JPH06239451A - Four-direction type pallet conveyor equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide pallet conveyor equipment simple in structure and reduced in the number of part items and the manufacturing cost. CONSTITUTION:A pallet P is provided with longitudinal guide rails 3 and short side guide rails 4, and longitudinal travel rails 6A, 6B formed on both sides of the longitudinal guide rails 3, and short side travel rails 7A, 7B formed on both sides of the short side guide rails 4. A pallet conveyor device F is provided with four travel rollers 11 disposed in such a way as to be positioned at four cross parts among two longitudinal travel rails 6A, 6B and two short side travel rails 7A, 7B; a direction changing drive motor 17 for turning each travel roller 11 within the horizontal plane; a guide roller unit 20 for guiding the longitudinal guide rails or short side guide rails alternatively; and a link for changing the guide roller unit 20 selectively between the guide position of the longitudinal guide rails and the guide position of the short side guide rails.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a four-way pallet transfer facility. More specifically, the present invention relates to a pallet transport facility for loading automobiles and various articles to be transported such as various articles on pallets in a parking lot, a warehouse, a transportation line, etc., and transporting them while changing the direction in the front, rear, left and right directions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional pallet transfer facility, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
There is one shown in 63-74804. This conventional technique will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 6, the pallets 101 are arranged vertically and horizontally on the floor surface.
Rails 102 are vertically and horizontally projected on the back surface of the rail, and a point mechanism, that is, a disc 104 on which a short rail 105 is projected is rotatably attached to each intersection of these rails 102. (See Figure 7).

A drive unit 106 is installed on the floor surface as a pallet space.
Four per 103 are arranged side by side at a position corresponding to the disc 104 of the pallet 101. The drive device 106 is shown in FIG.
As shown in Fig. 7, it is provided on a disc 107 rotatably attached to the floor, is connected to a motor 108, and is composed of drive wheels 109 protruding above the floor and guide rollers 110, 110. There is. When the rails 102 or the short rails 105 of the pallet 101 move on the drive wheels 109, the guide rollers 110 contact the side surfaces of the rails 102, 105 to guide the feeding direction of the pallet 101.

As shown in FIG. 6, the disk 107 is provided with two arms protruding therefrom, and a rod 112 is provided at the tip of these arms.
Are pivoted with pins and the four discs 107 are rods 112 together.
Are connected by. A cylinder 113, which is electrically or hydraulically driven, is pivotally attached to one of the circular plates 107, and the circular plate 107 is rotated by expansion and contraction of the cylinder 113. Therefore, when the cylinder 113 is expanded and contracted / operated, the floor disk 107 connected to it rotates, and at the same time, the other three disks 107 connected by the rod 112 also rotate. Then, the disk 107 of the drive device 106
However, the short rail 105 is pushed and rotated through the guide roller 110 that rotates with the disc 107 to rotate the disc 104. In this way, the feeding of the pallet is changed in the four directions of front, rear, left and right.

[0005]

In the above-mentioned conventional example, the rotating rail structure is adopted as the point mechanism. However, since such a structure needs to be rotated while receiving a load loaded with an automobile or the like, An expensive and complicated device such as supporting the disk 104 on the pallet side with a bearing is required, and four guide rollers 110 are required for each of the four drive devices 106.
There is a problem that the number of parts is large, such as requiring 0 for 0.

In view of such circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a pallet transfer facility having a simple structure, a small number of parts and a reduced manufacturing cost.

[0007]

The pallet transport facility of the present invention comprises a pallet for loading articles to be transported, and a pallet transport device for selectively transporting the pallet in the longitudinal direction and the lateral direction thereof. The pallet is provided on the back surface of the mounting plate and extends in the longitudinal direction of the pallet, the longitudinal guide rail extending in the longitudinal direction, the lateral guide rail extending in the lateral direction, and the longitudinal guide provided above the lower end of the longitudinal guide rail. And a plurality of short running rails formed above the lower ends of the short guide rails and extending in the short direction. Is a plurality of running roller units arranged so as to be located at the intersection of the long running rail and the short running rail of the pallet, and each running roller unit is A swivel mechanism for swiveling in a plane, a guide roller unit that selectively guides the long guide rail or the short guide rail of the pallet, a guide position of the guide roller unit and a guide of the short guide rail And a guide position converting mechanism for selectively converting between the position and the position. Also,
The pallet transport facility of the present invention is characterized in that the guide position conversion mechanism operates in conjunction with the turning operation of the turning mechanism of the traveling roller unit.

