JPS6231608A - Endless conveyer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent relative rotation between shanks of adjacent support members during turning of a link between the shanks to obtain stable and parallel movement of carriers at all times for safe and positive carrying of parts or the like by providing a relative rotation preventing mechanism between the shanks. CONSTITUTION:When a motor M is actuated to rotate a rotary disc 5 in the clockwise direction, support members 7 for carriers C are driven in the same direction, having the shanks 14 engaged in grooves of the rotary disc 5 one by one, and along therewith a lower rotary disc 6 also rotates, engaging the shanks 14. These support members 7 are coupled by links 16, and the support members 7 are further coupled by chains 19, so that, when these support members 7 move in an arcuate track, the adjacent support members 7 never rotate relatively and move in parallel at all times. Therefore, a carrier C fixed to each of the support members 7 moves at all times in a constantly directed condition with no inclination even in an arcuate track so as to stably carry parts.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an endless conveyor equipped with carriers on an endless track for supporting objects to be conveyed, such as two parts of various materials.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, as the above-mentioned type of conveyor, a structure in which a carrier is directly fixed to a chain or belt, or in which the carrier is freely suspended via a suitable hanging device is known.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, the structure in which the carrier is directly fixed to the chain or belt has the disadvantage that stable conveyance cannot be performed because the direction of the carrier changes in response to turning or curved parts of the track. In particular, vertical conveyance is limited to applications such as packet elevators, where the conveyed items are received at the bottom and discharged at the top. This method could not be applied to applications in which a carrier is attached and an arbitrary carrier is moved to a predetermined position because the conveyed object would spill from the carrier when changing direction.

In addition, in a configuration in which the carrier is freely suspended from a chain or belt via a hanging device, the former type of change in the orientation of the carrier can be prevented when conveying in the vertical direction, and it can also be used as a stocker, but The carrier swayed during the process, making it extremely unstable, and in severe cases, the transported items could spill out, which was dangerous.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In view of the above-mentioned shortcomings of the prior art, the present invention provides a method for reliably moving the carrier without causing any change in the direction of the carrier even when moving along a turning section of the track. The purpose is to provide an endless conveyor that can be supported.

That is, the present invention provides a first moving mechanism and a second moving mechanism that can be synchronously driven by a drive mechanism such as a motor and have endless orbits of the same shape, and a first moving mechanism and a second moving mechanism that are provided in conjunction with the first moving mechanism and the second moving mechanism. It consists of a link mechanism and a carrier attached to this link mechanism, the first moving mechanism and the second moving mechanism are arranged parallel to each other at a predetermined interval, and the link mechanism is A first moving mechanism-side link that is attached to the mechanism and moves to follow this, and a second moving mechanism that is attached to the second moving mechanism and moves to follow this at a position corresponding to the first moving mechanism-side link. It is composed of a mechanism side link and an intermediate link whose both ends are rotatably connected to the first moving mechanism side link and the second moving mechanism side link, and by fixing or integrating the carrier to this intermediate link, The direction of the intermediate link, that is, the carrier, is always actively maintained in a fixed direction.

(Example) Next, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The stocker 1 shown in FIG. 1 is used to arbitrarily move carriers 01-C1 DEG containing bulk materials, such as mechanical parts, by type, up to a take-out height H as required.

The stocker 1 consists of a frame F that stands vertically, upper and lower sprockets 2 and 3 that are pivotally supported on the frame F, and a chain 4 that is stretched between them. The first moving mechanism 5, the upper and lower sprockets 6 and 7 that are also pivotally supported on the frame F, and the chain 8 stretched between them.
a second moving mechanism 9 on the outside (on the side far from the bottom of the frame), and a carrier CI"" Cs. It consists of link mechanisms 10 to 10 provided in conjunction with the first moving mechanism 5 and the second moving mechanism to respectively support the above-mentioned first moving mechanism 5 and second moving mechanism.

Here, the sprockets 2, 3 of the first moving mechanism 5 and the sprockets 6, 7 of the second moving mechanism 9 are all the same, and their chains 4 and 8
also have the same length. Moreover, the first moving mechanism 5 and the second
The center lines of the moving mechanisms 9 are on the same line, and the center lines of the first moving mechanisms 5
is arranged above the second moving mechanism 9 by a height h. The first moving mechanism 5 and the second moving mechanism 9 are driven at the same speed by a motor (not shown) via a reduction gear and a well-known power transmission mechanism.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the link mechanism 10 is fixed to the chain 4 of the first moving mechanism 5 at a distance II, and has guide rails 1 arranged in parallel along the chain 4.
Links 14 and 15 are rotatably connected at one end to pins 12 and 13, respectively, which are slidable on the second moving mechanism 9; Links 19 and 20 are fixed at intervals of 11 and are rotatably connected at one end to pins 17 and 18, which are slidable on guide rails 16 arranged in parallel along the chain 7. and,
A link shaft 21 rotatably connects the other ends of link 14 and link 15 to form a triangular link, and a link shaft 21 rotatably connects the other ends of link 19 and link 20 to form a triangular link similar to the former. The intermediate link 23 is rotatably connected at both ends to the link shaft 21 and the link shaft 22.

Here is link 14. Link 15. Links 19 and 20 have the same length, so that when pins 12.13 and 17.18 are located in the straight sections of the respective guide rails 11 and 16, the intermediate links are 23 is always the guide rail 11 and 16
is kept parallel to. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 3, the corresponding carriers C5 fixed to the ends of the link shafts 21 and 22 are moved in parallel in the same direction as the first moving mechanism 5 and the second moving mechanism 9. It will be done.

Also, the distance P between the pin 12 on the first moving mechanism 5 side and the corresponding pin 17 on the second moving mechanism 9 side.

(That is, the distance between the bins 13 and 18 or the length of the intermediate link 23) is set to be the same as the height h of the first moving mechanism 5 with respect to the second moving mechanism 9 described above.

Note that the pin 12 on the first moving mechanism 5 side has a corresponding link 15 of the link mechanism 10 of the carrier C1 located on the upper side.
Further, the corresponding links 14 of the link mechanism 10 of the carrier C4 located on the lower side are respectively connected to the bins 13, and similarly, the link mechanism 10 of the carrier C1 located on the upper side is connected to the pin 17 on the second moving mechanism 9 side. The corresponding link 20 of the carrier C4 is connected to the pin 18, and the corresponding link 19 of the link mechanism 10 of the carrier C4 located below is connected to the pin 18.
In this way, the link mechanisms 10 are successively provided while sharing a bin with adjacent link mechanisms 10.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

First, the carrier Cr-C1o performs a linear movement in the vertical direction when the pins 17, 18 and the pins 12, 13 of the link mechanism 10 are respectively located in the linear portions of the corresponding guide rails 11 and 16.

Next, carriers CI to C1 are representatively carrier C6.
To explain this, the carrier C6 rises as shown in FIG. 2 above, and after the pins 12 and 17 of the link mechanism 10 reach the vicinity of the curved portions of the corresponding guide rails 11 and 16, it further rises and reaches the top. Then, Figures 4 and 5
As shown in the figure, the pins 12 and 13 and the pins 17 and 18 are located opposite each other, and the pins 12 and 17 and the pins 13 and 18 are aligned vertically in a straight line. .

On the other hand, the links 14, 15 and the links 19, 20 narrow their mutual angles as the bins 12 and 17 curve around the curved portion, and the angle becomes the minimum in the state shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

In addition, while the link mechanism 10 moves in the curved portion in this way, the links 14.15 on the first moving mechanism 5 side and the links 19.20 on the second moving mechanism 9 side perform exactly the same movement, so the bin 21 and the bottle 22 is always kept constant, so that the intermediate link 23 is always maintained in the vertical direction. Therefore, the carrier C6 can be moved in parallel during this period without any tilting.

