JP2017007763A - Conveyance facility - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide conveyance facilities that prevent powder dust produced from a traveling body used for conveyance from affecting a conveyed body, can be used even by a conveyance system using a low-floor conveyor, and is improved in conveyance efficiency.SOLUTION: Conveyance trucks 24, 44 belong to a plurality of truck rails 22, 42 arranged along a roller conveyor 12 supporting an article 10 as a conveyed body. The conveyance truck 24 is made to travel while an upstream-side push-sending member 28a of the conveyance truck 24 is made to abut on an upstream-side end of the article 10, which can be then pushed and conveyed on the roller conveyor 12. When the article 10 reaches a downstream end region of the truck rail 22, the abutting effective state by the push-sending member 28a is canceled, and the conveyed body is continuously conveyed by the downstream-side conveyance truck 44.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a facility for transporting a transported object such as a product or a product, and particularly relates to a transport facility that transports along a transport path set in the facility.

  Conventionally, in the distribution process of products and the manufacturing process of products, in the facilities such as distribution centers and production factories, when the goods are transported, for example, temporary storage and sorting of products, or transfer of products to the post-process, In many cases, an article is placed on a driven conveyor having a function of itself capable of conveying an article as a transported object, such as a belt conveyor laid along a conveyance path set in (1).

  However, the drive type conveyor is expensive and the mechanism for driving tends to be large, so it may be difficult to adopt it in consideration of cost and space. If it is a non-drive type conveyor such as a free roller conveyor that does not require a mechanism for driving, it can be laid down at low cost and space-saving, but if this is adopted, workers will need to be manually assisted when transporting goods. Since it is necessary to move the articles on the conveyor, the work amount of workers and the number of workers to be arranged increase, and the operation cost and necessary space as a whole facility eventually increase.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a workpiece transfer device that moves a workpiece (object to be transferred) while being pressed by a pressing member that moves below the transfer surface of a roller conveyor. In this transfer device, the workpiece is laid along a transfer path. What is to be done can be an inexpensive free roller conveyor, and the articles can be moved by the pressing member, so that the space for arranging the workers can be reduced.

JP 2007-55721 A

  However, since the pressing member described in Patent Document 1 is disposed below the conveying surface of the roller conveyor, when the article (work) placed on the roller conveyor is moved, the pressing member is below the article. Will move. When various members move in such a mechanism, mechanical friction is generated between the members, and thus it is not possible to completely prevent dust from being generated by rubbing each other. A driving device such as a motor for moving the pressing member is also arranged below the roller conveyor. When this driving device generates a driving force, dust may be generated due to mechanical friction or the like. That is, since dust is generated below the transported body, fine and light dust may rise and come into contact with the upper article. If the article to be transported is a product that requires a high degree of cleanliness, such as a semiconductor device, the quality may be impaired by contact with dust. In addition, the roller conveyor in this transport device is of a type divided into a left roller and a right roller, which allows the pressing member to be moved below the article. Since the conveyor cannot stably support the entire lower surface of the article, there is anxiety in stability during movement. Therefore, if the article to be transported requires a delicate handling such as a semiconductor device, this transporting apparatus is difficult to employ.

  Further, in a transport facility using a conveyor (low floor conveyor) installed at a low position near the floor surface of the facility, there is only a limited space below the transport surface. It is difficult to arrange a mechanism such as a member below the conveyor conveyance surface.

  Furthermore, in the conveyance device described in Patent Document 1, a stopper that restricts the movement of the article (work) is disposed on the downstream side of the roller conveyor, and it is detected that the article has stopped moving due to contact with the stopper. After that, the pressing member returns to the upstream side. Therefore, the next article cannot be conveyed from the upstream side until the article to be conveyed is conveyed to the downstream stopper, that is, to the conveyance target point on the roller conveyor. Therefore, when this transport device is used on a long transport path, articles can be transported only one by one on a long-distance roller conveyor provided along the long transport path, resulting in extremely poor transport efficiency. End up.

  Therefore, the present invention can be stably transported so that it is not affected by dust on the object to be transported (conveyed body), and can also be used in transport equipment using a low floor conveyor, It is another object of the present invention to provide a transport facility that can improve transport efficiency.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a transport facility according to the present invention transports a transported body along a transport path set in the facility, and the transported body is provided along the transport path. And a plurality of traveling body rails arranged on the side of the main conveyor along the main conveyor, each of the plurality of traveling body rails along each traveling body rail A transport traveling body to which the vehicle travels belongs, and the transport traveling body includes a traveling drive device for traveling along the traveling body rail, and an upstream pushing member and a downstream pushing member, The upstream-side pushing member and the downstream-side pushing member can be switched between an abutting valid state that can abut on an upstream end or a downstream end of the transported body on the main conveyor and a non-abutting abutting state. The upstream push section And traveling along the traveling body rail while maintaining at least the upstream side pushing member of the downstream side pushing member in a contact effective state in which the upstream side pushing member can be brought into contact with the upstream end of the body to be conveyed. It is possible to push and convey along a conveyance path on a conveyor, and when the conveyed object being conveyed reaches the downstream end region of the traveling body rail to which it belongs, at least the downstream pushing member The contact effective state is canceled, and the transport of the transported body is continued by the transport traveling body belonging to the traveling body rail provided further downstream.

According to this transport facility, when transporting a transported body (such as an article placed on a tray), the transported body is pushed by the transporting travel body that travels along a travel body rail disposed on the side of the main conveyor. Therefore, even if dust is generated along with the travel of the transport traveling body, it is generated on the side of the transport path at a position away from the transported body, so that dust can affect the transported body. The sex becomes extremely small. In addition, since the travel path of the transport traveling body is located on the side of the main conveyor, the travel path of the transport traveling body can be secured without the main conveyor being divided into the left roller and the right roller. For example, a free roller conveyor that can stably support the entire lower surface, for example, a free roller conveyor configured by arranging rollers longer than the width of the article (the dimension in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction) can be laid as the main conveyor.
Further, since the traveling body rail and the transportation traveling body are disposed on the side of the main conveyor, the transportation traveling body of the present invention can be disposed even if there is no empty space below the transportation surface, and therefore the present invention is a low floor conveyor. Can also be used.
Further, even when a long-distance main conveyor provided along a long conveyance path is used, by providing a plurality of traveling body rails, a region where one transportation traveling body is in charge of transportation belongs. It stays within the range of one traveling body rail, and the transported body that reaches near the downstream end of the traveling body rail is continuously transported by the next transportation traveling body (belonging to the downstream traveling body rail). Therefore, even if the transported body does not reach the target point of the entire transport path, the transport traveling body that was responsible for transporting the transported body returns to the upstream side to transport the next transported body. Therefore, it becomes possible to simultaneously convey a plurality of objects to be conveyed on one main conveyor.
Further, the drive mechanism of the drive type belt conveyor as used in the prior art requires a large driving force because the entire conveyor has to be driven, and the mechanism tends to be enlarged. Since the traveling body in the facility only needs to have a driving force for moving one article, it can be made relatively small.

