JP6711226B2 - Curved transport mechanism for long rails - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a long rail curving/conveying mechanism that conveys a long rail along a curving conveying path that is curved in a plan view.

After rails are manufactured at the factory, they are often stored in the rail yard until shipment. Since the rails are stored in the rail yard, the rails manufactured in the factory are appropriately cut into a predetermined length and sequentially transported from the manufacturing line.

Since rails are long products, it may be difficult to provide rail yard in or near the manufacturing plant. In particular, in the case of rails over 50 m, it is difficult to secure a place where long rails can be stored, so a rail yard may be provided at a place away from the manufacturing plant.

When the rail is transported to the rail yard away from the manufacturing factory, it may be necessary to transport the rail along a curved transport path that is curved when viewed in plan. When transporting a rail having a length of about 25 m to 50 m, it is common to transport the rail by placing it on a carrier such as a carrier pallet, but in the case of a long rail having a length of 70 m or more, the length thereof is It becomes difficult to prepare a carrier pallet, etc. that corresponds to the above.

Therefore, as a method of transporting the rails along the curved transport path, a method of skewing the transport rollers that transport the rails (gradually inclining the material axes of the adjacent transport rollers according to the transport direction) is generally used. Used. However, if it is attempted to safely transport the long rail by this method, the length of the transport roller must be extremely increased, which makes it difficult to design the transport facility.

Patent Document 1 discloses a long rail transfer device including a carriage that has a clamp mechanism that holds the tip of a long rail to be transferred and that travels on a pair of rails. However, in this method, a carriage for gripping the front end of the long rail is required every time the long rail is conveyed, and thus the facility for securing the number of carriages may be complicated. Further, since the carrying capacity is limited by the number of vehicles, there is a drawback that the carrying capacity is small.

On the other hand, paragraph [0005] of Patent Document 1 describes a method in which a long rail is placed on a horizontal roll (conveyance roller) and both sides are sandwiched between vertical rolls for conveyance. According to this method, the carrying capacity is not limited by the number of vehicles, so that the carrying capacity can be improved.

JP, 2013-217019, A

In order to carry out stable rail transfer using the transfer method described in paragraph [0005] of Patent Document 1, it is necessary to arrange the vertical rolls densely. Further, there is a possibility that the leading end of the rail to be conveyed may come into contact with the vertical roll and the leading end of the rail may be flawed or deformed. In particular, when the rail becomes long, that is, 70 m or more, the reaction force received by the rail from the vertically arranged vertical rolls becomes large, so that the rail is twisted during transportation, and this twist causes a flaw in the rail bottom (deviation. The present inventors discovered that the bottom of the rail comes into local contact with the transport roller due to the hit. It was also found that the longer the rail, the larger the weight of the rail itself, and thus the greater the collision load and twist between the rail tip and the vertical roll.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a long rail curved conveyance mechanism capable of conveying a long rail along a curved conveyance path without causing a twist or a flaw in the long rail. The purpose is to provide.

In order to achieve the above object, a first invention is a transport mechanism for transporting a long rail along a curved transport path that is curved when viewed in a plan view,
A transport roller that is installed on the curved transport path and transports a long rail,
Standing on the convex side of the curved conveying path and at a position where it does not contact the tip of the long rail to be conveyed, and when the tip of the long rail passes, it moves forward from the standby position and pushes the abdomen of the long rail. A pusher roll that guides the length rail to the curved transport path and, when the tail end of the long rail passes, retracts to the standby position,
A pressing roll that is installed in a region on the opposite side of the pusher roll with the long rail being conveyed interposed between the pressing roll and the abdomen of the long rail conveyed along the curved conveyance path.
And a control unit for controlling the forward/backward movement of the pusher roll.

In the present invention, when the tip end of the long rail that has deviated from the curved conveyance path passes in front of the pusher roll that is on standby on the convex side of the curved conveyance path and does not contact the tip of the long rail that is conveyed. The pusher roll advances and pushes the abdomen of the long rail to guide the long rail to the curved conveyance path. When the tail end of the long rail passes the pusher roll, the pusher roll retracts to the standby position.

Further, in the curved transport mechanism of the long rail according to the first invention,
Equipped with a sensor that detects the passage of the tip and tail of the long rail,
The control unit is
When the passage of the tip of the long rail is detected by the sensor, the pusher roll is advanced at a preset timing A,
The pusher roll may be retracted at a preset timing B when the passage of the tail end of the long rail is detected by the sensor.

