CN112357435B

CN112357435B - Cargo handling system and cargo handling method

Info

Publication number: CN112357435B
Application number: CN202011259615.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张乾; 兰邱丰; 梁东; 彭锋
Original assignee: Beijing Jizhijia Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Jizhijia Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-11-12
Filing date: 2020-11-12
Publication date: 2022-06-10
Anticipated expiration: 2040-11-12
Also published as: CN112357435A

Abstract

The present specification discloses a cargo handling system and a cargo handling method, wherein after receiving a cargo connection instruction, a handling device determines a conveying device and a corresponding connection point that need to go to, and uses the conveying device and the corresponding connection point as a target conveying device and a target connection point, and uses at least one adjacent unit area of a unit area where the target connection point is located as a connection preposed area. If the carrying device determines that the carrying device has moved to the docking front area, the docking distance corresponding to the carrying device may be determined for each carrying device. Then, the carrying equipment can butt joint the bearing device with target conveying equipment arranged at a target joint point according to the butt joint distance corresponding to the bearing device, so that the container is jointed between the bearing device and the target conveying equipment, the butt joint distance corresponding to the next bearing device is determined, and the carrying equipment can automatically joint until all the bearing devices are jointed at the target conveying equipment, so that the labor cost is saved, and the cargo carrying efficiency is improved.

Description

Cargo handling system and cargo handling method

Technical Field

The specification relates to the technical field of warehousing, in particular to a cargo handling system and a cargo handling method.

Background

Along with the rapid development of information technology, the warehouse logistics industry can use intelligent handling equipment to carry out the transport of goods, has greatly saved manpower resources. At present, the required goods quantity of bearing of intelligent haulage equipment has limitedly, and when intelligent haulage equipment can only bear a goods, the goods is more, and the required time of haulage goods is more, consequently, in order to save time as far as possible, produced the intelligent haulage equipment that can bear two goods simultaneously among the practical application.

In the prior art, the intelligent carrying equipment can move on each unit area, the two-dimensional codes are arranged in each unit area, and when each unit area is reached, the intelligent carrying equipment can determine the position of the intelligent carrying equipment by scanning the two-dimensional codes in the unit area. Therefore, the intelligent carrying equipment can reach the specified destination through the navigation mode. When the intelligent carrying equipment only needs to carry one piece of goods, the intelligent carrying equipment can reach one unit area to carry out goods connection. However, if the intelligent transportation device needs to transport two pieces of goods, the intelligent transportation device needs to be connected with the same connection point twice at one time, so that the intelligent transportation device cannot realize the process through the existing navigation mode. Therefore, manual cargo connection at the connection point by manual means is currently required. It can be seen that the prior art requires the expenditure of labor costs to engage in cargo docking and results in less efficient cargo handling.

Therefore, how to reduce the labor cost for transporting goods and improve the efficiency of transporting goods is an urgent problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The present specification provides a cargo handling system and a cargo handling method, which partially solve the above problems in the prior art.

The technical scheme adopted by the specification is as follows:

the present specification provides a cargo handling system comprising: the system comprises at least one control center, at least one carrying device, at least one conveying device and at least one connecting point arranged corresponding to the conveying device, wherein the carrying device is provided with at least two bearing devices, the bearing devices are used for bearing at least one container containing goods, and the carrying device moves on each unit area;

the carrying equipment is configured to receive a cargo connection instruction sent by a control center, determine the conveying equipment and the corresponding connection point which need to go ahead according to the cargo connection instruction, serve as target conveying equipment and a target connection point, determine at least one adjacent unit area of a unit area where the target connection point is located as a connection preposed area, determine a butt joint distance between the carrying device and the target conveying equipment in the conveying direction of the target conveying equipment as a butt joint distance corresponding to the carrying device if the carrying device is determined to move to the connection preposed area, and butt joint the carrying device and the target conveying equipment arranged at the target connection point according to the butt joint distance corresponding to the carrying device so as to complete container connection between the carrying device and the target conveying equipment, determining a docking distance corresponding to a next bearing device until all bearing devices on the carrying equipment are docked at the target conveying equipment;

for each carrying device, the docking distance corresponding to the carrying device is determined at least according to one of the position information of the pre-docking area, the position information of the target docking point and the relative position of the carrying device and the handling equipment, and the docking distance corresponding to the carrying device is smaller than the area length of a unit area;

the control center is configured to select the carrying equipment and send the cargo connection instruction to the selected carrying equipment.

Optionally, the control center is further configured to determine docking configuration information according to the acquired container information of the container to be transported and/or the docking point information of the target docking point corresponding to the container, and select a transport device matched with the docking configuration information.

Optionally, the carrying device is further configured to move in a first navigation manner and a second navigation manner, where the first navigation manner includes: and the second navigation mode comprises the following steps: at least one of visual navigation, laser navigation, inertial navigation, magnetic navigation, hybrid navigation.

Optionally, the carrying device is further configured to identify, by a first navigation method, position information of each unit area to move to the docking front area;

the carrying equipment is also configured to, for each carrying device arranged on the carrying equipment, carry out butt joint on the carrying device and the target conveying equipment arranged at the target junction through the first navigation mode or the second navigation mode and the butt joint distance corresponding to the carrying device;

and the carrying equipment is also configured to control the carrying equipment to move through the first navigation mode if the carrying devices on the carrying equipment are determined to be connected at the target conveying equipment.

