JP2000302233A - Conveyor unit and conveyor system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To cope with a change in a stop position, if happening, when materials to be carried are stopped at a predetermined position on a conveyor unit. SOLUTION: One motor roller 4 and four idle rollers 3 are provided between a pair of side rails 2, 2. Detecting sensors 5 for materials to be carried are incorporated in three idle rollers 3, respectively, and lead wires for these sensors are connected to connectors 6. Sensor signal lines 13 connectable to the connectors 6 in a disconnectable manner are connected to a zone controller 11 for controlling the motor roller 4. Although only two sensors 5, selected by users, out of the sensors 5 provided in three idle rollers 3 are tied to the zone controller 11 via the sensor signal lines 13, these are disconnected from the sensors 5 connected so far, if a change is required, and then the sensor signal lines 13 can be simply reconnected to the sensors 5 provided at a changed position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a conveyor unit in which an object is conveyed on rollers driven and stopped by driving means, and a conveyor system in which a plurality of such conveyor units are connected.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 7, for example, a conveyor unit has a pair of side rails 10 arranged in parallel.
A plurality of rollers 10 for transporting an object to be transported between 0 and 100
1, 102 are supported in a ladder shape. The rollers include an idle roller 101 that rotates freely, and a roller that is connected to a driving body such as a motor and rotates or a motor roller with a built-in motor (hereinafter referred to as a driving roller) 102.
The transported material is forcibly transported by the driving roller 102. The transport line for the transported object is configured by arranging a plurality of conveyor units in parallel. As a conveyor system of this kind, for example, the applicant of the present invention has disclosed in
Japanese Patent No. 9047 has already disclosed.

[0003]

By the way, the roller 10
A sensor 103 attached to the side rail 100 determines whether or not the article has been transported to a predetermined position on the side rails 100.
Is detected by The output signal of this sensor 103 is
It is used for standby control of an object to be transferred. For example, at the end of the transport line is provided a processing device that performs a predetermined processing on the transported object, but in order to make a subsequent transported object wait on the transport line until the processing of the preceding transported object is completed, The detection signal of the sensor 103 is used.

When the sensor 103 detects that the conveyed object has been conveyed to a predetermined position, the driving roller 102
Controller controls the drive roller 102 to stop.
Then, when a processing end signal of the processing device is issued,
The controller drives the drive roller 102 to rotate, and starts transporting the transported object on the line.

Further, in order to stop the conveyed object at a predetermined position on the conveyor unit, a sensor 103 is provided at a position corresponding to each roller, and all the signals are received by the controller via its input port and stopped. Control.

[0006] In this type of conveyor system, a conveyed product is often stopped on a conveyer and kept on standby. For this purpose, it is desired to improve the accuracy of position control. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and aims to improve the accuracy of a position control system for stopping and holding a transferred object at a predetermined position on each conveyor unit, and to easily change the setting of the stop position. An object of the present invention is to provide a conveyor system that can provide a conveyor system that can easily cope with a change in a transport line using the conveyor unit.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the inventor of the present invention selectively transmits a part of output signals of a plurality of conveyed object detection sensors to a controller of a conveyor unit having a plurality of rollers. Or, the controller is configured to selectively use some of the output signals of the plurality of sensors, and to perform predetermined control based on the detection signals of some of the sensors. did. According to this, when the transported object is transported to the position to be stopped on each conveyor unit, only the output signal of the sensor that is turned ON just is selected, and a predetermined control (for example, , Stop control of the driving means), it is possible to accurately stop the transported object at a desired position.

As a method of selecting a part of the detection signals of a plurality of sensors, for example, a controller of a conveyor unit having a plurality of rollers is used to selectively select a part of the plurality of conveyed object detection sensors. It is also conceivable to provide one or more detachable connection parts that can be detachably connected. In such a configuration, the user selects the transported object detection sensor and connects the detachable connection unit to the sensor. If a change occurs in the position at which the transported object stops, the connection with the transported object detection sensor that has been connected up to that point is disconnected, and the transported object detection sensor provided at the changed position is disconnected. All that is required is to reattach the detachable connection. Therefore, there is no need to provide input ports by the number of attached sensors, no need to change the control program when the stop position is changed, and no need to remove the sensor itself and reinstall it at another position. Absent. The output of the transported object detection sensor may be received by the control unit, and the control unit may control the driving of the drive roller. Alternatively, the output of the transported object detection sensor may be received by the main control unit, and the main control unit may receive the output. The control means may control the driving of the driving roller by the command.

