JP4715868B2 - Transportation vehicle system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a transport traveling vehicle system, and more particularly, to a transport traveling vehicle system having a plurality of transport traveling vehicles that automatically travel on a predetermined transport path.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a factory or the like, a transport vehicle system having a plurality of transport vehicles that automatically travel on a predetermined transport path has been adopted. In such a factory, when a disaster such as a fire is detected, safety measures are taken to immediately stop the devices and systems in the factory. However, in that case, the transport vehicle system also stops immediately, and as a result, the transport vehicle may block a person's evacuation route.

Therefore, a system is disclosed in which, in order to secure an evacuation route when a fire occurrence is detected, a plurality of transport vehicles are evacuated to a predetermined evacuation place and then stopped (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP-A-11-85281

  However, in the above system, in the case of a pre-alarm such as an emergency earthquake warning instead of a post-alarm such as a fire alarm, the time from the transmission (or reception) of an alarm to the occurrence of a disaster is only a few seconds to 10 seconds. Since there is only a short time, there are the following problems. First, there is not enough time to retract a plurality of transport vehicles to the retreat location. Further, the evacuation operation of the transport vehicle itself can hinder human evacuation behavior.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a transport vehicle system capable of securing a person's evacuation route even in the case of detecting an alarm such as an emergency earthquake warning that requires an extremely urgent precaution. It is to provide.

  The transportation vehicle system according to the present invention includes a plurality of transportation vehicles, a route, and a control unit. The transport traveling vehicle travels along the transport path. The path is a person's path and is provided across the transport path. The control unit includes a receiving unit that receives the earthquake early warning, and when receiving the earthquake early warning, stops the transport vehicle on the transport path at a position retracted from the route.

  According to this transport vehicle system, when the receiving unit receives the earthquake early warning, the control unit can immediately stop the transport vehicle. However, when the transport traveling vehicle is on a person's route (for example, an evacuation route), the control unit can stop the transport traveling vehicle at a position retracted from the evacuation route.

  As a result, the system can be stopped while securing a person's evacuation route even if the countermeasures after receiving the warning are extremely urgent, such as the earthquake early warning.

The transport vehicle system according to the present invention further includes an enclosure and an entrance . Enclosure is enclose the conveyance path. Entrances are entrances of people at both ends of the path provided at at least two places in the enclosure .

  According to this transport vehicle system, when the receiving unit receives the earthquake early warning, the control unit can immediately stop the transport vehicle. However, at this time, if the transport vehicle stops on a path connecting two entrances, for example, provided in the enclosure, the control unit moves to a position where the transport vehicle is retracted from the path. Can be stopped.

In addition, even in cases such as emergency earthquake warnings that require extremely urgent measures after receiving an alarm, it is possible to stop the system while securing a human evacuation route.

When receiving the earthquake early warning, the control unit stops the transport vehicle at a position retracted from the route and at a position adjacent to the route .

  In this case, for example, at the time of a disaster, the transport vehicle can stop adjacently so as to sandwich the route. As a result, the position of the route can be indicated by the transport vehicle.

  It is preferable that the transport traveling vehicle has a lighting device, and only the lighting device included in the transport traveling vehicle that stops adjacent to the route is lit on the basis of the earthquake early warning.

  In this case, among the plurality of transport vehicles, the transport vehicle stopped by the control unit adjacent to the route can notify the position of the route to the person by turning on the lighting device.

As a result, it is possible to easily find an evacuation route. As a result, it is possible to prevent employees such as factories equipped with the transport vehicle system from losing sight of the evacuation route during a disaster such as an earthquake.
Furthermore, when the emergency earthquake warning is received, the control unit preferably stops the transport vehicle at an adjacent position so as to be sandwiched by the route.

  In the transport vehicle system according to the present invention, it is possible to stop the system while securing a person's evacuation route even when the countermeasure after the alarm is extremely urgent, such as the emergency earthquake warning. become.

