Library capacity scaling by incremental addition of horizontal storage trays

摘要

A method for scaling a storage library is provided, the library comprising at least one horizontal array of storage cells arranged in rows and columns, and at least one robot that moves on guide rails along the length of the horizontal array and can retrieve objects from and place objects into the storage cells. The present invention comprises expanding the library longitudinally along the guide rails and/or expanding the width of the library. Longitudinal expansion is accomplished by adding more horizontal storage cell arrays end-to-end. Width expansion is accomplished by means of side-by-side accumulation of additional horizontal storage cell arrays.