Automated warehouse row cart and lift
An automated warehouse system row cart includes a lifter that uses cams to raise and lower pallets. Three symmetrical cam lobes are cut into a hollow cylinder. Three matching cam lifters ride these lobes and are attached to an elevator plate. A stepper motor running in one direction is used to raise and lower the elevator plate by virtue of the action between the cam lobes and lifters.
1. A lifter, comprising:
a triple-lobe cam with a base and an inner collar;
an elevator plate that includes three fixed cam lifters to correspondingly ride on the triple-lobe cam, and an outer collar which mates with said inner collar;
a transmission with a ring gear attached to said base, and a worm gear to receive unidirectional drive from a motor to provide changes in the vertical position of the elevator plate.
2. The lifter of claim 1 , further comprising:
a shaft included in the transmission with a pair of bearings slipped inside said inner collar to stabilize and to allow the triple-lobe cam to turn.
3. The lifter of claim 1 , further comprising:
a series of flat spots disposed on matching surfaces of the triple-lobe cam and the fixed cam lifters for minimum and maximum heights of the elevator plate.
4. The lifer of claim 1 wherein the outer collar of the elevator plate slips over the inner collar of the triple-lobe cam.