Automatic warehouse system

Abstract

To provide an automatic warehouse system having high storage efficiency.SOLUTION: An automatic warehouse system comprises a plurality of article transport carriages 140, a storage rack 110 comprising a plurality of stages of storage shelves 111 having different height levels with respect to an installation surface, and a horizontal movement path 120 which enables the article transport carriage 140 to travel thereon and is disposed to allow access to each of the storage shelves 111. The storage shelves 111 include those arranged at a shelf stage interval smaller than the height of the article transport carriage 140. The horizontal movement paths 120 include those arranged in the height direction at an interval larger than the height of the article transport carriage 140 on one side and the other side of the storage rack 110, and arranged in the height direction at different levels in one side and the other side of the storage rack 110.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an automated warehouse system in which articles are loaded into and removed from a storage facility configured three-dimensionally by using article transport vehicles. [Background technology]

[0002] There is known an automated warehouse system that can efficiently store and retrieve a large number of items in as small a space as possible by using an item transport cart to transport items to a storage facility that is configured three-dimensionally and has multiple storage shelves at different height levels relative to the installation surface (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In such an automated warehouse system, horizontal transport paths along which article transport carts can travel are laid in correspondence with storage shelves at each height level, and the system is configured to allow articles to be stored in and removed from the storage shelves. Also known is an automated warehouse system in which an article transport cart is provided with a lifting device to enable the article transport cart to move between storage shelves at different height levels.

[0003] In an automated warehouse system, the storage shelves in the warehouse must be spaced apart at intervals greater than the height of the article transport cart when it is holding articles, so that the article transport cart does not interfere with the horizontal path. This creates a problem of wasted space in the vertical direction, resulting in poor storage efficiency.

[0004] To address such problems, for example, Patent Document 2 discloses a method of improving storage efficiency by using an item transport cart equipped with a lift mechanism for raising and lowering items, and providing one or more storage shelves at different heights to form multiple shelf levels between deck levels.

[0005] Even in the automated warehouse system described in Patent Document 2, the pitch between adjacent deck levels in the vertical direction needs to be set to be greater than or equal to the height of the item transport cart. However, if the item transport cart is equipped with a lift mechanism, the height of the item transport cart itself will be large, resulting in the storage facility itself being larger. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] JP 2022-172392 A [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 7000506 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] The present invention has been made in light of the above circumstances, and has an object to provide an automated warehouse system with high storage efficiency. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The present invention solves the above problem by providing an automated warehouse system comprising a plurality of item transport carts, a storage rack with multiple storage shelves at different height levels relative to a mounting surface, and a horizontal movement path configured to allow the item transport carts to run on and to access each of the storage shelves, wherein the storage shelves include those arranged with shelf-level spacing smaller than the height of the item transport carts, and the horizontal movement path includes those arranged in parallel in the height direction at spacing greater than the height of the item transport carts on one and the other sides of the storage rack, and arranged in staggered heights on one and the other sides of the storage rack. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the invention of claim 1, the storage rack includes storage shelves arranged with shelf intervals smaller than the height of the article transport cart, and the horizontal movement paths provided on both sides of the storage rack include ones arranged with staggered levels on one side and the other side of the storage rack, which makes it possible to increase the storage volume of articles per unit area of ​​the automated warehouse and to enable the inflow and outflow of a variety of articles of different sizes. Therefore, articles can be stored efficiently in the storage rack with high density. Furthermore, since the storage shelves in the storage rack can be arranged with greater freedom, by simply changing the number of storage shelves installed and the spacing between the shelves, it is possible to accommodate items of various sizes, including items whose vertical dimension is smaller than the height of the item transport cart, thereby achieving high versatility. By changing the shelf intervals of the storage shelves and the arrangement of the horizontal movement paths in the storage rack, it is possible to accommodate items of various sizes, eliminating the need to change the configuration of the item transport cart depending on the size of the item. As a result, when multiple item transport carts are provided, all of the item transport carts can be made to have the same height, which makes it possible to avoid complicated control of the item transport carts and improves the efficiency of storing and retrieving items (the operating efficiency of the automated warehouse).

[0010] According to the invention of claim 2, by equipping the item transport cart with a lifting and moving mechanism that moves up and down the lifting and moving path, it becomes possible to circulate the item transport cart within the automated warehouse, thereby improving the efficiency of storing and retrieving items.

[0011] According to the invention of claim 3, by including a structure that is accessible from only one of the horizontal movement paths on one side of the storage rack and the horizontal movement path on the other side of the storage rack, even when multiple types of items of different sizes are stored or retrieved, the movement of other item transport carts is not hindered, and the efficiency of storing and retrieving items can be improved. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1]1 is a schematic front view showing the configuration of a storage facility in one embodiment of the automated warehouse system of the present invention. FIG. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the storage facility shown in FIG. [Diagram 3] 2 is a schematic front view showing a part of the configuration of a storage rack in the storage cabinet shown in FIG. 1. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a schematic side view illustrating a general configuration of the article transport cart. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] An automated warehouse system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. For ease of explanation, an XYZ three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system is defined in which the traveling direction of an article transport cart traveling on a horizontal transport path in a horizontal plane is the "X direction," the direction perpendicular to the X direction in the horizontal plane is the "Y direction," and the height direction is the "Z direction," and the structure of each part will be described.

