JP2012158396A - Conveying equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide conveying equipment that can reduce construction costs by simplifying a structure of a driving section to dispense with a floor drilling operation and the like and that facilitates the widening and extension of a line.SOLUTION: The conveying equipment 10 drives chains 41 and 41 in a driving mechanism to continuously move slats 42, 42, ... in a conveyance direction along a conveying section formed on a top surface of a frame 52, to continuously move the slats 42, 42, ... in a direction opposite to the conveyance direction along a backward feed section formed between a floor surface and the frame 52, to move the slats 42, 42, ... on a one-by-one basis to the backward feed section from the conveying section without turning top and under surfaces of the slats 42, 42, ... upside down, at a front-side end on the conveyance-direction downstream side of the frame 52, and to move the slats 42, 42, ... on the one-by-one basis to the conveying section from the backward feed section without turning the top and under surfaces of the slats 42, 42, ... upside down, at a rear-side end on the conveyance-direction upstream side of the frame 52.

Description

  The present invention relates to a transport device, and more particularly to a transport device using a slat conveyor.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in an automobile assembly facility or a logistics facility, a transport device using a so-called slat conveyor in which a plurality of slats (transport plates) are spanned between a pair of chains is known (for example, Patent Document 1). And Patent Document 2). In the transport device, the workpiece is transported by driving the chain with the workpiece placed on the upper side of the slat, or the worker is moved by driving the chain with the worker standing on the upper side of the slat. Or let it be.

JP-A-6-171565 JP 2002-37437 A

In the transport device described in the above-mentioned patent document, the slat is moved by connecting the slat to an annular chain and rotationally driving the chain.
In the case of the above configuration, when the chain is reversed at the upstream end and the downstream end of the transport device, as shown in FIG. 6, it is driven like a sprocket having a diameter larger than the width in the transport direction of the slats. Since a part is needed, the thickness of a conveying apparatus increases. That is, the structure for supporting the drive unit including the sprocket becomes heavy, and a floor excavation work or the like is required for laying the transfer device, which increases the construction cost of the transfer device. In addition, since it is necessary to excavate the floor again as described above, it has been difficult to widen or extend the line for the already laid transfer device.

  In view of the above, the present invention makes it possible to simplify the structure of the drive unit, thereby eliminating the need for floor excavation work, etc., reducing the construction cost, and easily expanding and extending the line. A possible transport device is provided.

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is as described above. Next, means for solving the problem will be described.

  That is, in claim 1, a plurality of slats, a plate-like frame disposed at a distance larger than the thickness of the slats with respect to a floor surface, and the plurality of slats are connected to the frame. While continuously moving in the conveying direction along the conveying portion formed on the upper surface, and continuously moving in the direction opposite to the conveying direction along the reverse feeding portion formed between the floor surface and the frame The upper and lower surfaces of the slats are moved one by one from the conveying unit to the reverse feeding unit at the downstream end in the frame conveying direction, and the slats are moved at the upstream end in the frame conveying direction. And a drive mechanism that moves the sheet from the reverse feeding unit to the conveyance unit one by one without inverting the upper and lower surfaces.

  In the present invention, the drive mechanism includes an annular chain that is wound around a side portion in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the frame so as to be rotatable in the transport direction, and a drive unit that rotationally drives the chain. Each of the slats is rotatably connected to the chain, and the chain is rotated by a drive unit to move the slat in the conveyance direction and the opposite direction, and the conveyance unit. And the back-feed unit.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the slat is connected to the chain at an end portion on the transport direction side, and the end portion on the transport direction side in the winding portion of the chain is closer to the slat than the end portion on the transport direction side of the frame. It is arrange | positioned in the conveyance direction side away more than the conveyance direction length.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a plurality of the frames are arranged in the transport direction, and the chain is wound around a side portion in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the plurality of frames.

  As effects of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

  By simplifying the structure of the drive unit of the transfer device according to the present invention, floor excavation work or the like is not required, construction costs can be reduced, and the line can be easily widened or extended. .

(A), (b) is the top view and right view which each showed the conveying apparatus which concerns on 1st embodiment. The perspective view which showed the connection structure of a chain and a slat. (A) to (c) is a right side view showing the downstream side of the transport device. (A) to (d) is a right side view showing the upstream side of the transport device. (A), (b) is the top view and right view which each showed the conveying apparatus which concerns on 2nd embodiment. The side view which showed the drive part of the conveying apparatus which concerns on a prior art.

