JP6864191B2 - Traveling body system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a traveling body system, and more particularly to a traveling body system for driving a traveling motor by extracting AC power from a capacitor between a metal rail and a wheel.

So-called tire power supply is known as a power supply method for a vehicle. Tire feeding is a wireless power transmission technology that utilizes a capacitive coupling between a rail and a metal conductor (steel belt) in a tire.
Two conductors that supply AC power to the road surface are installed as tire power supply, and these two conductors and the steel belts in the two tires of the vehicle form a capacitor, and the steel belts are close to both tires. There is known a technique in which AC power is extracted from two electrodes capacitively coupled to the capacitor, rectified and stored in a battery (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Patent No. 5777139

In the conventional tire power supply, since the tire is hollow, an air layer is interposed between the metal rail and the wheel. Therefore, the capacitive coupling is weakened, and the efficiency of power transmission is not good.

An object of the present invention is to improve the efficiency of electric power transmission in a tire feeding type traveling body system.

Hereinafter, a plurality of aspects will be described as means for solving the problem. These aspects can be arbitrarily combined as needed.

The traveling body system according to the seemingly present invention includes a track, a voltage applying device, and a traveling body.
In the track, the first metal rail and the second metal rail are laid out parallel to each other.
The voltage application device applies an AC voltage to the first metal rail and the second metal rail. The AC voltage includes a square wave.
The traveling body travels on the track.
The traveling body has a traveling drive motor, first wheels and second wheels, and a power receiving device.
The first wheel and the second wheel consist of a solid tire in which the outer peripheral surface of a metal shaft body is coated with a solid elastic body layer. The first wheel and the second wheel come into contact with the first metal rail and the second metal rail, respectively, so that the first metal rail and the first wheel form a first capacitor, and the second The metal rail and the second wheel form a second capacitor.
The power receiving device extracts AC power from the first capacitor and the second capacitor via the metal shaft, rectifies the extracted AC power, and directly or indirectly supplies it to the traveling drive motor.
In this system, the first wheel and the second wheel used for power supply are solid tires in which the outer peripheral surface of the metal shaft is covered with a solid elastic layer, so that the intervention of the air layer is eliminated. Capacitive coupling is strong and power transmission is efficient.

The elastic layer may be made of a material having a relative permittivity (ε) higher than that of air. That is, the relative permittivity of the elastic layer is larger than 1.
In this system, capacitive coupling is strong and power transfer is efficient.

The elastic layer may be made of a material having a small dielectric loss tangent (tan δ).
In this system, the electrical energy loss in the capacitor is reduced.

The elastic layer may be made of urethane rubber. For urethane rubber, it is in the range of ε = 6.5-7.1 and tan δ = 0.015-0.017.
In this system, capacitive coupling is strong and power transfer is efficient.

The vehicle system may further include a third wheel that contacts one of the first and second metal rails but is not used for power supply. In that case, the traveling drive motor transmits power to the third wheel.
In this system, since the first wheel and the second wheel used for power transmission are driven wheels, they can also be applied to a traveling body (generally, a power feeding brush cannot be used and a rotary connector is adopted) running in a clean room. ..

The third wheel may be a carbon-containing tire.
On the other hand, the third tire can realize an antistatic function of releasing static electricity from the traveling body to the metal rail.

The first wheel and the second wheel may be carbonless tires.
In this system, the first wheel and the second wheel do not contain carbon, so that the dielectric loss tangent (tan δ) is small. As a result, the electrical energy loss in the capacitor is reduced.

In the tire feeding type traveling body system according to the present invention, the efficiency of electric power transmission is high.

The main part side view of the transfer system of 1st Embodiment. Top view of the main part of the transport system. Side view of the local dolly. Schematic plan view of the local trolley. Schematic front view of a local dolly. Schematic cross-sectional view of the power receiving tire.

1. 1. First Embodiment (1) Overall of Transport System The transport system 1 of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. 1 is a side view of a main part of the transport system 1 of the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a plan view of a main part of the transport system 1. FIG. 3 is a side view of the local carriage 5.
The transport system 1 has a ceiling traveling vehicle 3. The ceiling traveling vehicle 3 performs inter-process transfer and in-process transfer in, for example, a semiconductor factory.

