JPH03188375A - Multidirectional conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable transfer of a conveyed substance in plural direction by varying the position of engagement of a V-shaped cam element with a conveying element. CONSTITUTION:When a drive roller 112 is rotated clockwise (an arrow VI) in a state wherein a conveying element 104 is disposed at the right-end position, a V-shaped cam element 102 moves leftward (an arrow IV) along guide rail 116. When the leftward movement of the cam element 102 continues further, a guide 118 is controlled in respect to leftward movement by a stopper element 128. In this stage, however, the leftward movement of the cam element 102 does not stop, and therefore a roller 120 rotates and rises on a V-shaped surface 102a of the cam element 102 against the weight of conveying element 104 and that of a substance 108 loaded thereon. A roller support member 122 starts to rise together with the roller 120 and, moreover, support pillars 124a and 124b push loading tables 106a and 106b upward (an arrow V) respectively. According to this constitution, a conveyed substance can be moved in plural direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a conveyance device, and particularly to an improvement of a multi-directional conveyance device capable of moving objects to be conveyed in a plurality of directions.

[Prior art] Conveyance devices have been used to move various objects,
For example, in the field of analytical equipment, transport devices are used for automatic sample exchange.

For example, in recent years, research in immunology and the field of its application have made remarkable progress, and as a result, various types of fully automatic colorimeters for microplates that utilize optical technology have been used. The transport device also plays an extremely important role in the appropriate movement of such microplates.

FIG. 6 shows a fully automatic colorimeter 10 for microplates used in enzyme reaction tests and the like.

The colorimeter 10 shown in the figure includes an operation panel 12 and a microplate entrance/exit 14. Then, the microplate 16 with various samples and various indicators injected into the sample injection hole 16a is inserted into the microplate entrance 1.
4 and measure the reaction between the sample and the indicator.

However, if such microplates 16 are inserted into or ejected from the colorimeter 10 one by one, rapid measurements cannot be performed.

Therefore, an automatic plate feeding device 18 as shown in FIG.
may be used.

The feeding device 18 shown in the same figure takes in the microplate 16 loaded in the front in the same figure downward (arrow I), and further transports it in the direction inside the colorimeter 10 (arrow ■).
Insert inside.

After completing the desired measurement, the microplate 16 is discharged from the colorimeter 10 (arrow ■), and is further removed from the supply device 18.
Transport the inside towards the back (arrow ■) in the same figure, and then move it to the upper side (arrow ■)
The paper is moved to the back side of the upper surface of the supply device 18 and is loaded thereon.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional automatic feeding device 18, when objects (plates) must be conveyed in multiple directions, a conveyance mechanism is required for each direction, making the mechanism complicated. At the same time, the number of parts such as motors, cams, belts, etc. has increased, resulting in larger devices and higher costs.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art described above, and its purpose is to provide a multi-directional conveyance device that has a simple mechanism and is capable of conveying objects in multiple directions.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, a multi-directional conveyance device according to claim 1 of the present application includes a ■-shaped cam portion, a conveyance portion, and a stopper portion.

The V-shaped cam portion is formed to be movable in a predetermined direction.

Further, the conveying section is in contact with the inner V-shaped surface of the cam section, and is formed to be movable in directions parallel to and substantially orthogonal to the moving direction of the cam section.

Further, the stopper section restricts movement of the conveyance section in a direction parallel to the cam section at a predetermined position.

In the multi-directional conveyance device according to claim 2 of the present application, the V-shaped cam portion is fixed to a ring-shaped belt and is formed to move together with the ring-shaped belt.

Further, the conveying section includes a roller that comes into contact with the inner V-shaped surface of the V-shaped cam section.

The ring-shaped belt is stretched obliquely so as to press the V-shaped cam portion toward the roller.

[Function] Since the multi-directional conveyance device according to claim 1 of the present application includes the above-described means, the conveyance section, together with the V-shaped cam section, moves in the direction of movement of the cam section until the conveyance section comes into contact with the stopper section. Move parallel.

When the conveyance section reaches the stopper section, the movement of the conveyance section in the direction parallel to the cam section is restricted, so that the conveyance section follows the inner V-shaped surface of the V-shaped cam section in the cam section movement direction. move in a direction approximately perpendicular to

In this way, according to the multi-directional conveyance device according to claim 1, -
It becomes possible to move the transport section in two directions using the drive mechanism.

Further, in the multi-directional conveying device according to the second aspect, since the cam portion is pressed in the direction of the roller by the ring-shaped belt, the roller is prevented from coming off from the inner V-shaped surface of the V-shaped cam portion. do not have.

[Example code] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a multi-directional conveyance device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The conveying device 100 shown in the figure includes a ■-shaped cam portion 102,
It includes a transport section 104, and a mounting table 106a of the transport section 104.
, 106b, a mounting object 108 such as a microplate is placed.

The V-shaped cam portion 102 is fixed to a ring-shaped belt 110, and both ends of the belt 110 are stretched over a drive roller 112 and a support roller 114. On the other hand, the transport section 1
04 corresponds to a guide rail 116 disposed substantially parallel to the belt 110, a guide member 118 that is guided by the rail 116 and movable parallel to the belt 110, and an inner V-shaped surface 102a of the cam portion 102. Contact roller 120
Equipped with.

The roller 120 is rotatably supported by a roller support member 122, and support columns 124a and 124b swingably protrude upward in the figure from both sides of the support member 122.
The mounting tables 106a and 106b are fixed to the upper end thereof.

Note that the support columns 124a and 124b are connected to the guide 1, respectively.
A cylindrical support column 126a is erected at 18.

126b so that it can move up and down.

Further, in this embodiment, the guide rail 116 also serves as a guide for the V-shaped cam portion 102, and the guide rail 116 also serves as a guide for the V-shaped cam portion 102.
2 and the transport unit 104 can move in the left direction of the arrow in a fixed positional relationship.

Furthermore, a stopper portion 1 is provided on the left side of the guide rail 116.
28 is provided, and the stopper portion 128 is connected to the guide 1.
18 is restricted from moving to the left.

The conveying device 100 according to this embodiment is roughly configured as described above, and its operation will be explained next with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. Here, movement in the directions of arrows ■ and ■ in FIG. 7 will be taken as an example.

First, in FIG. 1, the conveying section 104 is placed at the right end position. In this state, when the drive roller 1'12 is rotated clockwise (arrow ■), V
The letter-shaped cam portion 102 moves to the left (arrow ■) according to the guide rail 116.

Here, the roller 120 is located at the bottom of the V-shaped cam section 102, and the roller 120 will not rise up the V-shaped surface 102a of the cam section 102 due to the weight of the conveyance section 104 and the placed object 108. Therefore, the roller 120 moves the conveyance section 104 to the left in the figure (in the left direction of the arrow) while remaining located at the bottom of the cam section 102.

When the V-shaped cam portion 102 continues to move further to the left, the guide 118 moves toward the stopper portion 1 as shown in FIG.
28, the movement to the left is restricted.

However, even at this stage, the movement of the cam section 102 to the left does not stop, and therefore the roller 120 moves toward the conveyance section 104.
Then, it rolls up the V-shaped surface 102a of the cam portion 102 against the weight of the placed object 108.

Here, the vertical position of the guide 118 is also regulated by the guide rail 116, but the roller support member 122 starts to rise together with the roller 120, and furthermore, the support column 124a,
124b points the mounting tables 106 and 106b upward (
Push up in the direction of arrow V).

Note that the vicinity of the bottom of the V-shaped surface of the cam portion 102 has a somewhat large slope, and the mounting table 106 moves at a relatively high speed at the initial stage of its ascent.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, when the V-shaped cam part 102 moves to the left end, the roller 120 rolls up to the upper part of the V-shaped surface 102 of the cam part 102.

Note that the upper part of the V-shaped surface 102a of the cam portion 102 is formed with a gentle slope, and the mounting tables 106a, 1
06b The rising speed is moderated near the rising end position.

As described above, according to the multi-directional conveyance device according to this embodiment,
Movement in the left-right direction and up-down direction in the figure can be performed using the conveyance mechanism indicated by -.

Further, the conveying device according to this embodiment has a
Since the V-shaped surface 2 has a large slope near the bottom and a small slope at the top, the object 108 can be moved up and down smoothly.

Furthermore, since the conveying device 100 according to this embodiment has slopes on both wings of the V-shaped cam portion 102, a stopper portion may also be provided at the right end of the guide rail 116, so that the conveying portion 104 can be moved to the right end in the figure. It is also possible to raise the mounting table 106 by moving it up to .

FIG. 5 shows the V-shaped cam portion 102 viewed from the right side in FIG.

In the figure, the V-shaped cam portion 102 is connected to the ring-shaped belt 1.
However, the ring-shaped belt 110 is stretched over rollers 112 and 114 with an inclination to the right.

Therefore, the V-shaped cam portion 102 is urged rightward in FIG.
This prevents it from coming off. In this way, by using the tension of the ring-shaped belt 110 to prevent the cam portion 102 and the roller 120 from coming apart, the conveyance can be performed more accurately.

For example, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the drive roller 1
By rotating the device 12 forward and backward a plurality of times, the object 108 can be vibrated in the vertical and horizontal directions.

As a result, for example, when a microplate is used as a mounting object, the sample and reagent injected into the sample injection hole of the microplate can be appropriately stirred.

In addition, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, an example in which slopes were provided on both wings of the V-shaped cam portion 102 was explained.
Of course, the invention is not limited to this, and it is also possible to provide a slope on only one blade.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the multi-directional conveying device according to claim 1 of the present application, by changing the engagement position between the V-shaped cam portion and the conveying portion, the conveying portion can be moved in multiple directions. Movement can be made possible.

Further, according to the multi-directional conveying device according to claim 2, since the V-shaped cam portion is pressed in the direction of the roller by the ring-shaped belt, the engagement between the V-shaped cam portion and the roller may be disengaged. This makes it possible to carry out stable transportation at all times.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a configuration diagram of a multi-directional conveyance device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figs. 2 to 4 are explanatory diagrams of the operation of the device shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 5 is a V-shaped cam section. FIG. 6 is an external perspective view of a general fully automatic colorimeter for microplates. FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of an automatic plate feeding device using a conveyance device. 00 02 04 10 20 28 Multi-directional conveyance device V-shaped cam section conveyance section ring-shaped belt loaf stopper section

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A V-shaped cam part that is movable in a predetermined direction; and a conveyance part that is in contact with the inner V-shaped surface of the V-shaped cam part and that is movable in directions parallel to and substantially perpendicular to the moving direction of the cam part. A multi-directional conveyance device comprising: a stopper portion that restricts movement of the conveyance portion in a direction parallel to the cam portion at a predetermined position. (2) The device according to claim 1, wherein the V-shaped cam part is fixed to a ring-shaped belt and moves together with the ring-shaped belt, and the conveying part is in contact with the inner V-shaped surface of the V-shaped cam part. What is claimed is: 1. A multi-directional conveyance device comprising a roller, wherein the ring-shaped belt is stretched obliquely so as to press a cam portion toward the roller.