JP2006315829A - Automatic warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

In an automatic warehouse having a shelf in which a pallet on which products are placed is stored and a transfer device for taking products into and out of the shelf, the longitudinal direction of a long pallet is approximately the width direction of the warehouse. Provided is an automatic warehouse capable of loading / unloading pallets without increasing the size of the conveying device even if the pallets are stored in parallel.
A transport device has a movable plate 160 on which a pallet P can be moved back and forth in a loading / unloading direction and on which the pallet P can be placed. The support member 213 that supports the movable plate 160 from below is provided.
[Selection] Figure 7

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse having a shelf in which a pallet on which a product is placed is stored, and a transporting device that takes the pallet into and out of the shelf.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an automatic warehouse having a shelf in which a pallet on which products are placed is stored and a transport device that takes in and out the pallet is widely used. A plurality of cages each corresponding to one pallet are formed in the shelf. This cage is provided side by side in the depth direction of the warehouse, and the transfer device moves in the depth direction to reach the front of any cage, where the pallet is carried in / out of the shelf. In such an automatic warehouse, the transport device includes a slide fork such as that described in Patent Document 1, for example.
JP 2000-185806 A

  This slide fork has a movable plate that can be moved back and forth substantially horizontally (in the width direction of the warehouse) with respect to the shelf by a drive mechanism using rollers, pulleys, and the like. When a product is carried into the cage, a movable plate on which a pallet on which the product is placed is placed enters the cage, and then the slide fork is slightly lowered. The cage is provided with guide means for receiving the pallet. When the slide fork is lowered, the pallet is instructed by the guide means and the movable plate is separated from the pallet. When the movable plate is retracted from this state, the product is stored in a shelf (cage).

  When taking out the product from the shelf, the movable plate is inserted into the lower part of the pallet stored in the cage, the slide fork is then lifted, and the pallet is lifted by the movable plate. As a result, the pallet is lifted from the guide means, and the pallet and the product thereon can be taken out of the shelf by retracting the movable plate to the carry-out side.

  However, since the slide fork has a kind of cantilever structure, a load and a rotational moment are concentrated on the fixed end. Therefore, it is desirable that the position of the center of gravity of the pallet in the shelf is close to the transport device. If the position of the center of gravity of the pallet is far from the transport device, for example, if the pallet is a long object and the pallet is sent in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the pallet and stored in the shelf, the slide fork is sufficient. In addition, since it is necessary to reinforce the fixed end portion of the cantilever structure so that the pallet can be supported, there is a problem that the size of the transport device is increased.

  In order to avoid this problem, it is possible to store the pallet so that the longitudinal direction of the long pallet is substantially parallel to the depth direction of the warehouse. Fewer cages are possible. Since the transfer device is used to carry in / out the pallet with respect to only the cage adjacent in the warehouse width direction, in the case of a warehouse having such a configuration, the number of cages that can be handled by one transfer device is the warehouse depth dimension. There was a problem that there were few compared with.

  In view of the above problems, the present invention, even if the pallet is stored so that the longitudinal direction of the long pallet is substantially parallel to the width direction of the warehouse, without increasing the size of the transport device, The purpose is to provide an automatic warehouse capable of carrying in / out pallets.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the automatic warehouse of the present invention, the transport device has a movable plate that can move forward and backward in the loading / unloading direction of the pallet and on which the pallet can be placed. Has a support member for supporting the movable plate from below when the movable plate is in the cage.

  With such a configuration, since the pallet is carried in / out while the movable plate is supported by the support member of the cage, the load / rotation moment applied to the movable plate or the member that supports the movable plate on the conveying device side is reduced. It will be received by both the cage and the transfer device. Therefore, unlike a conventional transfer device using a slide fork, the load / rotation moment does not concentrate on a specific portion of the movable plate. For this reason, even if the pallet is stored so that the longitudinal direction of the long pallet is substantially parallel to the width direction of the warehouse, it is not necessary to increase the size of the conveying device for reinforcement.

  Further, as one means for carrying in / out the pallet while the movable plate is supported by the support member of the cage, the upper surface of the movable plate is moved up and down while keeping the movable plate supported by the support member. The structure which a raising apparatus has a raising mechanism can be considered.

  As described above, according to the present invention, even if the pallet is stored so that the longitudinal direction of the long pallet is substantially parallel to the width direction of the warehouse, the transport device is not enlarged. An automatic warehouse capable of loading / unloading pallets is realized.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a top view of an automatic warehouse 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the automatic warehouse 1 includes a transfer device 100 capable of moving back and forth on a passage 2 defined to extend in the vertical direction in the figure (hereinafter, this direction is defined as “depth direction”), and the transfer device 100. On the both sides in the left-right direction of the apparatus (hereinafter, this direction is defined as “width direction”) in the drawing, there is a shelf 200 composed of a plurality of cages 210 arranged side by side in the depth direction.

  The passage 2 is provided with a pair of rails 2a extending in the depth direction. The wheels 102 provided on the bottom of the transport device 100 travel on the rails 2a, so that the transport device 100 advances and retreats on the passage 2. . The wheels 102 are driven by a motor (not shown) provided in the transport device 100.

  Further, as shown in the figure, each cage 210 has a horizontally long shape in which the dimension in the width direction is several times the dimension in the depth direction, and each cage is slightly smaller than this cage. A long pallet of the size is accommodated.

  Further, on the entrance 3 side (the lower side in FIG. 1) of the warehouse, the pallet P for carrying in the warehouse and the pallet P for carrying out from the warehouse are temporarily placed. An unloading pallet standby area 320 to be placed is provided. Conveyor mechanisms 312 and 322 are provided in the carry-in pallet standby area 310 and the carry-out pallet standby area 320, respectively. By these conveyor mechanisms 312, 322, the pallet P is transferred from the upstream process (not shown) to the carry-in pallet standby area 310. While being transported, it is transported from the loading pallet standby area 320 to a downstream process (not shown).

  An operation control panel 330 is arranged on the entrance 3 side of the warehouse, and the operator of the warehouse 1 controls various operations such as loading / unloading of the pallet P into / from the warehouse by operating the operation control panel 330. can do.

  FIG. 2 is a projection of the warehouse 1 from the back side. As shown in the figure, the cage 210 is arranged side by side not only in the depth direction but also in the vertical direction, and the transport apparatus 100 has a desired slide mechanism 120 for loading / unloading the pallet P to / from the cage 210. There is a lifting device 140 for transporting next to the cage 210 in the vertical position.

  As illustrated in FIG. 2, the lifting device 140 includes a pair of guide shafts 142 that are fixed on the base 104 of the transport device 100 and extend vertically upward, and a crosshead 144 that is guided by the guide shafts 142 and moves up and down. And have. The elevating device 140 moves the cross head 144 and the slide mechanism 120 mounted thereon vertically by a hydraulic cylinder mechanism. The lifting device 140 may be configured to drive the slide mechanism 120 by another known mechanism such as a ball screw mechanism or a rack-pinion mechanism.

  The procedure for carrying out the pallet P in the warehouse 1 to the carrying-out pallet standby area 320 will be outlined below. First, the slide mechanism is arranged so that the transport device 100 itself moves in the depth direction and the lifting device 140 operates so that a movable plate (described later) on which the pallet P is placed is adjacent to the desired cage 210. 120 moves. Next, the movable plate is inserted horizontally in the width direction and inserted into the cage 210. Next, the pallet P stored in the cage 210 is moved onto the movable plate by a procedure described later. Next, the movable plate moves on the passage 2, and the transfer device 100 can move on the passage 2. The pallet P arranged in the cage 210 is taken out by the above procedure. The removed pallet P is transported to the entrance 3 of the warehouse 1 while being placed on the movable plate, where the pallet P moves from the movable plate onto the unloading pallet standby area 320. Through the above procedure, the pallet P in the warehouse 1 is unloaded to the unloading pallet standby area 320.

  The procedure for carrying the pallet P on the unloading pallet standby area 320 into the warehouse 1 will be outlined below. Initially, the transfer device 100 moves to the entrance 3 of the warehouse 1, where the pallet P arranged on the loading pallet standby area 310 moves onto the movable plate. Next, the transport device 100 itself moves in the depth direction and the lifting device 140 operates to move the slide mechanism 120 so that the movable plate is adjacent to the desired cage 210. Next, the movable plate is inserted horizontally in the width direction, and the movable plate and the pallet P thereon are inserted into the cage 210. Next, the pallet P on the movable plate is moved onto a rail 212 (described later) provided on the cage 210 by a procedure described later. The pallet P is stored in the cage 210 by the above procedure.

  Note that the movable plate can protrude from the transfer device 100 to both the left and right in the width direction of the warehouse 1, and the pallet P can be selectively transferred to / from one of the cages 210 on both sides of the movable plate in the width direction. Unloading operation can be performed.

