Double-circulation zero-removing sorting system

Abstract

The invention discloses a double-circulation dismounting and sorting system, and relates to the technical field of warehouse logistics, and the system comprises a warehouse shelf, a container robot, a sorting workstation, a sorting conveying line and a control device; the sorting conveying line comprises a first circulating conveying line and a second circulating conveying line, the first circulating conveying line is used for circulating conveying across workstations, and the second circulating conveying line is used for circulating conveying in the workstations; the control device is used for issuing a container distribution task and a container recovery task to the container robot; and the second circulating conveying line is controlled to circularly convey the turnover containers in each work station, and if the current work station does not need a certain turnover container any more and other work stations need the turnover container, the turnover container is transferred to the second circulating conveying lines of other work stations through the first circulating conveying line. According to the invention, resource scheduling can be optimized, global efficiency can be improved, invalid carrying can be reduced, system energy consumption can be reduced, high-concurrency order processing can be supported, and hardware modification cost can be reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of logistics and warehousing, and in particular to a double-circulation piecemeal picking system. Background Art

[0002] In the field of logistics and warehousing, the picking system is the core link of e-commerce, retail and other industries, and its efficiency directly affects the order processing speed and operating costs. Traditional picking systems usually use a closed-loop conveyor line with a fixed path that runs through all workstations (for example: Chinese patent CN221115438U), but with the surge in order volume and the increase in customer requirements for timeliness, the existing technology has exposed the following significant defects: 1. Order allocation is static and resource utilization is low The transmission line layout structure of the existing technology leads to the use of fixed order allocation rules, such as allocation in order of order creation time, without considering the real-time status of the workstation (such as pause, failure, etc.) or the dynamic inventory of goods, resulting in some workstations being overloaded while other workstations are idle, thus causing order backlogs and process congestion.

[0003] 2. Inefficient container dispatching The existing transmission line layout structure causes the cargo boxes to circulate along a fixed transmission path, lacking a dynamic reuse mechanism. Even if the allocated cargo boxes are not fully used, they still need to complete the entire transmission cycle before they can be reallocated to other orders, resulting in a waste of time and space.

[0004] 3. The robot path is not planned The transmission line layout structure of the existing technology leads to the adoption of a "first come, first served" or random allocation strategy for task allocation of cargo box robots, without considering the shortest path relationship between the cargo box location and the workstation, resulting in long robot movement distances and circuitous paths, high energy consumption, and a waste of time.

[0005] 4. Workstation collaboration is rigid The transmission line layout structure of the prior art usually results in tasks being assigned to workstations one by one in sequence, and parallel processing of workstations is not achieved. If the tasks of the preceding workstation are piled up, the subsequent workstations will have to wait for a long time, limiting the overall throughput. Summary of the invention

[0006] In view of the above-mentioned defects or deficiencies in the prior art, the present invention provides a double-circulation piecemeal picking system that can solve the above-mentioned technical problems in whole or in part.

[0007] One aspect of the present invention provides a double-cycle piece picking system, comprising: Storage shelves are used to store turnover boxes that carry goods, and each turnover box corresponds to one type of goods; The cargo box robot is used to take out the turnover cargo boxes required by the picking workstation from the storage shelves, transport the turnover cargo boxes to the docking entrance of the corresponding picking workstation for unloading, and collect the turnover cargo boxes that are not required by any order from the docking exit and transport them back to the storage shelves; The picking conveyor line comprises a first circulating conveyor line and a second circulating conveyor line, wherein the first circulating conveyor line is used for circulating the turnover boxes among all picking workstations; the second circulating conveyor line is used for circulating the turnover boxes within a picking workstation; A picking workstation, used to pick goods from the turnover boxes conveyed by the picking conveyor line into the order boxes in the station; and, A control device is used to issue cargo box distribution tasks and cargo box recovery tasks to the cargo box robot; control the second circulating conveyor line to circulate the turnover cargo box in each picking workstation; if the current picking workstation no longer needs a turnover cargo box and other picking workstations need the turnover cargo box, the turnover cargo box is transferred from the current second circulating conveyor line to the first circulating conveyor line, and then transferred to the second circulating conveyor line corresponding to the picking workstation that needs it through the first circulating conveyor line.

