Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor section – Spiral
Patent
1988-08-30
1989-07-18
Werner, Frank E.
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor section
Spiral
414331, 414266, 414222, B65G 4900
Patent
active
048485373
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to transportable storage magazines in the form of conveyors, for workpieces, such as components, to be supplied seriatim to machines for manufacturing or other operations to be carried out automatically. Much effort has been put into automated or robotic operation of manufacturing stages, but the initial loading of the components or workpieces is still frequently carried out using indexing tables which have only limited capacity, e.g. between 20 and 50 items. Only in the case of very long production runs does the installation of purpose-built conveyors becomes economic.
DE-No. 2717586 discloses a storage conveyor comprising a continuous chain mounted on a double helix and carrying bearing plates or pallets for workpieces. The apparatus put into practice has a load/unload station on the top run of each helix and the pallets are supported at one side by the chain and at the other side on a guideway. In practice objects are thrown off the pallet when the chain goes round a bend, for example when reversing its direction around a sprocket, due to centrifugal force, and also the location of the load/unload stations is not convenient for robot machines.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a transportable storage magazine in the form of a conveyor which may be loaded with workpieces and then presented to machines for successive operations to be carried out on the loaded workpieces.
A first aspect of the invention provide a storage conveyer comprising a housing within which an endless chain conveyor having a series of support means for workpieces or the like to be stored is wound in a double helix configuration so that the support means are carried seriatim through at least two load/unload locations in the housing, wherein the conveyor is provided with a stepwise drive to provide a dwell period at the load/unload locations, the drive is automatically controllable from outside the housing, and the housing is transportable so as to be moved into proximity with machines to operate on the stored workpieces, and at least one of the load and/or unload locations is positioned below the topmost run of a said helix.
In a preferred arrangement a first load location is positioned in a top run of a helix so as to provide simple and safe access for a manual worker. The support means are stepped through the first location, which may provide access to several support means at a time, under the control of a manual worker who places workpieces on the support means.
The loaded conveyer is then transported to a fixed location adjacent a robot machine which can automatically remove workpieces from the second, lower unload/load location, work on the workpiece and then replace it, the storage means then stepping on one position to place the next workpiece in position for the robot. By providing a second, lower unload/load location the storage conveyer is readily usable by the majority of industrial robots. For those requiring a higher location the storage conveyer may be located on a raised platform.
A batch of workpieces may thus be loaded on a conveyer and the integrity of a batch maintained during transport and work operations at a plurality of locations.
Transportability is preferably provided by the use of a dedicated transporter which complements the storage magazine and may provide a height adjustment feature, e.g of up to 800 mm, for accurate presentation of the workpieces to the machines.
It is envisaged that the storage magazine may have a capacity for 250-500 workpieces, each located on an individual pallet or support means, and that the total floor space occupied by the magazine may be in the region of 2 square meters.
The lower load/unload location is preferably arranged in an extension of a turn of a helix so as to project out from the casing.
Preferably the helices are each supported on a pair of generally upright shafts each carrying a number of sprockets to form several levels for the helices. Preferably one run of the chain is horizontal, preferably the outside run, the chain desc
REFERENCES:
patent: 3128875 (1964-04-01), Kay et al.
patent: 3517836 (1970-06-01), Bosco
patent: 3599782 (1971-08-01), Whitfield
patent: 4201288 (1980-05-01), van Capelleveen
patent: 4256220 (1981-03-01), Lemmer
patent: 4538950 (1985-09-01), Shiomi et al.
patent: 4588341 (1986-05-01), Motoda
patent: 4640657 (1987-02-01), Moore et al.
Richards Clive D. G.
Zanoni Robert B.
Sisson Thomas E.
Werner Frank E.
LandOfFree
Storage conveyor does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Storage conveyor, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Storage conveyor will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-164868