JP3196090B2 - Travel control device for automatic guided vehicles - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a travel control device for an automatic guided vehicle that travels automatically along a travel path formed by arranging travel guide lines or the like on a road surface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an unmanned transport vehicle that automatically travels along a travel path formed by arranging travel guide lines or the like on a road surface has a travel path detector mounted at a front portion thereof. To detect a travel guide line or the like and travel along the travel path. And as such a traveling control device of the automatic guided vehicle, a controller is mounted inside the vehicle body,
A traveling program is stored in advance in the controller, and the traveling program stores traveling speeds and traveling distances of all processes, for example, traveling a distance X at a speed Vx and then traveling a distance Y at a speed Vy. In addition, the traveling is controlled based on the traveling program. And a plurality of such automatic guided vehicles are traveling on the traveling path.

[0003]

In a conventional traveling control apparatus for an unmanned transport vehicle, a traveling program stored in a controller of each unmanned transport vehicle stores traveling speeds and traveling distances of all processes. If the program becomes complicated and the work process changes due to changes in the specifications of the assembled product, etc., the running program of the controller of each automatic guided vehicle must be changed according to the change. There was a problem that it took a lot of trouble. An object of the present invention is to solve these problems.

[0004]

According to the present invention, in a travel control device for an unmanned transport vehicle, when a process distance and a set operation time of each work process are input as data, the unmanned transport vehicle of each work process is based on the data. It includes a ground control device for calculating a set running speed of the light setting traveling speed calculated in該地the control device
A transmitter for transmitting to the automatic guided vehicle using a signal is installed in each work process and over the entire length of each work process 1 , and a receiver for receiving a set traveling speed from the transmitter is provided in each automatic guided vehicle. In addition, a controller is provided for each of the unmanned transport vehicles to travel the unmanned transport vehicle over the entire length of each work process at the set traveling speed received by the receiver.

[0005]

According to the present invention, when data such as a process distance and a set work time of each work process are input to the ground control device, the work is performed by the controller mounted on the automatic guided vehicle via the transmitter and the receiver from the ground control device. The set traveling speed of the unmanned transport vehicle in the process is detected, and the unmanned transport vehicle travels at the set traveling speed in each work process.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of a traveling control method for an automatic guided vehicle according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the factory, each work process 1 is provided such as a first work process 1a, a second work process 1b, and a third work process 1c. For example, the first work process 1a includes a first product assembly process. The second work process 1b is a process of assembling a second product, and the third work process 1c is a process of product inspection. A traveling path 2 for an unmanned transport vehicle is provided on the floor of the factory, and the traveling path 2 passes through adjacent portions of the first work process 1a, the second work process 1b, and the third work process 1c. A travel guide line 3 is provided at the center of the travel path 2. The unmanned transport vehicle 4 traveling on the traveling path 2 has a traveling path detector 5 mounted at the center of the front part of the vehicle body, and the traveling path detector 5 detects the traveling guide line 3 so that the traveling guide line 3 is detected. , And a plurality of automatic guided vehicles 4 are traveling on the traveling path 2.

[0007] Then, a ground control device 6 is installed on the floor of the factory, and the ground control device 6 controls the number of work processes and each work process.
When the process distance and the set work time are input as data, the set traveling speed of the automatic guided vehicle 4 in each work process 1 is calculated based on the inputted process distance and the set work time in each work process 1. ing. The first transmitter 7a, the second transmitter 7b, and the third transmitter 7c are connected to the ground controller 6, respectively.
a is installed in the first operation step 1a, the second transmitter 7b is installed in the second operation step 1b, and the third transmitter 7c is installed in the third operation step 1c. The first transmitter 7a, the second transmitter 7
b, each transmitter 7 of the third transmitter 7c is an optical communication device that uses light as a signal by changing the frequency of the light, and is provided along the running path 2 over the entire length of each work process 1 ing. On the other hand, the unmanned transport vehicle 4 is provided with a pair of left and right receivers 8 for receiving signals from the transmitter 7 on both front sides of the vehicle body. A controller 9 for calculating a set traveling speed based on the calculated traveling speed and controlling the automatic guided vehicle 4 to travel at the set traveling speed is provided. The controller 9 is programmed in advance such that the traveling speed for an optical signal, that is, the traveling speed for light of a certain frequency.

In such a configuration, when the data of the process distance and the set work time in each work process 1 are input to the ground control device 6, the first work process 1a is speed Va, the second work process 1b is speed Vb, The third work step 1c is performed at the speed V
Calculate c and the set traveling speed. Then, the calculated set traveling speed of each work process 1 is calculated by each transmitter 7 (first transmitter 7a,
The light is sent to the second transmitter 7b and the third transmitter 7c), and is output as an optical signal from each transmitter 7. On the other hand, in the unmanned transport vehicle 4 traveling on the traveling path 2, when the vehicle enters each work process 1, the receiver 8 mounted at the same time as the intrusion receives the optical signal output from each transmitter 7 and The controller 9 immediately determines the set traveling speed based on the signal, and moves the automatic guided vehicle 4 within each work process 1 to the set travel speed (the first work process 1a is the speed Va, the second work process 1b is the speed V
b, the third work step 1c is run at the speed Vc). That is, when entering the work process 1, the unmanned transport vehicle 4 detects the set travel speed of each work process 1 set in the ground control device 6, and travels in the work process 1 at the set travel speed. . The traveling speed between the work processes 1 is stored in the controller 9 of the unmanned transport vehicle 4 as a travel program, and the unmanned transport vehicle 4 travels between the work processes 1 at the travel speed of the travel program. Has become.

In this embodiment, each work process 1
By setting the reflector 10 at each of the start point and the end point, and mounting the detector 11 for detecting the reflector 10 on the automatic guided vehicle 4, the start point and the end point of each work process 1 can be set. The unmanned transport vehicle 4 can detect accurately.

By configuring the travel control device of the automatic guided vehicle 4 as described above, when traveling in each work process 1, each work process 1 is controlled based on a signal output from each transmitter 7. When the vehicle travels at the set traveling speed and travels between each work process 1, since the vehicle travels at the traveling speed stored in the controller 9 of the automatic guided vehicle 4, the traveling speed, the traveling distance, and the traveling speed of all processes are stored in the controller as in the related art. Need only be stored in the controller 9 and only the traveling speed of the automatic guided vehicle 4 during each work process 1 need be stored, and the program can be simplified. Further, even if the number of processes in the work process 1 or the process distance in each work process 1 is changed due to a change in the specification of the assembled product, etc., the data can be input to the ground control device 6 to perform each work. The unmanned transport vehicle 4 can be caused to travel at the set traveling speed in the process 1, and it is not necessary to change the traveling program of the controller 9 of each unmanned transport vehicle 4, and the operation can be simplified.

[0011]

According to the present invention, when data such as the process distance and the set work time of each work process are input to the ground control device, the set control speed of the automatic guided vehicle in the work process is calculated by the ground control device. The set traveling speed is transmitted to the transmitter and output from the transmitter.In the automatic guided vehicle, the set traveling speed output from the transmitter is received by the receiver. The traveling speed can be set at the set traveling speed. This eliminates the need for the controller to store the traveling speed and traveling distance of the automatic guided vehicle in all processes as a traveling program as in the related art. Is stored, and the program can be simplified. Also, if the number of work processes or the process distance of each work process changes due to a change in the specification of the assembled product, etc., data such as the process distance of each work process and the set work time are sent to the ground controller. Just by inputting, the unmanned transport vehicle can be run at the set travel speed in each work process, and it is not necessary to change the travel program of the controller of each unmanned transport vehicle, so that the work can be simplified. The workability can be greatly improved. Moreover, it is set to run on an unmanned transport vehicle.
By transmitting the line speed using an optical signal, the frequency of this light
Set traveling speed to be transmitted to the automatic guided vehicle by the number in steps
Can be stepless, not complicated.
Of unmanned transport vehicles in each operation process
The ability to precisely set the traveling speed allows
The work can be performed very well. In addition, each work
By installing transmitters throughout the entire process,
Reliable transmission of the set traveling speed to the automatic guided vehicle in the process
Can be done.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of a traveling control device of an automatic guided vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial schematic perspective view of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Work process, 1a ... First work process, 1b ... Second work process, 1c ... Third work process, 2 ... Runway, 3 ... Running guide line, 4 ... Unmanned transport vehicle, 5 ... Runway detector, 6 ground controller, 7 transmitter, 7a first transmitter, 7b second transmitter, 7c third transmitter, 8 receiver, 9 controller, 10 reflector, 11 detector .

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A traveling path 2 provided over each work process 1.
In the travel control device of the automatic guided vehicle 4 that automatically travels along the route, when the process distance and the set work time of each work process 1 are input as data, the set travel of the automatic guided vehicle 4 of each work process 1 is performed based on the data. A ground control device 6 for calculating the speed is provided, and a transmitter 7 for transmitting the set traveling speed calculated by the ground control device 6 to the automatic guided vehicle 4 using an optical signal is provided for each work process 1. In addition, the receivers 8 installed over the entire length of each work process 1 and receiving the set traveling speed from the transmitter 7 are provided in each of the automatic guided vehicles 4, and each work process is performed at the set traveling speed received by the receiver 8. 1. A travel control device for an unmanned transport vehicle, wherein a controller 9 for running the unmanned transport vehicle 4 over the entire length is provided in each of the unmanned transport vehicles 4.