JPH09156640A - Pallet-stacking device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To securely fit the upper ends of pillars into holding holes and perform a smooth stacking operation. SOLUTION: This device stacks a plurality of pallets 30 by placing the underside of the base of an upper one onto the pillars of a lower one. And the device is equipped with a floor lifter 4 for raising and lowering the upper pallet 30 carried first by a chain conveyor 2, a pallet support devices 11A and 11B capable of holding the upper pallet, raised by the lifter, in a specific position, and a combination guide-clamp 12, provided at the front end of a pallet support device arm 10 capable of advancing and retracting, which guides the upper ends of the pillars of the next-carried lower pallet 30 into specific parts of the underside of the base of the upper pallet supported by the pallet support device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pallet stacking device which is provided on a transportation line of an engine or the like of an automobile and stacks a plurality of pallets on which the engine and the like are mounted.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, trucks are used to convey parts such as automobile engines and transmissions between factories, and a pallet on which a part is placed has a predetermined pallet between parts. They are stacked in two stages, for example, while maintaining a space (in the vertical direction).

In this stacking, as shown in FIG. 10, conventionally, an upper pallet 101A first lifted by a lifter 100 on a transfer line of an engine or the like.
Is clamped from both sides with clamp claws 102 and held.
Next, the lowered lifter 100 raises the lower pallet 101B this time, and the upper ends of the four columns 103 standing on the pallet are fitted into the holding holes 104 on the lower surface of the upper pallet 101A via the guides 105. . After that, by removing the clamp claw 102, the upper pallet 101A
Are stacked on the lower pallet 101B, and then lifted down to stack the upper and lower pallets 10B.
1A and 101B are loaded on a truck bed by a forklift.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional stacking system, the support column 103 and the holding hole 104 are provided.
Since there is no suitable means for guiding the sheet to the holding hole 104, the holding hole 104 may not be fitted securely, which causes a problem that the stacking work cannot be performed smoothly. Further, even if a guide for supporting a pillar is provided on the lower surface of the pallet to solve this problem, since the pillar 103 is erected at each corner of the pallet, the holding holes 104 are also located at the corresponding corners. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult to secure a space for providing a guide of an appropriate shape and size on the lower surface of the pallet around the pallet, and the weight of the pallet increases due to the provision of the guide.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a pallet stacking device capable of surely fitting the upper ends of the columns into the holding holes and performing a smooth stacking operation.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a stacking device for pallets according to the present invention is installed on a transportation line of an engine or the like, and a pedestal for mounting the engine or the like and a pedestal for mounting the engine or the like are provided. A device for loading a pallet consisting of a plurality of columns standing upright from a pedestal in multiple stages by placing the lower surface of the pedestal of the upper pallet on the columns of the lower pallet. A lifter that raises and lowers the conveyed upper pallet, a pallet support device that can hold the lifted upper pallet at a predetermined position, and a pallet support for the upper ends of the columns of the subsequently conveyed lower pallet. And a guide for guiding to a predetermined position on the lower surface of the pedestal of the upper pallet supported by the apparatus.

Further, a pallet, which is installed on a transfer line of an engine or the like and has a pedestal for mounting the engine or the like and a plurality of columns standing upright from the pedestal, is used as an upper pallet on the column of the lower pallet. Is a device for loading the lower surface of the pedestal in a plurality of stages, and a stopper for stopping the pallet conveyed on the conveying line at a predetermined position and a pallet stopped by the stopper are moved up and down. A lifter, a lifter control device that turns the lifter at a predetermined height, a pallet support device that can hold a pallet lifted by the lifter, and a guide that slides on the upper end of a support column of the pallet when the pallet moves up. The lifter control device raises the upper-stage pallet that has been first conveyed to a first position that is higher than the upper ends of the columns of the pallet. Further, the pallet support device drives and controls the lifter so that the pallet for the lower stage that has been conveyed next is raised until the upper ends of the columns of the pallet reach the second position which is higher than the first position. The upper pallet is disposed at the first position to hold the upper pallet, and when the lower pallet rises to the second position, the guides bring the upper ends of the columns of the lower pallet to the lower surface of the upper pallet at the first position. It is characterized in that it is arranged to guide.

