JPH05270331A - Automatic conveyor car - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a means that makes a storage battery detachable so easily without depending on any man power. CONSTITUTION:A storage battery mounting part 2a, where a storage battery 10 is attached free of detachment, is tilted to some extent, through which a terminal part 11 of the storage battery 10 and a terminal part 3 of an automatic conveyor car body 1 are made so as to be in contact with each other owing to dead weight of this storage battery 10. In this constitution, supposing the storage battery 10 is mounted on the mounting part, 2a, the terminal part 3 of the automatic conveyor car and the terminal part 11 of the storage battery 10 are made contact with each other, thus these terminal parts are easily connectible in this way.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automated guided vehicle, and more particularly, to a means for easily attaching and detaching a storage battery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a factory or the like, as a means for conveying an object to be conveyed, there is provided an automatic traveling means including a motor and a transmission mechanism for its output, which is powered by a storage battery, and is driven by the traveling means. Is often used.

As described above, in an automatic guided vehicle using a storage battery as a power source, it is necessary to replace the storage battery whose supply voltage has dropped due to use with another charged storage battery several times a day. Will be needed.

[0004]

However, the terminal portion of the conventional automated guided vehicle and the terminal portion of the storage battery are made up of a plug and a socket, which makes it difficult to automatically bring them into and out of contact with each other.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a conventional automatic guided vehicle.
In the figure, reference numeral 100 is a main body of the automated guided vehicle, 100a is a storage battery storage portion, 100b is a luggage carrier, and 130 is a wheel. And 1
10 is a storage battery, 112a is a terminal part of the storage battery 110, 112 is a plug which supports this terminal part 112a, 1
Reference numeral 11 is a wiring code. Terminal portion 1 of this storage battery 110
12a is a terminal portion 120 (socket) on the main body 100 side
, And is electrically connected by being inserted. Thus, in the conventional means, the plug 112 and the socket 12
Since the terminals 112a and 120 are contacted and separated by 0, the storage battery has to be manually attached and detached.

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a means for easily attaching and detaching a storage battery without manual labor.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a storage battery mounting portion on which a storage battery is detachably mounted is inclined, and the terminal portion of the storage battery and the terminal portion of the automatic guided vehicle main body due to the weight of the storage battery. It is designed to contact with.

[0008]

According to the above construction, as long as the storage battery is placed on the mounting portion, the terminal weight of the storage battery comes into contact with the respective terminal portions of the main body of the automatic guided vehicle, and power is supplied from the storage battery. Therefore, the storage battery can be easily replaced.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view showing an automatic guided vehicle, a charging device and the like according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the same storage battery, and FIGS. 3 to 5 are explanatory views of a method of inserting and removing the same storage battery.

In the figure, 1 is an automatic guided vehicle main body, 2 is a storage battery accommodating portion recessed in a front portion of the main body 1, W is a wheel,
G is the floor surface. The bottom surface of the storage portion 2 serves as a mounting portion 2a of the storage battery 10 that is inclined downward toward the rear of the main body 1 (on the side of the loading platform 4). And 2b is this mounting part 2a
Is a contact portion 2b perpendicular to the bottom surface of the storage battery 2, and the bottom surface 10b of the storage battery 10 placed in the storage portion 2 (see a partially enlarged view of FIG. 1A) contacts the placement portion 2a by its own weight. Since the mounting portion 2a is inclined as described above,
The side surface 10c of the storage battery 10 contacts the contact portion 2b.

Further, as shown in a partially enlarged view of FIG. 1 (a), a pair of terminal portions 3 and 3 on the main body 1 side are projectingly provided on the mounting portion 2a, and the respective terminal portions 3 are engaged with male and female. The terminal portion 11 thus formed is provided at the matching position on the bottom surface 10b of the storage battery 10. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3B, these terminal portions 3 and 11 may be provided on the side surface 10c of the storage battery 10 and the contact portion 2b. In this way, the storage battery 10 can be easily taken out and the structure can be simplified.

It is to be noted that, as shown in FIG. 3A, rather than FIG. 2B, it is better to engage the male and female terminals 10 and 11 on the bottom surface 10a of the storage battery 10 and the bottom surface 2a of the storage portion 2 with each other.
It is more preferable. This is because when the main body 1 tries to move in the direction of arrow X1 or X2, the storage battery 10
When an inertial force is applied in the direction opposite to the moving direction of the, since these terminal portions 3 and 11 engage with each other in a direction slightly inclined from the vertical direction, the inertia force from the terminal portion 3 to the storage battery 10 side is increased. A reaction force against the force acts. Therefore, the storage battery 1
This is because 0 does not shift with respect to the main body 1 and these terminal portions 3 and 11 can be contacted more reliably.

Further, 31, 32, 33 (FIG. 3 which is a plan view)
Is also a charging device for charging the storage battery 10 whose voltage has dropped, and these charging devices 31, 32, 33 include:
Storage battery storage S facing the storage battery storage 2 of the automated guided vehicle
And a contact portion 32 that is orthogonal to the mounting portion 2a of the main body 1 and is inclined in the opposite direction to the mounting portion 2a of the main body 1.
b. In addition, the terminal portion 3 of the main body 1 is mounted on the mounting portion 32a.
A terminal portion 35 similar to that is provided so as to project.