[0008] Furthermore, the first circulating conveyor line includes: a first conveyor line that transmits along a first direction, a second conveyor line that transmits along a second direction opposite to the first direction, and a steering mechanism located between the first conveyor line and the second conveyor line; wherein, a docking port is provided on the first conveyor line, and the picking workstation is provided on one side of the second conveyor line; the second circulating conveyor line is provided corresponding to each picking workstation, and the second circulating conveyor line includes a third conveyor line that transmits along the first direction, a fourth conveyor line that transmits along the second direction, and a steering mechanism located between the third conveyor line and the fourth conveyor line; wherein, the third conveyor line is a part of the first conveyor line, and the fourth conveyor line is a part of the second conveyor line.

[0009] Furthermore, the control device is also used to: use the order with the most product details as the first order of the first enabled picking workstation, and in the allocation process of each order wave, allocate several orders with the highest overlap in product details to the same picking workstation.

[0010] Furthermore, the control device is also used to: traverse the allocated turnover boxes in the current picking workstation according to the order being executed by the current picking workstation, and calculate the remaining quantity of goods of each category; check the unallocated orders of the system one by one in order of priority; if the remaining quantity of goods meets the requirements of a certain unallocated order, allocate the unallocated order to the current picking workstation; if the remaining quantity of goods cannot meet the requirements of any unallocated order, calculate the satisfaction of each unallocated order according to the ratio of the number of satisfied goods and the total demand for goods of the order, and allocate the order with the highest satisfaction to the current picking workstation; if the satisfaction of multiple unallocated orders is the same, allocate them in the order of order creation time.

[0011] Furthermore, the control device is also used to: after assigning an order to each enabled picking workstation, obtain the storage information of a predetermined number of turnover boxes with the closest path sequence in the orders assigned to each picking workstation, and issue a box allocation task to the box robot to transport the predetermined number of turnover boxes to the picking workstation, wherein reusable boxes that have already been allocated to other picking workstations will no longer be allocated repeatedly.

[0012] Furthermore, the control device is also used to: if the number of turnover boxes to be allocated in the current picking workstation is lower than a preset threshold, the turnover boxes to be allocated in the current picking workstation and the turnover boxes to be allocated in other picking workstations are combined into one box allocation task and issued to the box robot.

[0013] Furthermore, the control device is also used to: when the turnover cargo box on the picking conveyor line is no longer needed by any order, control the picking conveyor line to transfer the turnover cargo box to the docking exit of the corresponding picking workstation, and issue an instruction to the cargo box robot to recycle the turnover cargo box.

[0014] Furthermore, the system also includes a packaging conveyor line for conveying the order boxes to the packaging area.

[0015] Furthermore, the picking workstation includes a seeding wall and a picking platform; the seeding wall includes cargo spaces and order boxes bound to orders, and each cargo space is provided with a roller slide rail for conveniently pushing the order box to the packaging conveyor line; the picking platform is used to pick the goods in the turnover box transported by the picking conveyor line into the order box.

[0016] Furthermore, the control device is also used to: if the inventory of turnover containers required for the order being executed by the picking workstation is insufficient, mark the order being executed as abnormal; in response to the operator's release of the storage space occupied by the abnormal order container, bind the storage space to the new order.

[0017] The double-circulation picking system provided by the present invention achieves the following technical effects through the coordinated design of a large circulation line (across workstations) and a small circulation line (inside a workstation): (1) Hierarchical optimization of resource scheduling to improve overall efficiency The large loop line is responsible for the flow of cargo boxes between workstations, realizing cross-station resource scheduling and enabling global allocation of cargo boxes on demand. The small loop line allows cargo boxes in the workstation to meet the reuse of orders within the station without detouring the large loop line, shortening the picking path. In addition, urgent orders can be processed first through the small loop line, and regular orders can be globally scheduled by the large loop line, greatly improving the efficiency of order allocation.

[0018] (2) Reduce ineffective handling and reduce system energy consumption The present invention uses a dynamic allocation algorithm to dispatch only necessary cargo boxes to the target workstation, centrally dispatch cargo boxes with consistent path sequence, and merge and dispatch scattered cargo boxes from multiple workstations, thereby avoiding the defects of forced detours of traditional closed-loop conveyor lines, reducing the ineffective transportation distance of cargo boxes on the conveyor line, shortening the ineffective path of robots, and reducing system energy consumption.

[0019] (3) Enhance system resilience and fault tolerance If a workstation fails, the large loop line can quickly detour the cargo box to other available workstations to achieve global fault tolerance. For cargo boxes released by abnormal orders within the workstation, they can immediately participate in the allocation of other orders through the small loop line, and the freezing time of abnormal order resources is greatly shortened. In this way, the large loop line is responsible for cross-station resource scheduling compensation, and the small loop line realizes the rapid recovery of local resources, forming a double fault tolerance guarantee.

