Automated three dimensional warehouse

Abstract

Provided is a multistory parking garage comprising first and second laminated racks arranged to face each other in parallel, first and second warehousing stations arranged adjacent to one end side of each of those laminated racks and having waiting conveyors of the same number of stages as that of the shelves of the laminated racks, transfer shuttles interposed between the first and second laminated racks and between the first and second warehousing stations, a lifting system having first and second lifts for transferring cargoes to and from standby conveyors in the first and second warehousing stations, and a conveyor system for transferring cargoes to and from the first and second lifts. At the same level, the conveying direction of the standby conveyors of the first warehousing station and the conveying direction of the standby conveyors of the second warehousing station are opposite to each other. The conveying direction of some of the standby conveyors in the first warehousing station is opposite to the conveying direction of the remaining standby conveyors in the first warehousing station.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This patent is a national stage filing under 35 U.S.C. §371 of international application Ser. No. PCT / JP2008 / 065892 filed in the Japanese Receiving Office on Sep. 3, 2008, the complete disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Technical Area[0003]The embodiments disclosed herein relate to a three dimensional automated warehouse that includes at least one pair of layered stacked racks that are oriented parallel to each other and a plurality of transferring shuttles implemented for every layer or every few layers of the stacked racks. The shuttles run in a horizontal direction and transfer packages in and out of the layered stacked racks. The disclosed embodiments also relate to a method of receiving and shipping to and from such a three dimensional automated warehouse.[0004]2. Technical Background[0005]A known example of a three dimensional warehouse is described in Patent Bulletin H...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0017]It is also favorable to be able to switch the direction of the operation of the stand-by conveyors between normal and reverse.

Problems solved by technology

This creates the problem of the receiving-shipping sequence becoming a single cycle.

Also, when the balance of the receiving and shipping quantities is disrupted for an external reason, one of the shipping or receiving devices may be at full capacity or suffer insufficient capacity (over-flow), while the other may be under-utilized.

This, combined with the single cycle problem, has become a road block to capacity improvement.

Furthermore, with the construction of the prior art, if one of the devices is out of order, the response will be difficult and expensive.

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