Dense warehouse adopting embedded elevator and storage solution thereof

Abstract

The invention provides a dense warehouse adopting embedded elevators and a storage solution of the dense warehouse, the elevators are embedded between storage bins of the dense warehouse, and guide rails with single paths are arranged on the elevators. According to the elevator, the guide rails can directly communicate with the rails of the storage units of all the layers in the dense warehouse, so that cargoes at the inlet position are directly guided into the elevator through the rails during warehousing, and the cargoes are transferred to the corresponding storage layers to be stored; and during warehouse-out, the goods in the storage layer are directly guided into the elevator through the track and are transferred to the corresponding exit position. On the basis of the embedded elevator, the occupied storage space can be effectively reduced, and the storage utilization rate is increased; and front and rear buffer storage positions are formed by front and rear tracks of the lifting platform, so that on one hand, the planning design of a warehouse-in and warehouse-out line can be simplified, on the other hand, the warehouse-in and warehouse-out efficiency of automatic warehouse space can be improved through linkage scheduling of different walking devices, and the construction cost and the construction period are reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of intelligent warehousing systems, and in particular to a dense warehouse using an embedded elevator and a storage solution thereof. Background Art

[0002] The existing four-way vehicle storage system generally adopts Figure 3 Layout: Set up an inbound buffer area and an outbound buffer area at the front of the warehouse close to the truck platform. Materials waiting to be in or out of the warehouse will circulate in this buffer area: when entering the warehouse, the goods are manually placed on the inbound conveyor line, and the conveyor line automatically transports forward to transport the materials into the elevator. After the elevator lifts the goods to the specified number of shelves, the goods are transported out of the elevator to the docking position of the inbound conveyor line, and finally the four-way shuttle transports the goods to the designated warehouse location. When leaving the warehouse, the four-way shuttle lifts the goods to be shipped to the docking conveyor line in front of the outbound elevator. The conveyor line transports the goods into the elevator, and the elevator lifts the goods to the first shelf. The conveyor line automatically transports the goods forward to the outbound port, waiting for manual shipment.

[0003] In the existing storage system, the elevator occupies a large space. Each elevator in the front area of ​​the warehouse usually occupies 6 storage spaces for the installation and layout of the elevator. The more efficient the project, the more elevators there will be. However, in this way, more cargo spaces will be lost in front of the warehouse due to the installation of elevators. In addition, in the existing system, the logistics lines for entering and leaving the warehouse at the elevator are opposite, and the same elevator cannot efficiently complete the operation of entering and leaving the warehouse at the same time. In the project, it is usually necessary to arrange multiple elevators to separate the operation of entering and leaving the warehouse to ensure the efficiency of the equipment. This also leads to an excessive number of equipment in some cases and a high cost of project implementation. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, the present application provides a dense warehouse and storage solution using an embedded elevator. The present application places the embedded elevator in an integrated manner inside the dense warehouse shelf, and sets up multiple layers of cache positions before and after it. On the one hand, it can reduce the occupation of storage positions, and on the other hand, it can also connect goods out of the warehouse or into the warehouse in a single route through the transportation of four-way vehicles, so as to realize the connection of goods between the bottom entrance and exit and the warehouse positions on each layer of the three-dimensional storage. The present application specifically adopts the following technical solutions.

[0005] Firstly, to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, a dense warehouse with an embedded elevator is proposed, wherein the dense warehouse includes multiple layers of storage bins, each layer is respectively provided with horizontal and vertical crisscrossing tracks, and the dense warehouse is also provided with an elevator embedded between the storage bins, and the elevator is provided with a single-path guide rail on its own lifting platform, and the front and rear sides of the guide rail are respectively connected with the tracks in the storage bins of each layer; when the goods enter from the entrance of the dense warehouse, they are first guided into the elevator along the track direction from the entrance position, and then transferred to the corresponding storage layer by the elevator, and finally transported to the storage bin by the transfer equipment of the storage layer; when the goods are output to the exit of the dense warehouse, they are first connected to the elevator by the transfer equipment of the storage layer where the goods are located, and then transferred to the corresponding output layer by the elevator, and finally guided to the exit position by the output layer along the track direction.

[0006] Optionally, a dense storage warehouse using an embedded elevator as described above is characterized in that a front elevator cache position and a rear elevator cache position docking with the guide rail are provided on the front and rear sides of the embedded elevator along the entry and exit direction of the guide rail.

[0007] Optionally, a dense warehouse using an embedded elevator as described in any of the above is characterized in that the transfer equipment includes: a four-way car, a two-way car, or any independent car that can run along a track; a group of transfer equipment is respectively arranged at each entrance and exit position, which is used for reciprocating docking and transferring goods between the entrance and exit and the front cache position of the elevator along the track; and / or another group of transfer equipment is respectively arranged at each storage layer, which is used for reciprocating docking and transferring goods between the storage position and the rear cache position of the elevator along the track; and / or the embedded elevator is also equipped with a third group of transfer equipment, which reciprocates along the guide rail between the front cache position of the elevator, the rear cache position of the elevator and the elevator lifting platform, receives the docked goods into the elevator, and transfers them to the corresponding layer through the lifting of the elevator.