[0020] (4) Support high concurrent order processing The large loop line allows the system to dynamically distribute cargo boxes according to the load of each workstation, avoiding uneven loads on workstations in traditional solutions. Each workstation independently processes local orders through a small loop line, reducing the waiting time for cross-station coordination.

[0021] (5) Reduce hardware modification costs The large and small loop line architecture of the present invention can be modified on the basis of the existing fixed closed-loop transmission line. The large loop line only needs to connect to the trunk node, and the small loop line uses the existing space of the workstation for deployment, without the need for large-scale hardware modification. When adding a new workstation, it is only necessary to connect to the large loop line and configure an independent small loop line, without the need to reconstruct the global transmission network. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Other features, objects and advantages of the present application will become more apparent by reading the detailed description of non-limiting embodiments made with reference to the following drawings: Figure 1 It is a plan view of a double-circulation piece-by-piece picking system provided by an embodiment of the present application; Figure 2 It is a plan view of a picking workstation provided by one embodiment of the present application; Figure 3 It is a picking flow chart of a double-loop piecemeal picking system provided by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solution in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0024] The terms used in the embodiments of the present invention are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present invention. The singular forms "a", "said" and "the" used in the embodiments of the present invention are also intended to include plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates other meanings.

[0025] It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used to describe the acquisition modules in the embodiments of the present invention, the acquisition modules should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish the acquisition modules from each other.

[0026] The word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at the time of" or "when" or "in response to determining" or "in response to detecting", depending on the context. Similarly, the phrases "if it is determined" or "if (stated condition or event) is detected" may be interpreted as "when it is determined" or "in response to determining" or "when detecting (stated condition or event)" or "in response to detecting (stated condition or event)", depending on the context.

[0027] It should be noted that the directional words such as "upper", "lower", "left", and "right" described in the embodiments of the present invention are described at the angles shown in the drawings and should not be understood as limiting the embodiments of the present invention. In addition, in the context, it should also be understood that when it is mentioned that an element is formed "on" or "under" another element, it can not only be formed directly "on" or "under" another element, but also be formed "on" or "under" another element indirectly through an intermediate element.

[0028] Picking is the core link of the entire warehousing operation. The efficiency of picking directly determines the operating cost and efficiency of the entire logistics distribution center, and even affects the service capacity and service level of the entire supply chain. Among them, picking is particularly important, with the highest operating cost, the greatest labor consumption, and the most time. With the introduction of various new retail models, the rapid development of e-commerce, and the integration of online and offline omni-channel models of book companies, massive personalized needs, and fragmented orders are constantly being updated, which has more prominently increased the proportion of picking operations. Basically, more than 90% of all varieties are split tasks. Picking technology for splitting does not only involve picking, but also considers a series of complex processes such as warehousing, replenishment, handling, and packaging. It is precisely because the split picking system is crucial and complex that a variety of split picking solutions have been derived. In order to overcome the various technical problems mentioned in the background technology, the present application provides a dual-loop split picking system and a picking method adapted to the picking system. The specific structure and function of the system are described and explained in detail below.

[0029] See also Figure 1 The double-loop piecemeal picking system 100 of this embodiment includes: a storage shelf 110, a cargo box robot 120, a picking conveyor line 130, a picking workstation 140 and a control device.

[0030] Combine the following Figure 2 , the specific composition of the system is introduced in detail: 1. Storage shelves The storage shelves 110 are usually set in the storage area, which are used to store turnover boxes 111 carrying goods, and each turnover box 111 corresponds to a kind of goods. The storage shelves 110 are set up to maximize the storage space and facilitate the dynamic classification management of the warehouse and optimize the inventory structure. Exemplarily, the goods stored in the storage area are classified according to the size of the shipment volume in a certain period of time. For example, in the past two months, the goods with the highest shipment volume are expected to have a relatively high shipment volume in the next stage, and they are classified as Class A goods, or the goods with normalized high shipment volume are classified as Class A, and so on. The goods with moderate shipment volume are classified as Class B, and the goods with low shipment volume are classified as Class C. The inventory of the above goods is placed in storage locations (or optimal locations) at different distances from the picking workstation according to the ABC level, such as the cargo boxes of Class A goods are placed in the storage location closest to the picking workstation to reduce the distance for the cargo box robot to pick up the goods.