As another method for selecting a part of the detection signals of a plurality of sensors, all the sensors are connected to a controller, and only a part of the detection signals of the sensors is stored in a program in the controller. It is conceivable to select and use and perform a predetermined control based on this partial detection signal. According to this, when the position for stopping the transferred object is changed, it is not necessary to change the wiring, and the DIP switch provided in the controller can be changed,
The stop control position can be easily and quickly changed by changing the program.

In the above-mentioned conveyor unit, if a transmission line mounting terminal portion for mounting a transmission line for transmitting a signal is provided, an electric connection when a plurality of conveyor units are mechanically connected to form a transport line. And signal transmission between the conveyor units is also possible. In addition, when the conveyor units are rearranged by changing the transport line, electrical reconnection between the respective conveyor units is easy.

Further, the inventor of the present application has made a single conveyer unit provided with the transmission line mounting terminal section as one zone, connected a plurality of the zones, and connected the transmission line to the transmission line mounting terminal section to form a block, In order to perform control on a block basis, a conveyor system including block control means for transmitting a command to each conveyor unit through the transmission line has been constructed.

With this configuration, a plurality of conveyor units can be controlled as a whole to control the transport line in block units. For example, when the block control unit issues a forward rotation command, the transport line (block) performs forward transport of the transported object, and when the speed command is issued, the transport line (block) transmits the transported object (block). It will be transported at the specified speed. In addition, the block control means obtains a detection signal of an object to be conveyed from each conveyor unit, and issues an individual command to the control means of each conveyor unit in consideration of the state of the object to be conveyed on each conveyor unit. Control becomes possible.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A conveyor unit according to the present invention comprises a plurality of rollers arranged in a conveying direction so as to convey an article to be conveyed, a driving means for rotating at least one roller, and a driving means for the driving means. A controller for controlling the operation, and a plurality of transported object detection sensors for detecting a position of the transported object in the transport direction, wherein the controller outputs signals of some of the plurality of transported object detection sensors It may be configured to perform predetermined control based on As the predetermined control, stop control of the driving means, control of transmitting a position detection signal to the host control system, and the like can be considered. In addition, various controls can be performed as needed.

As means for selecting only the output signals of some of the sensors, for example, a sensor connection socket terminal is provided on the controller, and each of the sensors is provided with a sensor of some of the plurality of conveyed object detection sensors. A detachable connection terminal can be connected to the socket terminal so as to selectively input an output signal to the controller. Further, it is possible to input the output signals of all the sensors to the controller, and to perform predetermined control based on the detection signals of some of the sensors by changing the circuit configuration of the controller or the setting of the control program. .

The transport roller provided in the above unit is
Although all may be drive rollers, at least one may be a drive roller. Further, as the roller driving means, it is preferable to use a brushless motor built in the driving roller, but it is also possible to use a motor external to the roller. Further, the controller can be appropriately designed according to the required performance, and is not limited to a specific circuit configuration. In addition, in order to perform zone control for each unit, it is preferable that each controller is configured to input a detection signal of a sensor connected to the connection terminal and control the operation of the driving unit using the signal. .

In the conveyor unit, the transported object detection sensor can be provided at a location corresponding to each roller or at each roller itself. According to this, it is possible to finely set a stop position on the conveyor unit, and a conveyor unit requiring a high precision in the stop position of the transferred object, for example, a machine (an inspection device for a transferred object, a processing machine, a transfer machine, or the like). With respect to the conveyor unit installed before the loading device, etc., it is possible to meet the demand for improving the positioning accuracy of the transferred object.

