JPH01232403A - Guidance control method for unmanned carriage - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow an unmanned carriage to return smoothly to a guidance zone by determining a steering angle corresponding to the quantity of movement of a sensor unit and steering a steering motor when the unmanned carriage deviates from the guidance zone. CONSTITUTION:When the unmanned carriage 10 begins to deviate from the guidance zone 18, a sensor unit moving means 50 operates according to the detection signal of the sensor unit 40 and moves the sensor unit 40 so that the quantity of the deviation becomes zero. The quantity of movement of the sensor unit 40 is detected by an encoder 58 and a pulse counter 606 which are coupled with a sensor unit moving motor 57 and a steering angle determination part 607 incorporated in a central arithmetic unit 602 calculates the steering angle according to the result and controls the steering motor 15 through a steering command part 608 and a steering wheel control circuit 609, so that the direction of the unmanned carriage 10 is corrected through a steering wheel. Consequently, the unmanned carriage even if deviating from the guidance zone is returned smoothly along the guide zone.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention detects a guide zone formed along a running floor surface, and controls the guidance of an automated guided vehicle that is steered by a detection signal and travels along the guide zone. The present invention relates to a method, and particularly to a guidance control method for an automatic guided vehicle that allows the automatic guided vehicle to smoothly return to the guiding zone even if the automatic guided vehicle deviates significantly from the guiding zone.

Conventional ■ Stranded Conventional guidance methods for automatic guided vehicles include an optical method that irradiates a specular reflective tape or retroreflective tape laid on the floor and detects the reflected light, or an induced voltage emitted from a buried conductor. There is an electromagnetic method for detection, a pattern method for recognizing symbols placed on the floor, and a detection method for detecting a laser beam formed on the floor (hereinafter simply referred to as the guide path method).

Since the principles of the automatic guided vehicle guidance method using the guide path method are substantially the same for each method, the automatic guided vehicle using the optical guidance method will be described below.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the back side of a conventional optical automatic guided vehicle. 10 is an automatic guided vehicle, 11 is a trolley of the automatic guided vehicle 10, with a steering wheel 12 at the front and drive wheels 1 on the left and right sides of the rear of the trolley.
3.14, and is rotated by a steering motor 15 and a drive motor 16 via a deceleration mechanism and a differential mechanism 17. Reference numeral 18 denotes a guide band such as a light reflective tape laid on the floor surface 19.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a floodlight that illuminates the guide strip 18, and 30 a detector, both of which are disposed at the front of the truck 11 in the left-right direction perpendicular to the guide strip 18. Then, the light from the projector 20 is reflected by the floor surface 19, and the detector 30 detects this reflected light. Since the amount of reflection differs between the guide band 18 and the floor surface 19, the guide band 18 is detected based on this. In Figure 4, there are eight detectors 3o from 1 to 8 (a'), and an induction band 18.
Detectors 4 and 5 receive the reflected light.

Then, based on the detection signals of 4 and 5 of the detectors 30, the steering motor 15 of the automatic guided vehicle IO is controlled, and the guide band 18
The automatic guided vehicle 1o is steered and runs along the road.

However, in the conventional guide path method, when the automatic guided vehicle 10 starts to deviate from the guide band 18 for some reason, the amount of deviation increases, and eventually the guide band 18 In other words, the above-mentioned problem occurs when an external force is applied to the automatic guided vehicle 1o while it is running, or when the direction of the steering wheel 12 is deviated due to an abnormality in the floor surface 19.

Whenever such a problem occurs, the automatic guided vehicle I
This means that O must be pulled back onto the guide band 18 and restarted.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a guidance control method for an automatic guided vehicle that allows the automatic guided vehicle to smoothly return to follow the guiding zone even if the automatic guided vehicle deviates from the guiding zone.

