JPH04182708A - Travelling control facility for moving vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the adaptation to various kinds of passing control of a moving vehicle on travelling route by providing a communication means used for reading out storage information and executing line transferring travelling based on running control information read with a travelling control means. CONSTITUTION:The travelling control information for the line transferring travelling is stored in an ID tag T installed at the beginning end of a particular section. The travelling control information includes such information as a pre scribed interval Ws and distance D3 to D5 between the ID tag T and each station ST1 to ST3. The travelling control information read as a moving vehicle A approaches the ID tag T is stored in a prescribed storage address of a control ler 9. The moving vehicle A executes the line transferring travelling based on the travelling control information and the travelling distance from the ID tag T obtained all time through a measurement means 6. Thus, the adaptation to the various kinds of passing control is performed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention provides a secondary guidance line parallel to the guidance line (hereinafter referred to as the main guidance line) at a predetermined interval in a specific section of the guidance line for moving vehicles. and the travel control means for the moving vehicle is configured to be able to execute line switching travel in which the vehicle changes from the main guidance line to the auxiliary guidance line, travels, and then returns to the main guidance line again in the specific section. Related to travel control equipment for mobile vehicles.

[Conventional technology]

Such travel control equipment is necessary when performing travel control such that a following vehicle overtakes a stopped preceding vehicle in a specific section in order to increase the efficiency of the entire transport facility. A conventional example of such travel control is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 163512/1983.

In this conventional example, in a specific section where a plurality of unloading stations are arranged in parallel, a moving vehicle performing unloading work branches from a main guide line to a bypass line corresponding to a sub guide line. Therefore, the following moving vehicle can pass through the main guidance line as it is and overtake the preceding moving vehicle which is in the process of unloading.

However, this bypass line is not physically provided, but is a virtual bypass line stored in a travel control means using a microcomputer mounted on the moving vehicle. In other words, the mobile vehicle starts in front of the station where the unloading work is performed, travels along the virtual bypass line by autonomous driving based on pre-memorized information such as branch points, stopping points, etc., and stops at the unloading station to continue the work. After that, you will return to the main guidance line again.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, according to the above method, the virtual bypass lines for each unloading station and the virtual bypass lines for other specific sections are stored in the travel control means of the moving vehicle, or the central control on the ground side Is it necessary to provide information about the necessary virtual bypass line from the device to the moving vehicle? In the former case, the storage capacity of the travel control means of the moving vehicle increases, and in the latter case, the workload of the central control unit increases, which is a factor that reduces the economic efficiency of the entire transport facility.

In addition, if the preceding moving vehicle has stopped at an unspecified position on the main guidance line within a specific section due to a breakdown, etc., and the following moving vehicle is overtaking the preceding moving vehicle, The above travel control cannot be used as is. or,
Autonomous driving is susceptible to disturbances such as wheel slippage, and is inferior to guided driving in terms of steering control accuracy.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide travel control that can be applied to various forms of overtaking control on the traveling route of a moving vehicle, to a traveling control means of a moving vehicle, or to a central control system. The objective is to achieve this without increasing the processing load on the device.

[Means to solve the problem]

In the travel control equipment according to the present invention, in a specific section of the guide line for a moving vehicle, a sub-guidance line is provided parallel to the guide line at a predetermined interval, and the traveling control means for the moving vehicle, in the specific section, The vehicle is configured to be able to execute a line change run in which the driver transfers from the guide line to the sub-guide line and then returns to the guide line again. , a storage medium storing travel control information for executing the line change travel is installed, and the moving vehicle is provided with communication means for reading out the stored information as it approaches the storage medium. , the travel control means is configured to execute the line change travel based on the travel control information read by the communication means.

[For production]

According to the above characteristic configuration, it is possible to overtake either the following moving vehicle or the preceding moving vehicle in the following manner.

First, if the preceding moving vehicle stops at an unspecified position on the main guidance line within a specific section due to a malfunction or other reason, the following moving vehicle will receive this information and the Based on the travel control information for line change traveling read out from the storage medium, the vehicle changes to the auxiliary guidance line and overtakes the preceding moving vehicle, then returns to the main guidance line and continues traveling. Note that information that the preceding moving vehicle has stopped due to a failure or the like is notified to the following moving vehicle, for example, by wireless communication.

Second, if the sub-guidance line and the storage medium are installed in a specific section where a work station for unloading, etc. The robot transfers to the sub-guidance line based on the address information of the station currently running and the travel control information for line change travel read from the storage medium, stops at the station, and performs work. When the work is completed, the vehicle returns to the main guidance line and continues traveling based on the travel control information. Therefore, even if there is a preceding moving vehicle working at the station, the following moving vehicle can travel along the main guidance line and overtake the preceding moving vehicle.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a sub-guidance line and a storage medium are installed in a specific section where overtaking control of a moving vehicle is to be made possible, and a communication means for reading information from the storage medium is provided in the moving vehicle. This allows the following vehicle to easily overtake the preceding vehicle. In other words, the overtaking control described above can now be realized without increasing the processing load on the travel control means or central control unit of the moving vehicle. Furthermore, by simply rewriting the travel control information stored in the storage means, it is now possible to adapt to various overtaking controls.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

As shown in Figure 1, a guide line (L) is provided in a loop shape along the traveling route of a moving vehicle (A) for transporting cargo, and the moving vehicle (A) stops to allow loading and unloading of cargo, etc. A plurality of stations (ST) for carrying out work are provided along the guide line (L), and a plurality of moving vehicles (A) are automatically run between the stations (ST) to carry out cargo transport work. It constitutes the transport equipment to be carried out. Note that Fig. 1 is drawn in a simplified manner for ease of understanding, and as the moving vehicle (A) waiting at the home position (HP) is given a work command, it moves to the loading area on the left side of the figure. (LE
It is assumed that cargo is loaded at one of the stations (ST) lined up in ), transported to the unloading area (UE) on the right, and unloaded at one of the stations (ST).

As shown in Figure 2, the guiding line (L) is made by embedding a magnetic material in the road surface with a cross section or rectangle, magnetized with N pole on the front side and S pole on the back side, fixing the periphery with epoxy resin and attaching it to the road surface. It is constructed so that it is flush with the surface. As will be described later, the moving vehicle (A) is equipped with a magnetic sensor (5) or this guidance line (L).
The vehicle performs automatic steering control based on the information detected, and then travels along the guidance line (L).

As shown in Fig. 1, a predetermined section before and after the home position (HP) and a predetermined section of the unloading area (UE) are set as specific sections of the guidance line (L), and these specific sections are A sub-guide line (LS) is provided parallel to the guide line (L) and spaced apart from it by a predetermined distance. The physical structure of the sub-guidance line (Ls) is similar to the aforementioned guide line (Ls).
) is the same as

Also, at the starting end there is a storage medium (T) called an ID tag.
Or it is buried in the road surface. This ID tag (T) stores travel control information for line change traveling from the guidance line (L) to the sub-guidance line (LS) and then back to the guidance line (L). The mobile vehicle (A) reads out the stored information as described below,
The line change traveling is executed as necessary.

The ID tag (T) is connected to the guiding line (L) as shown in Figure 1.
), curves, and station (ST) locations. Although it is not possible to show it in the simplified diagram of FIG. 1, on more complicated routes, they are also installed at branch points and merging points of guidance lines. These ID tags (T) store travel control information necessary for the vehicle to travel at each installation location. For example, the information includes the traveling speed on a curve, the address of a station (ST), the distance to a stopping point, and the address of a guidance line at a branch destination. As the moving vehicle approaches these ID tags (T), it reads out the stored information as described below, thereby obtaining necessary travel control information as appropriate.

