JP2008003785A - Method and system for controlling travel of automatic guided truck - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and a system for controlling the travel of an automatic guided truck capable of preventing traveling errors or operating errors, achieving accurate and stable travel of an automatic guided truck, and easily coping with the derailing of the automated guided truck or the like. <P>SOLUTION: A receiving device 6 provided on an automatic guided truck 1 is made to receive information about the travel pattern data of the automatic guided truck 1 from an area storage 5 provided in the travel area of the truck 1 and to receive information about travel route instruction data from a truck storage 4 provided on the truck 1. Based on the two pieces of information, the receiving device 6 controls the travel of the truck 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a traveling control method and system for an automatic traveling carriage that is used when, for example, a workpiece is transported between various processing apparatuses that are scattered in a factory.

  For example, in order to transport a workpiece such as an engine between various processing devices that are scattered in a factory, an automatic traveling cart that enables automatic loading and unloading of the workpiece may be used. As a traveling control method for this automatic traveling vehicle, a plurality of traveling route programs and operation control programs are stored in a control controller mounted on the automatic traveling vehicle, and traveling route instruction data is transmitted to the control controller. Thus, it has been conventionally performed to cause the automatic traveling carriage to perform a predetermined traveling by causing the corresponding instruction operation to be an operation control program according to the instruction content of the traveling route program.

  An example thereof is shown in FIGS. First, as shown in FIG. 4, an automatic communication cart (hereinafter referred to as a cart) 50 according to a conventional example is provided with an optical communication device 51, and this optical communication device 51 is a loading station for loading the workpiece onto the cart 50. In addition, data communication can be performed between a lowering station (both not shown) for lowering a work loaded on the carriage 50 and a controller (not shown).

  Then, information such as travel route instruction data and the number of the carriage 50 is transmitted from the station to the carriage 50 stopped at any station, and this information is transmitted via the optical communication device 51 mounted on the carriage 50. The travel route program is selected based on the travel route instruction data included in the information.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, on the traveling road surface of the carriage 50, a guide line 52 for guiding the carriage 50 and a plurality of magnetic tapes (mark plates) 53 positioned along the guide line 52 are provided. Corresponding to this, the cart 50 is provided with a sensor (not shown) for detecting the guide wire 52 and a magnetic sensor 54 configured to count (detect) the magnetic tape 53. 4).

  Then, the carriage 50 travels by guiding the guide wire 52 in accordance with the travel route program selected as described above, and applies the magnetic tape 53 provided at an appropriate position along the guide wire 52 to the magnetic tape 53. The vehicle counts with the sensor 54, and travels to a predetermined station by performing a travel operation derived from the counted number and the travel route program.

  However, in the above-described conventional traveling control method, if there is a counting (detection) error of the magnetic tape 53 in the traveling carriage 50, the traveling is not performed properly (the malfunctioning operation) and the station of the predetermined location is not reached. There may also be a problem that the carriage 50 stops at a place other than the target station.

  Further, when the operator returns the carriage 50 derailed from the travel route to the travel route, if the return position is different from the derailment position, there may be a problem that the carriage 50 erroneously travels. That is, in FIG. 5, for example, when the carriage 50 that is running in the direction A (direction A) derails when approaching the branch portion of the guide wire 52, the return work of the carriage 50 is performed by the operator. Will do. However, since there is not only one carriage 50 but also a plurality of other carriages 50 are simultaneously traveling in different places, it is impossible for the operator to monitor all the carriages 50 at all times. When this occurs, it is not always possible to accurately grasp the derailment position and traveling direction of the derailed carriage 50 at the site. For this reason, the operator returns the carriage 50 to a position deemed appropriate based on the state of the carriage 50 after derailment.

  When the operator derails the carriage 50 derailed as described above to the position P3 in FIG. 5, the carriage 50 continues to travel normally. However, when the worker returns the carriage 50 to the position P1 in FIG. 5, the carriage 50 will again count the magnetic tape 53 that has already been counted, and the count number changes and the running operation is changed, resulting in erroneous running. Further, when the carriage 50 is returned to the position P2, the vehicle travels in the direction B different from the direction A originally aimed at, and the vehicle also erroneously travels. As described above, when the carriage 50 derails, not only a great amount of time and labor is required for the subsequent correction work, but also an error may occur in the correction work. The error in the correction work is not limited to the erroneous traveling of the carriage 50. There was also a risk of affecting the related processes.

  Also, during emergency stop (when the power is shut off), there may be a problem that the travel route instruction data and the count data of the cart 50 may disappear. In order to recover, the cart 50 must be returned to the departure station. There was room for improvement in terms of increasing wasted time and man-hours.

  In addition, the traveling route of the carriage that can be dealt with only by rearranging (placing) the guide wire 52 and the magnetic tape 53 can be easily changed in a relatively short time. When it is necessary to change the root program, work by a person who has expertise in the program or the like (designer or the like) is indispensable, which takes a lot of time and man-hours.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to prevent the occurrence of erroneous running and malfunction, to realize the running of an accurate and stable automatic traveling carriage, the derailment of the automatic traveling carriage, etc. It is an object of the present invention to provide a traveling control method and system for an automatic traveling vehicle that can easily cope with the above.

  In order to achieve the above object, a traveling control method for an automatic traveling vehicle according to the present invention includes: a receiving device provided in an automatic traveling vehicle; an area storage provided in a traveling area of the automatic traveling vehicle; The information on the traveling pattern data is received, the information on the traveling route instruction data is received from the storage body for the carriage provided in the automatic traveling carriage, and the traveling of the automatic traveling carriage is performed based on the two information received by the receiving device. Is controlled (claim 1).

  Further, in the travel control method, the automatic travel cart may travel between a plurality of stations, and each station may be provided with a registration device for registering travel route instruction data in the cart storage body. Good (claim 2).

  Further, in the traveling control method, the cart storage body and the area storage body may be configured by RFID tags.

  On the other hand, in order to achieve the above object, a traveling control system for an automatic traveling vehicle according to the present invention is provided in a traveling area of the automatic traveling vehicle, and stores an area storage for storing traveling pattern data of the automatic traveling vehicle, A vehicle storage body provided in the automatic traveling vehicle for storing the travel route instruction data, and information relating to the travel route instruction data and the travel pattern data received from the vehicle storage body and the area storage body provided in the automatic travel vehicle. A receiving device and a controller that is provided in the automatic traveling vehicle and stores an operation control program for controlling the automatic traveling vehicle based on the information received by the receiving device are provided (claim 4). .

  The travel control system may be provided with a registration device for registering travel route instruction data in the storage device for each of the stations, in which the automatic traveling vehicle travels between a plurality of stations. Good (Claim 5).

  Further, in the travel control system, the cart storage body and the area storage body may be configured by an RFID tag.

  In the inventions according to claims 1 and 2, since the travel control is performed based on the travel pattern data of the area memory and the travel route instruction data of the cart memory, the control content is simple and trouble is not easily generated. Thus, it is possible to obtain a traveling control method for an automatic traveling vehicle that can prevent the occurrence of erroneous traveling and malfunction, and that can realize accurate and highly stable traveling of the automatic traveling vehicle. Furthermore, in the present invention, unlike the conventional example in which reading twice on the magnetic tape causes erroneous running, reading twice on the area memory is not a problem, so it is easy to cope with derailment of an automatic running carriage. Can be done.

  In addition, in the invention according to claim 3, since the RFID tag is used, the traveling of the automatic traveling cart that can be performed at low cost and that can realize the traveling control of the automatic traveling cart that is less likely to cause a reception error by the receiving device and that has high stability. A control method is obtained.

  In the inventions according to claims 4 to 6, a travel control system for an automatic travel bogie that exhibits the above-described effects can be obtained.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a configuration of a transport system to which a traveling control method and a traveling control system for an automatic traveling vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention are applied. First, this conveyance system conveys a workpiece (not shown) by an automatic traveling carriage (hereinafter referred to as a carriage) 1, and the carriage 1 travels along a predetermined traveling route and delivers the workpiece. The station S is configured to stop.

  Here, the conveyance system is provided in a production system having a production line for continuously producing a plurality of types of products by conveying a plurality of workpieces and assembling and processing parts to the workpiece. Examples of the system include a system for producing a car engine as a product by assembling parts such as a crank, a piston, a head, and a cam to a cylinder block as a workpiece in the production line.

  Further, the carriage 1 includes a plurality of (for example, four) wheels 2 (see FIG. 2) at the lower portion, and by driving and rotating at least one of the wheels, a guide wire (guidance mark) 3 provided on the floor surface is provided. A predetermined traveling route is configured to be capable of being driven along.

  Note that various means can be adopted as means for causing the carriage 1 to travel along the guide wire 3. For example, a light-reflective belt having high light reflectivity is provided on the floor as the guide wire 3. In addition, there is a configuration in which the carriage 1 is provided with a detection means (sensor) (not shown) composed of a light irradiation unit for detecting the guide wire 3 and a reflective photoelectric tube. In this case, by using the detection result by the detection means for controlling the steering (wheel direction) of the carriage 1, the carriage 1 can travel along a predetermined travel route.

  Various means can be adopted as means for stopping the carriage 1 at the station S. As an example, a deceleration / stop mark plate (not shown) is disposed at an appropriate position near the guide wire 3 on the floor surface. And a proximity (photoelectric) switch (not shown) for detecting the decelerating / stopping mark plate is provided on the carriage 1. In this case, the carriage 1 can be stopped at the station S by using the detection of the deceleration / stop mark plate by the proximity switch for the deceleration / stop control of the running of the carriage 1. However, in this embodiment, the deceleration / stop control of the carriage 1 is performed using the area memory 5 as described later without using the deceleration / stop mark plate.

  Furthermore, various means can be adopted as means for transferring the workpiece between the station 1 stopped at the station S and the station S. For example, a workpiece transfer such as a belt conveyor is transferred to the station S and the carriage 1. An apparatus (not shown) may be provided, or a work transfer apparatus having an arm or the like that can lift and move the work may be provided.

  Further, in this embodiment, five stations S are provided as shown in FIG. 1, and the station S shown in the lower right in FIG. 1 is a transfer device (not shown) for transferring a work to the carriage 1. ) Is a loading station S0. On the other hand, first to fourth unloading stations S1 to S4 are provided on the left side in FIG. 1, and a total of four unloading stations S1 to S4 are configured to receive workpieces from the carriage 1, respectively. A transfer device (not shown).

  And the said trolley | bogie 1 loaded the workpiece | work in loading station S0, it traveled along the guide wire 3, stopped in any of the 1st-4th unloading stations S1-S4, and transferred the workpiece | work to the said station S. After that, the vehicle travels again along the guide line 3 and returns to the loading station S0.

  And in this embodiment, in order to make the said trolley | bogie 1 make the said driving | running | working, the driving | running | working control system is used, and this driving | running | working control system is provided in the trolley | bogie 1 and writes driving route instruction data (including rewriting). ) A trolley storage 4 that can be stored, an area storage 5 that is provided in the travel area of the trolley 1 and that stores travel pattern data and position data (absolute value), and a trolley storage provided in the trolley 1. A receiving device 6 that receives information on travel route instruction data, travel pattern data, and position data from the body 4 and the area memory 5, and a program for reading the information provided in the cart 1 and an operation control program for the cart 1 are stored. A controller (not shown), and the receiving device executes the reading program of the controller. The information 6 received is sent to the controller, the operation control program based on this information is arranged to control the carriage 1.

  In this embodiment, the cart storage body 4 and the area storage body 5 are composed of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags (non-contact IC tags), which are arranged on the guide wire 3. In addition, the receiving device 6 is constituted by a tag reader / writer (RFID antenna) that can exchange information data with the RFID tag. The vehicle 1 is arranged at an appropriate position so that the information can be received satisfactorily.

  Also, in the loading station S0, registration for registering predetermined traveling route instruction data (data relating to the traveling route to the unloading stations S1 to S4 as arrival destinations) by writing (including rewriting) in the cart storage body 4 is performed. Device 7 is provided. Similarly, in each of the unloading stations S1 to S4, predetermined traveling route instruction data (data relating to a traveling route to the loading station S0 as an arrival destination) is registered by writing (including rewriting) in the cart storage body 4. A registration device 8 is provided. Each of the registration devices 7 and 8 is composed of the RFID antenna. The registration of the predetermined travel route instruction data includes a concept of selecting predetermined travel route instruction data from a plurality of travel instruction data.

  Further, in this embodiment, the receiving device 6 is configured to also serve as the controller, and as shown in FIG. 2, a battery (battery) 6a serving as a power source of the receiving device 6 is a cart. 1 is installed.

  Next, the operation of the travel control system will be described together with the description of the travel control method according to this embodiment.

  First, the registration device 7 of the loading station S0 stores travel route instruction data (from destinations S1 to S4 in this embodiment) to the cart storage 4 provided in the cart 1 stopped before the loading station S0. ) And the number of the carriage 1 are registered.

  Subsequently, the receiving device 6 provided in the cart 1 receives (reads) information related to the travel route instruction data of the cart storage body 4 and the travel pattern data and position data of the area storage body 5. The information received by the receiving device 6 by the reading program is sent to a controller, and based on this information, the instruction operation of the operation control program is made to the carriage 1 to control the traveling.

  Then, by the traveling control, the carriage 1 arrives at the predetermined unloading stations S1 to S4, and after the workpiece is transferred, the registration device 8 of the unloading stations S1 to S4 is used as the storage medium for the bogie 1 4, the travel route instruction data (the travel route up to the return destination S0 in this embodiment), the number of the carriage 1, and the like are written.

  Thereafter, the carriage 1 is controlled in the same manner as when it is unloaded from the loading station S0 and heads toward the stations S1 to S4, and performs a predetermined travel, and arrives at the original loading station S0.

  In the traveling control method, the traveling of the carriage 1 up to a predetermined station S is controlled, and the above steps are repeated.

  Here, the travel control will be described in more detail by taking as an example the case where the cart 1 travels from the loading station S0 to the first unloading station S1. First, the cart of the cart 1 stopped before the loading station S0. When the travel route instruction data is written in the storage memory 4, the receiving device 6 of the carriage 1 sends the travel route instruction data of the carriage storage 4 and the travel pattern of the area storage body 5a provided before the loading station S0. Data and receive. And according to these information (data), the trolley | bogie 1 starts driving | running | working toward the 1st unloading station S1.

  Subsequently, the receiving device 6 of the cart 1 receives the travel route instruction data of the cart memory 4 and the travel pattern data of the area memory 5b. And according to these information (data), the trolley | bogie 1 continues driving | running | working toward 1st unloading station S1.

  Thereafter, the receiving device 6 of the cart 1 receives the travel route instruction data of the cart memory 4 and the travel pattern data of the area memory 5c. And according to these information (data), the trolley | bogie 1 travels along the guide line 3 on the left side of the first branch part 9 (9a) so as to go to the first lowering station S1.

  Further, thereafter, the receiving device 6 of the carriage 1 receives the traveling route instruction data of the carriage memory 4 and the running pattern data of the area memory 5d. And according to these information (data), the trolley | bogie 1 starts deceleration.

  Finally, the receiving device 6 of the cart 1 receives the travel route instruction data of the cart memory 4 and the travel pattern data of the area memory 5e. And according to these information (data), the trolley | bogie 1 stops in front of the 1st unloading station S1.

  In the above example, the traveling control when the cart 1 travels from the loading station S0 to the first unloading station S1 is described. However, the same traveling control is performed by the cart 1 from the loading station S0. Needless to say, this is also performed when going to the lowering stations S1 to S3 and when going from the lowering stations S1 to S4 toward the loading station S0.

  In the conventional example shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the magnetic tape 53 is counted by the magnetic sensor 54 and the running operation according to the count number is performed. In this embodiment, the reception mounted on the carriage 1 is performed. The device 6 reads the travel route instruction data of the cart memory 4 mounted on the cart 1 and the travel pattern data of the area memory 5 installed on the road surface, and travels according to the read data. In operation, the carriage 1 is made to travel to the station S at a predetermined location. Therefore, in the cart 50 according to the conventional example, it is difficult to cope with derailment as described above. However, in the cart 1 of this embodiment, it is possible to easily deal with derailment.

  That is, in FIG. 3, for example, when the carriage 1 traveling in the direction A (direction A) derails near the branching portion of the guide wire 3, the operator can change the derailment position and the carriage 1. If the direction to go is grasped, it can return to position P3 shown in Drawing 3, and cart 1 carries out normal run after that. In the conventional example, if the worker cannot grasp the derailment position and the direction to which the carriage 50 is directed, it is impossible to cope with it. However, in this embodiment, if the worker cannot grasp such a way, Then, the carriage 1 may be returned to the position P1 upstream of the area storage body 5 in front of the branching portion. In this case as well, the subsequent carriage 1 travels normally. This is because, in the conventional example, if the magnetic tape 53 is counted twice, erroneous traveling has occurred, so the carriage 50 cannot be returned to the position P1 shown in FIG. This is because, with the above-described configuration, even if the area memory 5 is read twice or repeatedly read three times or more, a predetermined operation is performed as in the first time. Therefore, even when the carriage 1 is derailed, the subsequent correction work can be easily and accurately performed in a short time.

  In this embodiment, the travel route instruction data stored in the cart memory 4 of the cart 1 and the travel pattern data and position data stored in the area memory 5 are used for emergency stop (power supply of the cart 1 Even if the power supply is cut off, the power supply is irrelevant and is not erased. Therefore, if the power supply of the carriage 1 is turned on and the operation is prepared (returned), the carriage 1 will normally return to the predetermined station S again. It will start running.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, unlike the conventional example, the controller does not need to perform program processing for operation control from the count number of the magnetic sensor 54 and the travel route program, and the controller does not need to perform the operation control program. In addition, since only the read program is registered, there is an advantage that the burden of program processing can be reduced.

  In addition, when a new travel control system having a specification in which the travel route of the carriage 1 is changed due to version upgrade or the like, it is not necessary to change the operation control program of the controller. Since it is possible to respond by changing only the instruction data, if a standard program for the operation control program is created, the design man-hours associated with the change can be greatly reduced, costs can be reduced, and the manufacturing period can be shortened. It becomes possible.

  Further, in the existing travel control system, even when the travel route of the carriage 1 is changed due to a process change or the like, the travel route program is not registered in the controller as in the conventional example, and is stored in the controller. The operation control program can be used as it is, and can be dealt with, for example, by updating the information registered in the area memory 5, replacing the area memory 5 itself, or replacing the guide wire 3. Therefore, the travel route change accompanying the process change or the like can be easily performed in a short time.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be implemented with various modifications. For example, the cart memory 4 and the area memory 5 may be barcodes instead of RFID tags, and in this case, the receiving device 6 may be a barcode reader.

It is explanatory drawing which shows roughly the structure of the conveyance system to which the traveling control method and traveling control system of the automatic traveling vehicle which concern on one embodiment of this invention are applied. It is explanatory drawing which shows roughly the structure of the automatic traveling vehicle in the said embodiment. It is a top view which shows roughly the structure of the principal part of the said traveling control system. It is explanatory drawing which shows roughly the structure of the principal part of the traveling control system of the conventional automatic traveling vehicle. It is a top view which shows schematically the structure of the principal part of the traveling control system of the conventional automatic traveling vehicle.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic traveling vehicle 4 Memory | storage body for trolley | bogie 5 Memory | storage body for area 6 Receiver

Claims (6)

  The receiving device provided in the automatic traveling carriage causes the information relating to the traveling pattern data of the automatic traveling carriage to be received from the area storage provided in the traveling area of the automatic traveling carriage, and the carriage storage provided in the automatic traveling carriage A travel control method for an automatic travel vehicle, wherein information relating to travel route instruction data is received from the vehicle, and the travel of the automatic travel vehicle is controlled based on the two information received by the receiving device.   The travel control of the automatic travel vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the automatic travel vehicle travels between a plurality of stations, and a registration device for registering travel route instruction data in the storage device for the vehicle is provided at each station. Method.   The traveling control method for an automatic traveling vehicle according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the vehicle storage body and the area storage body are configured by RFID tags.   An area storage body that is provided in a traveling area of the automatic traveling carriage and stores traveling pattern data of the automatic traveling carriage, a carriage storage body that is provided in the automatic traveling carriage and stores traveling route instruction data, and the automatic traveling carriage Based on the information received by the receiving device provided in the automatic traveling vehicle, and a receiving device that receives information relating to traveling route instruction data and traveling pattern data from the cart storage and area memory A traveling control system for an automatic traveling vehicle, comprising: a controller storing an operation control program for controlling the automatic traveling vehicle.   The automatic traveling vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the automatic traveling vehicle travels between a plurality of stations, and a registration device for registering traveling route instruction data in the storage device for the vehicle is provided at each station. Travel control system.   The traveling control system for an automatic traveling vehicle according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the vehicle storage body and the area storage body are configured by RFID tags.

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