JPH11180300A - Transporting equipment utilizing linear motor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inhibit the lowering of the propulsive force in the passage of a curve of a guide rail by supporting a driving coil and a moving body side propulsive member of a propulsive force generating member, on a frame of the moving body movably in the moving body width direction to regulate the position thereof, and locating the same on the proper position in the width direction of the moving body. SOLUTION: A propulsive force generating member MF generating the propulsive force in cooperation with a driving coil DC at a moving body A side is mounted on a bottom side inside of a guide rail B. The propulsive force can be effective generated in a condition that the driving coil DC of which the position in the moving body width direction is regulated by the contact of a rotary roller 3b and a guide rail B, and the propulsive force generating member MF are close in opposition to each other to produce efficiently propulsive force. When the moving body A passes through a curve of the guide rail B, the driving coil DC is moved and operated in the moving body width direction to a frame 1 by the contact of the rotary roller 3b and the guide rail B. The positional relationship of the driving coil DC and the propulsive force generating member MF can be properly kept, the displacement and the lowering of the propulsive force can be prevented, and the efficiency of the cargo transporting work can be improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A guide rail for movably guiding a moving body for carrying a load while restricting its position in the width direction is provided, and the frame of the moving body is provided with the position in the width direction. A pair of guided members guided by the guide rails are provided in a pair in front and rear, and a driving coil of a linear motor that moves and drives the moving body, and generates a propulsive force in cooperation with the driving coil. The thrust generating member is
The present invention relates to a transport facility using a linear motor, which is distributed to the guide rail side and the moving body side.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Such a transfer equipment utilizing a linear motor includes:
This is a facility for carrying a load by mounting a load on a moving body that travels along the guide rail.To move the moving body along the guide rail, a pair of front and rear covers are mounted on the frame of the moving body. A guide is provided, and a linear motor is provided to generate a propulsive force of the moving body. Although the specific configuration of this linear motor differs depending on the type of LIM or LDM, basically, a driving coil and a propulsion generating member that generates propulsion in cooperation with the driving coil include a guide rail. And the moving body side. Specifically, the propulsion generating member is, for example, a secondary conductor in the case of LIM or a permanent magnet in the case of LDM. Conventionally, a driving coil or a propulsion generating member attached to the moving body is fixedly attached to a frame of the moving body.

[0003]

Therefore, in the above-mentioned conventional structure, the moving body is not supported by the guide rail due to the relationship between the distance between the pair of front and rear guided members guided by the guide rail and the curvature of the curve of the guide rail. When traveling on a curved portion, the relative positional relationship between the driving coil and the propulsion force generating member in the moving body lateral direction deviates from an appropriate positional relationship for generating the propulsion force of the linear motor, and Was sometimes reduced. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to suppress a decrease in the propulsive force of a linear motor as much as possible when a moving body passes through a curved portion of a guide rail. is there.

[0004]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, of the driving coil and the thrust generating member, the moving body side propulsion member disposed on the moving body side is movable in the width direction of the moving body. The movable body side propulsion member is positioned at an appropriate position in the lateral direction of the movable body for generating the propulsive force of the linear motor by the position regulating means. Therefore, when the moving body passes through the curved portion of the guide rail, the relative positional relationship between the driving coil and the propulsion force generating member in the width direction of the moving body is not appropriate for generating the propulsion force of the linear motor. The deviation from the positional relationship can be suppressed, the decrease in the propulsive force of the linear motor can be suppressed as much as possible, and the work efficiency of the load transfer operation can be improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a rotating roller which moves integrally with the moving body side propulsion member in the width direction of the moving body, and the rotating roller comes into contact with the guide rail. As a result, a moving operation force acts on the moving body side propulsion member in the width direction of the moving body. With this moving operation force, regardless of the position of the moving body frame
The moving body-side propulsion member can be maintained at an appropriate position in the moving body lateral width direction. Therefore, the moving body side propulsion member can be located at an appropriate position in the moving body lateral width direction with a simple configuration including only the rotating roller.

[0006] With the above structure, the movable body-side propulsion member is supported by the frame at a substantially central position of a pair of front and rear guided members in the longitudinal direction of the movable body. Therefore, the moving body-side propulsion member is lengthened to some extent in the front-rear width direction of the moving body and the thrust generated by the linear motor is made sufficiently large, and the moving body-side propulsion member is well-balanced in the width direction of the moving body by the position regulating means. Can be moved.

[0007] Further, by providing the structure of the fourth aspect, each of the pair of front and rear guided members guided by the guide rail has an idle roller provided on its frame body abutting on the guide rail. This causes the frame to rotate around the vertical axis. That is, when the idler rollers of the guided members come into contact with the guide rails, the postures of the guided members are changed and the guided members are guided by the guide rails. In this way, by configuring the guided body to be rotatable around the longitudinal axis relative to the frame, even if the length of the moving body in the front-rear width direction is increased to some extent, it is accurately guided by the guide rail. In addition, when the length of the moving body in the front-rear width direction is increased, it is extremely effective to position the moving body-side propulsion member at an appropriate position by the position restricting means as described above.

