Material transfer device and storing and taking system

Abstract

The utility model discloses a material transfer device and access system, which comprises two parallel conveyor belts used for conveying materials, at least one conveyor belt comprises a concave part, and a guide device enables a belt body to be concave when the belt body is conveyed to the concave part. The transfer device further comprises a bracket which can ascend and descend relative to the downwards-concave part and is used for bearing the materials, the bracket is controlled by a lifting device to ascend and descend, the bracket is connected with the lifting device through a connecting part capable of entering the downwards-concave part, and when the connecting part descends into the downwards-concave part of the downwards-concave part, the connecting part can enter the downwards-concave part of the downwards-concave part. The bracket is located between the two conveying belts, so that the bearing face of the bracket is lower than the bearing faces of the conveying belts. The conveying belt with the concave part is matched with the liftable material bracket, so that materials are transferred between the conveying belt and the bracket, then the materials on the bracket can be conveniently taken and placed on a goods shelf through the moving device, and the equipment is simple in structure and convenient to use.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of material conveying, in particular to a material transfer device and a storage and retrieval system. Background Art

[0002] The substrate intelligent silo is an automated material storage and management device used in high-tech manufacturing fields such as semiconductors and flat panel displays. It is mainly used to store, manage and transport various thin materials such as silicon wafers and glass substrates. The intelligent silo integrates advanced material identification, positioning, handling and inventory management functions, realizes the automation and intelligence of material storage and retrieval, and avoids the problems of low efficiency, error-proneness and damage to substrates caused by manual storage of substrates.

[0003] The core technology of the substrate intelligent silo lies mainly in the picking, placing and transporting of substrate materials. For example, the silo needs to use the conveyor belt to realize the entry and exit of materials, and the storage and retrieval device is needed in the silo to realize the transfer of materials between the conveyor belt and the shelf.

[0004] The existing intelligent silo system is usually implemented by a series of high-tech devices such as manipulators and visual systems. The structure is complex, which makes the construction cost of the intelligent silo high and the subsequent maintenance cost high, which is not conducive to large-scale promotion and implementation. Utility Model Content

[0005] In order to solve the problem of complex structure of existing material transfer devices, the utility model proposes a material transfer device and a storage and retrieval system, which utilizes a simple mechanical structure to realize convenient material transfer, has a simple structure and low cost.

[0006] The technical solution adopted by the utility model is to design a material transfer device, including two parallel conveyor belts for conveying materials, the conveyor belts including a belt body and a guide device supporting the belt body, at least one of the conveyor belts including a recessed portion, the guide device causing the belt body to be recessed when conveyed to the recessed portion, the transfer device also including a bracket for carrying the material which can be raised and lowered relative to the recessed portion, the bracket being raised and lowered by a lifting device, the bracket being connected to the lifting device via a connecting portion which can enter the recessed portion, the width of the bracket being smaller than the width of the two parallel conveyor belts, and when the connecting portion descends into the recessed portion, the bracket is located between the two conveyor belts so that the bearing surface of the bracket is lower than the bearing surface of the conveyor belt.

[0007] In certain embodiments, a material tray is further included for carrying the material, wherein the material is placed in the material tray for transportation, and the width of the material tray is greater than the width of the two conveyor belts.

[0008] In some embodiments, the guiding device supporting the lower recess includes a supporting plate, a lower recess is provided on the supporting plate, a guide wheel supporting the belt body is provided at the edge of the lower recess and the bottom of the lower recess, and the guide wheel at the bottom of the lower recess is located above the belt body.

[0009] In some embodiments, two recessed portions are disposed on each of the conveyor belts, and two connecting portions corresponding to the recessed portions are disposed between the bracket and the lifting device.

[0010] In some embodiments, a limit stopper is provided between the two conveyor belts to limit the descent of the bracket.

[0011] In some embodiments, several layers of the conveyor belts are arranged in the up and down directions, and the bracket is controlled by a moving device to move in a conveying direction perpendicular to the conveyor belts, so that the bracket can enter between two adjacent layers of the conveyor belts.

[0012] In certain embodiments, the bracket is provided with a support plate for carrying the material and a telescopic device for controlling the extension and retraction of the support plate relative to the bracket.

[0013] In some embodiments, the telescopic device includes a transmission belt traction device, which includes a pulley and a transmission belt wound around the pulley, the transmission belt is connected to the pallet, the pallet is slidably arranged on the bracket through a slide rail, and the pulley is driven to rotate by a rotating device, thereby pulling the pallet to move along the slide rail.

