JPH07187331A - Transfer equipment in automatic warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To transfer and load large and small articles different in size one by one, simultaneously transfer and load plural small articles, make a device suitable for efficiently handling multiKinds small lot articles, an successively transfer and load even the other articles without delivering articles after the articles are transferred and loaded. CONSTITUTION:Plural comb teeth-shaped forks 32 which can be freely raised and lowered to a main body part 24 and can freely protrude in and retreat from the depth direction of a picking shelf 1 and has a butting-fastening part 37 on the base end, are juxtaposed with each other, and plural transferring-loading projecting strips 39 capable of meshing the respective forks with a placing stand 38 of the main body part, are juxtapoed in a comb teeth shape with each other, on the hand, container in which plural placingsupporting projecting strips capable of meshing the forks with an upper surface are juxtaposed in a comb teeth shape with each other, is arranged in the picking shelf, and a height of the transferring-loading projecting strips and the placing-supporting projecting strips is set higher than a vertical width of the forks. Articles on the container housed in the picking shelf can be transferred to and loaded on the placing stand of the main body part by the respective forks or by cooperation of the plural forks.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer device in an automatic warehouse, and more specifically, it is possible to efficiently transfer one or a plurality of articles of different sizes and a plurality of articles at the same time. The present invention relates to a transfer device in an automatic warehouse that can transfer other articles after the transfer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional automatic warehouse, a plurality of fixed shelves, each of which has a plurality of unit shelves arranged in rows and columns, are provided side by side with a predetermined passage, and a plurality of fixed shelves can be moved in the passage between them. Various types of stacker cranes are provided, in which the articles stored in the fixed shelves are unloaded and the articles are stored in the empty unit shelves. In addition, instead of the stacker crane, it is possible to move laterally in each of the upper and lower shelves, and as in the above, there are already various structures having a picking dolly for loading and unloading articles from the fixed shelf. It is provided.

Further, in the conventional automated warehouse, when the articles are directly stored in the fixed shelf unit shelves, the size of each article is made constant, or a single or a plurality of articles are required due to the requirement of easy transfer. Storing a standard tray containing
It is common to store a container or pallet of a certain standard on which one or a plurality of articles are placed, and accordingly, the transfer device also has a structure suitable for transferring one object of a specific shape. Has been adopted. For example, for a structure having a pusher for pushing an object from the back of the unit shelf to the unit shelf, a structure having a pair of arms capable of sandwiching and pulling the object from both sides, a tray, a container or a pallet. There are structures that are locked and pulled out.

However, all of the conventional transfer devices in the automatic warehouse are intended to transfer one object,
It has the drawback of not being able to handle when multiple objects are transferred at the same time or when the size and shape of the transferred objects are different, and responds to the recent demand for efficient handling of a wide variety of products and small quantities of goods. could not. Moreover, after the article is transferred to the transfer device, another article cannot be subsequently transferred, and it is necessary to transfer the article once transferred and then transfer the other article.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned situation, the present invention is to solve the problems that it is possible to transfer articles of different sizes one by one and simultaneously transfer a plurality of small articles. It is also possible to efficiently handle a wide variety of small quantities of goods, and after transferring the goods, another automatic warehouse that can also transfer other goods without leaving the goods. In the transfer device.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is a comb which can be raised and lowered with respect to the main body and can be retracted in the depth direction of the picking shelf, and which has a stopper at its base end. A plurality of tooth-shaped forks are arranged side by side, and a plurality of transfer protrusions capable of meshing each fork are arranged side by side in a comb tooth shape on the mounting table of the main body, while the forks are meshed on the upper surface of the picking shelf. Arrange a container in which a plurality of mounting protrusions to be obtained are arranged side by side in a comb shape, and set the heights of the transfer protrusions and the mounting protrusions to be higher than the vertical width of the forks. Alternatively, a transfer device in an automatic warehouse is configured in which a plurality of forks cooperate to lift an item on a container stored in a picking shelf and transfer it to a mounting table of the main body.

