JP2882982B2 - Automatic sorting warehouse system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic sorting warehouse system capable of automatically sorting, storing and storing articles, and taking them out as needed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally proposed automatic warehouses include:
I have to be three-dimensional to increase the storage capacity,
2. Description of the Related Art An elevator function for moving an article up and down to receive and ship an article such as a product is required.

[0003] As an automatic warehouse actually used,
A fixed rack provided with storage compartments in three dimensions is provided with a take-out device having a horizontal and vertical movement function called a stacker crane, and a product case called a case flow rack is arranged on an inclined plate and taken out sequentially on the inclined plate. There is a type in which a vertical transporting machine such as a stacker crane or a vibrator is combined with a storage unit to be slid down. In such an automatic warehouse, sorting is performed by storing in a storage section according to the type of a product when storing in the storage section.

[0004]

However, in such a conventional automatic sorting system, the speed of entry and exit is not always sufficient.

[0005] That is, among the above-mentioned automatic warehouses, when a fixed rack is used, a typical storage unit is a pallet or a bucket. Since a plurality of products are mounted and stored in the bucket, work such as picking and returning occurs at the time of payout, which is not efficient.

[0006] In addition, in the case of a stacker crane, a lot of time is required because traveling and lifting / lowering must be performed for one storage compartment in order to enter and exit the warehouse. In the case of a vibrator, only raising and lowering needs to be controlled, but picking is also required, and the speed does not increase much.

[0007] Further, in recent years, time restrictions on entry of goods into and out of warehouses have become remarkable. For example, it is necessary to match the speed of warehousing with the speed of the production process as the products to be stored are mass-produced products. In particular, in a food-related automatic sorting system, it is necessary to increase the speed of entry and exit to keep freshness.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and has as its object to provide an automatic sorting warehouse system capable of high-speed automatic sorting.

[0009]

As a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a case flow rack having a plurality of storage compartment rows each having a plurality of columns of storage compartments formed on an inclined surface. Storage section, a carrying means provided at an upstream end of the case flow rack of each stage, and connected to the plurality of storage section rows, and a downstream end of the case flow rack of each stage. Provided and connected to the unloading transporting means connected to the plurality of storage section rows, loading spiral transporting means connected to the loading transporting means at each stage, and connected to the unloading transporting means at each stage. Spiral transport means for unloading and transferring the articles to be transferred from the spiral transport means for transfer to the transport means for loading at the stage to be loaded, and shifting from the transport means for import to any of the plurality of storage section rows And controlling the case flow rack and each of the transporting means to transfer the articles to be unloaded from the storage section row to the unloading transporting means and to receive the articles from the unloading transporting means and shift to the unloading spiral transporting means. In the automatic sorting warehouse system provided with a control means to perform , the spiral transporting means for carrying in,
Both ends of the storage section upstream of the case flow rack
A pair is provided in the vicinity, and one of the spiral transport
The feeding means is an even-end upstream end of the case flow rack.
The transfer of the article to the carrying-in transport means provided in the
The other spiral transport means for loading is the
The above-mentioned provided at the upstream end of the odd-numbered stage of the sflow rack
Goods can be transferred to the carrying means for carrying in, and
The carrying means for loading is an even-numbered stage of the case flow rack.
And odd-numbered stages are configured to run in the opposite direction
It is characterized by the following.

[0010]

[0011]

[0012]

[0013]

The case flow rack having a carrying means for carrying in on the upstream side and a carrying means for carrying out on the downstream side has a multi-stage structure,
Since the transport means at each stage are connected by the spiral transport means dedicated to loading and unloading, respectively, the loading, sorting and unloading can be performed very quickly.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Some embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an outline of an automatic sorting system according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing an outline of a portion centered on a case flow rack as viewed from a side. In FIG. 2, the relationship between the case flow rack and the transfer means is not always as shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, two storage sections are provided. In the storage section, case flow racks 1 and 11 in which a plurality of rows of storage sections are formed in a plurality of rows on an inclined surface are installed in multiple stages. In the case of this embodiment, the storage units 1 each have a configuration of 35 columns × 55 rows × 9 columns and 38 columns × 55.
There are 11 rows × 9 columns.

On the upstream side of the case flow rack, conveyors 2 and 12 for carrying in are provided so as to be connected to the respective storage section rows, and on the downstream side, the conveyors 3 for carrying out are connected so as to be connected to the respective storage section rows. 13 are provided. The carrying conveyors 2 and 12 are provided with gates (not shown) which are located on the conveyors when the goods to be stored arrive and are shifted to the corresponding storage section row, and the lowermost end of the case flow rack. The section is provided with a gate (not shown) that opens when there is a product to be unloaded and transfers the product to the unloading conveyors 3 and 13.

The delivered goods are loaded on the conveying paths 22 and 23 at the loading station 21. The goods conveyed on the respective conveyors are sequentially conveyed upward by spiral conveyors 4 and 14 provided at the upper right part of the storage section in FIG. (Not shown). The goods are conveyed from right to left in FIG. 1 by the carry-in conveyors 2 and 12, and are stored in the case flow rack by the action of the gate when reaching the position where the storage section is located. Note that barcode readers 24 and 25 are provided on the transport paths 22 and 23 before the loading spiral conveyor, and read barcodes attached to the product itself or the product case. Based on the bar code read signal and the various sensor signals, the control device 100 controls the following transport means and gates in accordance with the progress of the product.

The goods stored in the case flow rack are sequentially paid out based on shipping instructions. Since the case flow rack is inclined, when the product at the lowermost end is carried out, the products stored in the storage compartment above it slide down sequentially as shown by the arrow in FIG. Will be prepared.

The goods to be delivered are transferred to the unloading conveyors 3 and 13 when a gate (not shown) provided at the lowermost end of the case flow rack is opened. The unloading conveyors 3 and 13 move the goods from the right in FIG. Transport is performed in the left direction.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the goods delivered from the two case flow racks are affixed with shipping labels via bar code readers 6 and 16 and label printing / applying machines 7 and 17. Shipping station 2
7 to be shipped.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of a spiral conveyor. A conveyor member is continuously stretched and rotatably attached to the turning inclined surface, and a conveyor is stretched.
When it rises by 60 degrees, it reaches the highest point just above the original position, and the conveyor turns over and descends on the back of the conveyor. An arbitrary step can be formed by vertically combining the 360-degree rotation as one unit.

FIG. 4 is a plan view more specifically showing the installation configuration of the loading and unloading spiral conveyors in the storage sections 1 and 11. As shown in FIG.

That is, for carrying in both ends on the upstream side of the storage section.
Spiral conveyors 4 and 4 'are arranged facing each other,
Spiral conveyors 5, 5 'for unloading at both ends on the downstream side
Oriented. Of a pair of spiral conveyors for loading
One of them 4 is used for loading into odd-numbered stages, and the other 4 '
Is used for loading into even-numbered stages. Also for a pair of unloading
One of the spiral conveyors is unloaded from odd-numbered stages
5 'is used for carrying out from an even-numbered stage. Soshi
In case of an odd-numbered case flow rack,
The goods brought in from the input spiral conveyor 4 are shown in FIG.
At the transfer conveyor 2 running to the left
Move to the desired storage section row, and use it as the case flow rack 1.
At the time of delivery, and
To be transported by the unloading conveyor 3 running to the left
You. For an even-numbered case flow rack,
Fig. 4 shows the goods brought in from the input spiral conveyor 4 '.
Transported by the carry-in conveyor 2 running to the right in
Move to the desired storage compartment row and place it in the case flow rack.
1 and at the time of departure,
And transported by the unloading conveyor 3 running rightward and unloaded
I do. That is, the carry-in conveyor 2 and the carry-out conveyor
A3 is for the even and odd stages of the case flow rack 1.
Each runs in the opposite direction. By doing this,
Storage and unloading of empty space in Case Flow Rack 1
The efficiency of payout based on the order is greatly improved.

In such a system, by using the automatic sorting warehouse system as described above, storage and dispensing, which was limited to 2000 cases per hour in the past, can be reduced to one.
It could be increased to 6000-8000 cases per hour.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, the case flow rack has a multi-stage structure, and the spiral flow paths for carrying in and out of the case flow rack are provided. The stored articles can be quickly stored, sorted and carried out without waiting time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an outline of an automatic sorting system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view schematically showing a portion centering on a case flow rack in the automatic sorting system according to the present invention as viewed from a side.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of a spiral conveyor.

FIG. 4 is a plan view more specifically showing an installation configuration of a spiral conveyor for loading and unloading in a storage unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 11 Case flow rack 2, 12 Carry-in conveyor 3, 13 Carry-out conveyor 4, 14, 5, 15 Spiral conveyor 6, 16 Barcode reader 7, 17 Label printing / pasting machine 21 Loading station 22, 23, 26 Transport Roads 24, 25 Barcode reader 27 Shipping station 100 Controller

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A storage section provided with a plurality of stages of case flow racks each having a plurality of storage section rows each having a plurality of rows of storage sections formed on an inclined surface, and an upstream end of the case flow rack of each stage. Provided, the carrying-in transport means connected to the plurality of storage compartment rows, and the carrying-out transport means provided at the downstream end of the case flow rack at each stage and connected to the plurality of storage compartment rows. A loading spiral transporting means connected to the loading transporting means in each stage, an unloading spiral transporting means connected to the unloading transporting means in each stage, and the loading spiral transporting means for transferring articles to be loaded. From the loading transport means to one of the plurality of storage compartment rows, and articles to be unloaded from the storage compartment rows to the carry-out transport means. Is shifted, our automatic sorting warehouse system comprising a control means for controlling the case flow rack and the respective conveying means so as to shift to the carrying-out spiral conveying means receives from the carry-out conveyor means
And the carrying-in spiral transport means is provided with the case flow.
-A pair is provided near both ends of the storage section on the upstream side of the rack.
One of the spiral transport means for loading is
At the upstream end of the even flow rack
The goods can be transferred to the carrying means for carrying in.
The spiral conveying means for carrying in the case flow rack
The carrying means provided at the upstream end of the odd-numbered stages of
The goods can be transferred to the
The means are provided for even and odd stages of the case flow rack.
Characterized in that it is configured to run in the opposite direction.
Automatic sorting warehouse system.