JP2021066414A - Transportation dolly - Google Patents

Abstract

To automatically restrain and release steering turning of front wheels in synchronization with coupling with an automatic transportation vehicle, in a transportation dolly that travels while being integrally coupled with an automated transport vehicle.SOLUTION: A transportation dolly under which an unmanned transport vehicle is dived and integrally coupled to transport an article includes a lock device for restraining and releasing steering turning of front wheels in synchronization with coupling and releasing from the unmanned transport vehicle.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a transport trolley capable of transporting articles by hand in connection with an automatic guided vehicle or independently.

An automatic guided vehicle is slipped under a transport trolley on which an article is placed and connected, and the automatic guided vehicle is connected and traveled along a taxiway to automatically transport the article. For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a device for automatically disconnecting such an automatic guided vehicle and a connected transport vehicle at a specific location. In general, the articulated transport trolley is separated on the guideway and then manually pushed to move it to the desired final location. However, all four wheels are steered with an emphasis on the followability of the transport trolley during connected traveling. Since free casters that can move freely are used, it is difficult to maintain straight running and turning when pushing by hand, and work efficiency is significantly deteriorated.

In response to such deterioration in operability, Patent Document 2 proposes a device capable of arbitrarily restraining the steering rotation of the two free casters on the rear wheel side, although it is an automatic guided vehicle itself rather than a connected type. ing. Specifically, in addition to operating the lever to restrain (lock) the steering rotation of the two free casters, a lever holding hook is also provided so that the locked state can be maintained.

Japanese Patent No. 6044387 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-282204

However, in such a conventional technique, an arbitrary lock / unlock operation by a person is still required, and the work efficiency is not good. Of course, since it is an automatic guided vehicle technology in which the drive and steering of the front wheels are automatically controlled, the problem of the articulated guided vehicle cannot be solved.

Therefore, according to the present invention, in a transport carriage connected to an automatic guided vehicle, all four wheels can be steered and rotated during connected running to improve the running performance at the time of connecting, and at the time of unconnected hand pushing, the steering of the front two wheels can be rotated. It is an object of the present invention to provide a transport trolley capable of automatically restraining movement and facilitating straight-ahead maintenance and turning operation when pushed by hand.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, it is a transport trolley in which an automatic guided vehicle is slipped downward and connected to transport goods as a unit, and the front wheels are steered in conjunction with the connection / disconnection with the automatic guided vehicle. It is characterized by being provided with a lock device for restraining / releasing rotation.

In the transport trolley of the present invention, it is preferable that the lock device is driven by a relative motion when a connecting pin protruding from the upper part of the automatic guided vehicle engages with and disengages from the coupler of the transport trolley.

In the transport carriage of the present invention, the lock device includes a rotating plate that steered and rotates together with the front wheel, a fitting hole formed in the rotating plate, and a lock that can be inserted into and detached from the fitting hole. It is composed of a pin, a guide holder on which the lock pin can slide internally, a wire connected to the lock pin, and a plurality of pulleys for guiding the wire, and when the connecting pin engages with the coupler. It is preferable to pull the wire to drive the lock pin out of the fitting hole.

According to the present invention, in an automatic guided vehicle connected to an automatic guided vehicle, all four wheels can be steered freely during connected traveling to improve the connected traveling performance, and the two front wheels can be steered and rotated when unconnected by hand. It can exert various excellent effects such that it can be automatically restrained to facilitate the straight-ahead maintenance and turning operation at the time of pushing, the switching work by hand can be eliminated, and the operation at the time of pushing can be facilitated.

It is a perspective view which describes the transport carriage which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention, and is the figure which shows the unconnected state. It is a perspective view which describes the transport carriage which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention, and is the figure which shows the connected state. It is a figure which shows the locked state of the steering rotation lock device of the front wheel of the transport carriage which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the unlocked state of the steering rotation lock device of the front wheel of the transport carriage which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is an enlarged view around the coupler 18 in FIG.

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

FIG. 1 shows a state in which the automatic guided vehicle 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is in an unconnected state, that is, a state in which an automatic guided vehicle is not submerged downward and can be operated independently by hand. This figure is a perspective view seen from diagonally forward of the transport trolley 1, and the lower left of the paper is the front of the transport trolley and the traveling direction when traveling straight.

The basic skeleton of the transport trolley 1 is composed of a left frame 3, a right frame 4, a front frame 5, a rear frame 6, and a horizontal frame 2 in a substantially horizontal Japanese shape, and an article mounting plate is placed on the skeleton. A certain top plate 60 is fixed, but the top plate 60 is shown by an imaginary line in order to show the locking device with a solid line for ease of understanding. Then, on the back surface of the top plate 60, a coupler 18 with which the upper part of the connecting pin 51 of the automatic guided vehicle (AGV) 50 is engaged is fixed as described later.

The coupler 18 is a substantially V-shaped plate, and the upper surface is fixed so that the opening is directed rearward with respect to the traveling direction. From the rear, the automatic guided vehicle 50 sneaks into the lower part of the transport carriage 1 and advances forward, and the upper part of the coupling pin 51 enters the coupler 18 and engages (presses), and the driving force is transmitted from that point to move the transport carriage Propulsion forward.

Then, at the time of disconnection, after the vehicle is stopped, the connecting pin 51 is lowered and stored in the automatic guided vehicle 50, and the connected state is released. After that, the automatic guided vehicle 50 moves forward and separates from the inside of the guided vehicle 1. Such connection / disconnection operations are routinely carried out. If it is desired to disengage the vehicle with the connecting pin 51 raised, only the automatic guided vehicle 50 may retreat and disengage after the vehicle is stopped.

A vertical left vertical frame 7 and a right vertical frame 8 are fixed to the rear ends of the left frame 3 and the right frame 4, respectively. A handle portion 9 serving as a gripping point when pushed by hand is hung on the upper ends of the left frame 3 and the right frame 4 in the width direction. Further, a vertical left front frame 12 and a right front frame 13 are fixed below the front ends of the left frame 3 and the right frame 4, respectively. It should be noted that these fixings may be appropriately adopted by welding, screwing, gluing, or crimping as long as they are strong and durable methods.

The left guide frame 10 and the right guide frame 11 are fixed to the lower surfaces of the front frame 5 and the rear frame 6 in parallel with both frames at regular intervals. The distance between the left guide frame 10 and the right guide frame 11 is set slightly wider than the width of the automatic guided vehicle 50, and has a function of suppressing lateral shake of the automatic guided vehicle 50 during connected traveling. Wheels and cushioning materials may be interposed on the side surfaces of the automatic guided vehicle 50. A pulley 34 is rotatably attached to the left guide frame 10 via a bracket 37, and similarly, a pulley 36 is rotatably attached to the right guide frame 11 via a bracket 38. The pulleys 34 and 36 guide the left wire 31 and the right wire 32, respectively.

Front wheels 14 and 15, which are free casters, are fixed to the lower surfaces of the left front frame 12 and the right front frame 13, respectively. Similarly, rear wheels 16 and 17 (not shown), which are free casters, are fixed to the lower surfaces of the left vertical frame 7 and the right vertical frame 8. That is, the transport trolley 1 is equipped with free casters on all four wheels to improve the followability when traveling in connection with the automatic transport vehicle 50. A pulley 33 is rotatably attached to the front surface of the front frame 5 via the bracket 19, and a pulley 35 is rotatably attached via the bracket 20, and each pulley guides the left wire 31 and the right wire 32. ing.

A left-handed rotating plate 25 and a right-handed rotating plate 26 that integrally steer the front wheels 14 and 15 are attached to the front wheels 14 and 15, respectively. 27 and 28 are drilled. Then, in the non-connected state of this figure, lock pins 29 and 30 are internally provided in the fitting holes 27 and 28, respectively. The lock pins 29 and 30 are slidably arranged in the guide holders 23 and 24, respectively, and are suspended by the left wire 31 and the right wire 32, respectively. Then, each wire goes out to the outside of the left guide frame 10 and the right guide frame 11 while being guided by the pulleys 33, 34, 35, 36 through the through holes 39, 40, and the stopper 41, at each end. 42 is fixed, and the stoppers 41 and 42 fix the wire ends against the tension of each wire in a state of being locked to the inlets of the through holes 39 and 40. The end of each wire may be directly fixed to both frames without using the stoppers 41 and 42.

As described above, the left rotating plate 25, the right rotating plate 26, the fitting holes 27, 28, the lock pins 29, 30, the guide holders 23, 24, the left wire 31, the right wire 32, the pulleys 33, 34, respectively. The lock device 61 is composed of 35 and 36.

The operation of the locking device 61 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. Since the locking devices for the left front wheel 14 and the right front wheel 15 are basically the same, the left front wheel 14 side will be used for description. In the unconnected state in FIG. 3, since the automatic guided vehicle 50 and the connecting pin 51 are absent, the left wire 31 and the right wire 32 are in a natural state without being pulled by the connecting pin 51. In that state, the lower portions of the lock pins 29 and 30 are set to stop at the positions internally provided in the fitting holes 27 and 28, respectively.

In this way, the lock pins 29 and 30 extend from the guide holders 23 and 24 into the fitting holes 27 and 28 to lock the rotation of the left rotation plate 25 and the right rotation plate 26. Become. In this way, the steering rotation of the front wheels is locked and the rear wheels remain as free casters. Therefore, the steering rotation when the transport carriage 1 is pushed by hand is performed only by the rear wheels, and the steering operation is performed both when going straight and when turning. Becomes easier. Alternatively, even if the transport carriage 1 is manually pushed in the opposite direction, the front two wheels are free casters and the rear two wheels are in the steering rotation locked state, so that the manual pushing operation is also easy. In any case, it is important at the time of pushing that either the front or rear two wheels are free casters and the other is in the steering rotation lock state.

