Overhead traveling carrier system for speedily conveying load and method of controlling thereof
AssigneeNEC Corporation
InventorDaisuke Saito
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An overhead traveling carrier system carries a package along a rail supported by a roof, and stops a vehicle at a target position; when the vehicle of the overhead traveling carrier system enters an area around the target position, the overhead traveling carrier system stops the vehicle, and changes the relative position between the vehicle and a handling unit mounted on the vehicle during the downward motion of the handling unit toward the destination, thereby speedily aligning the package with the destination.
Claims11
An overhead traveling carrier system for conveying an object between destinations, comprising:
- a fixed path extending over said destinations;
- a vehicle connected to and moving along said path;
- a handling unit supported by said vehicle, and having a retainer movable between a working position closer to said destinations for loading and unloading said object and a home position closer to said vehicle for carrying said object between said destinations;
- a primary aligner monitoring a first relative relation in a first direction between a current position of said vehicle and an actual position of a selected one of said destinations along said path to stop said vehicle around said actual position of said selected destination;
- and
- a secondary aligner monitoring a second relative relation in said first direction between a current position of said handling unit and said actual position so as to align said handling unit with said selected destination along said path after said primary aligner stops said vehicle around said actual position of said selected destination.
An overhead traveling carrier system for conveying an object between destinations, comprising:
- a fixed path extending over said destinations;
- a vehicle connected to and moving along said path;
- a handling unit supported by said vehicle, and having a retainer movable between a working position closer to said destinations for loading and unloading said object and a home position closer to said vehicle for carrying said object between said destinations;
- a primary aligner monitoring a first relative relation in a first direction between a current position of said vehicle and an actual position of a selected one of said destinations along said path to stop said vehicle around said actual position of said selected destination;
- and
- a secondary aligner monitoring a second relative relation in said first direction between a current position of said handling unit and said actual position so as to align said handling unit with said selected destination along said path after said primary aligner stops said vehicle around said actual position of said selected destination;
- wherein said secondary aligner aligns said handling unit with said selected destinations during the movement of said retainer from said home position to said working position.
A method of controlling an overhead traveling carrier system, comprising the steps of:
- a) checking a current position in a first direction along a path of a vehicle to see whether or not said vehicle enters into an area around a target position;
- b) stopping said vehicle when said vehicle enters into said area;
- c) changing a relative position along said path between said vehicle and a handling unit movably supported by said vehicle to align said handling unit in said first direction with said target position;
- and
- d) loading or unloading an object at said destination.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.