JPH037539B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a device for transporting an object a fixed distance on a trolley conveyor installed in, for example, an automobile manufacturing line and stopping the object at a fixed position.

BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY Conventionally, various devices have been proposed for transporting objects over a fixed distance on trolley conveyors installed in automobile manufacturing lines, etc., but all of them have complicated structures, and furthermore, after transporting objects, It is not possible to reliably stop this at a fixed position, and this poses a problem in that unmanned and labor-saving automobile manufacturing lines are hindered.

Purpose of the Invention The purpose of the present invention is to solve the above problems, to have a very simple structure, and to be able to reliably stop the transported object at a fixed position after transporting it a predetermined distance. It is an object of the present invention to provide a fixed-distance transfer device for conveyed objects in a trolley conveyor, which can reliably perform work such as welding using an industrial robot, and which can contribute to unmanned automobile manufacturing lines and labor-saving.

Structure of the Invention In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a free trolley provided on a conveyor that moves along a free rail of a conveyor line, with an engagement dog protruding toward the power rail side. provided,
A plurality of power trolleys moving along a power rail are sequentially connected via connecting rods having a predetermined length, and a pair of front and rear clamping dogs are swingably attached to each power trolley, and each clamping dog A dog lifting roller is attached to the swinging end of the dog, and a rail cutout is provided in the power rail section at the point where the transported object loaded on the transporter should be stopped. A rail segment is disposed to be raised and lowered by a lifting device, and a power trolley drive coupled to at least one of the power trolleys and for reciprocating the power trolley a predetermined distance back and forth is disposed along the power rail. In the standby state in which the dog lifting rollers are placed on each rail segment in the lowered position, each pair of clamping dogs swings as each rail segment is raised by the operation of the lifting device. When closed, these dogs clamp the engagement dogs of the transport body, and then, by the forward movement of the power trolley drive, the clamping dogs are moved together with the power trolley and the object to be transported on the transport body into a predetermined position. The dog is lifted by moving the distance, stopping the dog-lifting rollers resting on the rail pieces in the raised position, and then lowering each rail piece to the required height by actuating the lifting device. The clamping roller is lowered with each rail segment, the clamping dog swings open, and then the return motion of the power trolley drive moves the power trolley and the open clamping dog back to the original rail segment position. The gist of the present invention is a fixed-distance transport device for conveyed objects in a trolley conveyor, which is configured to be retracted up to a certain distance.

Embodiments and Operations Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

In this specification, front and back, left and right are based on FIG.
Rear refers to the right side, and left and right refers to the front.

In the drawing, 1 is a trolley in the automobile manufacturing process.
A conveyor line is provided with an object constant distance transfer device 1A according to the present invention in the middle of the conveyor line. For example, four welding robots (not shown) are arranged on the sides of this device 1A, and automatically perform welding work on four objects 6 to be transported, which are intermediate parts for car assembly that are stopped at predetermined positions. It will be held in Reference numeral 2 denotes a free rail consisting of a pair of left and right steel sections with a U-shaped cross section, which are arranged opposite to each other with the opening inside, and each of these has four free rails.
A transport vehicle (transport body) 5 having a trolley 4 is guided to move, and each transport vehicle 5
Objects 6 to be transported are loaded on the container. 3 is free
A power rail made of a pair of left and right steel sections with a U-shaped cross section, arranged parallel to the bottom of the rail 2.
Four power trolleys 7, which are connected to each other at regular intervals by connecting rods 8, are guided for movement. Reference numeral 9 denotes an engagement dog provided on the front free trolley 4 of the four free trolleys 4 of each conveyance vehicle 5, and this is provided with a pair of downward engagement protrusions in the front and rear. - It is engaged with a pusher dog (not shown) during normal conveyance of line 1. Reference numeral 10 designates an accumulation cam provided on the rear free trolley 4, and reference numeral 11 represents a downwardly projecting engaging dog for constant distance transfer provided on the front intermediate free trolley 4.

Reference numerals 12 and 13 denote a pair of front and rear gripping dogs that are approximately triangular in shape when viewed from the side and are swingably attached to the four power trolleys 7 by pivot shafts 14 and 14, respectively. Dog lifting rollers 15, 15 are each supported in a cantilevered manner at the lower swinging end, and the dog 1 for gripping is
The engagement dog 11 provided on each transport vehicle 5 is clamped by the claws 12a and 13a at the upper ends of 2 and 13 from both the front and rear sides.

