JP2632067B2 - Horizontal rotating rack - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial application field) The present invention is configured so that a plurality of racks, each capable of loading and unloading loads in the front-rear direction, can be rotated in a vertical circulation path that is long in the front-rear horizontal direction. The present invention relates to a horizontal rotary rack.

(Prior art and its problems) In this type of horizontal rotary rack, a plurality of racks are swingably mounted on a pair of left and right endless drive chains around left and right horizontal support shafts, and each rack is connected to each other. A pair of left and right rack guide rails that maintain a fixed posture are arranged so that each rack rotates along a long vertical circulation path in the front and rear horizontal direction, but this type of conventional horizontal rotary type The rack is, for example, disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No.
As in the case of a horizontal rotary rack according to No. 1195 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-100905), a pair of the left and right pair of left and right is provided below the same rack single guide rail at one rear end of the single rack circulation path. A motor for driving the endless drive chain was provided.

Thus, an open space is always adjacent to the front end of the single rack circulation path serving as a loading / unloading work place for each single rack, but the open end is not adjacent to the rear end of the single rack circulation path depending on the installation location. In such a case, there is a disadvantage that maintenance and inspection around the motor become very difficult.

Further, the pair of left and right rack unit guide rails is a conventional vertical rotary rack, for example, following the configuration of a vertical rotary rack disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-28562 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-59001, There is also a disadvantage that the positions are shifted from each other in the vertical direction, so that the height of the side frame covering the rack unit circulation path is increased.

(Means for Solving the Problems) An object of the present invention is to provide a horizontal rotary rack capable of solving the above-mentioned conventional problems. When a reference numeral is added, a plurality of racks 1 are swingably mounted on a pair of left and right endless drive chains 4a and 4b around a left and right horizontal shaft 16, and each rack 1 is held in a fixed posture. A horizontal rotary rack in which a pair of right and left rack unit guide rails 7a and 7b are provided, and each rack unit 1 is configured to rotate along a long vertical circulation path 2 in the front-rear horizontal direction. The rack guide rails 7a and 7b are shifted from each other in the longitudinal direction of the rack
A pair of side frames provided with 7a, 7b and the endless drive chains 4a, 4b
3a, 3b are aligned with the front-back position of the front end, and both side frames 3a, 3b
3b, a space is formed between the front end of the side frame 3a on which the rack unit guide rail 7a is shifted rearward and the front end of the rack unit guide rail 7a provided on the side frame 3a,
In this space, a drive motor 31 interlocked with the pair of left and right endless drive chains 4a, 4b is provided.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a rack alone, which rotates the vertical circulation path 2 which is long in the horizontal direction while maintaining a vertical posture. Reference numerals 3a and 3b denote a pair of left and right side frames, which are arranged so as to sandwich the rack unit circulation path 2. Four
a, 4b are a pair of left and right endless drive chains,
It is hung between the driving tooth wheel 5 and the driven tooth wheel 6 which are supported by 3a and 3b. 7a and 7b are a pair of left and right rack unit guide rails, and the rack unit guide rail 7a on the side frame 3a side is a side frame.
The racks 3a and 3b are attached to the side frames 3a and 3b so as to be shifted horizontally and rearward with respect to the rack unit guide rail 7b on the 3b side.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the pair of left and right side frames 3a, 3
b is composed of a side frame leg 9 and a side frame body 8 mounted on the side frame leg 9, and the bottom sides of the side frame legs 9 are connected to each other below the rack unit circulation path 2. The lower connecting members 10 and 11 to be connected, the rear connecting member 12 that connects the rear end portions of the side frame main bodies 8 to each other at a position outside the rear end of the rack unit circulation path 2, and the intermediate portion of the side frame main body 8. Are connected to each other at the installation location by an intermediate connecting member 13 that connects the racks at an intermediate position of the rack unit circulation path 2. Reference numeral 14 denotes a brace member stretched vertically between the rear connection members 12, and 15 denotes a brace member stretched horizontally between the intermediate connection members 13.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 6, and 7, left and right horizontal support shafts 16 are fixedly protruded from both left and right sides of each rack unit 1, and a pair of front and rear Support link
One end of each of 17a and 17b is pivotally mounted to be able to swing back and forth.
One arm 19a, 19b on which a guide roller 18 loosely fitted to b is supported is fixed. These two arms 19a, 19b
Has an included angle of 90 between the lower front and the lower rear.
It is fixed to the horizontal support shaft 16 so as to extend to a certain degree. The other ends of the support links 17a, 17b are swingably supported by chain link connecting pins 20 located at a fixed number of chain links on the endless drive chains 4a, 4b.
21a, 21b and 22a, 22b are chain guide rails sandwiching the chain roller 23 of the endless drive chains 4a, 4b from above and below, and each side of the endless drive chains 4a, 4b is loosely fitted with a linear path portion. They are fixed to upper and lower inner surfaces of rail support members 24a, 24b having a U-shaped cross section attached to the frames 3a, 3b.

As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG.
a, 3b are provided between the driving tooth shaft 5 and the driven tooth wheel 6;
The intermediate shafts 25a and 25b are supported concentrically via bearings 26a and 26b, respectively, at a position adjacent to the intermediate joint shaft 27 and the two intermediate shafts 25a concentrically disposed between the two intermediate shafts 25a and 25b. ,
25b are connected to connection flanges 28a, 28b fixed to the inner ends of the intermediate shafts 25a, 25b and connection flanges 29a, 29b fixed to both ends of the intermediate joint shaft 27, and connection bolts 30. .

Thus, while the positions of the rack unit guide rails 7a and 7b that are supported by the two side frames 3a and 3b are shifted in the front-rear direction, the front-end position (the rear end in the illustrated example) is also the front-rear position. A motor installation space is secured between the front end of the side frame 7a supporting the rack unit guide rail 7a, which is aligned and shifted rearward, and the front end of the rack unit guide rail 7a. In the space (between the front end of the side frame 3a and the front end of the rack unit guide rail 7a), a drive motor 31 having a speed reducer 32 in a vertical direction is mounted on the side frame leg 9;
The motor 31 and the intermediate shaft 25a on the side of the side frame 3a are operatively connected via toothed wheels 33a, 33b and a chain 34 for interlocking the speed reducer 32 with the intermediate shaft 25a.

Also, as shown in FIG.
a, 35b are concentrically supported on the side frames 3a, 3 via bearings 36a, 36b, respectively, and these drive shafts 35a, 35b and the intermediate shafts 25a, 2
5b are interlockingly connected to each other by the gears 37a, 37b and the chain 38 and by the gears 39a, 39b and the chain 40. Then
The tooth wheel 39a on the intermediate shaft 25b side is attached to the intermediate shaft 25b via a taper lock mechanism 41 so that the tooth wheel 39a can be fixed at an arbitrary phase with respect to the intermediate shaft 25b.

The horizontal rotary rack configured as described above, the two side frames 3a, 3b arranged at a predetermined position in the installation location, the lower connecting members 10, 11 and the rear connecting member 12 shown in FIG. 3 to FIG. The brace member 14 and the intermediate connecting member 13 and the brace member 15 are connected and integrated with each other, and the intermediate shafts 25a and 25b of both side frames 3a and 3b are connected and integrated with each other by an intermediate joint shaft 27, and each endless drive chain A pair of left and right rack unit support units (horizontal support shafts 1) attached to the rack unit guide rails 7a and 7b attached to the rack unit guide rails 7a and 7b via guide rollers 18.
6, a pair of front and rear support links 17a, 17b, and guide rollers
The rack unit 1 is arranged between each of the rack unit support units (arm units 19a and 19b provided with the arm members 18a and 18b),
The rack 16 can be assembled by attaching it to a predetermined position on both the left and right sides of each rack unit 1.

After the intermediate shafts 25a and 25b are connected to each other by the intermediate joint shaft 27, the drive gear 5 on the side interlocked with the tooth wheel 39a in a state where the tooth wheel 39a shown in FIG. 8 is free with respect to the intermediate shaft 25b.
Then, the tooth wheel 39a is fixed to the intermediate shaft 25b by a taper lock mechanism 41.

