JPH08239121A - Linear motor-type spiral conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a spiral conveyor for spirally raise-conveying and lower- conveying a conveying article by being driven by a linear motor. CONSTITUTION: In a spiral conveyor 20, a plurality of carriages 25 capable of traveling on conveying paths 23 provided with a linear path part and a spiral path part are connected to each other by a universal joint, a slat 28 for loading the conveying article onto the carriage is provided, and a secondary side conductor 42 parallel to a conveying article loading surface 44 of the slat 28 is provided under the carriage so as to face a primary side armature 41 of a linear motor 40 provided on the linear path part. In the spiral conveyor, secondary conductors sequentially face the primary side armature, driving force is applied to the carriage provided with the facing secondary side conductor, and the carriage to which driving force is not applied is towed by the carriage. Since respective carriage are connected to each other by the universal joint, they are moved while being twisted in the spiral path part of the conveying path.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a spiral conveyor which is driven by a linear motor to vertically or vertically convey an article to be conveyed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional spiral conveyors are actually developed by Shokai 6
As disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-45610 (Japanese Patent Application No. 62-139350), it is driven by a chain and guided by a spiral rail to move circularly.

[0003]

However, since such a spiral conveyor is driven by a chain, it has the following problems. As the moving speed of the chain is increased, noise due to contact noise between link plates of the chain, engagement noise between the sprocket and the chain, and the like increase, and the speed of the chain cannot be increased. Heavy goods cannot be transported over long distances. By the way, the current technology limits the transportation of about 30 m.

[0004]

In the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of carriages, which circulate endlessly in a conveying path having a straight path portion and a spiral path portion, are connected to each other by a universal joint and are conveyed to the upper portion of the carriage. A linear motor provided with a slat for loading an article, and a secondary side conductor facing the primary side armature of the linear motor provided in the linear path portion in the lower part of the carriage and parallel to the transported article loading surface of the slat. The second type of spiral conveyor
In addition, a plurality of carriages that circulate endlessly through a transfer path having a straight path portion and a spiral path portion are connected to each other by a universal joint, and a tray on which an object to be transferred is loaded and which can be tilted laterally of the carriage. And a chute that guides a conveyed product discharged from the tray on the side of the conveyance path, and a tray that faces the primary side armature of the linear motor provided on the linear path portion at the bottom of the carriage. The above-mentioned problems have been solved by the linear motor type spiral conveyor provided with the secondary side conductor parallel to the load carrying surface when the article is not tilted.

[0005]

In the spiral conveyor according to the first aspect of the present invention, the driving force is applied only to the carriage having the secondary-side conductor that sequentially passes through the primary-side armature provided in the linear path portion of the transport path among the plurality of carriages. In addition, the driving force is not applied to other carriages. Therefore, the carriage to which the driving force is applied pulls the carriage to which the driving force is not applied.

Since the carriages are connected to each other by universal joints, they move while twisting each other in the spiral path portion of the transfer path. The goods to be conveyed are loaded on slats and conveyed. Since the primary armature of the linear motor is provided in the linear path portion of the transport path, both facing surfaces of the facing secondary conductor are flat.
If the primary armature is provided in the spiral path portion of the transport path, the facing surface must be a twisted surface.

In each of the carriages of the spiral conveyor according to the second aspect, the carriage to which the driving force is applied by the linear motor moves by pulling the carriage to which the driving force is not applied. Further, since the respective carriages are connected to each other by the universal joint, the carriages move while twisting each other in the spiral path portion of the transport path. The conveyed items are loaded on a tray and conveyed, and when conveyed to the vicinity of the chute, they are sorted and discharged to the chute by tilting of the tray.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Spiral conveyor 20 of the first embodiment
Will be described with reference to FIGS. The spiral conveyor 20 includes a straight path portion 21 and a spiral path portion 22.
The universal joint 2 on the transport path 23 having
A plurality of carriages 25, which are connected to each other at 4, move up and down under the guidance of the traveling rollers 26, 26 and the guide rollers 27, 27, and carry the articles W to be loaded on the slats 28 provided on the upper portion of the carriage 25. It is a type of carrier.

The transport path 23 (see FIG. 4) is a rail and is formed in an endless shape, and a portion near the U-shaped turnaround point and a portion for guiding the carriage 25 traveling back is a straight route portion 21 of the transport path 23. Is. A tray 29 is provided on the upper portion of each carriage 25, and the trays 29 are connected by a bellows 30 so that no gap is formed between them.
8 forming.

