Article Storage Facility Conveyor Pairing for Same-Type Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing article storage facilities struggle to efficiently transport two articles of the same type together, as they lack a configuration for supplying such articles adjacent to each other, leading to suboptimal storage and transportation efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The article storage facility employs a supply device with a first conveyor and multiple branching conveyors, controlled by a control device that performs selection processing to determine the destination conveyor for each article, ensuring that articles of the same type are transported adjacent to each other, thereby increasing the likelihood of paired delivery to the transport device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If articles are transported individually by the supply device, then the supply device configuration is simple, but the efficiency of storing articles of the same type together is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The supply device is segmented into multiple independent conveyors (first conveyor, second conveyor, third conveyor) that can operate independently. Each conveyor can handle articles of different types, allowing flexible configuration to transport articles of the same type together while maintaining overall system simplicity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The control device dynamically assigns articles to different conveyors based on real-time identification of article types and current conveyor states. This dynamic routing enables the system to adaptively optimize for transporting articles of the same type together, improving storage operation efficiency without requiring a fixed complex mechanical configuration.
2Productivity
If the supply device is configured to transport two articles of the same type adjacent to each other, then storage efficiency improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple conveyors are configured with universal functionality to handle different article types. The first conveyor, second conveyor, and third conveyor can all transport various article types, allowing the system to route articles flexibly to achieve pairing of same-type articles without requiring specialized equipment for each article type.
Solution Approach 2:
The control device acts as an intermediary that receives identification information about articles, determines optimal routing decisions, and controls the conveyors accordingly. This intelligent mediator enables the system to achieve complex coordination of article placement without requiring complex mechanical linkages or synchronization mechanisms.
3Productivity
If articles of different types are mixed on the same conveyor, then the conveyor utilization is high, but the ability to transport articles of the same type together is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
Different sections of the supply device (different conveyors) are assigned different local qualities or specializations based on current needs. The control device determines which conveyor should receive which article type based on the state of each conveyor, allowing articles of the same type to be grouped together on specific conveyors while maintaining high overall utilization across the system.
Data Source
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AI summary
A control device performs selection processing for determining a selected conveyor that is to be the destination of a target article. The selection processing is processing for, if a second conveyor in which an article of the same type as the target article is the most-upstream article and there is no adjacent same-type article group, and a second conveyor in which an articles of the same type as the target article is the most-upstream article and there is an even number of articles in the adjacent same-type article group, are pairing target conveyors and there is a pairing target conveyor, determining the pairing target conveyor as the selected conveyor, and if there is no pairing target conveyor, determining a second conveyor selected according to a predetermined basic selection rule as the selected conveyor.