The horizontal rotary rack assembled as described above transmits the rotational force of the motor 31 to the two driving tooth wheels 5 via the two intermediate shafts 25a and 25b, and the pair of left and right endless driving chains.
By rotating 4a, 4b in the same direction and at the same speed,
Each rack unit 1 can be rotated in the rack unit circulation path 2. At this time, each rack unit 1 is suspended so as to be able to swing back and forth around a horizontal support shaft 16 with respect to support links 17a and 17b which rotate integrally with the endless drive chains 4a and 4b. Since the posture of the pair of left and right arms 19a, 19b integrated with the rack unit 1 via 16 is maintained constant by the pair of left and right rack unit guide rails 7a, 7b and the guide rollers 18, each rack unit 1 As shown in the figure, the robot rotates while maintaining the vertical posture.

By rotating each rack unit 1 in the rack unit circulation path 2 as described above, an arbitrary rack unit 1 can be moved to the front end of the rack unit circulation path 2, that is, FIGS.
A call can be made to the home position HP shown in the figure, and loading / unloading work can be performed on the rack unit 1 stopped at the home position HP.

(Operation and Effect of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, the drive motor is arranged beside the front end of the rack where the home position for loading and unloading work is set, and the maintenance and inspection work of the drive motor is performed by the rack. According to the configuration of the present invention, the positions of the pair of left and right rack unit guide rails are shifted to each other in the longitudinal direction of the rack unit circulation path. A pair of left and right side frames provided with a rack guide rail and the endless drive chain are aligned in the front-rear direction of their front ends, and of the two side frames, the side frame in which the rack unit guide rail is shifted rearward. A space is formed between the front end and the front end of the rack unit guide rail provided on the side frame, and a drive motor interlocked with the pair of left and right endless drive chains is provided in this space. Therefore, the front end of the rack (front end of the side frame) does not largely protrude forward due to the interior of the motor, and the entire rack can be made compact.

Further, as described above, since the positions of the pair of left and right rack unit guide rails are shifted in the longitudinal direction of the rack unit circulation path, the mutual positions of the pair of left and right rack unit guide rails are moved up and down as in the related art. Compared to shifting to
The height of the upper ends of these rack unit guide rails can be reduced. Therefore, as shown in the embodiment, the pair of left and right side frames supporting the rack unit guide rail are not connected to each other above the rack unit circulation movement path, but are lower than the upper end of the rack unit circulation movement path. In this case, the height of the side frames can be made extremely low, which contributes to reducing the size and weight of the entire rack.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical sectional side view showing a rack unit supporting structure, FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional plan view showing a drive system of a pair of left and right endless drive chains, FIG. 3 is a front view of the entire rack, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the connection structure of the pair of side frames, FIG. 5 is a plan view of the same, FIG. 6 is a vertical rear view showing the connection structure of the rack and the endless drive chain, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a longitudinal rear view showing an intermediate shaft portion of the drive system, and FIG. 9 is a vertical rear view showing a drive tooth wheel portion. 1 ... Rack only, 2 ... Rack circulation path, 3a, 3b
… Side frame, 4a, 4b… endless drive chain, 5… drive tooth wheel, 6… driven tooth wheel, 7a, 7b… rack guide rail, 10, 11… lower connecting member, 12… ... Rear connection member, 13
... Intermediate connecting member, 16 ... Horizontal support shaft fixed to the rack alone, 17a, 17b ... Support link, 18 ... Guide roller, 1
9a, 19b: Arm fixed to horizontal support shaft 16, 21a to 22b: Chain guide rail, 25a, 25b: Intermediate shaft, 27: Intermediate joint shaft, 31: Motor, 32: Reduction gear.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A pair of left and right rack guide rails for holding a plurality of racks between a pair of left and right endless drive chains so as to be able to swing left and right horizontally around an axis and holding each rack alone in a fixed posture. A horizontal rotary rack arranged so that each rack unit rotates in a long vertical circulation path in the front-rear horizontal direction, wherein the position of the pair of left and right rack unit guide rails is set to the position of the rack unit circulation path. The pair of left and right side frames provided with the rack unit guide rail and the endless drive chain are aligned in the front-rear direction with respect to the longitudinal direction. Forming a space between the front end of the side frame that is shifted to the front end of the rack unit guide rail provided on the side frame,
A horizontal rotary rack in which a drive motor connected to the pair of left and right endless drive chains is interlocked in this space. 2. The horizontal rotary rack according to claim 1, wherein the pair of left and right side frames are not connected to each other above the rack single-circulation movement path but lower than the upper end of the rack single-circulation movement path.