JP2532486B2 - Conveyor transfer device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates mainly to a transfer path transfer device used in a conveyor for free flow pallet transfer.

Conventional technology No. 6 as a free flow pallet conveyor
The type shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is widely used. In this kind of conveyor, a drive roller b whose support angle can be variably set is attached to the lower surface of the pallet a, and the drive roller b is configured to be in pressure contact with the drive shaft c. When the axis R of the drive roller b is set to intersect the axis D of the drive shaft c three-dimensionally, a part of the rotational force of the drive shaft c passes through the drive roller b and the propulsive force of the pallet a. And the pallet a moves in one direction along the conveyor conveyance path. In order to stop the pallet a, a stopper device d arranged on the conveyance path is operated so as to perform a stopper action, and the stopper device d is attached to the pallet a and a swing lever e protruding forward of the pallet a is operated. This is done by bringing the tips into contact. That is, the stopper device d
When the tip of the rocking lever e comes into contact with the rocking lever e, the rocking lever e rotates in the direction of the arrow, and the support angle of the drive roller b changes accordingly, and the two axes R and D become parallel. As a result of the drive roller b rotating around its support axis, the propulsive force is reduced to zero, and the pallet a slows down and stops smoothly.

In this way, the pallet a is conveyed in one direction along the work conveying path A (see FIG. 8), and during this period, various works are applied to the work piece placed on the pallet a. When a series of work is applied, the work is removed from the pallet a, and only the pallet a reaches the end point of the work transport path A. Next, this pallet a is transferred to the return conveyance path B, and is conveyed in the reverse direction toward the end point of the return conveyance path B based on the same conveyance principle. The pallet a which has reached the end point of the return conveyance path B is transferred to the work conveyance path A and used again.

The conventional example of the pallet circulation system shown in FIG. 8 is of a type in which the work transfer path A and the return transfer path B are located on the same horizontal plane. In this type, intermediate transfer paths M and N are arranged outside both transfer paths A and B, and A →
Transfer tables f, f ... Rotating 90 ° are arranged at four transition sections M, M → B, B → N, N → A. The pallet a is moved from A to M by the function of these transfer tables f, f ....
→ B → N → A circulation route.

FIG. 9 shows a conventional example of another pallet circulation system,
This is a type in which the work transport path A and the return transport path B have different vertical positions and horizontal positions. In this type, for example, when the pallet a is transferred from the work transport path A to the return transport path B, the transfer table h that moves straight and reciprocally on the guide rail g standing upright in the oblique direction has the work transport path h. A
The pallet a is received from the end point position of the pallet, the pallet a is transferred to the start point position of the return conveyance path B, and then the pallet a is transferred to the return conveyance path B.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention According to the conventional example shown in FIG. 8, the work conveying path A and the returning conveying path B are arranged at positions laterally separated from each other.
There is a problem that the area occupied by the conveyor increases. Further, in order to secure the rotation of the transfer table f, it becomes difficult to connect the connection portion between the work transfer path A and the like with the transfer table f without a gap, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. In a conveyor of the type that conveys the pallet a by the rotation of the drive shaft D, it is difficult to smoothly transmit the driving force from the drive shaft D to the pallet a.

On the other hand, according to the conventional example shown in FIG.
In contrast, the front end portion F of the pallet a moves forward, and the rear end portion R of the pallet a moves forward in the return conveyance path B. For this reason, like the pallet a shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the pallet a is appropriately stopped in the return conveyance path B in the case where the front end F side has a stop member such as the swing lever e. Can't do it. In order to avoid this, it is conceivable to provide a similar stopping member at the rear end portion R of the pallet a, but the structure becomes complicated and the cost increases.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the carry-out port of the forward-direction transport path and the carry-in port of the reverse-direction transport path are close to each other, and the vertical position and the lateral position are displaced. In the transport path transfer device in the conveyor that moves the transported object so that the transported object that has been unloaded from the unloading port is loaded into the loading port, the left-right direction position is the loading port and the loading port. A transfer table that rotates halfway around a vertical axis located in the middle and moves up and down along the vertical axis in conjunction with half-rotation motion is provided, and the transfer table has a position where its rear end contacts the carry-out port. Drive means for reciprocating between the front end and a position in contact with the carry-in port.

Operation According to the present invention, the transported object sent to the carry-out port of the forward-direction transport path is carried out to the transfer table which is connected to the carry-out port and stands by, and then the transfer table rotates half a turn. By moving up and down, after being transferred to the carry-in entrance of the reverse transport path, it is carried out to the carry-in entrance connected to the transfer table. In this way, the transported object is moved from the carry-out port to the carry-in port, but at the same time, the direction in the front-back direction is changed, and the front end of the transported object at the leading position in the traveling direction in the forward-direction transport path is moved. The section is located at the head of the traveling direction even in the reverse transport path.

