JPH07106772B2 - Sorting conveyor - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a sorting conveyor of the type comprising a series of laterally tiltable annular transport platforms, which platforms are to be sorted on a movable support member. Articles are transported through a transport platform, or loading station located on a so-called tray, and then transported through a series of unloading or storage stations that selectively actuate and tilt the trays to unload and load articles. .

The tray is driven by a drive station which cooperates with a chain that secures the supporting members of the tray, typically a very heavy chain is employed, the links of the chain cooperating with a longitudinal guide rail. A protruding guide roller is attached and the tune itself forms the stabilizing base for the tray support member. If undesired jamming and swaying must be prevented, this device requires a guiding system made with very precise tolerances, and also the chain itself for a generally problem-free cooperation with the drive station, Must be manufactured with precise tolerances. Because chain links must be able to move in more directions relative to each other while maintaining tight tolerances, extra requirements are placed on the chain structure to allow the chain to move both horizontally and vertically. Occurs. on the other hand,
The actuating device that tilts the trays at a single unloading station is actuated by the passage of each associated tray, for example by tachometer sensing at one location in the conveyor path, to detect all trays in the system. It is possible to control the exact position.

An object of the present invention is to perform tilting of a transfer tray which can be tilted laterally with respect to the traveling direction with minimum power (energy), high reliability of operation, and simple structure of the transfer tray. An object of the present invention is to provide a sorting conveyor equipped with a biasing device.

This object is achieved by providing a sorting conveyor having the following characteristics.

A sorting conveyor supports a chassis and a plurality of laterally tiltable carrier trays, and a series of moveable along the conveyor chassis through a loading station and a series of unloading or storage stations. Having a support,
The loading station is a position where the transfer tray receives the articles to be sorted, and the unloading station or the receiving station is a position where the transfer tray is selectively operated and tilted so that the articles are unloaded. The transport tray is coupled to each of the unloading stations so as to interlock with a cam follower device that can be selectively engaged with the cam rail portion. By being displaced laterally, which is the direction of travel, the associated carry trays are tilted so that the cam rail portion of each unloading station oscillates at its inlet end between a non-operating position and an operating position. It has a movable rail switch member. Member is spaced from the moving path of the cam follower device in its inactive position, in its operating position,
When its front end is located in the path of movement and the rail switch member is biased, the cam follower device is captured and moves laterally to engage the cam rail portion, thereby unloading and tilting the associated transport tray. The sorting conveyor further has a return position provided for returning the rail switch member to the non-operating position in response to the passage of the cam follower device. When the rail switch member is biased, the front end of the rail switch member swings toward a position corresponding to the movement path of the cam follower device, and the rear end of the rail switch member on the opposite side with respect to the swing axis line. Oscillates towards the biased path of movement of the cam follower device, and at the end of the movement of the cam follower device along the rail switch member, And the downstream end of the Switches member is struck by the cam follower device, as the rail switch member returns swings towards the inoperative position, sorting conveyor rail switch member is disposed.

With this configuration, at a certain unloading station, when the rail switch member is swung to its operating position, the cam follower device is captured by the rail switch member and moves laterally to move the portion of the cam rail (moving direction of the carrying tray). And the cam follower device is displaced in the lateral direction, which is the moving direction of the cam follower device,
Along with this, tilting of the related carrying trays is performed. Speaking of the return device, at the end of the movement of the cam follower device along the rail switch member, the downstream end of the rail switch member is hit by the cam follower device,
As a result, the rail switch member swings back toward the non-operating position (due to the self-returning motion). In this return movement, no special control means is required and no separate power is required. The power required for the returning motion depends on the main power for driving the transport tray, which is less expensive than the case where a separate power source for returning is provided for each unloading station, and the device is also less expensive. The production cost is also low.

Further, the present invention can be provided in the following aspects.

The sorting conveyor, wherein the rail switch member is operatively coupled to an attraction magnet device that can be selectively biased to switch the rail switch member from a non-operating position toward an operating position.

The sorting conveyor, wherein the rail switch members are self-held in the non-operating position and the operating position, respectively.

The sorting conveyor, wherein the rail switch member is spring biased toward its operating position and is locked in its non-operating position by a pawl device that can be retracted by the attraction magnet device.

In order to tilt the transport tray to one side or the other side, tray actuating arms that hang down from the support are arranged on both sides of the tray, and track follower rollers attached to the tray actuating arms are provided at the respective unloading stations. Operable to engage a cam rail that is selectively enabled at, whereby relative movement of the tray actuating arms is effected to tilt associated transport trays, Cam rail
Formed to provide two side guides for the biasing movement of the track follower roller, the tray actuating arm is guided in a guide device of a single cart, and the track follower roller is firmly arranged. When the rear end of the cam rail is separated, the tray actuating arm is passively swung to the final position, and at the final position, preferably, the tray actuating arm is swung to tilt the transport tray. Therefore, by moving the track follower roller in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the cam rail operates the track follower roller, the subsequent movement path of the track follower roller is completely separated from the position of the cam rail. Conveyor.

Each operating arm is mounted so as to swing laterally, and has a lower track follower roller, and the lower track follower roller is a downwardly directed guide rail mounted on the conveyor chassis in an inclined posture. Operatively engaged, whereby the lower track follower roller is pulled downwards and the tiltable device is tilted,
Further, the tray actuating arm is spring-biased so as to swing inward, cooperates with the guide device, and in the normal posture,
The guide pin or guide roller is horizontally positioned in the guideway track and is constrained against pulling downwards, the guideway track being continuous at its outer end with the downwardly directed track part, When the tray actuating arm is swung outward, the track portion allows the tray actuating arm to move downward, and the track portion has an inwardly directed restraint track portion at its lower end. By the action of the spring, the guide pin or the guide roller can enter, so that the track follower roller of the tray actuating arm swings inward from the in-plane position that engages with the cam rail. The above-mentioned sorting conveyor.

In this specification, the term linear motor means
It should be understood in a broad sense, but typically this motor is of the magnetic field moving type, and this magnetic field moving type motor is usually designated by this term. It is preferable to use a plurality of such motors evenly distributed along the conveyor track, and of course the cart is provided with members such as aluminum longitudinally extending rails cooperating with the motors. There must be. When using carts that are not interconnected, the motors must be spaced sufficiently small so that each cart train is in steady drive connection with at least one motor and moved by inertia. The cart can be moved a long distance between two motors or motor areas, but it is quite conceivable that preferably at each start of the system all cart trains must be startable regardless of the position in which they are stopped. Let's do it.

The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of a sorting conveyor according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a cart in such a conveyor, and FIGS. 3 to 5 are different in related tilting mechanism. FIGS. 6, 6 and 7 are a top view and a side view of the actuator for the tilting mechanism.

The conveyor shown in FIG. 1 comprises a rigid chassis, for example of the order of 60 cm, provided with two parallel guide rails 2 mounted substantially separated from one another. A series of carts 4 between rails
And each cart comprises an upper tray 6. Each cart has an outer drive wheel that can rotate in a C-shaped rail 2.
It comprises a transverse member 8 having a 10 and a conveying part 12 projecting forward or rearward from this transverse member, this part 12 of the other end being rotatably connected with the following or the above cart. A top structure 16 for rotatably supporting the tray 6 is provided on the transfer unit, and the tray is fixed to a transfer plate 18 on a hanging rod 20 fixed to a pivot bearing of the structure 16. Accordingly, these trays can be tilted by suitably displacing the lower end portion of the hanging rod 20 laterally. However, this device is shown by way of example only, as it has some drawbacks in practice.