  Further, in addition to the above-described configuration, the transport facility according to the present invention is configured so that the transport traveling body reaches the downstream end region of the traveling body rail to which the transported transport body belongs and the upstream push member and / or Alternatively, it is more preferable to perform return traveling toward the upstream side along the traveling body rail to which the vehicle belongs, after canceling the contact effective state by the downstream side pushing member.

In this way, when the traveling body carries the transported body to the downstream side of the traveling body rail to which the traveling body belongs and returns to the upstream side, the contacting member is released from the contact effective state (the contact invalid state is set). Thus, even if the transported body that has been transported travels upstream before it has been transported to the downstream side, the transported body is not returned to the upstream side, and only the traveling body is It is possible to return to the upstream side. Therefore, the traveling body can return immediately after carrying the transported body to the downstream side, the return to the upstream side becomes faster, and the next transported body is transported at an early stage. Overall transport efficiency is improved.
Here, since the transported object is not transported during the return travel, it is not necessary to consider the effect of causing vibrations to the transported object due to the high speed transport. In this case, the time until the next article can be transported is further shortened, and the transport efficiency of the entire equipment is further improved. .

  Further, in addition to the above-described configuration, the transport facility according to the present invention has traveling body rails alternately arranged on the left side and the right side of the main conveyor along the transport path in the straight section of the transport path. You may do it.

  In this way, when the transport traveling body reaches near the downstream end of the traveling body rail to which it belongs, the next (downstream) traveling body rail is not on the extension line from the point to the downstream side in the traveling direction, Since it is on the opposite side (the other bank) across the main conveyor, the transport traveling body that has reached the vicinity of the downstream end does not interfere with the next traveling body rail. This also allows the region near the upstream end of the next traveling body rail to overlap the region near the downstream end of the current traveling body rail (part of both traveling body rails in the direction along the transport path). Therefore, when the transported body is transferred from the upstream transport traveling body to the downstream transport traveling body, the upstream and downstream transport traveling bodies are moved at the same speed in the overlapped area. You can hand it over while driving. In this case, since the transfer traveling body in charge of the transfer can be switched without stopping the transfer and without accompanying a rapid change in the transfer speed, higher transfer efficiency can be obtained.

  Furthermore, in addition to the above-described configuration, the transport facility according to the present invention includes a travel drive device for the transport traveling body provided on either the upstream push member or the downstream push member, the upstream push member and the upstream push member Of the downstream side pushing members, the one on the side away from the travel drive device can project to the upstream side or the downstream side from within the range of the travel body rail to which the transport travel body belongs. May be.

  In this case, even if the transport traveling body itself can move only within the range of the traveling body rail to which the transport traveling body itself belongs, the pushing member can be projected to the outside of the traveling body rail. It becomes possible to deliver the transported body at a position sandwiched between the upstream side pushing member and the downstream side pushing member to the area on the main conveyor that the transport traveling body takes charge of. Therefore, it becomes easy to overlap the area in charge of the upstream transport traveling body and the area in charge of the downstream transport traveling body (partly overlap the areas in charge of the upstream and downstream transport traveling bodies, respectively) The transported body can be smoothly delivered to the downstream transport traveling body, and the transport efficiency of the entire facility is improved. Moreover, since the traveling body rail can be designed to be shorter than the range in which the transported body should be moved, the equipment cost is reduced.

  Further, in the transfer path direction changing portion, the upstream main conveyor and traveling body rail and the downstream main conveyor and traveling body rail are arranged along different directions, and the upstream main conveyor When the transported body has been transported to the downstream end region, the upstream pushing member of the transport traveling body belonging to the downstream traveling body rail protrudes upstream from within the range of the traveling body rail. In this state, the conveyance object may be continuously conveyed by the conveyance traveling body belonging to the downstream traveling body rail by traveling to the downstream side after contacting the upstream end.

  In this way, even if the downstream traveling body rail in the direction changing section does not sufficiently extend to the downstream end region of the upstream main conveyor, the downstream traveling body can continue to transport the transported body. Therefore, the possibility that the downstream traveling body rail and the traveling body will interfere with the upstream traveling body rail and the traveling body in the direction changing portion is reduced. Moreover, since the traveling body rail on the downstream side can be designed to be short, the equipment cost is reduced.

  Moreover, in the direction change part of the conveyance path, instead of the above configuration, the upstream main conveyor and the traveling body rail, and the downstream main conveyor and the traveling body rail are arranged along different directions, When the transported body has been transported to the downstream end area of the upstream main conveyor, the transport traveling body belonging to the upstream traveling body rail is the traveling body to which the downstream pushing member belongs. You may make it convey a to-be-conveyed body on the downstream main conveyor by conveying a to-be-conveyed body downstream until it will be in the state which protruded downstream rather than the inside of the range of a rail.

  In this way, even if the upstream traveling body rail in the direction changing section does not sufficiently extend to the upstream end region of the downstream main conveyor, the downstream traveling body can continue to transport the transported body. Therefore, the possibility that the upstream traveling body rail and the traveling body interfere with the downstream traveling body rail and the traveling body in the direction changing portion is reduced. Moreover, since the upstream traveling body rail can be designed to be short, the equipment cost is reduced.

  Further, at the branch portion of the conveyance path, the downstream main conveyor and the traveling body rail are arranged so as to extend in both the left and right directions when viewed from the downstream end conveyance direction of the upstream main conveyor and the traveling body rail. The transport traveling body belonging to the upstream traveling body rail has a traveling drive device provided further upstream than the upstream pushing member, and both the upstream pushing member and the downstream pushing member are disposed on the upstream side. You may make it possible to transfer the to-be-conveyed body conveyed on the main conveyor of a downstream by making it project to the downstream rather than the range of the side traveling body rail.

  In this way, on the branch path, the downstream main conveyor extends in both the left and right directions when viewed from the upstream traveling rail, and the upstream traveling rail can be extended to the range of the downstream main conveyor. In spite of being unable to transfer the conveyed object to the main conveyor on the downstream side by projecting both the upstream side pushing member and the downstream side pushing member to the downstream side rather than within the range of the upstream traveling body rail. Therefore, it is possible to continue transporting the transported body without delay even on the branch path.

  The upstream side pushing member and the downstream side pushing member of the transport traveling body are attached to a common turning shaft extending along the running body rail, and the upstream pushing member and the downstream side are rotated by rotating the turning shaft. The side pushing member can be swung simultaneously, so that the upstream pushing member and the downstream pushing member can be simultaneously switched to the contact valid state or the contact invalid state.

  If it does in this way, simultaneous operation of an upstream pushing member and a downstream pushing member can be realized with a comparatively simple mechanism. In addition, since the upstream push member and the downstream push member are collectively operated, the control procedure can be simplified.

  According to the present invention, since a plurality of objects to be conveyed can be simultaneously conveyed on one main conveyor, the conveyance efficiency of the entire conveyance facility can be increased. In addition, since the traveling body can be made relatively small, space saving and cost reduction can be achieved in the construction of the transport facility.