The transport system 1 has a local carriage 5. The local trolley 5 supplies and carries out the article A such as FOUP to each processing device 19, or supplies and carries out the article A to several adjacent processing devices 19.
The transport system 1 has a first track 7. The first track 7 is the track of the ceiling traveling vehicle 3, and has a traveling rail and a metal rail.

The transport system 1 has a second track 9. The second track 9 is the track of the local carriage 5, and includes the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B shown in FIG. Article A can pass up and down the gap between the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B. Although the local carriage 5 travels above the second track 9, it may be suspended and travel below the second track 9.
The processing device 19 includes one or more load ports 13. The first orbit 7, the second orbit 9, and the buffer 15 extend parallel to the front surface of the processing device 19.
The ceiling 17 is a ceiling of a clean room or the like. The columns 21, 23, and 25 support the first orbit 7, the second orbit 9, and the buffer 15.

The buffer 15 temporarily places the article A and is arranged below the second orbit 9 in parallel with the first orbit 7 and the second orbit 9. The height level of the buffer 15 is set so that the local trolley 5 carrying the article A can pass through the upper part of the buffer 15 in which the article A is temporarily placed.
The first orbit 7 is at the highest position, for example, the second orbit 9 is directly below the first orbit 7, and the first orbit 7 and the second orbit 9 are parallel and vertically overlapped. There is a buffer 15 directly below the first orbit 7 and the second orbit 9 in parallel with them, and the load port 13 is directly below the first orbit 7 and the second orbit 9.

The transport system 1 has a local controller 27. The local controller 27 controls the local trolley 5 and communicates with the local trolley 5 by optical communication or the like. The local controller 27 may be provided on the ground side.

The ceiling traveling vehicle 3 has an elevating table 29 and a hoist (not shown) for raising and lowering the elevating table 29, and the article A is transferred along the vertical direction. The ceiling traveling vehicle 3 includes an optical communication unit 31. By optical communication with light in which the optical axis is oriented in the vertical direction and passes through the traveling path of the local carriage 5, the optical communication unit 31 delivers the article A to and from the optical communication unit 33 provided on the side of the load port 13. Perform the previous interlock. Further, the ceiling traveling vehicle 3 is provided with a means of communication (not shown) with the local controller 27. The communication means communicates with the local controller 27 when delivering the article A to and from the buffer 15.
The processing device 19 is a processing device, an inspection device, and the like. A load port 13 is provided on the front surface of the processing device 19. The ceiling traveling vehicle 3, the local trolley 5, and a person traveling on the ground deliver the article A to and from the road port 13. In addition to the load port 13, a display 37, an operation panel 39, and the like are provided on the front surface of the processing device 19. The display 37 and the operation panel 39 monitor the operating status of the processing device 19 and allow the processing device 19 to be manually controlled.

The width between the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B of the second track 9 is larger than the depth of the article A. Article A can pass through the gap between the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B in the vertical direction together with the lift 29. Further, in the buffer 15, a gap 43 is provided above the load port 13. The gap 43 allows the article A to pass through the buffer 15 in the vertical direction. Alternatively, the buffer 15 is arranged so as to remove the immediate upper part of the load port 13. Therefore, even if the first track 7 and the second track 9 and the load port 13 are arranged so as to overlap each other in the vertical direction, the ceiling traveling vehicle 3 can deliver the article A to the load port 13 and the buffer 15. .. Similarly, the local trolley 5 can deliver the article A to the buffer 15 and the load port 13. Therefore, the floor area occupied by the transport system 1 can be minimized in a plan view.

The structure of the local carriage 5 will be described with reference to FIG. The local carriage 5 has a traveling motor 45 (an example of a traveling drive motor). The local carriage 5 has a first power receiving tire 63, a second power receiving tire 65, and a driving tire 67, and travels on the second track 9 (described later).
The local carriage 5 has a hoist 49. The hoist 49 raises and lowers the article A supported by the lift 50 by winding up or feeding out the suspension member 51.

The local trolley 5 has an optical communication unit 57. The optical communication unit 57 communicates with the optical communication unit 33 of the load port 13 for interlocking in the same manner as the optical communication unit 31 of the ceiling traveling vehicle 3.
The local trolley 5 is a simple one that has a short mileage, does not have a mechanism such as lateral feeding of articles, and does not have an information processing mechanism such as selection of a traveling route and avoidance of interference with other trolleys. For example, one local carriage 5 is driven along the second track 9, and is reciprocated under the control of the local controller 27 between the front surface of the processing device 19 and a position slightly distant from the front surface. Since the local carriage 5 travels on the second track 9 directly below the first track 7 of the ceiling traveling vehicle, no additional floor area is required. Further, since the gap between the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B on the second track 9 is larger than the depth of the article A, the article A can be delivered so as to pass through the second track 9 in the vertical direction.

