JPH04303391A - Movable carriage for automatic warehouse, positioning control system therefor and automatic warehouse control device using thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To carry out positional control for positioning a fork part precisely at a desired rack without previously providing a running count dog or the like at a position where a movable carriage for an automatic warehouse comes to a stop. CONSTITUTION:A movable carriage for an automatic warehouse moves with any of various loads being set on its fork part. Drive wheels provided to the movable carriage run the movable carriage in a predetermined direction while they receives the dead weight of the movable carriage and a load from cargo or the like. A torque is given to the wheels from a running motor. A first position detector detects a rotational position of the running motor, and outputs a first detection signal. An auxiliary wheel for detecting a travel distance, which rotates in association with the running of the movable carriage, is attached to the carriage so that it makes contact with the surface of a running path under a predetermined load, irrespective of the load. A second position detector detects a rotational position of this auxiliary wheel, and outputs a second detection signal. A fork part is moved up and down by an elevating motor. The third position detector detects a rotational position of the elevating motor, and outputs a third detection signal. The position and speed control means controls the rotational positions of the running and elevating motors in accordance with the first, second and third signals so as to precisely position the fork part at a desired position.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an automated warehouse vehicle such as a stacker crane that travels in an automated warehouse and stores cargo on predetermined shelves, and particularly relates to an automated warehouse vehicle that can accurately detect the traveling position. The present invention relates to a positioning control system and an automatic warehouse control system for an automatic warehouse vehicle that can accurately position a fork part on a predetermined shelf using the automatic warehouse vehicle.

0002

[Prior technology] FA (Factory Automation)
With the advancement of technology, raw materials, parts, semi-finished products, and products are stored, retrieved, and delivered within factories using stacker cranes (driving trolleys for automated warehouses) that run within automated warehouses. Hereinafter, in this specification, a traveling truck for an automatic warehouse will be referred to as a traveling truck.

[0003] This traveling bogie has a rotation detector on the drive wheel for detecting the amount of rotation of the drive wheel, and based on this, the bay (
The current position of the traveling truck itself in the (horizontal) direction (horizontal direction) is recognized. Furthermore, the traveling truck is also capable of recognizing the current position of the fork portion in the level direction (vertical direction). Therefore, when the host computer outputs a work command (work data indicating loading or unloading of cargo and shelf number data of the target shelf of the work) to the traveling cart, the traveling cart moves the fork part in the level direction. The robot moves in the direction of the bay, stops the fork part at the position of the target shelf corresponding to the shelf number data, and performs loading and unloading work of cargo. By controlling a large number of such traveling carts with a host computer, storage within the factory,
Work such as retrieval and delivery is automated.

[0004] Hereinafter, the schematic structure of this traveling truck will be explained based on FIG. 15. In FIG. 15, the traveling cart 6 includes a cart section 3, a fork section 4 that carries cargo to and from the target shelf, and a crane mast section 5 that guides the fork section 4 in the level direction. configured. The traveling rail 25 is a guide rail for moving the traveling cart 6 in the direction of the bay (row, address), and is provided on the floor approximately midway between the shelves.

The truck portion 3 has auxiliary wheels 30 and drive wheels 31 for moving on the traveling rails 25. The driving wheel 31 is connected to the driving motor 3 via a shaft and a gearbox 32.
4 and is driven and controlled by this traveling motor 34. An electromagnetic brake 33 for stopping rotation of the drive wheels 31 is provided between the travel motor 34 and the gear box 32.

The travel motor 34 is provided with a tacho generator 35a for detecting its rotational speed and a pulse encoder 35b for detecting the travel distance. It constitutes a control loop and a position control loop. The host controller 8 outputs a bay direction position command signal to the position and speed control unit 7 in order to stop the fork section 4 at a position corresponding to the target shelf in the bay direction. The position and speed control unit 7 inputs the bay direction position command signal from the host controller 8, moves the traveling trolley 6 at a speed corresponding to the command signal, and controls the traveling motor so that the traveling trolley 6 stops at a predetermined position in the bay direction. 34 is driven and controlled.

A crane mast section 5 is attached to the truck section 3. At the upper part of the crane mast section 5, there is a guide rail (not shown). The automatic warehouse traveling cart is supported between the guide rail and the traveling rail 25 and moves. The fork part 4 is suspended by wires 51 and 52 at both ends thereof, and moves up and down along the crane mast part 5 in the level direction. Wires 51, 52 are pulleys 53, 5
4 is wound around the winch drum 55. The amount of vertical movement of the fork portion 4 corresponds to the length of the wires 51 and 52 to the winch drum 55. Therefore, by controlling the rotation of the winch drum 55, the wires 51,
52, that is, the height of the fork portion 4 in the level direction can be controlled.

The winch drum 55 is driven and controlled by a lifting motor 58 connected via a gear box 56. An electromagnetic brake 57 for stopping the rotation of the winch drum 55 is provided between the lifting motor 58 and the gear box 56. Therefore, the electromagnetic brake 5
By stopping the rotation of the lifting motor 58 at step 7, the fork portion 4 is stopped at a predetermined position in the level direction. The lifting motor 58 is provided with a tacho generator 59a for detecting its rotational speed and a pulse encoder 59b for measuring the lengths of the wires 51 and 52. Each constitutes a speed control loop and a position control loop.

Since the height of the fork portion 4 depends on the lengths of the wires 51 and 52, in this traveling truck 6, the lifting motor 58 is rotated to attach the wires 51 and 52 to the winch drum 55.
By winding and unwinding the wire 52, the wire 51 from the fork part 4 to the winch drum 55,
The length of the fork portion 52 is controlled to move the fork portion 4 in the level direction. That is, by controlling the rotation of the lifting motor 58, the fork portion 4 is positioned at a desired height.

At this time, since it is difficult to actually measure the lengths of the wires 51 and 52, a rotational position detection device or the like is provided on the lifting motor 55, and the lengths of the wires 51 and 52 are determined based on this position detection signal. The upper controller 8, which indirectly measures the height of the fork part 4 and detects the height of the fork part 4, sends a level direction position command signal to the position and speed in order to stop the fork part 4 at a position corresponding to the target shelf in the level direction. Output to control unit 7. The position and speed control unit 7 inputs a level direction position command signal from the host controller 8, moves the fork section 4 up and down at a speed corresponding to the command signal, and performs an elevating operation so that the fork section 4 stops at a predetermined position in the level direction. The motor 58 is driven and controlled.

[0011] The fork portion 4 includes forks 44, 45,
It consists of a drive system that drives these. Fork 44,4
5 is loaded with luggage and is perpendicular to the paper surface of Figure 15 (front and back)
move in the direction. In other words, if a three-dimensional coordinate is constructed with the running direction (bay direction) of the traveling trolley 6 as the X-axis direction and the elevating direction (level direction) of the fork portion as the Y-axis direction, the forks 44 and 45 are arranged on the Z-axis of the three-dimensional coordinate. It will move in the direction.

The forks 44 and 45 move in accordance with the rotation of pinions 46 and 47 of the shaft 48. fork 44
, 45 has a rack for forming a rack and pinion with pinions 46, 47. The shaft 48 is connected to a fork motor 38 via a gearbox (reducer) 49, and is driven and controlled by the fork motor 38. Between the fork motor 38 and the gear box 49, the rotation of the shaft 48 (fork 4
Electromagnetic brake 39 for stopping the movement of 4 and 45)
is provided. After stopping the fork unit 4 at a position corresponding to the target shelf in the level direction, the host controller 10 controls the forks 44 and 45 in accordance with work data indicating loading or unloading of luggage to carry in or take out the luggage. conduct.

[0013]

As shown in FIG. 15, the conventional traveling bogie has a traveling distance detection sensor, that is, a pulse encoder 35b, on the traveling motor 34, and the traveling distance can be determined based on the amount of rotation of the drive wheels 31. 6 mileage distance is detected. However, when the traveling motor 34 accelerates or decelerates, the auxiliary wheels 30 and the driving wheels 31 slip on the traveling rail 25,
Auxiliary wheels 30 and drive wheels 31 depending on the load of the cargo to be transported.
becomes distorted. Therefore, since there is an error between the amount of rotation of the drive wheels 31 and the actual travel distance of the traveling trolley 6 due to slippage or distortion of the drive wheels 31, accurate positioning control cannot be performed. Also, the trolley 3 is front wheel drive (FWD) depending on the direction of travel.
F) or rear wheel drive (FR), the travel distance varied depending on the direction of travel (forward or backward), making accurate positioning control impossible.

Therefore, conventionally, the amount of rotation of the drive wheels 31 (output of the pulse encoder 35b) is used to detect the approximate traveling distance of the traveling trolley 6, and a drive wheel 31 is installed at a predetermined position along the traveling rail 25. The final positioning control is performed between the travel counting dog and a proximity switch or photoelectric switch that detects the dog.

However, with this method, there is a problem in that the traveling counting dog must be installed in advance at the stop position of the traveling carriage 6, and the positioning accuracy of the traveling carriage 6 is affected by the accuracy of its installation. Furthermore, when it is desired to change the stop position, the installation location of the travel counting dog must be changed accordingly, which complicates the changing process and precludes flexible positioning control.

On the other hand, even if it is possible to control the positioning of the traveling cart with high precision, if there are distortions or installation errors in the shelves themselves that store cargo, it will not be possible to accurately carry out loading and unloading of cargo. . In other words, the mechanical elements that make up the shelf (branches, trusses, lattices, etc.) are not necessarily uniform and have manufacturing and installation errors, and the floor surface where the shelves and running rails are actually installed is , there is an error of several tens of mm between both ends in the bay direction, not in the horizontal plane. In addition, the weight of the luggage itself is not uniform,
Since there are various types of loads, the distortion of the shelf itself varies depending on the load. As mentioned above, in the past, it was very difficult to accurately position the fork part on the target shelf while loading various loads by using non-uniform mechanical elements and installing shelves and running rails on uneven floor surfaces. It was difficult.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and provides a traveling trolley for automatic warehouses that can accurately position and stop without providing a traveling count dog or the like in advance at a predetermined position in the traveling direction. The purpose is to Another object of the present invention is to provide a positioning control system for a traveling trolley for an automated warehouse that can accurately position a fork portion on a target shelf. Furthermore, the present invention
To provide an automatic warehouse control system capable of accurately positioning a fork part on a target shelf even if there are distortions, installation errors, etc. in the shelf itself for storing cargo.