The schematic plan view which shows the partial area in an example of embodiment of the conveyance facility which concerns on this invention. The rear perspective view which shows the mode of the articles | goods conveyed by the conveyance trolley in the conveyance equipment. The side view which shows the mode of the articles | goods conveyed by the conveyance trolley in the conveyance equipment. The rear view which shows the mode of the articles | goods conveyed by the conveyance trolley in the conveyance equipment. The schematic plan view which shows the direction change part periphery area of the conveyance path in the conveyance equipment. The schematic plan view which shows the branch part periphery area of the conveyance path in the conveyance facility. The block diagram showing the relationship of the various apparatuses in the conveyance facility. The flowchart which shows the rough procedure of the control performed in the conveyance facility. The graph which shows transition of the conveyance speed in the conveyance equipment. The schematic plan view which shows another form of embodiment of the conveyance equipment which concerns on this invention.

[Conveyance path]
FIG. 1 shows a schematic plan view of a partial area in an example of an embodiment of a transport facility according to the present invention. In this transport facility, the article 10 to be transported (transport target) is transported from an area further upstream than the illustrated area to a further downstream area via the illustrated area. . In the illustrated area, a roller conveyor 12 (not shown) is composed of a plurality of free rollers arranged along the transport direction W as a main conveyor, and the article 10 Is placed on the roller conveyor 12 and conveyed while being supported by the roller conveyor 12. The roller conveyor 12 is provided along a predetermined path (a transport path intended by the transport facility operator) in the transport facility, whereby the transport path of the article 10 is set.
On the side of the roller conveyor 12, carriage rails 22 and 42 as running body rails are laid. In FIG. 1, the first carriage rail 22 is arranged on the right side with respect to the conveying direction W. A second bogie rail 42 is arranged on the left side. Here, the vicinity of the downstream end of the first carriage rail 22 and the vicinity of the upstream end of the second carriage rail 42 have a common range on the roller conveyor 12, that is, the laying ranges partially overlap (overlap). doing.
The first carriage rail 22 and the second carriage rail 42 respectively belong to the first conveyance carriage 24 and the second conveyance carriage 44 as conveyance traveling bodies. The conveyance carriages 24 and 44 are respectively connected to the first carriage carriage 24 and the second carriage rail 42. The vehicle can travel along the one carriage rail 22 and the second carriage rail 42 in the conveying direction or in the opposite direction.

[Transport cart]
<Wheel and travel drive>
2, 3, and 4 show an example of the configuration of the first transport carriage 24. The second transport cart 44 has the same configuration, but in the following, the first transport cart 24 will be described, and the phrase “first” will be omitted. 2 is a rear perspective view of the transport carriage 24 shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from the rear right side direction (the direction of the transport direction W is the front side), and FIG. 3 is a side view of the transport carriage 24 viewed from the right side. FIG. 4 is a rear view of the transport carriage 24 as seen from the rear.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the transport carriage 24 is a wheel for running along the first carriage rail 22, and driving wheels 24 </ b> A that rotate by receiving a driving force, and improve running stability. An upper auxiliary wheel 24U, a lower auxiliary wheel pair 24D, and a side auxiliary wheel pair 24S, 24Q are provided, and a traveling drive device 26 such as a motor is provided to rotationally drive the drive wheel 24A.
The drive wheel 24A, the upper auxiliary wheel 24U, the lower auxiliary wheel pair 24D, and the side auxiliary wheel pair 24S, 24Q are supported by a common wheel support plate 24P in a rotatable state, and the travel drive device 26 is also this wheel support plate. It is attached in a form supported by 24P.
Here, the arrangement of the drive wheels 24A and the like with respect to the first carriage rail 22 will be described with reference to FIG. First, the cross-sectional shape of the first carriage rail 22 to which the carriage 24 belongs is a rectangular shape with one side (side opposite to the roller conveyor 12) missing, that is, the upper side 22U, the side 22S on the roller conveyor 12 side, The lower side 22D has a shape having three sides, and the upper side 22U is formed with a short side 22A that extends slightly from the end far from the roller conveyor 12 downward.

The drive wheels 24A are arranged in contact with the upper surface of the upper side 22U, and the pair of wheels constituting the lower auxiliary wheel pair 24D is behind the drive wheel 24A, that is, above the upper side 22U. It arrange | positions in the state which touches the lower surface of side 22U of the side. Thus, the upper side 22U is sandwiched between the drive wheel 24A and the lower auxiliary wheel pair 24D from above and below.
The wheel support plate 24P that supports the drive wheels 24A and the like is disposed along the short side 22A of the first carriage rail 22, and the traveling drive device 26 that rotationally drives the drive wheels 24A uses the wheel support plate 24P. It is disposed on the opposite side of the drive wheel 24A. Therefore, the drive shaft of the drive wheel 24A is provided so as to penetrate the wheel support plate 24P.
Although not shown in FIG. 4, the upper auxiliary wheel 24U (see FIG. 3) is attached near one end of the wheel support plate P in contact with the upper surface of the upper side 22U, and the side auxiliary wheel pair 24S, 24Q is attached near one end and near the other end of the wheel support plate 24P, respectively, and two pairs of wheels constituting each are arranged so as to sandwich the short side 22A from the left and right.
Since the drive wheels 24A and the like are arranged in this manner with respect to the first carriage rail 22, some wheels sandwich the first carriage rail 22 at a plurality of locations. The wheel support plate P to be supported and the travel drive device 26 attached to the wheel support plate P and the entire transport carriage 24 can maintain a stable posture with respect to the first carriage rail 22. The drive wheel 24A is rotationally driven by the travel drive device 26, so that the transport carriage 24 travels (forwards or reverses) along the transport direction W on the first carriage rail 22.

