Adjustable Third Rail for Vibration Isolation in Storage Racks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing article storage facilities face issues with vibrations from one transport device being transmitted to another through shared rails, leading to instability and maintenance challenges.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a third rail system with a fixed base and a movable rail portion that can be adjusted to create a gap between the first and second rails, reducing vibration transmission and facilitating easy movement of transport devices for maintenance by spacing the rails apart and allowing the movable rail to be positioned accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a shared rail is used for both transport devices, then the structure is simplified and space is saved, but vibrations from one transport device are transmitted to the other through the rail
Solution Approach 1:
The shared rail is divided into two separate rails (first rail and second rail), with each rail dedicated to one transport device. This segmentation prevents vibration transmission between transport devices while maintaining structural efficiency and space utilization.
2Productivity
If transport devices share a common rail, then maintenance requires moving devices to retreating areas, but this limits maintenance accessibility and increases downtime
Solution Approach 1:
By providing separate rails for each transport device, maintenance can be performed on one device without affecting the other. Each device has its own dedicated maintenance area, eliminating the need to move devices to shared retreating areas and reducing maintenance downtime.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If rails are spaced apart to reduce vibration transmission, then the distance between storage racks increases, but this reduces space utilization
Solution Approach 1:
The first and second rails are positioned close to each other and connected via a third rail, merging the structural support functions while maintaining separate transport paths. This combination reduces the overall space required compared to completely separate rail systems, while still preventing vibration transmission through the movable rail mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
An article storage facility includes a first rail extending along a rail extending direction, a first storage rack configured to store a plurality of articles, a first transport device configured to move along the first rail and to transfer an article to and from the first storage rack, a second rail extending along the rail extending direction; and a second storage rack configured to store a plurality of articles, and a second transport device configured to move along the second rail and to transfer an article to and from the second storage rack. The first rail and the second rail are spaced apart by a set distance from each other along the rail extending direction. A third rail extends along the rail extending direction between the first rail and the second rail, and has a length less than the set distance. The third rail includes a fixed base and a movable rail portion. The movable rail portion is so configured that a location of the movable rail portion with respect to the fixed base when fixed to the fixed base can be changed.