Loading and unloading station and method for load carrier of vehicle bodies, vehicles and the like

• US 7,153,078 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2003
• Issued: 12/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ILS Industrie Logistic Swiss AG, Dr Ing hc F Porsche AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Original Assignee: UTC Uebach Technologie Consulting GmbH, Dr Ing hc F Porsche AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Inventors: Wittenmayer, Guenther, Kramer, Walter, Hopf, Ernst, Uebach, Eckard, Krause, Claus-Peter, Beerhalter, Christoph, Wolf, Guenther, Boettcher, Lothar
• Primary Examiner(s): Brahan, Thomas J.
• Application Number:
  US10/439,306
• Publication Number:
  US 20040052621A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,320 Days
• Field of Search: 410/26, 410/43, 406/335, 414/373, 414/392, 414/400
• US Class Current: 414/400
• CPC Class Codes: B61D 47/005 Loading or unloading devices combined with road vehicles carrying wagons, e.g. ramps, turntables, lifting means wagons for carrying road vehicles in general: B61D3/18
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/80 Turntables carrying articles or materials to be transferred, e.g. combined with ploughs or scrapers
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 63/022 for articles

Abstract

Through a loading and unloading station for load carriers of vehicle bodies, vehicles or the like, it is possible to unload vehicle bodies from a railway car in a continuous cycle and supply them to a production facility, wherein in one cycle simultaneously the load carriers receiving the vehicle bodies are returned to an empty railway car.

Claims

1. Loading and unloading station between a production facility and at least one railway car, comprising

a plurality of workstations,

a plurality of load units arranged to move in a path successively to each of the workstations,

a plurality of load carriers, each of the load carriers is configured to support a vehicle body and to be unloaded at a first of the workstations from the at least one railway car on one of the load units, wherein each of the load units is sized and configured to carry at least two of the load carriers one above the other and to be supplied to the production facility from the at least one railway car in which the respective load carrier and vehicle bodies are arranged in a longitudinal direction of the at least one railway car,

a plurality of loading carts arranged to be moved in the longitudinal direction,

means for unloading a load unit from the at least one railway car in a direction transverse to the at least one railway car onto one of the loading carts and to move the loaded loading cart in the longitudinal direction to a second of the workstations at which a rotary table is adjacent to the loaded loading cart,

means for moving the load unit carrying the vehicle bodies from the loaded loading cart onto the rotary table, turning the load unit in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction and moving the load unit to a third of the workstations at which a transport device is located and arranged to move the load unit in the longitudinal direction,

a fourth of the workstations comprising a destacking device to which the load unit is moved and configured to separate the load carriers on the load unit onto individual load carriers so as to be arranged one behind the other in the longitudinal direction,

a fifth of the workstations comprising means for moving each of the vehicle bodies successively from its associated load carrier to the production facility and thereafter moving each load carrier from which the associated vehicle body has been moved in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction to a sixth of the workstations comprising a conveyor arranged to transport the empty individual load carriers in the longitudinal direction,

a seventh of the workstations configured to lift the empty individual load carriers and to place them one over the other to form a stack of at least four units and to rotate the stack into a position aligned with the longitudinal direction, and

means for moving the stack to an eighth of the workstations at which the stack is moved onto a loading cart for being loaded into an empty railway car.

2. Loading and unloading station pursuant to claim 1, wherein the loading cart is configured to be displaceable on tracks parallel to the railway car, and, on one hand in the first workstation in accordance with a first transfer position for the load unit and on the other hand in the workstation in accordance with another transfer position a four-unit stack is movable from a stationary, pivoting rotary table in the path back into a ninth workstation adjacent the first workstation for storing the four-unit stack in an empty railway car.

3. Loading and unloading station pursuant to claim 2, wherein the loading cart has two spaced lifting forks between which are arranged the chain conveyors for the load unit or for the bottom load carrier of the unit and in the first workstation the lifting forks are configured to reach into seats on the front of the carriers from beneath to transport and lift the load unit.

4. Loading and unloading station pursuant to claim 2, wherein a first working position is provided at which the load unit is placed onto chain conveyors of the loading cart and moved on the displaceable rotary table which is arranged parallel and aligned with the loading cart, and a second workstation is provided at which the load unit is placed onto subsequent chain conveyors of the displaceable rotary table.

5. Loading and unloading station pursuant to claim 1, wherein a loading cart has two spaced lifting forks between which are arranged the chain conveyors for the load unit or for the bottom load carrier of the unit and in the first workstation the lifting forks are configured to reach into seats on the front of the carriers from beneath to transport and lift the load unit.

6. Loading and unloading station pursuant to claim 1, wherein a first working position is provided at which the load unit is placed onto chain conveyors of the loading cart and moved on the displaceable rotary table which is arranged parallel and aligned with a loading cart, and a second workstation is provided at which the load unit is placed onto subsequent chain conveyors of the displaceable rotary table.

7. Loading and unloading station pursuant to claim 6, wherein the displaceable rotary table is arranged to be rotated at a right angle to a longitudinal axis of the loading cart, and the load unit is configured to be rotated by a rotary rack of the rotary table by an angle α

of 90°

such that a front region of the vehicle bodies placed on top are oriented opposite a moving direction of the rotary table.

8. Loading and unloading station pursuant to claim 7, wherein the displaceable rotary table is arranged to be rotated at a right angle to a longitudinal axis of the loading cart, and the load unit is configured to be rotated by a rotary rack of the rotary table by an angle α

of 90°

such that a front region of the vehicle bodies placed on top opposite a moving direction of the rotary table.

9. Loading and unloading station pursuant to claim 1, wherein chain conveyors supply the rotary table in the eighth workstation, which corresponds to a transfer position, to a transport section that connects to the load unit at a right angle, and

rotary table is configured to displace the load unit autonomously at said transport section.

10. Loading and unloading station pursuant to claim 1, wherein the load unit is arranged to be supplied by the chain conveyors of the rotary table from the eighth workstation to a destacking device with lifting and lowering forks,

said destacking device being configured to separate the load unit in the fourth workstation into individual load carriers such that initially the uppermost load carrier is lifted and the exposed load carrier underneath is transported and that subsequently the upper load carrier is lowered and the vehicle body is placed onto a receiving rack.

11. Loading and unloading station pursuant to claim 1, wherein an empty load carrier having upright stanchions is arranged to be fed, via a transport section running parallel to the loading cart, to a stacking device in the sixth workstation,

wherein before said sixth workstation, the upright stanchions are arranged to be retracted individually and the stacking device to stack four load carriers into a four-unit stack with a lifting device such that the respective load carrier on the bottom can be lifted and the remaining load carriers can successively move therebeneath.

12. Loading and unloading station pursuant to claim 11, wherein the four-unit stack is configured to be supplied via chain conveyors in the seventh workstation to the stationary, pivoting rotary table with integrated chain conveyors, via which the four-unit stack is rotatable in the direction so as to be parallel to the loading cart.

13. Loading and unloading station pursuant to claim 12, wherein the rotary table is arranged to be brought about a vertical axis of rotation from the sixth workstation used to receive the four-unit stack to the eighth workstation rotated by an angle of 90°

for forwarding to the loading cart, and

the rotary table is arranged to be guided over wheels on the floor.

14. Loading and unloading station pursuant to claim 13, wherein the four-unit stack in the eighth workstation is arranged to be lifted by the loading and unloading device of the loading cart and in the ninth workstation is arranged to be placed by chain conveyors into the railway car from which the load units have been removed.