controlled by raising / lowering the pulse count value preset for each raising / lowering stop position and the pulse encoder transmission pulse count value (current pulse meter). Various types, such as a pulse encoder method that controls the ascent and descent based on the difference with the numerical value) and a detected plate detection method that detects and counts the detected plate provided at each lifting stop position with a detector on the lifting side The method of is known.

A control program based on the present invention is set in the main controller 32. The automatic control procedure based on this control program will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 from the stage where the traveling devices 2 to 4 that have received the load W travel toward the storage destination. Depending on the setting, the travel drive position controller 23 of the travel devices 2 to 4 to be used is provided with travel stop position information, the carriage lift drive device controller 25 is provided with the storage level information, and the load transfer means drive device controller 27 is provided. The operation direction information (information on the rack 1A side or the rack 1B side) is given, and the controller 23 operates the traveling drive device 22 based on the given traveling stop position information and the present traveling position information, and the controller 25 Is a result of operating the elevating / lowering drive device 24 based on the given storage level information and the current level information,
The traveling devices 2 to 4 automatically travel to the storage destinations in the zones H1 to H3 to which they belong and stop, and the carriages 12 of the traveling devices 2 to 4 respectively store levels L1 to L5.
L6 to L10 and L11 to L15 are automatically lifted and stopped.

Next, the controller 2 for the load transfer means driving device
7 is the load W on the carriage 12 as a result of operating the load transfer means drive device 26 based on the given operation direction information.
Conveyors 14a, 1 for gripping and transporting a load in a state of gripping
At the same time as the load 4b moves forward into one load storage compartment 16 in the rack 1A or 1B which is the receiving destination,
Is driven in the direction of sending out. As a result, Carrage 1
The load W on 2 is sent while sliding on the free roller conveyors 13a and 13b on the carriage 12 side and on the free roller conveyors 17a and 17b on the load storage section 16 side. When the loading and unloading of the load W is completed, the load holding and conveying conveyors 14a and 14b move away from each other and move away from the load W, and then move backward to the home position on the carriage 12.

When the loading and unloading transfer from the traveling devices 2-4 to the rack 1A or 1B is completed as described above, the controller 23 operates the traveling drive device 22 again to move the traveling devices 2-4 to the warehousing lifting device. The vehicle is run to the home position HP adjacent to No. 5, but in the control program of the present invention, the following control is performed. That is,
The rack zone B1 where the storage destination (work rack zone) immediately before the traveling devices 2 to 4 is closest to the home position HP
When it is inside, after the transfer of goods from the traveling devices 2 to 4 to the rack 1A or 1B is completed regardless of the next storage destination rack zone, the carriage 12 is moved up and down immediately before the previous storage level (work level). ), The traveling devices 2 to 4 are caused to travel toward the home position HP.

When the storage destination (work rack zone) immediately before the traveling devices 2 to 4 is in the intermediate rack zone B2 and in the upper carriage elevating zone h2, regardless of the rack zone and level of the next storage destination. After the transfer of goods from the traveling devices 2 to 4 to the rack 1A or 1B is completed, the carriage 12 is lowered to the lower limit (levels L3, L8, L13) of the upper carriage elevating zone h2. 4 is run toward the home position HP.

The storage destination (work rack zone) immediately before the traveling devices 2 to 4 is in the intermediate rack zone B2 and in the lower carriage elevating zone h1, and the next storage destination is in the rack zone B1 or B2. Further, even when the carriage is in the upper carriage lifting zone h2, the traveling devices 2 to 4 cause the rack 1 to move.
After completing the transfer of goods to A or 1B, carry 1
2 while lowering 2 to the lower limit (levels L3, L8, L13) of the upper carriage lifting zone h2.
4 to run toward the home position HP.

The storage destination (work rack zone) immediately before the traveling devices 2 to 4 is in the intermediate rack zone B2 and in the lower carriage elevating zone h1, and the next storage destination is in the rack zone B1 or B2. Further, when it is in the lower carriage lift zone h1, the traveling devices 2 to 4 move to the rack 1
After completing the transfer of goods to A or 1B, carry 1
2 while lowering 2 to the lower limit (levels L1, L6, L11) of the lower carriage lift zone h1.
4 to run toward the home position HP.

When the storage destination (work rack zone) immediately before the traveling devices 2 to 4 is in the intermediate rack zone B2 and in the lower carriage elevating zone h1, and the next storage destination is in the rack zone B3. Also, irrespective of the level of the next warehousing destination, after the warehousing transfer from the traveling devices 2 to 4 to the rack 1A or 1B is completed, the carriage 12 is moved to the lower limit (levels L1 and L6) of the lower carriage elevating zone h1. , L1
The traveling devices 2 to 4 are caused to travel toward the home position HP while being lowered to 1).

