Conveying system having endless drive medium, method for identifying carrier thereof, and carrier

A transport system comprising:

• an endless driving medium configured to rotate in a circulating manner;
• a plurality of carriers each including an identification target for carrier identification, configured to hold articles, and attached to the endless driving medium;
• and
• a plurality of stations each including a hand configured to load articles to or unload articles from the carriers, and a sensor configured to detect the identification target at a predetermined position upstream of the hand along a rotation direction of the endless driving medium to output a detection signal of the carrier and an identification signal of the carrier.

A method of identifying a carrier in a transport system, the method comprising the steps of:

• attaching a plurality of carriers each including an identification target and configured to hold articles for transportation, to an endless driving medium configured to rotate in a circulating manner;
• providing a plurality of stations each including a hand configured to load articles to or unload articles from the carriers and a sensor configured to detect the identification target at a predetermined position upstream of the hand along a rotation direction of the endless driving medium;
• and
• identifying a carrier and recognizing an appearance of the carrier at a predetermined position based on a signal from the sensor to operate the hand for a desired carrier.

A carrier comprising:

• a carrier body that supports an article;
• and
• an attachment provided at an upper portion of the carrier body for attachment to an endless driving medium;
• wherein
• the carrier is identifiable based on a width of the attachment along a moving direction of the endless driving medium.