Winch Assembly of a Load Handling Device
AssigneeOcado Innovation Limited
InventorKelvin EVANS
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A load handling device is provided for lifting and moving containers stacked in a storage system including a grid framework. The load handling device includes a vehicle body housing a wheel drive mechanism and a wheel assembly. A container lifting assembly comprising a container gripping assembly, a plurality of winch assemblies each includes a rotatable drum and a lifting tether anchored at a first end to the gripping assembly and at a second end to the drum, and a drive assembly configured to drive rotation of the drums to raise the gripping assembly into a container receiving space. Each drum has an outer surface configured to accommodate a plurality of axially displaced turns of the lifting tether across the drum.
Claims23
A load handling device for lifting and moving containers stacked in a storage system having a grid framework with a plurality of grid members arranged in a grid pattern above the stacks of containers, the load handling device comprising:
- i) a vehicle body housing a wheel drive mechanism configured and operatively arranged for moving the load handling device on a grid framework, and a wheel assembly including a first set of wheels for engaging with a first set of grid members to guide movement of the load handling device in a first direction and a second set of wheels for engaging with a second set of grid members to guide movement of the load handling device in a second direction, wherein the second direction is transverse to the first direction;
- and
- ii) a container lifting assembly including:
- a) a container gripping assembly configured to, in use, releasably grip a storage container;
- b) a plurality of winch assemblies, each of the plurality of winch assemblies including a drum rotatable about its central axis of rotation and a lifting tether having a first end anchored to the container gripping assembly and a second end anchored to the drum;
- and
- c) a drive assembly configured to drive rotation of the drums of the plurality of winch assemblies about their respective central axis of rotation to raise the container gripping assembly into a container receiving space;
- wherein each of the respective drums of the plurality of winch assemblies has an outer surface that is configured to accommodate a plurality of axially displaced turns of the lifting tether across the drum such that rotation of the drum will cause the lifting tether to form helical turns of the lifting tether around the outer surface of the drum.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.