Reference numeral 16 indicates a power rail 3 at a total of five locations, including a location where the transported object 6 is brought in by a loading machine (not shown) and four locations where the transported object 6 is to be stopped after being transferred.
17 is a rail segment that is disposed in these five rail segments 16 over almost the entire length and is movable up and down and has a U-shaped cross section. Correspondingly, the rail segment lifting device 19 is provided at five locations on the free rail 2, and 19 is a guide rail with a U-shaped cross section that is disposed along the lower side of the right rail portion 3a of the power rail 3. 5 located directly below corresponding to the five rail cutouts 16 of the power rail 3
Two rail cutouts 20 are provided in which the lowered rail fragment 1 is placed.
7 can be accommodated.

21 is the left rail portion 3b of the power rail 3
A power trolley drive device located on the lower side, which drives a pair of front and rear chain sprockets 23, 24.
It is equipped with an endless drive chain 22 wound around. Reference numeral 25 denotes a chain guide member made of a hollow member with a rectangular cross section, and both upper and lower straight portions 22a, 22b of the endless drive chain 22 are guided by guide rails 26, 26 attached to the upper surface of the top wall and the upper surface of the bottom wall, respectively. Ru. The second power trolley 7 from the front is connected to a predetermined portion of the upper straight portion 22a of the endless drive chain 22 via a connecting member 27. The four power trolleys 7 are configured to reciprocate a certain distance by rotating the endless drive chain 22 forward and backward by the operation of a motor (not shown).

In each of the rail segment lifting devices 18, 28
is a vertical air cylinder that is swingably attached to the outer surface of the right rail portion 2a of the free rail 2 via a mounting plate 29, and a horizontal arm 31 is attached to the tip of a downwardly directed piston rod 30. The rail piece 17 is attached so as to protrude from the side of the rail 3, and the center portion of the rail piece 17 is horizontally supported at the tip of this horizontal arm 31. 32, 32 are mounting plates 29 on both front and rear sides of the vertical air cylinder 28.
A pair of guide rods, 3, are respectively attached in a hanging manner through horizontal brackets 29a, 29a.
Reference numerals 3 and 33 denote a pair of front and rear fitting protrusions attached to the outer surface of the rail segment 17, and guide rods 32 and 32 are loosely fitted into through holes 34 and 34 formed at the tips of these protrusions. and air cylinder 2
By moving the piston rod 30 of 8 in and out, the rail segment 17 is raised and lowered while maintaining a horizontal state. 35 and 36 are power rail 3
These limits are controlled by an upper limit stop limit switch and a lower limit stop limit switch respectively attached to the outer surface of the right side wall of the guide rail 19.
When the contacts 37 and 38 of the switches 35 and 36 come into contact with the upper and lower ends of the shaped abutment 39, respectively (as seen from the side surface provided at the front end of the rail segment 17), the rail segment 17 It is located within the rail cutout 16 of the power rail 3 at its lower end, and within the rail cutout 20 of the guide rail 19 at its lower end.

40 indicates the free rail 2 and the left rail portion 2 of the power rail 3 at a position corresponding to the second rail cutout 16 from the front of the power rail 3.
This is a conveyed object stopping device attached to b and 3b via a mounting plate 49. In this stopping device 40, reference numerals 41 and 42 refer to a pair of front and rear swing stoppers that are swingably attached to a mounting plate 49 via pivots 43 and 43, and reference numeral 44 refers to a locking stopper that is attached to all transfer carts 5 in a leftward protruding manner. This piece is clamped from both the front and rear sides by swing stoppers 41 and 42 at the stop position of the transport vehicle 5. 45 is a lever attached to the pivot 43 of the front swing stopper 41 so as to project forward; 46 and 47 are a pair of upper and lower links linearly connected by a pin 48; a lever is attached to the upper end of the upper link 46; The front ends of the lower links 45 are connected by pins 50, and the lower ends of the lower links 48 are swingably fixed to the mounting plate 49 by pins 51. Reference numerals 52 and 52 denote a pair of front and rear gears attached to the pivot shafts 43 and 43, respectively, and these gears mesh with each other. 53 is a horizontal air cylinder that is swingably attached to the mounting plate 49 in parallel with the free rail 2, and the tip of the rear-facing piston rod 54 is connected via a swingable connecting piece 55. and is connected to the mid-length of the lower link 48. Reference numerals 56 and 57 designate a pair of front and rear limit switches provided at the lower end of the mounting plate 49, and these contactors 58 and 59 are adapted to come into contact with a contact 60 provided at the tip of the piston rod 54. There is. When the piston rod 54 of the horizontal air cylinder 53 protrudes, the swing stoppers 41, 42 are held open, and when the piston rod 54 retracts, the swing stoppers 41, 42 are held open.
42 is closed, the engagement piece 44 of the transport vehicle 5 is clamped, and thereby the transport vehicle 5 and the object to be transported 6 are stopped.

