JPS6169604A - Transfer apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve transfer efficiency by floating slightly an article to be transferred on an upper face plate with air injected from a plurality of vent holes to transfer the article by a magnetic combination with a magnetic body on a chain turning along a predetermined path. CONSTITUTION:This transfer apparatus preferable for an auto-sample changer attached to an automatic dripping unit has a non-magnetic material made upper surface plate 12 formed with a plurality of vent holes 13 along a transfer path of a container 11. Each container 11 is formed in the form of a tray for receiving a beaker, and in the lower surface with a recess 17 for intensifying the floating effect due to injected air. A magnet 18 is embedded in the center of the recess 17. On the underside of the upper surface plate 12 is disposed a bottom plate 14 slightly spaced therefrom and a gas chamber 16 to which pressurized air is forcibly sent is defined between both plates 12, 14. Also, a chain 26 circulating along a container transferring path is disposed beneath the bottom plate 14 to constitute a container transferring means by mounting magnets 28 on the chain 26 in a predetermined pitch.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a conveying device, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a conveying device that can sequentially convey a large number of objects to a predetermined position in a predetermined order. Regarding equipment. One typical application of the invention is an autosample changer that is attached to an autotitration lid and sequentially transports multiple samples to a titration site.

[Conventional technology]

Devices for transporting a large number of objects in a predetermined order from one to a predetermined position are required in various fields, and various devices have been proposed to meet this demand.

One such device is a disc-shaped turntable. Turntables are widely used as automatic sample changers attached to automatic analyzers, such as automatic titrators. In one example, the turntable is radially divided into twelve equal sections, each section capable of accommodating one beaker. 30 turntables
By rotating the beaker intermittently and feeding the beakers one after another into a titration station fixedly arranged along the table, this device is capable of automatically titrating 12 samples.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, with a turntable, the beakers are simply placed in rows along the circumference of the turntable, so the ratio of the area where the beakers are placed to the total area of the turntable is small, that is, the area efficiency is poor. There are drawbacks. Also, if you try to place a large number of beakers on a turntable, you will have to make the table larger, which will reduce the area efficiency by 1, and at the same time, if you use a large table, the power required to rotate it will also increase. Moreover, since the inertial force due to the rotation of the table becomes large, high-grade braking means is also required.

In conventional auto sample changers such as turntables, the container containing the sample is transported by moving the support, such as the turntable, on which the container containing the temple is placed. . If only the container could be transported without moving the support, it would be advantageous since no power would be needed to move the support. Particularly when transporting heavy objects, in addition to this advantage, a mechanism for moving a heavy support is no longer required, and instead, a mechanism for transporting only comparatively lighter objects can be attached. So structural (also would be advantageous).

At this time, if the friction between the transported object and the support base can be reduced, the transport mechanism for the transported object can be further simplified. .

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention focuses on the problems of such conventional conveying devices, and the present invention sequentially moves only the conveyed objects placed on the Vcl in a predetermined order without moving the support table on which the conveyed objects are placed. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a conveying device that can convey the material to a predetermined location.

The conveyance device according to the present invention includes: a top plate having a large number of ventilation holes; a means for supplying gas from a lower side of the top plate to the ventilation holes to blow out gas from the top plate; A conveyed object placed on the top so as to cover at least one of the ventilation holes, a first magnetic body provided on the conveyed object, and a first magnetic body disposed below the top plate. and a second magnetic body that is in a magnetic attraction relationship with the first magnetic body, and a moving means that can move the second magnetic body to the top plate approximately in a thousand rows.

[Effect]

In the conveying device of the present invention, gas (
Normally it is air, so hereafter referred to as air) is ejected,
All objects to be transported placed on the top plate are slightly floated,
In this state, by moving the second magnetic body in a predetermined direction approximately parallel to the top plate, the object to be conveyed is moved to the second magnetic body via the first magnetic body that is in a magnetic attraction relationship with the second magnetic body. The magnetic material is conveyed along the moving path. Therefore, in the conveying device of the present invention, the top plate simply supports the entire amount M of the conveyed object and does not move, so its structure can be made extremely simple, and usually it simply has a large number of ventilation holes. One board with ! is enough! ll, :) Also, since the object to be conveyed moves in a slightly floating state, there is little frictional resistance with the top plate, and therefore the second magnetic body for moving the object is also relatively J-shaped. is sufficient, and as a result,
The moving means for moving the entire second magnetic body may also be small and simple.

