JP2012238229A - Conveyance system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce an influence of the charging operation of a conveyance vehicle on a conveyance operation more than ever before and to restrain the enlargement of a battery.SOLUTION: A conveyance system includes: a plurality of conveyance vehicles 3 which are driven by a storage battery and receive electric power from the outside and supply the electric power to the outside; a plurality of travel tracks 1A and 1B on which conveyance vehicles 3 travel; and power-receiving and power-feeding areas Ka and Kb where one travel track 1A and the other travel track 1B are adjacent to each other and the conveyance vehicle 3 travelling on the one travel track 1A receives/feeds the electric power and the conveyance vehicle 3 travelling on the other travel track 1B receives/feeds the electric power.

Description

  The present invention relates to a transport system.

  Patent Document 1 below discloses an operation control technique for an unmanned traveling vehicle. This technology uses unmanned travel in the operation control of a battery-driven unmanned vehicle that travels on a taxiway in which a plurality of stations are arranged, and sequentially stops at a station designated by an external communication means to carry it. By measuring the battery voltage of the unmanned traveling vehicle when the car arrives at the reference station that is the travel start position and the travel end position, and when the battery voltage is below a certain reference value, the unmanned travel vehicle is moved to the battery charging station, It is possible to suppress the charging operation of the unmanned traveling vehicle from adversely affecting the transportation operation.

JP-A-8-101713

By the way, for example, when the taxiway is set in a wide area, the unmanned traveling vehicle travels in an area relatively close to the battery charging station, and the unmanned traveling vehicle A performs the transfer work. There may be an unmanned traveling vehicle B that travels in a distant area and performs a transfer operation. In such a case, the unmanned traveling vehicle B travels to a battery charging station regardless of the presence or absence of an article to be transported by traveling a longer distance than the unmanned traveling vehicle A. The impact on
In addition, for example, since it is necessary to determine the battery capacity in accordance with the unmanned traveling vehicle that performs the transportation work in a place farthest from the battery charging station, there is a problem that the battery is increased in size.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to reduce the influence of the charging work of the transport vehicle on the transport work as compared with the conventional art and to suppress the increase in the size of the battery (storage battery). It is.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, as a first solution, a plurality of transport vehicles that are driven by a storage battery and receive power from the outside and supply power to the outside, and a plurality of travel tracks on which the transport vehicle travels are provided. An area in which a certain traveling track and another traveling track are adjacent to each other, and a conveyance vehicle that travels on a certain traveling track and a power supply / reception area that is fed / received by a transportation vehicle that travels on another traveling track, Adopt the means.

  As the second solving means, in the first solving means, a means is adopted in which the transport vehicle feeds / receives power while traveling in the power receiving / feeding area.

  As a third solution, in the first or second solution, the transport vehicle includes a plurality of receiving coils that receive power in a non-contact manner and power supply coils that feed power in a contactless manner. Is adopted.

  According to the present invention, in the power supply / reception area, the transport vehicle traveling on a certain travel track and the transport vehicle traveling on another travel track receive power and receive power, so that the transport vehicle receives power without traveling to the charging station. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the influence of the charging operation of the transport vehicle on the transport operation as compared with the conventional case, and it is possible to suppress an increase in the size of the battery of the transport vehicle.

1 is a system configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of an unmanned conveyance system A according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the detailed structure of the charging station 2 in one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the automatic guided vehicle 3 in one Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the state of non-contact electric power feeding area Ka and Kb in one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the characteristic operation | movement of the unmanned conveyance system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the unmanned conveyance system A according to the present embodiment performs conveyance work of articles such as parts and finished products between the automatic warehouse and the first manufacturing facility and between the automatic warehouse and the second manufacturing facility. And includes a first traveling track 1A, a second traveling track 1B, a charging station 2, a plurality of automatic guided vehicles 3 (conveyed vehicles), and a ground control station 4.

  The automatic warehouse and the first and second manufacturing facilities are provided with a warehousing station and a warehousing station for delivering articles to and from the automatic guided vehicle 3. As shown in the figure, the first traveling track 1A is provided in a loop shape (endless) across the warehousing and unloading stations of the automatic warehouse and the warehousing and unloading stations of the first manufacturing facility. It is for guiding the running of. On the other hand, the second traveling track 1B is provided in a loop shape (endless shape) straddling the warehousing and unloading stations of the automatic warehouse and the warehousing and unloading stations of the second manufacturing facility. It is for guiding the driving | running | working of the automatic guided vehicle 3 similarly to.