FIG. 2 shows a connected state of the transport trolley 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, that is, a state in which the automatic guided vehicle 50 is submerged downward and is connected and traveled. For the sake of understanding, the state in which the front wheels 14 and 15 are turning to the left, that is, the front wheels 14 and 15 are turning to the left is described. Further, FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the periphery of the coupler 18 in FIG. At the time of connection, the automatic guided vehicle 50 with the connecting pin 51 raised from the rear of the transport carriage 1 enters and advances forward while being guided between the left guide frame 10 and the right guide frame 11, and the front part of the automatic guided vehicle 50. The connecting pin 51, which protrudes upward, enters the inside of the coupler 18 and engages with the V-shaped bottom portion. From that point, the propulsive force is transmitted to the transport carriage 1 via the coupler 18, and the front wheels 14 and 15 become free casters and start the connected traveling.

From the front where the upper part of the connecting pin 51 enters the inside of the coupler 18 and engages with the V-shaped bottom, the lower part of the connecting pin 51 pushes the left wire 31 and the right wire 32 stretched substantially horizontally forward. Beginning (beginning of pulling), it continues until the coupling pin 51 engages (presses) the V-shaped bottom of the coupler 18. That is, both wires are pulled by the distance (stroke) between the time when the connecting pin 51 starts pulling both wires and the time when the engagement is completed. Since each of the pulled wires is prevented from moving at one end by the stoppers 41 and 42, it moves via each pulley by the amount corresponding to the pulling stroke and pulls up the lock pins 29 and 30 at the other end. On the other hand, at the time of disconnection, the connecting pin 51 descends or moves rearward to release the tension of both wires, and the lock pins 29 and 30 descend to return to the locked state. As a measure to prevent the wire from coming off due to vibration and to take measures against aging, a tensioner, a turnbuckle, or the like may be added as appropriate within a range that does not hinder the raising and lowering of the lock pins 29 and 30.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which the lock pin 29 is pulled up as a result of the left wire 31 being pulled to the right in the drawing, and the tip of the lock pin 29 is separated from the fitting hole 27. In this state, the left rotating plate 25 and the left front wheel 14 are free from the restraint of steering rotation. That is, both lock pins 29 and 30 are pulled up by the relative movement between the coupler 18 and the coupling pin 51 due to the intrusion or connection of the automatic guided vehicle 50, and both front wheels 14 and 15 are automatically put into the free caster state. And return.

As described above, it automatically switches to the 4-wheel free caster state when connected and to the locked state of the steering rotation of the front wheels when not connected, so there is no need for manual switching work and it is connected. Smooth operation during driving is also guaranteed. Further, since a dedicated power device or control device is not used for automatic switching of the lock device 61, it can be realized at low cost and with high reliability.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and even if there is a change in the scope deviating from the gist of the present invention, the present invention is included in the present invention. The power transmission means of the lock device is not limited to wire drive, and mechanical elements such as links, push rods, and cams may be combined as transmission means as long as the stroke of the connecting pin 51 can be reliably transmitted. Absent. Further, the use as a transport trolley is not limited to the transport of goods in a manufacturing factory, and can be widely used for automatic transport at sites such as logistics, agriculture, medical care, and construction.

1 Automated guided vehicle 14, 15 Front wheel 18 Coupler 23, 24 Guide holder 25 Left rotating plate 26 Right rotating plate 27, 28 Fitting holes 29, 30 Lock pin 31 Left wire 32 Right wire 33, 34, 35, 36 Pulley 50 Automatic guided vehicle 51 Connecting pin 61 Locking device

Claims (3)

It is a transport trolley that transports automatic guided vehicles by slipping them downward and connecting them together.
A transport carriage comprising a lock device for restraining / releasing the steering rotation of the front wheels in conjunction with the connection / disconnection with the automatic guided vehicle. The transport trolley according to claim 1, wherein the lock device is driven by a relative motion when a connecting pin protruding from the upper part of the automatic guided vehicle is driven by a relative motion when engaging with and disengaging from the coupler of the transport trolley. The lock device includes a rotating plate that rotates in a steering manner together with the front wheel, a fitting hole formed in the rotating plate, a lock pin that can be inserted into and detached from the fitting hole, and the lock pin inside. It is composed of a guide holder that can be slidable with a guide holder, a wire that connects to the lock pin, and a plurality of pulleys that guide the wire, and pulls the wire when the connecting pin engages with the coupler. The transport trolley according to claim 2, wherein the lock pin is driven to be detached from the fitting hole.

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