Tower lift, tower lift driving method, and machine readable medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12312185-B2
Application number	US-202117198200-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2021
Priority date	Mar 30, 2020
Publication date	May 27, 2025
Grant date	May 27, 2025

Abstract

A tower lift includes a rail module extending in a vertical direction, a plurality of carriage modules that are movable along the rail module, each carriage module having a carriage that carries an object, and an interference avoidance module that avoids travel interference between the carriage modules that move along the rail module.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A tower lift comprising:
a rail module extending in a vertical direction;
a plurality of carriage modules configured to be movable along the rail module, each carriage module having a carriage configured to carry an object; and
an interference avoidance module configured to avoid travel interference between the plurality of carriage modules traveling opposite directions along the rail module,
wherein the rail module includes:
a frame extending in the vertical direction; and
a linear motor coil installed on the frame,

wherein each of the plurality of carriage modules includes a linear motor magnet coupled with the carriage and configured to interact with the linear motor coil to move the carriage in the vertical direction,
wherein the linear motor coil includes a plurality of linear motor coils installed on the frame so as to be spaced apart from each other along the vertical direction,
wherein each of the plurality of linear motor coils includes a pair of linear motor coils spaced apart from each other, and
wherein a part of the linear motor magnet, when viewed in a plan view, is inserted into a space between the pair of linear motor coils.

2. The tower lift of claim 1 ,
wherein each of the plurality of carriage modules is configured to be movable along the rail module in a magnetic levitation manner.

3. The tower lift of claim 1 ,
wherein the interference avoidance module includes:
a plurality of rails which are spaced apart from each other in a horizontal direction different from the vertical direction, one of the plurality of rails being aligned with the rail module;
a body, wherein the plurality of rails are installed thereon; and
a driving part connected to the body and configured to move the body in the horizontal direction.

4. The tower lift of claim 3 ,
wherein each of the plurality of rails extends lengthwise in the vertical direction.

5. The tower lift of claim 3 ,
wherein the rail module is divided into a plurality of segmented rail modules which are spaced apart from each other in the vertical direction, and
wherein the interference avoidance module is disposed between two adjacent segmented rail modules among the plurality of segmented rail modules.

6. The tower lift of claim 3 ,
wherein the tower lift further comprises a controller,
wherein the plurality of carriage modules includes a first carriage module moving in a first direction and a second carriage module moving in a second direction opposite to the first direction, and
wherein when predicting travel interference between the first and second carriage modules, the controller is configured to control the driving part, and the first and second carriage modules such that:
the first carriage module is moved on a first rail of the plurality of rails that is combined with the rail module;
the body is moved in the horizontal direction; and
the rail module is combined with a second rail of the plurality of rails instead of the first rail.

7. The tower lift of claim 6 ,
wherein the controller is configured to, after the second rail is combined with the rail module, control the second carriage module such that the second carriage module is moved along the second rail combined with the rail module.

8. The tower lift of claim 1 ,
wherein the linear motor magnet has the shape of “T” when viewed from above.

9. The tower lift of claim 1 ,
wherein the rail module further includes at least one guide rail installed on the frame,
wherein each of the plurality of carriage modules further includes a guide part configured to move along the at least one guide rail, and
wherein the at least one guide rail and the guide part are spaced apart from each other by a magnetic repulsive force.

10. The tower lift of claim 9 ,
wherein the guide part has the shape of “⊂” when viewed from above, and
wherein the at least one guide rail is inserted into the guide part.

11. The tower lift of claim 9 ,
wherein one of the guide part and the at least one guide rail is equipped with a gap sensor, and
wherein a gap between the at least one guide rail and the guide part is controlled to be constant, based on a measurement value measured by the gap sensor.

12. The tower lift of claim 1 ,
wherein the rail module further includes a power transmitter,
wherein each of the plurality of carriage modules further includes a power receiver configured to receive power transmitted by the power transmitter, and
wherein the power transmitter transmits the power to the power receiver in a non-contact manner.

Assignees

• Semes Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Na Hyun
• Kim Sang-Oh
• Lee Myungjin
• Byun Heejae

Classifications

• H10P72/3204

  using magnetic elements · CPC title

• H10P72/0458

  vertical arrangement · CPC title

• H10P72/3302

  Mechanical parts of transfer devices · CPC title

• H10P72/3202

  Mechanical details, e.g. rollers or belts · CPC title

• H10P72/3216

  using a general scheme of a conveying path within a factory · CPC title