EP1208027A1

EP1208027A1 - Electric overhead conveyer

Info

Publication number: EP1208027A1
Application number: EP01962805A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Eugen Kaiser
Original assignee: Eisenmann Anlagenbau GmbH and Co KG
Current assignee: Eisenmann Anlagenbau GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 2000-08-16
Filing date: 2001-06-30
Publication date: 2002-05-29
Anticipated expiration: 2021-06-30
Also published as: WO2002014133A1; ES2240500T3; CA2387670A1; ATE295793T1; PL353737A1; BR0107119A; DE10039946C1; US6679459B2; US20030146069A1; AU2001283908A1; PL198474B1; CZ20021264A3; DE50106252D1; EP1208027B1; CZ303902B6

Abstract

The invention relates to an electric overhead conveyer comprising a large number of carriages (8), which circulate on a running rail system (1). Each carriage (8) has an autonomous carriage control (11), whose memory stores (13) all the data for the rail network. The overhead conveyer can either be operated in individual circulation mode, in which each carriage (8) attempts to travel individually at the greatest permissible speed, or in group mode. In group mode, the carriages (8), which are to traverse a common section of the rail network (1) are combined into groups and exchange data concerning the locally permissible speeds that are respectively valid. All the carriages (8) in the group then travel at a speed that corresponds to the lowest permissible speed for all carriages (8) in the group.

Description

Electric monorail

The invention relates to an electric monorail system

a) a rail system forming a route network;

b) a plurality of carriages, each comprising:

ba) at least one running gear that runs in the running rail system;

bb) at least one load carrier hanging from the chassis;

bc) at least one drive motor;

bd) an autonomous wagon control, which in turn comprises:

bda) a processor;

bdb) a memory in which the entire route network and the maximum speed and the minimum distance to the previous car permitted at each point of the route network can be stored;

bdc) one controlled by the processor

Regulator that energizes the drive motor;

c) a central control, which issues the individual wagons with the driving orders and the routes in the route network unlocked;

d) a code rail system which extends along the route network and carries a code which can be read from each wagon for the point at which the respective wagon is located;

e) a data bus rail system which extends along the route network and via which the carriages communicate with one another and with the central control,

in which

f) the wagon control of each wagon queries the respective location of the wagon during the journey from the code rail system, takes the maximum speed for this point of the route network from memory and tries to bring the wagon to the maximum speed in the absence of other information.

In known electric monorails of this type, the autonomous trolley control of each trolley in the entire system sought to bring the trolley to the speed that is maximally permissible at the respective location where the trolley is located. The movement of several carriages in the route network was correlated by the fact that a minimum distance to a preceding car was given and the following car reduced its speed so that this minimum distance could be maintained. For the rest, the individual wagons moved freely and independently of one another in the route network according to the commands of the central control system.

With this type of operation the monorail system had to relatively large safety distances between the individual wagons are maintained. This means a considerable loss of capacity given the high speeds that the wagons are supposed to drive.

The object of the present invention is to design an electric monorail conveyor of the type mentioned at the outset in such a way that its capacity is increased.

This object is achieved in that

g) the central control system optionally operates each wagon in a single trip mode or, in a bulk mode, combines several wagons that travel through certain sections of the route network in succession to form groups in which all wagons have essentially the same speed, and the individual wagons information about their affiliation can transmit to the bulk;

h) the car control of each car in bulk mode queries the respective location of the car from the code rail system during the journey, exchanges information about the currently permitted speed of each car in the group via the data bus rail system and the drive motor of the corresponding car controls that the car runs at the lowest permissible speed of all cars in the group.

According to the invention, carriages that are intended to drive through certain sections of the route network together and one behind the other are put together to form so-called “groups”. A group is characterized by the fact that all the wagons belonging to it move at the same speed. Everyone However, wagons do not maintain this speed as a result of control processes and distance measurements, which would take too long. Rather, each car learns from the other cars in the group via the data bus system which permissible maximum speed the other cars in the group must adhere to. If only one car in the group signals that a lower than the previously driven speed must be maintained at its location, then it is not only it that reduces its speed to the lower permissible value. Rather, all the other cars in the group follow him without delay and overplay the higher speed value that is actually permitted according to the location where they are located. This adjustment of the speeds of all without any significant time delay

Trolleys in the crowd at the lowest permissible speed increases operational safety.

The greater speed in adapting the speeds of the wagons in the group to the uniform, lowest permissible speed enables the minimum permitted distance of the wagons which are operated in bulk mode to be smaller than the permitted minimum distance of the wagons which are operated in single-drive mode become. A smaller minimum distance between the carriages means an increase in the conveying capacity with otherwise the same parameters.

As an alternative or in addition, it is possible with the present invention that the permissible local speed, at least in regions of the route network, is higher for each wagon that is operated in bulk mode than for the wagons that are operated in single travel mode. Again, with otherwise unchanged parameters, this means an increase in the funding capacity of the overall system. In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, each car has a distance sensor which detects the distance from the previous car and sends a signal to the respective car control when a certain minimum distance is undershot. This distance sensor has a purely safety function, since it only needs to function if for some reason the autonomous control of the wagons via the code rail system and the data bus rail system should fail.

An embodiment of the invention is explained below with reference to the drawing; show it

Figure 1: schematically a very simple route map of an electric monorail system;

Figure 2: the block diagram of the control of a trolley of the electric monorail system in interaction with a central control;

Figure 3: schematically the block diagram of a central controller divided into several hierarchical levels.

1 shows a very simple route plan of an electric monorail system in a top view. It comprises two semicircular sections 1 a, 1 b, which are connected to one another by two rectilinear sections 1 c, 1 d and thus form an oval. Parallel to the straight line section ld, a straight line section le is guided, which is connected to the main line network via switches 2, 3. The course of the route is illustrated in FIG. 1 by the following four rails, which are guided in parallel: a travel rail 4, a power rail 5, a data bus rail 6 and one Code rail 7.

The carriages of the individual carriages 8 of the monorail run in the travel rail 4 in a known manner and have a hanger extending downward from the carriages and possibly a load carrier attached to them. Each car 8 has its own drive motor and a car control, which enables the respective car 8, under the influence of a stored program and external commands, to find and find its way on the route network 1 in correlation with the other cars 8 traveling there.

How this takes place in the interaction of the control 11 of the individual carriages 8 with a central control 10 is explained below with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 2. The central control 10 is in the case of more complicated route plans. As will be explained below with reference to FIG. 3, it is hierarchically structured and connected to the data bus 5.

The autonomous control 11 which is specific to each car comprises a processor 12, a memory 13 and a controller 14 which acts on the drive motor 15 of the car 8.

The processor 12 is supplied with data from a read head 16 which is guided along the code rail 7 and receives information about the respective location of the carriage 8 from the latter with an accuracy of better than 1 mm. The processor 12 also exchanges data in a bidirectional manner with the data bus bar 6 via a grinding device 17. It is also connected to the memory 13 and a distance sensor 18, which is arranged on the front end of the respective carriage 8, as seen in the direction of movement, and cooperates with a reflector 19 on the trailing end of the preceding vehicle 8 (see FIG. 1). The processor 12 controls the controller 14, which in turn is connected to the busbar 5 via a grinding device 19 and energizes the drive motor 15 in accordance with these signals.

The entire route network 1, including all so-called “special positions”, is stored in the memory 13. “Special positions” are understood to mean all those points in the route network, for the passage of which the carriage 8 requires an enable signal from the central control 10. In particular, the special items are turnouts such as turnouts 2, 3 from FIG. 1, fire protection gates, lifting devices, etc. In tabular form, memory 13 also contains information about the maximum speed permitted at each point in route network 1 and about the permissible minimum distance to the predecessor car 8, the latter can be specified as a function of the current speed.

The control described works as follows:

Each car 8 under consideration receives a driving order from the central control 10 via the data bus 6 and the grinding device 17, which gives it the destination of the respective trip. The processor 12 controls the controller 14 in such a way that it energizes the drive motor 15 of the respective carriage 8 in such a way that the maximum permissible speed is driven at every point in the route network 1 when there are no commands to the contrary. For this purpose, the reading head 16 reads the respective location where the carriage 8 is currently located from the code rail 7. The processor 12 takes the maximum speed permitted at the respective location from the table stored in the memory 13 and controls the drive motor 15 via the controller 14 accordingly. He also calculates a target position of the carriage 8 from the time integral of the target speeds, compares this target position with the actual position, which is read from the code rail 6 with the aid of the reading head 16, and gives the controller 14 corresponding correction commands, with which deviations between the actual and target position of the carriage 8 are eliminated. Such deviations can result from disturbance variables that affect the mechanics of the car, for example from an incline, the load or friction.

The central control 10 continuously receives information from the car control 11 via the data bus rail 6 about the location at which each car 8 is currently located. In good time before reaching a special position, e.g. Before reaching one of the switches 2, 3 in Figure 1, the central computer 10 sets the respective device at the special position, for. B. the switches 2, 3, so that the respective car 8 can reach its destination in the route network 1. If the carriage 8 can pass through the special position, e.g. by a corresponding feedback of the switch 2 or 3, the central control 10 gives the carriage control 11 a corresponding release command. This causes the carriage 8 to pass the corresponding special position without stopping; However, if the release command from the central control 10 is absent, the carriage 8 brakes at a distance from the special position, which can be calculated as the required braking distance for the respective speed, and remains in the special position.

If only a single carriage 8 were to move on the entire route network 1, the interaction between the central control 10 and the carriage control 11 would be complete. Always described: The car 8 would drive at a speed which corresponds to the maximum speed stored in the memory 13 for each location in the route network 1 from its starting point to the destination specified to it, only the passage of the car

8 is monitored by the central computer 10 through the special positions.

In fact, however, a plurality of carriages 8 move on the route network 1, all of them with the same

Type of car control 11 are equipped. All these carriages 8 are not only connected to the central computer 10 via the data bus rail 6, but also to one another, so that each carriage 8 in the route network 1 is informed of the position of each further carriage 8 in the same route network 1.

Basically, two different modes of operation are to be distinguished when several carriages 8 are moving on the route network 1: the individual trip, in which apart from avoiding a collision, the individual carriages 8 are guided essentially from the starting point to the destination point in the manner described above, and in one Bulk mode, in which a plurality of carriages 8 are combined to form a group and are guided in this group at a substantially uniform speed over a certain distance of the route network 1.

As already mentioned, the single trip operation largely corresponds to the autonomous travel of the individual car 8 described above from the starting point to the destination point. However, if the car controller 11 of a car 8 under consideration is supplied with the information via the data bus 6 that the distance from the previous car 8 is less than that in the Memory 13 stored minimum corresponding to the respective speed has fallen, the processor 12 controls the motor 15 via the controller 14 so that the speed drops below the maximum permissible value and the required safety distance from the previous car 8 is maintained. This driving state is now maintained until the forerunner car 8 is no longer found within the minimum distance, for example when it has entered a branching section of the route network 1. Then the car controller 11 accelerates the car 8 in question again to the maximum speed which is permissible at the respective location of the route network 1 taken from the reading head 16 of the code rail 7 according to the table value stored in the memory 13.

As far as several carriages 8 drive through certain sections of the route together and one behind the other in the route network 1, it is expedient for capacity reasons to combine them into a group. The wagons 8 of a group all run at the same speed and change the speed in an exact time correlation. It is thus possible for the wagons 8 of the group to travel at a minimum distance from one another which is less than the minimum distance for single trips. Even the value of this (smaller)

The minimum distance to the leading car 8 is stored in the car 13 in each car 8.

The central computer 10 determines which successive carriages 8 are combined to form a group and at which position of the group the respective carriage 8 is located. The control of the carriages 8 is now changed in the following manner compared to the control described above in the single trip: First, the smaller value from the memory 13 is read out as the relevant distance from the respective forerunner car 8. This enables the individual carriages 8 to move closer together than would be possible with a single trip. On the other hand, the carriages 8 in the group no longer change all of their speeds when one and the same specific location in the route network 1 is reached, at which a speed change is to be carried out according to the table stored in the memory 13. Rather, each car 8 in the group directs its speed according to the lowest speed that a car 8 is allowed to travel in the group.

This process will be explained in more detail using the route network 1 shown in FIG. 1:

Let us consider the carriages 8 in bulk travel in the lower straight section lc of the route network 1 which move in the direction of the arrow. In the straight line section lc the cars can

8 move at a higher speed, the value of which can be read from the table in the memories 13. If the first carriage 8a of the group now moves into the semicircular section 1b, in which a lower maximum speed applies, this carriage 8a decelerates its speed to this smaller value in a manner similar to a single journey. In correlation with this, all subsequent wagons of this group also reduce their speed accordingly. This does not happen because the following carriages 8 approach the respective predecessor carriages 8 too closely and the individual carriage controls 11 regulate the respective carriage speed upon detection of the excessive approach; this would take too much time. Instead, the first car 8a in the group reports via the data bus bar 6 to all other cars 8 in the group that its permissible speed is reduced. All other carriages 8 of this platoons react with a corresponding reduction in speed, even if they lc are still in the straight stretch, in ^'the higher speed would be permissible. In this way, the speed change of all cars 8 in the group takes place in an exact time correlation.

The wagons 8 of the pulk now pass through the semicircular section 1b of the route network 1 in succession at a reduced speed.

It is assumed that the switch 2 is set in such a way that the group under consideration enters the straight line section ld, where a higher maximum speed is again permitted. Each carriage 8 approaching the switch 2 receives a release command from the central control 10 so that the carriage 8 passes the switch 2. The leading carriage 8a of a group now does not accelerate analogously to the braking process described above when it enters a route area of the route network 1, in which it should travel at a higher speed according to the table stored in the memory 13. Rather, he waits until the last car 8b of the group has also entered the straight line section la and now all the cars 8 of the group signal via the data bus 6 that they can drive at the higher speed permitted on the straight line section la. Thus, the preceding car 8a accelerates in exact time correlation with all other cars 8 of the group, including the last car 8b, to the higher, now permissible speed. ω ω t-0 M μ- H o tπ σ LΠ O (Jl O Lπ

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The distance sensor 18 measures, in addition to the information about the location of the precursor car 8, transmitted via the data bus 6, the distance to these precursor car 8 in the manner of a reflection light barrier. Normally, the distance sensor 18 does not need to become active, since the processor 12 of each car controller 11 already has the correct distance from the predecessor car due to the measured actual position of the respective car 8 and the position of the predecessor car 8 transmitted via the data bus rail 6. Car 8 provides. However, should this control process fail for any reason, the distance sensor 18 ensures that the carriage 8 comes to a standstill by means of a corresponding signal acting on the processor 12.

Claims

claims

1. Electric monorail with

a) a rail system forming a route network;

b) a plurality of carriages, each comprising:

ba) at least one running gear that runs in the running rail system;

bb) at least one load carrier hanging from the chassis;

bc) at least one drive motor or;

bd) an autonomous wagon control, which in turn comprises:

bda) a processor;

bdb) a memory in which the entire route network, the maximum speed permitted at each point in the route network and the minimum distance to the leading car can be stored;

bdc) a controller controlled by the processor and energizing the drive motor;

d) a code rail system, which extends along the route network and carries a code that can be read by each car for the point at which the respective car is located;

e) a data bus rail system, which extends along the route network and via which the cars communicate with each other and with the central control,

in which

f) the carriage control of each carriage asks for the respective location of the carriage from the code rail system, takes the maximum speed for this point of the route network from the memory: - takes and in the absence of other information tries to bring the carriage to the maximum speed .

characterized in that

g) the central control (10) either operate each car (8) in a single trip mode or in a bulk mode combine several cars (8) that travel certain distances of the route network (1) in succession to groups, in which all cars (8) in have essentially the same speed and can transmit information to the individual wagon (8) about the membership of a group;

h) the car control (11) of each car (8) in bulk mode while driving from the code rail system (7) queries the respective location of the carriage (8), exchanges information about the currently permissible speed in each carriage (8) of the group via the data bus rail system (5) and thus controls the drive motor (15) of the corresponding carriage (8) that the carriage (8) runs at the lowest permissible speed of all the carriages (8) in the group.

2. Electric monorail system according to claim 1, characterized in that the permissible minimum distance between the carriages (8) which are operated in the Pulkmσdus is smaller than the permissible minimum distance between the carriages (8) which are operated in the single trip mode.

3. Electric monorail system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the permissible local speed, at least in areas of the route network (1) for each car (8), which is operated in bulk mode, is higher than for the car (8) which in Single trip mode can be operated.

4. Electric monorail system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that each carriage (8) has a distance sensor (18) which detects the distance to the previous carriage (8) and to the respective one

Car control (11) emits a signal when the distance falls below a certain minimum.