JP5370343B2 - Transport vehicle system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a transport vehicle system including a plurality of transport vehicles that transport articles and a control device that controls the transport vehicles.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a transport vehicle system that includes a plurality of transport vehicles for transporting articles and controls the plurality of transport vehicles with a control device has been widely put into practical use. In such a transportation vehicle system, it is required to efficiently operate the plurality of transportation vehicles.

  And in order to operate a conveyance vehicle efficiently, it is necessary to maintain the operation rate of a conveyance vehicle high. However, if the operation rate of the transport vehicle is kept high, the transport vehicles may concentrate on a transport route with a high transport frequency, and as a result, the transport vehicle may not be operated efficiently.

  For this reason, the conveyance vehicle system which calculates | requires the number of conveyance vehicles required for every conveyance path | route, and supplies a conveyance vehicle from the conveyance path | route with which a conveyance vehicle is surplus to the conveyance path | route where the conveyance vehicle is insufficient has been proposed ( For example, see Patent Document 1). Thereby, concentration of a conveyance vehicle can be prevented and a conveyance vehicle can be operated efficiently.

JP 2006-313767 A

  However, the conventional transport vehicle system has a problem that it is necessary to perform complicated processing.

  That is, in the conventional transport vehicle system disclosed in Patent Document 1, complicated processing such as simulation is required to obtain the number of transport vehicles required for each transport route. In addition, it is necessary to grasp the positions of all the transport vehicles in order to determine whether the transport vehicles are surplus or insufficient for each transport route. For this reason, in the conventional conveyance vehicle system, processing is very complicated.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and provides a transport vehicle system that can prevent the concentration of transport vehicles and perform efficient operation of the transport vehicles without performing complicated processing. With the goal.

  In order to achieve the above object, a transport vehicle system according to the present invention travels on a transport path between a first station area having a plurality of stations and a second station area different from the first station area to transport articles. A transport vehicle system comprising a plurality of transport vehicles that perform the control and a control device that controls the plurality of transport vehicles, wherein the control device is directed to carry out articles to a first station in the first station area. A measurement unit that measures the number of target conveyance vehicles that are conveyance vehicles traveling in a predetermined section in the conveyance route, and when the number measured by the measurement unit exceeds a predetermined value, In the first station area, which is different from the first station, after the article is delivered to the first station in at least one transport vehicle included in the target transport vehicle And a loading and unloading instruction section to perform loading of the articles from the second station.

  According to this, when the number of target transport vehicles that are transport vehicles traveling in a predetermined section in the transport route toward the delivery of the article to the first station exceeds a predetermined value, it is included in the target transport vehicle. At least one transport vehicle is made to carry in articles from the second station after the articles are carried out to the first station. That is, when the number of target transport vehicles exceeds a predetermined value, at least one target transport vehicle is caused to change the target position after carrying out the article to prevent the transport vehicles from being concentrated. In this way, if the number of target transport vehicles is known, control can be performed to prevent the concentration of transport vehicles, so that complicated processing such as simulation is not required, and there is no need to grasp the positions of all transport vehicles. . Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the transportation vehicles from being concentrated without performing complicated processing and to operate the transportation vehicles efficiently.

  Preferably, the measurement unit measures the number of the target transport vehicles by detecting a transport vehicle that has passed a predetermined position in the predetermined section.

  According to this, the number of target transport vehicles traveling in the predetermined section is measured by detecting a transport vehicle that has passed a predetermined position in the predetermined section. For this reason, the conveyance vehicle can be efficiently operated by preventing concentration of the conveyance vehicle by a simple process of detecting the conveyance vehicle that has passed the predetermined position.

  Preferably, the carry-in / out instruction unit causes the first transport vehicle of the target transport vehicles to carry in the articles from the second station after the articles are transported to the first station.

  According to this, the first transport vehicle among the target transport vehicles is caused to carry in the articles from the second station after the articles are carried out to the first station. For this reason, the concentration of the transport vehicles can be quickly eliminated by changing the target position to the leading transport vehicle.

  According to the transport vehicle system of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the transport vehicles from being concentrated and to efficiently operate the transport vehicle without performing complicated processing.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the conveyance vehicle system in embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the control apparatus in embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the operation | movement which the control apparatus in embodiment of this invention performs. It is a figure explaining an example of the process in which the measurement part in embodiment of this invention measures the number of object conveyance vehicles. It is a figure explaining an example of a process when the carrying in / out instruction | indication part in embodiment of this invention judges that the number of object conveyance vehicles does not exceed predetermined value. It is a figure explaining an example of processing when a carrying in / out directions part in an embodiment of the invention judges that the number of object transportation vehicles exceeds a predetermined value. It is a figure explaining an example of processing when a carrying in / out directions part in an embodiment of the invention judges that the number of object transportation vehicles exceeds a predetermined value.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a transport vehicle system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in the figure, the transport vehicle system 10 travels on a transport path between a first station area 20 that is a first area and a second station area 30 that is a second area, and transports articles. It is a system that performs. The transport vehicle system 10 includes a control device 100 and a plurality of transport vehicles 200.