[0007]

According to the transfer device in the automatic warehouse of the present invention having the above-described contents, one or a plurality of forks are projected from the main body in the depth direction of the picking shelf in accordance with a request for delivery of an article and formed into a container. It is inserted between the comb-like support ridges, positioned below the article, and then raised to place a small article on each fork or a large article on a plurality of forks that have been placed or cooperated. The article is placed and the article is transferred from the picking shelf to the main body by pulling the fork into the main body. In addition, once the article is transferred to the main body, and subsequently, other articles are transferred, the fork is lowered below the upper end of the comb-shaped transfer protrusion formed on the mounting table. In the state where the already transferred article is placed on the transfer ridge, a fork is inserted between the loading ridges of the container on which another article is placed in the same manner as described above, or a stopper portion provided at the base end. While pushing the article, the fork is inserted between the upper ends of the transfer protrusions or the upper ends of the transfer protrusions of the container at the upper ends of the support protrusions of the container, and the fork is inserted between the support protrusions of the container. After it is positioned at the lower side, it is lifted to place the already transferred article and another article on the fork at the same time, and then the fork is pulled into the main body to transfer the other article from the picking shelf to the main body. .

[0008]

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a typical embodiment of an automated warehouse according to the present invention, in which 1 is a picking rack, 2 is a storage rack, 3 is a stacker crane, and 4 is a picker.

The automatic warehouse according to the present invention comprises a picking shelf 1
And storage shelves 2 are arranged side by side with a predetermined transfer passage 5 in between, and after the empty container on the picking shelf 1 is collected by the stacker crane 3 arranged in the transfer passage 5, the position where the empty container was To replenish the goods loading container on the storage shelf 2,
Only the articles on the container are taken out by the picker 4 from the front of the picking shelf 1.

Specifically, the automatic warehouse has a picking shelf 1 in which a plurality of unit shelves 6, ... Opened at the front and rear are arranged vertically and horizontally, and a predetermined transfer passage 5 is provided behind the picking shelf 1. The unit shelves 7, ...
A transfer table 8 in which a recovery transfer section 8a for transferring an empty container on the picking shelf 1 and a replenishment transfer section 8b for transferring an article-loaded container on the storage shelf 2 are juxtaposed is vertically and horizontally movable. A stacker crane 3 and a picker 4 that is movable in front of the picking shelf 1 and that can individually transfer a plurality of articles on a container stored in a unit shelf 6 of the picking shelf 1 and take them out. It is a thing.

In this embodiment, the container 9 having a rectangular shape in plan view is used, the frontage of the unit shelf 6 of the picking shelf 1 is set corresponding to the long side of the container 9, and the unit of the storage shelf 2 is set. The front of the shelf 7 is set in correspondence with the short side of the container 9. Further, an article loading container is transferred to the replenishment transfer section 8b of the stacker crane 3 and
A rotary table 10 that rotates once is provided.

In the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, as the picker 4, rails 12, 1 are provided for each step of each unit shelf 6, ... And arranged along a moving space 11 in front of the picking shelf 1.
2 uses a picking dolly 4a that can be self-propelled on the rail 2. In the second embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the picker 4 is a rail 1 arranged above and below the moving space 11.
A picking crane 4b in which an elevating table 15 is provided so as to be movable up and down is used for a support body 14 which can be moved along 3,3. Then, the transfer device 17 of the present invention for taking out the article 16 placed on the container 9 on the unit shelf 6 of the picking shelf 1 is mounted on the main body of the picking dolly 4a or the lift 15 of the picking crane 4b. Is provided. Since the transfer device 17 of the present invention does not differ between the case where it is used for the picking dolly 4a and the case where it is used for the picking crane 4b, its details will be described in the case of being used for the picking dolly 4a in this embodiment. .

