JPS62218306A - Reciprocating type conveying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to convey a plurality of articles to be conveyed, in an arbitrary section with an arbitrary timing in an arbitrary direction, by locking a locking means which may be disengageably engaged with the outgoing or returning travel of a carrier at an arbitrary position, to an endless belt member at a suitable timing. CONSTITUTION:When a chain 4 is driven by a motor 1 in one direction to actuate an electromagnetic brake 17 in an outgoing travel locking means 12 in order to stop the rotation of a rotary shaft 15, the body 10 of a carrier 9 is locked to the outgoing travel section 4a of a chain so that a carrier 9 is moved in the outgoing travel direction as the outgoing travel section 4a travels. When the electromagnetic brake 17 is released, the rotary shaft 15 and a sprocket 16 are freely rotated, and therefore, the carrier 9 is released from the travel motion of the outgoing travel section 4a. Similarly, the operation of an electromagnetic brake 21 in a return travel locking means 13 is controlled to engage and disengage the carrier 9 to and from a returning travel section 4a to move the carrier 9 from an arbitrary position in the returning travel direction, and the carrier 9 is then released at another arbitrary position to be stopped. Accordingly, it is possible to minimize detrimental effects to the stream of the succeeding line due to a failure of a carrier.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention has a simple structure that allows a plurality of objects to be transported over arbitrary sections, at arbitrary timings independent of each other, and in arbitrary transport directions. This invention relates to a reciprocating transport device.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, there is a conveyor called a trolley conveyor or a power and free conveyor. In such a conveyance device, a plurality of carriers that suspend and support conveyed objects are suspended from a common conveyance chain, and each carrier is coupled to the conveyance chain at mutually independent timing, or
It is designed so that it can be released from the conveyor chain. In such a conveyance device, it is possible to set multiple conveyance sections with different lengths, and the timing of coupling the carrier and conveyance chain in one conveyance section, the timing of uncoupling of the carrier and conveyance chain, etc. can be set at different times. can be set independently from those of the conveyor sections. However, in the case of such a transport device, the movement direction of the carrier is limited to one direction, and if the carrier is stopped due to a failure etc. in a certain section, carrier congestion will occur on the upper side of the transport direction, and there will be a shortage of carriers on the lower side. This will have a large impact on conveyance in other sections, and will also have a large negative impact on the flow of the subsequent line.

Furthermore, conventionally, there is a conveyance apparatus in which a plurality of conveyance sections are provided with loaders capable of reciprocating within each section, these loaders are connected to each other by rods, etc., and the loaders are operated synchronously by cylinders, motors, etc. However, this transport device cannot move each loader independently,
For example, if a failure occurs in one loader and it needs to be stopped, all other loaders must also be stopped, which has a large negative impact on subsequent lines. In addition, in this conveyance device, each loader is moved over the length of the longest conveyance section and the distance, and if the length of the conveyance section is different, the conveyed object that is conveyed over a long section is Since the vehicle is also started and stopped, there is a problem in that the holding position is distorted due to vibrations caused by the start and stop.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and includes:
It is an object of the present invention to provide a reciprocating conveyance device having a simple structure and capable of conveying a plurality of objects to be conveyed over arbitrary sections, at arbitrary timings independent of each other, and in arbitrary conveyance directions.

[Structure of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the reciprocating transport device according to the present invention is provided with an endless strip that is wound around a pair of drive wheels and an idler wheel and rotated in one direction by a drive means. On the other hand, a plurality of carriers are provided between the drive wheel and the idle wheel so as to be movable along the forward and backward sections of the endless strip, and each carrier is provided with a plurality of carriers that are movable along the forward and backward sections of the endless strip. A locking means that is removably lockable at the periphery and a locking means that is removable at the go-around section are provided.

With this configuration, by locking the locking means that is removable to the forward or backward movement portion of one carrier located at an arbitrary position to the endless strip body at an arbitrary timing, the carrier can be is connected to an endless strip independently of other carriers, and can be moved in the forward or backward directions.

[Embodiment 1] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on FIGS. 1 to 3.

A motor 1 as a drive device and a drive sprocket 2 as a drive wheel are arranged at one end of the reciprocating transport device, and an idling sprocket (idler) as an idle wheel is arranged at the other end.
3 is placed. A chain 4 as an endless strip extending over these driving sprocket 2 and idling sprocket 3
is wound.

The forward and backward sections 4a and 4b of the chain 4 are guided by chain guides 5a and 5b arranged parallel to each other. These chain guides 5a.

