JP2013035672A - Transportation vehicle system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately transfer an article to a predetermined position of a station.SOLUTION: The article is unloaded to the station by a transportation vehicle. The transportation vehicle includes a transfer device for transferring the article with an arm which is freely advanced and retreated. The station includes: a sensor for detecting that the article has moved forward to a predetermined position along the depth direction of the station; and stops the coming out of the transfer device of the transportation vehicle in response to a signal of the sensor.

Description

  The present invention relates to a transport vehicle system, and relates to an improvement in positional accuracy when unloading from a transport vehicle to a station.

  The applicant has proposed a transport vehicle equipped with a rear hook type transfer device (Patent Document 1: JPH11-278607A). In the rear hook type transfer device, for example, a double speed type slide fork provided with a fixed piece, an intermediate piece, and a movable piece is improved, and rotatable hooks are provided at both front and rear ends of the movable piece. Then, the article is pushed into the shelf or the station with the hook on the rear end side, and the article is drawn into the transport vehicle from the shelf and the station with the hook on the front end side.

  By the way, in order to inspect, process, and age the article, when the article is transferred to a station equipped with these facilities, the article needs to be transferred to a predetermined position. However, when the guide rollers, belts, gears, etc. of the transfer device are worn, the transfer accuracy decreases. Similarly, if the coefficient of friction between the article and the floor of the station varies, the transfer accuracy decreases. Therefore, it is necessary to transfer the article to an accurate position without being affected by these effects.

JPH11-278607A

  An object of the present invention is to make it possible to accurately transfer an article from a transport vehicle to a predetermined position of a station.

The present invention is a transport vehicle system that unloads articles to a station by a transport vehicle,
The transport vehicle includes a transfer device that transfers an article by a retractable arm.
The station includes a sensor for detecting that the article has advanced to a predetermined position along the depth direction of the station,
Furthermore, a controller is provided for stopping the advancement of the transfer device of the transport vehicle by a sensor signal.

  In this way, the article can be transferred to an accurate position without depending on wear and aging of the transfer device, variation in the friction coefficient between the article and the floor surface, and the like. Further, by adjusting the mounting position of the sensor, the position where the article is transferred can be easily adjusted.

  Preferably, the controller controls the transfer device of the transport vehicle, and after the transfer device is advanced to a position before the predetermined position at the first speed, the controller further moves at a second speed lower than the first speed. The advancing device is configured to stop the advancing of the transfer device when a sensor signal is received during the advancing at the second speed. If it does in this way, since a transfer device will be stopped by a signal of a sensor from a low 2nd speed, goods can be transferred to a more exact position. Further, since the advancement is started at the relatively high first speed, the influence on the transfer cycle time is small.

  Preferably, the transport vehicle includes a servo amplifier and a servo motor of the transfer device, the controller is provided on the ground side, is connected to the transport vehicle and the sensor via the network, and commands to the servo amplifier via the network. Is configured to do. It is difficult for the transport vehicle to directly receive the sensor signal at high speed. However, if the sensor signal is sent to the controller on the ground side via the network and the controller sends a command to the servo amplifier of the transfer device to control it, the transfer device can be stopped reliably and at high speed. .

The principal part top view of the carrier system of an Example The principal part front view of the conveyance vehicle system of an Example. Top view of transport vehicle Block diagram showing the control system of the embodiment Diagram showing transfer speed sequence

  In the following, an optimum embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be shown. The scope of the present invention should be determined according to the understanding of those skilled in the art based on the description of the scope of the claims, taking into account the description of the specification and well-known techniques in this field.

