Variable area protection for general cargo warehouses

Abstract

Area protection (1) for a general cargo warehouse (2), wherein the general cargo warehouse (2) comprises a safety area (3) for storing general cargo (4), wherein the safety area (3) has a first extension x and a second extension y, and wherein at least two transport devices (5) for moving general cargo (4) into and / or out of the safety area (3) are arranged along the extension of the first extension x at a minimum distance a from each other, characterized in that the first extension x is at least partially secured by means of at least two opposing laser scanners (6) with an optical barrier (7) for the purpose of personal safety, wherein the laser scanners (6) can be controlled in such a way thatthat, depending on control commands for at least one transport device (5), a recess (8) can be temporarily created in the optical barrier (7) in the area of ​​the first transport device (5-1) and / or the area of ​​the second transport device (5-2) for the transport of unit loads (4).

Description

[0001] The invention relates to an area protection system for a general cargo warehouse, wherein the general cargo warehouse comprises a security area for storing general cargo, wherein the security area has a first extent x and a second extent y, and wherein at least two transport devices for moving general cargo into and / or out of the security area are arranged in the extent of the first extent x at a minimum distance a from one another.

[0002] For example, in substrate processing machines, such as sheet-fed printing machines, web-fed printing machines, post-processing equipment for processing printed substrates, but also in many other applications, piece goods such as pallets loaded and / or unloaded with individual parts, containers such as individual parts stacked in wire mesh boxes or even printed or unprinted substrate rolls are stored in an intermediate storage facility for subsequent processing steps or are kept in a buffer storage facility arranged in front of a processing device.To ensure a high degree of automation, piece goods such as pallets, wire mesh boxes, or even roll-shaped containers such as substrate rolls are transported into and / or out of such general cargo warehouses as needed, usually automatically, using permanently installed transport devices such as plate conveyors, rail-mounted transport vehicles, or cranes. Since such transport devices, unlike self-driving transport vehicles such as AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles), i.e., self-steering vehicles such as unmanned industrial trucks, which are equipped with appropriate scanners to prevent collisions with objects or people, are not secured by technically complex sensors and autonomous control systems, there is a need to secure relevant areas, particularly with regard to personal safety.

[0003] Since in such general cargo warehouses, such as roll warehouses in a printing plant, the cargo must be arranged and stored in a space-saving manner and thus with only small distances between them, there is a fundamental risk that people such as operating personnel could be crushed by automatically transported general cargo. Therefore, such general cargo warehouses must have appropriate safety barriers. In the simplest case, this can be a fence to prevent unauthorized access, or to interrupt the automatic transport of general cargo and / or the automatic movement of transport devices when access points such as doors are opened.

[0004] However, since such mechanical safeguards are fundamentally a hindrance to the transport of transport devices and / or piece goods and safety-protected gates would be required for this purpose, area safeguards are also known from the prior art which have optical safeguards in the form of light grids or light beams in at least one area, usually the area of ​​the supply and / or removal of transport devices and / or piece goods, which are released by a control device when a transport device and / or piece goods are to be conveyed through, but at the same time the automatic movement of transport trolleys and / or piece goods is excluded if an unauthorized passage of a person is detected.

[0005] However, the area protection systems known from the state of the art have the disadvantage that they can only protect a single spatially defined area by means of optical protection, so that in the event that a general cargo warehouse can be supplied and / or disposed of with general cargo at several locations, a large number of such light grids are required, which on the one hand causes high costs and, on the other hand, causes a high susceptibility to failure and high maintenance effort due to the large number of installed light sources and light sensors.

[0006] The invention is therefore based on the object of creating a solution which makes it possible to secure an area by means of a very small number of light sources and at the same time to make the secured area passable at a plurality of different points for the passage of transport vehicles and / or piece goods.

[0007] The object is achieved according to the invention in that the first extent x is at least partially secured with an optical barrier by means of at least two laser scanners arranged opposite one another for the purpose of personal safety, wherein the laser scanners can be controlled in such a way that, depending on control commands for at least one transport device, a recess can be temporarily created in the optical barrier in the area of ​​the first transport device and / or the area of ​​the second transport device for carrying piece goods through.

[0008] Such a device has the advantage that a small number of light sources or sensors can be used to create a continuous flow of transport vehicles and / or general cargo through a number of different points without compromising the quality of personnel safety. This reduces the investment costs for the safety equipment. The small number of installed light sources and sensors reduces the risk of technical failure and the maintenance and cleaning required for safe operation. Furthermore, if the dimensions of the general cargo to be transported change, no mechanical modification of the security gates is required.

