JP2913570B2 - Travel control equipment for mobile vehicles - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to the length of the travel path of the moving car
A plurality of stations are arranged side by side in the hand direction, and
On the traveling route, rather than the location of each
A storage medium is provided, a stop mark is provided at each of the installation locations of the plurality of stations, and a reading means for reading information stored in the storage medium and a mark detecting means for detecting the stop mark are provided on the mobile vehicle. A traveling distance integrating means for integrating the traveling distance from the installation location of the storage medium,
Based on the information read by the reading means and the information from the mileage integrating means, the moving vehicle is decelerated from a predetermined distance before the target station, and then the mark detecting means detects a stop mark of the target station. And control means for executing stop control for stopping the moving vehicle with the control of the vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in such traveling control equipment,
As described in JP-A-4-104306
More than the location of each of the stations
From the storage medium installation location to the storage medium installed on the side of the road
The distance to the station stop mark is stored.
Was. The moving vehicle gradually decelerates from a predetermined distance before the target station, based on the information read from the storage medium, and based on the travel distance from the installation location of the storage medium integrated by the travel distance integrating means, As the mark detecting means detects the stop mark of the target station, the stop is performed accurately and smoothly.

Place of installation of storage medium to be stored in storage medium
As the distance from to the stop mark of the station , a designed distance or an actually measured value is used. If there is any inconvenience in actually running the mobile vehicle, the distance is increased or decreased. That is, the mobile vehicle reaches the creep speed (minimum speed) as close as possible to the stop position.

[0004]

However, writing the distance information to the storage medium and adjusting the increase or decrease of the distance information as described above are troublesome work. Further, if the distance from the storage medium to the station is changed due to a layout change or the like, it is necessary to rewrite the distance information to the storage medium and adjust the increase or decrease. Further, for example, the integrated value of the mileage integrating means involves an error, but this error is slightly different for each moving vehicle. Therefore, if priority is given to safe and smooth stopping for all moving vehicles, the creep speed must be reached. There is a margin for the distance between the stop and the stop, and efficient operation is somewhat sacrificed.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as its object to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems and to make it possible to easily optimize the stop control of a moving vehicle. To provide control equipment.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a traveling control system for a mobile vehicle, comprising:
Stations are arranged side by side, each of the stations
Storage media is located on the traveling route
A stop mark is provided at each of the installation locations of the plurality of stations; a reading unit that reads information stored in the storage medium; a mark detection unit that detects the stop mark; A traveling distance accumulating means for accumulating a traveling distance from the installation location of the medium; and the mobile vehicle is decelerated from a predetermined distance before the target station based on the information read by the reading means and the information from the traveling distance accumulating means. later, there is said mark detecting means is a control means for performing stop control for stopping the transport vehicle is provided with the stop is detected marks of the target station, the characteristic configuration, the Travel route
Is the part where multiple stations are arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction of the route
A plurality of travel paths, wherein the storage medium is
Is provided at the start end of the
A station that identifies each of the multiple stations
The control means is configured to be switchable between an actual traveling mode for executing the stop control and a learning traveling mode, and in the learning mode, the moving vehicle As the vehicle travels along the partial travel path, the section distances from the storage medium to the respective stop marks of the plurality of stations are obtained from the traveling distance integrating means, and each of the plurality of section distances is A point that is configured to execute a process of storing in association with station identification information read from a storage medium, and that the stop control is executed based on the section distance in the actual traveling mode. It is in.

[0007]

According to the above features, the traveling route of the mobile vehicle is provided.
Is the part where multiple stations are arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction of the route
It is configured with a plurality of traveling paths, and the starting end of the partial traveling path
The storage media installed in the
Station identification to identify each of the multiple stations
Different information is stored, and distance information from the storage medium to each station is not stored.

Instead, the control means of the mobile vehicle is configured to be switchable between an actual driving mode and a learning driving mode, and in the learning driving mode, the section distance from the storage medium to the stop mark of each station is calculated by the driving distance integrating means. And store it in memory. Each section distance is stored as information associated with each station identification information.

In the actual traveling mode, the control means , based on the information read from the storage medium , determines that the target station is present on the partial traveling path, and calculates the section distance to the station and the traveling distance integration. The traveling vehicle is gradually decelerated from a predetermined distance before the target station based on the travel distance from the installation location of the storage medium integrated by the means, and the mark detecting means detects the stop mark of the target station. To stop the moving car.

