Method for dynamic traffic routing of external transportation means in a high-bay warehouse

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a method for traffic routing of transportation means in a high-bay warehouse, comprising at least two storage levels, at least one level of transport with at least one option for a transportation means for accessing and/or leaving the level of transport.

Claims

1.-16. (canceled)

17. A method for dynamically routing external transportation means (3) in a high-bay warehouse (1), the high-bay warehouse comprising at least two storage levels (11) with a plurality of storage locations (12), at least one level of transport (2) arranged below the at least two storage levels (11) with at least one access or leaving option (21) for an external transportation means (3), at least one internal warehouse transport system (13) for transporting standardized storage goods (4) between two storage locations (12) or between the storage location (12) and a transfer point (5) by horizontal and/or vertical movements and for loading or unloading the standardized storage goods (4) onto the external transportation means (3) at the transfer point (5) by a vertical movement of the standardized storage goods (4), wherein the at least one internal warehouse transport system (13) moves along warehouse aisles (14) arranged parallel to one another and has a plurality of transfer points (5) in the level of transport (2) and wherein each transfer point (5) can be described by an xy-coordinate system within the level of transport (2), wherein each transfer point (5) in the level of transport (2) can be reached by the external transportation means (3) along a travel path (6) in the level of transport (2); and wherein a dynamic determination of the travel paths (6) of the external transportation means (3) in the level of transport (2), a point in time for loading or unloading and an assignment of the transfer point (5) are adjusted depending on parameters relevant for operating the high-bay warehouse (1).

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein an external transportation means (3) can be loaded or unloaded at more than thirty-two transfer points (5) in the level of transport (2).

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein an external transportation means (3) can be loaded or unloaded at more than thirty-two transfer points (5) along a warehouse aisle (14) of an internal warehouse transport system (14) in the level of transport (2).

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the dynamic determination of the transfer point (5) within the warehouse aisle (14) of the internal warehouse transport system (13) is not limited by structural features for fixing the transfer point (5).

21. The method according to claim 17, wherein the standardized storage goods (4) are 20-foot sea containers and/or 40-foot sea containers.

22. The method according to claim 17, wherein at least two different types of external transportation means (3) selected from the group consisting of trucks (31), autonomously driving tractors (32), and rail-bound transportation means (33) traverse the level of transport (2) for loading or unloading the standardized storage goods (4).

23. The method according to claim 17, wherein when determining the travel path (6) of the external transportation means (3) in the level of transport (2), an alignment of the standardized storage goods (4) on the external transportation means (3) is taken into account when loading the external transportation means (3) with the standardized storage goods (4).

24. The method according to claim 17, wherein the dynamic determination of the travel path (6), the point in time for loading or unloading and/or the transfer point is carried out by an open-loop or closed-loop control system; and wherein the open-loop or closed-loop control system has at least one algorithm that, based on previously defined target variables, determines and/or optimizes specifications for the parameters relevant for operating the high-bay warehouse, the travel path (6), the point in time for loading or unloading and/or the transfer point (5).

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the previously defined target variables are selected from the group consisting of a handling time, utilization of the high-bay warehouse, traffic volume, distribution of traffic flows, distribution of transportation means, utilization of traffic areas, utilization of the internal warehouse transport system, warehouse strategy, malfunction situations and/or maintenance.

26. The method according to claim 24, wherein the parameters relevant for operating the high-bay warehouse are selected from the group consisting of traffic volume, distribution of traffic flows, distribution of transportation means, utilization of traffic areas, utilization of the internal warehouse transport system, warehouse strategy, malfunction situations, and maintenance.

27. The method according to claim 24, wherein the open-loop or closed-loop control system exchanges data with the external transportation means (3), the data being selected from the group consisting of location, speed, travel path, a point in time for loading or unloading, and the transfer point (5).

28. The method according to claim 24, wherein the open-loop or closed-loop control system uses interfaces to a control system of a seaport; and wherein a data exchange of the previously defined target variables and/or the parameters relevant for operating the high-bay warehouse takes place between the systems.

29. The method according to claim 17, wherein the xy-coordinate system for describing the transfer points (5) covers at least 90% of the level of transport.

30. The method according to claim 17, wherein the travel path (6) of an external transportation means (3) to the transfer point (5) or away from the transfer point is described by a sequence of xy-coordinates.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein the travel path (6) of an external transportation means (3) to the transfer point (5) or away from the transfer point (5) is described by a sequence of xy-coordinates and points in time or time spans.

32. The method according to claim 17, wherein switchable means are used within the level of transport (2) to indicate and/or restrict at least one travel path (6) for the external transportation means (30).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] The description is accompanied by the following three figures:

[0019] FIG. 1: Side view of a high-bay warehouse.

[0020] FIG. 2: Top view of a level of transport.

[0021] FIG. 3: Open-loop/closed-loop control systematics of the high-bay warehouse

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] The invention is described in detail below with reference to the above figures. In all figures the same technical elements have the same reference signs.

[0023] FIG. 1 shows a section through a high-bay warehouse 1 with a level of transport 2 and twelve storage levels 11 above it. Twenty-four different internal warehouse transport systems 13 move the standardized storage goods 4 within the high-bay warehouse 1 in warehouse aisles 14 along the storage rows 15 of the high-bay warehouse 16 to a specific storage location 12 of the standardized storage goods 4 in the high-bay rack 16.

[0024] Furthermore, the internal warehouse transport systems 13 can acquire or transfer a standardized storage good 4 below the storage levels 11 from an external transportation means 3 traveling on the level of transport 2. In the example shown, the high-bay warehouse 1 is designed to transfer standardized sea containers.

[0025] FIG. 2 shows a top view of a level of transport 2 below a high-bay warehouse 1. In warehouse aisles 14 of internal warehouse transport systems 13 running parallel to each other, standardized storage goods 4 can be transferred to the external transportation means 3. Thereby, the transfer point 5 can be varied substantially freely within the warehouse aisle 14. This creates a large number of possible transfer points 5 in the warehouse aisle 14. Arrows indicate possible travel paths 6 of an external transportation means 3 towards a transfer point 5. Analogously, the departure path 6 of the external transportation means 3 is shown. In such a case, in addition to being traversed by trucks 31 or autonomously driving tractors 32, a warehouse aisle 14 is shown, which aisle can be accessed by a rail-bound transportation means 33 or transport means. Thereby, the rail 61 is aligned in such a way that the rail 61 runs along the warehouse aisle 14. In this manner, it is possible for the rail-bound transportation means 33 to reach a plurality of transfer points 5 within a warehouse aisle 14. Likewise, it can be seen here that trucks 3 have a preferred orientation when loading.

[0026] FIG. 3 shows a schematic illustration of the open-loop and closed-loop control systematics of the open-loop or closed-loop control system of the high-bay warehouse 1. A higher-level control system transfers data to the open-loop or closed-loop control system of the high-bay warehouse 1 by means of an interface. An optimization algorithm within the open-loop and closed-loop control system processes such data and transfers it to the higher-level system, on the one hand, and to the external transportation means 3, on the other hand. The trucks 31 are given the corresponding entrance options 21, GPS coordinates of the transfer point 5 and the travel path 6, a transfer time. Beyond this, stopping times within the high-bay warehouse 1 and a speed are transmitted to an autonomously driving tractor 32. The open-loop or closed-loop control system receives back from the truck 31 the information regarding the location and reaching of the transfer point 5 or the entering and leaving of the level of transport 2. The internal warehouse transport system 13 reports, for example, the transfer of the standardized storage goods 4 to the external transportation means 3 to the open-loop or closed-loop control system. In addition to the data mentioned above, the autonomously driving transportation means 32 additionally transmits data describing the autonomous transportation means 32 with respect to the environment of the high-bay warehouse 1. For example, this can be a loading condition, a location outside of high-bay warehouse 1, a speed, an availability and/or a tank capacity.

TABLE-US-00001 DESIGNATIONS IN FIGURES Number Description 1 High-bay warehouse 11 Storage levels 12 Storage location 13 Internal warehouse transport system 14 Warehouse aisles 15 Warehouse rows 16 High-bay rack 2 Level of transport 21 Accessing or leaving option 3 Transportation means 31 Truck 32 Autonomous driving tractor 33 Rail-bound transportation means 4 Storage goods 5 Transfer point 6 Travel path 61 Rail