Further, two sensor connection socket terminals of the controller can be provided so that output signals of two selected sensors can be input to the controller.
According to such a compound eye sensor system, the position signal for control becomes dense, and it becomes possible to improve the easiness of the stop position control of the transported object and the positioning accuracy. The compound eye sensor system can also be constructed by inputting the output signals of all the sensors to the controller and performing a predetermined control based on only the output signals of two of the sensors.

Further, the controller may be provided with at least two transmission line mounting terminals for mounting a transmission line for transmitting a signal to and from a controller of another conveyor unit. When providing such a transmission line mounting terminal,
Each controller preferably has a built-in input / output interface and a network interface. However, if an inexpensive and simple system configuration is required, the controllers may be simply connected in parallel. . Such a connection method can be appropriately designed by those skilled in the art based on the disclosure in the specification of the present application and using a conventionally known technique, and is not limited to a specific configuration.

In the conveyor system of the present invention, a transfer line block is formed by arranging a plurality of the above-described conveyor units, and the controllers of the respective conveyor units are sequentially connected via a transmission line to control the transfer in block units. In order to perform this, a block control means for supplying a control signal to the transmission line is provided. The configuration of the block control means can be designed as appropriate. For example, the block control means has a function of collectively controlling the controllers of the conveyor units constituting the transfer line block and having a function of communicating with the host control system and each block. It is possible. According to such a conveyor system, while zone control on each conveyor unit is performed by the controller of each unit,
The entire block can be controlled by the block control means, and high-performance and high-precision transport control can be performed while simplifying the configuration of each control circuit and reducing costs by sharing the roles of control.

Further, when the above-mentioned conveyor system comprises a plurality of transport line blocks, the block control means of each block is connected to a centralized control device such as a sequencer or a management computer, and the block control means is
It is possible to configure so that a control signal is supplied to a controller of each conveyor unit via a transmission line based on a control signal given to each block control means from the central control device. Such a block control means may be configured to supply a control signal from the centralized control device to the transmission line as it is, or to control a control signal to be supplied to a controller of each unit based on a control signal from the centralized control device. It may be configured to generate and supply the signal to a transmission line. For example, if each controller is managed by a network ID, it is possible to perform different control for each unit. It should be noted that a sequencer can be incorporated in the block control means, whereby more sophisticated control can be performed.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conveyor unit showing an example of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram of a zone control device attached to the conveyor unit, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a plurality of connected conveyor units, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an electrical connection relationship between a plurality of connected conveyor units, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example in which one block (transport line) is constituted by a plurality of connected conveyor units. FIG. 6 is a block circuit diagram showing the electrical connection relationship between the blocks (transport lines).

As shown in FIG. 1, the conveyor unit 1
Is between a pair of side rails 2 and 2 arranged in parallel.
A plurality of rollers 3 and 4 for transporting an object are supported in a ladder shape. The roller 3 is a freely rotating idle roller, and the roller 4 is a motor roller. Motor roller 4
Is fixed to the side rails 2 and 2 at both ends of the shaft, rotatably supports a cylindrical body serving as a roller via bearings provided at both ends of the shaft, and a stator is provided on the shaft. A rotor is provided on the inner surface of the cylindrical body facing the rotor, and is configured as a brushless DC motor, for example. Power is supplied to the stator by extracting one end of a lead wire inserted through a hole formed in the shaft from the end of the shaft, and connecting this to the power supply line of the cord 10.

In this embodiment, one motor roller 4 is disposed at the center and the other is an idle roller 3. Further, among the four idle rollers 3, three of the idle rollers 3 have the transported object detection sensor 5 built therein. The transported object detection sensor 5 includes, for example, a contact sensor provided on the outer periphery of the cylindrical body. The lead wire of the transferred object detection sensor 5 is inserted through a hole formed in the shaft, taken out from the end of the shaft, and connected to the connector 6.