Further, in the curved transport mechanism of the long rail according to the first invention,
The control unit is
Based on the distance from the starting point of the transport path for transporting the long rail to the contact point where the pusher roll contacts the long rail and the transport speed of the long rail, from the time when the long rail enters the transport path, The time A until the pusher roll contacts the long rail is calculated, and the pusher roll is advanced based on the time A,
Based on the distance from the start point of the transport path to the contact point, the length of the long rail, and the transport speed of the long rail, the tail end of the long rail from the time when the long rail enters the transport path. The time B until the part passes the contact point may be calculated, and the pusher roll may be retracted based on the time B.

A long rail transport device according to a second aspect of the invention includes the long rail curving transport mechanism according to the first aspect of the invention, wherein the pusher roll and the pressing roll corresponding to the pusher roll are viewed in a plan view. It is characterized in that a plurality of sets are arranged along a curved conveyance path.

A long rail transport device according to a third aspect of the present invention includes the long rail bending transport mechanism according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the pusher roll, the pressing roll corresponding to the pusher roll, and the sensor are flat surfaces. It is characterized in that a plurality of sets are arranged along a curved conveyance path that is curved when viewed.

In the present invention, the pusher roll standing by at the convex side of the curved conveyance path and at the position where it does not come into contact with the tip of the long rail to be conveyed advances, and pushes the abdomen of the long rail deviated from the curved conveyance path. Since the long rail is guided to the curved conveyance path, the long rail does not collide with the vertical roll, and the long rail is not twisted or flawed.
Further, since the long rail can be curvedly conveyed only by moving the pusher roll forward and backward, it is suitable for continuous conveyance of the long rail. In addition, since the equipment configuration is simple, equipment investment can be kept low.

It is a schematic diagram of the long rail conveyance apparatus by which the curved conveyance mechanism of the long rail which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention is multiply arranged along a curved conveyance path. It is a schematic diagram of a pusher roll. It is a schematic diagram of the conventional conveyance mechanism which conveys a long rail along a curved conveyance path.

Subsequently, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings to provide an understanding of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a long rail transport device 10 including a plurality of long rail bending transport mechanisms according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The long rail transport device 10 includes a curved transport path and a straight transport path that are curved in a plan view, and the curved transport path is provided with a long rail curved transport mechanism. In the present specification, the curved transport path and the straight transport path are collectively referred to as “transport path”.

The curved transport mechanism of the long rail (hereinafter, may be simply referred to as “curved transport mechanism”) includes a transport roller 11 that is installed on a transport path and transports the long rail S, and an abdomen of the long rail S. A pusher roll 12 that pushes to guide the long rail S to a curved conveyance path, a pressing roll 13 that is installed in a region on the opposite side of the pusher roll 12 with the long rail S being conveyed interposed therebetween, and a tip of the long rail S. A sensor 14 for detecting the passage of the section and the tail end, and a control section 15 for controlling the forward/backward movement of the pusher roll 12 are provided.

Plural sets of pusher rolls 12, press rolls 13 and sensors 14 corresponding to the pusher rolls 12 are arranged along the curved transport path of the long rail transport device 10. In the present embodiment, the pusher roll 12A, the presser roll 13A, the sensor 14A and the control unit 15A are group A, the pusher roll 12B, the presser roll 13B, the sensor 14B and the control unit 15B are group B, the pusher roll 12C and the presser roll 12C. Group C is composed of 13C, sensor 14C, and control unit 15C.

The transport rolls 11 are usually installed every 1 m to 5 m along the transport path. In the curved conveyance path, the conveyance roll 11 is installed while appropriately skewed along the curved conveyance path.
The transport roller 11 has a diameter of about 150 mm to 400 mm, a length of about 200 mm to 1000 mm, and is formed of STKM (carbon steel pipe for machine structure).
During transportation, the bottom of the long rail S contacts the transportation roller 11.

The pusher roll 12 stands by on the convex side of the curved conveyance path and at a position where it does not come into contact with the tip of the long rail S to be conveyed. That is, before the tip of the long rail S enters the position where the pusher roll 12 is installed, the pusher roll 12 waits at a position outside the route when the long rail S goes straight without bending. ing. This avoids a situation where the tip of the long rail S collides with the pusher roll 12.
As shown in FIG. 2, the pusher roll 12 includes a cylinder 17 and is basically capable of advancing and retracting in one horizontal direction. When the tip of the long rail S passes through the pusher roll 12, the pusher roll 12 advances from the standby position and pushes the abdomen of the long rail S to guide the long rail S to the curved conveyance path and maintain that state. .. Then, when the tail end portion of the long rail S passes through the pusher roll 12, the pusher roll 12 retracts to the standby position.

The pusher roll 12 has a substantially disc shape and is rotatable. As a material of the pusher roll 12, a resin roll or the like is suitable. As the resin roll, an engineering plastic roll used for machine structural parts is suitable.
When the pusher roll 12 pushes the abdomen of the long rail S, if the pusher roll 12 pushes the lower part of the abdomen of the long rail S below the center of gravity of the rail that is slightly lower, it prevents the long rail S from being twisted or flawed. A more stable rail transport that does not fall down is possible.

The pressing roll 13 may be an immovable vertical roll, and contacts the abdomen of the long rail conveyed along the curved conveyance path. The presser roll 13 prevents the curved long rail S from returning to a straight line by being pushed by the pusher roll 12, and holds it on the curved conveyance path. Specifically, it is installed on the curved transport path in front of the pusher roll 12 in the transport direction. Although it depends on the radius of curvature of the curved conveyance path, it is generally installed at a position 1 m to 5 m away from the pusher roll 12.
The pressing roll 13 has a substantially disc shape and is rotatable. A resin roll or the like is suitable as the material of the press roll 13.

The sensor 14 is a non-contact sensor, and for example, an infrared sensor or the like can be used.
The installation position of the sensor 14 is preferably ahead of the pusher roll 12 in the traveling direction of the long rail S. Accordingly, when the sensor 14 detects the passage of the front end portion or the tail end portion of the long rail S, the pusher roll 12 can be moved forward or backward at a preset timing.

The controller 15 controls the timing at which the pusher roll 12 moves forward or backward. A cylinder 17 for moving the pusher roll 12 forward and backward and a sensor 14 are connected to the control unit 15. As the control method by the control unit 15, a first control method that uses the detection signal of the sensor 14 and a second control method that does not use the detection signal of the sensor 14 are possible.

In the first control method, when the passage of the tip of the long rail S is detected by the sensor 14, the control unit 15 advances the pusher roll 12 at a preset timing A, and the tail end of the long rail S. When the passage of the sheet is detected by the sensor 14, the pusher roll 12 is retracted at a preset timing B. In the present embodiment, the control unit 15A controls the pusher roll 12A based on the signal of the sensor 14A, the control unit 15B controls the pusher roll 12B based on the signal of the sensor 14B, and the control unit 15C controls the signal of the sensor 14C. The pusher roll 12C is controlled based on

Note that at timing A, after the sensor 14 detects the passage of the tip of the long rail S, the long rail S does not move straight too much, and the tip of the long rail S is avoided so that the long rail S moves. This is the timing when the pusher roll 12 contacts the abdomen. Further, timing B is a timing at which the tail end of the long rail S passes the position of the pusher roll 12 after the sensor 14 detects the passage of the tail end of the long rail S.

In the second control method, the control unit 15 determines the distance and the length from the start point of the long rail transport device 10 (transport path) that transports the long rail S to the contact point where the pusher roll 12 contacts the long rail S. The time A from when the long rail S enters the long rail transport device 10 until the pusher roll 12 contacts the long rail S is calculated based on the transport speed of the long rail S, and based on the time A The pusher roll 12 is moved forward.
Further, the control unit 15 controls the long rail transport device 10 based on the distance from the start point of the long rail transport device 10 to the contact point, the length of the long rail S, and the transport speed of the long rail S. The time B from when the long rail S enters to when the tail end of the long rail S passes through the contact point is calculated, and the pusher roll 12 is retracted based on the time B.

Each control unit 15 (control units 15A to 15C in the present embodiment) is connected to the central control unit 18. The central control unit 18 performs the operation of the entire long rail transfer device 10 and manages and confirms the transfer status. Specifically, interlocking between groups A to C and operation by central control in an emergency are performed.

In addition, with respect to the straight transport path of the long rail transport device 10, a pair of vertical rolls (not shown) facing each other across the straight transport path are installed at predetermined intervals together with the transport roller 11. The long rail S passes between the pair of vertical rolls arranged side by side. The pair of vertical rolls prevent the long rail S from meandering or falling when moving on the transport roller 11. A resin roll or the like is suitable as the material of the vertical roll.
The pair of vertical rolls may be arranged so that the long rail S does not come into contact with the vertical rolls when the rails are conveyed, but the pair of vertical rolls has a narrow width that allows a slight contact so as to further prevent the rails from falling over. Good.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the configuration described in the above-mentioned embodiment at all, and within the scope of matters described in the claims. It also includes other possible embodiments and modifications. For example, the curved transport mechanism for the long rail according to the above-described embodiment includes a sensor, but the sensor is not necessary when only the second control method is performed.

A verification test carried out to verify the effect of the present invention will be described.
The long rail transport device is composed of two straight transport paths of 100 m and a curved transport path 100 m provided between the straight transport paths. The radius of curvature of the curved conveyance path is 120 m, and the total length of the conveyance path is about 300 m. Transport rollers (diameter 300 mm, length 800 mm) are installed on the transport path at intervals of 2 m. The transport rollers are skewed in the curved transport path.

