Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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AUTOMATED LAYER PICKING AND STORAGE SYSTEM
RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Serial No. 61/631,537 filed
1/6/2012, the disclosure of which is
hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates to material handling and more particularly to
a system for receiving diverse
products, storing products, creating an assembly of the same or dissimilar
products and discharging the assembly.
Moreover, the invention relates to the optimization of the movement, assembly
and discharge of products, and
apparatus and methods therefor.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] It is known to provide a facility which receives products in
quantity, typically on first pallets bearing
homogeneous or similar products, which locates those first pallets at
determined positions, which selects those
first pallets bearing designated products, which builds a target pallet having
a mix of products from one or more
first pallets and which then discharges the target pallet to fill an order.
[0004] Such a facility is typically large enough to handle hundreds or
thousands of pallets which may range,
with product thereon, from 1500 pounds and up to 6000 pounds or so, each.
[0005] The weight and size of such pallet-carried loads presents functional
and hazardous obstacles to the
efficient handling of the incoming, stored and "picked" or assembled product
loads. For example, the overall
distance between an infeed location, a stored location, a target forming
location and a discharge location may be
long, increasing the time for travel therebetween, and typically requiring
coordinated function among many pallet
and product handling devices. The number of these locations and these devices,
the coordination and clearances
required between them, the moving components or devices and the spacing
between the locations are all weak
links to the goal of increasing product throughput.
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[0006] Attempts at positioning these respective locations in the closest
positions for optimal throughput,
given the variety of products handled, are still hampered, for example, by the
size and weight of the pallets used,
by the nature of the equipment necessary for pallet and load handling, and by
the need to coordinate non-
interfering component movement.
[0007] Accordingly, it has been one objective of this invention to provide
apparatus and methods for
enhancing the throughput capacity of a product receiving, storing, picking and
discharge operation in a material
handling system.
[0008] Another objective of the invention has been to provide apparatus and
methods for more efficient
handling of products through such a system.
[0009] Another objective of the invention has been to provide a product
receiving, storing, picking, load
building and discharge system wherein priority of spacing of these functional
stations is a function of the most
frequently handled products.
[0010] A further objective of the invention has been to provide a material
handling system for more efficient
handling and movement of large numbers of heavy product loads, and to provide
flexibility in the use of load
carrying pallets through the system.
[0011] A further objective of the invention has been to provide an improved
material handling, storing,
assembling and discharge system with capacity for expansion as product volume
grows.
[0012] A further objective of the invention has been to provide improved
pallet handling and transport.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0013] To these ends, the invention in one embodiment comprises a material
handling system having a
plurality of stations such as a source pallet input station; source pallet
storage stations; a pallet load building
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station where a product load is built on a target pallet, and a target pallet
discharge station, and where pallets are
transported between stations of the plurality of stations, in part, on mobile
pallet stands driven by automatic
guided vehicles which selectively couple to the stands and deliver them and a
pallet thereon to a programmed
destination. Alternately, pallets are carried directly in an automatic guided
vehicle, and some pallets are conveyed
to storage by conventional means. Preferably, according to the invention,
products are assembled on a target
pallet in homogeneous or similar full or partial product layers before
discharge of the target pallet to fill an order.
[0014] In another aspect of the invention, the spatial relationship of the
source pallet storage areas to a load
building station, where products are picked from a source pallet and placed on
a target pallet, is a function of
product priority, that is to say that source pallets containing products most
frequently called for in building a target
pallet load are located in a storage location closer to the load building
station than source pallets bearing products
of less frequent use, all to lessen the distance required for travel of source
pallets of more frequent demand and
thus enhance overall throughput.
[0015] In another aspect of the invention, products from source pallets
moved to a load building station are
placed onto a target pallet by any suitable device, such as a high speed layer
picking system, implemented by an
area gantry robot operating over an area accommodating a plurality of parked
mobile pallet stands. Each of these
positions may comprise or become a source pallet or target pallet location,
thus providing extensive flexibility in
load building and throughput. For example, an emptied source pallet may become
a new target pallet without
initial removal of the empty source pallet to an empty pallet storage bank.
Moreover, negative load building can
be accomplished by removing one or more product layers from a source pallet
then using the partially depleted
source pallet as a new (starter) target pallet.
[0016] These and other objectives and advantages will become readily
apparent from the following written
description and from the drawings in which:
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0017] FIG. 1 is an overall diagrammatic illustration showing an overall
material handling system according to
an embodiment of the invention;
[0018] FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but in addition including an
overlay showing generally the flow of
pallets in the system, together with examples of various pallet, product case
and AGV flow;
[0019] FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but showing only the so-called
fixed portions or locations of the
system, the other portions not in FIG. 3 but in FIG. 1 being programmable and
moveable;
[0020] FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration comprising an analogous
computer architecture, for illustrative
purposes only, to help clarify the invention;
[0021] FIG. 5 is an isometric view of an automatic guided vehicle according
to the invention;
[0022] FIG. 6 is an isometric view of an automatic guided vehicle of FIG. 5
illustrating several features
thereof, and of a mobile pallet stand moveable by the automatic guided
vehicle;
[0023] FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic view of one form of high speed layer
picking system according to the
invention;
[0024] FIG. 8 is an illustrative layout of one form of an expanded system
of the invention with an expanded
automated storage and retrieval system; and
[0025] FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating the operable interfaces of an
AGV with operations of the system
of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0026] Turning now to the FIGS., the following is a more detailed
description of the invention. FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4
and 8 illustrate components of the overall system while FIGS. 5-7 illustrate
details of components in the system.
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[0027] This invention includes a system configured to present
multiple homogeneous pallets of product
(Source Pallets) and multiple assembly pallets (Target Pallets) for automated
assembly of homogeneous or similar
full or partial product layers on Order Pallets (Rainbow Pallets) for
discharge to fill orders of mixed (or the same)
products in pallet-sized loads. This system includes or provides in
combination some or all of the following devices
and functions:
[0028] Robotic Manipulating Devices including but not limited to load
assembling or building apparatus,
articulating robots, linear gantry units, area gantry units such as in FIG. 7
and cantilevered linear devices.
[0029] Layer Gripper Units (see FIG. 7), of any suitable form, that
are mounted to the robotic manipulating
devices that will be powered by pneumatics, vacuum, electro-mechanical,
hydraulic or any combination of these.
These units can pick either single or multiple homogeneous or similar full or
partial product layers per individual
pick. In some applications the layer grippers may also drop a single or
portion of the multiple full or partial layers
to multiple target pallets.
[0030] Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV's) or Load Transporting
Vehicles, see FIG. 5, will supply or
transport the Source and Target Pallets either within a matrix pattern
positioned inside the robotic manipulating
devices work envelope or in some cases the Source and Target pallets may be
pre-staged outside the robotic
manipulating devices envelope for fast pickup and delivery of pallets to an
operational location. These pre-stage
areas are described as "ROM" and "RAM" Storage within this document, analogous
to the illustration of a
computer chart as in FIG. 4.
[0031] AGV Ancillary Devices (see FIG. 6) are used to assist the
AGV's in carrying the pallets. These devices
include but are not limited to portable roller carriers, pallet supporting
mobile platforms, portable stand carriers
(requires lift on the AGV), pallet stands, AGV mounted roller conveyors, AGV
mounted belt conveyors or a
modified AGV that uses a lift to deliver the pallet to a static load stand
permanently mounted to the floor.
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[0032] Load Storing and Retrieval Apparatus (see FIGS. 1 and 2) comprising
any suitable cranes, conveyors
and fixed storage racks are used to store incoming or source pallets, for
example, in accessible storage locations,
the exact structure thereof not comprising a part of the invention.
[0033] Load Assembling or Building Apparatus (see FIG. 7) comprising
product grippers of any suitable type
are effective to transfer items to a target pallet and Robot Manipulating
Devices.
[0034] In addition to the foregoing the goals and objectives of the
invention include, in no particular order:
= Automatic Full or Partial Layer Picking
= Optimizing Material Flow
= Increasing Safety of Material Goods Handling in Warehouse
= Reducing Potential for Product Damage
= Elimination of Layer Picking Labor
= Providing Flexibility and Expandability or Future Operations
= Less Dependency on Manual Labor for Picking to Pallets
= Providing a Redundant and Modular System that Handles Preventative
Maintenance Shutdowns
with Minimal Interruptions to Production
= Capacity to handle both full and partial layers
[0035] Benefits of the invention include:
System Flexibility: Easy to introduce new SKUs without impacting
functionality.
Growth Potential and Expandability: Easy to expand as volume grows.
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System Redundancy: Allows for minimal disruption during unexpected downtimes.
System Modularity: Easy to swap most components in and out and allows for
minimal disruption
to the system during planned preventative maintenance.
System Footprint: The proposed system is relatively compact in footprint
considering the amount
of automation that is incorporated along with all of the other benefits
referenced above.
Scalability: facilitates of modification to size and capacity requirements.
Dynamic Storage and Load Building: Facilitates economic and minimal product
and pallet motion
from source pallet input to target pallet discharge.
[0036] These and other advantages of the invention described herein will be
readily apparent to those of
ordinary skill in the art to which this invention relates.
THE BASIC SYSTEM/ANALOGY TO COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE:
[0037] The invention comprises a material handling system which has an
analogy, for descriptive purposes,
to a computer architecture, such as illustrated in FIG. 4. The invention
provides a modular and scalable solution to
material handling and it is comparable with a simplified memory architecture
of computer as shown in Figure 4.
Following the computer analogy, a High Speed Layer Pick System (HSLP) of the
invention is the Central Processing
Unit (CPU) analogous to FIG. 4, and the source pallets are "bytes" which are
stored in three different cache buffers
30, 30a and 30b (FIGS. 1 and 4). Each buffer provides different accessing
speeds depending on its Level value (Level
1 (30b) being the fastest and Level 3 (30) being the slowest). Thus pallets
which are required less frequently are
stored in the Level 3 buffer (30) and pallets which are required every loading
block are stored in the Level 1 (30b)
buffer.
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[0038] A source pallet storage location (type of buffer in which it
resides) can be adapted dynamically
depending on its future usage. The pallet transportation between the buffers
and to and from the HSLP is
implemented by a swarm or plurality of mobile robots, referred to herein as
automatic guided vehicles (AGVs).
[0039] System expansion can be implemented by increasing the appropriate
cache buffer volume, by adding
more AGVs or by adding more "CPU" power (HSLP capacity).
[0040] In FIG. 4, the numbers applied are from the other FIGS. 1 and 2, for
example, indicating the analogy
relationship.
[0041] Moreover, it will be appreciated that the invention herein resides
in the system and processes
described herein. While a variety of mechanisms, handlers, controls, grippers
and other structural components are
used to accomplish he movements and motions described herein, any suitable
forms of hardware and software for
accomplishing these functions, and which are readily appreciated from the
disclosures herein, can be used as such,
these specific components other than the systems and features particularly
described herein comprise no part of
the invention herein claimed.
GENERAL SYSTEM DETAIL:
[0042] Throughout this application and in the drawings, reference is made
to a variety of abbreviations such
as the following for purpose of description and flow parameters of pallets,
cases, pallet stacks and the like:
HLSP High Speed Layer Picking
AGV Automated Guided Vehicle
BOT Short for Robot as in the AGV
ROM Read Only Memory
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RAM Random Access Memory
CPU Central Processing Unit
PPD Pallets per Day
PPH Pallets per Hour
CPD Cases per Day
CPH Cases per Hour
PD Per Day
PH Per Hour
[00431 Moreover and throughout the drawings, the pallets and their
respective positions are graphically
illustrated by the squares (such as at 30 in FIGS. 1 and 2), while the
positions of pallets on the stands 22 and AGVs
23 are illustrated by the encircled squares as in FIGS. 1 and 2, for example.
[0044] A layout of the invention in one embodiment is shown in FIGS. 1 with
function or operational flows
overlaid as in FIG. 2. There is shown in these FIGS. an automatic pallet
receiving, storage, picking, assembling and
discharge system 10 including
= 1 Pallet Unwrap Station and pallet in-feed into the cell, or buffer 30;
= 2 AS/RS Cranes 21 holding in total 760 single stacked pallets;
= 336 mobile pallet stands, 22;
= 35 AGVs, at various selectable positions 23;
= 2 High Speed Layer Picking Systems (HSLP) 24 with 40 pallet positions 25
in total in one
embodiment shown;
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= 1 Out-feed Lane connected to Pre-Print & Apply;
= 1 Label Printer;
= 1 Pallet Stacker;
= 2 Stretch Wrappers 29; and
= Empty Packet Infeed or Outfeed Station 48.
[0045] As noted above, these components may be of any suitable construction
and components. The AGVs
23 and the HSLP systems 24, along with the mobile pallet stands 22 comprise
the major pallet movement and
building components of the system, these other components being shown for
environment and clarity of the
overall system 10.
[0046] Moreover, the number of the components is variable as desired.
[0047] It will be appreciated that the AS/RS cranes 21 are located to stack
source pallets in the storage area
30 (FIG. 1) while the two HSLP systems 24 are operatively associated with the
assembly area 32 (FIG. 1).
[0048] In FIG. 1, there is an infeed station 34 at which source pallets are
received and transferred to unwrap
and checking stations at 36 and 37. Rejected pallets are transported to
rejection lanes 38 for further handling.
[0049] Source pallets enter the system through the unwrap station 36. A
contour check at station 37 verifies
whether the inserted pallet meets the allowed dimensions. A barcode reader
(not shown) confirms the expected
pallet and registers the pallet in a Warehouse Control System of any suitable
type operably connected to the
material handling system 10. If the contour check was successful and the
pallet is expected, an operator is
requested to visually inspect the pallet and, if it is in "good shape" or
otherwise acceptable to him, he removes the
shrink wrap. Otherwise the pallet is routed to the reject lane 38. In case of
a positive evaluation, the source pallets
can either divert from buffer lane 39 into one of the two AS/RS aisles at 30
or are queued into buffer lane 39 ready
to be picked up by mobile AGVs 23 for transportation to other programmed
storage areas 30a, 30b noted in FIG. 1
and for analogy purposes in FIG. 7.
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[0050] Area 30b is a primary or level 1 cache or buffer in which the most
frequently demanded source
pallets are held. Area 30a is a secondary or level 2 cache or buffer in which
somewhat less frequently demanded
source pallets are held. Area 30, the AS/RS, is a third level where the least
frequently required pallets are held.
[0051] It will be appreciated that the AR/RS area 30 comprises, in one
embodiment, two rows of source
pallet storage racks for receiving source pallets from lane 39 handled by a
crane 21 between the rows. Additional
rack rows in an area 30 can be provided and serviced by cranes 21, or
additional similar cranes (see FIG. 8, for
example).
[0052] The AGVs 23 are cost efficient mobile carts or robots 23 (FIG. 5)
which are able to carry a mobile
pallet stand 22 (FIG. 6). The AGVs 23 move along inductive wires (such as
floor embedded wires) which provide
power as well as the navigation signals. Source pallets are transferred onto
and off the mobile stand at handover
stations which are implemented by standard pallet fork type devices. The AGVs
23 (FIG. 5) supply empty pallets,
retrieve and return source pallets and pick up target pallets to and from the
High Speed Layer Picking System
(HSLP) 24. It will be appreciated that an AGV 23 can carry a pallet, directly
thereon, but preferably can be
selectively connected or coupled to a pallet stand 22 on which the pallet is
supported for moving stand 22 as
desired between stations. FIG. 6 illustrates an AGV 23 operably coupled via
pin 50 (FIG. 5) to a stand 23.
[0053] The HSLP at 24 is implemented by an area gantry system 40 robot
which is equipped with two bridges
(only one shown illustratively in FIG. 7). Each bridge is equipped with a
Layer Gripper 100 of any suitable form for
gripping whole or partial product layers or individual products and lifting or
transporting them to a directed
location on another pallet. These layer grippers can be different designs
depending on requirements. Using two
different gripper types of grippers can enable the system to offer the highest
package type flexibility. Layer
grippers 100 (not shown) comprise end effectors for the system gantry 40 and
are of vacuum or mechanical grips
or claims, the details of which are not pertinent to this invention.
[0054] Underneath the area gantry system, 40 mobile pallet stands 22 can be
parked within the working
envelope of the system 40. Every pallet position can become a source or a
target location. This enables reuse of an
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empty source pallet as a new target pallet without handling this empty pallet.
This concept also allows negative
picking (taking e.g. one layer off a source pallet and continuing to use the
original pallet as a new (starter) target
pallet).
[0055] The Warehouse Control System (of any suitable type) manages the
complete pallet flow and assigns
the order of pallet building to the appropriate HSLP system. A smart look
ahead function optimizes the order
pallet selection inside the active wave in order to minimize the pallet
movement to and from the HSLP system 24.
A Fleet Management component will ensure an efficient AGV 23 utilization with
minimal AGV traffic jams and fast
mission executions. Once an order pallet is completed, an AGV 23 will transfer
the completed pallet to an outfeed
lane 42 (FIG. 1) or will temporary park it an open storage location near the
discharge to satisfy sequencing rules
(e.g. to group double or triple stacked pallets together). Any suitable
Warehouse Control System may be used to
these ends.
[0056] Prior to the outfeed lane 42, each assembled target pallet will
receive a label and is then diverted to
one of two stretch wrapper lanes. Before the wrapper, pallets may be lifted up
to create double or triple stacked
pallets. Finally, pallets at 29 (FIG. 2) are ready in lane 42 for pickup at 45
by fork lift operators to be transferred
into the staging area or directly loaded into a truck or other discharge
target.
[0057] FIG. 2 illustrates the pallet or material flow through the system 10
of FIG. 1. The arrows show the
direction of pallets moved from one location to another. The volume or flow
through numbers in FIG. 2 are
exemplary only and do not constitute operational limitations, but do show the
operational parameters of one
system according to the invention.
AGV DETAILS:
[0058] An AGV 23 is illustrated in FIG. 5. Power and navigation is provided
by suitable means such as
inductive wiring in the facility floor; but other systems can be used. The AGV
23 preferably includes two side
wheels 48 and corner casters 49.
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[0059] Each AGV 23 (of which there are many in the system as shown
positionally, for example, randomly in
FIG. 1) is provided with a dynamic coupling pin 50 which can be selectively
raised to couple with a mobile pallet
stand 22 to drive or move that stand through the system 10. A pallet stand 22
(FIG. 6) comprises a pallet-
supporting surface 51 and four legs 52 on which are mounted swivel coasters 53
so the stand 22 can be driven
about by an AGV 23.
[0060] AGV 23 is a cost efficient mobile platform. It is similar to an
Automated Guided Vehicle, but since it
operates in a contained environment it is not necessarily equipped with the
usual safety equipment. It has no
intelligence onboard besides the low level navigation control system.
[0061] All AGVs are controlled by a Fleet Manager controller of any
suitable type which ensures an optimal
AGV selection for the next transport task. The global goal on all AGV
movements is minimizing traffic jams with
short transportation times and travel distances.
[0062] Due to its small building height, an AGV 23 can run underneath
mobile pallet stands 22, and
selectively coupled thereto by selective erection of pin 50.
[0063] The dynamic pin 50 allows the AGV 23 to selectively engage with a
mobile pallet stand 22, thus
"pulling", moving or transporting it to the desired target location (see
Figure 6) when the AGV is moved. The actual
payload is still carried by the mobile pallet stand 22 which runs on four
caster wheels 53. The pin 50 concept
furthermore avoids the required racking, spinning or other motions to lift up
and lower down a heavily loaded or
even unloaded pallet stand as in other devices and which leads to lower cycle
times and less power consumption.
[0064] A key benefit of this AGV 23 is the minimal amount of installed or
fixed equipment required for
system 10. In Figure 3, for example, only the fixed installed components are
shown. Thus, the fixed components of
system 10 include the infeed, lane 39 feeding the AS/RS 30, the discharge
components and the HSLP 24. The other
cache levels 30a, 30b and the other, closer, primary source pallet caches are
defined by the mobile pallet stands
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22, and/or the AGVs 23. For maintenance or cleaning purposes all mobile pallet
carts 22 and AGVs 23 can be
removed from the system.
[0065] Referring to FIG. 9, it will thus be appreciated that the mobile
AGVs 23 operably interface with a
variety of operations of the system 10, including the empty pallet infeed 48,
the pallet buffer lane 39, the dynamic
pallet buffer (System 10), the same pallet pickup, the HSLP gantry system (24)
and the finished pallet outfeed.
HIGH SPEED LAYER PICKING SYSTEM 24 (HSLP):
[0066] The High Speed Layer Picking System 24 is based on an area gantry
concept. This area gantry 40
design offers three degrees of freedom (X, Y and Z in FIG. 7) and is thus able
to reach out to the underlying
different pallet locations at HSLP 24. See FIG. 3 for example. In the
preferred embodiment, two gantry "bridges"
56, 57 (FIG. 3) are added to the main gantry frame 55. Each gantry robot is
controlled by a Robot Controller of any
suitable type and is equipped with a layer picking gripper 100 as noted above.
[0067] As noted above, in order to provide package type flexibility, the
invention can include two or more
different suitable gripper types, each of suitable construction and function
and including both Vacuum Layer
Grippers and Roll-Up or Mechanical Layer Grippers. Such grippers are suitable
for corrugated boxes; shrink
wrapped items and bags. They support multiple layer picks for certain pallet
configurations and are deployed in a
growing number of installations throughout the world.
[0068] HSLP: The overall layout of the actual HSLP system 24 is shown in
FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.
[0069] The HSLP System 24 includes one main frame 55 on which two bridges
56, 57 are running (FIG. 3).
Alternately, four bridges or other number of bridges can be used. The HSLP
system 24 is divided into safety zones,
which are really only relevant if an operator has to enter one of the zones.
On both sides, a walkway is added to
allow an operator to get to the HSLP system 24 without stepping into the
navigation space of the AGVs 23. Any
layer slip sheets will be handled by the Layer Picking Grippers. The slip
sheets are inducted through the standard
entry and are delivered by the AGVs to the HSLP system 24.
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[00701 Other components as now generally described can be used in
connection with the system 10 and are
described here for clarity and environment.
SYSTEM IN-FEED AND REPLENISHMENT:
[00711 All inbound inventory received into the Automated Layer Picking and
Buffer System 10 will be
scanned and logged into a Warehouse Control System of any suitable type. The
Warehouse Management System
maintains control of the inventory and tracks the product all the way through
the system until the final palletized
product is handed back over to a discharge control at the final Stretch
Wrapper. During this time, the discharge
control will have full visibility of the complete inventory in the Automated
Layer Picking and Buffer System 10.
[00721 Once a source pallet is scanned and before induction into the AS/RS
30, the pallet will be manually
unwrapped. The barcode scanning station will be part of the manual unwrap
station and the scanning process will
be done manually as well by an operator.
PALLET STORAGE SYSTEM 30:
[0073] A Pallet Storage System (AS/RS) 30 comprises, in one suitable
version two AS/RS crane aisles which
hold 760 pallet positions, for example.
[0074] Controls are based on any suitable PLC platform. One crane is
designed to perform 110 single pallet
transport missions per hour. This means it can transport 110 pallets in or out
of the AS/RS or it can e.g. move 55
pallets in and 55 pallets out per hour or any combination in between.
[0075] All pallet conveyors are standard off the shelf conveyors as shown
here. Each conveyor has its local
VFD drive box, which simplifies the installation, commissioning and testing.
BARCODE AND PRE-PRINTED LABELING SYSTEM:
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[0076] Completed Palletized Order Pallets will receive a barcode label for
each stack just prior to being
transferred to the stretch wrapper. Labels can be pre-printed. This scheme
will create some cost savings on
printing in the long run for customers.
FENCING AND SAFETY SYSTEM:
[0077] The whole system 10 will be fenced in order to protect the people
from walking into the Automated
Layer Picking System.
[0078] At certain locations entry gates are located to allow operators and
maintenance people to access the
work space. At these entry gates user control boxes are located to request the
entry and to put the system back
into Automatic mode after everyone has left the working cell or envelope.
[0079] Pallet input / output areas will be equipped with muting light
curtains which will prevent the
operators to walk into the cell through a conveyor window.
[0080] The Pre-Printed Label applicator will be located just after the
Layer Palletizer and just prior to the
transfer to the Stretch Wrappers.
[0081] Completed orders can be palletized as a Single Pallet Order, in
which the order consists of one
bottom pallet only with the various products stacked in layers up to 106
inches (2692mm) tall, for example. In
addition, completed orders can be palletized as a Stacked Pallet Order, in
which the order consists of 2 or more
pallets, each with its own product group. These pallets can be stacked on top
of each other and can be up to 106
inches (2692mm) tall combined, for example.
[0082] The Warehouse Control System will ensure that the paired pallets are
built in the appropriate
sequence.
FUTURE EXPANSION:
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[0083] A future expansion can be easily implemented by adding more gantry
robots in order to increase the
throughput at HSLP 24. More buffer capacity can be added to accommodate more
active SKUs in storage at 30 and
more AGVs 23 can be provided to support the increased pallet traffic or define
yet additional pallet caches
responsive to demand criteria. As an example, FIG. 8 illustrates an expanded
system having six rows of pallet
storage racks served by three cranes 21, all fed pallets through lane 39 from
infeed 34.
[0084] Accordingly, in one embodiment, the invention comprises a material
handling system for receiving,
storing and assembling products and including load storing apparatus; load
assembling apparatus; a plurality of
independent load carrying vehicles; a plurality of independent load supporting
platforms; a coupling for selectively
coupling together said vehicles and said platforms; said vehicles being
moveable to transfer said platforms
between load storage and load assembly apparatus.
[0085] The invention also contemplates a material handling system for
reviewing, storing and assembling
products on pallets and including a plurality of pallet supporting platforms;
a plurality of vehicles selectively
coupled to selected pallet supporting platforms of said plurality; said
vehicles being automatically guided to
transfer said platforms within said system.
[0086] As well, the invention also contemplates a material handling system
for handling pallets and products
thereon and comprising: a source pallet infeed; a first source pallet storage
and receiving apparatus for receiving
infed pallets and storing thereon; a load building apparatus for transferring
homogeneous or similar product layers
from a source pallet to a target pallet responsive to a product order; a
plurality of automatic guided vehicles; a
plurality of moveable pallet stands; a coupler for selectively coupling a
vehicle to a pallet stand; said vehicles and
said stands being moveable along predetermined paths to transfer pallets fro
said storage and receiving apparatus
and said building apparatus.
[0087] The invention further contemplates a method of building a pallet
with a product mix thereon and
including the steps of receiving and storing source pallets in a first
location; transferring source pallets on a
moveable platform to a target pallet building apparatus; moving the platform
with an automatically guided
CA 02800621 2013-01-07
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vehicle; building a pallet on a platform with homogeneous or similar product
layers in both single and multiple
layer picks to order.
[0088] Accordingly, it will be appreciated the invention contemplates an
automated layer picking and
storage system which is modular, scalable, expandable and which provides
dynamic storage and load building
apparatus and methods
[0089] These and other advantages and modifications of the invention will
be readily appreciated to those of
ordinary skill in the art from the foregoing description and drawings, without
departing from the scope of the
invention, and applicant intends to be bound only by the claims appended
hereto.
[0090] WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:
