Multi-shelf storage system

Abstract

The application provides a multi-rack storage system, comprising: at least two storage racks, each of the storage racks is provided with a track layer at the top, each track layer comprises a plurality of groups of robot travel tracks, each of the storage racks is provided with a base surface at the bottom, a plurality of wellhead grid storage areas are arranged between the base surface and the track layer of each of the storage racks, and each of the storage racks is provided with a bin access port; a transfer robot, comprising wheels, a driving device, a control device and a transfer device, the wheels are in contact with the robot travel tracks, and the transfer device is used for transferring bins to store the bins in the wellhead grid storage areas or take the bins out of the wellhead grid storage areas; an inter-rack transfer device arranged between two adjacent storage racks, the inter-rack transfer device is connected with the bin access ports of the two adjacent storage racks; and a server in communication connection with the transfer robot and the inter-rack transfer device. The multi-rack storage system improves the utilization rate of the storage space in the warehouse and improves the storage and access efficiency of the materials.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of material storage and handling, and in particular to a multi-rack storage system. BACKGROUND

[0002] Intelligent warehousing is a kind of warehousing management concept, which is realized through informationization, Internet of Things and mechatronics to realize intelligent logistics, thereby reducing warehousing cost, improving operation efficiency and enhancing warehousing management capability. Intelligent warehousing is a link of logistics process, and the application of intelligent warehousing ensures the speed and accuracy of data input in each link of warehouse management, ensures that the real data of inventory can be accurately mastered in time, and the inventory is reasonably maintained and controlled. By using the management function of WMS system, all current positions of inventory goods can be mastered in time, which is beneficial to improve the work efficiency of warehouse management.

[0003] With the increasing development of warehousing process, the existing warehousing structure and material storage management method cannot meet the requirements of high-density storage and effective and reasonable space occupancy rate. For example, in the existing storage system, only one warehousing rack is generally arranged in one storage place, and the height of the warehousing rack is limited by the roof structure and height of the storage place, so that the existing storage system has the disadvantages of low utilization rate of storage space in the warehouse and low material storage and taking efficiency. Therefore, how to improve the utilization rate of storage space in the warehouse and improve the material storage and taking efficiency is a technical problem to be solved. SUMMARY

[0004] Therefore, the present application provides a multi-rack storage system to solve one or more problems in the prior art.

[0005] According to one aspect of the present application, a multi-rack storage system is disclosed, which comprises:

[0006] at least two warehousing racks, the top of each warehousing rack is provided with a track layer, each track layer comprises a plurality of groups of robot running tracks, the bottom of each warehousing rack is provided with a base surface, and a plurality of wellhead grid storage areas are arranged between the base surface of each warehousing rack and the track layer, each warehousing rack is provided with a material box entrance and exit;

[0007] a carrying robot, which comprises wheels, a driving device, a control device and a carrying device, the wheels are in contact with the robot running tracks, the driving device is used to drive the wheels to run along the robot running tracks, the control device is used to control the running direction of the carrying robot, and the carrying device is used to carry a material box to store the material box in the wellhead grid storage area or take the material box out from the wellhead grid storage area;

[0008] The inter-shelf conveying device is arranged between two adjacent storage shelves, and is connected with the box outlets of the two adjacent storage shelves, and is used to transfer the boxes between the two storage shelves.

[0009] The server is connected with the transfer robot and the inter-shelf conveying device, and is used to send the driving direction control signal and the transfer control signal to the transfer robot, and is also used to send the conveying direction and conveying speed control signal to the inter-shelf conveying device.

[0010] In some embodiments of the present application, the heights of the storage shelves are different.

[0011] In some embodiments of the present application, each storage shelf has a plurality of box outlets, and the plurality of box outlets are arranged along the circumference of the storage shelf.

[0012] In some embodiments of the present application, the server is also used to receive the box information to be extracted sent by the user, determine the storage position of the box to be extracted based on the received box information, determine the first box outlet closest to the box to be extracted based on the storage position of the box to be extracted, and control the transfer robot to transfer the box to be extracted to the first box outlet.

