Article transport facility

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9895977-B2
Application number	US-201615151651-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 11, 2016
Priority date	May 13, 2015
Publication date	Feb 20, 2018
Grant date	Feb 20, 2018

Abstract

An article transport vehicle includes a transport vehicle main body, a first travel portion, a second travel portion, and power-receiving portions for receiving driving electric power without contact from one or more electricity supply lines. The first travel portion rotatably supports a transport vehicle main body. The second travel portion rotatably supports the transport vehicle main body. The power-receiving portions include a first power-receiving portion which is configured to be rotated integrally with the first travel portion, and a second power-receiving portion which is configured to be rotated integrally with the second travel portion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An article transport facility comprising:
a travel rail installed along a travel path;
an article transport vehicle configured to be guided by the travel rail to travel along the travel path;
wherein the travel path includes a straight portion which extends straight and a curved portion which is curved,
wherein the article transport vehicle includes a transport vehicle main body, a first travel portion having a first travel wheel, a second travel portion having a second travel wheel, and power-receiving portions for receiving driving electric power, without contact, from one or more electricity supply lines installed along the travel path,
wherein the first travel portion and the second travel portion are spaced apart from each other along a travel direction of the article transport vehicle,
wherein the first travel wheel is provided to the first travel portion such that the first travel wheel can roll on a travel surface of the travel rail,
wherein the first travel portion supports the transport vehicle main body through a first support mechanism and is guided by the travel rail,
wherein the first travel portion supports the first support mechanism for rotation about a first axis which extends along a vertical direction,
wherein the first axis is so located to overlap with the first travel portion as seen along the vertical direction,
wherein the second travel wheel is provided to the second travel portion such that the second travel wheel can roll on the travel surface of the travel rail,
wherein the second travel portion supports the transport vehicle main body through a second support mechanism and is guided by the travel rail,
wherein the second travel portion supports the second support mechanism for rotation about a second axis which extends along a vertical direction,
wherein the second axis is so located to overlap with the second travel portion as seen along the vertical direction, and
wherein the power-receiving portions include one or more first power-receiving portions which are configured to be rotated integrally with the first travel portion about the first axis, and one or more second power-receiving portions which are configured to be rotated integrally with the second travel portion about the second axis.

2. The article transport facility as defined in claim 1 , wherein the one or more electricity supply lines include a pair of electricity supply lines with one electricity supply line located on each side of the power-receiving portions along a path width direction which is perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the travel path as seen along the vertical direction.

3. The article transport facility as defined in claim 2 , wherein with a direction that points toward the first travel portion from the second travel portion along the travel direction being defined to be a first direction, and a direction opposite from the first direction being defined to be a second direction, the one or more first power-receiving portions include an outer first power-receiving portion located on a first direction side of the first axis and an inner first power-receiving portion located on a second direction side of the first axis, and
wherein the one or more second power-receiving portions include an inner second power-receiving portion located on a first direction side of the second axis and an outer second power-receiving portion located on a second direction side of the second axis.

4. The article transport facility as defined in claim 3 , wherein the power-receiving portions are constructed such that a distance from the first axis to a first direction side end portion of the outer first power-receiving portion, a distance from the first axis to a second direction side end portion of the inner first power-receiving portion, a distance from the second axis to a first direction side end portion of the inner second power-receiving portion, and a distance from the second axis to a second direction side end portion of the outer second power-receiving portion are identical to one another.

5. The article transport facility as defined in claim 2 , wherein the pair of electricity supply lines are installed such that a distance between the pair of electricity supply lines in the curved portion along the path width direction is greater than a distance between the pair of electricity supply lines in the straight portion along the path width direction.

6. The article transport facility as defined in claim 2 , wherein each of the power-receiving portions includes a first portion located between the pair of electricity supply lines and at a same height as the pair of electricity supply lines, and a pair of second portions with each second portion extending to one side and to the other side along the path width direction from the first portion, and with one second portion located above the pair of electricity supply lines and the other second portion located below the pair of electricity supply lines, and
wherein each of the pair of second portions overlaps with each of the pair of electricity supply lines as seen along the vertical direction.

Assignees

• Daifuku Kk

Inventors

• Wada Yoshinari

Classifications

• B65G35/00 Primary

  Mechanical conveyors not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• B60M7/00

  Power lines or rails specially adapted for electrically-propelled vehicles of special types, e.g. suspension tramway, ropeway, underground railway · CPC title

• B60L2200/26

  Rail vehicles · CPC title

• B60L5/005 Primary

  without mechanical contact between the collector and the power supply line · CPC title

• B61B3/02

  with self-propelled vehicles · CPC title