  In such first and second traveling tracks 1A, 1B, first and second non-contact power feeding areas Ka, which are in a substantially parallel state so that the automatic guided vehicle 3 can travel or stop in an adjacent state. Kb is provided. Although details will be described later, the first and second non-contact power feeding areas Ka and Kb are places (power feeding / power feeding areas) where the automatic guided vehicles 3 perform power receiving / power feeding. In the present embodiment, the first non-contact power feeding area Ka and the second non-contact power feeding area Kb are provided at two locations apart from each other due to the shape (layout) of the first and second traveling tracks 1A and 1B.

  Unlike the first and second non-contact power feeding areas Ka and Kb, the charging station 2 is a place (power feeding place) for the automatic guided vehicle 3 to receive non-contact power feeding from a fixedly installed ground charging facility. It is provided on a branch track 1a branched from a part of the first traveling track 1A. In this charging station 2, as shown in FIG. 2, a stop area 1 and a stop area 2 are set in a positional relationship that moves back and forth on the branch track 1a. In addition, a ground feed coil 2a is provided adjacent to the stop area 1, and a ground feed coil 2b is provided adjacent to the stop area 2.

  The plurality of automatic guided vehicles 3 are battery-driven unmanned traveling vehicles that perform an article transport operation between the automatic warehouse and the first and second manufacturing facilities. Each automatic guided vehicle 3 travels in the clockwise direction indicated by the arrows on the first and second traveling tracks 1A and 1B based on the instruction information related to the transport work received from the ground control station 4 via wireless communication. In addition to transporting parts and other articles from the automatic warehouse delivery station to the first and second manufacturing equipment entry stations, the finished goods and other articles are delivered from the first and second production equipment delivery stations to the automatic warehouse entry station. Transport.

  Although details will be described later, each automatic guided vehicle 3 is not contacted in the first and second contactless power feeding areas Ka and Kb when traveling on the first and second traveling tracks 1A and 1B and performing the transporting work. In addition to receiving and supplying power, the charging station 2 receives power.

  FIG. 3 shows a main part of each automatic guided vehicle 3, that is, a functional configuration of the power supply / reception system. As shown in FIG. 3, each automatic guided vehicle 3 includes two power receiving coils 3a and 3g, two power receiving circuits 3b and 3h, a charge / discharge circuit 3c, a storage battery 3d, Power supply circuits 3e and 3i, two power supply coils 3f and 3j, a wireless communication device 3k, and a control device 3m are provided.

  The power receiving coil 3a is an induction coil that receives non-contact power feeding from the above-described ground feeding coils 2a and 2b and the feeding coil 3f of the other automatic guided vehicle 3. It is provided at a height (position) that faces the power supply coil 3f of 2a, 2b or other automatic guided vehicle 3. Such a power receiving coil 3a receives AC power in a non-contact manner and outputs it to the power receiving circuit 3b by electromagnetic induction based on an AC magnetic field generated by the ground feeding coils 2a and 2b and the feeding coil 3f of the other automatic guided vehicle 3. To do. The power receiving circuit 3b is a power conversion circuit that converts AC power input from the power receiving coil 3a into DC power, and outputs the DC power to the charge / discharge circuit 3c and the power feeding circuit 3e.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the power reception coil 3 g is an induction coil that receives non-contact power supply from a power supply coil 3 j of another automatic guided vehicle 3, and is provided on the front side of the other side surface of the automatic guided vehicle 3. Such a power receiving coil 3g receives AC power in a non-contact manner and outputs it to a power receiving circuit 3h by electromagnetic induction based on an AC magnetic field generated by a power feeding coil 3j of another automatic guided vehicle 3. The power receiving circuit 3h is a power conversion circuit that converts AC power input from the power receiving coil 3g into DC power, and outputs the DC power to the charge / discharge circuit 3c and the power feeding circuit 3i.

  The charge / discharge circuit 3c is a power adjustment circuit that regulates power supply (charge) from the power reception circuit 3b or the power reception circuit 3h to the storage battery 3d and power supply (discharge) from the storage battery 3d to the power supply circuit 3e or power supply circuit 3i. is there. The charging / discharging circuit 3c outputs, for example, direct current power supplied from the power receiving circuit 3b or the power receiving circuit 3h to the storage battery 3d while adjusting the direct current power to a constant current, and also supplies direct current power (discharge power) supplied from the storage battery 3d. Is output to the power feeding circuit 3e or the power feeding circuit 3i. The storage battery 3d is a secondary battery such as a lithium ion battery or a lead storage battery. The storage battery 3d charges the DC power supplied from the charge / discharge circuit 3c, while discharging the stored power (DC power) and supplies it to the charge / discharge circuit 3c.

  Although not shown in FIG. 3, the automatic guided vehicle 3 has a plurality of driving wheels, driven wheels, a traveling motor and other functional components of the driving system that drive the driving wheels, a delivery station and a delivery station, and delivery of goods. And a functional component of a main control system for comprehensively controlling the traveling system and the cargo handling system. The traveling system, the cargo handling system, and the main control system function using the power of the storage battery 3d described above as a power source.

  The power supply circuit 3e is a power conversion circuit that converts discharge power (DC power) supplied from the charge / discharge circuit 3c into AC power, and outputs AC power to the power supply coil 3f. The power supply coil 3f generates an induction magnetic field based on the AC power supplied from the power supply circuit 3e, and supplies AC power to the outside via the induction magnetic field. Further, as shown in the figure, the power supply coil 3f is provided on the rear side on the other side surface of the automatic guided vehicle 3 located on the side opposite to the power reception coil 3a.

  The wireless communication device 3k is for exchanging information related to the transfer work and power supply / reception by wireless communication with the ground control station 4 and the wireless communication device 3k of the other automatic guided vehicle 3. The control device 3m controls the two power receiving circuits 3b and 3h, the charge / discharge circuit 3c, the two power feeding circuits 3e and 3i, and the wireless communication device 3g based on a predetermined control program. Thus, power supply / reception of power to / from the transfer work and other automatic guided vehicles 3 is realized.

  The ground control station 4 is a control device that controls the unmanned transport system A in an integrated manner. The ground control station 4 controls the operation of the automatic guided vehicle 3 by performing wireless communication with the wireless communication device 3k of the automatic guided vehicle 3 described above, and supplies power to the ground feeding coils 2a and 2b in the charging station 2. Control.

  Next, the operation of the automatic guided system A configured as described above, in particular, the power supply / reception operation of the automatic guided vehicle 3 which is a characteristic point of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. In the following description, the left side and the right side mean the left side and the right side with respect to the traveling direction of the automatic guided vehicle.

  In the automatic guided system A, the ground control station 4 controls the transfer work of the automatic guided vehicle 3 in an integrated manner. That is, the automatic guided vehicle 3 travels in the clockwise direction on the first and second traveling tracks 1A and 1B on the basis of the instruction information of the conveyance work received by the wireless communication device 3k, so that the automatic warehouse 3 The received article is transferred to the receiving station of the first manufacturing facility or the second manufacturing facility, and the received article is transferred to the receiving station of the automatic warehouse to the receiving station of the first manufacturing facility or the second manufacturing facility.

  The automatic guided vehicle 3 sequentially repeats the conveyance work by sequentially receiving the instruction information of the conveyance work from the ground control station 4, but the control device 3m of the automatic guided vehicle 3 uses the first and second traveling tracks 1A and 1B. When traveling, the power supply / reception processing shown in FIG. 5 is executed at regular time intervals. That is, when the control device 3m travels on the first and second traveling tracks 1A and 1B, the first contactless power feeding area Ka that is a power feeding / receiving area, for example, based on the traveling distance from each warehousing station or shipping station, It is determined whether or not the user is in the second non-contact power supply area Kb (step S1).

  Then, the control device 3m of the automatic guided vehicle 3 determines the first traveling track on the left side when the determination in step S1 is “Yes”, that is, when it exists in the first non-contact power feeding area Ka or the second non-contact power feeding area Kb. It is determined whether another automatic guided vehicle 3 exists on 1A in a parallel running state (step S2). That is, if the control device 3m exists in the first non-contact power supply area Ka, the control device 3m travels on the first traveling track 1A using the wireless communication device 3k and enters the first non-contact power supply area Ka. By performing wireless communication with the automatic guided vehicle 3 or the ground control station 4, the determination process of step S2 is performed, and if it exists in the second non-contact power feeding area Kb, the control device 3m The determination process of step S2 is performed by performing wireless communication with another automatic guided vehicle 3 or the ground control station 4 that has traveled on the first traveling track 1A using the machine 3k and entered the second non-contact power feeding area Kb. Do. If the determination in step S1 is “No”, that is, if the first non-contact power supply area Ka is not present in the second non-contact power supply area Kb, the control device 3m repeats the determination process in step S1. .

