JPH06135516A - Movable rack device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate carrying-in and -out of articles and improve safety by moving racks based on stock control information inputted by radio remote operation for forming a working passage in front of the racks. CONSTITUTION:When respective information of code numbers and quantity of articles to be carried out is inputted from an operation device 1 in hand, information are sent to a computer CMP side by electric waves. On the CMP side, information regarding the article code numbers and quantity are arranged, and corresponding locations and stock quantity are determined and sent by radio. An open command signal is sent to the local circuits of respective racks through a movable rack interface DIN, and based on the signal, the movable racks 101-105 are moved to form a passage at a position corresponding to the open command signal. On the other hand, the location signal and quantity signal sent by radio from the CMP side are received by the operation device 1 in hand and displayed on respective display parts. A worker or a fork-lift enters the formed passage to carry out articles.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a moving rack device which works in conjunction with an inventory management device capable of inputting inventory management information by wireless remote control.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A moving rack device has been already known in which a plurality of shelves are movably arranged side by side so that a passage for loading and unloading articles can be formed on the front surface of an arbitrary shelf. When the inventory management device is interlocked and the inventory management information is input to the inventory management device, the shelf is moved based on this inventory management information and a working passage is formed in the front of the shelf corresponding to the inventory management information. Is about to be put to practical use.

[0003]

However, since inventory management of articles on a moving shelf may be performed by a forklift or the like, it would be convenient if an aisle could be formed by inventory management information. Also, it would be convenient to form an aisle by inputting inventory management information. If it is possible, it is not necessary to directly perform the passage forming operation near the movable shelf, so that it is possible to avoid injuries or the like even if the load of the article collapses, which is preferable from the viewpoint of safety.

An object of the present invention is to perform inventory management by inputting inventory management information such as article name and quantity by wireless remote control, and to move the shelves based on the inventory management information to obtain inventory management information. It is an object of the present invention to provide a movable shelving device which is capable of forming a work passage on the front surface of a corresponding shelves and which is convenient for loading and unloading articles by a forklift and has high safety.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a mobile rack device which can be used for inventory management by displaying the location of inventory management on an input device by remote control. .

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a movable rack in which a plurality of shelves are movably arranged side by side so that a passage for loading and unloading articles can be formed on the front surface of an arbitrary rack. In the device, a hand operation device having a wireless transmission / reception device and a wireless transmission / reception device are provided, and an open command signal is sent to a mobile shelf corresponding to a location signal based on inventory management information and is formed by this open command signal An inventory management device that wirelessly transmits inventory management information corresponding to the work path to be operated, and a mobile shelf that is provided in each mobile shelf and that moves the mobile shelf based on the open command signal to a position corresponding to the open command signal. And a control circuit for forming an operation control unit, and the hand-held operation device receives the inventory management information wirelessly transmitted from the inventory management device, and the inventory management information is used to generate an operation to be formed. Characterized in that it has a display unit for displaying the inventory management information corresponding to the path.

The hand operation device may be provided with a step switch for forming a passage for performing the next inventory management based on the inventory management information by operating after the passage is formed, or may be moved based on the open command signal. A start switch for starting the movement of the shelves may be provided. The hand-held operating device may also be capable of inputting inventory management information, which may be wirelessly transmitted to the inventory management device.

[0008]

The input inventory management information is used for inventory management in the inventory management device. The inventory management device sends an open command signal to the mobile shelf corresponding to the location signal from the input inventory management information to move the mobile shelf, and forms a passage at the position corresponding to the open command signal. The inventory management information corresponding to the desired passage is wirelessly transmitted. The handheld operation device receives the transmitted inventory management information and displays the content on the display unit. In the formed passage, inventory management of articles may be performed according to the content displayed on the hand-held operating device.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a movable shelf device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, five units of shelves 101 to 105 are placed side by side on the floor of the room. The leftmost shelf 101 among the shelves is fixed to the floor, and the other shelves are arranged so as to be movable in a direction perpendicular to the front surface. On each of the movable shelves 102 to 105, a safety bar CA ₁ to stop movement of the shelves by hitting a worker, a working machine, a foreign object or the like in the passage during the movement of the shelves on the front surface on the left side in the figure. CA ₄ is provided, and a similar safety bar CA is also provided on the front face of the right side of the movable rack 105.
_Five are provided.

