JPH0818650B2 - Automatic warehouse - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to automated warehouses.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The following are known as conventional automatic warehouses. That is, it has a rack device having a large number of article storage shelves vertically and horizontally, and a stacker crane provided in front of the rack device so as to be movable left and right. BACKGROUND ART There is known an elevator having a lift provided on a mast of a carriage so as to be lifted and a slide fork (article transfer device) provided on the lift so as to be slidable back and forth.

[0003]

Disadvantages of the Prior Art The conventional automatic warehouse has the following drawbacks. That is, when installing a rack device that is long in the left-right direction, there is no problem in the conventional automated warehouse, but when installing only a rack device that is short in the left-right direction, if the stacker crane is run left and right, the stacker crane Will start, accelerate, run at a constant speed, decelerate, and stop over a short distance, that is, the stacker crane must be accelerated and decelerated in a short section, so the stacker crane will run at high speed. However, even though the original functions of the stacker crane cannot be fully exerted, the stacker crane must be equipped with the devices necessary for traveling, which is disadvantageous in that the cost becomes high. In addition, because there is a limit to the compactness of the stacker crane itself, a certain dead space is required at the left and right ends of the automated warehouse for the stacker crane. There is a drawback that the ratio is high and the land cannot be used effectively.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Disadvantages] The present invention adopts the following means in order to eliminate the above disadvantages. The present invention relates to a rack device having a large number of article storage shelves vertically and horizontally, and a left and right length of the rack device that is vertically movable in front of an article loading / unloading port of the article storage shelf having a fork passage gap of the rack device. The length of the elevator corresponding to the length in the left-right direction, the left-right moving platform installed on the elevator to move left and right, and the left-right platform moving toward and away from the goods storage shelves.
The slide fork provided slidably and the left and right movement
Between the traveling passage of the table and the rack device,
It is installed on the lift so that it is located in front of the shelf, and
A compound that is designed not to interfere with the horizontal projection of the ride fork.
And a number of article stocking devices .

[0005]

The present invention has the following functions. A slide fork, which is an article transfer means, can be positioned at a predetermined article storage shelf or a carry-in / carry-out station by raising and lowering the lift table and moving the left-right moving table mounted on the lift table left and right.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on the embodiments shown in the drawings. In this specification, “front” means the front side of FIG. 1, “rear” means the back side of FIG. 1, “left” means the left side of FIG.
Right means the right side of the figure.

A pair of front and rear rack devices 1, which are erected on the floor so as to be spaced at a predetermined interval in the front-rear direction, include a large number of front columns 2 arranged side by side at predetermined intervals, and these front columns 2.
The rear columns 2 are arranged rearwardly of the column 2 with a predetermined gap therebetween, and the front and rear columns 2 are provided with article support members 4 provided at predetermined intervals in the height direction. An article storage shelf 3 is configured by a pair of left and right article support members 4 that face each other without intervening. A space between the pair of left and right article support members 4 is a fork passage gap 5 that allows a slide fork 20 to be described later to move in the vertical direction. The article loading / unloading ports 6 of the front and rear article storage shelves 3 face each other.

Below the rack device 1, an article loading / unloading station 8 is provided, and one group of article storage shelves 3 arranged in the article loading / unloading station 8 in the vertical direction is provided with a drive conveyor 9 capable of forward / reverse driving. However, it is installed so that the transport direction is directed in the front-back direction.

A pair of left and right guide masts 11 are erected so as to be positioned at the center of the rack device 1 in the front-rear direction and to the side of the rack device 1. By the well-known lifting device 13, the lifting table 12 having a length corresponding to the left-right length and long in the left-right direction is
It can be raised and lowered.

A pair of guide rails 15 are provided at the center of the lift table 12 in the front-rear direction, the longitudinal direction of which is left and right.
A left-right moving table 16 is movable left and right along the guide rails 15 by a known traveling drive device (not shown). A horizontal turntable 17 is provided on the left-right moving table 16,
The horizontal turntable 17 is horizontally rotated by a motor 18 which can rotate in the normal and reverse directions. A slide fork 20 is provided on the horizontal turntable 17 as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-2.
It is provided so as to be slidable back and forth by an advance / retreat mechanism known from Japanese Patent No. 3762. As is well known, the slide fork 20 pulls the article W into the elevating table 12 by performing the operations of projecting the article W downward, lifting the article W by raising the elevating table 12, and retracting the article W to the elevating table 12. The article W can be unloaded onto the article storage shelf 3 or the like by performing the opposite operation.

An article stocking device 21 is mounted on the lifting table 12.
Between the traveling passage of the left and right moving base 16 and the rack device 1.
Of the article storage shelves 3 aligned in the vertical direction so as to be positioned.
It is provided so as to face and face the front of each group
I have. Before Symbol article collecting assembly 21 includes a forward and reverse drivable auxiliary drive conveyor 22 with its conveying direction in the longitudinal direction, corresponding to the auxiliary drive conveyors 22, arranged vertically movably in the left and right sides of the auxiliary drive conveyor 22 It has a pair of left and right elevating frames 23. The auxiliary drive conveyor 2
2 does not prevent the horizontal projection of the slide fork 20. The elevating frame 23 is a slide fork 2
It is possible to project above the upper surface of 0 and to retreat below the transport surface of the auxiliary drive conveyor 22. The length between the outer sides of the pair of elevating frames 23 is shorter than the length of the article W in the left-right direction. As will be apparent from the description below, the elevating frame 23 receives the article W from the slide fork 20 and places it on the auxiliary drive conveyor 22, or conversely lifts the article W from the auxiliary drive conveyor 22 and places it on the slide fork 20. It acts.

[0012]

Next, the operation of the embodiment apparatus will be described. First, a case where the article W is stored in the article storage shelf 3 will be described. The elevating table 12 is lowered so that the transport surface of the auxiliary drive conveyor 22 is flush with or substantially flush with the transport surface of the drive conveyor 9.

After that, by driving all or part of the drive conveyors 9 and auxiliary drive conveyors 22 connected to them,
The article W is placed on the auxiliary drive conveyor 22. The elevating frame 23 descends below the conveying surface of the auxiliary drive conveyor 22. When the article W is placed on the auxiliary drive conveyor 22, the drive conveyor 9 and the auxiliary drive conveyor 22 are stopped.

After that, the elevating table 12 is moved up and down to a position where the upper surface of the slide fork 20 is slightly higher than the article supporting surface of the article storage shelf 3 in which the articles W are to be stored.

After that, the elevating frame 23, which has been lowered so far, is raised so that the bottom surface of the article W is above the upper surface of the slide fork 20.

After that, the left and right moving table 16 is moved so as to face the article storage shelf 3 for storing the article W, and the horizontal turntable 17 is turned so that the slide fork 20 faces the article storage shelf 3. So that it can project.

After that, the slide fork 20 is projected below the article W, and then the slide fork 20 is temporarily moved.
Is stopped, the elevating frame 23 is lowered, and the article W is placed on the slide fork 20.

After that, the slide fork 20 is further projected to move the article W above the article storage shelf 3, and then the elevating table 12 is lowered to store the article W in the article storage shelf 3.

After that, the slide fork 20 is retracted. Then, subsequently, when the articles W are stored in the other article storage shelves 3 at the stage where the above-mentioned work is performed, the articles W are raised again for the amount of the article W stored in the article storage shelves 3,
The article W is stored in the article storage shelf 3 by performing the same operation as described above. Otherwise, it moves to the position of the step of the article storage shelf 3 that stores the next article W. In addition, when the articles W are placed on all the auxiliary drive conveyors 22, the first article W must be stored in the article storage shelves 3 facing it, but even if one auxiliary drive conveyor 22 is empty. If (empty), the empty auxiliary drive conveyor 22 for the article W
By temporarily transferring to the elevating frame 23, the predetermined articles W on the auxiliary drive conveyor 22 can be stored in the predetermined article storage shelves 3 without limitation as described above.

It is possible to store the article W in the article storage rack 3 by repeating such operations, and carry out the article W to the drive conveyor 9 by performing the reverse operation.

[0021] In addition, the rack device 1 is not good if there one. The water flat disc 17 may be omitted when both the front and rear ends of the slide fork 20 can be protruded toward the front and rear article storage shelves 3 by a required length.

[0022]

The present invention has the following effects due to the above-mentioned configuration. It has an elevating table that is long in the left-right direction and has a length corresponding to the left-right length of the rack device, a left-right moving table that is movable left and right on the elevating table, and a slide fork provided on the left-right moving table. However, unlike the prior art, since the stacker crane is not moved to the left and right, the above-mentioned drawbacks caused by moving the stacker crane to the left and right can be eliminated. Between the drive passage of the left and right slide and the rack device.
Multiple item stores so that they are located in front of the item storage shelves.
Since the docking device is provided on the lifting table, it is possible to simultaneously load a plurality of articles on the lifting table by placing the articles on these article stock devices. When carrying out articles from a plurality of article storage shelves, it is possible to reduce the number of times of raising and lowering of the lifting platform, and as a result, it is possible to shorten the cycle time and improve the operation efficiency and to drive the lifting platform lifting drive device. You can save energy. Also, goods
The transfer operation between the storage shelf and the article stock device is
It can be done by a series of forward and backward movements of the Dfork
It

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Rack Device 3 Article Storage Shelf 12 Lifting Table 16 Left and Right Moving Table 20 Slide Fork 21 Article Stocking Device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rack device having a large number of article storage shelves vertically and horizontally, and a fork passage gap of the rack device.
An elevating table that is vertically movable in front of the article loading / unloading port of the article storage shelf and has a length corresponding to the left and right length of the rack device in the left-right direction, and a left-right movement provided on the elevating table so as to be movable left and right. Table and this left and right moving table for goods storage shelves
A slide fork that was once slid forward and backward,
There is a gap between the traveling passage of the left and right moving base and the rack device.
Installed on the elevating table so that it is located in front of the goods storage shelf.
And not hinder the horizontal projection of the slide fork.
An automated warehouse that has a plurality of stocked equipment .