JPH04313509A - Roller conveyor with guide device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To correct orientation during storage collection and to smooth movement of a cargo to a delivery port by providing a forward reverse drive device interlocking with a roller, locating guide devices to the two end parts of a conveyance route and on the conveyor frame side, and arranging a conical roller to a vertical shaft. CONSTITUTION:An idle roller 78 is disposed between rollers 31 mounted on a conveyor frame 20 and a idle roller 84 is mounted on a side plate 81 of a conveyor frame 80. A cover 90 is connected to the upper ends of the outer side plates 21 and 81 of the two conveyor frames 20 and 80, and a guide roller 92 is mounted to prevent the occurrence of lateral displacement. Guide devices 93 to guide conveyance and elevation of a pallet 48 are located to the two end parts of a conveyance route 13. The guide device comprises a vertical shaft 94 erected from the cover 90 and a conical roller 96 located to the vertical shaft 94. Further, a rolling roller 72 rotates a roller 31 group to convey a pallet 48 and is guided by the conical roller 96 to automatically correct its orientation. The rolling roller is moved on the conveyance route 13 by means of a forward reverse drive device 34.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a roller conveyor equipped with a guide device, which is incorporated into shelving equipment or installed on the floor, and is used to support and convey pallets on which loads are placed and the loads themselves. be.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a structure as shown in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 1-121008 has been provided as a shelving facility incorporating this type of roller conveyor. In this conventional structure, conveyance devices consisting of a pair of left and right conveyors are arranged in multiple stages above and below the conveyor with the conveyance direction being horizontal, and guide devices located on both sides of the conveyance path are arranged on the shelf frame. It is provided along the entire length of the

According to this conventional method, the load supplied to the upstream end of the conveyance path by a forklift truck is sequentially fed;
When it comes into contact with the stopper, it is positioned at the downstream end. The load at this downstream end is taken out by a forklift truck.

[0004] In this case, when loading goods to the upstream end of the transport route, the forklift vehicle should extend in the direction of the transport route and move straight forward, but in reality it may move forward at a slight incline. There are many. As a result, the load or pallet is lowered together with the fork portion in a disordered posture, and collides with the guide device, resulting in damage to the guide device.

[0005] To deal with this, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, a fixed guide device 1 is provided which has guide surfaces 111 on both ends of a conveyance path 110 that are inclined downward toward the inner side.
12 is provided, and the pallet descending thereon is guided by an inclined guide surface 111 to automatically correct its posture.

[0006]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional configuration provided with this fixed guide device 112, the transport path 11
In the case where pallets are transported in the forward and reverse directions on the 0, since the loading and unloading ports 113 have the same shape, the transported pallets slide along the guide device 112, and due to frictional resistance etc. at that time, smooth movement is not possible. could not.

An object of the present invention is to provide a roller conveyor with a guide device that allows smooth movement to these entrances and exits, even though the entrances have the same shape and the posture can be corrected when entering the warehouse. It is in the point of doing.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, a roller conveyor with a guide device of the present invention has a conveyor frame provided with a large number of rollers to form a horizontal conveyance path, and a roller conveyor that moves in conjunction with the rollers. A forward/reverse drive device is provided, guide devices are provided on both sides at both ends of the conveyance path, and these guide devices include a vertical shaft provided on the conveyor frame side and a conical roller freely rotatable on the vertical shaft. It is composed of:

[0009]

[Operation] According to the configuration of the present invention, a pallet (load) that is stored from above at the end of a conveyance path by a forklift truck is automatically corrected in its posture by being guided by the conical guide surface of the conical roller. It is carried out according to Pallets received and stored in this way are
The roller group is forcibly rotated in the forward or reverse direction by a forward/reverse drive device to move along the conveyance path.

When the pallet on the conveyance path reaches the exit (end), both sides of the pallet are guided by conical rollers, and at this time the conical rollers freely rotate around the vertical axis. , the movement to the exit is done smoothly.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A shelving facility incorporating a roller conveyor with a guide device, which is an embodiment of the present invention, will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7.

In FIGS. 6 and 7, reference numeral 1 denotes a shelf frame, which includes a plurality of left and right front columns 2, a plurality of left and right rear columns 3, and a front column 2.
It is composed of a front cross member 4 that connects the rear struts 3, a rear cross member 5 that connects the rear struts 3, a front and rear member 6 that connects the front struts 2 and the rear struts 3, and the like. A pair of left and right conveyors 1 are provided in a plurality of storage spaces 7 in the left and right direction and a plurality of stages in the vertical direction, which are partitioned between the pillars 2 and 3 of the shelf frame 1 and each of the materials 4 to 6.
A roller conveyor 12 consisting of rollers 0 and 11 is arranged with its conveyance path 13 being horizontal.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the conveyor frame 20 of one conveyor 10 includes a pair of left and right side plates 21 and a bottom plate 22 that connects the lower ends of the both side plates 21.
It is formed into a U-shaped cross section. The upper part of the side plate 21 has a shaft hole 2 for installing a roller (described later).
3, and a plurality of bolt holes 24 for fixing a transmission device (described later) are formed in the intermediate part at predetermined pitches in the length direction, and a guide rail (described later) is formed in the lower part of one side plate 21. A bolt hole 25 is formed for fixing the

Conveyor frame 2 thus formed
0 is detachably fixed to the shelf frame 1. For this purpose, bolt holes 26 are formed in the bottom plate 22, and nuts 27 that match the bolt holes 26 are fixed on the bottom plate 22 within the conveyor frame 20, and are inserted into through holes 28 formed in the cross members 4, 5. A bolt 29 passed from below can be fitted into a nut 27 through a bolt hole 26.

The resin roller 31 has its roller shaft 32
is attached to the conveyor frame 20 by passing it through the shaft hole 23, and can freely rotate around the roller axis 33. A guide rail 35 is disposed over the entire length at one corner of the bottom of the conveyor frame 20, and this guide rail 3
5 has a dovetail groove portion 36 on the outside and a pair of upper and lower guide portions 37 and 38 on the inside. A plate-shaped nut body 39 is slidably fitted into the dovetail groove portion 36, and a bolt 40 passed through the bolt hole 25 from the outside is fitted into the nut body 39 and tightened, thereby attaching it to the conveyor frame 20. The guide rail 35 can be fixed by

The chain 41, which is an example of a driving body, is supported and guided by an upper guide part 37 in its upper path and by a lower guide part 38 in its lower path. The chain 41 is stretched between a driving sprocket 42 and a driven sprocket 43 via a guide sprocket 44, etc., and operatively connects the driving sprocket 42 to a motor 45 that can be driven in forward and reverse directions (see FIG. 2). . The above 41 to 45 constitute a forward/reverse drive device 34 that is constantly linked to a transmission device (described later). 47 is a load, which is handled via a pallet 48.

A transmission device 50 is provided in the conveyor frame 20 between the rollers 31 and the guide rails 35 and is interlocked with the chain 41 and can be connected to and separated from the rollers 31 at will. That is, a support frame 51 made of resin that becomes the main body of the transmission device 50
a one-side support plate 52 that can be freely abutted against the inner surface of one side plate 21 and can be fitted into the upper part of the guide rail 35;
A pair of cover plates 53 are connected from the front and rear ends of one support plate 52 toward the other, a receiving plate 54 connects the lower ends of these cover plates 53 and extends toward the other side, and the other supporting plates 54 The other support plate 55 is integrated with the end and can be freely applied to the inner surface of the other side plate 21. Here, the receiving plate 54 can be freely placed on the bottom plate 22, and a main body 57 of a cylinder device 56, which is an actuating device using fluid, is integrally formed on the upper part of the receiving plate 54.
A pipe holding section 58 is provided at the lower part.

A bearing hole 59 is formed in the center of the one support plate 52, and a loose fitting hole 60 is formed in the other support plate 55 opposite thereto. A nut 61 is embedded and fixed in the support plate 52 above the bearing hole 59, and a bolt 6 passed through the bolt hole 23 from the outside.
2 with the nut 61 and tightening, the one support plate 52 is fixed to the one side plate 21.

Further, a nut 63 is embedded and fixed to the other support plate 55 below the loose fitting hole 60, and a bolt 64 passed through the bolt hole 25 from the outside is fitted into the nut 63 and tightened. The other support plate 55 is fixed to the other side plate 21. The cylinder device 56 includes a rubber body 65 that can be expanded and contracted and fitted onto the main body 57 from above.
It is constructed by fixing with a band 66 or the like.

The support shaft 70 along the roller axis 33 is
By fitting one end into the bearing hole 59 and protruding the other end into the loose fitting hole 60, it can freely swing up and down within a certain range using the bearing hole 59 as a fulcrum. This support shaft 7
A sprocket 71, which is an example of a passive wheel and is always in mesh with the chain 41, is freely rotatably attached to the sprocket 71, and a transmission roller 72 is externally fitted and fixed to the boss portion of the sprocket 71, so that both 71 , 72 are integrally rotatable.

This transmission roller 72 is made of urethane rubber.
The outer periphery of the roller 31 can freely come into contact with and separate from the lower outer periphery of the roller 31. Then, by bringing the cylinder rubber receiver 73 attached to the other end of the support shaft 70 into contact with the rubber body 65 from above, the transmission roller 72 is moved into contact with and away from the roller 31 from below by the operation of the cylinder device 56. It is structured as possible.

The above-mentioned pairs of rollers 31 and transmission devices 50 are arranged every other pair, and an idle roller 78 is arranged between each roller 31 via a roller shaft 79. The conveyor frame 80 of the other conveyor 11 includes a pair of left and right side plates 81 and a bottom plate 8 that connects the lower ends of the both side plates 81.
2 to form a U-shaped cross section. A shaft hole 83 is formed in the upper part of the side plate 81, and a roller shaft 85 with an idling roller 84 attached thereto is passed through both shaft holes 83.

Conveyor frame 8 thus formed
0 is detachably fixed to the shelf frame 1. For this purpose, bolt holes 86 are formed in the bottom plate 82, and nuts 87 that match the bolt holes 86 are fixed on the bottom plate 82 within the conveyor frame 80, and are inserted into through holes 88 formed in the cross members 4, 5. A bolt 89 passed from below can be fitted into a nut 87 through a bolt hole 86.

From the upper end of the outer side plates 21, 81 of both conveyor frames 20, 80, each roller 31, 78
, 84 are continuously provided with a cover 90 that reaches to the middle part thereof. A large number of guide rollers 92 are attached to both covers 90 via vertical pins 91. As a result, guide rollers 92 groups are arranged on both sides of the conveyance path 13.

Furthermore, on both ends of the conveyance path 13,
A guide device 93 that guides the conveyance and elevation of the pallet 48
is provided. These guide devices 93 are connected to the cover 9
A vertical shaft 94 erected from zero, and a bearing 95 on this vertical shaft 94.
It consists of a conical roller 96 which is freely rotatable via the conical roller 96. This conical roller 96 has a truncated conical shape, and its outer surface becomes a conical guide surface 97. and conical roller 96
are arranged in pairs at both ends of the conveyance path 13 and slightly inside.

As mentioned above, the pair of conveyors 10, 11
For example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the roller conveyor 12 consists of a plurality of groups in the direction of the conveyance path 13, each consisting of six (plurality) arranged in a predetermined manner; in the embodiment, eight groups A and B. , C, D, E, F, G, and H, and the transmission devices 50 can be freely connected and separated for each group A to H.

That is, each group is provided with a supply/discharge hose 100 connected in series with the cylinder device 56, and these supply/discharge hoses 100 are connected to a common air supply hose from an air supply device 102 via a solenoid valve 101. 103, and can be freely communicated and disconnected. Each group A to H includes a photoelectronic switch 104, which is an example of a stock detector.
will be provided.

Here, for two groups adjacent in the forward or reverse conveyance direction, when the optoelectronic switch 104 of the upstream group is in the detecting state and the optoelectronic switch 104 of the downstream group is not in the detecting state, the transmission devices of both groups are 50 are connected at the same time (air supply hose 103 and supply/discharge hose 1
00). When the photoelectronic switches 104 of both groups are in a detecting operation or non-detecting at the same time, the transmission devices 50 of both groups are configured to perform a separating operation (blocking the air supply hose 103 and the supply/discharge hose 100) at the same time.

For this purpose, each solenoid valve 101 is integrated into a respective control unit 105. Further, only the most downstream group A is configured so that the transmission device 50 is separated and moved when the optoelectronic switch 104 is detected. The above-described units 100 to 105 constitute a control device 106 that sequentially transports the loads 47 between adjacent groups. 107 indicates a stopper.

Next, the storing and transporting work of the load 47 in the above embodiment will be explained. 3 and 5 show the air supply hose 103
The solenoid valve 101 is switched to connect the hose 100 to the supply/discharge hose 100, and the expansion of the cylinder device 56 due to air pressure causes the support shaft 70 to swing upward, thereby pressing the transmission roller 72 against the corresponding roller 31 from below. It shows. In this state, the chain 41 is driven by the forward or reverse drive of the motor 45.
By moving the sprocket 71 that is engaged with the chain 41, the sprocket 71 is rotated around the support shaft 70.

Further, the transmission roller 72 is in contact with the lower portion of the outer circumference of the roller 31, thereby forcing the group of rollers 31 to rotate. As a result, the pallet 48 on the conveyance path 13 is
It is supported between the rollers 31 of both conveyors 10 and 11 and the idle rollers 78 and 84, and is conveyed on this conveyance path 13 while receiving a conveyance force due to the forced rotation of the group of rollers 31. At this time, the groups of idle rollers 78 and 84 that are not driven perform follow-up rotation. Further, since the pallet 48 is guided on both sides by guide rollers 92 provided on the cover 90, lateral displacement during conveyance is prevented and the pallet 48 does not fall off.

In such a conveyance state, groups A and H at both ends serve as entrances and exits. Here, it is assumed that the forward/reverse drive device 34 is operated with group H serving as an entry port and group A serving as an exit port.

That is, with the transport path 46 empty, the pallet 48 is unloaded onto the group H at the storage entrance by the forklift truck 8. At this time, the descending pallet 48 is guided by the conical guide surface 97 of the conical roller 96, and its posture is automatically corrected. The pallets 48 that have been warehoused and stored in this manner are moved on the conveyance path 13 by forcibly rotating the group of rollers 31 by the forward/reverse drive device 34.

In such a conveyance state, the pallet 48
Since both sides thereof are guided by the guide rollers 92, there is no possibility of sideways displacement. Then, when the pallet 48 on the conveyance path 13 enters group A of the outlet, both sides thereof are guided by conical rollers 96, and at this time, the conical rollers 96 freely rotate around the vertical axis 94. Almost no sliding contact occurs, and the movement to the exit is smooth.

The same effect is obtained when the group of rollers 31 is forcibly rotated in the opposite direction by the forward/reverse drive device 34, and group A is used as the storage entrance and group H is used as the storage exit. A roller conveyor 12 consisting of a pair of conveyors 10 and 11 is
Basically, the pallet 48 (cargo 47) is
However, in reality, the optoelectronic switch 10
Transport control is performed by the control device 106 based on whether the pallet 48 is detected or not detected by the pallet 48.

That is, when the conveyance path 46 is empty and the pallet 48 is unloaded onto the group H at the upstream end, the photoelectronic switch 104 of the group H is detected, but the photoelectronic switch 104 of the group G is not detected. Then, by the operation of the control unit 105 and the solenoid valve 101, the transmission device 50 is connected and the rollers 31 of groups H and G are forcibly rotated, thereby moving the pallet 48 to the group H.
from there to Group G.

When the pallet 48 enters the group G, the optoelectronic switch 104 of the group G is detected but the group F is not detected, so the transmission devices 50 of the groups G and F are connected and the pallet 48 is moved. Transport from group G to group F. The pallets 48 thus conveyed sequentially to the downstream side come into contact with the stopper 107, stop, and are stored in group A. and,
When this pallet 48 is detected by the optoelectronic switch 104, the group A transmission 50 is moved separately.

The second pallet 48 is conveyed in the same manner, and is stored in group B by coming into contact with the pallets 48 of group A. At this time, group B is detected and moved, but since group A is also detected and moved, the transmission device 50 of group B is also separated and moved.

In such an operation, it is assumed that, for example, pallets 48 are stored in all groups A to H, and all transmission devices 50 are moved separately. When the pallet 48 of group A is taken out by the forklift truck 8 in this state, the photoelectronic switch 104 of group A becomes non-detected, so the transmission devices 50 of groups A and B are connected, and the pallet 48 of group B is transported to group A. Then, since the optoelectronic switch 104 of group B becomes non-detected, the transmission devices 50 of groups B and C are connected, and the pallet 48 of group C is connected as shown in FIG.
is transported to group B. By repeating such actions, the pallets 48 can be sequentially fed.

In the above embodiment, the idle roller 78 may be replaced by the roller 31 paired with the transmission device 50 or the like. Further, instead of the forklift vehicle 8, the pallet 48 may be handled by a loading/unloading device that is movable along a fixed route. Further, the guided roller conveyor may be installed on the floor instead of being built into the shelf 1 as in the above embodiment.

[0041]

According to the present invention having the above structure, a pallet (load) that is stored from above at the end of a conveyance path by a forklift truck is guided by the conical guide surface of the conical roller when it is stored, so that Posture can be corrected automatically. The pallets that have been warehoused and stored in this way can be moved on the conveyance path by forcibly rotating the roller group in the forward or reverse direction using a forward and reverse drive device.

When the pallet on the conveyance path moves near the exit (end), both sides of the pallet are guided by conical rollers, and at this time the conical rollers freely rotate around the vertical axis. Almost no frictional resistance is generated, and even though the entrances and exits have the same shape, movement to the exit exit can be performed smoothly.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention and is a schematic plan view of a guided roller conveyor.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the same guided roller conveyor.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway front view of the end portion of the guide-equipped roller conveyor.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway front view of the intermediate portion of the guided roller conveyor.

FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway side view of the main parts of the same guided roller conveyor.

FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway front view of the shelving equipment incorporating the guided roller conveyor.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the shelving equipment incorporating the guided roller conveyor.

FIG. 8 is a schematic plan view of a roller conveyor, showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Shelf frame 7 Storage space 8 Forklift truck 10 Conveyor 11 Conveyor 12 Roller conveyor 13 Conveyance route 20 Conveyor frame 31 Roller 34 Forward/reverse drive device 35 Guide rail 41 Chain (driving body) 45 Motor 47 Load 48 Palette 50 Transmission device 56 Cylinder device 70 Support shaft 71 Sprocket 72 Transmission roller 78 Idle roller 80 Conveyor frame 84 Idle roller 90 cover 92 Guide roller 93 Guide device 94 Vertical axis 96 Conical roller 97 Conical guide surface 101 Solenoid valve 104 Photoelectronic switch 106 Control device

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A conveyor frame is provided with a large number of rollers to form a horizontal conveyance path, a forward/reverse drive device interlocked with the rollers is provided, and a guide device is provided on both sides at both ends of the conveyance path. A roller conveyor with a guide device, characterized in that these guide devices are constituted by a vertical shaft provided on the conveyor frame side and a conical roller freely rotatably provided on the vertical shaft.