  The conveyance vehicle system 2 of an Example is shown in FIGS. In each figure, reference numeral 4 denotes a transport vehicle, which travels along the rail 5 with the wheels 6 and transports the article 8. Reference numerals 10 and 11 respectively denote multi-stage arms, which are provided with hooks 12 that are rotatable about the longitudinal direction of the arms 10 and 11 at both front and rear ends of the movable piece 33. Instead of the arms 10 and 11, a slide fork or a SCARA arm may be provided. In that case, the hook 12 is unnecessary. 14 and 16 are racks having a plurality of stages along the height direction. The racks 14 and 16 are provided on the left and right sides of the rails 5 and 5, for example, and 17 is a shelf plate, and a station 18 is provided on the rack 14 side, for example. Reference numeral 20 denotes a support of the racks 14 and 16.

  The station 18 is an inspection station for the article 8. For example, the article positioned with respect to the station 18 by an inspection apparatus (not shown) may be optically or electrically inspected, and in addition to this, aging and other tests may be performed. . In addition to the inspection of the article 8, pressing or other processing may be performed at the station 18, and the article 8 such as a battery may be aged by being connected to the power source of the station 18. In addition to the racks 14 and 16, the station may be provided on a conveyor or the like arranged along the travel route of the transport vehicle 4.

  The station 18 is provided with an optical sensor in which the light emitting end 22 and the light receiving end 23 are combined. For example, the position of the front end of the article 8 in the depth direction is detected. A contact-type sensor such as a limit switch may be provided instead of the optical sensor, and the rear end of the article 8 may be detected instead of the front end in the depth direction. The light emitting end 22 and the light receiving end 23 are attached to the mounting member 24 so that the positions of the light emitting end 22 and the light receiving end 23 can be changed according to the position where the article 8 is transferred. The depth direction position of the article 8 is monitored by the light emitting end 22 and the light receiving end 23, and the traveling direction position of the transport vehicle 4 is guided by, for example, a guide 25.

  FIG. 2 shows the arrangement of the conveyance vehicles 4 with respect to the racks 14 and 16. Here, the conveyance vehicles 4 are arranged for each stage in the height direction of the racks 14 and 16. A crane or an automatic guided vehicle may be used as the transport vehicle. As shown by a chain line in FIG. 2, the bottom of the movable piece 33 is at a higher position than the shelf plate 17. The guide 25 is provided in the gap between the shelf plate 17 and the movable piece 33, and the optical axis 26 of the optical sensor is arranged. Deploy.

  FIG. 3 shows the structure of the transport vehicle 4, 30 is a travel motor, 34 is a position adjustment motor, which adjusts the position of the arm 11 in the travel direction, and 36 is a transfer motor, which moves the arms 10 and 11 back and forth. The motors 30, 34, and 36 are all servo motors. Each of the arms 10 and 11 includes a fixed piece 31, an intermediate piece 32, and a movable piece 33. The fixed piece 31 is fixed to the vehicle body of the transport vehicle 4, the intermediate piece 32 slides with respect to the fixed piece 31, the movable piece 33 slides with respect to the intermediate piece 32, and moves with a stroke twice that of the intermediate piece 32. . In addition, although the arms 10 and 11 are moved back and forth by one transfer motor 36, the transfer motor may be provided separately for the arms 10 and 11. Reference numeral 38 denotes a communication unit that optically communicates with a communication unit connected to the ground controller. Reference numeral 40 denotes a laser distance meter that determines the traveling direction position of the transport vehicle 4. The position may be obtained by an encoder or the like provided in the travel motor 30 without providing the laser distance meter 40.

  FIG. 4 shows a control system of the transport vehicle system 2. Reference numerals 41 to 43 denote servo amplifiers, and Enc denotes an encoder that detects the rotational speed of each of the motors 30, 36, and 34. A communication unit 38 such as an optical communication device communicates with a communication unit 49 such as an optical communication device connected to the LAN 48. A communication unit 50 is connected to the light receiving end 23 and is connected to the ground controller 44 via the LAN 48. Reference numeral 45 denotes a peripheral device such as a communication device, a memory, and a display, and 46 denotes a CPU of the ground side controller 44.

