Patent Publication Number: US-2012037481-A1

Title: Production-line distribution conveyor system and reciprocating conveying platform thereof

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a production-line distribution conveyor system and a reciprocating conveying platform thereof, and more particularly to a production-line distribution conveyor system that effectively increases the production-line distribution efficiency and a reciprocating conveying platform thereof. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Nowadays, high-technology industries have designed a conveyor system that conveys work-pieces from a single-path conveyor line to a dual-path conveyor line, in order to increase production capacity for production lines of finished or semi-finished work-pieces of flat panel displays. With reference to  FIGS. 1A to 1D , a schematic view of distribution actions of a conventional production-line distribution system is disclosed, and has a front delivery end  90 , two rear delivery ends  91  and a reciprocating conveying platform  92 . The front delivery end  90  is loaded with a plurality of work-pieces  81 - 83  waiting to be distributed, such as liquid crystal displays. The two rear deliver ends  91  are arranged side by side and defined as a first rear delivery end  910  and a second delivery end  911 . The reciprocating conveying platform  92  is disposed between the front delivery end  90  and the two rear delivery ends  91 , and reciprocally shifts in a direction perpendicular to a conveying direction of the front delivery end  90 . 
     With further reference to  FIG. 2 , the reciprocating conveying platform  92  has a transport mechanism. The transport mechanism has a plurality of rollers  920  forming a conveying plane. With reference to  FIG. 1A , after receiving a work-piece  81 , the reciprocating conveying platform  92  shifts to a position in front of the first rear delivery end  910  and conveys the work-piece  81  to the first rear delivery end  910 . The reciprocating conveying platform  92  then shifts back to a position in front of the front delivery end  90 , continues to receive next work-piece  82 , and then shifts to a position in front of the second delivery end  911  to convey the work-piece  82  thereto. After this, the reciprocating conveying platform  92  shifts back to the position in front in front of the front delivery end  90  to continue to receive next work-piece  83  to start another cycle. 
     However, such production-line distribution system has a problem on slow speed conveying. This is because the reciprocating conveying platform  93  only receives one work-piece  81  from the front delivery end  90  once at a time; next work-piece  82  has to wait to be received by the reciprocating conveying platform  92  until the previous work-piece  81  is conveyed out of the reciprocating conveying platform  92 . Therefore, the production speed of the whole production line is inevitably lowered and leads to low production capacity. 
     Hence, it is necessary to provide a production-line distribution conveyor system and a reciprocating conveying platform thereof to overcome the problems existing in the conventional technology. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A primary object of the invention is to provide a production-line distribution conveyor system which comprises a reciprocating conveying platform having two transport mechanisms that work independently of each other, wherein when one of the transport mechanisms conveys a work-piece, the other one is able to receive another work-piece at the same time, so as to effectively facilitate production-line distribution to enhance distribution efficiency for increasing production capacity. 
     A secondary object of the present invention is to provide a reciprocating conveying platform which has two transport mechanisms that work independently of each other. When the reciprocating conveying platform is applied to a production-line distribution conveyor system, the two transport mechanisms can simultaneously convey one work-piece and receive another work-piece, respectively, and thereby effectively enhance production-line distribution efficiency. 
     To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a production-line distribution conveyor system which comprises: 
     a front delivery end; 
     a first rear delivery end having a conveying direction parallel to a conveying direction of the front delivery end; 
     a second rear delivery end having a conveying direction parallel to the conveying direction of the front delivery end, wherein the second rear delivery end is disposed side-by-side with the first rear delivery end; and 
     a reciprocating conveying platform disposed between the front delivery end and the first and second rear delivery ends, and shifts in a shifting direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the front delivery end; wherein the reciprocating conveying platform has a first transport mechanism and a second transport mechanism corresponding to the first and second delivery ends, respectively, for conveying work-pieces; wherein when the first transport mechanism corresponds to the first rear delivery end and conveys a first work-piece thereto, the second transport mechanism corresponds to the front delivery end and receives a second work-piece therefrom; when the first transport mechanism corresponds to the front delivery end and receives a third work-piece therefrom, the second transport mechanism corresponds to the second rear delivery end and conveys the second work-piece thereto. 
