Autonomous transports for storage and retrieval systems

摘要

An autonomous transport vehicle for transferring case units to and from predefined storage areas in an automated case unit storage system, the automated case unit storage system including an array of multilevel storage racks with picking aisles passing therebetween and at least one multilevel vertical conveyor having movable shelves, the autonomous transport vehicle including a frame configured to traverse the picking aisles and a transfer deck connecting the picking aisles to the at least one multilevel vertical conveyor for transferring case units between the predefined storage areas and the at least one multilevel vertical conveyor, and a controller connected to the frame, the controller being configured to effect movement of the autonomous transport vehicle through the picking aisles for accessing each storage area within a respective level of the array of multilevel storage racks and each shelf of the at least one multilevel vertical conveyor.

主权项

1. An automated case unit storage system for handling case units that are adapted for being palletized for shipping to or from a storage facility, the automated case unit storage system comprising:
an array of multilevel storage racks having predefined storage areas at each rack level so that at least one corresponding predetermined storage area is disposed in a common level of each rack level; a controller configured to effect dynamic allocation of case units of dissimilar sizes into dynamically allocated and sized storage areas of the at least one corresponding storage area on each rack level in the array of multilevel storage racks; and an independent autonomous transport vehicle operatively connected to the controller, the independent autonomous transport vehicle being configured for independently traversing an aisle or deck within one level of the multilevel storage racks and for transferring the case units to or from the predefined storage areas, the independent autonomous transport vehicle including an independent frame, a support shelf adapted for holding at least one case unit thereon, the support shelf being movably connected to the independent frame so that the support shelf is movable between extended and retracted positions, a drive system mounted to the independent frame, and guiding devices mounted to the independent frame; where the independent autonomous transport vehicle is configured to effect dynamic allocation of case units of dissimilar sizes into the dynamically allocated storage areas so that a mix of the dissimilarly sized case units are each disposed by the autonomous transport vehicle into corresponding dissimilarly sized storage areas of the dynamically allocated storage areas of the common level of the at least one corresponding storage area of each rack level of the multilevel storage racks in the array of the multilevel storage racks.