JPH0472215A - Transshiping device for unmanned carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance an operating efficiency by detecting the width of a carried cargo, and thereby adjusting the space of a cargo guide rail provided for an unmanned carrier with a support adjusting means operated based on the detected width. CONSTITUTION:When a trolley 1 which has delivered a work to a delivery station, is stopped at a station which handles a following work, in a state that a space between guide rails 6 and 6a is parted to meet the width of the following work, signals indicating the width of the work are issued from the photo transmitter (not shown) of the station. The signals are received by the photo receiver (not shown) of the trolley 1, and the width of the work is then computed while the difference from the previous width of the work is computed, so that the rotational amount of a motor M is thereby determined. The motor M is then rotated by the determined rotational amount, so that the space between the guide rails 6 and 6a is thereby adjusted by support adjusting mechanisms N and Na.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a transfer device for an automatic guided vehicle.

[Prior Art] On a work line in a factory or the like, an unmanned trolley is loaded with a workpiece such as an engine block at a loading station and travels on a predetermined running path. At work stations provided along this travel path, various parts are assembled to the workpiece to complete the engine, and the engine is transferred from the unmanned truck to the loading station.

As shown in FIG. 5, on the upper surface of the unmanned trolley 31, a plurality of transfer rollers 32 are lined up in the vehicle width direction, and a pair of kite rails 33 extend in parallel along both sides of the transfer rollers 32. It is provided.

Then, an engine block or an engine to be transported 34 to be transferred between the loading station or loading station and the cart 31 is moved on the transfer rollers 32 while being guided by the guide rails 33. This prevents the conveyed object 34 from deviating laterally from above the rollers 32.
It is transferred between the trolley 31 and the station.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, on the upper surface of the truck 31, the guide rail 3 described above is
A pair of blocks 35 extending parallel to the vehicle width direction are attached to the outside of the vehicle 3, and a guide rail 33 corresponding to each block 35 is fixed with bolts or the like. Therefore, the distance between the guide rails 33 is maintained constant, and when it is necessary to transfer a transported object 34 that is wider than the same distance, bolts, etc. are removed manually and the guide rails 33 are moved between the transported objects 34 and 34. It is necessary to adjust the separation width to correspond to the width of , and this adjustment work is extremely complicated and causes a decrease in work efficiency.

This invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to automatically adjust the width of the guide rail to match the width of the transported object to be loaded, thereby avoiding complicated adjustment work. It is an object of the present invention to provide a transfer device for an automatic guided vehicle that can achieve good work efficiency.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention transfers objects to and from stations by passing objects through a transfer path set between a pair of guide rails. In the automatic guided vehicle transfer device that performs this operation, a support adjustment means that supports both guide rails and adjusts the separation width of these guide rails by displacement by rotation, and a support adjustment means that rotates the support adjustment means to perform this rotation. Its gist is that it comprises a rotation support means for holding the rotation support means in the moved position, and an instruction means for instructing the rotation support means to rotate by an amount according to the width of the conveyed object.

[Operation] The instruction means instructs the rotation holding means to the amount of rotation based on the width of the conveyed object, and the rotation holding means rotates the support adjustment means based on this instruction and holds it at the rotated position. do. Then, the separation width between both guide rails is adjusted by the rotational displacement of the support adjustment means.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

As shown in FIG. 1, the upper surface of the unmanned trolley 1 is divided into front and rear sections, and these sections are further divided into upper and lower sections, and a total of four mounting sections 2 are provided. As shown in FIG.
A plurality of conveyor rollers 5 are rotatably installed on the bracket 3 at a pair of attachments extending in the width direction of the vehicle at both front and rear ends.

As shown in FIG. 1, the bracket 3 and the conveying roller 5
The heights of the uppermost surfaces of the brackets 3 and 5 are the same, and when the workpiece W as the conveyed object in FIG. 2 and the narrower workpiece W1 are moved over the group of conveyance rollers 5, Care has been taken to ensure that it does not interfere with loading operations.

For reattachment, guide rails 6.6a are arranged outside the bracket 3 and extend across the entire width, and both ends of the bracket 3 are spaced apart from each other in the width direction. The guide rail 6.6a is used to carry workpieces W, W+ transferred from the station to the unmanned trolley 1 or from the unmanned trolley 1 to the station.
When it passes over the group of conveying rollers 5, it is guided so that it does not deviate in the front-back direction. The guide rails 6.6a are supported by support adjustment mechanisms N and Na to be described later, and the distance between the guide rails 6.6a is adjusted according to the width of the workpieces W and W to be transferred from the station. .

Further, stoppers 7 are pivotally supported on both sides in the width direction of the 5 group of conveying rollers of the truck l, and a rod 7a is driven by a drive mechanism (not shown).
When it is moved in the horizontal direction, it is rotated and appears and disappears. That is, when the workpieces W, W, are transferred between the station and the cart, the lock F7a is in the original position and the stopper 7 on the station side is in the retracted position, as shown by the solid line in FIG. Passage of works W and W is allowed. Furthermore, when the unmanned trolley 1 transports the workpieces W, W,
The rod 7a moves leftward from the original position, and the stopper 7 on the station side is in the protruding position as shown by the two-dot chain line, and the workpieces W, W, or the cart L placed on the conveying roller 5 group are Hold it so that it does not fall in both directions.

Now, as shown in FIG. 3, the adjustment support mechanism N, Na
Since the configurations for supporting both guide rails 6 are almost the same, only one N will be explained and the other Na will be shown by adding a to the same reference numerals in the drawings.

