CN111689110A

CN111689110A - Material conveyer, storage robot and material handling system

Info

Publication number: CN111689110A
Application number: CN202010165795.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘哲; 王悦翔; 尹慧昕; 曹抒阳
Original assignee: Zhuineng Robot Shanghai Co ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Jingdong Qianshi Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-03-12
Filing date: 2020-03-11
Publication date: 2020-09-22
Also published as: CN212387083U

Abstract

The invention discloses a material conveying device, a warehousing robot and a material handling system. The material conveying device comprises a frame, two mutually parallel conveying pieces arranged on the frame, and at least one carrier connected with the two mutually parallel conveying pieces. The conveying piece is connected with the driving device and drives the loading piece to circularly move under the driving of the driving device. The storage robot comprises an unmanned transport vehicle and the material conveying device. The material handling system comprises the storage robot and the workstation. The invention can greatly shorten the walking distance of the robot, save energy consumption, prolong the service life of the robot and further reduce the use cost.

Description

Material conveyer, storage robot and material handling system

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of logistics transportation, in particular to a material conveying device, a storage robot and a material handling system.

Background

In the traditional warehousing and ex-warehousing process of warehoused goods, warehouse staff are required to put the received goods on the goods shelves at the designated positions in sequence for storage, and the goods need to be searched and then transported to a sorting area when the goods are delivered out of the warehouse. The process is time-consuming and labor-consuming, and has great potential safety hazards, particularly when carrying large and heavy goods. At present, a lot of Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV) optimize the goods warehousing and ex-warehousing process of traditional warehousing, namely, the robot conveys goods shelves filled with goods to an appointed storage position to finish warehousing operation, and when the AGV leaves the warehouse, the robot enters a storage area to find needed goods shelves and conveys the goods shelves to a sorting area to finish warehousing and ex-warehouse operation. However, the inventor of the present invention has found that the mode of the conventional automated transfer robot transferring the goods is a "one-to-one, point-to-point" mode, that is, when the robot transfers the goods once, the route is single, the goods are single, and the destination is single. When the warehouse goods are of a large variety, the efficiency is greatly reduced.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is directed to a material conveying device and a storage robot, which solve at least one of the problems of the prior art.

In order to solve the above problems, according to an aspect of the present invention, a material conveying device is provided, which includes a frame, two conveying members mounted on the frame in parallel, and at least one object carrying member connected to the two conveying members in parallel, wherein the conveying members are connected to a driving device and driven by the driving device to move the object carrying member circularly.

In one embodiment, the carrier member is hinged to the two mutually parallel conveyors.

In one embodiment, the two mutually parallel conveying members are arranged offset.

In one embodiment, the carrier members are pallets which remain parallel to the ground throughout the cyclic movement.

In one embodiment, the material transfer device includes a plurality of carrier members.

In one embodiment, the plurality of carrier members are arranged uniformly and are hinged to the two conveying members.

In one embodiment, the object carrying member is a tray, a front connecting pin and a rear connecting pin are respectively arranged at two ends of the tray, the front connecting pin at the left end of the tray is connected with the conveying member at the left side, and the rear connecting pin at the right end of the tray is connected with the conveying member at the right side.

In one embodiment, the front and rear connecting pins of the same end of the tray are respectively disposed at any position between one-quarter width and one-third width and any position between two-thirds width and three-quarters width of the tray.

In one embodiment, the front-to-rear distance between the two conveyors parallel to each other is a distance between the front and rear connecting pins at both ends of the tray.

In one embodiment, the material conveying device further comprises a driving chain wheel, a driven chain wheel and a motor, the conveying member is mounted on the driving chain wheel and the driven chain wheel, and the motor is connected with the driving chain wheel and drives the driving chain wheel to rotate.

In one embodiment, the material conveying device further comprises a pulley assembly, a sliding rail and a mounting plate, wherein the mounting plate is mounted on two sides of the frame, the sliding rail is mounted on the mounting plate, and the pulley assembly is mounted on the sliding rail and connected with the two conveying members.

In one embodiment, the material transfer device further comprises a discharge assembly that cooperates with the carrier member and discharges the cargo on the carrier member when desired.

