VERTICAL SPIRAL MULTILEVEL SORTER AND MERGE CONVEYOR FOR THREE DIMENSIONAL AUTOMATED PICK MODULE

摘要

A vertical storage rack system includes a vertically moveable transport conveyor and one or more vertical feed conveyors that vertically extend between the various rack levels so that items can be loaded and/or unloaded at any of the levels without the need for the vertically moveable transport to return to a loading/unloading level. This vertical rack system can be used to load and unload items from the racks as well as rearrange items in the racks. This system and technique allows items to be continuously moved in a vertical direction as well as sorts or merges the items at high speeds. In other words, this arrangement minimizes the vertical positioning of the vertically moveable transport conveyor, such as a cross-belt conveyor, before it can discharge (and/or load) items, thereby improving throughput.