JPH048326B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention is a container delivery device installed in a lifting carriage of a traveling crane for loading/unloading work in an automated warehouse, and particularly suitable for use along a container pull-in/pull-out route. The present invention relates to a hook-type container delivery device that is equipped with a container pull-in/push hook that can be reciprocated and raised and lowered.

(Prior art and its problems) In this type of container delivery device, the hook is moved forward toward the container inside the shelf or on the handling platform at the lowering limit position, and then raised to the inside of the handle of the container. By inserting the hook into the container and moving it backward in such a state, the container is pulled onto the container retraction and extrusion path, and the amount of rise of the hook from the lower limit position is determined by the height of the handle of the container.

Conventionally, as part of the learning process, the hook was actually raised to a height where it would fit into the container handle, and the amount of rise at that time was quantified and memorized using a pulse encoder, etc., and during actual work, the hook was raised to a height corresponding to the memorized value. It was controlled like that. That is, the conventional method not only required learning work, but also complicated control during actual operation, and had drawbacks in terms of hardware, such as requiring a microcomputer to carry out the control. Furthermore, if there are a plurality of types of containers to be handled with different handle heights, a means for determining the type of container to be actually drawn is also required, making control extremely complicated.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention proposes a hook-type container delivery device capable of solving the conventional problems as described above. To explain, the hook-type container delivery device of the present invention is a hook-type container delivery device equipped with a container drawing-in/pushing hook 8 that is movable back and forth along the container drawing-in/pushing path 2 and can be raised and lowered. Hook 8
Engaging parts 8a and 8b that fit inside the container handle of
, the engaging portions 8a, 8b are connected to the handles 31a, 3.
When the handle 3 is inserted into the inside of 1b to a certain depth
1a, 31b (photoelectric switch 2
5) and this detector (photoelectric switch 25)
The present invention is characterized in that the motor 12 for lifting and lowering the hook 8 is stopped in response to the detection signal.

(Example) An example of the present invention will be described below based on the attached illustrative drawings.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, 1 is an elevating carriage of a traveling crane for loading and unloading operations that runs along the shelves of an automated warehouse, and 2 is a horizontally extending carriage formed on the elevating carriage 1. This is a container retraction and extrusion route. Reference numeral 3 denotes a belt conveyor for carrying in and carrying out containers installed along the route 2, and is driven by a motor 4 to rotate in forward and reverse directions.
5 is an elevating base that is driven up and down by an elevating drive means 6;
A hook 8 for drawing in and pushing out a container is supported so as to be able to reciprocate in the length direction of the path 2.

As shown in FIG. 4, the elevating drive means 6 for the elevating base 5 includes a rotating screw shaft 9 vertically supported on the side of the path 2, and a gear 1 at the lower end of the rotating screw shaft 9.
A motor 12 interlocked via 0 and 11,
and a female threaded body 14 which is screwed into the rotating screw shaft 9 and connected to the lifting platform 5 via a connecting member 13.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 5, the traverse drive means 7 of the hook 8 is connected to the lifting base 5.
A middle-stage lateral movement table 16 supported laterally via a slide guide 15 above, and this middle-stage lateral movement table 16
It is composed of a multi-stage telescopic body 7A consisting of an upper lateral movement table 17 supported so as to be movable upward and laterally, and a drive mechanism 7B that telescopically moves the multi-stage telescopic body 7A. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, this drive mechanism 7B includes a rack gear 18 attached to a side along the moving direction of the middle stage lateral movement table 16, a pinion gear 19 meshing with this rack gear 18, and a middle stage traversing table 16. Interlocking with the movement of the lateral movement table 16, the upper lateral movement table 17
The hook 8 is constructed of a chain (not shown) that moves the container in the same direction relative to the middle transverse movement table 16, and as shown in FIG. An inverted L-shaped support member 2 is attached to the upper lateral movement table 17 so as to be located at
0, and upwardly protruding engaging portions 8a and 8b are connected to each other at both ends in the moving direction.

As shown in FIG. 4, the pinion gear 19 is externally fitted onto a vertical rotating shaft (ball spline shaft) 21 that is vertically supported in parallel with the rotating screw shaft 9 so that it cannot rotate relative to it but can only slide in the axial direction. At the same time, it is rotatably supported by a support portion 13a of a connecting member 13 that connects the elevating base 5 and the female screw body 14. A motor 22 is interlocked with the vertical rotation shaft (ball spline shaft) 21 via gears 23 and 24 .

