JP3474027B2 - Automatic warehouse for refrigerated goods - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse for cold storage products, and more particularly, to automatically convey and store products placed on a pallet to a predetermined position of a three-dimensional rack and store the products in three-dimensional form. The present invention relates to a cold storage automatic warehouse for keeping products in a cooled state in a three-dimensional automatic warehouse that can be stored in a state in which it can be circulated in an appropriate manner and makes it possible to easily take out arbitrary products.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional automatic warehouses are of the types described above, but most of them are room temperature warehouses. In an automated warehouse that handles cold products, the entire warehouse is covered with a heat insulating material to cool the entire warehouse.

[0003]

Since the conventional automated warehouses that handle cold-insulated products described above cool the entire warehouse, the cooling system is also large and a considerable amount of capital investment is required. Not only that, running costs such as electricity bills are high, and there is much waste of cooling equipment such as conveyors and indoor spaces that do not need to be cooled.
There is also a drawback that maintenance of the equipment is not easy because it is always cooled. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an automated warehouse for cold-insulated products that has a high cooling efficiency, is efficient, and can store cold-insulated products at low cost.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a cold storage container provided with a storage chamber having a large number of circulating shelves therein, and is placed on the shelf over substantially the entire width thereof on the surface side of the storage chamber. In addition to forming a cold storage container inlet / outlet for putting in and out, a back surface opening is formed on the back surface side over substantially the entire width thereof to expose the back surface of the cold storage container placed on the shelf, and at the back surface opening portion, a container is provided. An automatic cooling device characterized in that a cooling device having a number of projecting cooling means that move in a direction and enter into the cooling means entrance formed in the cold storage container is provided for each cold storage container on the shelf. The above problem was solved by using a warehouse.

[0005] In the automated warehouse for the above-mentioned cold products, coercive
By moving the cooling means horizontally with respect to the cold insulation container whose back surface is exposed by reaching the opening on the back surface of the tube chamber and entering the container from the cooling means entrance formed in the container ,
The inside of the container is cooled .

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a three-dimensional automatic warehouse according to the present invention, which comprises vertical automatic rotating shelves , and has a large number of shelves (not shown) that circulate vertically in a storage room 1.
(For example, an auto shelf manufactured by Murata Machinery Co., Ltd.). On the front side (left side in FIG. 1) of the storage room 1, a container entrance / exit 2 is formed over almost the entire width, and a workbench 3 is installed according to the height of the container entrance / exit 2.

Numeral 4 is a cold insulation container, which includes a soft type container made of foamed resin and a hard type container called a so-called hard case, which can be repeatedly used. The cold insulation container 4 is pushed in from the container entrance / exit 2 from a state where it is placed on the workbench 3 and placed on the shelf (not shown). In the illustrated example, four cold storage containers 4 are mounted on one shelf, but it is preferable to install partitions on the shelves so that the cold storage containers 4 are mounted at fixed positions.

A liquefied gas inlet 5 into which a liquefied gas nozzle 6 for ejecting a liquefied gas for cooling, such as liquefied carbonic acid or liquefied nitrogen, is formed on the rear surface of the cold insulating container 4. Inside the liquefied gas inlet 5, it is preferable to install a lid that opens inward by pushing and closes by spring pressure or the like by removing the pushing force. On the back side (right side in FIG. 1) of the storage chamber 1, a back opening 7 for cooling device docking is formed over almost the entire width, and the back of each cold storage container 4 placed on the same shelf is exposed there. It is like this.

Each liquefied gas nozzle 6 is attached to a nozzle holder 9 via an electromagnetic valve 8, and the nozzle holder 9 is automatically moved horizontally along, for example, two rails 10. Composed. The nozzle holder 9 is hollow, and a gas tube 13 extending from the liquefied gas tank 12 is connected to the nozzle holder 9 via a control unit 11. A temperature sensor is installed at the tip of the liquefied gas nozzle 6.

In this apparatus, when the cold storage container 4 is supplied onto the shelf from the container entrance / exit 2 for storage, the shelf moves intermittently for one pitch, that is, for the space between the shelves. While the shelves are stopped, the nozzle holder 9 moves forward (usually driven by an air cylinder), so that each liquefied gas nozzle 6 is exposed to the back opening 7 and the liquefied gas injection port of the cold insulation container 4 is exposed. Enter the container from 5.

Then, the temperature inside the container is checked by the temperature sensor, and the corresponding solenoid valve 8 operates for the cold-storage container 4 in which the temperature higher than the predetermined temperature is detected.
The cooling gas supplied from the liquefied gas tank 12 is ejected from the liquefied gas nozzle 6 to cool the inside of the container. When the temperature inside the container is equal to or lower than the predetermined temperature, the electromagnetic valve 8 corresponding to the cooling container 4 does not operate, and the cooling gas is not supplied.

After the above operation is completed, the nozzle holder 9 temporarily retreats, and when the shelf moves by one pitch, the cold storage container placed on the next shelf appears in the rear opening 7. Therefore, the same operation as described above is performed. This operation is performed continuously,
The movement of the shelves stops at the point where they have made one round. Since there is a case where the cold storage container 4 is not put in and out for a long time thereafter, it is preferable that the checking operation is automatically performed when the cold storage container 4 is stopped for a predetermined time or longer, and the temperature control in the cold storage container 4 is performed. do.

Although the illustrated example is of a type in which the shelves circulate vertically, it goes without saying that the cooling mechanism can be incorporated in the middle of the type of shelves that circulate horizontally.

The one shown in FIG. 2 does not use a liquefied gas, but uses a cooler composed of a compressor, an evaporator (evaporator), a liquefier, etc., instead of a plurality of flat plate evaporators 16. It is projected. The mechanism for reciprocating on the rail 10 is the same as in the above embodiment. Further, the evaporator 16 also has a temperature sensor that operates in the same manner as described above, and the inside of the container is from an evaporator inlet / outlet port (both of which can be used in common) similar to the liquefied gas injection port 5 of the cold insulating container 4. Enter. The operation in this case is also the same as in the above embodiment.

Instead of the above cooling machine, a cooling machine of the type that supplies cold air may be used. In that case, a cold air supply pipe provided with a temperature sensor instead of the evaporator 16 is provided in a protruding manner. The liquefied gas nozzle 6 and the evaporator 1
6 and cold air supply pipe, if the vertical and horizontal cross-sectional size is the same,
The liquefied gas inlet 5 of the cold-keeping container 4 need only be of a single size and can be common to all cooling means.

The cooling means may be provided with a function of automatically setting the inside of the cold insulation container 4 to a predetermined temperature zone. That is, three temperature zone setting switches corresponding to three temperature zones such as cool, chilled, and frieze are installed on the wall of the solenoid valve 8 (or nozzle holder-9) on which the cold insulation container 4 comes into contact. On the other hand, on the other hand, a select switch for selectively pressing the temperature zone setting switch is installed on the back surface of the cold insulation container 4 (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-32669). This select switch is a push type, a slide type, etc., and is set to a predetermined temperature zone at the time of shipment,
In addition, in the case of a foam container, since it is not normally repeatedly used, a simple removable select switch can be used.

[0017]

According to the present invention be as described above, since Oite the present invention <br/> is added cooled cold mechanism in the automated warehouse, the length in the automatic warehouse having automatic receiving function cold items It is possible to store it while controlling the temperature for a period of time, which has a great effect in contributing to the distribution of cold storage products, which will increase more and more in the future.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing another example of the cooling means of the embodiment shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 storage room 2 container doorways 4 Cold container 5 Liquefied gas inlet 6 Liquefied gas nozzle 7 Back side opening 8 solenoid valve 9 Nozzle holder 10 rails 11 Control unit 12 Liquefied gas tank 13 gas tube 16 Evaporator

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65G 1/00 521 B65G 1/127 F25D 3/10

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A storage chamber provided with a plurality of circulating shelves inside, and on the surface side of the storage chamber over substantially the entire width thereof,
Forming a cold storage container inlet / outlet for putting in / out the cold storage container placed on the shelf, and forming a back surface opening for exposing the back surface of the cold storage container placed on the shelf over substantially the entire width on the back surface side thereof. A cooling device having a number of projecting cooling means which moves in the container direction and enters into a cooling means entrance formed in the cold insulation container, the number of which is equal to the number of the cold insulation containers placed on the shelf. An automatic warehouse for cold storage products. 2. The automatic warehouse for cold-reserved goods according to claim 1, wherein the cooling means is any one of a liquefied gas nozzle, a cold air nozzle, and an evaporator.