JPH01180606A - Traveling controller for unmanned carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the runaway, the collision against obstacles, etc., of an unmanned carrier by deciding the occurrence of an error and performing the abnormality processing in case the detection of a station line is impossible within a set distance. CONSTITUTION:A traveling distance measuring means 79 measures the distances after an unmanned carrier 1 starts at the station lines ST1-STn respectively. When these measured distances exceed the distances set by a distance setting means 80 for each station, the detecting signals are sent from a detecting means 60. The abnormality processing means 90, 92 and 100 work to give the emergency stop to the unmanned carrier in case the detecting signal is received before detection of a desired station line. In such a way, the abnormality is detected in case the signal of the desired station is not detected within a distance obtained by adding the prescribed margin to the distance from the next station. Thus the carrier is urgently stopped. As a result, the carrier can be prevented from runaway, including such accidents as collision against obstacles.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] This article relates to an unmanned vehicle transportation system in which a plurality of station lines are buried at predetermined intervals on a traveling path.
In particular, the present invention relates to safety measures against detection errors of the station line.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 4(a) shows the general configuration of this type of unmanned vehicle transportation system. A driving guide line E is placed along the unmanned vehicle driving path.
! By detecting the induced magnetic field of this guiding wire E with, for example, four pickup coils mounted on the unmanned vehicle 1, front, rear, left, and right, the unmanned vehicle 1 is caused to travel along the FiJE. Also, a plurality of station lines ST1. ~STn are buried at intervals, and each frequency f is connected to these station lines.
1. f3°T4. T3. An alternating current signal (hereinafter referred to as station signal) of T5... is being transmitted. The unmanned vehicle 1 is equipped with one or two pickup coils 2, and each frequency f1. f
By detecting the station signal of 3..., the unmanned vehicle can identify its own location.

That is, by using the station signal as a trigger, sequence control is executed that combines deceleration, stopping, work, etc. in a predetermined order.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, conventionally, in such an unmanned vehicle transportation system, the station signals were sequentially detected 11'I and various sequence controls were performed based on the detected station signals. If the level of the station signal drops below the threshold level C for some reason, or if the pickup coil breaks down, this signal f3 cannot be detected on the unmanned vehicle side C, and as a result, the order of sequence control changes. is l
:l Things got messy and the car continued to drive, causing accidents such as colliding with obstacles.

[Means for solving problems]

Therefore, in this invention, 21 points between adjacent station lines are provided.
′! distance setting means for setting a distance obtained by adding a predetermined distance to the distance for each station; a distance measuring means for measuring the travel distance from departure from each station line until detection of the next station line; and said distance. a detection means that outputs a predetermined detection signal when the measured distance of the measurement means exceeds a set distance corresponding to the station line of the distance setting means; and a predetermined abnormality processing when the detection signal of the detection means is output. To enable an unmanned vehicle to have an abnormality processing means for executing the same.

[Function] The distance traveled by the unmanned vehicle after leaving the station line is measured for each station line by a distance measuring means. When this measured distance exceeds the set distance for the station set in the distance setting means, the detection means outputs a detection signal. When this detection signal is output before detecting the required stage 1 line, the abnormality processing means executes abnormality processing such as emergency stopping of the unmanned vehicle. That is, when the signal of the desired station cannot be detected within the distance to the next station line plus a predetermined margin, this is detected as an abnormality and, for example, the vehicle is brought to an emergency stop.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail according to embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a control device installed in an unmanned vehicle 1, in which a pickup coil 2 is used to control the above-mentioned stage 1.
Each frequency r1. The station signals of f2, . . . are detected (see FIG. 4). In this case, eight frequencies r1 to f
It is assumed that each station is distinguished in 8 combinations of V manners.

The station signal input from the pickup coil 2 is passed through an amplifier 10 to a bandpass filter (BPF) 1.
1 to 18, and only signals of predetermined frequencies are extracted by these BPF II to 18, so that the frequencies f'1. f'+, . . . T8 signal is taken out. The outputs f1 to f8 of BPF 11 to 18 are input to rectifier circuits 21 to 28, and after being rectified, they are sent to the comparator 3.
1 to 38 are input. A predetermined threshold level C (see FIG. 4) is input from the reference voltage generator 40 to the comparators 31 to 38, and each signal input from the rectifier circuits 21 to 28 and the threshold level C are input to the comparators 31 to 38. are compared, and 12-value low numbers F1 to F8 indicating the presence or absence of the signal are output to the CPU 50. In other words, 1 for signals F1 to F8
Configure byte data.