[0013] In some embodiments of the present application, the first box outlet and the storage position of the box to be extracted are located on the same storage shelf, or the first box outlet and the storage position of the box to be extracted are located on different storage shelves.

[0014] In some embodiments of the present application, when the first box outlet and the storage position of the box to be extracted are located on different storage shelves, the server controls the transfer robot to transfer the box to be extracted to the inter-shelf conveying device, and controls the inter-shelf conveying device to transport the box to be extracted to the storage shelf where the first box outlet is located.

[0015] In some embodiments of the present application, the inter-shelf conveying device comprises a plurality of conveying belt mechanisms, and the plurality of conveying belt mechanisms are parallel to each other.

[0016] In some embodiments of the present application, the well rig grid storage area has a plurality of stacked layers of boxes from bottom to top, and each box has an identification code.

[0017] In some embodiments of the present application, the server is used to generate an identification code for the box to be stored, and the server sends the generated identification code to the user terminal.

[0018] In some embodiments of the present application, the robot travel track comprises a first track and a second track arranged perpendicular to each other.

[0019] The multi-shelf storage system disclosed in the above embodiments of the present application comprises at least two storage shelves, and each of the two storage shelves is provided with a track layer and a well rack grid storage area, and a shelf-to-shelf transfer device is further arranged between the material box entrances of the two storage shelves, and the server can control the transmission direction and speed of the shelf-to-shelf transfer device; based on the above arrangement, the multi-shelf storage system of the present application can not only reasonably occupy the storage space of the warehouse, that is, improve the utilization rate of the storage space in the warehouse; in addition, based on the shelf-to-shelf transfer device, the material can be transferred between the two storage shelves, so that the multi-shelf storage system further improves the material storage and retrieval efficiency.

[0020] Additional advantages, objects, and features of the application will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or can be learned from practice of the application. The objects and other advantages of the application can be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

[0021] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the objects and advantages of the present application can be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0022] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the application and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiments of the application and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the application. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the application. For purposes of clarity and understanding, it is also to be understood that certain portions of the drawings can be exaggerated and others omitted in order to facilitate illustrating the application. In the drawings:

[0023] Figure 1 Structure schematic view of the multi-shelf storage system of an embodiment of the present application.

[0024] Figure 2 Front view of the multi-shelf storage system of an embodiment of the present application.

[0025] Figure 3 Top view of the multi-shelf storage system of an embodiment of the present application.

[0026] Figure 4 Schematic view of the state of the material extraction by the carrying robot of an embodiment of the present application.

[0027] Figure 5A state diagram of the material handling of the carrying robot of an embodiment of the present application.

[0028] Figure 6 A material transfer flow diagram of the multi-shelf storage system of an embodiment of the present application.

[0029] Figure 7 A material transfer flow diagram of the multi-shelf storage system of another embodiment of the present application.

[0030] Reference signs:

[0031] First storage shelf 10; second storage shelf 20; robot travel track 30; carrying robot 40; bin 50; inter-shelf transfer device 60. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the technical solutions of the present application will be described clearly and completely below with reference to the drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are some but not all of the embodiments of the present application. Based on the embodiments of the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative work fall within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0033] In the description of the present application, it should be noted that the orientations or positional relationships indicated by the terms “top layer”, “bottom layer”, “base”, “upper”, “lower”, “left”, “right”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, “inner”, “outer” and the like are based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present application and simplifying the description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the devices or elements referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the present application. In addition, the terms “first” and “second” are only for the purpose of description, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0034] In the description of the present application, it should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms “laying”, “mounting”, “connecting”, “connecting” should be understood broadly, for example, “connecting” can be fixed connection, can also be detachable connection, or integral connection; can be mechanical connection, can be wireless connection, or can be electrical connection; can be directly connected, can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or can be the communication inside two elements. For those of ordinary skill in the art, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to the specific circumstances.

[0035] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present application will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, the same reference numerals represent the same or similar components, or the same or similar steps.