The storage destination (work rack zone) immediately before the traveling devices 2 to 4 is in the rack zone B3 farthest from the home position HP, and the next storage destination is in the rack zone B1 closest to the home position HP. At this time, after the transfer of goods from the traveling devices 2 to 4 to the rack 1A or 1B is completed, the traveling devices 2 to 4 are moved to the carriage 12 thereof.
To the next rack zone B1 for receiving work level L1
While moving up and down to L5, L6 to L10, and L11 to L15, the vehicle travels to the home position HP.

The storage destination (work rack zone) immediately before the traveling devices 2 to 4 is in the rack zone B3 farthest from the home position HP, and the next storage destination is in the intermediate rack zone B2 and the upper carriage lift zone. When it is in h2, after the transfer from the traveling devices 2 to 4 to the rack 1A or 1B is completed, the carriages 2 to 4 are moved from the carriage 12 to the lower limit (level L) of the upper elevating zone h2.
3, L8, L13) while lowering to the traveling device 2
4 is run toward the home position HP.

The storage destination (work rack zone) immediately before the traveling devices 2 to 4 is in the rack zone B3 farthest from the home position HP, and the next storage destination is in the intermediate rack zone B2 and the lower carriage is lifted. When it is in the zone h1, after the transfer of goods from the traveling devices 2 to 4 to the rack 1A or 1B is completed, the traveling devices 2 to 4 are moved from their carriages 12 to the lower limit (level) of the lower elevating zone h1. L
1, L6, L11) while the traveling device 2
4 is run toward the home position HP.

Both the storage destination (work rack zone) immediately before the traveling devices 2 to 4 and the next storage destination are home positions H.
Even in the rack zone B3 farthest from P, regardless of the level of the next storage destination, after the transfer of goods from the traveling devices 2 to 4 to the rack 1A or 1B is completed, the traveling devices 2 to 4 are transferred. , The carriage 12 to the lower lifting zone h1
The traveling devices 2 to 4 are caused to travel toward the home position HP while being lowered to the lower limit (levels L1, L6, L11).

In other words, when the traveling distance to return to the home position HP is short, the traveling devices 2 to 4 are returned to the home position HP without raising and lowering the carriage 12, and the traveling distance until returning to the home position HP is increased. When it is long, the carriage 12 is lowered while lowering the carriage 12 to the middle position or the lower end of the ascending / descending path according to the distance.
4 is returned to the home position HP, but even if the carriage 12 can be lowered to the lower limit position before returning to the home position HP, the rack zone of the next storage destination is set to the home position HP. When it is the closest zone B1, the carriage 12 is moved to the home position HP while moving up and down to the storage work levels L1 to L5, L6 to L10, and L11 to L15 in the next rack zone B1 instead of the lower limit position. Let Therefore, in any case, when the traveling devices 2 to 4 return to the home position HP, the carriage 12 is at the intermediate position (levels L3, L8, 13) or the lower end position (levels L1, L6, L11) of the ascending / descending path, Alternatively, the immediately preceding storage work levels L1 to L5, L6 to L10, L11 to L
It means that it has stopped at 15.

On the other hand, the warehousing elevator 5 has the warehousing destination rack zone information and warehousing destination level information, the next warehousing destination rack zone information and warehousing destination level information, which are given from the main controller 32 to the elevator driving device controller 29. And the lifting drive device 28 that is operated based on the current level information
As a result, the carriage 12 of the return traveling devices 2 to 4 after the completion of the warehousing operation rises to a load transfer level that coincides with the levels L1 to L15 at which the carriage 12 descends and stops, and stops.

A concrete description will be given by taking the traveling device 3 for the middle zone as an example. When the storage destination immediately before the traveling device 3 is the load storage compartment 16 in the rack zone B1, the next storage rack zone is In any of B1 to B3, the empty carriage 12 is not moved up and down, and the traveling device 3 is caused to travel to the home position HP while being held at the immediately preceding storage destination levels L6 to L10. If the traveling device 3
When the storage destination immediately before is the load storage section 16 in the rack zone B2 and at the level L8 to L10 belonging to the upper carriage lifting zone h2, the upper carriage lifts regardless of the rack zone and level of the next storage destination. Zone h2
Carriage 12 empty to the lower limit position, that is, to level L8
The traveling device 3 is caused to travel to the home position HP while being lowered.

