Transport system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10414596-B2
Application number	US-201716329476-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 5, 2017
Priority date	Sep 12, 2016
Publication date	Sep 17, 2019
Grant date	Sep 17, 2019

Abstract

Transport system comprises a guide rail having straight and curved portions, a carriage movable along the rail, first and second roller groups on the carriage, and an auxiliary guide at each curved rail portion, corresponding to the curved portion and having an external wall. The first roller group includes an internal roller on the carriage in permanent contact with an internal guide-rail wall along both straight and curved portions and two external rollers contacting the external guide-rail wall only along the straight portions. The second roller group includes two rollers on the carriage, spaced from the guide rail, and in contact with the external wall of the auxiliary guide when the carriage moves along the curved portions. The internal guide-rail wall has, at each curve, an arched surface facing towards the internal roller of the first roller group.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A transport system for transport of products, comprising:
a guide rail having a loop-wound pathway and comprising straight portions and curved portions for connecting the straight portions, the guide rail being conformed so as to have an internal rolling wall and an external rolling wall, the internal rolling wall and the external rolling wall being conformed in such a way as to have a flat surface at the straight portions and a curved surface at curved portions;
at least a carriage for transport of at least a respective product that can be moved by movement means along the guide rail;
a first group of rollers and a second group of rollers predisposed and mounted on the carriage;
the first group of rollers comprising an internal roller and a pair of external rollers;
the second group of rollers comprising a pair of rollers;
the first group of rollers being predisposed and mounted on the carriage in such a way that the respective internal roller is in contact with and rolls on the internal wall of the guide rail at the straight portions and in such a way that the pair of external rollers is in contact with and rolls on the external wall of the guide rail at the straight portions, so that the internal roller and the pair of external rollers are contemporaneously in contact with and roll on the internal wall and external wall of the guide rail at the straight portions when the carriage is moved along the straight portions,
the pair of rollers of the second group of rollers being predisposed and mounted on the carriage so that the rollers are distant from the guide rail and so as not to be in contact with the guide rail at the straight portions of the guide rail when the carriage is moved along the straight portions;
an auxiliary guide element predisposed at each curved portion of the guide rail and conformed such as to have a progression corresponding to the progression of the curved portion of the guide rail and having an external rolling wall conformed so as to have a curved surface having a truncoconical shape,
the pair of rollers of the second group of rollers having a truncoconical shape and being predisposed and mounted on the carriage in such a way that, with the truncoconical lateral surface thereof, they contact and roll on the truncoconical curved surface of the external rolling wall of the auxiliary guide element when the carriage is moved along the curved portion of the guide rail,
the external wall of the guide rail being also conformed and predisposed so as to have, at each curved portion, of the guide rail, a curved surface having a progression, with respect to the curved truncoconical surface of the external rolling wall of the auxiliary guide element so that there is play between the curved surface and the pair of external rollers of the first group of rollers so that the external rollers are no longer in contact with the guide rail when the carriage is moved along the curved portion of the guide rail,
the internal wall of the guide rail being conformed and predisposed so as to have, at each curved portion of the guide rail, a curved arched surface with a curvature facing towards the internal roller of the first group of rollers and with the internal roller of the first group of rollers which is predisposed and mounted on the carriage so as to be in contact with and roll on the curved arched surface of the internal wall of the guide rail at the curved portion of the guide rail, when the carriage is moved along the curved portion of the guide rail, so that the internal roller of the first group of rollers is always in contact with the internal wall of the guide rail both at the straight portions and at the curved portions.

2. The transport system of claim 1 , wherein the rollers having a truncoconical shape of the second group of rollers are mounted and predisposed on the carriage so that the respective rotation axes intersect in a point situated on the axis of a cone having a lateral surface that comprises a lateral truncoconical portion defined by the curved truncoconical surface of the external rolling wall of the auxiliary guide element.

3. The transport system of claim 2 , wherein the cones generated starting from the lateral truncoconical surface of the rollers of the second group of rollers have the respective vertices in common with one another and arranged at the vertex of the cone generated starting from the curved truncoconical surface of the external rolling wall of the auxiliary guide element.

4. The transport system of claim 3 , wherein the external wall of the guide rail has, at the curved portions of the guide rail, a curved surface having a truncoconical shape and in that the cone generated starting from the curved truncoconical surface of the external wall of the guide rail has an axis thereof at the cone axis generated starting from the curved truncoconical surface of the external rolling wall of the auxiliary guide element and an angle of aperture equal to the angle of aperture thereof.

5. The transport system of claim 1 , wherein the internal roller and the pair of external rollers of the first group of rollers are cylindrical and in that the internal roller and the pair of external rollers of the first group of rollers are mounted and predisposed on the carriage so that the rotation axis of the internal roller is parallel to the flat surface of the internal wall of the guide rail at the straight portion of the guide rail and the rotation axes of the pair of external rollers are parallel to one another and parallel to the flat surface of the external wall of the guide rail at the straight portion of the guide rail.

6. The transport system of claim 5 , wherein the flat surface of the internal wall and the flat surface of the external wall of the guide rail, at the straight portions of the guide rail, have the same inclination with respect to the axis of the guide rail.

7. The transport system of claim 6 , wherein the guide rail has, at the straight portions, a transverse section having an isosceles triangular shape or an isosceles trapeze shape.

Assignees

• Marchesini Group Spa

Inventors

• Monti Giuseppe

Classifications

• B65G54/02 Primary

  electrostatic, electric, or magnetic · CPC title

• B65G47/61

  for articles · CPC title

• B65G17/20

  comprising load-carriers suspended from overhead traction chains · CPC title

• B65G35/063 Primary

  the traction element being a rotating bar or tube · CPC title

• E01B25/10

  Mono-rails; Auxiliary balancing rails; Supports or connections for rails · CPC title