[0008] Further, by providing the structure of the fifth aspect, each of the pair of front and rear guided members is provided with a traveling wheel of the moving body, and the traveling wheel is provided on an upward receiving surface formed on the guide rail. The moving body runs while being received and supported. Accordingly, since the load of the moving body is applied to the pair of front and rear guided bodies guided by the guide rails, the traveling body can run stably with little slippage of the running wheels.

[0009]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a transfer system using a linear motor according to the present invention applied to a warehouse facility. As shown in the schematic layout of the equipment in FIG. 7, the warehouse equipment SS is provided with a guide rail B of the moving body A suspended from the ceiling side, and a plurality of storage shelves SL are provided along the guide rail B. A carry-in conveyor C for carrying the load L stored in each storage shelf SL
1 and an unloading conveyor C2 for unloading the load L taken out of each storage shelf SL. This warehouse equipment S
In S, the moving body A is guided by the guide rail B,
Each storage shelf SL, carry-in conveyor C1, and carry-out conveyor C2
The load L is moved between each of them, and the load L is transferred between the moving body A and each of the storage shelves SL, the carry-in conveyor C1, and the carry-out conveyor C2 by the transfer device TR provided in the moving body A. As a result, the load L carried in from the carry-in conveyor C1 is stored in any of the storage shelves SL, and the load L stored in any of the storage shelves SL is carried out from the carry-out conveyor C2.

As shown in FIG. 3, the moving body A is a traveling bogie section A1 located inside a guide rail B formed in a cylindrical shape.
And a loading section A2 supported by the traveling carriage section A1 and located above the guide rail B. The loading section A2 is provided with the above-described transfer device TR. Traveling cart part A1
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a frame 1 is provided which extends in the front-rear width direction of a vehicle body, and a pair of front and rear guided members 2 is attached to both front and rear ends of the frame 1. A frame 2 a is attached to each of the pair of front and rear guided members 2 so as to be rotatable around the longitudinal axis with respect to the frame 1.
And four idler rollers 2b rotatable around a vertical axis with respect to the frame 2a and attached to the front, rear, left and right.
And a traveling wheel 2c of a moving body A that is rotatable about a horizontal axis with respect to the frame 2a and is attached to a pair of left and right sides. As shown in FIG. 3, the four idler rollers 2 b abut against left and right vertical wall portions inside the guide rail B, whereby the pair of front and rear guided members 2 is guided by the guide rail B. The traveling wheel 2c travels while being received and supported by an upward receiving surface B1 formed inside the guide rail B.

The moving body A is driven to travel by a linear motor LM. A driving coil DC for the linear motor LM and a propulsion generating member MF for generating a propulsion in cooperation with the driving coil DC are provided on a guide rail. They are distributed to the B side and the moving body A side. In the present embodiment, the driving coil DC
The driving coil DC of the thrust generating member MF is disposed on the moving body A side as the moving body side propulsion member.
The propulsion force generating member MF includes permanent magnets arranged side by side in the moving direction of the moving body.
Constitutes a so-called linear DC motor (LDM). In order to support the driving coil DC, the frame 1 of the moving body A (more specifically, the frame 1 of the traveling bogie section A1) is provided with the coil extending downward from a substantially central position in the longitudinal direction thereof. The support frame 1a is attached. Thus, the driving coil DC is supported by the frame 1 at a substantially central position between the pair of front and rear guided members 2 in the moving body front and rear width direction. The driving coil DC is attached to the coil supporting frame 1a via a pair of front and rear linear sliding guides 3a, whereby the driving coil DC is movable in the width direction of the moving body. I have. The driving coil DC supported on the frame 1 so as to be movable in the lateral direction of the moving body is moved by the position regulating means PC for positioning the driving coil DC at an appropriate position in the lateral direction of the moving body. Specifically, the position restricting means PC is configured by attaching a rotating roller 3b that is rotatable around a vertical axis to both left and right ends of a longitudinal center portion of the driving coil DC, and the rotating roller 3b is guided. By contacting the vertical wall portion inside the rail B, the rotating roller 3b and the driving coil DC move integrally, and the position of the driving coil DC is regulated in the lateral direction of the moving body.

As shown in FIG. 3, a thrust generating member MF for generating thrust in cooperation with the driving coil DC on the movable body 1 side is mounted on the bottom side inside the guide rail B, and is rotated. The driving coil DC, whose position in the lateral direction of the moving body is restricted by the contact between the roller 3b and the guide rail B, and the propulsion force generating member MF approach each other and are opposed to each other. Propulsion is efficiently generated by the force generating member MF. By supporting the driving coil DC with respect to the moving body 1 as described above, when the moving body 1 passes through a curved portion of the guide rail B, the rotating roller 3b and the guide rail B are used as shown in FIG. , The driving coil DC is moved relative to the frame 1 in the width direction of the moving body, and the state where the positional relationship between the driving coil DC and the propulsion force generating member MF is appropriate is maintained.

The moving body A located above the guide rail B
As shown in FIG. 1, the load mounting portion A2 is supported by the frame 1 at two front and rear positions immediately above the rotation axis of the pair of front and rear guided members 2. As shown in FIG. 4, the transfer device TR provided in the load mounting unit A2 includes a chuck 4 having a pair of left and right arms 4a to hold the load L, a chuck support 5 that supports the chuck 4, and , Chuck support 5
Arm 6 that rotatably supports the pivot arm 6 about a vertical axis, and an arm elevating unit 7 that supports the swivel arm 6 so as to be able to move up and down. The turning arm 6 is driven up and down by a motor (not shown). Then, the chuck support 5 is rotated around the vertical axis, and the arm elevating unit 7 is also rotated around the vertical axis. Transfer device TR thus configured
As shown in FIG. 6, the chuck 4 is caused to protrude toward the storage shelf SL by driving a motor (not shown) to load L.
Transfer of. The same applies to the transfer of the load L to the carry-in conveyor C1 and the carry-out conveyor C2. The power required for the operation of the driving coil DC and each motor of the moving body 1 is supplied from a power supply line EL laid along the guide rail B.
The power is supplied to the power receiving coil RE provided in the moving body 1.

[Other Embodiments] Other embodiments will be listed below. In the above embodiment, the pair of front and rear guided members 2 is provided with the traveling wheel 2c of the moving body 1. However, each of the pair of front and rear guided members 2 is provided with a levitation electromagnet to form a magnetic levitation type. May be. In this case, the floating roller 2b is not necessarily required, since the guide roller B is guided by the attracting action of the electromagnet for floating. In the above-described embodiment, the pair of front and rear guided members 2 is rotatably supported around the longitudinal axis with respect to the frame 1 of the moving body A. On the other hand, it may be attached in a fixed state.

In the above embodiment, the driving coil D
Although the position of the driving coil DC in the moving body lateral width direction is regulated by the rotating rollers 3b provided at the left and right ends of C, a part of the driving coil DC is simply guided by the guide rail instead of the rotating roller 3b. The position of the driving coil DC in the moving body lateral width direction may be regulated so as to make contact with B.
Also, for example, a cam follower that engages with a cam groove formed on the driving coil DC side is connected to the guided body 2 side via an arm, and the cam follower is rotated by the guided body 2 rotating about the longitudinal axis. Oscillating operation to move the driving coil DC in the lateral direction of the moving body. In the above embodiment, a linear DC motor (LDM) is exemplified as the linear motor LM, but a so-called linear induction motor (LIM) may be used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a main part according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a main part according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a main part according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a side view of a main part according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a main part according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a transfer operation according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic layout diagram according to the embodiment of the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 frame 2 guided body 2a frame 2b idler roller 2c running wheel 3b rotating roller A moving body B guide rail B1 receiving surface DC drive coil LM linear motor MF propulsion force generating member PC position regulating means

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A guide rail for movably guiding a moving body for carrying a load while restricting its position in the width direction is provided, and the frame of the moving body restricts the position in the width direction. In order to achieve this, a guided body guided by the guide rail is provided in a pair of front and rear, a driving coil of a linear motor that moves and drives the moving body, and a propulsion force that generates a propulsion force in cooperation with the driving coil. A generating member is a transfer facility using a linear motor, which is disposed on the guide rail side and the moving body side, and is disposed on the moving body side of the driving coil and the propulsion force generating member. A moving body-side propulsion member that is supported by the frame so as to be movable in the moving body lateral width direction, and moves the moving body-side propulsion member in the moving body lateral width direction to be positioned at an appropriate position in the moving body lateral width direction. Transport facility of the linear motor utilizes the position regulating means for provided. 2. A rotating roller, wherein the position regulating means is provided on the moving body side propulsion member so as to move integrally with the moving body in the width direction of the moving body, and is moved in the width direction of the moving body by contact with the guide rail. The transfer equipment using a linear motor according to claim 1, wherein the transfer equipment comprises: 3. The linear motor according to claim 1, wherein the movable body side propulsion member is supported by the frame at a substantially central position between the pair of front and rear guided members in the longitudinal direction of the movable body. Use of transport equipment. 4. A frame body in which each of the pair of front and rear guided members is supported by the frame so as to be rotatable around a vertical axis.
4. An idler roller, supported by the frame, for rotating the guided body around the longitudinal axis by contact with the guide rail. Transfer equipment using the linear motor described in the paragraph. 5. The traveling body travels while being received and supported by an upward receiving surface formed on the guide rail, and travels on traveling wheels supported by each of the pair of front and rear guided bodies. The transfer equipment using a linear motor according to claim 4, wherein the transfer equipment is configured as follows.