In the conveyance device according to the present invention, the conveyance of the object to be conveyed on the top plate is carried out by the movement of the second magnetic body that moves while maintaining an attractive relationship with the first magnetic body provided thereon. This is done by

Typically, each conveyed object always has a magnetic attraction relationship f' (: rari, upper A method in which the conveyance of the conveyed object on the face plate is always performed by moving the specific second magnetic body, and a method in which the specific second magnetic body moves while forming a temporary attraction relationship with the specific conveyed object. By doing so, the object to be transported is transported to a predetermined position, and when this transport is finished, the second magnetic body basically returns to its original position, and then forms a temporary attraction relationship with another object to be transported. There is a method in which the object to be transported is sequentially transported to a predetermined position by repeatedly transporting the object to a predetermined position.

In this latter method, when the second magnetic body returns to its original position after conveying the conveyed object, the conveyed object is not conveyed, that is, the conveyed object is It is required that the body does not return to its original position. This requirement can be satisfied by using the second magnetic body as an electromagnet and completely stopping the energization during the return movement so that the second magnetic body loses its function as a magnet. Alternatively, during the return movement, the supply of air to the vents is stopped to interrupt the air blowout from the top plate, thereby fixing the transported object on the top plate and reducing the frictional resistance to movement. The magnetic attraction force of the second magnetic body is also increased to prevent the conveyed object from moving in the opposite direction due to the magnetic attraction force during the return movement VC of the second magnetic body. be satisfied. Other methods in history include discontinuing the air supply to the vents as well as
By sucking air from the top plate through the ventilation holes,
It is also possible to adopt a method in which the pressure is reduced in the gap between the bottom surface of the object to be transported and the top surface plate, and the object to be transported is attracted to the top surface plate.

〔Example〕

The conveying device according to the present invention will be explained in more detail below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the conveying device of the present invention is applied to an auto sample changer in an automatic titration device.

In this embodiment, the automatic sample changer 10 attached to the automatic titration apparatus 1A is equipped with a rectangular table or top plate 12 made of a non-magnetic material, and the top plate 12 has a large number of passages as shown in FIG. Pores are formed along the moving path of the container moving on the top plate. The ventilation holes 13 and the containers 11 are arranged so that each container 1 always covers one or more ventilation holes 13 on its moving path.

On this top plate, a large number of containers 11 containing beers containing the liquid to be titrated are placed in close alignment in the vertical and horizontal directions.

As shown in FIG. 3, this container 11 has a dish-shaped receptacle to receive the bulge side of the bee force, and the lower side of the container 11 receives all the air ejected from the ventilation hole 13 of the top plate 12. A recess 17 with a slight depth (approximately 5B) is formed for the purpose of holding and increasing the levitation effect and reducing the contact area with the upper surface plate 12.

The central portion IL of the lower recess 17 of the container II is fixed with an adhesive or other appropriate means in such a manner that a magnet 8, which is a magnetic material pJ', 1, is partially embedded therein.

There is a slight gap between the bottom of the top plate 12 and the top plate and r.
IfJ-like material and size base plate]4 are arranged, and this interval is the edge inserted into the N1 space on the four peripheral sides ]5 (Fig. 4) to close the can and form the gas chamber 16. It is said that A box-shaped gas reservoir 19 having a relatively large capacity a is attached to the lower surface near the end of the bottom plate 14 that partitions the gas chamber 16t, as shown in No. 41KK. gas fi from the long hole (not shown) K
It is connected to 16. A connection plug 20 is attached to the side wall of the gas reservoir 19 to connect an extending V to a sudden pressure pump f (not shown). In this way, pressure loss can be suppressed by sending the pressurized air from the air pump to the narrow gas chamber 6 through the gas reservoir 19 having a relatively large volume. Note that a drain outlet 21 is formed at the bottom of the gas reservoir 19. This drain part 21 is normally closed by a frame, and when water, etc. is spilled on the top plate while using the auto sample changer, the water, etc. that enters the gas chamber 6 from the ventilation hole 3 will be drained. Discharge.

In this case, the air pumped from the air pump is blown out from each vent hole 3 of the top plate 12 via the gas chamber 16. It should be noted that it is possible to install all the gas chambers directly under the top plate (it is also possible to connect the gas reservoir provided at a distance from the top plate and each vent hole with a conduit, but since it is cumbersome to manufacture, it is not recommended. The gas chamber method is advantageous unless there is the necessary force.

