JPH08268269A - Equalizer mechanism of guide sensor in automatically guided carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To improve the directivity of a guide sensor by situating one of the guide sensors on a line segment heading for the turning center of an equalizer frame to be rotatably ranged with the side of a body frame, in this equalizer mechanism aligning a position of the sensor to a guider being set up on a traveling road surface. CONSTITUTION: An automatically guided vehicle available in the conveyance of a heavy load such as a steel sheet coil or the like is attached with an equalizer frame 7 rockably in the lower part of a main frame 2, installing a steering system 8a and a travel device 8b each at both sides of this equalizer frame 7. In addition, a rod 10a is vertically projected downward to the underside of a central part of the equalizer 7, and a guide sensor 10 is installed in the rod lower end. In brief, this guide sensor 10 is situated on a line segment heading for a turning center of the equalizer frame. Then a guider 51 going along a traveling road surface is detected by the guide sensor 10 and the steering system 8a is controlled, whereby travel along this guider 51 of the automatically guided carrier is thus realized.

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 for carrying coils, which is used, for example, in a steel plate coil manufacturing facility, and more particularly to an equalizer mechanism for aligning a sensor with an inductor arranged on a road surface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An automated guided vehicle used for carrying heavy objects such as steel plate coils is equipped with a traveling device whose direction can be changed by a steering device, and the traveling device includes a drive device and wheels rotationally driven by the drive device. The basic structure is provided with. Then, a guidance sensor for detecting the guidance is provided in the lower part of the vehicle body so that the guidance can be traveled along the guidance laid in advance on the road surface, and the steering device is controlled by inputting a signal from the guidance sensor to the controller. , Equipped with a mechanism to correct the running trajectory of the vehicle body.

In such an automatic guided vehicle, it is necessary for the guidance sensor to travel while always having a uniform positional relationship with respect to the inductor. For this reason, conventionally, an inductive sensor has been employed which is connected to a trolley having steering and wheels via an equalizer mechanism.

[0004]

Although there are various equalizer mechanisms in a conventional automatic guided vehicle, the basic principle of the equalizer mechanism is the lower end of a rod projecting downward from a truck in order to bring an inductive sensor closer to a dielectric on the road surface. An inductive sensor is provided in and the upper end of this rod is attached to the carriage.

However, in the conventional equalizer mechanism, the rod moves integrally with the sway of the carriage in the width direction. Therefore, when the vehicle body takes an inclined posture in the width direction due to the inclination of the road surface, for example, the rod also moves. The posture is orthogonal to the inclination of the road surface. For this reason, the position of the inductive sensor is displaced from that of the inductor laid on the road surface. Further, due to unevenness in the traveling direction, various road surface inclinations, and the like, misalignment between the induction sensor and the guide similarly occurs.

Due to such displacement of the position of the inductive sensor with respect to the induction body, there is a problem that the control of the steering device by the controller also becomes defective, which hinders stable traveling of the vehicle body.

The problem to be solved in the present invention is to maintain stable running by always maintaining the position of the dielectric sensor on the vehicle body side properly with respect to the dielectric of the road surface.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a steering device for a wheel and a traveling device, and at least two guiding sensors which are arranged at intervals in the traveling direction and which are laid on the traveling road surface for guiding guides. And an unmanned guided vehicle that controls the steering device and the traveling device by detecting the derivative by these inductive sensors, the steering device, the traveling device, and the wheels are provided on an equalizer frame, and the equalizer frame is provided on the equalizer frame. It is characterized in that the surface portion is rotatably connected to the main frame side of the vehicle body about a rotation center, and one of the inductive sensors is located on a line segment extending from the equalizer frame to the rotation center.

[0009]

By positioning the induction sensor on the line segment extending from the equalizer frame to the center of rotation, even when the wheels are displaced vertically due to unevenness or inclination of the road surface,
The guidance sensor is always maintained in a posture in which it is oriented toward the guide on the road surface side. Therefore, for example, when the equalizer frame is connected to the main frame by pin joining, the equalizer frame rotates around this pin, and the pointing position of the inductive sensor may largely deviate from the guide depending on the rotation angle. In contrast to this, in the present invention, the directivity of the induction sensor can be improved, and the derivative can be reliably detected.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is an internal structural view of an automated guided vehicle of the present invention as seen in a direction orthogonal to its traveling direction, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are positions as seen from arrows AA and BB in FIG. 1, respectively. It is a figure which shows the internal structure in.

In the figure, a jacket 1 covers the whole body to form a body, and the upper surface of the center of the jacket 1 serves as a mounting portion 1a for a steel plate coil. The main frame 2 is incorporated in the jacket 1, and a power board 3a is provided at the left end and a control board 3b is provided at the right end.

As shown in FIG. 2, a fixed base 4 is connected below the main frame 2 on the power board 3a side in a direction orthogonal to the traveling direction, and steering devices 5a and a steering device 5a are provided at both ends of the fixed base 4, respectively. The traveling device 5b is attached.
The steering device 5a includes a servo motor 5c that operates in response to a signal from the controller of the control panel 3b, and has a mechanism capable of changing the traveling direction of the traveling device 5b. The traveling device 5b is also provided with a servo motor 5d which is also controlled by the controller, and thereby the two wheels 5e can be rotationally driven.

Further, in the center of the fixed base 2 in the width direction,
The rod 6a is provided so as to vertically project downward, and the inductive sensor 6 is provided at the lower end of the rod 6a. The guidance sensor 6 is embedded in the road surface 50 and guides the track.
1 can be sensed and paired with a derivative having an equalizing function, which will be described later, and is used to input the respective signals to the controller of the control panel 3b to sequentially set the traveling direction of the vehicle body. .

On the other hand, in FIG. 3, an equalizer frame 7 is swingably attached below the main frame 2. The equalizer frame 7 is also provided with a steering device 8a and a traveling device 8b at both ends thereof, and these can be driven by servomotors 8c and 8d.
Each wheel b has two wheels 8e.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a vertical cross section of the main part at the position of the line C--C in FIG.

A pair of brackets 9a and 9b sandwiching the equalizer frame 7 in the front and back are provided on the lower surface of the central portion of the main frame 2 in the width direction so as to project downward. Then, a total of five upper cam followers 9c and 9d and a total of three lower cam followers 9e and 9f are provided on each of these brackets 9a and 9b.

As can be seen from the arrangement of the bolts and nuts 9c-1 for attaching them, the upper cam follower 9c provided on one of the brackets 9a is located directly below the core of the bolts and nuts 9c-1 located at the center and in the vertical direction. 2 is arranged in an arc shape equal to the distance R from the surface 50 of the running road surface 50 or the surface of the dielectric 51 embedded so as to be at the same level. Also, regarding the lower cam follower 9e, the traveling road surface 5 immediately below the core of the bolt / nut 9e-1 is
It is arranged in an arc shape equal to 0 or the distance r from the surface of the derivative. The same relationship applies to the upper and lower cams 9d and 9f provided on the other bracket 9b.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged vertical sectional view showing a main part of the equalizer frame 7 held by the brackets 9a and 9b.

As shown, the upper cam followers 9c, 9
d is a bracket 9a, 9b having a horizontal rotation axis
Are supported by bolts and nuts 9c-1 and 9d-1. On the other hand, the lower cam followers 9e and 9f have bolts and nuts 9e-1 and 9f-1 so that they have an oblique rotation axis.
Supported by. The equalizer frame 7 is provided on both sides with guides 7a that are inserted into the upper and lower cam followers 9c to 9f.

This guide 7a has an arcuate front shape as shown in FIG. 5 (b), and as shown in FIG. 5 (a), a horizontal upper sliding surface 7b and a lower upper sliding surface 7b which abut on the upper cam followers 9c and 9d. The inclined lower sliding surface 7c that abuts the cam followers 9e and 9f is formed. And
The arc shape of the guide 7a is the upper and lower cam followers 9c.
It is assumed that the array of ~ 9f corresponds to the arc created.

