JP2006252337A - Automatic guided vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a vehicle from colliding with a station or structures by preventing the turning or stoppage of the vehicle in a wrong position in the event of multiple count or skip of magnetic bodies. <P>SOLUTION: A predetermined relative address is set to each magnetic bar 3 juxtaposed in a guide line 2, and address "53" is taken as a turning position of the automatic guided vehicle 1. The guide line 2 before the turning position is partially cut to provide a cutout part 5, and a predetermined relative address is also set to the cutout part 5. An address detecting sensor 11 detects the magnetic bars 3, and a traveling guide sensor 10 detects the cutout part 5. When the relative address of the magnetic bar 3 is "53" and the relative address of the cutout part 5 is "102", the vehicle is error-stopped as multiple count of the magnetic bars 3. When the relative address of the magnetic bar 3 is not the turning position, and the relative address of the cutout part 5 is the turning position, the vehicle is error-stopped as skip of the magnetic bars 3. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic guided vehicle that travels along a guideline in a factory or the like.

For example, an automated guided vehicle used in a factory travels along a guideline by magnetic induction laid on the floor and turns at a predetermined position. As a technique for turning this automatic guided vehicle, for example, there are those shown in Patent Documents 1 and 2 listed below.

JP-A-57-130200 JP-A-6-119034

In the above Patent Documents 1 and 2, when the automatic guided vehicle turns, one mark installed on the floor surface is detected, and by detecting this mark, the automatic guided vehicle is determined to be the turning position. To turn.

However, in these prior arts, turning or stopping is performed only by one type of mark. Therefore, if the one type of mark is counted or the mark is skipped, the automatic guided vehicle turns the desired turning. There was a risk that the vehicle would turn at a location different from the location, and collide with a loading / unloading station, other equipment, or structures such as pillars and walls.

The present invention has been provided in view of the above-mentioned problems. When a large number of magnetic bodies corresponding to the address for turning or stopping are counted or read out, an abnormality is recognized and an error is detected. The present invention provides an automatic guided vehicle for the purpose of preventing turning and stopping at a position and preventing a collision with an entry / exit station or a structure.

The automatic guided vehicle according to claim 1 of the present invention is an automatic guided vehicle that detects a magnetic body arranged in parallel with a guideline by a detection unit and performs straight traveling, turning, or stopping according to an address corresponding to the magnetic body. Detecting the excision part from which a part of the guideline is deleted by the detection means,
An address corresponding to the cut portion is recognized, and when the combination of the address of the turning position or the stop position and the address of the cut portion is other than a combination for turning or stopping set in advance, the non-turn position or the non-stop position And a control means for stopping the traveling of the automatic guided vehicle.

The automatic guided vehicle according to claim 2 is provided with a travel guide sensor for detecting a guideline and an address detecting sensor for detecting a magnetic body in a front-rear direction of the automatic guided vehicle, and the travel guide sensor and the address detecting sensor. The dimension in the front-rear direction is the same as the dimension in the front-rear direction of the magnetic body corresponding to the turning position or the stop position and the cut portion.

According to the automatic guided vehicle of the first aspect of the present invention, when the turning position or the stop position is other than the combination in which the address of the turning position or the stop position and the address of the excision part are set in advance, the non-turning position or the non-turning position Judgment is made as a stop position, and even if a large number of magnetic bodies corresponding to the address for turning or stopping are counted or skipped, abnormality recognition is performed and turning or stopping at the wrong position is performed. It is possible to prevent a collision with a loading / unloading station or a structure. In this way, by recognizing the address recognizing action of the excision part provided in the guideline with respect to the address recognizing action of the original magnetic substance arranged in parallel with the guideline, the magnetic material is counted more It is possible to determine when the body has been skipped, and in particular, it is possible to cope with multiple counting and skipping of the magnetic body with a very simple configuration in which only the excision part is provided in the guideline.