The zone control device 11 (controller) attached to the side rail 2 includes a main power supply line (for example, 24 VDC) 12, the cord 10, and a sensor signal line 13 detachably connected to the connector 6. Are connected, and a transmission line 14 is connected to the transmission line mounting terminal 11 a of the zone control device 11. The zone control device 11 controls the driving of the motor roller 4, and includes a control unit 7 and a current switching unit 8 as shown in FIG.
And a magnetic pole detection unit 9. The magnetic pole detection unit 9 receives a signal from, for example, a Hall element (not shown) attached to the shaft of the motor roller 4 from a signal line in the code 10 and outputs a signal regarding the rotor position (magnetic pole) to the current switching unit 8.
To supply. The current switching unit 8 controls the current to the stator based on a signal regarding the rotor position (magnetic pole) to realize the rotation of the motor roller 4. The control unit 7 controls the motor roller 4
Control such as ON / OFF (rotation, stop) and supply current adjustment (forward / reverse rotation, speed adjustment) through the current switching unit 8.

In the zone control device 11, only the two transported object detection sensors selected by the user among the transported object detection sensors 5 provided on the three idle rollers 3 connect the connector 6 and the sensor signal line 13. Are connected through. When the control unit 7 of the zone control device 11 receives a signal indicating the presence of a conveyed object from the conveyed object detection sensor 5 on the upstream side, for example, it starts supplying power to the power supply line of the cord 10 and Is rotated to convey the object,
When the transferred object is detected by the transferred object detection sensor 5 on the downstream side, the power supply to the power supply line is stopped, the rotation of the motor roller 4 is stopped, and the positioning control of the transferred object is performed. Of course, such control is an example, and various controls are possible. Alternatively, only one conveyed object detection sensor 5 may be selected and connected to the zone control device 11. In this case, for example, the motor roller 4 is always rotated and the selected conveyed object is detected. Conveyed object detection sensor 5
For example, when a signal indicating the presence of an object to be transported is received from the controller, control of stopping the rotation of the motor roller 4 can be considered.

When the position where the transferred object is stopped on the conveyor unit 1 is changed, the sensor signal line 13 is disconnected from the connector 6 of the transferred object detection sensor 5 which has been connected up to that time. It is only necessary to reattach the sensor signal line 13 to the connector 6 of the transferred object detection sensor 5 provided at the position after the change. Therefore, there is no need to provide input ports by the number of attached sensors, no need to change the control program when the stop position is changed, and no need to remove the sensor itself and reinstall it at another position. Absent.

In the control example described above, the transported object detection sensor 5
Is received by the zone control device 11 that controls the motor roller 4, and the zone control device 11 controls the motor roller 4. However, the output of the transported object detection sensor 5 is controlled by main control means (for example, Block control device 1
8) receives the command from the main control means.
1 may control the motor roller 4.

Although an example has been described in which a signal is received from two or one transported object detection sensor 5, a configuration may be employed in which signals are received from three or more transported object detection sensors 5. Further, although the conveyed object detection sensor 5 is provided for three of the four idle rollers 3, the conveyed object detection sensor 5 including all the idle rollers 3 or the motor rollers 4 may be provided. With such a configuration, the stop position can be set more finely on the conveyor unit 1, and it is possible to cope with a case where a high accuracy is required for the stop position of the transported object.

As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of conveyor units 1 can be connected to form a transport line. Since the conveyor unit 1 is provided with a transmission line mounting terminal 11a to which a transmission line 14 for transmitting a signal is mounted, the electrical control of the zone control device 11 in the plurality of conveyor units 1 as shown in FIG. Easy connection,
Signal transmission between conveyor units is also possible. In a configuration in which signal transmission is performed between the conveyor units, for example, when information indicating that there is no conveyed object on the downstream conveyor unit 1 is received from the upstream Conveyor unit 1
Can be controlled to start transporting the transported object. Further, when the conveyor units 1 are rearranged by changing the transport line, electrical reconnection between the conveyor units is also easy.

As shown in FIG. 5, one conveyor unit 1 is defined as one zone, a plurality of zones are connected, and a transmission line 14 is connected to the transmission line mounting terminal 11a to form a block. The transmission line 1
4 may be provided with a block control device 18 for transmitting a command to each conveyor unit 1. The conveyor unit 1 'is installed in front of the machine 30 (the inspection machine, the processing machine, the transfer device, and the like for the transferred object), and is hereinafter referred to as a weight point conveyor unit.

