JP2009023812A - Conveying vehicle system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To correctly stop a conveying vehicle with respect to a station. <P>SOLUTION: When a cargo bed 8 is not present in a center part of a station 4, one pusher is firstly abutted on the station 4, and the cargo bed slides in the right-to-left direction by its reaction force. When a pair of pushers 20, 20 are abutted on the station 4, sprockets 14, 15 are not rotated, which is detected by a rotary encoder or the like. Next, a motor is slightly driven in the reverse direction to release the abutting of the pusher 20 on the station 4, and the motor is stopped and locked. In this condition, the cargo bed 8 is positioned at the center part of the station 4, and when the cargo bed is elevated by using a pantograph, a roll can be positioned in a centered state with respect to the cargo bed 8. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a transport vehicle system such as an automatic guided vehicle, a stacker crane, and a tracked carriage.

In order to transfer an article to or from a station using a transport vehicle such as an automatic guided vehicle, it is necessary to accurately stop the transport vehicle with respect to the station (Patent Document 1). However, when the transport vehicle is traversed at right angles to the normal traveling direction, the stop accuracy of the transport vehicle is lowered. Therefore, in such a case, it is necessary to enable accurate positioning with respect to the station even if the accuracy of the stop position of the transport vehicle is low.
JP-A-8-161044

An object of the present invention is to accurately position the carrier of the transport vehicle with respect to the station.
An additional problem in the invention of claim 2 resides in that the carrier is centered with respect to the carriage of the carriage during traveling.
An additional object of the invention of claim 3 is to position the cargo bed with a simple mechanism.

The transport vehicle system of the present invention is a transport vehicle system for transferring articles between a station and a loading platform of the transport vehicle.
Provided on the transport vehicle in a horizontal plane and along the positioning direction of the loading platform, to support the loading platform slidably with respect to the cart of the transportation vehicle, and to both ends of the loading platform along the positioning direction Providing at least a pair of pushers and a drive part for moving the at least one pair of pushers back and forth in the opposite directions along the positioning direction;
The station is provided with at least a pair of abutting portions that abut against the at least one pair of pushers.

Preferably, the carriage is provided with a positioning portion that contacts the at least one pair of pushers.
Preferably, the drive unit includes an endless winding transmission member, at least a pair of sprockets or gears for driving the transmission member, and a motor, and the at least one pair of pushers is attached to the transmission member.

  In this invention, at least a pair of pushers provided on the carrier of the transport vehicle is brought into contact with at least a pair of contact portions provided in the station. When one of the pair of pushers comes into contact with the contact portion first, the cargo bed slides against the carriage of the transport vehicle by the reaction force, and the load platform stops at the position where the pair of pushers both contact the contact portion of the station. To do. For this reason, the loading platform can be accurately positioned with respect to the station.

When the positioning unit is provided on the carriage and is brought into contact with at least a pair of pushers, the loading platform can be positioned with respect to the carriage. For this reason, the carrier can be centered with respect to the carriage when traveling.
Further, when the pusher drive unit is composed of an endless winding transmission member such as a chain or belt, a motor, a sprocket or a gear, and the pusher is attached to the conductive member, the pusher can be easily moved forward and backward.

  In the following, an optimum embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be shown.

  1 to 5 show an embodiment and its modifications. In each figure, 2 is an automatic guided vehicle and may be a tracked carriage or the like, and 4 is a station fixed on the ground side, and is provided with a mounting portion 5 having a V-shaped groove or the like. Reference numeral 6 denotes a cart that is a main body of the automatic guided vehicle 2, and reference numeral 8 denotes a cargo bed. Linear guides 10 are provided at, for example, four locations on the upper surface of the carriage 6 and are slid between the guide rails 12 provided on the loading platform 8 side. The number of linear guides 10 and the like is arbitrary, and the linear guides 10 may be provided on the loading platform 8 side and the guide rails 12 may be provided on the cart 6 side.

