JP2007203872A - Single load prevention device for three-dimensional transport cart - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To hold a load so as not to be in a single load state in a container by a single load prevention means fixed to the container which does not need to be returned or prepared in advance and is not likely to be lost. To provide a single load prevention device for a three-dimensional transport cart that can maintain a container in a horizontal state at all times.
SOLUTION: A tertiary equipped with a container 20 for storing transported goods A and B supported so as to be swingable via a gyro mechanism 31 on a cart 30 running on rails 10 laid horizontally and vertically inside the building. In the original transport cart, the swing shaft 33 of the gyro mechanism 31 is sandwiched inside the container 20 and supported by a support shaft parallel to the swing shaft 33 positioned in the vicinity of the front and rear in the container 20 so that it can be raised and lowered. A pair of baggage positioning means 41 is provided, and the positioning means 41 is rotated between a first position facing each other and a second position facing the front and rear end faces in the container 20 or the bottom surface of the container 20. What you did.
[Selection] Figure 4

Description

  The present invention provides a station disposed along a rail by running a carriage with a container along a rail laid horizontally on a ceiling and vertically on a wall over a plurality of floors of a building such as a building. In the transport system that loads and loads documents, parts, etc. from the container, and prevents the single load from being placed in the container in order to prevent the transported material from being in a single load state while traveling in the container. Relates to the device.

  The three-dimensional transport system as described above can be used to send documents, postal items, stationery, etc. in offices, medical records, pharmaceuticals, etc. in hospitals, or parts, products, etc. in factories. It is widely used because it can be automatically conveyed.

  The transport system includes a rail laid horizontally and vertically inside a building, a plurality of transport bodies that run on the rails, a computer that controls the travel of the transport body, and the like. A cart that travels in the form of a container is provided with a container for carrying a conveyed product. Here, the container is swingably supported by the cart by the gyro mechanism. Therefore, when the rail travels in a vertical section, the container swings (rotates) on the cart by the action of the gyro mechanism, and the container is The horizontal state can always be maintained (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In a transport system in which a cart equipped with a container supported by a gyro mechanism as described above is used, if the transported object is evenly accommodated in the container, the container is parallel to the rail when the cart travels in a horizontal section. Even when the cart travels in a vertical section, the container swings around the swing axis of the gyro mechanism and becomes a horizontal posture perpendicular to the vertical rail. An object can always be maintained in a horizontal state.

  However, when the conveyed product is concentrated on one side of the swing center and mounted on the container, the container travels while being inclined with respect to the swing center of the gyro mechanism in both the horizontal section and the vertical section. As a result, the transported object may be scattered in the container, or may be damaged by contacting or colliding with another transported object mounted on the container. In particular, when the transported object is a reagent or sample, if the container cannot maintain a horizontal state during transport, a glass container such as a test tube may be pulled out of the rack or the like and damaged, or the contents may be spilled.

Conventionally, as a countermeasure against this, filling the container or putting a partition plate later to prevent the transported material from moving to one side, but after receiving the transported material, the partition plate can be returned to the sender. In addition, it is necessary to prepare the stuffing in advance, and the troublesome work is indispensable. In addition, there is a problem that the partition plate is easily lost and is not reasonable.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-047369

  In view of the current state of the three-dimensional transport cart having the gyro mechanism as described above, the present invention is loaded in a container by a single load preventing means fixed to the container which does not need to be returned or prepared in advance and is not likely to be lost. Providing a single load prevention device for a three-dimensional transport cart that can hold an object so as not to be in a single load state and thereby maintain a container in a horizontal state at all times on the cart, Let that be the issue.

