Longitudinal Conveyor Transport Robot
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing transport robots with loading devices are limited in their ability to handle items of varying dimensions and require specific spacing between items, leading to inefficient storage capacity and high costs due to the need for complex telescoping mechanisms and separate roller tracks for each storage area.
Innovation Solution
A transport robot equipped with longitudinally symmetrical loading arms driven by a shared continuous toothed belt, allowing for gripping and picking up items from underneath without the need for pivoting pawls, enabling flexible handling of items of different sizes and orientations, and allowing for tight packing without the need for additional spacing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If telescopic loading arms with pawls are used to grip items, then items can be pulled onto the transport robot, but the item width must be adapted to the loading device width and spacing between items is required
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of gripping items from the back surface using pawls that pull items forward, the invention inverts the approach by using a conveyor that passes beneath the item and transports it from underneath. This fundamental reversal of the gripping direction allows items of any width to be handled without adaptation, as the conveyor supports the item from below rather than pulling from the back.
Solution Approach 2:
The conveyor system is designed to handle items of arbitrary dimensions by providing a universal support surface beneath the items. Rather than requiring specific pawl configurations for different item widths, the conveyor provides a continuous support surface that can accommodate any item size, making the loading device universally applicable to all item dimensions.
2Ease of operation
If telescopic loading arms with pawls are used, then items can be gripped at the back surface, but spacing between items is required for pawl access
Solution Approach 1:
The invention reverses the gripping approach by transporting items from underneath rather than pulling from the back. This allows the conveyor to pass directly beneath items even when they are tightly packed, eliminating the need for spacing and maximizing storage capacity while maintaining easy item handling.
3Reliability
If a continuous toothed belt encompasses all telescopic arms, then controlled displacement is achieved, but the drive construction becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the toothed belt mechanism from the complex telescopic arm configuration and applies it directly to the conveyor function. By using a single continuous toothed belt that passes beneath the item and is driven by one motor, the system achieves reliable controlled displacement while eliminating the complexity of coordinating multiple telescopic arms with separate drives.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution increases storage capacity by over 20% by enabling the handling of items of arbitrary dimensions without the need for additional spacing, reducing storage costs and improving the efficiency of item placement.
Implementation Method 1
the upper portion of which (21a) is suited for passing beneath a load (13) in a friction-locked manner against the bottom surface (22) of the load (13)
Data Source
AI summary
A transport robot having a loading device (16-19) and loading arms for loading and unloading items to be transported (13) on the transport robot, wherein the item to be transported (13) is stored in a high-bay storage shelving (12) at the side of the direction of travel for the transport robot, and the loading device (16-19) is driven in a displaceable manner, and can be guided over at least one of the two sides of the outer contour of the transport robot, and can be brought into contact with the item to be transported (13), wherein the loading device (16-19) is formed by at least one loading arm (7, 8; 17, 18), designed as a longitudinal conveyor (6) for gripping under the bottom surface of the item to be transported (13).