  The slide mechanism 120 for carrying in / out the pallet P will be described below. This slide mechanism is to slide the movable plate 160 in the width direction by a plate guide 213, a movable plate guide 152, and a wheel 164 of the movable plate 160, which will be described later. FIG. 3 is a side view of the plurality of cages 210 projected from the width direction of the warehouse. A pair of rails 212 extending in the width direction is formed in the depth direction (left and right direction in FIG. 3) of the bottom of each cage 210. The pallet P has a long rectangular parallelepiped floor portion PF and a plurality of leg portions PL provided on both edges in the depth direction of the floor portion PF and extending in a substantially vertical direction. The pallet P is stored in the cage 210 in a state where the leg portion PL is placed on the rail 212. The product W is placed on the floor PF. Further, a plate guide 213 extending on the flange in the depth direction is formed on the bottom surface of the rail 212, and a movable plate, which will be described later, is supported from below by the plate guide 213.

  FIG. 4 is a top view showing the transport apparatus 100 and the cage 210 adjacent to the transport apparatus. FIG. 5 is a projection of the transport apparatus 100 and the cage 210 adjacent to the transport apparatus from the depth direction. FIG. 6 is a side view of the vicinity of the movable plate of the transport apparatus 100 projected from the width direction. As shown in these drawings, a movable plate guide 152 is provided adjacent to the depth direction of the crosshead 144 of the transport apparatus 100. The movable plate guide 152 is fixed to the cross head 144 as shown in FIG. 6, and moves up and down integrally with the cross head 144. The movable plate guide 152 is a plate-like member that is slightly larger than the floor portion PF of the pallet P.

  The movable plate 160 is transported by the transport device 100 while being placed on the top of the movable plate guide 152. The movable plate 160 has a plate portion 162 that is slightly smaller than the floor portion PF of the pallet P, and a plurality of movable plates 160 at both edges in the depth direction of the plate portion 162 (in this embodiment, the four corners and both edges in the depth direction of the plate portion 162). And 6 wheels 164 provided in the central portion. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the floor portion PF of the pallet P is placed on the plate portion 162. Further, guide portions 154 are formed on both edges in the depth direction of the movable plate guide 152 so as to protrude in a flange shape in a substantially vertical direction. The wheel 164 is guided by the guide portion 154 from the outside in the depth direction and is movable plate guide 152. It is designed not to fall off. The wheel 164 of the movable plate 160 is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown) provided on the movable plate 160. As described above, since the wheels 164 provided on both edges in the depth direction of the movable plate 160 are guided from the outside in the depth direction by the guide portions 154, when the motor is operated to rotate the wheels 164, the movable plate 160 is moved. 160 is driven in the width direction. Further, the power / control signal to the motor for driving the wheel 164 is supplied by a cable (not shown) passed between the movable plate 160 and the movable plate guide 154 (or another member constituting the transport device). The

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, when the lifting device 140 is driven so that the height of the upper surface of the movable plate guide 152 and the upper surface of the plate guide 213 of the cage 210 are approximately aligned, the wheel 164 is driven to rotate. The wheel 164 rotates and moves onto the plate guide 213, and as a result, the movable plate 160 moves horizontally in the width direction. The movable plate 160 can be moved to a position where the entire movable plate 160 completely protrudes from the movable plate guide 154 and is accommodated in the cage 210.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the movable plate 160 is supported from below by at least one of the movable plate guide 154 and the plate guide 213 via the plurality of wheels 164. For this reason, since the movable plate is always supported at a plurality of locations including its four corners, unlike a conventional mechanism in which the movable plate is moved by a slide fork type slide mechanism, a specific location (for example, movable The load and the rotational moment do not concentrate on one end in the width direction of the plate, and these loads and moments are applied substantially evenly to the portions of the movable plate guide 154 and the plate guide 213 that are in contact with the wheel 164. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is not necessary to reinforce the transport apparatus 100 in consideration of concentration of load and rotational moment, and thus a small transport apparatus 100 having only a minimum necessary function is possible.

  The upper surface of the plate portion 162 of the movable plate 160 is moved up and down by a raising mechanism described below. Hereinafter, the configuration of the raising mechanism will be described.

  FIG. 7 is an enlarged side view of the movable plate 160 and the pallet P projected from the width direction. As illustrated, a raising mechanism 166 is provided between the upper surface 162 a and the lower surface 162 b of the plate portion 162 of the movable plate 160. The raising mechanism 166 raises and lowers the upper surface 162a of the plate portion 162 between a first position shown in FIG. 7A and a second position shown in FIG. 7B. A procedure for storing the pallet P on the movable plate 160 in the cage 210 using the raising mechanism 166 will be described below.

  Before the pallet P is placed on the plate part 162 of the movable plate 160 and transported in the cage 210, the raising mechanism 166 is operated to raise the upper surface 162a of the plate part 162 to the first position. At this time, as shown in FIG. 7A, the upper surface 162a of the plate portion 162 supports the floor portion PF of the pallet P from below. Further, in this state, the bottom surface of the leg portion PL of the pallet P is at a position higher than the top surface of the rail 212 of the cage 210. Therefore, even if the movable plate 160 is moved toward the cage 210, the pallet P and the rail 212 do not interfere with each other, and the pallet P is smoothly introduced into the cage 210.

  Next, when the raising mechanism 166 is operated and the upper surface 162a of the plate portion 162 is lowered to the second position while the pallet P is completely in the cage 210, the pallet is moved as shown in FIG. P descends and the leg PL of the pallet P is placed on the rail 212. At this time, the height of the upper surface 162a of the plate portion 160 is lower than the lower surface of the floor portion PF of the pallet P placed on the rail 212. For this reason, when the movable plate 160 is retracted away from the cage 210 from this state, only the movable plate 160 leaves the cage 210 and sits on the movable plate guide 154 while the pallet P is placed on the rail 212. Return. The pallet P is stored in the cage 210 by the above procedure.

  On the contrary, when the pallet stored in the cage 210 is taken out, the movable plate 160 is sent into the cage 210 with the upper surface 162a of the plate portion 162 lowered to the second position (FIG. 7B), and then The raising mechanism 166 is driven to raise the upper surface 162a of the plate portion 162 to the first position (FIG. 7A). In this state, as shown in FIG. 7A, the floor portion PF of the pallet P is supported from below by the upper surface 162 a of the plate portion 162, and the leg portion PL is levitated from the rail 212. Therefore, when the movable plate 160 is retracted away from the cage 210 from this state, the movable plate 160 comes out of the cage 210 and returns onto the movable plate guide 154 while the pallet P is placed on the movable plate 160. The pallet P stored in the cage 210 is taken out by the above procedure.

  In the present embodiment, the hydraulic cylinder mechanism is used as the raising mechanism. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described configuration. For example, a known feed screw mechanism, rack-pinion mechanism, solenoid mechanism, and the like are known. The moving mechanism can be used as a raising mechanism.

1 shows a top view of an automated warehouse according to an embodiment of the present invention. The automatic warehouse by embodiment of this invention is projected from the back side. It is the side view which projected the several cage of the automatic warehouse by embodiment of this invention from the width direction of the warehouse. It is the top view which showed the conveying apparatus of the automatic warehouse by embodiment of this invention, and the cage adjacent to this conveying apparatus. 1 is a schematic view of a transport device of an automatic warehouse according to an embodiment of the present invention and a cage adjacent to the transport device projected from a depth direction. It is the side view which projected the movable plate vicinity of the conveying apparatus of the automatic warehouse by embodiment of this invention from the width direction. It is the expanded side view which projected the movable plate and pallet of the automatic warehouse by embodiment of this invention from the width direction.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic warehouse 2 Passage 2a Rail 3 Entrance 100 Conveyance device 120 Slide mechanism 140 Lifting device 152 Movable plate guide 154 Guide part 160 Movable plate 162 Plate part 164 Wheel 166 Lifting mechanism 200 Shelf 210 Cage 212 Rail 213 Plate guide 310 Carrying pallet Standby area 320 Unloading pallet standby area 330 Operation control panel P Pallet PF Pallet floor PL Pallet leg

Claims (4)

A shelf having at least a plurality of cages arranged in multiple rows in the horizontal direction, and a pallet on which a product is stored in each of the cages;
A transport device for carrying the pallet into and out of the cage;
An automatic warehouse having
The transport device is movable in and out of the loading / unloading direction of the pallet, and has a movable plate on which the pallet can be placed;
Each of the cages has a support member for supporting the movable plate from below when the movable plate is in the cage;
Automatic warehouse characterized by.   The automatic warehouse according to claim 1, wherein the transport device includes a raising mechanism that moves up and down the upper surface of the movable plate while maintaining the state where the movable plate is supported by the support member.   The movable plate has a roller in contact with the upper surface of the support member, whereby the movable plate can run on the upper surface of the support member in the loading / unloading direction of the pallet. Item 3. The automatic warehouse according to item 1 or 2.   4. The cage according to claim 1, wherein the cages are arranged in multiple rows in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction, and the transport device includes an elevating device that moves the movable plate in the vertical direction. Described in the automatic warehouse.

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