  The constitution of the present invention single load preventing apparatus for solving the above-mentioned problems is supported by a cart traveling on rails laid horizontally and vertically inside a building so as to be swingable via a gyro mechanism. In a three-dimensional transport cart provided with a container for storing a transported object, a support shaft parallel to the swing shaft is located inside the container and sandwiches the swing shaft of the gyro mechanism and is positioned near the front and rear in the container. A pair of load positioning means that are supported and can be raised and lowered are provided, and the positioning means are rotated between a first position facing each other and a second position facing the front and rear end faces or the container bottom face in the container. It is characterized by doing so.

  In the single load preventing apparatus of the present invention, the support shaft that supports the positioning means having the above-described configuration may be provided on a flat plate-like standing leg portion arranged in parallel with the side surface in the container. Each positioning means is a flat plate-shaped load holding part disposed between the standing leg parts, and extends from both ends of the holding part toward the front and rear end surfaces of the container. It is good also as a structure which consists of a plane-plate-shaped arm part connected with.

  In the present invention, the load positioning means is disposed so as to cross the bottom of the container, and includes a pressing portion attached to the bottom of the container so that the lower end edge thereof is rotatable. A configuration may also be adopted in which the front and rear end surfaces are connected to and supported by a front end portion of a rotatable support means that is urged to the upright side via a spring.

  The single-load prevention device of the present invention is a three-dimensional transport cart provided with a container that stores a transported object supported by a cart that runs on a rail laid horizontally and vertically inside a building so as to be swingable via a gyro mechanism. In the container, a pair of load positioning means are provided in the container so as to be able to undulate by sandwiching the swing shaft of the gyro mechanism and supporting it on a support shaft parallel to the swing shaft positioned near the front and rear in the container. The positioning means is rotated between a first position where the positioning means face each other and a second position which faces the front and rear end faces or the container bottom face in the container. Can be loaded in front-rear equilibrium, and therefore the container can be kept in a horizontal state at all times because there is no deviation of the load.

  That is, when the size of the conveyed product is small, the positioning means is rotated to the first position so that the conveyed item is held in the center of the container so that the container does not become one-sided. It swings smoothly (rotates), can be kept parallel to the rail in the horizontal section, and kept in the right-angle state to the rail in the vertical section, and the transported object can be transported in a horizontal mounting posture. As a result, it is possible to prevent the conveyed product from moving apart in the container, being deformed, or being damaged during the conveyance. Further, when the size of the conveyed product is large, by rotating the positioning means to the second position, the conveyed product storage space of the container can be returned to the original size, and the conveyed product can be loaded to the full container.

  Embodiments of the present invention single load preventing apparatus will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the accompanying drawings, FIG. 1 is a side view with a part broken away showing a first embodiment of a container equipped with the single cargo prevention device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 in FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the single cargo prevention device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view for explaining the overall configuration of the transport system including the container shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway side view showing a second embodiment of a container provided with the single cargo prevention device of the present invention, FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 6, and FIG. FIG. 9 is a side view showing an example of a usage state of the second embodiment, and FIG. 10 shows a state in which the single load prevention device of the second embodiment is folded with a load. FIG.

  The conveyance system using the three-dimensional conveyance cart to which the present invention single load prevention apparatus is applied includes a rail 10 and a conveyance body 12 that self-propels along the rail 10 as illustrated in FIG. The transport body 12 is an example of a three-dimensional transport cart referred to in the present invention. As an example, the rail 10 is laid in the building so as to extend from the floor through the wall to the ceiling, and to extend to the floor through a passage in a part of the ceiling.

