Conveyors: power-driven – With means to facilitate working – treating – or inspecting... – Means to convey a palleted load back and forth between an...
Patent
1996-09-24
1999-03-23
Terrell, William E.
Conveyors: power-driven
With means to facilitate working, treating, or inspecting...
Means to convey a palleted load back and forth between an...
1984652, 198583, 1983701, B65G 3700, B65G 2500, B65G 2106, B65G 4710
Patent
active
058847464
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
PRIOR ART
The invention is based on a modular assembly line system of the type having transport means for the transport of workpiece carriers receiving parts or components and having processing stations arranged one behind the other in the direction of conveyance, wherein the transport means have a main circulating path composed of main circulating path segments arranged one behind the other and secondary path segments which can be branched off from the main circulating path segments, and the secondary path segments are each configured with a feed-out section and a feed-in section extending transversely to the main circulating path, with a secondary transport section being arranged between a feed-out section and a feed-in section and extending in the direction of conveyance of the main circulating path, with the feed-out section and the feed-in section having opposite directions of transport, and with the main circulating path segments and/or the secondary path segments being able to accommodate at least one processing station. Such an assembly line system is described in the DE-OS 42 29 067 wherein a majority of modules of identical length, which are arranged one behind the other in the longitudinal direction, form a main circulating path segment, each module having a forward and return transport section. The modules, which are each provided with a forward and return transport section, form a base module to which optionally a secondary path segment can be coupled respectively as a shunting module. The shunting module is provided with two crossover transport paths running parallel to one another and being opposite in their direction of transport and with a secondary transport section extending between the crossover transport paths.
SUMMARY AND ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION
The modular assembly line system according to the invention has the advantage that individualized assembly line systems with a free choice in the main dimensions can be realized by means of a manageable number of modules with a clearly defined functionality. A replacement of station modules, for example, in the event of a later higher level of automation by way of replacing manual workstations with automatic stations, does not affect the main circulating path of the assembly line system. It is even possible to maintain the operation with the non-affected stations while a station module is being replaced for the purpose of retrofitting individual workstations. This results in an assembly line production or assembly with many variants and with a considerable gain in productivity.
For the assembly of a new product, the self-sufficient modules can be put together without any specialized knowledge to form a fundamentally new assembly line system within a short time and the system can be supplemented by further modules or processing stations. Once selected, the system operator is merely bound by his modular dimension of the depth of the station module, which dimension is determined by the uniform length of his feed-out and feed-in modules. The station width can be selected entirely freely. The high degree of reutilization and the simplicity of combining the modules result in greatly reduced investment costs for the retrofitting of the assembly line system to fit new products.
By means of the measures listed in the dependent claims, advantageous modifications and improvements of the modular assembly line system cited in the main claim are possible. The retrofitting capability of the assembly line system can be further increased by configuring the main circulating path segments as replaceable section modules. The passage time of the workpiece carriers can be shortened in that the feed-out and feed-in sections are provided with transfer positions which allow for a direct transfer or forwarding of the workpiece carriers to the next station module. Such a transfer unit is suitably realized by way of two lift/transverse units that are arranged one behind the other in the direction of conveyance.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
An embodiment o
REFERENCES:
patent: 3642158 (1972-02-01), Koennecke et al.
patent: 4014428 (1977-03-01), Ossbahr
patent: 4730718 (1988-03-01), Fazio et al.
patent: 4762218 (1988-08-01), Sticht
patent: 4787496 (1988-11-01), Prodel et al.
patent: 4934507 (1990-06-01), Blocker
patent: 5205026 (1993-04-01), Sticht
Leisner Ernst
Ost Sven
Dillon, Sr. Joe
Kunitz Norman N.
Robert & Bosch GmbH
Spencer George H.
Terrell William E.
LandOfFree
Modular assembly line system does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Modular assembly line system, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Modular assembly line system will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2117748