JP2001084037A - Unmanned vehicle system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize maintenance by simple operation by allowing a system controller to prohibit assignment of carrying work to an unmanned vehicle to which maintenance is set and to command traveling to a maintenance posi tion. SOLUTION: A system controller 14 manages respective unmanned vehicles 4, stores the states of the vehicles 4 dividing into states where carrying work, etc., can be assigned and states where the carrying work, etc., can be assigned and when maintenance is set, the controller 14 turns the vehicle 4 into the state where the carrying work, etc., cannot be assigned. Then, concerning the set vehicle 4, a traveling road to an equal charging point 10 or a saving point 12 is secured, communication with the vehicle 4 and charging facilities, etc., at a station 6, a rapid charging point 8 and the equalized charge point 10 is executed, and a traveling command to the point 10 is transmitted to the vehicle 4 to which equalized charge, etc., is set. Thus, assigning of a carrying work to the unmanned vehicle corresponding to maintenance is eliminated and it becomes possible to automatically travel to the maintenance position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic guided vehicle system, and more particularly to maintenance processing such as equal charging.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An automatic guided vehicle is operated by a battery such as a nickel-cadmium battery or the like, and performs rapid charging that can be normally performed in a short time. When the rapid charging is repeated, the capacity of the battery is reduced, so that the battery is completely discharged and then charged uniformly with a small charging current. The frequency of the uniform charging is about once every 1 to 3 months, and the time is about 6 to 12 hours. The conventional automatic guided vehicle system is not configured to particularly support maintenance settings such as equal charging. Also, the necessity of maintenance was not grasped by the system controller. Therefore, the setting of the maintenance is performed based on the memo of the equal charge and the like attached by the operator, and the setting operation is inconvenient to operate a plurality of screens.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A basic object of the present invention is to enable maintenance of an automatic guided vehicle with a simple operation. Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily specify an automatic guided vehicle to be maintained. An additional object of the invention according to claim 3 is to enable an operator to easily determine the necessity of maintenance for each automatic guided vehicle.

[0004]

According to the present invention, in a system in which an automatic guided vehicle is managed by a system controller, a traveling command for causing an automatic guided vehicle for which maintenance is set to travel to a maintenance position is generated and the automatic guided vehicle is controlled. A maintenance management means is provided for prohibiting the assignment of a transfer command to a vehicle (claim 1).
Here, maintenance means equal charging of the battery, inspection and repair of the vehicle body, and the like. It is not necessary to immediately carry out the process of traveling to the maintenance position or prohibiting the assignment of the transfer command from the maintenance setting.For example, in the case of an unmanned guided vehicle system where the transfer work is small at night, the maintenance is performed during the time when the transfer work is small at night. The travel to the position or the like may be reserved. In this case, the setting of the maintenance means the reservation of the execution of the maintenance.

Preferably, the system controller manages a plurality of automatic guided vehicles, and the maintenance managing means displays a screen for setting maintenance on the automatic guided vehicles on a control screen of the system controller, and The automatic guided vehicle candidates for which maintenance is to be set are displayed on the screen.

More preferably, the maintenance management means stores the operation status of each automatic guided vehicle and displays the operation status on a control screen.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the maintenance management means is provided in the system controller to prohibit the assignment of the transfer operation to the automatic guided vehicle for which maintenance has been set, and instruct the traveling to the maintenance position. I do. Therefore, if maintenance is set, the transfer operation is not assigned to the corresponding automatic guided vehicle, and the vehicle automatically travels to the maintenance position.

[0008] In the invention of claim 2, a screen for setting maintenance is displayed on the terminal of the system controller, and maintenance candidates are displayed on this screen. Therefore, the operator can easily set the maintenance. As for the maintenance candidates, it is assumed that the operator has not been set to not input “confirmation” or the like for the displayed candidate, or the operator inputs an opposite input such as “cancel” for the candidate display. Although it is assumed that the setting is not performed, any one may be used.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the operation status of the automatic guided vehicle is stored and displayed on the control screen, the necessity of maintenance can be easily grasped, and the maintenance setting can be further facilitated.

[0010]

1 to 5 show an embodiment. FIG. 1 shows a layout of the automatic guided vehicle system. Reference numeral 2 denotes a traveling path for the automatic guided vehicle, and a plurality of automatic guided vehicles 4 travel around the traveling path 2. Reference numeral 6 denotes a station provided along the traveling path 2, which is provided at a plurality of locations, and the automatic guided vehicle 4 conveys articles between the stations 6 and 6.

The automatic guided vehicle 4 operates on a nickel-cadmium battery, for example, and has a battery capacity of about 40 V × 50 AHr. The automatic guided vehicle 4 includes a charging coupler, and performs quick charging of a nickel-cadmium battery or the like at a quick charging point 8 provided along the traveling path 2. The necessity of the quick charge is determined based on a decrease in the output current to the traveling motor of the automatic guided vehicle 4 and the travel time after the previous rapid charge. Since the battery capacity of a battery such as a nickel cadmium battery tends to decrease when rapid charging is repeated, it is necessary to charge the battery, for example, about once every two months, for about 8 to 10 hours. In the uniform charging, a battery such as a nickel-cadmium battery is first completely discharged, and is gradually charged with a small charging current.

Numeral 10 denotes an equal charging point branched from the traveling path 2. At the time of equal charging, the automatic guided vehicle 4 is driven to the equal charging point 10, and after the power is turned off, equal charging is performed. In addition, the battery mounted on the automatic guided vehicle 4 may be charged uniformly without any change, or may be replaced with a spare battery that has been charged evenly. Then, the unmanned guided vehicle having completed the uniform charging is inserted into the traveling path 2 from the uniform charging point 10 and the system controller 14 described later.
Move to the control of. After maintenance such as uniform charging is completed, the automatic guided vehicle 4 is controlled by the system controller 14.
Is referred to as input in this specification.
Examples of maintenance of the automatic guided vehicle 4 other than the uniform charging include repair and inspection of the vehicle body. Reference numeral 12 denotes an evacuation point, where inspection and repair of the automatic guided vehicle 4 are performed. However, in this specification, only equal charging will be described below as an example of maintenance.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a system controller for managing the automatic guided vehicle system. Reference numeral 16 denotes a terminal. An operator interactively performs various settings from the terminal 16 to the system controller 14. The system controller 14 communicates with the automatic guided vehicle 4, the station 6, the rapid charging point 8, and the charging facilities (not shown) of the uniform charging point 10,
Control these.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the system controller 14. Reference numeral 20 denotes a battery management unit, which includes a quick charge management unit 21 and a uniform charge management unit 22 as subsystems. The necessity of the quick charge is, for example, for the individual guided vehicles 4
Judges from the output current of the battery and the like, and requests the quick charge management unit 21 via the external input / output 30 to permit quick charge. In response to this, the quick charge management unit 21 permits quick charge, and instructs traveling to the nearest quick charge point 8 and the like.

The uniform charging management unit 22 manages the necessity of equal charging for each of the automatic guided vehicles 4. Reference numeral 24 denotes a charging history file for each of the automatic guided vehicles 4, which is a charge history file after the previous uniform charging. (For example, the cumulative power-on time of the automatic guided vehicle 4), the travel distance after the previous uniform charging, the number of quick chargings after the previous uniform charging, and the like. The operating time is stored to grasp the total operating time since the previous uniform charging, and the problem of traveling distance is also used as an index of the integrated value of the output current to the traveling motor and so on. The reason for considering the number of times of charging is that the capacity of the battery is gradually reduced by the rapid charging.

The equal charge management unit 22 determines the necessity of equal charge from the data in the charge history file 24, and expresses the necessity with 1-bit data indicating the necessity or the necessity with a word length of about 2 to 8 bits. Ask what you did. The necessity of the equal charge is determined by comparing the operation time, the mileage, and the number of times of quick charge stored in the charge history file 24 with predetermined reference values, respectively. You may judge. Alternatively, an appropriate weight may be added to each factor stored in the charging history file 24 and the factors may be added, and the necessity of equal charging may be determined from the added value. The latter processing is suitable for expressing the necessity of equal charging as multi-step values.

The transfer command management unit 26 manages a transfer command issued from a higher-level controller (not shown), tracks the execution status of the transfer command, and reports the completion of the transfer command to the higher-level controller. The automatic guided vehicle management unit 28 manages each of the automatic guided vehicles, stores the state of the automatic guided vehicle 4 in two types, that is, allocatable and non-allocatable for a transfer operation or the like. Move the status of the car to unassignable. Then, the automatic guided vehicle management unit 28 allocates a transport command to the unmanned guided vehicle 4 in a state in which allocation is possible, and secures the traveling path 2 from the current position to the target station in the automatic guided vehicle 4 and generates a traveling command. I do.

The unmanned guided vehicles 4 which are unassignable by the unmanned guided vehicle management unit 28 are those for which maintenance is set or those which are out of order. The automatic guided vehicle management unit 28 secures a traveling path to the uniform charging point 10 and the evacuation point 12 for the automatic guided vehicle for which maintenance is set, and generates a traveling command. Reference numeral 30 denotes an external input / output, which communicates with the automatic guided vehicle 4, the station 6, the rapid charging point 8, the charging facility at the uniform charging point 10, and the like. A traveling command to the charging point 10 is communicated.

Reference numeral 32 denotes a display control unit which creates a screen to be displayed on the monitor of the terminal 16 and stores an input from the terminal 16 so that the system controller 14 is interactively controlled by the terminal 16. When the equal charge management unit 22 determines that there is a need for equal charge for any one of the automatic guided vehicles 4, the control screen 3 of the terminal 16 as shown in FIG.
In the status bar of No. 4, a request display 36 for equal charging is displayed. This display is not limited to the character display, and may be an icon display.

When the operator clicks the equal charge request display 36 in response to the equal charge request display 36, the screen display changes to FIG. 4, and the total operating time and total operating time after the previous equal charge for each unmanned guided vehicle 4 are displayed. The mileage and the number of quick charging times are displayed. This display is configured to preferentially display the need for uniform charging determined by the uniform charge management unit 22. For example, an automatic guided vehicle determined to require the uniform charging (in FIG. 4, No.1 automatic guided vehicle)
For example, by displaying an inverted display of No. 1 to indicate that the automatic guided vehicle of No. 1 is a candidate for uniform charging. Since the operation status of each automatic guided vehicle is known from the screen of FIG. 4, the operator can easily determine which automatic guided vehicle needs to be charged evenly, and for example, in FIG. Is clicked on the automatic guided vehicle of No. 1 in which is displayed, it means that uniform charging is set for this automatic guided vehicle. In displaying the candidates for equal charging, the necessity of equal charging is not indicated by raw data such as operating time, but rather by 2-8.
It may be a value expressed in bits.

In response to the setting of the uniform charging, the automatic guided vehicle management unit 28 shifts the corresponding automatic guided vehicle to a state where the transfer operation cannot be allocated, and instructs traveling to the uniform charging point 10. Then, the unmanned transport vehicle that has reached the equivalent charging point 10 is uniformly charged, and when the uniform charging is completed and the unmanned transport vehicle is inserted from the equivalent charging point, the equivalent charge management unit 22 stores the charging history file 24 of the unmanned transport vehicle. Reset is performed, and the operating time, the traveling distance, and the number of times of quick charging are all set to zero.
The current location of the unmanned guided vehicle with equal charging is equal charging point 1
0, the presence / absence of a load is no load, and the automatic guided vehicle management unit 28 returns the state of the unmanned guided vehicle after the uniform charging to the transfer work allocatable state.
, A travel command to an appropriate position in the travel path 2 is input, and is input to a transport operation.

In the embodiment, the equal charge request display 36 is displayed after the necessity of the equal charge arises. For example, this display is always displayed on the control screen 34 or the like, and the necessity of the equal charge is actually displayed. If this occurs, the display may be reversed, for example, so that it can be distinguished from before the necessity of uniform charging occurs. Then, in this case, after the necessity of the equal charge is generated, when the display of the equal charge is clicked, the screen shifts to the screen of FIG. 4 and it is assumed that the equal charge is set for the automatic guided vehicle specified by the operator therefrom. Is also good. Also, before and after the necessity of the equal charge is generated, if the user clicks on the display of the equal charge, the operation result is displayed on a screen similar to FIG. 4, and the equal charge is set or set for the automatic guided vehicle specified by the operator therefrom. It may be reserved.

FIG. 5 shows a control algorithm for uniform charging in the embodiment. The operation history of the automatic guided vehicle is stored in the charging history file 24, and whether or not the need for uniform charging is generated is determined by the uniform charging management unit 22. If the necessity arises, it is displayed on the control screen 34 equally. A charge request display 36 is displayed.
When this display is clicked, the history of each automatic guided vehicle is displayed, and at the same time, the candidates for uniform charging are also displayed. When the operator sets equal charging in a form that confirms this, the specified automatic guided vehicle travels to the equal charging point 10 and the power is turned off upon arrival. In addition, this automatic guided vehicle is moved to an unassignable state, and the assignment of the transfer operation is prohibited. Then, after performing the equal charge at the equal charge point 10, the charging history is reset, the current position is set to the equal charge point 10, the state of the load is set to no load, and the load is re-entered into the traveling path 2, and at the same time, the transfer work can be allocated. Move to state.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a layout of an automatic guided vehicle system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a system controller according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a control screen when an equal charge request is issued in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a designation screen of an automatic guided vehicle performing uniform charging in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control algorithm for equal charging in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 traveling path 4 automatic guided vehicle 6 station 8 quick charging point 10 equal charging point 12 evacuation point 14 system controller 16 terminal 20 battery management unit 21 quick charging management unit 22 uniform charging management unit 24 charging history file 26 transport command management unit 28 unmanned Transport vehicle management unit 30 External input / output 32 Display control unit 34 Control screen 36 Uniform charge request display 38 Uniform charge setting screen

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3F022 LL07 LL12 MM44 MM57 NN31 NN38 5H301 AA02 BB05 CC03 CC06 EE03 KK04 KK07 MM05 MM10 QQ04

Claims (3)

[Claims] In a system in which an automatic guided vehicle is managed by a system controller, a traveling command for causing an automatic guided vehicle for which maintenance is set to travel to a maintenance position is generated, and the automatic guided vehicle is transported to the automatic guided vehicle. An automatic guided vehicle system comprising a maintenance management means for prohibiting assignment of a command. 2. The system controller manages a plurality of automatic guided vehicles, and the maintenance management unit includes:
The control screen of the system controller, a screen for setting the maintenance to the automatic guided vehicle is displayed, and configured to display a candidate of the automatic guided vehicle for setting the maintenance on the screen, Claims Item 1. An automated guided vehicle system according to item 1. 3. The maintenance management means according to claim 2, wherein the operation status of each automatic guided vehicle is stored and the operation status is displayed on the control screen.
Automatic guided vehicle system.