JP2023065022A - Transport system - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a transport system that enables a trestle to be quickly and accurately laid down at a transport destination with a relatively simple configuration.SOLUTION: A control apparatus 39 of an unmanned carrier 3 performs processing of loading a trestle 5 with a load 4 on an elevating table 32, processing of causing the unmanned carrier 3 loading the trestle 5 to travel and stop at a temporary transport destination 20, processing of mounting an inner wheel 53 of the trestle 5 on a rail 6 by lowering the elevating table 32 at the stopped position and separating the elevating table 32 from the trestle 5, processing of hooking a traction hook 38 of the unmanned carrier in a traction hole 54 of the trestle 5 while protruding the unmanned carrier 3 from below the trestle 5 by a predetermined amount by making the unmanned carrier 3 advance toward a downstream side of the rail 6, and processing of towing the trestle 5 by making the unmanned carrier 3 advance further and of transporting the trestle to a transport destination 10.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to transport systems.

For example, Patent Literature 1 describes an air core recovery system for recovering a wound core (air core) of a web roll that has been emptied by pulling out the web from the web roll.

The air core recovery system includes a carrier on which the air core is placed, and a transfer device for transferring the air core placed on the carrier to a carrier. The vehicle is an autonomous transport robot whose wheels are driven by computer-controlled motors.

Then, the transport vehicle on which the air core is placed is driven along the movement path, and a state in which there is a predetermined relative distance to the transport destination (next to the introduction end of the roller conveyor) provided in the middle of the movement path. , the air core on the carrier is extruded by the first extruder to move it onto the roller conveyor, and the air core conveyed by the roller conveyor is extruded by the second extruder to move it onto the cart put it on

By repeating such a process, when a predetermined number of air cores are placed on the truck, the truck is moved to the air core stacking section.

JP-A-2005-41630

In the above Patent Document 1, due to the road surface condition of the movement path, the wear condition of the wheels of the transport vehicle, etc., the transport vehicle is placed next to the introduction end of the roller conveyor, which is the transportation destination, with a predetermined clearance. It becomes difficult to align accurately through the

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of such circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a transport system capable of quickly and accurately laying a gantry alongside a transport destination with a relatively simple configuration.

The present invention includes a platform on which a load is mounted, an automatic guided vehicle that carries the platform and transports it, and a transport destination of the platform on which the load is mounted that transfers the load on the platform to the transfer destination of the load. and a conveyer for transporting to the conveyer, wherein the conveying destination is set in an area in which the gantry is placed alongside the lead-in end of the conveyer with a predetermined clearance, and the conveying purpose In the area from the ground to the temporary transport destination in front of the transport destination in the transport direction, a pair of parallel adjacent rails extends along the direction orthogonal to the conveyor with respect to the introduction end of the conveyor. The automatic guided vehicle is provided with a lifting table for lifting and lowering the pedestal, a traction hook for towing the pedestal, and a control device for executing the following processing. , the pedestal has inner wheels that roll while being placed on the rails, and a towing hole for hooking a towing hook of the automatic guided vehicle. A process of mounting the cradle mounted with the load on the lifting table of the automatic guided vehicle, a process of causing the automatic guided vehicle mounted with the cradle to travel and stop at the temporary conveyance destination, and at the stopped position By lowering the elevating table, the inner wheels of the pedestal are placed on the rail and the elevating table is separated from the pedestal; A process of hooking a towing hook of the automatic guided vehicle to a towing hole of the gantry while causing the guided vehicle to protrude from under the gantry by a predetermined amount; and a process of transporting to a transport destination.

According to this configuration, the automatic guided vehicle is moved to the temporary transport destination of the gantry (introduction side area of the rail), and then further advanced to move the automatic guided vehicle to the gantry. Since the pedestal is pulled along the rail while protruding forward from the bottom to transport it to the transport destination and stop it, the road surface condition of the movement path of the automated guided vehicle and the automated guided vehicle With a relatively simple configuration, the gantry can be quickly and accurately laid alongside the transport destination regardless of the wear condition of the drive wheels.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a transportation system that can quickly and accurately bring a gantry sideways to a transportation destination with a relatively simple configuration.

It is a top view showing one embodiment of a transportation system concerning the present invention. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1; FIG. It is a top view which shows a structure and a shape of an automatic guided vehicle. It is a perspective view which simplifies and shows a mount frame. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a state in which the towing hole of the gantry and the towing hook of the automatic guided vehicle are caught. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a fitting state between the rail and the inner wheel; FIG. 10 is a plan view showing an initial process of a cargo transfer procedure; FIG. 8 is a side view of FIG. 7; FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a process following FIG. 7; FIG. 10 is a side view of FIG. 9; FIG. 10 is a plan view showing the process following FIG. 9; FIG. 12 is a side view of FIG. 11; FIG. 12 is a plan view showing the process following FIG. 11; FIG. 14 is a side view of FIG. 13;

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

One embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1-14. In the figure, 1 is a moving path, 2 is a conveyor, 3 is an automatic guided vehicle, 4 is a load, 5 is a platform, 6 is a rail, and 7 is a worker.

The movement path 1 is a track for running the automatic guided vehicle 3, and may be, for example, the floor of the premises of a factory or the like, or an outdoor road such as a private property.

Although not shown, guide markers (such as QR codes) for guiding the travel route of the automatic guided vehicle 3 are installed on the travel path 1 in a grid pattern.

The conveyor 2 transports the load 4 on the platform 5 from the transport destination 10 (see FIG. 1) of the platform 5 on which the load 4 is mounted to the transport destination of the load 4 (waiting place for the worker 7). be.

The transport destination 10 is set in an area where the pedestal 5 is laid alongside the lead-in end of the conveyor 2 with a predetermined clearance therebetween.

This conveyor 2 is a roller conveyor. The roller conveyor is arranged so that the rotation center axes of the rollers 21 are parallel and adjacent to each other. As a result, the load 4 can be smoothly transported to the waiting place of the worker 7.例文帳に追加

The unmanned guided vehicle 3 is a vehicle having a function of automatically traveling in a certain area and conveying a load 4, and is, for example, an autonomous mobile robot (AMR: abbreviation for Autonomous Mobile Robot).

As is well-known, the autonomously traveling transport robot is one that autonomously travels according to a predetermined program by a computer without track, guide, human control, or the like.

Specifically, the automatic guided vehicle 3 is equipped with a frame 5 and autonomously travels on the movement path 1. For example, as shown in FIGS. A driven wheel 33, a rear driven wheel 34, a left driving wheel 35, a right driving wheel 36, and the like are provided.

The vehicle body 31 is formed in a substantially rectangular shape in plan view. As shown in FIG. 3, the elevating table 32 is formed in a ring shape in a plan view, and is provided on the vehicle body 31 so as to be able to be raised or lowered. The pedestal 5 is mounted on the elevating table 32 .

The front driven wheel 33 and the rear driven wheel 34 each consist of a pair of left and right wheels, and are supported so as to be freely rotatable (forward rotation, reverse rotation).

The front driven wheels 33 are installed on the front side of the vehicle body 31 , and the rear driven wheels 34 are installed on the rear side of the vehicle body 31 .

The left drive wheel 35 and the right drive wheel 36 are each one wheel, and are of a differential drive type driven independently by separate motors (not shown).

The left drive wheel 35 is provided on the left side in the middle of the vehicle body 31 in the front-rear direction, and the right drive wheel 36 is provided on the right side in the middle of the vehicle body 31 in the front-rear direction.

LiDAR sensors 37a and 37b are provided between the front side and the rear side of the vehicle body 31 in the left-right direction.

As is well known, the LiDAR sensors 37a and 37b use laser light to measure the shape and distance of an object at a distant location, and the detection output is used for the autonomous travel of the automatic guided vehicle 3. .

A towing hook 38 is provided on the rear side of the vehicle body 31 . The tow hook 38 is formed in a columnar shape and is supported so as to be able to be raised or lowered by a lifting mechanism (not shown).

Specifically, the towing hook 38 is moved up and down between a lowered position where it is stored flush with the vehicle body 31 and a raised position where it projects above the vehicle body 31 .

Further, a lower camera (not shown) is installed at a predetermined position on the lower surface of the vehicle body 31 for recognizing the guide markers of the movement path 1 .

The cargo 4 includes a cargo body (articles other than people) 41 and a pallet 42 that stores the cargo body 41 .

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the load body 41 is a rectangular parallelepiped that is square in plan view and oblong in side view. However, the shape of the cargo body 41 can be arbitrary.

The pallet 42 has a structure in which two cargo bodies 41 can be stored in a vertically stacked state so as not to fall outside.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the base 5 is provided so that the leg portions 52 extend downward from the four corners of a plate-shaped trunk portion 51 which is rectangular in plan view. On the lower surface, a total of four inner wheels 53 are mounted on the left side and the right side, with two front and rear wheels 53 each.

Although not shown in detail, the body portion 51 is provided with a roller conveyor configured by arranging a plurality of rollers side by side in a row.

Concretely, the rollers of the roller conveyor are installed side by side so that the respective rotation center axes are adjacent to each other in parallel, similar to the rollers 21 of the roller conveyor as the conveyor 2 .

Moreover, each roller installed on the body portion 51 is installed so as to be obliquely lowered from the right side to the left side of the body portion 51 .

The left-right direction (width direction) of the body portion 51 is the direction Y orthogonal to the moving direction X of the automatic guided vehicle 3 (also referred to as the transport direction of the gantry 5). These things enable the load 4 on the frame 5 to be transferred to the conveyor 2 smoothly.

Further, the gantry 5 is provided with a stopper (not shown) for preventing the cargo 4 from falling off the gantry 5 while the automatic guided vehicle 3 is traveling.

This stopper is configured to be raised or lowered to a position protruding above the pedestal 5 and a position hidden under the pedestal 5, and is lowered after the pedestal 5 reaches a transport destination 10.例文帳に追加

The inner wheels 53 are supported so as to be freely rotatable (forward rotation, reverse rotation).

A pulling hole 54 is provided on the lower surface of the body portion 51 of the frame 5 on the front side (upstream side in the transport direction X) and in the middle in the left-right direction (the direction Y perpendicular to the transport direction X).

The tow hole 54 is for hooking the tow hook 38 provided on the automatic guided vehicle 3. In order to make it easier to hook the tow hook 38, for example, as shown in FIG. 51 is an elongated hole elongated along the left-right direction (the direction Y perpendicular to the conveying direction X).

However, when the tow hole 54 is formed as an elongated hole in this way, the hooking position of the tow hook 38 with respect to the tow hole 54 may deviate from the central position in the longitudinal direction of the tow hole 54 (horizontal direction of the frame 5), or If the transport direction X deviates by a predetermined angle .theta.

Taking this into consideration, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the front side 54a of the elongated hole as the pulling hole 54 has a linear shape along the left-right direction (the direction Y perpendicular to the conveying direction X) of the pedestal 5. In addition, the tow hook 38 is formed in a cylindrical shape and supported so as to be freely rotatable (forward rotation, reverse rotation) about its central axis as a fulcrum.

By adopting such a configuration, even if the hooking position of the towing hook 38 with respect to the towing hole 54 deviates from the central position in the longitudinal direction of the towing hole 54, or the conveying direction X of the automatic guided vehicle 3 is shifted by a predetermined angle θ Even if there is a deviation, the occurrence of a couple of forces can be suppressed.

The rails 6 are configured as a set of two parallel adjacent rails, and are installed in the vicinity of the introduction end of the conveyor 2 on the movement path 1 so as to float above the movement path 1 at a predetermined distance.

The inner wheels 53 of the frame 5 are placed on the rails 6 so as to roll.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the rails 6 are arranged along the movement direction X of the automatic guided vehicle 3 in the area from the transportation destination 10 to the temporary transportation destination 20 on the movement path 1. .

Note that the temporary transport destination 20 is set at a predetermined position before the transport destination 10 in the transport direction X. As shown in FIG. This temporary transport destination 20 is installed in the introduction side area of the rail 6 (the left half area in FIG. 1).

The rail 6 is arranged to face the lead-in end of the conveyor 2 with a predetermined clearance therebetween.

This clearance is appropriately designed to have dimensions necessary for accurately transferring the load 4 on the platform 5 to the conveyor 2 . It is preferable to design this clearance in consideration of the widthwise deviation of the inner wheel 53 on the rail 6 when it is arranged.

In order to prevent the inner wheel 53 from deviating from the rail 6 to both sides in the width direction of the rail 6 and to prevent the inner wheel 53 from slipping in the width direction, the upper surface of the rail 6 is formed in a convex or concave shape, and the inner wheel The outer circumference of 53 is formed in a concave or convex shape.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the cross section of the upper surface of the rail 6 along the width direction is formed into an inverted U shape (or an inverted V shape). A groove 53a having a V-shaped cross section is formed.

As a result, when the inner wheel 53 is placed on the rail 6, the inner wheel 53 will not come off on both sides in the width direction, and the inner wheel 53 will be positioned at the center of the rail 6 in the width direction (centering action). , the displacement of the inner wheel 53 in the width direction is suppressed or prevented.