The control of the ceiling traveling vehicle 3 and the local carriage 5 in the present embodiment is shown.
The ceiling traveling vehicle 3 is controlled by a host controller (not shown). The local controller 27 communicates with the host controller, the ceiling traveling vehicle 3, and the local carriage 5. When the ceiling traveling vehicle 3 and the local trolley 5 deliver the article A to and from the load port 13, the optical communication units 31, 33, and 57 are used to perform interlocking.
If the local trolley 5 exists directly above the load port 13, the ceiling traveling vehicle 3 cannot perform optical communication and the interlock cannot be established. Therefore, the delivery of the article A is delayed until the local trolley 5 moves to another position. In the delivery of the article A between the buffer 15 and the ceiling traveling vehicle 3, an interlock is established by communication between the ceiling traveling vehicle 3 and the local controller 27. Further, the local trolley 5 delivers the buffer 15 and the article A according to the instruction from the local controller 27. At this time, the interlock before delivery is not performed.

Through the above communication, inventory data indicating which article is located at which position in the buffer 15 is obtained, and the local controller 27 stores it. The article A in the buffer 15 is managed by the local controller 27. The interlock with the load port 13 is established by direct communication with the ceiling traveling vehicle 3 and the local carriage 5 or communication via the local controller 27.

(2) Local carriage traveling system The local carriage traveling system 101 (an example of a traveling body system) using the local carriage 5, the first metal rail 11A, and the second metal rail 11B will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6. FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of the local carriage 5. FIG. 5 is a schematic front view of the local carriage 5. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the power receiving tire 63.
The local carriage 5 has a local carriage main body 61, a first power receiving tire 63, a second power receiving tire 65, and a drive tire 67.

The first power receiving tire 63 (an example of the first wheel) and the second power receiving tire 65 (an example of the second wheel) come into contact with the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B (an example of the track), respectively. It runs and is a tire for receiving power.
As shown in FIG. 6, the first power receiving tire 63 has an elastic body layer 68 that corresponds to a ground contact portion with respect to the road surface, and a wheel 69 (an example of a metal shaft body) as an inner conductor of the tire provided inside the elastic body layer 68. Have. In other words, the first power receiving tire 63 is a solid tire in which the outer peripheral surface of the wheel 69 is coated with the solid elastic body layer 68.
The elastic body layer 68 is specifically a urethane rubber tire.
As shown in FIG. 6, the wheel 69 has a cylindrical portion 69a on the outer peripheral side, a disk portion 69b on the inner side thereof, and a shaft 69c extending from the cylindrical portion 69b.
The structure of the second power receiving tire 65 is the same as that of the first power receiving tire 63.

When AC power is supplied to the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B, the capacities between the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B and the first power receiving tire 63 and the second power receiving tire 65, respectively. Coupling occurs, which powers the local carriage 5. Specifically, by contacting the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B, a first capacitor is formed between the first metal rail 11A and the wheel 69 of the first power receiving tire 63, and the second metal is formed. A second capacitor is formed between the rail 11B and the wheel 69 of the second power receiving tire 65.

The elastic layer 68 is made of urethane rubber. That is, the elastic layer 68 is in the range of, for example, ε = 6.5-7.1 and tan δ = 0.015-0.017. In this case, the capacitive coupling becomes stronger and the power transmission is efficient.
The elastic layer 68 may be made of a material other than urethane rubber. For example, vinyl chloride resin, nylon resin, other resin, or natural rubber may be used. Hereinafter, two preferable conditions in that case will be described.
First, the elastic layer 68 is preferably made of a material having a relative permittivity (ε) higher than that of air. That is, the relative permittivity of the elastic layer 68 is preferably larger than 1. In this case, the capacitive coupling becomes stronger and the power transmission is efficient.

Second, the elastic layer is preferably made of a material having a small dielectric loss tangent (tan δ). In this case, the electrical energy loss in the capacitor is reduced.
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the shaft 69c of the wheel 69 of the first power receiving tire 63 and the second power receiving tire 65 is rotated to the local carriage body 61 by the metal bearing 71 covered with the insulating cover, respectively. The encoder 75 is freely supported and further connected to an insulating shaft 73 connected to the shaft 69c.

