JPH09322389A - Article carrying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To limit a man only to the reception of a slight torque when the man is sandwiched between the portions of a carrying apparatus, by stopping its motor immediately when a slightly larger torque than its necessary driving torque for carrying a predetermined article is applied to it as an external load. SOLUTION: In the case of an ordinary driving in which an article receiving base 8 is lowered, when a man is sandwiched between the article receiving base 8 and a unitized surface, a servomotor 4 tends to increase its torque in the direction of sandwiching the man therebetween. In this case, when a slightly larger torque than its necessary driving torque for carrying a predetermined article is applied to the man sandwiched between the article receiving base 8 and the unitized surface, i.e., when the generation torque of the motor 4 reaches its maximum driving torque, a motor-drive stopping signal is inputted from a torque comparing means 24 to a drive stopping means 25, and the drive of the motor 4 is stopped immediately. As a result, the man sandwiched between the article receiving base 8 and the unitized surface is limited only to the reception of a light sandwiching force.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article conveying device using a motor as a drive source, which can arbitrarily control generated torque.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A motor for driving an article transporting device is selected based on the mass of an article to be transported and having a maximum driving torque that exceeds a starting torque required for transporting the article. . What is important here is that, from the viewpoint of safety, the transport device should be designed at a level such that even if a person is caught in the vehicle during normal operation, there will be no problem.

That is, when a person is caught in a device which conveys an article, the person receives a torque obtained by subtracting the driving torque required for conveying the article from the maximum driving torque of the motor. Therefore, it is important to design the conveying device at a level that does not cause a problem even if a person is pinched by the torque of this difference. Designed and manufactured.

[0004]

However, this means that the articles that can be carried are limited to those having a low mass, and if safety is taken into consideration, when a person is caught in an empty carrying device. This is an important point in designing and manufacturing the article conveying apparatus, but this means that the articles that can be conveyed are limited to those having a lower mass.

These are the cases of the apparatus for conveying the articles in the horizontal direction, and in the apparatus for conveying the articles in the vertical direction, the articles that can be conveyed are limited to those having a lower mass. . That is, when a person is caught during the downward transportation of the article, the motor that functions to support the conveyed article during normal operation operates to further press the sandwiched person together with the article.

From this, the conveyor is designed at a level such that the maximum drive torque of the motor, the mass of the article, and the mass of the article cradle would not be a problem, but this is an extremely lightweight article. However, in reality, it is difficult to manufacture a device that can be used for vertical transportation of articles.

Furthermore, when a trouble such as a person being caught occurs, it is common to operate the mechanical brake in addition to stopping the driving of the motor. It will be difficult to escape.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention uses a motor capable of arbitrarily controlling the generated torque as a drive source and takes a skillful control means.
An object of the present invention is to provide a device that can be safely carried by a person in a vertical direction even if the article to be conveyed has a heavy mass.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION According to the first aspect of the invention, the drive source of the article transporting device is a motor capable of arbitrarily controlling the generated torque, and the drive torque required for transporting the article determined in advance is used as the basis. The torque limiting means for limiting the maximum drive torque of the motor during normal operation to a value slightly higher than the drive torque required for the above-mentioned article transportation, and the motor torque detection for detecting the torque generated by the motor during normal operation. Means, and drive stop means for stopping the drive of the motor based on the comparison information that the motor generated torque has reached the maximum drive torque.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the drive source of the article conveying apparatus is a motor capable of arbitrarily controlling the generated torque, and the torque for calculating and storing the drive torque of the motor required for the article conveyance determined in advance is stored. Storage means, torque limiting means for limiting the maximum drive torque of the motor during normal operation to a value slightly higher than the stored drive torque required for the above-described article conveyance, and torque generated by the motor during normal operation is detected. The motor torque detection means is compared with the drive torque stored in the torque storage means and the generated torque of the motor, and the article to be conveyed is based on the determination result different from the article determined in advance, or the motor generated torque. Drive stop means for stopping the drive of each motor based on the comparison information that the drive torque has reached the maximum drive torque.

According to the article conveying apparatus of the first invention,
The maximum drive torque of the motor during normal operation is set according to the mass of the article to be conveyed, and when the torque generated by the motor during normal operation reaches the maximum drive torque, the drive of the motor is stopped. In other words, a small amount of torque that is obtained by subtracting the driving torque required to convey the article from the maximum driving torque, that is, a torque that is slightly larger than the driving torque that is predetermined to convey the article is conveyed by the conveyance device. Then, the drive of the motor is stopped.

Therefore, when a person is caught in the carrying device, it does not matter whether it is a horizontal carrying device or a vertical carrying device, and the mass of the article to be carried is small or large. Regardless, the person who is caught in the carrier device stops driving only when the above-mentioned slight torque is applied, so that the safety is excellent.

According to the article conveying apparatus of the second invention,
When the motor-generated torque during normal operation reaches the preset maximum drive torque, the drive of the motor is stopped in the same manner as in the first aspect of the invention, and in addition to this, the article to be transported is a predetermined article. Even if they are different from each other, the driving of the motor is stopped, so that the empty load operation and the conveyance of the low-mass article do not occur at all, and the safety is further improved.

Here, a torque control restricting means for restricting the target of the torque control of the motor by the torque restricting means to only the torque in the article conveying direction is provided, and the torque in the direction that functions to stop the article conveying apparatus is torque controlled. If the motor is not applied, the motor itself generates a braking force such as so-called engine braking when the driving of the motor is stopped, so that the conveying device can be stopped almost instantaneously.

Further, based on the information for stopping the driving of the motor from the driving stopping means, if the reverse driving means for driving the motor in reverse for a predetermined time is provided after the driving of the motor is stopped, the motor is sandwiched by the conveying device. The pinching of the person is immediately released, and the person can easily escape from the carrying device, thereby further improving safety.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment according to the first invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an article conveying device in the vertical direction. In the figure, 1 is a hollow post having one side opening, and a pair of guide rails 3, 3 are directed vertically in the inner surface of the left and right side plates 2. Is provided.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a servomotor mounted on and fixed to the upper plate 5 of the post 1 and capable of arbitrarily controlling the generated torque, for example, a servomotor having a built-in brake, which is driven by the motor 4 and through the speed reducer 6 in the forward and reverse directions. A shaft 7 is laid across the left and right side plates 2 of the post 1. Reference numeral 8 denotes an article cradle having a plurality of rolling rollers 9, which is attached to an elevating base 11 having rollers 10 guided by the guide rails 3 and 3.

Reference numerals 12 and 12 denote chain sprockets fixed to the drive shaft 7, and the lifting base 11 is provided at one end of the chains 13 and 13 wound around the sprockets 12 and 12.
, And the balance weight 14 is connected to the other end side. Reference numerals 15 and 16 are limit switches for stopping and driving the elevating base 11 at the upper and lower limits of the ascending / descending range, and 17 and 18 are stoppers for mechanically stopping the elevating base 11 at the upper and lower limits of the ascending / descending range.

Reference numeral 19 is a controller of the servo motor 4,
As shown in FIG. 2, a torque storage unit 21 that calculates and stores a driving torque of the motor 4 necessary for the conveyance of a predetermined article, and the maximum conveyance torque of the motor during normal operation are stored as described above. Torque limiting means 22 for limiting the value to a value slightly higher than the drive torque required for driving, motor torque detecting means 23 for detecting the torque generated by the motor 4 during normal operation, and motor generated torque from the motor torque detecting means 23. And a drive stop means 25 for stopping the drive of the motor 4 based on the comparison information that the motor generated torque has reached the maximum drive torque. ing.

As the servomotor 4, a motor having a maximum drive torque that is slightly higher than the starting torque required for lifting and conveying the article based on the maximum mass of the article to be conveyed is selected. However, the drive stopping means 25 is based on the torque generated by the motor when the motor 4 is started.
Does not stop driving the motor 4. That is, the torque limiting means 22 limits the motor torque during normal operation, not during startup, as described above, and the motor torque detecting means 23 likewise determines the torque generated by the motor 4 during normal operation. Since it is detected, the drive stopping means 25 does not participate in the control at the time of starting the motor 4.

According to the above-mentioned structure, the total weight of the article and the article receiving base 8 which is determined in advance, and the balance weight 14
The driving torque of the motor 4 required for the transportation of the article is calculated and stored by the torque storage means 21 based on the mass difference between and.

Here, if a person is sandwiched between the article receiving tray 8 and the unitized surface during normal operation in which the article receiving tray 8 is lowered, the servo motor 4 increases the torque in the direction of pinching the person. I will let you. At this time, if a person who is sandwiched by the article receiving tray 8 receives a torque that exceeds the drive torque required for the conveyance of the article determined in advance, that is, the motor-generated torque reaches the maximum drive torque described above. When it reaches, a signal for stopping the motor drive is input from the torque comparison means 24 to the drive stop means 25, and the motor 4
Is immediately stopped, and a person pinched by the article receiving base 8 is only required to apply a slight pinching force.

This clamping force is applied to the torque limiting means 22.
However, based on the drive torque required for the conveyance of the article determined in advance, the torque of a value slightly higher than this drive torque is limited as the maximum drive torque of the motor during normal operation. Regardless of size, the clamping force is almost the same.

As shown in FIG. 3, the object for torque control of the motor 4 by the torque limiting means 22 is provided with the torque control restricting means 26 for restricting only the torque in the article conveying direction, and functions to stop the article receiving tray 8. If the torque control is not applied to the directional torque, the motor 4 itself generates a braking force such as so-called engine braking when the driving of the motor 4 is stopped, so that the article cradle 8 is almost instantaneously stopped. It becomes possible.

Further, when the reverse rotation driving means 27 for reversely driving the motor 4 for a predetermined time after the driving stop of the motor 4 is provided on the basis of the information of the motor driving stop from the drive stopping means 25, the article receiving device is provided. A person pinched by the table 8 is less likely to be damaged by the instantaneous stop of the article receiving table 8 and the article receiving table 8 is immediately released from the article receiving table 8 so that the article receiving table 8 is caught. It is easy to escape from.

An embodiment according to the second invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, in the controller 19 shown in FIG. 2, the drive torque information stored in the torque storage means 21 of the controller 19 is input to the torque comparison means 24, and the drive torque stored in the torque storage means 21 and the motor 4 are stored. The generated torque is compared, and the product to be transported is driven based on the determination result different from the predetermined product, or based on the comparison information that the motor generated torque has reached the maximum drive torque. The feature is that the driving of the motor 4 is stopped by the stopping means 25.

According to this structure, when the motor-generated torque during normal operation reaches the preset maximum drive torque, the drive of the motor is stopped in the same manner as in the first aspect of the invention described above, so that the device Driving safety is ensured, and in addition to this, the drive of the motor 4 is stopped even when the article to be conveyed is different from the predetermined article, so that the empty load operation and the low mass article The situation such as transportation does not occur at all, and the safety is further improved.

In the controller 19 having the above-described structure, as shown by a phantom line, the torque control restricting means 26 is provided to stop the article cradle 8 almost instantaneously, or the reverse drive means 27 is provided. If the person's pinch by the article cradle 8 is immediately released, further improvement in safety is achieved.

The article conveying apparatus according to the present invention has been described as an apparatus for conveying an article in the vertical direction, but an article conveying apparatus for conveying an article in a horizontal direction or an oblique direction is an object of the present invention. It goes without saying that it is possible to Further, instead of the servo motor, an induction motor driven by a vector control inverter having a control system equivalent to that of the servo motor may be used.

[0030]

The present invention is embodied in the form as described above, and in the first invention, a torque that exceeds the drive torque required for the conveyance of a predetermined article by a small amount. When an external load is applied to the transfer device, regardless of whether it is a horizontal article device or a vertical article device, the motor drive is immediately stopped. When the object is pinched, a slight torque corresponding to the difference between the maximum driving torque and the driving torque necessary for carrying the article is applied regardless of the mass of the article to be carried. Can be provided as an extremely excellent product in terms of safety.

In addition to this, in the second aspect of the invention, even when the article to be conveyed is different from the predetermined article, the driving of the motor is stopped, which is called empty operation or conveyance of a low-mass article. Since such a situation does not occur at all, it is possible to provide an article transporting device with further improved safety.

In addition to these inventions, if the torque control restricting means and the reverse rotation driving means are provided, it becomes easy to instantaneously stop the apparatus and to escape a person caught in the apparatus. An improvement in safety is achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an article conveying device in a vertical direction.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a controller according to the first invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a controller according to another embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a controller according to a second invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

4 ... Servo motor, 21 ... Torque storage means, 22 ... Torque limiting means, 23 ... Motor torque detecting means, 25 ... Drive stopping means, 26 ... Torque control regulating means, 27 ... Reverse rotation driving means.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takayuki Ishihara 1 Toyota-cho, Toyota-shi, Aichi Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shigenobu Tatenuma 18-2 Higashiohori, Kagiya-cho, Tokai-shi, Aichi 123 C -215 (72) Inventor Yasuhiro Ikeno 3-20 Kinugahara, Toyota City, Aichi Shinmei Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Moto Tsuge 3-20 Kinugahara, Aichi Prefecture Shinmei Industrial Co., Ltd. In the company

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An article conveyance device using a motor capable of arbitrarily controlling generated torque as a drive source, wherein the motor during normal operation is based on a predetermined drive torque required for conveyance of an article. Torque limiting means for limiting the maximum drive torque to a value slightly higher than the drive torque required for the above-mentioned article conveyance, motor torque detection means for detecting the torque generated by the motor during normal operation, and motor generated torque And a drive stopping means for stopping the driving of the motor based on the comparison information indicating that the torque has been reached. 2. An article carrying device using a motor as a drive source capable of arbitrarily controlling generated torque, and torque storing means for calculating and storing a predetermined drive torque of the motor required for carrying an article. , Torque limiting means for limiting the maximum drive torque of the motor during normal operation to a value slightly higher than the drive torque required for the above-mentioned stored article conveyance, and motor torque detection for detecting the torque generated by the motor during normal operation Means, and the driving torque stored in the torque storage means and the torque generated by the motor are compared, and the article to be conveyed is based on a determination result different from that determined in advance, or the motor-generated torque is maximum driven. An article conveying apparatus, comprising: drive stopping means for stopping driving of each of the motors based on comparison information indicating that the torque has been reached. 3. A torque control restricting means for restricting the object of the torque control of the motor by the torque restricting means to only the torque in the article conveying direction, and performing torque control for the torque in the direction that functions to stop the article conveying apparatus. The article conveying apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the article conveying apparatus is not hung. 4. The reverse rotation driving means for driving the motor in a reverse direction for a predetermined time after the driving of the motor is stopped, based on the information of stopping the driving of the motor from the driving stop means. Goods transporter.