[0014] The automated warehouse system of the present invention uses item transport carts to move items in and out of a three-dimensionally configured storage warehouse, and is configured so that the item transport carts are circulated between the storage warehouse where the items are stored and a work area where item picking work is carried out. 1 and 2, the storage facility 100 is configured with a plurality of storage racks 110 arranged side by side in the X direction and / or Y direction, with aisles Ai along which the article transport vehicle 140 can travel between adjacent storage racks 110. Although not shown, the storage facility 100 is also provided with a travel path configured to allow the article transport vehicle 140 to move between the aisles Ai. The number and arrangement of the storage racks 110 are not particularly limited and can be changed as appropriate according to the size of the installation space. For convenience, only a portion of the storage 100 is shown in Figs.

[0015] The storage rack 110 is configured three-dimensionally and includes a plurality of storage shelves 111 at different height levels relative to the installation surface FL of the storage rack 110. As shown in Fig. 3, storage shelves 111 include those arranged with shelf intervals smaller than the height of item transport cart 140. Here, "the height of item transport cart 140" refers to the maximum height of item transport cart 140. For example, referring to Fig. 4, when item W1 is held, "the height of item transport cart 140" is the height H1 of item transport cart 140 itself, and when item W2 is held, "the height of item transport cart 140" is the height H2 to the top surface of item W2. Furthermore, when no item is held, "the height of item transport cart 140" is the height H1 of item transport cart 140 itself. The shelf intervals in the storage rack 110 can be set appropriately depending on the size of the items to be stored, and the storage rack 110 may be configured such that all storage shelves 111 are arranged with uniform shelf intervals, or such that some storage shelves 111 are arranged with shelf intervals different from the other storage shelves 111. In this embodiment, the storage rack 110 is configured to include storage shelves 111 arranged with shelf intervals P1 smaller than the height of the item transport cart 140 and storage shelves 111 arranged with shelf intervals P2 larger than the height of the item transport cart 140, and is capable of storing two types of items W1 and W2 that are different in size in the height direction.

[0016] An aisle Ai formed between adjacent storage racks 110 in the Y direction is provided with a horizontal movement path that allows the article transport cart 140 to travel and access each of the storage shelves 111 . The horizontal movement path includes a first horizontal movement path 120a arranged side by side in the height direction at intervals (pitch) D1, D2 greater than the height of the item transport cart 140 on one side in the Y direction of the storage rack 110, and a second horizontal movement path 120b arranged side by side in the height direction at intervals (pitch) D1 greater than the height of the item transport cart 140 on the other side in the Y direction of the storage rack 110. Note that hereinafter, unless otherwise specified, the first horizontal movement path 120a and the second horizontal movement path 120b will be simply referred to as the horizontal movement path 120. In this embodiment, the horizontal movement path 120 is configured in a rail-like shape by providing a running rail 121 with an L-shaped cross section on the surface facing the aisle Ai of each of the adjacent storage racks 110, but the horizontal movement path may be configured in the shape of a flat slope, for example, as long as the horizontal movement path is configured to allow the item transport cart 140 to run on it.

[0017] The horizontal movement path 120 includes a structure in which one side and the other side of the storage rack 110 are arranged at different heights. In this embodiment, the first horizontal movement path 120a and the second horizontal movement path 120b are provided at different height levels. Therefore, each storage shelf 111 in the storage rack 110 can be accessed from only one of the first horizontal movement path 120a and the second horizontal movement path 120b, thereby improving the operating efficiency of the storage facility 100. The horizontal movement path 120 may include paths provided at the same height level on one side and the other side of the storage rack 110 .

[0018] Between adjacent storage racks 110 in the Y direction, an elevation movement path 130 is provided that enables article transport carts 140 to enter horizontal movement paths 120 at different height levels. The lifting and lowering path 130 is composed of a pair of support rails 131 arranged facing each other so as to extend in the Z direction at positions spaced apart in the Y direction. A rack gear 132 is fixed to each support rail 131, the rack gear 132 being formed, for example, in a substantially rectangular column shape and having rack teeth on one surface along the YZ plane.

[0019] The automated warehouse system according to this embodiment is configured to include multiple item transport carts 140, but because the storage rack 110 has the above configuration, it is possible to configure all of the item transport carts 140 to have the same height. In other words, even storage shelves 111 that are arranged with shelf intervals smaller than the height of the item transport carts 140 can be accessed without using item transport carts 140 of different heights, which simplifies the control of the item transport carts 140 and improves the operating efficiency of the storage warehouse 100.