[0008] Optionally, a dense storage warehouse using an embedded elevator as described in any of the above is characterized in that the embedded elevator includes: a fixed frame, a guide assembly, a lifting platform and a drive assembly; the fixed frame is vertically connected to the supporting structure of each layer of storage space in the dense storage warehouse; the guide assembly is longitudinally installed in the fixed frame and is arranged on the left and right sides of the guide rail of the lifting platform; the drive assembly is fixedly installed on the edge of the lifting platform and is transmission-connected to the guide assembly; the lifting platform is driven by the operation of the drive assembly and moves up and down along the guide assembly in the fixed frame; the front cache positions of the elevator on the front and rear sides of the lifting platform and the rear cache positions of the elevator are only provided with a single path track laid along the entry and exit direction of the guide rail for docking.

[0009] Optionally, a dense warehouse using an embedded elevator as described above is characterized in that an independent cache area is provided outside the entrance and exit of the dense warehouse, and the goods are circulated between the entrance and exit and the cache area by manual forklifts, and coding and entry and / or outbound picking are performed in the cache area.

[0010] At the same time, in order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present application also provides a storage solution for a dense warehouse using an embedded elevator, which performs the following steps during the cargo warehousing process: driving the four-way vehicle at the entrance position to reciprocate along the track between the entrance and the elevator embedded in the dense warehouse; after guiding the cargo into the elevator, the elevator transfers the cargo to the corresponding storage layer; driving the four-way vehicle of the corresponding storage layer to reciprocate along the track between the storage location and the elevator to transport the cargo to the corresponding storage location.

[0011] Optionally, a storage solution for a dense warehouse using an embedded elevator as described above performs the following steps during the cargo outbound process: driving the four-way vehicle on the storage layer where the cargo is located to reciprocate along the track between the storage bin and the embedded elevator; after guiding the cargo into the elevator, the elevator transfers the cargo to the corresponding output layer; driving the four-way vehicle at the exit position to reciprocate along the track between the exit and the elevator to transport the cargo to the corresponding exit position.

[0012] Optionally, a storage solution for a dense warehouse using an embedded elevator as described above is characterized in that four-way vehicles or shared four-way vehicles are independently provided at the entrance position, exit position and corresponding storage layers; the four-way vehicles at the entrance position, exit position and in the elevator are respectively set to reciprocate along only a single path.

[0013] Optionally, a storage solution for a dense warehouse using an embedded elevator as described above is characterized in that the elevator embedded in the dense warehouse is connected to a front cache position of the elevator and a rear cache position of the elevator along both ends of the guide rail of its lifting platform; the single path at least sets the starting point or the end point at the front cache position of the elevator or the rear cache position of the elevator.

[0014] Optionally, a storage solution for a dense warehouse using an embedded elevator as described above is characterized in that, during the process of goods entering the warehouse, the front cache position of the elevator on the first floor is connected to the track at the entrance position, and is used to temporarily store the goods entering from the entrance; the rear cache position of the elevator in other floors is connected to the track of the storage position of the storage layer where it is located, and is used to temporarily store the goods waiting to be transported to the storage position in the layer. During the process of goods leaving the warehouse, the rear cache position of the elevator on the first floor is connected to the track at the exit position, and is used to temporarily store the goods to be left the warehouse; the front cache position of the elevator in other floors is connected to the track of the storage position of the storage layer where it is located.

[0015] Beneficial Effects

[0016] The present application provides a dense warehouse and storage solution using an embedded elevator. The present application has an elevator embedded between the storage locations of the dense warehouse, and a single-path guide rail is provided on the elevator. The elevator of the present application can directly connect the guide rail with the track of each layer of storage units in the dense warehouse, so that when entering the warehouse, the goods at the entrance position can be directly transported into the elevator by the track-guided trolley, and transferred to the corresponding storage layer for storage; when leaving the warehouse, the goods in the storage layer can be directly transported into the elevator by the track-guided trolley, and transferred to the corresponding exit position. The present application is based on the fact that the embedded elevator can effectively reduce the occupation of storage space and improve storage utilization; in conjunction with the front and rear cache positions formed by the front and rear tracks of the lifting platform, on the one hand, it can simplify the planning and design of the entry and exit routes, and on the other hand, it can also achieve efficient mixed entry and exit operations by the same elevator through the optimized design of the logistics flow line, and improve the efficiency of entry and exit of the automated warehouse space through the connection and scheduling of different walking equipment. Therefore, through the layout plan of the dense warehouse storage system in this application, the space utilization rate of the automated warehouse can be improved. In some operating conditions, it can effectively improve the efficiency of the warehousing system in and out of the warehouse while reducing the construction cost and construction period of the automated warehouse.

[0017] Other features and advantages of the present application will be set forth in the following description, and in part will become apparent from the description, or may be understood by practicing the present application. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] The accompanying drawings are used to provide a further understanding of the present application and constitute a part of the specification. Together with the embodiments of the present application, they are used to explain the present application and do not constitute a limitation of the present application. In the accompanying drawings:

[0019] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the layout of the embedded hoist dense storage solution of the present application;

[0020] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the embedded hoist used in this application;

[0021] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the layout of the existing warehousing system;

[0022] Figure 4 It is a detailed layout diagram of the embedded hoist in this application;

[0023] Figure 5 It is a detailed layout diagram of the existing storage system elevator;