The weight point conveyor unit 1 'is provided with a transferred object detection sensor 5 on all four idle rollers 3 to enable fine stop position control. Of course, by providing the transported object detection sensor 5 on the motor roller 4 as well, more detailed stop position control may be performed. By the way, only one sensor signal line 13 is provided, and any one of the sensor signal lines 13 is selected.
In this embodiment, all of the four transported object detection sensors 5 are connected to the block control device 18. Here, for example, when the transport of the transported object is stopped, assuming that the motor roller 4 slightly rotates and stops due to the influence of the inertia or the inertia of the motor roller 4 itself, the transported object is shifted from a desired position and the transported object is moved. Will stop. Thus, even if it is shifted from the desired position and stopped, the outputs of the four transported object detection sensors 5 are checked, and if, for example, the presence of the transported object is detected by any of the three transported object detection sensors 5, ,
It can be confirmed that the transported object is located over the idle roller 3 provided with the three transported object detection sensors 5. That is, the position of the transferred object after the stop can be confirmed. Therefore, based on the confirmed position of the transferred object, a predetermined operation is performed on the machine 30 side, or the motor roller 4 is controlled on the weight point conveyor unit 1 'side.
Can be rotated slightly to adjust the position of the transferred object. In order to reduce undesired rotation of the motor roller 4 due to the inertia of the transferred object, a configuration in which a power generation brake circuit is provided may be employed.

The block controller 18 also controls the drive of the motor roller 4 for the adjacent conveyor unit 1 in addition to the weight point conveyor unit 1 '(control as performed by the zone controller 11). It is rare to install and operate only the weight point conveyor unit 1 '. In many cases, one conveyor unit 1 is connected next to the weight point conveyor unit 1'. Apparatus 1
8 is efficient.

Then, the above-mentioned block control device 18
In addition to the zone control of the weight point conveyor unit 1 ′ and the adjacent conveyor unit 1, the whole other plurality of connected conveyor units 1 are controlled to perform the transfer line control in block units. FIG. 6 shows the electrical connection of the blocks shown in FIG. The block control device 18 may include a sequencer unit 20 and a network unit 21 which also serve as a central control device for motor drive control, as shown in the figure, in addition to the current switching unit 8 and the magnetic pole detection unit 9. . Of course, these circuit configurations can be appropriately changed in design, and are not limited to the illustrated example.

The sequencer unit 20 issues a rotation / stop (RUN / STOP) command, a forward rotation / reverse rotation (CW / CCW) instruction to each control unit 7 through the transmission line 14 based on predetermined control contents. Alternatively, a speed command is issued. For example, when the block control device 18 issues a forward rotation command, the motor roller 4 of each conveyor unit 1 rotates forward to perform forward transport of the transported object as a transport line (block). Then, the motor rollers 4 of the respective conveyor units 1 rotate at the designated speed, and the object to be carried is carried at the designated speed as a carrying line (block). Further, the block control device 18 obtains the detection signal of the transported object from each conveyor unit 1 and gives an individual command to the control unit 7 of each conveyor unit 1 in consideration of the existence status of the transported object on each conveyor unit. Can also be issued. The sequencer unit 20 may include, for example, a CPU and a memory in which a predetermined program is built, in order to perform such control.

Then, as described above, the block control device 1
8 controls the plurality of conveyor units 1 (zones) as a whole and performs transport line control in block units, so that on each conveyor unit 1 (zone) side, the presence / absence of an object to be conveyed in that zone is determined. It is possible to design the system to have only the minimum functions for the motor drive, and to reduce the price of each conveyor unit 1 and to change the transport line by adding the conveyor unit 1. The cost burden on the user side can be reduced.

The network section 21 performs information communication with other blocks and the like, and supplies information from the other blocks and the like to the sequencer section 20 and transmits information from the sequencer section 20 to the other sections. Give to blocks, etc. The provision of the network unit 21 enables each block to be organically connected, and makes it easy to deal with the construction of a complicated transport line.