In the container delivery device configured as described above, both end engaging portions 8a and 8b of the hook 8 are provided.
As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a light projecting section 26 and a light receiving section 27 of a fiber type photoelectric switch 25 are embedded so that their horizontal light projecting and receiving windows 26a and 27a face each other. This fiber type photoelectric switch 25 includes an optical fiber 28 having the light emitting section 26 at its tip, an optical fiber 29 having the light receiving section 27 at its tip, a light source connected to the inner end of the optical fiber 28, and a light source connected to the inner end of the optical fiber 28. This is a conventionally well-known device consisting of an amplifier 30 having a built-in electric circuit for converting an optical signal from an optical fiber 29 into an electrical signal. An optical fiber 2 is installed at an appropriate location on the machine frame of the carriage 1 and is connected between the amplifier 30 and the light emitting/receiving sections 26 and 27.
8 and 29 are telescopic curl fibers 28a and 29a for allowing the lifting base 5 to move up and down and the upper lateral movement table 17 to move laterally with respect to the lifting base 5.
It is stretched as shown in the figure.

In the container delivery device configured as described above, by rotating the rotary screw shaft 9 with the motor 12, the female threaded body 14 is rotated according to the direction of rotation.
moves up and down, and in conjunction with this, the multistage telescopic body 7A moves up and down. At this time, the pinion gear 19 spline-fitted to the vertical rotation shaft (ball spline shaft) 21 also moves up and down together with the elevating base 5.
As the multi-stage expandable body 7A moves up and down, the hook 8 moves up and down.

When moving the hook 8 laterally along the container drawing and pushing path 2, the multi-stage telescopic body 7A
Regardless of the height of 7A middle stage horizontal movement table 16 to pinion gear 19
The lifting base 5 is moved laterally to the left or right depending on the rotation direction of the lift base 5. Along with this lateral movement of the middle lateral movement table 16, the upper lateral movement table 17 moves laterally in the same direction with respect to the middle lateral movement table 16. That is, the multi-stage expandable body 7A is expanded. and the fifth
As shown in the figure, when the middle lateral movement table 19 reaches its stroke limit (when the slide guide 15 reaches one end of the lateral movement path on the lifting base 5), the upper lateral movement table 1
7 also reaches the stroke limit for the middle stage traversing table 16 (one end in the length direction of the middle stage traversing table 16). When the multi-stage expandable body 7A is extended to its maximum length in this way, the upper traversing base 17 has moved beyond the end of the lifting base 5, and at this time, the imaginary line is shown in each of FIGS. 1 and 2. As shown in FIG.
The engaging portion 8a or 8b is in a state of protruding more than the above.

Next, how to use the above container delivery device is to receive the container 31 in the shelf or on the handling platform located on the left side of the lifting carriage 1 (container pull-in/extrusion path 2) onto the lifting carriage 1, as shown in Fig. 5. Taking the case as an example,
As shown in FIG. 5, the elevator carriage 1 is stopped so that the bottom surface of the container 31 and the belt conveyor 3 are on the same level, and
a, 8b are located at the lowering limit level L, which is lower than the handle 31a of the container 31, the motor 22 extends the multi-stage telescopic body 7A toward the container 31, and the hook 8 is moved horizontally to the left-out stroke limit position A. make it move. As a result, the left engaging portion 8 of the hook 8
a is located directly below the right handle 31a of the container 31. In this state, the multi-stage telescopic body 7A is raised by the motor 12, and as shown in FIG.
The hook 8 is raised to an intermediate level M where it engages with the handle 31a of the container, but when the hook 8 reaches the intermediate level M in this way, that is, the engaging portion 8a is fitted into the inside of the container handle 31a to a certain depth. At this time, as shown in FIG. 8, the light beam 32 from the light emitting part 26 of the fiber photoelectric switch 25 attached to both the engaging parts 8a and 8b of the hook 8 to the light receiving part 27 is transmitted to the handle 31a of the container 31. is cut off, and the amplifier 30 outputs a handle detection signal. Therefore, by cutting off the power supply to the motor 12 based on this handle detection signal and stopping the upward drive of the multi-stage telescoping body 7A, the engaging portion 8a is at the intermediate level M where it engages with the handle 31a of the container 31. The lifting of the hook 8 can be automatically stopped.

After the hook 8 stops rising, the motor 22 causes the multi-stage telescoping body 7A to contract and move the hook 8 to the right, and the container 31 is pulled by the engaging portion 8a of the hook 8. It is drawn into the drawing/extruding path 2 and transferred onto the belt conveyor 3. At this time, the belt conveyor 3 can be driven in the same direction at the same speed as the lateral movement speed of the hook 8.

As shown in FIG. 6, when the hook 8 moves horizontally to position B where the entire container 31 is completely transferred onto the belt conveyor 3, the horizontal movement of the hook 8 is stopped (while the belt conveyor 3 is being driven). (the drive thereof is also stopped), and the hook 8 is lowered to the lowering limit level L again. In this state, the crane is run and the elevating carriage 1 is raised and lowered to reach the desired container unloading location.
When the upper container 31 is transported, and the container unloading direction at this container unloading location is to the right, the hook 8 lowered to the lowering limit level L at position B as described above is moved to its engaging portion. 8
The hook 8 is further moved laterally to a position C where it is removed from the position directly below the handle 31a of the container 31 to the front, and then the hook 8 is raised to the upper limit level H above the container 31. Then, at the upper limit level H, the hook 8 is laterally moved to the left. Note that the hook 8 at position C does not protrude laterally outward from the elevating carriage 1.