[0009] According to one embodiment, the at least one recess created in the optical barrier has a definable and / or variable width b or the at least one recess is changed in its width b depending on the piece goods to be transported.

[0010] This design has the advantage that the width b of the recesses can be adapted to the means of transport and / or piece goods to be conveyed through the optical barrier. This prevents an unnecessarily large gap between the piece goods and the optical barrier in the case of narrow piece goods, thus preventing a person from walking alongside the piece goods and thus penetrating the optical barrier undetected, thus illegally entering the security area.

[0011] According to a further embodiment, the contour of at least one recess can be changed or the contour of at least one recess is changed depending on the piece goods to be transported. Such a design has the advantage that the contour of the recesses can be adapted to the means of transport and / or piece goods to be conveyed through the optical barrier. This avoids, for example, the creation of an unnecessarily large gap between the piece goods and the optical barrier, at least partially, in the case of cylindrical piece goods. This prevents a person from walking alongside the piece goods and thus penetrating the optical barrier undetected, thus illegally entering the security area.

[0012] According to a further embodiment, the piece goods warehouse is designed as a roller warehouse and the piece goods are a substrate roll. Such a design has the advantage that the roll storage of a printing works or a printing press can be designed very variably with regard to the feeding options, since the feeding of the substrate rolls is no longer limited to just one or a few appropriately secured points for the roll passages into the security area, so that in the case of a multi-row arrangement of the storage locations, the feeding or removal of the new rolls and / or the remaining rolls can take place at any location without additional technical effort, without the need for transport perpendicular to the feed paths within the security area.

[0013] According to a further embodiment, the piece goods warehouse is located upstream of a printing press, in particular the reel changer of a web-fed printing press. Such a design has the advantage that the roll supply area upstream of the roll changer can be designed to be very variable in terms of feeding options, since the feed of the substrate rolls is no longer limited to just one or a few appropriately secured points for the roll passages into the safety area, so that in the case of a multi-row arrangement of the storage locations, the feed or removal of the new rolls and / or the remaining rolls can take place at any location without additional technical effort, without the need for transport perpendicular to the feed paths within the safety area.

[0014] Preferred developments of the invention will become apparent from the dependent claims and the following description. Various embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail, without being limited thereto, with reference to the drawings. Herein: Fig. 1 A piece goods warehouse designed as a roller warehouse with a plurality of piece goods to be fed in, designed as substrate rolls Fig. 2 A piece goods warehouse designed as a roller bearing with a piece goods to be fed into a first position Fig. 3 A piece goods warehouse designed as a roller bearing with a piece goods to be supplied at a second position different from the first Fig. 4 An example of an opening contour adapted to the outer shape of the piece goods

[0015] Fig. 1 shows the top view of an exemplary piece goods warehouse 2 designed as a roller warehouse. Although the Fig. While Figures 1 to 4 all refer to examples in which a substrate roll, such as a roll of paper to be printed, is depicted as the piece goods 4, this form of the piece goods 4 is purely exemplary. A piece goods 4 is therefore not limited to a substrate roll, but can be applied to all commercially handled piece goods 4, such as pallets, wire mesh boxes, containers, especially large containers for fluids or solids.

[0016] Fig. 1 shows the top view of a piece goods warehouse 2 with a first extension x and a second extension y for receiving a plurality of piece goods 4, namely in the example shown for receiving a maximum of nine piece goods 4, which is why the Fig. The example shown in Figure 1 shows a piece goods warehouse 2 with nine storage locations 9. An unoccupied storage location 9 is shown as a rectangle with a dashed line, whereas an occupied storage location 9 is shown as a piece goods 4 stored thereon, using the example of a substrate roll. The piece goods warehouse 2 is supplied by means of a feeding device 11, which is shown by way of example as a rail embedded in the floor or placed thereon, although the feeding device 11 can also have other designs such as a slatted conveyor or a conveyor belt or a crane runway. In the Fig. 1, one or more transport carriages 10 can be moved by means of the feed device 11, which, for example, can be connected to a conveyor belt 12 in the feed device 11 and in Fig. 1 chain conveyor system not shown.

[0017] The feeding device 11 has in the Fig. 1, the system comprises three turntables 12, with which a transport carriage 10 can be deflected from the first direction of the feed device 11 into a second direction of the transport devices 5 and vice versa, by positioning a transport carriage 10 on a turntable 12 and rotating the corresponding turntable 12 accordingly.