According to the automatic guided vehicle according to claim 2, the front-rear dimension of the travel guide sensor and the address detection sensor and the front and rear of the magnetic body and the excision portion provided with addresses corresponding to the turning position or the stop position. Since the direction dimensions are the same, the magnetic body and the excision part can be detected at the same time, and it can be immediately determined as the non-turning position or the non-stop position and stopped.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram related to the present invention of an automatic guided vehicle 1. FIG. 2 shows a part of a layout in a factory, for example, and a guideline 2 for running the automatic guided vehicle 1 is laid on the floor, and the guideline 2 is located at a predetermined position with the automatic guided vehicle 1. Stations ST for receiving and delivering loads are arranged between them. The automatic guided vehicle 1 goes straight by preset data,
The vehicle turns at a location where the guideline 2 intersects, travels to a predetermined station ST, and stops.

Travel guide sensors 10 are respectively provided before and after the automatic guided vehicle 1 and travel along the guide line 2 while detecting magnetism from the guide line 2 made of a magnetic rod, a magnetic tape, or the like. In addition, address detection sensors 11 are provided on both sides of the substantially central portion of the automatic guided vehicle 1, and magnetism from the magnetic rods 3 (magnetic bodies) arranged at predetermined intervals along the guideline 2. Is detected, and the relative address is recognized by the count from a preset reference point, and the automatic guided vehicle 1 recognizes the traveling position and the turning location.

In FIG. 1, guideline 2 and a travel guide sensor 10 for detecting a magnetic field from the magnetic bar 3.
And the detection signal from the sensor 11 for address detection is input into the control part 12 which consists of CPU,
Based on these signals, the control unit 12 causes the travel motor drive unit 14 and the steering motor drive unit 16 to operate.
To control. Further, the traveling motor 15 is driven by the traveling motor drive unit 14 and the steering motor 17 is driven by the steering motor drive unit 16 to perform a turning operation or the like. The storage unit 13
Stores data such as the automatic guided vehicle 1 traveling and turning or stopping at a position corresponding to the destination or relative address.

The automatic guided vehicle 1 detects the magnetic field from the magnetic bar 3 by the address detection sensor 11, recognizes the relative address by counting the magnetic bar 3, and turns when it reaches a preset relative address. However, when the magnetic bar 3 is counted, there are cases in which a dummy magnetic field of magnetized metal or the like is detected and multiple extras are counted, or the magnetic bar 3 is skipped in the middle.

Therefore, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, a cutout portion 5 is provided by cutting a part of the guideline 2 in front of the turning place where the guideline 2 intersects, and the cutout portion 5 is used as a travel guide for the automatic guided vehicle 1. The sensor 10 counts and recognizes the turning location as a relative address. In addition, the length of this cutting part 5 is made into the range of 100 mm-200 mm, for example.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, the relative address of the installed magnetic bar 3 is changed from “49” to “5”, for example.
3 ”, and the horizontal guideline 2 in the middle is recognized as a relative address of“ 50 ”. Further, in the present invention, the excision part 5 provided in front of the intersecting part (turning place) of the guideline 2 is counted by the traveling guide sensor 10, so that the relative address between the excision parts 5 is, for example, “101”. , “102”, “103”.

Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the dimension A between the magnetic bar 3 and the cut portion 5 is the same as the dimensions of the travel guide sensor 10 and the address detection sensor 11 in the automatic guided vehicle 1. this is,
This is because the detection of the magnetic bar 3 by the address detection sensor 11 and the detection of the cut portion 5 by the traveling guide sensor 10 are performed simultaneously so that it can be immediately determined whether or not to turn.

Next, the control operation when the automatic guided vehicle 1 travels will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, when the automatic guided vehicle 1 travels along the guideline 2, as shown in step S1, the address detection sensor 11 counts the magnetic rod 3 and the travel guide sensor 10 moves the cut portion 5 away. The excision part 5 is counted by detection.

As shown in FIG. 4, for example, when the relative address of the magnetic bar 3 by the address detection sensor 11 is “49”, and the relative address of the excision part 5 by the traveling guide sensor 10 is “102”.
"Is preset as a place where the automatic guided vehicle 1 turns. Similarly, the automatic guided vehicle 1 turns when the relative address of the magnetic bar 3 by the address detection sensor 11 is “53” and when the relative address of the excision part 5 by the traveling guide sensor 10 is “103”. It is preset as a place. This is a case where the relative addresses of the magnetic bar 3 and the excision part 5 are in a normal combination, and it is recognized that the rest is not a turning place.

Then, as shown in step S2, the address detection sensor 11 detects and counts the magnetic bar 3, and if the relative address is recognized as “53” by the count and it is determined that it is a turning place, step S3. Migrate to In step S3, the travel guide sensor 1
If the relative address is “103” as a result of counting the excision part 5 by 0, the automatic guided vehicle 1
Is determined to be a normal turning start position, and the process proceeds to step S4. After a predetermined distance is advanced (step 4) based on the turning data, a turning operation is performed (see step S5).

Next, in step S3, the signal from the address detection sensor 11 is recognized as a turning place, but the signal from the traveling guide sensor 10 does not detect the cut portion 5 or detects the cut portion 5. Even if the relative address by counting is “10” instead of “103”
In the case of “2”, it is recognized that the address abnormality is caused by the multiple count obtained by counting a large number of magnetic bars 3 (see step S6), and the automatic guided vehicle 1 stops the error (see step S7).
.

In step S2, when the magnetic bar 3 is counted by the address detection sensor 11, if the relative address of the turning place set in advance, for example, “51”, the process proceeds to step S8, and the excision by the travel guide sensor 10 is performed. If the relative address of the turning place set in advance as a result of the counting of the unit 5, for example, “102”, the process returns to step S1 and the automatic guided vehicle 1 continues traveling. In step S8, when the excision part 5 is detected by the traveling guide sensor 10, if the relative address of the excision part 5 is “103”, which is the turning place, the relative address of the magnetic bar 3 is “the turning place”. 53 ”, it is recognized that the magnetic bar 3 has been skipped, and the address abnormality is recognized (see step S9), and the automatic guided vehicle 1 stops the error (see step S10).

As described above, in the present embodiment, it is possible to read the magnetic rod 3 for the original address only by changing the sequence software that counts the excision part 5 provided in the guideline 2 and recognizes the relative address between the excision parts 5. Even when it is skipped or when a large number of addresses are counted due to dummy magnetic fields, etc., it is possible to recognize abnormalities in the turning position and prevent turning at the wrong place. Collisions can be avoided. In particular, the address recognizing action of the excision part 5 provided in the guideline 2 is complemented to the address recognizing action of the original magnetic bar 3 arranged in parallel with the guideline 2, so that the magnetic bar 3
Can be judged when counting a large number of times or the magnetic bar 3 is skipped, and in particular, with a very simple configuration in which only the excision part 5 is provided in the guideline 2, it is possible to cope with multiple counting and skipping of the magnetic bar 3 Can do.

In the present embodiment, the position confirmation has been described for the case of the turning operation. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to the case of the stop position to the station ST or the like. Thereby, the normal stop position of the automatic guided vehicle 1 can also be determined, and the accuracy of the stop position of the automatic guided vehicle 1 can be increased.

Further, the front-rear direction dimensions of the travel guide sensor 10 and the address detection sensor 11 are the same as the front-rear direction dimensions of the magnetic bar 3 to which the address corresponding to the turning position or the stop position is given and the excision part 5. Therefore, the magnetic rod 3 and the excision part 5 can be detected at the same time, and both detections can be performed reliably.

It is a block diagram of the automatic guided vehicle in embodiment of this invention. It is a principal part schematic block diagram of the layout in embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the control action in embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the combination of the normal relative address in the turning position in embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Guided vehicle 2 Guideline 3 Magnetic bar 5 Cutting part 10 Traveling guide sensor 11 Address detection sensor 12 Control part

Claims (2)

In the automatic guided vehicle that detects the magnetic body arranged in parallel with the guideline by the detecting means and performs straight traveling, turning or stopping according to the address according to the magnetic body,
While detecting the excision part from which a part of the guideline has been deleted by the detection means, and recognizing the address corresponding to the excision part
When the combination of the address of the turning position or stop position and the address of the excision part is not a combination for turning or stopping set in advance, it is determined as a non-turning position or a non-stop position, and the traveling of the automatic guided vehicle is stopped. An automatic guided vehicle comprising a control means. A travel guide sensor for guideline detection in the front-rear direction of the automatic guided vehicle, and an address detection sensor for magnetic body detection,
The front-rear dimension of the travel guide sensor and the address detection sensor is the same as the front-rear dimension of the magnetic body corresponding to the turning position or the stop position and the cut portion. Item 2. The automatic guided vehicle according to item 1.

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