JPH0228053A - Carrier vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a vehicle body from tilting or the like following reloading a conveyed object by fixing balancing action of an equalizer mechanism, when a vehicle is stopped, and supporting the vehicle body with four points, in case of the carrier vehicle which connects two or more running wheel units by the equalizer mechanism. CONSTITUTION:A carrier vehicle is provided with each drive wheel unit 5A, 5B longitudinally in one diagonal position while each driven wheel unit 6A, 6B in the symmetrical position of the wheel units 5A, 5B, in the bottom part of a vehicle body 4. The two wheel units 5A, 6A, placed not in the diagonal position, are mounted to a swivel frame 8 of an equalizer mechanism 7. Here an equalizer fixing device 11 opens and closes its opening and closing valve 15, and a piston 13 is movably or unmovably adjusted for a cylinder 12. Right and left balancing action of the equalizer mechanism 7, that is, turning action with a turning shaft 9 of the swivel frame 8 serving as the center is adjusted able or unable, and the vehicle body 4 is supported by three or four points.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a transport vehicle mainly used for automatically transporting various articles within a factory.

(Prior Art) In recent years, automatic guided vehicles have been widely used mainly in production factories for the purpose of efficiently and automatically transporting various conveyed objects. Among these unmanned guided vehicles, most of the omnidirectional unmanned guided vehicles that can travel in both the front and rear directions and the left and right directions have two on each side at the front and rear of the lower part of the vehicle body 1, as shown in Figure 5. Total of 4 wheel units 2A, 2B, 3A, 3
What are you doing with B? Generally, two wheel units 2A are arranged on one diagonal of these four wheel units,
2B are drive wheels 2a that can be driven and steered independently;
, 2b, and the other two wheel units 3A and 3B are comprised of swivel caster type or steerable driven wheels 3a and 3b. Note that FIG. 5 shows a steerable driving wheel unit 2A.

2B are arranged diagonally, but other arrangements are possible depending on the control method.

By the way, in the automatic guided vehicle having the above-mentioned wheel configuration, in order to prevent the drive wheels from lifting up and spinning due to unevenness or undulation of the traveling road surface, two wheel units that are not diagonally opposite to each other are equipped with an equalizer. A mechanism is used to support the vehicle body at basically three points.

Here, an example thereof is shown in FIG. In the figure, 4 is a vehicle body, 5A and 5B are drive wheel units, and 6A.

6B indicates a driven wheel unit. Both can be steered. The front drive wheel unit 5A and the driven wheel unit 6A are mounted and supported by the swing frame 8 of the equalizer mechanism 7. This swing frame 8 is rotatable about a rotation shaft 9 attached to the lower part of the vehicle body 4. As a result, the vehicle body 4 basically consists of two wheel units 5B.
, 6B and the center of rotation of the equalizer 10, so that the wheels will not be lifted up or the ground pressure will not change significantly due to unevenness or undulations of the running road surface.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, in the transport vehicle using the equalizer mechanism 7 as shown in FIG. The center of gravity G of the entire vehicle body must be within a triangle connecting the equalizer rotation center 10 and the wheel centers of the wheel units 5B and 6B, that is, within the area shown by diagonal lines in FIG. If the center of gravity G deviates from this area, the vehicle body 4 will tilt or fall. however,
Many of the transport vehicles used in factories etc. have a transfer device ( (not shown), and when transferring an object in the left-right direction of the vehicle body 4 shown in FIG. Figure -
L Move downward. At this time, if the weight of the vehicle body 4 is relatively light compared to the weight of the conveyed object, or if the size of the conveyed object is small, the position of the center of gravity G will change before one end of the conveyed object transfers to the station. If the vehicle body 4 deviates from the diagonally shaded range, the problem arises that the vehicle body 4 may tilt or fall.

The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a transport vehicle that increases the movable range of the center of gravity when stopping during transfer, etc., and does not cause the vehicle body to tilt or fall during the transfer of transported objects. purpose.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the transport vehicle of the present invention supports the vehicle body at three points by allowing the equalizer mechanism to perform a balancing operation during normal running, and also supports the vehicle body at three points. The present invention is characterized in that an equalizer fixing device is provided which regulates the balancing operation of the equalizer mechanism to support the vehicle body at four or more points when the vehicle is stopped for transferring objects or the like.

(Function) With the above configuration, during normal driving, the equalizer fixing device is released to allow the equalizer mechanism to perform a balancing operation, and this allows the vehicle body to be supported at three points, the two wheel units and the equalizer mechanism, for transfer, etc. When the vehicle is stopped, the fixing device restricts the balancing operation of the equalizer mechanism so that the vehicle body is supported at four points of at least four wheel units. By having such a fixing device, each wheel follows the unevenness and undulations of the road surface and does not float or spin while driving, and the ground pressure of each wheel is stable and the vehicle can run smoothly. It becomes like this. Furthermore, when the vehicle is stopped to transfer or load conveyed objects, the range in which the center of gravity of the vehicle body can be moved is increased, thereby making it possible to prevent the vehicle body from tilting or overturning.

(Example) An example of the transport vehicle according to the present invention is shown in Figs. 1 to 3 below.
This will be explained using figures. As shown in FIG. 6, this transport vehicle is equipped with driving wheel units 5A' and 5B at diagonal positions in the front and rear of the lower part of the vehicle body 4, and a driven wheel unit 6A at a symmetrical position.