Next, embodiments of the invention will be described.
It should be noted that the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the following examples, but broadly covers the entire scope of the technical idea that the present invention truly intends, as will be apparent from the matters described in the present specification and drawings. It extends.

  First, the structure of the conveying apparatus 10 which concerns on 1st embodiment of this invention is demonstrated using FIG. In the present specification, for convenience of explanation, directions are defined by arrows shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b). Specifically, the conveyance direction (direction of arrow A1 shown in FIG. 1B) in the conveyance device 10 is the front of the conveyance device 10, and the left side and the right side toward the front are the left side and right side of the conveyance device 10, respectively. Will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the transport apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment is a so-called slat conveyor in which a plurality of slats 42, 42,... It is.
The conveying device 10 is provided with a pair of left and right chains 42 and 42 that are wound around a pair of front and rear sprockets 22 and 32 and opposed to each other in the left and right direction, and a plurality of sheets provided between the pair of chains 42 and 42. Slats 42....

  Specifically, front struts 21 and 21 are erected on the floor surface on the downstream side in the transport direction of the transport apparatus 10 one by one, and rear struts 31 and 31 are disposed on the floor surface on the upstream side in the transport direction of the transport apparatus 10. Are standing on the left and right. A pair of front sprockets 22 and 22 are rotatably disposed on the front struts 21 and 21 with respect to the front struts 21 and 21, respectively. In addition, a pair of rear sprockets 32 and 32 are rotatably disposed on the rear columns 31 and 31 with respect to the rear columns 31 and 31, respectively. Then, the pair of left and right chains 41 and 41 are wound around the front sprockets 22 and 22 and the rear sprockets 32 and 32, respectively. The front sprockets 22 and 22 and the rear sprockets 32 and 32 are configured to be rotatable in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the transport device 10 and the horizontal direction as an axial direction.

  Drive sprockets 15, 15 are disposed on the front struts 21, 21 outside the front sprockets 22, 22 so as not to rotate relative to the front sprockets 22, 22. A drive motor 11 is disposed on the right front side of the front columns 21 and 21, and a drive shaft 12 extends from the drive motor 11 to the left side. A pair of left and right drive sprockets 13 and 13 are fixed to the drive shaft 12 so as not to be relatively rotatable. The pair of left and right drive chains 14 and 14 are wound around the drive sprockets 15 and 15 and the drive sprockets 13 and 13, respectively.

  With the configuration as described above in the transport device 10, when the drive shaft 12 obtains drive force from the drive motor 11 and rotates together with the drive sprockets 13 and 13, the drive chain wound around the drive sprockets 13 and 13 14 and 14 are driven, and the drive sprockets 15 and 15 are rotated. As a result, the front sprockets 22 and 22 are rotated, and the chains 41 and 41 are rotationally driven as indicated by arrows A1 and A2 in FIG.

  In the transport device 10, a plurality of slats 42, 42,... Are arranged between a pair of left and right chains 41, 41. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, each of the chains 41 and 41 is provided with a connecting pin 41a protruding at a predetermined interval on the opposite side of the chain 41 (inside in the transport device 10). On the other hand, on the front side (conveying direction side) of the left and right side surfaces of the slat 42, connection holes 42a and 42a having substantially the same diameter as the connection pin 41a are formed. 2, the slats 42, 42... Are rotatably connected to the chains 41, 41 by inserting the connection pins 41a into the connection holes 42a. It is. In this way, the slats 42, 42,... Are connected to the chains 41, 41, so that the slats 42, 42,.

  The transport apparatus 10 includes a plate-like frame 52 that is disposed at a distance greater than the thickness of the slat 42 with respect to the floor surface. Specifically, four frame support portions 51 are arranged on the front, rear, left, and right sides between the front columns 21, 21 and the rear columns 31, 31. Further, the frame 52 is separated from the floor surface by a distance slightly larger than the thickness of the slats 42, in other words, the slats 42 can pass between the floor surface and the frame 52 as will be described later. Are spaced apart from each other. The slats 42, 42... Are moved forward (in the direction of the arrow A1 in FIG. 1B) at the transport portion formed on the upper surface of the frame 52 by the rotational drive of the chains 41, 41 as described above. In the reverse feeding portion formed between the floor surface and the frame 52, it is configured to move backward (in the direction of arrow A2 in FIG. 1B).