  The control device 100 is a control device that controls the plurality of transport vehicles 200. Details of the control device 100 will be described later.

  The transport vehicle 200 is a transport cart that travels on a transport path between the first station area 20 and the second station area 30 and transports articles.

  Here, the first station area 20 includes a station 21 that is a first transfer location and a station 22 that is a second transfer location. Each of the stations 21 and 22 includes an unloading space A for unloading articles from the transport vehicle 200 and an unloading space B for loading articles into the transport vehicle 200. The stations included in the first station area 20 are not limited to the stations 21 and 22 and may include other stations.

  The second station area 30 is a station area different from the first station area 20 and has a large number of stations such as a station 31 and a station 32, for example. Each of the stations 31 and 32 includes an unloading space A for unloading articles from the transport vehicle 200 and an unloading space B for loading articles into the transport vehicle 200. The second station area 30 may have only one station.

  That is, each transport vehicle 200 carries an article from, for example, the carry-in space B of the station 31 in the second station area 30 and carries the article into the carry-out space A of the station 21 in the first station area 20. Each transport vehicle 200 carries an article from the carry-in space B of the station 21 in the first station area 20 and carries the article into the carry-out space A of the station 31 in the second station area 30.

  Next, the structure of the control apparatus 100 with which the conveyance vehicle system 10 is provided is demonstrated in detail.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the control device 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The control device 100 is a device that controls a transport vehicle 201, a transport vehicle 202, a transport vehicle 203, and the like, which are a plurality of transport vehicles 200 included in the transport vehicle system 10. As shown in the figure, the control device 100 includes a measurement unit 110 and a carry-in / out instruction unit 120.

  The measurement unit 110 measures the number of target transport vehicles. Here, the target transport vehicle is a transport vehicle heading to carry out articles to the first station, which is the first transfer location in the first station area 20, and includes the first station area 20 and the second station area. 30 is a transport vehicle that travels in a predetermined section in the transport route between The first station is, for example, the station 21.

  Specifically, the measurement unit 110 measures the number of target transport vehicles by detecting a transport vehicle that has passed a predetermined position in a predetermined section.

  When the number of units measured by the measuring unit 110 exceeds a predetermined value, the carry-in / out instruction unit 120 first transfers the article to the first station after at least one transport vehicle included in the target transport vehicle. The article is carried in from the second station which is the second transfer location in the first station area 20 different from the station. Note that the second station is, for example, the station 22.

  Specifically, the carry-in / out instruction unit 120 causes the first transport vehicle of the target transport vehicles to carry in the articles from the second station after the articles are carried out to the first station.

  Next, the process which the control apparatus 100 with which the conveyance vehicle system 10 is provided is demonstrated concretely.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation performed by the control device 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  First, the measurement unit 110 measures the number of target transport vehicles. Here, the target transport vehicle is a transport vehicle that is directed to carry out articles to the station 21 in the first station area 20, and is in the transport path between the first station area 20 and the second station area 30. Suppose that the vehicle is traveling in a predetermined section.

  Specifically, as shown in the figure, first, the measurement unit 110 detects a transport vehicle heading to carry out an article to the station 21 (S102).

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of processing in which the measurement unit 110 according to the embodiment of the present invention measures the number of target transport vehicles.

  In the figure, four transport vehicles 201 to 204 carry out articles from the respective stations in the second station area 30 toward the station 21 in the first station area 20 in the unloading space A of the station 21. Suppose that you are traveling.

  For this reason, the measurement unit 110 detects four transport vehicles 201 to 204 as transport vehicles heading to carry out the article to the station 21. Here, let the detected conveyance vehicles 201-204 be a 1st conveyance vehicle.

  Returning to FIG. 3, the measurement unit 110 detects a transport vehicle that has passed a predetermined position in a predetermined section in the transport path (S <b> 104).

  Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the measurement unit 110 performs predetermined processing within a predetermined section R (thick line portion illustrated in FIG. 4) in the transport path between the first station area 20 and the second station area 30. The four transport vehicles 201 to 204 are detected as the transport vehicles that have passed the position P. Here, the detected transport vehicles 201 to 204 are referred to as second transport vehicles.

  The predetermined section R may be any section as long as it is a section in the transport route, and the predetermined position P may be any position as long as it is a position within the predetermined section R. Arbitrary sections and positions are determined by the user.

  And the measurement part 110 measures the number of object conveyance vehicles by making the conveyance vehicle which is a 1st conveyance vehicle and a 2nd conveyance vehicle into an object conveyance vehicle (S106).

  Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the first transport vehicle is the transport vehicles 201 to 204, and the second transport vehicle is also the transport vehicles 201 to 204. As the target transport vehicle, the number of target transport vehicles is measured as four.

  Then, the carry-in / out instruction unit 120 determines whether or not the number of target transport vehicles measured by the measurement unit 110 exceeds a predetermined value (S108). Here, the predetermined value is an arbitrary value determined by the user, and is assumed to be five here. The predetermined value may be any value and is not determined by the user, but is determined by the carry-in / out instruction unit 120 according to, for example, the number of transport vehicles 200 provided in the transport vehicle system 10. It may be.

  Here, since the number of target transport vehicles shown in FIG. 4 is four, the carry-in / out instruction unit 120 determines that the number of target transport vehicles measured by the measurement unit 110 does not exceed a predetermined value. (NO in S108), the process is terminated.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an example of processing when the carry-in / out instruction unit 120 determines that the number of target transport vehicles does not exceed a predetermined value in the embodiment of the present invention.

  First, when the carry-in / out instruction unit 120 determines that the number of target conveyance vehicles does not exceed a predetermined value, the conveyance vehicle 201 carries out the articles in the carry-out space A of the station 21 as scheduled. Then, the transport vehicle 201 searches for the nearest carry-in space B so as to carry in the goods in the carry-in space B of any station after carrying the goods into the carry-out space A of the station 21.

  Here, since the carry-in space B of the station 21 is the nearest carry-in space, the transport vehicle 201 carries the article in the carry-in space B of the station 21 as shown in FIG. And the conveyance vehicle 201 heads for example to the station 31 of the 2nd station area 30, in order to carry out articles | goods. Then, the transport vehicle 201 carries out the article in the carry-out space A of the station 31 and carries in the article in the carry-in space B of the station 31.

  As described above, when the carry-in / out instruction unit 120 determines that the number of target transport vehicles does not exceed the predetermined value, the transport vehicle 201 determines that the station in the first station area 20 and the station in the second station area 30 The goods are carried in and out by reciprocating the conveyance path between the two.

  Next, a case where the carry-in / out instruction unit 120 determines that the number of target transport vehicles exceeds a predetermined value will be described.

  6 and 7 are diagrams illustrating an example of processing when the carry-in / out instruction unit 120 determines that the number of target transport vehicles exceeds a predetermined value in the embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 6, six transport vehicles 201 to 206 transport articles from the stations of the second station area 30 toward the stations 21 of the first station area 20 in the unloading space A of the station 21. Suppose that you are traveling.

  For this reason, the measurement unit 110 detects six transport vehicles 201 to 206 as the transport vehicles heading to carry out the article to the station 21. Here, let the detected conveyance vehicles 201-206 be a 1st conveyance vehicle.

  The measuring unit 110 includes six transport vehicles 201 to 206 as transport vehicles that have passed a predetermined position P in a predetermined section R in the transport path between the first station area 20 and the second station area 30. Detecting the transport vehicle. Here, let the detected conveyance vehicles 201-206 be the 2nd conveyance vehicles.

  Then, the measurement unit 110 measures the number of target transport vehicles as six using the transport vehicles 201 to 206 that are the first transport vehicles and the second transport vehicles as the target transport vehicles.

  Returning to FIG. 3, the carry-in / out instruction unit 120 determines whether or not the number of target transport vehicles measured by the measurement unit 110 exceeds a predetermined value of five (S108).

  Here, since the number of target transport vehicles shown in FIG. 6 is six, the carry-in / out instruction unit 120 determines that the number of target transport vehicles measured by the measurement unit 110 exceeds a predetermined value. (YES in S108), a carry-in / out instruction is given to at least one transport vehicle included in the target transport vehicle (S110).

  Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the carry-in / out instruction unit 120 transfers, for example, a station to the first transport vehicle 201 of the transport vehicles 201 to 206 that are target transport vehicles after the article is transported to the station 21. A carry-in / out instruction for carrying in articles from 22 is given. That is, the carry-in / out instruction unit 120 carries the article into the transport vehicle 201 in the carry-out space A of the station 21 and carries the article in the carry-in space B of the station 22.

  The transport vehicle to which the carry-in / out instruction is given is preferably the top transport vehicle of the target transport vehicle, but is not limited to the top transport vehicle, and may be the second transport vehicle from the top or the last transport vehicle. There may be.

  Further, the transport vehicle to which the carry-in / out instruction is given is not limited to one of the transport vehicles 201, and the carry-in / out instruction unit 120 carries out the carry-in / out instruction to the transport vehicles 201 to 203. An entry instruction may be given.