Next, the operation of the above-mentioned object constant distance transport device will be explained.

The conveyance carts 5 loaded with objects 6 to be conveyed and moved along the conveyor line 1 are sent one by one to the rear end of the constant distance transfer device 1A by a loading machine (not shown). In this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
Four objects 6 to be transported are simultaneously transported over a fixed distance.

Here, when the conveyed object 6 is sent to the rearmost part by the carry-in machine, FIGS. 3, 4, and 5
As shown in the figure by two-dot chain lines, all five rail segments 17 are in the lowered position due to the actuation of each vertical air cylinder 28, and the dog-lifting rollers 15, 15 provided on the four power trolleys 7 are placed on the four rail segments 17 except the frontmost part, so that the clamping dogs 12, 13 on each power trolley 7 are in an open position.

Next, when all the rail pieces 17 are raised by the actuation of each vertical air cylinder 28, the dog lifting rollers 15, 15 are also raised accordingly, and the gripping dogs 12, 15 of each power trolley 7 are raised.
13 is lifted up and swings around the pivots 14, 14, and the engagement dog 11 of the free trolley 4 of each conveyance cart 5 waiting above is clamped by these claws 12a, 13a. It will be done. Thereafter, the endless drive chain 22 rotates in the clockwise direction in FIG. All the power trolleys 7 which are successively connected to each other via connecting rods 8 are moved a certain distance from each rail segment 17 to the next rail segment 17, and these power trolleys 7 and the clamping The object 6 on the transport vehicle 5 connected via the dogs 12 and 13 is transported a certain distance. FIG. 1 shows the state of such an object 6 after being transferred.

After the conveyed object 6 is transferred, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the swing stoppers 41 and 42 are closed by the operation of the horizontal cylinder 53 of the conveyed object stopping device 40, and the second conveyed object from the front is moved. Engagement pieces 44 provided on the carriage 5 are clamped, thereby ensuring that the objects 6 on all the carriages 5 are stopped at fixed positions. The swing stoppers 41 and 42 of the transported object stopping device 40 are always open by the operation of the horizontal air cylinder, except when stopping the transport vehicle 5 as described above, and do not interfere with the movement of the transport vehicle 5. It is done like this.

In the state shown in FIG. 1, after a predetermined welding operation has been performed, the five rail segments 17 are simultaneously lowered by the operation of each vertical air cylinder 28, and along with this, the dog lifting rollers 15,
By lowering 15, as shown in Figure 3,
Each clamping dog 11, 12 swings and its claw portion 1
2a and 13a open. Each power trolley 7 is then returned to its original position above the rail segment 17 by rotating the endless drive chain 22 of the power trolley drive 21 in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. At this time, the dog lifting rollers 15, 15 move within the guide rail 19 below the power rail 3 and are placed on the original rail segment 17. During the backward movement of the power trolley 7, the welded object 6 at the forefront is sent out by the carry-out machine, and a new object 6 is sent to the rearmost part by the carry-in machine.

The above-mentioned operation is then automatically repeated, and the object 6 to be transported is intermittently transported one pitch at a fixed distance.

In the above embodiment, four objects 6 are simultaneously transferred by the fixed distance transfer device 1A, but it is sufficient that there are two or more objects 6. Moreover, these transfer distances can also be set as appropriate. Further, the guide rail 19 disposed below the power rail 3 may be omitted in some cases, but in that case, when the gripping dogs 12 and 13 are retracted in the open state, At least one of the clamping dogs 12, 13 or the power
It is desirable to provide the trolley 7 with a stopper as appropriate.
Although an endless drive chain 22 is used in the power trolley drive 21, other drive means may be used, such as a hydraulic cylinder, for example.
Since the transported object stopping device 40 is an auxiliary device, its installation may be omitted in some cases.

