JP3137509B2 - Pallet transfer device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pallet transfer device provided with a pallet mounting vehicle for mounting and transporting a pallet having an inverted U-shaped cross section having legs on both sides thereof. The present invention relates to a pallet transfer device that can automatically perform centering between a pallet mounting vehicle and a pallet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, semi-trailers, full trailers, or self-propelled vehicles are used to transport heavy goods such as steelworks on premises. In recent years, pallet transport using self-propelled vehicles has been considered in order to streamline transportation. Is becoming mainstream.

Conventionally, as a transport system of this type, as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-199235, a pallet loading lift frame which is lifted and lowered by a hydraulic cylinder is provided on a loading truck, and this frame is mounted on a flat pallet. A pallet that is inserted into a step formed on both sides of the pallet and carries a pallet is proposed.

Further, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 63-305047, a special pallet provided with a leg which can be extended and contracted in the width direction and an engaging claw provided on a part of the leg is lifted and transported. In a pallet-mounting vehicle, a body frame having wheels, a slide beam having a pallet engaging claw and a free-fittable claw fixed to an end movable in the axial direction and a pallet are lifted, and the pallet is movably supported in the width direction. There has been proposed a device including a carrier provided with a jack device with rollers, and an elevating device that lifts the pallet by lifting the carrier with respect to the body frame.

[0005]

However, the above prior art has the following problems.

In the prior art described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-199235, when a pallet is loaded, it is necessary to insert a lift frame into a step formed on both sides of a flat pallet. Yes, the presence of a driver is essential. For this reason, unmanned pallet transfer devices were impossible.

In the prior art described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 63-305047, a special pallet provided with legs that can be extended and contracted in the width direction is used, and a body frame and a carrier are sunk under the pallet to form a vehicle body and a carrier. Centering between the pallet and the pallet can be performed automatically. That is, when the pallet is mounted on the carrier, the pallet is placed with its legs extended, the body frame and the carrier are sunk into the pallet, and the lifting device is operated to move the pallet through the carrier. After the lifting, the jack device with rollers is operated to further lift the pallet, support the pallet movably in the width direction, and then extend the slide beam outward in the width direction, and use the tip to extend the pallet leg. Push to move the pallet laterally, thereby aligning the pallet with the center of the carrier, and then reversely operate the jack device with rollers to lower the pallet. In this state, the slide beam is contracted inward in the width direction to return the legs of the pallet to the original contracted state. Therefore, according to this conventional technique, the pallet loading operation is facilitated, and the possibility that the pallet and the carrier can be positioned unmanned has been opened. However, in this conventional technique, a special pallet having a leg portion that can be extended and contracted in the width direction is used, and there is a problem that it cannot be applied to a pallet having a normal fixed leg portion.

An object of the present invention is to allow an unmanned positioning of a pallet and a pallet-mounting vehicle even when the pallet is mounted on a pallet-mounting vehicle even if the pallet has a general fixed leg. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a pallet transfer device capable of unmanning the entire system.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a pallet mounting vehicle for loading and carrying an inverted U-shaped pallet having legs on both sides. In the pallet transport device provided, the pallet mounting vehicle is a vehicle body frame having wheels, a loading platform for supporting the pallet supported on the vehicle body frame, and a vehicle body frame provided at a lower portion of the vehicle body frame with respect to a floor surface. A lifting device for lifting and lowering the vehicle body, a movable supporting jack device provided at an upper portion of the vehicle body frame for lifting the loading platform and movably supporting the same in a horizontal direction, and provided on both side portions of the vehicle body frame, A centering device that simultaneously projects outward and abuts the inner surface of the leg of the pallet.

The pallet transport device preferably detects a relative position between the pallet and the pallet mounting vehicle, sets an approach path for guiding the pallet mounting vehicle to the pallet, and guides the pallet mounting vehicle. The vehicle further includes guidance control means.

In the pallet transport device, instead of the guidance control means, an approach path for the pallet mounting vehicle to enter below the pallet is set in advance, and the pallet and the pallet mounting vehicle are approached. The vehicle may further include guidance control means for detecting the error and guiding the pallet-mounted vehicle to match the approach path.

As the means for detecting the relative position or the approach error, a means using any of light rays, sound waves, and electromagnetic waves is preferably used. Further, the means for detecting the relative position or approach error may be installed on the pallet-mounted vehicle or on the pallet or on the ground. Further, either the image processing or the arithmetic processing may be used as the means for detecting the relative position or approach road error.