The storage destination immediately before the traveling device 3 is the load storage section 16 of the levels L6 and L7 belonging to the lower carriage elevating zone h1 within the rack zone B2, and the next storage destination rack zone is B1 or When in B2,
If the next storage destination is the load storage section 16 of the levels L8 to L10 belonging to the upper carriage lifting zone h2, the traveling device 3 is moved down to the lower limit position of the upper carriage lifting zone h2, that is, the level L8. To the home position HP, and if the next storage destination is the load storage section 16 of the levels L6 and L7 belonging to the lower carriage lifting zone h1, the lower limit position of the lower carriage lifting zone h1, that is, to the level L6, is emptied. The traveling device 3 travels to the home position HP while lowering the carriage 12.

Further, the storage destination just before the traveling device 3 is the load storage section 16 of the levels L6 and L7 belonging to the lower carriage elevating zone h1 within the rack zone B2, and the next storage destination rack zone is B3. When it is inside, regardless of the level of the next storage destination, the lower carriage elevating zone h1
Carriage 12 empty to the lower limit position of level, that is, level L6
The traveling device 3 is caused to travel to the home position HP while being lowered.

When the storage destination immediately before the traveling device 3 is in the rack zone B3 and the next storage destination is in the rack zone B1, the carriage 12 is set to level L6 to the next storage destination in the rack zone B1. The traveling device 3 is caused to travel to the home position HP while moving up and down to L10, but when the storage destination immediately before the traveling device 3 is in the rack zone B3 and the next storage destination is in the rack zone B2, the next storage destination is Are levels L8 to L1 belonging to the upper carriage lifting zone h2
If the load storage compartment 16 is 0, the traveling device 3 is moved to the home position H while lowering the empty carriage 12 to the lower limit position of the upper carriage lifting zone h2, that is, the level L8.
If the next storage destination is the load storage section 16 of the levels L6 and L7 belonging to the lower carriage elevating zone h1, the carriage 12 empty to the lower limit position of the lower carriage elevating zone h1, that is, the level L6. The traveling device 3 is caused to travel to the home position HP while being lowered.

When both the storage destination immediately before the traveling device 3 and the next storage destination are within the rack zone B3, the empty carriage 12 is lowered to the lower limit position of the lower carriage raising / lowering zone h1, that is, the level L6. While traveling, the traveling device 3 travels to the home position HP.

On the other hand, the storage elevating device 5 is driven to the lower limit by the controller 29 operating the elevating drive device 28, and then the storage conveyor 6 and the roller conveyor 20 of the storage elevating device 5 are driven. Thus, the next load W to be stored is received from the storage conveyor 5. The loading elevator 5 that has received the load W is the main controller 3
The controller 29 operates the lifting drive device 28 based on the load transfer level information to the traveling devices 2 to 4 received from 2 to return to the home position HP as described above. Is driven up to the load transfer level corresponding to the descent stop levels L1 to L15 of the empty carriage 12. With respect to the traveling device 3 for the middle stage zone, the carriage 12 is driven to rise to a position where the carriage 12 is lowered and stopped, that is, the level L6 or L8, or the levels L6 to L10 corresponding to the immediately preceding storage destination level.

After that, the controllers 27 and 31 are arranged so that the loads W on the loading / unloading device 5 are transferred onto the empty carriages 12 of the traveling devices 2 to 4 by the load transfer means driving device 2.
Run 6, 30. As a result, after the free roller conveyors 21a and 21b on the warehousing elevator 5 are raised to the load transfer level, the load-carrying conveyors 14a and 14b on the carriage 12 which are separated from each other are moved to the warehousing elevator 5 side. Move to. Then, the load holding and conveying conveyors 14a and 14b move closer to each other to hold the load W on the warehousing elevator 5, and at the same time, the conveyor 14
By driving a and 14b in the load retracting direction and moving back to the home position on the carriage 12, the load W on the storage elevator 5 is moved to and from the free roller conveyors 21a and 21b on the storage elevator 5 side. It is transferred onto the carriage 12 of the traveling devices 2 to 4 while sliding on the free roller conveyors 13a and 13b on the twelfth side.