[0018]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A traveling trolley for an automatic warehouse according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a fork section for carrying in and out of cargo, etc., a crane mast section for guiding the up and down movement of the fork section, and a crane mast section for guiding the up and down movement of the fork section. a traveling trolley having a crane mast portion and traveling in a predetermined direction; a drive wheel that causes the drive wheel to travel in a predetermined direction; a drive motor that applies rotational force to the drive wheel; a first position detector that detects the rotational position of the drive motor and outputs a first detection signal; A travel distance detection auxiliary wheel that rotates in accordance with the traveling of the traveling truck and is attached to the traveling truck so as to be in contact with the travel path of the traveling truck with a constant load regardless of the load; a second position detector that detects a rotational position and outputs a second detection signal; a lifting motor that moves the fork portion up and down; a lifting motor that detects the rotational position of the lifting motor and outputs a third detection signal; a third position detector that outputs a rotational position of the travel motor according to the first and second detection signals, and a third position detector that outputs a rotational position of the lifting motor according to the third detection signal; The present invention is characterized in that it includes a position speed control means for controlling.

[0019] The positioning control system for a traveling trolley for an automatic warehouse according to the second aspect of the present invention includes a lifting position detector that measures the actual lifting position of the fork portion according to the first invention and outputs a fourth detection signal. and the position/speed control means controls the rotational position of the lifting motor according to the third and fourth detection signals.

[0020] In the third aspect of the present invention, the positioning control system for a traveling trolley for an automatic warehouse is such that the position speed control means according to the first invention responds to a position command signal indicating a predetermined position at which the traveling trolley is to be positioned. a position control means for negatively feeding back the first detection signal indicating the current position of the traveling motor and outputting a speed command signal according to the positional deviation; and a position control means for outputting a speed command signal according to the positional deviation thereof; a position correction means for adding a correction signal to the position command signal; and a feedback speed signal indicating the current speed of the traveling motor to be negatively fed back to the speed command signal, and outputting a current command signal according to the speed deviation. and a current control means for supplying a drive current to the traveling motor according to the current command signal, and the current control means supplies the position correction signal of the position correction means to the acceleration/deceleration of the automatic warehouse traveling cart. The present invention is characterized in that positioning control is performed by adding to the position command signal from an arbitrary time during control.

[0021] In the positioning control system for an automatic traveling trolley according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the position and speed control means according to the first aspect inputs the first and second detection signals and selectively selects one of them. and negative feedback of the first or second detection signal selected by the detection signal selection means to a position command signal indicating a predetermined position at which the traveling carriage should be positioned; a position control means for outputting a speed command signal according to the positional deviation; and a feedback speed signal indicating the current speed of the traveling motor to be negatively fed back to the speed command signal, and a current command signal according to the speed deviation. It is comprised of a speed control means for outputting a speed control means, and a current control means for supplying a drive current to the traveling motor according to the current command signal, and the first detection signal is negatively fed back to the position control means to control the automatic speed control. Positioning control is performed by accelerating and decelerating a warehouse traveling trolley, switching the detection signal selection means at an arbitrary time during the acceleration and deceleration control, and feeding back the second detection signal negatively to the position control means. That is.

[0022] In the fifth aspect of the present invention, the positioning control system for a traveling trolley for an automatic warehouse is such that the position speed control means according to the first invention responds to a position command signal indicating a predetermined position at which the traveling trolley is to be positioned. The first detection signal indicating the current position of the traveling motor is negatively fed back, and the first detection signal corresponding to the positional deviation is
position control means for outputting a speed command signal for driving the automated warehouse trolley at a constant speed; constant speed signal generating means for outputting a second speed command signal for causing the automated warehouse trolley to travel at a constant speed; a speed signal selection means for inputting a command signal and selectively outputting one of the command signals; and a current speed of the traveling motor with respect to the first or second speed command signal selected by the speed signal selection means. The present invention is comprised of a speed control means for negatively feeding back a feedback speed signal indicating the speed deviation and outputting a current command signal according to the speed deviation, and a current control means for supplying a drive current to the traveling motor according to the current command signal. the first speed command signal is input to the speed control means to control the acceleration/deceleration of the automatic warehouse traveling trolley, and the moving speed of the automatic warehouse traveling trolley is set to the first speed at the time of deceleration during the acceleration/deceleration control. At the time when the speed corresponding to the second speed command signal is reached, the speed signal selection means is switched to input the second speed command signal to the speed control means, and the second detection signal is set to the position command signal. The present invention is characterized in that the traveling motor is stopped at coincident times to perform positioning control.

[0023] In the automatic warehouse control system of the sixth aspect of the present invention, a pillar detector and a shelf detector that detect the positions of pillars and shelves constituting a warehouse and output pillar detection signals and shelf detection signals are connected to the fork. the second detection signal at the time when the column detection signal is output from the column detector due to the traveling movement of the traveling truck, and the shelf detection signal is output from the shelf detector due to the vertical movement of the fork portion. The actual shapes of the pillars and shelves constituting the warehouse are recognized based on the fourth detection signal at the time when the traveling position of the traveling cart and the position of the fork portion are determined according to the recognized shapes of the pillars and shelves. It is characterized by controlling the elevation position.

[0024]

[Operation] In order to move and stop the automatic warehouse trolley at a predetermined position, it is sufficient to rotate the drive wheels at a predetermined speed and detect the amount of rotation. The amount of rotation of the drive wheels can be easily measured by detecting the rotational position of the travel motor that provides rotational force to the drive wheels. Since the first position detector detects the rotational position of the travel motor, by controlling the rotational position of the travel motor based on the position command signal and the first detection signal, the automatic warehouse The movement of the traveling trolley can be controlled at high speed. On the other hand, because the drive wheels slip during acceleration/deceleration or become distorted due to load fluctuations, the rotational position of the drive motor, that is, the amount of rotation of the drive wheels, and the actual distance traveled by the automated warehouse trolley may not match. many,
It is not possible to accurately position and control the automatic warehouse traveling cart to a predetermined position only by the rotational position of the traveling motor.

[0025] Therefore, in the first aspect of the present invention, the traveling trolley for an automatic warehouse rotates as the traveling trolley travels, but the traveling distance during which the traveling trolley rotates in contact with the travel path of the traveling trolley with a constant load irrespective of load fluctuations. A detection auxiliary wheel is attached, and a second position detector for detecting the rotational position thereof is provided separately from the first position detector. This travel distance detection auxiliary wheel is unrelated to the load fluctuation of the cargo carried by the traveling trolley, so the outer shape of the auxiliary wheel will not be distorted, and
Since it always rotates in contact with the travel path with a constant load, it does not slip during acceleration or deceleration. The second position detector detects the rotational position of this travel distance detection auxiliary wheel. Therefore, based on this second detection signal, it is possible to accurately know the actual moving distance of the automatic warehouse trolley, so by using this second detection signal at the time of final positioning and stopping, the automatic warehouse The vehicle can be accurately positioned and stopped at a predetermined position.

The second aspect of the present invention provides, in addition to the third position detector that detects the rotational position of the lifting motor, a lifting position detector that measures the actual lifting position of the fork portion and outputs a fourth detection signal. It has a detector, and the position speed control means is configured to control the rotational position of the lifting motor according to the third and fourth detection signals. Thereby, even if the height of the fork part changes due to the load of cargo or the like, the fork part can be accurately positioned on the target shelf.

The third, fourth, and fifth aspects of the present invention relate to a positioning control method for a traveling cart for an automatic warehouse using the travel distance detection auxiliary wheels and the second position detector as described above. be. In the third aspect of the present invention, in the positioning control system for a traveling trolley for an automatic warehouse, the position correction means adds a position correction signal corresponding to the difference value between the first and second detection signals to the position command signal. That is, when the first detection signal and the second detection signal do not match, the position correction means adds a position correction signal corresponding to the difference value between the two to the position command signal. Then, the position control means outputs to the speed control means a speed command signal corresponding to the positional deviation between the position command signal to which the position correction signal has been added and the first detection signal that has been negatively fed back.
The travel motor is driven to correct an error amount when the first and second detection signals do not match. In this way, according to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to control the positioning of the automatic warehouse traveling cart at an accurate position while correcting the error.

In the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the positioning control system for a traveling trolley for an automatic warehouse, the detection signal selection means selects the first and second
detection signals are input, and one of them is selectively output. The position control means outputs a speed command signal to the speed control means according to a positional deviation between the position command signal and one of the negative feedback detection signals. Therefore, the position/speed control means controls the acceleration/deceleration of the automatic warehouse traveling trolley by negatively feeding back the first detection signal to the position control means, and switches the detection signal selection means at an arbitrary time during the acceleration/deceleration control. Second
The detection signal is negatively fed back to the position control means to perform positioning control. In other words, the drive wheels often slip during the initial part of acceleration/deceleration control, and can be considered as a control system with low rigidity. Therefore, the position/speed control means performs acceleration/deceleration control in accordance with the first detection signal, so that no slipping occurs, and the rigidity increases. The detection signal selection means is switched from the time when the control system becomes strong, and positioning control is performed in accordance with the second detection signal. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the detection signal is switched and controlled depending on the occurrence of slippage, accurate positioning control can be performed.