9. In order to achieve the above object, the automatic guided vehicle guidance control method of the present invention detects information from a guidance band formed on the traveling floor surface with a detector installed in the automatic guided vehicle. , a method for guiding and controlling an automatic guided vehicle that travels along a guide zone based on this detection signal, wherein the automatic guided vehicle consists of one or more detectors installed at predetermined positions with respect to the guide zone. A sensor unit, a sensor unit moving means for linearly moving the sensor unit in a direction perpendicular to the guide band, a sensor unit moving amount detecting means for detecting the moving amount of the sensor unit moved by the sensor unit moving means, a control unit that controls the sensor unit moving means based on the detection output, calculates a steering angle of the steering motor based on the detection output from the sensor unit movement amount detection means, and controls the steering motor based on the calculation result; When the automated guided vehicle deviates from the guide belt, the sensor unit detects the amount and direction of the sensor unit's deviation, and adjusts the sensor unit so that the amount of deviation from the guide band becomes zero based on this detection output. The present invention is characterized in that the automated guided vehicle is moved back to a predetermined position with respect to the guide zone, and the steering motor is controlled based on the detection output of the amount of movement of the sensor unit to return the automatic guided vehicle to the guide zone.

False ■ When the automatic guided vehicle is traveling accurately along the guide zone, the sensor unit moving means does not operate.

When the automatic guided vehicle begins to deviate from the guide zone, the sensor unit moving means operates based on the detection signal of the sensor unit, and moves the sensor unit so that the amount of deviation becomes zero. The amount of movement of the sensor unit is detected by the sensor unit movement amount detection means, the steering angle of the steering wheel is calculated according to the detected output, and the steering motor is controlled based on the result of this calculation.

As a result, the automated guided vehicle that has deviated from the guidance zone is steered,
Runs smoothly on the guide strip.

spiky darkness Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a drawing showing the back side of an automatic guided vehicle according to the present invention. In the figure, parts having the same configuration as the conventional one are indicated by the same reference numerals.

In the figure, 10 is an automatic guided vehicle, 11 is a trolley, 12 is a steering wheel steered by a steering motor 15, 13 and 14 are drive wheels driven by a drive motor 16, and 17 is a speed reduction/differential mechanism.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a guide zone that forms a travel route. In the following description, an optical type will be described for convenience. 4
0 is a sensor unit, which is provided in front of the truck 11 in a direction perpendicular to the guide band 18.

The steering wheel 12 is provided so that the outside of the guide band 18 serves as a tread surface, so as to reduce staining of the guide band 18 by the steering wheel 12.

The sensor unit 40 detects the guide belt 18 and measures the amount of deviation between the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the guide belt 18, and includes a detector 30a that receives and detects reflected light from the guide belt 18.
30b, and a light projector 20 that projects light onto the guide band 18 are integrated. However, the detector 30
The automatic guided vehicle 10 is configured to control the steering motor 15 via the control unit 60 based on the detection signals a and 30b, so that the automatic guided vehicle 10 travels along the guide zone 18. When the automatic guided vehicle 10 is traveling along the guide zone 18, the sensor unit 40 moves along the guide zone 18 as shown in FIG. 2(A).
8, it stops at the target position (regular position).

50 is a sensor unit moving means, and the sensor unit moving means 50 includes a slide rail 51, a slide block 53 containing a linear bearing inside, and a drive pulley 54.
And follower boo! J55, a timing belt 56, and a sensor unit moving motor 57.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of the sensor unit moving means 50, in which FIG. 2(A) is a bottom view and FIG. 2(B) is a side view.

The slide rail 51 is provided with its longitudinal direction perpendicular to the guide band 18 on the lower front surface of the trolley 11, and
The length is greater than the width. The slide block 53 is provided with a linear bearing that fits into the slide rail 51, and furthermore, a sensor unit 40 is attached to the lower surface of the slide block 53. Further, a driving pulley 54 and a driven pulley 55 are disposed on the lower surface of the truck near both end faces in the longitudinal direction of the slide rail 51,
A timing belt 56 is stretched between the drive boob IJ54 and the driven pulley 55. Furthermore, the sensor unit 40 is moved along the guide band 18 on the slide rail 51 by the rotation of the sensor unit moving motor 57 on the drive pulley 54.
The width can be moved left and right.

