Conveyance vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12119249-B2
Application number	US-201917312454-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 20, 2019
Priority date	Dec 14, 2018
Publication date	Oct 15, 2024
Grant date	Oct 15, 2024

Abstract

A conveyance vehicle includes a traveling driver, a main body, an up-and-down stage including a gripper to hold an article and capable of moving up and down with respect to the main body, an up-and-down driver to cause the up-and-down stage to move up and down by drawing out and winding up of belts, a lateral mover to cause the up-and-down driver while being cantilevered to protrude laterally of the main body, and an adjuster. In accordance with a laterally moved amount of the up-and-down driver by the lateral mover and a lowered amount of the up-and-down stage by the up-and-down driver, the adjuster performs one or both of adjustment of the laterally moved amount and adjustment of an orientation of a sensor included in the up-and-down driver to deliver the article to the transfer destination and to receive the article from the transfer destination.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A conveyance vehicle comprising:
a traveler to travel along a track;
a main body coupled to the traveler to move by traveling of the traveler;
an up-and-down stage including a holder to hold an article and capable of moving up and down with respect to the main body;
an up-and-down driver to cause the up-and-down stage to move up and down by drawing out and winding up of a flexible hanging-and-holding structure;
a lateral mover to cause the up-and-down driver being cantilevered to protrude laterally of the main body; and
an adjuster to perform, in accordance with a laterally moved amount of the up-and-down driver by the lateral mover and a lowered amount of the up-and-down stage by the up-and-down driver, adjustment of an orientation of a sensor included in the up-and-down driver to deliver the article to a transfer destination or to receive the article from the transfer destination.

2. The conveyance vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the sensor is configured to apply a detection wave having directivity toward a predetermined position; and
the adjuster is configured to adjust the orientation of the sensor so as to correct a deviation of an application direction of the detection wave.

3. The conveyance vehicle according to claim 2 , wherein
the sensor includes an actuator to change the application direction of the detection wave; and
the adjuster is configured to drive the actuator to correct the deviation of the application direction of the detection wave.

4. The conveyance vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the main body includes a storage to store therein a data table relating to the laterally moved amount of the up-and-down driver by the lateral mover and the lowered amount to the transfer destination, for each of a plurality of the transfer destinations from and to which the article is received and delivered; and
the adjuster is configured to acquire information on the transfer destinations of the article from the data table stored in the storage and, based on the information, perform the adjustment of the orientation of the sensor included in the up-and-down driver.

5. The conveyance vehicle according to claim 4 , wherein when the laterally moved amount indicated by the data table is a first specific value, the adjuster is configured to:
not perform the adjustment of the orientation of the sensor included in the up-and-down driver when the lowered amount indicated by the data table is less than a first threshold; and
perform the adjustment of the orientation of the sensor included in the up-and-down driver when the lowered amount indicated by the data table is equal to the first threshold or more.

6. The conveyance vehicle according to claim 4 , wherein when the lowered amount indicated by the data table is a second specific value, the adjuster is configured to:
not perform the adjustment of the orientation of the sensor included in the up-and-down driver when the laterally moved amount indicated by the data table is less than a second threshold; and
perform the adjustment of the orientation of the sensor included in the up-and-down driver when the laterally moved amount indicated by the data table is equal to the second threshold or more.

Assignees

• Murata Machinery Ltd

Inventors

• Wada Eiji

Classifications

• H10P72/3221 Primary

  Overhead conveying · CPC title

• H10P72/3218

  Conveying cassettes, containers or carriers · CPC title

• H10P72/0606

  Position monitoring, e.g. misposition detection or presence detection · CPC title

• H10P72/3214 Primary

  by means of a cart or a vehicle · CPC title

• H10P72/53

  using optical controlling means · CPC title