As shown in the block diagram and plan view of the main parts of the moving vehicle (A) in FIGS. motor(
A running wheel (3) which also serves as a steering wheel is provided which is driven for steering at step 2), and a pair of left and right driven wheels (4) are provided on the rear side of the vehicle body.

and a magnetic sensor (5) for detecting a guidance line (L) on the front side of the running wheels (3) and obtaining information for steering control;
is provided so that the direction can be changed integrally with the running wheel (3). The running wheel (3) is equipped with a rotary encoder (RE) that generates pulses as the wheel rotates, and the pulse output is input to the measuring means (6), where the number of pulses is counted and converted into a distance traveled. Ru.

A tag reader (7) serving as a communication means for reading the stored information of the ID tag (T) installed on the road surface is provided at the front right side of the vehicle body. (8) is a wireless communication device for exchanging information with a central control device (C) that manages the operation of the entire transport facility. Moving vehicle (
A) notifies the central control unit (C) of its position and status via this wireless communication device (8), and also sends work instructions such as address information of the target station to the central control unit (C).
given from.

In addition, the mobile vehicle (A) includes the above-mentioned magnetic sensor (5), measurement means (6), tag reader (7), and wireless communication device (8).
A controller (9) as a travel control means for processing information obtained through the vehicle (A) and controlling the travel of the mobile vehicle (A), a drive device (10) for the travel motor (1), a steering motor (
2) drive device (11) is provided.

The magnetic sensor (5) consists of four magnetic sensing elements arranged in the width direction of the vehicle body, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Then, the position of the moving vehicle (A) in the width direction is at an appropriate position with respect to the guide line (L), that is, the center of the width direction of the magnetic sensor (5) is the center of the guide line (L).
at a predetermined interval so that the inner two of the four magnetic sensing light receiving elements sense the magnetism due to the guide line (L), and the outer two do not. It is separated by Therefore, the mobile vehicle (
When A) deviates to the left or right with respect to the guide line (L), either of the two outer magnetic sensing elements will sense the magnetism due to the guide line (L), so the controller (9
) guides the vehicle body to the guiding line (L) based on the detected information.
), performs steering control to return it to an appropriate position.

As shown in FIG. 4, the tag reader (7) performs close proximity wireless communication with the ID tag (T) by electromagnetic induction,
Read the memory information of the ID tag (T) and send it to the controller (
9). - On the other hand, the ID tag (T) includes a storage section (20) made of a rewritable semiconductor memory, a communication section (2I) that performs close proximity wireless communication with an external device such as a moving vehicle (A), and a storage section ( 20) and communication department (21)
It consists of a control section (22) that controls data exchange with the computer, and a power supply section (23) that includes a built-in battery, and these are integrated into a casing. With this configuration, the ID
The information stored in the tag (T) is held by a battery and can be read and rewritten externally without contact.

The moving vehicle (A) transmits a response request signal to the ID tag (T) at regular intervals while traveling. On the other hand, ID tag (T
) is maintained in a state capable of receiving a response request signal from this tag reader (7).

Therefore, when the moving vehicle (A) approaches the installation location of the ID tag (T) and the distance between the ID tag (T) and the tag reader (7) approaches the communicable distance, the ID tag (T) 7) and returns a response.

The following explanation of the communication protocol may be omitted, or the ID tag (
When communication between the ID tag (T) and the tag reader (7) is established, the information stored in the ID tag (T) is read out by the tag reader (7).

In this way, as the mobile vehicle (A) approaches the ID tag (T) installed along the guide line (L), its stored information is read and the controller (9) that controls the travel given to. The controller (9) performs subsequent driving control based on this information.

As mentioned above, the traveling control information stored in each ID tag (T) is a combination of address information, traveling speed, distance information, etc., but it varies depending on the installation location of the ID tag (T). . Here, the aforementioned sub-lead line (LS)
The traveling control information to be stored in the ID tag (T) installed at the starting end of the specific section will be explained in detail together with the traveling control in the specific section.

First, specific sections set before and after the home position (HP) will be explained.

As mentioned above, at the home position (HP) one or more mobile vehicles are stopped and waiting for a work command to be given from the central controller (C). Normally, work is assigned to the first moving vehicle in order, but sometimes the first moving vehicle becomes unable to move due to a malfunction or other reason. In such a case, if the following moving vehicle can overtake the leading moving vehicle without waiting for manual recovery, the efficiency of the transport equipment as a whole will improve.

For the above purpose, a sub-guidance line (LS) is provided in this specific section parallel to the guide line (L) and spaced apart from it by a predetermined distance (W), as described above. As shown in Figure 5, the following vehicle (A2) moves to the secondary guidance line (LS) in front of the preceding vehicle (A1) in order to overtake the preceding vehicle (AI) which is stopped on the guidance line (L). A line change run in which the vehicle changes and runs and then returns to the guidance line (L) is executed based on the following information.

The ID tag (T) installed at the starting end of the specific section stores travel control information for the above-mentioned line change travel. This traveling control information includes three pieces of information shown in FIG. That is, the predetermined interval (W), the ID tag (T
) to the start of the sub-guidance line (LS) (Dl),
This is the length (D2) of the sub-lead line (LS). Moving vehicle (
As vehicle A) approaches this ID tag (T), the traveling control information read out as described above is transferred to the controller (
9) is stored at a predetermined storage address.

On the other hand, the moving vehicle (A) has an I
You can always know the distance traveled from the D tag (T).

Therefore, the preceding moving vehicle (A1) notifies the central control device (C) of its stop position as distance information from the ID tag (T) through the wireless communication device (8). Central control unit (
C) notifies the following vehicle (A2) of the stoppage information of the preceding vehicle (At) including this distance information by wireless communication.

The following moving vehicle (A2) executes the line switching drive based on the above travel control information, the stop information of the preceding moving vehicle (A1), and the mileage distance from the ID tag (T), and returns to the preceding moving vehicle (A2). overtake AI). In other words, the following moving vehicle (A
2) controller (9) calculates the calculated preceding moving vehicle (A
Based on the distance to 1), steering control is performed to switch to the auxiliary guidance line (LS) before the preceding moving vehicle (A1) to switch from guided travel to autonomous travel. As the magnetic sensor (5) detects the sub-guidance line (LS), steering control is performed to switch to guided travel that follows the sub-guidance line (LS) and return to the guide line (L) after traveling a predetermined distance. to switch from guided driving to autonomous driving. As the magnetic sensor (5) detects the guide line (L), the vehicle switches to guided travel that follows the guide line (L) again. In addition, autonomous driving between the guidance line (L) and the sub-guidance line (LS) is as follows:
Predetermined interval (W) of travel control information and moving vehicle (A)
Based on the steering characteristics specific to the vehicle, the direction of the vehicle body is controlled so as to follow the guidance line (L) or the sub-guidance line (LS) as much as possible when the line change is completed.

Next, the specific section set in the unloading area (UE) will be explained.

As shown in Figure 6, there are multiple unloading stations (S
TI), (ST2), (ST3) and guidance line (L
), there is a predetermined interval (W) parallel to the guide line (L).
A sub-guidance line (LS) is provided apart from the main line.

A mobile vehicle (A) that performs unloading work at any station (ST) transfers to the sub-guidance line (LS), runs, stops at that station (ST), performs unloading work, and then re-guides the vehicle. A line transfer run back to line (L) is executed based on the following information.

The ID tag (T) installed at the starting end of the specific section stores travel control information for the above-mentioned line change travel. This traveling control information includes the information shown in FIG. 6, ie, the predetermined interval (W) and each station (STI) from the ID tag (T).

(ST2), distance (D3) to (ST3), (D
4), (D5) are included. The moving vehicle (A) has this ID
As the vehicle approaches the tag (T), the travel control information read out as described above is stored in a predetermined memory address of the controller (9). The moving vehicle (A) uses this traveling control information and the ID constantly obtained by the measuring means (6).
Based on the travel distance from the tag (T), line change travel is executed in the same manner as in the case of the specific section set as the home position (HP) described above.

For example, the mobile vehicle (AI) that is to perform unloading work at the station (ST3) is determined based on the distance (
D5), the steering control is performed to switch to the sub-guidance line (LS) at a point calculated from the travel distance to switch from guided travel to autonomous travel. As the magnetic sensor (5) detects the sub-guidance line (LS), the sub-guidance line (LS)
After switching to guided travel that follows the vehicle and traveling a predetermined distance, the vehicle stops at the stop position of station (ST3). When the unloading work is finished, return to the guidance line (L) again (
Steering control is used to switch from guided driving to autonomous driving.

As the magnetic sensor (5) detects the guide line (L), the vehicle switches to guided travel that follows the guide line (L) again.

As described above, even if there is a preceding moving vehicle (At) that has stopped at any station (ST) and is performing unloading work, the following moving vehicle (A2) will continue to follow the guidance line (L).
It is possible to overtake the preceding vehicle (Al) by driving the vehicle.

Note that in order to write travel control information and distance information to the ID tag (T), it is necessary to either omit the illustration or use a portable handy device equipped with an electromagnetic induction communication device similar to the tag reader (7).
Do this using the terminal. Or ID tag (T)
It is also possible to use a moving vehicle programmed with the writing task and to write the information without driving it along the guide line (L).

[Another example]

At the station (ST), a marker can also be used in order to accurately stop at a predetermined stopping position. That is, a magnetic marker is installed at a stop position, and the mobile vehicle (A) is equipped with a sensor for detecting the marker. Similarly, an ID tag (T
), and place a position detection marker at the rear of the ID tag (
Various distance information (of the travel control information to be stored in T)
old), (D2), (D3), (D4), (D5
) as the distance from the marker, more accurate travel control can be achieved.

Steering control of the mobile vehicle (A) of the embodiment is performed only by the front wheels, which also serve as steering wheels and running wheels, and the rear wheels are idle wheels that cannot be subjected to steering control. A mobile vehicle that can steer both wheels, ie, a mobile vehicle that can traverse, is suitable. In addition, the structure of the moving vehicle (A) can be changed in various ways, or the traveling control information for the line change traveling can be easily rewritten according to its steering characteristics.

A plurality of specific sections of the type set as the home position (HP) in the embodiment can be set at any location on the travel route. In particular, if a specific section that enables this overtaking control is set on an important route where there is no other detour, the effect will be great.

Incidentally, although reference numerals are written in the claims section for convenience of comparison with the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the structure shown in the accompanying drawings.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 6 show an embodiment of the traveling control equipment for a moving vehicle according to the present invention, FIG. 1 is a simplified layout diagram of the traveling route of the moving vehicle, stations, etc., and FIG. 2 is a moving vehicle and its surroundings. 3 is a plan view showing the schematic configuration of the mobile vehicle, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the storage medium, etc., and FIGS. It is a layout diagram of guidance lines etc. in . (A)...Moving vehicle, (L)...Guidance line, (LS)...Sub-guidance line, (T)...
...Storage medium, (7) ...Communication means, (9
)... Travel control means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A sub-guidance line (LS) is provided in a specific section of the guide line (L) for the mobile vehicle (A) parallel to the guide line (L) at a predetermined distance apart, and a traveling control means ( 9) is configured to be able to perform line change driving in which the vehicle changes from the guidance line (L) to the sub-guidance line (LS) and then returns to the guidance line (L) in the specific section. The traveling control equipment for the mobile vehicle (A) includes a storage medium (T) storing travel control information for executing the line change travel, which is installed at the starting end of the specific section.
) is provided with a communication means (7) for reading the stored information as it approaches the storage medium (T), and the travel control means (9) reads out the stored information by the communication means (7). Travel control equipment for a mobile vehicle configured to execute the line change travel based on the travel control information.