The traveling device 2 which has received the load W as described above
4 to 4 operate to store the load W in a predetermined storage destination according to the procedure described above, but as described above,
If the carriage 12 is moved up and down to the next storage destination level when the traveling devices 2 to 4 return to the home position HP, or not, the stop level of the carriage 12 happens to coincide with the next storage destination level. If
When the carriage 12 that has received the load W to be stored is not moved up and down, the traveling devices 2 to 4 are caused to travel to the storage destination, and the traveling devices 2 to 4 are stopped at the storage destination regardless of how close the storage destination is to the home position HP. Immediately after that, the load W can be transferred from the top of the carriage 12 to the storage destination.

Of course, when the level of the carriage 12 that receives the load W from the warehousing elevating device 5 and the receiving destination level do not match, the carriage 12 that receives the load W is moved to the receiving destination level and the traveling devices 2 to 4 are used. It will be driven up and down at the same time as traveling to the storage destination. In this case, the carriage 1
The traveling devices 2 to 4 arrive at the warehousing destination faster than the traveling devices 2 to 4 reach the warehousing destination level and stop.
In some cases, after 4 has stopped, it may be necessary to wait for the transfer of goods until the carriage 12 reaches the destination level, but according to the above control method, except when the last destination is the rack zone B1. , Traveling device 2 to the storage destination 2
When the mileage of 4 is short, the carriage 12 to the destination
Since it is controlled so that the ascending / descending distance of the carriage is shortened, the delay time is short even if the carriage 12 arrives at the storage destination level later than the traveling devices 2 to 4 arrive at the storage destination. .

As is clear from the above description, the lengths of the rack zones B1 and B2 (the distance from the zone start end to the zone end on the home position HP side) are set as follows. That is, the elevating device 5 for warehousing is the traveling devices 2 to 2.
It is desirable that the level at which the load W is transferred to 4 is basically low in order to shorten the time required for the loading elevator 5 to receive the next load W to be loaded from the loading conveyor 6. Therefore, in the rack zone B where the carriage 12 may be stopped at a level higher than the lower limit position.
Basically, 1 and B2 are desirably short. For this reason,
The time required for the traveling devices 2 to 4 at the start end near the home position HP of the rack zone B3 to travel to the home position HP is substantially the same as the time required for the carriage 12 to descend from the upper end to the lower end of the ascending / descending path. Home position HP in rack zone B3
The position of the end of the rack zone B2 is set so that the start of the side of the rack is as close to the home position HP as possible,
Then, the traveling devices 2 to 4 at the start end portion of the rack zone B2 near the home position HP are set to the home position HP.
So that the time required to travel up to approximately the same time as the time required for the carriage 12 to descend from the upper end to the lower end of the elevating zone h1 (or the elevating zone h2),
The position of the end portion of the rack zone B1 may be set so that the start end portion of the rack zone B2 on the home position HP side is as close to the home position HP as possible.

The delivery work for taking out the load W stored in the rack 1A or 1B and sending it to the delivery conveyor 8 is carried out by the traveling device corresponding to the delivery destination level among the traveling devices 2 to 4 and the elevating device 7 for delivery. It is possible to use and to perform the procedure in the reverse order of the above-mentioned storage operation, but the description thereof will be omitted. Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which the warehousing work is repeatedly performed is described, but the method of the present invention can also be carried out when the warehousing work is performed after the warehousing work. In this case, the control of the present invention is performed on the basis of the immediately preceding outgoing work rack zone and the next incoming work rack zone, and the home position H is set for the next incoming work.
On the carriage 12 of the traveling devices 2 to 4 that return to P, the load W unloaded by the immediately preceding shipping operation is placed.
When the traveling devices 2 to 4 have returned to the home position HP, the load W on the carriage 12 is transferred to the exit elevator 7 waiting at a level corresponding to the stop level of the carriage 12.
After the goods W have been transferred to and from the warehouse, the goods W are transferred to the carriage 12 from the elevator apparatus 5 for goods receipt waiting at the same level.

In the above embodiment, the elevating and lowering device 5 for warehousing and the elevating and lowering device 7 for unloading are separately provided, but one elevating device can be used for both warehousing and unloading. Also,
It goes without saying that the load transfer means 11 provided on the carriage 12 of the traveling devices 2 to 4 and the load transfer means 19 provided on the loading / unloading elevating devices 5, 7 are not limited to those in the above-mentioned embodiments. .

[0036]

As described above, according to the control method of the present invention, when the loading / unloading operation is performed on the rack zone near the home position where the loading / unloading lifting device stands by, the next loading / unloading rack zone is set. Regardless of this, the traveling device is allowed to travel to the home position without raising or lowering the carriage from the working level at that time, so if the loading and unloading work destination immediately before is located near the home position and above the zone in charge. Even if the traveling device that has performed the work returns to the home position, the return traveling device is only required to wait at the same level as the work level immediately before the returning traveling device until the traveling elevating device returns. Immediately upon arrival at the home position, the goods are transferred from the warehousing elevator to the empty carriage of the return traveling device. Can, it is possible to do or at least eliminate the wasteful waiting time.

