JPH08119100A - Conveying equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To simplify a structure and to horizontally hold an article placing part in a carriage, which conveys an article, in an elevating section as well as in a horizontal section. CONSTITUTION: An interval, in other words, a height difference between upper guide members 11a, 11b and lower guide members 13a, 13b for carrying a carriage 2 is set to H in a horizontal section, while a height difference, in other words, a length difference between a front leg 23a etc., and a rear leg 25a etc., is set to H equally. In an elevating section, inclination angles of the upper guide members 11a, 11b and the lower guide members 13a, 13b are set to a desired inclination angle θ2, in other words, an angle complying with an interval L and a height difference H between the front leg 23a etc., and the rear leg 25a etc., so that an article placing part in the carriage 2 is held horizontally so as to convey an article.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transport facility suitable for transporting and sorting articles in a collection / delivery center for various articles, a warehouse, and the like. The present invention relates to an equipment structure for stably traveling in a horizontal direction and an inclination direction along a guide member such as a guide rail laid on a surface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At a collection / delivery center or the like, a dolly on which articles are loaded and unloaded can be run on the floor or suspended on a guide rail or the like installed on the ceiling or the like to transport or sort the articles. It is carried out. If the cart is only moved horizontally, it is possible to reduce the inclination and sway of the entire cart regardless of whether it is traveling on the floor or in suspension, and it is possible to prevent articles from falling or falling. However, when articles are transported or sorted on, for example, the first floor and the second floor, it may be necessary to move the truck up and down depending on the restrictions of the building. If the truck is run along the slope in the ascending / descending section, the entire truck will run in an inclined state, and as a matter of course, accidents such as the load of the placed article falling or falling will occur. . In order to prevent such inconvenience, various proposals have been conventionally made.

For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-59007,
A "single article dispensing conveyor" is disclosed that horizontally holds a support plate for placing and transporting articles. The outline thereof will be described below. In addition to running the support plate along a rail, a rolling holder that is rotatable around a vertical axis and a horizontal axis is provided in front of and behind the support plate. The support plate is held horizontally by the action of the rolling holder in both the horizontal section where the rails are laid horizontally and the elevating section where the rails are laid in an inclined manner.

[0004]

However, the "single article distribution conveyor" is a trolley that travels along a rail and to which the support plate is attached, and in order to rotatably attach the rolling holder to the trolley. It is composed of a horizontal shaft provided and further two sets of rolling holders and the like, and each of the two sets of rolling holders has a vertical supporting roller and a horizontal supporting roller. Therefore, the structure is complicated, the number of man-hours is increased at the time of manufacturing, and the installation work at the installation site is troublesome. Further, since the number of parts is inevitably increased, the cost is increased in combination with the increase in the number of work steps. It is an object of the present invention to provide a transportation facility which has a simple structure and can always hold the article mounting portion of a trolley for transporting articles in a horizontal state not only in a horizontal section but also in a vertical section.

[0005]

The above object of the present invention is to set a desired height difference (H) in a horizontal section in which a carriage (2) for conveying articles is moved horizontally, and the carriage (2) is In the ascending / descending section that is obliquely moved up and down, a pair of left and right long upper guide members (11a, 11b) installed in a state of being inclined at a desired angle (θ2) and a pair of left and right long lower guide members (13a, 13b), front legs (23a, 23b) having wheels (27a, 27b) traveling along the upper guide members (11a, 11b), and wheels traveling along the lower guide members (13a, 13b). 29a, 29b) and the front legs (23
a, 23b) and a bogie (2) supported by rear legs (25a, 25b) whose relative heights are set to the height difference (H), and the bogie (2) is moved when the horizontal section moves. The upper guide member (11) in the elevating section is maintained so that the angle formed by the line connecting the wheels (27a, 29a) and the horizontal direction is maintained in the elevating section.
a, 11b) and the lower guide members (13a, 13b) are set to have an inclination angle (θ2).