[0029] In the positioning control system for an automatic warehouse vehicle according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the position control means outputs the first speed command signal, and the constant speed signal generating means causes the automatic warehouse vehicle to travel at a constant speed. The speed signal selection means inputs the first and second speed command signals and selectively outputs one of them to the speed control means. The speed control means negatively feeds back a feedback speed signal indicating the current speed of the traveling motor with respect to the first or second speed command signal, and outputs a current command signal according to the speed deviation. Therefore, the position and speed control means first inputs the first speed command signal to the speed control means and controls the acceleration and deceleration of the automatic warehouse traveling trolley. Then, the position speed control means switches the speed signal selection means at the time when the moving speed of the automated warehouse trolley reaches the speed corresponding to the second speed command signal during deceleration during the acceleration/deceleration control, and selects the second speed command signal. Positioning is controlled by inputting the speed command signal to the speed control means. That is,
During acceleration/deceleration control, acceleration/deceleration control is performed in a normal feedback control loop according to the first detection signal. Then, the motor control means controls the speed from the time when the automated warehouse trolley is decelerated to a moving speed at which it can safely stop even if it is forcibly stopped by braking, that is, a moving speed corresponding to the second speed command signal. The signal selection means is switched to move the automatic warehouse traveling cart at a moving speed corresponding to the second speed command signal, and the traveling motor is braked to a stop at the time when the second detection signal and the position command signal match. . As described above, according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the feedback control is switched to the feedforward control at the time when the moving speed reaches such a speed that the automated warehouse trolley can safely stop even if it suddenly stops during the braking process. , it is determined based on the second detection signal whether or not the predetermined position has been reached, and the brake is applied to stop the position, so that positioning control can be performed with high precision.

Furthermore, since the third, fourth, and fifth aspects of the present invention perform positioning control of the traveling cart based on two position detectors, similar control may be applied to the second aspect of the present invention. Accordingly, the positioning control of the elevating and lowering positions of the fork portion can be performed with high precision.

In the automatic warehouse control system of the sixth aspect of the present invention, the pillar detector and the shelf detector provided in the fork portion detect the positions of the pillars and the shelves constituting the warehouse, and output the pillar detection signal and the shelf detection signal. Output a signal. Therefore, by fixing the height position of the fork part and moving the traveling trolley, the pillar detector outputs a pillar detection signal, and the actual pillar detection signal is determined based on the second detection signal at the time of output. Can recognize location. Similarly, by fixing the traveling position of the traveling cart and moving the fork part up and down, the shelf detector outputs a shelf detection signal, so the actual You can recognize the location of shelves. If the positions of the columns and shelves can be recognized in this way, the shape of the entire warehouse can be grasped, and the traveling position of the traveling cart and the vertical position of the fork part can be controlled according to the recognized shapes of the columns and shelves. Accordingly, even if there are distortions or installation errors in the shelf itself that stores the luggage, the loading and unloading of the luggage can be carried out accurately.

[0032]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a traveling trolley for an automatic warehouse according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, the same components as in FIG. 15 are denoted by the same reference numerals, so the explanation thereof will be omitted. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the detailed configuration of the position and speed control system 1 and the current control system 2a, showing only the traveling position control system of the bogie section 3, and omitting the other elevation position control systems and fork position control systems. be.

The automatic warehouse trolley 6 is composed of a trolley section 3 that moves within the warehouse, a fork section 4 for carrying in and out cargo, and a crane mast section 5 that guides the fork section 4. The traveling rail 25 is a guide rail for moving the traveling trolley 6 in the direction of the bay (ren, address).
It is installed on the floor approximately halfway between the rack and the shelf. The trolley part 3 has auxiliary wheels 3 for moving on the traveling rail 25.
0 and a drive wheel 31. This auxiliary wheel 30 and drive wheel 3
1 is subject to the load of the entire automated warehouse vehicle and the load of the cargo to be transported, so it may become distorted depending on the magnitude of the load.

[0034] The drive wheel 31 includes a shaft and a gearbox 3.
2 to a running motor 34, and is driven and controlled by this running motor 34. An electromagnetic brake 33 for stopping rotation of the drive wheels 31 is provided between the travel motor 34 and the gear box 32. The electromagnetic brake 33 is the brake control means 1 of the position and speed control system 1.
The drive is controlled by 5. The electromagnetic brake 33 acts to prevent the traveling truck 6 from moving while stopped, and also acts to stop the traveling truck.

The current control system 2a supplies a drive current to the traveling motor 34, and is connected to the position and speed control system 1 via a serial communication line. In Fig. 1, the current control system 2b and 2c are connected to the position and speed control system 1, but since these are multi-point connections, the current control system 2a and the position and speed control system 1 are Since data transmission and reception during this period can be performed without any problem, this is illustrated in FIG.

In this embodiment, the traveling motor 34 is composed of, for example, a synchronous AC servo motor. The traveling motor 34 is provided with a rotational position sensor 36 for absolutely detecting its rotational position. The output P1a of the rotational position sensor 36 is output to the position sensor conversion means 15 of the position and speed control system 1. As the rotational position sensor 36, an inductive phase shift type position sensor as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-70406 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-106691 is used.

The main difference between the automatic warehouse traveling trolley shown in FIG. 1 and the one shown in FIG.
It has an auxiliary wheel 40 for travel distance detection on which a constant load is always applied approximately in the middle of the auxiliary wheel 40, and the rotational position of this auxiliary wheel 40 is detected by a rotational position sensor 41. In addition, a current control system 2a that supplies a drive current to the traveling motor 34 and a current control system 2b that supplies a drive current to the lifting motor 58 are provided in the truck section 3, and the fork motor 38 Current control system 2 that supplies drive current to
c is provided within the fork portion 3, and the position and speed control system 1 is provided outside the automated warehouse traveling trolley.
Data transmission between the current control systems 3a, 3b, and 3c is performed by a serial communication line, and a rotational position sensor 37 is provided on the fork motor 37 to detect its rotational position.
This embodiment is characterized by the fact that a height measuring device 50 for measuring the height of the fork part 4 is provided on the crane mast part 5, and so on.

The traveling distance detection auxiliary wheel 40 is rotatably attached to the vehicle body of the truck section 3 via a pivot arm 42. The pivot arm 42 is constantly loaded downward by the repulsive force of the spring 43. This spring 4
Due to the repulsive force of 3, the travel distance detection auxiliary wheels 40 are always pressed against the traveling rail 25 with a constant load and come into contact with it. Therefore, the auxiliary wheel 30 and the driving wheel 31
Even if the travel distance detection auxiliary wheels 40 slip,
will not slip. Further, even if the load of the cargo loaded on the fork portion 4 changes, the travel distance detection auxiliary wheel 40 will not be affected by the load change due to the expansion and contraction action of the spring 43, and its outer shape will not be distorted. do not have.

The rotating shaft of the travel distance detection auxiliary wheel 40 includes:
A rotational position sensor 41 is provided to absolutely detect the rotational position. This rotational position sensor 4
1 has the same configuration as the rotational position sensor 36 provided in the travel motor 34. The position signal P2a of the rotational position sensor 41 is taken into the position and speed control system 1. Note that the rotational position sensor 36 and the rotational position sensor 41 do not have to be the same, and since the rotational position sensor 36 is especially used for controlling the rotational speed of the travel motor 34, it does not have to be an absolute sensor.

The travel distance detection auxiliary wheel 40 is the same as the auxiliary wheel 30.
The upper controller 10 rotates on the traveling rail 25 according to the movement (traveling) of the traveling trolley 6 without slipping during acceleration or deceleration or being affected by load fluctuations like the drive wheels 31 and drive wheels 31, so the host controller 10 uses a rotational position sensor. Based on the position signal P2a of 41, the current position of the automated warehouse vehicle on the rail 25, that is, the actual travel distance of the automated warehouse vehicle 6 can be accurately detected. In this embodiment, a constant load is applied to the traveling distance detection auxiliary wheel 40 using the spring 23 and the pivot arm 42, but it goes without saying that a vehicle suspension, a leaf spring, or the like may be used.

The fork portion 4 has both ends connected to wires 51, 5.
2, and moves up and down along the crane mast section 5 in the level direction. The wires 51 and 52 are connected to the pulley 5
3 and 54, and is wound around the winch drum 55. The amount of vertical movement of the fork portion 4 corresponds to the length of the wires 51 and 52 to the winch drum 55. Therefore, by rotating the winch drum 55, the wire 5
1 and 52, that is, the height of the fork portion 4 in the level direction can be arbitrarily controlled.

The winch drum 55 is driven and controlled by a lifting motor 58 connected via a gear box 56. The lifting motor 58 is the same as the traveling motor 35, for example, a synchronous AC servo motor. An electromagnetic brake 57 for stopping the rotation of the winch drum 55 is provided between the lifting motor 58 and the gear box 56. Therefore, by stopping the rotation of the lifting motor 58 with the electromagnetic brake 57, the fork portion 4 is stopped at a predetermined position in the level direction. The current control system 2b supplies a drive current to the lifting motor 58, and is connected to the position and speed control system 1 via a serial communication line.

The lifting motor 58 is provided with a rotational position sensor 60 for absolutely detecting its rotational speed. The position signal P1b of the rotational position sensor 60 is input to the position and speed control system 1. This rotational position sensor 60
has the same configuration as the rotational position sensor 36 provided in the travel motor 34. In addition, the rotational position sensor 3
6 and the rotational position sensor 60 may not be the same. Further, since the actual height of the fork portion 4 is measured by the height measuring device 50, the rotational position sensor 60 is used for controlling the rotational speed of the winch drum 55, so it does not need to be an absolute sensor.

Since the height of the fork portion 4 depends on the lengths of the wires 51 and 52, in this automatic warehouse trolley 6,
By rotating the lifting motor 58 and winding and unwinding the wires 51 and 52 around the winch drum 55, the lengths of the wires 51 and 52 are controlled and the fork portion 4 is moved in the level direction. That is, by controlling the rotation of the lifting motor 58, the fork portion 4
is controlled to position it at the desired height.

At this time, since it is difficult to actually measure the lengths of the wires 51 and 52, the approximate lengths of the wires 51 and 52 are calculated based on the position signal P1b from the rotational position sensor 60 provided on the lifting motor 58. Measure the length and fork part 4
is detecting the height of However, due to the weight of the cargo loaded on the fork part 4 and the long-term use, the wires 51 and 5
2, elongation occurs, and the elongation rate also changes depending on changes in load. Therefore, even if the lengths of the wires 51 and 52 themselves change and the height of the fork portion 4 is measured based on the rotational position of the lifting motor 58, that is, the position signal P1b, the value includes an error. It is not possible to accurately position and stop the fork portion 4 at a predetermined position.

