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Industry Dynamics


Achieve the optimal solution! Analyze the trigger application of intelligent forklifts in different scenarios

Counts:229    Time: 22-05-30    From: Suzhou Teknect Engineering Co., Ltd.

Pallets are the most commonly used containers in the circulation of goods (logistics), and intelligent forklifts provide the most flexible and convenient solutions for the intelligent handling of pallets. Therefore, in the deployment process of intelligent forklifts, how to quickly adapt to the state of the pallet is particularly important, and may even determine the success or failure of the project.



The so-called trigger is to call the intelligent forklift in a specific way at a specific time and place, and after the forklift arrives, follow the instructions we issued to complete the established action. This article summarizes several intelligent forklift triggers for your reference.



First, intelligent forklifts and empty pallets



When the goods arrive at a specific location, the goods are first unloaded from the truck to the pallet to complete the palletizing. So what is needed here is an empty tray.



The trigger form of the intelligent forklift is closely related to the initial state of the empty pallet placement, according to the initial state of the pallet, the trigger state of the forklift summarizes the following situations:



1. Trigger of tiled placement



1) Artificial placement



Initial form: the tray is manually placed to a specific position;



Trigger mode: a) If the pallet has a positioning tooling, the sensor can be installed in the specified position, and after the empty pallet is placed in the specified position, the sensor senses that the pallet is in place, and the trigger command is sent to the intelligent forklift scheduling system;



The advantage of this method is that the whole process is insensible to the person, and the trigger signal is unique, which can provide accurate position information for the forklift dispatching system, but the method should choose a reasonable sensor as much as possible to avoid false triggering.



Installing a positioning tooling will destroy the existing physical environment of the site, resulting in the pallet position always being occupied, so it is reasonable to consider whether to set up such a special pallet position.



b) If the positioning tooling cannot be installed, the pallet cannot complete the positioning in the strict sense, so it is recommended to use the manual forklift mode of the intelligent forklift, that is, set up a smart forklift stop near the pallet position, such as the forklift will wait at the stop without a task, after the pallet is manually placed, the manual forklift will switch the automatic mode after completing the forklift. Cameras can also be installed at a high place to use machine vision to determine whether there is a tray, and if there is a pallet in the place, send a trigger command to the intelligent forklift.



The advantage of this method is that it does not destroy the physical environment of the site, but it requires manual operation of forklifts, which is more dependent on workers. Although the program can be improved by machine vision, but the installation of cameras to identify the location, it is bound to use the automatic fork mode, so that the recognition accuracy of the machine vision system will also be improved, will cause an increase in cost, and in the mode of man-machine mixed field, the camera is often obscured, and even because of the field light source or other problems, misidentification and so on. Therefore, when selecting this application scenario, a comprehensive analysis should be carried out based on the site situation, cost factors and success rate.



This manual placement method is usually applied directly to the unloading space, that is, the empty pallet is manually stacked and directly palletized, and after the pallet is completed, a trigger command is sent to the forklift (described below). The situation described above usually occurs when the tray is placed for the first time in a circular turnover scenario.



2) Circular turnover



Initial form: The circular turnover is usually set a special empty pallet cache position, the pallet is fed in by an automatic forklift, and the forklift scheduling system has a storage position management function, which can update the storage position status in real time.



Trigger mode: When the forklift sends the empty pallet into the specified area, the storage status in the system is updated to the state of the pallet, if the empty pallet is needed in the actual business, the scheduling system directly dispatches the forklift to the corresponding storage fork to retrieve the empty pallet.



This method does not require any physical limits and sensors, which can realize the unmanned process, and the turnover efficiency of empty pallets and the comprehensive use efficiency of forklifts should be reasonably considered in planning.



2. Stacked placement trigger



1) Artificial placement



Initial form: The first empty pallet is placed by hand first, and then stacked in the initial position, the bottom tray of Sichuan characters is usually a positive and a negative alternating stack, and other types of pallets are stacked face up.



Trigger method: Manual stacking is usually the bottom of which can also be divided into the case of positioning tooling and no positioning tooling, see subsection 1 for the trigger method.



2) Automatic stacking



Initial form: The most commonly used equipment for automatic stacking is the pallet palletizer, which can be used as a single equipment and can also be used with automated equipment such as conveyor lines.



Trigger method: When the business begins to need empty pallets, the equipment management system will issue a release pallet task to the pallet palletizer, the equipment will place the lowest pallet on the ground, and notify the system that the pallet placement is completed, and then the system dispatches the intelligent forklift to the bottom of the pallet palletizer to fork the pallet that has been released, and send it to the corresponding position.



If an empty pallet is generated after the completion of the business, the empty pallet can also be sent to the bottom of the pallet palletizer by intelligent forklift, and the system is notified to be placed, at which time the system controls the pallet palletizer to automatically stack the empty pallets. Realize automatic turnover of empty pallets.



The pallet palletizer solves the problem of horizontal placement and occupies space in a three-dimensional way, but must require uniform pallet specifications on site. And increasing the pallet palletizer will also increase the cost, increase the difficulty of the control system, in the planning should be a comprehensive consideration of cost, efficiency and success rate and other factors.



3. Trigger of storage placement



In some warehouses with a high degree of automation, such as three-dimensional warehouses, etc., the empty pallets are usually cached in the storage space, so when there is a business need, the pallets are to be transported out of the automation equipment, that is, intelligent forklifts and pallet conveyor lines are docked.



Empty pallets are output sequentially from the conveyor line, where sensors are installed, so when the pallets are in place, forklift trigger commands are sent to the system.



Second, intelligent forklifts and full pallets



When the empty pallet is in place, it is necessary to palletize the empty pallet, which can be roughly divided into the following situations according to the palletizing method:



1. Manual palletizing



After the empty pallet is sent to the specified position by the automatic forklift (or the worker directly places it in the designated position, the pallet needs to be bound to the position after placement), the worker begins to palletize the empty pallet, and the package or SKU is bound to the pallet during the palletizing process (to facilitate inventory management and item traceability), and after the palletizing is completed, the worker needs to press the human-computer interaction button (which can be a physical button or a smart terminal screen button) to complete the trigger on the forklift.



2. Automatic palletizing



When the empty pallet is transported to the automatic palletizing station, after the palletizing operation is completed by the automatic palletizing equipment, the completion information is reported to the business system, and the business system issues the forklift scheduling task to the forklift dispatching system, thereby triggering the forklift operation.



In short, the premise of intelligent forklift action is to receive a clear task start command, and the instruction must be issued after the previous process is in place. Various trigger methods should be comprehensively considered in the program to achieve the optimization of the overall plan.



The above trigger methods are applied to the various outfields of many customers of Wood Ant according to the differences in customer site conditions, combined with different handling solutions.



With years of experience in the field of logistics warehousing, Wood Ant Robot has the core advantages of independent research and development of products and differentiated application scenarios, always adhere to the best quality solutions to impress customers, the current Wood Ant Robot launched indoor and outdoor handling solutions have been recognized by Debon, Aneng, Leapfrog, One Meter Tick and other logistics express field head enterprises.



Wood Ant always adheres to impressing customers with the best quality solutions, and in the future, it will continue to explore and polish, along the technical route of unmanned driving and swarm intelligence, to create more flexible handling solutions in the field of logistics and express transportation, and to help the intelligent development of the industry.