JPH0380687B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a vertical conveyance device, and more specifically, a vertical conveyance device that can freely move up and down to transfer and convey products, etc. that have been transferred in multiple stages to a warehouse or the like. Regarding equipment.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, there is a conveyance device shown in FIG. 5 for transferring and conveying products stacked in multiple stages in a warehouse or the like.

That is, this conveyance device connects a transfer device 31 that is movable up and down to a belt conveyor 32 laid on the floor, and a separate discharge belt conveyor 33.
The transfer machine 31 is moved up and down according to the height of the products, etc. loaded in multiple stages in a warehouse etc., and the products, etc. are discharged from the transfer machine 31. The products are transferred to the belt conveyor 33 and then transferred to the belt conveyor 32 for conveyance.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the conventional device described above, the discharge belt conveyor 33 is arranged in an inclined manner, and therefore the entire device takes up a large amount of space, making it difficult to use in limited spaces such as warehouses. There was a problem that it was inconvenient to install it in.

In addition, the transfer machine 31 transfers products loaded at high positions.
When the products are transferred further, the inclination of the discharge belt conveyor 33 increases, so there is a problem in that the belt conveyor 33 cannot smoothly convey the products and the like.

The present invention was invented in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to reduce the space of the entire conveyance device, and to freely move up and down products loaded in multiple stages in warehouses, etc. The advantage is that it can be transferred and transported smoothly.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention was invented to achieve the above object and to solve the problems of the conventional art. A vertically elongated annular rail 1, a plurality of carriers 8 movably provided along the annular rail 1, and a plurality of carriers 8 disposed on the sides of the downward conveyance track A to transfer objects to the carriers 8. In a vertical transfer device including a transfer machine 17 provided, the return track B and the carrier 8 mutually form a linear motor 13 in order to enable the carrier 8 to travel by itself on the return track B. In addition, in order to lower the carrier 8 on the descending transport track A, a locking piece 4 protruding from the carrier 8 is locked between the descending transport track A and the transfer machine 17. A descending assist chain 14 having a large number of upwardly rotatable locking bodies 15 is provided to be movable up and down, and furthermore, the transfer machine 1
7 includes a transfer stopper 22 for stopping the descending carrier 8 at a transfer position and a standby stopper 23 for making another carrier 8 wait at a predetermined position.
and are set up so that they can move in and out at will.

(Function) Therefore, in the vertical conveyance device characterized by the above configuration, the carrier 8 travels upward on the return track B of the rail 1 to the upper end thereof by the drive of the linear motor 13, and then descends along the descending conveyance track. The locking piece 4 of the carrier 8 is locked to the locking body 15 of the chain 14 and lowered, and then stopped at the transfer stopper 22 of the transfer machine 17, which is provided so as to be movable up and down. Even when transferring products etc. loaded in multiple stages to a carrier from the transfer machine 17, the transfer machine 17 can be moved up and down freely according to the height of the products etc. 8 and can be transported.

In particular, by stopping the carrier 8 at the transfer stopper 22 provided on the transfer machine 17, the carrier 8 is held at the same position as the transfer machine 17, so that the carrier 8 is stopped. Even if the transfer machine 17 is moved up and down in the state that the carrier 8
This allows products and the like to be usefully transferred from the transfer machine 17 to the carrier 8 without leaving the transfer machine 17.

Furthermore, by locking and lowering the carrier 8 on which the products, etc. have been transferred, by the lowering auxiliary chain 14, the products, etc. can be reliably transported from the high-position transfer machine 8 to the lower end position of the rail 1. , and after discharging the products etc. from the carrier 8, the carrier 8 is returned to the
By returning the carrier 8 to the return track B, the carrier 8 can be smoothly circulated along the annular rail 1. The transfer machine 17 also has a standby stopper 23 for making other carriers 8 stand by.
Since the standby stopper 23 is provided so as to be able to move in and out, if the standby stopper 23 is made to protrude, the above-mentioned -
In the process of transferring one carrier 8, the locking piece 4 of another carrier 8 is locked to the standby stopper 23, so that the other carrier 8 can be placed on standby.

(Example) Examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a longitudinally flat O-shaped annular rail, and the rail 1 is formed with a recessed groove 2 that is open to the front surface over the entire circumference. Reference numeral 3 designates a carrier body that is fitted into the groove 2 of the rail 1 and has a locking piece 4 protruding from its outer side, and the carrier body 3 has a pair of rollers 5, 5... pivotally mounted on the front and rear sides. to freely move around the entire circumference of the rail 1. Reference numeral 6 designates a pallet on which a triangular support piece 7 is vertically disposed, and the upper end of the support piece 7 is pivotably mounted on the front center of the carrier body 3 to form a carrier 8.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a bottom surface 1 of the concave groove portion 2 on the left side and above the lower end of the rail 1 (hereinafter referred to as return track B).
The aluminum reaction rail is shown extending over the bottom 1 of the carrier body 3.
a stator 12 disposed within the stator 1 and forming a moving magnetic field;
A linear motor 13 is configured to move the carrier 8 in the direction of arrow A.

14 is the right side of the lower end of the rail 1 (hereinafter referred to as
The figure shows endless descending support chains arranged in a crosswise manner along a descending conveyance track A), and the chain 14a on the near side in the drawing runs in the direction of arrow B. Reference numeral 15 designates a plurality of hinged locking bodies projecting outwardly and pivotally attached at predetermined intervals to intersect with the locking pieces 4 of the carrier body 3 at predetermined intervals of the lowering auxiliary chain 14; As shown in FIG. 4, a rotation prevention piece 16 provided on one side of the chain 14 prevents the chain 14 from falling toward the running side.

Reference numeral 17 indicates a transfer machine suspended by a wire rope 19 within a four-post crane 18 erected along the descending conveyance track A of the rail 1;
is moved up and down by a hoist 20,
It is also equipped with a fall prevention device 21.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a transfer stopper that protrudes from the transfer device 17 so that the locking piece 4 of the carrier body 3 comes into contact with the locking piece 4 in a straight line. A standby stopper is shown that protrudes from the side of the upper end position of A so as to be able to move forward and backward so as to come into linear contact with the locking piece 4 of the carrier body 3, and the standby stopper 23 is connected to the transfer stopper 22. At the same time, the vehicle receives a signal and retreats. 24 is a plurality of stoppers attached at predetermined intervals along the side of the return track A of the rail 1 to prevent falling during a power outage;
A single hinge mechanism prevents the carrier from falling.

Reference numeral 25 denotes a pusher attached to the transfer machine 17, which presses the goods etc. from the transfer machine 17 onto the pallet 6 of the carrier 8. Reference numeral 26 denotes a pusher attached to the lower end position of the rail 1. , the products on the pallet 6 are transferred to the inclined roller conveyor 2.
7. Reference numeral 28 denotes an automobile trolley comprising the annular rail 1, the lowering assist chain 14 and the crane 18, which runs astride a belt conveyor 29 separately laid on the floor. The products and the like are discharged onto 29.

The vertical conveyance device of this embodiment has the above-mentioned configuration. Next, a case in which this vertical conveyance device is used will be explained.

First, this vertical conveyance device is installed in a warehouse where products 30 are loaded on multiple shelves, floors, etc.

First, the empty carrier 8 is moved along the return track B from the lower end of the rail 1, and the linear motor 13, which is connected to the return track B, is driven to move it upward in the direction of arrow A.

When the carrier 8 reaches the upper end of the descending transport track A, it is released from the driving force of the linear motor 13 and descends along the descending transport track A due to its own weight, protruding outward from the carrier body 3. The locking pieces 4 thus formed are locked to the locking bodies 15 of the descent assisting chain 14 in a crosswise manner. At this time, since the locking body 15 does not fall in the running direction of the chain 14, that is, in the direction of arrow B, the carrier 8 is supported by the locking body 15 of the descent assisting chain 14 and descends.

When the carrier 8, which is lowered as the lowering auxiliary chain 14 runs, descends to the position of the transfer machine 17, the transfer stopper 22 provided on the transfer machine 17 engages the locking piece 4 of the carrier 8. Therefore, the carrier 8 is locked against the transfer machine 1.
It will stop at the same position as 7.

Then, using the transfer machine 17, the worker picks the products 30 on the shelves in the warehouse, and pushes the products 30 onto the pallet 6 of the stopped carrier 8 using the pusher 25.
When the transfer stopper 22 is moved backward when the transfer is completed, the carrier 8 is again locked to the locking body 15 of the lowering support chain 14, and as the chain 14 travels, the carrier 8 is stopped. It descends on descending transport trajectory A.

When the carrier 8 transporting the product 30 descends to near the lower end of the rail 1 in this way, the locking piece 4 of the carrier 8 comes off from the locking body 15 of the descent assist chain 14, and the carrier 8 further lowers due to its own weight and stops. At this position, the products 30 on the pallet 6 of the carrier 8 are pushed out onto the roller conveyor 27 by the pusher 26, and the empty carrier 8 enters the return track B again and is driven by the linear motor 13. It moves upwards.

In this way, the carrier 8 is attached to the annular rail 1.
In this example, the vehicle is run along 3
The carriers 8 run on the rail 1, and a standby stopper 23 is provided on the side of the upper end of the descending conveyance track A so that the stopper 23 can be protruded and the carriers 8 Locking piece 4
By locking the carrier 8, the carrier 8 will stop and wait at this position. At this time, although the locking pieces 4 of the stopped carrier 8 are hit by the locking bodies 15 of the lowering assist chain 14 one after another,
Since the locking body 15 is hinged on one side and falls in the opposite direction to the chain 14, the lowering auxiliary chain 14
I was able to drive without any problems even with the 5 on the side.

Therefore, if the vertical conveyance device of this embodiment is used, first the empty carrier 8 is moved to the return track B of the rail 1.
is driven upward by the linear motor 13 to the upper end of the return track B, and then is stopped along the descending transport track A by the descending auxiliary chain 14 and descends. Since the machine 17 is stopped by the transfer stopper 22, even when the transfer machine 17 is used to transfer products 30 stacked in multiple stages on warehouse shelves, the transfer machine 17 cannot be moved to the height of the products 30. After moving up and down freely, product 3
0 can be transferred to carrier 8.

In particular, by stopping the carrier 8 descending along the descending conveyance track A at the transfer stopper 22, the carrier 8 is held at the same position as the transfer machine 17. Even if the transfer machine 17 is moved up and down while it is stopped,
Without the carrier 8 leaving the transfer machine 17,
The product 30 can be effectively transferred to the carrier 8 by the transfer machine 17.

Furthermore, by lowering the carrier 8 carrying the product 30 from the transfer machine 17 by locking it with the lowering auxiliary chain 14, the product 30 can be reliably moved from a high position to the lower end position of the rail 1, regardless of its weight. It can be transported.

Furthermore, after discharging the product 30 from the carrier 8,
The empty carrier 8 moves upward again and can smoothly circulate around the annular rail 1.

Furthermore, the carrier 8 on the front side of the carrier being worked on
The product 30 is stopped and put on standby at the standby stopper 23 provided at the upper end of the descending transport track A. Therefore, while the product 30 is being transferred from the transfer machine 17 to the carrier 8, the next carrier 8 will not come down carelessly on the descending conveyance track A, and therefore will not be caught up in the running of other carriers 8.
The products 30 can be reliably transferred to one carrier 8.

Furthermore, on the return trajectory B, since the carrier 8 is self-propelled by the linear motor 13 separately from the descending transportation trajectory A, the carrier 8 is moved to the upper end position of the descending transportation trajectory A, regardless of whether the carrier 8 descends or stops on the descending transportation trajectory A. Therefore, the return operation of the carrier 8, the transfer operation, and the conveyance operation can be made completely independent.

