A TRANSPORT MEANS FOR TRANSPORTING PIECES THREE-DIMENSIONALLY

Abstract: A transport means for transporting pieces three-dimensionally, wherein the sections belonging to a section pair (1<1>, 1<2>; 4<1>, 4<2>) are box-like; a traction member (14<1>, 14<2>; 16<1>, 16<2>) has been disposed over its essential length inside the section (1<1>, 1<2>; 4<1>, 4<2>) and secured to the carriage with a tension means (31); and the transport means comprises return sheaves (15; 17), which have been placed in pairs, spaced at the distance of the section, with the carriage (2<1>, 2<2>; 5<1>, 5<2>) between the return sheaves; and the traction member has been disposed to run from the carriage over the return sheaves back to the respective carriage for forming a closed loop of the traction member and the respective carriage; and a power means (3, 6) has been arranged to move the traction member and by its mediation, the respective carriage.

Description: A TRANSPORT MEANS FOR TRANSPORTING PIECES THREE-DIMENSIONALLY r The present invention concerns a transport means as defined in the preamble to Claim 1. In automation of industrial production and warehouses, various transport means are required which are able to meet various, and continuously changing, piece handling needs. The variables which impose the demand of flexibility on piece handling systems "include variable series sizes, variable loads to be transport¬ ed, and variation of piece sizes. In addition, compara¬ tively high transporting and positioning accuracy is required of the piece handling systems. Transporting and positioning accuracy is understood to mean that the transport means will transport each piece, conforming accurately to the paths defined for it and will posi¬ tion itself so that the true position of the transport means is accurately consistent with the position defin¬ ed for it. In prior art transport means of robot type are known which are able to meet the needs that have been mentioned. A problem associated with these means of prior art is that they are expensive in purchasing cost. The robot-type means of prior art have the further drawback that only fairly small masses can be transported with them. In prior art also transport means of bridge crane type are known. The transporting and positioning accuracy is poor in these means of prior art. The object of the invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks. The transport means of the invention is char¬ acterized by that which is presented in Claim 1. The transport means of the invention for three- dimensional transporting of pieces comprises - a side-by-side, parallel and horizontal bridge sec- tion pair; - a bridge carriage pair, provided with a power means and installed to be carried by the bridge section pair, ovably in the latter's direction; - a side-by-side, parallel and horizontal transport section pair, substantially perpendicular against the bridge section pair and installed to be carried by the bridge carriage pair; - a transport carriage pair, provided with a power means and installed to be carried by the transport sec¬ tion pair, movably in the latter's direction; - a lifting frame, installed to be carried by the transport carriage pair; - a lifting means, provided with a power means and in- stalled on the lifting frame, movably in vertical di¬ rection; and - the carriage pair comprises an elongated traction member for moving the carriage. As taught by the inven¬ tion, the sections belonging to one section pair are box-like; the traction member is disposed over its es¬ sential length inside the section and secured to the carriage with a tensioning means; and the transport means comprises return sheaves, placed in pairs with a spacing equivalent to the section, with the carriage between the return sheaves; and the traction member has been disposed to run from the carriage over the return sheaves back to the respective carriage to form a closed loop of the traction member and said carriage; and the power means has been disposed to move the trac- tion means, and by its mediation the respective car¬ riage. When the traction member constitutes a closed loop together with the bridge carriage and/or the transport carriage, . it becomes possible by exerting action on the traction member from the power means, to move the bridge carriage reciprocatingly , carried by the bridge section and/or the transport section. In an embodiment of the transport means, the traction member is a cog belt. The traction member may naturally equally be any other kind of elongated trac¬ tion member known in the art, e.g. a chain, rope or the like. Using a cog belt in this connection is however advantageous because in that case no slipping whatso¬ ever can occur between the return sheaves and the cog belt, and accurate transport motion is thus obtained. In addition, a cog belt drive is noiseless and requires little maintenance. ' J ' In an embodiment of the transport means, the bridge carriage comprises a roller assembly, disposed to travel inside the bridge section; and the bridge car¬ riage has been installed to be susp%nded, and carried on the roller assembly. f In an embodiment of the transport means, the transport carriage comprises a roller assembly* 4 , dis¬ posed to travel inside the transport section; and the transport carriage has been installed to be-suspended, and carried on the roller assembly. When the roller assembly is travelling inside the section, a safe transport means is achieved of which, the structures cannot become separated from each other under any circumstances whatsoever. In an embodiment of the transport means, the power means is connected to a return sheave. In an embodiment of the transport means, the transport means comprises a first pick-up for determin¬ ing the position of the bridge carriages; a second pick-up for determining the position of the transport carriages; a third pick-up for determining the " osition of the lifting means; and a control means for proces¬ sing the signals obtained from the pick-ups and con¬ trolling the movements of the transport means. In an embodiment of the transport means, the first, second and third pick-ups are angle sensors, advantageously optical increment sensors, disposed to transmit signals to the control means. With the aid of the pick-ups, the control means is enabled to control accurately the motions of the transport means. The con¬ trol means identifies with the aid of the pick-ups at any moment the three-dimensional position of the trans- port means and is thus enabled to control its motions in a pre-programmed way. In an embodiment of the transport means, the lifting means comprises an upright beam, provided with mutually parallel guide rails affixed to opposite sides; the lifting frame comprises guide roller assem¬ blies, and the guide rails and guide roller assemblies are so disposed that they guide, in cooperation, the vertical movement of the upright beam. In an embodiment of the transport means, the guide roller assembly comprises two side wheels which rest against the guide rail on either side thereof; the axes of rotation of said side wheels are eccentric relative to their mounting axles, and when the mounting axles are rotated, adjustment of the clearance between the guide rail and the side wheels is enabled. Hereby the play between the guide rails of the upright beam and the side wheels can be adjusted to minimum, thus mini¬ mizing the undesirable lateral movements of the upright beam relative to the " lifting frame. In an embodiment of the transport means, the lifting means comprises a chain or equivalent, connect¬ ed to and parallelling the upright beam; a traction wheel which connects with the chain by gear transmis¬ sion; and a power means arranged to rotate the traction wheel. In an embodiment of the transport means, the traction wheel is disposed at a distance from the up¬ right beam, and the lifting means comprises deflection sheaves, disposed to deflect the chain to go to the traction wheel. An arrangement like this affords the possibility that the traction wheel need not be placed close to the upright beam, whereby space considerations cause no problems when the power means and transmission ratios are being selected. In an embodiment of the transport means, the power means is a squirrel cage motor. In an embodiment of the transport means, the power means are squirrel cage motors controlled with the aid of frequency converters, for adjusting the speeds. It is advantageous in the transporting event to decelerate the velocities of the various motions of the transport means just before stopping, so that stopping might occur at the correct point with maximum accuracy. In an embodiment of the transport means, the interior space of the upright beam and of the lifting frame constitutes a vacuum tank to back up the vacuum of the vacuum-operated action means. The action means may for instance be a vacuum-operated clamp, which needs for back-up, e.g. in the event of mains failure, a vacuum tank which makes sure that the clamp will not let go of the load unexpectedly and at the wrong mo- ment. Using the interior space of the upright beam or of the lifting frame for vacuum tank is advantageous in view of producing a compact design in which no special, separate vacuum tank J.s needed, which would add to the weight of the structure and would complicate it. The action means connected with the transport means may, of i r course, be any kind of action means which is appropri¬ ate for the particular application. The invention is based on the important obser¬ vation that it is possible with a combination of stan- dard crane components to produce a transport • means transporting pieces three-dimensionally by which at the same time adequate transporting and positioning accu¬ racy can be achieved. At the same time, its initial cost is a fraction of the initial cost of an equivalent piece handling robot of prior art. The advantage offered by the invention is that a means enabling automatically produced lifting and transporting functions of comparatively large masses can be produced at favourable cost. It is a further advantage of the invention that the transporting and positioning accuracy there- with achievable is high. Furthermore, with the invention a transport means of simple construction is obtained and which is virtually maintenance-free. In the following the invention is described in detail, referring to the attached drawing, wherein Fig. 1 presents a transport means according to an embodiment of the invention, viewed obliquely from above. Fig. 2 presents a transport means according to another embodiment of the invention, in elevational view. Fig. 3 presents the transport means of Fig. 2 , viewed from the front, Fig.4 presents the guide roller assembly of the lifting means of a transport means according to a third embodiment of the invention, sectioned and in top view, and Fig. 5 shows the section V-V of Fig. 4. ϊn Fig. 1 is depicted a transport means for transporting pieces three-dimensionally. The transport means comprises two side-by-side, parallel and horizon¬ tal bridge sections l 1 ,! 2 ? two bridge carriages 2 i ,2= which are provided with a power means 3 and installed to be carried on the bridge sections l x ,l a , movably in their direction; two transport sections 4 X ,4 2 which are side-by-side, parallel and horizontal, substantially at right angles against the bridge sections l 3 -,!* and in¬ stalled to be carried on the bridge carriages 2 1 ,2 3 ; two transport carriages S^δ 3 which are provided with a power means 6 and installed to be carried on the trans¬ port sections 4 1 ,4 2 , movably in their direction; a lifting frame 7 which is installed to be carried by the transport carriages 5 s -,5 a ; a lifting means 8 which is provided with a power 1 ;means 9 and mounted on the lift- ing frame, movable in the vertical direction; a first pick-up 10 for determining the position of the bridge carriages 2 3 -,2 2 ; a second pick-up 11 for determining the position of the transport carriages S^S 3 ; a third pick-up 12 for determining the position of the lifting means 8; and a control means 13 for processing the sig¬ nals from the pick-ups 10, 11 and 12 and for con- trolling the movements of the transport means. In the embodiment of Fig. 2, presented in ele- vational view, can be seen the elongated traction mem¬ ber 14 1 ,14 a belonging to the bridge carriage 2 3 -,2 2 . The transport means further comprises two return sheaves 15, which have been spaced at the distance of the bridge section 1 - , != , with the bridge carriage 2 3 -,2= between the return sheaves 15. It also includes a power means 3 for moving the traction member 14 ,14=. The traction member has been disposed to run from the bridge carriage over the return sheaves and back to the bridge carriage. The traction member 14 1 is seen,, shown as a dotted line. In the end view of Fig. 3 can be seen the elongated traction member i€ 3 -,!^ belonging to the transport carriage δ 1 ^ 2 . The transport means further comprises two return sheaves 17, which have been spaced at the distance of the transport section 4 3 -,4 2 , the transport carriage δ^δ 2 being located between said return sheaves. Furthermore, it comprises a power means 6 for moving the traction member. The traction member runs from the transport carriage over the return sheaves and back to the transport carriage. The trac¬ tion member 16 3 - is seen in the figure, depicted with a dot-and dash line. The traction members 14 1 , 14 2 , 16 x and 16= are cog belts which have been secured to the bridge and transport carriages 2 1 ,2 2 ,4 ,4 2 with the aid of ten- sioning means 31. The return sheaves 15,17 are located on the ends of the bridge sections I 2 - , ! and of the transport sections 4 ,4 a . The traction members 14 3 -,14 2 ,16 3 -,16= have been disposed to run inside the sections. The power means 3 is connected to the return sheaves on one end of the bridge sections, which are interconnected by a transmission shaft. The power means 6 is likewise con¬ nected to the return sheave on one end of the transport section. There may, of course, also be a specific power means for each return sheave on one end of the section. The power means 3 and 6 may for instance be squirrel cage motors controlled with the aid of fre- quency converters, in which case the speed of rotation of the motors, and thus the velocities of the movements of the transport means can be controlled as desired, e.g. slightly before positioning, the velocity is dropped to a very low value, whereby high accuracy is achieved in stopping at a predetermined point. The bridge carriages 2 x ,2 a and the transport carriages 5 x ,5 a comprise roller assemblies 18, which have been disposed to run inside the bridge sections 3 1.--*3* f t Λ_r !Λ X <Λ_ * __ * W*_i_ l_u -x l f Λ% ____. • The lifting means 8 comprises an upright beam 19, provided with parallel guide rails 20 fixed on op¬ posite sides, there being two such rails in this in¬ stance. The lifting frame 7 comprises guide roller as¬ semblies 21, of which the number is four in the present instance. The guide rails 20 and guide roller assem¬ blies 21 are so disposed that they guide, in coopera¬ tion, the vertical motion of the upright beam 19. The lifting .means 8 comprises a chain 25 or equivalent connected to the upright beam 19 and paral- lei to it. The traction wheel 26 belonging to the lift¬ ing means is connected with the chain by a gear trans¬ mission. The power means 9 has been disposed to drive the traction wheel. The power means is advantageously a squirrel cage motor. The traction wheel 26 is disposed at a distance from the upright beam 19, and the lifting means comprises traversing wheels 27 and 28, disposed to de¬ flect the chain 25 to the traction wheel. The interior spaces of the upright beam 19 and of the lifting frame 7 constitute a vacuum tank, for backing up the vacuum of the vacuum-operated action means 30. The first 10, second 11 and third pick-up 12 are pulse transmitters, advantageously optical increment transmitters, arranged to transmit signals to the con¬ trol means 13. The guide roller assembly 21, depicted in Figs 4 and 5, comprises two side wheels 22 resting against the guide rail 20, on either side thereof. The rotation axles 23 of the side wheels are eccentrically; offset relative to their mounting axles 24. By rotating the mounting axles 24, the clearance play between the guide rail 20 and the side wheels 22 can be adjusted. F The invention is not delimited merely-t^ con¬ cern the embodiment examples presented in the foregoing: * H•.«U-.■-U-.K.». ■-.-•.«U- .2-- ---.u--.-a - 4. Jι_. - 4. ru.αr.4ι..4.u --.-ι-*.-ι--, ^ t-lt*.Ε-:..i-..c--.u- ^4. αi c « ι.c-.α-. ro. -xi Ku_, x . c r_ . ΪV .I 1 _U_.1_IU J-.U . _L_ departing from the scope of the inventive idea defined by the claims.