A table guide 22 having an inverted cross-section is provided on the peripheral edge of the top plate 12 and the bottom plate 4 configured in this way, and a part of the table guide 22 located on the top plate is connected to the top plate 12 of the container 1. Prevents missing pages. The upper end of a side plate 23 is fixed to the side of the table guide 22, and the lower end of the side plate 23 is fixed to the peripheral end surface of a base plate 24. In this way, a moving machine room 25 surrounded by the bottom plate 14, side plates 23 and base plate 24 is formed directly below the bottom plate 4. Inside this moving machine room 25, there is a second magnetic material moving means for transporting a large number of containers IIi floating along a predetermined route on the upper surface plate 2 by the air ejected from the ventilation hole 13. is stored. Although the means for moving the second magnetic body can be installed inside the gas chamber, it is preferably installed outside the gas chamber as shown in the figure. That is, by providing it outside the gas chamber, the total volume of the gas chamber can be reduced, and it becomes easy to interrupt and restart the blowout of air from the top plate in a short time. This prevents the transportation means from being contaminated by water, powder particles, etc. that flow into the gas chamber through the ventilation holes in the top plate. As the means for moving the second magnetic body, any means capable of sequentially transporting the objects placed in line on the top plate to a predetermined number H' in a predetermined order may be used. Figure 5 is an example of 7, in which a single chain 26 is connected to multiple sprockets on a path that can endlessly pass through all the containers J] aligned vertically and horizontally on the top plate 12. 27, and a magnet 28, which is a second magnetic body corresponding to the magnet [8] of the container 11, is attached to the upper side of the chain 26.According to this embodiment, from the top plate By intermittently moving the chain 26 by the distance between the magnets 28 by the driving splot while air 2 is extruding, each container can be simultaneously moved and circulated by 1 container along the chain's 3 movement paths Kf. .

Another example of the moving means is an X-Y axis movable table controlled by a computer or the like. For example, as shown in FIG.
and the right area 29b, and in each area, four containers T- are lined up horizontally to form one row, and this is divided into five rows in the right area 29b,
They are arranged in four columns in the left area 29a. A movable table in the X-Y axis direction is installed below the gas chamber directly below the top plate so that the entire frl area of the top plate is within its movable range. For example, the Y-axis is set on the boundary between the left area 29a and the right area 29b, and the movement f@circle on the Y-axis is set so that it can move along the vertical length of the top plate, that is, from column a to column e. . on the other hand,
The length of the X-axis table is equal to the length of four containers lined up, that is, the horizontal length of the left area 29a and right area 29b, and the length of the four containers lined up in one row on the top plate is Four second magnetic bodies are attached in correspondence with each other. This X-
To explain the method of conveying containers using the Y-axis direction movable table, first, four second magnetic bodies are transported to four containers/7" in row a.
l & J, flr 6→G part 7
I-&lf vkL 2 ---y
=++ −Position directly below. In this state, without blowing out all the air from the top plate, if you move all the containers to the left on the X axis by one distance, the four containers in row A will simultaneously move to the left by one L/C valley device. , As a result, the leftmost container is titrator C (
7) Transported to titration position BK. If the air jet is interrupted, the leftmost container will be fixed at the titration position, so once the 9 titrations are completed in this state, while air is jetted out again, the leftmost container will be fixed at the titration position. If you shake the operation money 4 times and all the containers in row a move to the right area 29aKg, the position in row a will be open, so here is the container f in row 5: Jlj transport do. To do this, first move the X-axis table to the right by four containers.
(In other words, return to the original position (7), then move backward by -1 Y-axis force - 1 full container, X!1!lI
Place it directly below all the rows of I chifuls. Note that this operation is performed with the air ejected stopped to prevent the container transported to the right area 29a from returning to the right area 29b (at this time, the air is discharged from the gas chamber to make the gas flow even more effective). ). In addition, when an electromagnet is used as the second magnetic material, the current supply to the electromagnet may be completely interrupted and the function as a magnet may be lost, and the air ejection may continue for the entire time. Then,
When the Y-axis table is moved forward by one container while blowing out air again, the containers in row b are conveyed as a group to the position in row a. By repeating the same operation, containers in each row up to i row are transported forward one row at a time.2.
This frees up a position in the first row, so the four containers in the original row A are transported to the position U in the i row by the same operation. By repeating the above operations, the 36 containers on the top plate can be sequentially transported to the titration position B. Therefore, when each row is considered as one group, each group is the left and right area 29a.

29b'i Move around as shown by the arrow in Figure 6. When moving rows a through i forward, instead of transporting one row at a time as described above, it is also possible to transport several rows at once. For example, after transporting row a to the left area 29a, place the X-axis table directly under row 0, leaving row b, and in this state, move the Y-axis to container 111 for 1 minute while blowing out air. If the containers in row b and row 0 are moved forward by
It is possible to carry VC.

As previously explained, the ventilation holes 13 in the top plate 12 are formed along the movement path of the container 11. This is because it floats so that the beak slides smoothly on the upper surface plate] 2, and therefore the container like the one on the slant] 1
In the case of a travel path of 1, the ventilation hole 1 is
3 is formed. According to this, the ventilation hole 13 is located in the left area 29 even when each container 1 is in a stationary state and in a predetermined alignment position.
Except for the "empty row" part of a, the holes are arranged so as to be hidden by each container] 1, and in this case, in this embodiment, there are four ventilation holes [3] existing under one container [1]. ,
In particular, there are five front rows and five rear rows that move in the lateral direction. However, the number of ventilation holes varies greatly depending on the weight of the sample in the container 11 when VC is carried, the size of the bottom area of the container, the air jet power, etc., and can be changed as appropriate depending on these factors.

In the above description, the case where the present invention is applied to a fully automatic sample changer has been mainly explained, but the present invention is not limited to such an automatic sample changer. For example, in the apparatus shown in Fig. 6, different processing means are installed at positions corresponding to the four containers in the frontmost bright row of the left area, and four types of processing are performed on the transported objects. It can also be used as a transport device. or,
Even when only moving objects, it is possible to move and stop them freely along the route.In that case, if the gas chamber is divided into VCs for each block and the air ejection is controlled, the specified The movement of some containers can be controlled freely, such as stopping only some containers at a certain position, and can be applied to various manufacturing automation devices.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, since the conveying device of the present invention uses gravel to move the stone, the power energy required for the movement is extremely small, and the movement accurately follows the movement of the magnet under the table, so it can be moved accurately at a predetermined position. This has great effects such as easy positioning.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the entire automatic titration device in which the conveying device of the present invention is applied to an auto sample changer in a titration device, and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the top plate of the auto sample changer according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the relationship between the top plate and the second magnetic material of the auto sample changer, and Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the relationship between the top plate and the second magnetic body of the auto sample changer. A partial cross-sectional view showing a gas reservoir etc. during full pressure feeding, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing an example of a means for moving the second magnetic body, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the movement of the second magnetic body. X as a means
-Container in auto sample changer when using Y-axis movable table】O...Auto sample changer, 1)...Container, 12...Top plate, ]3...
・Vent hole, ]4... Bottom plate, 15... Edge, ]6...
- Gas chamber, 17... Concavity on the bottom side of the container, 18... First magnetic body, ]9.1. Gas reservoir, 20... Connection plug with air pressure pump communication pipe, 21... Drain drain, 2
2...Table guide, 23...Side plate, 24...
Base plate, 25...Moving machine room, 26...Chain,
27...Sugerocket, 28...Second magnetic material, 2
9a... Left area of the top plate, 29b... Right area of the top plate. Patent applicant Mitsubishi Chemical Industries, Ltd. 6--i Figure 4 Figure 6

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) a top plate having a large number of ventilation holes; a means for supplying gas from the lower side of the top plate to the ventilation holes in order to blow out gas from the top plate; an object placed so as to cover the ventilation hole; a first magnetic body provided on the object; and a first magnetic body disposed below the top plate. A conveying device comprising: a second magnetic body that is in a magnetic attraction relationship with the second magnetic body; and a moving means capable of moving the second magnetic body substantially parallel to the top plate. (2) At least one second magnetic body for each conveyed object is arranged so as to be magnetically attracted to the first magnetic body provided on the conveyed object. An apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in: (3) The means for supplying gas to the vent hole is characterized by comprising a gas chamber formed on the lower side of the top plate and communicating with the vent hole, and a means for supplying gas to the gas chamber. An apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. (4) An apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that means for moving the second magnetic body substantially parallel to the top plate is provided below the gas chamber. (5) Claims 1 to 4 include means for sucking gas from the top plate through the ventilation hole so that the transported object can be attracted to the top plate. The device described in any of the above.