JPH0977465A - Overhead traveller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To miniaturize a carriage of an overhead traveler. SOLUTION: Two carriages 4 and 4 are installed there, and an overhead traveller body 8 is connected to each carriage through a pivot shaft 32. A motor 16 and a brake 18 are arranged in each carriage 4 parallelly in the traveling direction of the carriage and so as to be opposed to each other via a hypoid gear 24, while each of shafts 20 and 22 of these elements are connected to the gear 24, driving a travel shaft 25 by this gear 24.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an overhead traveling vehicle for transporting a work, and more particularly to improvement of a carriage for the overhead traveling vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Overhead traveling vehicles are used for transporting goods and products (work) in factories. The overhead traveling vehicle travels, for example, while suspending a rail laid along the ceiling of the building, and winds or lowers the hand with a winding unit provided in the main body, and the work is held and conveyed by the hand.

By the way, downsizing of overhead traveling vehicles is required. This is particularly important when, for example, a semiconductor substrate or a semiconductor chip is transported in a clean room, and since the clean room requires a considerable amount of facility cost, it is necessary to minimize the volume occupied by the overhead traveling vehicle. Conventional overhead traveling vehicles are large, for example, in the bogie section, since the traveling shafts of traveling wheels are directly connected to the motor shafts of the traveling motors, the motors are arranged at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the bogies, and the lateral width of the bogies is long. It is determined by Therefore, the dolly becomes large. In addition, the trolley motor has a built-in brake, which makes it a long and large motor.

In the conventional overhead traveling vehicle, there is only one carriage,
For example, one motor is used for front and rear traveling wheels. For this reason, the motor has a large diameter because a large output is required. Also, since there is only one carriage, it is difficult to bend the curve, and the radius of curvature of the rail is increased, or the overhead traveling vehicle is allowed to sway on the curve without increasing the radius of curvature.

[0005]

An object of the present invention is to reduce the volume occupied by a bogie of an overhead traveling vehicle (claims 1 to 3).

[0006]

The overhead traveling vehicle of the present invention comprises a carriage that is supported by rails laid along the ceiling of a building for traveling, a main body provided with a hoisting unit provided under the bogie, and a hoisting unit that raises and lowers the hoisting unit. In the overhead traveling vehicle including the hand, the bogie includes a traveling motor in which the axial direction of the motor shaft is substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the bogie, and traveling wheels,
And a gear for transmitting the rotation of the motor shaft to the traveling wheels by changing the direction of the rotation shaft. As the gear, a hypoid gear, a bevel gear, or the like is used, and preferably a thin hypoid gear that ensures power transmission is used. Furthermore, the rotating surface of the traveling wheel may be vertical or horizontal.

Preferably, a brake is provided separately from the traveling motor and on the side opposite to the traveling motor as viewed from the gear, and the brake is connected to the gear. More preferably, two trolleys are provided, and each trolley is pivotally connected to the main body. In this case, the pivot shaft may be provided on either the carriage or the main body.

[0008]

According to the present invention, since the traveling motor whose motor shaft is substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the truck is provided, the longitudinal direction of the motor is substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the truck, that is, the traveling direction of the truck. Then, the rotation of the motor shaft is converted by the hypoid gear or the bevel gear to change the direction of the rotation shaft and transmitted to the traveling wheels to drive the carriage. The length of the carriage in the traveling direction is not particularly limited, and there is no problem even if the length in the traveling direction increases. Therefore, by disposing the shaft of the traveling motor along the traveling direction, the volume occupied by the carriage can be reduced. If a hypoid gear is used here, power can be reliably transmitted with a thin gear, the truck can be downsized, and particularly the height of the truck can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the brake is separated from the traveling motor, and the brake and the traveling motor are arranged so as to face each other about the gear. Therefore, the travel motor can be downsized.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, two bogies are used, and the bogies are pivotally connected to the main body of the overhead traveling vehicle.
Then, each carriage is provided with a traveling motor, and the traveling wheels are driven through the gears. Since a traveling motor is provided for each trolley, a small motor can be used, and since the trolley is pivotally connected to the main body, a curve can be smoothly bent.

