JP2011148559A - Lifting-turning device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an increase in a dead space, since the lowest height of a station and a rack increases, by lowering the floor of a lifting-turning device of a carriage for carrying a cassette for storing a liquid crystal substrate in a clean room and a factory. <P>SOLUTION: This lifting-turning device arranged in the carriage 2 and performing lifting operation and turning operation, includes arms 19 each having a moving end 17 or 18, arms 20 each having a fixed end 21 and rotatably engaging with the central part of the arm 19 with a pin 45, right-left screw bars 14R and 14L each having a right screw part 16 and a left screw part 15 threadedly engaged with the moving end 17 or 18 and the fixed end 21, a pair of right-left lifting mechanisms constituted of right-left lifting motors 10R and 10L, and a turning mechanism arranged in the upper part of the lifting mechanisms and constituted of a turning table 40 and a turning motor 22. The turning motor 22 of the turning mechanism is arranged in the empty space formed between the pair of right-left lifting mechanisms. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a lifting / lowering turning device.

  In clean rooms and factories, a traveling vehicle equipped with a lifting and turning device is used. The elevating device is used for delivering an article between a station and a rack, and the swivel device is used for aligning the direction of the article. For example, when transporting a cassette containing a liquid crystal substrate, a traveling vehicle in which a lifting device and a turning device are mounted on a carriage is used. In the traveling vehicle described above, since the three mechanisms of the traveling mechanism, the lifting mechanism, and the turning mechanism are arranged along the height direction, the height dimension is increased. This means that the minimum height of stations, racks, etc. is increased and dead space is increased.

  For example, in the lifting device of Patent Document 1, the lifting platform is lifted and lowered by a pantograph, and a driving mechanism for the pantograph is provided at the lower part of the central portion of the lifting platform in plan view. When the mechanism of Patent Document 1 is applied to a traveling vehicle with a turning mechanism as it is, the turning motor needs to be arranged on the upper part of the lifting platform, and the height dimension of the traveling vehicle increases.

JP 2000-211895 A

An object of the present invention is to lower the floor of a lifting / lowering device.
An additional problem in the second and third aspects of the invention is to prevent a trouble caused by the amount of lifting of the right and left lifting mechanisms not matching.

This invention is an elevating and turning device that performs elevating and turning operations,
By providing a pair of left and right lifting mechanisms, an empty space is provided between the left and right lifting mechanisms,
A turning mechanism that moves up and down by the pair of right and left lifting mechanisms is provided, and a drive unit of the turning mechanism is disposed in the empty space.

Preferably, means for detecting an error in the amount of elevation between the left and right elevation mechanisms is provided.
Preferably, each of the left and right lifting mechanisms is provided with a lifting platform that moves up and down by a lifting operation of the lifting mechanism, the lifting platform and the lifting platform are connected by a bridging stay, and the turning mechanism is supported by the bridging stay. At the same time, the lifting platform and the bridging stay are connected by a pin whose axial direction is horizontal.

  In the present invention, by providing a pair of elevating mechanisms on the left and right, an empty space is provided immediately below the turning mechanism, and the drive unit of the turning mechanism is disposed here. As a result, the height size of the lifting / lowering swivel device can be reduced.

Furthermore, if an error in the amount of lift between the left and right lifting mechanisms is detected, the drive motors of the left and right lifting mechanisms are feedback controlled to eliminate the error, or the lifting operation is stopped when the error exceeds a predetermined value. In this way, it is possible to prevent damage to the elevating and turning device.
In addition, if the lifting platform provided on each lifting mechanism on the left and right and the bridge stay are connected with a pin with a horizontal axis, if the lifting amount of the lifting platform is unbalanced, the bridge stay will tilt, causing damage to the lifting and swiveling device, etc. Can be prevented.

Plan view of the traveling vehicle of the embodiment The top view which shows the state which removed the turning table from FIG. The top view which shows the state which removed the turning mechanism from FIG. Side view of the traveling vehicle of the embodiment The figure which shows the model of the link mechanism in an Example The figure which shows the attachment of the bridge stay to the right and left lifting platform in the embodiment The figure which shows the detection mechanism of the height position of the right-and-left lifting platform in an Example.

  In the following, an optimum embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be shown.

  1 to 7 show an embodiment of an elevating and turning device taking a traveling vehicle 2 as an example. In each figure, 4 is a cart, provided at the lower part of the traveling vehicle 2, 6 is a front and rear frame of the cart 4, and 7R and 7L are a right frame and a left frame of the cart 4, respectively. Reference numeral 8 denotes a travel motor, and a pair of lift motors 10R and 10L are provided on the left and right front sides of the carriage 4. In the traveling vehicle 2, the side on which the lifting motors 10R and 10L are provided is the rear side, the side on which the traveling motor 8 is provided is the front side, the lifting motors 10R and 10L are provided on the front side, and the traveling motor 8 is provided on the rear side. good. In the traveling vehicle 2, the side on which the right frame 7R is provided is the right side, and the side on which the left frame 7L is provided is the left side.

  Reference numeral 12 denotes a drive wheel, which is driven by the traveling motor 8, and 13 is a driven wheel. Note that the traveling motor 8 may be a single unit, and the left and right drive wheels 12 and 12 may be connected and driven. Screw rods 14R, 14L are provided in the left and right frames 7R, 7L and are rotated by the left and right lifting motors 10R, 10L. For example, the screw rods 14R and 14L have a left screw portion 15 on the rear side of the center portion and a right screw portion 16 on the front side of the center portion. The moving ends 17 and 18 are slidably attached to the screw rods 14R and 14L by a linear guide (not shown), and the arm 19 is attached to the moving ends 17 and 18 so as to be rotatable in a vertical plane. Also, fixed ends 21 are provided at both front and rear ends of the screw rods 14R, 14L, and the arm 20 is attached to be rotatable in a vertical plane. The length of the arm 20 is ½ of the length of the arm 19, and the arms 19 and 20 are connected by a pin at the midpoint of the arm 19.

  A revolving motor 22 is arranged in an empty space between the left and right frames 7R and 7L. Reference numerals 30R and 30L denote lifting platforms which are moved up and down by the arm 19, and the pair of left and right lifting platforms 30R and 30L are connected by a pair of front and rear bridging stays 32 and 32. The bridging stays 32, 32 and the lifting platforms 30R, 30L are connected by a pin 34, and the axis of the pin 34 is horizontal and faces the front-rear direction.

  A light projecting end 36 is provided on one of the lifts 30R, 30L, and a light receiving end 38 is provided on the other to detect a shift in height between the left and right lifts 30R, 30L. The light projecting end 36 and the light receiving end 38 are collectively referred to as a photoelectric sensor. In the embodiment, photoelectric sensors are provided on both front and rear sides of the lifting platforms 30R and 30L. However, they may be provided only on one side, and the difference in height between the lifting platforms 30R and 30L, such as the left and right ends of the bridging stay 32, is detected. If it is a position that can be, it can be provided at an arbitrary position. Reference numeral 40 denotes a turning table which is turned by a turning motor 22 through a bearing 42. 45 is a pin for connecting the arm 19 and the arm 20, and 46 is a pin for connecting the arm 19 and the lifting platforms 30R, 30L.

  A pair of left and right lifting mechanisms are provided by the left and right lifting motors 10R and 10L, the left and right frames 7R and 7L, the arms 19 and 20, the lifting platforms 30R and 30L, and the like. A turning mechanism is provided by the turning motor 22, the bridging stay 32, the bearing 42, the turning table 40, and the like. When the elevators 30R and 30L are lowered, the swing motor 22 is overlapped with the frames 7R and 7L in a side view, and the swing motor 22 is accommodated in an empty space between the left and right lifting mechanisms.

  The traveling vehicle 2 travels, for example, in a warehouse provided in a clean room, and places and transports a cassette or the like containing a liquid crystal substrate on the turning table 40. Then, an article such as a cassette is delivered to and from a station or rack (not shown) by raising and lowering the swivel table 40. Since the cassette has a direction, the turning table 40 is rotated by 180 ° by the turning motor 22 and aligned in a desired direction. Note that a transfer device such as a SCARA arm or a slide fork may be mounted on the turning table 40 in order to deliver the article.

  When the elevating motors 10R and 10L are synchronized and rotated by the same rotation amount, the positions of the moving ends 17 and 18 are common to the left and right frames 7R and 7L. Since the left screw portion 15 and the right screw portion 16 are provided on the screw rods 14R and 14L, the moving ends 17 and 18 move symmetrically with respect to the centers of the screw rods 14R and 14L. When the moving ends 17 and 18 are moved, the height position of the pin 46 is changed, and the height positions of the lifting platforms 30R and 30L are changed.

  FIG. 5 shows a change in the height position of the pin 46 due to the movement of the moving end 17. The length of the arm 19 is twice the length of the arm 20, and the arm 20 is attached to the midpoint of the arm 19, so that the pin 46 moves in the vertical direction, as is apparent from the figure. When the moving end 17 is near the center of the screw rods 14R and 14L, the pin 46 moves up and down greatly when the moving end 17 moves. On the other hand, when the moving end 17 approaches the fixed end 21 side, even if the moving end 17 is moved by the same distance, the lift amount of the pin 46 becomes small. Since the goods are delivered when the elevators 30R, 30L are greatly raised, the elevators 30R, 30L are raised and lowered at a low speed when the articles are delivered to and from the station or rack. Before and after the delivery, the lifting platforms 30R and 30L move up and down at high speed. For this reason, the impact at the time of delivery of goods can be made small.