When the elevating carriage 1 is stopped facing the desired container unloading location, the belt conveyor 3 is driven to send out the container 31 to the right as shown in FIG.
The hook 8 is used to completely feed the materials from the right end of the belt conveyor 3 to the right shelf or handling platform. That is, after moving the hook 8 laterally to a predetermined leftward position D (a position symmetrical to the rightward position C) and lowering the hook 8 which is at the upper limit level H to the lower limit level L, the hook 8 is moved to the right. By laterally moving the container 31 to the right-hand out stroke limit position E, the left end of the container 31 that has been delivered to the right end of the belt conveyor 3 can be pushed out to a predetermined position by the right engaging portion 8b of the hook 8. The right stroke limit position E is symmetrical to the left stroke limit position A.

In addition, when lowering the container 31 pulled in from the left side to the left side, as shown in FIG. 6, by moving the hook 8 that has been lowered to the lowering limit level L at position B to the left side, The container 31 sent out to the left by the belt conveyor 3 can be further pushed out to a predetermined position by the left engaging portion 8a of the hook 8. In addition, the work of receiving the container 31 in the shelf or on the handling platform located on the right side of the lifting carriage 1 (container pull-in/extrusion route 2) onto the lifting carriage 1 and sending the container 31 to the right or left is also performed as described above. You can do the same in the same way.

When the container pull-in and push-out path 4 is long enough to ensure play equal to the length of the hook 8 on both front and rear sides of the container 31 that has been pulled in to the center position in the length direction, the belt conveyor 3 is omitted and the container 31 is moved only with the hook 8. can be pulled in and pushed out to either side.

Incidentally, the driving means for reciprocating the hook 8 along the container retraction/extrusion path and the driving means for raising and lowering the hook 8 are not limited to those of the above-mentioned embodiments. In addition, a transmission type fiber type photoelectric switch 25
Although we used a reflective photoelectric switch, it is also possible to use a reflective photoelectric switch. In this case, the light emitting and receiving parts of the reflective photoelectric switch must be attached to both the left and right engaging parts 8a and 8b of the hook 8, respectively. Of course, devices that use a hook with an engaging part for the container handle only on either the left or right end (if the container pull-in direction is limited to one direction, or if the hook is reversed 180 degrees depending on the container pull-in direction) The present invention can also be implemented in a device configured to do so.

(Operations and Effects of the Invention) According to the hook-type container delivery device of the present invention implemented as described above, the detector attached to the engaging portion that fits inside the container handle of the hook detects the It detects that the hook is inserted into the inside of the container handle to a certain depth, and this detection signal stops and controls the motor for lifting and lowering the hook, eliminating the need for learning work that was previously required, and reducing the hardware aspect. In this case, a pulse encoder and a microcomputer for numerically detecting the lifting and lowering positions of the hooks are no longer required, and costs can be significantly reduced. In addition, even when handling various containers with handle heights that are not constant, the engaging part of the hook can be reliably inserted into the container handle to a predetermined depth without using any means for identifying the container type. It can be stopped automatically.

In particular, when a fiber type photoelectric switch is used as in the embodiment, it can be easily attached to the handle engaging portion of a hook having a small thickness, and the present invention can be easily carried out.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan view, Fig. 2 is a front view, Fig. 3 is a side view, Fig. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional front view of main parts, Figs. 5 to 7 are schematic front views explaining how to use, 8th
The figure is a front view of the main part of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view and a block diagram thereof. 1... Lifting carriage, 2... Container pull-in and push-out route, 3... Belt conveyor, 5...
Elevating table, 6... Lifting drive means, 7... Traverse drive means, 7A... Multi-stage telescopic body, 7B... Drive mechanism,
8... Hook, 8a, 8b... Engagement portion for container handle, 9... Rotating screw shaft, 12, 22... Motor, 14... Female threaded body, 16... Middle lateral movement table, 17... Upper lateral Moving base, 18...Rack gear,
19... Pinion gear, 21... Vertical rotation axis (ball spline shaft), 25... Fiber type photoelectric switch, 26... Light emitter, 27... Light receiver, 2
8, 29... Optical fiber, 28a, 29a...
Curl fiber, 30...amplifier, 31...container, 31a, 31b...handle.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a hook-type container delivery device equipped with a container pull-in/push-out hook that is reciprocally movable along a container pull-in/pull-out route and can be raised and lowered, the hook is fitted into an engaging portion of the hook that fits inside the container handle. A hook-type container delivery system comprising: a detector that detects the handle when the part fits inside the handle to a certain depth; and a detection signal from the detector stops the motor for driving the hook up and down. Device.