Therefore, in this embodiment, a height measuring device 50 is provided at the top of the crane mast section 5, and the structure is such that this height measuring device 50 can detect the actual height of the fork section 4. be. This height measuring device 50 has wires 51, 5
Even if the length of the fork part 2 changes, the height of the fork part 4 can always be accurately detected. Furthermore, even if the fork section 4 is moved in the level direction by a method other than a wire, height fluctuations due to the load are unavoidable, so a height measuring device 50 is provided to measure the accurate height of the fork section 4. That is important. Note that the detailed configuration of this height measuring device 50 will be described later.

The configuration of the fork portion 4 is almost the same as that shown in FIG. 15, so only the differences will be explained. The fork portion 4 of this embodiment has a built-in current control system 2c for supplying a drive current to the fork motor 38. This current control system 2c is connected to the position and speed control system 1 via a serial communication line. In addition, in this embodiment, the fork motor 3
8 is provided with a rotational position sensor 37 for detecting the rotational position absolutely. Rotational position sensor 3
The position signal P1c of 7 is input to the position sensor conversion means 15 of the position and speed control system 1. This rotational position sensor 37 has the same configuration as the rotational position sensor 36 provided in the travel motor 34. Note that the rotational position sensor 37 and the rotational position sensor 36 do not necessarily have to be the same.

The fork portion 4 of this embodiment is designed to detect the movement position of the forks 44, 45 based on the rotational position sensor 37, that is, how much the forks 44, 45 have moved in the front and back direction. The position and speed control system 1 can freely control the amount of movement of the forks 44 and 45 based on the output P1c of the rotational position sensor 37. By controlling the moving positions of the forks 44 and 45, it is possible to carry the cargo to the back of the shelf and then carry it further to the front, or to arrange a plurality of packages in the front and rear directions of the shelf.

In the automatic warehouse trolley 6 shown in FIG. 1, the rotational position sensor 36 is connected to a speed control loop sensor (conventional tacho generator 35a) for controlling the rotation of the travel motor 34 (moving speed of the traveling trolley). By using the rotational position sensor 41 as a sensor (conventional pulse generator 35b) for a position control loop for controlling the position of the traveling carriage 6, the traveling carriage 6 can be accurately positioned and stopped at a predetermined position. It is possible to do so.

Similarly, the rotational position sensor 60 is used as a sensor for a speed control loop for controlling the rotation of the lifting motor 58 (the lifting/lowering speed of the fork part 4), and the height measuring device 50 is It is also possible to accurately position and stop the fork portion 4 at a predetermined position by using it as a sensor for a position control loop for controlling the height of the fork portion 4 .

However, the traveling distance detection auxiliary wheels 40
The rotation of the auxiliary wheel 30 and the driving wheel 31 is always stable.
The rotation itself is unstable, as it slips during acceleration and deceleration and is distorted in response to load fluctuations. Therefore, the rigidity between the drive wheel 31 and the travel distance detection auxiliary wheel 40 can be considered to be a very weak control system. In such a control system with low rigidity, if the sensors are controlled separately for the speed control loop and the position control loop, the control system becomes unstable, which is not desirable. Further, the same can be said when controlling the height (elevating and lowering position) of the fork portion 4 including mechanical elements such as wires 51 and 52 having low rigidity.

Therefore, the automatic warehouse traveling trolley 6 of this embodiment
is two position sensors (rotational position sensors 36 and 41)
The traveling position is controlled by two position sensors (
A new two-sensor positioning control system is adopted in which the vertical position is controlled by a rotational position sensor 60 and a height measuring device 50). Hereinafter, the schematic configuration of the two-sensor type positioning control system will be described using FIG. 2.

[0053] The driving wheels 31, gear box 32, and
The respective components of the brake means 33, the traveling motor 34, the rotational position sensor 37, and the rotational position sensor 41 are as follows:
A winch drum 55, a gear box 56, a brake means 57, which constitute a lifting position control system for the fork portion 4.
Since it corresponds to the lifting motor 58, the rotational position sensor 60, and the height measuring device 50, only the components of the traveling position control system of the traveling trolley 6 are illustrated in FIG.
The components of the vertical position control system are omitted. Similarly, in FIG. 2, the configuration of the movement position control system for the forks 44, 45 is also omitted.

Further, the current control systems 2b and 2c are a current control system 2a that constitutes a positioning control system for the traveling carriage 6.
Since the configuration is the same as that of the current control system 2a, only the detailed configuration of the current control system 2a will be shown, and the current control systems 2b and 2c will be explained by adding b or c to the reference numeral of each component. In addition, when a is added after each signal, it means a signal used when controlling the running position of the traveling trolley 6, and when b is added, it is a signal used when controlling the vertical position of the fork part 4. If "c" is added, it means a signal used when controlling the movement position of the forks 44, 45.

The host controller 10 is connected to the addition means 11, and is connected to the target position of the traveling motor 34 (the stop position of the traveling truck 6) and the target position of the lifting motor 58 (the fork portion 4).
position command data F indicating the target position of the fork motor 38 (stop position of the fork 44, 45)
0a, F0b, and F0c are output to the adding means 11. Further, the host controller 10 is connected to a serial communication interface 14, and various data D1a, D1b, D1
c to the serial communication interface 14.

The position and speed control system 1 includes an addition means 11, a position control section 12, a speed control section 13, a serial communication interface 14, position sensor conversion means 15 and 16, a speed calculation section 17, and a subtraction means 18. , a correction data generating means 19, and a brake control means 20. The addition means 11 adds the correction data P8a, P8b of the correction data generation means 19 to the position command data F0a, F0b of the host controller 10, and uses the added value as corrected position command data F1a, F1b in the position control unit 12. Output to. When controlling the positioning of the forks 44 and 45, the correction data generation means 19 does not output correction data, and the position command data F0c of the host controller 10
is directly input to the position control section 12. Fork 44, 45
This is because the control system has high rigidity, so accurate positioning control can be performed based on one rotational position sensor 37.

The position control section 12 is connected to the addition means 11 and the position sensor conversion means 15. The position control unit 12 is used to control the traveling position of the traveling trolley 6 and the fork unit 4.
When controlling the elevation position of the motor 34 or the elevation motor 58, corrected position command data F1a or F1b indicating the target position of the drive motor 34 or the elevation motor 58 and the position indicating the current position of the drive motor 34 or the elevation motor 58 are used. Data P3a or P3
Enter b. When controlling the traveling position of the traveling trolley 6, the position data P3a is based on the slippage of the driving wheels 31 and the driving wheels 31.
When controlling the vertical position of the fork portion 4, the position data P3b includes errors caused by elongation of the wires 51 and 52. The position control unit 12 is connected to the speed control unit 13, and receives the corrected position command data F1a or F1b and the position data P3a.
or P3b, and outputs a speed command signal F2a or F2b to the speed control section 13 according to the positional deviation.

Further, the position control section 12 controls the fork 44,
45, position command data F1c (F0c) indicating the target position of the fork motor 38 is used.
and position data P indicating the current position of the fork motor 38.
Enter 3c. The position control unit 12 receives position command data F.
Enter 0c directly. Furthermore, the position control section 12 is connected to the speed control section 13, and position command data F1c (F
0c) and the position data P3c, and outputs a speed command signal F2c corresponding to the positional deviation to the speed control section 13.

The position sensor conversion means 15 inputs the outputs P1a, P1b, and P1c of the rotational position sensors 36, 60, and 37 in parallel, and indicates the current positions of the traveling motor 34, the lifting motor 58, and the fork motor 38. Position data P
3a, P3b, and P3c in parallel. The position sensor conversion means 15 outputs any one of the position data P3a, P3b, or P3c to the position control section 12 and the subtraction means 18, and also outputs phase signals P6a, P6b, P6c, and connect one of them to the serial communication interface 14.
Output to. The position sensor conversion means 15 converts the position data P
3a, P3b, and P3c are output to the speed calculation section 17 in parallel. Note that the position sensor conversion means 15 determines which position data to output to the position control unit 12 and the subtraction means 18 among the converted outputs P3a, P3b, and P3c, and which of the phase signals P6a, P6b, and P6c. Whether the phase signal is output to the serial communication interface 14 is selected in accordance with an instruction signal (not shown) from the host controller 10.

Furthermore, the position sensor converting means 15 is connected to the host controller 10 and converts the current position data P4a, P4a.
4b match the position command data F0a, F0b, the host controller 10 outputs matching signals B1a, B1.
b and position data DPa, DPb are input. The position data DPa and DPb are position data P4a and P4b output from the position sensor conversion means 16. Therefore, by outputting the coincidence signals B1a and B1b from the host controller 10, the position sensor conversion means 15 is corrected so as to output position data having the same value as the position data P4a and P4b.

[0061] When controlling the traveling position of the traveling trolley 6, the position sensor converting means 16 converts the travel distance detection auxiliary wheels 40
The sensor output P2a of the rotational position sensor 41 provided at
When controlling the vertical position of the fork 4, input the sensor output P2b of the height measuring device 50, and use the position data P4 indicating the new height of the fork 4 moving up and down along the crane mast 5.
This position data P4a or P4b is output to the subtraction means 18 and the host controller 10. These current position data P4a, P4b are sent to the position sensor conversion means 1 at the same time as matching signals B1a, B1b from the host controller 10.
5 as correction position data DPa, DPb. Note that this position sensor conversion means 16, like the position sensor conversion means 15, outputs P2a and P2.
b may be input in parallel and the converted position data P4a or P4b may be selectively output.