<Pushing member>
In addition to a travel mechanism (drive wheel 24A, travel drive device 26, etc.), the transport carriage 24 is provided with push members 28a and 28b (see FIG. 3) for pushing and transporting the article 10 on the roller conveyor 12. Yes.
Each of the pushing members 28 a and 28 b has a rectangular contact portion 28 h (see FIG. 4) that is a portion that comes into contact with the article 10, and a connection portion 28 j that connects the contact portion 28 h and the transport carriage 24. Yes. Both the pushing member 28a and the pushing member 28b are attached to a common turning shaft 28r (see FIG. 3) in the vicinity of the end portion of the connecting portion 28j on the transport carriage 24 side, and are around the turning shaft 28r. The pushing member 28a and the pushing member 28b are swung with the rotation.
The turning shaft 28r extends along the conveyance direction W, and push members 28a and 28b are attached to one end and the other end of the turning shaft 28r, respectively. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the turning shaft 28r is formed on the turning shaft support plate 28P extending upward from the wheel support plate 24P at a position near one of the feed members 28a and 28b (here, the feed member 28a). Is supported through the support hole. A turning shaft turning mechanism 29 for turning the turning shaft 28r is provided near the turning shaft support plate 28P.
The turning shaft turning mechanism 29 is wound around a driven pulley 29u fixed to the turning shaft 28r, a driving pulley 29d arranged below (on the conveying carriage 24 side), a driving pulley 29d, and a driven pulley 29u. And a turning drive device 29m composed of a motor or the like as a drive source for rotating the drive pulley 29d. The turning drive device 29m is disposed near the travel drive device 26 (on the side opposite to the drive wheels 24A across the wheel support plate 24P). When the driving pulley 29d is rotated by the turning drive device 29m, the driven pulley 29u is also rotated through the transmission band 29b, and the turning shaft 28r fixed to the driven pulley 29u is rotated accordingly. The pushing member 28a and the pushing member 28b rotate.
An abutting effective state in which the abutting portion 28h protrudes on the movement path of the article 10 and can abut against the article 10 by turning the pushing member 28a and the pushing member 28b (state shown by a solid line in FIG. 4). And a contact invalid state (a state indicated by a virtual line in FIG. 4) in which the contact portion 28h retracts from the movement path and does not contact the article 10 can be switched. .
The article 10 is pushed by the pushing member 28a or the pushing member 28b as the carriage 24 travels along the carrying direction W while at least one of the pushing member 28a and the pushing member 28b is in contact with the article 10 in the contact effective state. Then, it is conveyed on the roller conveyor 12.
As shown in FIG. 3, the turning drive device 29m is disposed near the travel drive device 26, so that the travel mechanism (drive wheel 24A, travel drive device 26, etc.) and the turning shaft rotation mechanism 29 are Since both are located closer to the pushing member 28a, the center of gravity of the entire transport carriage 24 including the turning shaft 28r and the pushing members 28a and 28b is located closer to the pushing member 28a.

[Handling of goods from upstream to downstream]
The conveyance of the article 10 in the straight section of the conveyance path will be described with reference to FIG.
As described above, the first carriage rail 22 to which the first conveyance carriage 24 located on the upstream side in FIG. 1 belongs is arranged on the right side in the conveyance direction W with respect to the roller conveyor 12, and is located on the downstream side. The second carriage rail 42 to which the second transport carriage 44 belongs is arranged on the left side of the roller conveyor 12, and the laying range of the first carriage rail 22 and the second carriage rail 42 partially overlaps. ing.
When the article 10 is positioned between the push member 28a and the push member 28b of the first transport carriage 24, the feed members 28a and 28b are brought into a contact effective state, and the first transport carriage 24 is moved to the first transport carriage 24. When traveling downstream along the carriage rail 22, the upstream feeding member 28 a is pushed downstream while contacting the upstream end with respect to the article 10, so that the article 10 is placed on the roller conveyor 12. Then, it is pushed by the pushing member 28a and conveyed. During this time, the second conveyance carriage 44 belonging to the second carriage rail 42 stands by in the upstream end region of the second carriage rail 42, and the pushing members 48 a and 48 b included in the second conveyance carriage 44 are in contact with each other. It is in an invalid state (the state of the pushing members 48a and 48b indicated by solid lines).
When the article 10 reaches the downstream end region of the first carriage rail 22 (the position of the article 10 indicated by the phantom line in the center of FIG. 1), the push members 28a and 28b of the first conveyance carriage 24 are moved. While switching to the contact invalid state (the state of the push members 28a and 28b indicated by phantom lines in the center of FIG. 1), the push members 48a and 48b of the second transport carriage 44 are in the contact valid state (in the center of FIG. 1). The state is switched to the state of the pushing members 48a and 48b indicated by phantom lines. Then, when the second transport carriage 44 travels downstream, the article 10 is pushed by the upstream feed member 48a, and downstream of the laying range of the second carriage rail 42, that is, the first carriage rail. It is conveyed further downstream than the laying range of 22 (state indicated by a virtual line on the right side of FIG. 1). At this time, the articles 10 are sent downstream without being blocked by the pushing member 28b by keeping the pushing members 28a, 28b of the first transport carriage 24, in particular, the downstream pushing member 28b in a contact invalid state. Can be done. Thus, even after reaching the downstream end region of the first carriage rail 22 to which the first conveyance carriage 24 belongs, the conveyance of the article 10 can be continued by the second conveyance carriage 44.

Furthermore, after the first transport carriage 24 makes the pushing members 28a and 28b abutment ineffective, the first transport carriage 24 travels upstream, that is, performs “return travel” that returns to the upstream side. When the next article 10 has been transported from the upstream side of one carriage rail 22, the next article 10 can be transported immediately.
When the article 10 is delivered from the first transport carriage 24 (upstream side) to the second transport carriage 44 (downstream side) in this way, as shown in the central part of FIG. At the downstream end of one carriage rail 22, the pushing member 28 b on the downstream side of the first transport carriage 24 protrudes further downstream than within the range of the first carriage rail 22. Since the center of gravity of the transport carriage 24 is closer to the pushing member 28a side, that is, the upstream side, the weight of the entire first transport carriage 24 is stably supported in the first carriage rail 22, and the pushing member 28b is Even if it protrudes outside the range of the first carriage rail 22, there is no possibility that the first transport carriage 24 slides down from the first carriage rail 22 to the downstream side. Similarly, at the upstream end of the second carriage rail 42, the pushing member 48a on the upstream side of the second transport carriage 44 protrudes to the upstream side within the range of the second carriage rail 42. By arranging the travel drive device 46 and the like of the second transport carriage 44 closer to the downstream push member 48b, the center of gravity of the second transport carriage 44 becomes closer to the downstream side, so that the second transport carriage 44 It is possible to prevent sliding from the second carriage rail 42 to the upstream side.

[Delivery of goods from upstream side to downstream side in direction change section]
The conveyance direction change unit, that is, conveyance of the article 10 when the conveyance path turns right or left will be described with reference to FIG.
<Arrangement of roller conveyor and bogie rail>
In this direction changing unit, the first roller conveyor 12 located on the upstream side and the second roller conveyor 14 located on the downstream side are arranged along different directions. Moreover, the 2nd roller conveyor 14 and the 3rd roller conveyor 18 located in the further downstream rather than it are arrange | positioned along a different direction. Here, the second roller conveyor 14 is arranged along the second conveyance direction 14W, which is in the right direction with respect to the first conveyance direction 12W of the first roller conveyor 12, so that the direction changing unit for making a right turn Is formed. And the 3rd roller conveyor 18 is arrange | positioned along the 3rd conveyance direction 18W of the left direction with respect to the 2nd conveyance direction 14W in the further downstream rather than the 2nd roller conveyor 14. A left turn direction changing portion is formed.
A first carriage rail 22 to which the first conveyance carriage 24 belongs is disposed along the left side of the first roller conveyor 12 (left with respect to the first conveyance direction 12W).
A second carriage rail 42 to which the second conveyance carriage 44 belongs is disposed along the left side of the second roller conveyor 14 (left with respect to the second conveyance direction 14W). The second carriage rail 42 extends beyond the upstream end of the second roller conveyor 14 to a position along the downstream end of the first roller conveyor 12. Further, on the downstream side of the second carriage rail 42, a third carriage rail 62 to which the third conveyance carriage 64 belongs is arranged along the right side of the second roller conveyor 14.
A fourth carriage rail 82 to which the fourth conveyance carriage 84 belongs is disposed at a position along the right side of the third roller conveyor 18 (right with respect to the third conveyance direction 18W). The fourth carriage rail 82 extends beyond the upstream end of the third roller conveyor 18 to a position along the downstream end of the second roller conveyor 14.