In FIG. 2, a hand-held operating device 1, which is a device for inputting inventory management information by remote control, has a digital display unit 2 for displaying a location, and a code number for displaying the type of an article. A digital display unit 3 and a digital display unit 4 for displaying the quantity of articles are provided, and further, a numeric key switch 5 for inputting a code number and a quantity, and a state in which a code number by the numeric key switch 5 can be inputted. A code number set switch 6 for setting the number, a quantity set switch 7 for similarly setting a quantity information inputting state, and an enter switch 11 for inputting the end of the information input by the ten-key switch 5 are provided. There is. Further, in the hand operation device 1, as a switch for operating a movable shelf, a start switch 8 for moving the shelf to start the passage forming operation, after forming one passage, the next passage is formed based on the inventory management information. There are provided a step switch 9 for performing an operation, an emergency stop switch 10 for stopping the movement of the shelf in order to avoid a dangerous state during the movement of the shelf, and a main switch 12 of the hand operation device itself. .

The hand-held operating device 1 can be operated by hand and has a transmitting / receiving device so that signals corresponding to the respective switches can be transmitted by radio waves when the switches are operated. . The hand-held operation device 1 also receives radio waves emitted from the computer side, which will be described later, and displays the location, the code number of the article, and the quantity on each of the display units 2, 3, and 4. The inventory management information such as the location may be input by a magnetic card, a magnetic tape, a punch card, a bar code or the like.

In FIG. 3, the control circuit boards K _{1 to} K ₅ provided in the respective shelves are mutually connected for exchanging signals such as a rightward command, a leftward command and an emergency stop command between the adjacent shelves. Electrically connected to. In addition, each control circuit board K ₁
The external operation contacts Rm _{1 to} Rm ₅ provided on the racks K to K ₅ are local circuits LO _{1 to} LO ₅ provided on the respective shelves.
It is connected to the. The local circuits LO _{1 to} LO ₅ are connected to each other in series, and the moving rack interface DIN is connected in series. The moving rack interface DIN is connected to the microcomputer MC, and the microcomputer MC is connected to the computer interface IN.
Is connected to the computer CMP via the, and the computer CMP is connected to the transmission / reception circuit 120 having a discrimination circuit.

As shown in FIG. 1, the computer CMP comprises a keyboard 108, a display device 110, a printer 112 and a magnetic recording device 114. The computer CMP mainly performs inventory management, and in addition to operating the hand-held operating device 1, it is possible to input inventory management information of an article by operating the keyboard 108. The transmission / reception device 120 receives the radio wave from the handheld operation device 1 to determine each information input to the handheld operation device 1,
While inputting to the computer CMP, information such as a predetermined location number facing the formed aisle, a code number of the article stored in the location, and the quantity is put on the radio wave and transmitted. Radio waves
As described above, the handheld operation device receives the information and a predetermined display is performed.

