JPH10181864A - Article transporter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reliably detect obstacles around a self-advancing article transporter which comes into contact with a guide rail laid on the floor as the travel path at its one side so as to be guided thereby, by arranging an obstacle detector means at the bumper of the transporter extending over the overall width of the body at the front end in the travel direction. SOLUTION: A self-advancing article transporter T involves on its one side along the travel path guided parts 17 and 18 adapted to come into contact with a guide rail 8 laid on the floor so as to be guided thereby. The article transporter T travels with the guided parts 17 and 18 being guided by the guide rail 8. The article transporter T is provided at the front end of its body 11 in the travel direction with a bumper 46 including an obstacle detector means for detecting obstacles by the contact therewith. The underside of the bumper 46 is raised on the side of the guide rail 8 above the top of the guide rail 8 to avoid its interference therewith.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention comprises a guided portion which is guided in contact with a guide rail provided on a floor surface along a lateral side of a traveling path of an article carrier, and the guided portion defines the guided portion. The present invention relates to a self-propelled article carrier that travels while being guided by guide rails.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Such an article transporting vehicle is used, for example, in an automatic warehouse, etc., and travels on a floor or on a rail installed on the floor along a guide rail installed on the floor. In general, a bumper provided with obstacle detection means for detecting contact with an obstacle is provided in front of the vehicle body in the traveling direction, and the bumper detects the obstacle and travels along with the obstacle. It is configured to stop. by the way,
In most cases, obstacles to the article transport vehicle are mostly placed on the floor, so that the bumper is conventionally provided near the floor, and the guide rail is installed on the floor. Also, there is a tendency to install as close as possible to the floor surface in order to avoid being in the way of other objects or to be advantageous in terms of construction, resulting in the following inconveniences.

[0003] That is, since the bumper on the article transport vehicle side and the guide rail installed on the floor are both provided close to the floor, the guide rail 8 is provided as shown in FIG. Is curved toward the article transport vehicle T side,
There is a possibility that the bumper 46 </ b> A contacts the lateral side surface of the guide rail 8. Therefore, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 13A, a portion that may interfere with the guide rail 8 (a portion shown by a two-dot chain line in the drawing) is cut off, and the bumper 46A is removed.
Is shorter than the width of the vehicle body 11 at present.

[0004]

Therefore, as shown by a solid line in FIG. 13 (b), the guide rail 8 has a straight line, or as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. At the place where it curves to the opposite side of car T,
There is a portion without the bumper 46A in front of the body rail 11 of the article transport vehicle T on the guide rail 8 side, and if there is an obstacle in this portion, there is a possibility that the detection of the obstacle may become impossible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks. It is an object of the present invention to provide a bumper over the entire width of a vehicle body in the traveling direction of the vehicle body, and an obstacle detecting means provided in the bumper. The object of the present invention is to provide an article transport vehicle that can reliably detect an obstacle.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article transporting vehicle which travels while being guided by a guide rail installed on a floor, in the traveling direction of the vehicle body. A bumper provided with obstacle detection means for detecting contact with an obstacle, and the lower surface of the guide rail side portion of the bumper is positioned above the upper surface of the guide rail in order to avoid interference with the guide rail. Therefore, in a place where the guide rail is curved toward the article transport vehicle, the bumper provided on the article transport vehicle is located above the guide rail, and the bumper is mounted on the lateral side of the guide rail of the bumper. Contact is avoided. Therefore, the bumper provided with the obstacle detecting means can be provided over the entire width of the article transport vehicle in the vehicle body width direction, and an obstacle to the vehicle body during traveling of the article transport vehicle can be reliably detected.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the article transporting vehicle travels directly on the floor surface, the rail for traveling provided on the floor surface becomes unnecessary, so that the forklift travels and the worker walks. Without getting in the way of
Construction costs can also be reduced.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since one drive wheel and two driven wheels that rotate in contact with the floor are provided on the body of the article transport vehicle, the article transport vehicle can be used. Even if there is unevenness on the running floor, the drive wheels that drive the vehicle and both driven wheels will surely come into contact with the floor, and the body will be It can be run with stability.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, one of the driving wheel and the driven wheel is provided so as to be deviated toward the guided portion with respect to the center in the left-right direction of the vehicle body. Therefore, the distance between the guide rail for guiding the article transport vehicle and the drive wheels is relatively short, and the turning radius of the article transport vehicle can be reduced. Thus, the turning radius of the article transport vehicle is reduced. In addition, as described above, the bumper can be reliably prevented from contacting the lateral side surface of the guide rail, and an obstacle over the entire width of the vehicle body can be reliably detected. On the other hand, the two driven wheels are deviated to the opposite side of the guided portion with respect to the center of the vehicle body in the left-right direction, and are provided so as to be displaced in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body. By increasing the distance between the driven wheels,
The vehicle body can be run with good stability.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the end of the bumper on the guide rail side extends to above the guide rail,
Since it is configured to cover the guided portion as viewed from the front in the traveling direction of the vehicle body, not only can an obstacle covering the entire width of the vehicle body be detected, but also the guided portion projecting from the vehicle body to the guide rail side can be detected. Can detect obstacles,
It is also possible to avoid contact of the obstacle with the guided part.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, since the bumper body constituting the bumper can be elastically deformed, even if the bumper comes into contact with an obstacle, the impact at the time of the contact can be reduced. A bumper support is attached to the back surface of the bumper body, the bumper body is held on the base plate via the bumper support, and the bumper support is configured to be more easily elastically deformed than the bumper body. Thus, a space is formed between the back surface of the bumper main body and the base plate, and the obstacle detection means is located in the space. Therefore, even if a small impact is applied, the bumper main body is elastically deformed by the bumper support. Moving to the base plate side, the obstacle is detected using the moving force and the moving amount, so that the contact of the obstacle with the bumper is ensured. It is possible to detect.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the article transport vehicle according to the present invention is applied to the transport of articles in an automatic warehouse will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, an automatic warehouse using this article transport vehicle stores various articles A on a pallet P
A plurality of article storage shelves 1 for storing and storing the articles in a state where the stacker crane 2 having a lift, a fork, and the like moves along the rails 3 between the article storage shelves 1 having frontages facing each other. It is provided as possible. Each article storage shelf 1
On the front side, a carry-in device 4 composed of a carry-in lifter 4a, a conveyor 4b, and a transfer lifter 4c, and a carry-out device 5 composed of a carry-out lifter 5a, a conveyor 5b, and a transfer lifter 5c are alternately arranged.