The subtracting means 18 is the position sensor converting means 15
The current position data P4a or P4b of the position sensor conversion means 16 is subtracted from the position data P3a or P3b of , and the subtracted value is output to the correction data generation means 19 as error data P5a or P5b. That is, when controlling the traveling position of the traveling truck 6, the error data P5a or P5b outputted from the subtraction means 18 is used to control the traveling motor 34, which is driven and controlled by the position command data F0a outputted from the host controller 10. This data indicates the error between the rotational position of the carriage 6 and the position where the traveling trolley 6 actually travels, and when controlling the vertical position of the fork part 4, the vertical position of the vertical motor controlled by the position command data F0b is used. This data shows the error between the rotational position of 58 and the height position to which the fork portion 4 actually moves. That is, the error data P5a corresponds to the distance that the drive wheels 31 did not actually travel due to slipping or distortion, and the error data P5b corresponds to the height that was not actually raised or lowered due to the elongation of the wires 44 and 45. corresponds to

The correction data generating means 19 includes the subtracting means 18
error data P5a or P5b is input, and corresponding correction data P8a or P8b is output to the adding means 11 at predetermined time intervals. The purpose of outputting at predetermined time intervals is to stably operate the control system that has a very weak rigidity between the drive wheel 31 and the travel distance detection auxiliary wheel 40 and the control system that includes the elongation of the wires 51 and 52. be. Note that the operation of the correction data generating means 19 is controlled by a correction control signal DC from the host controller 10. That is, the correction data generating means 19 outputs or does not output the correction data, or changes the output interval of the correction data P8a or P8b, depending on the correction control signal DC. Further, when controlling the moving positions of the forks 44 and 45, the host controller 10 outputs the correction control signal DCc so that the correction data generating means 19 does not output correction data. Therefore, the position control unit 12 performs position control based on position command data F1a or F1b in which correction data P8a or P8b is added to position command data F0a or F0b, and position control based on position command data F1a or F1b to which correction data is not added. There are cases where position control is performed based on F1c (F0c).

The speed control section 13 is connected to the position control section 12 and the speed calculation section 17, and receives speed command signals F2a, F2b, F2c from the position control section 12 and the driving motor 34.
, speed signals F3a, F3b, and F3c indicating the rotational speed of the lifting motor 58 or the fork motor 38 are input. The speed signals F3a, F3b, and F3c are obtained by converting the position data P3a, P3b, and P3c from the position sensor conversion means 15 by the speed calculating section 17. The speed calculation unit 17 receives position data P3a, P3b,
P3c is input in parallel, and the rotational speed of the traveling motor 34, the lifting motor 58, or the fork motor 38 is calculated by digital calculation based on the amount of change in the position data P3a, P3b, and P3c per predetermined unit time. , which are output to the speed control section 13 as speed signals F3a, F3b, F3c. Further, the speed control section 13 is connected to a serial communication interface 14, and speed command signals F2a, F
2b, F2c and the speed signals F3a, P3b, P3c, and drive motor 34 according to this speed deviation.
, torque signals (current command signals) T1a, T1b, and T1c of the lifting motor 58 or the fork motor 38 are output to the serial communication interface 14.

The serial communication interface 14 is connected to the host controller 10, the speed control section 13, and the position sensor conversion means 15, and receives various data D1a, D1b, D1c from the host controller 10, torque signals T1a, and T1a from the speed control section. T1b, T1c and phase signals P6a, P6b, P6c from the position sensor conversion means 15 are transmitted to serial communication interfaces 21a, 21b, 21c of the current control systems 2a, 2b, 2c via communication lines. The serial communication interface 14 and the serial communication interfaces 21a, 21b, and 21c are connected by bidirectional communication lines, and the upper controller 10
various data D1a, D1b, D1c and data D2a, D2b generated in the current control systems 2a, 2b, 2c.
, D2c are the host controller 10 and the current control system 2a,
2b and 2c.

The current control system 2a is composed of a serial communication interface 21a and a current control section 22a. Although the current control systems 2b and 2c are not shown in FIG. 2, they have the same configuration as the current control system 2a, so a description thereof will be omitted. Further, in FIG. 1, the current control system 2a is connected to the serial communication interface 14 via the current control systems 2b and 2c, but in FIG. 2, the current control systems 2b and 2c are omitted. The serial communication interface 21a is connected to the serial communication interface 14 of the position and speed control system 1 and the current control section 22a, and receives the torque signal T1a.
and phase signal P6a to serial communication interface 1
4 and outputs it to the current control unit 22a as a torque signal T2a and a phase signal P7a, and also transmits various data D2a such as a status signal indicating the control state in the current control unit 22a to the serial communication interface 14.

The current control unit 22a is connected to the serial communication interface 21a and the running motor 34, receives the torque signal T2a and the phase signal P7a, generates a three-phase PWM signal based on it, and drives the power transistor. and each phase of the traveling motor 34 (U phase, V phase,
A drive current is supplied to the W phase). At this time, the current feedback signal T3a of the U-phase and V-phase current values is fed back to the current control unit 22a by the current detection isolator CTa. The current control unit 22a amplifies the deviation between the torque signal (current command signal) T2a of each phase and the current feedback signal T3a of each phase, and applies the drive current to the driving motor 3.
Supply to 4. The current control units 22b and 22c similarly supply driving current to the lifting motor 58 and the fork motor 38.

[0068] Furthermore, the serial communication interface 21
A and the current control unit 22a are connected by a data line, so that various data D2a can be exchanged between the two. The current control unit 22a has a function of detecting control states such as servo motor overload, power supply voltage drop, overcurrent, overvoltage, and overheat, and also sends a servo status signal indicating these control states.
It has a memory that stores various data such as an ID code indicating the rating of the current amplifier and a motor rating code indicating the rating of the servo motor to be controlled.

The data stored in the memory in the current control section 22a may be changed to the above data D2a as needed.
It is transmitted to the host controller 10 via the data line and serial communication interfaces 21a and 14. Note that the motor rating code is stored in the memory as a table. Therefore, by selecting a table number according to the rating of the servo motor connected via the communication line, the current control section 22a can control servo motors with different ratings. With this, even if the servo motor is replaced, the current control section can be changed to a control system suitable for the servo motor by simply changing the table number.

The brake control means 20 is connected to the host controller 10 and the brake means 33, 57 and 39. The host controller 10 receives current position data P4a,
When P4b matches the position command data F0a, F0b, match signals B1a, B1b are output to the brake control means 20. The host controller 10 also controls the fork 4
Even at the end of the positioning control of 4 and 45, the coincidence signal B1c
is output to the brake control means 20. The fact that the coincidence signals B1a, B1b, and B1c are output from the host controller 10 means that the positioning control of the traveling truck 6, the fork part 4, and the forks 44 and 45 has been completed.
When the coincidence signals B1a, B1b, and B1c are input, the brake control means 20 controls the brake means 33, 57, and 39.
The drive wheel 31, the winch drum 55, or the forks 44, 45 are braked. The execution of braking by the braking means 33, 57, and 39 completes the final positioning control of the traveling carriage 6, the fork portion 4, or the forks 44, 45.

A position correction sensor 23 is connected to the position sensor conversion means 16. This position correction sensor 23 detects a position code plate provided in advance at a predetermined position along the running rail 25. This is a case where the floor surface is an ideal flat surface, the traveling rail 25 provided thereon is an ideal straight line, and the traveling distance detection auxiliary wheels 40 move on the traveling rail 25 without slipping at all. is not necessary. However, in reality, the traveling distance of a traveling trolley for an automated warehouse is several tens of meters or more, so the traveling rail 25 has bends and slopes, and the floor surface also has irregularities. Therefore, the traveling distance detection auxiliary wheels 40 do not slip at all, and some slippage errors occur.

Therefore, in this embodiment, a position code plate is provided at a predetermined position along the running rail 25, and the position correction sensor 2
3 to detect the position code plate. Therefore, the position sensor converting means 16 converts the position correction sensor 23 into
When the position code plate is detected, the rotational position sensor 36
The current position data P4a is corrected to the position data of the position code plate, and the current position data P4a is corrected for the slippage error of the auxiliary wheels 40 for detecting the travel distance.

[0073] Here, the position code plate does not need to be provided at a predetermined position with high accuracy. In order to do this, the automatic warehouse trolley shown in Fig. 1 is moved at a low speed that does not cause slippage on the travel distance detection auxiliary wheels 40, and the position data of the position code board detected at that time is learned and memorized in advance. By this,
This is because the learned and stored position data can be read and used as the position data of the position code plate during the next positioning control.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the positioning control system for the automatic warehouse traveling cart shown in FIG. 1 will be explained. First, the host controller 10 sends table number data D1a, D1b, and D1c indicating the respective ratings of the traveling motor 34, the lifting motor 58, and the fork motor 38 via the serial communication interface 14 to the current control system 2a, 2b
, 2c side serial communication interfaces 21a, 21
b, 21c. The transmitted table number data is sent to the serial communication interfaces 21a and 21b.
, 21c to the current control units 22a, 22b, and 22c. Thereby, the current control section 22a specifies the rating of the travel motor 34, and functions as the current control section 21a according to the rating of the travel motor 34. Similarly, the current control units 22b and 22c also function according to the ratings of the lifting motor 58 and the fork motor 38.

The host controller 10 controls the running motor 3
4 and the lifting motor 58 are driven and controlled to move the fork part 4 to the position where the target shelf is present. Although there are various methods for this movement, in this embodiment, a case will be described in which the traveling position of the traveling trolley 6 and the vertical position of the fork portion 4 are controlled simultaneously. Other control methods include first controlling the traveling position of the traveling bogie 6 and then controlling the vertical position of the fork section 4, or conversely, controlling the vertical position of the fork section 4 and then controlling the vertical position of the traveling bogie 6. There are methods of controlling the traveling position of No. 6, etc. Note that simultaneous control as in this embodiment has the advantage of speeding up the loading and unloading of luggage.

[0076] Hereinafter, a case will be described in which the traveling position of the traveling carriage 6 and the raising and lowering position of the fork portion 4 are controlled simultaneously. First, the host controller 10 outputs position command data F0a indicating the target position of the traveling motor 34 to the adding means 11. Adding means 11 adds correction data P8a to position command data F0a and outputs the result to position control section 12. The position control section 12 sends a speed command signal F2a based on the position command data F1a and the position data P3a to the speed control section 13.
Output to. The speed control unit 13 generates a torque signal (current command signal) T according to the speed command signal F2a and the speed signal F3a.
1a is output to the serial communication interface 14.