<When turning right>
In this direction changing unit, first, while the article 10 is being transported on the first roller conveyor 12 by the first transport carriage 24, the second transport carriage 44 is the upstream end region of the second carriage rail 42. (The position of the second transport carriage 44 shown by the solid line in FIG. 5) is waiting, and the upstream feed member 48a protrudes further upstream than within the range of the second carriage rail 42. Further, while waiting, the push members 48a and 48b of the second transport carriage 44 are in a contact invalid state (the state of the push members 48a and 48b shown by solid lines in FIG. 5).
The first transport carriage 24 transports the article 10 to the downstream end region of the first carriage rail 22 (the position of the article 10 shown by a solid line in FIG. 5), and then pushes the feeding members 28a and 28b of the own transport carriage 24. The contact valid state (the state of the push members 28a and 28b shown by phantom lines in FIG. 5) is switched to the contact invalid state (the state of the push members 28a and 28b shown by solid lines in FIG. 5). On the other hand, the 2nd conveyance trolley 44 switches its own pushing members 48a and 48b to the contact effective state (the state of the pushing members 48a and 48b shown by the virtual line extended from the continuous line in FIG. 5). Then, when the second transport carriage 44 travels in the second transport direction 14W, the upstream pushing member 48a is located upstream of the article 10 in a state of projecting upstream from the range of the second carriage rail 24. When the second conveyance carriage 44 continues to run as it is in contact with the side end portion, the article 10 is pushed by the upstream feeding member 48a, and the second conveyance carriage 44 performs the second conveyance. It is conveyed in the direction 14W (downstream side). In this way, the article 10 is transferred from the first conveyance carriage 24 to the second conveyance carriage 44, and the conveyance of the article 10 during the right turn is continued.
When the second conveyance carriage 44 reaches the downstream end region of the second carriage rail 42 (the position of the second conveyance carriage 44 indicated by the phantom line in FIG. 5), the upstream side in the straight section is shifted from the downstream side. Similarly to the delivery of the article 10, the second transport cart 44 delivers the article 10 to the third transport cart 64.

<When turning left>
When the third conveyance carriage 64 reaches the downstream end region of the third carriage rail 62 (the position of the third conveyance carriage 64 indicated by the phantom line in FIG. 5), the fourth conveyance carriage 84 becomes the fourth. In the upstream end region of the carriage rail 82 (the position of the fourth conveyance carriage 84 shown by a solid line in FIG. 5). The upstream feed member 88 a protrudes further upstream than within the range of the fourth carriage rail 82. Further, while waiting, the push members 88a and 88b of the fourth transport carriage 84 are in a contact invalid state (the state of the push members 88a and 88b shown by solid lines in FIG. 5).
And, similar to the delivery of the article 10 from the first conveyance carriage 24 to the second conveyance carriage 44 at the time of the right turn, while making the pushing members 68a, 68b of the third conveyance carriage 64 a contact invalid state, The pushing members 88a and 88b of the fourth transport carriage 84 are switched to the contact effective state (the state of the pushing members 88a and 88b indicated by phantom lines extended from the solid line in FIG. 5). Then, when the fourth transport carriage 84 travels in the third transport direction 18W, the article 10 in a state where the upstream pushing member 88a protrudes further upstream than within the range of the fourth carriage rail 84. The article 10 is conveyed by the fourth conveying carriage 84 in the third conveying direction 18W (downstream) while being pressed by the upstream feeding member 88a. In this way, the article 10 is transferred from the third conveyance carriage 64 to the fourth conveyance carriage 84, and the conveyance of the article 10 during the left turn is continued.

[Handling of goods at the branch]
<Arrangement of roller conveyor and bogie rail>
With reference to FIG. 6, the conveyance of the article 10 when the conveyance path branches, that is, the conveyance path is branched will be described.
In this branching portion, the downstream end portion of the first roller conveyor 12 located on the upstream side hits the second roller conveyor 14 disposed so as to extend in both the left and right directions (the vertical direction in FIG. 6). ing. Regarding the conveyance direction of the article 10 on the second roller conveyor 14 located on the downstream side, here, with respect to the first conveyance direction 12W, which is the direction in which the article 10 is conveyed by the first roller conveyor 12 The right turn direction (downward direction in FIG. 6) is the second transport direction 14W, and the left turn direction (upward direction in FIG. 6) opposite thereto is the third transport direction 18W.
A first carriage rail 22 to which the first conveyance carriage 24 belongs is disposed along the left side of the first roller conveyor 12 (left with respect to the first conveyance direction 12W). The travel drive device 26 of the first transport carriage 24 is provided further upstream than the upstream push member 28 a of the first transport carriage 24. Therefore, the travel drive device 26 is located outside the upstream push member 28a and the downstream push member 28b.
A second carriage rail 42 to which the second conveyance carriage 44 belongs is disposed along the side of the second roller conveyor 14 at a position opposite to the first roller conveyor 12. And the 3rd conveyance trolley 64 to which the 3rd conveyance trolley 64 belongs in the position on the opposite side to the 2nd trolley rail 42 along the 2nd roller conveyor 14 side ahead of the 2nd conveyance direction 14W. The cart rail 62 is arranged. On the other hand, the 8th to which the 4th conveyance trolley 84 belongs to the position opposite to the 2nd trolley rail 42 along the 2nd roller conveyer 14 side ahead of the 3rd conveyance direction 18W. The bogie rail 82 is arranged.

<When turning right or left>
In this branching section, first, while the article 10 is being conveyed on the first roller conveyor 12 by the first conveying carriage 24, the second conveying carriage 44 is on the second carriage rail 42, Is in a position facing the roller conveyor 12 (the position of the second transport carriage 44 shown by the solid line in FIG. 6). Further, while waiting, the pushing members 48a and 48b of the second transport carriage 44 are in a contact invalid state (the state of the pushing members 48a and 48b shown by solid lines in FIG. 6).
Since the travel drive device 26 of the first transport carriage 24 is provided further upstream than the upstream push member 28a, the center of gravity is closer to the upstream side than the upstream push member 28a. Therefore, even if the vehicle travels to the position of the first transport carriage 24 indicated by the phantom line in FIG. 6 and both the pushing members 28a and 28b protrude beyond the range of the first carriage rail 22 (downstream side), the center of gravity is maintained. It remains on the first bogie rail 22 and does not slide off from the first bogie rail 22. In this way, when the first transport carriage 24 causes both of the pushing members 28 a and 28 b to protrude downstream from the range of the first carriage rail 22, the article 10 is downstream of the first roller conveyor 12. It is conveyed to the second roller conveyor 14 at a position beyond the end.
After the first transport carriage 24 transports the article 10 onto the second roller conveyor 14, the first transport cart 24 switches its pushing members 28 a and 28 b to the contact invalid state. On the other hand, the second transport carriage 44 standing by at the position where the article 10 is transported has its push members 48a and 48b in a contact effective state (pushing indicated by a virtual line extended from the solid line in FIG. 6). The state of the members 48a and 48b).
In this state, the second transport carriage 44 travels in the direction of the second transport direction 14W or the third transport direction 18W, so that the article 10 is moved to the push member 48a or the push member 48b of the second transport carriage 44. It is pushed and moved on the second roller conveyor 14, and the conveyance of the article 10 is continued.