  A pair of left and right sprockets 14 and 15 are provided at the bottom of the cover of the loading platform 8, and the chain 16 is wound around the endless. In this specification, the left and right are directions in which the loading platform 8 is positioned, and are also the traveling directions of the automatic guided vehicle 2. When the pair of moving elements 18 and 19 are fixed to the chain 16 and the chain 16 is driven, the moving elements 18 and 19 advance and retreat in the left and right reverse directions. Then, pushers 20 are attached to the movers 18 and 19, respectively, and are brought into contact with the contact surfaces composed of the left and right portions of the station 4. Reference numeral 21 denotes a positioning part, which is a member for positioning the loading platform 8 with respect to the carriage 6 and is arranged in the loading platform 8 through the hole 22 upward from the carriage 6. Reference numeral 24 denotes a pantograph, which is an example of a lifter that raises and lowers the loading platform 8 with respect to the carriage 6, and 26 is a load receiver. Reference numeral 28 denotes traveling wheels, and the automatic guided vehicle 2 traverses the station 4 by changing its traveling direction by 90 ° and enters the station 4. For this reason, the accuracy of the stop position of the automatic guided vehicle 2 with respect to the station 4 is low. Reference numeral 30 denotes a roll as a transfer article, which is made of steel or the like, wound around the mandrel 31, and transferred between the placing portion 5 of the station 4 and the load receiver 26.

  The operation of the embodiment will be described. Since the automatic guided vehicle 2 enters the station 4 in a transverse manner, the accuracy of the stop position is low. Here, when the roll 30 is loaded from the placing portion 5 with the accuracy of the stop position being low, the position of the roll 30 is about 2 of the error of the stop position of the automatic guided vehicle 2 when unloading to the next station. It will be doubled. When such conveyance is repeated, the roll 30 may fall from the placement unit 5 or may not be correctly received by the load receiver 26.

  FIG. 3 shows the situation of the loading platform 8 during traveling. The pusher 20 is drawn onto the automatic guided vehicle 2, the movers 18 and 19 are in a position where they abut against the positioning portion 21, and the sprockets 14 and 15 are locked. The sprockets 14 and 15 are operated by a motor (not shown) and can be locked by a brake integrated with the motor. When centering the loading platform 8 with respect to the carriage 6, the sprockets 14 and 15 are driven until both the pair of moving elements 18 and 19 come into contact with the positioning portion 21. If the loading platform 8 is not centered with respect to the carriage 6, one of the pair of movers 18 and 19 comes into contact with the positioning portion 21 first.

  The loading platform 8 is slidable in the left-right direction with respect to the carriage 6 by a guide rail 12 and a linear guide 10. For this reason, when one of the sliders comes into contact first, the loading platform 8 slides due to the reaction force that the slider receives from the positioning portion 21 due to the contact, and slides until the pair of sliders 18 and 19 come into contact with the positioning portion 21 together. To do. When the pair of movers 18 and 19 both come into contact with the positioning portion 21, the sprockets 14 and 15 do not rotate. This is detected by a rotary encoder or the like, and the motor or brake is locked. Thus, the loading platform 8 is centered with respect to the carriage 6.

  FIG. 4 shows the positioning of the loading platform 8 to the station 4. The automatic guided vehicle 2 enters the inside of the station 4 in a traversing manner, and stops when it enters a target distance. Here, before operating the pantograph 24 as a lifter, the sprockets 14 and 15 are driven, and the movers 18 and 19 are driven in the opposite directions in the left-right direction. When the loading platform 8 does not exist in the central portion of the station 4, one pusher comes into contact with the station 4 first, so that the loading platform 8 slides in the left-right direction by the reaction force. When the pair of pushers 20 and 20 come into contact with the station 4, the sprockets 14 and 15 do not rotate, and this is detected by a rotary encoder or the like. Next, the motor is slightly reversed to release the contact between the pusher 20 and the station 4, and the motor is stopped and locked. At this time, the loading platform 8 is positioned at the center of the station 4. When the loading platform 8 is raised using the pantograph 24, the roll 30 can be positioned in a centered state with respect to the loading platform 8. Then, the pantograph 24 is lowered and the carrier 8 is centered with respect to the carriage 6 as shown in FIG.

