Belt-form body conveyor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10538402-B2
Application number	US-201815963196-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2018
Priority date	Mar 4, 2016
Publication date	Jan 21, 2020
Grant date	Jan 21, 2020

Abstract

A belt-form body conveyor that conveys a belt-form body includes a plurality of non-contact guide portions over which portions of the belt-form body are wound, and that support the belt-form body in a non-contact manner, a drive unit that moves at least one non-contact guide portion out of the plurality of non-contact guide portions, and a control unit that causes the non-contact guide portion to be moved by the drive unit such that a length of a path in which a first edge in a width direction of the belt-form body travels is different from a length of a path in which a second edge which is opposite to the first edge in the width direction of the belt-form body travels.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A belt-form body conveyor that conveys a belt-form body comprising:
a plurality of non-contact guide portions over which portions of the belt-form body are wound, and that support the belt-form body in a non-contact manner;
a drive unit that moves at least one non-contact guide portion out of the plurality of non-contact guide portions; and
a control unit that causes the non-contact guide portion to be moved by the drive unit such that a length of a path in which a first edge in a width direction of the belt-form body travels is different from a length of a path in which a second edge which is opposite to the first edge in the width direction of the belt-form body travels,
wherein the plurality of non-contact guide portions include;
an upstream-side turn bar that, of the plurality of non-contact guide portions, is disposed furthest on an upstream side in a travel direction of the belt-from body, and alters the travel direction of the belt-from body;
a downstream-side turn bar that, of the plurality of non-contact guide portions, is disposed furthest on a downstream side in the travel direction of the belt-from body, and causes a position of the belt-from body in a thickness direction of the belt-from body to match a position of the belt-from body in the thickness direction before the belt-from body is supplied to the upstream-side turn bar; and
an inverter turn bar that reverses the travel direction of the belt-from body, which has been altered by the upstream-side turn bar, towards the downstream-side turn bar, and
wherein the upstream-side turn bar and downstream-side turn bar are rotated in opposite directions when viewed in a direction aligned with a line that is perpendicular to a surface of the belt-from body before the belt-form body is supplied to the plurality of non-contact guide portions.

2. The belt-form body conveyor according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an upstream-side edge sensor unit that is disposed on the upstream side from the upstream-side turn bar, and detects an inclination of an edge of the belt-form body; and
a downstream-side edge sensor unit that is disposed on the downstream side from the downstream-side turn bar, and detects an inclination of the edge of the belt-form body,
wherein the control unit controls the drive unit based on at least one of a detection result from the upstream-side edge sensor unit and a detection result from the downstream-side edge sensor unit.

Assignees

• Ihi Corp

Inventors

• OOHASHI Rui
• Hirata Kensuke
• Kusumi Tomoo
• Ishibashi Mareto
• Hasegawa Noriaki

Classifications

• B65H2406/1115

  pivoting around an axis perpendicular to the axis of the guided material · CPC title

• B65H2553/00

  Sensing or detecting means · CPC title

• B65H2701/1315

  side edges, i.e. regarded in context of transport · CPC title

• B65H20/14 Primary

  by direct action on web of moving fluid · CPC title

• B65H23/035 Primary

  by guide bars · CPC title