Conveying system, method and driverless transport vehicle for transporting components
AssigneeBayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
InventorsDaniel Federl, Bjoern Lautenschlager
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A conveying system for transporting components includes at least one driverless transport vehicle that has a chassis and an undercarriage which is held on the chassis and by which the driverless transport vehicle can be moved along the ground, at least one apparatus that can be transported along the ground by the driverless transport vehicle to transport the components, wherein the apparatus has an apparatus-side positioning device and the driverless transport vehicle has a vehicle-side positioning device, and by direct interaction between the apparatus-side positioning device of the apparatus, the apparatus is moved into a target position relative to the driverless transport vehicle.
Claims20
A conveying system for transporting components, comprising:
- at least one driverless transport vehicle which comprises a chassis and a running gear held on the chassis, wherein the running gear is configured to move the driverless transport vehicle along a floor;
- and
- at least one apparatus configured to transport the components, wherein the at least one apparatus is configured separately from the driverless transport vehicle and is configured to be transported along the floor by the driverless transport vehicle, wherein the at least one apparatus comprises an apparatus-side positioning device, and
- wherein the at least one driverless transport vehicle comprises a vehicle-side positioning device configured to directly interact with the apparatus-side positioning device of the at least one apparatus to move the apparatus relative to the driverless transport vehicle into a setpoint position, wherein the vehicle-side positioning device comprises at least one roller or ball that is configured to rotate about at least one rotational axis relative to the chassis, and wherein the apparatus-side positioning device comprises at least one conical surface or at least two planar surfaces which run obliquely or perpendicularly with respect to one another and along which the at least one roller or ball rolls in order to move the apparatus into the setpoint position.
A method for transporting components by a conveying system, the method comprising:
- transporting at least one of the components along a floor via at least one apparatus and at least one driverless transport vehicle, wherein the at least one apparatus is configured separately from the driverless transport vehicle;
- moving the at least one driverless transport vehicle along the floor in a driverless and automatic manner by a running gear held on a chassis of the at least one driverless transport vehicle;
- causing a vehicle-side positioning device of the at least one driverless transport vehicle to directly interact with an apparatus-side positioning device of the at least one apparatus;
- and
- moving the apparatus relative to the at least one driverless transport vehicle into a setpoint position as a result of the direct interaction between the vehicle-side positioning device and the apparatus-side positioning device, wherein the vehicle-side positioning device comprises at least one roller or ball that is configured to rotate about at least one rotational axis relative to the chassis, and wherein the at least one roller or ball rolls along at least one conical surface or at least two planar surfaces which run obliquely or perpendicularly with respect to one another of the apparatus-side positioning device in order to move the apparatus into the setpoint position.
A driverless transport vehicle for transporting at least one apparatus for transporting components, the driverless transport vehicle comprising:
- a chassis;
- a running gear held on the chassis, the running gear configured to move the driverless transport vehicle along a floor in order to transport the apparatus;
- a vehicle-side positioning device configured to interact with an apparatus-side positioning device of the apparatus and move the apparatus relative to the driverless transport vehicle into a setpoint position, wherein the vehicle-side positioning device comprises at least one roller or ball that is configured to rotate about at least one rotational axis relative to the chassis, and wherein the at least one roller or ball is configured to roll along at least one conical surface or at least two planar surfaces which run obliquely or perpendicularly with respect to one another of the apparatus-side positioning device in order to move the apparatus into the setpoint position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.