KR101801360B1

KR101801360B1 - Transfer apparatus using ball array with omni-wheel

Info

Publication number: KR101801360B1
Application number: KR1020150099346A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 구경본
Original assignee: 구경본
Priority date: 2015-07-13
Filing date: 2015-07-13
Publication date: 2017-11-24
Also published as: KR20170008074A

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ball array transfer apparatus capable of stably transferring various articles, people, and the like in various transport directions.
A ball array transfer device according to the present invention comprises: a ball array having a plurality of ball rollers spaced apart at regular intervals and arranged in a row / column structure; A first drive unit for driving the plurality of ball rollers in a first direction; And a second drive unit for driving the plurality of ball rollers in a second direction, wherein the first drive unit drives the ball rollers in a direction orthogonal to the first direction A plurality of first drive shafts arranged to be rotatable in contact with the ball rollers and arranged to be fixed to the first drive shaft and to transmit rotational force of the first drive shaft to the ball rollers, And the second drive unit includes a plurality of second drive shafts arranged in a direction orthogonal to the second direction so as to directly drive the ball rollers in each row unit to transmit the rotational force in the second direction, And a plurality of second omniwheels mounted to be fixed to the second drive shaft and arranged to be in rotational contact with the ball rollers to transmit rotational force of the second drive shaft to the ball rollers, And the second drive shaft is rotated by the first drive motor and the second drive motor, respectively.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a ball array transfer device having an omni-

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer device, and more particularly, to a transfer device using a ball array having an omni wheel capable of stably transferring various articles, people, and the like in various transfer directions.

BACKGROUND ART [0002] In general, various types of transfer apparatuses for transferring a conveyed object such as various articles, people, etc. to a desired position have been widely used. 3

Such a transfer device includes a cylinder, a conveyor belt, and a transfer robot.

Although the conveying apparatus using the cylinder has no significant problem in conveying the conveyed object in one direction, the conveying distance is short, and in order to convey the conveyed object in the horizontal / vertical / diagonal direction, a plurality of cylinders must be combined, , It is pointed out that disadvantages are that the facility cost is increased by installing several cylinders.

In addition, although a conveying device using a conveyor belt is suitable for conveying a conveyed object at a long distance, it is also necessary to provide a conveyor belt in accordance with the conveying direction in order to convey the conveyed object in the horizontal / vertical / diagonal directions. It is complicated and it is pointed out that the installation cost of the conveyor belts increases, and the occupied area of the facilities is also increased.

In addition, although the transfer device using the transfer robot can transfer the objects to be transported in the x, y, and z directions in a plurality of directions by one robot, it is expensive and requires a space for installing the transfer robot, In addition, it is not economical to maintain a dead zone to prevent danger due to malfunction of the transfer robot. In addition, since the transfer robot is composed of complicated mechanical devices and control devices, careful maintenance is required to prevent malfunctions And it is pointed out that the maintenance cost is high.

In addition, there is a conveying device using a rolling member such as a roller, and it is advantageous that control of the conveying direction can be freely controlled by such rolling members. However, the driving mechanism for driving the rolling members, The manufacturing cost and the installation cost are increased, and the driving control of the rolling members is very difficult, thereby increasing the maintenance cost.

US 8567587 B2 (Mar. 10, 2013)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been studied and developed in order to solve various drawbacks of the prior art as described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a ball roller which can maintain precise and stable driving performance for a plurality of ball rollers arranged in a row / And it is an object of the present invention to provide a ball array transfer apparatus having an omni wheel capable of controlling the driving to the roller very efficiently and easily.

The present invention has the following features in order to achieve the above object.

The present invention relates to a ball bearing comprising a ball array having a plurality of ball rollers spaced apart at regular intervals and arranged in a row / column structure; A first drive unit for driving the plurality of ball rollers in a first direction; And a second drive unit for driving the plurality of ball rollers in a second direction, wherein the first drive unit drives the ball rollers in a direction orthogonal to the first direction A plurality of first drive shafts arranged to be rotatable in contact with the ball rollers and arranged to be fixed to the first drive shaft and to transmit rotational force of the first drive shaft to the ball rollers, And the second drive unit includes a plurality of second drive shafts arranged in a direction orthogonal to the second direction so as to directly drive the ball rollers in each row unit to transmit the rotational force in the second direction, And a plurality of second omniwheels mounted to be fixed to the second drive shaft and arranged to be in rotational contact with the ball rollers to transmit rotational force of the second drive shaft to the ball rollers, And the second drive shaft is rotated by the first drive motor and the second drive motor, respectively.

Wherein the ball rollers of the ball array are rotatably received in a receiving housing, the receiving housing having a base frame and a cover frame assemblably mounted on the top of the base frame.

The base frame is provided with a plurality of lower rotation supporting structures for individually rotatably supporting lower portions of the rotating ball rollers. The lower rotation supporting structure is disposed on the lower side of the ball rollers so as to protrude from the base frame, And a plurality of bearing balls disposed in the seating grooves on the support plate and configured to contact the outer peripheral surface of the lower side of the ball roller and rotatably supporting the ball roller.

The cover frame has a through hole through which the upper portions of the plurality of ball rollers are exposed. An upper rotation supporting surface is formed at a lower portion of each through hole. The upper rotation supporting surface rotatably supports the upper portion of the rotating ball roller, do.

In addition, the base frame is provided with a plurality of side rotation support structures for individually rotatably supporting the side portions of the rotating ball rollers, and the side rotation support structure includes a plurality of support blocks spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance on the base frame And a lateral area support surface is formed on the side of the side edge to support the side surface of each ball roller.

According to the present invention, a plurality of ball rollers arranged in a predetermined row / column structure can be directly and rotationally driven by the first drive unit and the second drive unit, so that accurate and stable drive performance for a plurality of ball rollers can be maintained, There is an advantage that the driving of the plurality of ball rollers can be controlled very efficiently and easily.

The rotational force is applied to the plurality of ball rollers through the first omni wheel and the second omni wheel so that the frictional resistance of the second omnidevice with respect to the first direction component of the rotational direction component and the second direction component Thereby minimizing the frictional resistance of the first omnidirectional wheel so that the driving characteristics of the ball array transfer device can be improved.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a ball array transfer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is an exploded perspective view showing a ball array transferring apparatus according to the present invention.
3 is a plan view showing a ball array transfer apparatus according to the present invention.
4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A 'in Fig.
5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line B-B 'in Fig.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating a combined state of a base frame and a support block of a ball array transfer apparatus according to the present invention.
7 is a perspective view showing the arrangement relationship between the first drive shaft, the second drive shaft, and the ball rollers according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. For the sake of convenience, the size, line thickness, and the like of the components shown in the drawings referenced in the description of the present invention may be exaggerated somewhat. The terms used in the description of the present invention are defined in consideration of the functions of the present invention, and thus may be changed depending on the user, the intention of the operator, customs, and the like. Therefore, the definition of this term should be based on the contents of this specification as a whole.

1 to 7 are views showing a ball array transfer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 and 2, a ball array transfer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a ball array 10 having a plurality of ball rollers 11 spaced apart at regular intervals and arranged in a row / A first driving unit 20 for driving the plurality of ball rollers 11 in a first direction to transmit rotational force and a second driving unit 20 for driving a plurality of ball rollers 11 in a second direction to transmit a rotational force, And a drive unit (30).

The ball array 10 has a plurality of ball rollers 11 arranged in a row / column structure spaced apart from each other at regular intervals and rotatably installed in the receiving housing 50 as shown in FIGS. The upper end of the ball roller 11 is installed so as to be exposed at the upper portion of the receiving housing 50 so that the conveyed object is placed on the upper end of the ball roller 11. [

The first drive unit 20 is configured to transmit the rotational force of the ball rollers 11 in the first direction (see arrow X direction in Fig. 3).

3 to 6, the first drive unit 20 includes ball rollers 11 arranged in a column (see arrow Y direction in FIG. 3) in a first direction A plurality of first driving shafts 21 which are rotatably driven by the first driving shaft 21 to transmit rotational force to the first driving shaft 21 and a second driving shaft 21 which is provided to be fixed to the first driving shaft 21, A plurality of first omni wheels 22 for transmitting rotational force to the ball rollers 11 and a first drive motor 23 and a first transmission mechanism 24 for simultaneously rotating the plurality of first drive shafts 21 .

Each of the first drive shafts 21 is arranged in each column unit such as one row (C1), two rows (C2) (the ball array transfer apparatus according to the present invention is constituted by two rows and two rows for convenience in the drawing) The plurality of first driving shafts 21 are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the first direction (see arrow Y direction in FIG. 3) between the column units C1 and C2 do.

The plurality of first driving shafts (21) are configured to be simultaneously driven to rotate in the same direction by the first driving motor (23) and the first driving mechanism (24). The first transmission mechanism 24 includes a plurality of first pulleys 25 provided on the output shaft of the first drive motor 23 and the end of each first drive shaft 21 and a plurality of first pulleys 25 disposed on the end of the first drive shaft 21, And a plurality of first winding motor sections (26) provided between the pulleys (25). The power of the first drive motor 23 is transmitted to the plurality of first drive shafts 21 through the first transmission mechanism 24 so that the plurality of first drive shafts 21 are rotationally driven in the same direction at the same time. The first winding motor section 26 is composed of a timing belt, a belt, a chain, and the like, and is wound around the adjacent first pulleys 25.

3, the first transmission mechanism 24 is composed of a plurality of first pulleys 25, a plurality of first winding motor sections 26, and the like, and the ball rollers 11 of the plurality of column units C1 and C2 But it is also possible to independently drive the ball rollers 11 of each thermal unit at the same time by independently installing the first transmission mechanism in the ball rollers 11 of each thermal unit . Although the first transmission mechanism 24 exemplifies the winding transmission mechanism, various transmission mechanisms such as other gear transmission mechanisms and the like can be applied.

3, the first driving mechanism 24 is connected to the first driving shaft 21 adjacent to the first driving shaft 21 by a first winding motor section 26 so that one first driving shaft 21 is separately provided on the left and right sides The entire first drive shaft 21 may be connected to a motor section 26 such as one timing belt without forming the first winding motor section 26 of the motor.

As long as the end of the first drive shaft 21 is connected to the first drive motor 23 and can receive the rotational force of the first drive motor 23, And the present invention is not limited thereto.

On the other hand, the first driving shaft 21 is formed so that a plurality of first omni wheels 22 are coaxially rotated, so that the outer circumferential surface of the first omni wheel 22 is rotatably contacted with the ball rollers 11 directly.

The first omnidirectional wheel 22 is coupled to the wheel body 22a by a plurality of passive rollers 22b so that the passive roller 22b idles at a rotational force different from the rotational direction of the first driving shaft 21 The frictional resistance along the first omni wheel 22 is minimized with respect to the rotational direction of the first drive shaft 21, that is, the rotational direction different from the first direction.

The first omni wheel 22 according to the present invention may be applied to various shapes such as a universal wheel, a Mecanum wheel, a double wheel, and the like. Any type of omni wheel may be employed in the present invention as long as it can minimize frictional resistance between different directions of rotation between the wheel 22 and the second omni wheel 32 rotating in the second direction.

At least one or both of the first omni wheel 22 and the ball roller 11 is made of a resilient material such as urethane or rubber so that any one of the first omni wheel 22 and the ball roller 11 The first omni wheel 22 and the ball roller 11 come into rotational contact with each other in close contact with each other and the drive force of the first drive unit 20 is reliably transmitted to the ball roller 11 Whereby the driving of the ball rollers 11 can be stabilized.

Specifically, if the article to be conveyed such as an article, a person, or the like is not placed on the upper portion of the ball rollers 11, the rotation of the first omni wheel 22 22 are in a state of simply in line contact with the outer surface of the ball roller 11. [

When the object to be conveyed is seated, the first omni wheel 22 is elastically deformed as it is in rotational contact with the outer surface of the ball roller 11, so that the first omni wheel 22 can hermetically contact with the surface. In other words, when the conveyed object is not seated, the first omni wheel 22 and the ball roller 11 are simply rotated in a line-contact state, and when the conveyed object is seated, The omni wheel 22 and the ball rollers 11 are advantageously capable of greatly improving the rotational force transmission efficiency and the conveyance efficiency of the conveyed object by keeping the omni wheel 22 and the ball roller 11 in tight contact with each other while rotating.

The second drive unit 30 is configured to transmit the rotational force of the ball rollers 11 along a second direction (see arrow Y direction in Fig. 3).

As shown in the drawing, the second drive unit 30 includes a plurality of rollers 11 for rotating the ball rollers 11 arranged in the row units R1 and R2 in a second direction (see arrow Y direction) A second driving shaft 31 and a plurality of second driving shafts 31 arranged to be rotatably in contact with the ball rollers 11 and adapted to transmit rotational force of the second driving shaft 31 to the ball rollers 11, And a second drive motor 33 and a second drive mechanism 34 for simultaneously rotating the second omni wheel 32 and the plurality of second drive shafts 31. [

Each of the second drive shafts 31 is provided so as to directly drive the ball rollers 11 arranged in each row unit such as one row R1 and two rows R2, Are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the second direction (see arrow X direction in Fig. 3) between the ball rollers 11 in a row unit.

The plurality of second driving shafts (31) are configured to be rotationally driven in the same direction by the second driving motor (33) and the second driving mechanism (34). The second transmission mechanism 34 includes at least one output shaft of the second drive motor 33 and one or more second pulleys 35 provided at the ends of the respective second drive shafts 31, And a second winding motor section (36) installed between the two pulleys (35).

The power transmission structure of the second drive motor 33 and the second transmission mechanism 34 is the same as that of the first drive motor 23 and the first drive mechanism 24 described above, and thus a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

A plurality of second omni wheels 32 provided on the second drive shaft 31 are rotatably supported by the respective ball rollers 32 disposed in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the second omni wheel 32, 11 as in the first omni wheel 22 described above.

On the other hand, the first drive shaft 21 of the first drive unit 20 is installed so as not to interfere with the second drive shaft 31 of the second drive unit 30. For example, the first drive shaft 21 may be positioned lower than the second drive shaft 31, and vice versa.

When the diameter of the first omni wheel 22 and the diameter of the second omni wheel 32 that are formed in the first drive shaft 21 and the second drive shaft 31 are the same, The heights of the contact points are different from each other.

In order to make the heights of the contact points equal to each other, the axes of the first and second omni wheels 22 and 32 are different from each other in height.

The height of such a contact point is preferably such that the diameter of the two omni wheels 22, 32 is different for a uniform support load since the omni wheel having a lower contact point receives a higher supporting load after the article is placed will be.

On the other hand, the receiving housing 50 is provided with the ball rollers 11 of the ball array 10, the first drive shaft 21 and the first omni wheel 22 of the first drive unit 20, The first driving shaft 31 and the second omniwheel 32 of the first embodiment.

2, the housing housing 50 has a base frame 51 and a cover frame 52 which is assemblably mounted on the top of the base frame 51. [

The base frame 51 is formed with a plurality of lower rotation supporting structures 53 for rotatably supporting the lower portion of the rotating ball rollers 11 individually.

The lower rotation support structure 53 includes a support plate 53a protruding from the lower side of the ball roller 11 on the base frame 51 and having a plurality of hemispherical seating grooves 53b on the upper side thereof, And a plurality of bearing balls 53c that are arranged in the seating grooves on the upper and lower surfaces of the ball rollers and are configured to contact the outer circumferential surface of the lower side of the ball rollers and rotatably support the ball rollers.

The plurality of bearing balls 53c are preferably configured to reduce the frictional force with the seating grooves 53b. For this purpose, the material of the contact surfaces of the bearing balls 53c formed with the seating grooves 53b is made of a polymer It can be composed of material.

In addition, the bearing balls 53c may be provided at four positions in the east, west, south, and north directions. However, the bearing balls 53c may be provided in a larger number if necessary. The upper side of the support plate 53a is recessed in the form of hemispherical grooves, A plurality of bearing balls 53c may be disposed between the support plate 53a and the ball rollers 11, as shown in FIG.

In another form, the lower rotation support structure 53 may be formed of a polymer bearing embedded in a hemispherical groove shape.

Meanwhile, the ball rollers 11 on the support plate 53a and the ball rollers 11 may be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined gap, and the ball rollers 11 may be slightly spaced from the lower rotation support structure 53 Is possible.

The predetermined clearance may be set according to the arrangement position of the first omni wheel 22 and the second omni wheel 32 which are in rotational contact with the ball rollers 11, 2 to 7: 3 in each of the first and second omni-directional wheels 53 and 22 and 32, respectively.

The cover frame 52 has through holes 55 through which the upper portions of the plurality of ball rollers 11 are exposed and the upper rotation supporting surface 54 is formed below the through holes 55, The upper rotation support surface 54 rotatably supports the upper portion of the rotating ball roller 11 individually.

Preferably, each upper rotation support surface 54 is formed in a curved surface structure to support the upper portion of the ball roller 11 except for the exposed upper end thereof.

The upper roller support surface 54 and the ball roller 11 may be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined gap so that the ball roller 11 is slightly moved in the upper rotation support surface 54 It is possible.

The base frame 51 is formed with a plurality of side rotation support structures 56 for individually supporting the side portions of the rotating ball rollers 11. The side rotation support structures 56 support the base frame 51 Side support surface 56a is formed on the side edge of the support block 57, which is spaced apart from the support block 57 by a plurality of protrusions.

