Case picking system
First Claim
1. An automated material handling system comprising:
- a case storage and delivery system including means for receiving, storing and delivering cases of goods;
a full layer storage, picking and delivery system for storing and delivering full layers of cases of goods;
conveyor means for receiving said cases of goods and said full layers of cases of goods from said case storage and delivery system and from said full layer storage, picking and delivery system;
control means to select cases of goods to be delivered by said case storage and delivery system and layers of cases of goods to be conveyed from said full layer storage, picking and delivering system to said conveyor means; and
a palletizer receiving said cases of goods and said full layers of cases of goods from said conveyor means and placing said cases and said full layers of cases on receiving pallets in selected patterns.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An automated order picking system assembled from known, available components and that includes a manager computer to receive orders for goods from a customer and to break the order down into requested full pallets of multiple ordered layers of goods; layers of goods ordered by the customer; compatible ordered layers of goods that can be combined into full pallets; and compatible cases of ordered goods that can be formed into layers and into full pallets of multiple layers of goods; and vertical cells for receiving, storing and delivering cases of the goods. The vertical cells comprise towers having mutually facing tower sections that receive goods delivered to feed conveyors by gantry robots having end effectors capable of handling the goods and the tower sections passing the goods back and forth as the goods are moved downwardly for placement on the discharge conveyor under the control of a programmable logic computer. The full pallets, full layers and cases of goods are conveyed to a palletizer to be organized into the requested orders.
-
Citations
24 Claims
-
1. An automated material handling system comprising:
-
a case storage and delivery system including means for receiving, storing and delivering cases of goods; a full layer storage, picking and delivery system for storing and delivering full layers of cases of goods; conveyor means for receiving said cases of goods and said full layers of cases of goods from said case storage and delivery system and from said full layer storage, picking and delivery system; control means to select cases of goods to be delivered by said case storage and delivery system and layers of cases of goods to be conveyed from said full layer storage, picking and delivering system to said conveyor means; and a palletizer receiving said cases of goods and said full layers of cases of goods from said conveyor means and placing said cases and said full layers of cases on receiving pallets in selected patterns. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. An automated material handling system comprising:
-
a case storage and delivery system for receiving, storing and delivering cases of goods, said case storage and delivery system including a tower to receive cases of goods at a top thereof, to store said cases of goods and to deliver said goods from a bottom thereof and a gantry means for picking up said cases of goods from a storage location and for transporting said cases to the top of the tower; conveyor means to receive said cases of goods discharged from said tower; control means to pick up and transport the cases of goods to be discharged from said tower to said conveyor means; a palletizer receiving said cases of goods from said conveyor means and placing said cases in full layers of cases on pallets in selected patterns; a full layer storage, picking and delivery system for storing and delivering full layers of cases of goods, said full layer storage, picking and delivery system including a gantry, storage means for pallets having layers of cases of goods thereon and conveyor means receiving said full layers of cases of goods and transporting said full layers to said palletizer to be placed on pallets in selected patterns; and wherein the control means operates said gantry to pick up and transport full layers of cases of said goods from said storage means and to deliver them to said conveyor means. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
-
Specification