[0036] Figure 1 Structure diagram of a multi-shelf storage system according to an embodiment of the present application, Figure 2 Front view of a multi-shelf storage system according to an embodiment of the present application, referring to Figure 1 And Figure 2 The multi-shelf storage system comprises at least two storage shelves, a transfer robot 40, a shelf-to-shelf transfer device 60, and a server (not shown in the figure). The top of each storage shelf is provided with a track layer, each track layer comprises a plurality of groups of robot travel tracks 30, the bottom of each storage shelf is provided with a base surface, and a plurality of well-grid storage areas are arranged between the base surface and the track layer of each storage shelf. Each storage shelf is provided with a bin access port. The transfer robot 40 comprises wheels, a driving device, a control device, and a transfer device. The wheels are in contact with the robot travel tracks 30, the driving device is used to drive the wheels to travel along the robot travel tracks 30, the control device is used to control the travel direction of the transfer robot 40, and the transfer device is used to transfer bins 50 to store or take out the bins 50 from the well-grid storage areas. The shelf-to-shelf transfer device 60 is arranged between two adjacent storage shelves, and the shelf-to-shelf transfer device 60 is connected to the bin access ports of the two adjacent storage shelves. The shelf-to-shelf transfer device 60 is used to realize the transfer of bins 50 between the two storage shelves. The server is in communication connection with the transfer robot 40 and the shelf-to-shelf transfer device 60. The server is used to send travel direction control signals and transfer control signals to the transfer robot 40, and the server is also used to send transfer direction and transfer speed control signals to the shelf-to-shelf transfer device 60.

[0037] In this embodiment, each storage shelf has a cubic structure as a whole, and comprises a plurality of vertical columns arranged in parallel and at intervals. A plurality of groups of robot travel tracks 30 are laid on the top layer of the storage shelf to form a track layer, and the vertical columns are connected through the track layer at the top. In addition, the bottom of the vertical columns is further provided with a base surface, and the bottom of the vertical columns is connected through the base surface. The base surface can be further fixed on the ground of the warehouse, so as to realize the fixed connection between the storage shelf and the ground. In this embodiment, each vertical column extends vertically upward from the base surface and supports the track layer. Further, the robot travel track 30 comprises a first track and a second track arranged perpendicular to each other, referring to Figure 3The system comprises a first track arranged horizontally and a second track arranged vertically, forming multiple grid structures. In this embodiment, each transport robot 40 has two sets of drive wheels, with the driving directions of the two sets of drive wheels perpendicular to each other, allowing the transport robot 40 to reach any position along the robot travel track 30. The first set of drive wheels of the transport robot 40 travels along the first track to achieve horizontal movement, while the second set of drive wheels of the transport robot 40 travels along the second track to achieve vertical movement. In this embodiment, the dimensions of the multiple grid structures formed by the staggered first and second tracks are all equal, and the dimensions of the transport robot 40 also match the dimensions of each grid structure. To improve the material storage and retrieval efficiency of this multi-rack storage system, the system has multiple transport robots 40, and the multiple transport robots 40 on each rack should avoid conflicting travel routes during their movement. Specifically, each transport robot 40 interacts with the server, allowing the server to send control signals to each transport robot 40 to control its direction and speed.

[0038] In addition, to ensure timely charging of the handling robot 40, the multi-shelf storage system also includes a charging device, which can be installed on each storage shelf. Specifically, the handling robot 40 can receive a charging command signal sent by the server and complete charging through the charging device based on the received charging command signal. This charging device charges the handling robot 40 to ensure that the handling robot 40 can operate continuously and uninterruptedly.

[0039] from Figure 1 and Figure 3 As can be seen, below each grid structure formed by the first and second tracks is a derrick grid storage area, which is used to store material bins 50. To facilitate the retrieval and placement of the material bins 50, the size of the material bins 50 is generally set slightly smaller than the size of the derrick grid storage area. For example, multiple layers of material bins 50 can be stacked from bottom to top in the derrick grid storage area, and each material bin 50 has an identification code; the identification code on the material bin 50 is used to distinguish the type of material stored in the material bin 50. In one embodiment, refer to... Figure 2The multiple well rack grid storage areas of the warehouse rack can be further classified. For example, when the materials to be stored are bolts, nuts and springs, the multiple well rack grid storage areas of the warehouse rack can be classified into A, B and C types. In this case, when the bolts, nuts and springs are stored, the carrying robot 40 carries the material boxes 50 containing the bolts, nuts and springs to the corresponding well rack grid storage areas of the A, B and C types, thereby achieving classified storage of the materials. In this embodiment, the materials are classified and stored, which facilitates storage and centralized management of the materials. In addition, when multiple layers of material boxes 50 are stacked from bottom to top in the well rack grid storage area, the storage layers in the multiple well rack grid storage areas can also be classified into A, B and C types. For example, the top layer, middle layer and bottom layer of the multiple well rack grid storage areas can be used as storage layers for storing bolt material boxes, nut material boxes and spring material boxes, respectively.

[0040] In an embodiment, the server is further configured to generate an identification code for the material box 50 to be stored, and send the generated identification code to the user terminal. For example, the multi-rack storage system can be a network cloud storage system. In this case, when the three types of materials, i.e., bolts, nuts and springs, are stored in the well rack grid storage area, the server first generates an identification code for the material box 50 containing the materials and sends the generated identification code to the user terminal. The user can scan the identification code received from the server based on the user terminal, and feed back the storage time and the pick-up time of the material box 50 to the server. Based on the received pick-up time fed back by the user, the server can determine the area where the material box 50 is stored. For example, if it is determined that the pick-up time of the material box 50 is earlier than that of other materials, the material box 50 can be stored in the top storage layer of the well rack grid storage area. In addition, since the server receives the pick-up time of the material box 50 given by the user, the server can further control the carrying robot 40 to carry the material box 50 to a position facilitating pick-up before the pick-up time arrives, thereby reducing the waiting time of the user during pick-up and improving the pick-up efficiency.

[0041] Figure 4 A state diagram of the carrying robot 40 of an embodiment of the present application during material extraction, Figure 5 A state diagram of the carrying robot 40 of an embodiment of the present application during material carrying, referring to Figure 4 and Figure 5 When the carrying robot 40 carries the material, it first extracts the corresponding material box 50 in the well rack grid storage area by the carrying device. When the material box 50 is extracted above the robot running track 30, the carrying robot 40 is in the carrying state shown in Figure 5 Further, the carrying robot 40 carrying the material box 50 carries the material box 50 to the target position based on the received running direction control signal and running speed control signal sent by the server.

[0042] In an embodiment, each of the storage racks has a plurality of bin access ports, and the plurality of bin access ports are arranged along a circumference of the storage rack. Referring to Figure 3 The multi-rack storage system has two storage racks, each of which forms an 8x8 grid of racks by a plurality of vertical columns, and in order to reserve bin access ports for each of the storage racks, 28 grid of racks on the circumference of each of the storage racks are used as bin access ports, and thus the 6x6 grid of racks in the middle of each of the storage racks are used as storage space for storing bins 50. In addition, a linear transfer mechanism is provided at each of the bin access ports, which is used to send bins 50 out of or into the bin access ports. Optionally, the linear transfer mechanism is a conveyor belt mechanism, and the number of the conveyor belt mechanisms is the same as the number of the bin access ports.

[0043] Further, for a warehouse with inconsistent space height, if the heights of the plurality of storage racks are set to be the same, it is impossible to ensure that the warehouse with inconsistent roof height maximizes the space utilization, and thus the heights of the plurality of storage racks can be set to be different. As shown in Figure 1 The multi-rack storage system has two storage racks, and the height of the first storage rack 10 on the left is higher than that of the second storage rack 20 on the right. It can be understood that the specific heights of the two storage racks can be set according to the actual storage space of the warehouse. The inter-rack transfer device 60 is located between the two storage racks with different heights, and the inter-rack transfer device 60 can realize the transfer of the bins 50 between the two storage racks with different heights. Further, the inter-rack transfer device 60 includes a plurality of conveyor belt mechanisms, and the plurality of conveyor belt mechanisms are parallel to each other; the inter-rack transfer device 60 is provided with a plurality of conveyor belt mechanisms, which can realize the synchronous transmission of a plurality of bins 50. In this embodiment, the inter-rack transfer device 60 is connected to the bin access ports on the right side of the first storage rack 10 and the bin access ports on the left side of the second storage rack 20, and each of the bin access ports on the right side of the first storage rack 10 and the bin access ports on the left side of the second storage rack 20 is eight, and thus the number of the conveyor belt mechanisms of the inter-rack transfer device 60 is also eight.

[0044] It can be understood that in the above embodiment, the number of the storage racks in the multi-rack storage system is set to two, which is only an example, and in other embodiments, the number of the storage racks can also be three, four or more. However, in order to realize the transfer of the bins 50 between two different storage racks, the inter-rack transfer device 60 is correspondingly provided between any two adjacent storage racks. And when the multi-rack storage system has a plurality of storage racks, the heights of the plurality of storage racks can be set to be different or the same, which can be adaptively changed according to the actual warehouse space.

[0045] Figure 6 Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a material transfer process of a multi-shelf storage system according to an embodiment of the present application; Figure 6 When the multi-shelf storage system is performing the storage of the bin 50, the server first sends a storage signal to the conveyor mechanism of the bin entrance and exit of the storage shelf, and the conveyor mechanism of the bin entrance and exit then conveys the corresponding bin 50 to the corresponding bin entrance and exit. At this time, the server sends a control signal to the handling robot 40, and the handling robot 40 further conveys the bin 50 to the first storage shelf 10 or the second storage shelf 20 based on the received control signal. When the bin 50 is stored in place, if it is necessary to transfer the bin 50 between the first storage shelf and the second storage shelf, the bin 50 can be further conveyed by the handling robot 40 to the inter-shelf transfer device 60 between the first storage shelf and the second storage shelf. Similarly, when the multi-shelf storage system is performing the storage of the bin 50, the server first sends a storage signal to the handling robot 40, and the handling robot 40 lifts the bin 50 located in the well grid storage area by the handling device and temporarily stores it in the storage space inside the handling robot 40. The handling robot 40 carrying the bin 50 then travels along the determined travel route to the above of the bin entrance and exit. Further, the handling device of the handling robot 40 releases the bin 50 to the conveyor mechanism at the bin entrance and exit position. In addition, if it is necessary to convey the bin 50 stored in the well grid storage area of the first storage shelf 10 to the second storage shelf 20, the handling robot 40 carrying the bin 50 travels along the determined travel route to the above of the inter-shelf transfer device 60, and the handling robot 40 further releases the bin 50 to the inter-shelf transfer device 60. The server further sends a control signal to the inter-shelf transfer device 60 to convey the bin 50 to the bin entrance and exit position of the second storage shelf, and the handling robot 40 in the second storage shelf further conveys the bin 50 conveyed by the inter-shelf transfer device 60 to the corresponding well grid storage area to achieve the transfer storage of the bin 50. In addition, during the idle time period of the handling robot 40, the charging device in the multi-shelf storage system also charges the handling robot 40. It can be understood that the above-mentioned transfer of the bin 50 between different storage shelves is from a higher storage shelf (the first storage shelf 10) to a lower storage shelf (the second storage shelf). If it is necessary to transfer the bin 50 in the lower storage shelf to the higher storage shelf for storage, the transfer steps are basically similar to the above-mentioned example, and thus will not be described here.

[0046] In addition, in the embodiment in which the well grid storage area is divided into three types of storage layers of A, B and C of the top layer, the middle layer and the bottom layer, if the extracted bin is located in the middle layer, and if the top layer of the bin to be extracted has other bins 50, the server can control the first transfer robot on the storage rack to first transfer the bins 50 in the top layer of the bin to be extracted to other idle well grid storage areas of the storage rack, and then the server controls the second transfer robot to transfer the bin to be extracted to the corresponding position, and then the first transfer robot transfers the bins 50 transferred to the idle well grid storage area back to the original well grid storage area. In order to improve the extraction efficiency of the bin to be extracted, the first transfer robot and the second transfer robot are different transfer robots 40 at this time.

[0047] Figure 7 The material transfer flowchart of the multi-rack storage system of another embodiment of the application is shown in FIG. 6. Figure 7 In this embodiment, the user can reserve the pickup time, which further shortens the waiting time of the user to pick up the goods, thereby improving the pickup efficiency of the goods. Specifically, the user can reserve the pickup on the user terminal in advance, that is, the user terminal sends the reserved pickup information to the server, and the pickup information includes the identification code of the bin to be extracted, the pickup time and the corresponding bin access, the server further determines the specific storage rack where the bin to be extracted is stored based on the received pickup information, and the server judges that when the bin access in the pickup information is on the same storage rack as the bin to be extracted, the server further controls the transfer robot 40 to transfer the bin to be extracted to the corresponding bin access at the pickup time; and when the server judges that the bin access in the pickup information does not belong to the same storage rack as the bin to be extracted, the server first controls the transfer robot 40 to transfer the bin to be extracted to the inter-rack transfer device 60, and then transfers the bin to be extracted to the storage rack to which the bin access in the pickup information belongs through the inter-rack transfer device 60, and further extracts the bin to be extracted 50 through the transfer robot 40 in the storage rack to which the bin access belongs, and transfers it to the bin access specified by the user, so as to ensure that the user can complete the pickup at the pickup time reserved by the user.

[0048] In some embodiments of the present application, the server is further configured to receive the information of the to-be-picked bin sent by the user, determine the storage location of the to-be-picked bin based on the received information of the to-be-picked bin, determine the first bin access closest to the to-be-picked bin based on the storage location of the to-be-picked bin, and control the handling robot 40 to handle the to-be-picked bin to the first bin access. In this embodiment, the server determines the first bin access closest to the to-be-picked bin based on the information of the to-be-picked bin sent by the user; for example, the first bin access closest to the to-be-picked bin can belong to the same storage rack as the storage location of the to-be-picked bin, or the first bin access can belong to a different storage rack from the storage location of the to-be-picked bin. When the first bin access closest to the to-be-picked bin belongs to a different storage rack from the storage location of the to-be-picked bin, the server controls the handling robot 40 to handle the to-be-picked bin to the inter-rack transport device 60, and controls the inter-rack transport device 60 to transport the to-be-picked bin to the storage rack where the first bin access is located.

[0049] In addition to finding the closest bin access for the to-be-picked bin, the server can also assign the to-be-picked bin to a bin access with shorter waiting time. For example, when the user needs to pick the material in the M bin 50 stored on the first storage rack, although it is found that the distance between each bin access on the first storage rack and the M bin 50 is less than the distance between each bin access on the second storage rack and the M bin 50, it is further found that there are more bins 50 waiting for delivery on each bin access on the first storage rack, while the bin accesses on the second storage rack are idle at this time. In order to shorten the waiting time for the user to pick up the goods, the server controls the handling robot 40 to handle the M bin 50 to the inter-rack transport device 60, and transports the M bin 50 to the bin access of the second storage rack through the inter-rack transport device 60. Further, the server controls the handling robot 40 in the second storage rack to handle the M bin 50 to the idle bin access of the second storage rack, and sends the corresponding pick-up feedback information to the user terminal to inform the user of the bin access where the M bin 50 is located.

[0050] It can be found from the above embodiment that, in the storage system with multiple storage shelves, the server determines the first bin access opening closest to the to-be-picked bin, and when the first bin access opening and the to-be-picked bin are located on different storage shelves, the to-be-picked bin is transferred by the inter-shelf transfer device, that is, the to-be-picked bin is first transferred to the storage shelf where the first bin access opening is located, and then the to-be-picked bin is taken out through the first bin access opening; the above process uses the shortest path principle to deliver the to-be-picked bin to the corresponding bin access opening, thereby improving the bin access efficiency. In addition, the server matches the bin access opening with a shorter queuing waiting time for the to-be-picked bin by determining the queuing waiting time of each bin access opening, which further shortens the queuing waiting time of the to-be-picked bin, thereby improving the picking efficiency.

