| CPC B65G 17/123 (2013.01) [B65G 17/24 (2013.01); B65G 17/002 (2013.01); B65G 2201/0267 (2013.01)] | 13 Claims |
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1. A pallet switcher, comprising:
a supporting structure;
at least two mobile frames, each configured to carry a pallet, each mobile frame of the at least two mobile frames comprising a first pair of rollers and a second pair of rollers on lateral sides of the mobile frame;
a conveyor system, located on the supporting structure and configured to allow, movement of the mobile frames, the conveyor system being connected to a drive shaft;
a set of guiding grooves forming a closed loop having separate rails, and a guiding path for each mobile frame, the set of guiding grooves comprising a first path and a second path, the grooves receiving the rollers of the mobile frames; and
a cam switching system for the pairs of rollers in the guiding grooves;
the cam switching system being configured to guide, in use, the pairs of rollers so that the first pair of rollers follows the first path and the second pair of rollers follows the second path so as to move the mobile frames along the closed loop while remaining permanently parallel to each other horizontally and oriented in a same direction,
wherein the guiding grooves comprise a groove corresponding to an upper horizontal movement plane, a groove corresponding to a lower horizontal movement plane, two semi-circular grooves allowing downward movement from the upper plane to the lower plane, and two semi-circular grooves allowing upward movement from the lower plane to the upper plane, the guiding grooves defining the first path and the second path, which have an oblong shape and are offset horizontally relative to one another,
wherein rollers of the first pair of rollers comprise an extended axis allowing a set of sprockets to support the rollers during movement in the semi-circular grooves connecting the two horizontal movement planes, and to link the rollers to conveyor chains,
and
wherein rollers of the second pair of rollers comprise a protruding axis, allowing a set of sprockets to support the rollers during movement in the semi-circular grooves connecting the two horizontal movement planes.
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