JP3906950B2 - Contactless power supply device for transport cart - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a non-contact power feeding device for a transport carriage that allows the transport carriage to travel while supplying power to the transport carriage in a non-contact manner from a power supply line laid along the travel rail. The present invention relates to a non-contact power feeding device for a transport carriage that can be stably driven at a branching portion.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in semiconductor / liquid crystal manufacturing factories, automated warehouses, etc., between the stations provided along the travel rail, the transport cart is run while supplying power to the transport cart in a non-contact manner from the power supply line laid along the travel rail. 2. Description of the Related Art An unmanned transport facility that transports a transported object such as a cassette (hereinafter simply referred to as “transported object”) is widely used.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in this unmanned conveyance facility, since the power supply line that feeds power to the transport carriage in a non-contact manner is laid along the traveling rail, the handling of the power supply line at the traveling rail branching section is as follows. It had a problem.
[0004]
(1) When a power feed line is laid on a branch travel rail disposed at a branch portion of the travel rail, the power feed line needs to be configured to be movable according to the branch travel rail. It becomes extremely complicated. Further, by configuring the power supply line to be movable, accidents such as disconnection of the power supply line are likely to occur, and the management cost of the facility increases.
[0005]
(2) In order to simplify the handling of the feeder line at the branching part of the traveling rail, if the feeder line is laid out except for the branching part of the traveling rail, the feeding carriage is fed to the traveling carriage. For this reason, the transport carriage cannot be stably driven at the branch portion of the traveling rail.
[0006]
(3) When the number of branch portions of the traveling rail increases, the power supply lines are inevitably divided into a large number, and a large number of power supply devices are required, so that the construction cost of the equipment increases.
[0007]
In view of the problems of the conventional unmanned transport equipment, the present invention travels a transport cart that causes the transport cart to travel while supplying power to the transport cart in a non-contact manner from a power supply line laid along the travel rail. It is an object of the present invention to provide a non-contact power supply device for a transport carriage that can be stably driven at a branch portion of a traveling rail while simplifying the handling of a power supply line at the branch portion of the rail.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
To achieve the above object, the non-contact power feeding device of the transport carriage of the present invention, while the feed without contact to the transport carriage from laying the feed line along the running rails, the transporting carriage which is adapted to run the transport carriage In the non-contact power feeding device, a branch movable portion provided with a plurality of branch travel rails is arranged at a branch portion of the travel rail, and one of the branch travel rails is selected, and the fixed-side travel rails are connected to each other. In addition to connecting the power supply lines, the power supply lines laid along the plurality of branch traveling rails are connected in series, and power is supplied to the power supply lines in a non-contact manner from the fixed side.
[0009]
In this non-contact power feeding device for a transport carriage, a branch movable portion provided with a plurality of branch travel rails is disposed at a branch portion of the travel rail, and one of the branch travel rails is selected and By connecting the running rails to each other, connecting the feeder lines laid along the plurality of branching running rails in series, and feeding power to the feeder lines in a non-contact manner from the fixed side In addition, the structure for laying the feeder line at the branch part of the traveling rail becomes simple, and it is not necessary to provide a movable part in the feeder line, so that it is possible to prevent the occurrence of accidents such as disconnection of the feeder line, and The carriage can be stably driven at the branch portion of the traveling rail.
[0010]
In this case, the branch movable part can be configured by a turntable.
[0011]
Thereby, the selection of a plurality of branch traveling rails can be performed easily and quickly.
[0012]
Further, the feeder line laid along the traveling rail can be disposed on the fixed side while avoiding the branching movable part.
[0013]
Thereby, a feed line is not divided into many, but the construction cost of the installation containing a power supply device can be made low.
[0014]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of a non-contact power feeding device for a transport carriage according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[0015]
FIG. 1 to FIG. 5 show an embodiment of a non-contact power feeding device for a transport carriage according to the present invention.
The unmanned transfer equipment A to which the non-contact power feeding device of the transfer cart is applied, for example, travel rails A1, A2, A3 along the ceiling 6 so that a clean room of a semiconductor / liquid crystal manufacturing factory can be used efficiently. And the traveling rails A1, A2, and A3 are driven by the bogies 40 of the transport carriage 4 while receiving power from the feeder lines 11 and 21 in a non-contact manner. Accordingly, the loading platform 45 is suspended through an elevating mechanism (not shown), and the conveyed product G is loaded and unloaded at the station position.
[0016]
As shown in FIG. 4, the traveling rails A1, A2, and A3 are made of metal such as aluminum, steel, and stainless steel, or synthetic resin such as FRP, and have a substantially U-shaped cross section. In A3, the power supply lines 11 and 21 are fixed via stays 14 and 24 projecting in the recesses of the traveling rails A1, A2 and A3, respectively. As shown in FIG. By supplying a high-frequency excitation current from the commercial power sources 13 and 23 through the high-frequency power supply devices 12 and 22, the conveyance carriage 4 traveling along the traveling rails A1, A2 and A3 of the unmanned conveyance facility A is contactless. It is configured to supply power.
[0017]
In this case, a common power supply line 11 is laid on the traveling rails A1 and A2, and the power supply line 11 avoids a branch movable part 3 which will be described later, and moves along the fixed side, for example, the ceiling 6. To lay.
[0018]
As shown in FIG. 4, the transport carriage 4 is connected to the travel rails A 1, A 2, A 3 on the bogie 40 that travels in a state of being inserted into the recesses of the travel rails A 1, A 2, A 3 having a substantially U-shaped cross section. The traveling wheel 41 that moves on the rail pieces 15a and 25a, and the guide wheels 42a that sandwich the side surfaces of the rail pieces 15a, 15b, 25a, and 25b of the traveling rails A1, A2, and A3 and that can travel stably. 42b, a drive motor 43 for the traveling wheel 41, a current collecting coil 44 for receiving power from the power supply lines 11 and 21 in a non-contact manner, and a loading platform 45 for mounting the conveyed product G.
Further, the bogie 40 is provided with a power supply device, a controller, a driver, a communication device, a collision prevention sensor, and the like for controlling the travel of the bogie 40 as necessary.
[0019]
In the unmanned transfer equipment A configured as described above, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 5, the branching movable rails A 1, A 2, A 3 are provided with a plurality of branch traveling rails 33, 34 at the branch portions. By disposing the part 3 and moving the branching movable part 3, one of the branching traveling rails 33, 34 is selected and the traveling rails on the fixed side, for example, the traveling rail A1 and the traveling rail A2 are selected. Alternatively, the traveling rail A1 and the traveling rail A3 are connected to each other, and the feeder 11 is laid along the fixed side, for example, the ceiling 6 while avoiding the branch movable portion 3.
[0020]
In this embodiment, the turntable 30 in which the branch movable portion 3 is formed with branch travel rails 33 and 34 having rail pieces 33a, 33b, 34a and 34b, as in the travel rails A1, A2 and A3. Thus, the fixed side running rails A1, A2 and A3 are selectively connected to each other by being rotationally driven by the motor 30a.
[0021]
Feeding lines 31 and 32 are fixed to the branch traveling rails 33 and 34 via stays 35 and 36 projecting in the recesses of the branching traveling rails 33 and 34, respectively, and the feeding lines 31 connected in series are fixed. 32, a high-frequency excitation current is supplied from the power supply facility 5 so that power is supplied in a non-contact manner to the transport carriage 4 traveling along the branch traveling rails 33, 34.
[0022]
In this case, in order to allow a high-frequency excitation current to flow through the feeder lines 31 and 32, in the present embodiment, the rotary shaft 30b of the turntable 30 is supported on the ceiling 6 so as to be rotatable by the motor 30a. The conducting wire 37 connected to the feeder lines 31 and 32 is led out on the ceiling 6 through the rotating shaft 30b and connected to the high frequency power supply device 54 disposed on the sub turntable 30c that rotates in synchronization with the turntable 30. To do.