[0024] In the figure, 1 indicates the incoming buffer area; 2 indicates the incoming warehouse entrance; 3 indicates the built-in elevator; 4 indicates the incoming four-way vehicle docking position; 5 indicates the four-way shuttle vehicle; 6 indicates the built-in elevator; 7 indicates the outgoing four-way vehicle docking position; 8 indicates the outgoing warehouse entrance; 9 indicates the outgoing buffer area; 11 indicates the rear buffer position of the built-in elevator; 12 indicates the front buffer position of the built-in elevator; 21 indicates the ordinary four-way vehicle elevator; 22 indicates the four-way vehicle docking position; 31 indicates the built-in elevator. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] In order to make the purpose and technical solution of the embodiment of the present application clearer, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application will be clearly and completely described in conjunction with the drawings of the embodiment of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiment is a part of the embodiment of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the described embodiment of the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0026] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that, unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as those generally understood by those skilled in the art to which this application belongs. It should also be understood that terms such as those defined in common dictionaries should be understood to have meanings consistent with the meanings in the context of the prior art, and will not be interpreted with idealized or overly formal meanings unless defined as herein.

[0027] The meaning of "and / or" described in this application means that the situations where each exists alone or both exist at the same time are included.

[0028] The meaning of "inside" and "outside" mentioned in this application refers to the direction pointing to the center of the lifting platform inside the built-in hoist itself, and the opposite direction is outside; it is not a specific limitation on the device mechanism of this application.

[0029] The meaning of "left and right" mentioned in this application refers to the direction of goods entering and exiting the user's elevator, the user's left is left, and the user's right is right, rather than a specific limitation on the device mechanism of this application.

[0030] The term “connection” as used in this application may mean a direct connection between components or an indirect connection between components via other components.

[0031] The meaning of "up" and "down" in this application refers to that when the user is facing the elevator, the direction from the ground to the top of the elevator is up, and the opposite direction is down, rather than a specific limitation on the device mechanism of this application.

[0032] The meanings of "front" and "rear" in this application refer to that when the user is facing the elevator, the direction from the elevator to the entrance and exit is the front, and the direction from the elevator to the storage bin is the rear.

[0033] Figure 1 An intelligent storage intensive warehouse according to the present application can generally be configured to include:

[0034] The incoming storage buffer area 1 is set in the storage space near the platform entrance and exit, and is used to receive various types of goods unloaded from trucks on the platform;

[0035] The storage entrance 2 is arranged near the platform entrance and exit in the storage space, close to the storage buffer area 1. A handheld terminal is arranged in the storage area. The warehouse manager scans the code of the cargo pallet and the material code of various goods through the handheld terminal, binds the pallet code and the material code, realizes the binding of the storage information, and then moves the goods to the storage entrance 2 to trigger the generation of the storage task;

[0036] Four-way shuttle racks are densely arranged in the storage space, forming a storage array in the middle of the storage space for storing goods to be stored after scanning the entry point; the storage array generally has a place for storing goods, which is connected in series by sub-channels, and each sub-channel is connected front and back by a main channel in another direction, so that the four-way shuttle can reach the corresponding storage position by moving on the main channel and the corresponding sub-channel to store or retrieve goods;

[0037] The embedded elevator 3 is embedded in the middle of the four-way dense warehouse shelf and is used for up and down layer change of goods and four-way shuttle vehicles; in order to achieve direct docking with each layer of shelves, the present application provides a single-path guide rail on the lifting platform of the elevator, and the width of the guide rail is set to be flush with one side of the track in the three-dimensional warehouse, so that the front and rear sides of the guide rail are respectively connected to the tracks in the storage bins on each layer;

[0038] The outbound port 8 is arranged near the platform entrance and exit in the storage space, close to the outbound buffer area 9. A handheld terminal is arranged in the outbound area for scanning the codes of the cargo pallets and the material codes of various types of cargoes, and updating the outbound material information.

[0039] The guide rails in the lifting platform of the above-mentioned elevator are connected at both ends of the path to the transport tracks of the storage bins arranged on the front and rear sides of the elevator on this floor, thereby directly driving the four-way vehicle along the track to transport the goods to the lifting platform to realize the turnover of the floor. During the specific assembly, the guide rails of the elevator lifting platform are generally set as straight tracks. However, in the case of a more compact storage space structure, the guide rails can also be set as turning guide rails perpendicular to the dense warehouse tracks according to the orientation relationship of the warehouse entrance and exit relative to the dense warehouse shelves, so as to facilitate the four-way vehicle to achieve reversal in the lifting platform, and directly connect to the entrance and exit tracks parallel to the direction of the dense warehouse shelves after reaching the first floor, and directly transport the goods out.

[0040] The aforementioned single path means that the guide rails in the elevator platform are set to a single direction in the logistics route planning, and the starting and ending points of the path are uniquely determined. The four-way shuttle can choose any direction to pass on the guide rails in the elevator platform according to transportation needs.

[0041] Therefore, the above storage system can guide the goods into the elevator by the track at the entrance when the goods enter the dense warehouse, and then be transferred to the corresponding storage layer by the elevator, and finally be transported to the storage position by the transfer equipment of the storage layer;

[0042] When the goods are exported to the exit of the dense storage, the transfer equipment on the storage layer where the goods are located is first connected to the elevator, and then the elevator transfers the goods to the corresponding output layer, and finally the track on the output layer guides the goods to the exit position.

