TWI861699B - Transport system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a conveying system that can implement device installation or adjustment in a short time with a simple structure, and can stably convey a moving object while suppressing shock, vibration, noise, etc. The conveying system 100 of the present invention moves the moving body by means of a rack and pinion. The fixed rack teeth 112 in a part of the area of the rack 110 in which the fixed rack teeth 112 are arranged at a prescribed interval on the conveying path are replaced with movable rack teeth 117. The movable rack teeth 117 are configured to be movable in the direction along the conveying path so that the pinion teeth 122 in the pinion 121 can be disengaged from the movable rack teeth 117 in the tooth width direction and the tooth height direction relative to the movable rack teeth 117.

Description

Transport system

The present invention relates to a transport system for moving a transporting body such as a transporting trolley by means of a gear and pinion.

In a transport system for transporting a movable body such as a transport pulley, there is known a structure in which the transport pulley is maintained in a horizontal state and transported vertically by a rack and pinion system, and is simultaneously transported horizontally along a horizontally extending travel track at a predetermined horizontal position (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).

The transport system described in Patent Document 1 is configured as follows: a gear is arranged to extend in a vertical direction, and a pinion engaged with the gear is provided on a transport pulley, and the transport pulley is vertically transported along the gear by rotating and driving the pinion. Furthermore, the pinion is disengaged from the transport path by releasing the engagement of the pinion with the gear, so that the transport pulley can be horizontally transported along a travel track extending in a horizontal direction.

In a conveying system using this type of rack and pinion method, in order to make the pinion rotate smoothly, a backlash (clearance or play) needs to be deliberately set between the rack teeth and the pinion teeth. The reason is that if there is no backlash, the rack teeth and the pinion teeth will interfere with each other and the pinion cannot rotate. The backlash gap is set in the range of 0.1 mm to 0.2 mm, for example. [Prior art literature] [Patent literature]

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent No. 6896034

[The problem that the invention wants to solve]

Furthermore, if the phases of the rack teeth and the pinion teeth are offset, the engagement between the rack teeth and the pinion teeth deteriorates, causing noise or vibration, and possibly shortening the life of the device, which may adversely affect the travel of the transport pulley. In the transport system described in Patent Document 1 for vertical and horizontal transport of the transport pulley, the transport pulley is transported horizontally to engage the pinion with the gear. At this time, if the phase of the pinion teeth does not fall within the range of the backlash amount with the rack teeth, the pinion cannot engage with the gear. Therefore, it is necessary to align the phase of the pinion with respect to the gear with high precision, and in order to identify the exact rotational direction position of the pinion, there is a problem of complicated structure.

The present invention is completed based on the above situation, and its purpose is to provide a conveying system that can implement device installation or adjustment in a short time with a simple structure, and can stably convey the moving body while suppressing impact, vibration, noise, etc. [Means for solving the problem]

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problem by a conveying system. The conveying system sets a small gear engaged with a gear extending along a conveying path on a moving body, and drives the small gear to move the moving body along the conveying path by rotation. The gear includes: a fixed part having fixed gear teeth arranged at a predetermined pitch on the conveying path; and a movable part having There is a movable gear tooth located on the conveying path instead of the fixed gear tooth in a part of the conveying path, and the movable gear tooth is configured to be movable in the direction along the conveying path so that the small gear teeth in the small gear can be disengaged from the movable gear tooth in the tooth width direction or the tooth height direction relative to the movable gear tooth. [Effect of the invention]

According to the conveying system described in the technical solution 1, a part of the fixed rack teeth arranged on the conveying path can be replaced with movable rack teeth, so the structure is simple, and the movable rack teeth are arranged in a manner that can move in the direction along the conveying path, whereby the small gear can be disengaged from the movable part in the gear in any direction of the tooth width direction and the tooth height direction of the movable rack teeth, and the allowable value of the phase alignment of the small gear teeth in the small gear relative to the rack teeth can have a margin. By providing a margin for the allowable value of the phase alignment of the pinion teeth relative to the rack teeth, the device can be installed or adjusted in a short time, and the pinion can be engaged with the rack without teaching.