  The transport vehicle system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  The transport traveling vehicle system 1 is provided in the distribution warehouse C and will be described as transporting an article E (see FIG. 2). A plurality of workers (persons) are working in the distribution warehouse C. The distribution warehouse C includes evacuation openings C1 and C2. In the distribution warehouse C, the person is working on both the side near the evacuation port C1 and the side near the evacuation port C2 with respect to the transport vehicle system 1.

(First embodiment)
[Configuration of entire transport vehicle system 1]
The transport vehicle system 1 of this embodiment is a system for automatically transporting a desired transported object to a desired place in a distribution warehouse or a factory, for example, as shown in FIG. (Transport path) 2, transport traveling vehicle 30, path 4, fence (enclosure) 5, station 6, and control unit 7 (see FIG. 4).

  The travel route 2 is a track provided as a route on which the transport vehicle 30 travels, and is formed in a loop shape as shown in FIG. The traveling route 2 includes two rails 2a and 2a (rail pair 2b) arranged in parallel in the longitudinal direction on the floor surface. The two rails 2a, 2a have an L-shaped cross section in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and are provided so as to have a mirror image relationship with each other (see FIG. 3).

  The station 6 is a place where the articles E are loaded and unloaded, and a plurality of stations 6 are provided outside the travel route 2. Each of these stations 6 may be intended only for loading or unloading the article E.

  The fence 5 prevents a person from entering the travel route 2, and is arranged on the outer peripheral side of the travel route 2 so as to surround the entire travel route 2. Further, the fence 5 has a height of about 2 m from the floor surface of the distribution warehouse C. Furthermore, the fence 5 has a plurality of vertical bars (not shown). The vertical bars are arranged at intervals of approximately 10 cm in the horizontal direction with the longitudinal direction parallel to the vertical direction.

  Moreover, the fence 5 has the two entrances 5a and 5b, as shown in FIG. The entrances 5a and 5b are provided to allow a person to enter an area surrounded by the fence 5, that is, to maintain the transportation vehicle 30 and secure an evacuation route in the event of a disaster. It is comprised including. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the door from colliding with the transport vehicle 30 and the article E when the door is opened and closed. The entrance 5a and the entrance 5b are provided at locations relatively close to the evacuation port C1 and the evacuation port C2 of the distribution warehouse C, respectively.

  In addition, the fence 5 has an opening at a position corresponding to the station 6 so that the article E can be delivered between the transport traveling vehicle 30 and the station 6.

  The route 4 is a passage when a person enters an area surrounded by the fence 5 or passes through the area, and includes an area connecting the entrance 5a and the entrance 5b. That is, the path 4 is provided across the rail pair 2b, and the width of the region provided across the rail pair 2b is about 2 m. Note that a region adjacent to the travel route 2 in the route 4 may be provided with a step, a slope, or the like for easily straddling the rail pair 2b.

  The transport vehicle 30 transports the article E along the travel route 2 in the distribution warehouse C, and a plurality of transport vehicles 30 are arranged on the travel route 2 as shown in FIG. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the transport traveling vehicle 30 includes a cart unit 40, a cargo bed unit 41, and a traveling vehicle communication unit 42.

  The carriage unit 40 moves (runs) the transport traveling vehicle 30 on the rail 2a and has four wheels that rotate in conjunction with a motor (not shown) that is driven in response to a command from the control unit 7. 40a. As shown in FIG. 3, the wheel 40a rotates along the inside of the upper surface of the rail 2a having an L-shaped cross section. Accordingly, the transport traveling vehicle 30 can travel along the traveling route 2 at a speed of approximately 15 km / hour according to the command of the control unit 7.

  The loading platform 41 is a portion that enables loading and unloading of articles E on the transport traveling vehicle 30, and includes a loading section 41a and a slide mechanism 41b. The stacking portion 41 a is a plate-like base for stacking the articles E, and includes load collapse prevention portions 41 c on the front side and the rear side in the traveling direction of the transport traveling vehicle 30. The slide mechanism 41b is a mechanism that makes it easy to load and unload the articles E on the stacking portion 41a, and is provided below the stacking portion 41a. Specifically, the slide mechanism 41 b has a function of sliding the stacking portion 41 a toward the outside of the travel route 2 when the transport vehicle 30 is stopped adjacent to the station 6.