[0013]

The pallet transfer device of the present invention constructed as described above operates as follows to load a pallet on a pallet mounting vehicle. First, the pallet-mounting vehicle is moved under the pallet, and from this state, the vehicle body elevating device is operated to raise the body frame and the carrier, thereby lifting the pallet from the floor. In addition, the movable support jack device is operated to lift the pallet, and the movable support jack device supports the pallet movably in the width direction.In this state, the centering device is simultaneously laterally outwardly projected, and the pallet leg is lifted. The pallet and the pallet mounting vehicle are laterally centered by pushing and moving the pallet laterally. Thereafter, the movable support jack device is operated in reverse to lower the loading platform to complete the loading of the pallet.

As described above, according to the present invention, the vehicle body elevating device is provided at the lower part of the vehicle body frame, the movable support jack device for the carrier is provided at the upper part of the vehicle body frame, and the centering devices are provided at both side portions of the vehicle body frame. Positioning (centering operation) between the pallet and the pallet mounting vehicle can be performed unattended with respect to a normal pallet having a section. In addition, since the movable support jack device directly contacts the pallet instead of the pallet and movably supports it, the pallet and the pallet move together when the pallet is moved laterally by the centering device. No movement occurs. Therefore, the pallet is prevented from being damaged during the centering operation, and the pallet can be used for a long time.

Further, when the pallet-mounting vehicle enters under the pallet, the guidance control means detects the relative position between the pallet and the pallet-mounting vehicle and sets an approach path for guiding the pallet-mounting vehicle to the pallet. , And enter the vehicle along the set approach path. Alternatively, an approach path in which the pallet-mounting vehicle enters below the pallet is set in advance, and a position error of each of the pallet and the pallet-mounting vehicle with respect to the approach path is detected, and the approach is performed while correcting the errors. Accordingly, the operation of letting the pallet-mounted vehicle go under the pallet can also be performed unattended.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

The pallet carrying device of this embodiment has a pallet mounting vehicle V shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and the pallet mounting vehicle V has a top plate 40 and left and right leg portions 41 as shown in FIG.
a, 41b, for entering and transporting under a pallet P having an inverted U-shaped cross section for mounting a heavy object.

1 and 2, a pallet-mounting vehicle V includes, for example, a vehicle body frame 1 on which 10 wheels 6 are mounted, five on each side, and a pallet shown in FIG. A loading platform 2 on which P is mounted, a vehicle body lifting / lowering device 3 provided below the vehicle body frame 1 to lift the vehicle frame 1 with respect to the floor surface, and a vehicle loading / unloading device 3 provided above the vehicle body frame 1 to lift the loading platform 2 and move it horizontally. And a centering device 50 provided on both sides of the vehicle body frame 1 and simultaneously projecting outward in the lateral direction and abutting against the inner surfaces of the legs 41a, 41b of the pallet P. ing.

The vehicle body elevating device 3 is installed on each wheel 6. As shown in detail in FIG.
An arm 4 attached to the vehicle body frame 1, an arm 5 having one end connected to the arm 4 via a pin 7 and the other end connected to a wheel 6 via an axle 8, and pivots on the arm 4 and the arm 5 And a hydraulic cylinder 9 connected freely. The body lifting device 3 lifts and lowers the body frame 1 by expanding and contracting a hydraulic cylinder 9 to load and unload a pallet P.

The movable supporting jack device 10 is symmetrically installed at a plurality of locations, for example, as shown in FIG. Movable support jack device 1
Reference numeral 0 denotes a jack device with a roller in this embodiment. That is, as shown in detail in FIG. 5, the movable support jack device 10 is provided with a hydraulic cylinder 11 fixed to the vehicle body frame 1 and capable of moving up and down, and disposed above the hydraulic cylinder 11 along the longitudinal direction of the carrier 2. And a roller 13 rotatably mounted on the rotating shaft 12.

The movable support jack device 10 moves the roller 13 upward by operating the hydraulic cylinder 11 to bring the upper end of the roller 13 into contact with the lower surface of the carrier 2.
The carrier 2 is lifted by moving it further upward, and the carrier 2 is supported by the rollers 13 alone.
This is movably supported in the width direction. In addition,
Instead of the roller 13, a support member having a sliding surface with a low friction coefficient may be provided.

As shown in FIG. 2, the centering devices 50 are provided at four positions near four corners of the body frame 1. As shown in detail in FIG. 6, the centering device 50 includes a slide beam 14 connected to a hydraulic cylinder 15 fixed to the vehicle body frame 1 and a contact rotatably connected to a tip of the slide beam 14 via a pin 16. Money 17
It is composed of

The centering device 50 operates the hydraulic cylinder 15 to simultaneously project the slide beam 14 to both sides of the vehicle body frame 1 in a state where the carrier 2 is movably supported in the width direction by the movable support jack device 10. Thereby, the front end surface of the backing plate 17 is brought into contact with the inner surface of at least one of the legs 41a or 41b of the pallet P, and further protruded so that the front end surfaces of the left and right backing plates 17 are brought into contact with the left and right leg portions 41a, 41a of the pallet P. The pallet P is centered on the center of the body frame 1 by contacting the inner surface of the pallet P with the inner surface of the body frame 41b. It is to be placed.

Further, the pallet transport device of this embodiment has a laser measuring device 18 for detecting a relative position between the pallet P and the pallet mounting vehicle V when the pallet mounting vehicle V enters below the pallet P. ing. As shown in detail in FIG. 7, the laser measuring device 18 has a member 20 having one end fixed to the vehicle body frame 1 and the other end supporting a laser oscillation device 19, and a laser beam emitted from the laser oscillation device 19 being fixed. It comprises a laser emitting device 21 for rotating at a speed and a laser light receiving device 22 for detecting a laser beam reflected on a reflecting mirror Pm (see FIG. 3) of the pallet P.

When the irradiation axis of the laser beam emitted from the laser emitting device 21 rotating at a constant speed comes to a position where it intersects the reflecting mirror Pm of the pallet P, the laser measuring device 18 reflects the laser reflected from the reflecting mirror Pm. Is detected by the laser light receiving device 22, and the laser emission angle and the light receiving angle at the moment of detection are detected.

FIG. 8 shows a control system of the pallet mounting vehicle. The controller 60 is mounted on the vehicle body frame 1 and controls the operations of the above-described hydraulic cylinder for lifting / lowering 9, the hydraulic cylinder for jack 11, and the hydraulic cylinder 15 for centering. A running motor 6 is mounted on the body frame 1.
1 and a steering motor 62 are mounted, and these operations are also controlled by the controller 60. Further, the controller 60 operates the laser measuring device 18 as described above, and inputs the laser launch angle and the light receiving angle as measurement data relating to the relative position between the pallet P and the pallet mounting vehicle V. The controller 60 calculates and sets the approach route from the measurement data, and controls the traveling motor 61 and the steering motor 6 so that the pallet-mounted vehicle V is guided to the approach route.
2 is controlled. As described above, the laser measurement device 18 and the controller 60 detect the relative position between the pallet P and the pallet mounting vehicle V, and move the pallet mounting vehicle V to the pallet P
A guidance control device for setting an approach path leading to the vehicle and guiding the pallet mounting vehicle V is configured. The relative position detecting means may use any of a sound wave and an electromagnetic wave in addition to the laser light. The relative position detecting means may be installed on the pallet P or on the ground in addition to the pallet mounting vehicle V.

Next, the operation sequence of this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

First, the pallet mounting vehicle V is moved to the pallet P
The vehicle V is temporarily stopped before entering the vehicle, and the relative position between the pallet P and the pallet mounting vehicle V is measured by the laser measuring device 18 as shown in FIG.
At 0, the approach route is calculated based on the measurement data as described above,
The vehicle V is guided and, as shown in FIG.
Get underneath.

Next, from the state in which the pallet mounting vehicle V has entered below the pallet P as shown in FIG. 11, the vehicle body lifting / lowering device 3 is operated as shown in FIG.
And the pallet P is lifted from the floor.

