US-20260125218-A1 - METHOD FOR COLLECTING ARTICLES IN STORE, AND STORE

US20260125218A1US 20260125218 A1US20260125218 A1US 20260125218A1US-20260125218-A1

Abstract

A method for collecting articles in a store comprising includes steps of: providing a storage unit of articles including an identifier for each container borne on the respective container and a support system which supports the movable containers with respect to the frame according to a closed looped pathway with a collecting zone; providing movement means of the support system; providing displacement means for displacing the frame of the at least a storage unit of articles; recognising the articles; placing the recognised articles in the containers, placing at most one article for each container; associating the identifier to the placed article; receiving a request for a placed article; retrieving the associated identifier; activating the movement means so as to bring the container which carries the retrieved identifier into the collecting point or area of the articles.

Inventors

Francesco PONTI

Assignees

C.M.C. S.P.A.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20231003
Priority Date: 20221003

Claims (18)

1 . A method for collecting articles in a store comprising steps of: providing at least a storage unit of articles comprising a frame, containers for articles, an identifier for each container which is borne by the respective container and a support system of the containers which supports the containers so that they are movable with respect to the frame according to a closed looped pathway which has at least a collection point or area of the articles; providing movement means for moving the support system so as to move the containers with respect to the frame; providing displacement means for displacing the at least a storage unit of articles; providing articles; recognising the articles; placing the recognised articles in the containers, placing at most one article for each container; associating the identifier of the container to the placed article; receiving a request for a placed article; retrieving the identifier associated to the requested article; activating the movement means so as to bring the container which bears the retrieved identifier to a collection point or area of the articles.
2 . The method of claim 1 , comprising a step of providing a store management system which is configured so as to associate the identifier of the container to the placed article , receiving a request for a placed article, retrieving the identifier associated to the requested article (A) and controlling the activation of the movement means.
3 . The method of claim 1 , comprising a step of providing reading means for reading the identifiers and a step of reading the identifier, both before the step of associating the identifier of the container to the placed article.
4 . The method of claim 1 , comprising steps of: providing receptacles, each for receiving articles from the at least a storage unit of articles; receiving an instruction to arrange a placed article in a second receptacle; retrieving the identifier associated to the requested article in the second receptacle; displacing the at least a storage unit of articles with the associated identifier from a first receptacle to the second receptacle; activating the movement means so as to bring the container which bears the retrieved identifier to a collection point or area of the articles.
5 . The method of claim 1 , comprising a step of: providing loading means for loading articles into the containers which have an unloading area of the articles; wherein in the step of placing the recognised articles in the containers, the movement means are activated so as to carry an empty container into the unloading area of the articles.
6 . A store of articles comprising: at least a storage unit of articles comprising a frame, containers for articles and an identifier for each container which is borne by the respective container; loading means for loading articles into the containers; displacement means for displacing the at least a storage unit of articles; a store management system comprising recognition means for recognising the articles and reading means for reading the identifiers; wherein the store management system is configured to associate each article to the identifier of the container which contains it, wherein the at least a storage unit of articles comprises a support system of the containers which supports the containers in such a way that the containers are movable with respect to the frame according to a closed looped pathway; the store comprises movement means for moving the support system so as to move the containers with respect to the frame; the store management system controls the loading means and/or the movement means and is configured in such a way that each container contains at most one article.
7 . The store of claim 6 , wherein the containers have an opening for entry and outlet of the articles and wherein the support system of the containers carries the containers in such a way that the opening is facing towards the ground surface in at least a collection point or area of the articles so that the articles exit from the container by force of gravity.
8 . The store of the claim 7 , wherein the at least a collection point or area of the articles is lower than the point or area of the pathway where the loading means load the articles into the containers.
9 . The store of claim 7 , comprising a door for passage of the articles which is in the at least a collection point or area of the articles and which is movable between a closed position, in which it prevents passage, and an open position, in which it allows passage and wherein the store management system controls the movability of the door.
10 . The store claim 6 , comprising a first station of the at least a storage unit of articles wherein: the movement means comprise drive transmission means installed at the first station and configured so as to transmit the motion to the support system when a storage unit of articles is in the first station and/or the reading means comprise a reader of barcodes, comprising two-dimensional barcodes, or a reader of radio frequency tags installed at the first station ( 101 ).
11 . The store of claim 6 , comprising a transporter or conveyor of articles and a plurality of stations of the at least a storage unit of articles arranged in succession at the transporter or conveyor so that the at least a storage unit of articles places the articles on the transporter or conveyor when at a station of the plurality of stations.
1 .) The method of claim 2 , comprising steps of: providing receptacles, each for receiving articles from the at least a storage unit of articles; receiving an instruction to arrange a placed article in a second receptacle; retrieving the identifier associated to the requested article in the second receptacle; displacing the at least a storage unit of articles with the associated identifier from a first receptacle to the second receptacle; activating the movement mean so as to bring the container which bears the retrieved identifier to a collection point or area of the articles.
13 . The method of claim 2 , comprising a step of providing reading means for reading the identifiers and a step of reading the identifier, both before the step of associating the identifier of the container to the placed article.