  The transport body 12 as a three-dimensional transport cart includes a container 20 and a cart 30, and the container 20 has a container main body 21 and a container lid 22 in the example shown in FIGS. 1 to 4.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the container 20 is supported by a cart 30 on the outer side in the longitudinal direction of the container main body 21. The carriage 30 includes wheels that roll on the rail 10 as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-047369, and an electric motor on the carriage rotates a pinion gear that meshes with a rack gear laid between the rails 10. By doing so, you can self-propelled.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the container 20 is supported by the carriage 30 via the gyro mechanism 31, and always maintains a horizontal posture regardless of which section the carriage 30 travels. The gyro mechanism 31 includes, for example, a support base 32 that supports the container 20 so as to be able to swing (rotate), a screw shaft that lifts and lowers the support base 32, and a screw shaft, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-047369. Includes an electric motor that rotates the motor. Here, the container 20 is held on the support base 32 by a swing shaft 33 so as to be freely rotatable.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the container 20 can be raised in the vertical section or the like, and can be swung back and forth around the swing shaft 33 to maintain a horizontal state. In addition, although illustration is abbreviate | omitted to the electric motor for driving | running | working of the trolley | bogie 30, the electric motor of the gyro mechanism 31, etc., it is made from the electric wire constructed along the rail 10 as an example.

  The container main body 21 has a box shape with the top opened, and the present invention single load preventing device 40 is incorporated in the vicinity of both ends in the traveling direction (front-rear direction). The container lid 22 has a shallow box shape with the lower surface opened, and is fitted into the upper edge of the four-side wall of the container main body 21 so as to cover the upper opening of the container main body 21 to seal the container main body 21. This container lid 22 can open the container main body 21 by, for example, connecting the longitudinal direction edge part to the container main body 21 with the hinge 23, and pulling up the handle 24 arrange | positioned in the center recess.

  The present invention single-load prevention device 40 includes a pair of front and rear positioning means 41 disposed inside the container 20 so as to be spaced from each other with an intermediate swing shaft 33 interposed therebetween, and the positioning means 41 and the inner end faces of the container before and after. And a support means 42 that swings by a positioning means 41 between a first position facing each other and a second position substantially parallel to the inner end face of the container main body 21.

  As illustrated in FIG. 4, each positioning means 41 includes a pressing portion 43 made of a flat plate disposed transversely in the container main body 21, and a flat plate extending rearward at right angles from both left and right ends of the pressing portion 43. The left and right arm portions 44 are formed of a member having a substantially U-shaped cross section or channel cross section. Here, the holding portion 43 is formed by press-molding a flat plate together with the left and right arm portions 44. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a clue opening 45 is formed at the center of the pressing portion 43.

  On the other hand, each of the front and rear support means 42 has a pair of left and right standing leg portions 46 made of a flat plate and disposed in parallel with the front and rear surfaces inside the container main body 21. Each leg portion 46 is erected on the left and right ends of the bottom portion 47 so as to be coupled to a shallow box-shaped bottom portion 47. Each support means 42 is fixed to the container body 21 by screwing a screw or the like into the screw seat 47 a provided on the lower surface of the bottom 47 from the outside of the container body 21.

  The pressing portion 43 is disposed between the standing leg portions 46, and the shaft portion 48 at the free end of the arm portion 44 is rotatably held by the standing leg portion 46. The rotation between the first position and the second position can be performed. An arm rest 46a is attached to the outer side surface of the standing leg portion 46 of the support means 42. When the pressing portion 43 is rotated to the first position (the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 4), the arm portion 44 is It is supported by the armrest 46a.

  In the transport system illustrated in FIG. 5, a plurality of transport bodies 12 are self-propelled along the rail 10, and the transported object A is loaded inside the container 20 at a station disposed along the horizontal section of the rail 10. I try to unload it. Stops at each station, self-running toward each station, and the like are controlled by a computer device.

  Now, when the transport body 12 stops at a certain station, the operator removes the container lid 22 and loads the transport object A on the container main body 21. At this time, the rotational position of the pressing portion 43 is determined according to the size of the transported object A to be mounted, and the transported object A is disposed at the center of the container main body 21. For example, when the transported object A is a small size, as shown by the solid line on the right half side of FIG. 1, both the pressing portions 43 are rotated so that the pressing portions 43 face each other in parallel. The conveyed product A can be mounted in the center while being supported so as to be sandwiched between the pressing parts 43 from the front and rear.

