JPH02277106A - Operation controller for unmanned carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the variance of waiting time for requests of transport and at the same time to omit the retrieval of an area where an unmanned carrier is called by controlling the operation of carriers so as to always keep the number of carriers which is calculated in response to the transport request frequency. CONSTITUTION:A transport request frequency storage means 1 stores the transport request frequency given to each carrier parking lot in the same area from all stations within an area for each carrier request area. An allocated carrier number calculation means 3 calculates the number of carriers to be allocated to each carrier request area based on the transport frequency stored in the means 1 and the number of carriers included in a transport system of a carrier number storage means. Then the operation of carriers is controlled via a required carrier number storage means 4, a carrier drive control means 5, a present carrier number control means 6, a carrier number comparison means 7, a carrier drive-out instruction means 8, etc., so that the number of carriers calculated in response to the transport request frequency is always kept. Thus it is possible to reduce the variance of waiting time for transport requests and to omit the retrieval of an area where a carrier is called.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an automatic guided vehicle operation control device, and particularly to an automatic guided vehicle operation control device that controls an automatic guided vehicle that transports parts and products from a warehouse or workstation to another workstation. It relates to a vehicle operation control device.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, an automatic guided vehicle operation control device stores transport requests issued from stations in a transport system in the order in which they are issued.
The transport requests are retrieved in the stored order of transport requests or in the rearranged order based on the priority order attached to the station or transport object, and the retrieved transport requests are issued when the automatic guided vehicle becomes available. It gave driving instructions to dispatch the vehicle to the station where the vehicle was located.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The above-described conventional automatic guided vehicle operation control device is capable of transmitting information to the station issuing the transport request to an available automatic guided vehicle existing near the station issuing the transport request. If the frequency of occurrence of transportation requests is uneven depending on the station, the location of the automatic guided vehicle in the entire transportation system will be uneven, and the automatic guided vehicle assigned to the station with a high frequency of transportation requests will be W of automatic guided vehicles allocated to stations with a low proportion of transportation requests
Since the number of transfer requests decreases in proportion to the number of transfer requests, there is a problem in that the wait time for a transfer request at a station with a high frequency of transfer requests becomes longer.

In addition, in order to solve the problems of the above-mentioned automated guided vehicle operation control system, the entire transportation range is divided into multiple guided vehicle request areas each having one guided vehicle waiting area. There is a method of controlling so that the number of guided vehicles matches the number of required automated guided vehicles, but when the number of automated guided vehicles existing within the guided vehicle request area does not match the required number of automated guided vehicles. However, there was a problem in that it was necessary to search for an area to call a transport vehicle.

It is an object of the present invention to reduce the variation in waiting time for transportation requests at each station, and to ensure that the number of automatic guided vehicles existing within the vehicle request area matches the number of required automatic guided vehicles. To provide an automatic guided vehicle operation control device that does not require searching for an area to call a vehicle.

[Means to solve the problem]

The automatic guided vehicle operation control device of the present invention has the following features: (A) The entire transport range is divided into a plurality of guided vehicle request areas each having one guided vehicle waiting area, and guided vehicle requests are differentiated for each guided vehicle request area. A transport request frequency storage means for storing the frequency of transport requests given to a transport vehicle waiting area in the same transport vehicle request area from all stations within the area; (B) storing the number of transport vehicles owned by the transport system; (C) From the number of conveyed vehicles stored in the owned number of conveyed vehicles storage means and the conveyance request frequency stored in each conveyed vehicle request area by the conveyance request frequency storage means, each conveyance is (D) A required number of guided vehicles storage for storing the number of guided vehicles in each guided vehicle required area calculated by the assigned number of guided vehicles calculation means for calculating the number of guided vehicles allocated to the vehicle requested area. (E) a vehicle running management means for managing the running status of the guided vehicle; (F) determining the number of guided vehicles in each guided vehicle request area based on the number of vehicles in the running status obtained from the guided vehicle running management means; (G) the number of guided vehicles stored by the required number of guided vehicles storage means for each guided vehicle request area and the number of guided vehicles managed by the existing number of guided vehicles management means; (H) Guided vehicle expulsion instructing means for determining whether or not to drive out a guided vehicle based on the comparison result by the number of guided vehicles comparison means; (I) Request for each guided vehicle. (J) a moving area storage means that stores in advance a destination area for each area; The vehicle travel instruction means provides a travel instruction to the area stored in the movement area storage means.