According to the structure described in the second technical solution, when the small gear passes through the movable part, the movable part is pressed against the side of the limit position of movement, and the phase of the movable gear teeth and the fixed gear teeth are kept consistent, so that the small gear will not be stuck when passing through the movable part, and the impact, vibration, noise, etc. can be suppressed to smoothly and stably transport the moving body. According to the structure described in the third technical solution, when the movable part is in operation, there will be no interference with the fixed part, so the movement of the movable part will not be hindered, and the engagement and disengagement of the small gear relative to the movable part can be performed reliably. According to the structure described in the fourth technical solution, when the movable part is in operation, interference with the fixed part can be reliably prevented. According to the structure described in the technical solution 5, when the pinion gear is engaged with the gear and located on the conveying path, the pinion gear teeth in the pinion gear can be well entered into the tooth grooves between the movable gear teeth in the movable part, so that the pinion gear can be easily engaged with the movable part of the gear. According to the structure described in the technical solution 6, the phase alignment of the movable gear teeth relative to the fixed gear teeth becomes easy. According to the structure described in the technical solution 7, the movable part can be kept at the limit position of movement by using gravity, and the device structure can be simplified.

Hereinafter, a conveying system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. Here, for the convenience of description, an XYZ three-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system is defined as shown in FIG1 to describe the structure of each part.

As shown in FIG. 1 , a conveying system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a vertical conveying section 101 for conveying a conveying pulley as a moving body 120 along a vertical conveying path extending in the Z direction, and a horizontal conveying section 105 for conveying the conveying pulley along a horizontal conveying path extending in the Y direction at a predetermined horizontal position in the Z direction.

The vertical conveying section 101 includes a pair of supporting rails 102 arranged facing each other at positions separated in the X direction and extending along the vertical conveying path. For example, a tooth 110 formed in a substantially prism shape and provided with tooth teeth on one side along the XZ plane is fixed to each supporting rail 102 in a manner extending in the Z direction. The horizontal conveying section 105 includes a running rail 106 fixed in each supporting rail 102 in a manner extending horizontally along the Y direction at a predetermined horizontal position in the Z direction.

The pinion 121 that is driven by a suitable driving source to rotate forward and reverse and is engaged with the gear 110 is arranged on both sides of the transport pulley with its rotation axis extending along the X direction, and the guide roller 125 that travels along the support rail 102 is arranged above the pinion 121. 126 in FIG. 1 is a wheel that is driven by a suitable driving source to rotate forward and reverse and transports the transport pulley horizontally, and is arranged to be able to move forward and backward in the X direction. The pinion 121 and the guide roller 125 are arranged to be able to move forward and backward in the X direction. By moving the pinion 121 toward the direction approaching the transport pulley, the engagement between the pinion 121 and the gear 110 is released, and the pinion 121 is disengaged from the vertical transport path. By moving the guide roller 125 toward the direction approaching the transport pulley along the X direction, the guide roller 125 is disengaged from the supporting rail 102, thereby realizing horizontal transport of the transport pulley.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 , the gear 110 includes: a fixed portion 111 having a plurality of fixed gear teeth 112 arranged at a predetermined pitch p in the Z direction and extending in the X direction on the vertical conveying path; and a movable portion 115 having movable gear teeth 117 located on the vertical conveying path instead of the fixed gear teeth in a portion of the vertical conveying path.

The fixed portion 111 includes a cutout portion 114 formed by the absence of fixed tooth bars, and is formed by a plurality of split fixed portions divided along the Z direction. Only two split fixed portions 111a and 111b are shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. The cutout portion 114 can also be formed by forming the fixed tooth bars with a smaller tooth width than other areas. The movable portion side end of the split fixed portion 111a and the split fixed portion 111b includes an engagement introduction portion 113 formed by making the tooth width of the fixed tooth bars 112 smaller than other areas, and a movable portion configuration space for configuring the movable portion 115 is formed by a space portion adjacent to the engagement introduction portion 113 in the X direction and the cutout portion 114.

