Workpiece conveying equipment

• US 8,312,979 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2012
• Issued: 11/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Daifuku Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Daifuku Company Limited
• Inventors: Ooe, Masahiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Deuble, Mark A
• Application Number:
  US13/412,985
• Publication Number:
  US 20120160635A1
• Time in Patent Office: 259 Days
• Field of Search: 198/346.1, 198/370.02, 198/370.03, 198/370.08, 198/463.3, 198/465.1, 198/465.2, 198/465.3, 104/102, 104/163
• US Class Current: 198/346.1
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 65/18 Transportation, conveyor or haulage systems specially adapted for motor vehicle or trailer assembly lines conveyors and haulage in general B65G
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 35/06 comprising a load-carrier moving along a path, e.g. a closed path, and adapted to be engaged by any one of a series of traction elements spaced along the path effecting drive at two or more points spaced along the length of an endless conveyor B65G23/32
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/53 between conveyors which cross one another

Abstract

Workpiece conveying equipment provided with a workpiece conveying traveling body composed of a workpiece support carriage and an auxiliary carriage adjacent to at least one of the front and the rear in a traveling direction of the workpiece support carriage, a first conveying path where the workpiece support carriage and the auxiliary carriage travel integrally, a second conveying path where only the workpiece support carriage travels perpendicularly and horizontally with respect to the traveling direction of the first conveying path, and a carriage diverging means provided at a branching point from the first conveying path to the second conveying path so as to separate the workpiece support carriage from the auxiliary carriage and to diverge the workpiece support carriage into the second conveying path perpendicularly and horizontally.

Claims

1. Workpiece conveying equipment comprising:

a workpiece conveying path including a first conveying path and a second conveying path branched off perpendicularly and horizontally with respect to the first conveying path;

a workpiece conveying traveling body having a workpiece support carriage and an auxiliary carriage adjacent to at least one of a front and a rear in a traveling direction of the first conveying path of the workpiece support carriage;

a workpiece conveying traveling body drive means juxtaposed on the first conveying path to make the workpiece support carriage and the auxiliary carriage travel integrally;

a carriage diverging means arranged at a branching point between the first conveying path and the second conveying path so as to leave the auxiliary carriage on the first conveying path and to diverge and introduce only the workpiece support carriage perpendicularly and horizontally into the second conveying path;

a workpiece support carriage drive means juxtaposed on the second conveying path to make the workpiece support carriage travel perpendicularly and horizontally with respect to the traveling direction of the workpiece support carriage on the first conveying path;

a terminal end of the second conveying path coupled perpendicularly with respect to the first conveying path at a meeting point set so as to adjoin the branching point; and

an auxiliary carriage drive means juxtaposed between the branching point and the meeting point adjacent to each other so as to move the auxiliary carriage having been left on the first conveying path at the branching point to an adjacent position before or after the workpiece support carriage approaching the meeting point and to make the auxiliary carriage wait.

2. The workpiece conveying equipment according to claim 1, wherein the workpiece conveying traveling body is composed of the workpiece support carriage and two auxiliary carriages adjacent to both the front and rear sides in the traveling direction of the first conveying path of the workpiece support carriage, and the auxiliary carriage drive means is composed of friction drives arranged along a path between the branching point and the meeting point at an interval shorter than an entire length of friction drive surfaces provided to the respective auxiliary carriages so that the auxiliary carriage drive means frictionally drives the two auxiliary carriages positioned longitudinally apart, from the branching point to the meeting point while maintaining a space between both the auxiliary carriages.

3. Workpiece conveying equipment comprising

a workpiece conveying path including a first conveying path and a second conveying path branched off perpendicularly and horizontally with respect to the first conveying path;

a workpiece conveying traveling body having a workpiece support carriage and an auxiliary carriage adjacent to at least one of a front and a rear in a traveling direction of the first conveying path of the workpiece support carriage;

a workpiece conveying traveling body drive means juxtaposed on the first conveying path to make the workpiece support carriage and the auxiliary carriage travel integrally;

a carriage diverging means arranged at a branching point between the first conveying path and the second conveying path so as to leave the auxiliary carriage on the first conveying path and to diverge and introduce only the workpiece support carriage perpendicularly and horizontally into the second conveying path;

a workpiece support carriage drive means juxtaposed on the second conveying path to make the workpiece support carriage travel perpendicularly and horizontally with respect to the traveling direction of the workpiece support carriage on the first conveying path; and

a coupling means to couple the workpiece support carriage and the auxiliary carriage together, wherein coupling of the coupling means is released at the branching point.

4. The workpiece conveying equipment according to claim 3, wherein the coupling means is composed of an engaging member at the workpiece support carriage side and an engaged member at the auxiliary carriage side, the engaging member and the engaged member vertically fitted to each other while allowing a relative lateral movement between the workpiece support carriage and the auxiliary carriage at the branching point.

5. The workpiece conveying equipment according to claim 4, wherein the carriage diverging means is provided with a vertically movable elevating guide rail supporting and guiding the workpiece support carriage in a traveling direction of the second conveying path and a workpiece support carriage diverging drive propelling the workpiece support carriage having been lifted up by the elevating guide rail into the second conveying path, and the engaging member and the engaged member of the coupling means are vertically detached from each other or rendered less in fitting depth when the workpiece support carriage is lifted up by the elevating guide rail.