JP2003267536A - Commodity carrying device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a commodity carrying technique being conveniently applicable to commodities having different sizes and shapes and allowing the accurate and stable carriage of plate commodities such as pallets, when in rising conditions, to a predetermined position. <P>SOLUTION: This commodity carrying device comprises two-line endless travelling means consisting of chain conveyors 14, 15 provided in parallel along the carrying direction of the commodities such as pallets 1, driving means such as servo motors 29, 30 for individually driving the endless travelling means, and locking members 20-23 mounted on the endless travelling means. The pallet 1 is placed between the locking members 20, 22 or 21, 23 mounted on the endless travelling means and at least one endless travelling means is driven to lock the locking members 20-23 before and after the commodity, and then both endless travelling means are driven to carry the commodity to the predetermined position. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article transport apparatus suitable for articles having many different sizes and shapes such as pallets. 2. Description of the Related Art With regard to pallet cleaning, pallets stacked horizontally in a magazine or the like are taken out one by one, and are erected so that one side becomes a bottom. Dehydration or drying treatment,
There is known a pallet cleaning system including a series of steps of returning the pallets to a horizontal state, stacking them, and carrying them out (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 6-52973, JP-A-2000-2000).
No. -15193). In the case of a system in which a washing process, a dehydrating process, or the like is performed in a state where the pallet is in an upright state, there is a possibility that the pallet can relatively easily cope with a pallet having a different size and a different aspect ratio constituting a square. Therefore, the present applicant is also proceeding with the development. By the way, in this type of pallet washing system, if the pallet can be started from a preset reference position on the premise that the pallet is conveyed to a predetermined position, it is extremely effective for automation of the apparatus. is there. However, there is no pallet transfer technology that can easily handle pallets having different sizes and shapes and that can accurately and stably transfer the pallets to a predetermined position in an upright state. For this reason, the dual use of the apparatus, which is an advantage of performing the processing on the pallet in the upright state, has not been fully utilized. [0003] The present invention has been developed in view of the above-mentioned conventional technical situation, and can easily cope with articles having different sizes and shapes. It is an object of the present invention to provide an article conveying technique capable of accurately and stably conveying a plate-like article such as a pallet to a predetermined position even when conveying the article in an upright state. [0004] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides two rows of endless running means arranged side by side in the direction of transporting articles, and the endless running means. A driving means for separately driving, and a locking piece attached to each endless traveling means, wherein the article is placed between the locking pieces attached to each endless traveling means having an interval larger than the article. Then, at least one of the endless running means is driven to lock each of the locking pieces before and after the article, and then both endless running means are driven to convey the article. That is, by driving one endless traveling means via the driving means after the article is placed between the locking pieces, one of the locking pieces is moved relative to the other. Then, the technical means of narrowing the interval between the two and locking the locking pieces in front and behind of the article was adopted. Therefore, even when the size or shape of the article is changed, it is dealt with in the process of driving the one endless traveling means. Moreover, by driving both endless traveling means, the article is transported in a state in which the front and rear are locked by the locking pieces, so that the transport is stably performed and the article is accurately positioned at a predetermined position. Can be transported. Further, since the front and rear of the article are supported by the locking pieces, it is possible to reliably support the article only by supporting the upper part. [0005] The present invention is suitable for pallets, trays, containers, and the like, which have many types having different sizes and shapes. However, the present invention is not limited to this and can be widely applied as a means for transporting articles. For example, in the case of a resin pallet,
Weight of about 30kg, thickness 130mm-150mm
Although some are used, they can be widely applied without being limited to these forms. There are also two-way pallets and four-way pallets for the fork insertion form, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to both forms. In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied not only to a series of systems such as a washing step and a dehydrating step but also to a pallet conveying means of a single step. Further, although related to the above-mentioned application targets, the number of articles conveyed at the same time can be applied singly or in large numbers. Regarding the endless traveling means, any suitable traveling means such as a chain conveyor can be used. For example, as in the following embodiments, the locking piece may be provided on the article conveying means itself such as a chain conveyor for conveying pallets, or a free roller conveyor or the like may be used as the conveying means for conveying articles. Endless running means such as a chain or a belt may be disposed on both sides thereof, and the locking pieces provided on the endless running means may be locked to the article from the side. . Further, endless traveling means such as a chain or a belt may be vertically arranged in two stages on one side of a conveying means such as a free roller conveyor, and locking pieces may be provided respectively. In addition, regarding a specific method for locking the locking pieces back and forth of the article after placing the article between the locking pieces having an interval larger than that of the article, one locking piece is used to lock the other locking piece. If it is relatively movable with respect to the stopper and narrows the gap between them, and if the locking piece can be locked before and after the article,
Any form may be used. For example, the article may be placed at a position where its front part is locked to the front locking piece, and then the rear locking piece may be moved forward to be locked at the rear part of the article. An article is placed on the middle part of the article so as not to be locked by either of the locking pieces, and then both locking pieces are moved to be locked to the front and rear of the article, or one of the locking pieces Is moved to lock the front or rear part of the article, and after the locking, by moving the locking piece together with the article,
The other part of the article may be locked with the other locking piece. In addition, if the interval between the locking pieces is set to be larger than the maximum front-rear width of the article, all the articles can be handled. An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to the transfer of a pallet will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic layout diagram showing a layout of a main part of the embodiment.