The movable part 115 is arranged in such a manner that the movable gear teeth 117 are located in the cutout portion 114 of the fixed part 111. Therefore, when the pinion gear teeth 122 in the pinion gear 121 mesh with the movable gear teeth 117, the pinion gear teeth 122 do not mesh with the fixed gear teeth 112, thereby avoiding interference between the movable part 115 and the fixed part 111 in the X direction (the tooth width direction of the movable gear teeth 117 and the fixed gear teeth 112) when the movable part 115 operates.

A space constituting a movable area Ra of the movable part 115 is formed between the movable part 115 and the split fixed part 111a located on the upper side of the movable part 115 in the Z direction, and the movable part 115 is configured so that the movable bar teeth 117 can move in a direction along the vertical conveying path. In the present embodiment, the movable area Ra of the movable part 115 is configured so that, for example, a movement amount equal to or greater than 1/2p of the half pitch amount of the movable bar teeth 117 can be obtained, thereby enabling the movable bar teeth 117 and the fixed bar teeth 112 to be phase-aligned reliably.

When the pinion 121 is not engaged, the movable part 115 is held at the limit position of movement by the stopper, and the movable tooth bar 117 is configured in a manner that the phase of the tooth of the fixed tooth bar 112 is consistent with that of the tooth of the movable part 115 when the movable part 115 is held at the limit position of movement. In this embodiment, the movable part 115 is configured in a manner that it can move to the lower side of the Z direction by its own weight, and is held at the limit position of movement by abutting against the split fixed part 111b located on the lower side of the Z direction relative to the movable part 115. Therefore, the split fixed part 111b functions as a stopper. Moreover, the movement toward the upper side of the Z direction can be limited by the split fixed part 111a located on the upper side of the Z direction relative to the movable part 115.

The movable part 115 in this embodiment is set in a manner that can be swung around a swing shaft 116 located on the outer side of the other surface of the gear 110 and extending along the X direction, for example. The small gear 121 can be disengaged from the movable part 115 in any direction of the tooth width direction (X direction) or the tooth height direction (Y direction) of the movable gear tooth 117.

In the conveying system 100 of the present embodiment, when the pinion gear 122 of the pinion gear 121 is engaged with the movable rack gear 117, the pinion gear 121 is moved in the direction close to the conveying pulley along the X direction to release the engagement between the pinion gear 122 and the movable rack gear 117, thereby separating the pinion gear 121 from the vertical conveying path.

In the movable rack tooth 117, a chamfered portion 118 formed by, for example, chamfering is formed at the edge of the end surface on the side where the small gear 121 enters and exits when the small gear 121 is positioned on the vertical conveying path and is engaged with the rack 110 again. In the present embodiment, the chamfered portion 118 is configured in a manner having a front end shape in which two inclined surfaces intersect each other at the Z-direction center of the movable rack tooth 117, or may be configured in a manner having a single sloped front end shape that inclines inwardly from the side where the small gear 121 enters and exits and downwardly in the Z direction. Furthermore, in the pinion gear 122 of the pinion gear 121, a chamfered portion 123 formed by chamfering, for example, is formed at the edge of the end surface on the inlet and outlet side relative to the rack 110. The chamfered portion 123 in the pinion gear 121 is similar, and the chamfered portion 123 may be configured in a manner having a front end shape in which two inclined surfaces intersect each other at the Z-direction center of the pinion gear 122, or may be configured in a manner having a single sloped front end shape that inclines from the inlet and outlet side relative to the rack 110 toward the inside and toward the upper side in the Z direction.

In the transport system 100, by rotating and driving the pinion 121, the pinion teeth 122 of the pinion 121 can be meshed with the fixed rack teeth 112, so that the transport pulley is transported vertically.