  In addition, the upper surface of the frame 52 that is a transport unit and the floor surface that is a reverse feed unit are configured to be a smooth plane having a low coefficient of friction so that the slats 42, 42. Further, the corners of the slats 42, 42... Are appropriately chamfered so that the slats 42, 42.

  As described above, the transport apparatus 10 includes a drive mechanism that moves the slats 42. This drive mechanism is configured to rotate annular chains 41 and 41 that are wound around the frame 52 so as to be rotatable in the transport direction at the left and right side portions (side portions perpendicular to the transport direction) of the frame 52. And a driving unit that performs. More specifically, the drive unit includes a drive motor 11, a drive shaft 12, drive sprockets 13 and 13, drive chains 14 and 14, and drive sprockets 15 and 15. As described above, the chains 41 and 41 are driven to rotate by driving the drive motor 11 in the drive unit, thereby moving the slats 42 and 42. It moves between the parts.

  In the present embodiment, the chains 41 and 41 are connected to the drive motor 11 via the drive chains 14 and 14 to drive the chains 41 and 41, but the driving method of the chains 41 and 41 is limited to this configuration. Is not to be done. That is, for example, a drive motor can be connected to each of the front sprockets 22 and 22 and the drive motors can be driven in synchronization with each other. Further, the driving source of the chains 41 and 41 is not limited to the motor, and other power can be used.

  In this way, by driving the chains 41, 41 in the drive mechanism, the slats 42, 42, ... are continuously moved in the transport direction along the transport portion formed on the upper surface of the frame 52, and the floor surface And the frame 52 are continuously moved in the direction opposite to the conveying direction along the reverse feeding portion formed between the frame 52 and the frame 52. Further, at the front end, which is the downstream side in the transport direction of the frame 52, the upper and lower surfaces of the slats 42, 42,... Are moved one by one from the reverse feeding section to the transport section without reversing the upper and lower surfaces of the slats 42, 42.

Next, a method of moving the slats 42 from the transport unit to the reverse feed unit at the front end of the frame 52 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, each slat 42 is connected to the chains 41 and 41 at the front end, which is the end on the transport direction side. In FIG. 3A, the rear end portion of the slat 42 is placed on the upper surface of a frame 52 that is a transport portion.
And the conveyance direction side edge part in the winding part of the chains 41 and 41, that is, the front edge part of the front sprockets 22 and 22, as shown in FIG. It is arranged on the conveyance direction side with a distance of at least the conveyance direction. In other words, the distance D between the transport direction side end of the winding portion of the chain 41 and the transport direction side end of the frame 52 is configured to be larger than the transport direction length L of the slat 42. is there.

  For this reason, when the connecting pin 41a connecting the slat 42 to the chain 41 is moved to the front side of the front sprocket 22 due to the rotation of the front sprocket 22 in the direction of the arrow R, as shown in FIG. The slats 42 are detached from the conveying portion which is the upper surface of the frame 52 and fall. Further, when the chain 41 is further driven, the slat 42 moves to the reverse feeding portion on the floor surface as shown in FIG. Thereafter, when the chain 41 is further driven, the slat 42 moves the reverse feeding portion backward. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1 (a), since there is a gap between the pair of left and right front sprockets 22 and 22, the slats 42 can move without being blocked from descending. It is. That is, the drive unit needs to be configured such that no structure is disposed between the pair of left and right front sprockets 22.

Next, a method of moving the slats 42 from the reverse feed unit to the transport unit at the rear end of the frame 52 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 4A to 4D, the connecting pin 41 a that connects the slat 42 to the chain 41 is driven together with the chain 41 by the rotation of the rear sprocket 32 in the arrow R direction. Then, the slat 42 is driven by the connecting pin 41a, and ascends from the reverse feeding portion on the floor surface to the conveying portion which is the upper surface of the frame 52.

In the transport apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, the drive unit can be configured in a simple structure by being configured as described above.
Specifically, when the moving direction of the slat 42 is changed from the front to the rear at the upstream end and the downstream end of the frame 52, the upper and lower surfaces of the slat 42 are not reversed. This makes it possible to reduce the diameter of the side sprockets 32. That is, as shown in FIG. 3A, the thickness T of the driving unit can be suppressed to the extent that the thickness of the two slats 42 and the thickness of the frame 52 are added. Compared to the conventional configuration, it can be made smaller. This eliminates the need for excavating a floor for laying the transfer device 10, thereby reducing the construction cost of the transfer device 10.