FIG. 4 shows the control circuit on each shelf more specifically by representing it by the control circuits on both ends. In FIG. 4, the control circuits K _{1 to} K ₅ of the respective shelves are movable rack operation switches SW _{1 to} SW ₁ for individually performing passage forming operations as the movable shelves regardless of the input / output of the data input to the computer CMP. In addition to having SW _{5, it} also has emergency stop switches ST _{1 to} ST ₅ , and the control circuit of each moving rack except the fixed shelf has a limit switch LS for regulating the moving distance of the moving rack. is doing. A reversible drive motor M is connected to the control circuit of each movable rack, and the start, stop, forward / reverse rotation, etc. of this motor M are controlled based on command signals, thereby starting, stopping, and moving the movable rack.
Forward and reverse traveling is controlled, and a work passage for loading and unloading articles is formed between desired shelves. The local circuits LO _{1 to} LO ₅ of each shelf are connected to the terminals Rm _{1 to} Rm ₅ of the control board of each shelf.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Now, when the power supplies of the hand-held operation device 1 and the computer CMP are turned on, they are in a ready state. If the shipping mode is selected now, the computer CMP is in a state of waiting for input of shipping information. Therefore, each information of the code number and the quantity of the article to be delivered is input from the handheld operation device 1. Input of such information is performed by pressing the code number setting switch 6 and the quantity setting switch 7 in advance and then operating the ten-key switch 5. Next, when the enter switch 11 is pressed, the above-mentioned information is transmitted from the hand-held operation device 1 on a radio wave and the computer CMP is sent to the hand. In the computer CMP, the transmitter / receiver 120 receives the radio wave, determines the signal for each piece of information, and inputs each piece of information to the computer CMP. In addition, when there are many kinds of delivery information, the operation from the input of the code number to the operation of wirelessly transmitting a signal is repeated, and accordingly, the computer CMP
In Gawa, the information is repeatedly received, and various kinds of shipping information are received and determined.

When the start switch 8 of the hand-held operating device 1 is pressed after the delivery information is thus transmitted, a start signal is sent wirelessly. When the computer receives the start signal, it sorts out the information about the item code number and its quantity to determine the corresponding location and inventory quantity, and then the corresponding first location signal and the inventory quantity signal at that location. Etc. are sent by radio and an open command signal is sent to the microcomputer MC via the interface IN. Interface IN
Controls information exchange between the computer CMP and the microcomputer MC. The microcomputer MC receives the signal from the computer CMP and, via the mobile shelf interface DIN, the local circuit corresponding to the location signal among the local circuits LO _{1 to} LO ₅ of each shelf is connected to the circuit board corresponding to the location signal. An open command signal is sent to the terminal, and the movable rack is moved based on this open command signal to form a passage at a position corresponding to the open command signal.

On the other hand, the location signal and the quantity signal etc. wirelessly transmitted from the computer CMP are received by the hand operating device 1 and displayed on the respective display portions. Then, the worker or the forklift enters the formed passage and leaves the article. Since the code number, the quantity, etc. are displayed on the handheld operation device 1, the handy operation device 1 can be used for the delivery service. At this time, if the number of stocks in the location is smaller than the number of articles to be delivered, the computer CMP judges this and operates another step switch, for example, to store another article in which the same article is stored. It is also possible to form a passage in the location.

When the delivery of a certain article is completed, the step switch 9 is turned on next. The ON signal of the step switch is wirelessly sent to the computer CMP.
In the computer CMP, when the step switch is turned on, the second location signal and the inventory number signal of the article at that location are sent to the hand-held operating device 1, and an opening command signal is sent to the microcomputer MC, which is the same as the case described above. Similarly, the second passage forming operation and the predetermined display operation in the hand operation device 1 are performed, and the article can be unloaded as in the case described above. In addition, when the shipping information is input, the same operation is performed by operating the step switch 9, and when the shipping information is not input any more, the operation is completed.

The computer CMP calculates the stock quantity based on the input of the shipping information. That is, computer CMP
Has a function as an inventory management device.

Although the above-mentioned operation is carried out in the case of warehousing, the same operation is carried out in the case of warehousing. It is also possible to arbitrarily input the warehousing information and the warehousing information in a mixed state, and to display the warehousing and the warehousing separately on the hand operation device. The inventory management information is input regardless of the order of the locations, whereas the order of forming the passage is such that when the inventory management information is input to the computer CMP, the inventory management information is sorted and based on this. It is determined in order from the moving rack to the moving rack at the other end. Therefore, efficient inventory management can be performed. It is also possible to use only the code number of the article as a factor for determining the passage forming order.