Reference numeral 58 denotes an encoder as sensor unit movement amount detection means, which is connected to the sensor unit movement motor 57. The amount of movement of the sensor unit 40 is converted into pulses by the encoder 58 and input to the pulse counter 606 of the control section 60.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the control section 60 of the automatic guided vehicle 10 according to the present invention. In the figure, the detection signals from the induction band 18 detected by the detectors 30a and 30b of the sensor unit 40 are sent to the central processing unit 602 via the deviation detection circuit 601.
is input. It is input to the sensor unit control circuit 605 through the deviation direction judgment section 603 and deviation amount judgment section 604 built in the central processing unit 602, and the sensor unit of the sensor unit moving means 50 is controlled by the output from the sensor unit control circuit 605. Drive the moving motor 57. The output of the encoder 58 is sent to a pulse counter 606, a steering angle determining section 607 of the central processing unit 602, and a steering command section 6.
08 to the steering wheel control circuit 609, and the steering motor 15 is steered by the output from the steering wheel control circuit 609 based on this input signal. In addition, the drive command unit 610 of the central processing unit 602 and the drive wheel control circuit 61 are controlled by the detection signals from the detectors 30a and 30b.
1, a drive motor 16 is controlled.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be explained.

When the automatic guided vehicle 10 is traveling along the guide zone 18, the sensor unit 40 is at a target position with respect to the guide zone 18, and the sensor unit moving means 50 does not operate.

Now, if an external force is applied to the automatic guided vehicle 10 or if the floor surface 19
When the direction of the first mulberry steering wheel 12 goes out of order due to an abnormality, the automatic guided vehicle 10 starts to deviate from the floor surface. Therefore, the sensor unit 40 is also displaced from the guide band 18. For example, in FIG. 2, the automatic guided vehicle 10 shifts to the left, and the detector 30a,
Assume that 30a of 30b is shifted to the left side from the guide band 18. At this time, both detectors 30a and 30b are connected to the induction band 18.
Since the detectors 30a and 30 are not at the target position,
There will be a difference in detection output between the two. This difference in detection output is detected by the deviation detection circuit 601, the direction is judged by the deviation direction judgment part 603, and the magnitude is judged by the deviation amount judgment part 604, and these outputs are sent to the sensor via the sensor unit control circuit 605. Unit movement means 50
The sensor unit moving means 50 controls the encoder 58 and also controls the sensor unit moving motor 5.
Control 7. The rotation of the sensor unit moving motor 57 causes the sensor unit 40 to move relative to the guide band 18 via the drive pulley 54, driven pulley 55, and timing belt 56 until it returns to the target position. Thus, the sensor unit moving motor 57 is controlled by the controller 60 so that the sensor unit 40 is always at the target position with respect to the guide band 18.

As is clear from the above description, the amount of deviation of the automatic guided vehicle 10 from the guide zone 18 and the amount of deviation of the sensor unit 4o from the target position are in a proportional relationship.

Therefore, by detecting the amount of movement of the sensor unit 40, the amount of deviation can be controlled so as to make the amount of deviation zero.

That is, the amount of movement of the sensor unit 4o is converted into pulses by an encoder 58 connected to a sensor unit movement motor 57, and the number of pulses is counted by a pulse counter 606. Based on the result, a steering angle determination unit 607 built in the central processing unit 602 calculates the steering angle, and a steering command unit 607 calculates the steering angle.
0B, the steering motor 15 is controlled via the steering wheel control circuit 609, and the direction of the automatic guided vehicle 10 is corrected by the steering wheel 12 being steered with the calculated steering angle.

Thus, when the amount of deviation from the guide band 18 is small, the direction of the automatic guided vehicle 10 is corrected with a correspondingly small steering angle, and when the amount of deviation is large, the direction is corrected with a large steering angle, and the automatic guided vehicle 10 runs smoothly. It should be noted that the sensor unit moving means 50 is not limited to the configuration shown in the embodiment described above, but may be of any type as long as it operates in a similar manner.

Further, in the above description, an optical guide path method is used, but the present invention is not limited to this, and may be an electromagnetic method, a magnetic induction sheet method, a laser guided beam method, or the like. In this case, it goes without saying that the light projector 20 attached to the sensor unit 40 can be omitted.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, two detectors 30a and 30b were provided at the target position with respect to the guide band 18 as shown in FIG. 2, but the number of detectors may be one or more. It is sufficient if the amount of deviation from the target position with respect to the guide band 18 can be detected.