〔Example〕

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.

The automatic guided vehicle operation control device shown in FIG. 1 includes a transport request frequency storage means for storing transport request frequencies given to a guided vehicle waiting area within the same guided vehicle request area from all stations within the guided vehicle request area. 1. Transport vehicle ownership number storage means 2 that stores the number of transport vehicles owned by the transport system; each transport vehicle request is made using the transport vehicle number stored in the transport vehicle ownership number storage means 2 and the transport request frequency storage means 1; Transport vehicle allocation number calculation means 3 calculates the number of transport vehicles to be allocated to each transport vehicle request area from the transport request frequency stored in the area, and necessary transport stores the calculated number of transport vehicles for each transport vehicle request area. The number of conveyed vehicles in each conveyed vehicle request area is determined based on the number of vehicles in the traveling condition obtained from the vehicle number storage means 4, the conveyed vehicle running management means 5 that manages the traveling status of the conveyed vehicles, the conveyed vehicle running management means, etc. The existing guided vehicle number management means 6 manages the number of guided vehicles stored by the required number of guided vehicle storage means 4 for each guided vehicle request area and the number of guided vehicles managed by the existing guided vehicle number management means 6. A comparison means 7 for the number of conveyed vehicles to be compared, a conveyed vehicle expulsion instructing means 8 for determining whether or not to expel the conveyed vehicle based on the results of the comparison by the conveyed vehicle number comparison means 7, and a destination for each conveyed vehicle request area. When an instruction to drive out a guided vehicle is given by the moving area storage means 9 which stores an area in advance and the guided vehicle expulsion instruction means 8, the area is stored in the moving area storage means in the first available guided vehicle. It is composed of a conveyance vehicle travel instruction means 10 that gives a travel instruction to the area where the vehicle is located.

Next, the operation will be explained.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the automatic guided vehicle operation control device of FIG. 1.

The entire transport range is divided into multiple transport vehicle request areas each having one transport vehicle waiting area, and each transport vehicle request area is differentiated, and transport requests from all stations within the transport vehicle request area are processed for the same transport. Issued to the vehicle waiting area within the vehicle request area. In FIG. 2, transport request areas lla and llb have transport vehicle waiting areas 13a and 13a, respectively.
, 13b are provided.

In advance, the transport request frequency storage means 1 stores, for each transport vehicle request area, the transport request frequency given to the transport vehicle waiting area within the same transport vehicle request area from all the stations within the transport vehicle request area. , the allocated number of guided vehicles calculation means 3 determines the number of conveyed vehicles owned in the conveyance system from the conveyance frequency stored in the conveyance request frequency storage means 1 and the number of conveyed vehicles owned in the conveyance system stored in the owned number of conveyed vehicles storage means 2. Calculate the number of transport vehicles to be allocated to the vehicle request area.

The required number of transport vehicles storage means 4 stores the number of transport vehicles in each transport vehicle request area calculated by the allocated transport vehicle number calculation means 3. Furthermore, the moving area storage means 9 is
A destination area is stored in advance for each transport vehicle request area.

The conveyance vehicle running management means 5 constantly manages the traveling status of the conveyance vehicles, and provides the conveyance vehicle requested area where the conveyance vehicle is located to the existing conveyance vehicle number management means 6. The existing transport vehicle number management means 6 manages the number of transport vehicles in each transport vehicle request area based on the data given by the transport vehicle travel management means 5.

From station 12a in vehicle request area lla to station 12b in vehicle request area llb
When the conveyance vehicle 14 transporting the goods along the conveyance route 16 moves from the conveyance vehicle request area lla to the conveyance vehicle request area llb, the conveyance vehicle 14 managed by the conveyance vehicle running management means 5 The guided vehicle request area data changes from guided vehicle required area lla to guided vehicle required area llb. When the guided vehicle request area data managed by the guided vehicle running management means 5 changes, the respective conveyances existing in the guided vehicle required area lla and guided vehicle required area llb managed by the existing guided vehicle number management means 6 are changed. The number of vehicles changes. When the number of guided vehicles in the guided vehicle request area managed by the existing guided vehicle number management means 6 changes, the guided vehicle number comparison means 7 stores the required number of guided vehicles in the guided vehicle required area lla and guided vehicle required area llb. The number of transport vehicles stored in the means 4 is compared with the number of transport vehicles managed by the existing transport vehicle number management means 6.

Next, the guided vehicle expulsion instructing means 8 selects the guided vehicle required area ll based on the comparison result by the guided vehicle number comparing means 7.
A travel instruction is given to the first available transport vehicle 15 among the transport vehicles existing in area b to travel to the transport vehicle waiting area 13a located within the transport vehicle request area lla stored in the movement area storage means 9.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention reduces the variation in the waiting time for transport requests at each station by controlling the operation of transport vehicles so that the number of transport vehicles calculated according to the frequency of transport requests is always maintained. Moreover, since the number of automatic guided vehicles existing in the guided vehicle request area always matches the number of required automatic guided vehicles, there is no need to search for an area to call a guided vehicle.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the automatic guided vehicle operation control device shown in the figure. 1... Transport request frequency storage means, 2...
Means for storing the number of owned conveyance vehicles, 3: Means for calculating the number of allocated conveyance vehicles, 4: Means for storing the number of required conveyance vehicles,
5... Means for managing the running of guided vehicles, 6... Means for managing the number of existing guided vehicles, 7... Means for comparing the number of guided vehicles, 8... Drive out of guided vehicles Instruction means, 9...
. . . Movement area storage means, lO . . . Transport vehicle running instruction means, lla, llb .
3a, 13b... Transport vehicle waiting area, 14...
...Carrier, 15...Carrier, 16...
・Transportation route. Agent Patent Attorney Susumu Uchihara

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (A) The entire transport range is divided into a plurality of vehicle request areas each having one vehicle waiting area, and all the vehicles within the vehicle request area are differentiated for each vehicle request area. transport request frequency storage means for storing the frequency of transport requests given from stations to transport vehicle waiting areas in the same transport vehicle request area; (B) transport vehicle ownership number for storing the number of transport vehicles owned in the transport system; (C) allocating to each guided vehicle request area based on the number of guided vehicles stored in the owned number of guided vehicles storage means and the transportation request frequency stored in each guided vehicle request area by the transportation request frequency storage means; (D) Required number of guided vehicles storage means that stores the number of guided vehicles for each guided vehicle request area calculated by the assigned number of guided vehicles calculation means; (E) (F) an existing guided vehicle that manages the number of guided vehicles in each guided vehicle request area based on the number of vehicles in the running status obtained from the guided vehicle running management means; (G) A number of guided vehicles that compares the number of guided vehicles stored by the required number of guided vehicles storage means and the number of guided vehicles managed by the existing number of guided vehicles management means for each required area of guided vehicles; a number comparison means; (H) a guided vehicle expulsion instructing means for determining whether or not to drive out a guided vehicle based on the comparison result by the guided vehicle number comparison means; (I) a destination for each guided vehicle request area; (J) When the guided vehicle expulsion instruction means instructs the guided vehicle to be driven out, the first available guided vehicle is stored in the moving area storage means; An automatic guided vehicle operation control device comprising: guided vehicle travel instruction means for giving a traveling instruction to a stored area.