1. Field of the Invention
This invention is generally directed to methods and devices utilized with container ships for loading and discharging standardized cargo shipping containers and more particularly to an automated multi-directional material handling system which may be used to selectively retrieve and discharge containers while a ship is at sea.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
The most efficient and economical manner of shipping goods over waterways is the use of standardized cargo containers. The containers are designated in standard sizes which are generally twenty or forty feet in length. The containers are specifically designed so that they may be loaded into the holds and on the decks of ocean going vessels and off loaded from the vessels at a port by use of either on-board or on-shore cranes which place the containers directly onto land transport vehicles including railway cars and trucks. Container ships are specialized vessels which are specifically designed to maximize the storage capacity of international storage and shipping containers. Conventional container ships include one or more hold areas extending from the bow to the stern of the ship with each hold area being divided into a plurality of vertically tiered cells. The cells are defined by vertical steel beams which act as guides for the corners of the containers such that the containers may be stacked one upon another within each cell. Typical cells may retain as many as six or seven stacked containers.
With conventional container ships, the cells are covered by hatch covers or plate which are removed in order to allow a crane to access the uppermost container in each cell. Typically, a container ship will include one or a plurality of either fixed or mobile bridge cranes which have hoists for selectively elevating the containers from the cells and for lowering the containers into the cells. When fixed cranes are provided sufficient cranes must be positioned at various areas spaced along the deck in order to allow access to each cell. The use of overhead bridge cranes permits a single crane to be moved on parallel guide rails. The bridge cranes, are moveable laterally from side to side along the bridge structure such that the cranes are moveable in a horizontal plane.
There are several drawbacks with respect to current container ship load handling or transfer systems. Utilizing conventional systems it is not possible to easily retrieve a specified container which may be located at a bottom of a cell without requiring the removal and temporary placement of other containers along the deck of the ship. During rough sea conditions, such retrieval is not possible. Further, the manner in which the containers are loaded and off-loaded requires the ship to be stabilized and thus either be at a dock or be in an offshore area with quiet seas which permit loads to be elevated safely from the cell structures.
A further drawback of current container ship material handling systems which utilize bridge cranes for elevating and lowering the shipping containers is that only a single bridge crane can operate over a given area of the ship at any one time, thus slowing the rate at which containers can be retrieved or stowed relative to the cells of the container ship.
In view of the foregoing, it would be beneficial to have a material retrieval and handling system which could be used on container ships whereby selected containers may be rapidly and easily retrieved regardless of their position within a cell of the ship and regardless of sea conditions. Further, it would be beneficial to have such a system wherein multiple container handling units could operate over a common grid structure so that a plurality of containers may be simultaneously moved with respect to the cells of the various holds of the container ship.
The present invention is directed to an automated material retrieval handling and storage system for use in manipulating standardized cargo containers within cells of a container ship wherein the system includes a grid track structure which is securely mounted above the cells of the container ship and which defines intersecting and generally perpendicularly oriented tracks on which are guided container transfer units. Each transfer unit is mounted by a plurality of carriages which are mounted within the tracks such that the transfer units are suspended from the tracks and are moveable both from fore to aft and from port to starboard relative to the cells of a container ship. Each transfer unit includes hoists which are connected to a spreader beam structure which is formed as a frame for engaging and locking on to a standardized cargo container. In order to stabilize cargo containers as they are elevated above the cell structures toward the transfer units, each transfer unit includes an extendable stabilizer mechanism which prevents swinging of the container even under rough sea conditions as they are removed from the cells.
The transfer units are powered, in a preferred embodiment, by motors which power drive gear systems which are selectively engageable with fixed gear racks mounted to the grid track system. The drive motors have anti-backdrive features such that when they are not powered, with the gears in engagement with the racks mounted to the grid system, the motors act as locks to prevent movement of the transfer units.
The system is designed to provide a space above the upper tier of each cell which is large enough for the transfer units to maneuver while suspending a spreader beam therefrom such that the containers may be manipulated throughout the grid system and moved from one cell area to another beneath a raised deck of a ship. This not only enables movement of containers without placing the containers to the upper deck of the ship but also allows containers to be moved without having to remove the hatch covers above a cell in order to retrieve a specific cargo container from a predetermined area.