When the article 10 makes a right turn at the branching portion, that is, when it is transported in the second transport direction 14W in FIG. 6, the second transport is performed with respect to the third transport cart 64 disposed in the second transport direction 14W. The article 10 is delivered from the transport cart 44. That is, as with the delivery of the article 10 from the upstream side to the downstream side in the straight section, when the article 10 reaches the position of the third conveyance carriage 64, the pushing members 48a and 48b of the second conveyance carriage 44 are moved. By switching the pushing members 68a and 68b of the third transport carriage 64 to the contact valid state while switching to the contact invalid state, the third transport carriage 64 is caused to travel in the second transport direction 14W. 10 is transported further downstream in the second transport direction 14W.
When the article 10 turns left at the branching portion, that is, is conveyed in the third conveying direction 18W in FIG. 6, when the article 10 reaches the position of the fourth conveying carriage 84, While the pushing members 48a and 48b are switched to the contact invalid state, the push members 88a and 88b of the fourth transport carriage 84 are switched to the contact valid state, and then the fourth transport carriage 84 is moved to the third transport direction 18W. By traveling, the article 10 is transported further downstream in the third transport direction 18W. In FIG. 6, when the article 10 is transported in the third transport direction 18W, the first transport carriage 24 located on the third transport direction 18W side makes the abutting invalid state of the pushing members 28a and 28b. Then, it is desirable that the second transport carriage 44 does not collide with the first transport carriage 24 by immediately returning to the upstream side in the first transport direction 12W.

[Control of transport cart]
As described above, in the present invention, the article 10 is conveyed by being delivered between a plurality of conveying carts. The traveling of each transport carriage and the switching of the state of the pushing member may be controlled so that the delivery of the article 10 is performed smoothly. An example of the control method will be described below.

<Configuration of control device>
Hereinafter, the configuration of various devices for controlling the operation of each transport carriage will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 7, each transport cart (for example, the first transport cart 24) is between a cart position sensor 91 for detecting its own position and two pushing members that it has (the first transport cart). 24, an article sensor 92 is provided for detecting whether or not the article 10 is located between the pushing member 28a and the pushing member 28b. As an example of the configuration of the carriage position sensor 91 and the article sensor 92, for example, with respect to the carriage position sensor 91, position markers 93 (FIGS. 2 and 3) installed at regular intervals along the side of the roller conveyor 12 are optically used. It can be configured as a device that calculates its own position by detecting how many times the position marker 93 is detected by detecting with a sensor. As for the article sensor 92, an optical sensor that projects light in the horizontal direction and confirms the presence / absence of the article 10 based on the presence or absence of reflected light is provided between the pushing member 28a and the pushing member 28b (in the case of the first transport carriage 24). It can comprise by providing.
As shown in FIG. 7, each carriage position sensor 91 and each article sensor 92 are connected to a controller 90 for controlling the operation of each carriage, and the position of each carriage is transferred to the controller 90. It comes to notify. The controller 90 can be composed of a computer, a processor, a PLC, etc., which is installed in the transport facility, but only needs to be installed so as to be able to transmit / receive signals to / from various devices. Well, the installation position is arbitrary.
In addition, the traveling drive device and the turning drive device of each transport carriage are also connected to the controller 90. For example, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, a cable 94 is connected to the first transport carriage 24, and the travel drive device 26 and the turning drive device 29 m of the first transport carriage 24 are connected via this cable 94. The controller 90 (not shown in FIGS. 2 and 4) is connected via an I / O driver 96 that generates drive power based on the command signal. 2 and 4 are also connected to the controller 90 by a cable 94 as shown in FIG. 7, but the carriage position sensor 91 and the article sensor 92 are large. Since no driving power is required, the I / O driver 96 is not connected.

<Control procedure and transfer speed transition>
A rough control procedure of the operation of each transport carriage will be described using the flowchart of FIG. 8 and the graph of FIG. Here, as an example, the control when delivering the article 10 from the upstream first transport carriage 24 to the downstream second transport carriage 44 in the straight section as shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The same applies to the direction change section and the branch section.

<< Conveyance travel-Return travel-Standby >>
A state where the first transport carriage 24 is transporting the article 10 as shown on the left side of FIG. 1 will be described as a starting point. This state is a state in which step S1 of FIG. 8 is being executed, and the first transport carriage 24 travels along the transport direction W while keeping the pushing members 28a and 28b in the contact effective state, whereby the article 10 Is being transported to the downstream side. As shown in FIG. 9, the travel speed in this transport travel is accelerated from the start of travel, but when reaching a predetermined maximum speed, the acceleration is interrupted and the first transport carriage 24 shifts to constant speed travel. .
While the first transport carriage 24 is transporting, the controller 90 moves to the downstream end of the section where the first transport carriage 24 is responsible for transporting the article 10 (the downstream end area of the first carriage rail 24). Whether or not the vehicle has arrived is confirmed via the cart position sensor 91 (step S2 in FIG. 8). If the first transport carriage 24 has not reached the downstream end (step S2-NO), the controller 90 continues the transport travel as it is, but if it has reached the downstream end (step S2-YES), I The push members 28a and 28b are switched to the contact invalid state via the / O driver 96 and the turning drive device 29m (step S3). Then, the controller 90 causes the first transport carriage 24 to perform a return travel that travels upstream while keeping the pushing members 28a and 28b in a contact invalid state (step S4).

The transition of the traveling speed from step S2 to step S4 will be described with reference to FIG. The traveling speed may be adjusted so that the article 10 can be smoothly delivered to the second transport carriage 44. That is, the controller 90 reduces the traveling speed from the time when the first transport carriage 24 approaches the downstream end region of the first carriage rail 24 (when the first transport carriage 24 reaches a point slightly upstream from the downstream end). After that, when a predetermined delivery speed (a speed that is low enough to safely deliver the article 10) is reached, the vehicle shifts to low speed running. The switching to the contact invalid state and the delivery of the article 10 to the second transport carriage 44 in step S3 in FIG. 8 are performed in this low speed traveling state.
Then, when the article 10 is delivered to the second transport carriage 44 (the control on the second transport carriage 44 side will be described later), the traveling speed is further reduced to reach a negative speed beyond zero. (Specifically, the first transport carriage 24 is caused to travel upstream by rotating the motor of the travel drive device 26 in the reverse direction).
While the first transport carriage 24 is performing return travel, the controller 90 in step S5 in FIG. 8, the upstream end of the section where the first transport carriage 24 is in charge of transporting the article 10 (first carriage). It is confirmed via a bogie position sensor 91 whether or not it has reached the upstream end region of the rail 24. If the first transport carriage 24 has not reached the upstream end (step S5-NO), the controller 90 continues the return travel as it is, but if it has reached the upstream end (step S5-YES), I The first drive carriage 24 is put on standby by stopping the travel drive device 26 via the / O driver 96 (step S6). Here, if the speed of the return travel is set to be higher than the speed of the transport travel, the first transport carriage 24 can return to the upstream end earlier.