Even if the step switch 9 is operated after inventory control of one article, the same passage may still be formed. That is, there are cases where there are a plurality of locations in the same passage, and different goods are stored in each location.

As means for wirelessly transmitting various signals, for example, digital signals of a plurality of channels are transmitted in time series,
On the receiving side, it is conceivable to individually distinguish the signals sent in time series.

When all the inventory management is completed based on the previously entered inventory management information and the step switch is further pushed without noticing it, for example, a buzzer sounds, or the start switch 8 and the step switch It is also possible to turn on or blink a lamp built in the device 9 or the like to display that a series of inventory management is completed. Further, the lamp may be turned on when all the inventory management operations based on the series of inventory management operations are not completed, and the lamp may be turned off when all the inventory management operations are completed.

The location information, article name information, quantity information, etc. described in the embodiments are examples of inventory management information, and it is not necessary to use all of them as inventory management information, and other information may be used. .

The movable rack used in the present invention does not necessarily have to have a plurality of stages of article placing sections, and the article placing section has one article placing section.
It is also possible to use only steps and therefore only flat carts, on which containers, pallets, etc. can be placed directly. Further, the inventory management device can also be used for management of medical records in a hospital, for example. In addition, the design may be arbitrarily changed without departing from the technical idea described in the claims.

[0026]

According to the present invention, when inventory management information is input, inventory management is performed according to this inventory management information, and the shelves are automatically moved based on the above inventory management information to correspond to the inventory management information. Since a working passage is formed on the front of the shelf, when a forklift or the like is used for loading and unloading articles, it is possible to form a passage at a necessary place by operating the hand operation device on the forklift.
It is possible to perform extremely efficient work of moving in and out of articles. Further, since a passage can be formed by remote control using a wireless transmission / reception device, there is no risk of injury even if a load collapses when the passage is formed, and a moving rack device that is preferable from the viewpoint of safety is also provided. You can

Further, the stock management information can be stocked by making it possible to input the warehousing / discharging information from the hand-held operation device and to wirelessly transmit the warehousing / discharging information to the stock management device. Since the management device can wirelessly transmit to the local operation device and display it on the local operation device, the inventory management information will be fed back and displayed from the inventory management device to the local operation device. There is an advantage that the reliability of confirmation of can be improved and can be used for confirmation of the operation of the signal system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external front view showing an embodiment of a moving shelf device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external front view showing an example of a hand operation device used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of an electric circuit used in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram more specifically showing a circuit portion of each movable rack in the electric circuit.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the electric circuit.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Handheld operation device 2, 3, 4 Display unit 101, 102, 103, 104, 105 Shelf CMP Computer K ₁ as stock management device K ₁ , K ₅ control circuit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A mobile shelf device in which a plurality of units of racks are movably arranged side by side so that a passage for loading and unloading articles can be formed on the front surface of an arbitrary rack. An inventory that has a transmitter / receiver device according to, sends an opening command signal to a mobile shelf corresponding to a location signal based on inventory management information, and wirelessly transmits inventory management information corresponding to a work passage to be formed by the opening command signal. The management device and a control circuit which is provided in each movable rack and which moves the movable rack based on the open command signal to form a passage at a position corresponding to the open command signal. The device receives the inventory management information wirelessly transmitted from the inventory management device, and displays the inventory management information corresponding to the work passage to be formed by this inventory management information. Mobile shelving system characterized by having a radical 113. 2. The mobile rack device according to claim 1, wherein the hand operation device has a step switch for operating a passage after the passage is formed to form a passage for the next inventory management based on the inventory management information. 3. The mobile shelf device according to claim 1, wherein the handheld operation device has a start switch for starting the movement of the mobile rack based on an open command signal. 4. The mobile shelf device according to claim 1, wherein the hand operation device can input inventory management information and can wirelessly transmit the inventory management information to the inventory management device.