An article carry-in section 6 and an article carry-out section 7 are provided on the opposite side of the article storage shelf 1 with respect to the carry-in apparatus 4 and the carry-out apparatus 5, and these article carry-in section 6, article carry-out section 7, and A loop-shaped guide rail 8 is provided between each of the carry-in devices 4 and the carry-out device 5 along the traveling path of the article transport vehicle T, and the articles that travel by themselves while being steered and guided along the guide rails 8. A transport vehicle T is provided. The article carry-in section 6
Is located near the article loading section 6 and supplies the article A to the article carrying-in section 6 while the article A is placed on the pallet P. Conveyor 10 for transporting from the delivery location to the delivery location
Are arranged.

When the articles A are stored in the article storage shelves 1, the articles A supplied to the article carry-in section 6 by the storage conveyor 9 are transferred to the article transport vehicle T while being mounted on the pallets P. The article transport vehicle T transports the article A to any one of the loading devices 4, and transfers the entire pallet P onto the transfer lifter 4c of the loading device 4. Then, the carry-in device 4 moves the article A together with the pallet P from the transfer lifter 4c to the conveyor 4b.
To the carry-in lifter 4a, the carry-in lifter 4a is transferred onto the stacker crane 2, and then the stacker crane 2 is carried to a predetermined storage section of the article storage shelf 1 in which the article A is to be stored. The pallet P is configured to be transferred and stored.

When taking out the article A, the stacker crane 2 moves to the storage section of the article storage shelf 1 in which the article A to be taken out is stored, based on information from a control device (not shown). A is taken out together with the pallet P, transported, and transferred onto the unloading lifter 5a of the unloading device 5. Then, the unloading device 5 transports the article A together with the pallet P from the unloading lifter 5a to the transfer lifter 5c by the conveyor 5b, and the transfer lifter 5c is transferred to the article transport vehicle T.
Thereafter, the article transport vehicle T is transported to the article unloading section 7 and transferred along with the pallets P, and the unloading conveyor 10 is transported from the article unloading section 7 to the unloading location.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the article carrier T has a vehicle body 11 having a pair of left and right main frames 11a and 11b arranged in the front-rear direction, and front ends of both main frames 11a and 11b. The front connection frame 11c connects the parts, and the rear connection frame 11d connects the rear ends of the main frames 11a and 11b. One driving wheel 12 for traveling, which rotates in contact with the floor B, is attached to the lower side of the middle portion in the front-rear direction of the left main frame 11a of the vehicle body 11, and is attached to the same left main frame 11a. The right main frame 1 is configured to be rotationally driven by the electric motor M1.
Below the front end side and the rear end side of 1b, two driven wheels 13 that idle in contact with the floor surface B are also provided on the left side of the main frame 11a. Two auxiliary wheels 14 are attached to the rear side and the lower side, respectively. One driving wheel 12 and two auxiliary wheels 14 are located on the left side of the vehicle body 11 with respect to the center CL of the vehicle body 11 in the left-right direction. , And two driven wheels 13 are provided to be deviated to the right.

