JP-7854682-B2 - Seismic isolation stand

Inventors

• 山口 剛史
• 津田 清
• 池原 勝明
• 森実 智洋

Assignees

• 株式会社山口技研
• トヤマ商事株式会社

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20220719

Claims (1)

1. The device consists of an upper plate and a lower plate. The upper plate has a recess in the center of its lower surface and three ball roller sections on the same circumference centered on the recess. The recess is formed as a cylindrical depression, and has concentric grooves on its bottom surface and a magnet for the upper plate in the center of the bottom surface. The ball roller section consists of a ball section and a bearing section, with the ball section being rotatable within the bearing section. The lower plate has a cylindrical convex section in the center of its upper surface and three conical recesses on the same circumference centered on the convex section. The convex section faces the center of the bottom surface of the recesses, and has a magnet for the lower plate paired with a magnet for the upper plate in the center of its upper surface. The conical recesses are conically shaped. The seismic isolation platform is characterized by having sides that are gently sloped and facing the ball roller section, and in a non-oscillating state where the upper and lower plates overlap and no shaking is applied, the magnets for the upper and lower plates are in a fixed position due to attraction, and the ball portion of the ball roller section is located at the bottom of the conical recess. However, in an oscillating state where shaking is applied, the magnets for the upper and lower plates separate, and the ball portion moves away from the bottom of the conical recess, a force acts on the magnets for the upper and lower plates to return them to their fixed positions, and a force acts on the ball portion to return it to the bottom of the conical recess due to its own weight.

Description

This invention relates to a seismic isolation platform used for transporting articles, which protects articles from vibrations caused by curved movement or impacts from external factors during transport. In recent years, the food and beverage industry has been facing a serious labor shortage. In mass-market restaurants and similar establishments, there is a growing trend towards using robots, such as those described in Patent Document 1, to transport and serve food, in order to improve operational efficiency. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-283983 When a robot transports and serves food, it is expected that the robot, and consequently the transport platform used by the robot for transporting and serving food, will experience oscillations when turning corners to move around the restaurant or when making sudden stops to avoid obstacles. However, Patent Document 1 does not describe seismic isolation for the transport platform. Traditionally, seismic isolation platforms used for earthquake protection have been invented to absorb shaking caused by earthquakes and other seismic events, preventing tipping or collapse. While some platforms are designed to protect large items such as furniture, others have been invented and are available to protect relatively smaller items such as works of art, crafts, and antiques. However, while seismic isolation platforms are effective against shaking caused by earthquakes and other seismic events, they are only effective against vertical and horizontal shaking and are not adequately able to cope with the shaking that occurs when turning curves. Furthermore, if the food being transported and served is a soup-based dish such as ramen or miso soup, a mechanism that can gently stop the shaking is necessary; otherwise, the soup will spill from the bowl, making it impossible to serve to the customer. Furthermore, in the case of seismic isolation platforms that use spring-like elastic bodies and utilize their expansion and contraction for seismic isolation, the seismic isolation effect diminishes due to the deterioration of the elastic bodies over time. Thus, the platform used by robots for transporting and serving food needed to have seismic isolation capabilities. This isolation function was required to be highly resistant to swaying, such as that that occurs when turning curves, to gradually dampen the swaying, and to withstand repeated use. This is a perspective view of the seismic isolation platform of the present invention.Figure 1 shows the top plate as follows: (a) is a bottom view, (b) is a side view, and (c) is a perspective view.In Figure 1, (a) is a top view of the lower plate, (b) is an end view of (a) along line A-A, and (c) is a perspective view.This is a side view of the seismic isolation platform shown in Figure 1 during the oscillation state. The embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The following description of preferred embodiments is illustrative and is not intended to limit the present invention or its applications. Hereafter, the top and bottom will be as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 shows an example of the shape of a seismic isolation platform according to an embodiment of the present invention. This platform is intended to be used on a robot that transports and serves food in public restaurants and similar establishments. Although not shown, the platform is assumed to be placed on a horizontal plane. Food and beverages are placed on the top surface of the platform for transport and serving. As shown in Figures 1(a) and 1(b), the seismic isolation platform according to an embodiment of the present invention is provided with a plate-shaped upper plate 11 and a lower plate 12 stacked on top of each other. The upper plate 11 and the lower plate 12 are mainly made of acrylic resin. As shown in Figures 1(b) and 2(a) and 2(c), the upper plate 11 has a recess 111 in the center of its lower surface 110, and three ball roller sections 113 are provided around the circumference centered on the recess 111. The recess 111 of the upper plate 11 is formed by hollowing out the center of the lower surface 110 of the upper plate 11 in a cylindrical shape. As shown in Figures 2(a) and 2(c), the magnet 112 for the upper plate is concealed and provided in the center of the bottom surface. A concentric groove 111a is formed on the bottom surface of the recess 111. The ball roller portion 113 of the upper plate 11 is made of metal and comprises a ball portion 113a and a bearing portion 113b. The ball portion 113a is rotatable within the bearing portion 113b. As shown in Figures 2(b) and 4, when the upper plate 11 is viewed from the side, the lower part of the ball portion 113a is exposed. The ball roller portion 113 is positioned opposite the conical recess 123 of the lower plate 12. In the non-oscillating state, it is located at the very bottom of the conical recess 123, resulting in a very small gap between the upper plate 1