Further, since the transfer table is configured to make a half rotation about the vertical axis positioned as described above and to move up and down along the vertical axis in conjunction with this, the rear end of the transfer table and The front end can be connected to the carry-out port and the carry-in port with a small gap (the gap can be zero). In addition, the swivel space of the transfer table can be made relatively small, and the forward transport path and the reverse transport path can be arranged so as to be adjacent to each other in the left-right direction. It can be greatly reduced as compared with the conventional example shown in FIG.

Further, since the transfer table is configured to be half-rotated by the one driving means and simultaneously moved up and down, the structure is simplified.

Embodiment An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a transfer path transfer device for a conveyor for free-flow pallet transfer will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

The transferred object 1 is a pallet body 1a, as shown in FIG.
And a drive mechanism 7 that moves the pallet body 1a by receiving a propulsive force from the drive shaft 3, and the drive mechanism 7 includes a drive roller 2 whose support angle can be variably set.

A drive mechanism 7 is attached to the lower surface of the pallet body 1a, and guide rollers 6, 6 ... For lateral position regulation and guide rollers 8, 8 ... For load bearing are attached.

A pair of left and right guide frames 5b and 5a for guiding and supporting the conveyed object 1 are obtained by extruding a light metal such as aluminum.
The cross-sectional shapes of b and 5a are formed to be the same in each of the longitudinal directions.

One guide frame 5a has a drive shaft accommodating space 9 for covering a majority of the outer periphery of the drive shaft 3, and a pallet load bearing surface 10a has a groove 1 for holding the rail inserted therethrough.
1a is formed, and a rail made of a material suitable for the guide rail, for example, a resin rail 16a is inserted and held in the concave groove 11a.

The other guide frame 5b is formed with a groove 11b for rail insertion holding on the pallet load bearing surface 10b, and a rail made of a material suitable for the guide rail, for example, a resin rail 16b is inserted and supported in the groove 11b. A groove 14 for rail insertion and holding is formed on the pallet position regulating surface 13, and a rail made of a material suitable for the guide rail, for example, a resin rail 15 is inserted and held in the groove 14.

The drive mechanism 7 attached to the lower surface of the pallet body 1a includes the drive roller 2 and a device capable of variably setting the support angle of the drive roller 2. In FIG. 5, 17 is a support block fixed to the lower surface of the pallet body 1a, and a support shaft 18 of the drive roller 2 is rotatably and axially movably supported by the support block 17.
This support shaft 18 is arranged horizontally and laterally, and is orthogonal to the axis R of the drive roller 2. The drive roller 2 is urged rightward by a compression spring 19. A rotary arm 20 is attached to a base end of the support shaft 18, and a cam follower 21 arranged at a tip end of the rotary arm 20 is engaged with a cam groove 23 of a plate cam 22. As shown in FIG. As a result of the oblique formation, the support shaft 18 is rotated by the back-and-forth movement of the plate cam 22, and the support angle of the drive roller 2 is variably set. The plate cam 22
Is fixed to a slide shaft 24 which is guided and supported by the support block 17 and moves back and forth, and the slide shaft 24 is biased forward by a tension spring 25.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the slide shaft 24 is normally urged forward by a tension spring 25, and a stopper 26 attached to a rear end of the slide shaft 24 is used for the support block 17.
Is stopped at the forward position by abutting against. At this time, the support angle of the drive roller 2 is set so that the axis R of the drive roller 2 obliquely crosses the axis D of the drive shaft 3 described later at an angle of 45 ° as shown in FIG.

A stop device in which a contact piece 27 is fixed to the front end of the slide shaft 24, and the contact piece 27 is disposed on the conveyance path
Abuts the stop pin 29 of the slide shaft 24
Is pushed rearward, and the cam plate 22 is retracted accordingly, so that the drive roller 2 rotates around its support shaft 18 to change its support angle, and finally, the drive roller 2 has an axis R. The drive roller 2 changes the support angle to a position where the axis D of the drive shaft 3 becomes parallel.

The drive shaft 3 is housed in the drive shaft housing space 9 formed in one of the guide frames 5a, so that the guide frame 5
It is arranged along a and 5b. The drive shaft 3 having a circular cross section has three surfaces, an upper surface, a lower surface and a right side surface, which are the guide frames 5a.
Only the roller contact surface of the one side surface 4 is exposed.