     Furthermore, the present invention provides a reciprocating conveying platform for a production-line distribution conveyor system, disposed between a front delivery end and both of a first rear delivery end and a second rear delivery end disposed side by side. The reciprocating conveying platform has a first transport mechanism and a second transport mechanism corresponding to the first and second delivery ends, respectively, for conveying work-pieces; wherein when the first transport mechanism corresponds to the first rear delivery end and conveys a first work-piece thereto, the second transport mechanism corresponds to the front delivery end and receives a second work-piece therefrom; when the first transport mechanism corresponds to the front delivery end and receives a third work-piece therefrom, the second transport mechanism corresponds to the second rear delivery end and conveys the second work-piece thereto. 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the first and the second transport mechanisms has a plurality of rollers, wherein the rollers form a conveying plane, and the conveying plane has a conveying direction parallel to the conveying directions of the front delivery end and the first and second rear delivery ends. 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, the front delivery end is an output end of a conveyor belt. 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, the first rear delivery end and the second rear delivery end are two input ends of two rear conveyor belts disposed side by side. 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, the reciprocating conveying platform has a size larger than a size of the two work-pieces disposed side by side, and the first transport mechanism and the second transport mechanism are independent of each other and disposed side by side. 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the work-pieces is a finished or semi-finished product of flat panel display, such as a liquid crystal panel, a liquid crystal module or a backlight module. 
     Comparing to the existing technology, the production-line distribution conveyor system and a reciprocating conveying platform of the present invention enhance production-line distribution efficiency and make production capacity of production line to have significant improvement. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIGS. 1A to 1D  are schematic views of distribution actions of a conventional production-line distribution system; 
         FIG. 2  is a top view of a conventional reciprocating conveying platform applied to  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIGS. 3A to 3C  are schematic views of distribution actions of a production-line distribution conveyor system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a top view of a reciprocating conveying platform according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIGS. 5A to 5H  are schematic views of detail distribution actions of the production-line distribution conveyor system of the present invention; and 
         FIGS. 6A to 6H  are schematic views of detail distribution actions of the conventional conveyor system. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     With reference to  FIGS. 3A to 3C , schematic views of distribution actions of a production-line distribution conveyor system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention are illustrated, wherein the production-line distribution conveyor system comprises a front delivery end  10 , a first rear delivery end  20 , a second rear delivery end  21  and a reciprocating conveying platform  30 . The foregoing components of the present invention will be described more detailed hereinafter. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 3A to 3C , in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the front delivery end  10  is an output end of a conveyor belt. The front delivery end  10  can be loaded with a plurality of work-pieces  41 - 43  waiting to be conveyed. Each of the work-pieces  41 - 44  can be a finished or semi-finished product of various electronic products, preferably a finished or semi-finished product of flat panel display, such as a liquid crystal panel, a liquid crystal module or a backlight module. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 3A to 3C , in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first rear delivery end  20  and the second rear delivery end  21  are two input ends of two rear conveyor belts disposed side by side for receiving the distributed work-pieces  41 - 43 , respectively. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 3A to 3C  and  4 ,  FIG. 4  is a top view of a reciprocating conveying platform according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The reciprocating conveying platform  30  of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is disposed between the front delivery end  10  and the first and second rear delivery ends  20 ,  21 . The reciprocating conveying platform  30  can be controlled to reciprocally shift between the front delivery end  10  and the first and second rear delivery ends  20 ,  21 . The reciprocating conveying platform  30  shifts in a shifting direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the front delivery end  10 . The reciprocating conveying platform  30  reciprocally shifts to convey the work-pieces  41 - 43  from the front delivery end  10  to the first rear delivery end  20  and the second rear delivery end  21  in turn, respectively. In the present invention, the reciprocating conveying platform  30  has a size larger than a size of two of the work-pieces  41 - 42  disposed side by side. The reciprocating conveying platform  30  has a first transport mechanism  31  and a second transport mechanism  32 . The first transport mechanism  31  and the second transport mechanism  32  are independent of each other and disposed side by side. The first transport mechanism  31  and the second transport mechanism  32  are disposed along a disposed direction parallel to a disposing direction of the first rear delivery end  20  and the second rear delivery end  21 , so as to correspond to the first delivery end  20  and the second delivery end  21 , respectively. 