The distance sensor 60 outputs a pulse signal of XS/pulse as the unmanned vehicle travels, and this pulse signal is input to the counter 70 via the waveform shaping circuit 61. counter 70
The distance traveled is measured by counting pulse signals from a distance sensor 60 via a waveform shaping circuit 61, and this counter 70 is preset with stored data PD in a memory 80 by a preset signal PS from the CPU 50. Ru. Therefore, this counter 70 outputs a count-up signal CU when the count I (traveling distance) matches the preset value.

FIG. 2 shows the contents stored in the memory 80. In the memory 80, codes FD (fi) are stored in the memory 80, which indicate the frequencies to be applied to each of the stations 15TI to STn in the order of the stations where the unmanned vehicle 1 travels.

fi+1, --fi+n) and preset values PD (di, di+1,
. . . di+n) are stored in association with each station. For example, assuming the station array shown in FIG. 4, the frequency code FD is as shown in FIG. 2, fi = f1. fi+1 = f3゜fi+
2 = f4. fi+3 = f3, fi+4 = f5
...becomes... In addition, the frequency code FD is the comparator 3.
It is composed of one byte to correspond to output data F1 to F8 of 1 to 38, and only the corresponding frequency bit is "1".

Further, the preset value PD is the count ld of the counter 70 corresponding to the distance between the stations plus a predetermined margin α. That is, if the distance between the stations is 1 and the output of the distance sensor 60 is Xs/pulse, then this count value d will be.

Therefore, to determine the preset value PD, the distance between each station #11. Find fi2... and substitute the found distance to the front base. In the case of a station array as shown in Fig. 4, di=(11+α)/x, di+1
= (J!2 +a)/x.

di+2=(j!3+α)/x, d i+3=
(j!4-1-α)/x, di+4 = (Js 1 (2)/X...-.

The data stored in the memory 80 is read out for each corresponding station by the CPU 50, and a preset value PD therein is preset in the counter 70.

The tilt device 90 drives the drive motor 91 based on the speed command value, forward/reverse signal, etc. input from the CPU 50, and causes the unmanned vehicle 1 to travel. A brake signal is inputted to the brake actuator 92 from the CPLI 50, and the brake 93 is controlled in accordance with this brake signal. Moreover, when an abnormality occurs in the unmanned vehicle, the abnormality lamp 100 is turned on.

The CPU 50 controls the actuator 92, the tilting device 90, etc. based on the input data F1 to F8 from the comparators 31 to 38, and executes a predetermined sequence control that combines deceleration, stopping, running, and a work cap. At the same time, a station line detection error is detected by the count-up signal CU from the counter 70, and when an abnormality is detected, an abnormality lamp 100 is turned on and abnormality processing such as an emergency stop of the vehicle is executed.

Hereinafter, with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, the procedure for CPU abnormality processing will be described. In this case, the station array shown in FIG. 4 is assumed.

Assuming that the vehicle 1 is instructed to start traveling (in this case, traveling backwards) at a predetermined point 1), the CP() 50 first initializes the value of the built-in pointer to n=Q (step 200), read signal @R to memory 80
Input the address l 'ry△D corresponding to D and n=Q, read out the frequency code fi (fl) and preset value di of the next station 1, and use the preset signal PS to set the preset Idi (= (j!1+(Z )/x)
is set in the counter 70 (step 210). With this preset, the counter 70 starts counting the pulse signals output from the distance sensor I60 (step 220).

When such a preset operation is completed, the unmanned vehicle 1 starts traveling from the point P. While driving unmanned vehicle 1, CPLJ
50 first searches whether or not the count-up signal CU is output from the counter 70 (step 230). As described above, the counter 70 outputs the count-up signal CU when the count value, that is, the distance traveled by the unmanned vehicle 1 matches the preset value (in this case, di).

If the count-up signal CU is not output in this judgment, the CPU 50 takes in the output data F1 to F8 of the comparators 31 to 38 (step 240>, and if even one bit of the data F1 to F8 contains the signal "1", (Step 250). If there is no signal "1", the process returns to Step 230. However, if F1 to F
When the signal "1J" is included in the signal "1J", the CPU 50 selects the station 1 that has taken in this data F1 to F8 first.
If they do not match, the process returns to step 230, and if they do match, the procedure moves to step 270. That is, in step 260, it is determined whether the frequency of the station line detected by the pickup 2 is the frequency of the corresponding station line.