A longitudinally oriented aluminum plate 24 is mounted which cooperates with a linear motor 26 arranged along the guide rail 2 on the lateral member 8 and the side arms 22 of the carrier 12. This allows the cart or train of carts to be moved without the use of any other form of fixed drive station, i.e. the cart is a member precisely positioned to mechanically engage the drive of the station. Need not be designed to have

A more preferred embodiment is shown in FIG. 2, in which an aluminum plate 24 is mounted as a horizontal bottom plate under the central transport section 12 so that the linear motor 26 can be driven in the central section of the cart. Therefore, the actuating rods 20 cannot hang down in the lower part of the central region of the cart, but since the trays 6 are tilted to the one side and the other end, they can be arranged in pairs near the opposite sides. Further, FIG. 2 shows that the free end of the central transport section is provided with a connecting head 28 for connecting to the central ball head 30 of the adjacent cart. The carts connected by the central ball head 30 are mutually rotatable in all possible directions. This is horizontal and / or
It is important when driving through a vertical curve, and in interconnected carts it is only necessary to provide drive rollers at the front or rear end of each cart, while the other end is the roller of the cart to be connected. It should be noted that the loading end is rotatably connected at the center. This allows the cart to pass through the twist-shaped part of the chassis, for example when moving the cart to a laterally inclined position to traverse a horizontal curve, which allows very high speed operation, Further, even if the cart is not tilted, the cart can be tilted to a suitable tilt position along such a curve. The carts can be very easily removed one by one if they need to be replaced, allowing the use of carts of various lengths.

3-5 illustrate a preferred design of the tilting mechanism. Arm 60 extending laterally on rigid bracket 32
A single tilt body 36 having an upper part is mounted, a pivoting bearing 62 for loading a hanging arm (tray actuating arm) 64 is provided at both ends of this arm, and a cam follower roller 66 protruding laterally is provided at a lower part of the arm 64. Set up. A pair of parallel plates 68 are attached to both ends of the above bracket, and each of the parallel plates has a cross shaft pin arranged at a substantially central position on the arm 64.
A guide track 70 is provided which cooperates with rollers 72 on 74. In each track 70, the track portion 78 facing the innermost bottom,
A lower portion 76 is provided which defines a corresponding uppermost inward facing track portion 80, the track portion 80 extending upwardly toward the upper track portion 82.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the hanging arm 64 is arranged at a normal position where the roller 72 is arranged near the innermost end of the intermediate track portion 80, and the tension spring 64 is mounted between the hanging arms 64. The force of 83 holds the hanging arm in a slightly inclined inward position, and the tension spring swings and biases the lower end of the hanging arm inward. At these positions, the rollers
72 cannot move downwards, ie the tilting mechanism is locked against tilting on either side.

As shown in FIG. 4, a predetermined lower cam follower roller
Tilting is actually possible by pulling 66 outward and then downward as shown in FIG. When pulled outward, the roller 72 moves outward in the track portion 80 toward a position close to the upper end of the lower track portion 76 due to the arm 64 tilting outward, and then the track portion.
When guided downward along 76, the arm 64 is pulled downward to tilt the tilting body 36 and associated tray (not shown). Opposing arm during this tilting
Rollers 72 on 64 move up in upper track portion 82;
This allows the arm to be held in an inwardly oscillating state with a substantially constant angle, and therefore, by oscillating downward thereafter, the roller 72 can be safely returned to the initial position. Is secured. The right arm 64 is swung inward during the final stage of the pulling motion, i.e. by the roller 72 being guided to the lower track end 78, which is shown in solid lines in FIG. Furthermore, this is all rather a problem of downward pulling, since the conveyor tray and the common center of gravity of the load on this tray are moved outward by tilting, thereby holding the tilt. It is a problem of downward pressure.

The illustrated fixed ramp rail (cam rail) 84 inside the chassis bed 2 is used to pull the roller 66 downward. However, according to FIG. 4, in a given unloading station, the rollers 66 in the normal position are located slightly inside this rail so that the free passage of the unit is normally ensured, in order to operate this station. It will be appreciated that the arm 64 needs to be tilted outward. In order to achieve this result, an inner ridge flange 88 is provided near the front upper end of the rail 84, and the rail 84 is extended straight as shown by the dotted line in FIG. An L-shaped rail portion 86, which is arranged at a normal position and thus outside the moving path of the roller 66, is mounted. The L-shaped member 86 is pivotally connected to the front end of the lower flange of the rail 84, and the front end of the L-shaped member 86 is pivotally moved to the position shown by the solid line in FIG. As this roller passes through this area, it abuts against the ridge flange 88 and is therefore moved into contact with the rail 84. The L-shaped member 86 extends outside the pivotal connection with the rail 84 and the ridge flange on this end swings closer to the vertical wall of the rail 84; It can be used as a pivot stopper for an L-shaped member. When the roller 66 is guided to the end of the rail 84, during further movement, the roller abuts the outwardly swung end 90 of the flange 88 of the L-shaped member and the pivot connection is C-shaped. Rail
Since it is located near the outer edge of the bottom flange of 84, the L-shaped member (member having an L-shaped cross section) by engaging with the roller 66 as a result of the above contact (rail switch member)
86 swings back to its initial position as the roller passes through the area. The swinging of the L-shaped member 86 to the operating position is rapid and requires minimal power. In addition, the return movement of the L-shaped member 86 does not require any special control means and does not require any additional power. This is because the roller 66 is an L-shaped member as described above.
This is because the L-shaped member 86 automatically returns to its non-operating position when passing through the downstream end 90 of 86.

The roller 66 then first pulls slightly downwards in cooperation with the top flange of the slanted rail 84, causing the roller 72 on the arm 64 to move downward in the track portion 76, and the roller 66 then engages the rail 84. It will be locked in place and then the roller will be pulled further downward during its subsequent travel along the rail 84. In the above system, the lower end rail 84 moves the roller 66 until the roller 72 moves to the track end 78 by the force of the spring 83 and the roller 66 no longer engages with the rail 84 (FIG. 5). It is designed to stop in the position where it is operated to pull downward.

In the initial stage, the upper flange of the rail 84 functions to pull the arm 64 downward, but in the subsequent stage, to guide the roller 66 downward, that is, the center of gravity of the tilting mass is outside the tilting shaft 34. The lower flange effectively functions to tilt to a point that is significantly displaced. Therefore, it can be seen that the tilting movement is well controlled from start to finish, which is a significant advantage.

It is of course an important condition that the working roller 66 is free to pass through the device which guides it downwards when passing through an inactive unloading station, which is where the rail 84 lies. This can easily be achieved with the roller 66 in the normal position (FIG. 4) not protruding into the area.

Any suitable mechanism can be used to actually tilt the L-shaped rail portion 86, such as the pull magnet 92 shown in FIG. Since this magnet does not need to perform a holding operation on the L-shaped member that has swung outward, it is sufficient to swing the L-shaped member outward by a short-time actuating force;
The letter-shaped member self-supports during the outward movement of the roller 66 and oscillates back by purely mechanical influence from the roller 66 itself as described above, ie the actuating member used is a lightweight L No effect other than swinging the character-shaped member to the operating position,
This rocking can be performed very quickly and with minimal energy consumption. However, for extra safety and ease of actuation, a spring is biased to swing the L-shaped member into the actuated position in response to the unlocking of the locking pawl by the magnet 92. Preferably: The pivoting back of the L-shaped member then engages the locking pawl in a mating locked condition.

The left side of FIG. 7 shows the running of the rollers 66, while the right side shows the running of the rollers 66.

As mentioned above, the actuating unit is locked in the outward tilted position by the force of the spring 83 and of course must be re-corrected before returning to the loading station. However, such straightening pulls the roller from each lower position (FIG. 5) and then guides it upwards to a normal position (FIG. 4) where it is self-locked by the force of the spring 83. A rigid guide or cam device mounted in front of the station facilitates this.

By using the loose tray cart above or a separate cart train with many trays, it can be operated on many rails connected in parallel using a rail switch, and if necessary horizontal and vertical. It has to be mentioned that it is possible to provide a sorting system in which branches can be provided on both sides.