It is equipped with 6B. Of the four wheel units in total, two that are not diagonally opposite are attached to a swing frame 8 of the equalizer mechanism 7, and the swing frame 8 is rotatably attached to the lower part of the vehicle body 4 via a rotation shaft 9. It is being As a result, the vehicle body 4 is basically supported at three points: the two wheel units 5B and 6B and the equalizer rotation center 10, and the wheels may lift due to unevenness or undulations on the road surface, and the ground pressure may change significantly. In such a conveyance vehicle, an equalizer fixing device 11 is provided that allows the balancing operation (rotation) of the equalizer mechanism 7 only when traveling and restricts it when stopped. The equalizer fixing device 11 uses a hydraulic cylinder mechanism, and has cylinders 12 rotatably connected and vertically mounted on the left and right lower surfaces of the vehicle body 4, respectively, and piston rods projecting downward from these cylinders 12. The lower end of 13 is rotatably and pivotally connected to the swing frame 8. In addition, each cylinder 12 is filled with oil, and also has a vibrator 14 and an on-off valve 15.
A reserve tank 16 is provided, which is connected via a.

In the conveyance vehicle configured as described above, during normal running, the on-off valve 15 of the equalizer fixing device 11 is opened, and the cylinder 1 is opened.
The oil in 2 is allowed to pass through a vibrator 14 and move to a reserve tank 16. With this, the piston rod 13 can freely move in and out of the cylinder 12, and the left and right balancing operation of the equalizer mechanism 7, i.e., the rotation axis 9 of the swing frame 8, can be performed.
Each wheel unit 5A, 5B, 6A functions as an equalizer mechanism 7 and supports the vehicle body 4 at three points as in the conventional case.

The ground pressure of the wheels 6B is stable regardless of the unevenness and undulations of the running road surface 17. Further, when the machine stops to transfer the transported goods to and from the destination station, the on-off valve 15 of the equalizer fixing device 11 is closed to prevent the oil in the cylinder 12 from moving. Now move the piston 13 to the cylinder 12
The horizontal balancing operation of the equalizer mechanism 7, that is, the rotation of the swing frame 8 relative to the vehicle body 4 is restricted and fixed. With this, the vehicle body 4 is attached to each wheel unit 5A.
, 5B, 6A, and 6B, and the movable range of the center of gravity of the vehicle body 4 is a rectangular range connecting the wheel centers of each wheel unit 5A, 5B, 6A, and 6B, as shown in FIG. The range in which the center of gravity can be moved becomes wider than when the vehicle is running with the equalizer mechanism 7 activated. This prevents the vehicle body 4 from tilting or overturning due to movement of the center of gravity G during transfer of the transported object.

Note that the present invention is not limited only to the above embodiments,
For example, although a pair of equalizer fixing devices 11 are provided on the left and right between the vehicle body 4 and the swing frame 8, the same effect can be achieved even if the equalizer fixing devices 11 are provided on only one side to fix the rotation of the swing frame 8. @Mata, the reserve tank 16 connected to the cylinder 12 is not provided on the left and right sides,
Even if both the left and right cylinders 12 share one reserve tank, the same effect can be obtained.

Furthermore, the same effect can be obtained even if the cylinder 12 is mounted upside down so as to be pivotally connected to the swing frame 8 and the piston rod 13 to the vehicle body 4.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, wheel units 5A and 6A having an equalizer mechanism are attached to the vehicle body 4 so as to be movable up and down via hydraulic cylinder mechanisms 18A and 19A, and both hydraulic cylinder mechanisms 18A.

Connect the cylinders 18a and 19a of 19A to the vibe 20
an equalizer mechanism 21 that performs a left-right balancing operation by connecting the two cylinders to enable movement of oil between the two cylinders;
On the other hand, as the equalizer fixing device 22, an on-off valve 23 may be provided on the connecting vibe 20 to allow or prevent the movement of oil between the cylinders 18a and 19a, thereby regulating the balancing operation of the equalizer mechanism. Even in this case, the same effects as in the above embodiment can be obtained.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the present invention is configured as described above, by supporting the vehicle body at three points by operating the equalizer mechanism during normal driving, the wheels may become detached from the floor surface due to unevenness of the traveling road and spin idly. The ground pressure does not increase, and each wheel obtains stable ground pressure, allowing smooth running. Also, when the vehicle is stopped during transfer, etc., the equalizer fixing device regulates the operation of the equalizer mechanism, and the vehicle body is adjusted to 4. By supporting the vehicle at points, the range in which the center of gravity of the vehicle body can be moved is widened, and safety is ensured to prevent the vehicle body from tilting, becoming unable to be transferred, or falling over due to movement of the vehicle center of gravity due to the transfer of objects. A conveyor vehicle can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the configuration of an embodiment of the conveyance vehicle according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the same, FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the same, and FIG. 4 is a second embodiment of the conveyance vehicle according to the present invention. FIG. 5 is a front view showing the configuration of an example; FIG. 5 is a bottom view showing the wheel arrangement of a conventional transport vehicle;
The figure is a bottom view of a transport vehicle equipped with a conventional equalizer mechanism. 4... Vehicle body, 5A, 5B... Drive wheel unit, 6
A, 6B... Driven wheel unit, 7.21... Equalizer mechanism, 11.22... Equalizer fixing device. Applicant's Representative Patent Attorney Takehiko Suzue

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a conveyance vehicle that has four or more running wheel units on the vehicle body and has a structure in which all or part of the running wheel units are connected by an equalizer mechanism to basically support the vehicle body at three points, the equalizer is used during normal running. An equalizer that allows the balancing operation of the mechanism so that the vehicle body is supported at three points, and when stopped for transferring objects, etc., the equalizer mechanism restricts the balancing operation of the equalizer mechanism so that the vehicle body is supported at four or more points. A transport vehicle characterized by being configured with a fixing device.