Patent ID: 7128521

Claim:
Method for transferring storage units between a rack stage of a rack bay and a vertically or horizontally movable loading platform by means of telescopic arms extending parallel to a feed direction of the storage units, said loading platform having a first and second conveyor arranged one after another and defining a conveyor path along which the storage units can be moved by the first and second conveyor, each of said telescopic arms having a central driver arranged in a middle region thereof and the end drivers arranged on distal end regions and is displaceable between a retracted position along said conveyor path and an extended position inside the rack stage, said drivers being movable between an operating position and a non-operating position, the method comprising the steps of: (a) pushing the storage units out of the rack stage onto the loading platform by: moving the loading platform to a position to retrieve the storage units; extending the telescopic arms into their extended position inside the rack stage and alongside opposing side faces of the storage units; moving a pair of the end drivers lying opposite to the load platform and a pair of the central drivers into their operating position in which the pair of end drivers overlap a first storage unit and the pair of central drivers overlap a second storage unit, and.for pushing a side face of each storage unit lying opposite to the loading platform; and retracting the telescopic arms into their retracted position along said conveyor path and pushing the first and second storage unit together from stowage positions inside the rack stage onto the first and second conveyors; and (b) pushing the storage units from the loading platform into the rack stage by: determining the stowage position for each storage unit within the rack stage of said rack bay by a control system; moving the loading platform to a position alongside a selected rack stage of one of the rack bays; moving a pair of the end drivers lying opposite to the selected rack stage and the central pair of drivers into their operating position projecting into said conveyor path; activating the first and second conveyors for positioning the first storage unit against the pair of the end drivers and second storage unit against the central pair of drivers into discharge positions defined by the control system according to an upcoming manipulation step dependent on the determined stowage positions; and extending the telescopic arms into their extended position inside the rack stage and pushing the first and second storage unit together into the stowage positions inside the rack stage.