JP2000276229A - Automated guided vehicle system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automated guided vehicle system for shortening the waiting time of vehicle distribution by waiting automated guided vehicles corresponding to conveyance request even when the distribution schedule of automated guided vehicles on a distribution table is deviated. SOLUTION: A transmitter-receiver 1 exchanges data between automated guided vehicles AGV1, AGV2 and AGV3 and a station. A conveyance request accepting part 2 writes the number of inputted conveyance requests into a storage part 3 as table data. An arithmetic part 4 subtracts the number of stored conveyance requests from the number of result conveyance requests at every time and of total and outputs differential data. A second arithmetic part 5 divides the differential data of the number of stored conveyance requests from the number of result conveyance requests at every time with the differential data of the number of stored conveyance requests from the number of total result conveyance requests for each station, multiplies the number of stored conveyance requests, outputs the number of automated guided vehicles corresponding to the conveyance request at each station and adds the number of automated guided vehicles in the stations within the prescribed range from a standby place. Corresponding to the conveyance request, a car distributing part 6 distributes the automated guided vehicle from the standby place closest to the station of the conveyance request.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an unmanned transport system for allocating an empty unmanned guided vehicle that is not working in response to a transport request in a transport operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional unmanned transfer system, when a transfer request is generated from a certain station, an empty unmanned transfer vehicle that is stopped at an empty vehicle standby position near the station that issued the transfer request is assigned. That is, the conveyance by the automatic guided vehicle is performed on the traveling route shown in FIG.

[0003] Here, ST1, ST2 and ST3 are:
This is a station where an unmanned guided vehicle loads and unloads luggage. AGV1, AGV2, and AGV3 are unmanned transport vehicles that transport cargo between stations. H
OME1 and HOME2 are standby places where empty automatic guided vehicles stop.

[0004] For example, when the station ST2 issues a transfer request, the control device C responds to the transfer request by:
An empty unmanned guided vehicle AGV2 stopped at the nearest standby location HOME1 is dispatched in response to the transfer request.
Then, the automatic guided vehicle AGV2 loads the package at the station ST2 and proceeds to the station ST3. Next, when the automatic guided vehicle AGV2 arrives at the station ST3, the automatic guided vehicle AGV2 lowers the conveyed package to the station ST3.

Next, the automatic guided vehicle AGV2 goes to the standby place HOME2, which is closest to the station ST3, because the AGV2 unloads and becomes empty. And automatic guided vehicle AG
When V2 arrives at the standby location HOME2, it waits until the control device C dispatches the vehicle for the next transport request.

[0006] In addition, it has also been practiced to determine in advance the standby location of the automatic guided vehicle AGV2. In this case, after the unloading process of the luggage is completed in the station ST3, the automatic guided vehicle AGV2 returns to the original standby location HOME1.

[0007]

However, the conventional unmanned transport system described above waits at a predetermined standby location, so that when the transport request from each station changes with time, the number of transport requests can be reduced. There is no guarantee that the empty unmanned guided vehicle is waiting, and there is a problem that it takes time to dispatch the vehicle for a transfer request.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, an unmanned transport system in which a dispatch table is prepared for each time in advance, and an empty unmanned transport vehicle based on the dispatch table is always kept in a standby position at each standby location is conceivable.

However, the dispatch schedule of the automatic guided vehicle described in the dispatch table shifts with the lapse of time,
Similar to the above-described unmanned transport system, there is no guarantee that empty unmanned transport vehicles corresponding to the number of transport requests are on standby, and there is a problem that it takes time to allocate vehicles for transport requests.

The present invention has been made under such a background, and even if the delivery schedule of the automatic guided vehicle described in the above-mentioned vehicle allocation schedule shifts with the passage of time, an empty automatic guided vehicle corresponding to the number of transport requests is provided. An object of the present invention is to provide an unmanned transport system in which a vehicle is made to stand by at a waiting place and the waiting time for dispatch is reduced.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In the automatic guided vehicle system, first communication means for transmitting and receiving command data is provided, a plurality of automatic guided vehicles traveling along a traveling route, and second means for transmitting a transportation request are provided. A plurality of stations for loading and unloading cargo, a plurality of waiting places for waiting when the automatic guided vehicle is not performing a transfer operation,
Communication means and third communication means for transmitting and receiving command data, current location data and transport requests to and from the second means, and an average value per unit time of the number of transport requests within a predetermined period is stored for each station. First storage means,
Second storage means for storing the number of other transfer request results within a predetermined time, at least the number of unmanned guided vehicles not performing transfer work, the average value per unit time, and the number of other transfer request results A calculation unit for calculating the number of unmanned guided vehicles to be parked for each of the waiting locations, a storage unit for storing the calculated result in a pair with the unit time and the waiting location, and performing an operation based on the pair. And a dispatching unit that dispatches unmanned guided vehicles from the standby location in response to a transport request from the station, while the unmanned guided vehicle waits at the standby location, and the control device includes In response to a transfer request from the station, the command data is transmitted to the automatic guided vehicle waiting at the standby location closest to the station. Characterized in that it transmits the data.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the unmanned transport system according to the first aspect, the arithmetic unit subtracts the number of other transport request results from the average value per unit time to the unit time of all stations. From the integrated value of the hit average value, the result was divided by a value obtained by subtracting the integrated value of the other transfer request results of all stations, and the result of the division was multiplied by the integrated value of the other transfer request results of all stations. It is characterized in that the numerical value is the number of the unmanned guided vehicles to wait at the waiting place.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control device C in an unmanned transport system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a transceiver, for example, an automatic guided vehicle AGV1, an automatic guided vehicle AGV.
2 and the AGV3, the station ST1, the station ST2, and the station ST3 (FIG. 4).

Further, the automatic guided vehicle AGV1, the automatic guided vehicle AGV2 and the automatic guided vehicle AGV3, the station ST1, the station ST2 and the station ST3 shown in FIG.
Although not shown in the figure, a transceiver for transmitting and receiving data to and from the control device C is provided. Station S
T1, station ST2 and station ST3
Transmits a transport request signal to the control device C.

Automatic guided vehicle AGV1, automatic guided vehicle AGV2
The automatic guided vehicle AGV3 receives command data indicating a destination from the control device C, and transmits data on the current position to the control device C.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a transfer request receiving unit to which a transfer request received by the transmission / reception unit 1 is input. The transfer request receiving unit 2 stores the input number of transfer requests in the storage unit 3 as, for example, table data shown in FIG. In this table, time data is shown in an area K1. here,
"1 o'clock" ranges from 1 o'clock to 2 o'clock, "2 o'clock" is 2 o'clock to 3 o'clock
The range up to the hour is shown.

In the area K2, the number data of the requesting station is shown. Further, K3 indicates, for each station ST1, station ST2, and station ST3, for example, the number of actual transport requests that are past (up to the previous day) and the number of accumulated transport requests that are present (today) in units of one hour, for example. .

Here, the actual transport request number "10" is shown in the upper left of the area H1, that is, "/". Also,
In the area H2, that is, at the lower right of “/”, the number of stored and transported requests “8” is shown.

Here, the actual transport request number indicated in the area H1 is the station ST1 at “1 o'clock” up to the previous day.
Is a numerical value obtained by accumulating the transfer requests from, and dividing the integrated value by the number of days of the integration. Further, the number of accumulated transport requests shown in the area H2 is a number obtained by integrating the transport requests at “1:00” today.

For example, if the current time is “3:30”, the actual number of transport requests indicated in the area H3 is “3:30” up to the previous day.
The transfer request from the station ST1 at "hour" is integrated, and the integrated value is a numerical value obtained by dividing the integrated value by the number of days. The number of accumulated transport requests shown in the area H2 is the number of accumulated transport requests transmitted from the station ST1 between 3:00 and 3:30 today.

In the area K4, the stations ST1, ST2, ST
3 and the station S for each time
T1, the number of storage and transport requests of the stations ST2 and ST3 are shown.

In the area H11, the total number of actual transport requests of the stations ST1, ST2 and ST3 at "1 o'clock" is "15". Further, in the area H12, a total “13” of the number of accumulated transport requests of the stations ST1, ST2, and ST3 at “1:00” is shown.

The above-described operations of integration and division for obtaining the number of actual transport requests and the number of accumulated transport requests are performed by the transport request receiving unit 2, and the results of the actual transport requests and the number of accumulated transport requests are stored in the storage unit 3. It is written as table data shown in FIG.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a first arithmetic unit, which performs subtraction processing of the number of accumulated transport requests from the actual number of transport requests at each time and in total, and outputs difference data of the subtraction result to the second arithmetic unit 5. The second arithmetic unit 5 performs, for each station, a process of dividing the difference data of the number of accumulated transport requests from the actual number of transport requests at each time of the station by the difference data of the number of accumulated transport requests from the total number of actual transport requests. .

The second arithmetic unit 5 multiplies the divided data by the number of accumulated transport requests and outputs the number of unmanned transport vehicles corresponding to the transport requests at each station.

Further, the second arithmetic unit adds the number of unmanned guided vehicles output as a result of the multiplication process for stations within a predetermined range from the standby location. Here, for example, in the conceptual diagram of the traveling path in FIG.
T1 and station ST2 are located at a standby location HOME1.
Is included in the dispatch range. Also, the station ST3 is
It is included in the dispatch range of the waiting place HOME2.

For example, the required number of unmanned guided vehicles to be parked at the standby locations HOME1 and HOME2 at the 1 o'clock level in the table data of FIG. 2 is calculated. Waiting place HOM
The number of unmanned guided vehicles on standby at E1 is calculated as “((10-8) * 13 / (15-13)) + ((1-2) * 13 / (15-13))”, and “7” Becomes Here, the calculated value is “6.
"5", but rounded to "7".

The number of unmanned guided vehicles to wait at the standby location HOME2 is “7” from the calculation of “(4-3) * 13 / (15-13)”. Here, the calculated value is “6.
"5", but rounded to "7".

Reference numeral 6 denotes a dispatching unit, which dispatches an unmanned guided vehicle in response to a transfer request from the transceiver 1 from a standby position located closest to the station that has issued the transfer request. . In addition, the vehicle allocation unit 6 determines at which standby place the unmanned guided vehicle for which the transfer operation has been completed is to be made to stand by based on the calculation results of the first calculation unit and the second calculation unit, and makes the unmanned guided vehicle stand by at a predetermined waiting place.

Next, referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3,
The operation of the automatic transfer system according to the embodiment will be described.
Assume that the current time is in the 3 o'clock range of the table data shown in FIG. At this time, the automatic guided vehicle AGV2 that is not performing any work
Are waiting at the standby location HOME1, and an unmanned guided vehicle AGV3 not performing any work is waiting at the standby location HOME2. Then, it is assumed that the operation of transporting the AGV1 is completed.

At this time, in the data in the table of the storage unit 3, the station having the largest number of transfer requests after 3 o'clock is the station ST3 having the accumulated transfer request number of "2".
It is. The station with the second largest number of transport requests is the station ST2 with the number of accumulated transport requests of “1”.
It is. The station ST1 has no transfer request number after 3:00.

The vehicle dispatching section 6 includes an automatic guided vehicle AGV1.
, A signal indicating the end of the transfer operation is input from the first arithmetic unit and the second arithmetic unit to the current standby position HOM at 3 o'clock.
The required number of unmanned guided vehicles to be placed on standby at E1 and the standby location HOME2 (the expected number of transport requests that are likely to be performed) is calculated.

For this reason, the first arithmetic unit reads out the number of accumulated transport requests and the number of actual transport requests from the data storage locations of the three o'clock stations of the table data stored in the storage unit 3. Then, the first arithmetic unit calculates the difference between the actual transport request number “1” indicated in the table data area H3 of the station ST1 and the accumulated transport request number “0” indicated in the table data area H4 as “(1- 0) ”.

Similarly, the first arithmetic unit operates at the station ST.
The difference between the actual transfer request number “8” indicated in the area H5 of the table data 2 and the accumulated transfer request number “2” indicated in the table data area H6 is determined as “(8-2)”. Similarly, the first calculation unit calculates the difference between the actual transport request number “4” indicated in the area H7 of the station ST3 and the accumulated transport request number “1” indicated in the table data area H8 by “(4- 1) ".

Next, the second calculation unit calculates the required number of unmanned guided vehicles to be on standby at each standby location. In other words, the number of unmanned guided vehicles to wait at the standby location HOME1 is calculated from the following formula: ((1-0) * 3 / (13-3)) + ((8-2) * 3 / (13-3)) "2". Here, the calculated value is “2.
"1" but rounded to "2".

Here, the denominator "13" is the total number of actual transport requests shown in the area H9 of the table data of the stations ST1, ST2 and ST3 at three o'clock. The numerator “3” is the total number of actual transport requests indicated in the area H10 of the table data of the stations ST1, ST2, and ST3 at three o'clock.

That is, the number of unmanned guided vehicles to be parked at the waiting place HOME2 is "1" from the calculation of "(4-0) * 3 / (13-3)". Here, the calculated value is “1.
"2", but rounded to "1".

Then, the second arithmetic unit calculates the number of unmanned transport vehicles 2 to be parked at the standby location HOME1 and the number of unmanned transport vehicles 1 to be parked at the standby location HOME2 obtained by the above-described calculation. Output to 6. The vehicle allocation unit 6 determines the standby location of the automatic guided vehicle AGV1 based on the input number of the automatic guided vehicles and the number of the automatic guided vehicles currently waiting at the standby locations HOME1 and HOME2.

That is, the vehicle allocation unit 6 includes an automatic guided vehicle AGV.
Since the required number of the automatic guided vehicles at the standby place HOME2 where 3 is waiting is one, it is determined that it is not necessary to make the automatic guided vehicle AGV1 wait. In addition, the vehicle allocation unit 6 determines that it is necessary to make the automatic guided vehicle AGV1 stand by because the required number of automatic guided vehicles at the standby location HOME2 where the automatic guided vehicle AGV2 is waiting is two.

As a result, the vehicle dispatching section 6 includes the automatic guided vehicle AGV.
1 is instructed to wait at the standby location HOME1. Then, the automatic guided vehicle AGV1 waits at the standby location HOME1 until the next command is input from the vehicle allocation unit 6.

By the above processing, the station ST
1. Since the required number of unmanned transport vehicles corresponding to the expected number of transport requests at the stations ST2 and ST3 are calculated, the number of unmanned transport vehicles required to stand by at each of the standby locations HOME1 and HOME2 is calculated. Can be Thus, the dispatching unit 6 can make a difference in distributing an unmanned guided vehicle that is not performing work preferentially to a standby place where the number of waiting unmanned guided vehicles is insufficient.

As a result, the required number of unmanned guided vehicles corresponding to the expected number of transport requests at the stations ST1, ST2 and ST3 are made to stand by at the standby locations HOME1 and HOME2, respectively. The probability that the number of unmanned guided vehicles at the place is equal to the waiting number is improved, and it is possible to reduce the time required for distributing the unmanned guided vehicles to the transfer request.

[0043]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an unmanned transport system, wherein first communication means for transmitting and receiving command data is provided, and a plurality of unmanned transport vehicles traveling along a traveling route are provided. A second means for transmitting, a plurality of stations for the automatic guided vehicle to load and unload the load; a plurality of standby locations for standby when the automatic guided vehicle is not performing a transport operation; Communication means and third communication means for transmitting and receiving command data, current location data, and a transport request with the second means, and an average value per unit time of the number of transport requests within a predetermined period is stored for each station. A first storage unit, a second storage unit in which the number of other transfer request results within a predetermined time is stored, and at least a number of the automatic guided vehicles not performing a transfer operation, A calculation unit that calculates the number of unmanned guided vehicles to be parked at each of the waiting locations based on the average value and the number of other transportation request results, and stores the calculated result in a pair with the unit time and the waiting location. A storage unit and a dispatching unit that causes an unmanned guided vehicle that is not performing work based on the pair to wait at the standby location and dispatches an unmanned guided vehicle from the standby location in response to a transport request from the station. A control device, wherein the control device responds to the transfer request from the station with the command data, and the command data for causing the automatic guided vehicle waiting at the standby location closest to the station to perform work. In order to make a call, the required number of unmanned guided vehicles corresponding to the expected number of transport requests at the station are made to wait at the standby location. It improves the probability that the number of waits AGV match at the location, it is possible to shorten the time of dispatch of the AGV relative to the transport request.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the unmanned transport system according to the first aspect, the arithmetic unit subtracts the number of other transport request results from the average value per unit time to the unit time of all stations. From the integrated value of the hit average value, the result was divided by a value obtained by subtracting the integrated value of the other transfer request results of all stations, and the result of the division was multiplied by the integrated value of the other transfer request results of all stations. Since the numerical value is the number of unmanned guided vehicles to be placed on standby at the waiting place, the expected number of transport requests for each station is always calculated, and dispatch is performed so as to satisfy the required number of unmanned guided vehicles at the waiting place. The number of transfer requests and the number of unmanned guided vehicles waiting at the waiting location, so that the required number of automated guided vehicles corresponding to the expected number of transported requests at the station are kept at the waiting location. There was increased probability of matching, it is possible to shorten the time of dispatch of the AGV relative to the transport request.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control device in an unmanned transport system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of table data stored in a storage unit 3 in the unmanned transport system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a traveling path for explaining an operation of the unmanned transport system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of a traveling path for explaining an operation of an unmanned transport system in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Transmission / reception part 2 Transport request reception part 3 Storage part 4 1st calculation part 5 2nd calculation part 6 Vehicle dispatch part AGV1, AGV2, AGV3 Automated guided vehicle C control device HOME1, HOME2 Standby place ST1, ST2, ST3 Station

Claims (2)

[Claims] A first communication means for transmitting and receiving command data; a plurality of automatic guided vehicles traveling along a traveling route; and a second means for transmitting a transportation request. A plurality of stations for loading and unloading luggage, a plurality of standby locations for waiting when the automatic guided vehicle is not performing a transfer operation, the first communication means and the second means, and command data, Third communication means for transmitting and receiving the current location data and the transfer request, first storage means for storing an average value per unit time of the number of transfer requests within a predetermined period for each station, Second storage means for storing the number of other transfer request results, and the waiting time based on at least the number of unmanned guided vehicles not performing transfer work, the average value per unit time, and the number of other transfer request results. A calculation unit for calculating the number of unmanned guided vehicles to be on standby for each machine location, a storage unit for storing the calculated result in pair with the unit time and the standby location, and not performing work based on this pair A control unit comprising: an unmanned transport vehicle that waits at the standby location; and a dispatch unit that dispatches the unmanned transport vehicle from the standby location in response to a transport request from the station. And transmitting the command data to the automatic guided vehicle waiting at the standby location closest to the station in response to a transport request from the station. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the calculating unit subtracts the number of other transfer request results from the average value per unit time, and calculates the other transfer request value of all stations from the integrated value of the average value per unit time of all stations. Divide by the number obtained by subtracting the integrated value of the number of results, and multiply the result of the division by the integrated value of the number of other transfer request results of all stations to obtain the number of unmanned guided vehicles that wait at the standby location. The unmanned transport system according to claim 1, wherein: