| 主权项 |
1. An article transport facility of a ceiling installation type comprising:
an article transport vehicle including a travel portion, an article holding portion located under the travel portion, and right and left travel wheels at each of a front location and a back location of the travel portion; guide rails provided along a travel path for the article transport vehicle, wherein the guide rails include a pair of right and left rail portions that are spaced apart from each other in a rail lateral direction, and wherein the pair of right and left rail portions have travel surfaces on which the travel wheels travel; wherein the guide rails include: a three-directional diverging portion at which the travel path is diverged into three directions as the travel path extends from an upstream-side travel path toward a downstream-side travel path; a straight forward path; a left diverging path; and a right diverging path; with each of the straight forward path, the left diverging path, and the right diverging path diverging and extending from the three-directional diverging portion; wherein the straight forward path is configured such that the pair of right and left rail portions provided along the straight forward path are discontinuous with and spaced apart from the pair of right and left rail portions provided along the upstream-side travel path of the three-directional diverging portion by a predetermined straight forward rail distance in a path longitudinal direction; wherein the left diverging path is configured such that a left rail portion of the pair of right and left rail portions provided along the left diverging path is continuous with a left rail portion of the pair of right and left rail portions of the upstream-side travel path, wherein the right diverging path is configured such that a right rail portion of the pair of right and left rail portions provided along the right diverging path is continuous with a right rail portion of the pair of right and left rail portions of the upstream-side travel path, wherein the article transport vehicle includes a guided member for changing paths that is provided at a location above the travel wheels of the travel portion and a travel direction switching mechanism which switches a state in which the guided member is guided, wherein the article transport facility further comprises an upper guide rail that receives the guided member and an auxiliary receiving mechanism that receives and supports the article transport vehicle traveling in the three-directional diverging portion and between the pair of right and left rail portions of the upstream-side travel path and the pair of right and left rail portions of the straight forward path, wherein the upper guide rail is configured to have a left diverging guide surface for switching to a left diverging travel state in which the article transport vehicle is caused to diverge into and travel along the left diverging path, a right diverging guide surface for switching to a right diverging travel state in which the article transport vehicle is caused to diverge into and travel along the right diverging path, and a non-diverging guide surface for switching to a non-diverging travel state in which the article transport vehicle is caused to travel straight forward, wherein the travel direction switching mechanism is configured to switch the state in which the guided member is guided among a left diverging guide state in which the guided member is guided by the left diverging guide surface, a right diverging guide state in which the guided member is guided by the right diverging guide surface, and a non-diverging guide state in which the guided member is guided by the non-diverging guide surface, wherein the left diverging guide surface is configured to receive the guided member such as to limit the article transport vehicle in the left diverging travel state from leaning toward right, wherein the right diverging guide surface is configured to receive the guided member such as to limit the article transport vehicle in the right diverging travel state from leaning toward left, and wherein the auxiliary receiving mechanism is configured to receive and support the article transport vehicle traveling between the pair of right and left rail portions of the upstream-side travel path and the pair of right and left rail portions of the straight forward path in the non-diverging travel state. |