Optionally, the carrying device is further configured to, for each carrying device, determine whether all the carrying devices on the carrying device complete connection at the target conveying device if it is monitored that the carrying device completes connection at the target conveying device, determine, if not, determine a docking distance corresponding to a next carrying device according to current position information of the carrying device after being docked with the target conveying device by the carrying device and docking point position information of the target docking point, and dock the next carrying device with the target conveying device according to the docking distance corresponding to the next carrying device, so as to complete container connection between the next carrying device and the target conveying device until all the carrying devices on the carrying device complete connection at the target conveying device.

Optionally, the docking bay comprises: the first preposed areas are adjacent to the unit area where the target connection point is located and are positioned on two sides of the target conveying equipment along the conveying direction of the target conveying equipment;

the carrying device is further configured to, if it is determined that the carrying device has reached the first front-end region, butt-joint the carrying device with the target conveying device through a second navigation mode and a butt-joint distance corresponding to the carrying device for each carrying device provided on the carrying device, determine a butt-joint distance corresponding to a next carrying device after it is determined that the container is completely connected between the carrying device and the target conveying device, and butt-joint the next carrying device with the target conveying device through the second navigation mode and the butt-joint distance corresponding to the next carrying device until all the carrying devices on the carrying device are completely connected at the target conveying device.

Optionally, the docking bay comprises: a second leading area adjacent to the unit area where the target connection point is located in the conveying direction of the target conveying equipment;

the carrying device is further configured to, if it is determined that the carrying device has reached the second front-end area, align a docking direction of the carrying device with a conveying direction of the target conveying device in the second front-end area according to the determined docking distance corresponding to the carrying device and the second navigation manner, control the carrying device to move to a unit area where the target docking point is located according to the first navigation manner to dock the carrying device with the target conveying device, determine a docking distance corresponding to a next carrying device in the unit area where the target docking point is located after it is determined that docking between the carrying device and the target conveying device is completed, and dock the next carrying device with the target conveying device through the second navigation manner and the docking distance corresponding to the next carrying device, and completing the connection of all the bearing devices on the carrying equipment at the target conveying equipment.

Optionally, the container information includes: the number of containers to be handled and/or the container size of the containers to be handled; the contact point information includes: and the width of a conveying line of the target conveying equipment is set at the target connection point.

Optionally, a first sensing device is arranged on the bearing device;

the carrying device is further configured to monitor that the carrying device completes connection at the target conveying device through a first sensing device arranged on the carrying device.

Optionally, a second sensing device is arranged at the target junction;

the control center is further configured to send a connection completion message to the carrying equipment if sensing information sent by a second sensing device arranged at the target connection point is received;

the carrying equipment is also configured to monitor that the carrying device completes connection at the target conveying equipment according to the connection completion message sent by the control center.

The present specification provides a cargo handling method, where at least two carrying devices are disposed on a handling apparatus, the carrying devices are configured to carry at least one container containing cargo, and the handling apparatus moves on each unit area, including:

the carrying equipment receives a cargo connection instruction sent by a control center;

determining a conveying device and a corresponding connection point which need to go to according to the cargo connection instruction, using the conveying device and the corresponding connection point as a target conveying device and a target connection point, and using at least one adjacent unit area of a unit area where the target connection point is located as a connection front area;

if the carrier device is determined to move to the pre-connection area, determining a docking distance between the carrier device and the target conveying equipment in the conveying direction of the target conveying equipment for each carrier device arranged on the conveying equipment, wherein the docking distance corresponding to the carrier device is determined by the conveying equipment at least according to one of the position information of the pre-connection area, the position information of the target connection point and the relative position of the carrier device and the conveying equipment, and the docking distance corresponding to the carrier device is smaller than the area length of a unit area;

and according to the docking distance corresponding to the bearing device, docking the bearing device with the target conveying equipment arranged at the target docking point so as to complete container docking between the bearing device and the target conveying equipment, and determining the docking distance corresponding to the next bearing device until all bearing devices on the conveying equipment are docked at the target conveying equipment.

Optionally, the moving device moves on each unit area, and specifically includes:

the carrying equipment moves through a first navigation mode and a second navigation mode, and the first navigation mode comprises the following steps: and the second navigation mode comprises the following steps: at least one of visual navigation, laser navigation, inertial navigation, magnetic navigation, and hybrid navigation.

Optionally, moving to the docking front area specifically includes:

identifying the position information of each unit area through a first navigation mode so as to move to the connection preposition area;

according to the docking distance corresponding to the bearing device, the bearing device is docked with the target conveying equipment arranged at the target docking point, and the docking method specifically comprises the following steps:

the bearing device is butted with the target conveying equipment arranged at the target junction through the first navigation mode or the second navigation mode and the corresponding butting distance of the bearing device;

the method further comprises the following steps:

and if it is determined that all the bearing devices on the carrying equipment are connected at the target conveying equipment, controlling the carrying equipment to move in the first navigation mode.

Optionally, determining a docking distance corresponding to a next carrying device until all carrying devices on the handling apparatus are docked at the target conveying apparatus, specifically including:

for each bearing device, if the bearing device is monitored to be connected to the target conveying equipment, judging whether all the bearing devices on the carrying equipment are connected to the target conveying equipment or not;

if not, determining a docking distance corresponding to a next bearing device according to current position information of the carrying device after being docked with the target conveying equipment and docking point position information of the target docking point by the carrying equipment, and docking the next bearing device with the target conveying equipment according to the docking distance corresponding to the next bearing device so as to complete container docking between the next bearing device and the target conveying equipment until all the bearing devices on the carrying equipment are docked at the target conveying equipment.