The pallet support device operates when the lifter reaches the first position to hold the upper pallet, and then releases the operation when the lifter reaches the second position in the next step. It is preferable to open the upper pallet. Further, the pallet support device has an arm arranged laterally of the pallet elevating zone at the first position and having an arm for horizontally pressing the upper pallet and a drive device for driving the arm forward and backward. It is suitable. Further, the pallet support device has a second stopper provided on the opposite side of the arm across the pallet elevating zone and at the same position in plan view as the stopper in the advancing / retreating direction of the arm. It is suitable. In the pallet support device, at least one pair of a second arm for advancing and retracting in a horizontal direction perpendicular to the advancing and retracting direction of the arm and a second drive device for driving the second arm are opposed to each other. It is preferable to have. Further, it is preferable that the second arm and the drive device of the pallet support device are arranged on the second stopper side in a plan view. Further, it is preferable that the guide is fixed to the arm. Also,
The guide is preferably fixed to at least the second arm. Further, it is preferable that the guide is arranged so as to come into contact with the lower surface of the upper pallet supported by the pallet supporting device. Further, it is preferable that the guide is a pyramid or a cone that is widened downward, and that the side surface of the arm tip side is open.
Further, it is preferable that a discriminating device for discriminating the type of the conveyed pallet is installed on the conveying line, and only the pallets discriminated as the same type are moved up and down by the lifter.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[Embodiment] An embodiment of a pallet stacking apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is a side view of the stacking device, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same, FIG. 3 is a rear view of the same, FIG. 4 is a structural view of a guide, FIG. 5 is a structural view of a stopper, and FIG. 6 is a side view of a pallet. 7 is a plan view of the same, FIG. 8 is a rear view of the same, and FIG. 9 is a view of FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a floor lifter 4 driven by a hydraulic unit 3 is placed at a predetermined position on a conveyor line such as an engine composed of a chain conveyor 2 on a floor 1.
Is installed, and a frame structure 5 is assembled on the floor 1 so as to surround the floor lifter 4.

Further, a stopper 6 which can be vertically retracted is provided on the floor 1 located behind the floor lifter 4 (downstream of the transfer line) and is arranged on the upstream side of the transfer line, and is provided on each pallet 30. When the pallet discriminating device 21 for discriminating the type of pallet by reading the attached bar code detects a predetermined pallet 30 to be described later, the pallet 30 is stopped and positioned so as to project above the chain conveyor 2 and be stacked. It is like this. The pallet discriminating device 21 discriminates the type of various pallets 30 conveyed on the conveyor 2, and sends out the pallet to another line (not shown) if the pallet is of a type not stacked by the floor lift 4. The pallets sent to this other line are sent to another lifter similar to the above-mentioned main floor lift 4, and like the main floor lift 4, pallets of the same type are stacked.

On the support frame 5A attached to the rear intermediate portion of the frame structure 5 (first position of the floor lifter 4),
A pair of left and right pallet supporting devices 11A and 11B provided with an arm 10 movable in the front-rear direction by an electric motor 7 via a rack-pinion mechanism 8 and a linear guide 9.

On the support frames 5B, 5C attached to the left and right side intermediate portions (first position) of the frame structure 5, an electric motor 7 interposes a rack-pinion mechanism 8 and a linear guide 9. Arm 10 that can be moved left and right
Pallet support devices 11C and 11D provided with are provided to face each other.

A guide / clamp 12 for holding the upper pallet 30 and guiding the lower pallet 30 is fixedly provided at the tip of each arm 10, and the upper surface of the guide / clamp 12 is fixed. A second stopper 13 for positioning the upper pallet 30 is fixed.