The pallets 1 are stored in a state where a plurality of pallets are stacked horizontally on a magazine 2, and are conveyed one by one to an erecting means 4 via a discharge conveyor 3. The pallet 1 conveyed to the erecting means 4 is erected so that the front and back surfaces are vertical with the side end constituting one side as the bottom, and is placed on the carry-in conveyor 5 in an erect state. The pallet 1 placed on the carry-in conveyor 5 is conveyed to a predetermined position of the cleaning chamber 6 while standing up, and sprays cleaning liquid from spray nozzles 7 and 8 movably disposed on both sides of the cleaning chamber 6. As a result, pallet cleaning is performed. In this embodiment, the transfer of the pallet 1 to the cleaning chamber 6 is performed as follows.
As will be described later, regardless of the size of the pallet 1 or the aspect ratio of the square, the pallet 1 is conveyed so that the front portion thereof coincides with a predetermined stop position, and the cleaning nozzle is moved from a preset reference position based on the stop position. The desired cleaning process is performed by sequentially lowering 7, 8 while reciprocating left and right, for example. By the way, as the cleaning liquid, tap water, detergent-added liquid, gas-liquid mixed flow in which gas is mixed into liquid, or, in case of heavy dirt, cleaning liquid heated or mixed with granular media Use of such is possible. Alternatively, a form in which rinsing is added after washing with a detergent may be used. After the above cleaning process, the pallet 1 which has been cleaned
Is transported to the dehydration chamber 9 while standing. When the pallet 1 conveyed to the dewatering chamber 9 is lifted from the carry-in conveyor 5, the pallet 1 is tilted with one corner portion as a bottom by, for example, an appropriate tilting means, and the centrifugal dewatering means 10 is kept in the tilted state.
And the centrifugal dehydration of the droplets attached to the pallet 1 is performed. The operation efficiency can be improved by increasing the number of the centrifugal dewatering means 10 installed. The pallet 1 having been subjected to the centrifugal spin-drying is conveyed to the carry-out conveyor 11 in an inclined state, and the carry-out conveyor 11 is returned while the inclined state is returned to an upright state having one side as a bottom.
Placed on top. The dewatered pallet 1 placed on the unloading conveyor 11 is transported in the upright state to the tipping means 12, where the pallet 1 is turned over horizontally by the tipping means 12, and a plurality of pallets are passed through the pallet stocker 13 and the like. The sheets are carried out in a stacked state or one by one. The upright means 4 and the overturning means 12 are different in terms of their usage depending on whether the pallet 1 in the horizontal state is to be erected or the pallet 1 in the upright state is to be lowered in the horizontal state. A mechanism is available. FIG. 2 is a view of the part of the pallet conveying device, which is a characteristic part of the present invention, as viewed in the direction of arrows AA in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a view in the direction of arrows BB in FIG. FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory view schematically showing the features of the present invention. As mentioned above, pallet 1
Is conveyed to the erecting means 4 and is raised so that the front and back surfaces are vertical with the side end constituting one side as the bottom, and as shown in FIG. Is placed. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, two rows of chain conveyors 14 and 15 are employed as the carry-in conveyor 5 up to the cleaning chamber 6 and are provided above the chain conveyors 14 and 15. The pallet 1 was placed in an upright state and transported, and the subsequent transport to the dehydration chamber 9 was configured to use another chain conveyor. The chain conveyors 14 and 15 each include a driving sprocket 1
6 and 17 and the driven sprockets 18 and 19, and are individually driven by the rotational force of the driving sprockets 16 and 17. In the present embodiment, one of the chain conveyors 14
Locking pieces 20 and 21 are installed on the other chain conveyor 15, and locking pieces 22 and 23 are installed on the other chain conveyor 15, respectively.
Between the locking piece 22 and the locking piece 21 or the locking piece 23
And the pallet 1 is locked and transported. The driving sprockets 16 and 17 are, as shown in FIGS.
7, the sprockets 26, 2 fixed to the rotating shafts 24, 25
7 and sprockets 30 and 31 fixed to the output shafts of the servomotors 28 and 29, and chains 32 and 33 extending between them.
And the like, the servo motor 2 as the drive motor
It is configured to be driven separately by 8, 29. In addition,
Reference numerals 34 and 35 in FIG. 4 denote guide members for preventing the chain conveyors 14 and 15 from loosening.
By supporting and guiding the pallet 5 from below, the pallet 1 is configured to be prevented from loosening when placed. When the pallets 1 are conveyed one by one from the magazine 2 via the discharge conveyor 3 to the erecting means 4, the erecting means 4 places the pallet 1 on the side end forming one side as a bottom. It stands upright so that the back surface is vertical, and is placed on the chain conveyors 14 and 15 constituting the carry-in conveyor 5. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the pallets 1 are arranged on the chain conveyors 14 and 15 so that the positions on the rear side are aligned. Further, an interval is formed between the pallet 1 and the front locking portion 20 so as to be able to cope with a change in the size of the pallet 1 and a change in the aspect ratio of the square. As shown in the figure, when the pallet 1 is placed on the chain conveyors 14 and 15 with an interval between the pallet 1 and the front locking piece 20, first, as shown in FIG. One of the chain conveyors 15 is driven through the
Advance 2 Thereby, the locking piece 22 is locked to the rear portion of the pallet 1 soon. Furthermore, a chain conveyor 15
Is continued, the locking piece 22 pushes the pallet 1 forward, and the front part of the pallet 1 is locked with the front locking piece 20 soon. That is, a state is reached in which the locking pieces 20, 22 are locked to the front and rear portions of the pallet 1. This state is detected by detecting the front of the pallet 1 by a position sensor (not shown),
This is detected by detecting the pressing force acting on the locking piece 20 or the like by the load sensor, and thereafter, the two chain conveyors 14 and 1 are driven via the servomotors 28 and 29.
5 is driven. As a result, the pallet 1 is stably transported in a state where the pallet 1 is locked back and forth by the locking pieces 20 and 22. Incidentally, in the case of pallets of different shapes exemplified by the two-dot chain line in FIG. Therefore, for example, in the case of transporting pallets of different types and sizes for each batch or each magazine 2, or in the case of sequentially transporting pallets of different sizes and shapes in a mixed state, the type change operation on the apparatus side is also required. It is possible to simply respond without performing. When the pallet 1 is conveyed to the cleaning chamber 6 and the front or the locking piece 20 of the pallet 1 is detected by the deceleration start position sensor 36 shown in FIG. 2, the servo motors 28 and 29 are used. Both chain conveyors 14,1
5 is gradually decelerated, and stops when the stop position sensor 37 detects the front portion of the pallet 1 or the locking piece 20. In this case, the locking pieces 20,
The pallet 1 is stopped at the stop position by the stop control by the servomotors 28 and 29 because the pallet 1 is locked by the chain conveyor 22 and is directly connected to the chain conveyors 14 and 15. In this stopped state, the upper holding members 38 and 39 are lowered by a suitable driving means such as a cylinder (not shown) to hold the upper portion of the pallet 1, so that the pallet 1 can be held simply and reliably. Thereafter, as described above, the intended cleaning process is performed by sequentially lowering the cleaning nozzles 7 and 8 while reciprocating left and right, for example, from a preset reference position based on the stop position. During this cleaning process,
Since there are no obstacles such as support means for blocking the front and back surfaces of the pallet 1, accurate washing without shadows is possible. When the cleaning process is completed, the servomotors 28, 2
The chain conveyors 14 and 15 are driven through the pallet 9 and the pallet 1 is transported to the next dehydration chamber 9 to perform a dehydration process. The drive of the chain conveyors 14 and 15 is further continued by the servo motors 28 and 29.
The locking piece 21 installed on the chain conveyor 14 is moved to the position of the locking piece 20 shown in FIG.