if it is determined that the carrier device has moved to the pre-docking area, for each carrier device arranged on the transport device, determining a docking distance between the carrier device and the target transport device in the transport direction of the target transport device, as a docking distance corresponding to the carrier device, and according to the docking distance corresponding to the carrier device, docking the carrier device with the target transport device arranged at the target docking point, so as to complete container docking between the carrier device and the target transport device, and determining a docking distance corresponding to a next carrier device, until all carrier devices on the transport device are docked at the target transport device, specifically including:

if the fact that the carrying device reaches the first front-end area is determined, the carrying device is in butt joint with the target conveying equipment according to a second navigation mode and a butt joint distance corresponding to the carrying device for each carrying device arranged on the conveying equipment, after the fact that container connection between the carrying device and the target conveying equipment is completed is determined, a butt joint distance corresponding to a next carrying device is determined, and the next carrying device is in butt joint with the target conveying equipment according to the second navigation mode and the butt joint distance corresponding to the next carrying device until all the carrying devices on the conveying equipment are connected at the target conveying equipment.

if the carrier device on the carrying equipment is determined to reach the second front area, aligning the connection direction of the carrier device with the conveying direction of the target conveying equipment in the second front area according to the determined connection distance corresponding to the carrier device and the second navigation mode, controlling the carrying equipment to move to a unit area where the target connection point is located according to the first navigation mode so as to connect the carrier device with the target conveying equipment, determining the connection distance corresponding to the next carrier device in the unit area where the target connection point is located after the connection between the carrier device and the target conveying equipment is determined, and connecting the next carrier device with the target conveying equipment through the second navigation mode and the connection distance corresponding to the next carrier device, and completing the connection of all the bearing devices on the carrying equipment at the target conveying equipment.

Optionally, a first sensing device is arranged on the bearing device;

when the situation that the carrying device completes connection on the target conveying equipment is monitored, the method specifically comprises the following steps:

and monitoring that the carrying device completes connection at the target conveying equipment through a first sensing device arranged on the carrying device.

The present specification also provides a cargo handling method, including:

the control center selects the carrying equipment;

and sending a cargo connection instruction to the selected carrying equipment so that the selected carrying equipment connects the target conveying equipment arranged at the target connection point by the bearing device arranged on the carrying equipment according to any one of the cargo carrying methods.

Optionally, selecting a handling device specifically includes:

determining the connection configuration information according to the acquired container information of the container to be transported and/or the connection point information of the target connection point corresponding to the container, and selecting the transport equipment matched with the connection configuration information.

Optionally, the container information includes: the number of containers to be handled and/or the container size of the containers to be handled; the contact point information includes: and the width of a conveying line of the target conveying equipment is arranged at the target connection point.

Optionally, a second sensing device is arranged at the target junction;

the method further comprises the following steps:

and if sensing information sent by a second sensing device arranged at the target connection point is received, sending a connection completion message to the selected carrying equipment, so that the selected carrying equipment monitors that connection is completed at the target conveying equipment through a bearing device according to the connection completion message.

The technical scheme adopted by the specification can achieve the following beneficial effects:

in the cargo handling system provided in this specification, at least two carrying devices are provided on a handling device that moves on each unit area, and after receiving a cargo connection instruction sent by a control center, the handling device can determine a conveying device and a corresponding connection point that need to go to, as a target conveying device and a target connection point, according to the cargo connection instruction, and use at least one adjacent unit area of a unit area where the target connection point is located as a connection front-end area. If the carrying device determines that the carrying device has moved to the docking front area, a docking distance between the carrying device and the target conveying device in the conveying direction of the target conveying device may be determined for each carrying device arranged on the carrying device, as a docking distance corresponding to the carrying device, where the carrying device determines the docking distance corresponding to the carrying device at least according to one of the position information of the docking front area, the position information of the target docking point, and the relative position of the carrying device and the carrying device. And then, the carrying equipment can butt joint the carrying device with target conveying equipment arranged at a target joint point according to the butt joint distance corresponding to the carrying device so as to finish the container joint between the carrying device and the target conveying equipment, and determine the butt joint distance corresponding to the next carrying device until all the carrying devices on the carrying equipment are completely jointed at the target conveying equipment.

It can be seen from above-mentioned cargo handling system that, haulage equipment can determine from the leading region of plugging into to the butt joint distance that can dock bearing device and target conveying equipment accuracy, and move self to the position that can accurate butt joint according to this butt joint distance, so, when having a plurality of bearing device on haulage equipment, no matter which bearing device receives the goods or carries the goods on the bearing device to the target ground, haulage equipment can automatically dock the goods through this bearing device, compare in the prior art need the manual work put the mode on haulage equipment respectively with a plurality of goods, the cost is greatly saved, and cargo handling efficiency has been improved.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the specification and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the specification and together with the description serve to explain the specification and not to limit the specification in a non-limiting sense. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a cargo handling system provided herein;

fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a cargo handling method in the present specification;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a docking bay and a target docking point provided in the present specification;

fig. 4 is a schematic view of another layout of a docking bay and a target docking point provided in the present specification;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a handling apparatus provided herein;

FIGS. 6-8 are schematic views of three conveying apparatuses provided herein;

fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart of a cargo handling method in this specification.

Detailed Description

To make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present specification clearer and more complete, the technical solutions of the present specification will be described in detail and completely with reference to the specific embodiments of the present specification and the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the embodiments described are only a few embodiments of the present disclosure, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments in the present specification without any creative effort belong to the protection scope of the present specification.

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present description are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The present specification provides a cargo handling system, which includes at least one control center, at least one handling apparatus, and at least one docking point disposed corresponding to a conveying apparatus, where the control center can control each handling apparatus to carry a cargo, as shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a cargo handling system provided herein.