FIG. 3 is a simplified plan view for explaining the basic operation of the automatic warehouse, which corresponds to the automatic warehouse shown in FIG. The stacker crane 3 has the transfer passage 5
A pair of columns 19, 19 which are guided by guide rails 18, 18 arranged above and below and are movable along the transfer passage 5.
The columns 19 and 19 are provided with a transfer table 8 that can be moved up and down. Approximately half of the transfer table 8 becomes the recovery transfer section 8a, and the other half of the transfer table 8 is the replenishment transfer section 8a.
b, a known transfer means (not shown) capable of transferring the container 9 from the picking shelf 1 or the storage shelf 2 to the transfer table 8 and from the transfer table 8 to the picking shelf 1 or the storage shelf 2 in each transfer section. Are provided respectively.

Next, the flow of the articles 16 in the automatic warehouse of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3. Here, for convenience of explanation, the container 9 in which the article 16 is mounted is indicated by 9a, and the empty container 9 is indicated by 9b. And
The container 9a has a plurality of articles 1 along its long side direction.
6 are placed side by side, and in this embodiment, 16 articles 16, ... Are divided into groups of 4 pieces, and the 4 articles 16, ... Of each group are arranged in a row in the short side direction. However, these four groups are arranged in parallel in the long side direction. And, as described above, each of the unit shelves 6, ...
, Are mounted so that their long sides are oriented along their front sides, and each of the unit shelves 7, ... of the storage rack 2 has similar containers 9a in its short side direction. It is stored so that it is oriented along.

First, the desired article 16 for which a delivery request has been made.
Will be described on the picking shelf 1. In that case, the picking dolly 4a at the stage where the target article 16 is present moves along the rails 12, 12 and stops in front of the desired unit shelf 6, and the target article 16 is picked up by the transfer device 17. It is transferred to the dolly 4a, then transferred to the article output shelf 20 provided at the side end of the picking shelf 1, and then the article 16 is transferred to the elevator type reservoir 21 adjacent to the article output shelf 20 and output. To do.

Next, when there is no article 16 on the specific unit shelf 6 of the picking shelf 1, or when the desired article 16 for which a delivery request is made is not present on the picking shelf 1, the desired article 16 is selected. The transfer table 8 of the stacker crane 3 moves to the position of the corresponding unit shelf 7 of the storage shelf 2, and the supplement transfer section 8b is positioned in front of the predetermined unit shelf 7 and stops, and then the unit shelf 7 is stopped. Stored item loading container 9
a is transferred onto the rotary table 10 of the supplement transfer section 8b,
When the turntable 10 rotates, the container 9a
Rotate the direction of 90 degrees. After that, or at the same time as the rotation table 10 rotates, the transfer table 8 of the stacker crane 3 moves to the empty position of the unit shelf 6 of the picking shelf 1, and the recovery transfer section 8a moves to the rear of the unit shelf 6. After being positioned and stopped, the empty container 9b is transferred to the recovery transfer section 8a. Then, the transfer table 8 is moved to replenish the transfer section 8b.
Is placed at the rear of the unit shelf 6 and stopped, and the article loading container 9a is transferred from the replenishment transfer section 8b to the unit shelf 6. In this state, the target article 16 for which the leaving request has been issued can be taken out in the same manner as described above.

Further, the empty container 9b transferred to the recovery transfer section 8a of the stacker crane 3 is transferred to the empty container delivery line 22 provided at the side end of the storage shelf 2 and carried out. Then, the empty container 9b that has been carried out
The articles 16 to be replenished again are placed on the storage container 23, are carried into the storage line 23 adjacent to the empty container delivery line 22, and the replenishment transfer section 8b or the recovery transfer section 8a of the stacker crane 3 is loaded. It is used and stored in the empty unit shelf 7 of the storage shelf 2.