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A transport means for transporting pieces three-dimensionally, comprising - a side-by-side, parallel and horizontal bridge seσ- tion pair (l x ,l a ) ; - a bridge carriage pair (2 x / 2 a ) , provided with a power means (3) and installed to be carried by the bridge section pair, movably in its direction; - a side-by-side, parallel and horizontal transport section pair (4 X ,4 2 ), substantially at right angles against the bridge section pair and installed to be carried by the bridge section pair; - a transport carriage pair (5 X ,5 2 ), provided with a power means (6) and installed to be carried by the transport section pair, movably in its direction; - a lifting frame (7), installed to be carried by the transport section pair; - a lifting means (8) , provided with a power means (6) and installed on the lifting frame to be vertically movable; and that - the carriage pair (2 x ,2 a ; 5 x ,5 a ) comprises an elon¬ gated traction member (14 x ,14 2 ; 16 x ,16 a ) for moving the carriage, characterized in that the sections belonging the traction member has been arranged on its essential length to be inside the section <l x ,l a ; 4 x ,4 a ) and is secured to the carriage with a tensioning means (31) ; and that the transport means comprises return sheaves (15,17) which have been placed in pairs, spaced at the distance of the section, with the carriage (2 x ,2 a ; 5 x ,5 a ) between the return sheaves; and that the trac¬ tion member is disposed to run from the carriage over the return sheaves and back to the carriage in order to form a closed loop of the traction member and the re- spective carriage; and that the power means (3,6) has been arranged to move the traction member, and by its mediation the respective carriage. 2. Transport means according to claim 1, characterized in that the traction member (14 x ,14 a ; 16 x ,16 2 ) is a cog belt. 3. Transport means according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the bridge carriage (2 ,2 2 ) com¬ prises a roller assembly (18) which has been disposed to run inside the bridge section (l x ,l a ); and, that the bridge carriage is installed to be suspended, and car¬ ried by said roller assembly. 4. Transport means according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that the transport carriage (5 x ,5 a ) comprises a roller assembly (18) which, has been disposed to run inside the transport section (4 ,4 2 ); and that the transport carriage is installed to be suspended, and carried by said roller assembly, t 5. Transport means according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that the power means (3; 6) has been connected to a return wheel (15; 17) . 6. Transport means according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that the transport means comprises a first pick-up (10) for determining the position of the bridge carriages (2 ,2 a ) ; a second pick-up (11) for determining the position of the trans¬ port carriages {Z^ , S Z ) ; a third pick-up (12) for eter- mining the position of the lifting means; and a control means (13) for processing the signals from said pick¬ ups and for controlling the movements of the transport means. 7. Transport means according to claim 6, characterized in that the first (10) , second (11) and third (13) pick-ups are pulse transmitters, advantage¬ ously optical increment transmitters which have been disposed to transmit signals to the control means (13) . 8. Transport means according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that the lifting means (8) comprises an upright beam (19) , provided with- parallel guide rails (20) fixed on opposite sides; the lifting frame (7) comprises guide roller assemblies (21) , and that the guide rails and guide roller assemblies are so disposed that they guide, in cooperation, the vertical movement of the upright beam. 9. Transport means according to claim 8, characterized in that-the guide roller assembly (21) comprises two side wheels (22) which rest against the guide rail (20) on either side thereof; that the axles of rotation (23) of the side wheels are eccentric rela- tive to their fixing axles (24) , and that by rotating the fixing axles the play between the guide rail and the side wheels can be adjusted. 10. Transport means according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that the lifting means (8) comprises a chain (25) or equivalent connected to the upright beam (19) and parallel to it; a traction wheel (26) which communicates with the chain by means of a gear trans¬ mission; and a power , means (9) which has been arranged to rotate the traction wheel. 11. Transport means according to claim 10, characterized in that the traction wheel (26) has been disposed at a distance from the upright beam (19) and the lifting means comprises traversing wheels (27) and (28) , Which have been arranged to deflect the chain (25) to the traction wheel. 12. Transport means according to any one of claims 1-22, characterized in that the power means (3,6,9) is a squirrel cage motor. 13. Transport means according to any one of claims 1-12, characterized in that the power means (3) and (6) are squirrel cage motors controlled with the aid of frequency converters, to control velocities. 14. Transport means according to any one of claims 1-13, characterized in that the interior space of the upright beam (19) and/or the lifting frame (7) constitutes a vacuum tank to back up the vacuum for the vacuum-operated action means (30) .

Inventors: ERIKKILAE JOUNI, ERIKKILAE, JOUNI
Applicants: ERIKKILAE KY
Application year: 1990
Main classification: B66C13
IPC codes: B23Q1, B25J9, B65G47, B66C11, B66C13, B66C17