  As described above, the loading platform 8 can be accurately positioned and transferred with respect to the station 4, and the loading platform 8 can be accurately centered with respect to the carriage 6 after the article is placed on the loading receptacle 26. In the case of empty loading, the loading platform 8 may not be centered with respect to the cart 6. For the centering, the chain 16 may be driven by a motor (not shown). Further, since the pusher is brought into contact with the station 4 and then retracted, the friction between the pusher 20 and the station 4 does not hinder the operation of the pantograph 24. Furthermore, if a roller is provided at the tip of the pusher, the loading platform can be raised and lowered while the pusher is in contact with the station. In the embodiment, an example in which the automatic guided vehicle 2 traverses to the station 4 has been shown. However, in order to compensate for a lack of stop accuracy of the automatic guided vehicle 2 to the station 4, the present invention is not limited to traversing.

Although the application to the automatic guided vehicle is shown in the embodiment, it can be applied to a stacker crane or the like. Such an example is shown in FIG. 5, and the same symbols as those in FIGS. 40 is a lifting platform for the stacker crane, 42 is a slide fork, and the loading platform 8 is mounted on the top unit of the slide fork 42 through a linear guide 10 and a guide rail 12 so as to be slidable left and right. Mounted on top. Reference numeral 44 denotes a shelf column and 46 denotes a shelf holder. When the loading platform 8 is moved into the shelf for transfer, the pushers 20 and 20 are moved forward and left by the chain 16 and positioned using, for example, the shelf receiver 46. Next, the motor is slightly reversed to release the contact between the shelf holder 46 and the pusher 20. Thereafter, the elevator 40 is moved up and down to transfer the article to and from the shelf receiver 46. When the slide fork 42 is returned and the loading platform 8 is returned onto the lifting platform 40, the loading platform 8 is centered with respect to the lifting platform 40 using the positioning portion 21 fixed to the top unit of the slide fork 42.

Plan view of automatic guided vehicle and station in the embodiment Side view of automated guided vehicle and station in the example The top view which shows the unmanned conveyance vehicle in driving | running | working in an Example, removing a luggage carrier cover The top view which shows positioning of the loading platform of the automatic guided vehicle to the station in an Example The figure which shows the modification which mounted the loading platform of an Example on the slide fork of a stacker crane, removes a loading platform cover and shows

Explanation of symbols

2 Automatic guided vehicle 4 Station 5 Groove 6 Cart 8 Loading platform 10 Linear guide 12 Guide rails 14 and 15 Sprocket 16 Chains 18 and 19 Mover 20 Pusher 21 Positioning portion 22 Hole 24 Pantograph 26 Load 28 Traveling wheel 30 Roll 31 Mandrel 40 Lifting platform 42 Slide fork 44 Post 46 Shelf holder

Claims (3)

In a transport vehicle system for transferring articles between a station and a carrier platform,
Provided on the transport vehicle in a horizontal plane and along the positioning direction of the loading platform, to support the loading platform slidably with respect to the cart of the transportation vehicle, and to both ends of the loading platform along the positioning direction Providing at least a pair of pushers and a drive part for moving the at least one pair of pushers back and forth in the opposite directions along the positioning direction;
The transport vehicle system according to claim 1, wherein the station is provided with at least a pair of abutting portions that abut against the at least one pair of pushers. The transport vehicle system according to claim 1, wherein the carriage is provided with a positioning portion that contacts the at least one pair of pushers. The drive unit is composed of an endless winding transmission member, at least a pair of sprockets or gears for driving the transmission member, and a motor, and the at least one pair of pushers is attached to the transmission member. The carrier vehicle system according to claim 1 or 2.

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