[0031] As an optional implementation, the storage shelf 110 is custom designed, with a shelf height of 5.1 meters and a total of 13 layers. The overall structure is a detachable structure, and the overall structure is divided into a shelf column and a beam structure, which are fixed by snap-on type to increase the stability of the shelf. The storage mode is a double-deep shelf design, which realizes intensive storage through one-to-one binding of the storage location QR code, the cargo box QR code, and the cargo unique code. The storage density is 1.5 times that of the single-deep storage density, maximizing the use of the effective storage area.

[0032] 2. Cargo box robot The cargo box robot 120 is used to take out the turnover cargo box 111 required by the picking workstation 140 from the storage shelf 110, transport the turnover cargo box 111 to the docking entrance 134 of the corresponding picking workstation 140 for unloading, and collect the turnover cargo box 111 not required by any order from the docking exit 135, and transport it back to the storage shelf 110. The cargo box robot 120 of this embodiment is matched with the storage shelf 110, and preferably adopts a double-depth robot, which can realize double-depth cargo box storage and picking, and improve the overall inventory density. The cargo box robot 120 can automatically determine the depth distance of the cargo position, and the navigation method preferably adopts inertial navigation and two-dimensional code visual navigation.

[0033] 3. Picking conveyor line The architecture of the picking conveyor line 130 is the core invention of this embodiment. The picking conveyor line 130 includes a first circulation conveyor line 131 and a second circulation conveyor line 132. The first circulation conveyor line 131 is used to circulate the turnover box 111 between all picking workstations 140 and all docking ports 133 across workstations; the second circulation conveyor line 132 is used to circulate the turnover box 111 between a picking workstation 140 and the corresponding docking port 133 within the workstation. Among them, the first circulation conveyor line 131 is also called a large circulation line, which is responsible for the flow of cargo boxes between picking workstations 140, realizes cross-station resource scheduling, and enables the cargo boxes to be globally allocated on demand. The second circulation conveyor line 132 is also called a small circulation line, which enables the cargo boxes in the workstation to meet the reuse of orders within the station without detouring the large circulation line, shortening the picking path. In addition, urgent orders can be processed preferentially through the small circulation line, and regular orders can be globally scheduled by the large circulation line, greatly improving the efficiency of order allocation.

[0034] As an optional embodiment, the first circulating conveyor line 131 includes a first conveyor line 1311 that is driven in a first direction, a second conveyor line 1312 that is driven in a second direction opposite to the first direction, and a steering mechanism 1313 located between the first conveyor line 1311 and the second conveyor line 1312. The first conveyor line 1311 is provided with a docking port 133, and a picking workstation 140 is provided on one side of the second conveyor line 1312. The second circulating conveyor line 132 is provided corresponding to each picking workstation 140, and the second circulating conveyor line 132 includes a third conveyor line 1314 that is driven in the first direction, a fourth conveyor line 1315 that is driven in the second direction, and a steering mechanism 1316 located between the third conveyor line 1314 and the fourth conveyor line 1315; wherein the third conveyor line 1314 is a part of the first conveyor line 1311, and the fourth conveyor line 1315 is a part of the second conveyor line 1312. The above implementation method enables the large and small loop line architecture of the present invention to be modified on the basis of the existing fixed closed-loop transmission line. The large loop line only needs to be connected to the trunk node, and the small loop line is deployed using the existing space of the workstation, without the need for large-scale hardware modification. When adding a new workstation, it is only necessary to connect to the large loop line and configure an independent small loop line, without the need to reconstruct the global transmission network.

[0035] Furthermore, the picking conveyor line 130 includes a double-layer conveyor line structure consisting of a picking line and an empty box line. The conveyor line can be composed of a conveyor belt, a roller conveyor, a 90-degree and 180-degree curved section conveyor, a steering mechanism, a transplanting mechanism, a parking mechanism, etc. to form a circulation line. Among them, the turnover box 111 is located on the picking line, and the empty turnover box 111 can be placed on the empty box line by the operator at the picking workstation 140 for centralized transportation to the recycling mechanism. In addition, the system also includes a packaging conveyor line 160 for transporting the order boxes of the seeding wall to the packaging area. The packaging conveyor line 160 is used to receive the order boxes that have been picked, so it is usually set on one side of the seeding wall.

