JP3334395B2 - Non-contact power supply - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a non-contact power supply device, and more particularly, to a transfer system for automatically transferring a load in a premises such as a warehouse, which is installed in the premises along a load transfer route. The present invention relates to a non-contact power supply device for supplying necessary power in a non-contact manner from a supplied power supply unit to a moving body that actually carries a load.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a warehouse or other premises, a transport system for automatically transporting luggage without manual operation is composed of a rail-shaped power supply unit installed in the premises along a luggage transport route, and a power supply unit. The power supply unit normally supplies power to the moving body while receiving the supply of power from the unit constantly, and the power supply unit supplies the power to the moving body in a non-contact form (non-contact power supply). ).
That is, if the power supply unit supplies power to the moving body by mechanically contacting the two (contact power supply), the power supply unit (including the power collection unit) that actually transfers power moves. As a result of friction caused by the movement of the body, the mobility of the moving body is reduced, and in addition, the power supply unit is worn due to this friction, and sufficient durability and reliability are obtained for the power supply unit. This is because the inconvenience such as not being able to be performed occurs.

Therefore, in this type of transport system, a non-contact power supply device is used as a special mechanism for supplying power from the above-described power supply unit to the moving body in a non-contact manner. Hereinafter, a principle configuration of a non-contact power supply device applied to a conventional transport system will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the principle of a non-contact power supply device applied to a conventional transport system. As shown in the figure, first, this conventional non-contact power supply device is provided on the rail member 11 and the parallel power supply lines 12a and 12b, which constitute the power supply unit 1 itself of the transport system, and on the moving body 2 side. An E-shaped core 21, a secondary coil 22, and a motor drive circuit 23 are mainly configured.

[0005] Of these, the rail member 11 constituting the power supply unit 1 itself is made of a paramagnetic material such as aluminum, and has a U-shaped cross section. Also, the parallel feeder lines 12a and 12b are supported by line supporting members 13a and 13b, both of which are made of an insulator such as a synthetic resin, so that the rails are supported so as to be separated from the inner wall on the side of the rail member 11, respectively. It is continuously erected along the longitudinal direction of the member 11 (the direction perpendicular to the drawing). Then, the power supply unit 1 configured as described above
When an actual transport system is constructed, it is laid on a floor of a warehouse or the like using a predetermined fixing device (not shown) along a transport route of the load. (Not shown)
Power is supplied to the parallel feed lines 12a and 12b.

On the other hand, the E-shaped core 21 provided on the side of the moving body 2 is made of a ferrimagnetic material such as ferrite, and the parallel feeder line 12 is provided between the projecting sides facing each other.
a, 12b, respectively, so that the core holder 24,
The moving body 2 is fixed to a part of a structural member 27 that forms a housing of the moving body 2 through a fixed shaft 25 and a shaft holder 26. Further, the secondary coil 22 is wound around a protruding side located at the center of the protruding side of the E-shaped core 21,
In response to the high-frequency current flowing through the parallel feeder lines 12a and 12b, two magnetic fluxes generated around each of the lines according to the right-hand rule are generated by the rail members 11 and E.
The interior of the secondary coil 22 penetrates in the same direction while using the mold core 21 as a magnetic path (the direction of magnetic flux at a certain time in the figure is indicated by an arrow). From the above principle, the parallel feeder lines 12a and 12b and the secondary coil 22
And a predetermined induced electromotive force is steadily induced in the secondary coil 22. Further, the motor drive circuit 23 Thus, various voltages necessary for driving various motors mounted on the moving body 2 are generated, and supply of the generated various voltages to the various motors is temporally controlled.

