LOW-TEMPERATURE STORAGE SYSTEM

Abstract

To provide a low-temperature storage system that can, with a simple structure, minimize heat transfer into the low-temperature storage chamber, improve storage space efficiency inside the low-temperature storage chamber, and reduce production and maintenance costs. The low-temperature storage system includes a low-temperature storage chamber, and a moving mechanism that carries storage objects in and out of the chamber. The moving mechanism includes an internal unit, which is made up of a holding part, a lift member that moves the holding part up and down, a reciprocating member that moves the holding part back and forth, and a supplementary moving member that moves storage shelves; and an external unit that transmits driving forces to the internal unit. The holding part, lift member, and reciprocating member are disposed to line up along a moving direction of the supplementary moving member.

Claims

1. A low-temperature storage system that stores a storage object held on a storage rack at a low temperature, comprising: a low-temperature storage chamber accommodating a storage shelf for a storage object held on a storage rack inside; and a moving mechanism carrying a storage rack holding a storage object thereon into and out of the low-temperature storage chamber, the moving mechanism including an internal unit installed inside the low-temperature storage chamber in a stationary manner, and an external unit installed outside the low-temperature storage chamber, the internal unit including a holding part that holds a storage rack carrying a storage object thereon, a lift member capable of moving the holding part up and down, a reciprocating member capable of linearly moving the holding part in directions in which a storage rack carrying the storage object held thereon is carried into and out of the storage shelf, and a supplementary moving member capable of linearly moving the storage shelf in directions crossing a moving direction of the reciprocating member between a storage position and an unloading position, the external unit including a vertical motion transmission part capable of transmitting a driving force to the lift member, a reciprocating motion transmission part capable of transmitting a driving force to the reciprocating member, and a supplementary motion transmission part capable of transmitting a driving force to the supplementary moving member, the storage shelf being configured to store a plurality of storage racks along a moving direction of the supplementary moving member and/or a moving direction of the lift member, the holding part being configured to be able to carry out an operation of holding a storage rack only through operations of the lift member and the reciprocating member.

2. The low-temperature storage system according to claim 1, wherein the holding part is disposed closest to the storage position in the internal unit.

3. The low-temperature storage system according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the storage shelves are provided along a moving direction of the reciprocating member, the supplementary moving member being configured at least to be able to individually move the plurality of storage shelves aligned along the moving direction of the reciprocating member.

4. The low-temperature storage system according to claim 2, wherein the storage shelf includes a main storage shelf disposed on a side closer to the holding part in the internal unit, and a sub storage shelf positioned on an opposite side of the internal unit from the main storage shelf, the supplementary moving member being configured at least to be able to move the main storage shelf and the sub storage shelf positioned on opposite sides of the internal unit relative to each other.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a low-temperature storage system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention;

[0027] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the low-temperature storage system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention, without the low-temperature storage chamber 110;

[0028] FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic top view of the low-temperature storage system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention;

[0029] FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic front view of the low-temperature storage system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic side view of the low-temperature storage system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention;

[0031] FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic top view of a transport step in the low-temperature storage system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention;

[0032] FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic front view of the transport step in the low-temperature storage system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic front view of the transport step in the low-temperature storage system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention, in which a storage rack holding a storage object W rests on the holding part 124;

[0034] FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic top view of the transport step in the low-temperature storage system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention, in which a sub storage shelf 112b is being operated;

[0035] FIG. 10 is a diagrammatic top view of a conventional low-temperature storage system 200;

[0036] FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic front view of the conventional low-temperature storage system 200; and

[0037] FIG. 12 is a diagrammatic side view of the conventional low-temperature storage system 200.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0038] A low-temperature storage system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention will be hereinafter described with reference to the drawings.

[0039] The low-temperature storage system 100 that is one embodiment of the present invention stores storage objects W at low temperatures, and includes, as illustrated in FIG. 1 to FIG. 5, a low-temperature storage chamber 110 accommodating storage shelves 112 for storage objects W, a freezer F that cools the interior of the low-temperature storage chamber, and a moving mechanism carrying storage objects W into and out of the low-temperature storage chamber 110.

[0040] The low-temperature storage chamber 110 has an opening part 111 that is open to the area above.

[0041] The moving mechanism includes an internal unit 120 installed inside the low-temperature storage chamber 110 in a stationary manner, and an external unit 130 installed outside the low-temperature storage chamber 110.