At the time when the locking piece 23 installed at the position moves to the position of the locking piece 21 shown in FIG. As a result, the chain conveyors 14 and 15 move the next pallet 1
Then, the process returns to the standby state waiting for the supply of the image data, and thereafter, the above-described transport operation is repeated. In the above embodiment, the four locking pieces 2
The pallet 1 is configured to lock the front and back of the pallet 1 sequentially by using two sets of the locking pieces 20 and 22 and the locking pieces 21 and 23 using 0 to 23. It is also possible to adopt a configuration consisting of a single combination using the locking pieces, or to further increase the locking pieces so that a plurality of pallets can be transported simultaneously in response to a large number of work processes. is there. FIGS. 6 to 9 are schematic explanatory views showing another embodiment, and illustrate a case where four locking pieces 40 to 47 are installed on the chain conveyors 14 and 15, respectively. Things. As shown in the figure, locking pieces 40 to 43 on one chain conveyor 14, for example, and locking pieces 44 to 47 on the other chain conveyor 15 are installed at equal intervals. FIG. 6 corresponds to the state shown in FIG. 2 and shows a state where the pallet 1a is placed between the locking pieces 40 and 44. In this state, when the chain conveyor 15 is driven to advance the locking piece 44, the locking piece 44 is locked at a rear portion of the pallet 1a, and the driving of the chain conveyor 15 is continued, so that the pallet 1a is driven. The front part is locked to the front locking piece 40. That is, the state shown in FIG. 7 is reached in which the locking pieces 40 and 44 are locked on the front and rear portions of the pallet 1a. Thereafter, both chain conveyors 14 and 15 are driven to lock the front and rear of the pallet 1a with the locking pieces 4 respectively.
While being locked at 0,44, it is transported to, for example, the cleaning position shown in FIG. Then, at the stop position, after completing an intended operation process such as a cleaning operation, or before starting the operation as the case may be, the chain conveyor 14 is driven as shown in FIG. The space between the locking piece 41 and the locking piece 45 is enlarged by advancing the 43, and the locking pieces 40 to 47 are set in the same positional relationship as in FIG. 6 in which the next pallet 1b is on standby. Thereby, the locking piece 40 is temporarily separated from the front portion of the front pallet 1a. Thereafter, when the next pallet 1b is placed between the engaging pieces 41 and 45, the chain conveyor 15 is driven in the same manner as described above. And the chain conveyor 1
By continuing the driving of the pallet 5, the front portion of the pallet 1b is locked to the front locking piece 41. Simultaneously with this, by driving the chain conveyor 15, the front pallet 1a is pushed by the locking piece 44, and the front portion is locked by the locking piece 40 which has been separated previously. That is, before and after the previous pallet 1a and the current pallet 1b, the locking pieces 40 and 44 or the locking pieces 41 and 41, respectively.
45 is locked. Thereafter, both chain conveyors 14 and 15 are driven to simultaneously transport the pallet 1a and the pallet 1b to a predetermined position with the locking pieces 40 and 44 or the locking pieces 41 and 45 locked before and after them. Thereafter, the above operation is repeated. According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (1) A technical means in which, after an article is placed between the locking pieces, at least one of the endless running means is driven to reduce the distance between the two locking pieces and lock the article forward and backward. Since it is adopted, it is possible to easily cope with a case where the size or shape of the article changes. Therefore, the device can be shared. (2) In addition, after the locking pieces are locked before and after the article, by driving both endless running means, the article is transported in a state where the front and rear of the article are locked by the locking pieces. Therefore, the article can be stably moved while being transported, and can be accurately transported to a predetermined position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic layout diagram showing a layout of a main part of an embodiment to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 2A shows a part of a pallet conveying device;
FIG. FIG. 3 is a view taken in the direction of arrows BB in FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 3; FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory view schematically showing a pallet transfer device. FIG. 6 is a schematic explanatory view showing another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a schematic explanatory view showing another operation state in the embodiment. FIG. 8 is a schematic explanatory view showing another operation state in the embodiment. FIG. 9 is a schematic explanatory view showing another operation state in the embodiment. [Explanation of reference numerals] 1 ... pallet, 2 ... magazine, 3 ... discharge conveyor, 4 ...
Standing-up means, 5 ... Conveyor, 6 ... Cleaning chamber, 7, 8 ... Nozzle, 9 ... Dehydration chamber, 10 ... Centrifugal dewatering means, 11 ... Conveyor, 12 ... Tipping means, 13 ... Pallet stocker, 14, 15 ... Chain conveyors, 16, 17 ... drive sprockets, 18, 19 ... driven sprockets, 20 to 20
23 ... locking piece, 24, 25 ... rotating shaft, 26, 27 ... sprocket, 28, 29 ... servomotor, 30, 31 ... sprocket, 32, 33 ... chain, 34, 35 ... loosening prevention guide member, 36 ... Deceleration start position sensor, 37 ...
Stop position sensor, 38, 39 ... upper holding member, 40-4
7 ... locking piece

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. An endless running means comprising two rows of endless running means arranged side by side in the direction of transporting an article, driving means for individually driving the endless running means, and each endless running means. An article is placed between the engaging pieces attached to the endless running means having a larger spacing than the article, and the at least one endless running means is driven. An article conveying apparatus characterized in that, after each of the locking pieces is locked before and after the article, both endless traveling means are driven to convey the article.