[0007] Here, the configuration of the motor drive circuit 23 will be additionally described. For example, when various motors mounted on the moving body 2 are only AC motors, an inverter circuit for obtaining a required AC voltage is provided. When a DC motor is included therein, a rectifier circuit (not shown) for obtaining a required DC voltage from the AC voltage of the secondary coil 22 is incorporated therein. A microprocessor and a memory (both not shown) for turning on / off the output of various motor driving voltages (hereinafter referred to as motor driving voltages) obtained by the circuit under program control are incorporated. The output of the motor drive voltage is at least a traveling motor 28 (either AC or DC) for obtaining power for traveling the moving body 2 (moving the luggage in the horizontal direction). It is connected to a lifting / lowering motor (either AC or DC, not shown) for obtaining power to raise / lower (load the baggage in the vertical direction) a bed (not shown) mounted on the moving body 2. Of these, the power obtained when the traveling motor 28 is driven is transmitted through the rotating shaft 29 to the aforementioned rail member 1.
1 is transmitted to the running tire 30 that contacts the upper side of the vehicle. Then, based on the above configuration, the moving body 2 travels along the transport route of the load while maintaining a predetermined correlation with the power supply unit 1.

Here, the predetermined correlation between the power supply unit 1 and the moving body 2 mainly means the distance relationship between the two, which is the most important factor in configuring this non-contact power supply device. Means That is, as described above, the non-contact power supply device is used for the purpose of avoiding inconvenience caused by contact power supply (inconvenience due to friction and wear of the power supply unit). As shown in the figure, between the inner wall of the side of the rail member 11 and the tip of the protruding side of the E-shaped core 21, as shown in the drawing, so that the mold core 21 does not come into contact with the moving body 2 during traveling. Distance l
That is, it is necessary to ensure that (the distance l when the moving body 2 stops is the gap length g (l = g)).
For this reason, in an actual transport system, a distance holding mechanism (for example, a guide rail or the like; not shown) for maintaining a distance relationship between the power supply unit 1 and the moving body 2 in a predetermined state is usually provided. .

However, in an actual transport system, it is rare that a transport route of a load is completed only by a straight road, and there are several curved roads in the transport route, and the moving body 2 travels along a curved road on the curved road. Sometimes, the inner wall of the side of the rail member 11 and the tip of the protruding side of the E-shaped core 21 are considerably close to each other.
It is necessary to select a relatively large gap length g at the stage of system design so that the necessary and sufficient distance l is ensured even when the vehicle travels on a curve. However, if the gap length g is simply increased unnecessarily in accordance with this, the distance l (substantially equivalent to the distance l when the moving body 2 is stopped) when the moving body 2 travels in a straight line becomes too large. The magnetic coupling between the parallel feed lines 12a and 12b and the secondary coil 22 becomes extremely weak, which may significantly reduce the induced electromotive force induced in the secondary coil 22. Care must be taken with regard to (actually, the best point can be found experimentally).

[0010]

By the way, the electric power (the induced electromotive force induced in the secondary coil 22) supplied from the power supply unit 1 to the motor drive circuit 23 of the moving body 2 is naturally large. The portion is used to drive the traveling motor 28 and the elevating motor that are involved in the transport of the load. Naturally, motors having large power are used for these motors so as to sufficiently withstand the conveyance of heavy loads. In particular, since the lifting motor is an important power source for raising and lowering the load carrying the load against the gravity, it is necessary to use a motor having a particularly large power for this purpose. The maximum value of the electric power that is sometimes consumed is also much larger than that of the traveling motor 28 that is a power source that simply causes the moving body 2 to travel.

Here, in consideration of a situation in which the driving of the lifting / lowering motor, which consumes a large amount of power, is actually performed, it is assumed that the luggage carrier with the luggage loaded thereon is raised and lowered when the moving body 2 is running. If this is the case, there is a danger that the load will fall off the carrier due to the inertia at the time of traveling, so that the driving motor 28 is not actually driven when the lifting motor is driven. In other words, the motor drive circuit 23 drives the elevating motor only when the driving motor 28 is not driven (when the moving body 2 is stopped), and the driving of both motors is performed. Is not done at the same time. Therefore, for the motor drive circuit 23,
As long as the power exceeding the maximum value of the power consumed by the lift motor alone is supplied, all of the various motors mounted on the moving body 2 operate stably.

However, as described above, since the maximum value of the electric power consumed by the elevating motor is extremely large, it is necessary to form the rail member 11 and the E-shaped core 21 in order to obtain the actually required electric power. It is necessary to reduce the reluctance of the magnetic path to be made as much as possible, and to do this, a considerably large E-shaped core 21 must be used. Then, as the rail member 11, a member corresponding to the size of the E-shaped core 21 must be used. As a result, not only the size of the non-contact power supply device is increased, but also the power supply unit 1 and the moving body 2 are increased. At the same time, the size of the product will be imitated. This results in considerable difficulty in constructing the required transport system.

The present invention has been made based on such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to structurally ensure that a sufficient and necessary electric power for driving a lifting / lowering motor can be obtained.
An object of the present invention is to provide a small contactless power supply device.

[0014]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention provides at least:
A rail member made of a non-magnetic material, and each of the rail members is supported in a state of being separated from an inner wall on a side of the rail member,
A ferrite feeder having a parallel feeder line continuously provided along the longitudinal direction of the rail member on the side of the feeder unit and held so that the parallel feeder line is positioned between the opposing protruding sides. E made of magnetic material
A non-rotational motor having a mold core, a secondary coil wound around a protruding edge located at the center of the E-shaped core, and a lifting motor for obtaining power for lifting and lowering the carrier, on the side of the moving body. A magnetic coupling applied to a contact power supply device, in which the distance between the inner wall of the side of the rail member and the tip of the protruding side of the E-shaped core is varied to magnetically deeply couple the parallel power supply line and the secondary coil. A variable mechanism and a motor for driving the elevating motor only when the moving body is stopped and a state in which the parallel feeding line and the secondary coil are magnetically deeply coupled by the magnetic coupling variable mechanism is obtained. And a motor drive circuit for setting the output of the drive voltage to the ON state.

[0015]

According to the present invention, the moving body travels based on the electric power induced in the secondary core due to the magnetic coupling between the feeder line and the secondary core. And the moving body works by cargo handling means,
For example, when lifting or lowering a load, the drive control means drives the variable magnetic coupling mechanism to shorten or lengthen the distance between the rail member and the core, thereby magnetically coupling the feeder line and the secondary core. To strengthen. At this time, the power obtained by the moving body from the power supply unit is larger than before changing the distance between the rail member and the core. Therefore, the electric power required for the work by the cargo handling means is secured by changing the distance between the rail member and the core. Therefore, it is not necessary to increase the size of the power supply unit or the like for the power required for the work by the cargo handling means.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Since the configuration of the present invention is basically the same as that of the conventional art, the drawings for explaining the present embodiment relate to the same components as those shown in the conventional drawings, and Are given the same reference numerals. Further, the present invention aims to provide a smaller one than before, but in the present embodiment, for convenience, it is assumed that the dimensions of the members constituting the present invention are the same as those of the prior art. Will be explained.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle configuration of a wireless power supply device according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the contactless power supply device of this embodiment includes a rail member 11, which constitutes the power supply unit 1 itself of the transport system, in substantially the same manner as the conventional one.
And an E-shaped core 2 provided on the side of the movable body 20 (different from the conventional movable body 2) with the parallel feeder lines 12a and 12b.
1, a secondary coil 22, a motor drive circuit 31 (different from the conventional motor drive circuit 23), and a variable magnetic coupling mechanism (details will be described later) including a plurality of members.

Among these, the power supply unit 1 is not different from the conventional power supply unit in all the members constituting itself, and the whole of the power supply unit 1 constitutes a part of a configuration for realizing this non-contact power supply device. are doing.

That is, the rail member 11 made of a paramagnetic material such as aluminum has a U-shaped cross section, and the parallel feed lines 12a and 12b are both made of an insulating material such as synthetic resin. The rails 11 are continuously provided along the longitudinal direction of the rail member 11 so as to be supported by the support members 13a and 13b, respectively, so as to be separated from the inner wall on the side of the rail member 11. In the construction of the actual transport system, the power supply unit 1 having the above configuration uses a predetermined fixture on the floor surface of a premises such as a warehouse so as to follow the transport route of the load, just like the conventional case. In this state, a high-frequency current supplied from a predetermined power supply device is supplied to the parallel feeder lines 12a and 12b.
Is to be energized.

On the other hand, in order to realize this non-contact power supply device, members provided on the side of the moving body 20 are E-shaped cores 21.
And the secondary coil 22 are exactly the same as the conventional one, but the motor drive circuit 31 has a slight addition of functions to the conventional one, and further has the conventional fixed shaft 25 and its peripheral members. , A variable magnetic coupling mechanism is newly provided.

That is, the E-shaped core 21 made of a ferrimagnetic material such as ferrite has the core holder 24 and the slide holder 24 so that the above-described parallel feeder lines 12a and 12b are located between the opposing projecting sides. Through a shaft (for example, a ball screw) 32, a structural member 33
It is held by a gear box (e.g., worm gear) 34 installed inside (different from the conventional structural member 27). The gear box 34 has a shaft (reference numeral is attached) of a movement motor 35 for obtaining power for moving the E-shaped core 21 in the depth direction (the left-right direction in the drawing) of the rail member 11. Are connected. That is, the above slide shaft 3
2. The distance between the inner wall of the side of the rail member 11 and the tip of the protruding side of the E-shaped core 21 is provided to the contactless power supply device by the gear box 34 and the moving motor 35. A variable magnetic coupling mechanism for making the variable is configured.
In addition, the secondary coil 22 has a protruding side of the E-shaped core 21.
A predetermined induced electromotive force is steadily induced according to the high-frequency current supplied to the parallel feeder lines 12a and 12b according to the above-described principle. Further, the motor drive circuit 31 generates various motor drive voltages necessary for driving various motors mounted on the moving body 20 from the induced electromotive force, and supplies the generated various motor drive voltages to various motors. Is controlled temporally.

Here, the output of the various motor drive voltages generated by the above-described motor drive circuit 31 is, as in the prior art, at least a traveling motor 28 for obtaining the power for traveling the moving body 20 and a traveling motor 28. It is connected to a motor for lifting and lowering in order to obtain power for raising and lowering the bed mounted on the moving body 20, and is also connected to the motor 35 for movement described above, of which it is obtained when the motor 28 for driving is driven. The power is transmitted to the running tire 30 that comes into contact with the upper side of the rail member 11 through the rotating shaft 29 as in the related art. In order to obtain these various motor drive voltages, the motor drive circuit 31 incorporates an inverter circuit, a rectifier circuit, a microprocessor, a memory, and the like, as in the prior art. In the drive circuit 31, the parallel feeding lines 12a and 12b and the secondary coil 22 are magnetically deepened by the variable magnetic coupling mechanism including the slide shaft 32, the gear box 34, and the moving motor 35 described above. It functions to set the output of the motor drive voltage for driving the elevating motor to the ON state only when the coupled state is obtained.

That is, the function of the motor drive circuit 31 will be described based on the relationship with the variable magnetic coupling mechanism. First, in an actual transport system, as described above,
In order to prevent the inner wall of the side of the rail member 11 from coming into contact with the tip of the protruding side of the E-shaped core 21 during the curved running of the moving body 20, as shown in FIG. distance l (mobile 20 the distance l in the stop and constant gap length _{g o (l = g o)} ) must be ensured. However, if, be made smaller than the current state of the distance l If possible (if the above-described magnetic path can be shortened), the magnetic coupling between the parallel feeding lines 12a and 12b and the secondary coil 22 is deepened, and the induced electromotive force induced in the secondary coil 22 increases. As a result, electric power capable of driving the ascending / descending motor that consumes a large amount of power with a sufficient margin should be supplied to the motor drive circuit 31. On the other hand, the drive of the lifting motor is performed by the motor drive circuit 31 when the carrier is raised and lowered, as described above, only when the moving body 20 is stopped without driving the traveling motor 28. That the loading platform is raised and lowered
In general, the distance l is set to such an extent that the inner wall of the side of the rail member 11 does not come into contact with the tip of the protruding edge of the E-shaped core 21 under this condition because the road is usually on a straight road of the transport route of the load. It is possible to make it smaller. Therefore, in this non-contact power supply device, in order to obtain enough power to drive the elevating motor that consumes a large amount of power, it is not necessary to increase the size of the device itself, but to use a variable magnetic coupling mechanism and a motor drive circuit 31.
By using the function with the above, in the above situation,
Optionally, the parallel feed lines 12a and 12b and the secondary coil 22
To deepen the magnetic coupling with

More specifically, the motor drive circuit 31 performs program control using a built-in microprocessor (and memory), so that, for example, first, the moving body 20 traveling on the transport route of the load When reaching the loading / unloading point of the bed, the output of the motor drive voltage for driving the driving motor 28 is set to the off state, and then, when the moving body 20 stops according to this setting, the moving motor 35 the output of the motor driving voltage according to the forward rotation drive (drive to approximate E-type core 21 in the rail member 11) is set to oN state, the distance l predetermined gap length from the steady gap length g _o (the symbol with the (The output of the motor drive voltage at the time of completion is in the OFF state). When a state is obtained in which the parallel feeding lines 12a and 12b and the secondary coil 22 are magnetically deeply coupled to each other, the motor drive circuit 31 finally outputs the motor drive voltage output for driving the elevating motor. It is set to the ON state to cause the moving body 20 to perform a series of operations for actually lifting and lowering the loading platform, and further sets the output of the motor drive voltage to the OFF state with the completion of the series of lifting and lowering operations. After that, the output of the motor drive voltage related to the reverse rotation drive (drive for moving the E-shaped core 21 away from the rail member 11) of the movement motor 35 is set to the ON state, and the distance 1 is increased from the above-described predetermined gap length. it return to the steady gap length g _o (output oFF state upon completion of the motor driving voltage).

That is, in this non-contact power supply device,
When the moving body 20 is stopped at the time of raising and lowering the bed,
By functioning a variable magnetic coupling mechanism including a slide shaft 32, a gear box 34, and a movement motor 35, the inner wall on the side of the rail member 11 and the E-shaped core 21
The distance l between the tip of the projecting side, thereby reducing the steady-gap length g _o a predetermined gap length, parallel feed line 12
a, 12b and the secondary coil 22 are magnetically deeply coupled, and when this state is obtained, the motor drive circuit 31 is operated to drive the motor for driving the elevating motor. By setting the output of the voltage to the ON state for the first time, power sufficient to drive the above-described elevating motor is obtained without increasing the size of the apparatus itself. As a result of the above, according to the non-contact power supply device, the dimensions of the individual parts such as the rail member 11 and the E-shaped core 21 constituting the device are no different from those of the related art.
Therefore, while the overall size is exactly the same as that of the conventional case, it is possible to obtain a larger amount of power when necessary, and suppose that the maximum value of the power to be obtained here becomes the same level as that of the conventional case. By performing a proper dimensional design, the size of the apparatus itself, which is the object of the present invention, can be relatively achieved.

Next, the electrical characteristics of the non-contact power feeding device having the above configuration will be discussed based on data obtained by experiments. The consideration performed here is a consideration on how the electric power that can be actually extracted from the secondary coil 22 changes in accordance with the above-described change in the distance l.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing the electrical characteristics of the wireless power supply according to one embodiment of the present invention. However, FIG. 6A is a diagram showing a state of a change in voltage with respect to current for three representative values of the distance l.
FIG. 6B is a diagram illustrating a state of a change in power when the distance 1 is continuously varied.

First, as shown in FIG. 6 (a), when the distance l is constant gap length g _o is would be significant voltage drop occurs with increasing current, to drive the large elevator motor power consumption Is not suitable. However, the distance l is reduced, and this is changed to the steady gap length g.
Assuming that the negative side gap length g ₋ (experimental value) from _o , as expected, almost no voltage drop occurs even when the current increases, and it is understood that the lifting motor can be driven with a margin. Also, attempts, the distance l is larger, even if this was the constant gap length g _o positive gap length g ₊ a (experimental value), contrary to expectations, it does not occur so much voltage drop, in this situation It is also understood that the lifting motor can be driven sufficiently.