     Furthermore, with reference to  FIG. 4 , the first transport mechanism  31  has a plurality of rollers  310 , wherein the rollers  310  form a conveying plane which has a conveying direction parallel to the conveying directions of the front delivery end  10 , the first rear delivery end  20  and the second rear delivery end  21 . Similarly, the second transport mechanism  32  has a plurality of rollers  320 , wherein the rollers  320  of the second transport mechanism  32  form a conveying plane which also has a conveying direction parallel to the conveying directions of the front delivery end  10 , the first rear delivery end  20  and the second rear delivery end  21 . During the reciprocal shifting movement of the reciprocating conveying platform  30 , the first transport mechanism  31  and the second transport mechanism  32  receive the work-pieces  41 - 43  from the front delivery end  10  by turns and convey the work-pieces  41 - 43  to the corresponding first rear delivery end  20  and the second delivery end  21  by turns. 
     More specifically, with reference to  FIGS. 3A to 3C , after the first transport mechanism  31  receives the work-piece  41 , the reciprocating conveying platform  30  shifts toward a position in front of the first rear delivery end  20 , so that the first transport mechanism  31  can correspond to the first rear delivery end  20  and convey the work-piece  41  thereto. In the meantime, position of the second transport mechanism  32  just corresponds to the position of the front delivery end  10  for receiving the work-piece  42 . After the reciprocating conveying platform  30  then shifts toward a position in front of the second rear delivery end  21 , the second transport mechanism  32  can correspond to the second rear delivery end  21  and convey the work-piece  42  thereto. In the meantime, position of the first transport mechanism  31  just corresponds to the position of the front delivery end  10  for receiving the work-piece  43  and then starts another conveying cycle. 
     With further reference to  FIGS. 5A to 5H  and  6 A to  6 H,  FIGS. 5A to 5H  are schematic views of detail distribution actions of the production-line distribution conveyor system of the present invention, and each of figures is similar to  FIGS. 3A to 3C , so as to use similar terms and numerals thereof. Besides,  FIGS. 6A to 6H  are schematic views of detail distribution actions of the conventional conveyor system, and each of figures is similar to  FIGS. 1A to 1D , so as to use similar terms and numerals thereof. 
     Firstly, comparing  FIGS. 5A to 5H  with  FIGS. 6A to 6H , respectively,  FIGS. 5A to 5C  disclose a process of conveying a work-piece  41  using the production-line distribution conveyor system in accordance with the present invention;  FIGS. 6A to 6C  disclose a process of conveying a work-piece  81  using a conventional conveyor system. Comparing  FIG. 5C  with  FIG. 6C , it shows that both of the production-line distribution conveyor systems of the present invention and conventional skill perform the process of conveying work-piece  41 ,  81 . However, the present invention further performs a process of receiving another work-piece  42  before performing the process of outputting the work-piece  41 . 
     Then,  FIGS. 5D to 5F  disclose a process of conveying the work-piece  42  using the production-line distribution conveyor system in accordance with the present invention. Before the process of outputting the work-piece  42 , the present invention further performs a process of simultaneously receiving still another work-piece  43  ( FIG. 5F ). In comparison with the present invention, the conventional conveyor system was just performing a process of receiving work-piece  82  ( FIGS. 6D to 6F ), but does not finish performing a process of outputting the work-piece  82 . 
     Moreover, in  FIGS. 5G to 5H , the production-line distribution conveyor system of the present invention already finished distributing the work-pieces  41 ,  42 , and started another same cycle to convey the work-piece  43 . In the meantime, the conveyor system of the conventional skill was still performing a process of conveying the work-piece  82  ( FIGS. 6G to 6H ). Therefore, the comparison shows the production-line distribution conveyor system of the present invention has a distribution efficiency better than that of the conventional production-line distribution conveyor system. 
     In conclusion, comparing with the reciprocating conveying platform of the conventional production-line distribution conveyor system having only one single transport mechanism which needs to fully perform a process of receiving and conveying a work-piece, then to perform another process of receiving and conveying next work-piece and thus lead to an un-desired distribution efficiency and lowering production capacity of production line, the production-line distribution conveyor system of the present invention as shown in  FIGS. 3A to 3C  and  4  uses the reciprocating conveying platform  30  having two independently-worked transport mechanisms  31 ,  32  to simultaneously perform a process of conveying one work-piece  41  and a process of receiving another work-piece  42  in one shifting movement cycle, which can effectively increase distribution efficiency for enhancing production capacity. 
     The present invention has been described with a preferred embodiment thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications to the described embodiment can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.