Furthermore, it goes without saying that each of the detectors uses a sensor suitable for the guide path method.

As explained above, in the present invention, one or two or a plurality of detectors are always located at the target position in the guidance zone by the sensor unit moving means, so that the automatic guided vehicle can be guided easily. Never lose sight of the obi. Furthermore, when the automatic guided vehicle deviates from the guide zone, a steering angle is determined according to the amount of movement of the sensor unit, and the steering motor is thereby steered. Therefore, the automatic guided vehicle can smoothly return to the guide zone. 4. Brief description of the drawings Figures 1 to 3 are drawings according to the present invention, in which Figure 1 is a bottom view of the automatic guided vehicle, and Figure 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the sensor unit moving means. , the same figure (A) is a bottom view, the same figure (B
) is a side view, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control section, and FIG. 4 is a drawing showing a conventional technology, and is a bottom view of the automatic guided vehicle.

10...Automated guided vehicle 12...Steering wheel 13.14...Drive wheel 15...Steering motor 16...Drive motor 18...Guide band 20...Floodlights 30a, 30b... Detector 40...Sensor unit 50...Sensor unit moving means 51...Slide rail 53...Slide block 57...Sensor unit moving motor 58...Encoder 60...Control unit Patent applicant Hitachi Kiden Kogyo Co., Ltd. Patent applicant
Toshihiro Tsumura Agent Patent Attorney Takaharu Ohnishi Figure 1 (A) Motion (B) Shinken Figure 2 Figure 4 Procedure Auxiliary Device May 26, 1988 2, Title of Invention: Guidance of automated guided vehicle Control method 3, relationship with the case of the person making the amendment Patent applicant address: Amagasaki type Shimo-saka section 3, bottom 11 @ No. 1 Name: Hitachi Kiden Kogyo Co., Ltd. (1 other person) Representative: Yoshinobu Imamura 4, agent Address: 16, 5-32 Tanimachi, Higashi-ku, Osaka, Number of inventions increased by amendment: 07, Target of amendment ■ Detailed explanation of the invention column j in the specification ■ Drawing 8, Contents of amendment ■ Description section 2nd page, 1st line r, person guided vehicle j is corrected to ``Automatic guided vehicle 1''.

■Page 6 of the specification cylinder, line 1, and the automatic guided vehicle is marked J, and the automatic guided vehicle is corrected to ``.

■Correct rnits to 1 on page 6 of the specification tube, line 15, rnits uj.

■Specification section, page 8, line 11? and j of the slide rail 51 are corrected to r slide rails 5I and J.

■Specification No. 11, line 15 to page 11, line 16 The r-sensor unit moving means 50 controls the encoder 58 and corrects j to j of the r-sensor unit moving means 50.

■Correct Figure 2 as shown in the attached sheet.

9. Relationship with cases of persons making amendments other than the above Patent applicant Address: 3-7-21 Abiko, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka Name: Toshihiro Tsumura (A) Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A method for guiding and controlling an automatic guided vehicle that detects information from a guiding zone formed on a traveling floor surface using a detector installed in the automatic guided vehicle, and travels along the guiding zone based on this detection signal. , the automatic guided vehicle includes a sensor unit consisting of one or more detectors provided at a predetermined position with respect to the guide zone, and a sensor unit moving means for linearly moving the sensor unit in a direction orthogonal to the guide zone; A sensor unit movement amount detection means for detecting the amount of movement of the sensor unit moved by the sensor unit movement means; and a sensor unit movement amount detection means for controlling the sensor unit movement means based on the detection output of the sensor unit, and a detection output from the sensor unit movement amount detection means. The control unit calculates the steering angle of the steering motor based on the calculation result and controls the steering motor based on the calculation result. Detecting the direction, and based on this detection output, move the sensor unit back to a predetermined position with respect to the guide band so that the amount of deviation from the guide band becomes zero, and based on the detection output of the amount of movement of the sensor unit. 1. A method for guiding and controlling an automatic guided vehicle, characterized in that the automatic guided vehicle is returned to a guidance zone by controlling a steering motor.