In the above embodiment, the transported object detection sensor is built in the roller. However, an optical sensor or the like may be provided on the side frame 2 and used as the transported object detection sensor. Further, although a motor roller having a motor built in the roller is used as the driving roller, it may be a roller which is connected to a driving body such as a motor provided outside and rotates.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The accuracy of the transported object position control system can be improved, and the setting of the stop position can be easily changed. For example, if the user selects an object-to-be-conveyed detection sensor and connects it to the detachable connection unit, if the position at which the object to be conveyed stops on the conveyor unit changes, All that is required is to disconnect the connected object detection sensor and reattach the detachable connection to the object detection sensor provided at the position after the change. Therefore, there is no need to provide input ports by the number of attached sensors, no need to change the control program when the stop position is changed, and no need to remove the sensor itself and reinstall it at another position. Absent.

If the transported object detection sensor is provided at a position corresponding to each roller or at each roller itself, a fine stop position can be set on the conveyor unit.
With respect to a conveyor unit that requires a high precision in the stop position of the transported object, it is possible to meet a demand for improved positioning accuracy of the transported object.

In the case where a transmission line mounting terminal portion for mounting a transmission line for transmitting a signal is provided, electrical connection when a plurality of conveyor units are mechanically connected to form a transport line. And signal transmission between the conveyor units is also possible. In addition, when the conveyor units are rearranged by changing the transport line, electrical reconnection between the respective conveyor units is easy.

If the conveyor unit is a zone and a plurality of the units are connected to form a block, and block control means for transmitting a command to each conveyor unit through the transmission line in order to control the block is provided,
By controlling a plurality of conveyor units as a whole, various transport line controls can be performed in block units. Each conveyor unit can be designed to have a minimum function for detecting the presence or absence of a conveyed object in the zone and for driving the motor. In this case, the cost burden on the user side in the case where the conveyor line is changed by adding a conveyor unit can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a conveyor unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram of a zone control device attached to a conveyor unit.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a plurality of connected conveyor units.

4 is a block circuit diagram showing an electrical connection relationship between a plurality of connected conveyor units shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example in which one conveyor unit is used as a zone and a plurality of units are connected to form one block (transport line).

6 is a block circuit diagram showing an electrical connection relationship of the transfer line block shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a conventional conveyor unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Conveyor unit 2 Side rail 3 Idle roller 4 Motor roller 5 Conveyed object detection sensor 6 Connector 7 Control part 8 Current switching part 9 Magnetic pole detection part 10 Power supply line 11 Zone control device (controller) 11a Transmission line mounting terminal part 12 Main power supply Electric wire 13 Sensor signal line 14 Transmission line 18 Block controller 20 Sequencer section 21 Network section

Claims (6)

[Claims] A plurality of rollers arranged in the conveying direction so as to convey an object to be conveyed; driving means for rotating at least one roller; a controller for controlling the operation of the driving means; In a conveyor unit including a plurality of transferred object detection sensors that detect a position of the transferred object, the controller performs predetermined control based on output signals of some of the plurality of transferred object detection sensors. A conveyor unit characterized in that the conveyor unit is configured to: 2. The conveyor unit according to claim 1, wherein the transported object detection sensor is provided at a position corresponding to each roller or at each roller itself. 3. The conveyor unit according to claim 1, wherein the controller performs predetermined control based on detection values of two or more sensors among the plurality of transported object detection sensors. 4. The controller according to claim 1, wherein at least two transmission line mounting terminals for mounting a transmission line for transmitting a signal to and from a controller of another conveyor unit are provided on the controller. The conveyor unit according to 2 or 3. 5. A conveyor line block is formed by arranging a plurality of the conveyor units according to claim 4 in parallel, and the controllers of the respective conveyor units are sequentially connected via a transmission line to control the conveyance in block units. A conveyor control system for supplying a control signal to the transmission line. 6. A plurality of transport line blocks are provided, and the block control means of each block is connected to a central control device such as a sequencer or a management computer, and the block control means is provided from the central control device to each block control means. The conveyor system according to claim 5, wherein a control signal is supplied to a controller of each conveyor unit via a transmission line based on the control signal.