As shown in FIG. 4, the guide / clamp 12 has a cylindrical guide member 14 having a pyramid shape (or a conical shape) which is widened downward and one side surface of which is open, and an arm mounting plate portion 15a. And a support member 15 in which a U-shaped pallet holding plate portion 15b is bent and formed in an L shape, and are joined together by welding or the like via a connecting plate 16 as appropriate.

When the guide / clamp 12 is attached to the tip of each arm 10 via the arm attachment plate portion 15a, one open side surface of the tubular guide member 14 is located in front of the arm 10. It is like this.

The stopper 13 is, as shown in FIG.
Similarly, an L-shaped stopper plate 18 is erected from the L-shaped mounting plate 17. When being attached to the pallet holding plate portion 15b of the guide / clamp 12 with bolts or the like, the pallet 30 is attached so that it is pressed against the corners of the pallet 30 from the outside. That is,
As shown in FIG. 2, with respect to the pallet supporting devices 11A and 11B, the stopper plate portions 18 are located on the rear side and the left and right sides along the pallet conveying direction, and the pallet supporting devices 11C and 11D are forward. It is attached so that it may be located in the side and the right and left sides, respectively. The guide / clamp 12 and the stopper 13 are fixed to each other such that the inner surface of the cylindrical guide member 14 of the clamp 12 and the inner surface of the stopper plate 18 of the stopper 13 are flush with each other. .

1 and 2, 19 is a pallet discriminator capable of discriminating a plurality of types of pallets 30 having different sizes by four photoelectric switches. The pallet 30 drawn into the floor lift 4 has a large size. The pallet discriminating device 21 cooperates with the pallet discriminating device 21 to reliably stack pallets of the same type. That is, this floor lift 4
Does not always stack only the same type of pallets,
Since the two pallets to be stacked are of the same kind, it is possible to stack different pallets every two. Reference numeral 20 is an abnormality detector for detecting whether the pallet 30 lifted to the first position by the floor lifter 4 has an abnormal posture such as inclination.

As shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, the pallet 30 is erected from the four corners of the pedestal 31 on which an engine or the like can be mounted via the brackets 32 and the like so that the stanchions 33 can be folded, and at the same time, the pedestal 31 can be mounted. Holding holes 34 into which the upper ends of the columns 33 of the lower pallet 30 can be fitted are formed at the four corners of.

Further, on the lower surfaces of the four corners of the pedestal 31, auxiliary guides 35 for guiding the columns 33 of the lower pallet 30 and having guide surfaces 35a inclined from the inside to the outside are attached. As shown in FIG. 9, the auxiliary guide 35 has an L-shape when viewed from the bottom with the corner side of the pallet open.

With such a structure, when the pallets 30 are conveyed by the chain conveyor 2 and passed in front of the pallet discriminating device 21 for stacking, the type is discriminated by the bar code, and the stopper 6 is moved upward of the chain conveyor 2. While being projected, the pallet 30 is drawn into the floor lift 4, whereby the pallet 30 is moved to the floor lift 4
Is stopped and positioned above.

At the same time, the hydraulic unit 3 is operated by a lift control device (not shown), and the floor lift 4 is raised to move the pallet 30 to the above-mentioned first position (the pallet 3).
It is located higher than the upper end of the column 0).

After that, the pallet supporting devices 11C and 11D
Is operated, each arm 10 advances toward the pallet 30, and eventually the guide / clamp 12 at the tip of the arm is positioned below the front part of the pallet 30 and the stoppers 13 are located at the lower front parts of the left and right side faces of the pallet 30. Then, the pallet 30 is positioned right and left.

Next, the pallet supporting devices 11A and 11B are operated, and each arm 10 advances toward the pallet 30,
Eventually, the guide / clamp 12 at the tip of the arm will move to the pallet 3
The pallet 3 is located below the rear part of the pallet 0 and the stoppers 13 are pressed against the lower left and right sides of the rear surface of the pallet 30 and the stoppers 13 of the pallet supporting devices 11C and 11D.
Positioning before and after 0 is performed.

Thereafter, the size of the pallet 30 on which the pallet discriminator 20 is positioned is confirmed.

When the floor lift 4 is lowered after the upper pallet 30 is positioned in this manner, the pallet 30 is placed on the four guide / clamps 12, and this time, the pallet support device 11A, 11B, 11
It is held by C and 11D.

After that, if it is confirmed that the pallet that has passed in front of the pallet discriminating device 21 is the same type as the pallet at the first position, the pallet 30 is sent to the floor lifter 4, and the same operation as described above is performed. The pallet 30 is raised by the floor lift 4 to the above-described second position (the upper ends of the pillars of the pallet 30 are located higher than the first position).

At this time, the columns 33 of the lower pallet 30
(Upper end) is a pallet support device 11A, 11B, 11
The tubular guide member 14 of the guide / clamp 12 in C and 11D, and the auxiliary guide 35 formed in the hatsat 30.
Is smoothly guided by and is securely fitted into the holding hole 34 of the upper pallet 30. That is, the pallet 3 in the first position
The holding hole 34 of 0 is surrounded by the guide member 14 on three sides, and the open side of the guide member 14 is surrounded by the L-shaped auxiliary guide 35 of the pallet 30, so that the support column 3
3 is surrounded by 4 sides and will be guided surely.

In this state, the pallet supporting devices 11A, 1
All the arms 10 of 1B, 11C and 11D are retracted so that the guide / clamp 12 is mounted on the base 31 of the upper pallet 30.
If removed from the lower surface, the upper pallet 30 is stacked on the columns 33 of the lower pallet 30.

Thereafter, the stacking abnormality detector 20 is inspected for abnormality, and if there is no abnormality, the floor lift 4 is lowered to return the stacked upper and lower pallets 30 to the transport line.

As described above, in this embodiment, the pallet supporting devices 11A, 11B, 11C, and 11D are connected to each other, so that the upper pallet 30 can be positioned and held, and the columns of the lower pallet 30 can be supported. Since 33 can be reliably guided to the holding hole 34 of the upper pallet 30, the stacking work can be performed smoothly and quickly.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, the lifter for raising and lowering the upper pallet first conveyed on the conveying line and the upper pallet raised by the lifter can be held at predetermined positions. Since the pallet supporting device and the guide for guiding the upper end of the post of the lower pallet that has been conveyed to a predetermined position on the lower surface of the pedestal of the upper pallet supported by the pallet supporting device are provided, The upper end can be reliably guided to a predetermined position on the lower surface of the pedestal of the upper pallet, and the stacking work can be performed smoothly and quickly.

Further, in the present invention, the stopper for stopping the pallet conveyed on the conveying line at a predetermined position, the lifter for moving the pallet stopped by the stopper up and down, and the lifter for turning at a predetermined height. The lifter control device, the pallet support device that can hold the pallet lifted by the lifter, and the guide that slides on the upper end of the pallet of the pallet when the pallet is lifted are provided. The pallet for the upper tier that has come up is lifted to a first position that is higher than the upper ends of the pallets of the pallet, and the pallet for the lower tier that is next conveyed is moved to the first position where the upper end of the pallet for the pallet is higher than the first position. Drive control of the lifter to raise it to the 2 position,
The pallet support device is disposed at the first position to hold the upper pallet, and the guide causes the upper end of the support column of the lower pallet to move to the first position when the lower pallet rises to the second position. Since it is arranged so as to guide the lower surface of the upper pallet, the stacking work can be easily automated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a stacking device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a structural explanatory view of a guide.

FIG. 5 is a structural explanatory view of a stopper.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the pallet.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 8 is a rear view of the same.

FIG. 9 is a view on arrow P of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a structural explanatory view of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 floor 2 chain conveyor 3 hydraulic unit 4 floor lifter 5 frame structure 6 stopper 7 electric motor 8 rack-pinion mechanism 9 linear guide 10 arms 11A, 11B, 11C, 11D pallet support device 12 guide / clamp 13 stopper 30 pallet

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. Installed on a transfer line such as an engine,
To load a pallet consisting of a pedestal for mounting the engine and the like and a plurality of columns standing upright from the pedestal in multiple stages by placing the pedestal lower surface of the upper pallet on the column of the lower pallet A lifter for raising and lowering the upper pallet that was first conveyed on the above-mentioned conveying line, a pallet supporting device for holding the upper pallet raised by the above-mentioned lifter at a predetermined position, and then being conveyed. A stacking device for a pallet, comprising: a guide for guiding the upper end of a column of the coming lower pallet to a predetermined position on the lower surface of the base of the upper pallet supported by the pallet supporting device. 2. Installed on a transfer line such as an engine,
To load a pallet consisting of a pedestal for mounting the engine and the like and a plurality of columns standing upright from the pedestal in multiple stages by placing the pedestal lower surface of the upper pallet on the column of the lower pallet Device for stopping the pallet conveyed on the conveying line at a predetermined position, a lifter for raising and lowering the pallet stopped by the stopper, and a lifter control for turning the lifter at a predetermined height. The lifter control device includes a device, a pallet support device that can hold a pallet lifted by the lifter, and a guide that slides on the upper end of a support pillar of the pallet when the pallet moves up. The upper pallet is raised to the first position, which is higher than the upper end of the column of the pallet, and the pallet for the lower tier, which has been conveyed next, is moved to the first position. Tsu strut upper end of the bets is high than the first position and the second
The lifter is driven and controlled so as to be raised to reach the position, the pallet support device is arranged at the first position to hold the upper pallet, and the guide is used when the lower pallet is raised to the second position. The pallet stacking device is arranged so that the upper ends of the columns of the lower pallet are guided to the lower surface of the upper pallet at the first position. 3. The pallet support device operates when the lifter reaches the first position to hold the upper pallet, and then releases the operation when the lifter reaches the second position in the next step. The pallet stacking device according to claim 2, wherein the upper pallet is opened. 4. The pallet support device has an arm which is disposed laterally of the pallet elevating zone at the first position and which horizontally pushes the upper pallet and a drive device which drives the arm forward and backward. 4. The stacking device for pallets according to claim 2 or 3. 5. The pallet support device has a second stopper provided on the side opposite to the arm across the pallet elevating zone and at the same position in plan view as the stopper in the advancing / retreating direction of the arm. The stacking device for pallets according to claim 4. 6. The pallet support device includes a second arm that advances and retracts in a horizontal direction perpendicular to the advance and retreat direction of the arm and a second drive device that drives the second arm so as to face each other. Claim 4 or 5 which has at least 1 pair.
Stacking device for the pallets described. 7. The stacking device for a pallet according to claim 6, wherein the second arm and the drive device of the pallet support device are arranged on the second stopper side in a plan view. 8. The stacking device for pallets according to claim 4, 5, 6 or 7, wherein said guide is fixed to said arm. 9. The stacking device for a pallet according to claim 8, wherein the guide is fixed to at least the second arm. 10. The stacking device for a pallet according to claim 8, wherein the guide is arranged so as to contact the lower surface of the upper pallet supported by the pallet supporting device. 11. The stacking device for a pallet according to claim 8, 9 or 10, wherein the guide is a pyramid or a cone that is widened downward and has a shape in which a side surface of the arm tip side is opened. 12. A discriminating device for discriminating the type of a pallet being conveyed is installed on the conveying line, and only the pallets discriminated as the same type are moved up and down by the lifter. , 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or 11 stacking apparatus for pallets.