| CPC B65G 47/46 (2013.01) | 6 Claims |
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1. An article transport facility that sorts and transports articles, comprising:
an article transport vehicle configured to transport the articles;
a traveling surface on which the article transport vehicle is travelable; and
a plurality of receiving sections configured to receive the articles from the article transport vehicle,
wherein the receiving sections each include an opening, and are further configured to guide the articles through the openings to a position below the traveling surface,
wherein the article transport facility further comprises:
a transport device disposed below the traveling surface and configured to transport the articles below the traveling surface;
a plurality of door member provided in correspondence with the plurality of openings and configured to change in orientation between an open orientation in which the openings are open and a closed orientation in which the opening are closed;
a door control section configured to control the door members; and
a central control device configured to control the article transport vehicle, the transport device, and the door control section,
wherein the transport device is further configured to transport a plurality of the articles synchronously and simultaneously in an article group made up of a plurality of articles guided downward from a receiving section group made up of a plurality of receiving sections among the receiving sections,
wherein the door control section opens and closes all of the door members provided in the receiving section group synchronously and simultaneously, and
wherein the transport device is further configured to transport a plurality of the containers synchronously and simultaneously in a container group made up of a plurality of containers in which the articles received by the receiving sections are storable,
wherein the central control device is configured to execute:
sorting processing of controlling the article transport vehicle to sort an article designated based on specified sorting information to a receiving section designated based on the sorting information,
container replacement processing of controlling the transport device to replace a container group made up of a plurality of filled containers each storing at least one article with a container group made up of a plurality of empty containers each not storing an article,
simultaneous closing processing of controlling the door control section to close all of the door members provided in the receiving section group simultaneously, and
simultaneous opening processing of controlling the door control section to open all of the door members provided in the receiving section group simultaneously,
wherein the central control device continuously executes the simultaneous closing processing in a period up to completion of the sorting processing with respect to all of the receiving sections that belong to the receiving section group,
wherein the central control device executes the simultaneous opening processing after completion of the sorting processing with respect to all of the receiving sections that belong to the receiving section group, and
wherein the central control device executes the container replacement processing after completion of the simultaneous opening processing.
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