<<< Standby-Conveyance >>>
The first transport carriage 24 which has been in a standby state in step S6 receives the article 10 transported from the upstream side of the first carriage rail 22 through steps S7 and S8, and then travels again (see FIG. Return to step S1). Since the control when the first transport cart 24 receives the article 10 from the upstream side is the same as the control when the second transport cart 44 receives the article 10 from the first transport cart 24, steps S7 and S8. Will be described taking the operation of the second transport carriage 44 as an example.
The second transport carriage 44 is in a standby state at the upstream end of the section in charge of transport, that is, the upstream end region of the second carriage rail (the position of the second transport carriage 44 shown by a solid line in FIG. 1). Meanwhile, the controller 90 uses the article sensor 92 of the second conveyance carriage 44 to determine whether the presence of the article 10 is detected between the pushing member 48a and the pushing member 48b of the second conveyance carriage 44 (first Whether or not the article 10 has been transported to this position by the transport carriage 24) (step S7 in FIG. 8).
If the presence of the article 10 is not detected (step S7—NO), the controller 90 continues the standby state for the second transport cart 44, but if the presence of the article 10 is detected (step S7—YES). The push members 48a and 48b are switched to the contact effective state via the I / O driver 96 and the turning drive device of the second transport carriage 44 (step S8). Then, the controller 90 uses the I / O driver 96 and the travel drive device 46 of the second transport carriage 44 to perform the transport travel that travels downstream while keeping the pushing members 48a and 48b in the contact effective state. The second transport cart 44 is executed (step S1).

In this way, the plurality of transport carts repeats Step S1 to Step S8, respectively, whereby the article 10 is transported to the downstream side while being transferred between the plurality of transport carts.
Note that the speed at which the article 10 is transported on the roller conveyor 12 is equal to the speed of the transport carriage in charge of transport. Here, as shown in FIG. 9, the speeds of the two transport carts 24, 44 when the article 10 is transferred from the first transport cart 24 to the second transport cart 44 are equalized. In addition, by executing the delivery while moving, the article 10 can be continuously conveyed without stopping. If the speeds of both transport carriages 24 and 44 are equal, the article 10 will not receive an impact during delivery, but the upstream first transport carriage 24 is shown in the speed graph of FIG. 9 in order to ensure delivery. It is preferable to decelerate slightly just before delivery. In such acceleration / deceleration, stop, or start of running, it is preferable to change the speed gradually rather than abruptly changing the speed in order to suppress the generation of dust.
Further, in FIG. 9, assuming that the article 10 is started to be transported from a state in which the article 10 is waiting in the section in charge of the first transport carriage 24 and transport is completed at the downstream end of the section in charge of the second transport carriage 44, The initial speed of the first transport carriage 24 is set to zero and the final speed of the second transport carriage 44 is set to zero. However, when the article 10 is transported further upstream than the first transport carriage 24, the article In order to transport 10 without stopping, it is preferable that the first transport carriage 24 receives the article 10 from the upstream side while moving instead of waiting. Further, when the article 10 is transported further downstream than the second transport cart 44, it is preferable that the second transport cart 44 is not finally stopped but the article 10 is transferred to the downstream side while moving. Moreover, after passing, it is preferable to perform a return run and return to the upstream side.

  Here, the operation of the first conveyance carriage 24 and the second conveyance carriage 44 in the straight section has been described. However, the control performed by the controller 90 is the first conveyance carriage further upstream than the first conveyance carriage 24. The same applies to the delivery of the article 10 to 24 and the delivery of the article 10 from the second transport carriage 24 further downstream than the second transport carriage 24. In the direction changing unit and the branching unit, the article 10 can be transferred between the transport carts by the same control.

In the transport facility as an embodiment of the present invention described above, the article 10 is pushed by a transport cart (such as the first transport cart 24) traveling along the side of the roller conveyor 12 serving as a main conveyor. Even if dust is generated along with the traveling of the transport carriage, the generation position thereof is a position on the carriage rail (the first carriage rail 22 or the like) to which the transport carriage belongs, so that the article 10 on the roller conveyor 12 is The possibility of being affected by the dust is extremely small. Even if the roller conveyor 12 is a low-floor conveyor installed near the floor of the facility, the present invention can be implemented by arranging the carriage rail and the conveyance carriage on the side of the roller conveyor 12. .
Also, as shown in FIG. 9, after delivering the article 10 from the first transport carriage 24 to the second transport carriage 44, the first transport carriage 24 returns to the upstream side by traveling at a negative speed. Since it returns, even if the 2nd conveyance trolley 44 is conveying the article 10 when the next article 10 is further conveyed from the upstream side, the 1st conveyance trolley 24 starts conveyance of the next article 10 can do. Therefore, it becomes possible to simultaneously convey a plurality of articles 10 on one roller conveyor 12. Therefore, the conveyance efficiency as the whole conveyance facility can be made high.
Further, the traveling drive device 26 of the transport carriage 24 as shown in FIG. 2 only needs to have a driving force to move the article 10 by one, so that it can be made relatively small, and in constructing the transport facility. Space saving and cost reduction can be achieved. Further, since one article 10 is carried by one traveling drive device 26, it is possible to finely adjust the conveyance speed for each of the articles 10.

[Modification]
In the present embodiment described above, it is assumed that the article 10 placed directly on the roller conveyor 12 is conveyed. For example, the article 10 is accommodated in an article supported by a tray or a container for conveyance. The configuration may be such that the article is transported. In such a case, the members (tray and container) that support or contain the article may be regarded as a transported body and may be transported by being pushed by the feed member of the transport carriage.
Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the upstream-side pushing member 28a and the downstream-side pushing member 28b are attached to a common turning shaft 28r, and the contact effective state and the contact invalid state are set. Although the switching is performed simultaneously on the upstream side and the downstream side, the upstream side pushing member 28a and the downstream side pushing member 28b may be turned separately, and when the article 10 is delivered, You may make it switch the state of only the minimum pushing member which should switch a state.
Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, either the upstream push member 28 a or the downstream push member 28 b can protrude outside the range of the first carriage rail 22. If there is a sufficient margin for the arrangement space of the carriage rails, it is not necessary to adopt a configuration in which the pushing member protrudes outside the carriage rails.
Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the article 10 is drawn so that the article 10 just fits between the upstream pushing member 28a and the downstream pushing member 28b. In this case, the upstream-side push member 28 a may be in contact with the article 10, and the downstream-side push member 28 b may be slightly spaced from the article 10. The downstream pushing member 28b only needs to be able to suppress the movement of the article 10 to such an extent that the article 10 does not move too much forward due to inertia when the speed of the first transport carriage 24 changes, so the distance from the article 10 is made much smaller. There is no need, and the distance between the upstream push member 28a and the downstream push member 28b may be set large. By setting a large distance between the upstream-side push member 28a and the downstream-side push member 28b, the articles 10 having various dimensions can be conveyed. The pivot shaft 28r may be telescopic so that the distance between the upstream push member 28a and the downstream push member 28b can be adjusted.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the posture of the article 10 is not changed when the direction is changed, but when the article 10 reaches the downstream end region of the first roller conveyor 12, the downstream side Before the second transport carriage 44 makes the pushing members 48a and 48b abut, the orientation of the article 10 is changed by rotating the posture of the article 10 (in this case, 90 °). You may change into the attitude | position suitable for a subsequent conveyance direction. In particular, when the article 10 has a complicated shape, or when the direction change angle is not a right angle, it is preferable to appropriately change the posture of the article 10 when the direction is changed.
Further, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, in the direction changing unit, the upstream side of the second roller conveyor 14 is abutted against the right side of the first roller conveyor 12. However, the arrangement of the main conveyor is not limited to this, and the upstream main conveyor is pushed to the side of the downstream main conveyor. You may make it hit. For example, the arrangement is such that the downstream end of the first roller conveyor 12 abuts on the left side of the upstream side of the second roller conveyor 14, and the article 10 is conveyed from the first roller conveyor 12 to the second roller conveyor 14. In this case, the first conveying carriage 24 conveys the article 10 by conveying the article 10 until the downstream pushing member 28b protrudes further downstream than within the range of the first carriage rail 22. You may make it deliver on the 2nd roller conveyor 14. FIG.

Moreover, in this embodiment, although the articles | goods 10 are conveyed on the roller conveyor 12, the main conveyor which supports articles is not restricted to a roller conveyor, and it conveys by the conveyance carriage pushing the articles | goods 10 on it. For example, the article 10 may be transported on a plate that is extremely smooth and has less friction. If the article 10 is transported on a pedestal with wheels, an ordinary plate that is not subjected to special processing can be used as the main conveyor.
Moreover, in this embodiment, although conveyance of the articles | goods 10 shall be completed on the roller conveyor 12, you may make it carry the articles | goods 10 from the roller conveyor 12 to another apparatus. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, if a driving conveyor 80 that can be driven by the conveyor itself and transport the article 10 is laid before the downstream end of the roller conveyor 12, the driving conveyor 80 is driven by the first transport carriage 24. The article 10 conveyed to the top is then conveyed by the drive conveyor 80. At this time, the pushing member 28b on the downstream side of the first transport carriage 24 protrudes downstream from the range of the first carriage rail 22 and advances to the region on the drive conveyor 80. Thereby, even if the first cart rail 22 is laid only up to the downstream end of the roller conveyor 12, the article 10 can be transported to the region on the drive conveyor 80. If it does in this way, even if there is a section which must use drive conveyor 80, the conveyance system concerning the present invention can be adopted about other sections.

10 Article 12 Roller Conveyor 22 First Carriage Rail 24 First Carriage Car 42 Second Carriage Rail 44 Second Carriage Car

Claims (8)

In the transport facility that transports the transported object along the transport path set in the facility,
A main conveyor that is provided along the conveyance path and supports the object to be conveyed;
A plurality of traveling body rails arranged on the side of the main conveyor along the main conveyor,
With
Each of the plurality of traveling body rails belongs to a traveling traveling body that can travel along each traveling body rail,
The transport traveling body is:
A traveling drive device for traveling along the traveling body rail, and an upstream push member and a downstream push member are provided, and the upstream push member and the downstream push member are transported bodies on the main conveyor. It is possible to switch between a contact effective state that can contact each of the upstream end portion or the downstream end portion and a contact invalid state that does not contact,
By traveling along the traveling body rail while maintaining at least the upstream pushing member of the upstream pushing member and the downstream pushing member in a contact effective state capable of contacting the upstream end of the transported body, It is possible to push and transport the transported body along the transport path on the main conveyor,
When the conveyed object being conveyed reaches the downstream end region of the traveling body rail to which it belongs, at least the contact effective state by the downstream side pushing member is canceled, and the traveling body rail provided on the further downstream side Conveying equipment characterized in that the transported body continues to be transported by the transport traveling body belonging to the. After the transport traveling body reaches the downstream end region of the traveling body rail to which the transport traveling body belongs and releases the contact effective state by the upstream pushing member and / or the downstream pushing member, The transfer equipment according to claim 1, wherein a return traveling toward an upstream side is performed along a traveling body rail to which the vehicle belongs. The conveying equipment according to claim 1, wherein in the straight section of the conveying path, traveling body rails are alternately arranged on the left side and the right side of the main conveyor along the conveying path. The travel driving device of the transport traveling body is provided on either the upstream side pushing member or the downstream side pushing member,
Of the upstream side push member and the downstream side push member, those on the side away from the travel drive device project to the upstream side or the downstream side within the range of the travel body rail to which the transport travel body belongs. The transport equipment according to claim 1, wherein the transport equipment can be used. In the direction change part of the transport path,
The upstream main conveyor and traveling body rail and the downstream main conveyor and traveling body rail are arranged along different directions,
When the transported body has been transported to the downstream end region of the upstream main conveyor, the upstream pushing member of the transport traveling body belonging to the downstream traveling body rail is within the range of the traveling body rail. In addition, the conveyance body is continued to be conveyed by the conveyance traveling body belonging to the downstream traveling body rail by traveling to the downstream side after contacting the upstream end in a state of protruding to the upstream side. The transport facility according to claim 4. In the direction change part of the transport path,
The upstream main conveyor and traveling body rail and the downstream main conveyor and traveling body rail are arranged along different directions,
When the transported body has been transported to the downstream end area of the upstream main conveyor, the transport traveling body belonging to the upstream traveling body rail is the traveling body to which the downstream pushing member belongs. 5. The transported body is transported to a downstream main conveyor by transporting the transported body to the downstream side until it is in a state of projecting to the downstream side from within the range of the rail. The described transport equipment. At the branch part of the transport path,
The downstream main conveyor and the traveling body rail are arranged so as to extend in both the left and right directions when viewed from the conveying direction of the upstream main conveyor and the traveling body rail,
The transport traveling body belonging to the upstream traveling body rail has a traveling drive device provided further upstream than the upstream pushing member, and both the upstream pushing member and the downstream pushing member are disposed on the upstream side. 5. The conveyed object to be conveyed can be transferred onto the main conveyor on the downstream side by projecting to the downstream side from within the range of the traveling body rail. Transport equipment. The upstream side pushing member and the downstream side pushing member of the transport traveling body are attached to a common turning shaft extending along the traveling body rail,
By rotating the swivel shaft, the upstream push member and the downstream push member can be swung simultaneously, so that the upstream push member and the downstream push member can be in the contact effective state or the contact invalid state at the same time. The transfer facility according to claim 1, wherein the transfer facility can be switched to.

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