Returning to FIG. 3, a rod 10a is vertically projected downward on the lower surface of the central portion of the equalizer frame 7, and an inductive sensor 10 is provided at the lower end of the rod 10a. When the equalizer frame 7 is in the horizontal posture as shown in FIG. 3, the axial line of the rod 10a is oriented vertically and passes through the cores of the upper and lower cam followers 9c and 9e.

In the above construction, the automatic guided vehicle provided on the traveling road surface 50 travels while the induction sensors 6 and 10 detect the derivative 51, respectively, as shown in FIGS. At this time, by controlling the steering devices 5a and 8a by the signals from the inductive sensors 6 and 10, the automatic guided vehicle can travel on the track along the guide 51.

Here, when the road surface 50 is uneven or has an inclination at a curve, the wheel 8e rolls following these unevenness and inclination. Therefore, the rod 10a connected to the wheels 8e via the equalizer frame 7 also changes variously from the vertical posture shown in FIG. 3 to the inclined posture.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of such a posture change of the equalizer frame 7.

In this example, the equalizer frame 7 is in an inclined posture in which it rises to the right from the horizontal posture, and the bracket 9 is assumed to have a posture in which the main frame 2 corresponds to the horizontal traveling road surface 50.
If a and 9b are also maintained in a vertical posture,
Such an inclined posture of the equalizer frame 7 can be achieved only by the guide 7a moving while being guided by the upper and lower cam followers 9c to 9e. On the other hand, the upper and lower cam followers 9c to 9e have the derivative 5 as described above.
It is an arcuate array whose radius is the distance from 1. Therefore, when the equalizer frame 7 changes its posture, the equalizer 51 is always rotated about the center of rotation, and the axis line of the rod 10a extending vertically from the center of the equalizer frame 7 always directs the inductor 51. Rotate.

As described above, even when the equalizer frame 7 swings, the center of rotation of the equalizer frame 7 acts as the guide 51, so that the inductive sensor 10 at the tip of the rod 10a is always maintained in a uniform positional relationship with the guide 51. be able to. Therefore, even if the road surface 50 is uneven or the curve portion is inclined, the guide sensor 10 can reliably guide the driver 51.
Can be detected and stable running can be maintained.

Although the inclination of the equalizer frame 7 is described with reference to FIG. 6, even if the equalizer frame 7 is always maintained in a horizontal posture and the vehicle body side is inclined, the same operation as described above is performed relatively. Is.

[0028]

According to the present invention, since the induction sensor provided in the equalizer frame is capable of reliably directing the guide on the traveling road surface, the guide can always be detected with certainty, and the track correction by useless steering device, etc. In addition to eliminating the need for control, stable running is always possible, improving work efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an internal structural view of an automated guided vehicle of the present invention viewed in a direction orthogonal to a traveling direction.

FIG. 2 is an internal structural diagram at the position of arrow AA in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an internal structural diagram at the position of arrow BB in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line C-C in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a main part showing a connecting structure by a bracket of an equalizer frame.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a positional relationship between the inclination of the equalizer frame and the guide.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Jacket 2 Main Frame 3a Power Panel 3b Control Panel 4 Fixed Base 5a Steering Device 5b Traveling Device 5e Wheel 6 Induction Sensor 6a Rod 7 Equalizer Frame 7a Guide 8a Steering Device 8b Traveling Device 8e Wheel 9a Bracket 9b Bracket 9c Upper Stage Lower Cam Follower 9e Lower cam follower 9f Lower cam follower 10 Inductive sensor 10a Rod 50 Running road surface 51 Derivative

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A steering device for a wheel and a traveling device, and at least two inductive sensors which are arranged at intervals in the traveling direction and which are installed on a traveling road surface to detect a guide for traveling, and these inductive sensors. In an automatic guided vehicle that controls the steering device and the traveling device by detecting the derivative by the steering wheel, the steering device, the traveling device, and the wheels are provided in an equalizer frame, and the equalizer frame is rotated around the surface portion of the derivative as a rotation center. An equalizer mechanism for an induction sensor in an automated guided vehicle, which is movably connected to the main frame side of the vehicle body and one of the induction sensors is located on a line segment extending from the equalizer frame to the center of rotation thereof.