JP2009023743A - Conveying device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a conveyed article from staying on a ball conveyor when a ball conveyor is arranged at a corner and the conveyed article is conveyed in a direction perpendicular to a lead-in direction. <P>SOLUTION: The conveying device is provided with a ball conveyor 4 arranged at a corner of a lead-in passage, supporting the conveyed article led-in by a plurality of balls 41 and conveying the conveyed article in a direction perpendicular to the lead-in direction; and a support base 5 for pivotably supporting the ball conveyor 4 making a support shaft 44 extending in a lead-in direction as a fulcrum. Further, a central area of the ball conveyor 4 is divided to first area X1-fourth area X4, and the height H1 of an upper end of the ball 41 arranged at the first area X1 is made higher than the height H2 of an upper end of the ball 41 arranged at the fourth area X4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a transfer device that changes the transfer direction of a transfer object.

  A combination of a roller conveyor and a ball conveyor is known as a conveyance device that conveys a conveyed product while changing the conveyance direction to a target position (Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  The roller conveyor is a conveyor in which a plurality of rollers are rotatably arranged in parallel on the upper surface, and can convey a conveyed product in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the roller. Moreover, a ball conveyor is a conveyor which has arrange | positioned the ball | bowl severally on the upper surface, and can convey a conveyed product in arbitrary directions.

  In order to change the conveyance direction of a conveyed product, as shown in FIG. 6, a ball conveyor is arrange | positioned in the place (corner) which wants to change a conveyance direction. Thereby, the conveyed product carried in from one roller conveyor to the ball conveyor is changed in the traveling direction to a direction perpendicular to the carrying-in direction without changing the posture, and is carried out to the other roller conveyor.

Furthermore, in a transport apparatus using such roller conveyors and ball conveyors, if each conveyor is tilted along the transport direction, the transported object can be moved by its own weight.
JP 2002-187608 JP Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-178059

  However, when changing the conveyance direction of a conveyed product using a ball conveyor, as shown in FIG. 6, when the conveyed product rotates around the loading direction (in the direction of arrow Y ′ in the figure), When carrying out from a ball conveyor, the corner of a conveyed product is caught in the corner inside a corner, and a conveyed product stops in a ball conveyor. Here, “around the carry-in direction” is a direction in which the ball conveyor rotates from the carry-out side to the carry-in side when viewed from directly above.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional technical problem. When a ball conveyor is arranged at a corner and a conveyed product is carried out in a direction perpendicular to the loading direction, the conveyed product is placed on the ball conveyor. The purpose is to keep up.

  The transport device according to the present invention is arranged at a corner of a carry-in path, supports a carried product to be carried by a plurality of balls, and carries a ball conveyor that carries the conveyed product in a direction perpendicular to the carrying-in direction; A support portion that swingably supports the ball conveyor with an extending support shaft as a fulcrum. Then, the central area of the ball conveyor is a first area on the carry-in side and opposite to the carry-out side, a second area on the carry-in side and on the carry-out side, a side opposite to the carry-in side and the opposite side to the carry-out side. The ball that is divided into a third region, a fourth region on the opposite side to the carry-in side and the carry-out side, and the height of the upper end of the ball arranged in the first region is arranged in the fourth region Make it higher than the height of the top edge.

  According to the present invention, the conveyed product carried into the ball conveyor is arranged around the carry-out direction on the ball conveyor because the upper end of the ball in the first area is higher than the upper end of the ball in the fourth area. It is brought to the carry-out side while rotating slightly. Here, “around the carry-out direction” is a direction in which the ball conveyor rotates from the carry-in side to the carry-out side when viewed from directly above (the direction of arrow Y in FIG. 5).

  When the transported object is brought close to the unloading side, the ball conveyor tilts toward the unloading side with the support shaft as the center, and the transported object is unloaded from the ball conveyor. The corners of the conveyed product are not easily caught at the corners, and the conveyed item can be carried out smoothly.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a top view of a transport device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front view of the transport device. In FIG. 2, a part of the configuration is indicated by a broken line in order to make the structure of the transport device easier to understand.

  This conveying device is for conveying a substantially square base 2 on which a workpiece 1 is placed, and flows the base 2 flowing through the first roller conveyor 3a to a second roller conveyor 3b extending in a direction perpendicular thereto. For this purpose, the ball conveyor 4 is arranged at the corner between the first roller conveyor 3a and the second roller conveyor 3b.

  The first and second roller conveyors 3a and 3b are composed of a plurality of rollers 31 and a frame 32 that supports the plurality of rollers 31 in parallel and rotatably so that the upper ends thereof are exposed, and is placed on the rollers 31. The base 2 is flowed in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the roller 31. Guides 33 are provided on both sides of the frame 32, and the guides 33 guide the base 2 in the transport direction.

  The frame 32 is supported by a plurality of legs 34. An adjuster bolt 35 is screwed into the lower end of the leg portion 34, and the inclination of the frame 32 can be adjusted by adjusting the screwing amount of the adjuster bolt 35. The inclination of the frame 32 of the first roller conveyor 3 a is adjusted so that the ball conveyor 4 side is lowered, and the second roller conveyor 3 b is adjusted so that the opposite side to the ball conveyor 4 is lowered.

  The ball conveyor 4 disposed in the corner includes a plurality of balls 41, a plurality of retainers 42 that rotatably support the plurality of balls 41, and a table 43 on which the plurality of retainers 42 are fixed to the upper surface.

  The ball conveyor 4 is supported by the support base 5 so as to be swingable about a support shaft 44 extending in the carry-in direction of the base 2. The support shaft 44 is located below the table 43 and is arranged at the approximate center of the carry-out side end of the table 43 and the end opposite to the carry-out side.

  The support base 5 is supported by a plurality of leg portions 51, and the inclination of the support base 5 can be adjusted by an adjuster bolt 52 screwed into the lower end of the leg portion 51. The support base 5 is adjusted to be substantially horizontal.

  On the upper surface of the unloading side end of the support base 5 and the upper surface of the end opposite to the unloading side, swing restricting stoppers 53a and 53b for restricting the swing angle of the table 43 are attached. Further, a weight 54 is attached to the end of the table 43 opposite to the carry-out side, and the lower surface of the table 43 comes into contact with the stopper 53a when the base 2 is not placed, so that the table 43 is horizontal. The state is to be kept.

  Further, a braking stopper 7 is attached to the side opposite to the carry-in side of the support base 5 along the end surface opposite to the carry-in side of the ball conveyor 4. The braking stopper 7 is made of an elastic body such as rubber at least on the carry-in side, and comes into contact with the tip of the base 2 carried into the ball conveyor 4 to stop the movement of the base 2 in the carry-in direction.

  Here, the balls 41 of the ball conveyor 4 are arranged on the upper surface of the table 43 over the entire circumference, but are only partially arranged inside thereof. Further, in the central region X, whether or not the ball 41 is arranged, and when the ball 41 is arranged, the height thereof varies depending on the position.

  FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the central region X. FIG. The central region X is a first region X1 on the carry-in side and opposite to the carry-out side, a second region X2 on the carry-in side and on the carry-out side, and a third region on the opposite side to the carry-in side and opposite to the carry-out side. X3, when divided into four areas of the fourth area X4 on the opposite side to the carry-in side and the carry-out side, the ball 41 is arranged only in the first and fourth areas X1, X4, and the second and third It is not arranged in the areas X2 and X3. In addition, although the center area | region X is made into the rectangle long in the carrying-in direction here, the shape of the center area | region X is not restricted to this, Circular, an ellipse, a square, etc. may be sufficient.

  Further, the height of the retainer 42 of the ball 41 disposed in the first region X1 is higher than the height of the retainer 42 of the ball 41 disposed in the fourth region X4, thereby causing the ball 41 from the upper surface of the table 43 to rise. The height H1 in the first region X1 is higher than the height H4 in the fourth region X4.

  Therefore, according to this configuration, the base 2 carried into the ball conveyor 4 from the first roller conveyor 3a is slightly around the carry-out direction around the area supported by the balls 41 arranged in the first region X1. It is brought to the carry-out side while rotating. “Around the carry-out direction” is a direction (in the direction of arrow Y in FIG. 5) that rotates from the carry-in side to the carry-out side around the ball conveyer 4 when the ball conveyer 4 is viewed from directly above.

