The invention relates to a storage lift having mutually opposite rack columns which have a multiplicity of pairs of supporting profiles which are arranged one above the other and are intended for mutually opposite sides of storage-goods carriers, which can be stored and retrieved and are provided with carry-along pockets at their mutually opposite ends, and having a vertical conveyor which can be moved up and down between the rack columns and has at least one chain drive which forms a top strand and a bottom strand and has two drivers, of which in each case one serves for introducing a horizontal movement into one of the storage-goods carriers in each case, in order to transfer the latter from the vertical conveyor onto a pair of supporting profiles or from a pair of supporting profiles onto the vertical conveyor, and which, together, retain in a central position, during the vertical movement of the vertical conveyor, the storage-goods carrier transferred onto the vertical conveyor.
Storage lifts of the abovementioned type are known from DE 42 33 688 A1. In order for it to be possible, in the case of the latter, for the storage-goods carriers to be stored in the compartments formed by the pairs of supporting profiles, and then retrieved therefrom again, use is made of chain drives with drivers which engage in each case in one of two carry-along pockets arranged at the mutually opposite ends of the storage-goods carriers. The chain drive and their drivers here are configured and arranged such that their deflecting wheels overlap the ends of the storage-goods carriers laterally and the drivers project laterally beyond the chains, as is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,840. The disadvantage of such a solution is that the width of the vertical conveyor necessarily has to be larger than the width of the storage-goods carriers.
The object of the invention is to design a storage lift of the type described in the introduction such that the chain drives which drive the drivers no longer have to overlap the storage-goods carriers laterally, as has been the case hitherto, and that, consequently, a single central chain drive is basically also sufficient for storing and retrieving the storage-goods carriers. This object is achieved according to the invention in that the chain drive has two laterally and vertically offset chains of equal length which form equidistant top strands and bottom strands, in that the top strands, which execute a rectilinear horizontal movement, are shorter than the bottom strands, which pass through a dip to allow collision-free circulation of the drivers, in that the higher-level chain is connected to the top ends, and the lower-level chain is connected to the bottom ends, of two coupling members, which are spaced apart from one another in the direction of circulation and are retained, by the chains, in a constant position in relation to the latter during circulation, and in that the coupling members have extension arms which are angled to the same extent in opposite directions and of which the ends form the drivers.
The storage lift according to the invention provides the advantage that it allows a defined separation between the rack columns and the shaft which is intended for the vertical conveyor and is bounded by said rack columns, and that the width of the vertical conveyor need not be larger than the width of the storage-goods carriers.
Further features and details of the invention can be gathered from the subclaims and from the following description of an embodiment of the invention, which is illustrated in the attached drawings, in which:
Each of the two chain drives 14 and 15 has two laterally and vertically offset chains 16 and 17 of equal length, of which the chain 16, which is located at a higher level and further inwards in each case, is designed as a double chain. The horizontally running top strands 18, 19 of the chains 16 and 17 are shorter than the bottom strands 20, 21 of the latter, the bottom strands passing through a dip. The two chains 16, 17 of each chain drive 14, 15 are connected to one another in each case by two coupling members 22, 23, which have extension arms 24, 25 which are angled in opposite directions and at the free ends 26 of which are mounted rollers 27, which form drivers for the storage-goods carriers 4.
In the region of their mutually opposite sides, the storage-goods carriers 4 each have a pair of supporting crosspieces 35, 36 arranged one above the other. Via in each case one of these supporting crosspieces, the storage-goods carriers 4 are supported on the supporting profiles 5 of the rack columns 2, 3 or the supporting rails 6, 7 of the vertical conveyor 1. At their front and their rear ends, the storage-goods carriers 4 have carry-along pockets 37, which are designed in the manner shown in
As soon as the motor 13 sets the driving chain wheels 41 for the chains 16, 17 in motion, the procedures illustrated in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
101 15 754 | Mar 2001 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/DE02/01072 | 3/20/2002 | WO | 00 | 8/14/2003 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO02/076859 | 10/3/2002 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4007846 | Pipes | Feb 1977 | A |
4352622 | Wieschel | Oct 1982 | A |
4358239 | Dechantsreiter | Nov 1982 | A |
4361411 | Di Liddo | Nov 1982 | A |
4750633 | Schaefer | Jun 1988 | A |
4756657 | Kinney | Jul 1988 | A |
4856956 | Zur | Aug 1989 | A |
5199840 | Castaldi et al. | Apr 1993 | A |
5213463 | Rothlisberger et al. | May 1993 | A |
5328316 | Hoffmann | Jul 1994 | A |
5551823 | Maruyama | Sep 1996 | A |
5810540 | Castaldi | Sep 1998 | A |
6619902 | Castaldi et al. | Sep 2003 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
4233688 | Apr 1994 | DE |
247524 | Dec 1987 | EP |
0253775 | Jan 1988 | EP |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20040096302 A1 | May 2004 | US |