[0043] At the same time, this design allows the system of the present application to keep the goods on the first floor during the storage and retrieval process without occupying the efficiency of the elevator. Under the traditional solution, no matter where the goods are, they must pass through the elevator. The reason is:

[0044] like Figure 4 As shown, when the system of the present application is in the warehousing operation, if the assigned cargo position is located on the first shelf, the cargo will reach the warehousing four-way vehicle docking position through the conveyor line. At this time, the four-way shuttle vehicle on the first shelf can directly lift the cargo to the designated warehouse position without going through the built-in elevator. Figure 5 As shown, in the traditional solution, if the assigned cargo location is located on the first floor of the shelf, the cargo needs to be transported into the elevator through the conveyor line first, then transported out of the elevator by the internal conveyor line of the elevator, and transported to the first floor of the shelf where the cargo is connected to the conveyor line, and then the four-way shuttle vehicle on the first floor of the shelf directly lifts the cargo to be stored to the designated storage location. By comparing the operation process, it is obvious that when the materials are located on the first floor of the shelf, the system of this application does not require the participation of the elevator in the in-and-out operation.

[0045] In the above system, a shared trolley can be set up for the entrance and exit, elevator, and storage layer, or a separate trolley can be set up in the elevator, or each layer can rely on its own trolley to achieve the aforementioned entrance and exit path turnover. The entry cache and exit cache in the above system are also optional settings. When the throughput is small, the cache area can be omitted, and the goods can be directly stored and retrieved at the entrance and exit of the dense warehouse shelves without a lot of congestion and queues.

[0046] Generally, when the warehouse throughput is large, or the goods need to be sorted, picked, etc., it is preferred to set up the above-mentioned inbound and outbound buffer area. Thus, after receiving various types of goods unloaded from the truck, the warehouse system can perform the inbound process according to the following steps:

[0047] First, a manual forklift moves the goods from the truck to the warehouse buffer area 1. Then, the handheld terminal device is used to scan the code of the cargo pallet and the material code of each type of goods, and the pallet code and material code are bound. The goods in the warehouse buffer area with information binding are then moved to the warehouse entrance 2 for warehouse entry;

[0048] The conveyor line automatically transports forward, and after weighing, scanning, and appearance inspection, the system automatically allocates the cargo position, and the conveyor line transports the goods at the entrance to the four-way car docking position 4 in the dense warehouse. If the allocated cargo position is on the first floor, the system dispatches the four-way shuttle car 5 on the first floor of the dense warehouse shelf to extract the goods from the docking port and transfer the goods to the designated storage location on the first floor of the dense shelf for storage. If the cargo level of the allocated goods is on the upper floor of the shelf, the system first dispatches the four-way shuttle car on the first floor of the dense warehouse shelf to extract the goods from the docking port and transport the goods to the built-in elevator. After the built-in elevator lifts the goods to the designated level of the shelf, the four-way shuttle car in the corresponding level will dock and transport them to the designated storage location in the dense shelf for storage.

[0049] Corresponding to the warehousing process, the above-mentioned warehousing system can retrieve various types of goods from the shelves of the four-way vehicle-intensive warehouse to realize outbound delivery according to the following steps:

[0050] First, if the goods to be shipped are located on the upper layer of the intensive warehouse shelf, the system dispatches the four-way shuttle running in the cargo storage layer of the intensive warehouse shelf to extract the goods from the storage location of the goods and transfer the goods to the built-in elevator. The elevator lifts the goods to the first layer of the shelf, and then the four-way shuttle on the first layer transports the goods to the outbound four-way car docking position 7. If the goods to be shipped are on the first layer of the shelf, the system directly dispatches the four-way shuttle on the first layer to extract the goods from the storage location of the goods and transfer the goods to the outbound four-way car docking position 7;

[0051] Then, the conveyor line automatically transports forward and delivers the goods at the four-way vehicle docking position 7 to the outbound port 8, waiting for manual outbound delivery. The goods at the outbound port 8 are manually moved to the outbound buffer area 9. After the truck arrives, a manual forklift is dispatched to move the goods in the outbound buffer area 9 to the truck to complete the outbound delivery.

[0052] refer to Figure 2 As shown, the embedded elevator 3 used in the above scheme can be specifically arranged inside the shelf in the following manner, and is limited to occupy only one storage space by a fixed frame 13. The elevator reciprocates up and down in the shelf. The elevator includes a lifting platform, a drive assembly, and a guide assembly. A top frame 34 made of profiles welded is fixed on the top of the shelf. The lifting platform is connected to the drive assembly, and the guide assembly is vertically arranged on the frame inside the shelf. The lifting platform is driven by the drive assembly and reciprocates up and down in the shelf along the guide assembly.

[0053] The fixed frame 13 includes four vertically arranged column units 131, and the planes formed by two adjacent column units 131 remain perpendicular to each other to form a tall and thin rectangular lifting platform activity space. The three mounting surfaces of the column unit 131 are reserved with a number of connection holes, which are arranged in an array for flexible installation of required components. A number of corbel beams 132 and T-rail support frames 133 are arranged at intervals on different surfaces of the shelf. Specifically, the corbel beams 132 and T-rail support frames 133 are transversely arranged on the surfaces where two adjacent column units are located, and the corbel beams 132 and the T-rail support frames 133 are fixed to the column units 131 through connection holes. In order to ensure the structural stability of the fixed frame 13, it can also be connected to the supporting shelves of each layer of storage bins in the dense warehouse to form a whole, so that the strength of the entire single-bin embedded hoist is greatly enhanced.

[0054] The lifting platform includes a lifting platform frame body and a platform working guide rail and a shelf arranged inside the lifting platform frame body. The lifting platform frame can be configured to have a body composed of front and rear profiles and left and right profiles, and the left and right profiles are arranged on the front and rear profiles to form a square structure, and a certain height difference can be maintained between the two to facilitate the installation of various components such as sensors and guides.

[0055] The lifting platform is provided with a working guide rail for providing layer change for the four-way vehicle, and a shelf can be provided on the upper side of the guide rail for placing pallet goods.

[0056] The driving assembly includes a motor and a gear installed on the edge of the above-mentioned lifting platform. The output end of the motor is connected to the gear, and the gear is engaged with the rack 324 arranged vertically in the frame. The engagement of the gear drives the entire lifting platform to reciprocate up and down along the rack direction.

[0057] The drive assembly can generally be arranged above the bottom surface of the lifting platform frame body, with one end arranged below either side of the left and right profiles of the frame, and the other end arranged below the platform working guide rail on the same side as the left and right profiles of the bottom frame.

[0058] In the prior art, there are also lifting platforms with motors placed below and lifting platforms with dual servo motors placed above. However, the variable frequency motor of the former is relatively large in size and occupies a large amount of bottom space; the dual servo motor of the latter is placed above the lifting platform. For goods of the same size, the lifting platform needs to be larger and wider, and needs to occupy additional space. The high and low layout of the frame in the front-to-back direction and the left-to-right direction adopted in this application can well remove the restrictions on the bottom space and the enlargement and widening of the lifting platform. By arranging the relevant structural components at the bottom of the platform or close to its edge, it is convenient to carry out drive transmission, thereby having good practicality and promotion value.

[0059] In order to ensure the stable operation of the lifting platform, the present application generally prefers to set the guide assembly to include a T-shaped guide rail and a guide wheel structure abutting against the side wall of the T-shaped guide rail. The rack is vertically arranged on the T-shaped guide rail. Both the T-shaped guide rail and the rack can adopt a unitized design, so that the project can freely increase or decrease the units according to the actual required storage height; the T-shaped guide rails on the same side are arranged parallel to each other. In conjunction with the T-shaped guide rail, the guide wheel is arranged on the lifting platform frame body, and the guide wheel can assist in providing guidance for the up and down movement of the lifting platform assembly by abutting against the T-shaped guide rail.

[0060] The guide wheels on each guide rail may include two guide wheels. The first guide wheel is arranged on the upper surface of the left and right profiles of the frame; the second guide wheel is arranged on the outer surface of the left and right profiles of the bottom frame, and the two are arranged in a staggered manner; the first guide wheel abuts against the front surface of the T-shaped guide rail, and the second guide wheel abuts against the opposite surface of the rack mounting surface of the T-shaped guide rail. The T-shaped guide rail 331, the first guide wheel and the second guide wheel are arranged in pairs in a cross-diagonal manner in the shelf.

[0061] The bottom end of the T-shaped guide rail 331 is fixed to the ground, and the top end can be arranged to be fixed to the top frame 34, thereby greatly improving the safety and stability of the up and down movement of the lifting platform.

[0062] The embedded hoist used in this application can also eliminate the counterweight component of the traditional lifting equipment through the gear rack meshing drive method mentioned above. Since the equipment itself can be driven by 4 sets of gear racks in a decentralized manner, the counterweight can be removed, making the overall lifting equipment safe and simple and further reducing the occupation of the storage space on both sides of the hoist, truly realizing dense storage.

[0063] The above system can also adjust the inbound and outbound process strategy according to the number of equipment configurations and efficiency requirements of the project. In order to ensure optimal efficiency, the goods can also be moved and carried out inbound and outbound operations according to the following loading and unloading methods.

[0064] Among them, during the warehousing process:

[0065] If the level of the assigned cargo location is on the upper shelf, the system will first dispatch the four-way shuttle 5 on the first shelf of the dense warehouse to extract the cargo from the four-way shuttle docking position 4 and move the cargo to the embedded elevator 3. If there is no idle four-way shuttle on the first shelf, the idle four-way shuttle on the upper level will be dispatched to the first shelf via the embedded elevator 3, and then the cargo will be extracted from the four-way shuttle docking position 4 and moved to the embedded elevator 3. After the four-way shuttle and the cargo are transferred to the designated level of the assigned cargo location, the current four-way shuttle will move the cargo out of the embedded elevator and transfer the cargo to the designated storage location in the dense shelf for storage.

[0066] During the outbound process:

[0067] If the goods to be shipped are located on the upper layer of the compact warehouse shelf, the system dispatches the four-way shuttle 5 running in the cargo storage layer of the compact warehouse shelf to extract the goods from the storage position of the goods and transfer the goods to the embedded elevator 3. If there is no idle four-way shuttle in this layer, the idle four-way shuttle in other layers will be dispatched to reach this layer through the embedded elevator, and then the four-way shuttle will extract the goods and transfer the goods to the embedded elevator 3. The elevator will lift the goods together with the four-way shuttle to the first layer of the shelf, and the current four-way shuttle will carry the goods to the docking position 7 of the outbound four-way shuttle.

[0068] In specific applications, if the project efficiency requirements are high or a single hoist is required to have the ability to perform both inbound and outbound operations, it is usually also possible to refer to Figure 4 The method further provides buffering positions at the front and rear ends of the embedded hoist 3. Figure 4 As shown, a front cache position 12 of the embedded elevator is provided on one side of the embedded elevator 3, which is used to cache goods that need to be transported into the elevator for layer change. A rear cache position 11 of the embedded elevator is provided on the other side, which is used to cache goods that come out of the elevator and wait for the four-way vehicle to connect. In the same level, the cache positions for outbound goods and inbound goods are respectively located on both sides of the elevator, and the two operations do not interfere with each other during the inbound and outbound operations. At this time, the embedded elevator 3 always maintains a four-way shuttle vehicle 5 inside for connecting goods between the elevator and the docking position 11 / 12. Under this solution, the system carries goods according to the on-shelf and off-shelf methods described below to perform inbound and outbound operations.

[0069] Among them, during the warehousing process:

[0070] If the level of the assigned cargo location is on the upper shelf, the system will first dispatch the four-way shuttle 5 in the first level of the dense warehouse shelf to extract the cargo from the four-way shuttle docking position 4 and move the cargo to the front buffer position 12 of the embedded elevator. After the embedded elevator 3 reaches the first level of the shelf, the four-way shuttle inside the elevator docks the cargo from the front buffer position 12 to the embedded elevator 3. After the elevator changes layers with the cargo to the designated level of the assigned cargo location, the four-way shuttle inside the elevator docks the cargo to the rear buffer position 11 of the embedded elevator, waiting for the four-way shuttle in this level. After the four-way shuttle at the current level arrives, the cargo will be transferred to the designated storage location in the dense shelf for storage.

[0071] During the outbound process:

[0072] If the goods to be shipped are located on the upper layer of the intensive warehouse shelf, the system dispatches the four-way shuttle 5 running in the storage layer of the goods in the intensive warehouse shelf to extract the goods from the storage position of the goods and transfer the goods to the front buffer position 12 of the embedded elevator. After the embedded elevator 3 is in place, the four-way car inside the elevator moves the goods to be shipped from the buffer position to the elevator, and the elevator changes the layer with the goods to the first layer of the shelf, and then the four-way car inside the elevator connects the goods to the rear buffer position 11 of the embedded elevator, waiting for the four-way shuttle on the first layer. After the four-way shuttle on the first layer is in place, it moves the goods to the docking position 7 of the four-way car for shipping, and completes the shipping process through conveyor line transportation and manual transportation.

[0073] Since in the above process, the transfer equipment that reciprocates between the front cache position 12 of the elevator, the rear cache position 11 of the elevator and the elevator lifting platform has a single route, it can also be directly set as a two-way vehicle, or any independent trolley that can run along the track, which can realize the transportation of goods from the entrance to the front cache position 12 of the elevator, and from the elevator to the rear cache position 11 of the elevator.

[0074] The above-mentioned embedded elevator four-way car intensive storage solution uses an embedded elevator to replace the external elevator in this design, and at the same time uses the WCS system to realize the system's multi-device collaborative scheduling, and uses the WMS system to manage and update the storage status and storage location of goods in and out of the warehouse.

[0075] In the above system, a new intensive storage solution for four-way shuttles of built-in elevators is provided by combining the built-in elevator with four-way shuttles and other equipment. The above solution can make full use of the existing site of the factory, increase the storage density of the warehouse, reduce the intensity of manual installation work, and reduce the project construction cost. At the same time, the new layout mode is used to ensure that the logistics direction is single when the same elevator is in and out of the warehouse at the same time, which effectively solves the efficiency bottleneck problem of the traditional solution.

[0076] The above-mentioned embedded hoist four-way car dense storage solution is compared with the current existing solutions.

[0077] In the same area, the existing solution is to reserve additional inbound and outbound buffer areas at the inbound and outbound end areas, such as Figure 3 In the scheme, the overall area of ​​the warehouse is Figure 1 The four-way car intensive storage solution with built-in elevators shown in the figure has the same footprint. The height of the four-way car intensive storage area is calculated based on 4 layers of shelves. See the table below for a comparison of the solutions:

[0078] Table 1 - Comparison between the four-way intensive storage solution of the built-in hoist and the existing solution

[0079] Existing solutions Pallet high-level storage, storage, deceleration and handling solutions 1 <![CDATA[Warehouse area (m 2 )]]> 1900 1900 2 <![CDATA[Storage area (m 2 )]]> 1660 1660 3 Area utilization rate (%) 87.3 87.3 4 Number of cargo spaces (pallet) 3120 3160 5 Warehouse capacity utilization rate (%) 40.6 41.2

[0080] As shown in the table above, under the condition of the same area, the storage area ratio of this application is basically the same as that of the current existing solution. The number of storage cargo spaces in this application is 40 more than that of the current existing solution, and the warehouse capacity utilization rate is 0.8% higher than that of the current solution. Therefore, from the comparison of the storage quantity of the two solutions, this application is obviously better than the current existing solution.

[0081] In addition, this application has obvious advantages when the same lifting equipment handles storage and warehousing operations at the same time.

[0082] like Figure 5 The figure shows the layout of the elevator of the existing solution. When entering the warehouse, the goods are manually placed on the conveyor line, and the conveyor line transports the goods to be entered into the elevator. Then the elevator lifts the goods to the designated level, and the four-way vehicle at the corresponding level transfers the goods to the designated storage location in the dense warehouse shelf for storage. When leaving the warehouse, the system dispatches the four-way shuttle running in the storage level of the goods in the dense warehouse shelf to extract the goods from the storage location and transfer the goods to the elevator. After the elevator lifts the goods to the first level of the shelf, the conveyor line automatically transports forward and transports the goods to be shipped to the warehouse exit, waiting for manual shipment.