  On the other hand, if the transported object is a transported object B (see FIG. 10) having a full container body size such as a sample case, as shown by a one-dot chain line in FIG. When the holder 43 is rotated and retracted, and the pressing portion 43 is positioned so as to approach or abut against the inner side surface located on the front and rear of the container body 21, the left and right compatible leg portions 46 are formed of parallel flat plates, and the thickness is small. Together, the interior of the container main body 21 expands to almost the original full size and the internal volume increases, so that it can be reliably accommodated. And as shown by the dashed-two dotted line in FIG. 1, the conveyed product accommodation space which has arbitrary front-back width can be formed in the container main body 21 by rotating the holding | suppressing part 43 to the middle position of these. .

  After the transported object A is accommodated in the mode illustrated in FIG. 1, the transport body 12 is controlled by the computer device by covering the container lid 22 with the container body 21 and instructing the computer device where the target transport station is. The conveyed product A is conveyed to the target station. When the transport body 12 reaches the vertical section of the rail 10 during transport, the support base 32 advances (rises) as shown in FIG. 5 to raise the container body 21 and separate it from the cart 30. As a result, the container body 21 swings around the swing shaft 33 so as to be in a posture perpendicular to the rail 10, and the container body 21 passes through the vertical section of the rail 10 while maintaining a horizontal state. Further, when the transport body 12 returns to the horizontal section of the rail 10, the container body 21 rotates again to be in a horizontal state, and is lowered toward the carriage 30 by the backward movement (lowering) of the support base 32, and is horizontal in a low center of gravity state. Run.

  In the single cargo prevention device according to the present invention, the container main body 21 as described above rotates in order to maintain the horizontal posture, but the small transported object A is held and fixed at the center of the container main body 21 by the pressing portion 43. That is, since the container 20 is not in a single-load state, the container 20 can be smoothly and reliably rotated around the swing shaft 33 to maintain a horizontal state. Further, if the size of the conveyed product is large, the pair of pressing parts 43 are folded by rotating them toward the back, and the pressing parts 43 are positioned parallel to the inner surfaces of the front and rear walls of the container main body 21 so that the internal volume of the container main body 21 is increased. Is increased (substantially returned to the original size), so that the container body 21 can be easily accommodated even when the conveyed product is large.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention single load preventing apparatus 140 will be described with reference to FIGS.
Of course, the single load prevention device illustrated in FIGS. 6 to 10 can be mounted on a container without deviating a transported object of a small size as in the previous embodiment. In this embodiment, When a large-size transported article is mounted on the container, the holding means is automatically rotated to expand the internal space of the container.

  Another example of the present invention single-load preventing device is indicated by reference numeral 140 in FIGS. 6 to 8, and a pair is disposed at both ends in the front-rear direction (traveling direction) of the container body 21.

  6 to 8 includes a positioning unit 141 and a support unit 142 connected to the positioning unit 141. Each positioning means 141 is a flat plate formed in a substantially L-shaped cross section, and has a pressing portion 143. The holding portion 143 is disposed across the container main body 21 with the end bent at a substantially right angle upward, and the lower end edge is connected to the inner bottom surface of the container main body 21 via a pair of pivot portions 151. . Each pivot portion 151 forms a hinge from a stationary portion 151 a fixed to the inner bottom surface of the container main body 21 and a movable portion 151 b fixed to the back surface of the pressing portion 143. That is, the shaft portion 151c is fixed to the movable portion 151b, and both ends extending from both ends of the movable portion 151b in the shaft portion 151c are rotatably held by the stationary portion 151a.

  The front and rear support means 142 connected to the positioning means 141 have arm portions 146 on the left and right sides of the main body formed of a flat plate in a thin U-shaped cross section or a channel-shaped cross section. Positioned on both the left and right sides of the portion 143, they are arranged at the front and rear portions inside the container body 21. Edges of the support means 142 positioned between the left and right arm portions 146 facing the inner front and rear walls of the container main body 21 are connected to the inner front and rear walls of the container main body 21 via two spring hinges 152.