As described above, by using the stacker crane 3 and the picker 4 together, the target article 16 for which the delivery request is issued is present on the picking shelf 1 even when the delivery request and the delivery request overlap. In some cases, those loading / unloading requests are executed in parallel. Also,
Even if the shipping request and the loading request overlap, and the target article 16 does not exist on the picking shelf 1, the stacker crane 3
Item loading container 9a and empty container 9b on the transfer table 8 of
Since the target articles 16 can be placed at the same time, the target article 16 can be quickly replenished from the storage shelf 2 to the picking shelf 1, and the target article 16 can be unloaded by the picker 4. Then, except when the target article 16 does not exist due to a subsequent shipping request, the picking by the picker 4 and the empty container 9 by the stacker crane 3 are performed.
b to the outside and article loading container 9a from the outside
It is possible to replenish the storage shelves 2 in parallel.
Here, since there is a low probability that the target article 16 does not exist in any of the continuous delivery requests, the average waiting time for delivery can be shortened as a whole.

If the article 16 requested to be delivered does not exist in the picking shelf 1 and the empty container 9b does not exist, the container 9a carrying the article 16 other than the one requested to be delivered is picked. 1 to the storage shelf 2 by using the replenishment transfer section 8b of the stacker crane 3 to transfer the container 9a carrying the target article 16 from the storage shelf 2 to the empty unit shelf 6 of the picking shelf 1. Reprint. Furthermore, in the case where the article loading container 9a is carried out for the purpose of not being transferred from the picking shelf 1 to the storage shelf 2,
This is performed in the same manner as the unloading of the empty container 9b described above.

When the articles 16 stored in the picking shelf 1 are to be unloaded, if the picking dolly 4a is arranged at each stage, the shipping time is much shorter than that when the picking crane 4b is used. , The unit shelf 6
The lower limit of the height of the picking dolly 4a is regulated by the vertical height. However, since the height of each unit shelf 7 of the storage shelf 2 can move the transfer table 8 of the stacker crane 3 to a desired height position, the regulation is the minimum that can transfer the article loading container 9a. It is also possible to set the number of stages of the storage rack 2 to be larger than the number of stages of the picking rack 1, for example, it is possible to make the number of stages of the storage rack 2 twice the number of stages of the picking rack 1. . This increase in the number of steps and the narrow frontage of each unit shelf 7 synergize with each other, and the storage shelf 2
3 times more container than the picking shelf 1
It is possible to store a, ... However, since the depth width of the storage shelf 2 is substantially equal to the long side of the container 9, it becomes larger than the depth width of the picking shelf 1 and occupies a large space, but the space efficiency due to the large size of the storage shelf 2 is improved. The storage space efficiency increases due to the increase in the number of stored containers 9a rather than the decrease.

4 and 5 show a specific example of the picking dolly 4a, which has wheels 25 on its both sides of the main body 24 for self-propelled along the rails 12, 12, and the main body. A recess 26 for accommodating the article 16 is provided at the center of 24, and the transfer device 17 of the present invention is provided in the recess 26. The transfer device 17 includes a horizontal rail 2 facing an elevation frame 27 that is vertically movable with respect to the main body 24.
In the present embodiment, four screw shafts 29, ... Are rotatably provided at intervals of 8 and 28 between the screw shafts 8 and 28.
9, a pair of guide shafts 30, 30 are arranged side by side, a moving body 31 is screwed onto the screw shaft 29, and a pair of guide shafts 30, 3 are provided.
0 is slidably inserted, and a comb-shaped fork 32 having an L shape in a side view is fixed to the moving body 31 as an arm. Here, the fork 32 includes a plurality of L-shaped members 3
2a, ... Are arranged at regular intervals. Further, as a drive mechanism of the elevating frame 27, the elevating frame 27
Racks 3 are provided on the sides of the vertical bars 33, ...
4 is formed, and the pinion 35 connected to the rotary shaft of the servomotor attached to the main body 24 is meshed with each pinion 3
5, ... are configured so as to rotate in conjunction with each other by appropriately combining a transmission shaft, a pulley and a belt or a gear. Therefore, when the servo motor is rotated in a certain direction, the elevating frame 27 moves up, and when it is rotated in the reverse direction, it moves down. Further, the screw shaft 29, ...
Is rotatable in conjunction with another servomotor, and when the screw shaft 29 rotates in a certain direction, the moving body 31 moves in the direction of the picking shelf 1 and is integrated with the fork 32.
Is projected laterally from the main body portion 24, and when it is reversely rotated, the fork 32 is drawn into the main body portion 24.

