JPH1111623A - Pneumatically floating type conveyor with saddle-like trough - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a belt and troughs not to be worn, and articles to be stably conveyed even when the belt is curved in saddle-like form. SOLUTION: Air curtains blowing-off holes 21 are provided in about the same width as that of a belt 4 on the inlet side and on the outlet side of saddle- like troughs 11C, 12C. Air curtains are formed on the inlet side and on the outlet side of the troughs 11C, 12C in order for the belt floating air not to run away from both ends of the troughs. Thus, since the belt floating air uniformly exists between the belt 4 and the troughs 11C, 12C, the end edges of the belt 4 do not adhere to the troughs 11C, 12C. Wear of the belt 4 can thus be prevented, and a stable, excellent conveying force can also be exhibited at the saddle-like parts.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air-floating conveyor having a saddle-shaped trough. More particularly, the present invention relates to an air-floating conveyor in which the middle part of the conveyor is usually straight, but part or all of the middle parts are saddle-shaped in a vertical plane in the longitudinal direction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an air-floating conveyor, Japanese Patent Publication 7-6
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4405/1992, there are a structure in which an intermediate portion has a double cylindrical structure, and a structure in which gutter-shaped troughs are arranged in two stages in a single cylindrical shell newly proposed by the present applicant. However, it has been considered that the air-floating type conveyor has only the intermediate portion connected in a straight line so far, and in particular, the intermediate portion does not have a saddle-like curve in a vertical plane in the longitudinal direction.

[0003]

As described above, there is no air-floating conveyor curved in a saddle shape for the following reasons. As shown in FIG. 8 (a), the belt 4 running while being supported by the tubular shell or the trough-shaped trough travels in a form in which the cross section in the width direction is curved in an arc shape. The longitudinal tension f acting on the belt 4 is the same in every section of the belt 4. However,
(B) As shown in FIG.
Of the belt 4, that is, the end side of the belt 4 is larger than the center side. As a result, both ends of the belt 4 open as shown in FIG.

In this case, there is a tendency that the end of the belt 4 is in close contact with a conventional cylindrical body or trough (hereinafter, an example of a trough will be described). If the belt end is in close contact with the trough, the gap between the belt end and the trough is close to zero, so the air for belt levitation supplied to the lower surface of the belt does not advance toward the highly sealed end,
Either escapes in the direction of travel of the belt, or stays at the central portion and attempts to lift the central portion of the belt. When the central portion of the belt tries to float in this way, the floating of the central portion of the belt is further strengthened with the belt end as a fulcrum, and the degree of close contact between the belt end and the trough is further increased. As a result, the friction between the belt and the trough increases, and the wear of the belt is easily promoted. In addition, since the central portion of the belt is lifted, the transportation of articles is not stabilized, and the conveying force is inferior.

[0005] For the above reasons, air-floating conveyors having a saddle-shaped curve have not been known so far. However, in view of the site of article transportation, it is needless to say that if the article transportation is possible even in a curved place in the vertical plane, the industrial utilization is improved.

In view of such circumstances, the present invention provides a saddle-shaped trough in which the belt and the trough are not worn as described above and the article can be stably transported even if the intermediate frame is curved in a saddle shape in a vertical plane. It is an object of the present invention to provide an air-floating conveyor having:

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air-floating conveyor having a saddle-shaped trough for supporting and running the belt with an air film interposed between the trough-shaped trough and the belt. An air-floating conveyor in which the troughs are curved in a saddle-like shape in a vertical plane in a longitudinal direction thereof, and a plurality of the air troughs are formed at a center of a bottom of the trough at intervals in a longitudinal direction. In addition to the air outlet,
At the entrance side and the exit side of the trough, an air curtain blowing hole for forming an air curtain is formed between the belt and the trough with a width substantially equal to the width of the belt, and the air curtain blowing hole is formed. An air supply source for supplying air to the air supply is connected. Claim 2
The air floating conveyor having the saddle-shaped trough is characterized in that the air curtain blowout hole is also provided at a central portion in the longitudinal direction of the saddle-shaped trough.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the air ejected from the air curtain outlet forms an air curtain between the belt and the trough on the entrance side and the exit side of the trough,
Prevent air for belt lifting from escaping from both ends of the trough. For this reason, the air for floating uniformly exists between the belt and the trough, so that the central portion of the belt does not lift, and the edge of the belt does not strongly adhere to the trough. Therefore, wear of the belt can be prevented, and the belt can be stably supported, so that a stable and favorable transport force can be exhibited even in a saddle-shaped curve. Claim 2
According to the invention, the air curtain is also provided at the middle portion in the longitudinal direction of the saddle-shaped trough, so that the containment of the belt floating air by the air curtain becomes better, so that the belt is prevented from being worn and the transport force of the saddle-shaped portion is improved. Can be further stabilized.

[0009]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of an air pipe of an air levitation type conveyor according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of an air curtain ac, FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a belt floating air film a, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an air curtain blow-out hole 21, FIG. 6 is a side view showing an air duct 20, and is an enlarged view taken along a line VI in FIG. 5, and FIG. Air outlet 14
FIG. 7 is a side view showing the enlarged view taken along the line VII in FIG. 5.

First, the overall structure of the air-floating conveyor of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 1 denotes a straight circular cylindrical shell, and 1C denotes a saddle-curved circular cylindrical shell. Basically, a plurality of these cylindrical shells 1 and 1C are connected to form an intermediate portion. . That is, in the conveyor of FIG. 4, the cylindrical shell 1 and the straight troughs A in which the internal troughs 11 and 12 extend straight, and the cylindrical shell 1C and the internal trough in which they are curved in a longitudinal plane in a vertical plane in a saddle shape. And a saddle-shaped portion C composed of 11C and 12C. 2 is a head pulley, 3 is a tail pulley, around which an endless belt 4 is wound. Inside the tubular shells 1 and 1C, there are carrier troughs 11 and 11 for supporting a carrier side belt in two upper and lower stages.
Return trough 1 supporting C and return side belt
2, 12C are attached. Each said trough 11,
11C, 12 and 12C are tub-shaped members, and are shown in FIG.
And each trough 11, 11C, 12, as shown in FIG.
In the center of the lower surface of 12C, a plurality of air outlets 14 are formed in the longitudinal direction, and an air duct 15 for supplying air to the air outlets 14 is attached.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 5 denotes a fan for floating the belt, and reference numeral 6 denotes an air pipe, which is connected to the air duct 15. As shown in FIG. 3, the air supplied from the air duct 15 is ejected upward from the air blowing holes 14 and enters the space between the belt 4 running on the upper surfaces of the troughs 11, 11C, 12 and 12C. To create an air film a
The running resistance of the belt 4 can be reduced. Therefore, in this conveyor, when air is supplied to the lower surface of the belt by the air pipe 6 while driving the head pulley 2 and circulating the belt 4, the belt 4
The article on the belt can be conveyed with extremely low resistance by traveling on the air film formed between the first, the first, the first, the second, and the 11C.

Next, a mechanism for forming an air curtain will be described. Reference numeral 20 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 denotes an air duct for forming an air curtain. In the air duct 20, a large number of air blowing holes 21 are formed in each of the troughs 11C and 12C. The width W in which the air blowing holes 21 are formed is the same as or slightly narrower than the belt 4. In addition, an air pipe 22 is connected to the air duct 20, and as shown in FIG. 4, is connected to a blower fan 24 for forming an air curtain through an external air pipe 23.

As shown in FIG. 2, saddle-shaped troughs 11C, 1C,
When air is blown out from air blowing holes 21 for forming an air curtain which are widely scattered in the width direction of 2C, an air curtain ac is formed, which is formed by troughs 11C and 12C.
The air film a for floating between the belt and the belt 4 can be prevented from flowing out.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, in the conveyor of this embodiment, the entrance e of the saddle-shaped troughs 11C and 12C.
Air outlet holes 21 for air curtain are formed at three places: n, an intermediate point md, and an outlet side ex. Thus, the saddle trough 1
When 1C and 12C are partitioned by an air curtain so as to be divided into two in the longitudinal direction, air a for belt floating is generated in each trough 11C.
Since it becomes more difficult to escape in the longitudinal direction of C and 12C, transport at the saddle-shaped portion C becomes more stable.

In the present invention, since the required pressure is different between the air pressure for the air curtain and the air pressure for the floating of the belt, individual fans 5, 24 are provided as shown in FIG. When a fan is used, pressure adjusting valves 26 and 27 are preferably provided in the belt floating pipe 6 and the air curtain pipe 23, respectively, as shown in FIG. By doing so, an appropriate air pressure can be set for each of the belt floating air a and the air curtain ac.

Also, since the pressure required for the air curtain is different at the entrance en, the intermediate point md, and the exit ex of the saddle-shaped troughs 11C and 12C, a pressure adjusting valve 28 is interposed in each of the air pipes. It is good to be able to adjust to pressure.

[0017]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, an air curtain is formed between the belt and the trough on the entrance side and the exit side of the trough, so that air for floating the belt does not escape from both ends of the trough. The air for levitation exists evenly between the edges, and the edge of the belt does not adhere strongly to the trough, preventing the belt from being worn, and stably supporting the belt, Even in a saddle-shaped curve, it is possible to exhibit a stable and good transport force. According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the air curtain is also formed at the middle portion in the longitudinal direction of the saddle-shaped trough, the containment of the air floating by the belt becomes better, so that the belt is prevented from being worn and the saddle-shaped portion is transported. The force can be more stabilized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an air pipe of an air-floating conveyor according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an air curtain ac.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a belt floating air film a.

FIG. 4 is an overall configuration diagram of the air levitation conveyor of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an air curtain outlet hole 21;

FIG. 6 is a side view showing the air duct 20 in FIG.
FIG. 6 is an enlarged view taken along a line VI.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing an air blowing hole 14 for lifting the belt, and is an enlarged view taken on line VII of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a problem when the belt 4 curves in a saddle shape.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Straight cylindrical shell 1C Saddle-shaped cylindrical shell 11 Straight carrier trough 11C Saddle-shaped carrier trough 12 Straight return trough 12C Saddle-shaped return trough 20 Air duct 21 Air blowing hole 24 Blower fan

Claims (2)

[Claims] An air film is interposed between a trough-shaped trough and a belt to support and run the belt, and the trough is curved in a saddle-like shape in a vertical plane in a longitudinal direction thereof. An air-floating conveyor, in addition to a large number of air film-forming air blow holes formed at the bottom center of the trough at intervals in the longitudinal direction, and at the entrance and exit sides of the trough, An air curtain blowing hole for forming an air curtain is formed between the belt and the trough at substantially the same width as the width, and an air supply source for supplying air to the air curtain blowing hole is connected. An air levitating conveyor having a saddle-shaped trough. 2. The air levitation conveyor according to claim 1, wherein said air curtain blowout hole is also provided at a longitudinally central portion of said saddle-shaped trough.