[0036] 4. Picking station The picking station 140 is used to pick the goods in the turnover box 111 delivered by the picking conveyor line 130 to the order box in the station. The picking station 140 includes a plurality of picking platforms 1401 and a plurality of seeding walls 1402. The picking platform 1401 is used to pick the goods in the turnover box 111 delivered by the picking conveyor line 130 to the order box. The seeding wall 1402 includes a cargo position bound to an order (also called a seeding wall grid) and an order box, and each cargo position is provided with a roller slide rail for conveniently pushing the order box to the packaging conveyor line 160. The picking station 140 of this embodiment is designed specifically for the warehouse. Each picking platform has a total of 3 layers, the highest of which is 1.16 meters. The tabletop is anti-statically treated, and the picking platform is equipped with a computer and a wireless scanner. Each seeding wall has a total height of 1.5 meters, which is suitable for the height of manual operation. The total number of layers is 2 layers, and 6 distribution positions are designed, each layer with a roller slide rail. The sowing wall is also equipped with an electronic tag to indicate the current picking position. Each picking workstation 140 is preferably provided with two sets of sowing walls, which can pick 12 orders at the same time.

[0037] 5. Control device The dual-loop piecemeal picking system 100 of this embodiment realizes WCS scheduling, RCS remote control and system monitoring of various automated and intelligent equipment through control devices, communication systems, sensors, middle-office systems and WMS warehouse management systems, so as to timely update the cargo storage in the picking area, reasonably adjust the inventory structure layout, and quickly and accurately deploy cargo box robots to complete order picking operations.

[0038] Specifically, the control device is used to issue cargo box distribution tasks and cargo box recovery tasks to the cargo box robot 120, and control the second circulation conveyor line 132 to circulate the turnover cargo box 111 in each picking workstation 140. If the current picking workstation 140 no longer needs a turnover cargo box 111 and other picking workstations 140 need the turnover cargo box 111, the turnover cargo box 111 is transferred from the current second circulation conveyor line 132 to the first circulation conveyor line 131, and then the turnover cargo box 111 is transferred to the second circulation conveyor line 132 corresponding to the picking workstation 140 that needs it through the first circulation conveyor line 131. The above control method of this embodiment enables the large circulation line to be responsible for the flow of cargo boxes between workstations, realizes cross-station resource scheduling, and enables global allocation of cargo boxes on demand, avoiding order stagnation caused by insufficient inventory at a single workstation.

[0039] Furthermore, the control device is also used to use the order with the most product details as the first order of the first enabled picking workstation 140, and in the allocation process of each order wave, allocate several orders with the highest overlap in product details to the same picking workstation 140.

[0040] The reasons for adopting the above control method are: first, the first order of the first enabled picking workstation selects the order with the most product detail lines, because orders with a wide variety of products require more container support, and priority processing can release container resources as early as possible. By consuming high-frequency products in advance, the matching difficulty of other orders can be reduced, thereby maximizing the efficiency of the first order processing and reducing the complexity of subsequent order allocation; secondly, the highest degree of overlap in product details of different orders means that multiple orders in each picking workstation can reuse the turnover containers of the same goods. The higher the degree of reuse of containers within the station, the more effectively it can reduce the waiting time for cross-station coordination, and save the time of container robots moving new containers from storage shelves, and the higher the order picking efficiency will be.

[0041] Furthermore, the control device is also used to traverse the allocated turnover boxes 111 in the current picking workstation 140 according to the order being executed by the current picking workstation 140, and calculate the remaining amount of goods of each category, that is, the remaining amount of goods in each turnover box 111; check the unallocated orders of the system one by one in order of priority, such as urgent orders, time-limited orders, etc.; if the remaining amount of goods meets the requirements of a certain unallocated order, that is, the required quantity of goods in the order is less than or equal to the remaining quantity of each kind of goods, then allocate the unallocated order to the current picking workstation 140; if the remaining amount of goods cannot meet the requirements of any unallocated order, then calculate the satisfaction of each unallocated order based on the ratio of the satisfied quantity of goods to the total demand quantity of goods in the order, and allocate the order with the highest satisfaction to the current picking workstation 140; if the satisfaction of multiple unallocated orders is the same, then allocate them in the order of order creation time.

[0042] The reasons for adopting the above control method are: first, the allocation of orders adopts full matching priority, which can reduce the complexity of multi-workstation collaboration and avoid secondary scheduling of goods; second, the adoption of a suboptimal satisfaction strategy can maximize resource utilization and prevent the overall stagnation of the workstation and order backlog due to local shortages. In this way, subsequent orders can be continuously allocated to the small-circuit conveyor line of each picking workstation. Even if the turnover box inventory on the current small-circuit conveyor line is insufficient, the workstation can be picked first, and the box robot will then replenish the boxes to the picking workstation.