  Further, the movement of the base 2 in the loading direction is stopped by the braking stopper 7. The braking stopper 7 is shown in FIG. 4 in order to prevent the base 2 from bouncing back and rotating around the loading direction. As shown, the inclination of the contact surface 71 with the base 2 becomes gentler toward the carry-out side.

  4A and 4B are views of the braking stopper 7 in FIG. 1 as viewed from the A direction and the B direction, respectively. The cross section of the contact surface 71 is an arc, and the radius of curvature of the arc increases as it approaches the carry-out side. As a result, the inclination of the contact surface 71 is steepest at the end opposite to the carry-out side shown in FIG. 4 (a) and becomes gentler toward the carry-out side, and the carry-out side shown in FIG. 4 (b). The slope is the gentlest at the end of the.

  In the figure, the inclination of the contact surface 71 is exaggerated, the actual radius of curvature is larger than this, and the inclination is steep. Further, the contact surface 71 may be a flat surface, and the inclination angle of the contact surface 71 with respect to the horizontal surface may be reduced as the distance from the carry-out side becomes closer.

  Next, the operation of the transfer device will be described.

  FIG. 5 shows a state in which the base 2 on which the workpiece 1 is placed is transported by the transport device.

  The base 2 carried into the ball conveyor 4 from the roller conveyor 3a is brought close to the carry-out side while rotating slightly around the carry-out direction as shown by the arrow Y in the figure, depending on the arrangement and height of the balls 41 in the central region X. . Even if the tip of the base 2 comes into contact with the braking stopper 7 and the movement of the base 2 in the loading direction is stopped, the inclination of the contact surface 71 becomes gentler as it approaches the carry-out side. The rebound of the carry-out side of 2 is small, and the rotation of the base 2 around the carry-in direction is suppressed.

  When the base 2 is brought close to the carry-out side, the ball conveyor 4 is inclined toward the carry-out side around the support shaft 44 due to the weight of the work 1 and the base 2, and the base 2 moves in the carry-out direction. Since the corner located inside the corner of the base 2 reaches a position beyond the corner of the guide 33 inside the corner, the corner of the base 2 is not caught by the corner of the guide 33, and the base 2 is the second roller conveyor. It is smoothly carried out to 3b.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but the above embodiment is merely one example of application of the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention is limited to the specific configuration of the above embodiment. is not.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the roller conveyor is connected to both the upstream side and the downstream side of the ball conveyor 4, but the upstream side connected to the ball conveyor 4 and the conveyor connected to the downstream side are not limited to roller conveyors, In addition to a belt conveyor and a ball conveyor, a general chute that conveys a conveyed product using an inclined surface may be used.

It is a top view of the conveying apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a front view of the conveying apparatus which concerns on this invention. (A) shows arrangement | positioning of the ball | bowl in a center area | region, (b) has shown the difference in the upper end position of the ball | bowl in a center area | region. It is a side view of a stopper, (a) is A arrow directional view of FIG. 1, (b) is B arrow directional view of FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the conveying apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

2 Base (conveyed item)
4 Ball conveyor 41 Ball 44 Support shaft 5 Support base 7 Braking stopper X Central area

Claims (4)

A ball conveyor that is arranged at a corner of the carry-in path, supports a carried article to be carried by a plurality of balls, and carries the conveyed article in a direction perpendicular to the carrying-in direction;
A support portion that swingably supports the ball conveyor with a support shaft extending in the loading direction as a fulcrum,
The central area of the ball conveyor is a first area on the carry-in side and opposite to the carry-out side, a second area on the carry-in side and on the carry-out side, and a third area on the opposite side to the carry-in side and opposite to the carry-out side. The upper end of the ball disposed in the fourth region is divided into a fourth region on the opposite side to the carry-in side and the carry-out side. A conveying device characterized in that it is higher than the height.   2. The transport device according to claim 1, wherein in the central region, the balls are arranged only in the first and fourth regions, and the balls are not arranged in the second and third regions. . It is arranged along the end surface opposite to the carry-in side of the ball conveyor, and includes a braking stopper that stops the movement of the conveyed product in the loading direction by contacting the tip of the conveyed product,
The conveying device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the inclination of the contact surface of the braking stopper with the conveyed object is gentler on the unloading side than on the unloading side.   The conveying device according to claim 3, wherein the cross section of the contact surface is an arc, and the radius of curvature of the arc is larger on the unloading side than on the unloading side.

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