The CPU 50 repeatedly executes the determination process from step 230 to step 260 at a predetermined cycle, and when the determination result in step 260 is YES, it determines that station 1 has been reached, γ1IFli, and sets the value of the built-in pointer. is incremented by 1J to n=1 (step 270). Then, (PLJ 50 inputs an address j3 A D corresponding to the read signal RD and n-1 to the memory 80.
By inputting , the frequency code f i+1 (=f3) of the next station 2 and the counter 1 reset [di+1 corresponding to the distance to the station 2] are read.
The preset l/jdi+1 is set in the counter 70 (step 280). From here on, the same procedure as above
[is carried out.

However, if the count-up signal CU is output from the counter 7 while repeating the determination process from step 230 to step 260, that is, the count-up signal 43 CtJ is output before the frequency data from the corresponding station is detected. If this is the case, the CPU 50 determines this to be an abnormality, sets the speed command signal input to the stopper device 90 to zero, and outputs a brake signal to the actuator 92 to emergency stop the unmanned vehicle 1 (step 280> , outputs an abnormal signal to the abnormal lamp 100 and turns on the lamp 100 (step 290).

The CPIJ 50 executes the above-described processing by sequentially incrementing the pointer value, and detects a platform to which the count-up signal CU is output while the vehicle is running as an abnormality.

In this way, in this embodiment, the unmanned vehicle 1 from leaving each station until detecting the next station is
A distance obtained by adding a predetermined margin to the distance from the station to the next station is set as a count limit value for the counter 70 that measures the distance traveled by the counter 70. Count up signal C when counting is done
U is output, and when this count-up signal is output, the abnormality lamp 100 is turned on and the vehicle is brought to an emergency stop, so accidents such as vehicle runaway and collision can be prevented. It becomes like this.・ Na J3, Kikomei, may make appropriate changes to the above example. For example, the distance traveled can be measured by
L? In place of the configuration consisting of the counter 60 a; Although the traveling distance≧set distance is detected, the comparison %I!I+ may be performed using another configuration, for example, a comparator.

In addition, in the above embodiment, each station line is distinguished by eight frequencies "1 to R8", but these frequencies may be arbitrary; for example, each station line may be differentiated by using all different frequencies. You can make the lines distinct.

By the way, in the flow set-up shown in Fig. 3,
When the judgment of the knob 260 is No, 1, and the detected station signal is not the corresponding station line, the loop of steps 230 to 260 is repeated, and then an abnormality is detected when the count-up signal cU is output. However, if the determination at step 260 is NO, the procedure may be shifted to step 280 to immediately shift to abnormality processing.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, when a station line cannot be detected within a set distance, an error is generated and abnormal processing such as an emergency stop of the vehicle is performed. Accidents such as the vehicle running out of control or colliding with an obstacle can be prevented, and the safety of the unmanned vehicle transportation system can be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of memory in the embodiment device,
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the embodiment device, FIG. 4(a) is a plan view showing an example of the arrangement of station lines on an unmanned vehicle traveling path, and FIG. 4(b) shows the detection signals of these station lines. This is an illustrative graph. 1...Unmanned vehicle, 2...Pickup coil, 11~
18...Band pass filter, 31-38...Comparator, 50...CPU, 60...Distance sensor,
70...h counter, 80...memory, 100...
Abnormal lamp. Zuteshi 2 in 1 Sunashi 1 in 2 Sudeshi Adventure 3
Sudeshi 1-4 Sudeshiron 5m)
(fJ) (fJ (fJ)
(fs)Figure 4Figure 3

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A plurality of station lines are placed at predetermined intervals on the route of the unmanned vehicle, the position of the unmanned vehicle is detected by detecting these station lines, and the position of the unmanned vehicle is determined based on these detected positions. A travel control device for an unmanned vehicle that performs travel control includes distance setting means for setting, for each station, a distance obtained by adding a predetermined distance to the distance between adjacent station lines; a distance measuring means for measuring the traveling distance until detecting the line; and a detecting means for outputting a predetermined detection signal when the measured distance of the distance measuring means exceeds a set distance corresponding to the distance between the station lines of the distance setting means. and an abnormality processing means that executes predetermined abnormality processing when a detection signal from the detection means is output. (2) The driving control device for an unmanned vehicle according to claim (1), wherein the abnormality processing means stops the unmanned vehicle when an abnormality is detected.