[0018] In the Fig. In the example shown in Figure 1, the piece goods warehouse 2 comprises a total of three transport devices 5, each spaced apart from one another at a distance a, namely a first transport device 5-1, a second transport device 5-2 and a third transport device 5-3, all of which are arranged substantially at right angles to the feed device 11. The transport devices 5 are preferably designed with the same technical operating principle as the feed device 11, that is to say, for example, as a rail system with transport chains arranged therein for driving the corresponding transport carriages 10.

[0019] In the Fig. In the example shown in Figure 1, three storage locations 9 are arranged one behind the other in the extension of the first transport device 5-1, namely the storage locations 9-1.1, 9-1.2 and 9-1.3, which can be loaded and unloaded via the first transport device 5-1 by means of transport trolleys 10. In the example shown in Fig. In the example shown in Figure 1, storage location 9-1.1 is occupied by a first piece of goods 4-1, and storage location 9-1.2 is occupied by a second piece of goods 4-2. Storage location 9-1.3 is still free; a transport trolley 10 is parked there.

[0020] In the Fig. In the example shown in Figure 1, three storage locations 9 are arranged one behind the other in the extension of the second transport device 5-2, namely the storage locations 9-2.1, 9-2.2 and 9-2.3, which can be loaded and unloaded via the second transport device 5-2 by means of transport trolleys 10. In the example shown in Fig. In the example shown in Figure 1, storage location 9-2.1 is occupied by a third piece of general cargo, 4-3. Storage locations 9-2.2 and 9-2.2 are still free.

[0021] In the Fig. In the example shown in Figure 1, three storage locations 9 are arranged one behind the other in the extension of the third transport device 5-3, namely the storage locations 9-3.1, 9-3.2 and 9-3.3, which can be loaded and unloaded via the third transport device 5-3 by means of transport trolleys 10. In the example shown in Fig. In the example shown in Figure 1, storage location 9-3.1 is occupied by a fourth piece of general cargo, 4-4. Storage locations 9-3.2 and 9-3.3 are still free.

[0022] Such a design of a piece goods warehouse 2 offers the advantage that no transport of the piece goods in the extension of the feed device 11 is required within the security area 3, which is why this configuration is very space-saving.

[0023] Storage locations 9 can be allocated and released depending on various criteria, which is done in a separate logistics software. This software controls the allocation of Fig. 1 not shown control device, the unloaded and / or loaded with piece goods 4 transport trolleys 10, so that the movement of the transport trolleys 10 is automated. Since there is a danger to persons during the automated loading and unloading of the general cargo warehouse 2, the general cargo warehouse 2 is secured against unauthorized access by means of at least one area security device 1. Fig. 1, the piece goods warehouse 2 is secured in the area adjacent to the feed device 11 by means of an area protection 1, which is described in more detail below, since in the example shown in Fig. 1 shown example, only this area is used to transport piece goods 4 into and out of the general cargo warehouse 2. The remaining three sides of the general cargo warehouse 2 are Fig. 1, the area is secured against unauthorized entry by means of mechanical access protection devices 13 such as permanently mounted barriers or fences.

[0024] Although the Fig. While the example shown in Figure 1 only shows the securing of one side of the general cargo warehouse 2 with an area securing device 1, it is also possible to secure more than just one side of the general cargo warehouse 2 by means of an area securing device 1. This is particularly useful if, for example, the supply of general cargo 4 into the roller warehouse 2 and / or the removal of general cargo 4 from the general cargo warehouse 2 takes place on several sides of the general cargo warehouse 2.

[0025] The Fig. The area protection 1 shown in Figure 1 comprises two laser scanners 6, wherein one laser scanner 6 is arranged at each end of the area to be secured. Although the Fig. 1 only one area protection 1 is shown, which comprises two laser scanners 6, it is also possible, for example, depending on the length of the area to be protected, to use more than two laser scanners 6.

[0026] The first laser scanner 6-1 and the second laser scanner 6-2 build a Fig. 1 vertically extending optical barrier 7 shown as a dotted line, as shown for example in Fig. 4 is shown. If this optical barrier 7 is entered or passed through by an object or a person, this intrusion of an object or a person is detected by at least one of the two laser scanners 6, so that any automated movement of a transport trolley 10 located in the security area 3 is stopped and further movement of an unloaded or loaded transport trolley 10 is only possible after release by the operating personnel.

[0027] In the Fig. 1, the optical barrier 7 is continuous, since the piece goods 4-5 are still outside the security area 3, the sixth piece goods 4-6 is still on the feed device 11 and therefore cannot yet be introduced into the piece goods warehouse 2, since for this purpose the sixth piece goods 4-6 must first be brought into the correct position by a turntable 12.