In fig. 1, the left side is each unit area, it can be seen that an identifier including position information of the unit area is provided in each unit area, a connection point is provided in some unit areas, a corresponding conveying device is provided at each connection point, and the conveying device can align the conveying device at the connection point to perform cargo connection, that is, the conveying device can transfer the cargo from the conveying device to the conveying device at the connection point, and also can receive the cargo from the conveying device at the connection point. The identifier within each unit area may assist the handling device in navigation, and the handling device may move through each unit area to the docking point. When the transporting equipment is required to transport goods, the control center can send a goods connection instruction to the selected transporting equipment, the transporting equipment can determine which connection point needs to be reached according to the goods connection instruction, the connection point is used as a target connection point, the transporting equipment corresponding to the connection point is used as target transporting equipment, and when the transporting equipment reaches the target connection point, the transporting equipment can receive the goods from the target transporting equipment of the target connection point or transport the loaded goods to the target transporting equipment of the target connection point. The identifier mentioned here may be various, such as a two-dimensional code, a bar code, etc.

While the above description has been made briefly for the equipment included in the cargo handling system and the environment required for the equipment, the cargo handling system provided in the present specification will be described below with the handling equipment and the control center as the main implementation bodies.

Fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a cargo handling method in this specification, which specifically includes the following steps:

s201: and the carrying equipment receives the cargo connection instruction sent by the control center.

S202: and determining the conveying equipment and the corresponding connection point which need to go to as target conveying equipment and a target connection point according to the cargo connection instruction, and taking at least one adjacent unit area of the unit area where the target connection point is located as a connection front-end area.

In this specification, the cargo may be automatically transported by using a transporting apparatus, and the transporting apparatus may receive the cargo at a junction and send the received cargo to a destination corresponding to the cargo. Of course, the handling device may also send the goods that have been received to the docking point, so that the docking point collects the goods. The handling device may be provided with at least two carrying means for carrying at least two containers containing goods. Therefore, the carrying equipment can transport two or more cargoes at one time, and the quantity of the cargoes transported by the carrying equipment is determined by the quantity of the carrying devices and the capacity of the carrying devices. The carrier means mentioned here can be used for carrying containers with goods or can be used for carrying goods only. The handling equipment can move on each unit area to achieve the purpose of transporting goods. For convenience of description, the following description will be made only by taking the carrier device as an example for containing the container, i.e., the transportation container of the transportation equipment.

When the control center determines that the container needs to be transported (the container needs to be received from the connection point or the container needs to be transported to the connection point), the control center selects the transporting equipment for transporting the container, and a cargo connection instruction can be sent to the transporting equipment. After receiving the cargo connection instruction sent by the control center, the handling device may determine the conveying device that needs to go to and the connection point corresponding to the conveying device, as a target conveying device and a target connection point, and use at least one adjacent unit area of the unit area where the target connection point is located as a connection front-end area, as shown in fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a docking bay and a target docking point provided in the present specification.

It can be seen from fig. 3 that there is a target transportation device corresponding to the target connection point, and the handling device needs to align the carrying device with the target transportation device of the target connection point to receive the container or release the container (or the goods). The target connection point is located at the b unit area, and the conveying equipment can take the a unit area as a connection front area. The carrying equipment can move to a position which can enable the bearing device to accurately butt the target connection point for connection after reaching the unit area a. The handling device in this example is provided with 2 carriers, which can receive 2 containers at a time (or drop 2 containers at a time onto the transport device). If the carrying equipment determines that 2 containers need to be received according to the received cargo connection instruction, 2 bearing devices need to be aligned with the target conveying equipment in sequence to be connected, so that the purpose of transporting 2 containers at one time is achieved.

It should be noted that such a docking front area in fig. 3 is adjacent to the unit area where the target docking point is located, and is located on both sides of the target conveying apparatus along the conveying direction of the target conveying apparatus, and such a docking front area may be referred to as a first front area. In practical applications, the layout of the docking bay and the target docking point may be various, and besides the layout of the first bay and the target docking point in fig. 3, the docking bay may also be a second bay adjacent to the unit bay where the target docking point is located in the conveying direction of the target conveying equipment, as shown in fig. 4.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of another layout of a docking bay and a target docking point provided in the present specification.

As can be seen from fig. 4, the target connecting point corresponds to the target conveying apparatus, and different from the above-mentioned fig. 3, the second front area is a unit area which is opposite to the target conveying apparatus relative to the unit area where the target conveying apparatus is located, and it can be seen that in the conveying direction of the target conveying apparatus, that is, in the transverse direction, the second front area is adjacent to the unit area where the target conveying apparatus is located, if the conveying apparatus is located in the second front area, the second front area can be directly moved rightward by one unit area to reach a position where the carrier device 1 can be connected with the target conveying apparatus.

It should be noted that the front-end connection area may be determined by the transport device through the target connection point, or may be determined by the control center after determining the target connection point, and then directly determine the area position information of the front-end connection area, and the area position information is carried in the cargo connection instruction and sent to the transport device, and the transport device goes to the front-end connection area according to the acquired area position information.

S203: if the carrier device is determined to move to the pre-connection area, determining a docking distance between the carrier device and the target conveying equipment in the conveying direction of the target conveying equipment for each carrier device arranged on the conveying equipment, as a docking distance corresponding to the carrier device, wherein the docking distance corresponding to the carrier device is determined by the conveying equipment at least according to one of the position information of the pre-connection area, the position information of the target connection point and the relative position of the carrier device and the conveying equipment, and the docking distance corresponding to the carrier device is smaller than the area length of a unit area.

