Order preparation or buffer storage system
An order preparation system including at least one automatically guided carriage which is intended to collect items of an order from shelves and is equipped with toothed wheels, which are mounted on retractable supports and are able to cooperate with racks or chains rigidly connected to the uprights of the shelves, so as to allow the carriage to ascend between two shelves, and with counter-wheels. A runner is fixed substantially at a distal end of each of the supports and is position with respect to a counter-wheel mounted on the same support such that when the carriage climbs, the counter-wheel is in contact with a face of an upright and the runner is spaced apart from the upright, and, if the movable support weakens due to failure, the runner comes to bear on the upright, so as to block the downward advance of the movable support.
1 . A system comprising:
a first shelving unit and a second shelving unit, said first shelving unit and said second shelving unit delimiting an aisle;
a first pair of uprights secured to said first shelving unit and a second pair of uprights secured to said second shelving unit, the uprights of said first pair of uprights being each mounted facing an upright of said second pair of uprights;
at least one automatic guided vehicle intended to take objects from at least one of said shelving units, said vehicle comprising motorized climbing means capable of cooperating with said uprights so as to allow said vehicle to rise along said uprights, said climbing means comprising
four toothed wheels each intended to cooperate with racks or chains secured to said uprights of said first pair and of said second pair of uprights, each of the toothed wheels being mounted on a support that is movable with respect to the frame of said vehicle between two positions:
a deployed position, in which at least a part of said toothed wheel mounted on said support protrudes out from said frame;
a retracted position, in which the toothed wheel mounted on said support is housed in or on top of said frame,
said vehicle comprising
means for driving said toothed wheels in rotation,
means for securing with said uprights comprising a counter-wheel mounted on each support, each counter-wheel being intended to roll on a face of one of said uprights opposite the face of said uprights to which said rack or said chain is secured,
wherein:
a runner is fixed substantially at a distal end of each support, said runners extending substantially vertically,
said runner and said counter-wheel are positioned with respect to one another on said support such that,
when said driving means mesh the toothed wheel mounted on said support with the rack or the chain of one of said uprights, said counter-wheel is in contact with said opposite face of this upright and said runner is separated from this upright and that,
when said vehicle has climbed on said uprights and said toothed wheel can rotate freely following a failure of said driving means, leading to a sagging of said support, said runner comes to bear on a portion of the face of said upright to which a rack or a chain is secured so as to stop the downward advance of said support.
2 . The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said runners are mounted on said support at a height greater than that of said counter-wheels.
3 . The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
when said driving means mesh a toothed wheel mounted on said support with the rack or the chain of one of said uprights, the distance projected on the horizontal between the outer surface of the runner fixed onto said support and the axis of the counter-wheel mounted on said support is greater than the aggregate of the value of the radius of the counter-wheel and of the thickness of a flange of this upright.
4 . The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said runners comprise a block made of elastomer material.
5 . The system as claimed in claim 4 , wherein said block is housed in a ring.
6 . The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the width or the length of said vehicle is less than the spacing between the uprights of said first pair of uprights or of said second pair of uprights, and said support is configured such that, in said deployed position, at least a part of each of said toothed wheels also protrudes out from an edge of said frame facing said aisle.
7 . The system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein
when said vehicle is engaged in said aisle, the axes of said toothed wheels are parallel to the axis of said aisle.
8 . The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each support mounted to pivot and/or slide with respect to said frame.
9 . The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each support mounted substantially at the four corners of the frame of said vehicle.
10 . The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said driving means comprise four independent motors each intended to drive one of said toothed wheels.
11 . The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each of the racks or of the chains secured to one of said uprights extends under said one of said uprights substantially to the ground, and a guiding element having a rolling surface for one of said counter-wheels extends vertically along the lower portion of said rack or of said chain, substantially from the ground to the height of the base of the upright.
12 . The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said runners are turned toward the outside of said vehicle.
13 . The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said uprights of said first pair and of said second pair of uprights have an omega, or angle-iron, profile, of which at least one flange has a folded-down edge, each of said runners is turned toward an upright of said shelving units when said vehicle is engaged in said aisle, and the portion of the face of said upright to which a rack or a chain is secured and on which a runner can come to bear is a portion of the face turned toward said of a folded-down edge of an upright.