[0020] As shown in FIG. 4, the item transport cart 140 has a main body 141 with an item holding section 142 that holds items W1 and W2, a horizontal movement mechanism with running wheels 147 that can be driven in forward and reverse directions for running on the running surface of the running rails 121 that constitute the horizontal movement path 120, a lifting movement mechanism that raises and lowers the lifting movement path 130 in the storage facility 100, and a control section (not shown). By equipping the item transport cart 140 with a lifting and moving mechanism that moves it up and down the lifting and moving path 130, it becomes possible to circulate the item transport cart 140 within the storage facility 100, thereby improving the efficiency of storing and retrieving items.

[0021] The lift drive mechanism includes a lift gear 152 configured to be engageable with the rack gear 132 in the lift movement path 130 .

[0022] The control unit is configured to enable article transport cart 140 to move independently, and to control a transfer mechanism (not shown) provided in article holder 142 to enable the transfer operation of articles W1 and W2.

[0023] In the above-described automated warehouse system, a worker enters the work area and places the items W1, W2 to be stored on the item transport cart 140, and then moves the item transport cart 140 from the work area toward a designated storage shelf 111 (designated storage shelf) in the storehouse to transfer the items from the item transport cart 140 to the designated storage shelf, thereby performing a warehousing operation for the items. After the items have been transferred, the item transport cart 140 may be moved to the work area to receive the next items W1, W2, or may be moved to another designated storage shelf 111 in the storehouse 100 to release the stored items W1, W2 or to change the storage position of the stored items W1, W2.

[0024] Thus, according to the above-mentioned automated warehouse system, the storage rack 110 includes storage shelves 111 arranged with shelf intervals smaller than the height of the article transport cart 140, and the horizontal movement paths 120a, 120b provided on both sides of the storage rack 110 include those arranged with staggered steps on one side and the other side of the storage rack 110, which makes it possible to increase the storage volume of articles per unit area of ​​the storage facility 100 and to allow the entry and exit of a plurality of types of articles W1, W2 of different sizes. This allows articles to be stored efficiently in the storage facility 100 with high density. Furthermore, if the lifting device provided on the item transport cart were used to perform storage operations on storage shelves that are arranged with shelf intervals smaller than the height of the item transport cart, there is a risk that this would interfere with the movement of other item transport carts traveling on the same running rail. However, in the above-mentioned automated warehouse system, each of the storage shelves 111 that are arranged with shelf intervals smaller than the height of the item transport cart 140 and are adjacent in the vertical direction are accessed from different horizontal movement paths 120a, 120b, so that the above-mentioned problems do not arise and the efficiency of storing and retrieving items can be improved. In addition, since there is greater freedom in the arrangement of the storage shelves 111 in the storage rack 110, by simply changing the number of storage shelves 111 installed or the shelf spacing of the storage shelves 111, it becomes possible to accommodate items of various sizes, including items whose vertical dimension is smaller than the height of the item transport cart 140, thereby achieving high versatility.

[0025] Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various design modifications can be made without departing from the present invention described in the claims. For example, in the above embodiment, a configuration was described in which the storage rack is capable of storing two types of items with different height sizes, but the storage rack may be configured to be provided with storage shelves and horizontal movement paths so that three or more types of items with different height sizes can be stored. The storage rack may be configured so that all storage shelves are arranged with shelf intervals that are smaller than the height of the article transport cart. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, a configuration has been described in which the article transport cart is raised and lowered using a rack and pinion system, but the article transport cart may also be configured to enter a horizontal movement path at a different height level using another lifting device. Furthermore, the horizontal movement path may be configured to horizontally move the article transport cart by a rack and pinion system. [Explanation of symbols]

[0026] 100... Storage 110 Storage rack 111 Storage shelf 120... horizontal movement path 120a... 1st horizontal movement path 120b... 2nd horizontal movement path 121 Running rail 130 Lifting path 131 Support rail 132 Rack gear 140 ··· Goods transport cart 141 Main body 142... Article holding part 147 ··· Traveling wheels 152 Lifting gear Ai: aisle FL... Installation surface W1... Goods W2... Goods

Claims

1. 1. An automated warehouse system comprising: a plurality of article transport vehicles; a storage rack having a plurality of storage shelves at different height levels relative to an installation surface; and a horizontal movement path configured so that the article transport vehicles can travel and provided so as to be able to access each of the storage shelves, The storage shelves include those arranged with shelf intervals smaller than the height of the article transport cart, The horizontal movement path is arranged side by side in the vertical direction at an interval greater than the height of the item transport cart on one side and the other side of the storage rack, and includes a stepped arrangement in the vertical direction on one side and the other side of the storage rack.

2. a lifting and lowering path that allows the article transport cart to enter a horizontal movement path having a different height level; 2. The automated warehouse system according to claim 1, wherein the article transport cart has a lifting and moving mechanism for moving up and down the lifting and moving path.

3. The automated warehouse system according to claim 1, characterized in that the storage shelves include those configured to be accessible only from either a horizontal movement path provided on one side of the storage rack or a horizontal movement path provided on the other side of the storage rack.

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