Article Transport Facility and Inspection Unit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016276191-A1
Application number	US-201615070377-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 15, 2016
Priority date	Mar 16, 2015
Publication date	Sep 22, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An article transport facility includes an alignment portion that aligns the position of an inspection unit that is transferred to a transport target location with a proper support position, and a position detection device for detecting the position of a detection target portion provided on a holding portion is provided in the inspection unit. The horizontal offset amount of the holding portion relative to the proper support position is measured based on detection information from the position detection device in a state in which the inspection unit is aligned with the proper support position and the holding portion is positioned at a release position or a release movement position.

First claim

1 . An article transport facility comprising:
a holding portion that holds a transport object; a movement operation portion that moves the holding portion along a vertical direction and a horizontal direction; a transport control portion that controls operation of the movement operation portion and the holding portion so as to transport the transport object held by the holding portion to a transport target location; an alignment portion that aligns, during or after transfer of the transport object to the transport target location, a position of the transport object with a proper support position serving as a proper post-transfer support position; an offset amount measurement portion that measures a horizontal offset amount of the holding portion relative to the proper support position during transfer of the transport object to the transport target location, wherein the holding portion is capable of holding an article to be transported as the transport object, and capable of holding an inspection unit in place of the article to be transported; a detection target portion is provided on the holding portion, and a position detection device for detecting a position of the detection target portion is provided in the inspection unit, wherein the transport control portion performs an inspection transport control in which, after the inspection unit held by the holding portion is transferred to the transport target location and the hold of the inspection unit by the holding portion is released, the holding portion is positioned at a release position at which the hold of the inspection unit is released or a release movement position that is moved relative to the release position in a predetermined direction by a predetermined amount, and wherein the offset amount measurement portion measures a horizontal offset amount of the release position or the release movement position of the holding portion relative to the proper support position, based on detection information from the position detection device in a state in which the inspection unit is aligned with the proper support position by the alignment portion and the holding portion is positioned at the release position or the release movement position.

2 . The article transport facility according to claim 1 , wherein:
the transport control portion performs an article transport control in which, after the holding portion is stopped at a horizontal set position serving as a reference position of the holding portion before an article is transferred to the transport target location, the holding portion is lowered and the article is transferred to the transport target location, and the article transport facility further comprises a position update portion that updates the horizontal set position based on the horizontal offset amount of the holding portion measured by the offset amount measurement portion.

3 . The article transport facility according to claim 2 , wherein:
the holding portion includes a lower support member that supports the transport object from below, the inspection unit includes a support detection device that detects whether the inspection unit is supported by the lower support member, the inspection transport control is a control in which the holding portion is lowered in a state in which the holding portion is moved to the horizontal set position, and, when a state in which the inspection unit is not supported by the lower support member is detected by the support detection device during the lowering of the holding portion, the lowering of the holding portion is stopped and the inspection unit is transferred to the transport target location, the article transport control is a control in which operation of the movement operation portion is controlled so as to complete transport of an article to the transport target location by lowering the holding portion to a lowering set position in a state in which the holding portion is moved to the horizontal set position, and the position update portion updates the lowering set position based on a lowering amount of the holding portion during the inspection transport control.

4 . The article transport facility according to claim 1 , comprising a traveling portion capable of traveling along a traveling path that is set above the transport target location,
wherein the movement operation portion includes a travel driving portion that causes the traveling portion to travel along the traveling path, and an elevation driving portion that raises and lowers the holding portion relative to the traveling portion, and the holding portion is configured to suspend and support the transport object.

5 . The article transport facility according to claim 4 , wherein, provided that a lateral direction is a direction intersecting, in plan view, a traveling direction in which the traveling portion travels, the article transport facility comprises:
a relay portion that is supported by the traveling portion so as to be movable in the lateral direction; the holding portion that is supported by the relay portion so as to be capable of being raised or lowered and that suspends and supports the transport object; a lateral driving portion that moves the relay portion relative to the traveling portion along the lateral direction; and the elevation driving portion that moves the holding portion up and down relative to the relay portion, and wherein the movement operation portion includes the lateral driving portion.

6 . The article transport facility according to claim 4 , wherein:
a first engagement target portion is provided at a top of the transport object, a first engaging portion that engages with the first engagement target portion from above is provided on the holding portion, the first engaging portion includes a first guide part that comes into contact with the first engagement target portion and guides a horizontal position of the holding portion to a proper position relative to the transport object when the holding portion is horizontally shifted relative to the transport object during engagement with the first engagement target portion, the detection target portion is provided on the first engaging portion of the holding portion, the position detection device is constituted by an imaging device that images the detection target portion, the offset amount measurement portion is configured to measure the offset amount based on imaging information obtained by the imaging device, the imaging device is provided directly below the first engagement target portion of the inspection unit, and the first engagement target portion has an inspection hole formed therein that allows the detection target portion positioned directly above the first engagement target portion to be imaged by the imaging device.

7 . The article transport facility according to claim 6 , wherein the release movement position is set at a position at which a lower end of the first engaging portion is above an upper end of the first engagement target portion of the inspection unit positioned at the proper support position.

8 . The article transport facility according to claim 1 , wherein:
a second engagement target portion is provided at a bottom of the transport object, the alignment portion includes a second engaging portion that engages with the second engagement target portion from below, and the second engaging portion includes a second guide part that comes into contact with the second engagement target portion of the transport object that is transferred to the transport target location by downward movement of the holding portion and guides the horizontal position of the transport object to the proper support position.

9 . The article transport facility a

Assignees

• Daifuku Kk

Inventors

• Kinugawa Tomotaka

Classifications

• G01B11/27

  for testing the alignment of axes {(means for centering or aligning a light guide within a ferrule G02B6/3834)} · CPC title

• H10P72/0606

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

• H10P72/3221 Primary

  Overhead conveying · CPC title

• G01B21/16

  for measuring distance of clearance between spaced objects · CPC title

• H01L21/67712

  Electricity · mapped topic