RAIL SYSTEM, FOR AN ELECTRICAL PALLET CONVEYOR SYSTEM

Abstract

Rail system for an electrical pallet conveyor system, having a switch point which is arranged between a main track and a plurality of secondary tracks and which includes a plurality of moving rail sections. Depending on their position, the rail sections are able to connect the main track to the secondary tracks. The moving rail sections which are associated with one rail of the main track are in this case mounted on a first moving slide, and the moving rail sections which are associated with the second rail of the main track are mounted on a second moving slide which can move independently of the first slide. A dedicated drive which can be separately actuated by a control device is associated with each slide.

Claims

1. A rail system for an electrical pallet conveyor system comprising: a) a main track, which comprises at least two stationary parallel rails; b) at least two secondary tracks, which form an angle, each of the at least two secondary tracks having as many stationary parallel rails as the main track; c) a switch point arranged between the main track and the at least two secondary tracks, the switch point comprising ca) as many moving rail sections for each rail of the main track as there are secondary tracks, the moving rail sections optionally being able to connect the parallel fails of the different secondary tracks to the at least two stationary parallel rails of the main track, directly or indirectly, depending on their position. cb) at least one moving slide, on which a plurality of the moving rail sections are mounted; cc) at least one drive for moving the at least one slide; cd) a control device, which actuates the at least one drive; wherein d) the moving rail sections assigned to a first rail of the main track are mounted on a first moving slide and the moving rail sections assigned to a second rail of the main track are mounted on a second moving slide, which can be moved independently of the first slide; and e) an first individual drive is assigned to the first moving slide and a second individual drive is assigned to the second moving slide, wherein the first individual drive and the second individual drive can be actuated separately by the control device.

2. The rail system according to claim 1, wherein the control device is programmed such that it actuates the first individual drive and the second individual drive at periodic intervals.

3. The rail system according to claim 2, wherein the periodic interval is between 0.5 and 1 second.

4. The rail system according to claim 1, wherein a third moving slide is provided in a centre of the switch point, which supports at least one additional moving rail section and has a third individual drive that can be actuated independent of the first individual drive and the second individual drive.

Description

[0024] Reference is made firstly to FIGS. 1 and 2, which show a rail system which is denoted as a whole by the reference numeral 1 and which comprises a main track 2 and two secondary tracks 3, 4 in the in the detail shown. Each track 2, 3, 4 comprises two parallel rails 5, 6 and 7, 8, and 9, 10 respectively. The tracks 2, 3 and 4 and therefore also the rails 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 are stationary. Whilst the secondary track 4 is located in the linear continuation of the main track 2, the secondary track 3 branches off from the other secondary track 4 at a particular angle.

[0025] The main track 2 can be connected optionally to the secondary track 3 or the secondary track 4 with the aid of a switch point denoted as a whole by the reference numeral 11. The switch point comprises two movable rail sections 12, 13 described in greater detail below, which are assigned to the rail 5, as well as two movable rail sections 14, 15, which are assigned to the rail 6. The rail section 12 here is curved such that, in one of the pivoted positions thereof (shown in FIG. 1), it can connect the end of the stationary rail 5 of the main track 2 to the end of a curved stationary intermediate rail section 17. The rail section 13 of the switch point 11 is linear and is of such a length that in one position of the switch point 11, i.e. the position shown in FIG. 2, it can connect the end of the stationary rail 5 of the main track 2 to the end of the stationary rail 10 of the secondary track 4.

[0026] The moving rail section 14, which is assigned to the rail 6 of the main track 2, has such a curvature and such a length that it connects the end of the rail 6 of the main track 2 to the end of the rail 7 of the secondary track 3 in one position of the switch point, as shown in FIG. 1. The linear moving rail section 15 of the switch point 11 finally has such a length that it can connect the end of the rail 6 of the main track 2 to the end of a stationary intermediate rail section 16 in a second position, as shown in FIG. 2.

[0027] The switch point 11 finally comprises a further moving rail section 18, which is linear in the embodiment shown and can connect the end of the stationary intermediate rail section 17 which faces the secondary track 4 to the end of the rail 8 of the secondary track 3 in the position of the switch point 11 as shown in FIG. 1. A further linear moving rail section 19 has such a length that it can connect the end of the stationary intermediate rail section 16 which faces the rail 9 to the end of the rail 9 of the secondary track 4 in the position of the switch point 11 as shown in FIG. 2.

[0028] The movable rail sections 12, 13, which are assigned to the rail of the main track 2, are mounted together on a sliding carriage 20.sup.1, which can be moved between both the positions shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 with the aid of a drive 21. Accordingly, the movable rail sections 14, 15, which are assigned to the stationary rail 6 of the main track 2, are mounted together on a sliding carriage 22.sup.2, which can be moved between both the positions shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 with the aid of a drive 23. Finally, in a corresponding manner, the movable rail sections 18, 19, which are assigned to the rail 8 of the secondary track 3 or rail 9 of the secondary track 4 respectively, are mounted on a common slide 24, which can be moved forwards and backwards between both the positions shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 with the aid of a drive 25. .sup.1Translator note: In the rest of the text, numerals 20 & 22 refer to the German Schieber, translated as slide as per the published Abstract. Here the German Schlitten is used and so an alternative translation of sliding carriage has been used to reflect this. .sup.2Translator note: See note 1

[0029] The switch point 11 is controlled by a control device 26, which sends control signals to the drives 21, 23 and 25 by means of the control cables shown. This takes place in particular in the following manner:

[0030] Assume that the rail system 1 and the switch point 11 are in the state as shown in FIG. 1, in which the main track 2 is connected to the secondary track 3. Now a change should be made to the state shown in FIG. 2, in which the main track 2 is connected to the secondary track 4. The control device 26 sends corresponding control signals to all three drives 21, 23, 25 for this purpose, which results in the necessary movement of the slides 20, 22, 24. The drives 21, 23 are, however, not actuated at exactly the same time, but after a certain delay, and consequently the slides 20, 22 are set in motion at different times. The advantage here is that the masses, which are connected to the slides 20, 22, are not accelerated at the same time, which could be linked to considerable jolts and vibrations of the substructure on which said moving parts are built. This applies in particular to cases where said substructure is a steel structure.

[0031] How long the delay needs to be must be determined according to the individual circumstances. Essentially, it should be as short as possible so as not to extend the cycle times of the switch point 11 unnecessarily. On the other hand, the period between the acceleration of the one slide 20 and the acceleration of the other slide 22 must be long enough to achieve the required chronological distribution of the increases in speed. In many cases, the suitable period is between half a second and a second.

[0032] Actuation of the drive 25, which is used to move the slide 24, can happen at the same time as the actuation of one of the other two drives 21, 23, or independently from said drives. A time can also be selected here, where appropriate, which does not match the actuation times of the other two slides 20, 22.

[0033] If the rail system 1 is changed again from the position shown in FIG. 2 to the position shown in FIG. 1, the control device 26 again sends corresponding signals to the drives 21, 23, 25 at the required intervals.

[0034] The distribution in pairs of the movable rail sections 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19 across three slides 20, 22, 24 has a further advantage: the slides 20, 22, 24 with the associated drives 21, 23, 25 and the rail sections 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19 attached thereto can be used for different track gauges of the rail system 1 without modification. This is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 for a rail system 101, the track gauge of which is wider than the gauge of the rail system 1 in FIGS. 1 and 2. A more detailed description of said rail system 1 can be dispensed with as the functionality is exactly the same as the functionality of the rail system 1 as described above.

[0035] In the embodiment described above, linear movements of the different slides 20, 22, 24 are used. Naturally, pivoting movements are possible here too.