JP3034342B2 - 3D warehouse equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a three-dimensional warehouse apparatus having a plurality of shelves in which a vertically long material can be placed in parallel in a front-rear direction and a cassette capable of being put in and out in a front-rear direction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a three-dimensional warehouse for storing materials three-dimensionally, although not shown, a plurality of horizontal bars are protruded in a branch shape from a plurality of vertical columns which are erected and a plurality of stages are provided. In general, a steel bar is formed on a shelf, and a material such as a steel bar is bridged and mounted on a plurality of horizontal bars having the same height, and the material is taken in and out of the shelf using a crane or the like.

In order to increase the storage efficiency, if a plurality of materials are to be placed in parallel in the longitudinal direction of the horizontal bar,
It is not easy to remove a desired material from the plurality of materials on the horizontal bar by using a crane.

[0004] That is, since the material at the front side of the horizontal bar is sequentially taken out, the material at the back side is taken out after the material at the front side is once moved to another position.

For this reason, a structure in which only one material is placed on the horizontal bar is generally used, and the storage efficiency is not good.

In addition, operations such as moving a hook of a crane between a plurality of vertical columns and a plurality of horizontal bars extending forward and backward from each other are extremely troublesome.

[0007]

In recent years, especially in recent years, cutting of materials, supply of materials to processing machines, unloading of processed products, etc.
The work surrounding the handling of materials, such as taking in and out of materials, has been fully automated.

However, since only the storage and handling of the materials still depend on humans, it is difficult to say that the advantages of the automation and labor saving of the entire machine have always been sufficiently obtained.

Moreover, as described above, the conventional three-dimensional warehouse is
Material storage efficiency is not good, and crane operations such as taking out materials from shelves are extremely troublesome.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention relates to a shelf for supporting a cassette which can load a material which is long in the left-right direction in parallel in the front-rear direction so as to be able to move in and out in the front-rear direction. A three-dimensional warehouse equipped with a plurality of stages, a left and right crane main body that can be raised and lowered along vertical columns erected on the left and right sides of the three-dimensional warehouse, and a cassette that is supported by the left and right crane bodies and is movable in the front-rear direction and the cassette Left and right horizontal frames that support both left and right sides and allow cassettes to freely enter and leave the shelves,
The vertical frame supported by the left and right horizontal frames and movable in the left and right direction, and the cassettes can be placed in front of and behind the right and left horizontal frames at a position below the left and right horizontal frames, and the cassette is transferred between the left and right horizontal frames. It is provided with a trolley that can freely move and move back and forth, and a pair of hooks that are supported by the vertical frame and can move in the left-right direction and can support both ends of the material on the cassette on the trolley in the left-right direction. .

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing an embodiment of the present invention applied to a material cutting system, and FIG. 4 is a plan view thereof.

A three-dimensional warehouse 3 is arranged on the left material supply side of the exemplified cutting machine 1, and a cutting material shelf 5 is arranged on the right side of the cutting material discharge side.

From the entrance side of the three-dimensional warehouse 3 to the front of the cutting machine 1 as a processing machine, for example, a roller conveyor 7 as a material transfer device is provided in the left-right direction, and cuts from the outlet of the roller conveyor 7 to the cutting material shelf 5. Guides 9 for holding the material
A front vise 11 that is guided and conveyed is provided.

The illustrated three-dimensional warehouse 3 includes a warehouse frame 13
A number of narrow shelves 15 in the vertical direction,
The left and right shelves 15, 15 are locked with cassette hooks 18 formed on the right and left sides of the cassette 17 (at the inside of the cassette hooks 18). ) Has an open structure.

FIG. 1 shows a main part of FIG. 4 and FIG.
FIG. 2 shows a front view of a main part of FIG.

As the crane 19 for taking in and out and transporting the cassette 17 and the material W and the cut material w, an example of a crane 19 is a motor 24 for raising and lowering the right and left vertical columns 21 erected outside the three-dimensional warehouse 3 by guide rollers 23. The left and right crane bodies 25, which can be raised and lowered freely, and the left and right crane bodies 25
A horizontal frame motor 26 and, for example, a rack and pinion mechanism, which are separated and approach the shelf 15 in the front-rear direction with respect to the shelf 15, and a lifting direction for the cassette 17 provided on the horizontal frame 27. , A vertical hook 31 provided at the distal end of the horizontal frame 27 and moving in the left-right direction perpendicular to the front-back movement direction, and a left-right direction in the longitudinal direction on the vertical frame 31. The material W and the cutting material w are moved as shown in FIG.
, For example, a pair of material hooks 33 and 35 that are engaged with and supported by the V-groove 32.

The cassette 17 which is put in and out of the three-dimensional warehouse 3 in the front-rear direction by the crane 19 is supported by the cassette hook 29, and the operation of transferring the material W to the cutting machine 1 or the like, or to the shelf of the remaining material. As a cassette transfer device used for the return operation of the carriage, a rail 36 in the front-rear direction and a carriage 38 movable in the front-rear direction are provided between the lower part of the three-dimensional warehouse 3 and the roller conveyor 7.

The carriage 38 contains a cassette 17 containing the material W to be supplied to the cutting machine 1 this time, and
At least two cassettes 17 of the cassettes 17 containing the materials W to be supplied to the crane 19 can be placed in front and back in parallel, and the carriage 38 can be moved back and forth as needed to remove the crane 19 from any of the cassettes 17. Allows the material W to be taken in and out.

As a result, the remaining material can be stored in the front cassette 17 immediately after the cutting, and the material W is taken out from the rear cassette 17 immediately after the storing operation and is useful for supplying the material to the cutting machine 1.

The cassette transfer device may be another roller, chain, belt, or other conveyor.

An example of the structure of the main part of the crane 19 is as follows.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view.

The illustrated vertical frame 31 is the horizontal frame 2
7 is slidably fitted into a cylindrical grooved vertical frame 37 fixed to 7, and is moved left and right by a rack 41 (formed on the vertical frame 31) that is engaged with a pinion (not shown) driven by a vertical frame motor 39.

A cylindrical vertical sub-frame 43 is fixed to the vertical frame 37, and the material hooks 33 and 35 (not shown in FIG. 6) have their slide portions 45 (the slide of the material hook 35). (Not shown) is movably fitted into the sub-vertical frame 43, and the material hooks 33 and 35 are formed so as to move left and right integrally with the vertical frame 31.
Are formed so that they can move left and right.

Material hook 33 for vertical frame 31
Has a structure in which a chain 47 (which may be a wire) locked to the slide portion 45 is moved in the left-right direction by a material hook motor 49 attached to the vertical frame 31. Material hook 37
The hook moving mechanism for the vertical frame 31 is also operated by the material hook motor 51 in the same manner.

As another example of the hook moving mechanism, shown in a front view in FIG. 7 and a partially longitudinal side view in FIG. 8, a slide portion 53 fitted inside the sub-vertical frame 43 is provided on this. In this structure, the movement in the left-right direction is guided by the rollers 55.

As a guide structure for moving the material hook 33 in the left-right direction with respect to the sub-vertical frame 43, a sliding portion 59 of the material hook 35 is formed in a groove 57 formed in the sub-vertical frame 43 as shown in FIG. 10 and, as shown in FIG.
The roller 63 provided on the material hook 35 may roll on the groove 61 formed in the above.

The vertical movement of the crane body 25, the forward and backward movement of the horizontal frame 27, the vertical frame 31 and the material hook 3.
The left and right movements of the members 3 and 35 are performed by detecting the positions of these members such as the crane main body 25 using a microswitch, a photoelectric switch, an encoder, or the like (not shown), and automatically moving the positions to desired positions by the control device 64. It is configured to be controlled.

For example, as shown in FIG. 12, the positions of the material hooks 33 and 35 are set at positions a ₁ and a ₁ , respectively, with a certain reference position P of the cassette 17 placed in the three-dimensional warehouse 3 as an origin. ₂ is stored in the control device 64.

As shown in plan view in FIG. 13, the cassette 17 has a narrow width receiving plate 65 arranged in a saw-tooth shape, and
The material W ₁ , W ₂ (or the remaining material,
This is a structure in which the cutting materials w) are placed in parallel in the front-rear direction or in series in the left-right direction.

The positions where these materials W ₁ , W ₂ ... Are placed are detected by, for example, a microswitch, a photoelectric switch, an encoder, etc.
The horizontal movement of each of the material hooks 33 and 35 for placing the cassette 17 at a desired position and removing the cassette 17 from the desired position is automatically controlled.

For example, as shown in FIG. 13, the positions of the materials W ₁ and W ₂ placed on the cassette 17 are set at positions b ₁ and b ₁ , respectively, with a certain reference position P of the cassette 17 as the origin.
It is stored in the control device 64 as b _{2 and} the respective lengths as L ₁ and L ₂ .

Here, the positions b ₁ and b ₂ are set so that the material hooks 35 and 33 do not come into contact with the cassette 17 or the adjacent material W ₂ so that the material W ₁ can be clamped by the cassette 17. Is to be set.

Next, the material handling operation according to the above configuration will be described by taking as an example a case where a desired material W is taken out from the cassette 17 in the three-dimensional warehouse 3 onto the roller conveyor 7.

When the material W to be taken out is designated by a push button operation (not shown), the crane main body 25 moves up or down to reach a position slightly lower than the cassette hook 18 of the cassette 17, and the horizontal frame 27 And the cassette hooks 29, 29 come directly below the cassette hook 18 (slightly left and right outside from the shelf 15).

Next, the crane main body 25 is slightly raised, the cassette 17 is lifted by the cassette hooks 29, 29 and separates from the shelf 15, and the horizontal frame 27 is moved back and forth in a direction away from the three-dimensional warehouse 3, and the crane main body is moved. 25 to the carriage 38 in front of the three-dimensional warehouse 3 and the cassette 1
Put 7 on.

Then, the crane body 25 is slightly raised,
Position b _{1 of} material W ₁ to be removed from cassette 17
When the material for hooks 33 and 35 in correspondence with its length L ₁
And, the vertical frame 31, together with the respectively horizontal movement, vertical frame 31 is horizontal frame 27 is moved forward and backward to come above the material W _1.

[0038] Next crane body 25 material hook 33, 35 descends is come across outward of the material W _1, the material for hooks 33 and 35 to clamp the material W ₁ to lateral movement.

If the length of the material W ₁ is longer than a predetermined length, the material W ₁ is placed on the roller conveyor 7 and sent to the cutting machine 1 by the roller conveyor 7, and the material W ₁ is shorter than the predetermined length. If it is W, it moves left and right while being sandwiched by the material hooks 33 and 35 and feeds the material to the front vise 11 (stopped before the cutting machine 1).

This is because, for a short material W less than a predetermined length,
Because the material W moves with a feeling of tripping due to the rollers of the roller conveyor 7, and the material feeding direction becomes oblique, it is difficult to be in a predetermined posture, and the positioning becomes inconvenient, which makes automation difficult. is there.

In this embodiment, however, the pair of material hooks 33 and 35 of the crane 19 are configured to sandwich the material W in the longitudinal direction, so that the material hooks 33 and 35 are connected to the cutting machine 1 and the like like the short material. The material which is likely to be out of alignment during the supply of the material can be smoothly supplied to the cutting machine 1 while being held between the hooks 33 and 35 for the material.

In the cutting machine 1, the material W sent is
A portion close to the three-dimensional warehouse 3 (post-feeding position) is sandwiched by a main body vise (not shown), and a feeding front position is sandwiched by a front vise 11.

When the material W is cut at a predetermined position between the main body vise and the front vise 11 by the cutting blade 65 of the cutting machine 1, the cut material is moved along the transport guide 9 by the front vise 11 for cutting material. It is transported to the shelf 5.

If the remaining material is longer than a predetermined length, it is transferred onto the roller conveyor 7, returned and transported to the front of the three-dimensional warehouse 3, and clamped by the material hooks 33 and 35 of the crane 19, The remaining material is returned to and stored in the cassette 17 on the top side 38.

If the remaining material is shorter than a predetermined length, the vertical frame 31 of the crane 19 is moved left and right, and the material hook 3 is moved.
At 3,35, the remaining material remaining in the main body vise is pinched,
Then, the vertical frame 31 is returned and moved to the front of the three-dimensional warehouse 3, and the remaining material is returned to the cassette 17 on the carriage 38 and stored.

As described above, one cassette 1 on the carriage 38
7, the next material W can be immediately taken out of this cassette 17 or another cassette 17 on the carriage 38 by the crane 19, and the operation is not wasted.
Material handling and cutting operations continue.

Since the positions where the materials W ₁ , W _2, ... Are placed in the cassette 17 are detected by the microswitch, the photoelectric switch, the encoder, etc. as described above,
For example, at the time of the operation of returning the remaining material, the control device 64 also determines whether or not a storage space capable of storing the remaining material is in the cassette 17 on the carriage 38. If there is no storage space, another controller 17 is requested. The control device 64 may be configured to automatically control the crane 19 and the like, for example, by outputting a display or outputting a command to the crane 19 to take out the empty cassette 17 from the three-dimensional warehouse 3 to the carriage 38.

The layout of the cutting machine 1, the three-dimensional warehouse 3, the cutting material shelves 5, the roller conveyor 7, the front vise 11 and the like in the illustrated example may be appropriately changed to another arrangement (not shown) if necessary. The purpose of this embodiment is achieved, and further, additional configurations, for example,
The front vise 11 may not be provided, and the cutting material may be manually carried to the cutting material shelf 5 by an operator.

The illustrated cutting machine 1 is a vertical band sawing machine, and its cutting blade 65 is automatically replaced by a saw blade in a tool magazine 69 by an automatic saw blade changing device 67.

[0050]

As will be understood from the above description of the embodiment, according to the present invention, the cassette can be moved from the shelf to the carriage, and the operation of moving the pair of material hooks can be performed on the carriage. Materials can be taken in and out of cassettes before and after.

Therefore, a plurality of materials in the cassette supported on the shelf can be easily and efficiently taken out to a predetermined position, or the materials can be stored on the shelf.

Further, since the pair of hooks are configured to support both ends of the material from the left and right directions, a material such as a short material which is apt to be out of alignment when the material is supplied to a processing machine or the like is removed. It can be supplied smoothly without any supply.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a crane used in one embodiment of an apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a main part in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view in which the embodiment of the present invention is applied to a material cutting system.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the crane.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a main part of the crane.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a second example of a hook moving mechanism usable for the crane.

FIG. 8 is a partial longitudinal side view in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a main part front view showing a third example of a hook moving mechanism usable for the crane.

FIG. 10 is a main part front view showing a fourth example of a hook moving mechanism usable for the crane.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a state in which a material is supported by a material hook.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory view of position storage of a material supported by a material hook.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of position storage of a material in a cassette.

[Explanation of symbols]

 15 Shelf 17 Cassette 19 Crane 25 Crane main body 27 Horizontal frame 29 Cassette hook 31 Vertical frame 33,35 Material hook 38 Cart (cassette transfer device)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A three-dimensional warehouse (3) having a plurality of shelves (15) for supporting a cassette (17) capable of placing a material long in the left-right direction in parallel in the front-rear direction so as to be able to move in and out in the front-rear direction.
Vertical columns (21) erected on both the left and right sides of the three-dimensional warehouse (3)
The left and right crane bodies (25) that can move up and down along the shelves, and the shelves (15) supported by the left and right crane bodies (25) and movable in the front-rear direction and supporting the left and right sides of the cassette (17). A left and right horizontal frame (27) that allows the cassette (17) to move in and out, a vertical frame (31) supported by the left and right horizontal frames (27) and movable in the left and right direction, and the left and right horizontal frames At the position below (27), the cassettes (17) can be placed in parallel back and forth and can be placed between the left and right horizontal frames (27).
A trolley (38) that can freely transfer and move back and forth, and both ends of a material on a cassette (17) on the trolley (38) supported by the vertical frame (31) and movable in the left-right direction. A pair of hooks (33,
35) A three-dimensional warehouse apparatus comprising: