Load handling device
AssigneeOcado Innovation Limited
InventorMarek HAVEL
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A load handling device designed to operate on the top of a cubic automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS). The load handling device comprises a container lifting device that can lift a storage container from a storage location within the ASRS. The storage container can then be stored within the interior of the load handling device such that one or more product items may be picked from the storage container through an aperture in the top of the load handling device. The load handling device occupies only a single grid space of the cubic ASRS.
Claims17
A load handling device for use in a storage system, the storage system comprising a first set of parallel tracks extending in an X-direction, a second set of parallel tracks extending in a Y-direction transverse to the first set in a substantially horizontal plane to form a grid pattern comprising a plurality of grid spaces and a plurality of stacks of storage containers located beneath the tracks, and arranged such that each stack is located within a footprint of a single grid space;
- the load handling device comprising:
- a wheel assembly arranged to selectively move in the X-direction or the Y-direction;
- a container lifting device arranged, in use, to lift a container from one of the plurality of stacks into the interior of the load handling device;
- an aperture within the load handling device such that the volume of a container received within the load handling device can be accessed from above the load handling device wherein the load handling device has a footprint that occupies only a single grid space in the storage system, such that a load handling device occupying one grid space does not obstruct a load handling device occupying or traversing the adjacent grid spaces in the X and/or Y directions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.