When the small gear 121 moves from top to bottom on the split fixed portion 111a located on the upper side relative to the movable portion 115, or when the small gear 121 moves from bottom to top on the split fixed portion 111b located on the lower side relative to the movable portion 115, the movement of the movable portion 115 downward in the Z direction due to its own weight is limited by the split fixed portion 111b, thereby maintaining it at the limit position of movement, so that the phases of the movable gear teeth 117 and the fixed gear teeth 112 are consistent. Therefore, when the split fixed portion 111a or the split fixed portion 111b moves toward the movable portion 115, after the engagement of the pinion gear 122 with respect to the fixed gear teeth 112 is released, the pinion gear teeth 122 will not be caught by the movable gear teeth 117 and will engage smoothly.

When the pinion gear 122 is engaged with the movable gear tooth 117, as shown in FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B, the pinion gear 121 rotates to apply force in the direction of pressing the movable portion 115 against the split fixed portion 111b. Therefore, regardless of the rotation direction of the pinion gear 121, the movable portion 115 will not move along with the rotation of the pinion gear 121, and thus maintains the state of being held at the limit position of movement. After the engagement of the pinion gear 121 with respect to the movable gear teeth 117 is released, since the phases of the movable gear teeth 117 and the fixed gear teeth 112 are consistent, the pinion gear teeth 122 will not be caught by the fixed gear teeth 112 of the split fixed part 111a or the fixed gear teeth 112 of the split fixed part 111b on the front side of the moving direction of the pinion gear 121 relative to the movable part 115, thereby engaging smoothly.

As described above, when the transport pulley is vertically transported by the movable portion 115, the movable portion 115 does not operate regardless of the moving direction of the transport pulley, thereby maintaining the phase of the movable gear teeth 117 and the fixed gear teeth 112 in the same state, so that the transport pulley can be transported stably.

When the transport pulley is transported horizontally, when the small gear 121 is disengaged from the vertical transport path, the small gear 121 moving from top to bottom on the split fixing portion 111a or from bottom to top on the split fixing portion 111b is temporarily stopped at a position where the small gear teeth 122 are engaged with the fixed gear teeth 112 in the end area of the split fixing portion 111a on the upper side relative to the movable portion 115, and then the wheel 126 for horizontal transport is moved along the X direction in the direction of separation from the transport pulley and is located directly above the running rail 106. At this time, the wheel 126 is separated from the running track 106, and the pinion 121 is rotated in the direction of the transport pulley to move the pinion 121 to a position where the pinion gear 122 meshes with the movable rack gear 117, and the wheel 126 is grounded to the running track 106. When the wheel 126 is grounded to the running track 106, the load of the transport pulley applied to the pinion 121 is released, and the load of the transport pulley is applied to the wheel 126. With the wheel 126 in contact with the running rail 106, the pinion 121 rotates in the direction in which the transport pulley descends, and as shown in FIG. 5A, the rotation of the pinion 121 causes the movable portion 115 to rock without the pinion 121 moving downward.

After the rotation of the pinion 121 is stopped, the pinion 121 is moved in the X direction toward the transport pulley, thereby releasing the engagement between the pinion gear 122 and the movable rack gear 117, and the pinion 121 is disengaged from the vertical transport path. At this time, the load of the transport pulley on the pinion 121 is released, so the pinion 121 can be easily disengaged. After the pinion 121 is disengaged, as shown in FIG. 5B , the movable part 115 swings downward due to its own weight, and the movable part 115 abuts against the split fixed part 111b, thereby being kept at the limit position of movement. Moreover, when the pinion 121 is disengaged, the guide roller 125 is moved in the X direction toward the transport pulley, so that the guide roller 125 is disengaged from the self-supporting rail 102, thereby enabling the transport pulley to be transported horizontally along the traveling rail 106.

After the transport pulley is transported horizontally, when the transport pulley is transported vertically again, the small gear 121 is located on the vertical transport path and engaged with the gear 110 again. The transport pulley is transported horizontally, and the transport pulley is stopped at the position of the small gear 121 corresponding to the movable part 115 in the Y direction. The small gear 121 is moved in the direction of separation from the transport pulley along the X direction, thereby engaging the small gear 121 with the movable part 115. At this time, even if the phases of the pinion gear 122 and the movable bar gear 117 are offset, as shown in FIG. 6A , since the chamfered portions 118 and 123 are formed on the end faces of the pinion gear 122 and the movable bar gear 117, and the movable portion 115 can be swung, the phases of the pinion gear 122 and the movable bar gear 117 can be made consistent by moving the pinion gear 121 in the X direction, and the pinion gear 122 can easily enter the tooth grooves between the movable bar gear 117. Furthermore, when the pinion 121 is engaged with the movable part 115, the pinion 121 can be moved in the X direction after rotating the pinion gear 122 by half the pitch or while rotating the pinion 121. In the above case, the pinion gear 122 can be reliably engaged with the movable bar teeth 117. This operation is not necessary if the chamfered portion 118 in the movable bar teeth 117 and the chamfered portion 123 in the pinion 121 are configured in a manner such as having a single slope front end shape. Moreover, the position of the pinion gear 122 can be sensed to avoid the range where engagement is impossible.

Then, as shown in FIG. 6B , the movable part 115 is rocked and located at the limit position of movement by rotating the pinion 121 in the direction of the transport pulley rising while the pinion 122 is meshed with the movable rack teeth 117, and the load of the transport pulley is applied to the pinion 121. Moreover, while the pinion 121 is engaged with the movable part 115, the guide roller 125 is moved in the direction of separation from the transport pulley along the X direction, so that the guide roller 125 is located on the support rail 102. As described above, when the movable part 115 is kept at the limit position of movement, the phases of the movable sprocket teeth 117 and the fixed sprocket teeth 112 are consistent. Therefore, after the wheel 126 is moved in the X direction toward the direction close to the transport pulley and the wheel 126 is stored, the pinion gear 121 is rotated, so that the pinion gear teeth 122 can smoothly engage with the movable part 115, and will not be caught by the fixed sprocket teeth 112 of the split fixed part 111a or the fixed sprocket teeth 112 of the split fixed part 111b on the front side of the moving direction of the pinion gear 121, thereby stably transporting the transport pulley vertically.

An embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, and various design changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention described in the patent application. For example, in the embodiment described above, a structure for disengaging the pinion gear from the movable part in the tooth width direction of the movable gear teeth has been described, but a structure for disengaging the pinion gear from the movable part in the tooth height direction of the movable gear teeth can also be constructed. Furthermore, in the structure for disengaging the pinion gear from the movable portion in the tooth width direction of the movable gear teeth, it is not necessary to provide chamfering processing parts on both the pinion gear teeth and the movable gear teeth, and it is sufficient to provide chamfering processing parts on either the pinion gear teeth or the movable gear teeth. Also, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the structure for moving the movable portion by shaking has been described, but the movable portion only needs to be configured in a manner that the movable gear teeth can move in a direction perpendicular to the conveying path, and it can also be configured as a structure that allows the movable portion to slide and move in the Z direction. Furthermore, in the embodiment, a cutout is provided in the fixed portion of the tooth bar to avoid interference between the movable portion and the fixed portion in the tooth width direction when the movable portion operates. However, as long as interference with the fixed portion can be avoided in the tooth width direction, a structure in which the fixed portion does not include a cutout may be provided. Furthermore, in the embodiment, a split fixed portion located on the lower side in the Z direction relative to the movable portion is configured to function as a stopper. However, as long as the movable portion is configured to be prohibited from moving beyond the limit position of movement, an appropriate stopper member may be provided separately. Furthermore, in the embodiment, a structure in which a pair of support rails arranged facing each other in a manner extending along the vertical transport path at positions separated in the X direction are provided with toothed bars, respectively, but the toothed bars do not need to be arranged on both sides of the transport pulley, and may be arranged on one side of the transport pulley or in the middle of the back side of the transport pulley. Furthermore, in the embodiment, a structure in which the transport pulley is transported vertically by a toothed gear method has been described, but a structure in which the transport pulley is transported horizontally by a toothed gear method may also be used. In the case, the movable part may be pressed against the movable toothed bar teeth and the fixed toothed bar teeth by a spring or the like to reach the movement limit position where the phases of the teeth are consistent.

100: conveying system 101: vertical conveying part 102: support rail 105: horizontal conveying part 106: running rail 110: gear 111: fixed part 111a: split fixed part 111b: split fixed part 112: fixed gear teeth 113: bite guide part 114: cutout part 115: movable part 116: rocking shaft part 117: movable gear teeth 118: chamfering part 120: moving body 121: pinion 122: pinion teeth 123: chamfering part 125: guide roller 126: wheel p: pitch Ra: movable area

FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing a structure in an example of a conveying system of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing a part of the structure of a gear and a pinion. FIG. 3 is a schematic view schematically showing a part of the structure of a gear viewed from the tooth height direction of the gear teeth. FIG. 4A is a schematic view schematically showing a state when a pinion passes through a movable part from bottom to top. FIG. 4B is a schematic view schematically showing a state when a pinion passes through a movable part from top to bottom. FIG. 5A is a schematic view schematically showing an action of a pinion detaching from a gear. FIG. 5B is a schematic view schematically showing a state of a movable part when a pinion detaches from a gear. FIG6A is a schematic diagram schematically showing the re-engagement action of the pinion relative to the rack. FIG6B is a schematic diagram schematically showing the state of the movable part when the pinion is re-engaged with the movable part.

100: Transport system

101: Vertical conveying unit

102: Support track

105: Horizontal conveying unit

106: Driving track

110: Tooth

111:Fixed part

112: Fixed tooth bar

115: Movable part

117: Movable tooth bar

120: Mobile body

121: Small gear

125:Guide roller

126:Wheels

Claims (7)

A conveying system is provided in which a small gear engaged with a gear extending along a conveying path is arranged on a moving body, and the moving body is moved along the conveying path by rotating and driving the small gear. The conveying system is characterized in that the gear comprises: a fixed part having fixed gear teeth arranged at a predetermined pitch on the conveying path; and a movable part having a fixed gear toothed portion. A movable gear bar located on the conveying path instead of the fixed gear bar in a part of the conveying path, the movable gear bar is configured to be movable in the direction along the conveying path so that the small gear teeth in the small gear can be disengaged from the movable gear bar teeth in the tooth width direction or the tooth height direction relative to the movable gear bar teeth. A conveying system as described in claim 1, wherein the movable portion is configured to be maintained at a movement limit position when the pinion is not engaged, and the movable gear teeth are configured to be in phase with the fixed gear teeth at the movement limit position. A conveying system as described in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the fixed portion is configured so that when the pinion is engaged with the movable portion, the teeth of the fixed gear do not engage with the teeth of the pinion. A conveying system as described in claim 3, wherein the pinion is configured to be disengaged from the movable portion in the tooth width direction of the movable tooth bar teeth, and the fixed portion includes a cutout portion, wherein the fixed tooth bar teeth do not exist at a position of the cutout portion that is parallel to the movable portion in the tooth width direction of the movable tooth bar teeth. A conveying system as described in claim 4, wherein one or both of the edge portion in the end face of the pinion tooth and the edge portion in the end face of the movable gear tooth are formed with a chamfered portion. A conveying system as described in claim 1, wherein the fixed portion is configured to function as a stopper portion, and the stopper portion holds the movable portion at the limit position of movement when the pinion is not engaged. A conveying system as described in claim 1, wherein the conveying path is constructed in a manner extending along a vertical direction.