[0014] A storage and retrieval system includes the material transfer device and a shelf for storing materials, wherein the shelf is provided with storage compartments for placing the materials, the lifting device is controlled by a moving device to move between the shelf and the conveyor belt, and the bottom of the storage compartment has a telescopic space for the pallet to extend to the bottom of the material.

[0015] In some embodiments, the moving device includes a guide rail for moving the lifting device, the guide rail is arranged in parallel along the length direction of the shelf, the guide rail is perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor belt, and the guide rail corresponds to the position of the lower recess of the conveyor belt.

[0016] Compared with the prior art, the utility model has the following beneficial effects:

[0017] The utility model utilizes a conveyor belt with a concave portion in conjunction with a liftable material bracket to realize the transfer of materials between the conveyor belt and the bracket, and then a mobile device can be used to conveniently take and place the materials on the bracket on the shelf. The equipment has a simple structure and is easy to use. By improving the placement and transmission methods of the device, the manufacturing cost of the device is saved, and at the same time, the transmission and placement accuracy of the device can be ensured, thereby meeting the manufacturing and production needs of the enterprise. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] The present invention is described in detail below in conjunction with specific embodiments and drawings. In order to show details and facilitate understanding of its principles, it is not necessarily drawn to scale, and similar reference numerals may describe similar components in different views. The drawings generally illustrate the embodiments discussed herein by way of example and not limitation. Among them:

[0019] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of a material transfer device according to an embodiment applied to a storage and retrieval system.

[0020] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of a bracket being arranged on a lifting robot arm.

[0021] In the figure, 1, belt body; 2, guide wheel; 3, driving wheel; 4, support plate; 41, lower notch; 5, bracket; 6, bracket; 7, lifting robot arm; 8, strip plate; 9, material tray; 10, column; 11, limit stopper; 12, support plate; 13, pulley; 14, transmission belt; 15, slide rail; 16, shelf; 17, guide rail. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] The following are specific embodiments of the present invention, and the technical solution of the present invention is further described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and the following embodiments do not limit the utility model involved in the claims. In addition, all combinations of the features described in the embodiments are not necessarily required for the solution of the utility model.

[0023] The principle and structure of the present utility model are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0024] Example

[0025] like Figure 1 , 2 As shown, a material transfer device includes two parallel synchronously rotating conveyor belts for conveying materials, the conveyor belt includes a belt body 1 and a guide device supporting the belt body 1, the guide device includes a bracket 5 and a guide wheel 2 and a driving wheel 3 arranged on the bracket 5, and the driving wheel 3 is driven to rotate by a motor.

[0026] At least one of the conveyor belts includes a recessed portion, and the guide device causes the belt body 1 to be recessed when it is conveyed to the recessed portion, that is, the surface of the belt body 1 at the position of the recessed portion is lower than the height of the belt body 1 surface on both sides of the recessed portion in the conveying direction.

[0027] The guide device supporting the lower concave portion of the present embodiment comprises an upright support plate 4, on which a lower concave 41 in the up-down direction is provided, and a guide wheel 2 supporting the belt body 1 is provided at the mouth edge of the lower concave 41 and the bottom of the lower concave 41, and the guide wheel 2 at the bottom of the lower concave 41 is located above the belt body 1, so that the conveyor belt is concave at the lower concave portion. The lower concave 41 of the present embodiment is a dovetail notch, that is, the bottom of the lower concave 41 is wider, so that a guide wheel 2 is provided at each of the two corners at the bottom of the lower concave 41, so that the belt body 1 moves in accordance with the contour of the lower concave 41.

[0028] The transfer device also includes a bracket 6 for carrying the material, which can be raised and lowered relative to the lower recess. The bracket 6 in this embodiment is a plate. The bracket 6 is raised and lowered by a lifting device. The lifting device in this embodiment is a lifting robot arm 7.

[0029] The bracket 6 is connected to the lifting device via a connecting portion that can enter the lower recess. The connecting portion in this embodiment is a strip plate 8, and the thickness of the strip plate 8 is smaller than the width of the lower recess 41 so that the strip plate 8 can be lowered into the lower recess 41.

[0030] Each of the conveyor belts in this example is provided with two recessed portions, and two connecting portions corresponding to the recessed portions are provided between the bracket 6 and the lifting device, thereby providing support force for the bracket 6 and maintaining stability during material conveying.

[0031] The width of the bracket 6 is smaller than the width of the two parallel conveyor belts. When the connecting portion descends into the recess of the lower recess, the bracket 6 is located between the two conveyor belts so that the bearing surface of the bracket 6 is lower than the bearing surface of the conveyor belt, so that the bracket 6 can place the material on the belt body 1 of the conveyor belt or lift the material from the belt body 1, thereby realizing the transfer of materials between the two.