  The spring hinge 152 includes a stationary portion 152a fixed to the inner wall surface of the container main body 21, and a movable portion 152b fixed to the lower surface of the portion sandwiched between the left and right arm portions 146 of the support means 142. By providing a spring (not shown) for biasing the support means 142 in the standing direction on the shaft portion 152c connecting the 152b, the movable portion 152b rotates while receiving the force in the standing direction by the shaft portion 152c. Is possible (see FIG. 8).

  The upper edge of the pressing portion 143 of each positioning means 141 and the free end (front end portion) of each support means 142 are connected to each other by a connecting portion 153. The connecting portion 153 is substantially inverted L-shaped when viewed from the side surface formed at the rear end of the shaft portion 153a supported by the left and right bearing portions 153b and the pressing portion 143 disposed so as to cover the shaft portion 153a from above. And a locking portion 143a.

  With the above configuration, for example, the upper end of the bearing portion 153b at the free end of the arm portion 146 of the single load prevention device 140 on the left side of FIG. 6 or the portion of the locking portion 143a of the pressing portion 143 is pushed downward. The left arm portion 146 in FIG. 6 rotates clockwise against the spring force of the shaft portion, and the holding portion 143 associated with the locking portion 143a rotates counterclockwise around the shaft portion 151c. As shown in phantom lines in FIG. 6, the holding portion 143 is in a folded form in which the holding portion 143 is in contact with the bottom surface of the container main body 21 and the arm portion 146 is in contact with the inner wall surface of the container main body 21. The single-load prevention device 140 on the right side of FIG. 6 is also in the same mode (but symmetrical) as the left-side single-load prevention device 140 described above, but the holding portion 143 is on the bottom surface of the container body 21 and the arm portion 146 is the container. The main body 21 comes into contact with the inner wall of the end to be folded. The solid line in FIG. 6 indicates a state where the pressing portion 143 and the arm portion 146 are in the first position, and the two-dot chain line indicates a state where the pressing portion 143 and the arm portion 146 are in the second position.

  As in the case of the previous embodiment, the container 20 shown in FIG. 6 and subsequent figures is also supported by the carriage on the outer surface of the intermediate portion in the longitudinal direction of the container body 21 via the gyro device, and the conveyed product is inside the container body 21. Mounted on.

  Further, the container 20 shown in FIG. 6 and subsequent figures is arranged at a position where the holding part 143 is in the first position and the conveyed object A is interposed as shown in FIG. 9 when the size of the conveyed object A is small. Is done. Thereby, the conveyed product A is mounted in the center of the container main body 21. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 10, when the size of the conveyed product is, for example, approximately the same as the inside of the container main body 21, the conveyed product B is accommodated in the container so as to be placed on the upper end of the arm portion 146. The support portion 142 integral with the arm portion 146 rotates in the direction along the front and rear walls against the spring force of the spring hinge 152 by loading the transported object A, reaches the second position, and connects the connecting portion 153. As a result of the follow-up rotation until the pressing portion 143 related to the shaft portion 153a contacts the inner bottom surface of the container main body 21, the support portion 142 including the arm portion 146 contacts the front and rear wall surfaces inside the container main body 21, Since the holding | suppressing part 143 hits a bottom and is folded, it can accommodate the big conveyed product B, without biasing a container.

  When the conveyed product A or B is accommodated, the container lid 22 is put on the container main body 21, and the intended conveying station is instructed to the computer device to convey the conveyed item A or B to the intended station. During transportation, when the container 20 reaches the vertical section of the rail 10, the container 20 rises and separates from the carriage 30 and rotates at a right angle to the rail 10 around the shaft 33, so that the container 20 becomes horizontal. Pass through the vertical section of the rail. Further, when the container 20 returns to travel in the horizontal section of the rail 10, the container 20 rotates again to be in a horizontal state, descends toward the carriage 33 by the gyro mechanism, and travels horizontally in a low center of gravity state.

