Three-dimensional warehousing system for floating goods allocation and warehousing control method thereof

Abstract

The invention relates to a floating goods allocation three-dimensional warehousing system and a warehousing control method thereof, and belongs to the technical field of warehousing control. A cantilever type goods shelf with floating goods allocation is adopted, a control unit is used for searching a proper storage space from the current cantilever type goods shelf according to the length of materials to be warehoused and the storage position of the warehoused materials, and coordinates of the space are determined and issued to a stacking machine; and the stacker carries the to-be-warehoused materials to the goods shelf corresponding to the coordinates for verification according to the received coordinates, and stores the to-be-warehoused materials in the appropriate storage space after verification succeeds. Due to the fact that the goods allocation of the cantilever type goods shelf is floating, the goods allocation can be flexibly arranged in a floating mode according to the length of materials, and the utilization rate of the goods allocation can be effectively increased; due to the fact that no fixed goods position exists, when goods are warehoused, the found proper storage space needs to be converted into coordinates, and it is guaranteed that the stacking machine can accurately find the corresponding position to store the materials.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a three-dimensional warehousing system with floating cargo spaces and a warehousing control method thereof, belonging to the technical field of warehousing control. Background Art

[0002] In the vertical warehouse storage system, the cargo spaces and lanes are usually set according to the external dimensions of the cargo spaces to be stored; there are usually two ways to do this. First, long material lanes and short material lanes are set according to the range of long and short materials. The cargo spaces are also set according to the length of the materials. Second, long and short materials are stored in mixed lanes, and the cargo spaces for storing long and short materials are set according to a certain proportion. Since the number of long and short materials is related to the order and changes randomly. In reality, whether it is stored in separate lanes or mixed lanes, the cargo space cannot be maximized. Either there are too many long materials and there is no place to store them, or there is insufficient space for short materials, so they are stored in the cargo spaces of long materials, resulting in insufficient utilization of the cargo spaces. The current main approach is to set a sufficient number of cargo spaces, which not only occupies a large area and requires a large investment, but also causes multiple cargo spaces to be idle, resulting in a relatively low utilization rate of cargo spaces. Summary of the invention

[0003] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a three-dimensional warehousing system with floating cargo spaces and a warehousing control method thereof, so as to solve the problem of low cargo space utilization in current warehousing systems.

[0004] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides a three-dimensional storage system with floating cargo positions, including a shelf and a stacker, wherein the shelf is a cantilever shelf, and the cantilever shelf includes a cantilever arranged on a column, and a storage space with floating cargo positions is formed by the cantilevers on each column, and the stacker is controlled by a control unit, and the control unit is used to identify the length of the material to be stored, and find a suitable storage space from the current cantilever shelf according to the length of the material to be stored and the storage position of the stored material, determine the coordinates of the space and send them to the stacker; the stacker is used to transport the material to be stored to the shelf corresponding to the coordinate according to the received coordinates for verification, and store the material to be stored in the suitable storage space after successful verification; the suitable storage space refers to the free space on the cantilever shelf that can accommodate the material to be stored, which is determined by the length of the material and the minimum gap between each layer of materials.

[0005] Furthermore, the verification performed by the stacker refers to the stacker detecting whether there are materials in the suitable storage space found by the control unit and whether the storage space is suitable. When there are no materials and the storage space is suitable, it means that the verification is successful; if there are materials or the storage space is not suitable, the control unit will search for a suitable storage space again until the suitable storage space found is confirmed to be suitable by the stacker or no suitable storage space is found.

[0006] Furthermore, the spacings between adjacent cantilevers at the same level in the cantilever rack are equal and are all set spacings.

[0007] Furthermore, the coordinates of the suitable storage space determined by the control unit are the coordinates of the center of the material in the suitable storage space, and the coordinates are x1+L / 2+L1 / 2+a, where L is the length of the material to be stored, a is the minimum gap between each layer of materials, L1 is the length of the material closest to the suitable storage space on the same layer, and x1 is the coordinates of the center of the material closest to the suitable storage space on the same layer.

[0008] Furthermore, the stacker is verified by using a plurality of cargo detectors arranged on the cargo platform of the stacker, and the distance between adjacent cargo detectors is smaller than the minimum gap between materials.

[0009] Furthermore, the cargo detectors are arranged on both sides of the stacker loading platform and the length of each side is (Lmax-Lmin) / 2, Lmax is the maximum material length, and Lmin is the shortest material length.

[0010] Furthermore, the stacker has multiple forks, the spacing between the forks is an integer multiple of the spacing between adjacent cantilevers, and the travel distance of the stacker is also an integer multiple of the spacing between adjacent cantilevers.

[0011] Furthermore, the material length is the length after rounding, and the rounded length is an integer multiple of the set spacing and is greater than or equal to the actual length of the material.

[0012] The present invention also provides a storage control method for a three-dimensional storage system with floating cargo space, the control method comprising: 1) Identify the length of the materials to be stored, and find suitable storage space on the current cantilever shelf according to the length of the materials to be stored and the storage location of the materials that have been stored; 2) When a suitable storage space is found, the coordinates of the suitable storage space are determined and sent to the stacker, which controls the stacker to move the materials to be stored to the shelf at the coordinates. The stacker detects whether there are materials on the shelf at the coordinates and whether the space is suitable. If there are materials or the space is not suitable, a suitable storage space is searched again until the suitable storage space is confirmed to be suitable by the stacker or no suitable storage space is found; if there are no materials and the space is suitable, the stacker stores the materials to be stored in the space.

[0013] Furthermore, the coordinates of the determined suitable storage space are the coordinates of the center of the material in the suitable space, which are x1+L / 2+L1 / 2+a, where L is the length of the material to be stored, a is the minimum gap between each layer of materials, L1 is the length of the material closest to the suitable space on the same layer, and x1 is the coordinates of the center of the material closest to the suitable space on the same layer.

[0014] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: The present invention adopts a cantilever shelf with floating cargo positions, and uses a control unit to find a suitable storage space on the current cantilever shelf according to the length of the material to be stored and the storage position of the material already stored, determines the coordinates of the space and sends it to the stacker; the stacker moves the material to be stored to the shelf corresponding to the coordinates for verification according to the received coordinates, and stores the material to be stored in the suitable storage space after successful verification. Since the cargo positions of the cantilever shelf adopted by the present invention are floating, the cargo positions can be flexibly and floatingly set according to the length of the material, which can effectively improve the utilization rate of the cargo positions; since there are no fixed cargo positions, when the goods are stored, the suitable storage space found needs to be converted into coordinates to ensure that the stacker can accurately find the corresponding position for material storage. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Figure 1 is a top view of a three-dimensional storage system with floating cargo spaces in an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a side view of a three-dimensional storage system with floating cargo spaces in an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of materials of different lengths on a cantilever shelf in an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 4 is a front view of a stacker loading platform used in an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 5 is a top view of a stacker loading platform used in an embodiment of the present invention; In the figure, 1 is a cantilever shelf, 2 is a cantilever shelf, 3 is material, 1.1 is a shelf column, 1.2 is a cantilever, 1.3 is a supporting structure, 1.4 is a ceiling rail hanging beam, 1.5 is a ceiling rail, 2.1 is a cargo platform, 2.2 is a first fork group, 2.3 is a second fork group, and 2.4 is a cargo probe. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] The specific implementation of the present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0017] The present invention adopts a cantilever shelf with floating cargo space, which includes a cantilever arranged on a column, and a storage space with floating cargo space is formed by the cantilever on each column, wherein the stacker is controlled by a control unit, and the control unit finds a suitable storage space from the current cantilever shelf according to the length of the material to be stored and the storage position of the material already stored, determines the coordinates of the space and sends it to the stacker; the stacker transports the material to be stored to the shelf corresponding to the coordinate according to the received coordinates for verification, and stores the material to be stored in the suitable storage space after successful verification. The present invention is described in detail below in combination with a specific shelf structure and a stacker structure.