[0042] The internal unit 120 includes a holding part 124 that holds a storage object W, a lift member 121 capable of moving the holding part 124 up and down, a reciprocating member 122 capable of linearly moving the holding part 124 in directions in which the storage objects W are carried into and out of storage shelves 112, and a supplementary moving member 123 capable of linearly moving the storage shelves 112 in directions crossing the moving directions of the reciprocating member 122 between a storage position and an unloading position.

[0043] The lift member 121 is configured to be movable up and down along a vertical motion guide 126.

[0044] The reciprocating member 122 is configured to be linearly movable along a reciprocating motion guide 127.

[0045] The supplementary moving member 123 is configured to be linearly movable along a supplementary motion guide 128.

[0046] The external unit 130 includes a vertical motion transmission part 131 that generates a driving force for the lift member 121, a reciprocating motion transmission part 132 that generates a driving force for the reciprocating member 122, and a supplementary motion transmission part 133 that generates a driving force for the supplementary moving member 123. The vertical motion transmission part 131 transmits the driving force to the lift member 121 via a vertical motion transmission guide 131a, the reciprocating motion transmission part 132 transmits the driving force to the reciprocating member 122 via a reciprocating motion transmission guide 132a, and the supplementary motion transmission part 133 transmits the driving force to the supplementary moving member 123 via a supplementary motion transmission guide 133a.

[0047] Since the vertical motion transmission part 131, reciprocating motion transmission part 132, and supplementary motion transmission part 133 that generate driving forces are always located outside of the low-temperature storage chamber 110, heat generated by the external unit 130 is prevented from being conducted into the low-temperature storage chamber 110, so that a temperature rise in the low-temperature storage chamber 110 is prevented, and energy consumption for maintaining the low temperature can be kept low.

[0048] The holding part 124 is mounted to the vertical motion guide 126 such that it can be moved up and down by the lift member 121, as well as back and forth, by the reciprocating member 122 moving the whole vertical motion guide 126 back and forth.

[0049] The holding part 124, lift member 121, and reciprocating member 122 are disposed to line up along a moving direction of the supplementary moving member 123.

[0050] The storage shelves 112 are disposed at storage positions in the low-temperature storage chamber 110 and open toward directions in which the holding part 124 moves back and forth. The storage shelves include a main storage shelf 112a located closer to the holding part 124 and a sub storage shelf 112b on the opposite side of the holding part 124 from the main storage shelf 112a, each of which is configured to be able to move linearly along the supplementary motion guide 128 independently to an unloading position by means of the supplementary moving member 123.

[0051] The storage shelves 112 are configured to be able to accommodate a plurality of storage objects W held on storage racks H.

[0052] The main storage shelves 112a are three times larger in the longitudinal direction of the supplementary motion guide 128 than the sub storage shelves 112b. The internal unit 120 has the same width as the main storage shelves 112a in the longitudinal direction of the supplementary motion guide 128.

[0053] Since the storage shelves 112 are configured to be moved by the supplementary moving member 123, the holding part 124 is moved in one less direction, so that the configuration of the holding part 124 can be made smaller and simpler, which allows for reduction of production and maintenance costs.

[0054] Next, a method of transporting storage objects W inside the low-temperature storage chamber 110 using the low-temperature storage system 100 of the present invention is described with reference to FIG. 6 to FIG. 9.

[0055] First, as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, a main storage shelf 112a on which a storage object W to be transported rests is moved from a storage position by the supplementary moving member 123.

[0056] At this time, the storage shelf 112a is moved such far that the storage object W reaches a position where the holding part 124 moves back and forth, i.e., to an unloading position.

[0057] Next, the holding part 124 is moved toward the main storage shelf 112a by the reciprocating member 122.

[0058] At this time, the holding part 124 may be moved by the lift member 121 to a height matching that of the storage rack H holding the storage object W to be transported at the same time with the movement by the reciprocating member 122.

[0059] The holding part 124 slides in below the storage rack H holding the storage object W to be transported by means of the reciprocating member 122, and lifts up the storage rack H by means of the lift member 121, after which the holding part 124 moves away from the main storage shelf 112a again by means of the reciprocating member 122.

[0060] This way, the whole storage rack H holding the storage object W to be transported can be carried out of the main storage shelf 112a.

[0061] The holding part 124 on which the whole storage rack H rests is then moved to the opening part 111 so that the storage object W carried out of the main storage shelf 112a can be taken out of the low-temperature storage chamber 110.

