JP2013091366A - Automatic guided vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stabilize traveling of a towing truck with an automatic guided vehicle.SOLUTION: A base 111 of an automatic guided vehicle 101 has such a shape as to sandwich a towing truck 201 therebetween in the width direction B. The base 111 is provided with a rotatable free wheel 121 and a pair of fixed wheels 122. When the automatic guided vehicle 101 and the towing truck 201 are coupled with each other, the pair of fixed wheels 122 of the automatic guided vehicle 101 sandwich a fixed caster 206 of the towing truck 201 therebetween in the width direction B. When a detection section 116 of the automatic guided vehicle 101 detects a guide line GT laid at a manufacturing site or the like, the automatic guided vehicle 101 travels according to a detection result of the detection section 116.

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic guided vehicle that pulls a towed carriage.

  In recent years, automated guided vehicles have been used at production sites and the like. The automatic guided vehicle automatically travels along a predetermined route. In addition, a towed cart (for example, a cart) is also pulled by an automatic guided vehicle.

  Patent Document 1 states that “the towed vehicle has a very simple structure, can effectively and reliably use inertial force, can always exert stable braking force, and is particularly applicable to automatic guided vehicles. The invention of “cart” is disclosed. Specifically, the towed cart 1 described in Patent Document 1 is provided with “a slide plate 3 that can be moved back and forth in the towing direction on the base plate 2 on which the load of the towed cart 1 to be pulled by the towed vehicle 10 is loaded. The traction plate 7 connected to the traction vehicle 10 is provided at the front portion of the slide plate 3 ”, and“ the rear wheel installed on the lower surface of the rear portion of the base plate 2 on the lower surface of the slide plate 3 ”. The control wheel 9 is installed immediately before 6, and the rear wheel 6 is brought into contact with the braking wheel 9 to generate a braking force when the towing vehicle 10 is braked. Here, the front wheels 5 and 5 are free wheels that can turn and can freely change the traveling direction. The rear wheels 6, 6 are fixed wheels that do not turn. Further, the control wheel 9 is an omni wheel that can move back and forth and right and left without turning. FIG. 5A of Patent Document 1 shows “a situation in which the towed carriage 1 loaded with the conveyed product G is being pulled by the automated guided vehicle (AGV) 10 via the tow plate 7 and is running”. Yes.

JP 2010-254070 A

  The invention described in Patent Document 1 is applied to the towed cart 1. However, there are a large number of towed trucks introduced at the manufacturing site. For this reason, it is actually difficult to modify each towed truck.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5A of Patent Document 1, when the trailer 1 is connected to the rear of the automated guided vehicle (AGV) 10 and the trailer 1 is pulled, the automated guided vehicle (AGV) 10 The turning center point of the towed truck 1 and the turning center point of the towed truck 1 are greatly separated from each other, so that traveling becomes unstable and small turning is not possible.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to stabilize the traveling of a towed truck by an automatic guided vehicle.

  The automatic guided vehicle of the present invention is an automatic guided vehicle for towing a towed truck having a free caster and a pair of fixed casters arranged in the width direction intersecting the traveling direction of the carriage, and sandwiches the towed truck in the width direction. A base having a shape, a connecting portion for connecting the base and the towed carriage, a free wheel provided on the base, and provided at a position where the fixed caster is sandwiched in the width direction in the base. A pair of fixed wheels, a detection unit that detects a laid guide wire, and a drive control unit that rotationally drives at least one of the universal wheel and the fixed wheel according to a detection result of the detection unit; Prepare.

  According to the present invention, when the automatic guided vehicle moves to the left turn, the right turn, the turn on the spot, etc. with the towed carriage attached to the automatic guided vehicle, a pair of the automatic guided vehicles are provided. Since the fixed wheel and a pair of fixed casters provided on the towed truck are aligned, the turning center point of the automated guided vehicle and the turning center point of the towed truck come close to each other, and the towed machine by the automated guided vehicle The dolly travel is stable.

It is the perspective view which looked at the automatic guided vehicle from the front side. It is the perspective view which looked at the automatic guided vehicle from the back side. It is a right view of the automatic guided vehicle with which the towed truck was connected. It is a bottom view of the automatic guided vehicle with which the towed truck was connected. It is a block diagram which shows the electrical structure of an automatic guided vehicle.

  One embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the automatic guided vehicle 101 as viewed from the front side. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the automatic guided vehicle 101 as seen from the back side. A guide wire GT is laid on the floor F of the manufacturing site. The guide line GT is provided along a travel route set in advance for the automatic guided vehicle 101 to travel. The guide line GT is detected by a detection unit 116 (described later) provided in the automatic guided vehicle 101. The automatic guided vehicle 101 travels or stops according to the detection result of the guide line GT by the detection unit 116. Or For example, when a magnetically guided AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) is used for the automatic guided vehicle 101, the guide wire GT is a magnetic tape, and a magnetic sensor is used as the detection unit 116, and the automatic guided vehicle 101 is recorded on the magnetic tape. The vehicle travels or stops based on the magnetic information. The automatic guided vehicle 101 and the guide line GT constitute an automatic guided system 100.

  FIG. 3 is a right side view of the automatic guided vehicle 101 to which the towed carriage 201 is connected. FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the automatic guided vehicle 101 to which the towed carriage 201 is connected. A guided vehicle 201 is connected to the automatic guided vehicle 101. The towed carriage 201 is configured by a pair of side plates 203 erected from both short sides of a substantially rectangular bottom plate 202, and the longitudinal direction of the bottom plate 202 is set as a carriage traveling direction A. A placement object 204 is placed on the bottom plate 202. Swivel casters 205 are attached to the four corners of the bottom surface of the bottom plate 202. A pair of fixed casters 206 are also provided on the lower surface of the bottom plate 202. The fixed casters 206 are respectively positioned approximately in the middle of the pair of free casters 205 arranged in the cart traveling direction A, and are arranged in the short direction of the bottom plate 202 (the width direction B of the towed cart 201).

  The automatic guided vehicle 101 pulls such a towed carriage 201. The automatic guided vehicle 101 is based on a base 111 and is configured to include each part. The base 111 has a substantially U shape in a plan view in which the towed carriage 201 is sandwiched from the front side in the carriage traveling direction A. The base 111 includes a front part 111A located on the front side of the automatic guided vehicle 101, and side parts 111B extending from both ends of the front part 111A to the back side of the automatic guided vehicle 101. The space between the pair of side portions 111B functions as a carriage arrangement space 111C in which the towed carriage 201 is arranged.

  The front portion 111A protrudes above the side portion 111B. An obstacle sensor 112 is disposed in the center of the front side of the front portion 111A. The lamps 113 are disposed on both side portions on the front side of the front portion 111A. The lamp 113 is also provided at the end on the back side of the side portion 111B. A bumper 114 is also provided on the front portion 111A. The bumper 114 extends in the width direction B on the front side of the front portion 111A, and extends further from the both end portions toward the back side.

  The base 111 is provided with a connecting portion 115 for connecting the towed carriage 201. As an example, the connecting portion 115 is a hook receiver that receives a hook 207 that is rotatably provided on a side plate 203 on the front side of the towed carriage 201 as shown in FIG. 111A, and is engaged with a hook 207 of a towed truck 201 that is arranged in a carriage arrangement space 111C and sandwiched between side parts 111B.

  The detection unit 116 is disposed on the bottom side of the front portion 111 </ b> A of the base 111 and on the back side of the automatic guided vehicle 101 with respect to the obstacle sensor 112.

  On the bottom surface side of the base 111, a freely rotatable free wheel 121 and a non-turnable fixed wheel 122 are provided. The universal ring 121 is provided at both ends in the width direction B of the front portion 111A. The fixed ring 122 is provided at the end on the back side of each side portion 111B, and is arranged in the width direction B. When the towed carriage 201 is arranged in the carriage arrangement space 111C and connected to the automatic guided vehicle 101, the pair of fixed wheels 122 is positioned at a position where the fixed caster 206 of the towed carriage 201 is sandwiched in the width direction B.

  A drive motor 123 is attached to the fixed wheel 122. A drive shaft (not shown) of the drive motor 123 is connected to a rotation shaft of the fixed wheel 122, and when the drive motor 123 is driven, the fixed wheel 122 rotates. The rotational speed of the drive shaft of the drive motor 123 can be changed as desired. For example, PWM control is used to adjust the rotational speed of the drive shaft of the drive motor 123.

  The side portion 111B has a space with an upper surface opening, in which a battery 124 is accommodated. The battery 124 supplies power to the drive motor 123, the lamp 113, the bumper switch circuit 133 (described later based on FIG. 5), the detection unit 116, the control circuit 125 (described later), the wireless communication circuit 126 (described later), and the like. In addition, a guide member 127 that guides the towed truck 201 when the towed truck 201 is introduced from the back side of the base 111 into the cart arranging space 111C is attached to the outer surface of the side portion 111B on the side of the cart arranging space 111C. ing.

  A control circuit 125 and a wireless communication circuit 126 are provided inside the front portion 111A. For example, the control circuit 125 is located at the upper left position of the obstacle sensor 112 when viewed from the front side on the inner wall surface on the front side of the front portion 111A. The wireless communication circuit 126 is disposed in the vicinity of the control circuit 125.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the automatic guided vehicle 101. The control circuit 125 is electrically connected to the wireless communication circuit 126. Further, the control circuit 125 is connected to the obstacle sensor 112 via the wiring PL and the input / output circuit (I / O) 131, to the individual lamp 113 via the wiring PL and the lamp control circuit 132, and to the wiring PL and the bumper switch circuit. 133 is electrically connected to the bumper 114 via the wiring 133 and the detection unit 116 via the input / output circuit (I / O) 134, and to each drive motor 123 via the wiring PL and the motor control circuit 135. Has been.

  The wireless communication circuit 126 performs short-range wireless communication with a wireless communication facility (not shown) introduced into the manufacturing site, and outputs a control signal corresponding to an instruction signal from the wireless communication facility to the control circuit 125.

  The obstacle sensor 112 includes a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit (both not shown). When the light receiving unit receives detection light emitted from the light emitting unit and reflected by an obstacle in front of the automatic guided vehicle 101, a detection signal is generated. When the generated detection signal is transmitted to the control circuit 125 via the input / output circuit 131, the control circuit 125 controls the motor control circuit 135 to stop the drive motor 123 and stop the advance of the automatic guided vehicle 101. .

  The lamp 113 is turned on and off according to the control of the lamp control circuit 132 that has received the control signal from the control circuit 125. As an example, when the control circuit 125 controls the motor control circuit 135 so that the automated guided vehicle 101 turns to the left, the control circuit 125 includes a ramp 113 on the left front of the automated guided vehicle 101 and a ramp 113 on the left rear. Flash both. The lamp 113 is lit not only for such direction indication but also when a predetermined state (normal operation, occurrence of abnormality, etc.) in the automatic guided vehicle 101 is indicated.

  When an obstacle in front of the automatic guided vehicle 101 comes into contact with the bumper 114 and the bumper 114 vibrates, the bumper switch circuit 133 issues a detection signal to the control circuit 125. When the generated detection signal is transmitted to the control circuit 125 via the input / output circuit 131, the control circuit 125 controls the motor control circuit 135 to stop the drive motor 123 and stop the advance of the automatic guided vehicle 101. .

  When detecting the guide line GT, the detection unit 116 generates a detection signal corresponding to the detection result. The generated detection signal is transmitted to the control circuit 125 through the input / output circuit 134. The control circuit 125 performs control according to the detection signal from the detection unit 116 to blink a desired lamp 113, drive or stop a desired drive motor 123, or perform wireless communication with the wireless communication circuit 126. I will let you. Control by the control circuit 125 to blink the desired lamp 113 and drive or stop the desired drive motor 123 is also performed based on a control signal input from the wireless communication circuit 126. Since control of each part of the control circuit 125 based on such a control signal is an existing technique, description thereof is omitted.

  A motor control circuit 135 and a drive motor 123 are provided for each fixed wheel 122. Then, the control circuit 125 issues a control signal to each motor control circuit 135 independently and drives each drive motor 123 separately. As a result, in the automatic guided vehicle 101, the pair of fixed wheels 122 are separately driven to rotate. Here, the control circuit 125, the motor control circuit 135, and the drive motor 123 constitute a drive control unit 136.

  Please refer to FIG. 1 to FIG. In the automatic guided vehicle 101 of the present embodiment, when the wireless communication circuit 126 receives an instruction signal from the wireless communication facility or a predetermined switch (not shown) provided in the automatic guided vehicle 101 is operated, The control circuit 125 controls the motor control circuit 135 so that the fixed wheel 122 rotates, and the automatic guided vehicle 101 advances in the carriage traveling direction A. When the guide line GT is detected by the detection unit 116 during the progress, the control circuit 125 controls the individual motor control circuits 135 in accordance with the control signal input from the detection unit 116, and sets the automatic guided vehicle 101 to the guide line GT. Proceed along. Here, each fixed wheel 122 is independently driven by a separate drive motor 123, and various movements such as left turn advancement, right turn advancement, straight advancement, stop, turning on the spot, retreating, etc. Can be performed. Movements such as left turn progress, right turn progress, and turn on the spot in the automatic guided vehicle 101 are realized by changing the rotation speeds of the pair of left and right fixed wheels 122.

  When the automatic guided vehicle 101 moves in a left turn, a right turn, a turn on the spot, etc. with the towed carriage 201 attached to the base 111 of the automatic guided vehicle 101, a pair provided in the automatic guided vehicle 101. Because the fixed wheel 122 and the pair of fixed casters 206 provided on the towed carriage 201 are aligned in a straight line, the turning center point of the automatic guided vehicle 101 and the turning center point of the towed carriage 201 are close to each other. As a result, the traveling of the automatic guided vehicle 101 is stabilized and the small turn is also effective. In the present embodiment, the guided carriage 201 and the towed carriage 201 are not arranged in the front and rear, but the towed carriage 201 is arranged in the carriage arrangement space 111C formed in the automated guided vehicle 101. The total length at the time of towing is shortened and the turning radius is also reduced, which is advantageous in terms of running stability and small turning.

  As another embodiment, the drive shaft of the drive motor 123 may be connected to the free wheel 121 so that the free wheel 121 functions as a drive wheel. Alternatively, the automatic guided vehicle 101 may be connected from the rear side in the cart traveling direction A of the towed truck 201 and may be transported by pushing the towed truck 201 by the automatic guided vehicle 101.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Automatic guided vehicle 111 Base 115 Connection part 116 Detection part 121 Swivel wheel 122 Fixed wheel 136 Drive control part 201 Towed truck 205 Swivel caster 206 Fixed caster A Carriage traveling direction B Width direction GT Guide line

Claims (3)

An automatic guided vehicle for towing a towed carriage having a universal caster and a pair of fixed casters arranged in a width direction intersecting the carriage traveling direction,
A base configured to sandwich the towed carriage in the width direction;
A connecting portion for connecting the base and the towed carriage;
A free wheel provided on the base and capable of turning;
A pair of fixed wheels provided at locations where the fixed casters are sandwiched in the width direction in the base;
A detector for detecting the installed guide wire;
A drive control unit that rotationally drives at least one of the universal wheel and the fixed wheel according to a detection result of the detection unit;
Automated guided vehicle equipped with. The base has a substantially U shape in a plan view that sandwiches the towed carriage from the front side in the traveling direction of the carriage.
The automatic guided vehicle according to claim 1. The drive control unit rotationally drives the pair of fixed wheels independently;
The automatic guided vehicle according to claim 1 or 2.

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