JPH09301506A - Restoring method at time of generation of double storage in automated warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the system efficiency of an automated warehouse from being deteriorated by automatically performing restoration without troubling an operator when double storage is generated. SOLUTION: If double storage is generated when a crane control board 5 controls a crane to perform storage in a selected rack, the crane control board 5 is made into the abnormal mode, stops the crane, and informs a control CPU 8 about double storage, the control CPU 8 demands reselection of an empty rack from an inventory CPU 9, the inventory CPU 9 performs reselection of the empty rack and commands the control CPU 8 to perform storage in the reselected rack, the control CPU 8 releases the abnormal mode of the crane control board 5 and commands storage in the reselected rack, and the crane control board 5 controls the crane and performs storage in the reselected rack.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recovery method when double storage occurs in an automatic warehouse, and more particularly to a method for automatically recovering when double storage occurs without the operator having to bother. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, automatic warehouses have come to be widely used due to the consolidation of distribution bases for the purpose of improving distribution costs and distribution efficiency, and the spread of high-mix low-volume production accompanying diversification of user needs. . In an automated warehouse, see Figure 2.
As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of racks 1 each provided with a large number of shelves are arranged, and a crane 2 is used to load and unload loads from the racks of these racks 1. When a large number of racks 1 are arranged, a plurality of cranes 2 to 4 are used as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, crane control boards 5 to 7 are arranged in the vicinity of the cranes corresponding to the cranes 2 to 4, and the control CPU 8 is mounted on these crane control boards 5 to 7.
The inventory management CPU 9 is connected via. At the time of warehousing, the inventory management CPU 9 first allocates an empty shelf, and the control CP
A warehousing instruction is sent via U8 to the crane control panel corresponding to the rack 1 in which this empty shelf exists. Here, it is assumed that, for example, a storage instruction is sent to the crane control panel 5.

At this time, if an inventory instruction is sent to the crane control panel 5 as an empty shelf in fact due to an error in inventory management data in the inventory management CPU 9, etc. Double storage occurs. That is, when the crane 2 controlled by the crane control panel 5 loads a load and is positioned in front of the shelf A, a sensor provided in the crane 2 detects that the load is already stored in the shelf A, and Thus, the crane control panel 5 stops the operation of the crane 2 by indicating the occurrence of an abnormality with a warning light or a warning sound.

The operator who knows the occurrence of the abnormality releases the warning light or warning sound of the crane control panel 5 to stop the loading / unloading work, or manually searches the empty shelf B with his / her eyes to manually operate the crane control panel 5. To load the load loaded on the crane 2 into the shelf B. When a load is manually loaded into the empty shelf B, the crane control panel 5 can be automatically activated to perform a normal loading / unloading operation. However, the worker has a shelf A that has been double-stored and a shelf B that has been manually loaded.
Regarding the above, it is necessary to perform maintenance of the inventory management CPU 9 and correct the inventory management data.

[0006]

However, when double storage occurs, an operator may stop the loading / unloading work,
Since the crane control panel was manually operated to store the load in the empty shelf, there was a problem that the system efficiency of the automatic warehouse deteriorates. Further, when the load is manually stored in the empty shelf, if the worker forgets to perform maintenance of the inventory management CPU later, the double storage may occur again.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and when double storage occurs, the system efficiency of the automatic warehouse can be improved by automatically recovering it without the operator's hand. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recovery method in the event of double storage in an automatic warehouse, which can prevent the deterioration of storage capacity.

[0008]

A method for recovering from double storage in an automatic warehouse according to the present invention is a stock management CPU.
When an empty shelf is allocated and the crane control panel instructs the crane control panel to store via the control CPU, and the crane control panel controls the crane to store in the allocated shelf, double storage occurs. , The crane control panel goes into abnormal mode, stops the crane, notifies the control CPU of double storage, the control CPU requests the inventory management CPU to reallocate empty shelves, and the inventory management CPU reallocates empty shelves. Allocation and control CPU
To the shelves that have been reallocated, the control CPU cancels the abnormal mode of the crane control panel, and instructs the crane control panel to store the shelves that have been reallocated. This is a method of controlling and entering a shelf that has been reallocated.

Further, after the stock is re-allocated to the shelves, the control CPU requests the inventory management CPU to issue the double storage shelves, and the inventory management CPU sends the duplicates to the crane control panel via the control CPU. The double storage shelves can also be instructed and the crane control panel can control the crane so that the double storage shelves can be delivered.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of racks 1 each provided with a large number of shelves are arranged in the automated warehouse, and cranes 2 to 4 are arranged between the racks 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the cranes 2 to 4 are connected to corresponding crane control boards 5 to 7, and these crane control boards 5 to 7 are control CPUs.
It is connected to the inventory management CPU 9 via 8.

