Warehouse Transfer Hooks for Mixed-Width Rack Storage
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing automated warehouses face inefficiencies in storing multiple packages with different widths in the depth direction of racks, particularly in terms of cycle time for discharging packages to the front side of the rack.
Innovation Solution
The automated warehouse system includes a transfer device with adjustable arms and hooks, controlled by a controller, that can selectively use a rear end hook or an intermediate hook to store packages based on their width, avoiding unnecessary hook changes and optimizing the storage process for packages of varying sizes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If hook change operation is performed between front/rear hooks and intermediate hooks to store packages with different widths in the depth direction, then the rack can store multiple package types, but the cycle time for discharging packages to the front side increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically selects which hook (front, intermediate, or rear) to use based on the width of the package being stored. The controller determines the appropriate hook configuration in real-time, allowing the transfer device to adapt its structure dynamically rather than requiring fixed hook positions. This dynamic selection eliminates unnecessary hook changes and reduces cycle time while maintaining the ability to store multiple package widths.
2Ease of operation
If the arm extends further to push out packages by predetermined distance using rear end hook, then packages can be discharged to front positions, but transfer time increases due to additional movement
Solution Approach 1:
The hook system is segmented into multiple independent hooks (front, intermediate, rear) positioned at different locations along the arm. This segmentation allows the system to use different hooks for different operations: rear hooks for pushing out packages from deep positions, intermediate hooks for transferring to front positions, and front hooks for final placement. By having multiple specialized hooks instead of one universal hook, the system avoids unnecessary arm retraction and extension movements, reducing transfer time while maintaining ease of operation.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
There is provided an automated warehouse that is capable of storing a plurality of types of packages with different package widths in a depth direction of a rack, and can efficiently store a package at a storage position on a front side of the rack. An automated warehouse 1 of the present invention includes a rack 2, a loading/unloading carriage 4 having a transfer device 12, and controllers 22 and 50, the transfer device 12 includes arms 32, 34, 36, and 38, front and rear end hooks 46, and an intermediate hook 48, and the controller 22 or 50, when transferring a package to a storage position S on a front side, transfers the package by a hold change operation of a package A1, B1 by the rear end hook 46 and the intermediate hook 48 in a case where a package width W1 of a package A2, B2 on a back side is larger than a package width of the package A1, B1 to be transferred onto the front side, and transfers the package by the rear end hook 46 without hook change operation in a case where the package width of the package on the back side is smaller than or the same as a package width of the package to be transferred onto the front side.