In one embodiment, the unloading assembly is a push rod mechanism, the push rod mechanism comprises a motor, a screw rod nut, a shear fork structure, a push plate and a support plate, the screw rod nut is hinged to the shear fork structure, and the motor drives the screw rod to rotate so as to enable the nut to perform linear motion and drive the shear fork structure to perform linear motion, so that the goods on the carrier object can be pushed out.

In one embodiment, the material conveying device further comprises a camera assembly, wherein the camera assembly is installed on the lower surface of the supporting plate, and goods are confirmed by reading a two-dimensional code posted on the object carrying piece.

In one embodiment, the material conveying device is further provided with one or more fire extinguishing devices, and in one embodiment, the fire extinguishing devices are fire balls.

In one embodiment, the carrier member is maintained parallel to the ground or at a predetermined angle to the ground throughout the cyclic movement; in one embodiment, the conveying member is a chain, a rack and/or a belt.

In one embodiment, the motion tracks of the two parallel conveying members are circular, elliptical or polygonal.

In one embodiment, the unloading assembly comprises a mounting part, a driving part and an unloading part, the driving part is connected to the mounting part, the unloading part is rotatably connected with the driving part and is matched with the carrying part, the driving part drives the unloading part to rotate so as to unload the goods on the carrying part, and the bottom of the carrying part is provided with a bottom opening matched with the unloading part.

In one embodiment, the unloading member is a connecting rod, the driving member includes a motor and a speed reducer, the motor is connected with the speed reducer, the speed reducer is connected with the connecting rod, and the motion of the motor is reduced by the speed reducer to drive the connecting rod to move.

In one embodiment, the unloading assembly further comprises a rotating shaft, a connecting member and two connecting rods, the speed reducer is connected with the rotating shaft and drives the rotating shaft to rotate, the motor is fixedly installed at the bottom of the installation member and is connected with the speed reducer, one end of each connecting rod is connected to two ends of the rotating shaft, and the other end of each connecting rod is connected through the connecting member.

In one embodiment, the carrying piece comprises a tray and a tray frame, the tray is rotatably connected with the tray frame, and the bottom of the tray frame is provided with an opening matched with the connecting rod.

In one embodiment, the object carrier further includes a first supporting member fixed to an outer side of the tray frame, a second supporting member fixed to an outer side of the tray frame, and a second rotating shaft fixedly connected to the first supporting member and fixedly connected to the second supporting member or rotatably connected to the first supporting member and fixedly connected to the second supporting member.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a warehousing robot including the material transfer device described above and an automated guided vehicle on or by which the material transfer device is mounted.

In one embodiment, the automated guided vehicle comprises a vehicle body, universal wheels, driving wheels, an obstacle avoidance module, a second camera assembly and a second tray, wherein the universal wheels are installed on the periphery of the bottom of the vehicle body, the tray is installed on the top of the vehicle body, the obstacle avoidance module is installed on a head of the vehicle body, the second camera assembly is installed at the central position of the vehicle body and comprises a camera assembly and a mounting bracket, and the camera realizes self-positioning and free movement of the automated guided vehicle by reading an identification code laid on the ground.

In one embodiment, the material transfer device is fixedly mounted to the second tray by screws such that rotational movement of the automated guided vehicle and cyclical movement of the material transfer mechanism are independent of each other.

In one embodiment, the automated guided vehicle further includes a power supply device installed at a rear portion of the vehicle body and provided with an automatic charging module.

According to another aspect of the invention, a material handling system is also provided, which comprises the warehousing robot described above, and the warehousing robot carries a plurality of goods to a target position at a time.

The warehousing robot carries out the warehouse-in and warehouse-out transportation process of goods in a one-to-many and many-to-many mode, namely, the warehousing robot carries single-variety goods to a plurality of target places at one time or carries a plurality of varieties of goods to a plurality of destinations at one time. Compared with the existing robot, the robot running in the mode can greatly reduce the walking distance of the robot under the condition that the total carrying task is the same, saves energy consumption, prolongs the service life of the robot, further compresses the use cost, and has more obvious advantages when the types of goods in a warehouse are more.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a material transfer device according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the material transfer device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the material transfer device looking in the direction A of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a warehousing robot according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a front view of the warehousing robot of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side view of the warehouse robot of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of a material transfer device according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the discharge assembly of one embodiment of the present invention, wherein the carrier member is not inverted;

fig. 9 is a side view of the discharge assembly of fig. 8;

fig. 10 is a rear view of the discharge assembly of fig. 8;

fig. 11 is another perspective view of the discharge assembly of one embodiment of the present invention with the carrier members inverted;

fig. 12 is a side view of the discharge assembly of fig. 11.

Detailed Description

The embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings in order to more clearly understand the objects, features and advantages of the present invention. It should be understood that the embodiments shown in the drawings are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, but are merely intended to illustrate the spirit of the technical solution of the present invention.

In the following description, for the purposes of illustrating various disclosed embodiments, certain specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various disclosed embodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the embodiments may be practiced without one or more of the specific details. In other instances, well-known devices, structures and techniques associated with this application may not be shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the description of the embodiments.

Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

In the following description, for the purposes of clearly illustrating the structure and operation of the present invention, directional terms will be used, but terms such as "front", "rear", "left", "right", "outer", "inner", "outer", "inward", "upper", "lower", etc. should be construed as words of convenience and should not be construed as limiting terms.

One embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to fig. 1-3. The present embodiments generally disclose a material transfer device that includes a frame, two substantially parallel conveying members mounted to the frame, and at least one carrier member coupled to the two substantially parallel conveying members. The conveying piece is connected with the driving device and drives the carrying piece to move circularly under the driving of the driving device, and the carrying piece is kept parallel to the ground in the whole circulating movement process.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a material transfer device of the present invention according to certain embodiments, fig. 2 is a front view of the material transfer device of fig. 1, and fig. 3 is a side view as viewed in direction a of fig. 2.

As shown in fig. 1 to 3, the material transfer apparatus 100 includes a frame 10, two transfer members 11 arranged substantially parallel to each other and mounted on the frame 10, and a plurality of carrier members 12 connected to the two transfer members 11 arranged substantially parallel to each other. The conveyor 11 is connected to a driving device (such as a motor) and drives the carrier 12 to move under the driving of the driving device, and the carrier 12 is kept parallel to the ground during the whole moving process. Eight carrier members 12 are shown by way of example, but it will be appreciated that fewer than eight or more than eight carrier members 12 may be provided as desired by those skilled in the art.

In the present embodiment, the conveying element 11 is a chain, however, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conveying element may also be a rack and/or a belt or the like.

With continued reference to fig. 1-3, the goods 20 are placed on the object carrying member 12, the conveying member 11 drives the object carrying member 12 to operate under the driving of the driving mechanism, the goods 20 are always kept flat on the object carrying member 12 during the operation of the conveying member 11, and the goods 20 are also always kept parallel to the ground due to the fact that the object carrying member 12 is always kept parallel to the ground during the operation, so that the whole conveying process is very stable.

In some embodiments, the carrier member 12 may be hinged to two conveyor members 11 that are substantially parallel to each other. In another embodiment, the carrier element 12 may also be fixed to the conveyor element 11 in other known ways. In some embodiments, the two substantially mutually parallel conveying members 11 may be arranged offset, i.e. the projections of the two substantially mutually parallel conveying members onto the plane of movement of the conveying members do not coincide but are offset by a distance from each other. So configured, it is ensured that the carrier member 12 remains parallel to the ground throughout the cyclic movement, regardless of the position of the carrier member 12 in motion, such as the carrier member 12 being above, below, and at various corners.

With continued reference to fig. 1, the carrier member 12 may be a flat plate tray having front and rear attachment pins 121 and 122, respectively, at opposite ends of the tray. The front connecting pin 122 at the right end of the tray is connected to the conveyor 11 on the right side (shown in fig. 1) of the frame 10, and the rear connecting pin 121 at the left end of the tray is connected to the conveyor 11 on the left side of the frame. In another embodiment, carrier 12 may be in the form of a basket or other form that can carry cargo. In another embodiment, the connection end of carrier member 12 to frame 10 may take other known forms and is not limited to the connecting pin described above.