  And the control apparatus 3m of the automatic guided vehicle 3 is the automatic guided vehicle 3 which the self-vehicle drive | works on the 2nd driving track 1B, as shown in FIG. 4, when judgment of step S2 is "Yes", and When there is another automatic guided vehicle 3 traveling on the first traveling track 1A on the left side of the own vehicle, for example, by performing wireless communication with the other automatic guided vehicle 3 existing on the left side, the other automatic guided vehicle The battery remaining amount (other battery remaining amount) of the vehicle 3 is acquired (step S3).

  Then, the control device 3m compares the remaining battery level with the remaining battery level (own battery level) of the storage battery 3d acquired from the charging / discharging circuit 3c (step S4). If larger than that, the charging / discharging circuit 3c is set to the discharge mode and the power stored in the storage battery 3d is supplied to the power feeding circuit 3e, thereby supplying power to the other automatic guided vehicle 3 via the power feeding coil 3f (step S5). ).

  On the other hand, if the control device 3m of the automatic guided vehicle 3 determines that the remaining battery level is smaller than the remaining battery level in step S4, the control device 3m sets the charging / discharging circuit 3c to the charging mode and functions the power receiving circuit 3h. Thus, charging is performed from the other automatic guided vehicle 3 adjacent to the left side via the power receiving coil 3g to charge the storage battery 3d (step S6). If the control device 3m determines that the remaining battery level is the same as the remaining battery level in step S4, the control device 3m does not perform any power supply process as in step S5 or charging process as in step S6. The process of step S1 is repeated.

  Then, if the determination in step S2 is “No”, the control device 3m of the automatic guided vehicle 3 performs the second traveling using the wireless communication device 3k if it exists in the first non-contact power feeding area Ka. By performing wireless communication with another automatic guided vehicle 3 or the ground control station 4 that has traveled on the track 1B and entered the first contactless power supply area Ka, and if it exists in the second contactless power supply area Kb The wireless communication device 3k is used to perform wireless communication with another automatic guided vehicle 3 or the ground control station 4 that travels on the second traveling track 1B and enters the second non-contact power feeding area Kb. It is determined whether or not another automatic guided vehicle 3 exists on the second traveling track 1B in parallel (step S7).

  That is, when the determination in step S7 is “Yes”, that is, the control device 3m is the automatic guided vehicle 3 that travels on the first traveling track 1A as shown in FIG. When there is another automatic guided vehicle 3 traveling on the second traveling track 1B, for example, by performing wireless communication with another automatic guided vehicle 3 present on the right side, the remaining battery power of the automatic guided vehicle 3 is stored. The amount (remaining battery remaining amount) is acquired (step S8).

  Then, the control device 3m compares the remaining battery level with the remaining battery level (own battery level) of the storage battery 3d acquired from the charge / discharge circuit 3c (step S9), and the remaining battery level is determined as the remaining battery level. If larger than that, the charging / discharging circuit 3c is set to the discharge mode, and the power stored in the storage battery 3d is supplied to the power feeding circuit 3i, thereby supplying power to the other automatic guided vehicle 3 via the power feeding coil 3j (step S10). ).

  On the other hand, if the control device 3m of the automatic guided vehicle 3 determines that the remaining battery level is smaller than the remaining battery level in step S9, the control device 3m sets the charging / discharging circuit 3c to the charging mode and functions the power receiving circuit 3b. By doing so, power is received from the other automatic guided vehicle 3 adjacent to the right side via the power receiving coil 3a, and the storage battery 3d is charged (step S11). If the control device 3m determines that the remaining battery level is the same as the remaining battery level in step S9, the control device 3m does not perform any power supply process as in step S10 or charging process as in step S11. The process of step S1 is repeated.

