Automatic warehouse

To provide an automatic warehouse that can elevate and lower an elevating rail stably even if racks are high, and that allows effective use of the space between the racks for maintenance. Elevation drive sections for an elevating rail 3 are provided near the respective ends of one of racks 1 and 2, a rope 40 attached to a rail-supporting member 12 is wound around a drum 22, and a counterweight 24 is used to balance the effect of gravity in order to elevate and lower a rail 3. A travelling cart 4 travels on the rail 3, and the rotation of a turntable 5 and the rotation of arms 6 and 7 and a hand 11 are used to load and unload an article on and from the rack 1 or 2.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
 present invention relates to an improved automatic warehouse.
 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
 In a typical automatic warehouse, a pair of racks are disposed on a floor
 surface in a parallel at an interval, a rail is laid on the floor surface
 in the space between the racks, and a travelling body including a loading
 apparatus travels on the rail. In this configuration, however, when the
 racks are high, the height of a mast on the loading apparatus must be
 increased, resulting in unstable loading. In addition, the floor surface
 in the space between the racks is occupied by the rail and travelling
 body, preventing easy maintenance.
 It is an object of the present invention to allow the space between the
 racks to be used easily for maintenance and to enable an article to be
 transferred and loaded appropriately between the travelling body and
 racks.
 It is an additional object of the present invention to further stabilize
 the elevation and lowering by means of the elevating rail.
 It is an additional object of the present invention to enable an article to
 be loaded on both racks appropriately even if the space between the racks
 is narrower than in a conventional type.
 It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a structure
 of an automatic warehouse with an increased capacity.
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
 The present invention provides an automatic warehouse in which a pair of
 opposed racks are disposed in parallel at an interval, characterized in
 that elevation drive sections provided near opposite ends of one of the
 racks support, elevate and lower an elevating rail, and in that a
 travelling body is provided that travels along the elevating rail to load
 an article on each of the racks.
 Preferably, a guide member for guiding the elevation and lowering of the
 elevating rail is provided near the center of the rack on which the
 elevation drive sections are provided.
 Preferably, a turntable is provided on the travelling body that has a first
 arm, that oscillates relative to the turntable, a second arm that
 oscillates in a direction opposite the oscillating direction of the first
 arm, and a hand member borne on the second arm by an oscillating shaft to
 support an article, to transfer and load an article between the travelling
 body and the racks.
 To increase the capacity, the racks are extended at their respective end
 and the elevating rail protrudes from the elevation drive section toward
 the end of the rack.
 According to the present invention, the elevation drive sections are
 provided near the opposite ends of one of the racks to elevate and lower
 the elevating rail. He travelling body travels along the elevating rail to
 load an article onto each of the racks. As a result, the need for the rail
 to be laid on the floor in the space between the racks is eliminated to
 allow the travelling body to pause at the upside of the elevation rail,
 thereby enabling the automatic warehouse to be maintained easily. Since
 the elevating rail is supported near both its opposite ends by the
 elevation drive sections, the elevating rail is supported stably and
 articles can be transferred and loaded appropriately compared to the
 transfer and loading of articles between the travelling body supported on
 the floor surface and on the racks via a high mast. Since the elevation
 drive sections in the present invention are provided on only one of the
 racks, the automatic warehouse can be installed easily and the space
 occupied by the elevation drive sections can be reduced, compared to an
 installation on both racks.
 According to the present invention, the guide member for guiding the
 elevation and lowering of the elevating rail is provided near the center
 of the rack on which the elevation drive sections are provided. Thus, the
 elevating rail is supported at three points, that is, by the elevation
 drive sections near the opposite ends and the guide member near the
 center, thereby further stabilizing the elevation and lowering of the
 elevating rail.
 According to the present invention, a turntable is provided on the
 travelling body and a first arm that oscillates relative to the turntable;
 a second arm that oscillates in a direction opposite to the oscillating
 direction of the first arm; ;and the hand member borne on the second arm
 by the oscillating shaft to support an article are provided. When the
 first arm is oscillated, the second arm oscillates in the opposite
 direction and the oscillation of the first arm causes the oscillating arm
 bearing the hand member to linearly move back and forth to enable an
 article to be transferred and loaded smoothly. In addition, since the
 oscillating shaft bearing the hand member can oscillate relative to the
 second arm, the direction of the hand member is fixed despite the
 oscillation of the second arm, thereby preventing the hand member from
 colliding against the racks.
 The present invention has a structure where the capacity of the warehouse
 can be increased by extending the racks. The racks are preferably extended
 from both ends, or at least from their respective end, and the elevating
 rail protrudes from the elevation drive section toward the end of the
 rack. The extension of the racks increases the capacity, and the elevating
 rail can be elevated and lowered stably despite its protrusion from the
 elevation drive sections because it is supported at at least two points
 near the respective ends of the original rack. dr
 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
 FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of an automatic warehouse according to one
 embodiment of the present invention.
 FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of an automatic warehouse according to a
 variation.
 FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the automatic warehouse according to the
 one embodiment.
 FIG. 4 is a top view of a loading apparatus in the automatic warehouse
 according to the one embodiment.
 FIG. 5 is a top view of the loading apparatus in the automatic warehouse
 according to another embodiment.
 FIG. 6 is a side view of the automatic warehouse according to the one
 embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
 FIGS. 1 to 6 shows an embodiment and its variations. FIGS. 1 to 3 show an
 integral part of an automatic warehouse according to one embodiment.
 In FIGS. 1, 1 and 2 are a pair of racks disposed opposite each other and in
 parallel. An elevating rail 3, that has rail supporting members 12, 12
 near the opposite ends, is supported, elevated and lowered by elevation
 drive sections provided near the opposite ends of the rack 2. Another rail
 supporting member 13 (FIG. 1) is provided near the center of the elevating
 rail 3 and supported by a guide rail 26 provided near the center of the
 rack 2. A travelling cart 4, has a turntable 5 that can rotate through 360
 degrees (.degree.) relative to the travelling cart 4. A first arm 6, and a
 second arm 7 are provided. The first arm 6 is installed so as to rotate
 around a rotating shaft 8 relative to the turntable 5 and the second arm 7
 is installed so as to rotate around a rotating shaft 9 relative to the
 first arm 6. A rotating shaft 10 enables a hand member 11 to rotate
 relative to the second arm 7. Although the rotating shafts 8, 9 and 10 can
 rotate through 360.degree., they must only oscillate through a
 predetermined angle.
 In FIG. 3, the structure of the traveling cart 4 is described. The rail 3
 is, for example, a monorail, 36 is a rack provided along the rail 3 and 37
 is a pinion engaging the rack 36 and rotated by a motor (not shown in the
 drawing) for the travelling cart 4. The pinion 37 is rotated to move the
 travelling cart 4 forward. A travelling mechanism for the travelling cart
 4 and a mechanism for the rail 3 can be configured arbitrarily.
 In FIG. 3, 14 is a turntable motor, 15 is a shaft used to rotate the
 turntable 5 and 16 is an arm drive motor. The turntable motor 14 rotates a
 belt 17 to cause the shaft 15 to rotate the turntable 5. Likewise, the arm
 drive motor 16 rotates the rotating shaft 8 via a belt 18, thereby
 rotating the first arm 6. The rotation of the rotating shaft 8 is
 transmitted to the rotating shaft 9 via a belt 19 to rotate the second arm
 8 relative to the first arm 6. In addition, the rotation of the rotating
 shaft 9 is transmitted to the rotating shaft 10 of the hand member 11
 through the belt 20 to rotate the hand member 11. In addition, the
 rotation of the turntable 5 is independent of the rotation of the arms 6
 and 7 and hand member 11, and the arm 7 rotates in the direction opposite
 the rotational direction of the arm 6, whereas the hand member 11 rotates
 in the same direction as the arm 6. These operations can be implemented by
 the belts 18, 19 and 20.
 A hanging member 30, FIG. 3, such as a rope or a belt, is attached to the
 rail supporting members 12, 12 and is wound around a winding drum 22 (FIG.
 6) via supporting rollers 40, shown in FIG. 6. A pair of rollers 25a and
 27a or 25b and 27b are provided at the end of the rail supporting member
 12 in such a way that the rail 3 is elevated and lowered along guide rails
 28a and 28b. A counterweight 24 is connected at the other end of the
 hanging member 30. A guide member such as a guide rail 26 is provided near
 the center of the rack 2 to guide rollers provided at the end of the rail
 supporting member 13. The rail supporting member 13 and guide rail 26 can
 be omitted as shown in FIG. 2. An individual storage position 31 is
 provided in the rack 1, and an individual storage position 32 is provided
 in the rack 2, while 33 is an article.
 FIG. 4 shows a mechanism for transferring and loading the article 33 using
 the turntable 5 and hand member 11. In this figure, the rail 3 and the
 travelling cart 4 are omitted. For example, the removal of the article 33
 from the rack 1 is explained. The continuous line in FIG. 4 shows that the
 hand member 11 supports the article 33. The rotating shaft 8 is rotated,
 for example, clockwise to rotate the rotating shaft 9, for example,
 counterclockwise. The rotating shaft 10 bearing the hand member 11 thus
 rotates clockwise, as does the rotating shaft 8. Then, the rotating shaft
 10 for the hand member 11 linearly moves backward from the state shown by
 the continuous line to the state shown by the chain line in FIG. 4 and the
 hand member 11 rotates in the direction opposite the rotating direction of
 the arm 7, so the direction of the hand member 11 remains unchanged, as
 seen from the racks 1 and 2. Thus, the hand member 11 linearly moves back
 and forth in the same direction without colliding against the rack 1. The
 movement is the reverse of the foregoing when the article 33 is housed in
 the rack 1. As is apparent from the chain line in FIG. 4, the hand member
 11 can transfer and load the article 33 on only the rack 1 unless the
 turntable 5 is rotated. If the article is loaded on the rack 2, the
 turntable 5 is rotated through 180.degree. to transfer and load the
 article in the same manner.
 FIG. 5 shows a variation of the loading apparatus. According to this
 variation, the first and second arms are provided on the right and left
 sides, respectively, and the rotating shafts for the hand member 11 are
 also provided on the right and left sides. That is, first arms 6R and 6L,
 second arms 7R and 7L, and rotating shafts 8R, 8L, 9R, 9L, l0R, and l0L
 are provided.
 In contrast to the embodiments in FIGS. 1 to 4, the rotating shafts 9R and
 9L, as well as 10R and 10L, are slave shafts, and rotate in response to
 the oscillation of the arms 6R and 6L. According to this variation, the
 rotating shafts 8R and 8L connected to an arm driving motor 16 rotate in
 opposite directions, and since the tips of the second arms 7R and 7L are
 connected to the hand member 11 through the rotating shafts 10R and 10L,
 the hand member 11 linearly moves backward in the same direction from the
 state shown by the continuous line as the rotating shafts 8R and 8L
 rotate, and is housed on the turntable 5. According to this variation, the
 hand member 11 can also transfer and load the article on only the rack 1
 unless the turntable 5 is rotated. The turntable 5 is rotated through
 180.degree. to transfer and load the article onto the rack 2.
 FIG. 6 shows the overall structure of an automatic warehouse according to
 the present invention. Although not limited to such applications, the
 automatic warehouse may be used, for example, to store devices in a clean
 room.
 The rail 3 is supported by the rail supporting members 12, 12 and 13 and is
 elevated and lowered along the rack 2 as the winding drum 22 rotates. The
 travelling cart 4 travels on the elevating rail 3. Thus, there is no rail
 on the floor between the racks 1 and 2, and elevating the elevating rail 3
 enables a large space to be provided between the racks 1 and 2, thereby
 allowing easy maintenance for the winding drum 22, winding motor 23, or
 other mechanisms.
 The elevating rail 3 is elevated and lowered stably because the
 neighborhood of both of its opposite ends are supported by the supporting
 member 12, 12 and because the neighborhood of its center (FIG. 1) is
 supported by the supporting member 13. Thus, the travelling cart 4 can be
 stably supported by the rail 3 to enable the article to be transferred and
 loaded appropriately. Furthermore, the elevating rail 3 is elevated and
 lowered, so even if the racks 1 and 2 are high, loading can be executed
 stably by correspondingly raising the elevating rail 3. In addition, the
 pair of arms 6 and 7, that rotate in opposite directions, are provided on
 the turntable 5, and the rotating shaft 10 at the end of the arm 7 bears
 the hand member 11. Consequently, the hand member 11 linearly moves in the
 same direction relative to the racks 1 and 2, so the interferential range
 is narrow and the article 33 can be transferred and loaded simply.
 If the number of the racks 1 and 2 is increased to increase the capacity of
 the automatic warehouse after installation, the elevating rail 3 may be
 extended on both ends of existing racks 1 and 2, for example, as shown by
 the chain line in FIG. 1. In this case, since the elevating rail 3 is
 supported near the opposite ends of the existing racks 1 and 2, the
 elevating rail can be elevated and lowered stably even if it is extended.
 Thus, the capacity of the existing automatic warehouse can be increased
 easily without changing the layout of facilities in the clean room. Not
 only can the capacity be simply increased after installation, but an
 automatic warehouse of a desired capacity can also be obtained by
 extending the racks 1 and 2 and elevating rail 3 as required, using as the
 standard the racks 1 and 2 shown by the continuous line in FIGS. 1 and 2.