In some embodiments, the front and rear connecting pins at the same end of the carrier 12 may be disposed at any position between one-quarter to one-third and two-thirds to three-quarters of the width of the tray, respectively, with the front connecting pins at both ends of the tray being in the same line and the rear connecting pins at both ends of the tray being in the same line. The front-back distance between two staggered conveying pieces which are parallel to each other is equal to the distance between the front connecting pin and the rear connecting pin at the two ends of the tray. The arrangement is such that the carrier member 12 runs smoothly while meeting the requirement that the front and rear sides of the carrier member 12 are perpendicular to the left and right side panels of the frame. In some other embodiments, carrier member 12 may be provided with more connecting pins to accommodate conveyors of different offset distances.

In one embodiment, the plurality of carrier members 12 are arranged uniformly and each carrier member 12 is hinged to a conveyor arranged parallel on either side of the frame. In another embodiment, multiple carrier members 12 may be arranged at different intervals according to different heights of the cargo.

In this embodiment, the conveying member 11 is a chain, and the material conveying device 100 may further include a driving sprocket 13, a driven sprocket 14, and a motor (not shown), wherein the chain 11 is mounted on the driving sprocket 13 and the driven sprocket 14, and the motor is connected to the driving sprocket 13 and drives the driving sprocket 13 to rotate. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the sprocket 13 at the bottom of the frame may be provided as a driven sprocket and the sprocket 14 at the top of the frame may be provided as a driving sprocket. In some other embodiments, in the case that the conveying member 11 is a rack or a belt, the material conveying device 100 may further include a rack kit or a belt kit, which will not be described herein since the rack kit or the belt kit is well known to those skilled in the art.

In some embodiments, the material conveying device 100 may further include pulley assemblies 15, sliding rails 16, and a mounting plate 17, the mounting plate 17 is mounted on two sides of the frame 10, the sliding rails 16 are mounted on the mounting plate 17, and the pulley assemblies 15 are mounted on the sliding rails 16 and connected to the two chains 11, so as to reduce the chain stress, improve the stability of the whole material conveying device, and prolong the service life of the whole material conveying device. In certain other embodiments, the pulley assembly, pulleys, and mounting plate may not be used.

With continued reference to fig. 1, material transfer device 100 may further include a discharge assembly 30, discharge assembly 30 cooperating with carrier member 12 to push out cargo 20 on carrier member 12 when desired, thereby allowing cargo 20 to drop to a designated location. In some embodiments, the discharge assembly 30 may be installed at a particular height for discharge as desired. In some embodiments, the material transfer device 100 may include multiple discharge assemblies 30, with multiple discharge assemblies 30 being mounted at different heights to accommodate discharge. In another embodiment, the material transfer device 100 may not include a discharge assembly 30 that is removed by a robotic arm or a worker when the carrier member 12 is moved to the appropriate height.

In one embodiment, the unloading assembly 30 may be in the form of a push rod mechanism, the push rod mechanism includes a motor 31, a lead screw 32, a lead screw nut (not shown), a shear fork mechanism 33, a push plate 34 and a support plate 35, the lead screw nut (not shown) is hinged to the shear fork mechanism 33, and the motor 31 drives the lead screw 32 to rotate so as to make the nut perform linear motion and drive the shear fork mechanism 33 to perform linear motion, thereby pushing out the cargo on the cargo piece.

Although the above embodiments describe such pusher mechanisms, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other forms of discharge assemblies may be used, as long as they are capable of removing the cargo from the carrier member during its transport to the desired location.

In one embodiment, the material transfer device 100 may not include a discharge assembly. But can realize overturning when the object carrying piece moves to the appointed position, so that the goods on the object carrying piece fall to the appointed position. At this moment, in order to make the stability of carrying the thing, for example can increase locking device between year thing and conveying piece to carrying the thing and conveying piece interlocking when need not overturn, making and carrying the thing and can steadily transport the goods, and when needing to overturn, automatic or manual untie locking device realizes the function that the upset emptys the goods. In some embodiments, the carrier may be held parallel to the ground by various known locking devices.