Transmission is performed between the serial communication interface 14 and the serial communication interface 21a, and the torque signal T2a and the phase signal P6a are outputted from the serial communication interface 21a to the current control section 22a. The current control unit 22a controls the drive current of the travel motor 34 based on the torque signal T2a, the current feedback signal T3a, and the phase signal P6a. Output P1a of the rotational position sensor 37 coupled to the travel motor 34
The output P2a of the rotational position sensor 41 of the travel distance detection auxiliary wheel 40 is fed back to the position and speed control system 1.

Output P1a of rotational position sensors 37 and 41
and P2a are converted into position data P3a, P3b and P4a, P by the position sensor conversion means 15 and 16, respectively.
4b. The position data P3a indicates the current position of the traveling motor 34 (rotation amount of the drive wheel 31) controlled by the position command data F0a output from the host controller 10, and the position data P4a indicates the current position of the traveling trolley 6 that actually traveled. The position (rotation amount of the travel distance detection auxiliary wheel 40) is shown. Note that if the position correction sensor 23 detects a position code plate at this time, the position sensor conversion means 16 corrects the position data P4a based on the position data corresponding to the position code plate. Therefore, the position sensor conversion means 16 always outputs position data P4a in which the slippage of the travel distance detection auxiliary wheel 40 is corrected.

Error data P output from subtraction means 18
5a indicates a positional error in which the traveling carriage 6 could not actually move due to slippage or distortion of the drive wheels 31 caused by rotational control of the traveling motor 34. The correction data generating means 19 outputs correction data P8a corresponding to the error data P5a to the position command data F0a at predetermined time intervals. As a result, position command data F1a that compensates for errors caused by slippage or distortion of the drive wheels 31 is input to the position control unit 12, and positioning control corrected for the errors is executed.

[0080] The host controller 10 controls the vertical position of the fork portion 4 when the series of controls as described above is completed. That is, after transmitting the torque signal (current command signal) T1a of the traveling motor 34 to the current control system 2a, the host controller 10 determines the target position (
position command data F0b indicating the height) is output to the adding means 11. Then, the position speed control system 1
The calculation of the torque signal (current command signal) T1b is started.

Transmission is performed between the serial communication interface 14 and the serial communication interface 21b, and the torque signal T2b and the phase signal P6b are outputted from the serial communication interface 21b to the current control section 22b. The current control unit 22b controls the drive current of the lifting motor 58 based on the torque signal T2b, the current feedback signal T3b, and the phase signal P6b. Output P1b of the rotational position sensor 60 coupled to the lifting motor 58
The output P2b of the height measuring device 50 is fed back to the position and speed control system 1.

The outputs P1b and P2b of the rotational position sensor 58 and the height measuring device 50 are converted to the position sensor converting means 15 and 1.
6 into respective position data P3b and P4b. The position data P3b is the upper controller 10
The position data P4b indicates the current position of the lifting motor 58 (winding amount of the wires 51, 52) controlled by the position command data F0b output from the fork 4, which is controlled by the position command data F0b output from the (actual height of the fork part 4 suspended by).

Error data P output from the subtraction means 18
5b indicates a height error in which the fork portion 4 could not actually move up and down due to the elongation of the wires 51 and 52 wound up by the rotation of the lifting motor 58. The correction data generating means 19 generates correction data P according to this error data P5b.
8b as position command data F0b at predetermined time intervals. As a result, the position control unit 12 has wires 51 and 5.
Position command data F1b that compensates for the error caused by the elongation of 2 is input, and height positioning control corrected for the error is executed.

[0084] The host controller 10 alternately and repeatedly controls the travel of the traveling cart 6 and the elevation control of the fork section 4 on the order of several milliseconds, and moves the fork section 4 to the position where the target shelf is present. When the fork section 4 moves to the target shelf, the host controller 10 outputs a correction control signal DCc to the correction data generating means 19,
The movement positions of the forks 44 and 45 are controlled after the correction data generation means 19 is prevented from outputting correction data. That is, when the host controller 10 outputs the position command data F0c indicating the target movement amount of the fork motor 38 to the adding means 11, the position speed control system 1 controls the fork motor based on the position command data F0c and the position data P3c. The calculation of the torque signal (current command signal) T1c of No. 38 is started. When moving the fork part 4 to a target shelf, the host controller 10 moves the fork part 4 to a position larger (plus) or smaller (minus) than the reference plane of the shelf, that is, at a forking position, depending on the loading and unloading of cargo. It is controlled to position and stop.

Transmission is performed between the serial communication interface 14 and the serial communication interface 21c, and the torque signal T2c and the phase signal P6c are outputted from the serial communication interface 21c to the current control section 22c. The current control unit 22c controls the drive current of the fork motor 38 based on the torque signal T2c, the current feedback signal T3c, and the phase signal P6c. The output P1c of the rotational position sensor 37 coupled to the fork motor 38 is fed back to the position and speed control system 1.

The output P1c of the rotational position sensor 37 is converted into respective position data P3 by the position sensor conversion means 15.
converted to c. Position data P3c indicates the current position of fork motor 38 controlled by position command data F0c output from host controller 10. As a result, the position control section 12 controls the movement of the forks 44 and 45 to predetermined positions.

[0087] Next, an example of a positioning control system for the traveling position and lifting position of the automatic warehouse traveling cart shown in Fig. 2 will be explained with reference to Fig. 6. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the state of positioning control of the traveling position and lifting position of the traveling trolley for an automated warehouse using a moving speed pattern of the traveling trolley 6 and an ascending/lowering speed pattern of the fork part 4. In the moving speed pattern and the lifting speed pattern of FIG. 6, the horizontal axis shows time t [seconds], and the vertical axis shows the moving speed of the traveling trolley 6 and the lifting speed V [m/min] of the fork part 4.

[0088] The trapezoid (a1-a2
The area -a3-a4) corresponds to the actual moving distance of the traveling trolley 6 and the actual lifting distance of the fork portion 4. Therefore,
The upper controller 10 uses this trapezoid (a1-a2-a3
-a4) so that the area of the traveling trolley 6 becomes a predetermined size.
By controlling the acceleration and deceleration of the fork portion 4, the fork portion 4 is positioned and stopped at a predetermined position.

The dotted line Ba (a5-a6) in FIG. 6(a) is the movement (elevating and lowering) speed pattern of the traveling trolley 6 and fork portion 4 in the conventional traveling trolley for automatic warehouses. That is,
The area of the trapezoid (a1-a2-a5-a6) corresponds to the moving (elevating) distance of the conventional traveling trolley 6 and fork portion 4. In the conventional automated warehouse traveling trolley, the positioning of the fork portion 4 was controlled by the position sensor (pulse generator) 35b provided on the drive wheel 31 and the position sensor (pulse generator) 59b provided on the winch drum 55. Slip or distortion of drive wheel 31 and wires 51, 52
The upper controller 10 is affected by the error caused by the growth of
It was not possible to accurately position and stop the fork portion 4 at the positions of the commanded position data F0a and F0b. That is, the fork portion 4 of the conventional automatic warehouse traveling trolley 6 has the shape of a parallelogram (a3-a) surrounded by the dotted line Ba and the solid line Aa.
The vehicle was unable to travel a distance corresponding to the area ΔL of 4-a6-a5), and was stopped without being able to move up or down.

In contrast, in this embodiment, the host controller 10 sequentially outputs the position command signals F0a and F0b to the adding means 11. On the other hand, since the correction data P8a and P8b corresponding to the error data P5a and P5b are inputted to the addition means 11 from the correction data generation means 19 at predetermined time intervals, the position control section 12 can control the slippage and distortion of the drive wheels 31 and the wires. The position command data F1a and F1b compensated for the error caused by the elongation of the parts 51 and 52 are input, and the traveling bogie 6 and fork part 4 are accelerated and decelerated according to this position command data, and the position command signals F0a and F0b are controlled. The traveling carriage 6 and the fork part 4 are positioned and stopped at the predetermined position specified by. That is, the fork portion 4 of the automatic warehouse traveling trolley is shaped like a trapezoid (a1-a2-a3) indicated by the solid line Aa in FIG. 6(a).
-a4), and is finally positioned and stopped at the target shelf position by the braking process of the brake means 33.

As described above, according to this embodiment, in addition to the position sensor 37 for detecting the rotational position of the traveling motor 34, the rotation sensor 41 is used for detecting the rotation amount of the auxiliary wheel 40 for detecting travel distance. In addition to providing a position sensor 60 for detecting the rotational position of the lifting motor 58, a height measuring device 50 for measuring the actual height of the fork portion 4 is provided,
Position data P3 output from position sensor conversion means 15
The difference between a and P3b and the position data P4a and P4b output from the position sensor conversion means 16 is calculated, and the correction data P8a and P8b corresponding to the difference value is added to the position command data F0a and F0b, and the positions of both are calculated. By correcting the error when the data do not match, it is possible to accurately position and stop the fork portion 4 at the position commanded by the position command data F0a and F0b.

Further, during normal positioning control, the rotational positions of the traveling motor 34 and the lifting motor 58 are controlled based on the position data P3a and P3b from the position sensor conversion means 15, and the traveling carriage 6 and fork part 4 are controlled. Since positioning is controlled to a predetermined position, the loop gain can be made sufficiently large and positioning can be performed at high speed. In Figure 6,
Such a positioning control method is displayed as "P3-P4".

If an abnormality such as overload, power supply voltage drop, overcurrent, overvoltage, or overheat occurs during this control, status signal data indicating these control conditions is transmitted from the current control units 22a and 22b via serial communication. The data is sent to the interfaces 21a and 21b, and then sent to the host controller 10 via the serial communication interface 14. The host controller 10 receives the data of this status signal and performs processing according to the type of the status signal. Traveling motor 34, lifting motor 5
8 and fork motor 38 to servo motors with different ratings, simply send the table number indicating the rating of the changed servo motor to the current controllers 22a, 22b, 22c. ,22
c can perform current control according to the changed servo motor.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another embodiment of a traveling trolley for an automatic warehouse according to the present invention. In FIG. 3, the same components as in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, so the explanation thereof will be omitted. The embodiment of FIG. 3 differs from the embodiment of FIG. 1 in that the traveling distance detection auxiliary wheel 44 is composed of a pinion, and the pinion runs while contacting a rack 26 provided along the traveling rail 25. . Although some slipping errors occurred in the travel distance detection auxiliary wheels 40 in FIG. 1, by using the travel distance detection auxiliary wheels 44 having a rack-and-pinion configuration as in this embodiment, slipping can be prevented. There is no need to provide the position correction sensor, position code plate, etc. of FIG. 1. In this embodiment, a rack is shown as a guide for the travel distance detection auxiliary wheel 44, but it goes without saying that a chain may also be used.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the positioning control method for a traveling cart for an automatic warehouse according to the present invention. In FIG. 4, the same components as in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals, so their explanation will be omitted. This embodiment differs from the one in FIG. 2 because the addition means 11, subtraction means 18, and correction data generation means 19 in FIG. 2 are omitted, and the position control unit 12 directly inputs the position command signal F0 from the host controller 10 death,
The point is that the selection means 27 selectively inputs the position data P3 and P4 of the position sensor conversion means 15 and 16 as feedback signals.

That is, when controlling the traveling position of the traveling trolley 6, the position control section 12 directly inputs the position command signal F0a from the host controller 10, and controls the traveling motor 34.
Either the position data P3a indicating the current position of the travel distance detecting auxiliary wheel 40 or the position data P4a indicating the current position of the travel distance detection auxiliary wheel 40 is inputted via the selection means 27. Position control unit 1
2 determines the deviation between the two (F0a and P3a, F0a and P4a) and outputs a speed command signal F2a to the speed control section 13 in accordance with the positional deviation. Similarly, when controlling the elevating position of the fork part 4, the position control part 12 directly inputs the position command signal F0b from the host controller 10, and uses the position data P3b indicating the current position of the elevating motor 58 or the position data P3b of the fork part 4. Either one of the position data P4b indicating the actual height is input via the selection means 27. Position control section 12
calculates the deviation between the two (F0b and P3b, F0b and P4b) and outputs a speed command signal F2b to the speed control section 13 according to the positional deviation. At this time, the selection means 27 is switched in response to the selection instruction signal S1 from the host controller 10.

An example of positioning control using this position data switching method will be explained using FIG. 6(b). Figure 6(b)
A trapezoid (b1-
The area b2-b3-b4) corresponds to the moving distance of the traveling carriage 6 in order to accurately stop the traveling carriage 6 at a predetermined position. This is the trapezoid (a1-a2-a3-a
4).

First, the host controller 10 receives the selection signal S.
1 to the selection means 27, position data P3a, P3b
is input to the position control unit 12. In FIG. 6, the state of this selection means 27 is displayed as "P3". After that, the host controller 10 sends the position command signal F0
a, F0b are sequentially output to the position control unit 12, and the traveling trolley 6
Then, the fork portion 4 is accelerated/decelerated controlled and stopped at the commanded position. The traveling truck 6 and the fork section 4 move through this series of processes, but slippage and distortion of the drive wheels 31 and wires 5
1 and 52, it stops before reaching the position instructed by the command position signals F0a and F0b. That is, like the conventional one, the traveling carriage 6 and the fork part 4 can only move by the area of the trapezoid (b1-b2-b5-b6) of the solid line Ab, and can only move by the area of the trapezoid (b1-b2-b5-b6) formed by the solid line Ab and the dotted line Bb. b3-b4-b6-b5), and stops at time t2 without being able to move by a distance corresponding to the area ΔL surrounded by b3-b4-b6-b5).

Therefore, the host controller 10 outputs the selection signal S1 to the selection means 27, and selects the position data P4a, P4a.
4b is set to be input to the position control unit 12. Figure 6
Then, the state of this selection means 27 becomes "P4" after time t2.
” is displayed. The host controller 10 inputs the position data P4a, P4b of the position sensor conversion means 16, and detects that the data does not move due to the error between the position data P4a and P4b and the position command data F0a and F0b, that is, the slippage or distortion of the drive wheel 31 and the wires 51 and 52. distance (parallelogram (b3-b4-
An area ΔL) surrounded by b6-b5) is calculated, and new command position signals F0a and F0b are generated according to the calculated distance.

The host controller 10 sequentially outputs new position command signals F0a and F0b to the position control unit 12, accelerates and decelerates the traveling truck 6 and fork unit 4, stops them at the command position, and brakes 33 and 57. Braking processing is performed at time t3, and final positioning control is completed at time t3. As a result, the traveling truck 6 and the fork portion 4 are shaped like a trapezoid (b6
-b7-b8-b9). Since the area of the trapezoid (b6-b7-b8-b9) is equal to that of the parallelogram (b3-b4-b6-b5), the traveling carriage 6 and the fork portion 4 are accurately stopped at a predetermined position.

In FIG. 4, it goes without saying that the position correction sensor 23 can be omitted if the travel distance detection auxiliary wheel 40 is constructed from the rack and pinion shown in FIG. Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the selection means 27 switches the position data from P3a, P3b to P4a, P4b is explained, but as shown in FIG. 6(b), at time t2
The position data P3a and P3b may also be used thereafter. In this case, at time t2, the host controller 10 outputs the position data DPa and DPb to the position sensor conversion means 15, and the position data P3a and P of the position sensor conversion means 15
3b is the position data P4a, P of the position sensor changing means 16.
4b, then position data P3a, P again.
3b, acceleration/deceleration processing is executed. In the acceleration/deceleration process after time t2 in this case, the moving speed of the traveling trolley 6 and the fork part 4 is not very high, so the influence of slippage of the drive wheels 31 and elongation of the wires 51 and 52 is small, and accurate positioning is possible. Can be done. In FIG. 6(b), this control state is shown as "P3" after time t2.

Furthermore, in the positioning control system for the automatic warehouse traveling cart shown in FIG. 2, the operation of the correction data generating means 19 is stopped until time t2 as shown in FIG. 6(b),
Positioning control is performed based only on position data P3a and P3b. After time t2, the host controller 10 may output the correction control signals DCa and DCb to the correction data generation means 19 to operate the correction data generation means 19. In FIG. 6(b), this control state changes to "P3-" after time t2.
P4". Also in this case, the host controller 10 presets the position data P3a, P3b of the position sensor converting means 15 to the position data P4a, P4b of the position sensor changing means 16 at time t2. Note that although it is not necessary to preset, it is desirable to preset because sudden fluctuations occur in acceleration/deceleration processing after time t2.

In addition, in FIG. 6(b), the selection means 27 is switched at time 2, but as shown in FIG. 6(c), the selection means 27 is switched as described above at time t4 before entering the deceleration process. It's okay. In FIG. 6(c), this control state is “P
4". Further, at time t4, the host controller 10 outputs the position data P3a of the position sensor conversion means 15,
P3b is the position data P4a of the position sensor changing means 16,
Preset to P4b, and position data P3a, P3b again
The deceleration process may be executed based on the following. In FIG. 6(c), this control state is indicated by "P3" after time t4. Furthermore, the operation of the correction data generation means 19 may be stopped until time t4, positioning control may be performed using position data P3a and P3b, and the correction data generation means 19 may be operated after time t4. In Figure 6(c),
This control state is indicated by "P3-P4" after time t4.

[0104] As a result, the traveling carriage 6 and the fork section 4 move like a trapezoid (c1-c2-c5-c6),
Stops in place. Note that the dotted line Bc represents ideal movement (
(up/down) speed pattern. Due to these positioning controls, although the time required for deceleration processing is slightly longer than the ideal movement (elevating) speed pattern (c1-c2-c3-c4), it is possible to keep the traveling trolley 6 and fork part 4 in a predetermined position. This has the effect of accurately positioning and stopping.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing still another embodiment of the positioning control system for a traveling cart for an automatic warehouse according to the present invention. Figure 5
Components having the same configuration as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, so their explanation will be omitted. This embodiment differs from the one in FIG. 2 because the addition means 11, subtraction means 18, and correction data generation means 19 in FIG. 2 are omitted, and the position control unit 12 directly inputs the position command signal F0 from the host controller 10 However, the speed control section 13 is configured to input either the speed command signal F2 of the position control section 12 or the constant speed command signal F4 of the constant speed signal generating means 25 as the speed command signal.

[0106] That is, when controlling the traveling position of the traveling trolley 4 or when controlling the vertical position of the fork part 4,
The position control unit 12 inputs position command signals F0a, F0b from the host controller 10 and position data P3a, P3b indicating the current position of the travel motor 34, and outputs both (F0
a and P3a, F0b and P3B), and outputs speed command signals F2a and F2b corresponding to the positional deviation to speed command selection means 29. Further, the constant speed signal generating means 28
are command signals DFa and DF from the host controller 10
b, and the corresponding constant speed command signals F4a, F4
b is output to the speed command selection means 29. The speed command selection means 29 selects the speed command signals F1a and F1b of the position control section 12.
and a constant speed command signal F4a of the constant speed signal generating means 28,
F4b is input, and either one is used as the speed command signal F2a,
It is output to the speed control section 13 instead of F2b. At this time, the speed command selection means 29 is switched in response to the selection instruction signal S2 from the host controller 10. Therefore, when controlling the moving positions of the forks 44 and 45, the speed command selection means 29 is set to output the speed command signal F1c of the position control section 12 to the speed control section 13.

An example of positioning control using this speed command switching method will be explained using FIG. 6(d). A trapezoid (d1-d
The area of the part surrounded by 2-b3-b4) is the area of the traveling bogie 6
corresponds to the distance that the object must travel to stop exactly in place. This is the trapezoid (a1
-a2-a3-a4).