A guide shaft 8 is integrally provided at the outer end of the kite rail 6 and extends outward perpendicularly to the guide rail 6. This shaft 8 is fixed to the frame of the trolley 1. It passes through the bushing part IO at the upper end and is fixed to the frame of the truck 1. In addition, the guide rail 6
A support piece 11 is formed adjacent to the guide shaft 8 at the outer end of the guide shaft 8, and a cam roller 12 is rotatably attached to one side of the support piece 11.

Further, a sprocket 14 is formed on the output shaft 13 of the motor M as a rotation holding means installed in the frame of the truck 1, and a sprocket 16 is formed on the rotation shaft 15 extending in the front-rear direction of the truck 1. They are connected via a chain 17. A worm gear 18 is formed at one end of the rotating shaft 15, and a worm wheel 21 formed on a driven shaft 20 supported by two bearings 19 in a direction perpendicular to the rotating shaft 15 meshes with the worm gear 18. ing. At the tip of the driven shaft 20 is a trident-shaped cam lever 2.
2 is fixed to the cam lever 22, and the support piece 11 is fixed inside the cam lever 22.
The cam roller 12 is engaged.

Note that the worm gear 18a of the other adjustment support mechanism Na formed at the other end of the rotating shaft 15 is the same as the worm gear 18a of the other adjustment support mechanism Na.
The threading is reversed.

Then, due to the rotation of the motor M, rotation is transmitted to the rotating shaft 15 via the sprocket 14 of the output shaft 13 → the chain 17 → the sprocket 16, and the driven shaft 20 is rotated in one direction by the worm wheel 21 that meshes with the worm gear 18. be done. Accordingly, when the cam lever 22 is rotated and its posture is changed, the cam roller 12 is forcibly displaced.
Guided by the guide shaft 8 inserted into the bushing portion 10, the guide rail 6 is moved in one direction (to the left in FIG. 3).

Also, the worm gear 1 in the other adjustment support mechanism Na
8, the driven shaft 20a is rotated in the other direction via the worm wheel 21a. This results in
The guide rail 6a is moved in the other direction (to the right) via the cam lever 22a and the cam roller 12a.

Next, the electrical configuration in this embodiment will be explained according to FIG. 4.

The optical transmitter 23 is provided at each station, and transmits optical signals representing the workpieces W and W+ handled at the station.
It is output to the optical receiver 24 of the unmanned trolley 25. This optical receiver 24 converts the optical signal received from the transmitter 23 into an electrical signal and outputs it to a controller 25 as an instruction means mounted on the trolley 1.

The controller 25 calculates the width of the work W handled at the station according to the signal from the receiver 24, and adjusts the width of the guide shafts 8, 8 based on the calculation result.
Determine the distance a should be apart.

Then, the controller 25 determines the difference between the current separation distance between the two guide shafts 8.degree. 8a and the calculated distance to be separated, and rotates the motor M by the direction and rotation angle based on this difference.

Now, the operation of the automatic guided vehicle transfer device configured as described above will be explained below.

Now, trolley 1 delivers workpiece W to the pick-up station,
Both rails 6 for a distance that matches the width of this workpiece W
．． The vehicle is parked along the loading station where workpieces 6a and 6a are separated. Then, an optical signal indicating the width of the workpiece W1 is outputted from the optical transmitter 23 of this station to the optical receiver 24 of the truck l. The optical receiver 24 converts this optical signal into an electrical signal, which is sent to the controller 2.
5, and the controller 25 calculates the width of the workpiece w1. Then, the controller 25 (W W+
), the motor M is rotated by this difference, and both guide rails 6.6a are moved in the direction toward each other.

Thereafter, the workpiece W1 sent out from the station to the unmanned trolley l is transferred onto the transport roller 5 while being guided by both guide rails 6.6a. Then, after coming into contact with the stopper 7 on the opposite side of the station and stopping its progress, the stopper 7 on the station side is also moved to the protruding position, and the trolley L runs while the work W1 is securely held on the vehicle. or is started.

As described above, in this embodiment, the controller 25 drives the motor M to adjust the interval between the guide rails 6.6a based on information indicating the widths of the workpieces W and W+ handled at each station. Therefore, one unmanned trolley I can transport multiple types of workpieces W and W+ with different widths.

Furthermore, since the cart 1 is provided with four mounting sections 2, four different sizes of workpieces W can be placed at the same time.

Wl can be transported.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above (for example, instead of the configuration in which the controller 25 rotates the motor M based on information from the optical transmitter 23 and the optical receiver 24, Any changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, such as a configuration in which the amount of rotation is input using a rotary switch or the like.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, the present invention has an excellent advantage in that the width of the guide rail is automatically adjusted to match the width of the transported object to be carried, and transport work can be carried out efficiently. be effective.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a side view showing the automatic guided vehicle of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially cut-away enlarged plan view showing one loading section, and Fig. 3 is a partially cut-away enlarged plan view showing the movement mechanism of the guide rail. 4 are block circuit diagrams showing the electrical configuration of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a conventional kite rail support mechanism. Guide rail 6.6a, controller 2 as indicating means
5. Works W and W+ as objects to be transported, motor M as rotation holding means, and support adjustment mechanism N as support adjustment means
, Na0 Patent Applicant Toyota Industries Corporation Toyota Motor Corporation Agent Patent Attorney On 1) Hironobu (is a powerful name) Figure 2!

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a transfer device for an automatic guided vehicle that transfers an object to and from a station by passing a transfer path set between a pair of guide rails, both guide rails include: support adjusting means for supporting the guide rails and adjusting the separation width of these guide rails by displacement due to the rotation; rotation holding means for rotating the support adjusting means and holding it at the rotated position; A transfer device for an automatic guided vehicle comprising an instruction means for instructing a rotation holding means to rotate an amount according to a width of an object to be transported.