Referring to fig. 3, the material transfer apparatus 100 may further include a camera assembly 36, and the camera assembly 36 is mounted to a lower surface of the support plate 35 of the discharge assembly 30 to confirm the goods by reading a two-dimensional code attached to the loading member 12 such as a pallet. In some other embodiments, the material transfer device 100 may not include a camera assembly 36 and may be manually or robotically moved for scanning.

Another embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to fig. 4-6. Fig. 4-6 illustrate a warehousing robot 200 according to certain embodiments of the present invention, wherein fig. 4 is a perspective view of the warehousing robot 200, fig. 5 is a front view of the warehousing robot of fig. 4, and fig. 6 is a side view of the warehousing robot of fig. 4.

As shown in fig. 4-6, the warehousing robot 200 generally includes the material transfer device 100 and the automated guided vehicle 40 described in the previous embodiments, with the material transfer device 100 being secured on top of the automated guided vehicle 40 so that the automated guided vehicle 40 can transport the material transfer device 100 to a designated location. For the structure and function of the material transfer device 100, reference is made to the related description of the foregoing embodiments, and the description will not be repeated here. The automated guided vehicle 40 will be described below with reference to fig. 4-6.

As shown in fig. 4 to 6, the automated guided vehicle 40 includes a vehicle body 41, universal wheels 42, driving wheels 43, an obstacle avoidance module 44, a second camera assembly 45, a rotation mechanism 46, and a second tray 47. The universal wheels 42 are attached to the periphery of the bottom of the vehicle body 41, and serve to bear weight and keep the robot balanced. The second tray 47 is installed on the top of the vehicle body 41, the obstacle avoidance module 44 is installed on the head of the vehicle body 41, and the laser radar and the ultrasonic radar are contained, so that emergency parking is achieved when obstacles appear on the front side. The second camera assembly 45 is installed at a central position of the vehicle body and includes a camera 451 and a mounting bracket 452, and the camera 451 enables self-positioning and free movement of the automated guided vehicle by reading an identification code (e.g., a two-dimensional code or other customized identification code) laid on the ground.

Referring to fig. 4-6, the material transfer device 100 may be fixedly mounted to the second tray 47, such as by screws, such that the rotational movement of the automated guided vehicle and the cyclic movement of the material transfer mechanism are independent of each other, such that the material transfer device 100 may be maintained stationary relative to the ground during the rotation of the automated guided vehicle, or the material transfer device 100 may be driven to rotate while the automated guided vehicle is stationary in place, thereby simplifying the motion of the automated guided vehicle and improving the efficiency and reliability of the transportation. The material conveying device 100 can realize the automatic circulation conveying function of various goods, and the camera assembly 36 therein can confirm the goods and complete the sorting function.

With continued reference to fig. 4, the automated guided vehicle 40 further includes a power supply device 48, and the power supply device 48 is mounted at the rear of the vehicle body and provided with an automatic charging module, so that the automated guided vehicle can be operated fully automatically.

In certain other embodiments, the automated guided vehicle 40 may employ more or fewer components, so long as the material transfer device 100 can be transported to a designated location.

In the foregoing, the warehousing robot according to some embodiments of the present invention may implement automated transportation, and the robot performs the transportation process of goods in and out of the warehouse in a "one-to-many, many-to-many" mode, that is, transporting a single kind of goods to multiple destinations at a time or transporting multiple kinds of goods to multiple destinations at a time.

Compared with the existing robot, the robot running in the mode can greatly reduce the walking distance of the robot under the condition that the total carrying task is the same, saves energy consumption, prolongs the service life of the robot, further compresses the use cost, and has more obvious advantages when the types of goods in a warehouse are more.

Fig. 7 is a partial perspective view of a material transfer device 100A according to another embodiment of the present invention. A material transfer device 100A according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 7. The differences between the material conveying device 100A and the material conveying device 100 shown in fig. 1-3 are mainly described here, and the same structures, functions, and modifications will not be repeated here, please refer to the related descriptions of the material conveying device 100 above.

