Article Storage Facility Handling Inclined Container Stacks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing article storage facilities face challenges in performing appropriate transport operations when a container group is placed on an inclined surface, as the gripping unit's position needs to be accurately adjusted to account for variations in the placement surface's inclination and container positions, which is not effectively addressed by prior technologies.
Innovation Solution
The article storage facility includes a control device with a storage unit that stores coordinate information, bottom surface dimension information, and container group position information, allowing the computation of placement inclination and individual container positions. This enables the transport device's movement mechanism to adjust the gripping unit's position accurately in the X and Y directions, ensuring proper handling of containers even on inclined surfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the gripping unit uses a fixed gripping position in the horizontal direction for all containers, then the device complexity is reduced, but the transport operation becomes inappropriate when containers are placed on an inclined surface
Solution Approach 1:
The gripping unit's horizontal position is made dynamic rather than fixed. The control device calculates corrected horizontal positions based on detected placement surface inclination, allowing the gripping unit to adapt its position automatically when the placement surface is inclined, thereby maintaining reliable transport operations without increasing mechanical complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operational parameters of the gripping unit based on detected conditions. By detecting the inclination angle of the placement surface and calculating corresponding horizontal position corrections, the system adjusts the gripping parameters dynamically to maintain appropriate transport operations on inclined surfaces
2Reliability
If the gripping unit adjusts the horizontal position for each container on an inclined surface, then the transport operation appropriateness is improved, but the device complexity and control complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical adjustment mechanisms with a computational control system. Instead of providing separate mechanical adjustment means for each gripping position, the system uses a control device that detects placement surface inclination and calculates corrected horizontal positions through computation, thereby achieving accurate positioning without increasing mechanical device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where the control device detects the actual placement surface inclination and uses this information to calculate and adjust the gripping unit's horizontal position. This closed-loop feedback approach ensures accurate transport operations while keeping the control system manageable through algorithmic rather than mechanical complexity
Data Source
AI summary
An article storage facility is disclosed that is capable of performing an appropriate transport operation on a container group even when a container group that includes a plurality of containers in a stacked state is placed on a placement surface in an inclined state. The control device performs inclination computation processing to obtain a placement inclination θ that is an inclination of a container group Cg placed on a placement surface F relative to a Z direction, based on coordinate information, bottom surface dimension information, and container group position information that are stored in a storage unit, and individual position computation processing to obtain individual position information that indicates a position, in X and Y directions, of each of the containers C in the tiers included in the container group Cg, based on the container group position information, the placement inclination θ, and the height dimension information, and controls a movement mechanism based on the individual position information.