[0018] Implementation example of a three-dimensional storage system with floating cargo space The floating cargo storage system means that the cargo space in the warehouse is not fixed to a specific location, and the storage location of the goods can be dynamically adjusted according to actual needs, which can effectively improve the utilization rate of warehouse depositors. The shelves in the floating cargo storage system in this embodiment are cantilever shelves. Figure 1 As shown in the figure, the floating cargo storage system includes shelves and stackers. The shelves are set on both sides of the lane, and the stackers run in the lane to realize the storage and adjustment of materials on the shelves on both sides. The shelves are cantilever shelves 1, and the stackers are multi-fork stackers 2. Figure 2 As shown, the cantilever rack 1 includes a rack column 1.1, a cantilever 1.2, a supporting structure 1.3, a ceiling rail hanging beam 1.4 and a ceiling rail 1.5, wherein there are multiple rack columns 1.1, and the bottom of each rack column 1.1 is fixedly installed on the ground, and each rack column 1.1 is fixedly installed with a plurality of cantilevers 1.2 along the height direction to form a multi-layer storage space. In this embodiment, each rack column 1.1 is installed with 7 cantilevers 1.2 along the height direction, forming a total of 7 layers of storage space. In this embodiment, the cantilever 1.2 is fixedly installed on the rack column 1.1 through the supporting structure 1.3, and the supporting structure 1.3 is bolted. The ceiling rail hanging beam 1.4 is fixed to the top of the rack column 1.4 by bolts, and the ceiling rail 1.5 is installed below the ceiling rail hanging beam 1.4 by bolts, and the ceiling rail hanging beam 1.4 spans the entire lane, and the ceiling rail 1.5 is between the crossbeam guide wheels on the stacker, and can guide the stacker to straighten. The cantilevers on each layer of each shelf column are kept at the same height and arranged at equal intervals. The intervals can be adjusted according to the actual height and adaptability of the goods.

[0019] If there is only one item on one side of the stacker fork extension direction, it is a single extension position; if there are two items, it is a double extension position. In other words, the fork can only be extended and retracted by one distance, which is a single extension position; the fork can be extended by two different distances, which is a double extension position. In order to avoid excessive deformation of materials, the spacing between adjacent cantilevers at the same level in the cantilever shelf is equal, and is a set spacing, that is, the shelf columns on the same side are arranged at equal intervals. The set spacing is determined based on the maximum length, minimum length, weight and rigidity of the stored materials. In this embodiment, the interval is set to 500mm. In this way, materials 3 of different lengths can be stored on the shelf, such as Figure 3 shown.

[0020] like Figure 4 and Figure 5As shown, the multi-fork stacker 2 includes a cargo platform 2.1, and the cargo platform 2.1 is connected to the stacker lifting motor through a wire rope to realize the lifting of the cargo platform. A plurality of fork groups are arranged on the cargo platform 2.1. In the present embodiment, two fork groups are arranged, namely the first fork group 2.2 and the second fork group 2.3, and each fork group is equipped with two forks. As other embodiments, the fork groups can also be multiple groups, and each group is not limited to two forks, but can be multiple forks. Depending on the length of the material, each group of forks can act independently or in linkage. For example, when the material is short, only one fork group can be controlled to transport the material. When the material is long, two fork groups can be controlled to cooperate to transport the material, so as to stably fork the material onto the stacker cargo platform and transport it to the designated shelf position. A plurality of cargo detectors 2.4 are installed on both sides of the cargo platform 2.1, and the installation length of each side is (Lmax-Lmin) / 2. The cargo detectors on both sides are centrally symmetrical, Lmax is the maximum material length, and Lmin is the shortest material length, which are used to detect whether there are materials on the shelves and whether there is enough shelf space. The cargo detector in this embodiment can adopt a photoelectric sensor, including a transmitting part and a receiving part, and can judge whether there are materials on the shelf according to whether the signal received by the receiving part is blocked. The spacing between adjacent cargo detectors is less than the minimum gap between materials. If the minimum gap between materials is a, then the spacing between adjacent cargo detectors is less than a. When setting, it is necessary to ensure that at least two adjacent detections of the four cargo detectors at the gap cannot detect materials, indicating that there is a gap, and the gap is reasonable. The multi-fork stacker is also provided with a positioning unit for realizing its own positioning.

[0021] In addition to the shelves and stackers, the storage system is also provided with a control unit for managing the storage system. The control unit stores basic information about the shelves, including the number of shelves, the length of the shelves, etc., and records the entry and exit of materials. The recorded information includes the length of the materials entering and exiting the warehouse, the location of the shelves where the materials leaving the warehouse are located, and the storage location of the materials already in the warehouse on the shelves. In this way, the control unit can grasp the storage information of the materials on the shelves in real time, and can find a suitable storage space on the current cantilever shelf according to the length of the materials to be entered and the storage location of the materials already in the warehouse. The control unit is also connected to the stacker for communication, and the coordinates corresponding to the suitable storage space found have been sent to the stacker, so that the stacker can accurately find the location and realize the storage of goods. Suitable storage space refers to the free space on the cantilever shelf that can accommodate the materials to be entered. Since the present embodiment mainly targets long strips of materials, only the length space is considered, which can be determined by the length of the material and the minimum gap between each layer of materials. The minimum gap in the present embodiment is 100~150mm. The suitable storage space in this embodiment refers to a space greater than or equal to the sum of the length of the material and the minimum gap between each layer of materials. When the material is stored on the shelf, the center of the material is always in the middle of two adjacent cantilevers.

[0022] In order to avoid collision between the forks and the cantilever, the present invention sets the distance between adjacent forks to an integer multiple of the cantilever distance, and the stacker stop position (travel distance) is also set to an integer multiple of the cantilever distance, so that the forks will not hit the cantilever.

[0023] The working process of the warehousing system of the present invention is described below by taking the material warehousing process as an example.

[0024] When materials need to be put into storage, the control unit will identify the length of the materials to be put into storage, find a suitable storage space on the current cantilever shelf according to the length of the materials to be put into storage and the storage position of the materials already put into storage, determine the coordinates of the space and send them to the stacker. The coordinates of the suitable storage space determined are the coordinates of the center of the material in the suitable storage space, which are x1+L / 2+L1 / 2+a, where L is the length of the materials to be put into storage, a is the minimum gap between each layer of materials, L1 is the length of the material closest to the suitable storage space on the same layer, and x1 is the coordinate of the center of the material closest to the suitable space on the same layer; the minimum gap between each layer of materials is greater than the spacing between two adjacent cargo probes on the stacker loading platform, so that at least one of the three cargo probes near the gap can detect the gap. The length of the material is the rounded length, which is an integer multiple of the set spacing and is greater than or equal to the actual length of the material.

[0025] After receiving the coordinates sent by the control unit, the stacker moves the materials to be stored to the shelf corresponding to the coordinates for verification, and stores the materials to be stored in the appropriate storage space after successful verification. Verification refers to the stacker using its cargo detector to detect the appropriate storage space found by the control unit to determine whether there are materials at the location and whether the storage space is suitable. If there are no materials and the storage space is suitable, it means that the verification is successful; if there are materials or the storage space is not suitable, the control unit will look for a suitable storage space again until the suitable storage space found is confirmed to be suitable by the stacker or no suitable storage space is found.

[0026] When the control unit cannot find a suitable storage space to store the materials to be stored, an alarm will be issued to provide a reminder.

[0027] In order to make full use of the storage space of the shelf, the control unit also regularly detects the length of the free space on the shelf. When it is detected that the length of the free space is small, the control unit controls the stacker to adjust the materials on the shelf to ensure that there is free space on the shelf to store longer materials. The specific adjustment can be made during the idle period of the entire system (when there is no outbound or inbound task).

[0028] Embodiment of the storage control method of the three-dimensional storage system with floating cargo space This embodiment identifies the length of the material to be stored, and searches for a suitable storage space on the current cantilever shelf according to the length of the material to be stored and the storage position of the stored material; when a suitable storage space is found, the coordinates of the suitable storage space are determined and sent to the stacker, and the stacker is controlled to move the material to be stored to the shelf at the coordinate, and the stacker detects whether there is material on the shelf at the coordinate and whether the space is suitable. If there is material or the space is not suitable, a suitable storage space is searched again until the suitable storage space found is confirmed to be suitable by the stacker or no suitable storage space is found; if there is no material and the space is suitable, the stacker stores the material to be stored in the space. The specific implementation process has been described in detail in the embodiment of the three-dimensional storage system with floating cargo space, and will not be repeated here.

[0029] Therefore, the present invention can flexibly set the cargo space according to the length of the material through floating, thereby realizing the maximum utilization of the shelf space. The number of cargo spaces and cargo space coordinates are not fixed, but can change with the length of the materials entering and leaving the warehouse, thereby reducing investment and floor space and improving economic benefits.

Claims

1. A three-dimensional storage system with floating cargo space, including shelves and stackers, characterized in that: The shelf is a cantilever shelf, which includes a cantilever arranged on a column, and a storage space with floating cargo positions is formed by the cantilever on each column. The stacker is controlled by a control unit, and the control unit is used to identify the length of the material to be stored, and find a suitable storage space from the current cantilever shelf according to the length of the material to be stored and the storage position of the stored material, determine the coordinates of the space and send them to the stacker; the stacker is used to transport the material to be stored to the shelf corresponding to the coordinate according to the received coordinates for verification, and store the material to be stored in the suitable storage space after successful verification; Suitable storage space refers to the free space on the cantilever rack that can accommodate the material to be stored, which is determined by the length of the material and the minimum gap between each layer of material.

2. The three-dimensional storage system with floating cargo space according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The verification performed by the stacker refers to the stacker detecting whether there are materials in the suitable storage space found by the control unit and whether the storage space is suitable. When there are no materials and the storage space is suitable, it means that the verification is successful; if there are materials or the storage space is not suitable, the control unit will look for a suitable storage space again until the suitable storage space found is confirmed to be suitable by the stacker or no suitable storage space is found.

3. The three-dimensional storage system with floating cargo space according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The spacings between adjacent cantilevers at the same level in the cantilever rack are equal and are all set spacings.

4. The three-dimensional storage system of floating cargo space according to claim 3 is characterized in that: The coordinates of the suitable storage space determined by the control unit are the coordinates of the center of the material in the suitable storage space, and the coordinates are x1+L / 2+L1 / 2+a, where L is the length of the material to be stored, a is the minimum gap between each layer of materials, L1 is the length of the material closest to the suitable storage space on the same layer, and x1 is the coordinates of the center of the material closest to the suitable storage space on the same layer.

5. The three-dimensional storage system of floating cargo space according to claim 4 is characterized in that: The stacker is verified by using a plurality of cargo detectors arranged on the cargo platform of the stacker, and the spacing between adjacent cargo detectors is smaller than the minimum gap between materials.

6. The three-dimensional storage system with floating cargo space according to claim 5 is characterized in that: The cargo detectors are arranged on both sides of the stacker loading platform and the length of each side is (Lmax-Lmin) / 2 area, Lmax is the maximum material length, and Lmin is the shortest material length.

7. The three-dimensional storage system with floating cargo space according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The stacker has multiple forks, the spacing between the forks is an integer multiple of the spacing between adjacent cantilevers, and the stacker travel distance is also an integer multiple of the spacing between adjacent cantilever arms.

8. The three-dimensional storage system of floating cargo space according to claim 3 is characterized in that: The material length is the length after rounding, and the rounded length is an integer multiple of the set spacing and is greater than or equal to the actual length of the material.

9. A method for controlling warehousing in a floating cargo space stereoscopic storage system, characterized in that: The control method includes: 1) Identify the length of the materials to be stored, and find suitable storage space on the current cantilever shelf according to the length of the materials to be stored and the storage location of the materials that have been stored; 2) When a suitable storage space is found, the coordinates of the suitable storage space are determined and sent to the stacker, which controls the stacker to move the materials to be stored to the shelf at the coordinates. The stacker detects whether there are materials on the shelf at the coordinates and whether the space is suitable. If there are materials or the space is not suitable, a suitable storage space is searched again until the suitable storage space is confirmed to be suitable by the stacker or no suitable storage space is found; if there are no materials and the space is suitable, the stacker stores the materials to be stored in the space.

10. The warehousing control method of the floating cargo space three-dimensional storage system according to claim 9, characterized in that: The coordinates of the determined suitable storage space are the coordinates of the center of the material in the suitable space, which are x1+L / 2+L1 / 2+a, where L is the length of the material to be stored, a is the minimum gap between each layer of materials, L1 is the length of the material closest to the suitable space on the same layer, and x1 is the coordinate of the center of the material closest to the suitable space on the same layer.

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