5b extends parallel to the horizontal direction and is fixed via a stand 6 to a frame 7 supported at a predetermined height above the ground. Both chain guides 5a are provided at the upper and lower edges of this frame 7,
A pair of upper and lower guide rails 8 are fixed parallel to 5b.

A plurality of carriers 9 are supported by the frame 7 via these guide rails 8 so as to be horizontally movable. Each carrier 9 has a main body 0 made of a quadrilateral vertical plate, and guide rollers 11 pivotally supported at each of the four upper, lower, left and right corners of the main body 10. These guide rollers 11 are placed in rolling contact with the pair of guide rails 8 so as to be sandwiched therebetween from above and below. Although the number of guide rollers 11 in each carrier 9 is four here, it may be sufficient as long as the number is sufficient to move the main body 10 in parallel. The main body 10 of the carrier 9 includes:
Traveling locking means 12 that is engaged with and released from the traveling portion 4a of the chain 4
A return locking means 13 that is engaged with and released from the return portion 4b of the chain 4 is provided. As shown in FIG. 2, the forward locking means 12 includes a rotating shaft 15 that is rotatably supported by the main body 10 via a bracket 14, and a rotating shaft 15 that is attached to one end of the rotating shaft 15 and connected to the traveling portion 4a of the chain 4. It consists of a sprocket 16 fixed in mesh with each other, and an electromagnetic brake (or electromagnetic clutch) 17 that is supported by the main body 10 via the bracket 14 and stops the rotation of the rotating shaft 15. Similar to the forward locking means 12, the backward locking means 13 includes a rotary shaft 19 rotatably supported via a bracket 18, and one end of the rotary shaft 19 so as to mesh with the backward traveling portion 4b of the chain 4. The sprocket 20 is fixed to the main body 10 via the bracket 18, and the rotating shaft 19
Electromagnetic brake (or electromagnetic clutch) that stops the rotation of
Consists of 21. Each carrier 9 includes a work catch 22 that supports a work (in this case, a counter gear shaft of a transmission) W as a conveyed object, a motor 23 that horizontally rotates the work, and a motor 23 that drives the motor 23 and work catch 22 up and down. A cylinder 24 whose driving source is pneumatic pressure, hydraulic pressure, electricity, etc. is provided. The frame 7 is provided with a stopper device 25 that positions and stops each carrier 9 at both ends of the section of each carrier 9,
Correspondingly, abutting tools 27 are fixed on both sides of each carrier 9 in the moving direction to be received by the stopper device 25 via flanges 26. Further, locking portions 28 are fixed to both sides of each carrier 9 in the moving direction via the flanges 26 to lock the carrier 9 at a position where the abutting tool 27 is received by the stopper device 25. The stopper device 25
A stopper body 29 that receives and stops the abutting tool 27, and a cylinder 30 that drives the stopper body 29 forward and backward toward the frame 7.
A hook 31 is pivotably supported by the stopper body 29 and is engaged with the locking portion 28 of the carrier 9, which is located at a position where the abutting tool 27 is received by the stopper device 25. It has a spring 32 that biases it toward the engaged position. Here, the abutment tool 27 is fixed to the main body 10 of the carrier 9, but in order to dampen the shock when the carrier stops, a shock absorber using a hydraulic damper, a spring, etc. is attached to the abutment tool 27. and the main body 10.

In the above configuration, the chain 4 is driven in one direction by the motor 1. Therefore, when the electromagnetic brake 17 of the forward locking means 12 is activated to stop the rotation of the rotating shaft 15, the main body lO of the carrier 9 is locked to the forward portion 4a of the chain 4 via the sprocket 16, and the carrier 9 is moved in the outgoing direction as the outgoing section 4a moves. In this state, when the electromagnetic brake 17 is released, the rotating shaft 1
5 and sprocket 16 rotate freely and the carrier 9
is released from the moving movement of the traveling portion 4a of the chain 4.

Similarly, the operation of the electromagnetic brake 21 of the go-around locking means 13 is controlled to engage and disengage the carrier 9 from the go-around section 4b, and the carrier 9 is moved from an arbitrary position in the go-around direction, and then to another arbitrary position. It can be released from the going-around section 4b and stopped. Just before the carrier 9 reaches a predetermined stop position, the carrier 9 is released from the chain, and when the carrier 9 moving by inertia moves to the predetermined stop position, the abutting tool 27 is stopped by the stopper body 29 of the stopper device 25. and stops. At this time, the hook 31 of the stopper device 25 is swung from the locking position by the locking portion 28 of the carrier 9 against the spring 32, and after the locking portion 28 passes the return portion of the hook 31, the hook 31 is swung by the spring 32. It is pushed behind the locking part 28.

This prevents the carrier 9 from retreating due to the reaction of the collision between the abutment tool 27 and the stopper body 29.

In this way, the carrier 9 is accurately stopped at a predetermined stopping position. When the carrier 9 is moved from the stop position, the cylinder 30 of the stopper device 25 is shortened, the hook 31 is retreated toward the frame 7, and the engagement between the hook 31 and the locking portion 28 is released. This allows the carrier 9 to move in the backward direction. Furthermore, by shortening the cylinder 30 and retracting the stopper body 29 to a position where it does not interfere with the movement of the carrier 9 at all, the carrier 9 can also move in the forward direction.

The carrier 9 is connected to the forward movement section 4a or the backward movement section 4b of the chain 4.
The position where the carrier 9 is engaged and the position where the engagement is released can be freely selected by controlling the electromagnetic brake 17 or 21, and the selection can be made independently for each carrier 9.

In this way, by making the operations of each carrier 9 independent from each other, it is possible to sequentially transport between processing machines with different arrangement intervals, or to transfer finished products when processing machines of the same type have different processing speeds for some reason. It is possible to execute a very flexible transport schedule, such as taking out the workpiece and transporting it first.

[Embodiment 2] In the above-mentioned embodiment, the carrier 9 is prevented from moving forward by stopping the rotation of the subblocks 1-16.20 of the forward locking means 12 and the backward locking means 13 with the electromagnetic brakes 17.21. However, in another embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, the forward locking means 12 and the backward locking means 13 Each rack (can be one or more bins) 33.34
are provided, and these racks 33 and 34 are provided with a reciprocal locking means 1
A pair of cylinders 36a and 36b are provided which are driven by a lever 35 common to both the locking means 2 and the return locking means 13.

In the above configuration, the cylinder 36a.

When one of the racks 36b is extended, the lever 35 swings and one of the racks 33, 34 is engaged with the chain 4. As a result, the carrier 9 is engaged with the outgoing section 4a or the incoming section 4b.

In addition, in this embodiment, the cylinders 36a, 35
A single cylinder may be provided instead of b.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the reciprocating conveyance device of the present invention is provided with a plurality of carriers movable along the forward and backward sections of the endless strip that is rotated in one direction, and each carrier has the endless strip that rotates in one direction. A removable outbound locking means is provided in the forward movement part of the carrier, and a removable outbound locking means is provided in the inbound movement part, and the outbound movement locking means is actuated independently from other carriers. The carrier can be moved in the outbound direction over any section at the right time,
Further, the carrier can be moved in the go-around direction over any section at any timing by operating the go-around locking means independently from other carriers. Therefore, the stoppage of one carrier due to a failure or the like will not cause congestion or stoppage of other carriers, and the adverse effect on the flow of the subsequent line can be minimized.

In addition, since the movement of each carrier can be controlled independently of each other, there is no need to repeatedly start and stop a conveyed object over a long conveyance section, and the holding position of the conveyed object will be distorted due to vibrations caused by starting and stopping. The fear disappears.

Furthermore, by making the operations of each carrier independent of each other, it becomes possible to execute a flexible production schedule that takes into account differences in transport sections, differences in processing time, and the like.

In addition, since it is only necessary to drive the endless strip in one direction, it is possible to obtain effects such as simplifying the structure of a drive device for driving the endless strip.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a front view of one embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side view of its carrier, Fig. 3 is a plan view of its stopper device, and Fig. 4 is a forwarding section of another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view schematically showing the locking means 12 and the going-back locking means 13. FIG. 1 is a driving means (motor), 2 is a driving wheel (driving sprocket), 3 is an idling wheel (idling sprocket), 4 is an endless strip (chain), 4a is a forward traveling portion, 4b is a homeward traveling portion, 9 12 is a carrier, 12 is a forward locking means, and 13 is a backward locking means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Providing an endless strip that is wound around a pair of drive wheels and an idler wheel and rotated in one direction by a drive means,
A plurality of carriers are provided between the driving wheel and the idle wheel so as to be movable along the forward and backward sections of the endless strip, and each carrier can be engaged with and detached from the traveling section of the endless strip. 1. A reciprocating conveyance device, characterized in that it is provided with a forward locking means and a backward locking means that can be engaged and detached from a backward movement section.