  The traveling vehicle communication unit 42 receives a control signal related to the operation of the transport traveling vehicle 30 transmitted from the control communication unit 73 that is functionally configured in the control unit 7, and the current traveling route 2 of the transport traveling vehicle 30 It is means for transmitting information such as a position to the control unit. That is, the operations of the loading platform 41 and the slide mechanism 41b are performed based on information received by the traveling vehicle communication unit 42.

  The control unit 7 controls the operation of the transport vehicle system 1 as a whole, and includes a host computer, a communication device, and the like of the transport vehicle system 1. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 7 travels mainly with the disaster information reception unit (reception unit) 71 by a CPU, a memory, a hard disk, and a transmission / reception unit included in the communication device. The vehicle management unit 72 and the control communication unit 73 are included.

  The disaster information receiving unit 71 mainly receives a disaster advance warning (forecast) such as an emergency earthquake bulletin. Here, the emergency earthquake warning is a disaster warning or forecast related to an earthquake transmitted by the Japan Meteorological Agency, and consists of two initial seismic waves (P waves) and main waves (S waves) that are generated along with the occurrence of the earthquake. It uses the difference in propagation speed. Specifically, the P wave has a propagation speed of approximately 7 km per second, and the S wave has a propagation speed of approximately 4 km per second. When an earthquake occurs, a P wave with a high propagation velocity is first observed at an observation point (observation station) close to the epicenter. At this point, the meteorological agency is contacted by radio waves from the observation point, and an emergency earthquake bulletin is immediately sent from there.

  In other words, the longer the distance from the epicenter, the longer the time from when the earthquake early warning is received until the S wave arrives, and it is possible to take disaster countermeasures.

  By using a disaster advance warning such as this earthquake early warning, it becomes possible to take measures against disasters more reliably and in advance, unlike the conventional case using a seismic sensing device.

  The control communication unit 73 transmits a command output from the traveling vehicle management unit 72 to the traveling vehicle communication unit 42 of the transport traveling vehicle 30 and receives information transmitted from the traveling vehicle communication unit 42 to receive the traveling vehicle. The data is output to the management unit 72.

  The traveling vehicle management unit 72 controls the traveling and operation of the transport traveling vehicle 30, assigns a transport command to the individual transport traveling vehicles 30 by wireless or wired communication, and simultaneously transmits all the traveling traveling vehicles 30 to the transport traveling vehicle 30. It is also possible to communicate by broadcast communication. Specifically, the operations of the carriage unit 40 and the slide mechanism 41b in the transport traveling vehicle 30 are controlled based on the route table of the transport traveling vehicle 30 stored in advance and the placement information of the article E that is constantly updated. Create and output directives.

  In addition, the traveling vehicle management unit 72 creates and outputs a command for controlling the operation of the transport traveling vehicle 30 based on the emergency earthquake bulletin output from the disaster information receiving unit 71.

[Description of operation of transport vehicle system 1]
The operation in the case of receiving an emergency earthquake bulletin in the transport vehicle system 1 having the above-described configuration will be described below with reference to FIG. 5 (flow chart).

  Here, the state where the transport vehicle system 1 is performing a normal operation in the distribution warehouse C is started, and the operation from step S1 to step S8 is performed when an emergency earthquake warning is transmitted. In addition, while the conveyance traveling vehicle 30 is traveling, the doors of the entrance 5a and the entrance 5b of the fence 5 are closed and locked.

  In step S1, when an earthquake early warning is transmitted from the Japan Meteorological Agency, the disaster information receiving unit 71 receives the emergency earthquake early warning.

  In step S <b> 2, the traveling vehicle management unit 72 specifies the current positions of all the transport traveling vehicles 30 based on the information acquired via the control communication unit 73.

  In step S3, the traveling vehicle management unit 72 determines whether there is a transport traveling vehicle 30 traveling on the route 4 based on the information specified in step S2. Here, if there is a transport traveling vehicle 30 traveling on the route 4 (for example, the transport traveling vehicle 30a), the process proceeds to step S4. On the other hand, if there is no transport traveling vehicle 30 traveling on the route 4, the process proceeds to step S6.

  In step S4, the transport traveling vehicle 30 (for example, the transport traveling vehicles 30b to 30e) that is traveling on other than the route 4 is immediately stopped.

  In step S5, only the transport traveling vehicle 30a on the route 4 is traveled to the position closest to the transport traveling vehicle 30a and retracted from the route 4, and stopped.

In step S6, all the transport vehicles 30 are immediately stopped.
In step S7, the doors provided at the entrance 5a and the entrance 5b of the fence 5 are unlocked.

In step S8, the transport vehicle system 1 is automatically stopped.
With such a configuration, it is possible to immediately stop the transport traveling vehicle 30 that is not on the route 4 when the emergency earthquake warning is received, and the minimum distance for the transport traveling vehicle 30 on the route 4. It becomes possible to stop after moving. Therefore, while securing the route 4 in an extremely short time after receiving the earthquake early warning (in this embodiment, about 2 seconds at the maximum due to the relationship between the speed of the transport vehicle 30 and the route width) It becomes possible to stop the conveyance traveling vehicle 30 of this.

  As a result, even if any one of the evacuation port C1 or the evacuation port C2 is disconnected due to the earthquake, it becomes possible for the people in the distribution warehouse C to evacuate safely and quickly.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a transport traveling vehicle system 101 according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  The transport traveling vehicle system 101 is provided so as to cross the distribution warehouse D, and carries the article E (see FIG. 7) from another place and also carries the article E from the distribution warehouse D. Will be described. A plurality of workers (persons) are working in the distribution warehouse D. In addition, the distribution warehouse D includes an evacuation port D3. In the distribution warehouse D, the person is working on both the side closer to the evacuation port D3 and the side farther from the transport traveling vehicle system 101.

  In the present embodiment, the main points different from the first embodiment are that, as shown in FIG. 6A, the conveyance path 102 is linear, and the other side from the carry-in port D1 on one side of the distribution warehouse D. It is provided toward the carry-out port D2. The transport traveling vehicle 130 travels in one direction along the transport path 102 from the carry-in entrance D1 side to the carry-out exit D2 side. As shown in FIG. 7, the transport traveling vehicle 130 has two rotation warning lights (guidance lamps) 40d at the top. The rotation warning lamp 40d is operated by each transport vehicle 130 based on a command from the control unit 7. The transport vehicle 130 has an independent battery (not shown), and this battery serves as a power source for the rotation warning light 40d. Note that the fence 5 provided in the first embodiment is not provided in the transport traveling vehicle system 101.

Next, operation | movement of the conveyance traveling vehicle system 101 is demonstrated below using FIG.
Here, step S11 to step S14 are the same operations as step S1 to step S4 in the first embodiment described above, and thus description thereof is omitted.

  In step S15, only the transport traveling vehicle 130a on the route 104 is stopped at a position adjacent to the route 104 on the traveling direction side of the transport traveling vehicle 130, as shown in FIG. 6B.

  In step S16, the transport vehicle 130a stopped in step S5 is transported to a position on the opposite side of the route 104 (opposite to the traveling direction of the transport vehicle 130 on the route 4) and adjacent to the route 104. The conveyance traveling vehicle 130b traveling immediately after the traveling vehicle 130a is stopped. That is, the two transport traveling vehicles 130 a and 130 b stop with the route 104 interposed therebetween.

  On the other hand, in step S17, since the transport traveling vehicle 130 is not on the route 104, the control unit 7 shows the two transport traveling vehicles 130a and 130b at the positions sandwiching the route 104 as shown in FIG. In addition, each is moved to a position adjacent to the path 104 and sandwiching the path 104 and stopped.

  In step S18, the transport traveling vehicles 130 other than the transport traveling vehicles 130a and 130b stopped in step S17 are stopped.

  In step S19, the transport traveling vehicles 130a and 130b that are stopped across the route 104 actuate the respective rotation warning lamps 40d.

In step S20, the transport vehicle system 101 is automatically stopped.
With such a configuration, the transport vehicle system 101 can easily find the position of the path 104 on the transport path 102 for the person in the distribution warehouse D while quickly securing the path 104. Become. As a result, it becomes possible to guide the person in the distribution warehouse D to a place close to the evacuation port D3, and to evacuate the person easily and quickly.

  As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various change is possible in the range which does not deviate from the summary of invention.

  In the said embodiment, the conveyance path was demonstrated with the example which is a thing with a track | orbit like a rail. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

  For example, the conveyance path may be trackless. Specifically, the conveyance path may be based on a route table stored in advance in the control unit. In this case, the transport vehicle may be any vehicle that can remotely guide the rotational speed and direction of the wheels by the control unit.

  In the above embodiment, an example in which the control unit is provided in the host computer has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

  For example, each transport vehicle has a controller, map data, and route data. And a conveyance traveling vehicle may avoid a path | route similarly to the said embodiment by stopping itself based on these data, and may stop.

  In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which the control unit specifies the stop position of the transport traveling vehicle regardless of whether the transport traveling vehicle is loaded with articles. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

  In the embodiment described above, an example in which the transport vehicle is stopped in a region other than only on the route has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the transport vehicle may be stopped in an area excluding a predetermined area including the route.

The transport vehicle system according to the present invention has the effect of being able to stop the system while securing a person's evacuation route in a shorter time than before, and thus widely applied to a safety measure system in the event of a disaster. Is possible.

The top view which shows the conveyance vehicle system which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. The side view which shows the conveyance vehicle of the conveyance vehicle system shown in FIG. The front view which shows the conveyance vehicle of the conveyance vehicle system shown in FIG. The block diagram which shows the functional structure of the control part of the conveyance vehicle system shown in FIG. The flowchart figure which shows operation | movement of the conveyance vehicle system shown in FIG. (A) is a top view which shows the conveyance vehicle system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. (B) is a top view which shows the state at the time of the disaster occurrence of the conveyance vehicle system shown to (a). The side view which shows the conveyance vehicle of the conveyance vehicle system shown in FIG. The flowchart figure which shows operation | movement of the conveyance vehicle system shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Transporting vehicle system 2 Traveling route (conveying route)
2a Rail 2b Rail pair 4 Path 5 Fence (enclosure)
5a entrance 5b entrance 6 station 7 control unit 30 transport traveling vehicles 30a to 30e transport traveling vehicle 40 carriage unit 40a wheel 40d rotation warning light (notification unit, guidance lamp)
41 Loading unit 41a Loading unit 41b Slide mechanism 41c Load collapse prevention unit 42 Traveling vehicle communication unit 71 Disaster information receiving unit (receiving unit)
72 Traveling vehicle management unit 73 Control communication unit 101 Conveying traveling vehicle system 102 Conveying path 104 Route 130 Conveying traveling vehicle 130a Conveying traveling vehicle 130b Conveying traveling vehicle C Distribution warehouse C1 Evacuation exit C2 Evacuation exit D Distribution warehouse D1 Delivery entrance D2 Delivery exit D3 Escape port E

Claims (3)

A plurality of transport vehicles traveling along the transport path;
A person's route provided across the transport path;
A control unit for receiving an emergency earthquake bulletin, and when the emergency earthquake bulletin is received, a controller that stops the conveyance vehicle in the conveyance path at a position retracted from the route;
An enclosure surrounding the transport path;
A person entrance at both ends of the path provided in at least two places in the enclosure;
With
The control unit stops the transport vehicle at a position retracted from the route and a position adjacent to the route when the emergency earthquake warning is received,
Transportation vehicle system. The transport vehicle has a lighting device,
Based on the earthquake early warning, only the lighting device of the transport vehicle that stops adjacent to the route is lit,
The transport vehicle system according to claim 1 .   3. The transport vehicle system according to claim 1, wherein when the emergency earthquake warning is received, the control unit stops the transport vehicle at an adjacent position so as to be sandwiched by the route.

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