[0010]

Therefore, the stop control in the actual traveling mode is executed based on the section distance obtained from the traveling distance integrating means in the learning traveling mode in which the traveling vehicle is actually traveled, instead of storing the designed distance or the like. This eliminates the need to adjust the distance. When the distance from the storage medium to the station is changed due to a layout change or the like, the section distance can be updated simply by performing the learning travel again. Further, since the section distance is measured and stored for each moving vehicle, the stop control based on the optimum section distance for each moving vehicle is executed. And above
Travel distance to the stop mark of the station as described above
Management on a partial runway with multiple stations side by side
All stations that exist in the travel route
Travel distance to the stop mark of the
Compared to managing the distance information
Flexible handling of complicated routes
And a stop mark from the installation position of the storage medium.
To the actual driving mode
The section from the stored storage medium to the stop mark
Due to slipping of the tire between the distance and the actual running distance.
Error can be sufficiently reduced. In addition, multiple stays
Compared to installing storage media for each application.
The number of storage media can be reduced. The equipment configuration
Easily optimize stop control of mobile vehicles while simplifying
I can do it.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a guide line L that forms a traveling route of the mobile vehicle A is laid on the traveling road surface of the mobile vehicle A that is an automatic guided vehicle, and the mobile vehicle A stops and unloads a load. A plurality of stations ST are arranged along the guidance line L. FIG. 1 is a simplified drawing of the layout of the actual transport equipment, and the loading area LE on the left side in the figure is shown as the mobile vehicle A waiting at the home position HP is given a transport work command. Load the luggage at any of the stations ST lined up in the area, and unload the area UE on the right
1, it is assumed that the user carries the luggage to any station ST by carrying it to UE2.

As shown in FIG. 2, the guide line L is formed by embedding a magnetic material having a rectangular cross section, magnetized to the N pole on the front side and S pole on the back side, on the traveling road surface. In order to reduce the laying cost, the guide line L is laid only in a straight line portion, and the guide line L is divided in a curved portion such as a corner portion, a branch portion, and a merging portion. During this time, the mobile vehicle A travels autonomously and transfers to the next guidance line L. Information such as the traveling speed and the steering angle for the autonomous traveling is stored in a storage medium T installed at a position before the curve. Address information and the like after branching in the branching unit are also stored in the storage medium T.

As shown in the figure, a part (hereinafter, referred to as a partial traveling path) L1 of a guide line in which a plurality of stations ST are arranged in the loading area LE and the unloading areas UE1 and UE2 in the longitudinal direction of the route. , L2, L3 are also provided with storage media T1, T2, T3, respectively, and travel path identification information (hereinafter referred to as line addresses) for identifying the partial travel paths L1, L2, L3, and a plurality of stations. Station identification information for identifying each of the STs (hereinafter, station identification information)
Station address). These pieces of information are used for control for appropriately stopping the moving vehicle A at the target station ST as described later. sand
That is, rather than each of the stations ST
Storage media T1, T2, T3 are provided on the upstream side of the traveling route.
The traveling route L has a plurality of stages in the longitudinal direction of the route.
L1, L2, L
3 are provided.

The storage medium T is formed by integrally casing a rewritable semiconductor memory (EEPROM), a loop antenna, a signal processing circuit, a control circuit, and the like for performing proximity wireless communication by electromagnetic induction with an external device. In addition, as shown in FIG. With such a configuration, information (hereinafter referred to as traveling control information) necessary for traveling control of the mobile vehicle A, such as information on traveling speed, steering angle, and the like, and station identification information in the curved section as described above, is stored in the storage medium T. Can be written and read without contact.

Further, a stop mark M for designating a stop position of the moving vehicle is provided at the installation location of the station ST. The stop mark M is a magnetized magnetic plate, and is used by being embedded in the traveling road surface of the mobile vehicle A similarly to the storage medium T.

Next, the schematic structure of the moving vehicle A is shown in FIGS.
It will be described based on. As shown in the plan view of FIG. 3, the traveling wheel 3 is also driven and driven by the traveling motor 1 toward the front of the vehicle body and is also driven by the steering motor 2.
Is provided, and a pair of left and right idler wheels 4 is provided on the rear side of the vehicle body. A follow-up sensor 5 for detecting the aforementioned guide line L and obtaining information for steering control is mounted so as to be steered integrally with the traveling wheel 3. The traveling wheel 3 is provided with a rotary encoder 6 for generating a signal of a pulse number proportional to the number of revolutions, and the pulse number is accumulated by a traveling distance integrating means 7.

A tag reader 8 is provided at the front right side of the vehicle body as reading means for reading information stored in the storage medium T embedded in the above-described traveling road surface. At the front left side of the vehicle body, the tag reader 8 is also embedded at the traveling road surface. A mark sensor (magnetic sensor) 9 is provided as mark detection means for detecting the stopped mark. An optical communication device 10 for exchanging information with the station ST is provided at the center of the left side surface of the vehicle body. Each station ST is connected to a central control device C that manages the operation of the entire transport facility, and the mobile vehicle A can also communicate with the central control device C via the station ST.

The information given from the mobile vehicle A to the station ST includes information indicating arrival and cargo information.
Information given from the station ST to the moving vehicle A includes:
There is information or the like that notifies the completion of the transfer of the package. The home position HP is also provided with an optical communication device similar to that of the station ST.
Provides a transfer work command.

As shown in FIG. 2, a control means 11 using a microcomputer is provided in the moving vehicle A, and the magnetic sensor 5, the travel distance integrating means 7, the tag reader 8,
Information is input from the mark sensor 9, the optical communication device 10, and the like. The control means 11 controls the traveling of the mobile vehicle A based on the input information. That is, by starting / stopping and controlling the speed of the moving vehicle A by controlling the driving / stopping and the speed of the traveling motor 1 via the traveling motor drive circuit 12, and controlling the speed of the traveling vehicle A via the steering motor drive circuit 13. By controlling the forward / reverse drive / stop of the steering motor 2, steering control along the guidance line L of the mobile vehicle A is performed.

As shown in the figure, the tracking sensor 5 is composed of four magnetic sensing elements arranged side by side in the left-right direction of the vehicle body. In a state where the position of the moving vehicle A in the left and right direction is at an appropriate position with respect to the guide line L, that is, in a state where the center of the following sensor 5 in the left and right direction is located at the center of the guide line L, four magnetic sensors are provided. The inner two elements of the elements are turned on by sensing the magnetism of the induction line L, and the outer two elements are turned off by not sensing the magnetism. When the moving vehicle A is shifted left and right with respect to the guidance line L,
Since one of the two outer magnetic sensing elements senses the magnetism of the guide line L, the control means 11 returns the vehicle body to an appropriate position with respect to the guide line L based on the detection information. Perform steering control.

The tag reader 8 carries out close proximity wireless communication with the storage medium T by electromagnetic induction, reads out information stored in the storage medium T, and passes the information to the control means 11. Moving car A
Is running, the tag reader 8 transmits a response request signal to the unspecified storage medium T at a constant cycle. On the other hand, the storage medium T is maintained in a state in which the response request signal from the tag reader 8 can be received. Therefore, when the moving vehicle A approaches the installation location of the storage medium T and the distance between the storage medium T and the tag reader 8 approaches the communicable distance, the storage medium T
Receives a response request signal from the tag reader 8 and returns a response. When communication between the storage medium T and the tag reader 8 is established,
The information stored in the storage medium T is read by the tag reader 8.

The communicable area between the storage medium T and the tag reader 8 is limited to a very small range. Storage medium T
This is to reduce the size and power consumption of both the tag reader 8 and the tag reader 8, and to provide a position detection function by which communication becomes possible only when the mobile vehicle A comes very close to the storage medium T.

In this manner, the moving vehicle A is connected to the guidance line L
As the vehicle approaches the storage medium T installed along the line, the stored information is read by the tag reader 8 and provided to the control means 11 for controlling the traveling. The control means 11 performs subsequent control such as steering, branching, and stopping based on this information. The moving vehicle A is provided with an ultrasonic sensor, a light reflection sensor, and the like (not shown) for detecting an obstacle such as a preceding moving vehicle. In addition, control is also performed to avoid collision between moving vehicles at a junction of a guide line and the like.

By the above-described running control, the control means 1
1 executes the transport operation by moving the mobile vehicle A from the station ST to the station ST based on the transport operation command given via the optical communication device 8 at the home position HP. The loading and unloading of the luggage at the station ST is performed by operating a roller conveyor or a stopper of a transfer device (not shown) via a drive circuit.

Next, the control executed by the control means 11 will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 4, focusing on the control for accurately stopping the moving vehicle A at the station ST (hereinafter referred to as stop control). Assuming that a transport operation command for loading a load at the center station ST1 of the loading area LE and transporting the load to the first station ST2 of the unloading area UE1 is waiting at the home position HP, the control means 11 of the mobile vehicle A 11
And given to

Then, the control means 11 starts traveling of the mobile vehicle A (process (a)), and when the mobile vehicle A reaches a position short of the first curve, the information stored in the storage medium T is read by the tag reader 8. It is output and passed to the control means 11 (processing (b)). The control means 11 executes the autonomous traveling based on the traveling speed and the steering angle included in the information, that is, the curve traveling control (processing (c)) to execute the guidance line (partial traveling road).
Transfer to L1. In addition, as the following sensor 5 detects L1, the control returns to running control for following the guide line L1 at a normal running speed.

Next, information for stop control including the line address of the partial travel path L1 is stored in the storage medium T1 to which the moving vehicle A approaches, and based on this information, the control means 11 executes (d) and thereafter. Execute the processing of First, the storage medium T
It is checked whether or not the line address read from the line 1 coincides with the line address at which the first destination station ST1 included in the transfer operation command given to the control means 11 is located. The information read from the storage medium T1 is ignored. However, in the layout of FIG. 1, there is only one line address in the loading area LE, so they always match, but a plurality of line addresses in the loading area LE may be provided.

If the line addresses match, the control means 1
1 initializes the running distance integrating means 7 (process (e)).
Since the time required for the processing from the reading of the information in the storage medium T1 to this point is very short, the mileage accumulation means 7 thereafter calculates the mileage from the installation location of the storage medium T1. Become.

In the control means 11, the section distance measured from the installation location of the storage medium T1 to the stop mark M of each station ST measured in the learning travel mode described later is the identification information (station address) of each station ST.
Are stored in association with each other. The control means 11 calculates the section distance stored in association with the station address of the destination station ST1 and the travel distance from the installation location of the storage medium T1 (hereinafter referred to as the integrated distance), which is calculated by the travel distance integrating means 7. Based on this, mobile vehicle A is decelerated from a predetermined distance before target station ST1.

That is, if the integrated distance matches the target distance which is the difference between the section distance and the predetermined distance, deceleration is started (process (f)). The deceleration is performed by gradually lowering the rotation speed of the traveling motor 1 via the traveling motor drive circuit 12, and is decelerated at a substantially constant deceleration. Eventually, the creep speed (minimum speed) is reached, and the mark sensor 9
If the stop mark M is detected, the vehicle A is stopped by operating a braking device (not shown) (process (g)). Note that the above-mentioned predetermined distance is such that the moving vehicle A has a creep speed (minimum speed).
Is determined so that the time required for the mark sensor 9 to detect the stop mark M after reaching the time limit is as short as possible.

After performing the transfer operation (loading of the luggage in this case) at the station ST1, since the transport operation has not been completed at this time, the process returns to the process (A) after judging the process (H). The travel to the next destination station ST2 is started. In the curve section where the moving vehicle A approaches soon,
The control means 11 executes the curve traveling control in the same manner as described above, based on the traveling control information read from the storage medium T4.

Next, the control means 11 executes the branch control based on the traveling control information read from the storage medium T5 installed at a position before the branch where the moving vehicle A approaches (process (i)). . That is, when the line address of the branch destination in the travel control information is compared with the line address of the destination station ST2 included in the transport operation command, they match, so that the travel speed and the steering angle in the travel control information are equal. Is branched into a guide line L2 (partial travel path L2) by the autonomous traveling based on.

Next, in the storage medium T2 to which the moving vehicle A approaches, information for stop control including the line address of the partial traveling path L2 is stored in the same manner as the storage medium T1 described above. Based on this, the control means 11 executes the processing of (d) and thereafter. First, it is checked whether or not the line address read from the storage medium T2 matches the line address where the destination station ST2 is located. If not, the information read from the storage medium T2 is ignored. . However, in the layout of FIG. 1, since there is only one partial travel path in the guide line L2 after the branch, the guide line always matches, but the guide line after the branch consists of a plurality of partial travel paths, and In some cases, the storage medium T is installed in the unit.

If the line addresses match, the control means 1
1 executes the same control as when stopping at the station ST1, and moves the mobile vehicle A to the target station ST2.
The vehicle is decelerated from a predetermined distance before. Eventually, when the creep speed is reached and the mark sensor 9 detects the stop mark M, the vehicle A is stopped and the transfer operation is performed. If the transfer operation in this case, that is, the unloading is completed, the transfer operation is completed, and the mobile vehicle A is caused to travel to the home position HP after the determination of the process (h). Then, it waits for the next transfer work command.

Next, a description will be given of a learning traveling mode in which the section distance from the installation location of the storage medium T1 to the stop mark M of each station ST is measured and stored. A driving mode changeover switch 14 is provided on the operation panel of the moving vehicle A, and the control means 11
It is configured to be switchable between the actual traveling mode as described above and the learning traveling mode described below.

In the learning travel mode, the control means 11
Is instructed only on a predetermined traveling route. The control means 11
The vehicle A travels along the instructed traveling route, and the storage medium T on the traveling route in which information for stop control is stored.
The section distance from the station to the stop mark M of each station ST is measured.

That is, for example, when the information of the storage medium T2 is read, the travel distance integrating means 7 is initialized, and the mark sensor 9 detects the stop mark M as the moving vehicle A passes each station ST. For each station, the integrated value of the traveling distance integrating means 7 at that time is read, and each station S
It is stored in the memory in the control means 11 in association with the station address of T.

Hereinafter, another embodiment will be described. The traveling route of the mobile vehicle A in the above embodiment is the guidance line L
Travels only in one direction, but the present invention can be applied to a case where the vehicle can travel in both directions. For example, assuming that the mobile vehicle A travels from the bottom to the top on the partial travel path L2 in FIG. 1, the storage medium T storing the line address and the like is also installed at the lower end of the partial travel path L2. There is a need.

Then, the control means 11 of the mobile vehicle A reads each station ST from the storage medium T in the learning travel mode.
When the section distance to the stop mark M is measured and stored, the section distance is stored in association with the station address and the traveling direction so that the section distance from the upper or lower storage medium T can be identified. .

In the above embodiment, the traveling distance integrating means 7
Is provided separately from the control means 11, but may be provided inside the control means 11. The stop mark and the mark sensor are not limited to those by the magnetic action as in the above embodiment,
For example, an optical mark and a mark sensor may be used.

Incidentally, reference numerals are written in the claims for convenience of comparison with the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the attached drawings by the entry.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a layout of a transport facility using a mobile vehicle according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing transmission and reception of information in a mobile vehicle and its surroundings.

FIG. 3 is a perspective plan view showing a schematic configuration of a mobile vehicle.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of control including stop control of a moving vehicle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7 Running distance integrating means 8 Reading means 9 Mark detecting means 11 Control means A Moving vehicle L Running path L1, L2, L3 Partial running path M Stop mark ST Station T1, T2, T3 Storage medium

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A longitudinal direction of a traveling route (L) of a moving vehicle (A).
A plurality of stations (ST) are arranged in direction, from the installation location of each of the plurality of stations (ST)
Storage media (T1, T2, T3)
A stop mark (M) is provided at each of the installation locations of the plurality of stations (ST), and the storage medium (T1, T2, T
3) a reading means (8) for reading the stored information, a mark detecting means (9) for detecting the stop mark (M), and a travel distance from an installation location of the storage medium (T1, T2, T3). The traveling vehicle (A) is set to a target station (ST) based on the information read by the traveling distance integrating means (7) and the information read by the reading means (8) and the information from the traveling distance integrating means (7). Control for executing stop control for stopping the moving vehicle (A) as the mark detecting means (9) detects the stop mark (M) of the target station (ST) after decelerating from a short distance before. Means (11) for driving a mobile vehicle, wherein the traveling route (L) includes a plurality of stations in a longitudinal direction of the traveling vehicle.
(ST) and the partial running path (L1, L2, L
3), and the storage medium (T1, T2, T3) includes the partial traveling path
(L1, L2, L3) are provided at the starting end and
A plurality of traveling routes (L1, L2, L3)
Station knowledge identifying each of the stations (ST)
The control means (11) is configured to be switchable between an actual traveling mode for executing the stop control and a learning traveling mode,
Then, in the learning mode, as the mobile vehicle (A) travels along the partial traveling path (L1, L2, L3), the plurality of stations are read from the storage medium (T1, T2, T3). The section distance to each stop mark (M) in (ST) is obtained from the traveling distance integrating means (7), and each of the plurality of section distances is stored in the storage medium (T).
(1, T2, T3), configured to execute a process of storing the information in association with the station identification information read out from (1, T2, T3), and performing the stop control based on the section distance in the actual traveling mode. Running control equipment for mobile vehicles.