Using the system of the present invention, it is possible to utilize a single crane which may be in a fixed position along the deck of a container ship and move the cargo containers to specified discharge areas wherein one or more hatch covers may be removed while maintaining the other hatch covers closed during either loading or off-loading of the storage containers. The system thereby reduces the amount of effort and manual labor which is necessary to access the storage containers, permits movement of multiple containers within an area below the deck but above the cell structures such that the container may be interchangeably manipulated from space to space and further permits the area of the hold to be protected by being substantially covered by the removable hatch plates except in an area designated for loading and off-loading.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an automated material handling, retrieval and storage system for container ships which allows the ships to function as moveable supply sources such that supplies from containers may be manipulated while at sea, even during poor weather conditions, by providing a systems which enables cargo containers to be selectively retrieved and manipulated below deck for above deck transfer when and as necessary.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a material handling system for use on container ships which facilitates the efficient maneuvering, loading and off-loading of standardized cargo containers wherein a plurality of transfer units move the containers simultaneously along a grid track system so that a plurality of containers may be moved simultaneously without interfering with one another.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an automated material handling system for use on container ships wherein the cargo stowage cells of the ship may be placed in an unconventional orientation, such as an L-shaped configuration, which would not other wise be possible utilizing bridge crane structures which operate in a predetermined rectangular plan, as the grid structure of the present invention allows movement of transfer units throughout the total surface area of a hold of a ship regardless of its configuration.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a material handling, retrieval and storage system for standardized international cargo containers which enables specific containers to be retrieved from any level of a multi-tiered cell structure of a hold without requiring that containers be elevated above the deck level thus making the system safer not only for the materials but also for personnel handling the cargo containers.
A better understanding of the invention will be had with respect to the accompanying drawings wherein:
With specific reference to
With specific reference to
The system of the present invention allows the first six tier levels to be completely filled with storage containers “C” as is illustrated in
One of the benefits of the present material and article handling system is that the hatch plates 34 need not be removed from each of the tiered cell structures because the cargo containers “C” may be moved to any selected open cell area. Therefore, cargo containers which are stored in the cells beneath the hatch plates 34 shown at
As previously described, the present invention utilizes powered transfer units 40 which are only roughly illustrated in
The grid track structure 42 includes a plurality of intersecting generally C-shaped steel tubing members 44 which are fixedly secured, such as by welding, bolting or other attachment means to the underside of each of the fore and aft extending structural girders or beams 31 which openly intersect with similar C-shaped hollow steel tubing members 45 which are fixedly mounted, such as by welding, to the underside of each of the port to starboard extending structural members or beams 32 of each of the cell structures of the invention. The grid system 42 is shown in
With specific reference to
Each carriage further includes a guide roller 65 mounted to the pilot shaft 54 so as to track between a pair of gear racks 66 and 67 which are welded or otherwise secured to the lower surface of each of the flanges 46 and 47 respectively of the guide track 45. Similar gear racks are provided in spaced relationship to the track segments 44. The guide rollers 65 engage the inner surfaces of the each of the guide racks to stabilize the movement of the carriage relative to the guide tracks 44 and 45 of the grid system 42. The shaft 54 extends down and is engaged within a mounting member 68 which is designed to be securely connected to the transfer unit 40 in order to support the transfer unit relative to the carriages, generally as shown at 68 in
With specific reference to
As described, each transfer unit 40 is supported by at least four carriages which are mounted generally adjacent the corners of the transfer unit as shown in
With reference to
Each transfer unit 40 includes a main body 80 which is defined having upper and lower surfaces 81 and 82. Generally, the body is defined by a steel frame covered by steel sheet metal along the upper and side surfaces. Mounting brackets 83 are provided at each of the corners extending from the upper surface of the transfer unit and connect with the mounting member 68 associated with each carriage. The mountings members may be connected utilizing conventional bolts or may be connected by welding. In order to drive the transfer units relative to the grid track system 42, the present invention provides four separate motors 90A, 90B, 90C and 90D each of which drives pinion gears which are pivotally mounted as will be explained in greater detail so as to be selectively brought into meshed engagement with the spaced gear racks 66 and 67 mounted to the grid track segments 44 and 45. The motors 90A through 90D are specifically designed to provide power for moving the transfer unit 40 along the grid track segments 45 between starboard and port with respect to the container ship. Four additional motors 94A through 94D are provided for providing power to similar pinion drive gears associated therewith which are selectively moveable into engagement with the gear racks 66 and 67 secured to the grid track segments 44 so as to move the transfer unit fore and aft relative to the container ship. As the manner in which the motors 90A-D and 94A-D are used to power the drive pinions is the same, only one drive assembly associated with motor 90A will be described in greater detail and is shown in
As shown in
To insure proper alignment of the driven gears 102 with the gear racks 66 and 67, the housing 100 also supports a guide wheel 105 mounted to a shaft 106. The guide wheel is of a size to cooperatively be seated between the gear racks 66 and 67 as shown in
To lock the housing 100 in a position to ensure that the driven gears 102 engage and are maintained in engagement with the gear racks 66 and 67, a second hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder 112 is provided which is connected at its base to a locking pin 114 which is moveable guided within a cylinder 115 which is mounted below the housing 100. In a position shown in
When it is desired to disengage the gears 102 from the gear racks 66 and 67, the locking pin 115 is withdrawn from the receiver 116 of the housing 100 thereby allowing the hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder 108 to pivot the housing 100 to the disengaged position for the driven gears 102 as shown in
As previously noted, the motors 90A, 90B, 90C and 90D are all connected to similar drive gear assemblies which function to move the transfer unit along the tracks or track segments 45 whereas the drive motors 90A, 90B, 90C and 90D include similar drive gear arrangements which are used to power or move the transfer unit along the guide track segments 44.
Although power to the motors 90 and 94 may be provided by onboard batteries carried by each transfer unit, AC power may also be supplied to the transfer units through an inductive power transfer raceway system 130. The raceway extends parallel and outside each of the guide tracks of the grid system of the present invention. Power is supplied in a conventional manner to the raceway and the raceway can be insulated both electrically and from atmospheric conditions. Similar systems are currently used on bridge cranes used on container ships. One such raceway system is referred to as an “Inductive Power Transfer” (IPT) provided by Wampfler, Inc. of Florence, Ky. To receive power, each motor includes an electrical collector shoe 132 which extends outwardly in opposing relationship with respect to the conductor raceway system as is shown in
With specific reference to
As shown in
As shown in
The container guide assembly is shown in more detail in
The guide tube 168 further includes a pair of outwardly extending guide flanges 175 which are guided by spaced rollers 176 mounted to the intermediate tube 172. As shown in
As the spreader beam is raised utilizing the hoist assemblies of the present application, when the pin 176 engages within the tube 168, the tube will begin to elevate within the intermediate guide tube 172. Supplemental rollers 180 are also mounted to the intermediate tube 172 and are oriented to engage the outer edge of each of the flanges 175 of the guide tube 168. These rollers also engage the inner surface 182 of the primary support housing 170 of the guide assembly as the guide tube 168 and intermediate tube 172 are elevated as the container is raised by the hoist assemblies associated with the transfer unit. The guide assembly is shown in its fully elevated position in
To further guide and control the movement of the container “C” relative to the transfer unit when in a fully raised position as illustrated in dotted line in
As previously described, in accordance with the teachings of the invention, plural transfer units may operate within the grid track system of the present invention thereby enabling containers to be shuffled simultaneously within the open area 30 defined above the upper tier T7 level of the cells within a hold.
With the present invention, a number of spaces in the T7 level of each hold are vacant when the container ship is fully loaded. This permits containers from lower tier levels (T1-T6) to be moved into the open spaces so as to retrieve containers at lower tier levels. After a desired container is retrieved utilizing a transfer unit of the present invention, the containers which have been moved can be replaced within a particular cell from which they were originally taken.
When a transfer unit is to be moved, the drive pinion associated either with the motors 90 which are used to drive the drive gears to move the transfer unit laterally between the starboard and port are operated or the motors 94 which are used to power the transfer unit between the fore and aft direction are operated. At each intersection a change in direction may be made as is illustrated in
Whenever the transfer unit is extraction or inserting a container out of or into a cell, both sets of driven pinions powered by the motors 90 and 94 are set to engage the rack gear teeth in a stopped mode. This securely locks the transfer unit in position.
By way of example, it is contemplated that the motors used to power the drive gears are anti-backdrive motors and will enable the transfer units to operate at approximately 60 feet per minute when fully loaded and at approximately 90 feet per minute with no load. The hoist motors may include two 75 horse power AC motors which obtain their power as previously described from the power raceway. The hoists will lift fully loaded containers at a rate of approximately 75 feet per minute and may operate at up to 112 feet per minute with no load.
The system of the present invention may be fully automated and interfaced with an inventory control system so that each transfer unit is directed to a given cell and to a given container location within the hold by multiplexing a command signal from the inventory control system through the power raceway grid wiring. Digital input from the drive motor rotations and counting rack teeth and registration at digitized check points along the grid system or at each cell location will provide guidance for the transfer units within the system. The hoist motors will also have digitized features for determining the exact elevation and relationship of the transfer beam to each transfer unit when raising and lowering a container.
Utilizing such a system, a designated container may be automatically located and containers above the designated container may be moved appropriately and, thereafter, relocated once the designated container has been retrieved utilizing the transfer units and their hoist mechanisms.
Once a designated container is located it may selectively elevated and positioned for retrieval from the hold utilizing the ships crane as previously described. Loading of the hold can also be fully automatic with each container being placed at a predetermined location within the hold.
The foregoing description of the preferred embodiment of the invention has been presented to illustrate the principles of the invention and not to limit the invention to the particular embodiment illustrated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by all of the embodiments encompassed within the following claims and their equivalents.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20050220573 A1 | Oct 2005 | US |