It is also possible in special cases to arrange two or more trays 6 in succession on each cart chassis or on some of them. These carts must be loaded with a suitable recognition device that can be identified by passing through an unloading station.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A sorting conveyor supports a chassis and a plurality of laterally tiltable transfer trays, and passes through a loading station and a series of unloading stations or storage stations along the conveyor chassis. A series of movable supports, the loading station is a position for receiving the articles to be sorted by the transfer tray, and the unloading station or the receiving station is a position where the transfer tray is selectively operated. A position where the article is unloaded by tilting and tilting, the transport tray is coupled to interlock with a cam follower device that is selectively engageable with a cam rail portion at each unloading station, The cam rail portion and the cam follower With the engagement relationship with the device, the cam follower device is displaced in the lateral direction which is the moving direction of the cam follower device, whereby the relevant transport tray is tilted, and the cam rail portion of each unloading station, At its artificial end, it has a rail switch member that can be swung between a non-operating position and an operating position, the rail switch member being away from the path of travel of the cam follower device in its non-operating position, In the operative position, the front end of which is located in the path of travel and when the rail switch member is biased, the cam follower device is captured and laterally moved to engage the cam rail portion and thus the associated A certain unloading tilt of the carrier tray is performed, and the sorting conveyor further responds to passage of the cam follower device. And a return device provided to return the rail switch member to the non-operating position. When the rail switch member is urged, the front end of the rail switch member has the cam follower device. Swing toward the position corresponding to the movement path of
The rear end of the rail switch member, which is on the opposite side of the swing axis, is adapted to swing toward the biased movement path of the cam follower device, and the movement of the cam follower device along the rail switch member. At the end,
A sorting conveyor in which the rail switch member is arranged such that the downstream end of the rail switch member is hit by the cam follower device and the rail switch member swings back toward a non-operating position. 2. The rail switch member is operatively coupled to an attraction magnet device that can be selectively biased to switch the rail switch member from a non-operating position toward an operating position. The sorting conveyor described in Item 1. 3. The sorting conveyor according to claim 2, wherein each of the rail switch members is self-held in its non-operating position and its operating position. 4. The rail switch member is spring biased toward its operative position and is locked in its non-operative position by a pawl device that can be retracted by the attraction magnet device. The sorting conveyor according to claim 2. 5. A trunk follower roller attached to the tray actuating arm, wherein tray actuating arms hanging from the supporting body are provided on both sides of the tray actuating arm for tilting the carrying tray to one side or the other side. Are operable to engage with selectively enabled cam rails at each unloading station, thereby providing relative movement of the tray actuating arms to tilt the associated transport tray. The cam rail is formed to perform two side guides for biasing movement of the track follower roller, and the tray actuating arm is guided in a guide device of a single cart. When the track follower roller leaves the rear end of the cam rail that is firmly arranged, the tray actuating arm moves to the maximum position. Passively be swung into position in the final position, so preferably, by swinging the tray actuating arm, it tilts the conveyance tray,
Moving the track follower roller in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the cam rail operates the track follower roller, so that the subsequent movement path of the track follower roller is completely separated from the position of the cam rail. The sorting conveyor according to claim 1, wherein: 6. Each tray actuating arm is mounted so as to swing laterally and has a lower track follower roller, and the lower track follower roller is mounted on the conveyor chassis in an inclined posture. Operatively engaged with a downwardly directed guide rail, which causes the lower track follower roller to be pulled downwards to tilt the tiltable device, and the tray actuating arm to swing inwardly. Spring-biased to cooperate with the guide device, and in a normal posture, the guide pin or the guide roller is horizontally positioned in the guide path track and is restrained against pulling downward. The guideway track is continuous at its outer end with a downwardly directed track portion, and when said associated tray actuating arm is swung outwards, said track portion. Permitting downward movement of the tray actuating arm, the track portion has at its lower end a constraining track portion directed inwardly, the constraining track portion being acted upon by the spring by the guide pin or guide. 6. A roller as set forth in claim 5, wherein the entry allows the track follower roller of the tray actuating arm to swing inward from a position in a plane that engages the cam rail. Sorting conveyor.