In the embodiment, the curved conveyance mechanism is installed at intervals of 4 m along the curved conveyance path. The distance between the pusher roll and the presser roll is 2 m, and the distance between the pusher roll and the sensor is 0.5 m. In addition, a pair of vertical rolls (diameter 200 mm, height 100 mm) facing each other across the linear transport path are installed in the linear transport path at intervals of 4 m.

On the other hand, in the conventional example, as shown in FIG. 3, the intervals between the vertical rolls 16 are set according to the configuration described in paragraph [0005] of Patent Document 1. Specifically, the interval between the pair of vertical rolls 16 (diameter 200 mm, height 100 mm) facing each other across the transport path was set to 1 m.

There are two sizes of rails to be transported: JIS E1101:2001 “JIS50N” and AREMA CHAPTER 4 RAIL “141RE”. JIS50N is for domestic use, the unit weight is 50 kg, 141RE is the American standard, and the unit weight is 141 pounds. The length of the rail to be conveyed was 75 m or 25 m.
The maximum transport speed is 3.8 m/s.

The test results are shown in Table 1. However, in Example and Conventional Example 1, a rail having a rail length of 75 m was transported, and in Conventional Example 2, a rail having a rail length of 25 m was transported.
In the table, "Additional flaws" are flaws in which the tip of the rail is dented (it is presumed to be flaws caused by colliding with rolls during transportation.) It is a scratch that seems to be rubbed.

In the evaluation, the presence or absence of a post-collision flaw or a pick-up flaw on the rail was visually inspected, and the position and shape of the flaw were evaluated as follows.
With regard to rear-end defects, ∘ when there was no defect, × when there was a defect, and XX when the defect was deep. As for the scratches, the case where there was no flaw was marked with ◯, the case where there was a flaw was marked with ×, and the case where there was a flaw but was at the passing level was marked with Δ.

The table shows the following.
-In the example in which the rail having a length of 75 m was transported, neither a rear impact flaw nor a scratch flaw occurred.
-In Conventional Example 1 in which the rail having a length of 75 m was conveyed, rear-end flaws and pick-up flaws occurred, and the rear-end flaws were deep flaws.
-In Conventional Example 2 in which the rail having a length of 25 m was conveyed, the scratches were at the acceptable level, but the additional defects were generated.

10: Long rail transport device, 11: Transport roller, 12, 12A, 12B, 12C: Pusher roll, 13, 13A, 13B, 13C: Press roll, 14, 14A, 14B, 14C: Sensor, 15, 15A, 15B , 15C: control unit, 16: vertical roll, 17: cylinder, 18: central control unit, S: long rail

Claims (5)

A transport mechanism for transporting a long rail along a curved transport path that is curved when viewed in plan,
A transport roller that is installed on the curved transport path and transports a long rail,
Standing on the convex side of the curved conveying path and at a position where it does not contact the tip of the long rail to be conveyed, and when the tip of the long rail passes, it moves forward from the standby position and pushes the abdomen of the long rail. A pusher roll that guides the length rail to the curved transport path and, when the tail end of the long rail passes, retracts to the standby position,
A pressing roll that is installed in a region on the opposite side of the pusher roll with the long rail being conveyed interposed between the pressing roll and the abdomen of the long rail conveyed along the curved conveyance path.
A curved conveyance mechanism for a long rail, comprising: a control unit that controls the forward/backward movement of the pusher roll. The curved transport mechanism for a long rail according to claim 1,
Equipped with a sensor that detects the passage of the tip and tail of the long rail,
The control unit is
When the passage of the tip of the long rail is detected by the sensor, the pusher roll is advanced at a preset timing A,
A curved transport mechanism for a long rail, wherein when the passage of the tail end of the long rail is detected by the sensor, the pusher roll is retracted at a preset timing B. The curved transport mechanism for a long rail according to claim 1,
The control unit is
Based on the distance from the start point of the transport path for transporting the long rail to the contact point where the pusher roll contacts the long rail and the transport speed of the long rail, from the time when the long rail enters the transport path, The time A until the pusher roll contacts the long rail is calculated, and the pusher roll is advanced based on the time A,
Based on the distance from the start point of the transport path to the contact point, the length of the long rail, and the transport speed of the long rail, the tail end of the long rail from the time when the long rail enters the transport path. A curved conveyance mechanism for a long rail, characterized in that a time B until a part passes through the contact point is calculated, and the pusher roll is retracted based on the time B. The curved transport mechanism for a long rail according to claim 1 or 3, wherein a plurality of sets of the pusher roll and the pressing roll corresponding to the pusher roll are arranged along a curved transport path that is curved in a plan view. A long rail transport device characterized in that The curved transport mechanism for a long rail according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of sets of the pusher roll, the pressing roll corresponding to the pusher roll, and the sensor are arranged along a curved transport path that is curved in a plan view. A long rail transport device characterized by

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