Here, for example, when the crane 2 is controlled by the crane control panel 5 and the rack 1 is loaded into the rack 1,
A method of recovery according to this embodiment in the case where double storage has occurred on the shelf A will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the inventory management CPU 9 allocates empty shelves in the rack 1, and the inventory management CP is executed in step S1.
When the instruction to store the load on the shelf A allocated as an empty shelf is issued from the U9 to the control CPU 8, the control CPU 8 sends the storage instruction to the shelf A to the crane control panel 5 corresponding to the shelf A in step S2. To be Under the control of the crane control panel 5, the crane 2 loads a load and moves to the front of the shelf A for storing in the shelf A. At this time, if the shelf A of the rack 1 is not an empty shelf and a load is already stored in the shelf A, the sensor provided in the crane 2 detects the load already stored in the shelf A, and The crane control panel 5 recognizes the occurrence of double storage on the shelf A and stops the crane 2 to enter the abnormal mode.

In step S3, the crane control panel 5 notifies the control CPU 8 of the occurrence of double storage, and the display of the control CPU 8 displays that double storage has occurred on the shelf A. The worker who sees this display cancels the warehousing work, or
Alternatively, whether to reallocate empty shelves and continue the warehousing operation is input from a keyboard or a display. When an instruction to continue the warehousing work is input, step S
At 4, the control CPU 8 notifies the inventory management CPU 9 of the occurrence of an abnormality and sends a request for reallocation of empty shelves.

In response to a request from the control CPU 8, the inventory management CPU 9 reallocates empty shelves. For example, it is assumed that the shelf B of the rack 1 is assigned as an empty shelf. In step S5, the stock management CPU 9 instructs the control CPU 8 to store the re-allocated shelf B. As a result, the control CP
U8 cancels the abnormal mode of the crane control panel 5 in step S6, instructs the crane control panel 5 to store the re-allocated shelf B, and automatically activates the crane control panel 5.

The crane 2 is controlled by the crane control panel 5 which is automatically activated, and the re-allocated shelves B are stored. When the storage on the shelf B is completed, the crane control panel 5 notifies the control CPU 8 that the storage is completed in step S7. The control CPU 8 that has received the notification of the completion of warehousing
In step S8, the inventory management CPU 9 is notified of the completion of warehousing on the shelf B, and a request for unloading the shelf A in which double storage has occurred is requested.

In response to the delivery request, the inventory management CPU 9 instructs the control CPU 8 to deliver the shelf A in step S9, and in step S10, the control CPU 8 corresponds to the shelf A in the crane control panel 5 with a double storage shelf. The issue of a certain shelf A is instructed. Based on the delivery instruction from the control CPU 8, the crane control panel 5 controls the crane 2 to deliver the load from the shelf A. When the delivery is completed, the crane control panel 5 notifies the control CPU 8 that the delivery has been completed in step S11, and the control CPU 8 notifies the inventory management CPU 9 that the dual storage shelf A has been delivered in step S12.

In this way, if the double storage shelves A are unloaded after the re-allocated shelves B have been stored, the inventory status of each shelf of the rack 1 of the automatic warehouse is controlled by the inventory management CPU.
9 inventory management data can be modified to match.

As described above, according to the present invention,
When double storage occurs in an automated warehouse, it is possible to automatically cancel the double storage and restore the system without bothering the operator, and prevent the system efficiency of the automated warehouse from decreasing. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a flow of processing in a recovery method when a double storage occurs according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between a rack and a crane in an automated warehouse.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a control system for loading and unloading in an automatic warehouse.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Rack 2-4 Crane 5-7 Crane control panel 8 Control CPU 9 Inventory management CPU

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An inventory management CPU allocates empty shelves and instructs the crane control panel to store via the control CPU, and the crane control panel controls the crane to store the shelves allocated. When double storage occurs, the crane control panel goes into an abnormal mode, stops the crane, notifies the control CPU of the double storage, and the control CPU requests the inventory management CPU to reallocate empty shelves. Inventory management CPU reallocates empty shelves and controls CP
U is instructed to re-allocate the shelves to the shelves, the control CPU releases the abnormal mode of the crane control panel, and the crane control boards is instructed to re-allocate the shelves to the shelves. A method for recovering from double storage in an automated warehouse, characterized in that the storage is controlled and the shelves are re-allocated. 2. The control CPU requests the inventory management CPU to issue the double storage shelves after the re-allocated shelves have been stored, and the inventory management CPU sends the double storage shelves to the crane control panel via the control CPU. The method according to claim 1, wherein the double storage shelves are instructed, and the crane control panel controls the crane to carry out the double storage shelves.