[0032] The material in this embodiment is placed on a material tray 9 during the transfer process. The material tray 9 includes a bottom plate and columns 10 surrounding the material. The width of the material tray 9 is greater than the width of the two conveyor belts. The material is placed in the material tray 9 and transferred between the bracket 6 and the conveyor belt, which is convenient for taking and placing the material.

[0033] A limit stopper 11 for limiting the descent of the bracket 6 is arranged between the two conveyor belts. When the bracket 6 is blocked by the limit stopper 11, it indicates that the bracket 6 has fallen into place, and the bearing surface of the material tray 9 on the bracket 6 is already lower than the surface of the belt body 1. The limit stopper 11 of this embodiment is a limit column connected between the two support plates, thereby blocking the bottom of the bracket 6 to play a limiting role.

[0034] Several layers of the conveyor belts are arranged in the upper and lower directions. In this embodiment, two layers of conveyor belts are arranged. The bracket 6 is controlled by a moving device to move in a conveying direction perpendicular to the conveyor belts, so that the bracket 6 can enter between the upper and lower adjacent layers of conveyor belts, thereby transferring the material between conveyor belts of different layers. Of course, some layers of conveyor belts may not be provided with the recessed portion, but only be used for simple conveying of materials.

[0035] The bracket 6 is provided with a pallet 12 for carrying the material and a telescopic device for controlling the pallet 12 to extend and retract relative to the bracket 6, so as to facilitate the material to be transported to other places. The telescopic device of this embodiment includes a transmission belt 14 traction device, and the transmission belt 14 traction device includes a pulley 13 and a transmission belt 14 wound around the pulley 13. The transmission belt 14 is connected to the pallet 12, and the pallet 12 is slidably arranged on the bracket 6 through a slide rail 15. The pulley 13 is driven to rotate by a rotating device, and the rotating device can be a motor. For example, the motor drives the pulley 13 to rotate, thereby driving the transmission belt 14 to move, thereby pulling the pallet 12 to move along the slide rail 15, so that the pallet 12 extends to one side, thereby transporting the material on it to other places. The length of the pallet 12 in the telescopic direction of this embodiment is greater than the length of the two pallets, so that the pallet 12 can simultaneously carry two pallets placed side by side in the telescopic direction.

[0036] A storage and retrieval system applied to the above-mentioned material transfer device also includes a shelf 16 for storing materials, and the shelf 16 is provided with a storage compartment for placing the materials. The depth of the storage compartment corresponding to the length of the pallet 12 can accommodate two parallel material trays 9. The lifting device is controlled by a moving device to move between the shelf 16 and the conveyor belt, so as to facilitate the transportation of the materials between the conveyor belt and the shelf 16. The bottom of the storage compartment has a telescopic space for the pallet 12 to extend to the bottom of the material, so that the pallet 12 can extend into the telescopic space to lift the material in the storage compartment upwards, or the pallet 12 retracts from the telescopic space after the material is delivered into the storage compartment. The bottom of the storage compartment in this embodiment is provided with beams supporting the opposite end sides of the bottom of the tray, and the area between the two beams can be used as the telescopic space.

[0037] The moving device includes a guide rail 17 for moving the lifting device. The lifting device can be driven by a walking drive mechanism such as an electric wheel to move along the guide rail 17. The guide rail 17 is arranged in parallel along the length direction of the shelf 16, so that the moving device drives the material to move in the length direction of the shelf 16, and then the material is sent to different storage compartments on the shelf 16 by controlling the lifting and lowering of the material. The guide rail 17 is perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor belt, and the guide rail 17 corresponds to the position of the lower recess of the conveyor belt, so that the lifting device can move along the guide rail 17 to the lower recess of the conveyor belt, and the material is transferred between the bracket 6 and the conveyor belt through the cooperation between the bracket 6 and the lower recess.

[0038] The specific embodiments described herein are merely examples of the spirit of the present invention. Those skilled in the art may make various modifications or additions to the specific embodiments described, or replace them in similar ways, without departing from the spirit of the present invention or exceeding the scope defined by the appended claims.

[0039] Although some terms are used more frequently in this article, the possibility of using other terms is not excluded. These terms are used only to more conveniently describe and explain the essence of the utility model; interpreting them as any additional restrictions is contrary to the spirit of the utility model. The execution order of actions, steps, etc. in the devices and methods shown in the specification and the drawings can be implemented in any order as long as there is no special explicit limitation on the order and the output of the previous processing is not used in the subsequent processing. Similar sequential terms (for example, "first", "next", "secondly", "again", "then", etc.) used for the convenience of description do not mean that they must be implemented in such an order.