Further, since the links 14, 15 and the links 19, 20 narrow the mutual angle at the curved portion, the rotation speed of the carrier C6 at the curved portion is extremely fast, and in this example, the second
The carrier C6 passes through the curved portion by moving the chain by a vertical movement distance P in the figure. Therefore, the smaller the radius of curvature of the curved portion, the faster the moving speed of the carrier C6 will be. This allows only one desired carrier to be exposed at the curved portion position, and
Even if the radius of curvature is made small, conveyance is smooth, and there is also the effect that the distance K between the vertical rails can be made extremely small.

When the link mechanism 10 passes the bend, the relationship between the link 14.15 and the link 19.20 is reversed, that is, the link 19.20 goes down in advance, contrary to when it goes up. This relationship is reversed once the vehicle turns around the downward curve and returns to the original relationship. During this time, the intermediate link 23 can of course always be maintained in the vertical direction, and the carriers C8 to C1 degrees are moved in parallel.

The operation of the stocker 1 as described above is performed by a simple procedure of driving the motor to move the first moving mechanism 5 and the second moving mechanism 9, and stopping the motor when the stored carrier reaches the high aH position. I can do it. In that case, only the desired carrier can be exposed at the height H position, and the other carriers can be hidden by a cover or the like.

In addition, although the above embodiments are related to a stocker that moves a desired carrier to a take-out position by moving the carrier in a vertical plane, it is also possible to move objects into the carrier and carry it vertically, or to move the carrier endlessly in a horizontal plane. A similar mechanism can be applied to conveyors. Further, although the above embodiment uses a chain and a sprocket as the moving mechanism, it is also possible to use, for example, a belt and a pulley.

(Effects of the Invention) The present invention provides a first drive system, such as a chain, which can be synchronously driven by a drive device and has an endless track of the same shape.
A moving mechanism and a second moving mechanism are arranged parallel to each other at a predetermined interval, links attached to each of these moving mechanisms at corresponding positions are connected by an intermediate link, and a carrier is attached to the intermediate link. By fixing or integrating them, the following effects can be achieved.

(a> The intermediate link always moves in parallel no matter what trajectory the link mechanism moves, and therefore the carrier is always kept in the same direction, so stable conveyance can be achieved.

(b) Since the carrier is actively held at two points by the link on the first moving mechanism side and the link on the second moving mechanism side, swinging of the carrier during transportation can be completely prevented, especially when vertically conveying. It can be performed stably and reliably.

(c) Since the tracks of the first moving mechanism and the second moving mechanism may have any shape, they can be designed according to the installation space, and therefore, the space can be used effectively.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figures show one embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a schematic front view of the stocker, Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the link mechanism shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a left side view of Fig. 2. , FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the movement of the link mechanism shown in FIGS. 2 and 3,
FIG. 5 is a left side view of the link mechanism for carrier C6 shown in FIG. 4. 1... Stocker 5... First moving mechanism 9.
...Second moving mechanism 10-10...Link mechanism 14.
15,19.20...Link 13...Intermediate link Patent applicant Mori Seisakusho Co., Ltd. Agent
Patent Attorney Yoshihisa Shimizu○
0-〇1 Ward 9-

Claims (1)

[Claims] A first moving mechanism and a second moving mechanism that are synchronously driven by a drive device and have endless orbits of the same shape, a link mechanism provided in conjunction with the first moving mechanism and the second moving mechanism, and a link mechanism provided in this link mechanism. the first moving mechanism and the second moving mechanism are arranged parallel to each other at a predetermined interval, and the link mechanism is attached to the first moving mechanism and follows the first moving mechanism. a first moving mechanism-side link that moves with the first moving mechanism-side link; a second moving mechanism-side link that is attached to the second moving mechanism at a position corresponding to the first moving mechanism-side link and moves in accordance with the second moving mechanism-side link; An endless conveyor comprising a first moving mechanism side link and an intermediate link rotatably connected at both ends to the second moving mechanism side link, and the carrier is fixed to or integrated with the intermediate link. .