  FIG. 5 shows a speed pattern of the arms 10 and 11 at the time of transfer. The controller 44 transmits a current command or a torque command to the servo amplifier 41 of the transport vehicle 4 to travel, and stops at a predetermined position or the like facing the station 18 by a signal from the laser distance meter 40. Further, the distance between the arms 10 and 11 is controlled by the position adjustment motor 34, and the article is held between the left and right 10 and 11 before the transfer to the station 18 is started.

  In the transfer of the article, the controller 44 instructs the servo amplifier 42 about a current value or a torque value to the transfer motor 36, and the servo amplifier 42 operates the transfer motor 36 in accordance with this. In the transfer, the arms 10 and 11 are first accelerated to the first speed shown in FIG. 5, and when the encoder or the like detects that the arm 10 or 11 has reached a position before the transfer target position, the controller 44 detects that fact. Report to In response to this, the controller 44 commands the servo amplifier 42 to decelerate to the second speed, and completes the deceleration to the second speed at the position L1. Next, the arms 10 and 11 are advanced at the second speed, and the controller 44 instructs the servo amplifier 42 to stop by a signal from the optical sensor. Here, when a stop command is issued at the position L2, it stops at the position L3 and is moving forward at the second low speed, so the error between the position L2 and the position L3 is small. Therefore, it can be accurately stopped at a predetermined position. Next, the hook is rotated to release the engagement with the article, and the arms 10 and 11 are moved back onto the transport vehicle 4.

  When an article is transferred to a frontage that does not include an optical sensor other than the station 18, the number of rotations of the transfer motor 36 is counted by an encoder to determine the transfer position. When the article is drawn from the racks 14 and 16 to the transport vehicle 4, the hook 12 is rotated in a direction not engaged with the article, and the movable piece 33 is advanced with the space between the arms 10 and 11 being opened. Next, the arm 11 is moved closer to the arm 10 side, and the hook 12 is rotated so as to engage with the article, and the movable piece 33 is moved backward.

In the embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) The article 8 can be transferred to a predetermined position of the station 18.
(2) The transfer position of the article 8 can be adjusted by changing the positions of the light emitting end 22 and the light receiving end 23.
(3) The travel direction position of the article 8 can be regulated by the guide 25.
(4) Since the arm is decelerated to the second low speed before the transfer position, it can be accurately transferred to the transfer position and the cycle time is not prolonged.
(5) By sending a signal from the optical sensor to the controller 44 via the LAN 48 and controlling the servo amplifier 42 by the controller 44, the arms 10 and 11 can be stopped at high speed.

2 Transportation vehicle system 4 Transportation vehicle 5 Rail 6 Wheel 8 Article 10, 11 Arm 12 Hook 14, 16 Rack 17 Shelf 18 Station 20 Post 22 Light emitting end 23 Light receiving end 24 Mounting member 25 Guide 26 Optical axis 30 Traveling motor 31 Fixed piece 32 Intermediate piece 33 Movable piece 34 Position adjustment motor 36 Transfer motor 38 Communication unit 40 Laser distance meter 41-43 Servo amplifier 44 Ground controller 45 Peripheral device 46 CPU
48 LAN
49, 50 Communication Department
Enc encoder

Claims (3)

A transport vehicle system that unloads items to a station by a transport vehicle,
The transport vehicle includes a transfer device for transferring an article by a retractable arm.
The station comprises a sensor for detecting that the article has advanced to a predetermined position along the depth direction of the station,
Furthermore, a controller for stopping the advancement of the transfer device of the transport vehicle by a signal of the sensor is provided.   The controller controls the transfer device of the transport vehicle, advances the transfer device at a first speed to a position before the predetermined position, and further advances at a second speed lower than the first speed. The carrier system according to claim 1, wherein when the signal of the sensor is received during advancement at the second speed, the advancement of the transfer device is stopped. The transport vehicle includes a servo amplifier and a servo motor of the transfer device,
The controller is provided on the ground side, connected to the transport vehicle and the sensor via a network, and configured to instruct the servo amplifier via the network. 2 carrier system.

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