  If the left and right lifting motors 10R, 10L are not completely synchronized, a difference occurs in the height positions of the left and right lifting platforms 30R, 30L, and an excessive force may be applied to the bridge stay 32 and the like. In the embodiment, the lifting platforms 30R, 30L and the bridging stay 32 are connected by the pins 34. Therefore, when a difference in height occurs between the left and right lifting platforms 30R, 30L, the bridging stay 32 is inclined, and the bridging stay 32 and the lifting stay 32 are lifted. It is possible to prevent excessive force from being applied to the mechanism.

  Further, the difference in height position between the left and right lifting platforms 30R and 30L is monitored. In the embodiment, for example, three light receiving elements 51 to 53 are provided on the light receiving end 38 side, and these are arranged in the cavity 50 in order to reduce stray light. When the heights of the right and left lifting platforms 30R and 30L are equal, the light beam from the light projecting end 36 is detected by the center light receiving element 52, and when there is a difference in the height position, the light beam is 51 or the lower light receiving element 53. The lift control unit 54 performs feedback control of the lift motors 10R and 10L based on signals from the light receiving elements 51 to 53 so as to eliminate the difference in height position between the left and right lift platforms 30R and 30L. When the difference between the height positions of the left and right lifting platforms 30R, 30L exceeds an allowable value, no signal is obtained from the light receiving elements 51-53, and in this case, the lifting control unit 54 stops the lifting motors 10R, 10L.

  Instead of using the light receiving elements 51 to 53, the rotation amounts of the left and right lifting motors 10R, 10L may be detected by the encoder 56, and the lifting motors 10R, 10L may be controlled so that these encoder values match. In the embodiment, both the detection of the difference in height position by the photoelectric sensor and the escape of the difference in height position of the lifts 30R, 30L using the pin 34 are performed, but only one of them is performed. Also good. Although the application to the traveling vehicle 2 is shown in the embodiment, a turning mechanism may be mounted on a fixed lifting device. Further, the type of lifting mechanism itself is arbitrary.

In the embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) The left and right lifting mechanisms and the turning motor 22 can be arranged so as to overlap in the height direction. For this reason, the floor of the traveling vehicle 2 can be reduced.
(2) By using the two arms 19 and 20 having a length ratio of 2: 1, the elevating speed of the elevating platforms 30R and 30L is increased at the high position and small at the low position, and the impact at the time of delivery of the article is increased. Can be small.
(3) By using the pin 34 to connect the left and right lifting platforms 30R, 30L and the bridging stay 32, an allowable width for the difference in height position between the lifting platforms 30R, 30L is generated.
(4) The height positions of the lifts 30R, 30L can be made equal by detecting the difference in height between the lifts 30R, 30L by the light receiving elements 51-53 and feeding back to the lift motors 10R, 10L. .

2 traveling vehicle 4 bogie 6 frame 7R, 7L frame 8 traveling motor 10R, L lift motor 12 driving wheel 13 driven wheel 14R, L screw rod 15 left threaded portion 16 right threaded portion 17, 18 moving end 19, 20 arm 21 fixed end 22 Rotating motor 30R, L Lift platform 32 Bridge stay 34 Pin 36 Light emitting end 38 Light receiving end 40 Turning table 42 Bearing 45, 46 Pin 50 Cavity 51-53 Light receiving element 54 Lift control unit 56 Encoder

Claims (3)

An elevating and turning device that performs elevating and turning operations,
By providing a pair of left and right lifting mechanisms, an empty space is provided between the left and right lifting mechanisms,
A lifting / lowering swiveling device characterized in that a swiveling mechanism that moves up and down by the pair of right and left lifting mechanisms is provided, and a drive unit of the swiveling mechanism is disposed in the empty space. 2. The lifting / lowering swivel device according to claim 1, further comprising means for detecting an error in the amount of lifting between the left and right lifting mechanisms. Each of the left and right lifting mechanisms is provided with a lifting platform that moves up and down by the lifting operation of the lifting mechanism, and the lifting platform and the lifting platform are connected by a bridging stay, and the pivoting mechanism is supported by the bridging stay, and the lifting The elevating and turning device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the base and the bridging stay are connected by a pin having a horizontal axial direction.

Images