JP5003621B2 - Centering device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a centering device, and more particularly to a centering device for centering while lifting a load on a conveyor.

  A conventional automatic warehouse includes, for example, a pair of racks provided at predetermined intervals in the front-rear direction, a stacker crane provided movably in the left-right direction between the front and rear racks, and a side of one rack. And a loading station arranged on the side of the other rack. The rack has a large number of luggage storage shelves vertically and horizontally. The stacker crane has a traveling carriage, a lifting platform that can be raised and lowered by a mast provided therein, and a load transfer device (for example, a slide fork that is slidable in the front-rear direction). doing. At the loading / unloading station, a conveyor is used to transport the cargo.

The package is usually transported in a state of being placed on a pallet. For example, in a state where the load is placed on a pallet, the load is transferred to a conveyor at a storage station by a forklift or the like, conveyed by the conveyor, further loaded onto a stacker crane, and finally loaded onto a rack shelf by the stacker crane.
If the center of the pallet in the width direction of the pallet is shifted from the center in the width direction of the conveyor when the load is transferred to the conveyor, the following problem occurs. For example, when a stacker crane places a load on a shelf with a fork or the like, the load on the pallet may collide with the shelf. In other words, the delivery operation of the package is not performed smoothly. For this reason, it is preferable that the center in the conveyor width direction of the pallet is accurately aligned with the center in the width direction of the conveyor.

On the other hand, the operation of centering the pallet with respect to the conveyor by the four lift is difficult and requires skill.
Therefore, an example in which a left / right positioning device for articles on a conveyor is provided is known. The left / right positioning device centers the load along the path of the conveyor (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In addition, the pallet is lifted from the transport level by a lift device with a free roller on the top surface, and the pallet is lifted from the transport level by a device that pushes the pallet with a separate mechanism from the side and performs centering. An apparatus for centering by a conveyor is known. However, these centering devices have a problem that they are expensive and require a large space.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-10327

In the conventional left / right positioning device, since the load is centered in the middle of the path of the conveyor, the load may receive a large resistance from the left / right positioning device and may not be smoothly conveyed.
The subject of this invention is providing the apparatus which can perform centering of a load reliably in a conveyor.

A centering device according to the present invention is a centering device for centering while lifting a load on a conveyor, and includes a lifter mechanism, a centering mechanism, a coupling mechanism, and an elastic member. The lifter mechanism includes a support base that can support a load from below and a drive unit that raises and lowers the support base. The centering mechanism aligns the center of the load in the conveyor width direction with the center of the conveyor in the width direction by sandwiching the load in the conveyor width direction when the support base is raised. Coupling mechanism, the lifting mechanism and centering mechanism operably linked, a support table converts the force acting upwardly on the force to perform the pinching operation of the centering mechanism. The elastic member is disposed in a part of the coupling mechanism and elastically functions a force acting on the load.

  In this apparatus, when the drive unit of the lifter mechanism raises the support base, the support base lifts the load from the conveyor. At this time, the force that the connecting mechanism acts upward from the support base is converted into a force that causes the centering mechanism to perform the sandwiching operation. Therefore, both mechanisms can be driven by a single drive unit, and the structure is simplified. Furthermore, since the elastic member functions elastically in the path of the force acting on the load, the load can be reliably centered even if the size of the load varies within a predetermined range.

Preferably, the centering mechanism has a holding member that holds the load. The connecting mechanism comprises a protruding member protruding from the support base, and a rotating member having a rail portion which is disposed above the protruding member provided in a lower portion of the arm portion and the arm portion which is extending axially supported downwardly from the clamping member Have. When the projecting member is lifted together with the support base, the pivot member is pivoted by moving the rail portion of the pivot member, thereby moving the arm portion and the sandwiching member to the luggage side, so that the luggage becomes the sandwiching member. Let them get caught. The elastic member is a compression spring provided on the protruding member.
In this device, the protruding member rises together with the support base, rotates the rotating member while contacting the rail portion of the rotating member, and rotates the arm portion and the holding member to the luggage side. As a result, the load is pinched by the pinching member and centered. Further, since the elastic member is a compression spring, desired spring characteristics can be selected at a low cost.