[0008]

In the present invention, when the pallet is stopped at a fixed position on the pallet conveying device, the plurality of traveling roller units are located at the intersections of the long and short traveling rails of the pallet. Here, the turning mechanism that turns each running roller unit is driven to change the direction of each running roller along the long running rail or the short running rail, and at the same time, the guide roller unit is longitudinally guided by the guide position changing mechanism. Change the rail or short guide rail to a position where it can be guided. Then, by driving the traveling roller, the pallet can be sent in the longitudinal direction or the lateral direction. And
The guide roller unit reliably guides the feeding of the pallet by guiding the long guide rails or the short guide rails. Further, when the guide position conversion mechanism operates in conjunction with the turning operation of the turning mechanism of the traveling roller unit, the traveling roller unit and the guide roller unit are simultaneously changed in direction, The direction changing operation becomes reliable and simple.

[0009]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The four-way pallet transport facility of the present invention comprises a pallet P on which articles to be transported are loaded, and a pallet transport device F that selectively feeds the pallet P in its longitudinal direction and its lateral direction. . FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of the pallet P. The both end portions of the pallet P are solid lines, and the central portion is a traveling rail and a guide rail on the lower surface of the pallet, which are shown by solid lines. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the pallet P as seen from the back surface.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a placing plate for the pallet P, the upper surface of which can be used for loading automobiles and other articles, and the back surfaces of the guide rails 3, 4 and the traveling rails 6A, 6B, 7A. , 7B are formed. Guide rail 3,
Reference numeral 4 includes a long guide rail 3 extending in the longitudinal direction through the center of the pallet P and a short guide rail 4 extending in the short direction through the center. The traveling rails extend parallel to the lateral direction of the pallet P on both sides of the longitudinal guide rail 3 and on the lateral sides of the two longitudinal traveling rails 6A and 6B and the lateral guide rail 4 which extend parallel to the longitudinal direction of the pallet P. It consists of two short running rails 7A and 7B, both of which are guide rails 3,
4 is formed so that its lower surface (surface) is located above the lower end. The intersections of the long guide rails 3 and the short guide rails 4 are notched portions 8 in which the respective rails are notched, and each guide rail 3,
The rail portions of the guide rails 3 and 4 are cut out at the intersections between the rail 4 and the traveling rails 6A, 6B, 7A and 7B.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the pallet transfer device F, and FIG.
Is a side view of the same. 3 to 4, the traveling roller unit is constructed as follows. Four traveling rollers 11 are supported by the swivel base 12. Swivel
A support shaft 13 is attached to the lower surface of 12, and the lower end of the support shaft 13 is rotatably supported by a bearing 14 on the floor. All of the four traveling rollers 11 may be drive rollers connected with a motor with a speed reducer, and some of the rollers are driven so that two rollers diagonally located are drive rollers and the rest are driven rollers. The rest may be driven rollers as rollers.

All the four swivel bases 12 are connected by links 15, and one of the swivel bases 12 is connected by a link 16 to an arm 18 of a direction changing drive motor 17. This constitutes a turning mechanism. Therefore, when the drive motor 17 is driven to rotate the arm 18, the swivel base 12 can be swung 90 degrees via the links 16 and 15, and the traveling rollers 11 can be turned by 90 degrees as shown in FIG. .

A guide roller unit 20 is provided at an intersection point on a diagonal line connecting the four traveling rollers 11. This guide roller unit 20 has two guide levers.
It is composed of an X-shaped link 23 in which 21 and 22 are axially attached at their centers, and guide rollers 24 which are axially attached to both ends of the guide levers 21 and 22, respectively. The guide levers 21 and 22 are connected to the nearest swivel base 12 by levers 25 and 26, which constitute a guide position conversion mechanism. Therefore swivel
When turning 12, the guide lever 21,
22 is designed to open and close. Reference numeral 28 is an auxiliary guide roller for accurately feeding the pallet P to the adjacent position.

As shown in FIG. 1, the traveling rollers 11 of the pallet conveyor F are arranged at four intersections of the long traveling rails 6A, 6B and the short traveling rails 7A, 7B of the pallet P. Therefore, the guide roller unit 20 is located in the notch 8 at the intersection of the long guide rail 3 and the short guide rail 4. When the drive motor 17 is driven in such a fixed position, each traveling roller 11 changes its direction in the ground cut state at four intersections with the traveling rails 7A, 7B, 6A, 6B, and the guide roller unit 20. Can be switched between a state of holding the long guide rail 3 and a position of holding the short guide rail 4.

FIG. 3 shows a state in which the pallet P is run in the longitudinal direction. Each guide roller 24 of the guide roller unit 20 holds the longitudinal guide rail 3 and each running roller.
11 is oriented in the longitudinal direction of the pallet P. Therefore, when the traveling roller 11 is rotationally driven, the pallet P is fed in the longitudinal direction while being guided in the traveling direction by the guide roller unit 20. At this time, since the width of the X-shaped link 23 of the guide roller unit 20 in the lateral direction is small, it does not interfere with the lateral guide rail 4.

FIG. 5 shows a state in which the pallet P is run in the lateral direction. In order to change the state of FIG. 3 to the state of FIG.
Positioned concentrically above, the drive motor 17 causes the arm 18 to pivot in the direction of arrow a. Then, each swivel base of the traveling roller 11
12 rotates 90 degrees in the direction of arrow b, each roller 11 faces in the lateral direction of the pallet P, and each guide rail 22, 23 of the guide roller unit 20 moves in the direction of arrow c, so that each guide roller 24 Is in the illustrated state of holding the short guide rail 4. When the traveling roller 11 is rotationally driven in this state, the pallet P is fed in the lateral direction while accurately guiding the traveling direction in the lateral direction. Also in this case, since the X-shaped link 23 of the guide roller unit 20 has a small width in the longitudinal direction of the pallet P, it does not interfere with the longitudinal guide rail 3.

As described above, in the pallet transport facility of this embodiment, the pallet P can be sent in the longitudinal direction or the lateral direction, but since the pallet P does not use any rotating mechanism, its structure is used. Is simple, and the number of guide rollers required for one unit is four, and the number of parts is small, so that the equipment cost is low.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the above embodiment, the opening and closing of the guide roller unit 20 is configured to interlock with the direction change of the traveling roller 11, which has the advantage that the operation is simple, but it is not necessary to do so. The opening / closing of the guide roller unit 20 may be opened / closed by a power and an operating mechanism different from the direction change of the traveling roller 11. Also, the guide rails 3, 4
When the pallet P travels so that it passes through the center of the pallet P, the guide rollers 24 are prevented from being biasedly weighted, but this is not always necessary, and it is not necessary to do so. It may be provided on the pallet P. Further, although the pallet P of the above-mentioned embodiment has a rectangular shape, it is not always necessary to do so, and may have a square shape. In this case, the "longitudinal direction" and the "transverse direction" of the pallet P in the claims should be read as "one direction" and "another direction", respectively.

[0019]

According to the present invention, since a complicated and expensive point mechanism for turning the pallet P under a load is not required, the pallet has a simple structure and a small number of parts and a low equipment cost. Transport equipment may be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of pallet transfer equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the pallet P shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the pallet transport device F shown in FIG.

4 is a side view of the pallet P and the pallet transport device F shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a pallet transport facility F in a state of transporting the pallet P in the lateral direction.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a conventional pallet transport facility.

FIG. 7 is a rear view of a conventional pallet.

FIG. 8 is a side view (A) and a front view of a conventional point mechanism.
(B).

[Explanation of symbols]

P Pallet F Pallet transfer device 1 Mounting plate 3 Longitudinal guide rail 4 Short guide rail 6A, 6B Long running rail 7A, 7B Short running rail 8 Notch 11 Travel roller 12 Swivel base 15 Link 16 Link 17 Direction change drive Motor 20 Guide roller unit 21 Guide lever 22 Guide lever 23 X-shaped link 24 Guide roller 25 Link 26 Link

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location // B65G 47/52 101 B 7612-3F

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A pallet for loading articles to be transported, and a pallet transport device for selectively transporting the pallet in a longitudinal direction and a lateral direction thereof, the pallet being formed on a back surface of a mounting plate. A longitudinal guide rail extending in the longitudinal direction of the pallet, a lateral guide rail extending in the lateral direction, and a plurality of longitudinal running rails formed above the lower end of the longitudinal guide rail and extending in the longitudinal direction. The pallet conveying device is provided with a plurality of short-side traveling rails formed above the lower end of the short-side guide rail and extending in the short-side direction. A plurality of traveling roller units arranged so as to be located at the intersections with the rails, a revolving mechanism for revolving each traveling roller unit in a horizontal plane, and the pallet A guide roller unit for alternatively guiding the hand guide rail or the short guide rail,
A four-way pallet transporting device, comprising: a guide position conversion mechanism that selectively converts the guide roller unit between a guide position of a long guide rail and a guide position of a short guide rail. 2. The guide position conversion mechanism comprises the traveling roller.
The four-way pallet transport facility according to claim 1, wherein the four-way pallet transport facility operates in conjunction with the swing motion of the swing mechanism of the la unit. 3. The guide roller unit comprises an X-shaped link in which two guide levers are rotatably attached to each other about their centers, and guide rollers attached to both ends of each guide lever. The pallet is installed so as to be positioned at a notch formed by notching the rail at the intersection of the long guide rail and the short guide rail, and each guide roller when the X-shaped link is closed along the pallet longitudinal direction. 3. The four-way type pallet according to claim 2, wherein each of the guide rollers is configured to hold the longitudinal guide rail and to hold the short guide rail when closed along the lateral direction of the pallet. Transport equipment.