As shown in fig. 7, the material transfer apparatus 100A includes a frame 10A, two transfer members 11A arranged substantially parallel to each other and mounted on the frame 10A, and a plurality of carrier members 12A connected to the two transfer members 11A arranged substantially parallel to each other. The conveying member 11A is connected to a driving device (such as a motor) and drives the carrying member 12A to move under the driving of the driving device. In one embodiment, the carrier 12A remains parallel or at a predetermined angle to the ground throughout the movement. The conveyor 11A may be a chain, a conveyor belt, a rack and/or a belt, etc.

The goods is placed on carrying thing piece 12A, and conveying piece 11A drives under actuating mechanism's drive and carries thing piece 12A operation, and at conveying piece 11A's operation in-process, the goods can keep keeping flat on carrying thing piece 12A, and because carrying thing piece 12A remains throughout parallel with ground or becomes a preset angle in the operation in-process for the goods also remains throughout parallel with ground or becomes a preset angle, thereby whole transportation process is very steady. When carrying thing piece 12A for closed or semi-enclosed structure, in whole cyclic motion process, carry thing piece 12 and also can not keep presetting the angle with ground, and rock to some extent, can set up some limit structure and restrict its degree of rocking, as long as ensure that the article that bear do not fall out can. When the carrier member 12 is a totally enclosed structure, it may not even be limited as long as it is fixed to the conveyor during transportation.

In some embodiments, the carrier member 12A may be hinged to two conveyor members 11A that are substantially parallel to each other. In another embodiment, the carrier member 12A may be fixed to the conveyor 11A in other known manners. In some embodiments, the two substantially mutually parallel conveying members 11A may be arranged offset, i.e. the projections of the two substantially mutually parallel conveying members onto the plane of movement of the conveying members do not coincide but are offset by a distance from each other. So configured, it is ensured that the carrier member 12A remains parallel to the ground throughout the cyclic movement, regardless of the position of the carrier member 12A in motion, such as the carrier member 12A being above, below, and at various corners. In some embodiments, two substantially mutually parallel conveyors 11A may be arranged in alignment, i.e. the projections of the two substantially mutually parallel conveyors onto the plane of movement of the conveyors coincide. With continued reference to fig. 7, material transfer device 100A may further include a discharge assembly 50, discharge assembly 50 cooperating with carrier member 12A to discharge the cargo on carrier member 12A when desired, thereby allowing the cargo to drop to a designated location.

Discharge assembly 50 is described below in conjunction with fig. 8-12. Wherein fig. 8 is a perspective view of discharge assembly 50 with the carrier member not inverted, fig. 9 is a side view of discharge assembly 50 of fig. 8, fig. 10 is a rear view of discharge assembly 50 of fig. 8, fig. 11 is another perspective view of discharge assembly 50 with the carrier member inverted for discharge, and fig. 12 is a side view of discharge assembly 50 of fig. 11. As shown in fig. 8-12, discharge assembly 50 includes a mounting member 51, a motor 52, a reducer 53, and a linkage 54. The motor 52 and the speed reducer 53 constitute a driving part to drive the connecting rod. The motor 52 is fixedly installed at the bottom of the installation part 51 and connected with the speed reducer 53, one ends of the two connecting rods 54 are respectively connected with two ends of a rotating shaft 55, the rotating shaft 55 is connected with the speed reducer 53 and is driven by the speed reducer 53 to rotate, so that the connecting rods 54 are driven to move, and the other ends of the two connecting rods 54 are connected through a connecting piece 56. In one embodiment, the two ends of the connecting member 56 are connected to the ends of the two links 54, respectively. The motor 52 is operated to rotate the shaft 55 and thereby the link 54 in the position shown in figure 9 in a counter-clockwise direction to unload the cargo from the carrier 12A.

In the present embodiment, the cargo on the cargo carrier is unloaded by using the connecting rod, which is only one example of the cargo carrier for performing the unloading function, however, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that other components or structures may be used for performing the unloading function.

In one embodiment, the mounting member 51 is a fixing plate having a length substantially equal to or slightly longer than the object loading member and including a plate-shaped main body 510, two protruding portions 512 protruding upward from two ends of the plate-shaped main body 510, and the two protruding portions 512 are fixed to two inner sides of the frame 10A, respectively. It will be appreciated that one or more mounting members may be fixedly positioned relative to the carrier members as required for unloading, or that a discharge assembly may be provided for each carrier member, the discharge assembly moving with the carrier member to accommodate unloading at any height.

The object loading member 12A in this embodiment includes a tray frame 121 and a tray 122, and the tray 122 is connected to the tray frame 121 in a turnable manner. Two ends of the tray frame 121 are respectively connected to two mutually parallel conveying members 11A, and a bottom opening (not shown) is provided at a position of the bottom of the tray frame 121 corresponding to the connecting rod 54 for allowing an end of the connecting rod 54 to extend into contact with the bottom of the tray 122. When the object carrying part 12A moves to a required position along with the conveying part 11A, the motor 52 operates and drives the connecting rod 54 to move, the end part of the connecting rod 54 passes through the bottom opening of the tray frame 121 to contact the bottom of the tray 122 and apply upward force to the tray 122, and the connecting rod further operates under the driving of the motor 52 to turn over the tray 122, so that the goods in the tray 122 fall off, and unloading is completed.

In one embodiment, the tray 122 is rotatably coupled to the tray frame 121 by a second hinge 124. Specifically, the first supporting member 123 is fixed at the outer side (turning side) of the tray frame 121, the upper end of the second supporting member 125 is fixed at the bottom of the outer side of the tray, and the second rotating shaft 124 rotatably extends into the first supporting member 123 and is fixedly connected with the second supporting member 125, or the second rotating shaft 124 rotatably extends into the second supporting member 125 and is fixedly connected with the first supporting member 123, so as to rotatably connect the first supporting member 123 and the second supporting member 125. Since the first and

second supports

123 and 125 are fixed to the tray frame 121 and the tray 122, respectively, the tray 122 can perform a tilting motion about the tray frame 121 by the second rotating shaft 124. Referring to fig. 11-12, under the pushing of the connecting rod 54, the tray 122 is turned forward relative to the tray frame 121, and the goods in the tray 122 automatically fall off, thereby completing the unloading.

In one embodiment, the cargo carrying piece of the invention can be only the tray frame, the cargo is directly placed on the tray frame, and when the cargo needs to be unloaded, the end part of the connecting rod penetrates through the bottom opening of the tray frame and is directly contacted with the bottom of the cargo, so that the cargo is directly pushed to be unloaded.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that, although the tray and the tray frame in the above embodiments are connected by the rotating shaft for turning, the connection between the tray and the tray frame may be realized by other manners, such as by connecting the tray and the tray frame by a hinge, so long as the manner of connecting the tray and the tray frame in a turnable manner can be realized.

The use of the unloading assembly 50 facilitates the smooth release of the light and small goods, and avoids the risk of the light and small goods falling into the gap due to the gap between the pallet and the goods receiving platform. There may be a gap in the lateral direction when interfacing with the dock, which gap can be compensated for by extending the tray out so that small and light goods can be accurately transported. For example, the pallet can be slightly above the receiving table during the transfer, so that the pallet can pass the gap when it is turned over to reach the receiving table.

It should be understood that the discharge assembly 50 of the second embodiment of the present invention may be applied to the material transfer device 100 of the first embodiment, and the discharge assembly 30 of the first embodiment may also be applied to the material transfer device 100A of the second embodiment.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that although the motion trajectories of the two conveyors 11 arranged in parallel with each other shown in fig. 1 and the two conveyors 11A arranged in parallel with each other shown in fig. 7 are substantially rectangular structures, those skilled in the art will understand that the motion trajectories of the two conveyors arranged in parallel with each other may also be circular, oval or polygonal, that is, the overall configuration of the two conveyors arranged in parallel with each other may be circular, oval or polygonal, and is not limited to the shapes shown in the above embodiments.