The linear motor 40 comprises a primary armature 41 and a secondary conductor 42. Secondary conductor 42
Are provided in the lower part of each carriage 25 in parallel with the transported object loading surface 44 of the slat 28. In addition, the secondary conductor 42
Is vertically opposed to the primary armature 41 installed in the portion near the U-shaped turning point, and is opposed to the primary armature 41 installed in the portion that guides the carriage 25 that travels back. Are facing each other in the left-right direction.

Next, the spiral conveyor 2 of the first embodiment
The operation of 0 will be described. Of the plurality of carriages 25, the carriage 2 including the secondary-side conductor 42 that passes through the primary-side armature 41 provided in the linear path portion 21 of the transport path 23.
The driving force is applied only to 5, and the driving force is not applied to the other carriages 25. For this reason, the carriage 25 to which the driving force is applied pulls the carriage 25 to which the driving force is not applied to move circularly.

Since the respective carriages 25 are connected by the universal joint 24, the carriages 25 move smoothly while twisting the spiral path portion 22 of the transfer path 23.
The conveyed article W is carried in from the carrying-in section 31 at the lower part of the carrying path 23, loaded on the slats 28, and carried to the carrying-out section 32 at the upper part and carried out. Although the spiral conveyor 20 in the above-described embodiment conveys the conveyed article W upward, it can also convey the conveyed article downwardly by moving the carriage in the opposite direction.

The primary armature 4 of the linear motor 40
The reason why 1 is provided in the straight path portion 21 of the transport path 23 is as follows. If the primary armature is provided in the spiral path portion 22, the facing surfaces of the primary armature and the secondary conductor must be twisted in conformity with the spiral path portion 22. However, as in the present invention, by providing the primary side armature 41 on the linear path portion 21 of the transport path 23, the facing surface between the secondary side conductor 42 and the primary side armature 41 can be made a flat surface. Therefore, it is not necessary to use the linear motor 40 having a special shape.

Next, the spiral conveyor 1 of the second embodiment
20 will be described with reference to FIGS. The spiral conveyor 120 of the second embodiment is different from the spiral conveyor 20 of the first embodiment in that it can be sorted and carried out.
Since the structure is the same as that of FIG.
The symbol "1" is added to the beginning of the symbol, and the description of the structure is omitted. A tiltable tray 129 is provided on the top of each carriage 125. Transport route 123
A chute 143 is connected to the spiral path portion 122 of.

Next, the spiral conveyor 12 of the second embodiment.
The operation of 0 will be described. Also in each of the carriages 125 of the spiral conveyor 120 of the second embodiment, the carriage 125 to which the driving force is applied by the linear motor 140 moves by pulling the carriage 125 to which the driving force is not applied.
Also, each carriage 125 has a universal joint 1
Since they are connected by 24, the spiral path portions 122 of the transport path 123 move while twisting each other. The goods W are loaded on the tray 129 and conveyed, and the chute 1
When transported to the vicinity of 43, the tray 129 is tilted and sorted and discharged to the chute 143.

Incidentally, the spiral path portions 22, 122 of the spiral conveyors 20, 120 of the first and second embodiments.
Is formed in a substantially perfect circle when viewed from above (see FIG. 10 for the spiral conveyor 120), but the ascending spiral path portion 22 of the spiral conveyor 220 described later.
Like 2-1 and the descending spiral path portion 222-2, it may be formed in an ellipse including a linear path portion when viewed from above. In this case, a primary side armature may be provided also in the straight path portion so as to face the secondary side conductor in the vertical direction.

A spiral conveyor 220 shown in FIG. 11 shows another embodiment of the spiral conveyor 120 of the second embodiment, and is combined with a storage shelf 250 to form a storage facility 251. This spiral conveyor 2
20 carries in, stores, and carries out the conveyed product W as follows. The articles W conveyed by the plurality of carry-in conveyors 252 are carried in the carry-in horizontal portion 23 of the carrying path 223.
3 is transferred to a carriage (not shown) that travels 3 and is conveyed to the ascending spiral path portion 222 of the conveyance path 223.

In the spiral path portion 222, the storage shelf 2
50 shelves 253 face each other, and desired shelves 253
The conveyed articles W conveyed up to are passed through the chute 243 from the ascending spiral path portion 222-1 and are sorted and sent to the shelf 253. Then, the transported object W
Are packed forward and stored in the shelf 253. On the other hand, the empty carriage unloading the conveyed product W travels on the high altitude return path portion 234 laid on the uppermost part of the storage shelf 250, descends the descending spiral path portion 222-2, and is laid on the floor. The first loading horizontal portion 23 after traveling through the low-place return path portion 235
3, the new conveyed product W is received, and the new conveyed product W is sent to the storage rack 250 again.

When carrying out the conveyed product W, when an empty carriage descending the descending spiral path portion 222-2 passes by the shelf 253 in which the conveyed product W is stored, It is transferred to the empty carriage, conveyed to the lowway return path portion 235, and sent to the desired discharge chute 254.
Be shipped from. As described above, the spiral conveyor 220 shown in FIG. 11 can carry in, store, and carry out the conveyed product W in cooperation with the storage shelf 250 while circulatingly moving.

[0020]

In the linear motor type spiral conveyor according to the first aspect of the present invention, since a plurality of carriages connected to each other by universal joints are not driven by a chain but by a linear motor, high speed transfer and loading are possible. It is possible to increase weight and reduce noise due to high-speed transportation. Further, since the primary side armature is provided in the linear path portion of the transport path, the facing surfaces of both the primary side armature and the secondary side conductor can be made flat, which complicates the structure of the linear motor. The carriage can be moved spirally without any need. Further, since the secondary side conductor is provided in parallel with the slat carrying surface, the front and rear ends of the secondary side conductor can smoothly travel even in the spiral route traveling route without interfering with the traveling route (for example, rail). It is possible, and there is no fear of hindering the curved traveling of the carriage. The linear motor type spiral conveyor according to claim 2 is
In addition to the effect similar to that of the spiral conveyor according to the first aspect, it is possible to discharge a conveyed product on a tray, which is conveyed by a carriage having a tray that can be tilted laterally of a conveying path, to a chute. Therefore, it is possible to sort the conveyed objects at an arbitrary height during transportation (for example, at an arbitrary shelf level of the storage shelf). Further, since the secondary side conductor is provided in parallel with the conveyed object loading surface when the tray is not tilted, the front and rear ends of the secondary side conductor may interfere with the traveling path (for example, rail) even in the spiral path traveling path. The vehicle can travel smoothly without any risk of hindering the carriage from traveling on a curved line.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a spiral conveyor according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed from a side orthogonal to a conveyance path.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a left side view of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a schematic front view of the spiral conveyor of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a view of a spiral conveyor according to another embodiment as viewed from a side orthogonal to a conveyance path.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a left side view of FIG.

8 is a schematic front view of the spiral conveyor of FIG.

9 is a schematic front view of the vicinity of the chute of the spiral conveyor of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of FIG.

11A is a plan view of a storage facility in which a spiral conveyor and a storage shelf are combined, and FIG. 11B is a view of FIG.
FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

20,120,220 Spiral conveyor 21,121 Straight path part 22,122,222-1,222-2 Spiral path part 23,123,223 Transport path 24,124 Universal joint 25,125 Carriage 28 Slat 40,140 Linear motor 41,141 Primary side armature 42,142 Secondary side conductor 44,144 Transported object loading surface 129 Tray 143,243 Chute

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of carriages, which circulate endlessly in a conveying path having a straight path portion and a spiral path portion, are connected to each other by a universal joint, and a slat for loading a conveyed object is provided on an upper portion of the carriage, and a lower portion of the carriage is provided. A linear motor type spiral conveyor characterized in that a secondary side conductor facing the primary side armature of the linear motor provided in the linear path portion and parallel to the conveyed object loading surface of the slat is provided. 2. A plurality of carriages, which circulate in an endless manner in a transfer path having a straight path portion and a spiral path portion, are connected to each other by a universal joint, and an object to be transferred is loaded on the carriage and tilted to the side of the carriage. A possible tray is provided, a chute that guides a product discharged from the tray is provided on the side of the transport path, and a primary side armature of a linear motor provided on the linear path portion is provided below the carriage. A linear motor type spiral conveyor characterized in that a secondary-side conductor is provided in parallel with a surface on which the tray is loaded when the tray is not tilted.