[0011]

1 to 5 show an overhead traveling vehicle 2 according to an embodiment.
Fig. 5 shows the overall structure of the overhead traveling vehicle 2. 01 is a rail laid along the ceiling of a building such as a clean room or factory, 02 is a rail portion, and 03 is a communication cable between the overhead traveling vehicle 2 and the management center. Is. The overhead traveling vehicle 2 includes two carriages 4 and 4, and each carriage 4 includes a bumper 6. A main body 8 is connected to the carriages 4 and 4 by a pivot shaft shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, and a winding unit 10 is provided under the main body 8.
Then, the winding unit 10 raises and lowers the hand 12,
A hand 12 holds and conveys a work 04 such as a SMIF pod that accommodates a semiconductor substrate. Reference numerals 14 and 14 denote a pair of fall prevention members for preventing the work 04 from dropping when the hand 12 is lifted and the work 04 is transported.

FIG. 1 shows the structure of the trucks 4 and 4 as seen from a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the overhead traveling vehicle 2, and FIG.
FIG. 3 shows a structure of the dolly 4 viewed from the ceiling side, and FIG. 3 shows a cross section of the dolly 4 in a direction perpendicular to the rail 01. In these figures, the covers and the like of the carts 4 and 4 are removed. Referring to FIG. 3 to show the mounting of the carriages 4, 4 on the rail 01,
Reference numeral 05 denotes a support for the rail 01, which has a function of adjusting the height of the rail 01 and is covered with a cover 06. Again 08
Is an overhead wire for supplying electric power to the overhead traveling vehicle 2, and 09 is a mark for transmitting the stop position and the like to the overhead traveling vehicle 2.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a traveling motor 16 is provided substantially horizontally along the longitudinal direction of each carriage 4 (direction parallel to the rail 01), and its motor shaft 20 is substantially horizontal.
For example, it is in the range of ± 10 degrees with respect to the horizontal plane. The travel motor 16 is not provided with a brake, but a brake 18 such as an electromagnetic brake is provided separately. The motor shaft 20 and the brake shaft 22 of the brake 18 are connected to the hypoid gear 24, the rotation direction is changed by 90 degrees to rotate the traveling shaft 25, and the traveling wheel 2
6 is driven. Here, the running wheel 26 has a vertical rotating surface, but may be horizontal. 28 is a guide roller for preventing each carriage 4 from coming off from the rail 01. For example, eight guide rollers are provided for each carriage 4 as shown in FIGS. Further, guide rollers 28, 28 are provided at the tip of the bumper 6,
The bumper 6 runs smoothly on the rail portion 02. Numeral 30 is a current collector which is rotatable around a vertical axis.
The electric power is received from the electric power source and supplied to the traveling motor 16 and the like.

Reference numerals 32 and 32 denote pivot shafts for connecting the carriages 4 and 4 to the main body 8. As a result, the pair of carts 4 and 4 act as bogies with respect to the main body 8. 34, 34
Is a pivot shaft connecting the bumpers 6, 6 to the carts 4, 4, and is connected to the covers 15, 15 of the carts 4, 4. The bumper 6 travels on the rail portion 02 by the guide roller 28, and can be turned with respect to the carriage 4 by the pivot shaft 34. Proximity sensor 3 at the tip of bumpers 6 and 6
6 is provided to detect a preceding traveling vehicle, an obstacle, and the like. Reference numeral 38 denotes a reading sensor provided to face the mark 09.
The stop position and the like are detected by assisting the control data built in the main body 8.

The operation of the embodiment will be described. It is important that the overhead traveling vehicle 2 used in a crane room or the like has a small volume. In the case of the carriage 4, the space along the longitudinal direction of the rail 01 is assigned to the overhead traveling vehicle 2,
It is important to reduce the width and height of the carriages 4 and 4 with respect to the rail 01. In the embodiment, the traveling wheels 26 are located near the center along the longitudinal direction of each carriage 4, the traveling motor 16 is provided on one side thereof, and the brake 18 is provided on the other side. The traveling motor 16 partially projects from the carriage 4. The motor shaft 20 and the brake shaft 22 are substantially horizontal, for example, in a range of ± 10 degrees with respect to a horizontal plane, and their directions are parallel to the traveling direction of the carriage 4. Therefore, the longitudinal direction of the motor 16 and the brake 18 becomes parallel to the longitudinal direction of the rail 01, and the height and width of the carriages 4 and 4 decrease. Motor shaft 20
The brake shaft 22 is connected to the hypoid gear 24, and the direction of the rotation shaft is converted into a right angle to drive the traveling wheels 26. In the hypoid gear 24, the axial direction and the motor shaft 20
The brake shaft 22 and the brake shaft 22 do not intersect in the axial direction. For example, in FIG. 1, the motor shaft 20 and the brake shaft 22 are simply arranged in parallel without overlapping. When the hypoid gear 24 is used, power can be transmitted more reliably with a thinner gear than a bevel gear, and therefore, the thickness of the gear portion can be reduced, and the height of the carts 4 can be reduced.

The traveling motor 16 and the brake 18 are provided separately from each other, and are arranged so as to face each other with the traveling wheel 26 as a center. Since the motor 16 and the brake 18 are provided separately, the motor can be downsized, and these loads are dispersed on both sides of the traveling wheel 26 and become stable. Temporarily set the brake 18 to the traveling motor 1
If it is integrated with 6, the motor becomes large and the traveling wheels 2
6 has to be placed almost in the center of the bogie 4,
The trolley 4 becomes larger. Further, the load is concentrated on one side of the carriage 4 and becomes unstable.

Next, the two carriages 4 and 4 are separated from the main body 8 and connected by the pivot shafts 32 and 32. Since the motor 16 or the like is provided for each carriage 4, the motor 16 and the brake 18 are provided.
The diameter of the carriage is reduced, and the height and width of the carriages 4 and 4 are reduced. Further, since the carriages 4 and 4 are pivotally connected to the main body 8, as shown in FIG. 4, the overhead traveling vehicle 2 can smoothly bend the curve and the work 04 swings less. Further, since the front and rear bumpers 6 and 6 are connected to the carriages 4 and 4 by the pivot shaft 34, the bumpers 6 and 6 are arranged along the direction of the rail 01 so that
On the other hand, the proximity sensor 36 can reliably detect another preceding overhead traveling vehicle, and even if a collision occurs, the carriage 4 can be prevented from directly colliding. On the other hand, unless the bumpers 6 and 6 are pivotally connected to the carriages 4 and 4, the orientation of the proximity sensor 36 is fixed to the orientation of the carriage 4 and the traveling vehicle 2 ahead of the curve may not be detected.

In the embodiment, the pivot connection of the bumper 6 and the proximity sensor 36 are shown, but the invention is not limited to these.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a main part of an overhead traveling vehicle according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a main part of the overhead traveling vehicle according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of the overhead traveling vehicle of the embodiment in a vertical plane.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a traveling state of a curve in the overhead traveling vehicle of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an overhead traveling vehicle according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

01 rail 15 cover 02 rail portion 16 traveling motor 03 communication cable 18 brake 04 work 20 motor shaft 05 support 22 brake shaft 06 cover 24 hypoid gear 07 ceiling 25 traveling shaft 08 overhead line 26 traveling wheel 09 mark 28 guide roller 2 overhead traveling vehicle 30 Current collector 4 Bogie 32 Pivot shaft 6 Bumper 34 Pivot shaft 8 Main body 36 Proximity sensor 10 Winding unit 38 Reading sensor 12 Hand 14 Fall prevention member

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A ceiling traveling system comprising a carriage that is supported by rails laid along the ceiling of a building to travel, a main body that includes a hoisting unit that is provided below the bogie, and a hand that moves up and down by the hoisting unit. In the vehicle, a traveling motor having a motor shaft whose axial direction is substantially parallel to the front-rear direction of the vehicle, traveling wheels, and rotation of the motor shaft are transmitted to the traveling wheels by converting the direction of the rotating shaft. An overhead traveling vehicle, which is provided with a gear for. 2. The overhead traveling vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a brake is provided separately from the traveling motor and on the side opposite to the traveling motor when viewed from the gear, and the brake is connected to the gear. . 3. The overhead traveling vehicle according to claim 1, wherein two trolleys are provided and each trolley is pivotally connected to the main body.