[0029] That is, as shown in FIG. (B), the distance l which increases power which can be extracted from the secondary coil 22, instead of only being present shorter point than the steady gap length g _o Surprisingly, it also exists at a longer point, and such a phenomenon occurs because the magnetic flux (see FIG. 3) passing through the rail member 11 and the E-shaped core 21 increases the distance l. As it is made to pass, it becomes difficult to pass through the rail member 11 and directly passes through the tips of the protruding sides of the E-shaped core 21 facing each other. At this time, the magnetic resistance of the magnetic path is lower than that of the original magnetic path. It is considered that a point occurs. It is understood from this curve that the power decreases even when the distance 1 is excessively reduced, but this is because the eddy current loss in the rail member 11 increases extremely as the distance 1 is reduced. To do that.

Therefore, in the operation of this non-contact power supply device, as described above, the magnetic coupling between the parallel power supply lines 12a and 12b and the secondary coil 22 is increased by reducing the distance l. Instead, it can be expanded and deepened. Therefore, in this non-contact power supply device, upon structuring, the above-described negative gap length g ₋ is selected as the minimum gap length g _min (applied value) at which the suppliable power peaks around the negative gap length g ₋ and the positive gap length g ₋ is set. Similarly, the gap length g ₊ is selected as the maximum gap length g _max (applied value) at which the _suppliable power peaks around the gap length, and the gap between them is defined as the “runout width” of the E-type core 22. If the mechanism design (including the program design) is performed, the magnetic coupling between the parallel feeder lines 12a and 12b and the secondary coil 22 can be arbitrarily changed. Of course, this set of "amplitude" only needs include a point either to supply electric power reaches a peak, for example, the constant gap length it g _o and the minimum gap length g _min
Or only in the direction (direction in which the distance l is reduced)
Conversely, it is also possible to limit only between the stationary gap length g _o and the maximum gap length g _max (the direction to expand the distance l).

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the moving body is stopped at the time of moving up and down the carrier,
By operating the variable magnetic coupling mechanism, the distance between the inner wall of the side of the rail member and the tip of the protruding side of the E-shaped core is varied, and the parallel feed line and the secondary coil are magnetically deeply coupled. In this state, furthermore, when this state is obtained, the motor drive circuit is operated to set the output of the motor drive voltage for driving the elevating motor to the ON state for the first time, Without increasing the size of the device itself,
Electric power sufficient to drive the elevating motor can be obtained. As a result, according to the present invention, the dimensions of the individual parts such as the rail member and the E-shaped core constituting the same are not different from those of the related art, and therefore, the entire size thereof is exactly the same as that of the related art. However, when necessary, it is possible to obtain more power than before,
If dimensional design is performed so that the maximum value of the power to be obtained here becomes the same level as that of the conventional, relatively,
The object of the present invention is to achieve the miniaturization of the device itself.

Although the E-type core has been described in the above embodiment, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the E-type core, but may be a C-type core.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle configuration diagram of a contactless power supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing electrical characteristics of the wireless power supply device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a principle configuration diagram of a non-contact power supply device applied to a conventional transport system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Power supply unit 11 Rail member 12a, 12b Parallel power supply line 20 Moving body 21 E type core 22 Secondary coil 31 Motor drive circuit 32 Slide shaft 34 Gear box 35 Motor for movement

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60L 5/00 B60M 7/00 B65G 43/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A power supply unit comprising: a rail member made of a non-magnetic material; and a power supply line continuously erected along a longitudinal direction of the rail member so as to be supported in a state separated from the rail member. A core forming a magnetic path of a magnetic flux by a current flowing through the power supply line; a secondary coil wound around the core; and a cargo handling unit that performs work based on electric power induced in the secondary coil. a movable body having a non-in-contact power feeding device, a magnetically coupled variable mechanism by changing the distance between the rail member and the core to increase the magnetic coupling between the feed line and the secondary coil consisting of the mobile And a drive control means for driving the variable magnetic coupling mechanism when the body stops and the work is performed by the cargo handling means.