Thus, the pulling carrier 1 is guided and supported on the left and right guide frames 5b and 5a as shown in FIG.
Is conveyed in the direction of the arrow by the rotation of. At this time, the guide rollers 8, 8 ... For supporting the load of the transported object 1 roll on the rails 16a, 16b arranged on the pallet load bearing surfaces 10a, 10b of the guide frames 5a, 5b, and the transported object 1 The load of is supported by the guide frames 5a and 5b. Further, the guide rollers 6, 6 ... For regulating the lateral position of the transported body 1 roll on the rails 15 arranged on the pallet position regulating surface 13 of the one guide frame 5b, and the driving roller 2 is It is urged by the compression spring 19 and comes into pressure contact with the left side 4 of the drive shaft 3,
These regulate the lateral position of the transported object 1.

When an external force does not act on the slide shaft 24 of the transported object 1, the drive roller 2 is inclined at an angle R of 45 ° with respect to the drive shaft 3 as shown in FIG. Since it is set to cross over in three dimensions, the drive shaft 3
A part of the rotating force is converted into the driving force of the transported object 1 via the driving roller 2, and the transported object 1 is transported in the direction of the arrow. The stop of the transported object 1 is performed by the stop pin 29 of the stop device 28.
By projecting upwards. At this time, the slide shaft 24 of the transported object 1 that has moved forward has its contact piece 27 in contact with the stop pin 29,
The drive roller 2 is rotated rearwardly about its support shaft 18 so that it is pushed backwards and the action of the cam plate 22 reduces the crossing angle. Along with this, the drive shaft 3 to the transported object 1
The propulsive force applied to the object is reduced, and the transported object 1 is decelerated. When the slide shaft 24 retracts to the rearmost position, the crossing angle becomes 0, the rotation of the drive shaft 3 is consumed only by idling the drive roller 2, the propulsive force becomes 0, and the carrier 1 moves. Stop. In this way, the transported object 1 is decelerated while the sliding shaft 24 reaches the rearmost position after the contact piece 27 of the slide shaft 24 contacts the stop pin 29 of the stop device 28. Since it is carried out by the operation, it is carried out extremely smoothly in combination with the buffering action of the tension spring 25 attached to the slide shaft 24. By using the cam plate 22 having the cam grooves 23 formed in a skewed manner, the change in the support angle of the drive roller 2 can be slowed, and the speed of the object 1 can be gradually reduced. The shock at the time of stoppage given to the body 1 can be greatly reduced.

When the stop pin 29 of the stop device 28 sinks downward, the contact between the stop pin 29 and the contact piece 27 is released,
As a result of the slide shaft 24 being pushed forward by the tension spring 25, the support angle of the drive roller 2 becomes the fifth angle again.
As shown in the figure, the transported object 1 moves forward.

The to-be-conveyed object 1 is the work conveyance path A configured as described above.
And is transported through the return transport path B and is circulated and used. First
FIG. 4 to FIG. 4 show a transfer path transfer device for transferring the transferred object 1 sent to the carry-out port 30 of the work transfer path A to the carry-in port 31 of the return transfer path B.

The work transport path A, which is the forward transport path with respect to the transport path transfer apparatus, is in the upper right position, and the return transport path B, which is the reverse transport path with respect to the transport path transfer apparatus, is in the lower left position. , Are arranged so as to be adjacent to each other in the left-right direction. The carry-out port 30 and the carry-in port 31 are located in the same vertical plane, and a rotary spline shaft 32 is erected in front of them and along a vertical axis located in the middle in the left-right direction thereof. The rotary spline shaft 32 can be moved up and down via spline nuts 63, 63, and the boss of the transfer table 33 can be rotated without relative rotation.
33a is fitted. Further, the upper end of the rotating spline shaft 32 is a fixed pulley fixed to the main body frame 62 by a fixing member 50.
It is rotatably supported by 34. The transfer table 33
Includes guide frames 5c and 5d and a drive shaft 3a having the same structure as the guide frames 5a and 5b and the drive shaft 3 shown in FIG. Further, a stop device 28a for stopping the motor 49 for rotationally driving the drive shaft 3a and the transported object 1 is provided on the transfer table 3
It is attached to 3. The wire 35 wound around the fixed pulley 34 with its base end fixed to the fixed member 40 is
A first intermediate pulley 36 and wager that move along the outer periphery of 34
After being wound around a second intermediate pulley 37 that changes the direction of 35 downward, it extends downward and its lower end is fixed to the boss 33a. The first intermediate pulley 36 and the second intermediate pulley 37 are supported by the same support member 38, and this support member 38 is fixed to the upper end portion of the rotary spline shaft 32 and rotates in the same manner as the rotary spline shaft 32. The rotary spline shaft 32 is supported by the index unit 38 at its lower portion and is rotationally driven by the drive motor 39.

The transfer table 33 has a position shown by a solid line in FIG. 1, that is, an upper position where its rear end 33r contacts the carry-out port 30, and a position shown by a virtual line in FIG. 1, that is, its front end 33f has the carry-in port 31.
It reciprocates to and from the lower position in contact with. This reciprocating movement is performed by reciprocally rotating the rotary spline shaft 32 within a range of 180 ° by the drive motor 39.

When the transfer table 33 is in the upper position, it tends to descend along the rotary spline shaft 32 due to its own weight, but this is blocked by the wire 35 and held in the upper position. When the rotary spline shaft 32 rotates in the direction of the arrow, the transfer table 33 rotates accordingly, and at the same time, the first intermediate pulley 36 and the second intermediate pulley 37 rotate in the direction of the arrow in the same horizontal plane, and the wire 35 fixes the fixed pulley. As a result of being unwound from 34, the transfer table 33 moves downward due to its own weight.
When the rotating spline shaft 32 rotates 180 °, the transfer table 33 also moves 180 °
Rotate through and reach the lower position. To return the transfer table 33 from the lower position to the upper position, the rotary spline shaft 32 may be rotated 180 ° in the opposite direction. At this time, the first intermediate pulley 36 and the second intermediate pulley 37 pull up the wire 35 and wind it around the fixed pulley 34, so that the transfer table 33 is pulled upward while rotating.

Thus, the work 1 is completed on the work carrying path A, and the carried object 1 from which the work is removed is carried out from the carry-out port 30 to the transfer table 33 which is connected to this and stands by. The transported object 1 transferred to the transfer table 33 is advanced by the rotation of the drive shaft 3a, and then the slide shaft 24 and the stop device 28.
It stops on the transfer table 33 due to the action of a or the like. Then, the transfer table 33 is pivotally moved from the upper position to the lower position and connected to the return conveyance path B. After the connection, the stopper work of the stop device 28a is released, and the transported object 1 is moved to the drive shaft 3a.
Is rotated and is sent out toward the carry-in port 31. In this series of operations, since the front end portion F of the transported object 1 is always located at the head in the traveling direction, the slide shaft
The transported body 1 is stopped smoothly by the contact between the stop device 28 and the stop device 28. After the transferred object 1 is sent out to the return conveyance path B, the transfer table 33 returns to the upper position from the lower position, and stands by at the upper position for transferring the next transferred object 1.

The present invention can be configured in various modes other than those shown in the above embodiments. For example, in the above embodiment, the drive motor 39,
Rotating spline shaft 32, fixed pulley 34, first intermediate pulley
36, the second intermediate pulley 37, the wire 35 and the like constitute the driving means K for reciprocating the transfer table 33 as described above.
It is also possible to configure a similar drive means by using a cam or the like. Further, in the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to the transfer path transfer device for transferring the transferred object 1 from the work transfer path A to the return transfer path B. The present invention can also be applied to a transfer path transfer device that transfers the transfer target 1 to the path A.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the transport path transfer device of the present invention, the front end portion of the transported object, which was at the leading position in the traveling direction in the forward transport path, remains in the traveling direction after being transferred to the reverse transport path. It is possible to transfer the transported object so as to be located at, and it is possible to reduce the area occupied by the entire apparatus of the yer and to simplify the structure.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention with a part cut away, FIG. 2 is a partially longitudinal front view thereof, FIG. 3 is a side view thereof, and FIG.
FIG. 5 is a plan view of the same, FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a transported body and its driving portion, and FIG. 6 is a bottom view of a conventional transported body.
FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG. 6, FIG. 8 is a plan view of a conventional conveyor system, and FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view of another conventional example. 1: Transported object 30: Carry-out port 31: Carry-in port 33: Transfer table K: Driving means

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A transferred object carried out from the carry-out port, wherein the carry-out port of the forward-direction transport path and the carry-in port of the reverse-direction transport path are arranged close to each other and the vertical position and the lateral position are deviated. In the transfer path transfer device in the conveyor for transferring the transferred object so as to transfer the transferred object to the carry-in port, the position in the left-right direction is half-turned about a vertical axis located between the carry-out port and the carry-in port. A transfer table that moves up and down along the vertical axis in association with the rotational movement is provided between the position where the rear end of the transfer table contacts the carry-out port and the position where the front end contacts the carry-in port. A conveyor path transfer device in a conveyor, characterized in that a drive means for reciprocating is provided.