A guide arm 15 extending laterally outside the vehicle body 11 is provided in front of and behind the left main frame 11a of the vehicle body 11.
Is provided, and a support 16 that is rotatable around an axis P1 in the vehicle body vertical direction is attached to each guide arm 15,
A pair of left and right guide rollers 17 and 18 as guided parts are rotatably attached to each support 16 in a front and rear direction. These pair of front and rear guide rollers 17 and 18 are
It is covered by a guide cover 19 extended from the left main frame 11a.
11b, the conveyor case 2
The conveyor guide 20 is attached to each conveyor case 20, and the chain conveyor 2 is attached to each conveyor case 20.
2 are provided, and are configured to be driven to rotate forward and backward by an electric motor M2 attached to each conveyor case 20.

A power supply unit 23 is provided on the right main frame 11b of the vehicle body 11 to supply power to the electric motor M1 for driving the driving wheels 12 and the electric motor M2 for driving the chain conveyor 22 and to control them. The pallet P on which the article A is loaded is transferred by the forward / reverse rotation drive of the chain conveyor 22 by the electric motor M2, and the lifter 5c
It is configured such that it can be carried in and transferred from the article carrying section 6 onto the vehicle body 11, and can be carried out and transferred to the transfer lifter 4c and the article carrying section 7. The drive wheel 12 driven by the electric motor M1 is, as shown in FIG.
Are formed as non-steered wheels supported only by rotation about an axis Y in the lateral direction of the vehicle body by an axle case 25 fixed to the lower surface of the left main frame 11a, and with respect to the center CL of the vehicle body 11 in the left-right direction. The guide rollers 17 and 18 are deviated to the side where they are located.

The driven wheel 13 is, as shown in FIG.
A wheel supporting member 2 that is composed of a pair of idler wheels 13a that is rotatably mounted on the axle 26 and that supports the axle 26;
7 is supported via a bearing to a driven wheel support 28 fixed to the right main frame 11b, and is configured to be rotatable around the axis X1 in the vehicle body vertical direction with respect to the vehicle body 11. Further, the axle 26 is supported by a wheel support member 27 via a support pin 29, and the pair of idler wheels 13a is configured to be rotatable around an axis perpendicular to the vertical axis X1. Have been. Therefore, the driven wheels 13 located before and after the vehicle body 11 have a caster wheel function of turning around the axis X1 when the traveling direction of the vehicle body 11 is changed,
In addition, when the vehicle body 11 is tilted left and right, the rolling function is provided so as to be tilted around the axis of the support pin 29 and securely contact the floor surface.

The auxiliary wheel 14 is, as shown in FIG.
The wheel-side support 30 is rotatably supported by the wheel-side support 30, and the wheel-side support 30 is connected to a vehicle-body-side support 31 that is rotatably attached to the left main frame 11 a around an axis X <b> 2 in the vehicle-body vertical direction. 32 to form caster wheels. Further, each auxiliary wheel 14 is pressed downward about the axis of the connecting pin 32 by a spring 33 interposed between the wheel-side support 30 and the vehicle-body-side support 31, and It is configured to be able to swing up and down around the core. The wheel-side support 30
A contact portion 30a protrudes from the upper surface of the
a is a stopper bolt 3 screwed to the vehicle body side support 31
4, the front and rear auxiliary wheels 14 swing up and down around the axis of the connecting pin 32 with the front and rear inclination of the vehicle body 11. It is configured to contact the bolt 34 to prevent further inclination.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the guide rollers 17, 18 are rotatably mounted on four roller support shafts 35 provided on a support 16, and the support 16 is provided with guides. The above-mentioned shaft center P1 is attached to a rotation support shaft 36 rotatably provided on the extension end side of the arm 15.
It is configured to be able to rotate around. At the base end of the guide arm 15, an elongated hole 15a is provided.
A connecting pin 37a attached to a fixed guide bracket 37 is inserted through the lower surface of the left main frame 11a into the inside of the body 5a, and four guide rollers 17, 18 are moved laterally outward from the vehicle body 11 as shown by solid lines in FIG. A lower use state in which the guide roller 8 projects from the upper side and comes into contact with the guide rail 8 from above, and as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG.
The switch 18 is configured to be switchable to a raised storage state in which the switch 18 is pulled out of the guide rail 8 upward.

A plurality of lock bolts 38 are provided for fixing the guide arm 15 to the guide bracket 37 in the lower use state, and support the guide rollers 17 and 18 in the fixed lower use state. Rotation axis P of support 16 with respect to guide arm 15
1 is located immediately above the guide rail 8, the two outer guide rollers 17 contact the left side of the guide rail 8, and the two inner guide rollers 18 contact the right side of the guide rail 8, respectively. As the wheels 12 are driven and driven, the article transport vehicle T is configured to travel on the floor B while being steered and guided along the guide rail 8.

The guide rail 8 is, as shown in FIG.
It is fixed to a plurality of support stands 39 erected on the floor B by bolts and nuts 40, and the upper surface of the guide rail 8 is located lower than the lower surfaces of the connecting frames 11c and 11d in front and behind the article transport vehicle T. In this state, it is laid at a substantially constant height from the floor B. On the upper surface of the guide rail 8, a band-shaped magnet 4 for instructing position information or the like to the article transport vehicle T is provided.
1 is provided on the left and right sides, and based on detection by the pair of left and right magnetic sensors 42 provided on the support body 16 on the rear side of the vehicle body, the article transport vehicle T is caused to travel at a low speed on a curved path and at a high speed on a straight path. It is configured as follows. A power supply rail 43 for supplying power to the article transport vehicle T is attached between the side surfaces of the support table 39 on the article transport vehicle T side.
Current collector 44 for receiving power supply from
It is provided on the side. The current collector 44 is attached to a current collecting arm 45 extending from the front guide bracket 37, constantly contacts the power supply rail 43 to receive driving power, and receives the electric motors M 1, M 2 via the power supply unit 23. Is configured to supply power.

The front connecting frame 1 of the article transport vehicle T
1c and the rear surface of the rear connecting frame 11d,
A bumper 46 made of a synthetic resin, which is substantially the same as or slightly longer than the width of the vehicle 1, is mounted on the frontmost and rearmost surfaces of the article transport vehicle T in plan view. As shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, each of the bumpers 46 is a relatively hard neoprene bumper main body 47 whose front side is curved in a circular shape and is elastically deformable, and is adhered to the back surface of the bumper main body 47 with an adhesive. And a relatively soft sponge bumper support 48, and the bumper support 48 is attached to a base plate 49 made of sheet metal with an adhesive. The bumper support 48 has a rectangular cross section, and the band-shaped bumper support 48 is attached to the periphery of the back surface of the bumper body 47 so that the periphery of the bumper body 47 is attached to the bumper support 47. A space surrounded by 48 is formed, and a belt-shaped belt switch 50 as an obstacle detection unit attached to a base plate 49 with an adhesive is provided in the space with a slight gap between the belt switch 50 and the back surface of the bumper body 47. It is stored in the retracted position.

The base plate 49 has a U-shaped cross section. As is clear from FIGS. 10 and 11, near the left and right end portions are inclined to the rear surface side, and at the left and right inclined portions. Is provided with an opening 51, and each opening 51
A switch support 52 made of neoprene is adhered to the rear surface of the base plate, and a plurality of mounting holes 53 are formed in a lower piece of the U-shaped base plate 49. The front connection frame 11c and the rear connection frame 11d to which the bumper 46 is attached via the base plate 49 have an L-shaped cross section, and an inverted L-shaped support plate 54 is fixed to an intermediate portion thereof. Mounting hole 53
When the base plate 49 is mounted with bolts and nuts 55 using the mounting holes of the lower pieces of the connection frames 11c and 11d, the support plate 54
9 is configured to support the lower surface of the upper piece.

As described above, the bumper 46 is connected to the front connecting frame 1.
In a state where the front rail 1c is attached to the rear surface of the rear connecting frame 11d, the upper surface of the guide rail 8 is located lower than the lower surfaces of the front and rear connecting frames 11c and 11d as described above. As shown, the lower surface C of the bumper 46 is located slightly above the upper surface D of the guide rail 8. Then, when an obstacle comes in contact with the bumper 46, the soft bumper support 48 is deformed and the bumper body 4 is deformed.
7 moves to the vehicle body 11 side and presses the belt switch 50 to turn on. ON of this belt switch 50
Is configured to automatically stop traveling when an obstacle is detected by the vehicle. The bumper body 4
When the 7 presses the belt switch 50, the opening 51 is formed in the inclined portion of the base plate 49,
The belt switch 50 is prevented from being damaged by the inclined protruding portion, and the pressing force is received by the switch support 52 on the back surface, so that the belt switch 50 is configured to be reliably turned ON.

[Another Embodiment] In the above embodiment,
An example is shown in which the bumpers 46 provided before and after the article transport vehicle T are configured to be substantially the same as the width of the vehicle body 11 or slightly longer than the width, but the lower surface of the bumper 46 is located above the upper surface of the guide rail 8. Since it is located, the end of the bumper 46 on the guide rail 8 side can be extended above the guide rail 8, and FIG. 12 shows this. As shown in this figure, the ends of the front and rear bumpers 46 on the guide rail 8 side extend to above the guide rails 8 and, when viewed from the front in the running direction of the vehicle body 11, move from the vehicle body 11 to the guide rails. The guide rollers 17, 18 protruding to the side 8 and the guide cover 19 for the guide rollers 17, 18 can be extended to a position covering the guide rollers 19, 18, thereby obstructing the guide cover 19 and the guide rollers 17, 18. It is also possible to avoid contact with objects. Since the other configuration shown in FIG. 12 is the same as the previous embodiment, the same reference numerals are given and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the embodiments described above, as apparent from FIG. 3, the bumper 46 is formed in a band-like rectangular shape that is long in the lateral direction when viewed from the front in the running direction of the vehicle body 11, and the lower surface of the bumper 46 extends over its entire length. Although the example in which C is positioned above the upper surface D of the guide rail 8 has been described, it is necessary that only the lower surface C of the bumper 8 that interferes with the guide rail 8 be positioned above the upper surface D of the guide rail 8. Can also.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an automatic warehouse.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an article carrier.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the article transport vehicle.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of a drive wheel.

FIG. 5 is a rear view of a driven wheel.

FIG. 6 is a side view of an auxiliary wheel.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a guided portion.

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of a guided portion.

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view of a bumper.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of a bumper.

FIG. 11 is an exploded perspective view of a bumper.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of an article transport vehicle showing another embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a plan view showing a conventional article transport vehicle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 8 Guide Rail 11 Body 12 Drive Wheel 13 Follower Wheel 17, 18 Guided Portion 46 Bumper 47 Bumper Body 48 Bumper Support 49 Base Plate 50 Obstacle Detector B Floor Surface C Lower Surface of Bumper D Upper Surface of Guide Rail T Material Carrier CL Left and right center of the vehicle

Claims (6)

[Claims] A guide section provided on a floor surface along a lateral side of a traveling path of the article transport vehicle, the guide section being guided by the guide rail, and being guided by the guide rail by the guided section. A traveling self-propelled article transport vehicle, comprising: a bumper provided with obstacle detection means for detecting contact with an obstacle in front of the body direction of the article transport vehicle, wherein the guide rail of the bumper is provided. An article carrier in which a lower surface of a side portion is positioned higher than an upper surface of the guide rail in order to avoid interference with the guide rail. 2. The article carrier according to claim 1, wherein the article carrier is configured to run on a floor. 3. The article carrier according to claim 2, wherein one body of the article carrier is provided with one driving wheel and two driven wheels that rotate in contact with the floor. 4. One of the driving wheels and the driven wheels is provided so as to be deviated toward the guided portion with respect to the center of the vehicle body in the left-right direction, and two driven wheels are provided on the vehicle body. Deflected to the opposite side to the guided portion with respect to the center in the left-right direction, and
The article carrier according to claim 3, wherein the article carrier is provided so as to be shifted in a front-rear direction of the vehicle body. 5. The bumper according to claim 1, wherein an end of the bumper on the guide rail side extends to above the guide rail, and covers the guided portion when viewed from the front in the running direction of the vehicle body. 5. The article transport vehicle according to any one of items 4 to 5. 6. A bumper body capable of elastically deforming the bumper, a bumper support attached to a back surface of the bumper body,
And a base plate that holds the bumper main body via the bumper support, wherein the bumper support is configured to be more easily elastically deformed than the bumper main body, and the bumper support between the back surface of the bumper main body and the base plate. The article carrier according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a space is formed in the space, and the obstacle detection unit is located in the space.