Reference numeral 40 is a means for taking in and out the storage battery 10,
C is the hanging strip, and H is a gripping hand provided at the lower end of the hanging strip C. By driving the loading / unloading means 40, the storage battery 10 can be loaded / unloaded in the arrow X1 or X2 direction. Here, in FIG. 2, 10a is an upper surface of the storage battery 10, 10b is the same bottom surface, and 11a is a recessed portion of the terminal portion 11, and the recessed portion 11a is provided with the main body 1 and the terminal portions 3, 35 of the charging devices 31, 32, 33. The protrusions engage.
Further, 13 is a concave portion for the gripping hand H to come in and out, 12
Is a handle installed on the upper edge of the recess 13 at the same level as the upper surface 10a.

Therefore, the gripping hand H is opened and lowered, and as shown by the chain line in FIG. 2 (a), the battery storage unit 2 (see the solid line in FIG. 1) or the charging device 31, 3 of the automated guided vehicle.
The grip 12 is gripped by closing the hand H in one of the storage battery storage units S (refer to the chain line in FIG. 1) of 2, 33. Then, the loading / unloading means 40 is driven to move the arrow X1.
Alternatively, the drooping strip C is moved in the X2 direction, and the hand H is opened in the other accommodation section. Then, due to the own weight of the storage battery 10a, the mounting portions 2a and 32a and the contact portions 2b and 32 are
The bottom surface 10b and the side surface 10c of the storage battery 10 can be brought into contact with b, and the terminal portions 3 and 35 can be brought into contact with the terminal portion 11 of the storage battery 10. Further, since the storage battery 10 can be automatically taken in and out without requiring human labor, it is possible to promote CIM conversion.

Now, as shown in FIG. 3, charging devices 31, 3
2, 33 are installed on one Y table YT. Further, R is a rail for moving the Y table YT, and the rail R is laid in a direction perpendicular to the arrow X1 or X2 (direction in which the automatic guided vehicle goes in and out). M is a position marker of the automated guided vehicle displayed on the floor surface G, and an automated guided vehicle that requires replacement of the storage battery 10 enters and leaves at a fixed position between the pair of markers M and M. Is. The Y table YT can be moved in a direction at right angles (arrows Y1 or Y2) with respect to the markers M, M, that is, the automatic guided vehicle, and the three charging devices 31, 32, 33 can be operated by the Y table YT. Move together with.

Next, referring to FIGS. 3 to 5, a method of replacing (putting in and taking out) the storage battery using the Y table YT will be described. First, in the state shown in FIG. 3, the storage battery 10A of the automated guided vehicle 1 that has entered between the marks M and M in the direction of the arrow X1,
It is assumed that the voltage has dropped and needs to be replaced (hereinafter referred to as used), and the storage battery 10B on the charging device 31 and the storage battery 10C on the charging device 33 have been charged. Then, the used storage battery 10A is moved to the vacant charging device 32 by the loading / unloading means 40.

Next, the Y table YT is moved in the direction of the arrow Y1 and the charging device 33 is moved to the automatic carrier 1 as shown in FIG.
Then, the charged storage battery 10C is moved in the arrow X2 direction, and the automatic guided vehicle 1 is started in the arrow X2 direction.

The next automatic carrier 1 is the Y table Y.
When it reaches T, the used storage battery 10D is moved to the vacant charging device 33, the Y table YT is moved in the direction of the arrow Y2 as shown in FIG. 5, and the charging device 31 is aligned with the same vehicle 1. Then, the charged storage battery 10B is connected to the same vehicle 1 (arrow X2
Direction) and start the vehicle 1 in the direction of arrow X2.

If the charging of the storage battery 10A first transferred to the charging device 32 (see FIG. 3) is completed during the time from the state shown in FIG. 3 to the state shown in FIG. Then, the storage battery 10 can be exchanged (taken in and out). 3 to 5, an example in which three charging devices are installed on the Y table YT has been described, but the number of convenient charging devices may be increased or decreased in consideration of the replacement frequency and charging time of the storage battery. Absent.

As described above, in this embodiment, a plurality of charging devices are installed on the table which moves laterally with respect to the automatic guided vehicle, and at least one charging device is vacant to be used for this vacant charging device. I tried to move the used storage battery. In addition, the charging time of the storage battery newly moved to the charging device is ensured by alternately transferring the charged storage battery to the automated guided vehicle. By doing so, not only can the storage battery be replaced automatically, but also a substantial increase in the replacement time due to waiting for the storage battery charging time can be avoided.

[0022]

According to the present invention, the storage battery mounting portion on which the storage battery is detachably mounted is inclined, and the terminal portion of the storage battery is brought into contact with the terminal portion of the automatic guided vehicle body by the weight of the storage battery. Thus, as long as the storage battery is mounted on the mounting portion, the terminal portion of the automated guided vehicle and the terminal portion of the storage battery come into contact with each other, and these terminal portions can be electrically connected. Therefore, replacement of the storage battery can be easily automated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an automated guided vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a storage battery according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory view of the automatic guided vehicle and the charging device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory diagram according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of conventional means.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic guided vehicle main body 2a Mounting part 3 Terminal part of automatic guided vehicle main body 10 Storage battery 11 Terminal part of storage battery

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an automatic guided vehicle for transporting an object to be conveyed by obtaining power from a storage battery, a storage battery mounting portion on which the storage battery is detachably mounted is inclined, and the weight of the storage battery causes the storage battery to be mounted on the storage battery. An automated guided vehicle, characterized in that the terminal portion and the terminal portion of the automated guided vehicle body are brought into contact with each other.