While various embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, it should be understood that various changes or modifications of the present invention may be made by those skilled in the art after reading the above teachings of the present invention. Such equivalents are intended to fall within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

Claims

1. The material conveying device is characterized by comprising a frame, two mutually parallel conveying pieces arranged on the frame, and at least one carrying piece connected with the two mutually parallel conveying pieces, wherein the conveying pieces are connected with a driving device and drive the carrying piece to move circularly under the driving of the driving device.

2. The material transfer device of claim 1, wherein the two parallel conveying members are offset.

3. The material transfer device of claim 1, wherein the material transfer device comprises a plurality of carrier members.

4. The material conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the material carrying member is a tray, a front connecting pin and a rear connecting pin are respectively arranged at two ends of the tray, the front connecting pin at the left end of the tray is connected with the conveying member at the left side, and the rear connecting pin at the right end of the tray is connected with the conveying member at the right side.

5. The material transfer device of claim 1, further comprising a pulley assembly, a track, and a mounting plate, wherein the mounting plate is mounted to both sides of the frame, the track is mounted to the mounting plate, and the pulley assembly is mounted to the track and coupled to the two conveying members.

6. The material transfer device of claim 1, further comprising a discharge assembly that engages the carrier member and discharges the cargo thereon when desired.

7. The material conveying device according to claim 6, wherein the unloading assembly is a push rod mechanism, the push rod mechanism comprises a motor, a screw rod nut, a shear fork structure, a push plate and a support plate, the screw rod nut is hinged to the shear fork structure, and the motor drives the screw rod to rotate so as to enable the screw rod nut to perform linear motion and drive the shear fork structure to perform linear motion, so that the goods on the carrier object are pushed out.

8. The material transfer device as in claim 7, further comprising a camera assembly mounted to a lower surface of the support plate for identifying cargo by reading a two-dimensional code posted on the carrier piece.

9. The material transfer device of claim 1, further comprising one or more fire suppression devices, in one embodiment, fire balls, disposed on the material transfer device.

10. The material transfer device of claim 1, wherein the carrier member is maintained parallel to the ground or at a predetermined angle to the ground throughout the cyclic movement; in one embodiment, the conveying member is a chain, a rack and/or a belt.

11. The material transfer device of claim 1, wherein the two parallel transfer members have a circular, elliptical or polygonal motion path.

12. The material transfer device as in claim 6, wherein the discharge assembly comprises a mounting member, a driving member connected to the mounting member, and a discharge member rotatably connected to the driving member and engaged with the carrier member, the driving member driving the discharge member to rotate to discharge the cargo on the carrier member, wherein the carrier member has a bottom opening at a bottom thereof for engagement with the discharge member.

13. The material conveying device according to claim 12, wherein the unloading member is a connecting rod, the unloading assembly further comprises a rotating shaft, a connecting member, and two connecting rods, the driving member is connected with the rotating shaft and drives the rotating shaft to rotate, the driving member is fixedly mounted at the bottom of the mounting member, one ends of the two connecting rods are respectively connected to two ends of the rotating shaft, and the other ends of the two connecting rods are connected through the connecting member.

14. The material transfer device of claim 13, wherein the carrier member includes a tray and a tray rack, the tray is rotatably coupled to the tray rack, and a bottom of the tray rack is provided with an opening that mates with the link.

15. The material transfer device of claim 14, wherein the carrier further comprises a first support member fixed to an outer side of the tray frame, a second support member fixed to an outer side of the tray frame, and a second rotating shaft fixedly connected to the first support member and fixedly connected to the second support member or rotatably connected to the first support member and fixedly connected to the second support member.

16. A warehousing robot comprising the material transfer device of any of claims 1-15 and an automated guided vehicle, the material transfer device being mounted on or pulled by the automated guided vehicle.

17. The warehousing robot of claim 16, wherein the automated guided vehicle includes a vehicle body and a second tray mounted on a top of the vehicle body, the material transfer device being fixedly mounted to the second tray by screws such that rotational movement of the automated guided vehicle and cyclical movement of the material transfer mechanism are independent of each other.