In the above embodiment, the present invention was applied to a bogie conveyor, but this invention conversely applies to an overhead conveyor in which the power rail 3 is placed on the upper side and the free rail 2 is placed on the lower side. The same applies to trolley conveyors.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the device for transferring a conveyed object over a fixed distance in a trolley conveyor according to the present invention has a free trolley 4 provided on a conveying body 5 moving along a free rail 2 of a conveyor line 1. is provided with an engaging dog 11 protruding from the power rail 3 side, and a plurality of power trolleys 7 moving along the power rail 3 are sequentially connected via a connecting rod 8 having a predetermined length. A pair of front and rear clamping dogs 12 and 13 are swingably attached to each power trolley 7, and dog lifting rollers 15 and 15 are attached to the swinging ends of each clamping dog 12 and 13. A rail cutout 16 is provided in a portion of the power rail 3 where the transported object 6 loaded on the rail is to be stopped, and a rail fragment 17 that is raised and lowered by a lifting device 18 is arranged in the rail cutout 16. A power trolley drive device 21 coupled to at least one of the power trolleys 7 and reciprocating the power trolley 7 a predetermined distance back and forth is arranged along the power rail 3, and each of the power trolleys 7 in the lowered position In a standby state in which the dog lifting rollers 15, 15 are placed on the rail segment 17, each pair of clamping dogs 12, 13 swings as each rail segment 17 is raised by the operation of the lifting device 18. The engaging dogs 11 of the transport body 5 are clamped by these dogs 12 and 13, and then the transport dogs 12 and 13 are clamped by the forward movement of the power trolley drive 21.
is moved a predetermined distance along with the power trolley 7 and the transported object 6 on the transport body 5, and then stopped with the dog lifting rollers 15, 15 placed on the rail segment 17 in the raised position. and then each rail segment 17 is moved to the lifting device 18
The dog lifting rollers 15, 15 are lowered together with the respective rail segments 17 by lowering the required height by the actuation of The power trolley 7 and the gripping dogs 12 and 13 in the open state are moved back to the original position of the rail fragment 17 by the return movement of the rail. After being transported a predetermined distance, it can be reliably stopped in a fixed position, allowing industrial robots to reliably perform work such as welding, contributing to unmanned and labor-saving automobile manufacturing lines, etc. It has the effect of making it possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a schematic right side view of an apparatus for transferring objects over a fixed distance, with the right rail portion omitted. Figure 2 is the first
This is an enlarged right side view of the main part of the figure, showing the clamping dog in a closed state. FIG. 3 is an enlarged right side view of the same main part, showing the clamping dog in an open state. Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view along the line of Fig. 2, Fig. 5 is an enlarged right side view of Fig. 4, Fig. 6 is an enlarged plan view of the same, and Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of the conveyor in the conveyed object stopping device. The enlarged left side view and FIG. 8 are enlarged sectional views taken along the line of FIG. 7. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Conveyor line, 1A...Transferred object constant distance transfer device, 2...Free rail, 3...Power rail, 4...Free trolley, 5...Transportation body (transportation trolley), 6...Transported object, 7 ...Power trolley, 8...
Connecting rod, 11... Engaging dog, 12, 13... Clamping dog, 14... Pivot, 15... Dog lifting roller, 16, 20... Rail missing portion, 17... Rail fragment, 18... Lifting device, 19... Guide Rail, 21...
Power trolley drive device, 22... Endless drive chain, 27... Connecting member, 28... Vertical air cylinder, 40... Transported object stopping device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A free trolley 4 provided on a conveyor 5 that moves along a free rail 2 of a conveyor line 1 is provided with an engaging dog 11 that protrudes toward the power rail 3, A plurality of power trolleys 7 that move together are sequentially connected via a connecting rod 8 having a predetermined length, and each power
A pair of front and rear clamping dogs 12 and 13 are swingably attached to the trolley 7, and each clamping dog 12,
A dog lifting roller 15, 1 is attached to the swinging end of 13.
A rail cutout 16 is provided in a portion of the power rail 3 where the conveyor 5 is attached and the transported object 6 loaded on the transporter 5 is to be stopped, and the rail cutout 16 is raised and lowered by a lifting device 18. A power trolley drive 21 coupled to at least one of the power trolleys 7 and reciprocating the power trolley 7 a predetermined distance back and forth is arranged along the power rail 3. and each rail segment 1 in the lowered position
In a standby state in which the dog lifting rollers 15, 15 are placed on the dog 7, each rail segment 17 is raised by the operation of the lifting device 18, so that each pair of clamping dogs 12, 13 swings and closes. , the engagement dog 11 of the conveyor 5 is clamped by these dogs 12, 13, and then, by the forward movement of the power trolley drive 21, the clamping dogs 12, 13 are moved together with the power trolley 7 onto the conveyor 5.
The object to be conveyed 6 above is moved a predetermined distance, and then the dog lifting rollers 15, 15 are stopped in a state where they are placed on the rail segment 17 in the raised position, and then each rail segment 17 is moved. The dog lifting rollers 15, 1 are lowered by the required height by the operation of the lifting device 18.
5 is lowered with each rail segment 17,
The clamping dogs 12 and 13 swing open, and then the power trolley 7 and the clamping dog 1 in the open state are moved back by the power trolley drive device 21.
2, 13 are retracted back to the position of the original rail segment 17.