JPS641365B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a fluidized shelf system capable of transporting articles by intermittently supplying compressed air,
In particular, it relates to improvements in the control device.

As is well known, for example, in a pallet truck system in which goods (cargos) loaded on pallets are stored in pallets and then taken out again, the goods (cargos) that have been stored are moved by gravity to the exit. A so-called fluidized shelf system has come into use. As shown in Fig. 1, this fluidized shelf system consists of rails 1 that are generally stacked in multiple stages (5 stages in the case shown) with an inclination.
1, and when cargoes 13 are received in pallets 14 from the storage entrance 12 side of the rail 11, the cargoes 13 are automatically conveyed along the slope of the rail 11 to the storage exit 15 side and taken out. This has various advantages such as efficient use of space and effective first-in, first-out system.

When moving the load 13 along the rail 11, in systems that use compressed air, it is generally necessary to apply braking while intermittently conveying the load 13 so that the load 13 does not accelerate too much. Conveying means as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 have been considered. First, the one shown in FIG. 2 has a plurality of rollers 17 in a groove 16 formed in a rail 11.
A roller unit 19 rotatably supported by a substantially U-shaped support 18 and an air hose 20 are installed, and when compressed air is fed into the air hose 20, the air hose 20 expands and the roller unit 1
9 is pushed up, the roller 17 comes into contact with the pallet 14, and the pallet 14 is further separated from the upper surface of the rail 11, so that the pallet 14 is transported along the slope of the rail 11 by gravity. On the other hand, when the supply of compressed air into the air hose 20 is stopped and the compressed air is discharged, the roller unit 19 is lowered into the groove 16.
The pallet 14 is placed on the rail 11 and braking is applied.

Further, in the case shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b, as shown in FIG. 3a, a leg portion 21 is formed on the pallet 14, and this leg portion 21 is placed on the rail 11. As shown in FIG. 3b, this rail 11 is hollow, and through holes 22 and 23 are formed in the upper surface of the central portion thereof, respectively. For this reason, when compressed air is sent into the central hollow part, it is blown out from the through holes 22 and 23, and a thin film of air is formed between the legs 21 and the rail 11, reducing friction, and the pallet 14 is pressed against the rail. The object is transported by gravity along the slope 11. On the other hand, when the discharge or supply of compressed air is stopped, the leg portion 21 moves to the rail 11.
It is placed closely on top of the vehicle and provides braking.

Therefore, according to the conveying means shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 above, compressed air can be controlled to be intermittently supplied, discharged, or stopped (hereinafter referred to as pulsing). This is advantageous in construction and efficiency, and in the event of a compressed air discharge or supply cut-off, the pallet 14 is moved to the rail 11.
Since it is placed on top and in a stopped state, it is also good in terms of safety.

However, the fluidized shelf system using the above-mentioned conveyance means is still in the development stage, and although it has various advantages as mentioned above, it has not yet been fully realized. Therefore, there is a strong demand for the development of a control means for a fluidized shelf system that can fully meet the needs of users not only in terms of functionality but especially in terms of safety.

This invention was made based on the above-mentioned circumstances, and it is possible to manually start test transport using a switch when the sensor that starts pulsing is malfunctioning, or when making adjustments to flow the load for the first time. By automatically controlling the air supply time and the time when compressed air is discharged or not supplied from the rail by the control circuit, the conveying operation can be started at any time according to the user's needs, making handling easier. An object of the present invention is to provide an extremely good control device for a fluidized shelf system that can facilitate transport operations and safely perform transport operations.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is an external view showing a fluidized shelf system to which the present invention is applied. now,
In Fig. 4, one block in the vertical direction (there are four stages) is called a bay, and each stage of each bay (that is, the transport direction of the load 13) is called a lane, then the system shown in the figure is eight. Bays 24a to 24h
and each bay 24a to 24h has 4 bays.
In other words, the entire system consists of 32 lanes.
Then, for each of these bays 24a to 24h, pallet 1 is removed from one end of the lanes 25a to 25d.
At the same time, the cargo 13 loaded on lanes 25a to 25d is loaded from the other end of lanes 25a to 25d.
3 unloading operations are performed.
In addition, the transport operation of the load 13 is carried out in each bay 24a to 2.
They can be controlled independently every 4 hours.

Here, as shown in FIG. 5, one of the bays 24a to 24h will be taken out and its transport operation will be explained.
Note that the transport operations for the other bays 24b to 24h are as follows:
Since it is similar to the bay 24a described above, its explanation will be omitted. That is, each lane 2 of this bay 24a
5a to 25d are each provided with a rail 11 with an inclination as described above, and this rail 11 is supported by a plurality of pillars 26. The rail 11 is equipped with a roller unit 19 and an air hose 20 as shown in FIG. It is designed so that it can be transported intermittently. In this case, an air pipe (not shown) for feeding the compressed air of the air hose 20 is also arranged along the pillar 26, and a solenoid valve (not shown) provided at the base of the air pipe opens and closes the air pipe. By controlling the air hose 20, compressed air is supplied to and stopped from the air hose 20.

Each pillar 26 adjacent to the front of the bay 24a on the storage entrance 12 side and the storage exit 15 side, respectively.
(The back side of the figure is not shown) A light-reflecting sensor 2 is installed in the center of a crosspiece (not shown) installed in the bay direction.
7 and 28 are installed. This sensor 27,2
Reference numeral 8 normally outputs an L-level signal, and outputs an H-level signal when a forklift or the like approaches, in short, to determine whether or not warehouse loading/unloading work is in progress. The output signals of each of these sensors are output to the OR circuit 2 as shown in FIG.
9 are respectively supplied to both input terminals. After the output terminal of this OR circuit 29 passes through a timer circuit 30,
It is connected to a set input terminal S of a set/reset type flip-flop circuit (hereinafter referred to as an S-RFF circuit) 31, and also to one input terminal of an AND circuit 33 via a not circuit 32. Moreover, the output terminal Q of this S-RFF circuit 31 is
It is connected to the other input terminal of the AND circuit 33. The output terminal of the AND circuit 33 is
It is connected to a terminal 35 to which an H level signal is applied via a switch 34, and the two AND circuits 3
6 and 37, and further connected to the reset input terminal R of the S-RFF circuit 31 via a timer circuit 38.

Here, the output terminal of the AND circuit 36 is connected to a first input terminal of an AND circuit 40 and one input terminal of an AND circuit 41 after passing through a timer circuit 39 . Further, the output terminal of the AND circuit 37 is connected to the second input terminal of the AND circuit 40 via the timer circuit 42, and the other input terminal of the AND circuit 41 via the NOT circuit 43. It is connected to the.

The output terminal of the AND circuit 40 is first connected to a relay circuit 45 via an amplifier circuit 44. This relay circuit 45 turns on a switch 46 when an H-level amplified signal is supplied, and applies the output voltage of the AC power source 47 to the electromagnetic coil 48 of the electromagnetic valve. Then, the electromagnetic coil 48 operates to open the electromagnetic valve, and compressed air is sent into the air hose 19 via the air pipe, so that the load 13 is conveyed. Further, the output terminal of the AND circuit 40 is connected to the AND circuits 36 and 37 via a timer circuit 49 and a NOT circuit 50.
are connected to the other input terminals of the AND circuit 41 via the timer circuit 51.
connected to the output end of the The connection point between the output terminal of the timer circuit 51 and the output terminal of the AND circuit 41 is connected to the set input terminal S of the S-RFF circuit 52. The output terminal Q of this S-RFF circuit 52 is connected to the AND circuit 4 via a knot circuit 53.
0, and is also connected to a display unit 55 via an amplifier circuit 54. In addition, the reset input terminal R of the S-RFF circuit 52
is connected via a switch 56 to a terminal 57 to which an H level signal is applied.

Here, each of the above timer circuits 30, 38, 39,
42, 49, and 51 are input signals from L level to H level.
The timer operation starts when the level rises, and after the predetermined time determined for each timer has passed, the
It operates to generate a high level output signal, and if the input signal goes to L level before the above predetermined time has elapsed, it is reset at that point, and when the input signal rises to H level again, it will start again. The timer operation is started from this point. In other words, each timer circuit 30, 38, 3
9, 42, 49, and 51 can be said to detect that the H level state continues for a predetermined time after the input signal rises from the L level to the H level, and output an H level signal. Further, the timer circuits 30, 38, 39, 42, 49, 51 are as follows:
When the input signal is inverted to L level while an H level signal is being output, the output is immediately set to L level in real time without performing a timer operation.

In this case, each of the timer circuits 30, 3
The predetermined times of 8, 39, 42, 49, and 51 are 4 seconds for timer circuit 30, 30 seconds for timer circuit 38, 4 seconds for timer circuit 39, 3.9 seconds for timer circuit 42, and 3.9 seconds for timer circuit 39.
The following explanation will be made assuming that the timer circuit 49 is 0.7 seconds and the timer circuit 51 is 0.8 seconds, but these times are adjustable.

The operation of the above configuration will be described below with reference to the time chart shown in FIG. In this case, a to n in FIG. 7 represent the signals at points a to n in FIG. 6, respectively. First, for example, if a forklift approaches the exit 15 at an arbitrary time _T1 and performs unloading work, the output of the sensor 28 becomes H level, and the output of the OR circuit 29 also goes to H level as shown in FIG. 7a. becomes. If the unloading operation continues for more than 4 seconds, the time
At time _T2 , 4 seconds after _T1 , the output of the timer circuit 30 becomes H level as shown in FIG. 7b, and the S-RFF circuit 31 is set and its output changes as shown in FIG. 7c. becomes H level. At this time, an L level signal obtained by inverting the H level output of the timer circuit 30 by the NOT circuit 32 is sent to the AND circuit 33.
Since the output of the AND circuit 33 is supplied to the seventh
As shown in Figure d, it is at L level.

In this state, if the unloading operation ends at time _T3 and the forklift moves away from the unloading port 15, the output of the sensor 28 becomes L level, and the output of the OR circuit 29 also becomes as shown in FIG. 7a. As shown, it becomes L level. Then, the output of the timer circuit 30 becomes L level in real time as shown in FIG. 7b, but the output of the S-RFF circuit 31 is held at H level as shown in FIG. 7c. and,
The L level output of the timer circuit 30 is connected to the not circuit 32.
Since the H level signal inverted at is input to the AND circuit 33, the output of the AND circuit 33 is as shown in FIG.
It becomes H level as shown in . At this time, the timer circuit 38 starts the timer operation, and its output is the seventh
It is kept at L level as shown in Figure e.

At time _T3 when the output of the AND circuit 33 becomes H level, the output of the NOT circuit 50 becomes H level, as will be clear from the explanation given later, so the outputs of the AND circuits 36 and 37 become H level. As shown in FIG. 7f and j, both become H level. Then, at time T4, which is 3.9 seconds after time _T3 , the timer circuit ₄₂ is activated as shown in FIG.
The output of becomes H level, and then from time T ₃ to 4
At time _T5 when seconds have elapsed, the output of the timer circuit 39 becomes H level as shown in FIG. 7g. Now, considering the case where the S-RFF circuit 52 is not set, its output terminal Q is at the L level as shown in FIG. This means that the signal is supplied to the third input terminal of the AND circuit 40.

Therefore, in synchronization with the output of the timer circuit 39 going high, the output of the AND circuit 40 goes high as shown in FIG. 7h. Then,
This H level output signal is amplified by the amplifier circuit 44 and then supplied to the relay circuit 45, and as described above, the electromagnetic coil 48 is energized, the electromagnetic valve is opened, and compressed air is sent into the air hose 19. The cargo 13 is then transported.

Here, if the period during which compressed air is supplied to the air hose 19 and the load 13 is being transported is referred to as on-time, this on-time is defined by the timer circuit 49. That is,
Time when the output of the AND circuit 40 becomes H level
At T ₅ , the timer circuit 49 starts timer operation, and 0.7
At time _T6 , after seconds have elapsed, the output becomes H level as shown in FIG. 7i. Then, knot circuit 5
The output of 0 becomes L level, and the AND circuits 36, 3
The outputs of timer circuits 39 and 42 go to L level as shown in FIG.
As shown in k, it becomes L level in real time.
Therefore, the output of the AND circuit 40 becomes L level as shown in FIG. 7h, and the air hose 19
The supply of compressed air to the container is stopped, and the conveyance of the load 13 is stopped. In other words, the on-time is designed to continue for 0.7 seconds as defined by the timer circuit 49.

Furthermore, when the output of the AND circuit 40 becomes L level, the output of the timer circuit 49 becomes L level in real time, and this L level is inverted to H level by the NOT circuit 50, so that the AND circuits 36, 37 is set to H level again as shown in FIG. 7f and j. Here, at time _T6 , the output of the timer circuit 49 becomes H level, and the AND circuit 36,
The operation in which the output of 37 once goes to L level and then goes back to H level is performed in real time of the circuit element in an extremely short time, and in FIG. 7, it is shown to be performed approximately at time _T6 . There is.

Then, the outputs of the AND circuits 36 and 37 go high again.
If the condition has reached the above level, do not correct it, and
The state is the same as shown in T ₃ . For this reason,
AND circuit 4 at time T ₇ , 4 seconds after time T ₆
The output of 0 becomes H level (on time), and the time
At time _T8, 0.7 seconds after _T7 , the output of the AND circuit 40 becomes L level, and this operation is repeated thereafter. That is, if the period during which the conveyance of the load 13 is stopped with respect to the above-mentioned on-time is referred to as off-time, then the 4-second off-time specified by the timer circuit 39 and the timer circuit 49
The load 13 is transported by alternately repeating the on-time of 0.7 seconds defined by .

Here, when the off-time and on-time are stably repeated as described above, as is clear from FIG. 7, the output of the timer circuit 39 is at the H level and the output of the timer circuit 42 is at the L level. Since there is no such period, the output of the AND circuit 41 is at the L level as shown in FIG. 7l.
Further, for example, when the output of the AND circuit 40 becomes H level at time _T5 , the timer circuit 51 as well as the timer circuit 49 starts the timer operation, which is 0.7 seconds shorter than the timer time (0.8 seconds) of the timer circuit 51. At time _T6 , when seconds have elapsed, the output of the AND circuit 40 is inverted to the L level due to the action of the timer circuit 49, so the output of the timer circuit 51 is also maintained at the L level as shown in FIG. 7n. . Therefore, in a state where off-time and on-time are stably repeated, the S-RFF circuit 52 is not set, and its output is held at the L level as shown in FIG. 7m. It is.

Then, at time _T9 , 30 seconds have passed since the output of the AND circuit 33 became H level at time _T3.
Then, the output of the timer circuit 38 becomes H level as shown in FIG. 7e. Then, the S-RFF circuit 31
is reset, its output terminal Q goes to the L level as shown in FIG. 7c, and the output of the AND circuit 33 also goes to the L level as shown in FIG. 7d. The pulsing operation, that is, the conveyance operation corresponding to the work is completed.

Here, during the series of conveyance operations from time T ₃ to T ₉ described above, at time T _o in FIG.
After the output of 0 becomes H level (that is, on time), for example, due to a failure of the timer circuit 49,
Assume that the on-time continues for 0.7 seconds or more. Then, at time T _{o +1} , 0.8 seconds after time T o, the output of the timer circuit 51 becomes H level as shown in FIG. It becomes H level as shown in m.
When this happens, the output of the NOT circuit 53 is inverted to L level, and the output of the AND circuit 40 becomes L level as shown in FIG. The H level output of 52 is sent to the display section 55 via the amplifier circuit 54.
It is used to indicate that an abnormality has occurred.

On the other hand, during the series of conveyance operations from time _T3 to _T9 , the AND circuit 36 is activated at time _Tn in FIG.
After the output reaches H level as shown in FIG. 7f, for example, due to a failure of the timer circuit 39,
Assume that the output of the timer circuit 39 becomes H level as shown in FIG. 7g at time T _n+1, when 3.9 seconds have not yet elapsed. In other words, assume that the off time was less than 3.9 seconds. Then, at this time, since the output of the timer circuit 42 remains at the L level as shown in FIG. 7k, the output of the AND circuit 40 is suppressed to the L level as shown in FIG. 7h, and the on-time does not occur. At the same time, the output of the AND circuit 41 becomes H level as shown in FIG.
2 is set and its output becomes H level as shown in FIG. 7m. Therefore, as described above, the output of the NOT circuit 53 is inverted to the L level, the output of the AND circuit 40 is thereafter held at the L level, and the display section 55 displays that an abnormality has occurred. It is.

For example, when the switch 56 is turned on after the repair of the abnormal part is completed, the S-RFF circuit 52 is reset and the output of the NOT circuit 53 is set to H.
level, and the display section 55 no longer displays, returning to a state in which transport operation is possible.

Here, in the above explanation, when a forklift or the like approaches the exit 15 and the exit operation is completed and the forklift moves away from the exit 15, that is, when the output of the sensor 28 is reversed from H level to L level, As mentioned above, the conveyance operation can be carried out automatically, but this is true in the case of warehousing work, that is, when the forklift approaches the warehousing port 12 and the warehousing operation is completed, the forklift approaches the warehousing port 12.
It can be easily seen from the above description that the conveyance operation is similarly automatically started when the sensor 27 moves away from the object (when the output of the sensor 27 is reversed from the H level to the L level).

Further, when the forklift approaches the storage entrance 12 or the storage exit 15 while the above-mentioned conveyance operation is being performed, that is, while pulsing the compressed air, the output of the sensor 27 or 28 is reversed from the L level to the H level. If this state continues for 4 seconds or more, the output of the timer circuit 30 becomes H level and the output of the NOT circuit 32 becomes L level. Therefore, the output of the AND circuit 33 becomes L level, and the above-mentioned transport operation is automatically stopped.

Here, the timer circuit 30 determines whether, for example, a forklift or the like has simply passed near the entrance 12 or the exit 15, or whether a warehousing or unloading operation is being performed at the entrance 12 or the exit 15. It has the function of determining whether or not it is true based on time. In other words, the forklift is at the entrance 12 or exit 1.
5 for more than 4 seconds, it is assumed that work is in progress and the S-RFF circuit 31 is set to the set state.
Make sure that the transport operation can be carried out after the work is completed.
If it is less than 4 seconds, it is assumed that the signal has simply passed, and the S-RFF circuit 31 is not set.

Further, when the user turns on the switch 34, the output of the AND circuit 33 becomes high.
It is possible to achieve the same state as when the level is reached, and also to manually start the conveyance operation, that is, pulsing. in this case,
Although the start of pulsing can be set manually using the switch 34, the on-time and off-time are automatically set using the respective timer circuits 49, 39.

Here, as described above, each timer circuit 30,
38, 39, 42, 49, and 51 have adjustable setting times. Therefore, the on-time and off-time can be adjusted as appropriate depending on the weight, amount, etc. of the load 13.

The control device for the fluidized shelf system shown in FIG. 6 is installed in each of the bays 24a to 24h, and can perform pulsing control independently for each bay 24a to 24h. Further, depending on the scale of the bays 24a to 24h, for example, about two bays may be controlled by pulsing using the same control device.

Therefore, according to the configuration of the above embodiment, the transport operation of the load 13 is started manually by the switch 34, so that even if the sensors 27 and 28 that start pulsing fail, for example, the transfer operation of the load 13 is started manually. , the transport operation can be performed, and the test transport operation during on-time adjustment for flowing the load 13 for the first time can be started at any time according to the user's needs, making it extremely convenient to handle. It is. In addition, for the conveyance operation, pulses can be generated one by one using an electric manual switch or a manual push button on a solenoid valve.
Since it is dangerous to determine the length of the pulse by human judgment, the on-time and off-time are automatically controlled by timer circuits 49 and 39, and each is monitored by timer circuits 42 and 51. Therefore, the transport operation can be carried out safely. Further, when the manual switch 34 is on, pulsing is performed with priority over all other conditions.

Furthermore, in this case, the conveyance operation is stopped by turning off the switch 34;
Since the pulsing period is not defined by the timer circuit 38 as described above, handling can be facilitated in this respect as well.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and can be implemented with various modifications without departing from the gist thereof.

Therefore, as described in detail above, according to the present invention, test conveyance is manually started using a switch when a sensor that starts pulsing fails or when on-time adjustment is made to flow a load for the first time. Since the time for supplying compressed air to the rails and the time for discharging or not supplying compressed air from the rails are automatically controlled by the control circuit, the conveying operation can be started at any time according to the user's needs. It is possible to provide an extremely good control device for a fluidized shelf system that can facilitate handling and safely carry out conveyance operations.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the fluidized shelf system, FIGS. 2 and 3 are block diagrams showing the conveying means used in the fluidized shelf system, and FIG. 4 is an external view of the fluidized shelf system to which the present invention is applied. 5 is a side view showing one bay taken out from the fluidized shelf system, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are block circuit configuration diagrams showing one embodiment of the fluidized shelf system control device according to the present invention. and a time chart for explaining its operation. 11...Rail, 12...Warehouse entrance, 13...
Cargo, 14...Pallet, 15...Outlet, 16...
...Groove, 17...Roller, 18...Support, 19...
...Roller unit, 20...Air hose, 21...
...Legs, 22, 23...Through holes, 24a to 24h...
...Bay, 25a-25d...Lane, 26...
Pillar, 27, 28...sensor, 29...OR circuit,
30...Timer circuit, 31...S-RFF circuit,
32...Not circuit, 33...And circuit, 34
...Switch, 35...Terminal, 36,37...AND circuit, 38,39...Timer circuit, 40,4
1...AND circuit, 42...Timer circuit, 43...
... Note circuit, 44 ... Amplifier circuit, 45 ... Relay circuit, 46 ... Switch, 47 ... AC power supply,
48... Electromagnetic coil, 49... Timer circuit, 50
...Knot circuit, 51...Timer circuit, 52...
S-RFF circuit, 53...Knot circuit, 54...
Amplifier circuit, 55...display section, 56...switch,
57...Terminal.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 The rail 11 on which the article 13 is placed and installed with an inclination is in a first state in which the article 13 is transferred by gravity along the rail 11 with compressed air being supplied to the rail 11.
transport means 19, 20 that is in a second state where the transfer of the article 13 is stopped in a state where compressed air is not supplied to the transport means 19, 20;
a first time width setting circuit 49 that sets the time width of the first state; a second time width setting circuit 39 that sets the time width of the second state;
and a conveyance control circuit 36, 39, 40, 49, 50 that alternately operates the second time width setting circuits 49, 39 to convey the article 13 intermittently, and an article entrance section or an exit section of the rail 11. a first detection control mechanism 27, 29 provided in
30, 31, 33, and the transport control circuits 36, 3
9, 40, 49, and 50; and a third time width setting circuit 38, which is provided at the article entrance or unloading section of the rail 11, to detect the start state of the work of warehousing or unloading, Control circuit 3
6, 39, 40, 49, 50 in a non-operating state
3, and the first and second detection control mechanisms 27, 2
a manual switch 3 for controlling the transfer control circuits 36, 39, 40, 49, 50 to a non-operating state and an operating state with priority over 9, 30, 31, 32, 33;
4. A control device for a fluidized shelf system, comprising: