TW202311134A - Article storage facility - Google Patents

Abstract

An article storage facility (1) includes a storage rack (2), an in-stock unit (4), a first internal conveying device (2A) for conveying an article (10) within a first conveying range (R1), a second internal conveying device (2B) for conveying the article (10) within a second conveying range (R2), and a control system. The control system is configured to perform range adjustment processing. The aforementioned range adjustment processing is to decrease the first conveying range (R1) as a number of reference articles is increased. The aforementioned number of reference articles is determined by a number of articles being held in the in-stock unit (4).

Description

Item storage equipment

The present invention relates to an article containing device.

For example, in a semiconductor factory or a flat panel display factory, etc., since a plurality of processing steps are performed sequentially, it is sometimes configured to install an article storage facility with an internal conveying device in each step, and use an external conveying device to carry out inter-step transfer. Items moved. An example of such an article storage facility is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-130708 (Patent Document 1).

The article accommodation equipment (automatic warehouse system 4) of patent document 1 possesses: accommodating rack (shelf 6), accommodating article (cassette 39); Trolley 24) receives articles; a first internal transport device (stacking crane 12); and a second internal transport device (stacking crane 14). The first internal conveyance device conveys the articles within the range including the storage section, and the second internal conveyance device is configured to convey the articles within the range not including the storage section. A part of the conveying range of the first internal conveying device and a part of the conveying range of the second internal conveying device overlap.

In this article accommodating equipment, the storage part receives the article conveyed by the external conveying device, and stores the article into the storage rack by the first internal conveying device, and then, the first internal conveying device and the second internal conveying device The internal conveying device cooperates to convey to the processing device for various processing. A plurality of holding positions (support positions 60, 62) are set in the storage section, and the storage section having the plurality of holding positions functions as a temporary storage area. The next item is temporarily held during the period until the item returns.

However, when the storage unit is full of items that are actually being held in the storage unit, even if the next item is transported by the external transfer device, the item cannot be transferred, and the storage unit must wait until there is a vacancy in the storage unit. Since the external conveying device is waiting at a position facing the storage section of a specific article storage facility, the external conveying device may be blocked, which reduces the overall processing efficiency of the article conveying facility including the external conveying device and multiple article storage facilities. The problem.

Therefore, realization of an article storage facility capable of suppressing reduction in processing efficiency of the entire article conveyance facility is desired.

The article storage equipment disclosed in this disclosure has: The storage rack has a plurality of storage parts for storing items; The warehousing department receives the aforementioned items from the external conveying device and holds a plurality of the aforementioned items; The first internal transfer device moves along a transfer path set along the front of the storage rack, and transfers the article within a first transfer range of the storage part including the storage part and at least a part of the storage rack. ; The second internal conveying device moves along the conveying path, and conveys the article in a second conveying range, the second conveying range includes at least a part of the storage portion of the storage rack, and does not include the storage portion ;and A control system for controlling the aforementioned first internal conveying device and the aforementioned second internal conveying device, A part of the first transport range and a part of the second transport range are set to overlap, The aforementioned control system performs a range adjustment process. The aforementioned range adjustment process narrows the aforementioned first transport range as the number of reference items increases. number to decide.

According to this configuration, the first internal conveying device and the second internal conveying device moving along the conveying path in front of the storage rack cooperate to store the articles received from the external conveying device into the storage rack, It can be used for subsequent processing if necessary. In this case, the control system will perform range adjustment processing, whereby as the number of reference items determined based on the number of retained items increases, the operating range of the first internal conveying device is reduced to increase the turnover rate, thereby promoting The conveyance of articles from the storage department by the first internal conveyance device. As a result, it is easier to avoid a state where the storage unit is full, and it is possible to suppress a reduction in the processing efficiency of the entire article conveyance facility.

Further features and advantages of the disclosed technology should become more clear through the following description of exemplary and non-limiting embodiments described with reference to the drawings.

form for carrying out the invention

Embodiments of the article storage facility will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, description will be given by taking the article storage facility 1 included in the article conveyance facility 100 as an example. The article conveyance facility 100 is used in order to sequentially perform a plurality of processing steps in, for example, a semiconductor factory or a flat panel display factory. And set up the item handling equipment.

As shown in FIG. 1 , an article conveyance facility 100 includes an article storage facility 1 , an external conveyance device 8 , and a processing device 9 . In this embodiment, a plurality of article storage devices 1 are provided, and the external conveying device 8 is arranged to detour around these plurality of article storage devices 1, and the processing device 9 is provided corresponding to each article storage device 1 . One step is constituted by the article storage equipment 1 and the processing device 9 corresponding thereto, and the external conveying device 8 that detours around a plurality of article storage equipment 1 is responsible for conveying between steps.

The external conveyance device 8 includes a plurality of conveyance carts 82 that detour along a predetermined travel path (external conveyance path To). The external conveyance apparatus 8 of this embodiment is equipped with the detour rail 81 provided along the external conveyance path To, and the some conveyance cart 82 which travels on this detour rail 81. As shown in FIG. In addition, in this embodiment, the detour rail 81 is installed on the floor surface. That is, the external conveyance device 8 of the present embodiment includes a plurality of floor-surface-walking conveyance carts 82 with rails. In addition, the external transfer device 8 includes a fork-type transfer device supported by a transfer cart 82 . The external transfer device 8 transfers the articles 10 between the plurality of article storage devices 1 (between steps).

As the article 10, for example, a semiconductor wafer used in the manufacture of a semiconductor element, a reticle for processing, or the like can be exemplified. In this embodiment, these are stored in the container (for example, if the item is a semiconductor wafer, the container is a FOUP (Front Opening Unified Pod, front opening wafer transfer box), if the item is a reticle, the container It is transported in the state of shrinking the photomask). Therefore, in the following, when "the article 10" is mentioned, the container for accommodating the article 10 is also included.

The processing device 9 is for processing the article 10 . In this embodiment, the processing apparatus 9 is equipped with the transfer port Pp, and transfers the article 10 with the internal conveyance apparatus 3 using this transfer port Pp. Furthermore, the processing device 9 performs various processing on the article 10 received from the internal transfer device 3 through the transfer port Pp. The processing device 9 may be, for example, a cleaning device, a film forming device, an exposure device, an etching device, and the like. The processing device 9 delivers the processed article 10 to the internal transfer device 3 at the delivery port Pp. The transfer port Pp is arranged at a position adjacent to the conveyance path (internal conveyance path Ti) of the internal conveyance device 3 .

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 , the article storage facility 1 includes a storage rack 2 , an internal conveyance device 3 , a storage unit 4 , and a storage unit 5 . Moreover, the article storage facility 1 is equipped with the control system 7 (refer FIG. 1). In the present embodiment, the control system 7 is configured to individually control a plurality of article storage devices 1 and to integrally control the entirety of the article transfer device 100 .

The storage rack 2 includes a plurality of storage portions 23 for storing the articles 10 . In the present embodiment, the article storage facility 1 includes a pair of storage racks 2 (first storage rack 2A and second storage rack 2B) arranged to face each other. The first storage rack 2A and the second storage rack 2B are arranged to face each other with the internal transfer device 3 interposed therebetween. The first storage frame 2A and the second storage frame 2B respectively have: a plurality of pillars 21 erected from the floor at predetermined intervals; and a plurality of supporting parts 22 fixed to the pillars 21 at predetermined intervals. The accommodating part 23 for accommodating the article 10 is formed by the space above the pair of support parts 22 having the same height fixed in the adjacent pillars 21 . The first storage rack 2A and the second storage rack 2B each include a storage portion 23 covering a plurality of layers and a plurality of columns. The respective accommodating portions 23 are arranged at adjacent positions in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance path (internal conveyance path Ti) of the internal conveyance device 3 .

In this embodiment, the first storage rack 2A and the second storage rack 2B are arranged so as to be aligned with one side end. And, adjacent to the ends of these aligned sides, a storage unit 4 and a storage unit 5 are provided. The storage unit 4 is provided adjacent to the first storage rack 2A, and the storage unit 5 is provided adjacent to the second storage rack 2B. In addition, in this embodiment, the second storage rack 2B is set so that the number of columns is greater than that of the first storage rack 2A. Therefore, the second storage rack 2B is arranged to protrude more than the first storage rack 2A at the end portion on the opposite side of the storage unit 4 and the delivery unit 5 . Furthermore, a processing device 9 is arranged at a position adjacent to the first storage rack 2A and facing the second storage rack 2B.

The internal transfer device 3 is provided between a pair of storage racks 2 (the first storage rack 2A and the second storage rack 2B) arranged to face each other. The internal transport device 3 moves along the internal transport path Ti set along the front of the storage rack 2, and between the storage part 4 and the storage rack 2, in the same storage rack 2, the storage rack 2 on one side and the storage rack 2 The articles 10 are conveyed between the storage racks 2 on the other side, and between the storage racks 2 and the delivery unit 5 . In this embodiment, the internal conveyance path Ti corresponds to a "transportation path".

Furthermore, the article storage facility 1 of this embodiment includes a pair of internal conveyance devices 3 (first internal conveyance device 3A and second internal conveyance device 3B) arranged along the internal conveyance path Ti. The first internal conveyance device 3A and the second internal conveyance device 3B are constituted by stacking cranes, and each includes a traveling trolley 32 , a mast 33 , an elevating platform 34 , and a transfer device 35 . The traveling trolley 32 travels on the traveling rail 31 provided on the floor surface along the internal transport path Ti. The mast 33 is erected from the trolley 32 . In the present embodiment, the pair of masts 33 are separately provided on both sides of the inner transport path Ti in the traveling cart 32 . The upper end of the mast 33 is guided by a guide rail 36 provided on the ceiling. The lift table 34 is raised and lowered along the pair of masts 33 . The transfer device 35 is fixed to the lift table 34 and transfers the article 10 .

In the present embodiment, the first internal conveyance device 3A and the second internal conveyance device 3B are installed on a common travel rail 31 . That is, the traveling cart 32 of the first internal conveying device 3A and the traveling cart 32 of the second internal conveying device 3B are installed so as to travel on the common traveling rail 31 . In contrast to the second internal transport device 3B, the first internal transport device 3A is installed on the side of the storage unit 4 and the delivery unit 5 .

As shown in FIG. 2 , the first internal conveying device 3A conveys the article 10 within the first conveying range R1 including the storage part 4 and at least a part of the storage part 23 of the storage rack 2 . The first conveyance range R1 is a range set to include the storage unit 4 and a part of the storage unit 23 on the side of the storage unit 4 among the storage racks 2 . Moreover, the 1st conveyance range R1 also includes the delivery part 5 which opposes the storage part 4. As shown in FIG. The second internal conveying device 3B conveys the articles 10 within the second conveying range R2 including at least a part of the storage portion 23 of the storage rack 2 and not including the storage portion 4 . In the present embodiment, the second transport range R2 is set to include at least a part of the storage unit 23 of the storage rack 2 and the processing device 9 arranged on the opposite side of the storage unit 4 and the delivery unit 5 . The second transport range R2 is a range set to include a part of the storage unit 23 on the processing device 9 side in the storage rack 2 and the processing device 9 .

These 1st conveyance range R1 and 2nd conveyance range R2 are set so that a part of 1st conveyance range R1 and a part of 2nd conveyance range R2 may mutually overlap. A part on the side of the processing device 9 in the first transport range R1 and a part on the side of the storage unit 4 and the delivery unit 5 in the second transport range R2 overlap each other.

The storage unit 4 receives the articles 10 from the external transport device 8 and holds the received articles 10 . The storage unit 4 of this embodiment includes a storage conveyor 41 . The storage conveyor 41 can also be, for example, a roller conveyor, a slat conveyor, and a belt conveyor. In the present embodiment, the storage unit 4 is configured to hold a plurality of articles 10 in a stationary state. This example is an example showing a state where the storage conveyor 41 constituting the storage unit 4 holds two articles 10 . In this case, the storage conveyor 41 has two support positions 43 and 44, and the storage upper limit number Nmax which is the maximum number of articles 10 that can be held by the storage unit 4 is "2" (Nmax=2).

The storage conveyor 41 works under the condition that the supporting position 43 supports the article 10 and the supporting position 44 does not support the article 10 , and can transport the article 10 originally located at the supporting position 43 to the supporting position 44 . The support position 43 on the most upstream side in the conveying direction is a position where the article 10 is received from the external conveying device 8, and is a receiving port Pr. The support position 44 on the most downstream side in the conveyance direction is a position where the article 10 is delivered to the internal conveyance device 3 (first internal conveyance device 3A) when the article 10 is put into storage, and is a put-in port Pi. The storage ports Pi are arranged at positions adjacent to each other in a direction perpendicular to the internal transport path Ti.

The delivery unit 5 holds articles 10 to be delivered to the external transfer device 8 . The delivery unit 5 holds the article 10 received from the internal conveyance device 3 (the first internal conveyance device 3A), and delivers the article 10 to the external conveyance device 8 . The delivery unit 5 of the present embodiment includes a delivery conveyor 51 . The delivery conveyor 51 can also be, for example, a roller conveyor, a slat conveyor, and a belt conveyor. In the present embodiment, the delivery unit 5 is configured to hold a plurality of articles 10 in a stationary state. In this example, it is an example showing the case where the delivery conveyor 51 constituting the delivery unit 5 holds two articles 10 . In this case, the delivery conveyor 51 has two support positions 53 and 54, and the maximum number of articles 10 that can be held by the delivery unit 5 is "2".

The outbound conveyor 51 operates when the supporting position 53 supports the article 10 and does not support the article 10 at the supporting position 54 , and can transport the article 10 originally located at the supporting position 53 to the supporting position 54 . The support position 53 on the most upstream side in the conveying direction is a position where the article 10 is received from the internal conveying device 3 (first internal conveying device 3A) when the article 10 is shipped out, and is a delivery port Po. The delivery port Po is arranged at a position adjacent to the internal conveyance path Ti in a direction perpendicular thereto, and is arranged on the opposite side of the delivery port Pi. The support position 54 on the most downstream side in the conveying direction is a place where the article 10 is to be delivered to the external conveying device 8 , and is a delivery port Ph.

The storage port Pi and the storage port Po are provided at one end of the first transport range R1. The entry port Pi and the exit port Po are included only in the first transport range R1, and are not included in the second transport range R2. The transfer port Pp of the processing apparatus 9 is the end part on the opposite side of the receiving port Pi and the sending port Po provided in the 2nd transfer range R2. The handover port Pp is included only in the second transfer range R2, and is not included in the first transfer range R1. Among the plurality of storage parts 23 of the storage rack 2, there are storage parts only included in the first transport range R1, storage parts only included in the second transport range R2, and storage parts included only in the first transport range R2. The accommodation part in the overlapping range L of the range R1 and the second conveying range R2.

In the article storage facility 1 having such a configuration, the internal conveyance device 3 performs a storage conveyance process, an in-rack conveyance process, a processing conveyance process, and a warehouse conveyance process.

The storage transport process is a process of transporting the article 10 from the storage unit 4 to the specific storage unit 23 of the storage rack 2 . In the warehouse-in transportation process, the article 10 supported by the support position 44 (storage port Pi) of the storage unit 4 is moved to the storage rack 2 (the first storage rack 2A or the second storage rack 2) by the first internal transfer device 3A. The specific storage part 23 of rack 2B) is conveyed and stored.

The in-rack transport process is a process of transporting an article 10 from a specific storage portion 23 of a storage rack 2 to another storage portion 23 of the same or another storage rack 2 . In the rack transport process, the article 10 accommodated in the specific storage unit 23 of the transport origin is transported to the specific storage unit of the transport destination by the first internal transport device 3A or the second internal transport device 3B. twenty three. At this time, if the storage unit 23 of the conveyance origin or the conveyance destination is included only in the first conveyance range R1, the object article 10 can be conveyed by the first internal conveyance device 3A. If the accommodating part 23 of a conveyance origin or a conveyance destination is included only in the 2nd conveyance range R2, the object article 10 can be conveyed by the 2nd internal conveyance apparatus 3B. If the accommodating portion 23 of the conveying starting point and the conveying destination is included in the overlapping range L of the first conveying range R1 and the second conveying range R2, the first internal conveying device 3A and the second internal conveying device 3B can Either of them conveys the target article 10 .

The processing transport process is a process of transporting the article 10 between the specific storage unit 23 of the storage rack 2 and the processing device 9 . In the conveyance process for processing, the article 10 accommodated in the specific storage part 23 of the conveyance starting point is conveyed to the delivery port Pp of the processing apparatus 9 by the 2nd internal conveyance apparatus 3B. Alternatively, in the transport process for processing, the processed article 10 supported by the transfer port Pp of the processing device 9 is transported to the specific storage unit 23 of the transport destination by the second internal transport device 3B.

The outgoing transport process is a process for transporting the article 10 from the specific storage unit 23 of the storage rack 2 to the outgoing unit 5 . In the outbound transportation process, the articles 10 accommodated in the specific storage portion 23 of the storage rack 2 (the first storage rack 2A or the second storage rack 2B) are transported by the first internal transfer device 3A. To the support position 53 (the delivery port Po) of the delivery unit 5, the delivery is performed.

As described above, the control system 7 individually controls the plurality of article storage facilities 1 (internal transport devices 3 ) and integrally controls the entire article transport facility 100 including the external transport device 8 . Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4 , the control system 7 includes an internal transport control unit 71 , an external transport control unit 72 , and an integrated control unit 73 . In addition, although for the sake of simplification, only the internal transport control unit 71 corresponding to one article storage device 1 (internal transport device 3) is shown in FIG. 3) Each internal transport control unit 71.

The internal transport control unit 71 controls the internal transport device 3 . In this embodiment, a first internal transport device 3A and a second internal transport device 3B are provided corresponding to the internal transport device 3, and the internal transport control unit 71 controls the first internal transport device 3A and the second internal transport device 3B. The internal transport control unit 71 controls the first internal transport device 3A and the second internal transport device 3B in accordance with a transport command (here, a transport command within a step).

The transfer command has, for example, the data structure shown in FIG. 5 . Each transport command has information on a transport origin (transport start position), a transport destination (transport completion position), and the internal transport device 3 to be used. In FIG. 5 , "S1" indicates the first storage rack 2A, and "S2" indicates the second storage rack 2B. Further, "(m, n)" next to "S1" and "S2" indicates the accommodating section 23 in the m-th column counted from the side of the storage unit 4 and the delivery unit 5 and in the n-th floor from the bottom. In addition, "m" and "n" are integers, respectively.

For example, the transport command A-2 is a command to set the storage port Pi as the transport origin and the storage unit 23 on the first row and second floor of the first storage rack 2A as the transport destination (see FIG. 6 ). Since these two positions are included in the first conveying range R1, the first internal conveying device 3A is assigned to be responsible for conveying the command A-2. The transport processing based on this transport command A-2 is an example of the storage transport process described above.

Also, for example, the conveyance instruction A-4 is to set the accommodating part 23 of the first row and the fourth floor of the first storage rack 2A as the starting point of conveyance, and set the storage part 23 of the fifth row and the seventh floor of the second storage rack 2B. The accommodating part 23 is set as the instruction|command of a transfer destination (refer FIG. 7). Since these two positions are included in the first conveying range R1, the first internal conveying device 3A is assigned to be responsible for conveying the command A-4. The transfer processing based on this transfer command A-4 is an example of the above-mentioned in-rack transfer processing.

Also, for example, the conveyance instruction B-2 is to set the accommodating portion 23 of the 10th row and the first floor of the second storage rack 2B as the conveyance starting point, and set the storage part 23 of the fourth row of the first floor of the second storage rack 2B The accommodating part 23 is set as the instruction|command of a transfer destination (refer FIG. 8). Since these two positions are included in the second conveying range R2, the second internal conveying device 3B is assigned to be responsible for conveying the instruction B-2. The transfer processing based on this transfer command B-2 is also an example of the above-mentioned in-rack transfer processing.

Also, for example, the conveyance instruction A-1 is to set the accommodating portion 23 of the fourth column and the fifth floor of the first storage rack 2A as the transport starting point, and set the storage part 23 of the sixth column and the fifth floor of the first storage rack 2A The accommodating part 23 is set as the instruction|command of a transfer destination (refer FIG. 9). Since these two positions are included in the overlapping range L of the first transport range R1 and the second transport range R2, although either the first internal transport device 3A or the second internal transport device 3B can be responsible for the transport command A-1, however, in this example, the first internal conveying device 3A is assigned. The transfer processing based on this transfer command A-1 is also an example of the above-mentioned in-rack transfer processing.

Also, for example, the transfer instruction B-1 is an instruction to set the storage unit 23 of the 8th column and the third floor of the first storage rack 2A as the transfer origin, and set the handover port Pp as the transfer destination (refer to FIG. 10 solid arrow). Since these two positions are included in the second conveying range R2, the second internal conveying device 3B is assigned to be responsible for conveying the instruction B-1. Moreover, the transport instruction B-3 is an instruction to set the handover port Pp as the transport starting point, and to set the accommodating portion 23 of the 8th row and the 5th floor of the second storage rack 2B as the transport destination (refer to the dotted line in FIG. 10 ). arrow). Since these two positions are included in the second conveying range R2, the second internal conveying device 3B is assigned to be responsible for conveying the command B-3. The transfer processing based on these transfer commands B-1 and B-3 is an example of the above-mentioned transfer processing for processing.

Also, for example, the transfer instruction A-3 is an instruction to set the storage portion 23 of the second column and the seventh floor of the second storage rack 2B as the transfer origin, and set the outbound port Po as the transfer destination (refer to FIG. 11 ). ). Since these two positions are included in the first conveying range R1, the first internal conveying device 3A is assigned to be responsible for conveying the command A-3. The conveyance processing based on this conveyance command A-3 is an example of the said outbound conveyance process.

In addition, in this embodiment, the 1st internal conveyance apparatus 3A and the 2nd internal conveyance apparatus 3B are respectively executed sequentially from the conveyance process based on the conveyance command shown in FIG. In this example, for the first internal transport device 3A, the order of transport commands A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4, ... is the order of the predetermined transport process, and for the second internal transport device 3B, The order of the transfer commands B-1, B-2, B-3, . . . is the order of the scheduled transfer processing. These can be set as the conveyance order which prioritizes the processing efficiency of each of the 1st internal conveyance apparatus 3A and the 2nd internal conveyance apparatus 3B, for example.

The external transport control unit 72 controls the external transport device 8 . The external transfer control unit 72 controls a plurality of transfer carts 82 running on the detour rail 81 and a transfer device supported by them. The external transfer control unit 72 controls the transfer trolley 82 and the transfer device according to the transfer command (here, the transfer command between steps). The inter-step transfer command includes information on the transfer start step (the article storage device 1 at the transfer origin), the transfer destination step (the article storage device 1 at the transfer destination), and the transfer cart 82 to be used. According to the inter-step transport command, the articles 10 supported by the outbound unit 5 of the transport origin step can be transported to the inbound unit 4 of the transport destination step by the designated transport trolley 82 . At this time, multiple transfer commands between steps can be executed at the same time.

The integrated control unit 73 integrates the external transport control unit 72 and the internal transport control unit 71 . For example, in the case of conveying the article 10 between steps, the integrated control unit 73 coordinately controls the internal conveyance control unit 71 corresponding to the article storage device 1 at the origin of conveyance, the external conveyance control unit 72, and the article container at the conveyance destination. Install the internal transport control unit 71 corresponding to the device 1. The integrated control unit 73 is to control the internal transport control unit 71 corresponding to the article storage device 1, so that the article 10 to be transported has been supported at the delivery part 5 of the article storage device 1 at the starting point of the transfer, and the integrated control unit 73 is to control the external transport control unit 72 to receive the article 10 supported by the outbound section 5 and transport it to the article storage device 1 of the delivery destination and transfer it to its storage section 4. In addition, the integrated control unit 73 is a control and The internal transport control unit 71 corresponding to the item storage device 1 is used to store the item 10 supported by the storage unit 4 of the item storage device 1 at the transfer destination into the storage rack 2 .

However, in order to improve the overall processing efficiency of the equipment, the article conveying equipment 100 of the present embodiment controls the physical number of temporary storage areas, that is, the number of articles 10 held above the upper limit Nmax, as being able to be held in the storage unit 4. Each part. That is, the number of holding the upper limit number Nmax plus the adjustment number A is set as the number of operating temporary storage areas B (B=Nmax+A) (refer to FIG. 2 ), and the storage unit 4 of the article storage device 1 at the transfer destination is configured as follows: The number of articles 10 equal to or less than the number B of the operating queuing areas can be received. The storage unit 4 of the item storage facility 1 at the transfer destination is considered to support the items 10 with the adjustment number A or less virtually on the system, in addition to actually supporting the physically acceptable holding upper limit number Nmax of items 10. to carry out subsequent transfer processing.

Here, the adjustment number A is a variably set integer value of 0 or more. The adjustment number A is preferably an integer value of 1 or greater. Even if the storage unit 4 of the article storage facility 1 at the transfer destination is fully filled, the articles 10 having the adjusted number A or less can be conveyed toward the storage unit 4 in advance. The number of adjustments A is set according to the number of articles 10 that can be transferred by the external conveying device 8 during the period until the articles 10 previously conveyed by the external conveying device 8 arrive at the storage unit 4 of the article storage device 1 at the conveyance destination. The number of articles 10 carried out from the storage unit 4 to the storage rack 2 by the internal transport device 3 (first internal transport device 3A). From such a viewpoint, the adjustment number A is realistically set to, for example, about 1 to 3, for example.

In Fig. 2, the following example is shown: "2" as the adjustment number A is added to "2", which is the upper limit number Nmax, and "4" is used as the operation temporary storage area number B, and the storage unit 4 can be used to virtually Item 10 up to 4 received. When the article 10 is transported from the storage port Pi of the storage part 4 to any storage part 23 of the storage rack 2 by the internal transfer device 3 (the first internal transfer device 3A), the storage conveyor 41 will operate, and The next article 10 is transferred to the storage port Pi, and a receiving space for the article 10 previously conveyed by the external conveying device 8 is formed.

In such a configuration, when the storage unit 4 is full of articles 10 that are actually being held in the article storage facility 1 of the transfer destination, even if the external transfer device 8 transfers the next article 10, it still cannot Transfer the item 10. In this case, it is necessary to wait until the storage unit 4 is vacant, and as a result, the external transfer device 8 is clogged and the processing efficiency of the entire facility is reduced. Therefore, in the article conveyance facility 100 of the present embodiment, the control system 7 is configured to execute operation buffer number adjustment control, warehouse-in priority control, and internal conveyance load adjustment control described in detail below.

＜Adjustment control of the number of temporary storage areas＞ The use of temporary storage area number adjustment control is the control of adjusting the use of temporary storage area number B under certain conditions. As mentioned above, the control system 7 sets the adjustment number A which can be variably set to an integer value of 0 or more (preferably 1 or more) plus the number of the upper limit number Nmax to be used as the number of operating temporary storage areas B (B=Nmax+A), And based on this, the temporary storage area number B is used to control the article conveying equipment 100 . Here, the number of articles 10 actually being held in the storage unit 4 at each point in time is set as “the number of held articles Nr”, and the number of articles 10 being transported toward the storage unit 4 by the external transport device 8 is The number is set to "the number Nt of items being transported". At this time, the control system 7 controls the external conveying device 8 so that the number Nt of articles being conveyed becomes equal to or less than the number B of operating temporary storage areas minus the number Nr of held articles (B-Nr=Nmax+A-Nr).

On the premise of such a configuration, the control system 7 sets the adjustment number A to a smaller value as the load on the internal conveyance device 3 becomes higher in the operational queuing area number adjustment control. Here, in particular, the control system 7 sets the adjustment number A to a smaller value as the load on the first internal conveying device 3A, which is included in the first internal conveying device 4 including the storage unit 4, becomes smaller. Operate within the conveying range R1.

As described above, the first internal transport device 3A is in charge of the in-store transport process, the in-rack transport process, and the out-of-stock transport process. Therefore, when the load on the first internal conveyance device 3A becomes high (in particular, the ratio of in-rack conveyance processing or outbound conveyance processing becomes high), the conveyance of articles 10 from the storage unit 4 to the storage rack 2 (inbound conveyance processing) ) will be more likely to be delayed. Therefore, by setting the adjustment number A to a smaller value as the load on the first internal conveying device 3A becomes higher, it is possible to reduce the load by the external conveying device according to the degree of load on the first internal conveying device 3A. 8 The number of articles 10 that have been previously conveyed toward the storage unit 4 . Since the number of articles 10 conveyed in advance decreases, it is easier to avoid the situation that the storage section 4 is full when these articles 10 arrive at the storage section 4 . Accordingly, it is possible to suppress reduction in processing efficiency of the entire facility.

In the present embodiment, the control system 7 determines the load of the first internal conveying device 3A based on the number of conveying commands for the articles 10 to the first internal conveying device 3A. In addition, the control system 7 determines that the load becomes higher as the number of conveyance commands to the articles 10 of the first internal conveyance device 3A increases.

Here, since the conveying origin or the conveying destination is located in the first conveying range R1 (however, both are not located in the overlapping range L of the first conveying range R1 and the second conveying range R2), the conveyance of the article 10 is carried out by the first conveying range R1. 1 internal transport device 3A is in charge, so all transport commands corresponding to this are commands to the first internal transport device 3A. On the other hand, since both the conveying origin and the conveying destination are located in the overlapping range L of the first conveying range R1 and the second conveying range R2, the conveyance of the article 10 will be carried out by the first internal conveying device 3A and the second internal conveying device 3B. Therefore, only a part of the conveying instructions corresponding to this are instructions to the first internal conveying device 3A. In this embodiment, in order to reduce the calculation processing, the control system 7 considers that the conveyance of the articles 10 located in the overlapping range L is equally shared by the first internal conveyance device 3A and the second internal conveyance device 3B, and the corresponding Half of the transport commands here are regarded as commands to the first internal transport device 3A.

That is, the control system 7 follows the number of conveyance instructions for articles 10 whose origins or destinations are within the first conveyance range R1 and conveyance instructions for articles 10 whose origins and destinations are both within the overlapping range L. The total number of half of the number (hereinafter referred to as "the number of transfer instructions") increases, and it is determined that the load on the first internal transfer device 3A becomes higher, and the adjustment number A is set to follow the increase of the first internal transfer device 3A. The load becomes higher and becomes a smaller value. For example, in the example shown in Figure 2, the adjustment number A initially set to "2" will be reset to "1" when the number of transfer instructions exceeds the first reference value. If the value is greater than the second reference value, it will be reset to "0". Along with this, the number B of the temporary storage areas used is gradually reduced from "4" to "3", and further reduced to "2".

By resetting the adjustment number A to be smaller, the number of operating temporary storage areas B (=Nmax+A) will also decrease accordingly, which is different from the number of items 10 actually being held in the storage unit 4 (the number of items held The difference (=Nmax+A-Nr) of Nr) also becomes smaller. This difference corresponds to the number of articles 10 that can be conveyed toward the storage unit 4 in advance by the external conveying device 8 at this point in time, and if the difference becomes smaller, this number of articles 10 may already be conveyed. In such a case, during the period when the number Nt of items being transported is equal to the number B of operating temporary storage areas minus the number Nr of held items (B-Nr=Nmax+A-Nr), the control system 7 makes the external transfer device 8 does not start conveying new articles 10 toward the storage unit 4 .

Thereafter, when the first internal transport device 3A performs the inbound transport process, the number Nt of items being transported will be smaller than the number B of operating temporary storage areas minus the number Nr of held items (B-Nr=Nmax+A-Nr). In this way, the control system 7 starts to convey new articles 10 towards the storage unit 4 by the external conveying device 8 . In this embodiment, when the number Nt of items being transported becomes less than the number (Nmax+A-Nr) of the number of stored items Nr subtracted from the number B of the operating temporary storage area, the control system 7 will immediately start the process performed by the external transport device 8. Delivery of new item 10.

Fig. 12 is a flow chart showing the processing procedure for operating the temporary storage area number adjustment control. The adjustment control of the number of operating temporary storage areas is executed by cooperation of the internal transport control unit 71 , the external transport control unit 72 , and the integrated control unit 73 constituting the control system 7 . In the operation queue number adjustment control, first, the internal transport control unit 71 determines the load (the number of transport instructions) of the first internal transport device 3A, and generates load information indicating the load (step #01). The generated load information is sent from the internal transport control unit 71 to the integration control unit 73 .

Next, according to the load information received from the internal transport control unit 71, the integrated control unit 73 sets the adjustment number A to a smaller value as the load on the first internal transport device 3A becomes higher (#02) . And, the inter-step transfer instruction is sent to the external transfer control unit 72 by the integrated control unit 73, the aforesaid inter-step transfer instruction is based on the inter-step transfer instruction of the number of articles 10 in the operation temporary storage area B, and the aforementioned operation temporary storage The number of zones B (B=Nmax+A) is determined in response to the set adjustment number A.

More specifically, by the integrated control unit 73, it is determined whether the number Nt of articles being transported at this point in time is smaller than the difference (=Nmax+A-Nr) between the number of operating temporary storage areas B (=Nmax+A) and the number of held articles Nr (=Nmax+A-Nr)(# 03). If the number Nt of articles being conveyed is smaller than the difference between the number B of the operating queuing area and the number Nr of held articles (#03: YES), the external conveyance device 8 is allowed to convey new articles 10 toward the storage unit 4 (#04). In this case, the integrated control unit 73 sends a new inter-step transport command to the external transport control unit 72, and the external transport control unit 72 that receives the command controls the external transport according to the inter-step transport command. Conveyor 8.

On the other hand, if the number Nt of items being transported is equal to or greater than the difference between the number B of the operating temporary storage area and the number Nr of held items (these are actually the same number) (#03: No), the external transfer device 8 is temporarily stopped toward The storage unit 4 conveys a new article 10 (#05). For example, after the integrated control unit 73 suspends sending a new inter-step transfer instruction to the external transfer control unit 72, or after sending a new inter-step transfer instruction to the external transfer control unit 72, suspend the external transfer instruction based on the inter-step transfer instruction. Operation of the conveying device 8. After that, if the number Nt of items being transported is smaller than the difference between the number B of the operating temporary storage area and the number Nr of held items (#03: Yes), the suspension is canceled and the external transport device 8 is allowed to transport new items 10 toward the storage unit 4 ( #04).

＜Priority control for warehousing＞ The warehousing highest priority control is a control related to the conveyance process performed by the internal conveyance device 3, and the warehousing conveyance process is executed with the highest priority under certain conditions. In the present embodiment, the control system 7 executes storage priority control based on the total number of stored items Nr and the number of transported items Nt (hereinafter referred to as "potentially held items Np"). Here, the number of held articles Nr is the number of articles 10 actually being held in the storage unit 4 as described above, and the number of articles being transported Nt is the number of articles 10 being transported to the storage unit 4 by the external transport device 8. number. In the warehouse-in top priority control, when the number of potentially held items Np is more than the judgment threshold value Th, the control system 7 compares the outbound transportation process and the in-rack transport process among the various transport processes performed by the internal transport device 3. Priority is given to warehousing and transport processing.

In this embodiment, among the first internal conveyance device 3A and the second internal conveyance device 3B constituting the internal conveyance device 3, only the first internal conveyance device 3A is in charge of the storage conveyance process. Therefore, the control system 7 executes the storage priority control only on the first internal transport device 3A among the first internal transport device 3A and the second internal transport device 3B.

In this embodiment, the judgment threshold Th which is used as a criterion for judging whether or not the storage priority control is executed is set as the storage upper limit number Nmax, which is the maximum number of articles 10 that the storage unit 4 can hold. . Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the number Np of potentially held items is greater than the upper limit number Nmax, in other words, for at least one item among all the items 10 being transported by the external transport device 8, at the time point Next, when there is no receivable space in the storage unit 4, the storage-in top priority control is executed.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the first internal transport device 3A is set to execute in a transport order that prioritizes its processing efficiency, for example, in the example of FIG. 5, transport commands A-1, A-2, A The order of -3, A-4, ... is the order of the scheduled transfer processing. In the warehousing priority control, the control system 7 changes the order of this scheduled conveyance process, and executes warehousing priority control. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 5, the order of the transport processing based on the transport command A-1 and the transport process based on the transport command A-2 are reversed, so that the warehouse-in transport based on the transport command A-2 is executed with the highest priority. deal with.

By executing the storage conveyance process with the highest priority, it is possible to form a space for receiving the articles 10 being conveyed by the external conveyance device 8 in the storage unit 4 relatively early. That is, it is relatively easy to avoid a situation where the storage unit 4 becomes full, and it is possible to suppress a reduction in the processing efficiency of the entire facility. This is an idea to give priority to suppressing the decrease in the processing efficiency of the entire article conveying facility 100 even if the processing efficiency of the first internal conveying device 3A of the specific article storing facility 1 is slightly sacrificed.

In addition, when the operating efficiency of the plurality of transport carts 82 in the external transport device 8 is low, even when a part of the transport carts 82 have to wait in front of one of the storage parts 4, in most cases The impact on the overall equipment is still small. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the control system 7 is configured not to execute storage priority control when the operating rate of the plurality of transport carts 82 in the external transporting device 8 is lower than a predetermined operating rate threshold. Thereby, when the overall processing efficiency of the article conveying facility 100 is not so serious, the processing efficiency of the first internal conveying device 3A can be prioritized according to the original goal.

Here, the operating rate of the transport carts 82 is the ratio (percentage) of the number of transport carts 82 assigned inter-step transport commands to the total number of transport carts 82 . The operating rate threshold is set to a value near the upper limit where subsequent transport carts 82 are less likely to be clogged even if one transport cart 82 is on standby for a certain period of time, specifically, a value of about 1% to 20%.

Fig. 13 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the warehousing highest priority control. The warehousing highest priority control is executed by cooperation of the internal transport control unit 71 , the external transport control unit 72 , and the integrated control unit 73 constituting the control system 7 . In the warehousing top priority control, first, the integrated control unit 73 determines the relationship between the operating rate of the plurality of transport carts 82 in the external transport device 8 and the operating rate threshold (#21). When the operation rate of the conveyance trolley 82 is below the operation rate threshold value (#21: NO), the warehousing top priority control is terminated here. On the other hand, when the operating rate of the transport trolley 82 is greater than the operating rate threshold (#21: YES), the integrated control unit 73 acquires the number of potentially held items Np (#22). Specifically, the number Nr of held items is acquired from the internal transport control unit 71, and the number Nt of items being transported is acquired from the external transport control unit 72, and these numbers are added to calculate the number Np of potentially held items.

Then, the integrated control unit 73 determines whether to execute the storage priority control according to the number Np of potentially held items. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the number Np of potentially held items is larger than the determination threshold Th (#23). When the number Np of potentially held items is greater than the determination threshold Th (#23: Yes), it is determined by the integrated control unit 73 that the storage priority control is to be executed. In this case, the integrated control unit 73 sends a command to that effect to the internal transport control unit 71, and accordingly, the order of the originally scheduled transport processes is changed with respect to the various transport processes performed by the first internal transport device 3A. , and execute the warehousing transfer process with the highest priority (#24). On the other hand, when the number of potentially held items Np is equal to or less than the determination threshold Th (#23: YES), the conveyance process by the first internal conveyance device 3A is executed in an originally predetermined order (#25).

<Internal transport load adjustment control> The internal transport load adjustment control is control for adjusting the balance of the transport loads of the first internal transport device 3A and the second internal transport device 3B constituting the internal transport device 3 . In this embodiment, in the internal transport load adjustment control, the operating range of the first internal transport device 3A, that is, the first transport range R1, is based on at least the number of items 10 being held in the storage unit 4, that is, the number of items held Nr. , and perform processing (range adjustment processing) to adjust the range under certain conditions. In the present embodiment, the internal transport load is executed based on the number of items Nr being held plus the number of items 10 being transported by the external transport device 8 to the storage unit 4, that is, the number of items being transported Nt (the planned number of items to be held Ne). Adjust the controls. In the internal conveying load adjustment control, the control system 7 performs the process of reducing the first conveying range R1 as the number of items to be held Ne increases as a range adjusting process, thereby adjusting the first internal conveying device 3A and the first conveying device 3A. 2 Balance of the conveying load of the internal conveying device 3B. In the present embodiment, the reserved number Ne of articles corresponds to the "reference number of articles".

Also, in the internal transport load adjustment control (range adjustment process), the control system 7 enlarges the second transport range R2 in response to the reduction of the first transport range R1. The control system 7, for example, allocates part of the processing device 9 side in the first transport range R1 to the second transport range R2, thereby reducing the first transport range R1, and by the reduced amount of the first transport range R1. Enlarging the second conveying range R2.

As shown in FIG. 14 , in the present embodiment, the control system 7 can change the setting of the first conveyance range R1 to a normal range R1n of a normal size and a restricted range R1l smaller than the normal range R1n. Moreover, the control system 7 can change the setting of the 2nd conveyance range R2 to the normal range R2n of a normal size, and the extended range R2e larger than the normal range R2n. In addition, the size difference between the normal range R1n and the limited range R1l in the first transport range R1 and the size difference between the normal range R2n and the extended range R2e in the second transport range R2 are set to be equal to each other.

In the internal transport load adjustment control (range adjustment process), when the number Ne of the scheduled items to be held is smaller than the upper limit number Nmax, the control system 7 sets the first transport range R1 of the first internal transport device 3A to the normal range R1n , and the second conveying range R2 of the second internal conveying device 3B is set to the normal range R2n. Also, this is the range setting itself in the usual controls.

Also, in the internal transport load adjustment control (range adjustment process), when the number Ne of the scheduled items to be held is equal to or greater than the upper limit number Nmax, the control system 7 sets the first transport range R1 of the first internal transport device 3A to The range R1l is limited, and the second transport range R2 of the second internal transport device 3B is set as the expanded range R2e. When the number Ne of the scheduled items to be held is equal to or greater than the upper limit number Nmax, the first conveyance range R1 is set as the restricted range R11, whereby the operation of the first internal transport device 3A can be reduced when the number of scheduled items to be held Ne is large. To improve the turnover rate, thereby promoting the conveyance of the articles 10 from the storage unit 4 .

For example, according to the in-rack transport processing (refer to FIG. 9 ) of the transport instruction A-1 shown in FIG. 5, the first transport range R1 is set as the restricted range R1l, and the second transport range R2 is set as the expanded range R2e. , and becomes a transfer process that is no longer within the overlapping range L. Accompanying this, the allocation of the in-rack transport process based on the transport command A-1 is changed from the first internal transport device 3A to the second internal transport device 3B. In this way, by narrowing the first transport range R1, the processing load on the first internal transport device 3A can be reduced, and the warehousing transport process can be executed preferentially by utilizing the extra power generated by it. Thereby, it becomes easy to avoid the state where the storage part 4 becomes full, and the reduction of the processing efficiency of the whole article conveyance facility 100 can be suppressed.

In the present embodiment, when the number of conveyance instructions assigned to the second internal conveyance device 3B is equal to or greater than the instruction number threshold value, the control system 7 does not perform range adjustment regardless of the size of the reserved number of articles Ne. deal with. The threshold of the number of instructions is set so that the second internal conveying device 3B can execute it with a certain degree of spare capacity, taking into account, for example, the size of the storage rack 2 or the processing capacity of the second internal conveying device 3B. A value near the upper limit of the assigned transfer process. By configuring the range adjustment process only when the load of the second internal transport device 3B has a certain margin, it is possible to appropriately respond to the second internal transport accompanying the increase in the second transport range R2. The load on device 3B increases. In this embodiment, the instruction count threshold corresponds to "threshold".

Fig. 15 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the internal transport load adjustment control. The internal transport load adjustment control is executed by the internal transport control unit 71 constituting the control system 7 . In the internal transport load adjustment control, first, the magnitude relationship between the number of transport commands assigned to the second internal transport device 3B and the command number threshold is determined (#41). When the number of transport commands of the second internal transport device 3B is equal to or greater than the command number threshold (#41: NO), the internal transport load adjustment control is terminated.

On the other hand, when the number of transfer instructions of the second internal transfer device 3B is less than the instruction number threshold (#41: YES), then the magnitude relationship between the number Ne of items to be held and the upper limit number Nmax to be held is judged (#42). When the number Ne of the scheduled items to be kept is smaller than the upper limit number Nmax (#42: Yes), the first transport range R1 of the first internal transport device 3A is set to the normal range R1n, and the second internal transport device 3B is set to the normal range R1n. The second conveyance range R2 is set to the normal range R2n (#43). On the other hand, when the number Ne of items to be held is equal to or greater than the upper limit number Nmax (#42: NO), the first conveying range R1 of the first internal conveying device 3A is set as the restricted range R11, and the first 2. The second conveying range R2 of the internal conveying device 3B is set as the extended range R2e (#44).

[other embodiments] (1) In the above-mentioned embodiment, the following configuration is used as an example to explain: in the operation queuing area number adjustment control, when the number Nt of articles being transported becomes smaller than the number B of the operation queuing area minus the number Nr of held articles ( Nmax+A−Nr), the conveyance of the new article 10 by the external conveyance device 8 starts immediately. However, it is not limited to such a configuration. For example, when the number Nt of items being transported becomes smaller than the number (Nmax+A-Nr) of the number of stored items Nr subtracted from the number B of the operating temporary storage area, after a certain period of time, the external Conveyance of a new article 10 performed by the conveyance device 8 .

(2) In the above embodiment, the configuration is described as an example in which, in the storage priority control, the determination threshold Th is set to the storage upper limit number Nmax which is the maximum number of articles 10 that can be stored in the storage unit 4 . However, it is not limited to such a configuration, and the determination threshold Th may be set to a value different from the holding upper limit number Nmax, for example, "holding upper limit number Nmax±1" or the like.

(3) In the above embodiment, the configuration is described as an example in which the number of potentially held items Np is the total of the number of held items Nr and the number of items being transported Nt in the storage priority control. However, it is not limited to such a configuration, and it is conceivable that, for example, the number of potentially held items Np includes items that are not yet transported even though an inter-step transfer command has been generated. In this case, the number of potentially held items Np can be defined as "the number of items 10 being held in the storage unit 4, that is, the number of stored items Nr, and the scheduled items to be transported to the storage unit 4 by the external transfer device 8. The number of 10 is the total number of transported items."

(4) In the above embodiment, the following structure is taken as an example to explain: when the operating rate of the plurality of transport carts 82 in the external transporting device 8 is lower than the operating rate threshold, the storage priority control is not executed. However, it is not limited to such a configuration, and the storage priority control may be uniformly executed regardless of the operating efficiency of the transport cart 82 .

(5) In the above-mentioned embodiment, the configuration is described as an example in which the second conveying range R2 is enlarged by the same extent as the first conveying range R1 is reduced in the internal conveying load adjustment control. However, it is not limited to such a structure, and the extent of narrowing the 1st conveyance range R1 and the extent of enlarging the 2nd conveyance range R2 may differ. Alternatively, only the first transport range R1 may be reduced without changing the size of the second transport range R2.

(6) In the above embodiment, the following configuration is described as an example: in the internal transport load adjustment control, the first transport range R1 and the second transport range R2 are switched in two stages. However, it is not limited to such a structure, For example, the 1st conveyance range R1 and the 2nd conveyance range R2 may be switched so that each may be 3 or more stages. In this case, the number of stages of switching of the first transport range R1 and the number of stages of switching of the second transport range R2 may be different from each other.

(7) In the above-mentioned embodiment, the following configuration is used as an example to illustrate: according to the number of items to be kept Ne (the number of items 10 that are being kept in the storage unit 4, that is, the number of items to be kept Nr, plus the external transfer device 8 to the storage unit) 4 the number of articles 10 being conveyed, that is, the number of articles 10 being conveyed, Nt), and the internal conveying load adjustment control is executed. However, it is not limited to such a configuration, and, for example, the internal conveyance load adjustment control may be executed based on only the number Nr of held articles without considering the number Nt of articles being conveyed. In this case, the number Nr of stored items corresponds to the "reference number of items".

(8) In the above-mentioned embodiment, the following structure is used as an example to explain: when the number of conveyance commands assigned to the second internal conveyance device 3B is equal to or greater than the command number threshold value, the internal conveyance load adjustment control is not executed. (range adjustment processing). However, it is not limited to such a configuration, and the internal transport load adjustment control (range adjustment process) may be uniformly executed regardless of the number of transport commands assigned to the second internal transport device 3B.

(9) In the above-mentioned embodiment, the configuration in which all of the operation temporary storage area number adjustment control, storage priority control, and internal transport load adjustment control are executed is explained as an example. However, it is not limited to such a configuration, and only one or two of them may be implemented.

(10) In the above-mentioned embodiment, the configuration in which the first internal conveyance device 3A and the second internal conveyance device 3B are installed on the common travel rail 31 has been described as an example. However, it is not limited to such a structure, For example, the 1st internal conveyance apparatus 3A and the 2nd internal conveyance apparatus 3B may be installed in the running rail 31 dedicated to each, laid parallel to each other.

(11) In the above-mentioned embodiment, the configuration in which the internal conveyance device 3 has the first internal conveyance device 3A and the second internal conveyance device 3B has been described as an example. However, it is not limited to such a structure, For example, only one internal conveyance apparatus 3 may be comprised. In this case, one internal conveying device 3 can be responsible for conveying the entire range from the storage unit 4 and the delivery unit 5 to the processing device 9 via the storage rack 2, and directly transports the articles 10 from the storage unit 4 to the processing device. 9. In such a case, the process of directly transporting the article 10 from the storage port Pi of the storage unit 4 to the transfer port Pp of the processing device 9 by the internal transport device 3 may be included in the storage transfer process. Also, one internal transport device 3 may directly transport the article 10 from the storage unit 4 to the delivery unit 5. In such a case, the internal transport device 3 directly transports the article 10 from the storage unit 4 to the delivery unit 5. The processing can also be considered to be included in the storage transfer processing.

(12) In the above-mentioned embodiment, the configuration is described as an example in which the storage unit 4 and the delivery unit 5 can each physically hold two articles 10 . However, it is not limited to such a configuration, and the number of articles that can be physically held by the storage unit 4 or the delivery unit 5 may be one or three or more. In this case, the number of articles that can be physically held by the storage unit 4 and the number of articles that can be physically held by the delivery unit 5 may be different from each other.

(13) In the above-mentioned embodiment, an example in which the internal conveyance device 3 is constituted by a stacker crane has been described. However, it is not limited to such a structure, and the internal conveying device 3 can also be composed of, for example, a plurality of layers of shuttle trolleys (a conveying device equipped with a plurality of conveying trolleys, and the aforementioned plural conveying trolleys are located on the floors corresponding to the storage rack 2. height along the front of the housing frame 2 to move back and forth) etc. to form.

(14) In the above-mentioned embodiment, the structure of the external conveyance apparatus 8 equipped with the floor surface walking type conveyance trolley 82 equipped with rails was demonstrated as an example. However, it is not limited to such a structure, For example, the external conveyance apparatus 8 may be comprised with the trackless vehicle of a floor surface walking type, or may be comprised with the railed vehicle of a ceiling conveyance type, for example. When the external transfer device 8 is configured to include a ceiling transfer type trolley with rails, the external transfer device 8 may include a crane type transfer device suspended from the transfer cart 82 .

(15) In the above-mentioned embodiment, the configuration in which the external transfer device 8 is provided with a transfer device has been described as an example. However, it is not limited to such a structure, The external conveyance apparatus 8 may not be provided with a transfer device, Instead, a transfer device may be provided in the storage part 4 or the delivery part 5 side.

(16) In the above embodiment, the following configuration is described as an example. The control system 7 includes the internal transport control unit 71 , the external transport control unit 72 , and the integrated control unit 73 that cooperate with each other. However, regarding the specific configuration of the control system 7, a plurality of control units may be combined, or one control unit may be further subdivided. In addition, other control units for realizing other functions may be further provided.

(17) The configurations disclosed in each of the above-mentioned embodiments (including the above-mentioned embodiment and other embodiments, the same applies hereinafter) can also be applied in combination with configurations disclosed in other embodiments, as long as there is no contradiction. Regarding other configurations, the embodiments disclosed in this specification are merely examples in every respect, and can be appropriately changed within a range not departing from the spirit of the present disclosure.

[Summary of Embodiment] To sum up the above, the object storage device disclosed in the present invention preferably has the following components.

An article containing device, which has: The storage rack has a plurality of storage parts for storing items; The warehousing department receives the aforementioned items from the external conveying device and holds a plurality of the aforementioned items; The first internal transfer device moves along a transfer path set along the front of the storage rack, and transfers the article within a first transfer range of the storage part including the storage part and at least a part of the storage rack. ; The second internal conveying device moves along the conveying path, and conveys the article in a second conveying range, the second conveying range includes at least a part of the storage portion of the storage rack, and does not include the storage portion ;and A control system for controlling the aforementioned first internal conveying device and the aforementioned second internal conveying device, A part of the first transport range and a part of the second transport range are set to overlap, The aforementioned control system performs a range adjustment process. The aforementioned range adjustment process narrows the aforementioned first transport range as the number of reference items increases. number to decide.

According to this configuration, the first internal conveying device and the second internal conveying device moving along the conveying path in front of the storage rack cooperate to store the articles received from the external conveying device into the storage rack, It can be used for subsequent processing if necessary. In this case, the control system will perform range adjustment processing, whereby as the number of reference items determined based on the number of retained items increases, the operating range of the first internal conveying device is reduced to increase the turnover rate, thereby promoting The conveyance of articles from the storage department by the first internal conveyance device. As a result, it is easier to avoid a state where the storage unit is full, and it is possible to suppress a reduction in the processing efficiency of the entire article conveyance facility.

As a form, ideally, In the range adjustment process, the control system increases the second transfer range in response to the reduction of the first transfer range.

According to this structure, the conveying process that the second internal conveying device can handle can be increased by expanding the operating range of the second internal conveying device. transport. Accordingly, it is possible to further suppress a decrease in the processing efficiency of the entire facility.

As a form, ideally, The maximum number of the aforementioned items that the aforementioned storage unit can hold is set as the upper limit of the holding number, The control system may change the setting of the first conveying range to a normal range of a normal size and a restricted range smaller than the normal range. , setting the first conveying range to the normal range, and setting the first conveying range to the restricted range when the number of reference articles is equal to or greater than the holding upper limit number.

According to this configuration, the conveyance of articles from the storage unit by the first internal conveyance device can be facilitated by relatively simple control of switching the setting of the first conveyance range between the normal range and the restricted range. Accordingly, it is possible to suppress a reduction in the processing efficiency of the entire article conveyance facility while avoiding an increase in cost accompanying the complication of the control.

As a form, ideally, The aforementioned reference number of items is the aforementioned number of held items.

According to this configuration, since the control system will reduce the first conveying range as the number of stored items increases during the range adjustment process, it is possible to appropriately avoid the loading of the storage unit according to the actual situation of the storage unit at this point in time. full state. Accordingly, it is possible to appropriately suppress a reduction in processing efficiency of the entire facility.

As a form, ideally, The number of items being transported by the external transport device to the storage unit, that is, the number of items being transported plus the number of held items, is defined as the number of scheduled items to be held, The aforementioned reference number of items is the aforementioned reserved number of items.

According to this configuration, the control system narrows the first conveyance range as the number of items to be held increases in the range adjustment process. By also taking into account the number of articles being transported to the storage section by the external transfer device, it becomes easier to avoid the storage section becoming full. Accordingly, it is possible to further suppress a decrease in the processing efficiency of the entire facility.

As a form, ideally, The aforementioned control system distributes the conveying command of the aforementioned article to each of the aforementioned first internal conveying device and the aforementioned second internal conveying device, one aforementioned conveying command is used to convey one aforementioned article, and the conveying command assigned to the aforementioned second internal conveying device is When the number of the transfer commands of the device is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, the range adjustment process is not performed.

When the first transfer range of the first internal transfer device is narrowed by the range adjustment process, when the processing load of the second internal transfer device increases, depending on the situation, the transfer process of the second internal transfer device may become stagnant. possibility. In this regard, according to the above configuration, when the original processing load of the second internal conveying device is high to a certain extent, the range adjustment process is not performed, thereby avoiding problems caused by the first internal conveying device and the second internal conveying device. The unbalanced processing load of the conveying device will instead lead to a decrease in the overall processing efficiency of the facility.

As a form, ideally, A handover section is arranged at a position adjacent to the conveyance path, The transfer section is used to transfer the aforementioned items between the processing device that processes the aforementioned items, and the aforementioned first internal transfer device or the aforementioned second internal transfer device, The said 2nd conveyance range is set so that the said transfer part may be included.

According to this configuration, it is possible to use the second internal conveyance device to carry in the article to the processing device or to carry out the article from the processing device. Thereby, when it is desired to give priority to the conveyance of articles with, for example, a processing device while promoting the conveyance of articles from the storage unit by the first internal conveyance device, it is possible to appropriately respond to this situation.

As a form, ideally, further comprising a warehouse-out unit, the warehouse-out unit retains the item received from the first internal transport device and delivers the item to the external transport device, The maximum number of the aforementioned items that the aforementioned storage unit can hold is set as the upper limit of the holding number, The aforementioned control system compares the transfer process of the aforementioned items from the aforementioned storage unit to the aforementioned storage unit and the transfer of the aforementioned items from the aforementioned storage unit to the other aforementioned storage units when the aforementioned number of reference items is equal to or greater than the aforementioned holding upper limit number. The conveying process of the above-mentioned first internal conveying device is made to give priority to the conveying process of the aforementioned articles from the aforementioned storage unit to the aforementioned storage unit.

According to this configuration, since the first internal conveying device preferentially transports the articles from the storage section to the storage section, it is easier to avoid a state where the storage section is full, and it is possible to further suppress a reduction in the processing efficiency of the entire article conveyance facility.

The article storage device of the present disclosure is only required to exhibit at least one effect among the above-mentioned effects.

1: Item storage equipment 2: Holder 2A: The first storage rack 2B: The second storage rack 3: Internal conveying device 3A: The first internal conveying device 3B: The second internal conveying device 4: Warehousing Department 5: outbound department 7: Control system 8: External transfer device 9: Processing device 10: Items 21: Pillar 22: Support part 23:Accommodating Department 31: Walking track 32: Walking trolley 33: Mast 34: Lifting platform 35: transfer device 36: guide rail 41: Storage conveyor 43,44,53,54: support position 51: Exit conveyor 71: Internal transport control unit 72:External transport control unit 73: Integrated control unit 81: Orbit around 82: Transport trolley 100: Item handling equipment A: Adjustment number A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4, B-1, B-2, B-3: transport instructions B: Use the number of temporary storage areas L: overlapping range Ne: Maintain the number of scheduled items (the number of reference items) Nmax: keep the upper limit Np: Number of potentially held items Nr: number of holding items (number of reference items) Nt: Number of items being transported Ph: delivery port Pi: storage port Po: outbound port Pp: Port for processing (handover part, handover port) Pr: receiving port R1: 1st conveying range R1n: normal range R1l: restricted range R2: The second conveying range R2n: normal range R2e: extended range S1: The first storage rack S2: The second storage rack Th: Judgment Threshold Ti: Internal transport path (transport path) To: External transport path #01, #02, #03, #04, #05, #21, #22, #23, #24, #25, #41, #42, #43, #44: steps

Fig. 1 is an overall layout view of an article conveying facility according to the embodiment. Fig. 2 is a schematic plan view of the article accommodating device. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the article storage device. Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the control system. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing a data structure of a transfer command. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of storage transport processing. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an example of in-rack transport processing. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an example of in-rack transport processing. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of in-rack transport processing. Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the transport process for processing. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing an example of library transfer processing. Fig. 12 is a flow chart showing the processing procedure for operating the temporary storage area number adjustment control. Fig. 13 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the warehousing highest priority control. FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing an example of internal transport load adjustment control. Fig. 15 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the internal transport load adjustment control.

1: Item storage equipment

2: Holder

2A: The first storage rack

2B: The second storage rack

3: Internal conveying device

3A: The first internal conveying device

3B: The second internal conveying device

4: Warehousing Department

5: outbound department

9: Processing device

10: Items

L: overlapping range

R1: 1st conveying range

R1n: normal range

R1l: restricted range

R2: The second conveying range

R2n: normal range

R2e: extended range

Ti: Internal transport path (transport path)

Claims (8)

An article containing device, which has the following characteristics: have: The storage rack has a plurality of storage parts for storing items; The warehousing department receives the aforementioned items from the external conveying device and holds a plurality of the aforementioned items; The first internal transfer device moves along a transfer path set along the front of the storage rack, and transfers the article within a first transfer range of the storage part including the storage part and at least a part of the storage rack. ; The second internal conveying device moves along the conveying path, and conveys the article in a second conveying range, the second conveying range includes at least a part of the storage portion of the storage rack, and does not include the storage portion ;and A control system for controlling the aforementioned first internal conveying device and the aforementioned second internal conveying device, A part of the first transport range and a part of the second transport range are set to overlap, The aforementioned control system performs a range adjustment process. The aforementioned range adjustment process narrows the aforementioned first transport range as the number of reference items increases. number to decide. The article storage device according to claim 1, wherein the control system enlarges the second conveying range in response to reducing the first conveying range during the range adjustment process. The item storage device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the maximum number of items that can be held by the storage unit is set as the upper limit of the number of items held, The control system may change the setting of the first conveying range to a normal range of a normal size and a restricted range smaller than the normal range. , setting the first conveying range to the normal range, and setting the first conveying range to the restricted range when the number of reference articles is equal to or greater than the holding upper limit number. The article storage device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the reference number of articles is the number of held articles. The article storage facility as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the number of the aforementioned items being transported to the aforementioned storage section by the aforementioned external transport device, that is, the number of items being transported plus the number of the aforementioned held items, is set as the number of stored items number of items ordered, The aforementioned reference number of items is the aforementioned reserved number of items. The article storage facility according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control system distributes the conveying instructions of the articles to each of the first internal conveying device and the second internal conveying device, and conveys 1 with one conveying instruction. If the number of the conveying commands assigned to the second internal conveying device is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value, the range adjustment process is not performed. The article storage facility according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a handover section is arranged at a position adjacent to the conveyance path, The transfer section is used to transfer the aforementioned items between the processing device that processes the aforementioned items, and the aforementioned first internal transfer device or the aforementioned second internal transfer device, The said 2nd conveyance range is set so that the said transfer part may be included. The item storage facility of claim 1 or 2, which further includes a delivery unit, the delivery unit holds the item received from the first internal transport device, and delivers the item to the external transport device, The maximum number of the aforementioned items that the aforementioned storage unit can hold is set as the upper limit of the holding number, The aforementioned control system compares the transfer process of the aforementioned items from the aforementioned storage unit to the aforementioned storage unit and the transfer of the aforementioned items from the aforementioned storage unit to the other aforementioned storage units when the aforementioned number of reference items is equal to or greater than the aforementioned holding upper limit number. The conveying process of the above-mentioned first internal conveying device is made to give priority to the conveying process of the aforementioned articles from the aforementioned storage unit to the aforementioned storage unit.

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