Further, when returning to the home position from the rack zone far from the home position, and when the next storage rack zone is also far from the home position, the traveling device is moved to the home position while lowering the carriage to the lower limit position. Therefore, the level at which the loading / unloading lifting device transfers the load to the traveling device can be made as low as possible.

Even when returning from the rack zone far from the home position to the home position, when the next storage rack zone is near the home position, the carriage is moved up and down to the next storage destination level. Since the device is returned to the home position, at the time of the next storage work for the rack zone close to the home position, the carriage has not arrived at the storage destination level even though the traveling device has arrived at the storage destination. Disappears.

Further, according to the present invention, it is difficult to lower the carriage at the upper end of the ascent / descent path to the lower end of the ascent / descent path before returning to the home position. In addition to setting a possible intermediate rack zone, the carriage ascending / descending path is divided into two upper and lower ascending / descending zones, and the stop level of the carriage when receiving a load to be stored from the storage elevator is set to the middle (upper side) It is also set to the lower limit position of the carriage lifting zone) to control the carriage ascending / descending distance as much as possible during the next warehousing work, so the purpose is to shorten the waiting time of the warehousing elevator. And effectively reduce the amount of time waiting at the destination for the carriage to arrive at the destination level. It is possible, together with the previous action, it is possible to achieve the efficiency improvement of warehousing work effectively.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view in which a front rack and a shipping peripheral device are omitted in an automated warehouse.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the entire automated warehouse.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view showing details of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a drive device and a controller for controlling the drive device.

FIG. 5 is a first half of a flowchart illustrating a control procedure when the traveling device is stored.

FIG. 6 is the latter half of the flowchart.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure of a hoisting device for warehousing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1A rack 1B rack 2 lower zone traveling device 3 middle zone traveling device 4 upper zone traveling device 5 warehousing lifting device 6 warehousing conveyor 7 unloading lifting device 8 unloading conveyor 11 load transfer means 12 elevating carriage 13a free Roller Conveyor 13b Free Roller Conveyor 14a Cargo Conveying Cargo 14b Cargo Conveying Cargo 16 Cargo Storage 17a Free Roller Conveyor 17b Free Roller Conveyor 19 Cargo Transfer Device 20 Roller Conveyor 21a Elevator Free Roller Conveyor 21b Elevator Free Roller conveyors L1 to L15 Storage and loading work levels h1 and h2 Carriage lift zone B1 to B3 Rack zone

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A load storage compartment that is vertically movable along a rack and covers a plurality of upper and lower tiers of the rack.
A carriage that can move up and down with loading and unloading means is provided,
In an automatic warehouse in which an elevating / lowering device for transferring a load to the traveling device is provided beside a home position at one end of a traveling path of the traveling device, the elevating / lowering device for warehousing is a fixed intermediate load transfer device. Arranged so that the load can be transferred directly onto the carriage of the traveling device without passing through a platform, the rack is divided into a plurality of zones in the traveling direction of the traveling device, and the carriage in the traveling device is arranged. When the traveling device returns to the home position from within the rack zone closest to the home position, the return traveling device is divided into upper and lower zones. ,
When the carriage is moved to the home position without being lifted from the working level at that time, and when the traveling device returns to the home position from within the rack zone farthest from the home position, the next receiving work rack zone is moved to the home position. Only when the zone is closest to, the return traveling device is moved to the home position while raising and lowering the carriage to the next storage work level, and when the next storage rack zone is the zone farthest from the home position, the return travel is performed. The device is moved to the home position while lowering the carriage to the lower limit of the lower elevating zone, and when the next storage rack zone is in the middle rack zone, the return traveling device is set to the next storage destination. Carriage to the lower limit of the carriage lifting zone to which When the traveling device returns to the home position from within the middle rack zone, the return traveling device is moved to the lower limit of the upper carriage elevating zone or the lower carriage. The carriage is moved to the home position while lowering the carriage to the lower limit of the hoisting zone, and the hoisting device for warehousing is stopped at a stop position corresponding to the stop level of the carriage of the return traveling device, and the carriage of the return traveling device is stopped. A method of controlling an automated warehouse, characterized by loading and transferring a load onto a warehouse.