[0006]

In the transport facility according to the present invention, the distance between the pair of upper and lower guide members for moving the carriage, that is, the height difference is set to a desired value in the horizontal section, while the front and rear legs supporting the carriage are set. Since the difference in height, that is, the difference in length, is also set to the same value, the carriage can be stably run in a horizontal state in the horizontal section. Further, in the ascending / descending section, the inclination angles of the pair of upper and lower guide members correspond to the distance between the front leg and the rear leg and the height difference between the line connecting the wheels and the horizontal direction when the truck moves in the horizontal section. Since the angle formed by is set so as to be held even in the ascending / descending section, it is possible to hold the article mounting portion of the trolley in a horizontal state even in the ascending / descending section and stably travel. Horizontal movement of the cart with the article loading section horizontal is performed by selecting the height difference between the pair of upper and lower guide members, the installation interval of the legs, and the height difference, so that the configuration of the entire transportation facility can be greatly simplified. it can.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a transfer facility to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 is a side view of the main part showing the configuration of the transfer facility, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the main part showing the configuration of the transfer facility. The structure of the transport facility 1 is roughly classified into a pair of left and right upper guide members 11a and 11b and lower guide members 13a and 13b, which are provided in parallel on the floor surface at a desired interval, that is, a height difference H, and the upper guide member 11.
a, 11b and the lower guide members 13a, 13b, for example, and a carriage 2 that travels in the direction of arrow X. It should be noted that the trolley 2 is schematically illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, and an example of a specific configuration will be described in detail later with reference to FIG. 6.

A pair of front legs 23a, 23b are provided upright at the lower front end of the base plate 21 constituting the carriage 2 in accordance with the laying intervals of the upper guide members 11a, 11b, and the lower rear end is provided at the lower rear end. A pair of rear legs 25a and 25b are provided upright in accordance with the laying intervals of the lower guide members 13a and 13b. The wheels 2 are attached to the tips of the front legs 23a and 23b.
7a, 27b are rotatably provided, and rear legs 25a, 25
Wheels 29a and 29b are rotatably provided at the tip of b. As shown in FIG. 2, engagement grooves 31a and 31b having an arc-shaped cross section are formed on the outer peripheral surfaces of the wheels 27a and 27b, and engagement grooves 33a having an arc-shaped cross section are also formed on the outer peripheral surfaces of the wheels 29a and 29b. 33b is formed. And front leg 2
Engaging grooves 31a, 3 of wheels 27a, 27b of 3a, 23b
1b engages with the upper surfaces of the upper guide members 11a and 11b,
Engagement groove 33 of wheels 29a, 29b of rear legs 25a, 25b
The a and 33b are engaged with the upper surfaces of the lower guide members 13a and 13b to allow the carriage 2 to travel along the upper guide members 11a and 11b and the lower sides 13a and 13b and prevent wheel removal. ing. Since FIG. 1 is a side view, the guide members 11b and 13b, the front legs 23b,
Illustration of the rear legs 25b and the like is omitted.

In the transportation facility 1 having the above-described structure, the carriage 2 is set horizontally, that is, the carriage 2 in both the horizontal section and the lifting section.
The substrate 21 which is the article mounting position is held horizontally and is transported while preventing the mounted article from slipping off or shifting. Therefore, the front legs 23a, 23b and the rear legs 25a,
The length of 25b is set to the same length difference as the height difference H of the upper guide members 11a, 11b and the lower guide members 13a, 13b so that the substrate 21 of the carriage 2 does not tilt in the horizontal section as shown in FIG. Is configured.

Next, the structure of the transition position from the horizontal section to the ascending / descending section will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the transition position from the horizontal section to the elevating section is the upper and lower guide members 11
Although a, 11b and 13a, 13b are bent in an inclined shape, each guide member 11a, 11b and 13a, 1
The bending position of 3b is not the same position. That is, the front legs 23a,
Since the space L is set between 23b and the rear legs 25a and 25b, the carriage 2 is inclined unless the horizontal section is moved to the elevating section at the same time. Therefore, the bending positions Pa of the upper guide members 11a and 11b and the lower guide member 1
The distance between the bending position Pb of 3a, 13b and the front leg 23a,
The distance L is set to be approximately the same as the distance L between the rear leg 23a and the rear leg 25a, 25b.

The bending angle θ2 of the upper guide members 11a, 11b and the lower guide members 13a, 13b is determined by the front leg 23.
a, 23b and the rear leg 25a, 25b distance L and height difference H
Determined by Here, looking at the angle θ1 formed between the floor La (horizontal plane) by extending the line La that connects the centers of the wheels 27a and 29a, the angle θ1 is found to be the front legs 23a and 23b.
Also, the distance L changes between the rear legs 25a and 25b and the height difference H. On the other hand, the bending position Pa of the upper guide members 11a and 11b and the bending position Pb of the lower guide members 13a and 13b need to be shifted by the distance L for the above reason.
If it is bent at the same angle as the angle θ1 in this state, the lower guide members 13a, 13b will be attached to the upper guide members 11a, 11b.
The wheels 29a and 29b cannot rotate due to the overlapping of b. Therefore, if the inclination angle of the upper guide members 11a and 11b and the lower guide members 13a and 13b is θ2, then θ1> θ2
It is set to have a relationship of.

To explain further, if the distance L between the front legs 23a, 23b and the rear legs 25a, 25b is made small, or the height difference H is made large and the angle .theta.1 is made large, the guide member 11 is obtained.
a, 11b and guide members 13a, 13b inclination angle θ2
Becomes large, and the substrate 21 of the trolley 2 can be made horizontal and raised at a steep angle. On the other hand, the front legs 23a,
When the distance L between the 23b and the rear legs 25a, 25b is set to be large and the height difference H is set to be small, the angle θ1 becomes a low angle, and the upper guide members 11a, 11b and the lower guide members 13a, 13b are The inclination angle θ2 also becomes a low angle. In this case, the trolley | bogie 2 comes to make the board | substrate 21 into a horizontal state, and raises gently at a low angle.

Next, the transition position from the ascending / descending section to the horizontal section shown on the left side of FIG. 1 will be described. Even at the transition position from the ascending / descending section to the horizontal section, the wheels 27a and 27b and the wheels 29a and 29b must be simultaneously moved to the horizontal section. Therefore, the upper guide members 11a and 11b
The distance L between the bending position Pa and the bending position Pb of the lower guide members 13a and 13b was set to L as in the above. With such a configuration, the carriage 2 can smoothly transition from the ascending / descending section to the horizontal section without inclining.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, one upper guide member 41 and one lower guide member 43 are provided with a height difference H. When this configuration is compared with the first embodiment, one of the upper guide member 11a and one of the lower guide member 13a is omitted, and for the trolley 2, one front leg 45 and one rear leg 47 are separated from each other. It is provided by L. The trolley 2 of this embodiment includes one front leg 45 and one rear leg 4.
Since it is supported by the wheel structure 7, the wheel structure similar to that of the first embodiment falls. Therefore, the vehicle mechanism 49 of the front leg 45 and the vehicle mechanism 51 of the rear leg 47 are configured as follows.

First, the vehicle mechanism 49 of the front leg 45 will be described. Wheels 49a for receiving the weight of the carriage 2 and diagonally left and right lower portions of the guide member 41 for preventing the carriage 2 from falling and falling off from the guide member 41. It is composed of two wheels 49b, 49c provided on the side. The wheels 4
9a is rotatably attached to a bearing portion provided at the lower end of the front leg 45, and wheels 49b and 49c are rotatably attached to a flange formed so as to straddle the guide member 45. On the other hand, the vehicle mechanism 51 of the rear leg 47 also has the same structure as the trolley 2 as described above.
51a for receiving the weight of the vehicle, and two wheels 51b, 5 for preventing the cart 2 from falling and falling off from the guide member 43.
1c. Vehicle mechanism 49, 5 having the above-mentioned configuration
According to 1, the guide members 41 and 43 are sandwiched by the three wheels, so that not only the support of the carriage 2 but also the fall can be prevented, and one front leg 45 and one rear leg 47 are connected. Despite the simple configuration provided, the substrate 21 of the carriage 2 can be transported while being horizontal.

Since the difference in length between the front leg 45 and the rear leg 47 is set in accordance with the height difference H between the upper and lower guide members 41 and 43 as described above, in the horizontal section the cart 2 is placed on the article loading section as described above. It is possible to run a certain substrate 21 horizontally. The bending structure of the vertical guide members 41, 43 from the horizontal section to the vertical section, and further from the vertical section to the horizontal section is set in the same manner as in the first embodiment. Therefore, in this embodiment as well, in both the horizontal section and the elevating section, it is possible to make the substrate 21 of the carriage 2 in a horizontal state and stably travel. The guide members 11a, 11b, 13a, 13b in the first embodiment and the guide members 41, 43 in this embodiment are shown in FIG.
As illustrated in the above, the support member 53 is used to fix the wall surface or the floor.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, one upper guide member 55 and two lower guide members 57a and 57b are arranged so as to have a triangular cross section. Then, one front leg corresponding to the upper guide member 55 is provided on the lower side surface of the base plate 21 constituting the carriage 2, and the lower guide member 57a,
Two rear legs are provided corresponding to 57b. In addition,
The structures of the front legs and the rear legs may be the same as those described in the first embodiment, and are therefore given the same reference numerals.

The front leg 23a and the rear legs 25a and 25b are arranged like a tricycle, so that the height difference is set corresponding to the height difference H between the upper guide member 55 and the lower guide members 57a and 57b. The bending angle between the upper guide member 55 and the lower guide members 57a and 57b also has a height difference H,
The distance between the upper guide member 55 and the lower guide members 57a and 57b is set in the same manner as described above. Therefore, also in the present embodiment, the base plate 21 of the carriage 2 can be made to run horizontally and stably in the vertical section as well as in the horizontal section. The upper guide member 55 and the lower guide member 57
The support structure of a and 57b may be the same as the above.

Next, an example of the structure of the carriage 2 will be described with reference to FIG. The trolley 2 in this embodiment includes a conveyor belt 3
Is equipped to load and unload articles. That is, between the side plates 6a and 6b, the roller 7a that rotates in conjunction with the motor 40 and the free roller 7
b is provided, and the conveyor belt 3 is wound around them. The motor 40 is rotationally controlled in forward and reverse directions. Further, at least one trolley 2 has front wheels 27a.
A generator 42 interlocked with is provided, and the control device 44 operates the motor 40 by using the generator 42 as a power source. Electric power from the generator 42 is supplied to all the trucks 2. The control device 44 appropriately controls the rotation of the motor 40 based on the sorting information to appropriately sort the articles placed on the belt 3. Here, the sorting information is supplied to the control device 44 wirelessly or by wire. The carriages 2 are connected to each other by a connecting member 46. Connecting member 46
So that it can be rotated three-dimensionally with respect to the carriage 2.
Is linked to Therefore, the trolley | bogie 2 can respond | correspond to curve traveling and up-and-down traveling. According to such a configuration,
All wheels 2 can be driven by driving the wheels of at least one vehicle 2 by a traveling motor (not shown).

By providing the trolley 2 having the above structure, when the trolley 2 is conveyed to a predetermined position and stopped, and the motor 40 is rotated, the conveyor belt 3 runs, and articles can be loaded or unloaded. Therefore,
The transport facility 1 shown in the present embodiment not only transports articles but also functions as a sorting facility by selectively rotating the motor M. Alternatively, the carts 2 may not be connected to each other, and each cart 2 may be provided with a traveling motor so that the carts 2 can travel by themselves. Hard rubber or the like is suitable as the material of each wheel. Alternatively, a structure may be adopted in which the carriages 2 are connected with a rope and the rope is towed to travel.

Further, the guide member in each embodiment may be formed in a spiral shape instead of being simply inclined. In any case, since the inclination angle is determined by the height difference H between the front leg and the rear leg and the distance L as described in each embodiment, the inclination angle is not limited to a specific inclination angle, and is not limited to a specific inclination angle. And the layout becomes easier. Further, the structure of the carriage 2 is not limited to the structure for loading and unloading articles by the conveyor belt, and a structure for inclining the article mounting surface and sliding the articles can be applied. As described above, the transport facility 1 shown in the present embodiment has a simple structure and the carriage 2 can be horizontally moved in a stable state at all times. Can be widely used in.

[0022]

As described above, in the transportation equipment according to the present invention, the interval between the pair of upper and lower guide members for traveling the carriage, that is, the height difference is set to a desired value in the horizontal section, The height difference between the front and rear legs that support the carriage is set to the same value, that is, the difference in length is set to the same value, and the inclination angle of the pair of upper and lower guide members in the ascending / descending section corresponds to the distance between the front and rear legs and the height difference. Then, the angle formed by the line connecting the wheels to each other and the horizontal direction when the carriage moves in the horizontal section is set so as to be maintained even in the vertical section. Therefore, in the horizontal section, since the height difference between the upper and lower guide members is the same as the height difference between the front and rear legs, the cart can travel horizontally and stably. In addition, in the ascending / descending section, the inclination angle of the upper and lower guide members is set in accordance with the height difference between the front leg and the rear leg, so that the article placing portion of the trolley can be placed in a horizontal state for stable traveling. The horizontal traveling of the trolley is performed by selecting the height difference between the pair of upper and lower guide members and the installation interval and height difference between the front and rear legs.Therefore, there is no complicated rolling holder etc. that deforms according to the inclination angle. It becomes unnecessary. Therefore, the configuration of the entire transportation facility can be greatly simplified, the number of parts and the number of working steps can be reduced, and various effects such as easy maintenance can be achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a configuration of a transportation facility according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing a configuration of a transfer facility.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a transportation facility showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a main part showing a configuration of a transfer facility.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the main parts of the transportation facility showing the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a configuration example of a carriage.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Transport Equipment 2 Carriage 3 Conveyor Belt 6a, 6b Side Plate 7a Roller 7b Free Roller 11a, 11b, 55 Pair of Upper Guide Member 13a, 13b, 57a, 57b Pair of Lower Guide Member 21 Substrate 23a, 23b, 45 Front Leg 25a, 25b, 47 Rear leg 27a, 27b, 29a, 29b Wheel 31a, 31b, 33a, 33b Engagement groove 40 Motor 42 Generator 44 Control device 46 Connecting member M Motor L Distance between front leg and rear leg H Height of upper and lower guide members Difference θ1 Angle corresponding to the height difference between the front and rear legs θ2 Inclination angle of the guide member

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Hiroki Shinohara 8-19-20 Higashisuna, Koto-ku, Tokyo Toyo Kanetsu Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A desired height difference (H) is set in a horizontal section in which a carriage (2) for transporting articles is horizontally moved, and a desired angle is set in a lift section in which the carriage (2) is slanted up and down. A pair of left and right elongated upper guide members (11a, 11b) and a pair of left and right elongated lower guide members (13a, 13b) installed in a state of being inclined at (θ2).
And a front leg (23a, 23) having wheels (27a, 27b) traveling along the upper guide member (11a, 11b).
b) and wheels (29a, 29b) traveling along the lower guide members (13a, 13b), and the relative height with respect to the front legs (23a, 23b) is set to the height difference (H). A carriage (2) supported by rear legs (25a, 25b), wherein the carriage (2) moves the wheels (27) when moving in the horizontal section.
a, 29a) The upper guide member (11a, 11b) and the lower guide member (13a, 13b) in the ascending / descending section are maintained so that the angle between the line connecting them and the horizontal direction is maintained in the ascending / descending section. Inclination angle (θ2)
The transport facility (1) characterized in that