  Thereby, for example, there are a large number of articles to be transported between each station in the second station area 30 and the station 21 in the first station area 20, and many transport vehicles are used to transport the articles. However, at least one transport vehicle can transport the articles in the station 22 in the first station area 20.

  That is, when the station 21 is a station with a high conveyance frequency and the station 22 is a station with a low conveyance frequency, the conveyance vehicle 200 unloads the article in the unloading space A of the station 21, as shown in FIG. Then, in order to keep the operation rate high, the article is carried in the carry-in space B of the station 21 immediately adjacent thereto. For this reason, priority is given to the conveyance of the article | item of the station 21, Therefore If the fixed time does not pass, the article | item of the station 22 will not be conveyed.

  Therefore, it is possible to prevent the article at the station 22 from being conveyed by transferring at least one conveyance vehicle carrying the article at the station 21 so as to convey the article at the station 22.

  Thus, the process which the control apparatus 100 with which the conveyance vehicle system 10 is provided complete | finishes.

  As described above, according to the transport vehicle system 10 according to the present invention, the number of target transport vehicles that are transport vehicles 200 traveling in the predetermined section R in the transport route toward the delivery of the article to the station 21 is a predetermined value. In the case where the value exceeds the value, at least one transport vehicle included in the target transport vehicle is caused to carry in the article from the station 22 after the article is carried out to the station 21. That is, when the number of target transport vehicles exceeds a predetermined value, at least one target transport vehicle is caused to change the target position after carrying out the article to prevent the transport vehicles 200 from being concentrated. In this way, if the number of target transport vehicles is known, it is possible to perform control to prevent the transport vehicles 200 from being concentrated. Therefore, it is necessary to grasp the positions of all transport vehicles 200 without requiring complicated processing such as simulation. Nor. Therefore, concentration of the transport vehicle 200 can be prevented without performing complicated processing, and the transport vehicle 200 can be operated efficiently.

  Further, by detecting the transport vehicle 200 that has passed the predetermined position P in the predetermined section R, the number of target transport vehicles traveling in the predetermined section R is measured. For this reason, concentration of the conveyance vehicle 200 can be prevented by a simple process of detecting the conveyance vehicle 200 that has passed the predetermined position P, and the conveyance vehicle 200 can be operated efficiently.

  Further, the first transport vehicle among the target transport vehicles is caused to carry in the articles from the station 22 after the articles are carried out to the station 21. For this reason, the concentration of the transport vehicle 200 can be quickly eliminated by changing the target position to the leading transport vehicle.

  Further, even if the transport vehicle has passed the predetermined position P, a transport vehicle that does not go to carry out the article to the station 21 is not detected. For this reason, since the process is simple even in a situation where a wide variety of transfer patterns are scattered, it is possible to prevent the concentration of the transport vehicle 200 and to efficiently operate the transport vehicle 200 without performing complicated processing. it can.

  As mentioned above, although the conveyance vehicle system 10 which concerns on this invention was demonstrated based on embodiment, this invention is not limited to this embodiment.

  That is, the embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

  In addition, the present invention can be realized not only as such a transport vehicle system 10 but also as a control method using a characteristic process included in the control device 100 of the transport vehicle system 10 as a step. It can be realized as a program for causing a computer to execute various characteristic steps. Needless to say, such a program can be distributed via a recording medium such as a CD-ROM and a transmission medium such as the Internet.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used as a transport vehicle system that can prevent concentration of transport vehicles without performing complicated processing and can efficiently operate the transport vehicles.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Carrier vehicle system 20 1st station area 21, 22 station 30 2nd station area 31, 32 station 100 Control apparatus 110 Measuring part 120 Carry-in / out instruction | indication part 200, 201-207 Carrier vehicle

Claims (3)

Traveling on a transport path between a first station area having a plurality of stations and a second station area different from the first station area, carrying the article to any station in the first station area, and A transport vehicle system comprising a plurality of transport vehicles for transporting articles by carrying the articles from any station within one station area, and a control device for controlling the plurality of transport vehicles,
The control device includes:
A measurement unit that measures the number of target conveyance vehicles that are conveyance vehicles that are directed to carry out articles to the first station in the first station area, and that are conveyance vehicles that travel a predetermined section in the conveyance route;
When the number of units measured by the measurement unit exceeds a predetermined value, the article from the first station is transferred to the first station after being delivered to at least one carriage included in the target carriage. A transport vehicle system comprising: a carry-in / out instruction unit for carrying in an article from a second station in the first station area different from the first station even if the carry-in is possible . The transport vehicle system according to claim 1, wherein the measurement unit measures the number of target transport vehicles by detecting a transport vehicle that has passed a predetermined position in the predetermined section. The said carrying-in / out instruction | indication part makes the first conveyance vehicle of the said target conveyance vehicles carry in the goods from said 2nd station after carrying out the goods to said 1st station. Transport vehicle system.

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