Although the linear motor configured with a carrier and a rail return track has a stator on the carrier side and a reaction rail on the return track side in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this. The stator may be provided on the return track side, and the reaction rail may be provided on the carrier side, and the reaction rail is not limited to being made of a non-magnetic conductor such as aluminum, but may also be made of a magnetic conductor such as carbon steel. The specific configuration of the linear motor does not matter.

In addition, the carrier only needs to be mounted so that it can move freely along the rail, and the shape of the pallet that is mounted on the carrier body does not matter, and the number of carriers that can be mounted is limited to three as in the above embodiment. figure,
It is sufficient if a plurality of them are provided.

Further, the transfer device is not limited to one suspended by a wire rope as in the above embodiment, but may be supported by cylinder or panda graph legs, and in short, it must be provided so as to be movable up and down. It's okay.

In addition, the specific structure of the stopper and the structure of each part of the vertical conveyance device can be changed within the scope of the present invention.

(Effect of the invention) The annular rail is divided into a return track for ascending and a descending transport track for descending, a linear motor is applied as a means of moving the carrier on the return track, and a linear motor is used as a means of moving the carrier on the descending transport track. For example, on the return track when the carrier is not loaded with objects, the linear motor quickly moves the object to the upper end. In addition, by adjusting the moving speed of the descending auxiliary chain on the descending conveyance track in a loaded state, it is possible to vary the moving speed of the carrier, etc., so that it is possible to adjust the moving speed of the carrier according to the situation in a series of steps. As a result of being able to deal with the problem, we obtained the special effect of being able to perform work quickly and safely.

Moreover, since the work of transferring the transported object from the transfer machine to the carrier is performed with the transfer stopper of the transfer machine and the locking piece of the carrier locked, the transfer machine It has the convenience of being able to carry out the transfer work while moving the equipment at the same time, and has the effect of further speeding up the work.

In addition, the transfer machine is equipped with a standby stopper that can move in and out so that the carrier can wait at a predetermined position, so when transferring an object to the - carrier, the other carriers can wait at a predetermined position. After the transfer is completed, the waiting carriers can be quickly moved to the transfer position, which has the advantage of effectively using a small number of carriers to perform good transfer operations. This has the unique effect of significantly reducing the number of parts.

Furthermore, since the locking body provided on the lowering support chain is rotatable upward, even when transferring objects by protruding the transfer stopper of the transfer machine, the locking body remains in the locked state. Since the locking body rotates and escapes due to the locking piece of a certain carrier, the movement of the lowering auxiliary chain is not hindered, and therefore, it is not necessary to stop the lowering auxiliary chain each time during transfer, etc. do not have.

Furthermore, as described above, since the present invention conveys objects vertically, space can be used more effectively than conventional conveying devices, and objects can be smoothly transported by carriers that circulate. There is also the effect that it can be done.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of the vertical conveyance device of the present invention. Second
The figure is an enlarged end view taken along line CC in FIG. 1. Figure 3 is a side view of the carrier. FIG. 4 is a front view of the locking body. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a conventional example. 1...Rail, 8...Carrier, 13...Linear motor, 14...Descent assist chain, 17...
Transfer machine, 22...Transfer stopper.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vertically long annular rail 1 consisting of a descending transport track A and a return track B, a plurality of carriers 8 movably provided along the annular rail 1, and transferred objects to the carriers 8. In a vertical transfer device including a transfer machine 17 disposed on the side of the descending transfer track A, the return track B and the carrier 8 are arranged so that the carrier 8 can move by itself on the return track B. In order to lower the carrier 8 on the descending conveyance track A, a projecting structure is provided on the carrier 8 between the descending conveyance track A and the transfer machine 17. An upwardly rotatable locking body 15 to which the locked locking piece 4 is locked.
A descending auxiliary chain 14 having a large number of... is provided so as to be movable up and down, and the transfer machine 17 includes a transfer stopper 22 for stopping the descending carrier 8 at the transfer position, and a transfer stopper 22 for stopping the descending carrier 8 at the transfer position. A vertical conveyance device characterized in that standby stoppers 23 for keeping the carrier 8 on standby are provided so as to be movable in and out.