JPH11322057A - Conveying device for angular article - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To apply a conveying function and an erecting function to conveyors themselves, to reduce the facility cost, to cope with the change of an article size with no manual work and to convey an angular article in the horizontal or vertical attitude. SOLUTION: A rotary shaft 2 is horizontally supported on a frame 1, and four conveyors 3 are fixed on the rotary shaft 2 in a cross shape. The rotary shaft 2 is driven by a motor 9, the conveyors 3 are rotated from the horizontal position to the vertical position, and a case is erected. Clutches 24 are coupled with clutches 16 on the conveyors 3 side by air cylinders 26, spline shafts 23 are rotated by motors 19, and the rollers 13 of the conveyors 3 at the horizontal position are driven to convey the case.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for conveying a rectangular article such as a case.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the case of transporting a case where there is a risk of falling, a method is employed in which the case is flown in a stable horizontal position and is raised in a vertical position near the final stroke. Conventionally, an articulated robot is used as a means for erecting the case. The manipulator grips the case flowing on the conveyor, lifts the case up, rotates it 90 ° in a vertical plane, and then lifts down on the conveyor. The technology is known.

[0003]

However, according to the articulated robot, not only is the equipment cost expensive, but also when the case size changes, manpower is required for replacing the manipulator and the like. there were.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which can reduce the equipment cost, can cope with a change in the size of an article without manual operation, and can transport a rectangular article in either a horizontal or vertical posture.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a rectangular article conveying apparatus according to the present invention supports a rotary shaft horizontally on a gantry and fixes four conveyors to the rotary shaft in a cross shape. Then, a mechanism for driving the rotating shaft to turn the conveyor to the horizontal position and the vertical position, and a mechanism for driving the conveyor at the horizontal position are provided.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 show an apparatus for conveying a case as a rectangular article. In the transfer device 100, a rotating shaft 2 is horizontally supported at the center of a gantry 1, and four conveyors 3 are fixed on the rotating shaft 2 in a cross shape.

The gear 4 on the rotary shaft 2 is a gear 6 on the intermediate shaft 5
The belt wheel 7 on the intermediate shaft 5 is connected to a belt wheel 10 of a motor 9 via a belt 8. A swivel mechanism 11 that intermittently drives the rotating shaft 2 at an angle of 90 ° by these members 4 to 10 to swivel the conveyor 3 to the horizontal position and the vertical position is configured.

The conveyor 3 is constructed by rotatably supporting a plurality of rollers 13 between a U-shaped frame 12 and a rotating shaft 2. A chain wheel 14 is provided at one end of each roller 13, and the wheel chains 14 are connected by a chain 15 so as to be rotatable at a constant speed. A clutch 16 is rotatably supported outside the frame 12, and the clutch 16 is connected to one chain wheel 14.

At a height corresponding to the conveyor 3 at the horizontal position, a housing 18 is fixed to both left and right side surfaces of the gantry 1, and a motor 19 is installed below the housing 18. A sheave 20 is rotatably supported by the housing 18, and this sheave 20 is connected to a sheave 22 of a motor 19 by a chain 21.

A spline shaft 23 is rotatably and slidably inserted through a chain wheel 20 on the housing 18 side, and a clutch 24 meshing with the clutch 16 on the conveyor 3 side is provided at an inner end thereof. An air cylinder 26 is attached to the gantry 1 via a bracket 25, and a piston rod 27 thereof is connected to a spline shaft 23 via a rotary joint 28.

A conveyor driving mechanism 29 is constituted by these members 18 to 28. When the conveyor 3 stops at the horizontal position, the clutch 24 is connected to the clutch 16 of the conveyor 3 by the air cylinder 26, and the motor 19 Rotates the spline shaft 23 to drive the rollers 13 of the conveyor 3 via the clutches 24 and 16.

FIGS. 3 to 6 show the operation of the transporting apparatus 100 configured as described above. Transfer device 100
In the transport line of the case C, the carry-in conveyor 20
0 and the carry-out conveyor 300.

When the case C needs to be erected, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the case C is first loaded into the transfer device 100 from the loading conveyor 200 in a stable horizontal posture, and the conveyor C is placed in a horizontal position. Stopper on 3 (not shown)
To stop. Next, the conveyor 3 is turned at 90 ° from the horizontal position and is arranged at the vertical position, and the case C stands upright on the conveyor 3 at the horizontal position. Subsequently, the conveyor 3 is driven, and the case C is transported from the transport device 100 to the unloading conveyor 300, and then transported to the next step by a feeding device (not shown).

When it is not necessary to raise the case C, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the case C is carried from the carry-in conveyor 200 to the transfer device 100 in a horizontal posture, and the conveyor 3 in a horizontal position is turned. The case C is immediately driven without being transported, and the case C is transported from the transport device 100 to the unloading conveyor 300 in the horizontal posture, and then transported to the next process.

Therefore, according to the transfer device of this embodiment, it is possible to mix the case where the standing is necessary and the case where the standing is unnecessary. Also, since the conveyor 3 itself has both the function of transporting the case C and the function of standing up, there is an advantage that the entire apparatus can be configured at a lower cost as compared with a conventional apparatus using an articulated robot, and the size of the case C changes. In this case, it is possible to respond promptly without manual setup change work.

The present invention is not limited to the case transfer device alone, but can also be applied to a transfer device for various rectangular articles such as machined workpieces of machine tools and electric appliances. In addition, the shape and configuration of each part can be appropriately changed without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0017]

As described above in detail, according to the transfer device of the present invention, the conveyor itself has both the transfer function and the erecting function, so that the equipment cost can be reduced, and there is no manual work for changing the size of articles. This has an excellent effect that the rectangular article can be conveyed in any of the horizontal and vertical postures.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a case conveying device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an elevation view of the transport device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the operation of the transport device when the case is raised.

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of the transport device of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the operation of the transport device when the case is not raised.

FIG. 6 is an elevation view of the transport device of FIG. 5;

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Stand, 2. Rotary axis, 3. Conveyor, 9. Motor, 11. Conveyor revolving mechanism, 16, 24. Clutch, 19 Motor, 26 Air cylinder, 29
・ Conveyor drive mechanism.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A mechanism for horizontally supporting a rotating shaft on a gantry, fixing four conveyors to the rotating shaft in a cross shape, driving the rotating shaft to rotate the conveyor to a horizontal position and a vertical position, and a horizontal position. And a mechanism for driving the conveyor.