[0062] By carrying out this operation in reverse manner, a storage object W can be brought into a main storage shelf 112a from outside of the low-temperature storage chamber 110.

[0063] A sub storage shelf 112b may also be moved by the supplementary moving member 123 such as to allow a storage object W to reach a position where the holding part 124 moves back and forth as shown in FIG. 9 so that the storage object is carried in and out of a sub storage shelf 112b.

[0064] The main storage shelves 112a are three times larger in the longitudinal direction of the supplementary motion guide 128 than the sub storage shelves 112b, and the internal unit 120 has the same width as the main storage shelves 112a in the longitudinal direction of the supplementary motion guide 128. Therefore, the sub storage shelf 112b does not interfere with the main storage shelf 112a as the storage object W is loaded or unloaded.

[0065] When taking out a storage object W placed at a farthest end of a main storage shelf 112a from the holding part 124, the main storage shelf 112a may be moved to a position where it is entirely below the internal unit 120 so that it does not interfere with the sub storage shelf 112b.

[0066] This way, as compared to cases where open sides of storage shelves face each other on both sides of the holding part, the number of storage shelves that can be dealt with by one holding part can be increased. Since there is no need to provide a plurality of internal units inside the low-temperature storage chamber, the area where storage objects W are placed inside the low-temperature storage chamber can be enlarged, and thus the storage space efficiency can be improved.

[0067] While one embodiment of the present invention has been described above in detail, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above. Various design changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention set forth in the claims.

[0068] In the embodiment described above, the storage shelves are open toward directions in which the holding part moves back and forth, and include main storage shelves located closer to the holding part and sub storage shelves on the opposite side of the holding part from the main storage shelves. The storage shelves are not limited to this configuration. For example, the storage shelves may be provided only on one side of the holding part, or, the storage shelves may be provided on both sides of the holding part as well as on end portions in the directions in which the holding part moves back and forth.

[0069] While the low-temperature storage chamber is provided with the opening part that is open to the area above in the embodiment described above, the opening part is not limited to this position or configuration. For example, a work area to which the holding part can move to may be provided above the storage shelves inside the low-temperature storage chamber, and an opening part that is open to one side of the work area may be provided. Optionally, a shutter may be provided to the opening part so that the opening part can be opened and closed.

[0070] While the main storage shelves have a width three times larger than that of the sub storage shelves in the embodiment described above, the main storage shelves and sub storage shelves are not limited to this configuration. For example, the main storage shelves may have a width twice larger than that of the sub storage shelves, and the main storage shelves and sub storage shelves may be configured movable to the unloading position without interfering with each other.

[0071] While the internal unit has the same width as that of the main storage shelves in the longitudinal direction of the supplementary motion guide in the embodiment described above, the relationship between the widths of the internal unit and the storage shelves may be otherwise as long as main storage shelves and sub storage shelves are configured movable to the unloading position without interfering with each other. For example, the internal unit may have a smaller width than the main storage shelves, and the distance between the main storage shelves and the sub storage shelves located at the storage positions may be longer than the width of the main storage shelves.

[0072] While the main storage shelves are three times larger in the longitudinal direction of the supplementary motion guide than the sub storage shelves in the embodiment described above, the relationship between the main storage shelves and the sub storage shelves may be otherwise as long as main storage shelves and sub storage shelves are configured movable to the unloading position without interfering with each other. For example, the main storage shelves may be twice larger in the longitudinal direction of the supplementary motion guide than the sub storage shelves, or, the main storage shelves may have the same size as the sub storage shelves.

[0073] The holding part slides in below the storage rack, lifts up the storage rack, and moves away from the main storage shelf to unload the storage rack carrying the storage object thereon in the embodiment described above. The method of transporting the storage object is not limited to this. For example, a chuck may be attached to the holding part so that a storage object alone is gripped and transported directly by the chuck, or, a hook may be attached to the holding part to be hooked to a hook hole provided to the storage object to transport the storage object.

[0074] The main storage shelves and sub storage shelves are configured to be able to move linearly to the unloading position individually along the supplementary motion guide by the supplementary moving member in the embodiment described above. The main storage shelves and sub storage shelves are not limited to this configuration. For example, several main storage shelves and sub storage shelves may move at the same time as long as there is spacing so that they do not interfere with the internal unit when loading and unloading the storage objects.