[0051] In summary, the multi-shelf storage system of the present application includes at least two storage shelves, and each of the two storage shelves is provided with a track layer and a well lattice grid storage area. In addition, an inter-shelf transfer device is arranged between the bin access openings of the two storage shelves, and the server can control the transmission direction and speed of the inter-shelf transfer device. Based on the above arrangement, the multi-shelf storage system of the present application can reasonably occupy the storage space of the warehouse, that is, improve the utilization rate of the storage space in the warehouse. In addition, based on the inter-shelf transfer device, the material can be transferred between the two storage shelves, so that the multi-shelf storage system further improves the access efficiency of the material. In addition, a plurality of layers of bins are stacked from bottom to top in each well lattice grid storage area, which further ensures the intensive storage of each storage space, thereby improving the utilization rate of the storage space.

[0052] It should be further noted that the exemplary embodiments mentioned in the present application describe some methods or systems based on a series of steps or devices. However, the present application is not limited to the order of the above steps, that is, the steps can be performed in the order mentioned in the embodiments, or in an order different from the embodiments, or several steps can be performed simultaneously.

[0053] In the present application, the features described and / or exemplified for one embodiment can be used in the same way or in an analogous way in one or more other embodiments, and / or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.

[0054] The above only describes the preferred embodiments of the present application and is not intended to limit the present application. For those skilled in the art, the embodiments of the present application can have various modifications and changes. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A multi-shelf storage system, characterized in that, The multi-rack storage system includes: At least two storage racks, each storage rack has a track layer on top, each track layer includes multiple sets of robot travel tracks, each storage rack has a base surface at the bottom, multiple derrick grid storage areas are provided between the base surface of each storage rack and the track layer, and each storage rack has a material box inlet / outlet. A transport robot includes wheels, a drive unit, a control unit, and a transport device. The wheels are in contact with the robot's travel track. The drive unit is used to drive the wheels to travel along the robot's travel track. The control unit is used to control the travel direction of the transport robot. The transport device is used to transport a material box to store the material box in the derrick grid storage area or to retrieve it from the derrick grid storage area. A shelving transfer device is installed between two adjacent storage racks. The shelving transfer device connects the inlet and outlet of the material box of the two adjacent storage racks and is used to realize the transfer of material boxes between the two storage racks. The server is communicatively connected to the handling robot and the inter-shelf transmission device. The server is used to send driving direction control signals and handling control signals to the handling robot, and the server is also used to send transmission direction and transmission speed control signals to the inter-shelf transmission device. The server determines the first material box entrance / exit closest to the material box to be extracted based on the storage location of the material box to be extracted. The server controls the handling robot to transport the material box to be extracted to the first material box entrance / exit. The first material box entrance / exit and the storage location of the material box to be extracted are located on the same storage shelf, or the first material box entrance / exit and the storage location of the material box to be extracted are located on different storage shelves. When the first material box entrance / exit and the storage location of the material box to be retrieved are on different storage shelves, the server controls the handling robot to move the material box to be retrieved to the shelf-to-shelf transmission device, and controls the shelf-to-shelf transmission device to transport the material box to be retrieved to the storage shelf where the first material box entrance / exit is located.

2. The multi-shelf storage system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The heights of the storage racks described vary.

3. The multi-shelf storage system according to claim 1, characterized in that, Each of the aforementioned storage racks has multiple bin inlets / outlets, and these bin inlets / outlets are spaced apart along the circumference of the storage rack.

4. The multi-shelf storage system according to claim 3, characterized in that, The server is also used to receive information about the bins to be extracted sent by the user, and to determine the storage location of the bins to be extracted based on the received bin information.

5. The multi-shelf storage system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The inter-shelf transfer device includes multiple conveyor belt mechanisms, and the multiple conveyor belt mechanisms are parallel to each other.

6. The multi-rack storage system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, The derrick grid storage area contains multiple layers of material boxes stacked from bottom to top, and each material box has an identification code.

7. The multi-shelf storage system according to claim 6, characterized in that, The server is used to generate identification codes for the bins to be stored, and the server sends the generated identification codes to the user terminal.

8. The multi-shelf storage system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The robot's travel track includes a first track and a second track that are perpendicular to each other.

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