  Also in the other example of the present invention single cargo prevention device described above, if the size of the conveyed product A is small, the conveyed product A can be positioned in the center of the container main body 21 by the pressing portion 143, so that the container is in a single-loaded state. Therefore, the container can always maintain a horizontal state around the swing shaft 33. On the other hand, in the transported object B having a large size, the support part 142 including the holding part 143 and the arm part 146 is folded semi-automatically by loading the transported object A, and is in contact with the inner wall surface and the bottom of the container main body 21. Since it is stored, even a large transported object B can be easily stored in the container main body 21.

In addition, in embodiment described above, although the surface of the holding | suppressing parts 43 and 143 is comprised flat, you may comprise in a curved surface etc. according to a conveyed product.
In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 6 to 10, the supporting means 142 including the pressing portion 143 and the arm portion 146 may be manually rotated from the second position to the first position.

The side view which fractured | ruptured a part which shows a 1st Example of a container provided with this invention single cargo prevention apparatus. Sectional drawing which follows the 2-2 line of FIG. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the single cargo prevention device shown in FIG. 1. The perspective view for demonstrating the whole structure of the conveyance system containing the container shown in FIG. The side view which fractured | ruptured a part which shows 2nd Example of a container provided with this invention single cargo prevention apparatus. Sectional drawing in alignment with line 7-7 in FIG. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the single cargo prevention device shown in FIG. 6. The side view which shows an example of the use condition of a 2nd Example. The side view which shows the state by which the single cargo prevention apparatus of the 2nd Example was folded by the load.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Rail 20 Container 21 Container main body 22 Container lid 23 Hinge 24 Handle 30 Cart 31 Gyro mechanism 32 Support base 33 Oscillating shaft 40 Single load prevention device 41 Each positioning means 42 Support means 43 Holding part 44 Arm part 45 Opening 46 Standing leg part 46a Armrest 47 Bottom 47a Screw seat 48 Shaft 140 Single load prevention device 141 Positioning means 142 Supporting means 143 Holding part 146 Arm part 151 Pivoting part 151a Static part 151b Movable part 151c Shaft part 152 Pivoting part 152a Static part 152b Movable part 152c Shaft part 153 Spring hinge 153a Shaft 153b Movable part A, B

Claims (5)

  In a three-dimensional transport cart including a container for storing a transported product supported so as to be swingable via a gyro mechanism on a cart that runs on rails laid horizontally and vertically inside the building, inside the container, A pair of baggage positioning means are provided which are supported by a support shaft parallel to the swing shaft positioned between the front and rear of the container and sandwiching the swing shaft of the gyro mechanism, and the positioning means face each other. A container single-load preventing device for a transport system, wherein the container is rotated between a first position to be rotated and a second position facing the front and rear end surfaces or the container bottom surface in the container.   Each positioning means is a flat plate-shaped load holding portion disposed between the standing leg portions, and a free end that extends from both ends of the holding portion toward the front and rear end surfaces of the container and is rotatably connected to the standing leg portion by a support shaft. The single-load preventing device according to claim 1, comprising a flat plate-like arm portion.   The single cargo prevention device according to claim 2, wherein the pressing portion includes an opening serving as a handle.   The load positioning means is disposed so as to cross the bottom of the container, and includes a pressing portion attached to the bottom of the container with its lower end edge being rotatable, and a free end of the holding portion has a spring on the front and rear end surfaces of the container. The single-load preventing device according to claim 1, wherein the single-load preventing device is connected to and supported by a front end portion of a rotatable support means that is urged to an upright side. The single load prevention device according to claim 4, wherein the support means includes a support portion connected to the pressing portion that is rotated to the folding side by contact of the conveyed product and causes the pressing portion to follow the folding side.

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