[0028] However, since the area protection 1 reacts to any intrusion of an object or a person by switching off the automatic movement of the loaded and / or unloaded transport trolleys 10, a corresponding partial and temporary interruption of the optical barrier 7 is required for the introduction or removal of a piece goods 4 into the piece goods warehouse 2 in order to avoid an unintentional stoppage of the automated movements of the loaded and / or unloaded transport trolleys 10.

[0029] Fig. 2 shows a state in which the fifth piece of cargo 4-5 is conveyed from the second turntable 12-2 along the second transport device 5-2 into the piece of cargo warehouse 2 and thus into the security area 3 by means of a transport carriage 10 (not shown). In order to avoid stopping the automated movement of the corresponding transport trolleys 10 or other transport devices 5 at least within the safety area 3 when the fifth piece of goods 4-5 comes into contact with the optical barrier 7, Fig. 2, at least one of the two laser scanners 6 is controlled depending on the control commands for the second transport device 5-2 in such a way that a recess 8 is created in the optical barrier 7 in the area of ​​the second transport device 5-2. The area of ​​the recess 8 is therefore not monitored by the optical barrier 7 in the sense of an area protection 1, so that in the Fig. 2, the fifth piece goods 4-5 can be brought into the security area 3 by means of the second transport device 5-2 without interrupting an automated movement of a transport device 5 or a transport carriage 10 in the security area 3.

[0030] For the introduction of the fifth piece of goods 4-5 into the security area 3, at least one of the two laser scanners 6 is Fig. 2 is controlled depending on the control commands for the second transport device 5-2, which means that the recess 8 is only made in the optical barrier 7 in the area of ​​the second transport device 5-2 in order to prevent undetected passing through of the optical barrier 7 by operating personnel at a location other than the area of ​​the second transport device 5-2. Furthermore, the interruption of the optical barrier 7 is possible due to the dependence of the control commands for the second transport device 5-2, that the recess 8 in the optical barrier 7 and thus in the area protection 1 is only realized when a passage of the fifth piece of goods 4-5 through the optical barrier 7 is imminent, and that the recess 8 disappears again, preferably immediately after the fifth piece of goods 4-5 has exceeded the area of ​​the optical barrier 7.This prevents a person from running in front of the fifth piece of cargo 4-5 or immediately after the fifth piece of cargo 4-5 without being detected by the area protection 1.

[0031] For this purpose, in an advantageous embodiment of the control device, the dimensions of the piece goods 4 to be transported, such as the width (i.e., the dimension perpendicular to the direction of movement), the length (i.e., the dimension extending in the direction of movement), and the height, are available. In this case, the width b of the respective recess 8 can also be changed depending on the piece goods 4 to be transported. This has the advantage of preventing a person from walking alongside the piece goods 4 to be transported, viewed in the direction of movement, and thus entering the security area 3 undetected by the area security 1.

[0032] Furthermore, it is advantageous if the contour of the respective piece goods 4 is also stored in the control device, so that the contour of a respective recess 8 can be adapted or changed depending on the piece goods 4 to be transported or depending on the contour of the piece goods 4 to be transported. This can prevent, for example, with piece goods 4 with a large cylindrical cross-section, people walking bent over next to the piece goods from not being detected by the area security system.

[0033] Fig. 3 shows that in the Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 shown general cargo warehouse 2 at a time when the fifth general cargo 4-5 was moved to the storage location 9-2.2 and which in the Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 the sixth piece of goods 4-6 still located on the feed device 11 is transported into the security area 3 by means of the third transport device 5-3.

[0034] In order to avoid stopping the automated movement of the corresponding transport trolleys 10 or other transport devices 5 at least within the safety area 3 when the sixth piece of goods 4-6 comes into contact with the optical barrier 7, Fig. 3, at least one of the two laser scanners 6 is controlled depending on the control commands for the third transport device 5-3 in such a way that a recess 8 is created in the optical barrier 7 in the area of ​​the third transport device 5-3. The area of ​​the recess 8 is therefore not monitored by the optical barrier 7 in the sense of an area protection 1, so that in the Fig. 3, the sixth piece of goods 4-6 can be brought into the security area 3 by means of the third transport device 5-3 without interrupting an automated movement of a transport device 5 or a transport carriage 10 in the security area 3.

[0035] For the introduction of the sixth piece of goods 4-6 into the security area 3, at least one of the two laser scanners 6 is Fig. 3 is controlled depending on the control commands for the third transport device 5-3, which means that the recess 8 is only made in the optical barrier 7 in the area of ​​the third transport device 5-3 in order to prevent undetected passing through of the optical barrier 7 by operating personnel at a location other than the area of ​​the third transport device 5-3. Furthermore, the interruption of the optical barrier 7 is possible due to the dependence of the control commands for the third transport device 5-3, that the recess 8 in the optical barrier 7 and thus in the area protection 1 is only realized when a passage of the sixth piece of goods 4-6 through the optical barrier 7 is imminent, and that the recess 8 disappears again, preferably immediately after the sixth piece of goods 4-6 has exceeded the area of ​​the optical barrier 7.This prevents a person from running in front of the sixth piece of cargo 4-6 or from running immediately after the sixth piece of cargo 4-6 without being detected by the area protection 1.

[0036] Although in the Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 only the exemplary cases are shown in which only by the second transport device 5-2 or only by the third transport device 5-3 and thus sequentially piece goods 4 are brought into the security area 3, it is of course also possible to create a plurality of recesses 8 for introducing and / or removing a plurality of piece goods 4 and / or transport trolleys 10 in the optical barrier 7 on several of the transport devices 5 at the same time.For this purpose, depending on the shape and / or dimensions of the piece goods 4 and / or the transport trolleys 10 or the design of the transport devices 5 and / or depending on the distances a between the transport devices 5, it may be necessary to place at least one additional laser scanner 6 in order to avoid that no optical barrier 7 can be created in the shadow of a piece of goods 4 in particular, in order to avoid corresponding gaps with regard to personal safety.

[0037] Fig. Fig. 4 shows a view in the direction of view of the second transport device 5-2 in a situation according to Fig. 2, that is, Fig. 4 shows the exemplary situation when the fifth piece goods 4-5 are driven through by means of a transport carriage 10 on the second transport device 5-2 through the optical barrier 7, which in the case of Fig. 4 is generated by the first laser scanner 6-1 and the second laser scanner 6-2. Here, the fifth piece of goods 4-5 is formed as a cylindrical substrate roll with a diameter d.

[0038] As already explained above, in an advantageous embodiment of the control device, the dimensions of the respective piece goods 4 to be transported, such as width, i.e. the dimension perpendicular to the direction of movement, length, i.e. the dimension extending in the direction of movement, and the height and / or the diameter d and / or the contour of the relevant cross-section, are known. In this case, the width b of the respective recess 8 and / or the contour of the respective recess 8 can be changed depending on the piece goods 4 to be transported. This has the advantage that it can be prevented that a person can walk sideways next to the piece goods 4 to be transported in the direction of movement and thus enter the security area 3 undetected by the area security 1.

[0039] Fig.4 shows, using the example of a piece goods 4-5 with a circular cross-section and a diameter d, that the width b of the recess 8 as well as the contour of the recess 8 in the optical barrier 7 are adapted to the diameter d and the contour of the piece goods 4 in such a way that there are no unmonitored areas in which a person could gain unauthorized access to the security area 3 of the piece goods warehouse 2. List of reference symbols 1 Area security 2 general cargo warehouses 3 Security area 4 general cargo 5 Transport device 6 laser scanners 7 optical barrier 8 recess 9 storage space 10 transport trolleys 11 Feeding device 12 turntable 13 Access security x first expansion y second expansion a minimum distance b Width of recess d diameter

Claims

[1] Area protection (1) for a general cargo warehouse (2), wherein the general cargo warehouse (2) comprises a security area (3) for storing general cargo (4), wherein the security area (3) has a first extension x and a second extension y, and wherein in the extension of the first extension x at a minimum distance a from each other at least two transport devices (5) for bringing general cargo (4) into and / or out of the security area (3) are arranged, characterized byin that the first extent x is at least partially secured with an optical barrier (7) by means of at least two laser scanners (6) arranged opposite one another for the purpose of personal safety, wherein the laser scanners (6) can be controlled in such a way that, depending on control commands for at least one transport device (5), a recess (8) can be temporarily created in the optical barrier (7) in the area of ​​the first transport device (5-1) and / or the area of ​​the second transport device (5-2) for passing piece goods (4) through. [2] Area protection (1) according to claim 1, characterized by that the at least one recess (8) produced in the optical barrier (7) has a definable and / or variable width b. [3] Area protection (1) according to one of claims 1 to 2, characterized by that the contour of at least one recess (8) can be changed. [4] Area protection (1) according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized by that the piece goods storage (2) is designed as a roller storage and that the piece goods (4) is a substrate roll. [5] Area protection (1) according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized by that the piece goods warehouse (2) is located in front of a printing press.

Images