Preferably, the centering device further includes a restricting mechanism that restricts movement of the load when the load is placed at the centering position by the centering mechanism, and then restricts movement of the load even during the operation of lowering the support base. Yes.
In this apparatus, since the regulation mechanism regulates the position of the centered package, the centered package is difficult to move from the centering position. In particular, even when the support table is lowered after centering, the load is not easily displaced from the centering position.

  With the centering device according to the present invention, it is possible to reliably center the load on the conveyor.

1. Structure The conveyor 1 of the loading / unloading station used for an automatic warehouse is demonstrated. In the following description, the vertical direction in FIG. 1 is the conveyor conveyance direction, and the horizontal direction in FIG. 1 is the conveyor width direction.
In FIG. 1, a conveyor 1 is a chain conveyor, and includes a pair of grooved steel frames 3 and a pair of roller chains 5 wound around the frames 3. The pair of frames 3 are parallel to each other. Each roller chain 5 is endless and is synchronously driven by a drive source (not shown).

The luggage W is conveyed by the roller chain 5 while being placed on the pallet P. In this embodiment, since the luggage W moves together with the pallet P in a state of being placed on the pallet P, the pallet P itself may be a “luggage”, or a combination of the luggage W and the pallet P may be “ It may be “luggage”.
A centering device 11 is disposed between the frames 3 at the end of the conveyor 1 to raise and lower the pallet P on which the load W is placed and to perform centering. The centering device 11 includes a lifter mechanism 13, a centering mechanism 15, a coupling mechanism 17, and a coil spring 19.

  The lifter mechanism 13 is a mechanism for raising and lowering the load W together with the pallet P, and includes a support base 21 that can support the load from below and a drive unit 23 that raises and lowers the support base 21. The support 21 is mainly composed of a box-shaped frame 25 and a plurality of free rollers 27 arranged therein. The free rollers 27 are aligned in the conveyor width direction and are parallel to each other in the conveyor conveyance direction. In addition, the row | line | column of the free roller 27 is arrange | positioned 2 apart in the conveyor conveyance direction. The drive part 23 is comprised by the pneumatic cylinder and the guide mechanism, for example.

  The centering mechanism 15 is a mechanism that aligns the center of the load in the width direction of the conveyor 1 by sandwiching the load when the support base 21 is raised. The centering mechanism 15 has a holding member 31 that holds a load. The clamping member 31 is mainly composed of a pair of clamping rollers 33 disposed on both sides in the conveyor width direction. Each clamping roller 33 extends in the conveyor conveyance direction and is parallel to the free roller 27. More specifically, two sets of a plurality of sandwiching rollers 33 are provided side by side in the conveyor conveyance direction.

  The connection mechanism 17 is a mechanism for functionally connecting the lifter mechanism 13 and the centering mechanism 15 and converting a force acting upward from the support base 21 into a force that causes the centering mechanism 15 to be sandwiched. The coupling mechanism 17 includes a protruding member 35 protruding from the support base 21 and a rotating member 37 that supports the protruding member 35 and is rotatably disposed and driven by the protruding member 35. The rotating member 37 includes an arm portion 39 that extends downward from the pinching roller 33 and is pivotally supported, and a rail portion 41 that is provided at a lower portion thereof and moves while contacting the protruding member 35.

More specifically, the pair of sandwiching rollers 33 is composed of two pairs spaced apart in the conveyor conveyance direction. Hereinafter, the structure of the clamping roller 33 arranged on one side in the conveyor width direction and the connection mechanism 17 related thereto will be described. In addition, since it is the same about the structure arrange | positioned on the conveyor width direction opposite side, description is abbreviate | omitted.
The coupling mechanism 17 is disposed on the outer side in the conveyor width direction of the frame 3 and the roller chain 5. The coupling mechanism 17 has a protruding member 35 that protrudes from the support base 21 to one side in the conveyor width direction. The protruding member 35 mainly includes a base portion 43, a rod-like portion 45 extending from the base portion 43, and a contact portion 47 that is slidably supported. The coil spring 19 is disposed between the base portion 43 and the contact portion 47. The periphery of the coil spring 19 is covered with a cylindrical portion 49 extending from the base portion 43. The contact portion 47 has a main body 51 and a contact roller 53 attached to the tip of the main body 51. The contact roller 53 is rotatable around a rotation axis extending in the conveyor conveyance direction.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the arm portion 39 of the rotating member 37 extends in the conveyor transport direction and supports the two clamping rollers 33, and is disposed below the first connection bar 55 and is disposed in the conveyor transport direction. And a second connecting bar 58 extending in the vertical direction and connecting the two bars. Both ends of the rotation bar 57 are rotatably supported. Therefore, the entire rotation member 37 is rotatable around the rotation bar 57.

  The rail portion 41 extends in the vertical direction, and the upper end is fixed to the rotation bar 57. The rail portion 41 has a guide surface 59 on the lower roller chain 5 side. The guide surface 59 is formed to rotate the entire rotation member 37 about the rotation bar 57 while pushing up the guide surface 59 when the protruding member 35 is raised. More specifically, the guide surface 59 has a concave shape that is smoothly curved when viewed from the conveyor conveyance direction, extends generally upward from the lower end, and further curves and extends inward in the conveyor width direction.

  The centering mechanism 15 further includes a restriction mechanism 61 that restricts the movement of the load when the load is placed at the centering position by the centering mechanism 15. As shown in FIG. 1, the restriction mechanism 61 includes stopper members 63 provided at a total of four locations, two on each side in the conveyor width direction of the lifter mechanism 13. The stopper member 63 is provided at a location corresponding to the edge of the pallet P in the conveyor width direction. As shown in FIG. 5, the stopper member 63 is a substantially triangular plate member as viewed in the conveyor conveyance direction, and extends long in the conveyor width direction. The stopper member 63 includes an upper long side portion 63a, a first lower surface portion 63b that is a lower surface on the outer side in the conveyor width direction, and a second lower surface portion 63c that is a lower surface on the inner side in the conveyor width direction. Have. The upper long side stopper member 63 is supported by a support portion 67 provided on the support base 65. As is clear from the drawing, the stopper member 63 can be rotated around an axis extending in the conveyor conveyance direction. Since the stopper member 63 has a heavier outer portion in the width direction than the inner portion in the width direction, the stopper member 63 has a lower end surface of the outer portion in the width direction, that is, the first lower surface portion 63b. The posture is in contact with the upper surface of 65. A tip surface 63d is formed at the tip of the stopper member 63 on the inner side in the conveyor width direction. The front end surface 63d is formed so as to extend substantially in the vertical direction when the first lower surface portion 63b is in a posture in contact with the upper surface of the support base 65. The support base 65 is moved up and down together with the support base 21 of the lifter mechanism 13.

2. Operation Next, the operation will be described.
FIG. 2 shows a state in which the luggage W is placed together with the pallet P above the centering device 11 of the conveyor 1. In this state, the lifter mechanism 13 is in the lowest lowered position, and the lower surface of the pallet P is disposed with a predetermined gap from the free roller 27. Moreover, the rotation member 37 takes the attitude | position extended in an up-down direction seeing from a conveyor conveyance direction. Therefore, the contact roller 53 of the protruding member 35 is in contact with the lower end of the guide surface 59, and the upper end of the guide surface 59 is located above the contact roller 53. In this state, the clamping roller 33 is located away from the pallet P on both sides in the conveyor width direction.