  Moreover, since it is not necessary to excavate the floor when laying the transport apparatus 10 as described above, the line can be easily widened or extended even after the transport apparatus 10 is laid. Further, similarly, by appropriately changing the length of the frame 52 in the transport direction, it is possible to change the length of the line without increasing the size of the drive unit of the transport device 10.

  In addition, by rotating and driving the chains 41, 41, the slats 42, 42, ... not only move along the transport section and the reverse feed section, but also reversely feed the transport section one by one without inverting the top and bottom surfaces. It is set as the structure which moves between parts. Thereby, it is not necessary to separately provide a device for raising and lowering the slats 42, 42..., And the overall configuration of the transfer device 10 can be simplified.

  In the present embodiment, each slat 42 is connected to the chains 41 and 41 at the front end, but the connection position of the slats 42 to the chains 41 and 41 is not limited. For example, a configuration in which the rear end portion of the slat 42 is connected to the chains 41 and 41 is also possible. However, when the rear ends of the slats 42 are connected to the chains 41 and 41, the rear ends of the winding portions of the chains 41 and 41 are longer than the rear ends of the frame 52 in the transport direction length of the slats 42. A configuration in which the slats 42 are disposed on the rear side at a distance of L or more and the slats 42 are lifted to the transport unit which is the upper surface of the frame 52 is separately required. For this reason, the structure which connects the slat 42 to the chains 41 and 41 in this embodiment which does not require such a structure is preferable.

  Next, the structure of the conveying apparatus 100 which concerns on 2nd embodiment is demonstrated using FIG. In the transport apparatus 100 described in the present embodiment, portions common to the transport apparatus 10 in the embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

In the transport apparatus 100 described in the present embodiment, a plurality of frames 152, 152... Supported by the frame support portions 151, 151. Are wound in the transport direction at a side portion in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the frames 152.
The front sprockets 22 and 22 and the rear sprockets 32 and 32 around which the chain 41 is wound are arranged at the front end and the rear end in the plurality of frames 152, 152. . That is, the length of the chain 41 and the number of slats 42, 42,... Are adjusted according to the sum of the lengths of the frames 152, 152,.

As in the first embodiment, the transport device 100 is not configured to support the loads of the slats 42, 42... By the front sprockets 22 and 22 and the rear sprockets 32 and 32 that are drive units. Therefore, as in the present embodiment, a plurality of frames 152, 152,... Are arranged, and the number of slats 42, 42,. It is possible to configure substantially the same. That is, it becomes easy to extend the line without making the configuration of the transport apparatus 100 heavy. Similarly, the length of the line can be changed without increasing the size of the drive unit of the transport apparatus 100 by appropriately changing the length in the transport direction of each of the frames 152. It becomes possible.
In the present embodiment, a plurality of frames 152, 152,... Are arranged in the front-rear direction. However, the line may be widened by arranging the conveying device 100 in the left-right direction. Is possible.

10 Conveying device 41 Chain 42 Slat 52 Frame

Claims (4)

Multiple slats,
A plate-like frame disposed at a distance greater than the thickness of the slat with respect to the floor surface;
The plurality of slats are continuously moved in the transport direction along the transport portion formed on the upper surface of the frame, and the transport direction along the reverse feed portion formed between the floor surface and the frame. The frame is transported one by one from the transport section to the reverse transport section one by one without reversing the upper and lower surfaces of the slats at the downstream end in the transport direction of the frame. A drive mechanism that moves from the reverse feed unit to the transport unit one by one without reversing the upper and lower surfaces of the slats at the upstream end in the direction,
A conveying apparatus characterized by that. The drive mechanism is composed of an annular chain that is wound so as to be rotatable in the transport direction at a side portion orthogonal to the transport direction of the frame, and a drive unit that rotationally drives the chain.
Each of the slats is rotatably connected to the chain,
By rotating the chain by a drive unit, the slats are moved in the transport direction and the opposite direction and moved between the transport unit and the reverse feed unit.
The conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein The slat is connected to the chain at an end on the conveyance direction side,
The transport direction side end portion of the winding portion of the chain is disposed on the transport direction side at a distance greater than or equal to the transport direction length of the slat than the transport direction side end portion of the frame.
The conveying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein: A plurality of the frames are arranged in the transport direction,
The chain is wound around a side portion in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the plurality of frames.
The conveying apparatus according to claim 2 or claim 3, wherein

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