[0040] Those skilled in the art should understand that all directional references (for example, above, below, upward, up, downward, down, top, bottom, left, right, vertical, horizontal, etc.) are used descriptively in the drawings to facilitate the reader's understanding, and do not represent limitations (for example, on position, orientation or use, etc.) on the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. They are only for the convenience of describing the present application and simplifying the description. Unless otherwise specified, these directional words do not indicate or imply that the referred device or element must have a specific orientation or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. The directional words "inside and outside" refer to the inside and outside relative to the outline of each component itself.

[0041] For ease of description, spatially relative terms such as "above", "above", "on the upper surface of", "above", etc. may be used here to describe the spatial positional relationship between a device or feature and other devices or features as shown in the figure. It should be understood that spatially relative terms are intended to include different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation described in the figure. For example, if the device in the accompanying drawings is inverted, the device described as "above other devices or structures" or "above other devices or structures" will be positioned as "below other devices or structures" or "below other devices or structures". Thus, the exemplary term "above" may include both "above" and "below". The device may also be positioned in other different ways (rotated 90 degrees or in other orientations), and the spatially relative descriptions used here are interpreted accordingly.

[0042] In addition, some vague terms (e.g., substantially, certain, generally, etc.) may refer to slight inaccuracies or slight deviations of conditions, quantities, values, or dimensions, some of which are within the manufacturing deviation or tolerance range. It should be noted that the use of words such as "first" and "second" to define components is only for the convenience of distinguishing the corresponding components. If not otherwise stated, the above words have no special meanings and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the scope of protection of this application.

Claims

1. A material transfer device, comprising two parallel conveyor belts for conveying materials, wherein the conveyor belts comprise a belt body and a guide device supporting the belt body, characterized in that: At least one of the conveyor belts includes a recessed portion, and the guide device causes the belt body to be recessed when it is transferred to the recessed portion. The transfer device also includes a bracket for carrying the material that can be raised and lowered relative to the recessed portion. The lifting and lowering of the bracket is controlled by a lifting device. The bracket is connected to the lifting device via a connecting portion that can enter the recessed portion. The width of the bracket is smaller than the width of two parallel conveyor belts. When the connecting portion descends into the recessed portion, the bracket is located between the two conveyor belts so that the bearing surface of the bracket is lower than the bearing surface of the conveyor belt.

2. The material transfer device according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a material tray for carrying the material, the material is placed in the material tray for transportation, and the width of the material tray is greater than the width of the two conveyor belts.

3. The material transfer device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The guiding device supporting the lower recess comprises a supporting plate, on which a lower recess is arranged, and guide wheels supporting the belt body are arranged at the edge of the lower recess and at the bottom of the lower recess, and the guide wheels at the bottom of the lower recess are located above the belt body.

4. The material transfer device according to claim 1, characterized in that: Two recessed parts are arranged on each of the conveyor belts, and two connecting parts corresponding to the recessed parts are arranged between the bracket and the lifting device.

5. The material transfer device according to claim 1, characterized in that: A limit stopper for limiting the descent of the bracket is arranged between the two conveyor belts.

6. The material transfer device according to claim 1, characterized in that: Several layers of the conveyor belts are arranged in the upper and lower directions, and the bracket is controlled by a moving device to move in a conveying direction perpendicular to the conveyor belts, so that the bracket can enter between two adjacent layers of the conveyor belts.

7. The material transfer device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The bracket is provided with a support plate for carrying the material and a telescopic device for controlling the extension and retraction of the support plate relative to the bracket.

8. The material transfer device according to claim 7, characterized in that: The telescopic device includes a transmission belt traction device, which includes a pulley and a transmission belt wound around the pulley. The transmission belt is connected to the support plate, and the support plate is slidably arranged on the bracket through a slide rail. The pulley is driven to rotate by a rotating device, thereby pulling the support plate to move along the slide rail.

9. A storage and access system, characterized in that: It includes the material transfer device as described in any one of claims 7 to 8, and also includes a shelf for storing materials, the shelf is provided with a storage grid for placing the material, the lifting device is controlled by a moving device to move between the shelf and the conveyor belt, and the bottom of the storage grid has a telescopic space for the pallet to extend to the bottom of the material.

10. The access system according to claim 9, characterized in that: The moving device includes a guide rail for moving the lifting device, the guide rail is arranged in parallel along the length direction of the shelf, the guide rail is perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor belt, and the guide rail corresponds to the position of the lower concave part of the conveyor belt.

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