The fork 32 is composed of a substantially horizontal transfer portion 36 and a stopper portion 37 standing upright at the base end, and each fork 32 is transferred to a mounting table 38 corresponding to the bottom surface of the recess 26. A plurality of transfer protrusions 39 capable of meshing with the portion 36 are arranged side by side in a comb shape, and the height of the transfer protrusions 39 is set higher than the vertical width of the transfer portion 36 of the fork 32. When the fork 32 is lowered, the transfer section 36 moves the transfer protrusion 3
It is supposed to be buried between 9,39. It should be noted that, instead of providing the transfer projections 39, slits open on the picking shelf 1 side are arranged side by side in a comb-like shape on the mounting table 38, but the slits are substantially the same, and there is no difference in operational effect. Of.

The transfer device 17 shown here can be similarly applied to the lift table 15 of the picking crane 4b. Further, the transfer device 17 of the present invention can be applied not only to the automatic warehouse in which the picking shelf 1 is fixed, but also to an electric shelf device in which the rack rotates, and is not limited to the structure of the automatic warehouse.

As shown in FIG. 6, the container 9 has a rectangular plate shape in plan view, and has a plurality of mounting projections 41, ... Each of them is provided in a protruding manner and formed in a comb shape. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, the transfer portion 36 of the fork 32 can be inserted into each groove 42 between the mounting ridges 41, 41 adjacent to each other, and The height is set higher than the vertical width of the transfer portion 36 of the fork 32. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
After the transfer portion 36 of the fork 32 is inserted into the recessed groove 42, ... While being mounted on the upper edge of the fork 32, the elevating frame 27 is raised and the fork 32 of the fork 32 is lifted by the mounting projection 41. When the transfer section 36 moves upward, the article 16 on the container 9 is lifted by the transfer section 36 as shown in FIG. By pulling the fork 32 into the main body 24 in this state, the article 16 on the container 9 stored in the unit shelf 6 of the picking shelf 1 is transferred into the recess 26 of the picking dolly 4a. Then, as shown in FIG.
Transfer ridges 39, ... Formed on the mounting table 38 of
The relationship between the second transfer section 36 and the second transfer section 36 is set so that the transfer section 36 is located below the upper ends of the transfer protrusions 39, ... When the fork 32 is lowered. When 16 is lifted by the transfer section 36 of the fork 32 and is pulled into the main body section 24 as it is, the state shown in FIG. 11 is obtained. In this state, the article 16 does not contact the transfer protrusions 39 ,. 32 to lower the article 1 as shown in FIG.
6 is mounted on the upper ends of the transfer protrusions 39, ....

Further, in the present invention, the four forks 32,
.. can be independently retracted from the main body 24, so that the articles 16, ..., Which are placed on the container 9 in four groups as described above, are moved by driving the corresponding forks 32 for each group. Can be posted. Further, the number of the four articles 16 in each group to be transferred is the fork 3
It can be appropriately set by adjusting the protruding length of the second body 24 from the main body 24.

Further, since the long side direction of the container 9 is oriented along the front side of the unit shelf 6 of the picking shelf 1, that is, the short side direction is oriented in the depth direction, the fork 32 of the picking dolly 4a. It is only necessary to make the retracting stroke substantially match the length of the short side of the container 9, and therefore it is possible to set the depth width of the picking dolly 4a to be small and thereby to narrow the width of the moving space 11. Therefore, space efficiency can be improved.

