JP3932119B2 - Transport control system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a transfer control system for efficient transfer, in particular, between a warehouse and a product processing apparatus arranged along a travel route of an automatic transfer device, a transfer instruction having a higher priority than a workpiece that has already been discharged to a discharge port. The present invention relates to a transport control system that controls a workpiece received in accordance with a priority so that it can be efficiently delivered and transported by an automatic transport device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various proposals have been made in order to improve the conveyance efficiency of a workpiece in a conveyance control system in a production line or the like. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of automatic warehouses B1 and B2 and product processing devices E1 to E4 are arranged along a travel route R of an automatic transport device, and a plurality of automatic transports are performed along the travel route R. The devices A1, A2, and A3 are run, and the automatic transfer devices A1, A2, and A3 are controlled by the control device according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, and the processed products are sent from the automatic warehouses B1 and B2 to the product processing devices E1 to E1. It is made to convey to E4.
In this case, the work with the highest priority at that time is delivered to the delivery port P3 of the automatic warehouse B1 and the delivery port P9 of the automatic warehouse B2. , Waiting to be transferred to the processing device or automatic warehouse as the destination.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the conventional transfer control system described above, at the output port of each automatic warehouse, it waits for the workpiece with the highest priority at that time to be output and transferred to the destination processing device or automatic warehouse. Therefore, at this time, when a transfer instruction having a higher priority than the priority of the work being loaded at the exit port is generated in the work stored in the automatic warehouse, FIG. From the flowchart shown in Fig. 4, the workpiece waiting at the exit port is loaded and transported to the automatic transport device, and can not be exited until the exit port becomes empty. There was a problem that the workpiece was not supplied to the processing apparatus.
[0004]
In view of the problems of the conventional conveyance control system, the present invention reliably and preferentially unloads and conveys a higher-priority workpiece according to the conveyance instruction even when the workpiece being delivered is already at the exit. An object of the present invention is to provide a transport control system that can supply a target processing apparatus according to priority.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the conveyance control system of the present invention includes an automatic warehouse that includes a warehousing port and a warehousing port along a traveling path of an automatic conveyance device, and that temporarily stores a workpiece, and product processing. The system is composed of an automatic transfer device and a transfer control device that manages and controls the automatic warehouse. The automatic transfer device connects the automatic warehouse and product processing device, and the transfer control device automatically transfers the workpiece. In the transport control system, if a work instruction with a higher priority than the work delivered at the exit of the automatic warehouse is issued to the work stored in the automatic warehouse, it has already been delivered at the exit. Temporarily raise the priority of the workpiece transfer instruction to the same priority as the high-level priority of the workpieces stored in the automatic warehouse, and preferentially transfer the workpiece at the exit port by the automatic transfer device Let auto Together to allow unloading conveyed from the workpiece quickly unloading port of the high priority transport instruction that is stored in the refrigerator, the automatic handling equipment allocated against the workpiece that is unloading the goods issue port of the automatic warehouse Thereafter, control is performed such that the temporarily raised priority of the workpiece delivered to the delivery port of the automatic warehouse is returned to the original priority .
In this case, the automatic transfer device includes an automatic guided vehicle (AGV), a tracked automatic guided vehicle (RGV), a conveyor, a ceiling transfer device (OHV), a vertical transfer device, and the like.
[0006]
In the conveyance control system of the present invention, a conveyance instruction having a higher priority than the priority of the workpieces waiting to be unloaded at the unloading port of the automatic warehouse is generated in the workpieces stored in the automatic warehouse. Even in this case, the priority of the workpiece that has already been delivered at the exit and temporarily waiting is temporarily increased, and the workpiece is preferentially delivered and transported by the automatic transfer device from the exit, so that the exit is quickly available. Therefore, even if a transport instruction with a higher priority is given to a workpiece stored in the automatic warehouse, an appropriate workpiece is promptly supplied to the exit port, and the exit port Since it can be made to be delivered and transported more, a predetermined workpiece can be reliably supplied to the target processing apparatus in accordance with the priority.
[0007]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of a transport control system of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0008]
Although the transport control system of the present invention is not particularly limited, for example, as shown in the overall view of FIG. 1, a plurality of automatic transport devices A1, A2, A3 (in the illustrated embodiment) are arranged on the travel route R. And three automatic warehouses B1 and B2 (two in the illustrated embodiment) for temporarily storing the workpiece along the traveling route R, and a workpiece processing device E1, E2, E3, E4 (four in the illustrated embodiment) are arbitrarily arranged, and are composed of automatic transfer devices A1, A2, A3 and a transfer control device 10 for managing and controlling the automatic warehouses B1, B2.
The travel route R on which the automatic transport devices A1, A2, and A3 travel can be set so that the preceding automatic transport device can be overtaken by the subsequent automatic transfer device or can not be overtaken. The travel route R is not limited to the illustrated route, and can be selected in various ways.
In addition to the automatic guided vehicle (AGV), the automatic transporting devices A1, A2, and A3 are any of a tracked automatic guided vehicle (RGV), a conveyor, a ceiling transport device (OHV), a vertical transport device, or these It is also possible to employ a combination of two or more.
[0009]
The automatic warehouses B1 and B2 each have a warehousing port for carrying a workpiece into the automatic warehouse from outside the automatic warehouse and a warehousing port for carrying out the workpiece outside the automatic warehouse. In the illustrated embodiment, P3 and P9 are The exit doors, P4 and P10 are entrance doors.
The processing devices E1, E2, E3, and E4 have a plurality of ports P1 to P12 (automatic transfer equipment, for example, an automatic guided vehicle (AGV)) that stops work loading and unloading (in the illustrated embodiment, each processing device). Has two ports).
[0010]
The conveyance control device 10 includes a transmission / reception unit 11 that transmits information to and from the automatic warehouses B1 and B2 and automatic conveyance devices A1, A2, and A3, a control unit 12 that performs conveyance control, and a storage unit 13 that stores information. It consists of and. In this case, the transport control device 10 may be configured by a single control device (computer), or may be configured by a plurality of control devices (computers) in a large-scale system.
The transmission / reception unit 11 transmits and receives information such as a conveyance request, a conveyance instruction request, and an operation status between the unmanned automatic conveyance devices (AGV) A1 to A3 and the automatic warehouses B1 and B2 and the processing devices E1 to E4. The information is sent to the control unit 12.
The control unit 12 adds the information to the information stored in the storage unit 13, and creates a transport instruction for the automatic transport devices A1 to A3 and the automatic warehouses B1 and B2 based on the information. And the conveyance instruction | indication is transmitted from the transmission / reception part 11 with respect to automatic conveyance apparatus (automated guided vehicle AGV) A1-A3 and automatic warehouse B1, B2.
[0011]
Next, the operation of this transport control system will be described.
When any of the processing devices E1 to E4 needs to unload a workpiece, a transfer request to the automatic warehouse B1 or B2 is sent to the transfer control device 10 via a higher-level control device (computer) such as CIM. Send.
Next, the control unit 12 of the transfer control apparatus 10 gives the transfer instruction having the highest priority among the transfer instructions stored in the storage unit 13, for example, the automatic warehouse B 1 and the workpiece X to the priority No. 3 , the loading point (shelf) B1a and the lowering point (shipping port) P3 in the automatic warehouse are added and assigned. However, it is assumed that the priority level is higher as the priority is lower.
[0012]
By this conveyance instruction, the automatic warehouse B1 conveys the workpiece X from the loading point (shelf) B1a to the lowering point (departure port) P3, and transmits the completion of unloading to the conveyance control device 10, whereby the workpiece is It will be waiting at the exit of the automatic warehouse.
Next, the control part 12 of the conveyance control apparatus 10 is any one of empty automatic guided vehicles (AGV) A1 to A3 that are not currently carrying a conveyance instruction from the exit port P3 to the processing apparatuses E1 to E4. However, the priority of the transport instruction for other workpieces is the priority No. of the workpiece X. Since it is higher than 3, the workpiece X at the exit port P3 is not transported indefinitely and is loaded at the exit port P3 because the transfer instruction of the workpiece X cannot be assigned to the automatic guided vehicles (AGV) A1 to A3. May remain.
[0013]
Under such circumstances, a transfer request is generated again for the same automatic warehouse B1, and the transfer instruction of the workpiece Y in response to this transfer request completes the output of the lower point (exit port) of the workpiece Y and waits for transfer. Is assigned to the loading port P3 that is being loaded, and the priority No. included in the conveyance instruction of the workpiece X that has been unloaded at the shipping port P3 and is waiting to be conveyed . Priority No. 3 higher than 3 . When the transport instruction is assigned in 2 , the transport is not started until the lowering point (shipping port) becomes empty, no matter how high the priority is set.
[0014]
In such a case, as shown in the flowchart of FIG . 3 , even if the priority is set high, the priority No. of the transfer instruction of the workpiece Y waiting for transfer is not started until the lowering point (shipping port) becomes empty . The same priority No. 2 as in FIG . Change to 2 temporarily.
Thereby, it is made possible to carry out delivery conveyance by any one of the automatic guided vehicles A1 to A3 with the highest priority, and the delivery port P3 is made empty. Next, the priority No. The workpiece Y assigned in 2 can be delivered from the exit P3. In this case, the control unit 12 of the conveyance control device 10 has priority given to the conveyance instruction of the workpiece X that has been unloaded at the unloading port P3 and is waiting for conveyance from among the conveyance instructions stored in the storage unit 13. No. 3 is lowered and the priority No. of the conveyance instruction of the workpiece Y that is waiting for conveyance is not started until the point (exit port) becomes empty . The same priority No. 2 as in FIG . 2 and the instruction to convey the workpiece X is assigned to one of the automatic guided vehicles (AGV) A1 to A3.
[0015]
The priority of the conveyance instruction of the workpiece X is temporarily No .. While a 2, the original priority by assigned an AGV A1 to A3 No. Returned to 3 .
In addition, the workpiece Y that is not transported until the lowering point (shipping port) becomes empty and is waiting to be transported is processed by the processing device X depending on one of the automatic guided vehicles (AGV) A1 to A3. When the delivery port P3 becomes empty when being transported to, the control unit 12 of the transport control device 10 transfers the workpiece Y from the transport instruction stored in the storage unit 13 to the automatic warehouse B1. Priority No. 2 , a loading point (shelf) B1b and a lowering point (shipping port) P3 are added and assigned.
[0016]
By this conveyance instruction, the automatic warehouse B1 conveys the workpiece Y from the loading point (shelf) B1b to the lowering point (exit port) P3, and transmits the completion of delivery to the conveyance control device 10.
[0017]
As mentioned above, although the conveyance control system of the present invention has been described based on the embodiments thereof, the present invention is not limited to the configurations described in the above embodiments, and the configuration is appropriately changed without departing from the gist thereof. Is something that can be done.
[0018]
【The invention's effect】
According to the transport control system of the present invention, a transport instruction having a higher priority than the priority of the work that is waiting to be unloaded at the unloading port of the automatic warehouse is sent to the work that is stored in the automatic warehouse. Even if it occurs, the priority of the workpiece that has already been delivered at the exit and temporarily waiting is temporarily increased, and the workpiece is preferentially delivered and transported by the automatic transport device from the exit, so that the exit can be made faster. Since it can be made empty, even if a higher-order transport instruction is issued for a workpiece stored in an automatic warehouse, an appropriate workpiece is promptly supplied to the exit port, and the Since the product can be delivered and conveyed from the delivery port, a predetermined workpiece can be reliably supplied to the target processing device in accordance with the priority.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an entire conveyance control system of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a conveyance instruction method of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a conventional conveyance instruction method;
[Explanation of symbols]
10 Transport control devices A1 to A3 Automatic transport equipment (automated guided vehicle AGV)
B1, B2 Automatic warehouse B1a, B1b Automatic warehouse B1 shelf P1-P12 Port P3 Automatic warehouse B1 exit P4 Automatic warehouse B1 entrance E1-E4 Processing equipment R Travel path X, Y Workpiece

Claims (1)

Along with the automatic transfer equipment travel route, an automatic warehouse equipped with a warehousing port and a warehousing opening to temporarily store the work and a product processing device are arranged, and the automatic conveyance equipment and the automatic warehouse are managed and controlled. In a transfer control system that consists of a transfer control device that connects automatic warehouses and product processing devices with automatic transfer equipment, and automatically transfers workpieces using the transfer control device, the products are delivered to the automatic warehouse exit. If a transport instruction with a higher priority than the workpiece is generated for a workpiece stored in the automatic warehouse, the priority of the transport instruction for the workpiece already delivered to the exit port is set in the automatic warehouse. Temporarily raise to the same priority as the high priority that the stored work has, and the high-priority transport stored in the automatic warehouse by preferentially transporting the work at the exit port by the automatic transport equipment Instruction work piece Ku thereby allowing unloading conveyed from unloading port, after the automatic transfer device to the workpiece that is unloading the goods issue port of automatic warehouse is allocated temporarily in the workpiece that is unloading the goods issue port of the automatic warehouse A transport control system characterized in that control is performed so that the raised priority is returned to the original priority .

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