JPH04116008A - Loop-type transporting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a transportation passage as short as possible by providing double traveling passages in a loop form on inner and outer sides in line, and disposing plural carriers which travel in opposite directions to each other in the respective traveling passages. CONSTITUTION:Two carriers 2a and 2b are placed respectively on loop-typed carrier traveling passages 3a, 3b which are disposed on the inner and outer sides in line, and the outer carriers 2b are moved in an A direction, and the inner carriers 2a in a b direction to make them travel between five traveling stations 4. Besides, for example, for transportation from a station 4A to a station 4E, the carrier 2a on the inner side passage 3a is used if the inner carrier 2a traveling in the B direction is used more than the outer side passage 3b traveling in the A direction, because the passage is shorter. Thus, a passage with shorter transportation distance is judged for use.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a conveying device for efficiently conveying objects.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional loop type conveyance device, FIG. 3 is a front view showing the conveyance machine, and FIG. 4 is a plan view thereof.

In the figure, 1 is an object to be transported, and 2 is a plurality of carriers on which the objects 1 are placed.The traveling direction of the carriers is fixed to be clockwise as shown in the figure in order to move efficiently.

3 is a guide part (not shown) that guides the movement of the carrier 2;
and a running path having a drive unit (not shown) for running, 4
is a transfer station that loads and unloads the transported object 1 onto the carrier 2, and has a storage warehouse 4a that stores the transported object 1, and a transfer station that transfers the transported object 1 between the storage warehouse 4a and the carrier 2. It consists of a transfer robot 4b. In this example, transfer station 4 is station 4.
There are 5 stations from A to station 4E.

Next, the operation will be explained. The carrier 2 and the transfer station 4 are controlled by one controller (not shown). For example, when an object 1- to be transferred to the transfer station 4E occurs at the transfer station 4A, the controller controls the carrier 2. The controller issues an instruction to move the carrier 2 to the stop position of the transfer station 4A. Then, the controller 2 moves clockwise to the transfer station 4A and stops. 0Then, the controller receives the report of the completion of the movement of the carrier 2, and starts the transfer. The station 4A is instructed to transfer the conveyed object 1 stored in the storage warehouse 4a to the carrier 2 using the transfer robot 4b. The transfer station 4A uses a transfer robot 4b to load objects 1 onto carriers 2.

Next, upon receiving the loading work completion report, the controller issues an instruction to move the carrier 2 to the stop position of the transfer station 4E, which is the transfer destination, and the carrier 2 moves clockwise to the transfer station 4E. Stop.

Next, upon receiving the report of the completion of the movement of the carrier 2, the controller instructs the transfer station 4E to load and unload the transferred object 1, and the transfer station 4E uses the transfer robot 4b to load and unload the object 1 on the carrier 2. The transported object 1 is stored in the storage warehouse 4a. Then, the controller receives the completion report of the storage work and finishes the above-mentioned conveyance work.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Conventional loop-type transport devices are configured as described above, so in order to efficiently move multiple carriers, the traveling direction must be restricted to one direction, and therefore the transport source of the transport operation must be restricted to one direction. Depending on the positional relationship between the transport destination and the transport destination, it may take a very long detour, leading to problems such as a loss of transport work time.

This invention was made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and provides a loop-type conveyance device that can take the shortest route regardless of the positional relationship between the source and destination of the conveyance operation. With the goal.

[Means to solve the problem]

The loop-type conveyance device according to the present invention is provided with double parallel loop running paths, inside and outside, and a plurality of carriers running in different directions in each of these running paths are provided, and all of the carriers transfer the load. It is equipped with multiple transfer stations.

[Effect]

The loop-type transport device of this invention selects a carrier that can take the shortest route from a plurality of carriers according to the positional relationship between the transport source and the transport destination, and controls this carrier and the transfer station. The transportation work is carried out by

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. In Fig. 1, reference numerals 3a and 3b are loop-type carrier running paths that are arranged in parallel in double inner and outer directions, and carriers 2a and 2b are arranged in each of these running paths, and the outer carrier 2b is the same as the conventional one. Similarly, it is set to move in the clockwise direction A, and the other inner carrier 2a is set to move in the counterclockwise direction B. Note that the other configurations, ie, the configuration and arrangement of the transfer station 4, etc., are the same as those of the prior art, so explanations will be omitted.

Next, the operation will be explained. The above two carriers 2a,
2b and the five transfer stations 4 are controlled by one controller (not shown).

For example, suppose that an object 1 to be transported to the transfer station 4E occurs at the transfer station 4A.
The controller checks the positional relationship between the transport source and the transport destination, and selects the inner carrier 2b, which has a shorter route than the outer carrier 2b.
a and transfer this carrier 2a to transfer station 4A.
instruct the robot to move to the stopping position. Then, the inner carrier 2a moves counterclockwise to the transfer station 4A,
Stop. Upon receiving the report of the completion of the movement of the carrier 2a, the controller instructs the transfer station 4A to load the object 1 onto the carrier 2a, and the transfer station 4A uses the transfer robot 4b to The conveyed objects 1 stored in the inner carrier 2a are loaded into the inner carrier 2a.

Next, upon receiving the loading work completion report, the controller instructs the inner carrier 2a to move to the stop position of the transfer station 4E, which is the transfer destination.

The inner carrier 2a moves counterclockwise to the transfer station 4E and stops.

Next, upon receiving the report of the completion of the movement of the carrier 2a, the controller instructs the transfer station 4E to load and unload the transported object 1.Then, the transfer station 4E uses the transfer robot 4b to move the object 1 onto the inner carrier 2a. Conveyed object 1
is stored in the storage warehouse 4a. The controller receives the completion report of the storage work and finishes the above-mentioned transport work.

In this way, the controller selects two loop conveyors in parallel according to the positional relationship between the source and the destination of the conveyance operation, and performs the conveyance operation.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of carriers running in different directions are provided in parallel, and the transfer station is configured to be able to transfer to all of the plurality of carriers. The shortest route can be selected depending on the positional relationship between the source and the destination, which has the effect of shortening the time required for the transportation work.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a parallel loop type conveyance device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional loop type conveyance device, FIG. 3 is a front view showing the conveyance machine, and FIG. 4 is also a plan view. In the figure, 1 is the conveyed object, 2a, 2b are carriers, 3a, 3
b is a running path, and 4 is a transfer station. Note that the same reference numerals in the figures indicate the same or equivalent parts.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A loop-shaped traveling path consisting of a plurality of carriers on which objects are placed, a guide section that guides the movement of the carriers, and a drive section that causes the carriers to travel; In a conveyance device having a plurality of transfer stations for loading and unloading, the loop-shaped running path is arranged in parallel in two layers, inside and outside,
A loop-type conveyance device characterized by comprising a plurality of carriers arranged on each of the travel paths and traveling in opposite directions.