[0043] Furthermore, the control device is also used to mark the number of the current picking workstation for the successfully allocated order, and specify the execution location number of the order in the seed wall 1402, while updating the system database and locking the inventory of the corresponding cargo box.

[0044] This control method ensures that the sorting path is traceable, avoids the misplacement of cartons, and locks the inventory to prevent duplicate allocation at other picking workstations.

[0045] Furthermore, the control device is also used to obtain the storage information of a predetermined number of turnover boxes 111 with the closest path sequence in the orders assigned to each picking workstation 140 after assigning an order to each enabled picking workstation 140, and issue a box allocation task to the box robot to transport the predetermined number of turnover boxes 111 to the picking workstation 140, wherein reusable boxes that have already been allocated to other picking workstations 140 will no longer be allocated repeatedly.

[0046] The reasons for adopting the above control method are: first, the cargo box robot is controlled to move the cargo boxes in the order of the task packages, and a predetermined number of cargo boxes with the closest path sequence (most convenient) are given priority. This can centrally dispatch cargo boxes with consistent path sequences, shorten the invalid paths of the robots, save transportation time, and reduce the energy consumption of the robots.

[0047] Furthermore, the control device is also used to combine the turnover cargo boxes 111 to be allocated in the current picking workstation 140 (such as 4 cargo boxes) and the turnover cargo boxes 111 to be allocated in other picking workstations 140 (such as 6 cargo boxes) into one cargo box allocation task (such as an allocation task of 10 cargo boxes) and issue it to the cargo box robot 120 if the number of turnover cargo boxes 111 to be allocated in the current picking workstation 140 is lower than a preset threshold, for example, lower than 5 cargo boxes.

[0048] The reason for adopting the above control method is that the merging of cargo box distribution tasks can make full use of the robot's handling capacity, thereby merging multiple handling tasks of multiple workstations into one handling task, reducing the number of handling times of the cargo box robot, saving handling time, and reducing system energy consumption.

[0049] Furthermore, the control device is also used to control the picking conveyor line 130 to transfer the turnover container 111 to the docking exit of the corresponding picking workstation 140 when the turnover container 111 on the picking conveyor line 130 is no longer needed by any order, and to issue an instruction to the cargo box robot 120 to recover the turnover container 111.

[0050] The reason for adopting the above control method is that when the turnover container is no longer needed by any workstation order, it means that all orders currently being executed on the conveyor line no longer need the goods in the turnover container. If the turnover container is not recycled, the conveyor line space will be ineffectively occupied. Therefore, recycling the turnover container can free up the conveyor line space, avoid invalid containers occupying the logistics channel, and improve the turnover rate of inventory positions to support the needs of new orders.

[0051] Furthermore, the control device is also used to mark the order being executed as abnormal if the inventory of the turnover container 111 required for the order being executed by the picking workstation 140 is insufficient; in response to the operator's release operation of the storage space occupied by the abnormal order container, the storage space is bound to the new order.

[0052] The reason for adopting the above control method is that the binding of the order with the picking workstation is achieved by binding the order with the cargo position number of the seeding wall in the station and the order container number. When the inventory of the order being executed is insufficient, if the order is not released, the cargo position of the seeding wall will always be occupied by the unfinished order, which will cause the new order to be unable to be bound to the cargo position of the seeding wall, resulting in the processing capacity of the workstation being limited. Therefore, the present invention releases the cargo position for abnormal orders with insufficient inventory, and immediately binds new orders, which greatly improves the processing efficiency of the picking workstation. Among them, the release operation of the cargo position occupied by the abnormal order is preferably that the staff pushes the unfinished order container directly to the packaging conveyor line, transports it to the packaging area to pack the partially completed orders, ships them first, and then replenishes them when the inventory is sufficient.

[0053] The above-mentioned double-loop disassembly and picking system provided in this embodiment can optimize resource scheduling in layers, improve overall efficiency, reduce ineffective transportation, reduce system energy consumption, enhance system elasticity and fault tolerance, support high-concurrency order processing, and reduce hardware modification costs.

[0054] See also Figure 3 The following is a further detailed description of the picking process of the double-circulation split-piece picking system. Among them, the step numbers are only used to distinguish the steps, and are not used to specifically limit the order of the steps. The execution process of the following steps can also adjust the execution order according to the actual situation on site.

[0055] Step S101, when allocating the initial order, the order with the most product details is used as the first order of the first enabled picking workstation, and in the process of allocating order waves, several orders with the highest overlap in product details are allocated to the same picking workstation; Step S102, in response to the selection operation of the staff of the picking workstation on the system-assigned order, the order is bound to the storage location and order box of the seed wall; Step S103, obtaining the storage information of a predetermined number of turnover boxes with the closest path sequence in the current order of each picking workstation, and issuing a box allocation task to the box robot to transport the predetermined number of turnover boxes to the picking workstation, wherein the reused boxes that have been allocated by other picking workstations will not be allocated repeatedly; if the number of turnover boxes to be allocated in the current picking workstation is lower than a preset threshold, the turnover boxes to be allocated in the current picking workstation and the turnover boxes to be allocated in other picking workstations are combined into one box allocation task and issued to the box robot; Step S105, in response to the instruction of the cargo box allocation task issued by the system, the cargo box robot moves a predetermined number of turnover cargo boxes to the docking entrance of the picking conveyor line and unloads the cargo boxes, and the first circulation conveyor line transports the turnover cargo boxes to the second circulation conveyor line of the corresponding picking workstation; Step S106: If the picking station is executing a picking task, the assigned turnover container waits in a loop on the second circulation conveyor line; if the picking station is not executing a picking task, the assigned turnover container enters the picking platform of the picking station; Step S107: The staff scans the incoming cargo box, determines the type and quantity to be picked, and picks the goods in the turnover box to the order cargo box of the corresponding cargo position on the seed wall; if the order has been picked, the completed order cargo box is pushed to the packaging conveyor line; if the order is not completed and the current order cargo box is full, the staff clicks on the box change, pushes the full order cargo box to the packaging conveyor line, and binds the next empty order cargo box to the cargo position to continue picking; if the order is not completed, the current order cargo box is not full, and the current turnover cargo box is empty, continue to pick the goods in the next turnover cargo box; Step S108, controlling the second circulating conveyor line to circulate the turnover box in each picking workstation. If the current picking workstation no longer needs a turnover box and other picking workstations need the turnover box, the turnover box is transferred from the current second circulating conveyor line to the first circulating conveyor line, and then the turnover box is transferred to the second circulating conveyor line corresponding to the picking workstation that needs it through the first circulating conveyor line; Step S109: continuous order allocation is performed during the picking process. According to the order being executed by the current picking workstation, the allocated turnover boxes in the current picking workstation are traversed to calculate the remaining quantity of goods of each category; the unallocated orders of the system are checked one by one in the order of priority; if the remaining quantity of goods meets the requirements of a certain unallocated order, the unallocated order is allocated to the current picking workstation; if the remaining quantity of goods cannot meet the requirements of any unallocated order, the satisfaction of each unallocated order is calculated according to the ratio of the number of satisfied goods and the total demand for goods of the order, and the order with the highest satisfaction is allocated to the current picking workstation; if the satisfaction of multiple unallocated orders is the same, they are allocated in the order of order creation time; Step S109, when the turnover box on the picking conveyor line is no longer needed by any order, the picking conveyor line is controlled to transfer the turnover box to the docking exit of the corresponding picking workstation, and an instruction to recycle the turnover box is issued to the box robot; Step S110: if the inventory of turnover containers required for the order being executed by the picking workstation is insufficient, the order being executed is marked as abnormal; in response to the operator's release operation of the cargo space occupied by the abnormal order container, the cargo space is bound to the new order; Step S111, the packing conveyor line transports the order boxes to the review and packing area, and then packs and ships them together.

[0056] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Those skilled in the art should understand that the scope of disclosure involved in the present invention is not limited to the technical solution formed by a specific combination of the above technical features, but also should cover other technical solutions formed by any combination of the above technical features or their equivalent features without departing from the above disclosed concept. For example, the above features are replaced with the technical features with similar functions disclosed in the present invention (but not limited to) to form a technical solution.

Claims

1. A double-circulation piece picking system, characterized in that: include: Storage shelves are used to store turnover boxes that carry goods, and each turnover box corresponds to one type of goods; The cargo box robot is used to take out the turnover cargo boxes required by the picking workstation from the storage shelves, transport the turnover cargo boxes to the docking entrance of the corresponding picking workstation for unloading, and collect the turnover cargo boxes that are not required by any order from the docking exit and transport them back to the storage shelves; The picking conveyor line comprises a first circulating conveyor line and a second circulating conveyor line, wherein the first circulating conveyor line is used for circulating the turnover boxes among all picking workstations; the second circulating conveyor line is used for circulating the turnover boxes within a picking workstation; A picking workstation, used to pick goods from the turnover boxes conveyed by the picking conveyor line into the order boxes in the station; and, A control device is used to issue cargo box distribution tasks and cargo box recovery tasks to the cargo box robot; control the second circulating conveyor line to circulate the turnover cargo box in each picking workstation; if the current picking workstation no longer needs a turnover cargo box and other picking workstations need the turnover cargo box, the turnover cargo box is transferred from the current second circulating conveyor line to the first circulating conveyor line, and then transferred to the second circulating conveyor line corresponding to the picking workstation that needs it through the first circulating conveyor line.

2. A double-circulation piece picking system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first circulating conveyor line comprises: a first conveyor line that drives along a first direction, a second conveyor line that drives along a second direction opposite to the first direction, and a steering mechanism located between the first conveyor line and the second conveyor line; wherein a docking port is provided on the first conveyor line, and the picking workstation is provided on one side of the second conveyor line; The second circulating conveyor line is set corresponding to each picking workstation, and the second circulating conveyor line includes a third conveyor line transmitted along the first direction, a fourth conveyor line transmitted along the second direction, and a steering mechanism located between the third conveyor line and the fourth conveyor line; wherein the third conveyor line is a part of the first conveyor line, and the fourth conveyor line is a part of the second conveyor line.

3. A double-circulation piece picking system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control device is also used for: The order with the most item details is taken as the first order of the first enabled picking workstation, and in the allocation process of each order wave, several orders with the highest overlap in item details are allocated to the same picking workstation.

4. A double-circulation piece picking system according to claim 3, characterized in that: The control device is also used for: According to the order being executed by the current picking workstation, traverse the allocated turnover boxes in the current picking workstation and calculate the remaining quantity of each category of goods; Check the unassigned orders in the system one by one in order of priority; If the remaining quantity of goods meets the requirements of a certain unassigned order, the unassigned order will be assigned to the current picking workstation; If the remaining quantity of goods cannot meet the requirements of any unassigned order, the satisfaction of each unassigned order is calculated based on the ratio of the quantity of satisfied goods to the total demand of the order, and the order with the highest satisfaction is assigned to the current picking workstation; If the satisfaction of multiple unassigned orders is the same, they will be assigned in the order of order creation time.

5. A double-circulation piece picking system according to claim 4, characterized in that: The control device is also used for: After allocating orders to each enabled picking workstation, the storage information of a predetermined number of turnover boxes with the closest path sequence in the orders allocated to each picking workstation is obtained, and a box allocation task of transporting the predetermined number of turnover boxes to the picking workstation is issued to the box robot, wherein reusable boxes that have already been allocated to other picking workstations will no longer be allocated repeatedly.

6. A double-circulation piece picking system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The control device is also used for: If the number of turnover boxes to be allocated in the current picking workstation is lower than the preset threshold, the turnover boxes to be allocated in the current picking workstation and the turnover boxes to be allocated in other picking workstations will be combined into one box allocation task and issued to the box robot.

7. The double-circulation piece picking system according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The control device is also used for: When the turnover box on the picking conveyor line is no longer needed by any order, the picking conveyor line is controlled to transfer the turnover box to the docking exit of the corresponding picking workstation, and an instruction is issued to the cargo box robot to recycle the turnover box.

8. The double-circulation piece picking system according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The system also includes a packing conveyor line for conveying the order boxes to the packing area.

9. A double-circulation piece picking system according to claim 8, characterized in that: The picking workstation includes a sowing wall and a picking platform; The seeding wall includes cargo spaces and order cargo boxes bound to orders, and each cargo space is provided with roller rails for conveniently pushing the order cargo boxes to the packaging conveyor line; The picking platform is used to pick the goods in the turnover box transmitted by the picking conveyor line to the order box.

10. A double-circulation piece picking system according to claim 9, characterized in that: The control device is also used for: If the turnover box inventory required for the order being executed by the picking workstation is insufficient, the order being executed is marked as abnormal; In response to the operator's release of the cargo space occupied by the abnormal order container, the cargo space is bound to the new order.

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