Patent GB-1124823-A (GB)
Title: Control for automatic warehouse
IPC: B65G1/04
Filed: 1965-08-31
Abstract: 1,124,823. Control of several motors. TRIAX CO. 31 Aug., 1965 [7 April, 1965], No. 37167/65. Heading H2J. [Also in Division B8] An automatic warehousing system comprises a plurality of vertically and horizontally aligned storage bins 13, Fig. 1, and a carrier 15 mounted for horizontal movement adjacent the bins, the carrier being provided with an elevator 20 carrying forks 23 which are horizontally movable into and out of the bins for depositing or retrieving a load, and control means being provided to slow the carrier when it reaches a predetermined bin and then to stop the carrier positioned at the bin. The bins 13 are defined by members 11, 12 of a frame 10 and the carrier 15 may be mounted for movement along an aisle disposed between two such frames. The carrier 15 comprises a carriage 16 driven along a track 17 by a motor MX and carrying a turn-table 18 from which depends a column 19. The elevator 20 is driven vertically along the column 19 by a motor MZ through a chain drive 21, 22, and the forks 23 are moved horizontally by a motor MY which rotates a worm 31 engaged with a threaded collar 32, the latter being connected to a scissor-like parallel linkage 33 secured to the elevator 20 at one end and the forks 23 at the other. The turn-table 18 may be motor-driven or turned manually. The carrier is controlled automatically to move between a station at an end of the aisle and a selected bin, or between bins, counter switches 24 and 26 being provided, respectively, Fig. 2, coacting with trips 25 and the horizontal members 12. The control circuit, Fig. 2, comprises predetermining command devices PRCY, PRCX, PRCZ for the motors MY, MX, MZ, respectively. The devices may be mechanical counting mechanisms or electrical counting switches actuated by electrical impulses and are used to control the motors for causing the forks to be moved into a preselected bin. Similar devices PRCY<SP>1</SP>, PRCX<SP>1</SP>, PRCZ<SP>1</SP> are provided to reverse the movements of the carrier to return the forks to a station. The command devices are set by a dial switching device 40, and control devices CD, CD<SP>1</SP> are provided for determining whether the forks are moved to pick up or deposit a load. The devices CD, CD<SP>1</SP> may be put in the circuit by the dial device 40. Operation of the switches 24, 27 count out the command devices PRCX, PRCX<SP>1</SP> and PRCZ, PRCZ<SP>1</SP>, respectively. The devices PRCY<SP>1</SP>, PRCX<SP>1</SP>, PRCZ<SP>1</SP> may be set by the dial device 40 or by the counting out of the devices PRCY, PRCX, PRCZ. The switch 24 may be omitted if the switch 26 is a universal switch operated by horizontal and vertical movement. Electromechanical means are provided which perform a function similar to that of the reflectors 46 described below to precisely position the carrier. In a second embodiment, Figs. 3, 3a, a photo-electric cell 41 and a light source 42 co-operate with reflectors 43 to count out the command devices. The signals from the photo-electric cell 41 are amplified as shown in Fig. 4. A second reflector 46 is positioned adjacent each reflector 43 and the operation is such that passing the reflector 43 and the operation is such that passing the reflector 43 at the preselected bin slows the carrier to enable the associated reflector 46 to accurately stop the carrier. The amplified signal actuates a relay 45 connected to the command device PRCX, Fig. 6, so that in operation the reflector 43 at the preselected bin counts out the latter and the motor MX is slowed until the final reflector 46 again actuates the relay 45 to pass a signal through a control device 64, which is preset by the counting out of the device PRCX, to a braking servo 69. The device 64 may be a bi-stable electromechanical or electronic flip-flop switch which is conditioned to pass a signal from an input 67 to an output 68 by a switching input 65 from counted out device PRCX. A re-setting input 66 ensures that the switch will block signals from the input 67 until the device PRCX is counted out. In a third embodiment, Fig. 5 (not shown), a pair of switches (52, 53) on the carriage 16 co-operate with pairs of pins (50, 51) to first slow the carriage and then to stop it.