[0083] With the existing solution, when the same elevator handles inbound and outbound tasks, there is only one conveyor line and only one cache point for the elevator and the shelf to dock. Therefore, if the system is in the process of inbound operation, the conveyor line and the elevator will be occupied by the task, and the outbound task cannot be performed at this time. Only after the current inbound task is completed and the docking point 22 is released, can the outbound task be performed, and during this period, the incoming goods cannot be placed on the conveyor line to trigger the inbound action, otherwise the outbound path of the goods will overlap with the inbound path, causing the path to be locked and unable to operate.

[0084] Therefore, in existing solutions, outbound operations and inbound operations are usually carried out in different time periods to ensure the continuity and efficiency of the operations. When the system is continuously warehousing, the conveying equipment of the existing solution can continue to move in one direction, and manual labor can also continuously carry the incoming goods to the entrance to perform warehousing operations to ensure maximum efficiency. However, in actual operations, outbound operations and inbound operations are usually required to be carried out at the same time. In existing solutions, outbound elevators and inbound elevators are arranged separately, so that a single device is only responsible for one operation task. Although this method can ensure operational efficiency, it also causes an increase in the number of equipment and an increase in project costs. In most cases, the efficiency of the elevator is redundant, which also results in a waste of efficiency.

[0085] like Figure 4 The figure shows the schematic diagram of the embedded elevator layout in the embedded elevator four-way car dense storage solution of this application. In terms of layout, the embedded elevator is arranged inside the shelf and is not directly connected to the external entrance and exit. The exchange of goods between the entrance and exit and the embedded elevator is realized by connecting the four-way car. When the same embedded elevator handles the entry and exit operations at the same time, the goods entering the elevator will enter from the front cache position of the embedded elevator, and the goods leaving the elevator will leave from the rear cache position of the embedded elevator.

[0086] Therefore, no matter it is an outbound operation or an inbound operation, the logistics flow line in the horizontal plane of the embedded elevator flows from the front buffer position of the embedded elevator to the rear buffer position of the embedded elevator. This ensures that the outbound operation and the inbound operation can be carried out simultaneously in the same horizontal plane without being affected.

[0087] And when the goods move between the embedded elevator and the entrance and exit, they are all transported by a four-way shuttle car. This is different from the conveyor line mode of the existing solution. The path of the conveyor line is relatively fixed and single, and the entry and exit mode cannot be changed after the hardware is implemented. The four-way car is more flexible and has more flexibility. There are multiple paths to choose from between the embedded elevator and the entrance and exit, which also ensures the efficiency of the same equipment to complete the entry and exit operations at the same time. Therefore, during the project implementation, the above-mentioned embedded elevator four-way car dense storage solution can efficiently complete the entry and exit operations with the least number of equipment according to project requirements.

[0088] In summary, the present application places an embedded elevator inside a four-way dense warehouse shelf, including a lifting platform assembly, a driving assembly and a guiding assembly, wherein the lifting platform assembly is connected to the driving assembly, and the guiding assembly is vertically arranged on the frame inside the shelf, and the lifting platform assembly is driven by the driving assembly, and reciprocates up and down in the shelf along the guiding member. The elevator utilizes a pallet four-way shuttle and equipment selected as needed to realize the automatic entry and exit function of pallet goods. Its embedded elevator has a simple and compact structure, occupies only a single warehouse position, occupies a small space, has a high storage utilization rate, can make full use of the factory storage space and is simple to install, and can effectively increase the number of storage spaces and greatly reduce the production and installation costs; its layout method and logistics flow line design can realize the mixed entry and exit operations that can be completed efficiently by the same elevator at the same time. Therefore, through the layout scheme of the dense warehouse storage system in the present application, the lifting platform assembly is used as the framework for lifting and conveying, which eliminates the complex and bulky frame production and installation, and can realize the improvement of the space utilization rate of the automated warehouse, and effectively improve the efficiency of the storage system in and out of the warehouse while reducing the construction cost and construction period of the automated warehouse.

[0089] This application arranges the embedded elevator inside the four-way dense warehouse shelf, and the entrance and exit of the embedded elevator are equipped with cache positions. During the warehousing operation, the four-way shuttle can transport the goods to the cache position at the entrance of the elevator. After the embedded elevator is in place, the four-way car in the elevator will transport the goods from the cache position to the inside of the elevator. After the embedded elevator lifts the four-way shuttle and the goods to the specified level, the goods are transported by the four-way car inside the embedded elevator to the cache position at the exit of the internal elevator, and finally the four-way shuttle in the corresponding level completes the warehousing transportation task. During the outbound operation, the four-way shuttle transports the outbound goods to the cache position at the entrance of the embedded elevator. After the embedded elevator is in place, the four-way shuttle in the elevator transports the goods into the elevator. The embedded elevator lifts the goods to the first layer of the shelf, and the four-way shuttle on the first layer completes the outbound task. At the same level, the two cache positions of the same elevator ensure the consistency of the in-and-out logistics flow lines, breaking through the efficiency bottleneck of simultaneous in-and-out operations of a single device.

[0090] The above is only an implementation method of the present application, and its description is relatively specific and detailed, but it cannot be understood as limiting the scope of the patent of the present application. It should be pointed out that for ordinary technicians in this field, several variations and improvements can be made without departing from the concept of the present application, which all belong to the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A dense warehouse using an embedded elevator, the dense warehouse includes multiple layers of storage bins, each layer is provided with horizontal and vertical staggered tracks, characterized in that: The compact warehouse is also provided with a hoist embedded between the storage bins, and the hoist is provided with a single-path guide rail on its own lifting platform, and the front and rear sides of the guide rail are respectively connected to the tracks in the storage bins on each layer; When goods enter the storage from the entrance, they are first guided into the elevator along the track from the entrance, then transferred to the corresponding storage layer by the elevator, and finally transported to the storage location by the transfer equipment on the storage layer; When the goods are exported to the exit of the dense storage, the transfer equipment on the storage layer where the goods are located is first connected to the elevator, and then the elevator is transferred to the corresponding output layer, and finally the output layer guides the goods to the exit position along the track direction.

2. The compact warehouse using an embedded elevator as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The dense warehouse also has a front elevator cache position (12) and a rear elevator cache position (11) disposed on both sides of the front and rear of the elevator, respectively, along the inlet and outlet directions of the guide rails and connected to the guide rails.

3. The compact warehouse using an embedded elevator as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that: The transfer equipment includes: a four-way car, a two-way car, or any independent car that can run along the track; A set of transfer equipment is provided at each entrance and exit position, for reciprocatingly docking and transferring goods between the entrance and exit and the front buffer position (12) of the elevator along the track; and / or each storage layer, respectively provided with another set of transfer equipment for reciprocatingly docking and transferring goods between the storage bin and the cache position (11) at the rear of the elevator along the track; And / or the built-in elevator is also equipped with a third group of transfer equipment, which reciprocates along the guide rail between the front buffer position (12) of the elevator, the rear buffer position (11) of the elevator and the elevator lifting platform to receive the docked goods into the elevator and transfer them to the corresponding layer through the lifting of the elevator.

4. The compact warehouse using an embedded elevator as described in claims 1-3 is characterized in that: The embedded hoist comprises: a fixed frame (13), a guide component (331), a lifting platform and a driving component (32); The fixed frame (13) is vertically connected to the supporting structure of each layer of storage bins in the dense warehouse; The guide assembly (331) is longitudinally mounted in the fixed frame (13) and is arranged on the left and right sides of the guide rail of the lifting platform; The driving assembly (32) is fixedly mounted on the edge of the lifting platform and is in driving connection with the guiding assembly (23); The lifting platform is driven by the operation of the driving assembly and moves up and down along the guide assembly (23) in the fixed frame (13); The front buffer position (12) of the hoist and the rear buffer position (11) of the hoist on the front and rear sides of the lifting platform are only provided with a single path track laid along the inlet and outlet direction of the guide rail for docking.

5. The compact warehouse using an embedded elevator as described in claims 1-4 is characterized in that: An independent buffer area is also provided outside the entrance and exit of the dense warehouse. Goods are circulated between the entrance and exit and the buffer area by manual forklifts, and coding and entry and / or outbound picking are performed in the buffer area.

6. A storage solution for a dense warehouse using an embedded elevator, characterized in that: The goods inbound process performs the following steps: The four-way vehicle at the entrance is driven to reciprocate along the track between the entrance and the elevator embedded in the dense storage; After the goods are guided into the elevator, the elevator transfers the goods to the corresponding storage layer; The four-way vehicle of the corresponding storage layer is driven to reciprocate and dock between the storage bin and the elevator along the track to transport the goods to the corresponding storage bin.

7. The storage solution of the dense warehouse using the built-in elevator as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that: The goods outbound process performs the following steps: The four-way vehicle on the storage layer where the goods are located is driven to reciprocate along the track between the storage bin and the built-in elevator; After the goods are guided into the elevator, the elevator transfers the goods to the corresponding output layer; The four-way vehicle at the exit position is driven to reciprocate along the track between the exit and the elevator to transport the goods to the corresponding exit position.

8. The storage solution for a dense warehouse using an embedded elevator as described in claims 7-8, characterized in that: The entrance position, exit position and corresponding storage layer are equipped with four-way vehicles independently, or a four-way vehicle is shared; The entrance position, exit position and the four-way vehicle carried in the elevator are respectively set to reciprocate along only a single path.

9. The storage solution of the dense warehouse using the built-in elevator as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that: The elevator embedded in the dense warehouse is connected to the front buffer position (12) of the elevator and the rear buffer position (11) of the elevator along the two ends of the guide rail of the lifting platform; The single path at least sets a starting point or an end point at the front buffer position (12) of the elevator or the rear buffer position (11) of the elevator.

10. The storage solution of the dense warehouse using the built-in elevator as described in claims 1-9 is characterized in that: During the process of goods entering the warehouse, the front buffer position (12) of the elevator on the first floor is connected to the track at the entrance position, and is used to temporarily store the goods entering from the entrance; the rear buffer position (11) of the elevator on other floors is connected to the track of the storage position of the storage layer where it is located, and is used to temporarily store the goods waiting to be transported to the storage position on that layer; During the process of goods being shipped out of the warehouse, the rear buffer position (11) of the elevator located on the first floor is connected to the track of the exit position and is used to temporarily store the goods to be shipped out of the warehouse; the front buffer position (12) of the elevator in other floors is connected to the track of the storage position of the storage layer where it is located.

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