14 . The method of claim 13 , comprising steps of: providing receptacles, each for receiving articles from the at least a storage unit of articles; receiving an instruction to arrange a placed article in a second receptacle; retrieving the identifier associated to the requested article in the second receptacle; displacing the at least a storage unit of articles with the associated identifier from a first receptacle to the second receptacle; activating the movement mean so as to bring the container which bears the retrieved identifier to a collection point or area of the articles.
15 . The method of claim 3 , comprising steps of: providing receptacles, each for receiving articles from the at least a storage unit of articles; receiving an instruction to arrange a placed article in a second receptacle; retrieving the identifier associated to the requested article in the second receptacle; displacing the at least a storage unit of articles with the associated identifier from a first receptacle to the second receptacle; activating the movement mean so as to bring the container which bears the retrieved identifier to a collection point or area of the articles.
16 . The store of claim 7 , comprising a first station of the at least a storage unit of articles wherein: the movement means comprise drive transmission means installed at the first station and configured so as to transmit the motion to the support system when a storage unit of articles is in the first station and/or the reading means comprise a reader of barcodes, comprising two-dimensional barcodes, or a reader of radio frequency tags installed at the first station.
17 . The store of claim 7 , comprising a transporter or conveyor of articles and a plurality of stations of the at least a storage unit of articles arranged in succession at the transporter or conveyor so that the at least a storage unit of articles places the articles on the transporter or conveyor when at a station of the plurality of stations.
18 . The store of claim 8 , comprising a door for passage of the articles which is in the at least a collection point or area of the articles and which is movable between a closed position, in which it prevents passage, and an open position, in which it allows passage and wherein the store management system controls the movability of the door.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the technical sector concerning logistics, in particular in the management of articles in stores; the term “stores” comprises a variety of situations such as, for example, stores at the service of industrial facilities, stores at the service of sales points and stores at the service of logistics centres. In greater detail the present invention relates to a method for collecting articles in a store and a store that can satisfy a plurality of functional needs, for example those connected to the known processes known as, according to a terminology widely used in the sector, Inbound Logistics, Dynamic Storage Solution, Automated Feeding, Downstream Logistics and Sortering. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART The use is known, for example da EP 1920396 A2, of self-moving or transportable shelving units for temporarily storing various articles, for example in logistics centres where the stored articles are collected, packaged and dispatched. In a common approach, the articles coming from various suppliers are identified and catalogued, for example by means of reading the barcodes, temporarily stored in the shelving units with the assignation, to the article, of a position which is memorised by the store management system, collected on the basis of the memorised position, introduced into a receptacle and then prepared for dispatch. The positions of the articles are often defined with identifying codes, for example with barcodes borne by the shelving units. The receptacle can be used following a plurality of logics, for example for collecting the articles belonging to a same order or for collecting articles belonging to various orders. Numerous methods and systems are known for storing articles and for managing the articles inside the store, many of which have been set out in patent applications. Generally, on entry the articles are separated out and catalogued with assignation of an identifying code, often associated to other data such as the mass and dimensions thereof. While the stores that include the automatic collection of articles are widely known, in the case of self-moving or transportable shelving units the collection is made manually and with limited levels of automation or requires types of automation that are expensive, such as, for example, anthropomorphic robots. The self-moving or transportable shelving units at present available can reach various stations but to each collection or unloading of the articles there corresponds a new identification of the articles. Several identifications are also realised when the transport of the articles between the various stations takes place using transporters, such as belt conveyors; further, the presence of the belt conveyors limits the spaces available for the logistics. In other words the memorised position is no longer of any use once the article has been collected from the shelving unit; the tracing is removed and there emerges a need to assign and memorise a new position on each displacement of the article, following identification. EP 3256290 B1, with particular reference to FIGS. 3B and 3C, describes a storage unit of articles of the self-moving or transportable type comprising a frame, containers for articles arranged to form a first and a second column and a movement system of the containers between a first inclined position so as to avoid falling of the articles and a second position inclined towards the ground surface which facilitates the collection by a collection system. The solution of EP 3256290 B1 facilitates the collection but does not facilitate the loading and unloading of the articles in their entirety. Further, the above system has a significant size with respect to the volume of articles stored. Solutions for the transfer of the articles using storage modules of stackable articles are described in US 2018201445 A1. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention intends to obviate one or more drawbacks of the solutions of the prior art. A first aim is to simplify the management of the articles temporarily stored in stores. A second aim is to limit or avoid recognition operations of the articles after each displacement of the article. A further aim of some embodiments is to simplify automatic collection. These and other aims, which will be obvious to the expert in the sector from a reading of the following text, are attained by means of a method for collecting articles in a store and a store according to the claims. According to the teachings of the present description, the method comprises steps of: providing at least a storage unit of articles comprising a frame, containers for articles, an identifier for each container carried by the respective container a support system of the containers which supports the containers so that they are movable with respect to the frame according to a closed looped pathway which has at least a collection point or area of the articles;providing movement means