  According to such power supply / reception processing in the automatic guided vehicle 3, the first and second non-contact power supply areas Ka and Kb are provided in the middle of the first and second traveling tracks 1A and 1B. Since the car 3 has a power feeding function in addition to the power receiving function, electric power is transferred from the automatic guided vehicle 3 having a large remaining battery level to the automatic guided vehicle 3 having a small remaining battery level during normal transportation work. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to greatly reduce the opportunity to interrupt the transfer work and travel to the charging station 2 to charge, so that the charging work of the automatic guided vehicle 3 gives the transfer work. The influence can be reduced as compared with the conventional case, and the increase in the size of the storage battery 3d of the automatic guided vehicle 3 can be suppressed.

In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, For example, the following modifications can be considered.
(1) In the power supply process or the charging (power receiving) process in steps S5, S6, S10, and S11 of the above embodiment, the automatic guided vehicle 3 traveling on the first traveling track 1A and the unmanned transport traveling on the second traveling track 1B. The power supply process or the charging (power receiving) process is performed while the vehicle 3 is traveling, but the present invention is not limited to this. When it is detected that each automatic guided vehicle 3 has entered, for example, the first and second non-contact power supply areas Ka and Kb, and that another automatic guided vehicle 3 is present on the left side or the right side, the vehicle is temporarily stopped or decelerated. Then, a power feeding process or a charging (power receiving) process may be performed.

(2) In order to realize stable power feeding or charging (power reception) in the first and second contactless power feeding areas Ka and Kb, it is necessary that the two automatic guided vehicles 3 maintain the same distance, that is, The distance between the power receiving coil 3a of the automatic guided vehicle 3 and the power supply coil 3f of the other automatic guided vehicle 3 and the distance between the power receiving coil 3g of the automatic guided vehicle 3 and the power supply coil 3j of the automatic guided vehicle 3 are constant. It is important to maintain proximity. Considering such stable power supply or charging (power reception), it is preferable that the traveling speeds of the two automatic guided vehicles 3 in the first and second non-contact power supply areas Ka and Kb are equal. It is preferable to adjust the speed so that the traveling speeds of the two automatic guided vehicles 3 become equal by wireless communication between the transport vehicles 3.

(3) In the above-described embodiment, the power transmission mode in which the automatic guided vehicles 3 are fed or received power without contact with each other has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention is also applicable to a contact-type power transmission form using a power supply brush or the like.

(4) In the above embodiment, the power supply process or the charging (power receiving) process is performed between the automatic guided vehicles 3 traveling on the two traveling tracks, that is, the first and second traveling tracks 1A and 1B. Is not limited to this. For example, when there are three traveling tracks 1 to 3, non-contact power feeding areas are set for the traveling tracks 1 and 2 that are adjacent to each other, and non-contact power feeding is performed for the traveling tracks 2 and 3 that are adjacent to each other. By setting the area, it is possible to realize power supply processing or charge (power reception) processing between the three traveling tracks 1 to 3.

(5) Although the case where the non-contact power feeding system is applied to the unmanned conveyance system A has been described in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can be applied to various applications other than the automatic transport system A. That is, the vehicle according to the present invention is not limited to the automatic guided vehicle 3 but can be applied to various automobiles that require charging, for example, automobiles driven by a driver.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1A ... 1st traveling track, 1B ... 2nd traveling track, 1a ... Branching track, 2 ... Charging station, 2a, 2b ... Ground feeding coil, 3 ... Automated guided vehicle (conveying vehicle), 3a, 3g ... Power receiving coil, 3b , 3h ... power receiving circuit, 3c ... charge / discharge circuit, 3d ... storage battery, 3e, 3i ... feeding circuit, 3f, 3j ... feeding coil, 3k ... wireless communication device, 3m ... control device, 4 ... ground control station, Ka ... first 1 contactless power supply area, Kb ... second contactless power supply area

Claims (3)

A plurality of transport vehicles that are driven by a storage battery and receive power from outside and feed power to the outside;
A plurality of travel tracks on which the transport vehicle travels;
An area where a certain traveling track and another traveling track are adjacent to each other, and a conveyance vehicle that travels on a certain traveling track and a power supply / reception area that is fed / received by a transportation vehicle that travels on another traveling track. Characteristic transport system.   The transport system according to claim 1, wherein the transport vehicle feeds / receives power while traveling in the power supply / reception area. The transport system according to claim 1, wherein the transport vehicle includes a receiving coil that receives power in a non-contact manner and a feeding coil that feeds power in a non-contact manner at a plurality of locations.

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