After the carrying equipment determines the target connection point and the connection front-end region, the carrying equipment moves to the connection front-end region, and after the carrying equipment determines that the carrying equipment moves to the connection front-end region, the docking distance between the carrying equipment and the target conveying equipment in the conveying direction of the target conveying equipment can be determined according to each carrying device arranged on the carrying equipment and serves as the docking distance corresponding to the carrying device. The carrying equipment can determine the docking distance at least according to one of the area position information of the docking front area, the relative position between the carrying device and the carrying equipment and the position information of the target docking point, wherein the docking distance is smaller than the area length of the unit area. The carrying equipment can scan the identifier arranged in the docking front area to obtain the area position information of the docking front area. Because the carrying equipment can be provided with a plurality of bearing devices, the relative position of each bearing device on the carrying equipment needs to be obtained, and on the premise of obtaining the relative position of each bearing device on the carrying equipment, each bearing device can be ensured to be accurately connected with a target connection point. The docking distance refers to the distance required for the handling apparatus to reach a position from the docking front area where the carrier can be aligned to the target docking point.

Taking fig. 3 as an example, when the carrying device 1 needs to be connected at the target connection point by the carrying device, the docking distance may be determined according to at least one of the area position information of the unit area a, the relative position between the carrying device 1 and the carrying device, and the position information of the target connection point. As shown in fig. 3, the relative position of the carrier 1 with respect to the conveying apparatus can be determined by the distance between the center of the carrier 1 and the center of the conveying apparatus. In fig. 3, the docking distance corresponding to the carrier 1 is approximately half the area length of the unit area, that is, the carrier 1 needs to be docked with the target transport apparatus by moving the transport apparatus from the first front area by half the area length, that is, the length of one unit area is a side length. If the carrying device 2 of the conveying equipment needs to be docked with the target conveying equipment, the docking distance corresponding to the carrying device 2 can be determined in the same manner, and it can be seen that the docking distance corresponding to the carrying device 2 is also approximately half the length of the unit area.

Whereas for the case of fig. 4 the corresponding docking distance of the carrier 1 is the docking distance between the target conveyor device in its transport direction, which is transverse to the transport direction of the target conveyor device, as can be seen from fig. 4, in which the carrier 1 has already been aligned with the target conveyor device in the docking bay. Therefore, the docking distance corresponding to the carrying device 1 is about 0, and the carrying device only needs to move rightwards by one unit area to dock with the target docking point. For the carrier device 2, the docking distance for docking the carrier device 2 with the target docking point is about half the zone length of a unit zone. In summary, the docking distance is smaller than the region length of the unit region.

S204: and according to the docking distance corresponding to the bearing device, docking the bearing device with the target conveying equipment arranged at the target docking point so as to complete container docking between the bearing device and the target conveying equipment, and determining the docking distance corresponding to the next bearing device until all bearing devices on the conveying equipment are docked at the target conveying equipment.

After the carrying equipment determines the docking distance corresponding to the bearing device, the carrying device can be docked with the target conveying equipment arranged at the target docking point according to the docking distance corresponding to the bearing device, so that the container docking between the bearing device and the target conveying equipment is completed, the docking distance corresponding to the next bearing device is determined, and the docking is completed at the target conveying equipment until all the bearing devices on the carrying equipment are docked.

That is to say, after determining the docking distance corresponding to each carrying device, the carrying device can control itself to move to align each carrying device to the target conveying device in sequence, so as to complete the task of docking the containers on each carrying device.

In this specification, the carrying apparatus may determine, for each carrying device, whether all the carrying devices on the carrying apparatus complete the connection at the target conveying apparatus if it is monitored that the carrying device completes the connection at the target conveying apparatus, and if not, determine a docking distance corresponding to a next carrying device according to current position information of the carrying apparatus after the carrying apparatus is docked with the target conveying apparatus and docking point position information of a target docking point, and dock the next carrying device with the target conveying apparatus according to the docking distance corresponding to the next carrying device, so as to complete the container connection between the next carrying device and the target conveying apparatus, until all the carrying devices on the carrying apparatus complete the connection at the target conveying apparatus.

The above process will be described by taking the cargo handling system in fig. 3 as an example. When the handling apparatus in fig. 3 reaches the docking front area, 2 carriers need to be docked with the target transportation apparatus in sequence for container docking. The handling device can thus determine the corresponding docking distance of the carrier 1, which is approximately half the length of the unit area. The carrying equipment moves according to the butting distance, and the containers are docked after the carrying device 1 and the target conveying equipment are butted. When the carrying device monitors that the container connection is completed through the carrying device 1 (that is, the container completely arrives at the carrying device), it can be determined whether all the carrying devices on the carrying device are connected at the target conveying device.

Since the carrying device needs to plug in 2 containers through the carrying devices 1 and 2, it can be determined that not all carrying devices have completed the plugging, and therefore, the carrying device continues to move according to the corresponding plugging distance of the carrying device 2. In this way, the carrier device 2 can be docked to the target transport apparatus. After the connection of the second container is completed, it can be determined that all the carrying devices of the carrying device are connected at the target conveying device, and therefore the connection does not need to be continued.

In this example, the carrying device only needs to plug into 2 containers, however, in practical applications, the carrying device can plug into 3, 4 or even more containers, and regardless of the number of the containers that the carrying device needs to plug into, the carrying device can determine the corresponding docking distance for each carrying device, and plug into each carrying device in turn according to the corresponding docking distance.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned specific way of monitoring the carrying device by the handling device to complete the container docking may be various. Specifically, the carrying device may be provided with a first sensing device, the first sensing device is configured to sense that the container (or the cargo) completely arrives or completely leaves on the carrying device, and the handling device may monitor whether the carrying device completes the container connection at the target conveying device through the first sensing device on the carrying device. For example, a first sensing device may be installed on the outer side of the carrying device relative to the target connection point, and during the process of receiving the container by the handling apparatus, when the first sensing device senses that the container reaches the outer side of the carrying device relative to the target connection point, it may be determined that the carrying device is monitored to complete the container connection. Of course, the first sensing device may be located in other positions, and may be determined according to actual requirements. The first sensing device may be an infrared sensor, a laser sensor, etc., and is not limited herein.

In addition to this, a second sensing device may also be provided at the target access point, which second sensing device may be used to sense whether the container has left (or arrived in its entirety) at the target access point. The carrying equipment can determine whether the second sensing device monitors that the carrying device completes connection on the target conveying equipment through the control center, and if the control center receives sensing information sent by the second sensing device arranged at the target connection point, the carrying equipment can send a connection completion message to the carrying equipment, so that the carrying equipment monitors that connection is completed on the target conveying equipment through the carrying device according to the connection completion message. The sensing information and the connection completion message both indicate that the container connection is completed at the target connection point. The second sensing device may be an infrared sensor, a laser sensor, or the like, and is not limited herein. Other ways of monitoring the completion of the docking by the target carrier by the handling apparatus are not illustrated in detail.

The carrying device may control itself to move by a first navigation method and a second navigation method, where the first navigation method includes: and the second navigation mode comprises the following steps: at least one of visual navigation, laser navigation, inertial navigation, magnetic navigation, and hybrid navigation. The identifier mentioned here can be in many forms, such as a two-dimensional code, a bar code, etc.

Since the identifier is provided in each unit area, the transport facility can be moved by the first navigation method in a normal case. For example, the conveying apparatus may identify the position information of each unit area through the first navigation method to move to the docking front-end area, that is, after acquiring the area position information of the docking front-end area, the conveying apparatus may determine the position information of each unit area through the identifier set in each unit area, and move to the docking front-end area.

In some cases, the docking position that the handling device needs to reach does not necessarily lie exactly within one unit area, and therefore cannot be reached by means of identifier navigation alone. The handling device can therefore control itself to such a position by means of the second navigation. For example, the handling apparatus in fig. 3 may perform container docking by moving the docking distance in an inertial navigation manner after determining the docking distance from the docking front area to the position where the carrier 1 is docked with the target docking point.

Based on this, the carrying device can butt joint the carrying device with the target conveying equipment arranged at the target joint point through the first navigation mode or the second navigation mode and the butt joint distance corresponding to the carrying device. If the carrying equipment determines that all the bearing devices are connected at the target conveying equipment, the carrying equipment can be controlled to move in a first navigation mode so as to leave a target connection point.

Specifically, when the docking front-end area is a first front-end area, if the carrying device determines that the carrying device reaches the first front-end area, the carrying device and the target conveying device may be docked according to a second navigation mode and a docking distance corresponding to the carrying device for each carrying device arranged on the carrying device, after it is determined that the container docking between the carrying device and the target conveying device is completed, a docking distance corresponding to a next carrying device is determined, and the next carrying device and the target conveying device are docked according to the second navigation mode and the docking distance corresponding to the next carrying device until all the carrying devices on the carrying device are docked at the target conveying device. That is to say, if the connection pre-location area is the first pre-location area in fig. 3, the process of docking each carrier device to the target transportation device is not completed by moving only one unit area, and the connection cannot be completed only by the identifier provided in the unit area, so the transportation device needs to complete the connection of each carrier device by means of the second navigation method.

When the docking bay is the second bay, if the handling apparatus determines that the second bay has been reached, then, according to the determined docking distance corresponding to the carrying device and the second navigation mode, aligning the docking direction of the carrier device with the transport direction of the targeted transport device in the second lead-in zone, controlling the carrying equipment to move to a unit area where the target connection point is located according to a first navigation mode so as to connect the carrying device with the target conveying equipment, after the connection between the bearing device and the target conveying equipment is determined, the corresponding connection distance of the next bearing device is determined in the unit area where the target connection point is located, and the next bearing device is butted with the target conveying equipment through a second navigation mode and a butting distance corresponding to the next bearing device until all the bearing devices on the carrying equipment are completely butted at the target conveying equipment.

That is, if the docking front-end area is the second front-end area as shown in fig. 4, when the carrying device docks the first carrying device with the target conveying device, only one unit area needs to be moved, and therefore, the carrying device can be moved in the first navigation manner at this time. If the subsequent carrier device is docked with the target transport device, the transport device cannot be navigated only by the identifier provided in the unit area, and can be moved in the second navigation mode.

In this specification, the specific form of the handling apparatus is that shown in fig. 5.

Fig. 5 is a schematic view of a handling apparatus provided in the present specification.

As can be seen from fig. 5, above the handling device is a carrier means, i.e. a means for holding containers or goods, which carrier means may consist of a powered conveyor belt. During the process of receiving the containers, the conveyor belt begins to rotate to receive the containers as they arrive at the carrier. When the containers have completely arrived on the carrier, the rotation of the conveyor belt can be stopped and the received containers can be transported. If the container is transported to the target transport device at the target connection point, the rotation of the conveyor belt serves to transfer the container to the target transport device until the container leaves the carrier completely. Of course, the carrier device can also consist of an unpowered conveyor belt. When a container at the connecting point is received, the unpowered conveying belt (namely the bearing device) on the carrying device can receive the container through the power on the target conveying equipment at the connecting point, and when the container needs to be conveyed to the connecting point, the carrying device can be jacked up by the carrying device, so that the bearing device is in an inclined state, the container on the bearing device is further transferred to the target connecting point, and the target connecting point receives the container.

The specific form of the carrier device may be various other than the form of the conveyor belt, for example, a carrier box having a capacity. When the carrying equipment receives the container, the bearing box can be moved downwards to a position capable of bearing the container, so that the container at the connection point falls into the bearing box, and when the carrying equipment needs to transfer the container to the connection point, the container can be placed on the conveying equipment at the connection point by controlling the bearing box in a form similar to a tipping bucket, so that connection at the connection point is completed. In practical applications, the specific form of the carrying device may be determined according to practical requirements, and the specific form of the carrying device is not limited herein.

In fig. 5, two carrying devices are provided on the carrying device, but in practical application, the number of the carrying devices on the carrying device is not unique, and the number of the carrying devices on the carrying device can be determined according to practical requirements. Further, as can be seen from fig. 5, the base of the conveying apparatus can be rotated, and thus, the traveling direction of the conveying apparatus can be freely changed. For example, if the transporting apparatus needs to turn right from a straight direction, the base can be turned right to move the roller forward in the turned direction.

It should be noted that the form of the conveying device may be various, as shown in fig. 6 to 8, and fig. 6, 7 and 8 show three forms of the conveying device respectively.

Fig. 6 to 8 are schematic views of three conveying apparatuses provided in the present specification.

As can be seen, fig. 6 shows a conveyor in the form of a belt, fig. 7 shows a conveyor in the form of a drum, and fig. 8 shows a conveyor in the form of a chain. Of course, in addition to these three types of transport devices, other types of transport devices may be provided at the connection point, which mainly ensures efficient transport and connection of the containers, and the specific type of transport device in the cargo handling system is not limited herein.

The above method is to use a transporting device as an executing subject to describe the cargo transporting system provided in the present specification, and a control center is used as an executing subject to describe the following.

Fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart of a cargo handling method in this specification, which specifically includes the following steps:

s901: the control center selects the carrying equipment.

S902: and sending a cargo connection instruction to the selected carrying equipment so that the selected carrying equipment connects the target conveying equipment arranged at the target connection point by the bearing device arranged on the carrying equipment according to the cargo carrying method.

In this specification, the control center may determine a container to be transported, select a transporting device for transporting the container, and send a cargo connection instruction to the transporting device, so that the transporting device connects a target conveying device, which is arranged at a target connection point, of a carrying device arranged on the transporting device according to the cargo transporting method shown in fig. 2. The control center may be an electronic device such as a computer or a server that can send a control command to the conveying device, and the specific form of the control center is not particularly limited in this specification.

The control center can acquire container information of a container to be transported and/or connection point information of a target connection point where the container is located, determine connection configuration information, and select and take out a transport device matched with the connection configuration information.

The container information may include the number of containers to be handled and/or the size of the containers to be handled, and the access point information may include a conveyor line width of the target transport equipment disposed at the target access point. That is, the control center can determine the conveying equipment capable of conveying the containers according to the number of the containers to be conveyed, the size of the containers, or the width of the conveying line, and thus the control center can control the conveying equipment to convey the containers.

The selected carrying equipment matched with the docking configuration information needs to meet at least one of the following conditions: the handling equipment can carry the containers with the number of the containers; the carrying device of the carrying equipment can accommodate the container with the size of the container; the width of the side, butted with the target conveying equipment, of the carrying device of the carrying equipment is not less than the width of the conveying line of the target conveying equipment.

In practical application, the conditions which need to be met by the selected conveying equipment can be determined according to requirements so as to carry the conveying equipment. For example, when 3 containers need to be transported, it can be determined that the transporting equipment with 3 carrying devices is configured to transport the containers; for another example, when the container size of the container to be transported is 20cm × 10cm × 20cm, it may be determined that the transportation equipment with the size of the carrying device not smaller than 20cm × 20cm is used for transporting; for another example, when the width of the conveying line is 30cm, it can be determined that the carrying device in the carrying device, which is aligned with the docking point, has a size not smaller than 30cm for carrying.

As mentioned above when the carrying device is used as the execution main body for explanation, a second sensing device may be disposed at the target connection point, and the control center may monitor whether the container connection is completed at the target connection point through the second sensing device, and notify the carrying device when it is determined that the connection is completed, so that the carrying device monitors that the connection is completed, which is not repeated herein. In practical applications, there may be a plurality of conveying apparatuses, each conveying apparatus corresponds to a corresponding docking point, and the control center needs to monitor the second sensing device at each docking point, and after receiving the container docking completion message of the second sensing device, send the container docking completion message to the corresponding handling apparatus. That is, for each docking point, the control center needs to send a container docking completion message at the docking point to the handling apparatus that performs container docking at the docking point.

According to the method, when the carrying equipment needs to carry a plurality of cargos, the carrying equipment can automatically realize that the plurality of bearing devices are sequentially butted with the connecting points to connect the cargos, so that the process that the carrying equipment receives the cargos and sends the cargos to the destination is completely automated is compared with the mode that the cargos are manually placed on the carrying equipment in the prior art, the cost is greatly saved, and the cargo carrying efficiency is improved.

The embodiments in the present specification are described in a progressive manner, and the same and similar parts among the embodiments are referred to each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from the other embodiments. In particular, for the system embodiment, since it is substantially similar to the method embodiment, the description is simple, and for the relevant points, reference may be made to the partial description of the method embodiment.

The above description is only an example of the present specification, and is not intended to limit the present specification. Various modifications and alterations to this description will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present specification should be included in the scope of the claims of the present specification.

Claims

1. A cargo handling system, comprising: the system comprises at least one control center, at least one carrying device, at least one conveying device and at least one connecting point arranged corresponding to the conveying device, wherein the carrying device is provided with at least two bearing devices, the bearing devices are used for bearing at least one container containing goods, and the carrying device moves on each unit area;

the carrying equipment is configured to receive a cargo connection instruction sent by a control center, determine the conveying equipment and the corresponding connection point which need to go ahead according to the cargo connection instruction, serve as target conveying equipment and a target connection point, determine at least one adjacent unit area of a unit area where the target connection point is located as a connection preposed area, determine a butt joint distance between the carrying device and the target conveying equipment in the conveying direction of the target conveying equipment as a butt joint distance corresponding to the carrying device if the carrying device is determined to move to the connection preposed area, and butt joint the carrying device and the target conveying equipment arranged at the target connection point according to the butt joint distance corresponding to the carrying device so as to complete container connection between the carrying device and the target conveying equipment, determining a docking distance corresponding to the next bearing device until all bearing devices on the carrying equipment are docked at the target conveying equipment;

2. The cargo handling system according to claim 1, wherein the control center is further configured to determine docking configuration information according to the acquired container information of the container to be handled and/or the docking point information of the target docking point corresponding to the container, and select a handling device matching the docking configuration information.

3. The cargo handling system of claim 1, wherein the handling apparatus is further configured to move by a first navigational mode and a second navigational mode, the first navigational mode comprising: and the second navigation mode comprises the following steps: at least one of visual navigation, laser navigation, inertial navigation, magnetic navigation, hybrid navigation.

4. The cargo handling system of claim 3, wherein the handling apparatus is further configured to identify position information for each unit area to move to the pre-docking area via a first navigation;

the carrying equipment is also configured to butt joint each carrying device arranged on the carrying equipment with the target conveying equipment arranged at the target junction through the first navigation mode or the second navigation mode and the butt joint distance corresponding to the carrying device;

the carrying equipment is further configured to control the carrying equipment to move in the first navigation mode if it is determined that all the bearing devices on the carrying equipment are connected at the target conveying equipment.

5. The cargo handling system of claim 1, wherein the handling apparatus is further configured to, for each carrier device, determine whether all carrier devices on the handling apparatus are docked at the target transport apparatus if it is monitored that the carrier device is docked at the target transport apparatus, and if not, then according to the current position information of the carrying device after the carrying device is in butt joint with the target conveying equipment, and the connection point position information of the target connection point, determining the corresponding connection distance of the next bearing device, and butt-jointing the next bearing device with the target conveying equipment according to the butt-jointing distance corresponding to the next bearing device, and completing the container connection between the next bearing device and the target conveying equipment until all the bearing devices on the carrying equipment are connected at the target conveying equipment.

6. Cargo handling system according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the docking bay comprises: the first preposed areas are adjacent to the unit area where the target connection point is located and are positioned on two sides of the target conveying equipment along the conveying direction of the target conveying equipment;

7. Cargo handling system according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the docking bay comprises: a second leading area adjacent to the unit area where the target connection point is located in the conveying direction of the target conveying equipment;

8. The cargo handling system of claim 2, wherein the container information includes: the number of containers to be handled and/or the container size of the containers to be handled; the contact point information includes: and the width of a conveying line of the target conveying equipment is set at the target connection point.

9. The cargo handling system of claim 5, wherein the load bearing device is provided with a first sensing device;

10. The cargo handling system of claim 5, wherein a second sensing device is provided at the target junction;

11. A cargo handling method is characterized in that a handling device is provided with at least two bearing devices, the bearing devices are used for bearing at least one container containing cargo, the handling device moves on each unit area, and the method comprises the following steps:

determining conveying equipment and a corresponding connection point which need to go to according to the cargo connection instruction, taking the conveying equipment and the corresponding connection point as target conveying equipment and a target connection point, and taking at least one adjacent unit area of a unit area where the target connection point is located as a connection front-end area;

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the movement of the handling device over each unit area comprises:

the carrying equipment moves through a first navigation mode and a second navigation mode, and the first navigation mode comprises the following steps: and the second navigation mode comprises the following steps: at least one of visual navigation, laser navigation, inertial navigation, magnetic navigation, hybrid navigation.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein moving to the docking bay comprises:

the method further comprises the following steps:

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein determining a docking distance corresponding to a next carrier device until all the carrier devices on the handling apparatus are docked at the target transport apparatus comprises:

15. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the docking bay comprises: the first preposed areas are adjacent to the unit area where the target connection point is located and are positioned on two sides of the target conveying equipment along the conveying direction of the target conveying equipment;

16. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the docking bay comprises: a second leading area adjacent to the unit area where the target connection point is located in the conveying direction of the target conveying equipment;

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the carrier device is provided with a first sensing device;

18. A method of transporting cargo, comprising:

the control center selects the carrying equipment;

sending a cargo connection instruction to the selected carrying equipment so as to enable the selected carrying equipment to connect the target conveying equipment arranged at the target connection point by the carrying device arranged on the carrying equipment according to the method of any one of the claims 11-17.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein selecting a handling device comprises:

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the container information comprises: the number of containers to be handled and/or the container size of the containers to be handled; the contact point information includes: and the width of a conveying line of the target conveying equipment is set at the target connection point.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein a second sensing device is provided at the target junction;

the method further comprises the following steps: