JP2000293229A - Method for controlling operation of carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for efficiently controlling plural carriers traveling on a closed loop track so that transport works distributed and given to respective work stations are executed without delay. SOLUTION: A transport system is provided with a closed loop-like track, plural autonomous travel-type carriers loading controllers traveling on the track, the controller of a carrier group, which is installed out of the track, and plural work stations arranged along the track. The respective carriers V1-V10 judge the contents of transport works and judge whether the transport works are executed or not against a transport work request from the work station.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transport system and, more particularly, to an operation control method of a transport vehicle suitable for use in a transport system for operating a plurality of transport vehicles on a closed loop track.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a system for operating a plurality of carriers V1 to V10 on a closed loop track 1 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a carrier control device 11 is provided from a factory CIM system 10. The transfer work is assigned to the work stations ST1 to ST10 of the transfer source and held.
The transport vehicles V1 to V10 are allowed to travel around until work is allocated, and the work stations ST1 to ST10 are located in front of the stations and the traveling vehicles V1 to V10 are traveling.
A method of communicating with V10 to grasp the state of the transport vehicle, finding an empty vehicle, and giving a transport operation to the transport vehicles V1 to V10 has been adopted.

[0003] This is a method which is generally regarded as an ideal control method (a transfer control device which has a position and a state of an entire transfer vehicle, a state of a work station, and a transfer operation given from a factory CIM system). How to schedule which transport work is transported by which transport vehicle at any time,
The load on the transfer control device was so great that realization in real time was difficult. It is considered that this is a practical method in which the load on the transport control device is reduced more than in (1) and the operation of a large number of transport vehicles can be smoothly controlled.

[0004] However, as shown in FIG. 4, when a large number of transfer operations (41 to 45) are stored in the work station 31 on the upstream side of the traveling flow of the transfer vehicle 21, the work station 31 is empty. At the work station 32 on the downstream side, it is difficult to obtain a transport vehicle to be assigned to the transport tasks 51 to 52, and there is a problem that the time required for the transport task becomes extremely long.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the conventional operation control method of a transport vehicle, and performs a transport operation assigned to each work station without delay. An object is to provide a method for efficiently controlling a plurality of carriers traveling on a closed loop track.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an operation control method for a carrier according to the present invention comprises a plurality of autonomous traveling-type vehicles equipped with a closed-loop trajectory and a control device traveling on the trajectory. In a transport system including a transport vehicle, a control device for a group of transport vehicles installed outside the track, and a plurality of work stations provided along the track, each transport vehicle receives a transfer work request from the work station. On the other hand, it is characterized in that it is determined whether or not to execute the transport operation by determining the content.

In the method of controlling the operation of a transport vehicle according to the present invention, the transport vehicle can determine the contents of the transport operation in response to the transport operation request from the work station. Therefore, the transport vehicles are allocated according to the priorities of the transport operations. This makes it possible to efficiently distribute the transport vehicles to the respective work stations and to execute the given transport operation without delay.

[0008]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an operation control method for a carrier according to the present invention.

In an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG.
Empty vehicles V1 to V10 traveling on closed loop track 1
For each of the specific destination stations ST1-ST
10 is set, and the transport vehicles V1 to V that have completed the transport operation
10 travels toward the destination, but when a transfer work request occurs at stations ST1 to ST10 on the way, the transport vehicles V1 to V10 determine whether or not to execute the work according to the contents of the transfer work. I decided to judge.

An application example of the embodiment of the present invention is, for example, a transportation system having a layout as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in which a closed-loop-shaped track 1 and a plurality of control devices mounted on the track 1 are mounted. Autonomous traveling vehicles V1 to V10 and a control device 1 for vehicles V1 to V10 installed outside the track 1
1 and a plurality of work stations ST <b> 1 to ST <b> 10 provided along the track 1.

The transfer operation in this transfer system is as shown in FIG.
Car carrier group V1-V10 and work station group ST1-S
A command is given to the transfer control device 11 that controls the T10, and the transfer control device 11 distributes the transfer operation to the transfer-source station control devices STC1 to STC10. The transport work data includes “transportation object ID”, “transportation source I”
D "," transport destination ID ", and" priority ID ", and as shown in FIG. 3, the transport vehicles V1 to V10 and the station control devices STC1 to STC10 communicate with each other to perform the transport operation. Assigned.

Transport vehicles V1 to V10 for which transport operations have been completed
Travels toward a stored specific destination (called HP). The transport vehicles V1 to V10 communicate with station control devices STC1 to STC10 requesting a transport operation on the way. The means is generally non-contact communication using an infrared communication device or the like. FIG. 3 shows the contents of the communication.

In the case of an empty vehicle, the transport vehicle V1 passes "empty vehicle" information to the station control device STC1, and the content of the transport operation sent from the station control device STC1, that is, the transport object ID, the transport source ID, Destination ID,
Check the priority ID. First, the priority is checked. In this example, the priority is "high" for simplicity
And "low". When the priority is “high”, or when the priority is “low” and the transport destination is “HP”, the transport vehicle V1 passes “stop” information to the station control device STC1 and stops at the work station. And perform the work, otherwise pass the "pass" information and pass. As described above, the transport vehicles V1 to V10 can determine whether or not to execute the work based on the contents of the transport work requested by the work stations ST1 to ST10.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the transport vehicles V1 to V10 can determine the content of the transport operation in response to the transport operation request from the work stations ST1 to ST10. The transport vehicles V1 to V10 can be allocated according to the order and the like.
It is possible to efficiently distribute the task to T10 and execute the given transport operation without delay. This operation control method for a transport vehicle can be widely applied to a transport system that drives a plurality of transport vehicles on a closed loop track.

[0015]

According to the transport vehicle operation control method of the present invention, in response to a transport work request from a work station, the transport vehicle can determine whether or not to execute the content of the transport operation and thus determine whether or not to execute the transport operation. The transport vehicles can be allocated according to the priorities and the like, which eliminates the conventional situation in which the upstream work station takes precedence over the transport vehicle and the downstream work station cannot be transported. Can be efficiently allocated to each work station, and a given transfer operation can be performed without delay, thereby contributing to a reduction in the lead time of the process.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of a transport system.

FIG. 2 is a chart showing an example of a control system of the transport system.

FIG. 3 is a chart showing a control logic of the transport vehicle in the transport vehicle operation control method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a conventional operation control method for a transport vehicle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 track V1 to V10 transport vehicle ST1 to ST10 work station STC1 to STC10 station controller 11 transport controller

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Toshimasa Kawagoe 3-1-1, Shimosakabe, Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture Inside Hitachi Kiden Kogyo Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takumi Okada 3-1-1, Shimosakabe, Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture No. F-term in Hitachi Kiden Kogyo Co., Ltd. (reference) 5H301 AA02 AA09 BB05 CC03 CC10 DD07 DD16 EE02 EE03 EE12 FF01 FF11 KK02 KK04 KK08 KK09 KK12 KK14 KK20

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A closed-loop track, a plurality of autonomous traveling vehicles equipped with a control device traveling on the track, a control device for a group of vehicles installed outside the track, and In a transport system having a plurality of provided work stations, each transport vehicle determines whether or not to execute the transport work in response to a transport work request from the work station. Operation control method of a transport vehicle.