U.S. patent application number 16/615308 was filed with the patent office on 2020-04-23 for system for storing and transporting objects stored in racks of a warehouse.
The applicant listed for this patent is EXOTEC SOLUTIONS. Invention is credited to Renaud Heitz, Romain Moulin.
Application Number | 20200122923 16/615308 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 61003123 |
Filed Date | 2020-04-23 |
United States Patent
Application |
20200122923 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Moulin; Romain ; et
al. |
April 23, 2020 |
SYSTEM FOR STORING AND TRANSPORTING OBJECTS STORED IN RACKS OF A
WAREHOUSE
Abstract
A storage and transport system in a warehouse for an object
intended to be stored in a rack of the warehouse. The system
includes: a bin suitable for accommodating the object; and a
powered trolley capable of climbing along the rack including a
device for gripping and removing the bin. The gripping and removal
device includes a support mounted so as to be movable relative to
the chassis of the trolley between: an extended position, in which
the support extends at least partially on a lateral edge of the
carriage out of alignment with the chassis; and a retracted
position, in which the support is housed opposite the chassis. The
support includes a structural element and a protruding finger fixed
with respect to the structural element and facing upward. The
bottom of the bin has a fingerprint configured to accommodate a
portion of the finger.
Inventors: |
Moulin; Romain; (Paris,
FR) ; Heitz; Renaud; (Villeuneuve D'Ascq,
FR) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
EXOTEC SOLUTIONS |
Croix |
|
FR |
|
|
Family ID: |
61003123 |
Appl. No.: |
16/615308 |
Filed: |
July 30, 2018 |
PCT Filed: |
July 30, 2018 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP2018/070551 |
371 Date: |
November 20, 2019 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65G 1/0492 20130101;
B65G 1/0435 20130101; B65G 2201/0258 20130101; B65G 1/065
20130101 |
International
Class: |
B65G 1/04 20060101
B65G001/04; B65G 1/06 20060101 B65G001/06 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Oct 12, 2017 |
FR |
1759567 |
Claims
1. A storage and transport system in a warehouse for at least one
object intended to be stored in a rack of said warehouse,
comprising: at least one bin suitable for accommodating said object
and suitable for being housed in said rack; a powered trolley
comprising a climbing element adapted to cooperate with said rack
to enable said trolley to rise along said rack, said trolley
comprising a gripping and removing device to grip and remove said
bin, wherein said gripping and removal device comprises a support
mounted so as to be movable relative to the chassis of said
carriage between: an extended position, in which said support
extends at least partially on a lateral edge of said carriage out
of alignment with said chassis; and a retracted position, in which
said support is housed opposite said chassis; said support
comprising a structural element and at least one protruding finger
fixed with respect to said structural element and facing upward,
and a bottom of said bin has at least one fingerprint configured to
accommodate at least a portion of said finger.
2. The storage and transport system according to claim 1, wherein
said support is mounted mobile relative to said chassis so that the
support can take a first extended position in which said support
extends on one side of said chassis and a second extended position
in which said support extends on the other side of said
chassis.
3. The storage and transport system according to claim 1, wherein
said support comprises four fingers arranged relative to each other
in a rectangular pattern.
4. The storage and transport system according to claim 1, wherein
said support is secured to a slide guided on a rail, extending in a
direction perpendicular to a direction of advance of said
trolley.
5. The storage and transport system according to claim 1, wherein
said support is formed in one piece.
6. The storage and transport system according to claim 1, wherein
said powered trolley is an automated guided powered trolley.
7. The storage and transport system according to claim 1, wherein
said chassis has a vertical stop preventing said bin from sliding
in a direction of said stop when said gripping and depositing
device is in said retracted position and supports said bin.
8. The storage and transport system according to claim 1, wherein
said bin is made of injection molded plastic material.
9. The storage and transport system according to claim 1, wherein
the bottom of said bin has at least two indentations each
configured to accommodate at least a portion of said finger and
arranged symmetrically with respect to an axis of symmetry of said
bottom.
10. The storage and transport system according to claim 1, wherein
said climbing element comprises at least two powered gear wheels of
axes substantially orthogonal to axes of running wheels of said
trolley capable of engaging with links of a substantially tensioned
roller chain or the teeth of a rack extending along an amount of
said rack.
11. The storage and transport system according to claim 1, wherein
the structural element comprises a tray, a frame or a bar.
Description
1. CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This Application is a Section 371 National Stage Application
of International Application No. PCT/EP2018/070551, filed Jul. 30,
2018, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in
its entirety, and published as WO 2019/072432 on Apr. 18, 2019, not
in English.
2. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The field of the invention is that of warehouse logistics
and in particular the handling and transport of parts or
products.
[0003] More precisely, the invention concerns a storage and
transport system in a warehouse for at least one object intended to
be stored in a rack of said warehouse.
[0004] In particular, the invention has an application in a
warehouse for order picking in a supply chain.
3. STATE OF THE ART
[0005] In product storage warehouses, it is known to use robots to
pick containers containing specific products from shelves and
transport them to another location, such as an order picking
station.
[0006] To pick up or place bins in high-rise shelves, robots were
equipped with a telescopic fork that slides on a mast. To pick up a
bin, the fork moves along the mast until it reaches a high position
just below the bottom level of the bin, then slides under the bin
while unfolding. By slightly lifting the fork, the robot then lifts
the bin from the shelf where it is placed and can move it.
[0007] However, this telescopic fork technique has the disadvantage
that the bins are overhanging the fork during transport, which can
destabilise the robot. In addition, forks that do not bend under
the load must be provided so that they do not come to rest on the
bin below the one being picked, which makes the entire robot
heavier.
[0008] It was also proposed to use two arms to remove bins, which
slide on the sides of the bin and from which fingers are pulled out
to pull the bin.
[0009] A disadvantage of this known technique is that there must be
a space between the bins to slide the arms, which reduces the
number of bins that can be stored on a rack.
[0010] Another disadvantage of this known technique is that it is
complex to implement because it requires an actuator for each
finger.
4. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] An aspect of the present disclosure relates to a storage and
transport system in a warehouse for at least one object intended to
be stored in a rack of said warehouse, comprising: [0012] at least
one bin suitable for accommodating said object and suitable for
being housed in said rack; [0013] a powered trolley comprising
climbing means adapted to cooperate with said rack to enable said
trolley to rise along said rack, said trolley comprising a device
for gripping and removing said bin.
[0014] According to the invention, said gripping and removal device
comprises a support mounted so as to be movable relative to the
chassis of said trolley between: [0015] an extended position, in
which said support extends at least partially on a lateral edge of
said trolley out of alignment with said chassis; and [0016] a
retracted position, in which said support is housed opposite said
chassis; [0017] said support comprising a structural element, such
as a tray, a frame or a bar, and at least one protruding finger
fixed with respect to said structural element and facing upward,
[0018] and the bottom of said bin has at least one fingerprint
configured to accommodate at least a portion of said finger.
[0019] Thus, in a new and particularly clever way, the invention
proposes to take, or respectively, to deposit a product storage bin
in a rack from below by at least partially engaging one or more
fingers in fingerprints formed in the bottom of the bin, to be able
to lift and pull the bin.
[0020] In the context of the invention, said support may comprise a
tray, a frame, a bar or any other known structure on which said
protruding finger or fingers may rest.
[0021] The term "facing upward" also means that the protruding
finger is oriented in a substantially vertical direction and points
in a direction opposite to that of the ground.
[0022] Advantageously, said support is mounted so that it can move
relative to said chassis so that it can take a first extended
position in which said support extends on one side of said chassis
and a second extended position in which said support extends on the
other side of said chassis.
[0023] This makes it possible to pick up containers from shelves on
either side of the trolley.
[0024] According to a particular aspect of the invention, said
support comprises four fingers arranged in relation to each other
in such a way as to form a rectangle.
[0025] In variants of this embodiment of the invention, said
support may include two fingers, three fingers aligned or arranged
in relation to each other so as to form a triangle.
[0026] According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention,
said support is fixed to a slide guided on a rail, extending in a
direction perpendicular to the direction of advance of said
trolley.
[0027] In a particular embodiment of the invention, said support is
formed in one piece.
[0028] In a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention,
said powered trolley is an automated guided powered trolley.
[0029] Advantageously, said chassis has a vertical stop to prevent
said bin from sliding in the direction of said stop, when said
gripping and removal device is in said retracted position and
supports said bin.
[0030] According to a preferential aspect of the invention, said
bin is made of injection-moulded plastic.
[0031] Preferably, the bottom of said bin has at least two
indentations, each configured to accommodate at least a portion of
said finger and symmetrically arranged with respect to an axis of
symmetry of said bottom.
[0032] This means that the bin can be removed from a rack in any
direction.
[0033] According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention,
said climbing means comprise at least two powered gear wheels of
axes substantially orthogonal to the axes of the running wheels of
said trolley capable of engaging with the links of a substantially
tensioned roller chain or the teeth of a rack extending along an
amount of said rack.
5. LIST OF FIGURES
[0034] Other features and advantages of the invention will become
evident on reading the following description of one particular
embodiment of the invention, given by way of illustrative and
non-limiting example only, and with the appended drawings among
which:
[0035] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an example of embodiment of
a object storage and transport system according to the invention,
in which the bin of the bin gripping and depositing device is
deployed;
[0036] FIG. 2 is a bottom view of one of the bins of the object
storage and transport system according to the invention presented
in reference to FIG. 1;
[0037] FIGS. 3A to 3D illustrate the powered trolley of the object
storage and transport system according to the invention presented
in reference to FIG. 1 respectively on the ground, when approaching
a bin, when its sliding bin is deployed under the bin and when its
sliding bin is fixed to the bin.
6. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0038] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of embodiment of a storage and
transport system for objects in a warehouse according to the
invention.
[0039] This system 10 consists of a automated guided powered
trolley 11 and a polypropylene bin 12 with a substantially
rectangular parallelepipedic shape (schematically represented by
dotted lines in FIG. 1) for storing products.
[0040] The trolley 11 is equipped with four running wheels (not
shown in FIG. 1) to be able to move on the floor of a warehouse and
four toothed wheels (hidden in FIG. 1) with axles perpendicular to
the running wheels that can be deployed on the sides of the trolley
to allow it to climb between two facing shelves along their
uprights.
[0041] On its upper side, trolley 11 has a tray 13, which supports
bin 12, mounted on two slides 14 on rails, shown in a position
deployed on one side of trolley 11 in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1,
the tray 13 extends completely out of alignment with said trolley
chassis 11 on the left side edge of the trolley, when fully
extended. Thanks to a motor to operate the slides 14 (not shown in
FIG. 1), the tray 13 can also slide towards the chassis to a
retracted position in which the tray 13 overhangs the chassis of
the trolley 11. It should be noted that in the retracted position
the bin 12 can come to rest on the two vertical pins 16 projecting
from the chassis of the trolley 11, to prevent a fall.
[0042] Four fingers 15.sub.1 to 15.sub.4 are screwed onto the tray
13, each near one of the upper corners of the tray 13, in
symmetrical positions with respect to the two symmetry axes 13A and
13B of the rectangular tray 13.
[0043] As shown in FIG. 2, in a view from below the bin 12, the
bottom of the bin 12 has four substantially cylindrical hollow
indentations 21.sub.1 to 21.sub.4 forming the corners of a
rectangle of identical shape to that formed by fingers 15.sub.1 to
15.sub.4 of the tray 13.
[0044] The following are described the different steps allowing the
trolley 11 to pick up a bin 31 identical to bin 12 in a warehouse
rack 32 with reference to FIGS. 3A to 3D. In this example, bin 31
is stored in the third row in height of rack 32 and rests on its
edges on two "L" angles 34 of rack 32.
[0045] In a first step, illustrated in FIG. 3A, the trolley 11
moves forward to the ground and stops in front of the rack 32
containing the bin 31, leaving the bin 31 on its left side.
[0046] The trolley 11 then extends transversely the four arms 35
carrying sprockets, so that they engage with the chains 36
stretched on the uprights of the rack 31 and the rack 32 facing the
latter, and climbs along the shelves, controlling the rotation of
the sprockets, to a position, shown in FIG. 3B, where the upper
face of the tray 13 is located a few centimetres lower than the
height of the bottom surface of the bin 12.
[0047] The trolley 11 then operates the motor to cause the slides
14 to slide on the left side of its chassis, so that the tray 13 is
deployed under the bin 12 from the retracted position shown in FIG.
3B to a full deployment position shown in FIG. 3C.
[0048] In a final step, illustrated in FIG. 3D, the trolley 11
rises again along the uprights by a few centimetres so that the
upper part of fingers 15.sub.1 to 15.sub.4 penetrate the
fingerprints 21.sub.1 to 21.sub.4 of the bottom of the bin and then
rises again by two centimetres so that the bin is slightly raised
above the corner pieces 34.
[0049] It is then sufficient for trolley 11 to return the tray 13
to its retracted position, by causing the slides 14 to slide in the
direction of arrow 37, to be able to go down with bin 31 along the
uprights of racks 32, 33.
[0050] An exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure remedies
the shortcomings of the state of the art mentioned above.
[0051] More precisely, an exemplary embodiment provides a technique
for storing and transporting objects in a warehouse that is simple
to implement.
[0052] An exemplary embodiment provides such a technique that can
be implemented in a warehouse where the products are stored in
containers that are closely spaced from each other in shelves.
[0053] An exemplary embodiment provides such a technique which is
reliable.
[0054] An exemplary embodiment provides such a technique that is
simple to install, and with reduced cost price.
[0055] An exemplary embodiment provides such a technique which is
heavy-duty and reliable.
[0056] Although the invention has been described in connection with
several particular embodiments, it is obvious that it is not
limited thereto and that it comprises all the technical equivalents
of the means described and their combinations if they are within
the scope of the invention.
* * * * *