The height of the support block 57 on which the lateral area support surface 56a is formed may be higher or lower than the center of the ball roller 11 and if it is higher than the center of the ball roller 11, It is possible to support the rotation.

In addition, the material of the side area support surface 56a formed on the support block 57 is preferably made of a polymer material that is not easily worn by friction.

The support block 57 is formed such that the side area support surface 56a is formed and a certain portion of the first drive shaft 21 and the second drive shaft 31 is inserted and received, And the second drive shaft 31 is rotatably supported.

In order to more stably support the first drive shaft 21 and the second drive shaft 31 in rotation, the receiving points of the first drive shaft 21 and the second drive shaft 31, i.e., the drive shaft 21 and the second drive shaft 31 31 and the first drive shaft 21 and the second drive shaft 31 are rotatably supported by the bearings.

In the ball array conveying apparatus according to the present invention configured as described above, the ball rollers 11 of the ball array 10 are driven in the first direction (arrow X direction) by the first drive unit 20, The ball rollers 11 of the ball array 10 are driven in the second direction (arrow Y direction) by the drive unit 30. [ Accordingly, the rotational force of the ball rollers 11 can be transmitted in various directions through the vector sum of the first direction X and the second direction Y, Can be transported in various directions.

Particularly, in the present invention, since the ball rollers 11 of the ball array 10 are directly driven to rotate by the first drive shaft 21 and the second drive shaft 22, the rotational force of the ball rollers 11 So that the efficiency of conveying the objects to be conveyed by the ball array 10 can be remarkably improved.

The present invention also has a structure in which a plurality of ball rollers 11 are directly driven and rotated by the first drive unit 20 and the second drive unit 30 so that some of the ball rollers 11 are damaged The remaining ball rollers 11 can be rotationally driven by the first drive shaft 21 and the second drive shaft 31 so that they can transmit the rotational force of the ball rollers 11 while appropriately compensating the rotation of the ball rollers 11, Therefore, even if some ball rollers malfunction, it is possible to transmit appropriate rotational force.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. .

10: Ball array 11: Ball roller
20: first drive unit 21: first drive shaft
22: first omni-wheel 30: second driving unit
31: second drive shaft 32: second omnidirectional wheel
50: receiving housing 51: base frame
52: Cover frame

Claims

A ball array in which a plurality of ball rollers are spaced apart at regular intervals and arranged in a row / column structure;
A first drive unit for driving the plurality of ball rollers in a first direction; And
And a second drive unit for driving the plurality of ball rollers in a second direction,
The first drive unit includes a plurality of first drive shafts arranged in a direction orthogonal to the first direction for rotationally driving the ball rollers in each column unit and transmitting a rotational force in a first direction, And a plurality of first omni-wheels disposed to be in rotational contact with the ball rollers and transmit the rotational force of the first drive shaft to the ball rollers,
The second drive unit includes a plurality of second drive shafts arranged in a direction orthogonal to the second direction so as to rotationally drive the ball rollers in each row unit to transmit the rotational force in the second direction, And a plurality of second omni-wheels disposed to be in rotational contact with the ball rollers and to transmit rotational force of the second drive shaft to the ball rollers,
Wherein the first drive shaft and the second drive shaft are rotated by a first drive motor and a second drive motor, respectively.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the ball rollers of the ball array are rotatably received in a receiving housing and the receiving housing has a base frame and a cover frame assemblably mounted on the top of the base frame. .

3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the base frame is formed with a plurality of lower rotation supporting structures for individually rotatably supporting lower portions of the rotating ball rollers.

The method of claim 3,
The lower rotation support structure
A plurality of hemispherical mounting grooves projected on the base frame at a lower side of the ball rollers and having a plurality of hemispherical mounting grooves on an upper side thereof; And a plurality of bearing balls for rotatably supporting the ball bearings.

3. The method of claim 2,
The cover frame has a through hole through which the upper portions of the plurality of ball rollers are exposed. An upper rotation supporting surface is formed at a lower portion of each through hole. The upper rotation supporting surface rotatably supports the upper portion of the rotating ball roller, Wherein the ball array transfer device has an omni-wheel.

3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the base frame is formed with a plurality of side rotation support structures for individually supporting the side portions of the rotating ball rollers.

The method according to claim 6,
The side rotation support structure
And a side area supporting surface is formed on a side edge side of a support block protruding from the base frame at a predetermined interval so as to support the side surfaces of the ball rollers.