A multi-specification steel coil picking method based on a stereoscopic storage crane

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for picking multi-specification steel coils based on a stereoscopic storage crane in the field of logistics sorting technology, which includes the following steps: S1. Set an inbound and outbound buffer area on one side of the stereoscopic warehouse, confirm the maximum load of the storage crane and the location information, and number each location in ascending order of the time consumed by the storage crane to pick its stored goods to the inbound and outbound buffer area; S2. Query the target location where the steel coils required by the customer are located according to the customer order, and determine the sequence of locations to be picked by the storage crane in ascending order of location numbers; S3. According to the maximum load of the storage crane, intelligently group the sequence of locations to be picked for the steel coils to form a sequence of groups to be picked; S4. Dispatch the storage crane to execute the steel coil picking task according to the sequence of groups to be picked; S5. If a new customer order arrives, return to S2; otherwise, end the task; this method can improve the picking efficiency of multi-specification steel coils in the stereoscopic warehouse storage mode.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of logistics sorting, and in particular to a method for picking multi-specification steel coils based on a three-dimensional storage crane. Background Technique

[0002] As is well known, warehousing is a key link connecting production and consumption. The level of warehousing costs is a concentrated reflection of the quality of national economic development and comprehensive competitiveness. It can effectively reduce the logistics costs of the whole society, not only promote the adjustment of industrial structure and regional coordinated development, but also help cultivate new drivers of economic development and improve the overall operation efficiency of the national economy. In this context, for multi-specification steel coils, if the traditional stacking warehousing storage method is still used, when picking the lower-layer steel coils, it is necessary to move the upper-layer steel coils, which will greatly reduce the picking efficiency and undoubtedly increase the warehousing costs.

[0003] Three-dimensional warehousing refers to a warehouse system that stores goods by highly optimizing space utilization and using vertical space. It has been widely used because it can store and retrieve each item separately. However, there are still problems of low efficiency when using a warehousing crane to pick and transport goods. Based on the three-dimensional warehousing storage mode of multi-specification steel coils, the present invention proposes a method for picking multi-specification steel coils based on a three-dimensional storage crane, which provides a demonstration for the digital transformation of logistics enterprises while improving the picking efficiency and reducing the warehousing costs. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In order to overcome the deficiencies in the background technique and solve the existing technical problems, the present invention discloses a method for picking multi-specification steel coils based on a three-dimensional storage crane to improve the picking efficiency of multi-specification steel coils in the three-dimensional warehousing storage mode.

[0005] To achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0006] A method for picking multi-specification steel coils based on a three-dimensional storage crane includes the following steps: S1. Set an inbound and outbound buffer area on one side of the three-dimensional warehouse, confirm the maximum load of the warehousing crane and the location information in the three-dimensional warehouse, and number each location in ascending order according to the time consumed by the warehousing crane to pick and store its inventory to the inbound and outbound buffer area; S2. Query the target location where the steel coils required by the customer are located according to the customer order, and determine the sequence of locations to be picked by the warehousing crane in ascending order of location numbers; S3. Intelligently group the sequence of locations to be picked of the steel coils according to the maximum load of the warehousing crane to form a sequence of groups to be picked; S4. Dispatch the warehousing crane to execute the steel coil picking task according to the sequence of groups to be picked, and update the location information after picking; S5. If a new customer order arrives, return to S2; otherwise, end the task.

[0007] Further, in S1, the three-dimensional storage includes multiple longitudinally arranged shelf groups side by side at intervals. Each shelf group includes multiple storage locations arranged in a row. One steel coil is placed in each storage location. The inbound and outbound buffer area is correspondingly arranged outside one end of the outermost row of longitudinally arranged shelf groups. The maximum load of the storage crane is greater than twice the weight of the heaviest specification steel coil.

[0008] Further, in S2, the target storage location is the optimal storage location. When there are multiple candidate storage locations for steel coils of the same specification in a customer order, there are differences in the picking time consumed by different storage locations by the storage crane. The storage location with the shortest consumption time is the optimal storage location. If multiple steel coils of the same specification are required in a customer order, the selected storage locations are removed from the candidate storage locations, and the optimal storage locations are selected in turn.

[0009] Further, in S3, the intelligent grouping of the sequence of storage locations to be picked for steel coils is performed. First, it is judged whether the number of storage locations in the sequence of storage locations to be picked is greater than 1. If not, no grouping is performed; if so, grouping starts from the first storage location in the sequence of storage locations to be picked and takes it as the first storage location in the first group. At the same time, it is deleted from the sequence of storage locations to be picked. Then, the process continues. In the sequence of storage locations to be picked, the storage location with the minimum picking time from the last storage location in the current sorting of the first group to the storage location to be picked is selected. If the sum of the weights of the steel coils in all storage locations in the first group does not exceed the maximum load of the storage crane after adding it to the first group, then this storage location is added to the first group and is deleted from the sequence of storage locations to be picked, and the selection and addition of storage locations continue; otherwise, the subsequent candidate storage locations are no longer added, and the grouping of the first group ends; subsequent grouping is carried out by analogy according to the grouping method of the first group until the grouping of the sequence of storage locations to be picked is completed. The grouped sequence of steel coils to be picked is recorded as the sequence of grouped storage locations to be picked.

[0010] Due to the adoption of the above technical solution, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0011] The method for picking multi-specification steel coils based on a three-dimensional storage crane disclosed by the present invention uses a three-dimensional storage for storing multi-specification steel coils, enabling direct picking of multi-specification steel coils, effectively avoiding the drawback that the upper steel coils need to be removed first when picking the lower steel coils in the traditional stacked storage mode; at the same time, it can reasonably plan the picking sequence according to the load of the storage crane, significantly improving the picking efficiency and further enhancing the intelligent level of steel coil storage. It is a vivid practice of the transformation and upgrading and high-quality development of logistics storage empowered by digital technology. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Figure 1 is a flowchart of the present invention;

[0013] Figure 2 is a schematic layout diagram of steel coil storage in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0014] The technical solution of the present invention will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention:

[0015] Combined with the attached Figure 1 The multi-specification steel coil picking method based on a three-dimensional storage crane includes the following steps:

[0016] Step 1: Set an inbound and outbound buffer area on one side of the three-dimensional storage, confirm the maximum load of the storage crane and the location information in the three-dimensional warehouse. The location information mainly refers to whether there is a stored item on each specific item and which specification of steel coil is specifically stored. This information can be collected by a camera and fed back to the server. Each location is numbered in ascending order according to the time consumed by the storage crane to pick up its stored items to the inbound and outbound buffer area;

[0017] As shown in the attached Figure 2 As shown, the three-dimensional storage includes multiple longitudinally arranged shelf groups arranged side by side at intervals. The space between two adjacent shelf groups can be used for the storage crane to travel. The shelf group is generally composed of two back-to-back long shelves, so that goods can be picked up and placed on both sides. Each long shelf includes multiple locations arranged in the length direction and the height direction. Each location contains a steel coil. The inbound and outbound buffer area can be correspondingly arranged outside one end of the outermost row of longitudinally arranged shelf groups, that is, at a corner of the entire three-dimensional storage; The storage crane generally has a traveling device and a lifting device that drives the picking head to lift, and the picking head has the function of picking up and carrying steel coils. The maximum load of the storage crane is usually more than twice the weight of the heaviest specification steel coil. The numbering of the locations is determined by the time consumed by the storage crane to pick up the steel coils at each location to the inbound and outbound buffer area, that is, the location with a short consumption time has a small number, and the location with a long consumption time has a large number.

[0018] Step 2: Query the target location where the steel coil required by the customer is located according to the customer order, and determine the sequence of locations to be picked by the storage crane in ascending order of location numbers;

[0019] The target location is the best location. When there are multiple candidate locations for the same specification steel coil in the customer order, there are differences in the picking time consumed by the storage crane for different locations. Only by preferentially selecting the location close to the inbound and outbound buffer area can the picking efficiency be improved, and the location with the shortest consumption time is the best location. If multiple steel coils of the same specification are required in the customer order, since one location can only store one item, the first selected location will be excluded from the candidate locations, and the best location will become the second closest location to the inbound and outbound buffer area as a whole. Just continue to select the best location in this way in turn.

[0020] Step 3. When the warehousing crane performs the picking task, it may pick multiple steel coils at a time. If the storage locations of the multiple picked steel coils are far from each other, the picking efficiency of the warehousing crane will be reduced. Therefore, according to the maximum load of the warehousing crane, the sequence of storage locations of the steel coils to be picked is intelligently grouped to form a sequence of groups to be picked.

[0021] For the intelligent grouping of the sequence of storage locations of the steel coils to be picked, first determine whether the number of storage locations in the sequence of storage locations to be picked is greater than 1. If not, no grouping is performed. If so, start grouping from the first storage location in the sequence of storage locations to be picked, and use it as the first storage location of the first group. At the same time, delete it from the sequence of storage locations to be picked, and then proceed in turn. Select the storage location with the minimum picking time from the last storage location in the current sorting of the first group to the storage location to be picked in the sequence of storage locations to be picked. If the sum of the weights of the steel coils in all storage locations in the first group does not exceed the maximum load of the warehousing crane after adding it to the first group, add this storage location to the first group, and at the same time delete it from the sequence of storage locations to be picked, and continue to select and add storage locations; otherwise, no more subsequent storage locations are added, and the grouping of the first group ends. Specifically, for example, assume that the first group selects three storage locations a, b, and c. Then the picking time between b and a is the minimum, and the picking time between c and b is the minimum. The total weight of the steel coils in the three storage locations a, b, and c is less than the maximum load of the warehousing crane, and adding one more storage location will exceed the maximum load of the warehousing crane; subsequent grouping is carried out by analogy according to the grouping method of the first group until the sequence of storage locations to be picked is grouped completely. The grouped sequence of steel coils to be picked is denoted as the sequence of groups to be picked.

[0022] Step 4. Dispatch the warehousing crane to perform the steel coil picking task according to the sequence of groups to be picked, and update the information of the storage locations after picking.

[0023] Step 5. If a new customer order arrives, return to Step 2; otherwise, end the task.

[0024] This embodiment relates to the optimization problem of picking customer orders for multi-specification steel coils in an enterprise. The following gives a specific case:

[0025] (1) Problem overview

[0026] According to the above technical solution, taking the picking of multi-specification steel coil orders in an enterprise as an application scenario for description, the specific layout of the three-dimensional storage of steel coils is as Figure 2As shown in the figure, the storage crane can only enter and exit from one end of the aisle and can traverse the entire storage area; for each aisle, there are 10 layers of single-row shelves, with 20 storage locations on each layer, and the aisle width is 1.8m; the length, width, and height of the three-dimensional storage locations are 1.2m, 1m, and 1.4m respectively; the maximum load of the storage crane is 2 tons, and its average running speeds in the horizontal and vertical directions are 1.2m / s and 0.8m / s respectively; there are 6 types of steel coils in the three-dimensional storage, and the specific information is shown in Table 1.

[0027] Table 1 Information of Steel Coils in the Storage

[0028]

[0029] The specific information of the customer orders is shown in Table 2.

[0030] Table 2 Customer Order Information

[0031]

[0032] The comparison of the time used with the traditional picking method is shown in Table 3.

[0033] Table 3 Comparison of the Time Used to Complete Order Picking

[0034]

[0035] (2) Result Analysis

[0036] Regarding the embodiment of picking orders for multi-specification steel coils, the results in Table 3 show that the method of the present invention has obvious advantages; the reasons for achieving such good results are fundamentally the following two points: First, the present invention numbers the storage locations based on the distance of each storage location from the inbound and outbound buffer areas, thus providing a basis for the storage crane to select the storage location with the shortest picking time during picking; Second, due to the limitation of the load of the storage crane itself, the storage crane cannot pick all the steel coils on the customer order at one time. Therefore, it is necessary to group the customer orders. For the storage crane, when continuously picking two storage locations, the picking time of the storage crane will be reduced when the distance between these two storage locations is relatively close. For this reason, based on this concept, on the basis of previously selecting the picking storage locations according to the customer order, the storage locations to be picked are grouped, thus further saving the picking time for the storage crane.

[0037] The parts not detailed in the present invention are the prior art. For those skilled in the art, it is obvious that the present invention is not limited to the details of the above exemplary embodiments, and the present invention can be implemented in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or basic characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, from any point of view, the above embodiments should be regarded as exemplary and non-limiting. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the above description. Therefore, all changes falling within the meaning and scope of the equivalent elements of the claims are intended to be included in the present invention, and any reference signs in the claims should not be regarded as limiting the content of the claims involved.

Claims

1. A multi-specification steel coil picking method based on a stereoscopic warehousing crane, characterized in that: It includes the following steps: S1. Set an inbound and outbound buffer zone on one side of the automated warehouse, confirm the maximum load of the storage crane and the location information in the automated warehouse, and number each location in ascending order of the time consumed by the storage crane to pick and select its stored goods to the inbound and outbound buffer zone; S2. Query the target location where the steel coils required by the customer are located according to the customer order, and determine the sequence of locations to be picked by the storage crane in ascending order of location numbers; the target location is the optimal location. When there are multiple candidate locations for the same specification of steel coils in the customer order, there are differences in the picking time consumed by the storage crane for different locations. The location with the shortest consumption time is the optimal location. If multiple steel coils of the same specification are required in the customer order, the selected locations are removed from the candidate locations, and the optimal locations are selected in turn; S3. According to the maximum load of the storage crane, perform intelligent grouping on the sequence of locations to be picked for the steel coils to form a sequence of groups to be picked; Perform intelligent grouping on the sequence of locations to be picked for the steel coils. First, judge whether the number of locations in the sequence of locations to be picked is greater than 1. If not, no grouping is performed; if so, start grouping from the first location in the sequence of locations to be picked and use it as the first location in the first group. At the same time, delete it from the sequence of locations to be picked, and then proceed in turn. Select the location with the minimum picking time from the last location in the current sorting of the first group to the location to be picked in the sequence of locations to be picked. If the sum of the weights of the steel coils in all locations in the first group does not exceed the maximum load of the storage crane after adding it to the first group, add this location to the first group, and at the same time delete it from the sequence of locations to be picked, and continue to select and add locations; otherwise, the location is no longer added, and the grouping of the first group ends; subsequent grouping is carried out by analogy according to the grouping method of the first group until the sequence of locations to be picked for the steel coils is grouped. The grouped sequence of steel coils to be picked is recorded as the sequence of groups to be picked; S4. Dispatch the storage crane to perform the steel coil picking task according to the sequence of groups to be picked and update the location information after picking; S5. If a new customer order arrives, return to S2; otherwise, end the task.

2. The multi-specification steel coil picking method based on a three-dimensional storage crane according to claim 1, characterized in that: In S1, the automated warehouse includes multiple longitudinally arranged shelf groups arranged side by side at intervals. Each shelf group includes multiple locations arranged. One steel coil is placed in each location. The inbound and outbound buffer zone is correspondingly arranged outside one end of the outermost longitudinally arranged shelf group. The maximum load of the storage crane is greater than twice the weight of the heaviest specification steel coil.

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