The drive tire 67 (an example of the third wheel) travels in contact with the first metal rail 11A, and is a tire for generating a traveling driving force. As shown in FIG. 4, each of the drive tires 67 is rotatably supported by the local carriage body 61 by bearings 71. Further, a brake 77 and a traveling motor 45 are connected to the shaft 73.
The first power receiving tire 63 and the second power receiving tire 65 are carbonless tires in which the urethane rubber does not contain carbon particles, and the drive tire 67 is a carbon tire in which the carbon particles are contained in the urethane rubber. In this case, since the first power receiving tire 63 and the second power receiving tire 65 do not contain carbon, the dielectric loss tangent (tan δ) becomes small, and as a result, the electric energy loss in the capacitor becomes small. On the other hand, the drive tire 67 realizes an antistatic function for releasing static electricity from the local carriage body 61 to the first metal rail 11A.

As shown in FIG. 5, the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B have an L-shaped cross section laid out in parallel while facing each other. The first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B have a traveling portion 105 having a horizontal traveling surface and a vertical wall 107 extending upward from the traveling portion 105. The upper ends of the vertical walls 107 are connected to each other by a connecting plate 109. The frame body track 103 is composed of the first metal rail 11A, the second metal rail 11B, and the connecting plate 109 described above. In FIGS. 1 to 3, the entire frame orbit 103 is not represented for the sake of simplicity.

The connecting plate 109 is made of an insulator. That is, the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B are insulated from each other. The connecting plate 109 covers the upper surface of the vertical wall 107 of the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B. Since the connecting plate 109 is arranged above the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B and covers the upper part of the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B in this way, the worker can use the first metal. It is difficult to touch the rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B. Therefore, it is unlikely that the worker will get an electric shock.
The connecting plate 109 does not need to be provided over the entire traveling direction. The connecting plate 109 may be partially provided at one place or a plurality of places.
The connecting plate 109 may cover a part or all of the side of the vertical wall 107 in addition to the upper part of the vertical wall 107.

The local bogie traveling system 101 includes a voltage applying device 81 for supplying power to the vehicle. The voltage applying device 81 is connected to the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B, and applies an AC voltage to the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B. The AC voltage includes a square wave.
The voltage application device 81 includes a signal generator 83, a balun 85, and a matching circuit 87. The balun 85 can transmit high frequency signals up to 5 GHz. The matching circuit 87 performs impedance matching. The matched AC power is supplied to the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B. The configuration of the voltage applying device is not particularly limited.

The local carriage 5 has a power receiving device 91. The power receiving device 91 extracts AC power from the first capacitor and the second capacitor via the wheel 69, rectifies the extracted AC power, and directly or indirectly supplies the AC power to the traveling motor 45 via the battery.
The power receiving device 91 has a matching circuit 93 and a rectifier circuit 95. The matching circuit 93 performs impedance matching. The rectifier circuit 95 rectifies the received AC power to DC. The wheels 69 of the first power receiving tire 63 and the second power receiving tire 65 are connected to the matching circuit 93, and the rectifier circuit 95 is connected to the traveling motor 45. The configuration of the power receiving device is not particularly limited.

In the above embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
First, since the power transmission is such that the first power receiving tire 63 and the second power receiving tire 65 are interposed, efficient power transmission can be realized.
Secondly, in the local bogie traveling system 101, the first power receiving tire 63 and the second power receiving tire 65 used for power supply are solid tires in which the outer peripheral surface of the wheel 69 is covered with a solid elastic body layer 68. Since the intervention of the air layer is eliminated, the capacitive coupling becomes stronger and the power transmission is efficient.

Further, in the local carriage 5, the power feeding structure using the flexible feeding line and the flexible protective cover can be abolished. As a result, there is no risk of the feeder line being broken due to repeated reciprocating travel of the intermediate transfer carriage, and the installation space for the protective cover (cable bear (registered trademark)) is not required.
Further, in the local trolley 5, the battery can be abolished, whereby the weight of the local trolley can be reduced. As a result, it is not necessary to increase the rated current of the motor of the traveling drive source.

2. Features of the Embodiment The above embodiment can be expressed as follows.
The local bogie traveling system 101 (an example of a traveling body system) includes a second track 9, a voltage applying device 81, and a local bogie 5.
In the second track 9 (an example of the track), the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B are laid out in parallel with each other.
The voltage application device 81 (an example of the voltage application device) applies an AC voltage to the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B. The AC voltage includes a square wave.
The local carriage 5 (an example of a traveling body) travels on an orbit.
The local carriage 5 has a traveling motor 45 (an example of a traveling drive motor), a first power receiving tire 63 and a second power receiving tire 65, and a power receiving device 91.
The first power receiving tire 63 (an example of the first wheel) and the second power receiving tire 65 (an example of the second wheel) have a solid elastic body layer 68 on the outer peripheral surface of the wheel 69 (an example of a metal shaft body). It consists of a solid tire coated with (an example of an elastic layer). The first power receiving tire 63 and the second power receiving tire 65 come into contact with the first metal rail 11A and the second metal rail 11B, respectively, so that the first metal rail 11A and the first power receiving tire 63 form a first capacitor. , The second metal rail 11B and the second power receiving tire 65 form a second capacitor.
The power receiving device 91 (an example of the power receiving device) extracts AC power from the first capacitor and the second capacitor via the wheel 69, rectifies the extracted AC power, and directly or indirectly supplies the AC power to the traveling motor 45. To do.

3. 3. Other Embodiments Although the plurality of embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. In particular, the plurality of embodiments and modifications described herein can be arbitrarily combined as needed.
There may be a plurality of pairs of power receiving tires instead of a pair.
The connecting plate may be a conductor.

The traveling body system of the embodiment is preferably applied to the material handling system (MHS) field such as semiconductor transportation and general physical distribution as an example. This is because the traveling bogie travels on a track that is not uneven, so that there is no problem even if solid solid tires are used for the wheels. However, the traveling body system of the embodiment can be widely applied to fields other than the above fields.
The traveling system of the embodiment is particularly preferable for a device that reciprocates in a predetermined straight line range, and is applicable to, for example, a reciprocating trolley or a loader of a lathe.

The present invention can be widely applied to a traveling body system in which AC power is extracted from a capacitor between a metal rail and a wheel to drive a traveling motor.

1: Conveyance system 3: Ceiling traveling vehicle 5: Local carriage 7: First track 9: Second track 11A: First metal rail 11B: Second metal rail 13: Load port 15: Buffer 17: Ceiling 19: Processing device 21 : Support 23: Support 25: Support 27: Local controller 29: Elevator 31: Optical communication unit 33: Optical communication unit 37: Display 39: Operation panel 43: Gap 45: Travel motor 49: Hoist 50: Elevator 51: Suspension Holding material 57: Optical communication unit 61: Local bogie body 63: First power receiving tire 65: Second power receiving tire 67: Drive tire 68: Elastic body layer 69: Wheel 71: Bearing 73: Shaft 75: Encoder 77: Brake 81: Voltage application device 83: Signal generator 85: Balun 87: Matching circuit 91: Power receiving device 93: Matching circuit 95: Hoist circuit 101: Local bogie running system A: Article

Claims (6)

A track in which the first metal rail and the second metal rail are laid out in parallel with each other,
A voltage applying device that applies an AC voltage to the first metal rail and the second metal rail, and
With a traveling body traveling on the track,
The traveling body is
Travel drive motor and
A first wheel and a second wheel made of a solid tire in which the outer peripheral surface of a metal shaft is coated with a solid elastic body layer, and is in contact with the first metal rail and the second metal rail. Thereby, the first wheel and the first wheel forming the first capacitor with the first metal rail and the first wheel, and forming the second capacitor with the second metal rail and the second wheel. The second wheel and
A power receiving device that extracts AC power from the first capacitor and the second capacitor via the metal shaft, rectifies the extracted AC power, and directly or indirectly supplies the AC power to the traveling drive motor. seen including,
The first wheel and the second wheel are carbonless tires.
Traveling body system. The traveling body system according to claim 1, wherein the elastic body layer is made of a material having a relative permittivity (ε) higher than that of air. The traveling body system according to claim 2, wherein the elastic body layer is made of a material having a small dielectric loss tangent (tan δ). The traveling body system according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the elastic body layer is made of urethane rubber. A third wheel that contacts one of the first metal rail and the second metal rail but is not used for power supply is further provided.
The traveling body system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the traveling drive motor transmits power to the third wheel. The traveling body system according to claim 5, wherein the third wheel is a carbon-containing tire.

Images