Further, by operating the movable supporting jack device 10, the pallet P is lifted, and the pallet P is supported by the rollers 13 so as to be movable in the width direction.
As shown in the figure, the slide beams 14 of the left and right centering devices 50 are simultaneously protruded to both sides, and the leg portions 41a and 41b of the pallet P are pushed by the front end surface of the pallet P to move the pallet P sideways. The left and right legs 41
The pallet P and the vehicle V are centered in the lateral direction by making contact with the pallet P and the vehicle V, respectively. Thereafter, the movable support jack device 10 is reversely operated, and the loading of the pallets P is completed as shown in FIG.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the fixed leg 41
The positioning (centering operation) between the pallet P and the pallet mounting vehicle V can be performed unattended with respect to the normal pallet P provided with a and 41b. Further, since the movable support jack device 10 directly contacts the pallet 2 instead of the pallet P and movably supports the pallet P, the pallet 2 and the pallet P move integrally when the pallet is moved laterally by the centering device 50. No relative movement occurs between P and the bed 2. Therefore, the pallet P is prevented from being damaged during the centering operation, and the pallet can be used for a long time. In addition, since the pallet mounting vehicle guidance control device including the laser measuring device 18 and the controller 60 is provided, the pallet mounting vehicle V is connected to the pallet P
The operation of getting under the can also be performed unattended.

Next, some other embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 15 shows another example of the guidance control device for the pallet-mounted vehicle V. In this embodiment, a vehicle guiding electromagnet is installed in advance along the pallet transport path R, and the magnetic force is measured by a measuring device installed on each of the pallet P and the pallet mounting vehicle V. The measurement data is sent to a controller as shown in FIG. 8 installed on each of the pallet P and the pallet mounting vehicle V, and an error between the pallet P and the transport route R of the pallet mounting vehicle V is calculated. Then, the approach route of the pallet mounting vehicle V to the pallet P is calculated, and guidance is performed. Therefore, also in the present embodiment, the operation of bringing the pallet-mounting vehicle V under the pallet P can be performed unattended, similarly to the above-described embodiment.

FIG. 16 shows another example of the laser measuring device used for the guidance control device of the pallet mounting vehicle V. In this embodiment, a laser emitting device 72 and a light receiving device 73 of a laser measuring device 71 are installed on the ground, and a pallet P
Further, the reflecting mirrors Pm and Vm are installed on the pallet mounting vehicle V. The laser emitted from the launching device 72 is the reflecting mirror P
The light is reflected by m and Vm, and the emission angle and the light reception angle when detected by the light receiving device 73 are detected. From the measurement results, the positions of the pallet P and the pallet mounting vehicle are calculated, and the approach path is set and guided.

FIGS. 17 and 18 show an example in which image processing is used as means for detecting a relative position or approach road error. A TV camera 80 is mounted on the pallet mounting vehicle V, and its image signal is processed by an image processing device to recognize an image S of the pallet P as shown in FIG. On the other hand, the image processing device stores the image S when the pallet is at the correct position.
o is stored in advance, the images So and S are compared, and the relative position of the pallet P with respect to the pallet mounting vehicle V is detected by image analysis. The approach road is calculated from the measurement result, and the vehicle for pallet mounting is guided.

FIG. 19 shows another example of the centering device. The load detecting device 90 is installed near four corners on the body frame 1 under the loading platform 2. The load at each of the four corners is detected while the pallet P is placed on the carrier 2. This detection data is sent to a controller as shown in FIG. 8, and the operation of the left and right slide beams (not shown) is individually controlled to move the loading platform 2 in the horizontal direction, so that the loads at the four points are adjusted to be equivalent. I do. Thus, the center of gravity of the pallet P is positioned at the center of the pallet mounting vehicle V, and stable transportation can be performed.

[0037]

Since the present invention has the above configuration,
The following effects are obtained.

1. Positioning (centering operation) between the pallet and the pallet mounting vehicle can be performed unattended with respect to a normal pallet provided with fixed leg portions, so that the entire pallet transport system can be unmanned.

2. Since the pallet is transported in a state where the center of the pallet is aligned with the center of the pallet mounting vehicle, stable traveling can be performed.

3. Since the pallet and the pallet move together during the centering operation, the pallet is prevented from being damaged, and the pallet can be used for a long time.

4. Since the pallet-mounting vehicle, which is the most difficult to control, can enter the pallet under the pallet unattended, it is easy to make the entire pallet transport system unmanned.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a pallet mounting vehicle of a pallet transport device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the pallet mounting vehicle shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a pallet.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing the vehicle body elevating device.

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view showing a movable support jack device.

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view showing a centering device.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a laser measuring device.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a control system.

FIG. 9 is a view for explaining an operation when the pallet mounting vehicle enters under the pallet, and shows a state before the pallet mounting vehicle enters.

FIG. 10 is a view for explaining an operation when the pallet mounting vehicle enters under the pallet, and shows a state after the pallet mounting vehicle has entered.

FIG. 11 is a view for explaining an operation when centering the pallet-mounting vehicle with the pallet-mounting vehicle after the pallet-mounting vehicle has entered below the pallet, and shows a state immediately after the pallet-mounting vehicle has entered. .

FIG. 12 is a view for explaining an operation when centering the pallet mounting vehicle with the pallet mounting vehicle when the pallet mounting vehicle has entered below the pallet, and shows a state where the vehicle is lifted.

FIG. 13 is a view for explaining an operation when centering the pallet mounting vehicle with the pallet mounting vehicle in a state where the pallet mounting vehicle has entered below the pallet, and shows a centering operation.

FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining an operation when centering the pallet mounting vehicle with the pallet mounting vehicle when the pallet mounting vehicle has entered below the pallet, and shows a state after the pallet loading is completed.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing another example of a guidance control device for a pallet-mounted vehicle.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing another example of the laser measuring device used for the guidance control device of the pallet mounting vehicle.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example in which image processing is used as a means for detecting a relative position or approach error, and shows a pallet-equipped vehicle equipped with a TV camera.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example in which image processing is used as a relative position or approach path error detection unit, and illustrates an image of a pallet.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing another example of the centering device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Body frame 2 ... Carriage 3 ... Lifting device 6 ... Wheel 9 ... Hydraulic cylinder for body lifting / lowering 10 ... Movable support jack device 11 ... Hydraulic cylinder for jack 13 ... Roller 14 ... Slide beam 15 ... Hydraulic cylinder for centering 17 ... Metal plate DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 18 ... Laser measuring device 19 ... Laser oscillator 21 ... Laser emitting device 22 ... Laser receiving device 40 ... Top plate 41a, 41b ... Leg 50 ... Centering device 60 ... Controller 61 ... Running motor 62 ... Steering motor 72 ... Laser emitting device 73 laser receiving device 80 TV camera 90 load detecting device P pallet V pallet mounting vehicle Pm reflecting mirror Vm reflecting mirror

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-62-163842 (JP, A) JP-A-1-157036 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B66F 9/06-9/24 B60P 1/00-3/00

Claims (9)

(57) [Claims] 1. A pallet transporting device provided with a pallet mounting vehicle for loading and transporting a pallet having an inverted U-shaped cross section having legs on both sides thereof, wherein the pallet mounting vehicle includes a wheel. A vehicle body frame having a body, a carrier supported on the vehicle body frame, on which the pallet is placed, a vehicle body elevating device provided at a lower portion of the vehicle body frame to raise and lower the vehicle body frame with respect to a floor surface, and provided at an upper portion of the vehicle body frame A movable supporting jack device for lifting the loading platform and supporting the loading platform so as to be movable in a horizontal direction, and provided on both side portions of the vehicle body frame, simultaneously projecting outward in the lateral direction, and contacting the inner surfaces of the leg portions of the pallet. A pallet transport device comprising a centering device. 2. The pallet loading device according to claim 1, wherein a relative position between the pallet and the pallet loading vehicle is detected, and an approach path for guiding the pallet loading vehicle to the pallet is set. A pallet conveyance device further comprising a guidance control means for guiding the pallet. 3. The pallet transport device according to claim 2, wherein a device using any one of a light beam, a sound wave, and an electromagnetic wave is used as said relative position detecting means. 4. The pallet transfer device according to claim 2, wherein said relative position detecting means is installed on the pallet mounting vehicle, the pallet or the ground. 5. The pallet transport device according to claim 2, wherein any one of image processing and arithmetic processing is used as said relative position detecting means. 6. The pallet transport device according to claim 1, wherein an approach path in which the pallet mounting vehicle enters under the pallet is set in advance, and an approach error between the pallet and the pallet mounting vehicle is reduced. A pallet transport device, further comprising: guidance control means for detecting and guiding a pallet-mounted vehicle so as to match an approach path. 7. The pallet conveyance device according to claim 6, wherein a means using any one of a light ray, a sound wave, and an electromagnetic wave is used as said approach path error detecting means. 8. The pallet transport device according to claim 6, wherein said approach error detecting means is installed on the pallet mounting vehicle or on the pallet or on the ground. . 9. The pallet transfer device according to claim 6, wherein any one of image processing and arithmetic processing is used as said approach path error detection means.