Next, a predetermined item is picked up by the dolly 4
A transfer method in the case of transferring another article after transfer to the main body 24 of a will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14. 13 and 14, a simplified plan view is shown in the upper stage and a simplified sectional view is shown in the lower stage. Here, the articles A1 to A4 and B1 to
It is assumed that B4, ... Are placed and stored in the picking shelf 1. Here, a fork 32 is used as the transfer device 17.
An example of this is used, and F1 and F
2, the other forks and the transfer protrusions 39 of the main body 24, ... and the support protrusions 41 of the container 9 are omitted in the plan view. The article A is A1 corresponding to the fork F1.
Four A4 to A4 are arranged on one side of the container 9 in the direction of the short side thereof, and the width thereof is narrower than the effective width of the fork F1. In the article B, four pieces B1 to B4 corresponding to the fork F2 are similarly arranged inside the article A.

The articles A1 to A3 have already been transferred, and only the article A4 remains at the position farthest from the transfer device 17 on the container 9, and the transfer protrusion 3 of the transfer device 17 is left.
It is assumed that the articles A1 and A2 have already been transferred and placed on the picking shelf 1 side of 9, ... Such an initial setting is S1, and the transferred articles A1 and A2 are based on this setting.
In addition to this, consider transferring another article A4. First, as shown in S2 of FIG. 13, while the fork F1 is lowered and the transfer portion 36 is below the upper end of the transfer protrusion 39, the fork F1 is projected to transfer the transfer portion 36. Is inserted between the mounting / supporting ridges 41, ... Of the container 9. Then, as shown in S3, the side surface of the article A1 is pushed by the stopper 37 of the fork F1 to load the articles A1 and A2 from the upper ends of the transfer ridges 39, ...
The leading end of the transfer section 36 is positioned below the article A4 while being slid to the upper end of. After that, S4 in FIG.
As shown in, the fork F1 is raised and the transferred articles A1 and A2 and the other article A4 are simultaneously lifted by the transfer section 36. Then, as in S5, the fork F1 is kept rising.
Is pulled into the main body portion 24, and finally the fork F1 is lowered as shown in S6, and the articles A1, A2, A4 are placed on the upper ends of the transfer ridges 39, ... To do.

Finally, each of the forks F1, F2, F
The control of F3 and F4 will be briefly described. As shown in FIG. 15, each of the articles A1 to A4, B1, B2, C is placed in the container 9.
1, C2 are placed, the upper surface of the container 9 is divided into 16 as shown in FIG. 16, and 0 to 15 are provided as shown in each block.
In addition to setting the address, the position information in the container 9 corresponding to each article is stored in the memory of the control device in a bit pattern corresponding to the block number as shown in FIG. Then, when there is an article delivery request, the number of drive forks and the fork insertion distance are determined from the bit pattern of the block in which the corresponding article is placed by checking the memory, and the servo motor control for driving the fork is performed. It is output to the circuit and taken out as described above. The way of dividing the block can be set freely, and the number of forks can also be set freely.

[0030]

The transfer device in the automatic warehouse according to the present invention as described above is movable up and down with respect to the main body and can be retracted and retracted in the depth direction of the picking shelf, and the comb teeth provided with the stopper at the base end. -Shaped forks are arranged side by side, and a plurality of transfer protrusions capable of meshing each fork are arranged side by side in a comb shape on the mounting table of the main body part, while the forks can be meshed on the upper surface of the picking shelf. A container in which a plurality of mounting ridges are arranged side by side in a comb shape is arranged, and the heights of the transfer ridges and the mounting ridges are set higher than the vertical width of the forks. Since multiple forks can cooperate to lift the items on the container stored in the picking shelf and transfer them to the mounting table of the main body, one or more forks can be removed from the main body in response to a request for delivery of the items. Protrude in the depth direction of the picking shelf to make it a container A plurality of forks in which one or more small articles are placed or cooperated with each fork by being inserted between the formed comb-teeth-shaped support protrusions, positioned below the article, and then raised. It is possible to transfer large items from a picking shelf to the main body by pulling a fork into the main body, which is very effective for efficiently transferring a large variety of products and small quantities. Is.

Further, once the article is transferred to the main body,
Subsequently, in order to transfer another article, the fork is lowered below the upper end of the comb-shaped transfer projection formed on the mounting table, and the already transferred article is mounted on the transfer projection. In this state, the fork is inserted between the supporting ridges of the container on which other articles are placed in the same manner as described above, or the article is pushed by the stopper provided at the base end, or the upper end of the transfer ridge or the transfer is performed. Insert the fork between the mounting ridges of the container while sliding it from the upper end of the ridge to the upper end of the supporting ridge of the container, position it below the other article, and then raise it to place it on the fork. By placing the transferred article and another article at the same time, and then pulling the fork into the main body section, the other article can also be transferred from the picking shelf to the main body section, and the other article is placed on the transfer section of the fork. If there is room, the transferred items can be transferred to the main body of the transfer device without taking them out. Bets can be, can reduce the average waiting time in the goods issue.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway simplified perspective view showing a first embodiment of an automated warehouse according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway simplified perspective view showing the same second embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a simplified plan view for explaining the flow of articles in an automated warehouse.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway simplified perspective view showing a picking dolly adopting the transfer device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the main part of the same.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a container.

FIG. 7 is an abbreviated perspective view showing a relationship between a container and a fork of the transfer device.

FIG. 8 is a simplified front view showing a state before an article placed on a container is placed on a fork of a transfer device.

FIG. 9 is a simplified front view showing a state after the article placed on the container is placed on the fork of the transfer device.

FIG. 10 is a simplified front view showing a relationship between a transfer ridge formed on the mounting table of the transfer device and a transfer portion of the fork.

FIG. 11 is a simplified front view showing a state in which an article is placed on the transfer section of the fork and pulled in by the main body section.

FIG. 12 is a simplified front view showing a state in which the fork is lowered from the state of FIG. 11 and the article is placed on the transfer ridge.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing the first half of the process of once transferring an article to the main body using the transfer apparatus of the present invention and then transferring another article.

14 is an explanatory diagram showing a second half of the transfer process shown in FIG. 13 following the first half.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory plan view showing a positional relationship between a container, an article, and a fork.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory plan view showing an example of addresses of blocks set in a container.

FIG. 17 is a memory structure diagram showing an example of information stored in the memory of the control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 picking shelf 2 storage shelf 3 stacker crane 4 picker 4a picking dolly 4b picking crane 5 transfer passage 6 unit shelf 7 unit shelf 8 transfer table 8a recovery transfer section 8b replenishment transfer section 9 container 10 rotating table 11 moving space 12 Rails 13 Rails 14 Supports 15 Lifting platforms 16 Articles 17 Transfer devices 18 Guide rails 19 Columns 20 Article exit shelves 21 Reservoirs 22 Empty container exit lines 23 Receipt lines 24 Main body 25 Wheels 26 Recesses 27 Lifting frames 28 Horizontal bars 29 Spiral shafts 30 guide shaft 31 moving body 32 fork 32a L-shaped member 33 vertical bar 34 rack 35 pinion 36 transfer part 37 stop part 38 mounting table 39 transfer protrusion 40 substrate 41 mounting support protrusion 42 concave groove

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of comb-like forks, which can be raised and lowered with respect to a main body portion and can be retracted in the depth direction of a picking shelf, and are provided with stopper portions at their base ends, are arranged in parallel, and a mounting table for the main body portion is provided. On the picking shelf, a plurality of loading protrusions capable of engaging the forks are arranged side by side in a comb shape while a plurality of transfer protrusions capable of engaging the forks are arranged side by side in a comb shape. The height of the transfer ridge and the height of the support ridge are set to be higher than the vertical width of the fork, and each fork or a plurality of forks cooperate to store the container on the picking shelf. A transfer device in an automatic warehouse, characterized in that the article can be lifted and transferred to a mounting table of the main body.