  The drive unit 23 of the lifter mechanism 13 raises the support base 21. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the support base 21 lifts the pallet P and the load W. At this time, since the free roller 27 of the support base 21 is in contact with the lower surface of the pallet P, the pallet P and the load W are easily slid in the conveyor width direction. Therefore, the lifter thrust required for centering can be reduced.

Further, in this ascending operation, the projecting member 35 is rotated while being in contact with the rail portion 41 of the rotating member 37. Thereby, the clamping roller 33 contacts the pallet P from both sides in the conveyor width direction, and moves the pallet P to the center side in the width direction of the conveyor. At this time, since the pallet P is placed on the free roller 27, a large resistance does not act.
Normally, after the sandwiching rollers 33 on both sides come into contact with the side surfaces of the pallet P in the conveyor width direction, the sandwiching rollers 33 continue to sandwich the pallet P further. At this time, the coil spring 19 in the protruding member 35 is compressed. With this structure, even if the size of the pallet P in the width direction of the conveyor is large, it can be handled within a predetermined range. More specifically, the coil spring 19 has a width direction dimension larger than the minimum distance between the pair of sandwiching rollers 33 in the uncompressed state and the coil spring 19 is in the most compressed state. As long as the article has a width dimension smaller than the maximum distance between the pair of sandwiching rollers 33 in the conveyor width direction, the pair of sandwiching rollers 33 can hold the luggage even if it is not a package having the set conveyor width direction dimension. It can be pinched and centered.

  Furthermore, a stopper mechanism is demonstrated using FIG. 5A-FIG. 5D. FIG. 5A shows a state where the lifter mechanism 13 is in the lowered position. In this embodiment, the pallet P is arranged shifted to the right side of the figure. Therefore, the edge on the right side of the conveyor width direction of the pallet P is located further outward (right side) in the conveyor width direction than the front end surface 63d of the stopper member 63 on the right side of the drawing, and the left edge of the pallet P in the conveyor width direction is illustrated. It is located further on the inner side (right side) in the conveyor width direction than the front end surface 63d of the left stopper member 63.

  From this state, the lifter mechanism 13 moves the support 21 and the stopper member 63 upward. Then, the support base 21 comes into contact with the lower surface of the pallet P and moves the pallet P further upward. At this time, as shown in FIG. 5B, the tip of the stopper member 63 on the right side of the drawing is pushed against the lower surface of the pallet P, and the stopper member 63 on the right side of the drawing rotates. Thereby, centering of the load W is facilitated. During the above operation, the pinching roller 33 (not shown in FIGS. 5A to 5D) pushes the pallet P in the conveyor width direction, whereby the pallet P is centered in the conveyor width direction. In this embodiment, the pallet P moves to the left side in the figure, and therefore, the pallet P is detached from the stopper member 63 on the right side in the figure, and the stopper member 63 on the right side in the figure is urged so that the inner portion in the width direction is positioned upward. Return to the original posture. This state is shown in FIG. 5C. In this state, the leading ends of both stopper members 63 are arranged with a slight gap with respect to both side surfaces of the pallet P in the conveyor width direction. For this reason, after the centering is completed, the pallet P does not move so much from the centering position by the stopper member 63 even though it is easily moved by the free roller 27.

  Next, the lifter mechanism 13 moves the support base 21 and the stopper member 63 downward. At this time, since both stopper members 63 always support both sides of the pallet P in the conveyor width direction, the pallet P does not deviate from the centering position. Eventually, when the lower surface of the pallet P comes into contact with the roller chain 5, the pallet P is supported by the roller chain 5 thereafter. The lifter mechanism 13 moves the support base 21 and the stopper member 63 further downward. As a result, the support base 21 and the stopper member 63 move away from the pallet P and move downward as shown in FIG. 5D.

3. Effect In this device, when the drive unit 23 of the lifter mechanism 13 raises the support base 21, the support base 21 lifts the load from the conveyor. At this time, the force that the connecting mechanism 17 acts upward from the support base 21 is converted into a force that causes the centering mechanism 15 to perform the sandwiching operation. Therefore, both mechanisms can be driven by a single drive unit, and the structure is simplified. Furthermore, since the coil spring 19 functions elastically in the path of the force acting on the load, the load can be reliably centered even if the size of the load varies within a predetermined range.

In this apparatus, the projecting member 35 rises together with the support base 21, rotates the rotating member 37 while being in contact with the rail portion 41 of the rotating member 37, and rotates the arm portion 39 and the holding roller 33 to the luggage side. Let As a result, the load is sandwiched between the sandwiching rollers 33 and centered. Since the elastic member is a compression spring, desired spring characteristics can be selected at low cost.
In this apparatus, since the regulation mechanism 61 regulates the position of the centered package, the package is difficult to move from the centering position. In particular, when the support base 21 is lowered after centering, the load is not easily displaced from the centering position.

4). Other Embodiments Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.
In the said embodiment, although the elastic member was the compression coil spring arrange | positioned in the protrusion member, this invention is not limited to it. For example, the elastic member may be provided on the arm part or rail part of the rotation mechanism, or may be provided on the pinching roller. Or you may provide elastic members, such as rubber | gum, in either of each member.
In the above-described embodiment, the luggage W is centered in a state of being placed on the pallet P, but the present invention is not limited to the example. For example, the present invention can be applied to an embodiment in which a package is directly conveyed by a conveyor without using a pallet.

  The centering device according to the present invention can be widely used in devices that perform centering while lifting a load.

The schematic plan view of a centering apparatus. Schematic front view of the centering device (lifter lowered position). The side view of the rotation mechanism of a centering apparatus. The schematic front view of a centering apparatus (lifter raising position). The schematic diagram explaining operation | movement of a stopper member. The schematic diagram explaining operation | movement of a stopper member. The schematic diagram explaining operation | movement of a stopper member. The schematic diagram explaining operation | movement of a stopper member.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Conveyor 3 Frame 5 Roller chain 11 Centering apparatus 13 Lifter mechanism 15 Centering mechanism 17 Connection mechanism 19 Coil spring 21 Support base 23 Drive part 25 Box-shaped frame 27 Free roller 31 Nipping member 33 Nipping roller 35 Projection member 37 Rotating member 39 Arm Part 41 Rail part 43 Base part 45 Rod-like part 47 Abutting part 49 Tubular part 51 Main body 53 Abutting roller 55 First connecting bar 57 Rotating bar 58 Second connecting bar 59 Guide surface 61 Restricting mechanism 63 Stopper member 65 Support base 67 Supporting part

Claims (2)

A centering device for centering while lifting a load on a conveyor,
A lifter mechanism having a support base capable of supporting the load from below, and a drive unit for raising and lowering the support base;
A centering mechanism that aligns the center of the load in the width direction of the conveyor by sandwiching the load in the width direction of the conveyor when the support is raised,
A connecting mechanism for functionally connecting the lifter mechanism and the centering mechanism, and converting a force acting upward by the support base into a force for performing a sandwiching operation of the centering mechanism;
An elastic member that is arranged in a part of the coupling mechanism and elastically functions a force acting on the load ,
The centering mechanism has a sandwiching member that sandwiches the load,
The coupling mechanism includes a projecting member projecting from the support base, an arm portion extending downward from the clamping member and pivotally supported, and a rail portion provided below the arm member and disposed above the projecting member. A rotating member,
When the projecting member rises together with the support base, the pivot member is rotated by moving the rail portion of the pivot member, and thereby the arm portion and the clamping member are moved to the luggage side. Then, the luggage is sandwiched between the clamping members,
The centering device , wherein the elastic member is a compression spring provided on the protruding member . Said package is restricting the movement of the cargo to be placed in the centering position by the centering mechanism, also further comprise a restriction mechanism for restricting the movement of the load during operation which is the support base subsequently lowered, claim 1 The centering device described in 1.

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