Further, although not shown, a positioning means is provided on the downstream side (front side) of the rail 6 to stop the gantry 5 at the transportation destination 10 and to maintain the stopped state. Although not shown, this positioning means can be, for example, a recess in which the inner wheel 53 is fitted.

The height of the rail 6 is such that when the inner wheels 53 of the pedestal 5 are placed on the rail 6, the upper surface of the pedestal 5 is the upper surface of the introduction end of the conveyor 2 (the uppermost part of the rollers 21 arranged at the introduction end). ) and is set flush with or slightly higher. As a result, it is possible to smoothly transfer the load 4 from the pedestal 5 to the conveyor 2. - 特許庁

By the way, the automatic guided vehicle 3 is equipped with a control device 39 for controlling its running operation and pulling operation.

This control device 39 executes various processes in order to transport the load 4 to the worker's 7 standby place (transfer destination).

Although not shown, a lower marker for mounting the gantry 5 on the elevating table 32 of the automatic guided vehicle 3 is attached to the center position of the lower surface of the body portion 51 of the gantry 5 . On the other hand, although not shown, an upper camera for recognizing the lower marker is provided at the center position on the upper surface of the vehicle body 31 of the automatic guided vehicle 3 .

When the gantry 5 is mounted on the automatic guided vehicle 3, the control device 39 mounted on the automatic guided vehicle 3 detects the lower marker (not shown) by the upper camera (not shown). The car 3 is stopped and the lifting table 32 is lifted. As a result, the pedestal 5 can be mounted on the lifting table 32 with good balance, that is, without tilting or shaking.

Next, referring to FIGS. 7 to 14, the procedure for transporting the load 4 will be described. 7 to 14, the configuration and shape of each part are illustrated in a simplified manner.

In this embodiment, although not shown, a platform 5 on which a cargo 4 is mounted is arranged at a predetermined position on the movement path 1 .

After the automatic guided vehicle 3 is slipped under the platform 5, the lifting table 32 of the automatic guided vehicle 3 is raised to lift the platform 5 and mount it on the vehicle body 31 (see FIG. 2).

Then, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the automatic guided vehicle 3 is moved to the temporary transportation destination 20 of the gantry 5. FIG.

In this movement, the automatic guided vehicle 3 autonomously travels according to an autonomous travel program by the control device 39 .

During this autonomous travel, the control device 39 recognizes a plurality of guide markers (not shown) installed on the moving path 1 one by one with a lower camera (not shown) installed on the automatic guided vehicle 3, Based on the recognition result, it is confirmed whether the actual movement route of the automatic guided vehicle 3 deviates from the programmed movement route.

In this way, the control device 39 uses both the autonomous traveling program of the automatic guided vehicle 3 and the route guidance of the movement path 1 to accurately control the traveling of the automatic guided vehicle 3 .

In this way, when the automatic guided vehicle 3 stops at the temporary transport destination 20 , the lifting table 32 of the automatic guided vehicle 3 is lowered, so that the inner wheels 53 of the frame 5 are moved to the leading side (rear side) area of the rail 6 . put it on top of As a result, the lifting table 32 is separated from the pedestal 5 .

After that, the automatic guided vehicle 3 is moved forward so that it jumps out ahead of the front end of the gantry 5, and at a predetermined timing, the towing hook 38 of the automatic guided vehicle 3 is raised and put into the tow hole 54 of the pedestal 5, The traction hook 38 is brought into contact with the front edge 54a of the traction hole 54 and hooked.

After doing so, the pedestal 5 is towed along the rail 6 by further advancing the automatic guided vehicle 3 .

In this towing process, the unmanned guided vehicle 3 advances by a predetermined towing movement distance and stops, so that the gantry 5 stops at the transportation destination 10 as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 . Note that the towing movement distance is set in advance in the autonomous travel program of the control device 39 of the automatic guided vehicle 3 .

Moreover, when the gantry 5 stops at the transport destination 10 , the inner wheels 53 of the gantry 5 are fitted into positioning depressions (not shown) on the downstream side (front side) of the rails 6 , although not shown. Thus, the gantry 5 is held at the position where it stopped at the transport destination 10 .

In this way, the gantry 5 can be quickly and accurately laid alongside the transport destination 10, that is, the lead-in end of the conveyor 2, and the prolongation of the cycle time until the gantry 5 is transported to the transport destination 10 can be suppressed or prevented. become able to.

In the process of towing the gantry 5 by the automatic guided vehicle 3, the gantry 5 is guided along the rails 6, so the actual clearance from the gantry 5 to the introduction end of the conveyor 2 when the automatic guided vehicle 3 stops is is within the preset design clearance. From this, it can be said that the gantry 5 has been correctly laid alongside the transportation destination 10 .

Then, when the gantry 5 is placed alongside the transport destination 10 , although not shown, a stopper (not shown) of the gantry 5 is lowered so that only the cargo 4 mounted on the gantry 5 is moved to the gantry 5 . It is automatically moved to the conveyor 2 side by a roller conveyor (not shown) installed at an angle, and is transferred onto the conveyor 2 .

The load 4 transferred onto the conveyor 2 flows on the conveyor 2 due to the movement inertia force of the load 4 at the time of transfer, and is conveyed to the waiting place of the worker 7 (see FIG. 11).

After that, the unmanned guided vehicle 3 is retracted and slipped under the pedestal 5 (see FIG. 12). At this time, when the upper camera (not shown) of the automatic guided vehicle 3 recognizes the lower marker (not shown) of the frame 5, the automatic guided vehicle 3 is stopped.

After this, the lifting table 32 is lifted to lift the platform 5 on which the load 4 has been unloaded onto the automatic guided vehicle 3 and separate it from the rails 6 (see FIG. 12).

Then, as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, the automatic guided vehicle 3 on which the platform 5 is mounted is moved forward to get out of the rail 6 and move to a predetermined position.

As described above, according to the embodiment to which the present invention is applied, regardless of the road surface condition of the travel path 1, the wear condition of the left driving wheel 35 and the right driving wheel 36 of the automatic guided vehicle 3, etc., the configuration is relatively simple. , it is possible to bring the gantry 5 to the transport destination 10 quickly and accurately.

In addition, the configuration described in the above embodiment is an example, and the present invention is not limited to it, and can be appropriately changed within the scope of the claims and within the scope equivalent to the scope. is.

(1) In the above embodiment, an example in which a roller conveyor (not shown) and a stopper (not shown) are provided on the body portion 51 of the frame 5 is given, but the present invention is not limited to this.

It is possible to omit the roller conveyor and the stopper and instead provide a transfer mechanism (not shown) for transferring the load 4 on the cradle 5 to the conveyor 2 at the destination of the cradle 5. .

(2) In the above embodiment, the configuration of the automatic guided vehicle 3 and the outer shape of the vehicle body 31 are not particularly limited.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be suitably used for a transport system.

1 moving path 2 conveyor
21 roller 3 automatic guided vehicle
31 car body
32 lifting table
33 front driven wheel
34 rear driven wheel
35 left driving wheel
36 right drive wheel
37a, 37b LiDAR sensor
38 tow hook
39 controller 4 cargo
41 cargo body
42 pallet 5 stand
51 torso
52 legs
53 inner wheel
53a groove
54 tow hole
54a Front side 6 Rail 7 Worker 10 Transfer destination 20 Temporary transfer destination

Claims (1)

A platform on which a load is mounted, an automatic guided vehicle that carries the platform and transports it, and a transport destination of the platform on which the load is mounted to transfer the load on the platform to a transfer destination of the load. A conveyor system comprising a conveyor of
The conveying destination is set in an area where the gantry is placed alongside the lead-in end of the conveyor with a predetermined clearance therebetween,
In a region from the transport destination to a temporary transport destination located before the transport destination in the transport direction, a pair of parallel adjacent rails are perpendicular to the conveyor with respect to the introduction end of the conveyor. It is set along the direction of
The automatic guided vehicle is provided with a lifting table for lifting and lowering the platform, a tow hook for pulling the platform, and a control device for executing the following processes,
The pedestal has an inner wheel that rolls while being placed on the rail on the bottom surface, and a towing hole for hooking a towing hook of the automatic guided vehicle,
The control device performs a process of mounting the platform on which the load is mounted on an elevating table of the automatic guided vehicle;
A process of causing the unmanned guided vehicle on which the platform is mounted to travel and stop at the temporary transportation destination;
a process of lowering the lifting table at the stopped position to place the inner wheels of the pedestal on the rails and separating the lifting table from the pedestal;
A process of hooking a towing hook of the unmanned guided vehicle to a tow hole of the stand while causing the unmanned guided vehicle to protrude forward from under the stand by a predetermined amount by advancing the unmanned guided vehicle toward the downstream side of the rail. and,
and a process of further advancing the unmanned guided vehicle to tow the gantry and transport it to the transport destination.

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