The high-frequency power supply 54 can be fed non-contactly from the fixed side by the commercial power supply 51 through a ring transformer composed of the through wire 52 and the iron core 53 surrounding the through wire 52.
[0023]
Next, the operation of the non-contact power feeding device for the transport carriage of the present invention will be described.
First, the transport carriage 4 is caused to travel along the travel rails A1 (A2, A3) while supplying power from the power supply line 11 (21) through the current collecting coil 44 in a non-contact manner.
[0024]
Then, it is detected by the position detection devices S1, S2, S3 of the transport carriage 4 that the transport carriage 4 has reached the branching portion of the traveling rail A1 (A2, A3), or the destination of the transport carriage 4 is previously determined. Accordingly, by moving the branch movable unit 3, one of the branch traveling rails 33, 34 is selected, and the fixed-side traveling rails, for example, the traveling rail A 1 and the traveling rail A 2 or the traveling rail A 1, are selected. The traveling rail A3 is connected.
[0025]
Then, in the branch movable unit 3, the conveyance carriage 4 is moved along the traveling rail 33 (34) along the traveling rail A2 while power is supplied from the power supply line 31 (32) via the current collecting coil 44 in a non-contact manner. Smoothly drive toward (A3).
It is to be noted that power supply to the power supply lines 31 and 32 is performed only when necessary to run the transport carriage 4 by performing power supply control by the position detection devices S1, S2 and S3 of the transport carriage 4. To control.
[0026]
【The invention's effect】
According to the non-contact power feeding device for a transport carriage of the present invention, a branch movable portion provided with a plurality of branch travel rails is disposed at a branch portion of the travel rail, and one of the branch travel rails is selected. The fixed-side traveling rails are connected to each other, and the feeder lines laid along the plurality of branch traveling rails are connected in series so that power is supplied to the feeder lines in a non-contact manner from the fixed side. This simplifies the laying structure of the feeder line at the branching part of the traveling rail and eliminates the need to provide a movable part on the feeder line, thus preventing accidents such as disconnection of the feeder line. The management cost of the equipment can be reduced, and the transport carriage can be stably driven at the branching portion of the traveling rail, thereby preventing the occurrence of the accident such as the disconnection of the feeder line. it can I bet door coupled with, it is possible to improve the reliability of unmanned transport equipment.
[0027]
In addition, by configuring the branch movable part with a turntable, it is possible to easily and quickly select a plurality of branch travel rails.
[0028]
In addition, the power supply line laid along the running rail is arranged on the fixed side while avoiding the branching movable part, so that the power supply line is not divided into a large number and the construction cost of the equipment including the power supply device is reduced. Can do.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory plan view showing an embodiment of an unmanned transfer facility to which a non-contact power feeding device for a transfer carriage of the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory front view of the same.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the electric circuit.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where a transport cart travels on the traveling rail.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the transport carriage travels on a branch portion of the traveling rail.
[Explanation of symbols]
A Unmanned transport equipment A1, A2, A3 Traveling rails 11, 21 Feed line 3 Branching movable part (turntable)
31 and 32 Feeding lines 33 and 34 Branching rails 4 Carriage carts 44 Current collecting coils 5 Power feeding facilities

Claims (3)

In a non-contact power feeding device for a transport carriage that feeds the transport carriage from a power supply line laid along the travel rail in a non-contact manner, a plurality of branch travel rails are provided at a branch portion of the travel rail. A branch movable portion provided with a plurality of branch traveling rails is selected, and one of the branch traveling rails is selected to connect the traveling rails on the fixed side to each other, and laid along the plurality of branch traveling rails, respectively. A non-contact power feeding device for a transport carriage, wherein the power feeding lines are connected in series, and power is fed to the power feeding lines in a non-contact manner from the fixed side.   2. The auxiliary drive equipment for a transport carriage according to claim 1, wherein the branching movable part is constituted by a turntable.   The non-contact power feeding device for a transport carriage according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a power feeding line laid along the traveling rail is disposed on the fixed side while avoiding the branch movable part.

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