First, the host controller 10 outputs the selection instruction signal S2 to the speed command selection means 29, and the speed command signals F1a and F1b of the position and speed control section 12 are output to the speed control section 13.
Set to input. This speed command selection means 29
This state is maintained until time t6. In FIG. 6(d), the state of this speed command selection means 29 is displayed as "F1". Thereafter, the host controller 10 sequentially outputs position command signals F0a and F0b to the position control section 12 to control the acceleration and deceleration of the traveling trolley 6. Then, the automatic traveling trolley 3 is shown in Figure 6.
It moves like d1-d2-d5-d6 according to the solid line Ad in (d).

[0109] If positioning control is performed as is,
The traveling carriage 6 and the fork section 4 move with errors due to slippage and distortion of the drive wheels 31 and elongation of the wires 51 and 52, making it impossible to stop at an accurate position. That is, the traveling carriage 6 and the fork part 4 are shaped like a trapezoid (b1-b) formed by the solid line Ab in FIG.
2-b5-b6), and the parallelogram (
b3-b4-b6-b5), and stops at time t1 without being able to move by a distance corresponding to the area ΔL surrounded by b3-b4-b6-b5).

Therefore, in this embodiment, at time t6 when the traveling carriage 6 and the fork section 4 reach a predetermined speed (here, the speed corresponding to the constant speed command signals F4a and F4b) during deceleration control, the host controller 10 outputs the selection instruction signal S2 to the speed command selection means 29, and sets the constant speed command signals F4a and F4b of the constant speed generation means 28 to be input to the speed control section 13. Then, the traveling trolley 6 and the fork portion 4 are released from deceleration control and start moving at a constant speed corresponding to the constant speed command signals F4a and F4b as indicated by d6-d7 of the solid line Ad. In FIG. 6(d), the state of this speed command selection means 29 is displayed as "F4".

While the traveling carriage 6 and the fork section 4 are moving at a constant speed, the host controller 10 inputs the position data P4a, P4b of the position sensor conversion means 16, and the position data P4a, P4b becomes the command position signal F0a, F0b
At time t7, the brake command signals B1a and B1b are output to the brake control means 15, and the brake means 33 and 57 of the traveling truck 6 and the fork portion 4 are operated to forcefully stop the vehicle. Thereby, the traveling carriage 6 and the fork portion 4 can be accurately positioned and stopped at predetermined positions. The traveling truck 6 and the fork portion 4 are indicated by the solid line Ad (d1-d
2-d5-d6-d7-d8). This area is a trapezoid (d1-d2-d3-d4
), the traveling carriage 6 and the fork portion 4 can be accurately stopped at a predetermined position.

Next, the structure of the height measuring device 50 for measuring the actual height of the fork portion 4 will be explained. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the height measuring device 50, and FIG. 8 is a side view showing the height measuring device 50 with a part of the holding member removed. The holding member 70 has a plurality of holes for holding each component that constitutes the height measuring device 50. A main shaft 62 and a sub-shaft 63 are attached to the shaft holding holes of the holding member 70. A spring winding drum 65a and a wire drum 65 are fixed to the main shaft 62 so as to rotate at the same time. One end of the main shaft 62 is connected to a holding member 70 via a bearing, and the other end is rotatable by a position sensor 64. is maintained. A wire guide drum 68 and a spring drum 69 are rotatably attached to the auxiliary shaft 63.

The position sensor 64 is attached to the outside of the holding member 70 and detects the rotational position of the main shaft 62 absolutely, and the same induction type phase shift type position sensor as the position sensor 41 is used. The wire drum 65 is a drum for winding the height measuring wire 66, and has a wire guide groove along the circumferential direction to prevent the height measuring wires 66 from overlapping each other when winding the wire. A drum 61 is provided on the upper side. The wire pressing drum 61 presses the wire against the wire drum 65 to eliminate uneven winding. This is because if the height measurement wires 66 are wound up in an overlapping manner, the diameter of the wire drum 65 becomes larger, making it impossible to accurately measure the height. Further, the spring winding drum 65a is a wire drum 65.
The spring 67 that gives a constant rotational force is wound up.

[0114] The wire guide drum 68 is connected to the sub shaft 63.
The height measuring wire 66 is rotatably attached to the measuring device and guided to the wire drum 65 from outside the measuring device. Although the wire guide drum 68 is shown to have a different diameter from the wire drum 65 in the drawing, it actually has the same diameter and has a wire guide groove like the wire drum 65. It goes without saying that if the wire drum 65 is arranged at a position where it protrudes from the outside of the measuring instrument like the wire guide drum 68, this wire guide drum 68 is not necessary.

[0115] The spring 67 is made of a heat-treated thin band-shaped material, and is tightly wound around the spring drum 69, and one end of the spring 67 is screwed and fixed to the spring winding drum 65a. The main shaft 62 rotates and the band-shaped spring 67
are wound on the spring take-up drum 65a or the spring drum 69 in close contact with each other, so that a constant rotational force is always applied to the spring take-up drum 65a, that is, the main shaft 62.

The rotational force of the band spring 67 is directly applied to the height measuring wire 66, and
It becomes a pulling force. This tensile force on the height measuring wire 66 serves to ensure the linearity of the height measuring wire 66, so it is necessary to apply a tensile force according to the diameter of the height measuring wire 66. It is. for example,
A tensile force of approximately 500 g to 2 kg may be applied to a wire having a diameter of 1.5 mm.

[0117] Using this height measuring device 50, fork portion 4
When actually measuring the height, the terminal end of the height measuring wire 66 is fixed to the fork part 4 as shown in FIG. The feature of this height measuring device 50 is that an inductive phase shift type position sensor is used as the position sensor 64 for detecting the rotational position of the wire drum 65 that winds the height measuring wire 66. The point is that a band-shaped spring 67 is used to give a constant rotational force to the motor.

[0118] The operation of this height measuring device 50 will be explained. The fork portion 4 moves in the vertical direction depending on the lengths of the wires 51 and 52. When the fork part 4 rises, the height measuring wire 66 is wound around the wire drum 65 according to the rotational force of the band spring 67, and its length gradually becomes shorter.
Along with this, the absolute value of the position sensor 64 also gradually decreases. Conversely, when the fork portion 4 descends, the height measuring wire 66 is uncoiled from the wire drum 65, its length gradually increases, and the absolute value of the position sensor 64 also gradually increases.

Next, the configuration of the rotational position sensors 36, 37, 41, 60, and 64 used in this embodiment will be explained. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an absolute position sensor consisting of an inductive phase shift type position sensor, which is an example of a rotational position sensor used in this embodiment. The details of this position sensor are known from Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-70406 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 58-106691, so a brief explanation will be given here.

The rotational position sensor includes a stator 71a in which a plurality of poles A to D are provided at predetermined intervals (for example, 90 degrees) in the circumferential direction, and a stator 71a surrounded by each pole A to D.
The rotor 71b is inserted into the space 1a. The rotor 71b is made of a shape and material that change the reluctance of each pole A to D according to the rotation angle, and has an eccentric cylindrical shape, for example. Primary coils 1A to 1D and secondary coils 2A to 2D are wound around each pole A to D of the stator 71a, respectively. And 2 facing each other in the radial direction
A first pair of poles A and C and a second pair of poles B and D are wound with coils to operate differentially and are configured to produce a differential reluctance change. ing.

The primary coils 1A and 1C wound around the first pole pair A and C are excited by the sinusoidal signal sinωt, and the primary coil 1B wound around the second pole pair B and D is excited by the sinusoidal signal sinωt.
and 1C are excited by a cosine signal cosωt. As a result, a composite output signal Y is obtained from the secondary coils 2A to 2D. This composite output signal Y is a primary alternating current signal (primary coil excitation signal) sinωt, which serves as a reference signal.
Or a signal Y=si whose phase is shifted by an electrical phase angle corresponding to the rotation angle θ of the rotor 71b with respect to cosωt
n(ωt−θ).

Therefore, when using the inductive phase shift type position sensor as described above, the primary AC signal sinω
It is necessary to include a reference signal generation section that generates t or cos ωt, and a phase difference detection section that measures the electrical phase shift θ of the composite output signal Y and calculates rotor position data. The reference signal generating section and the phase difference detecting section are provided in the position sensor converting means 15 and 16.

FIG. 10 shows the position sensor converting means 15 and 16.
It is a figure showing an example. In FIG. 10, the position sensor conversion means includes a reference signal generating section that generates reference AC signals sinωt and cosωt, and a phase difference (amount of phase shift) between the mutually induced voltage of the secondary coils 2A to 2D and the reference AC signal sinωt. and a phase difference detection section that detects Dθ.

The reference signal generation section consists of a clock oscillator 72, a synchronous counter 73, ROMs 74a, 74b, D/A converters 75a, 75b, and amplifiers 76a, 76b, and the phase difference detection section consists of an amplifier 77, a zero cross circuit 78, and a latch circuit. Consists of 79. The clock oscillator 72 generates a high-speed and accurate clock signal, and other circuits operate based on this clock signal. The synchronization counter 73 counts the clock signal of the clock oscillator 72, and outputs the count value as an address signal to the ROM 74a and the latch circuit 79 of the phase difference detection section.

The ROMs 74a and 74b store amplitude data corresponding to the reference AC signal, and the ROMs 74a and 74b store amplitude data corresponding to the reference AC signal.
Amplitude data of a reference AC signal is generated in response to an address signal (count value) from. ROM74a is cosωt
The ROM 74b stores amplitude data of sinωt. Therefore, by inputting the same address signal from the synchronous counter 73, the ROMs 74a and 74b generate two types of reference AC signals sinωt and cos
Output ωt. Note that even if ROMs with the same amplitude data are read using address signals with different phases, 2
Various types of reference AC signals can be obtained.

[0126] The D/A converters 75a and 75b are ROM7
The digital amplitude data from 4a and 74b are converted into analog signals and output to amplifiers 76a and 76b. Amplifiers 76a and 76b amplify the analog signal from the D/A converter and convert it into reference AC signals sinωt and cos
It is applied as ωt to each of the primary coils 1A, 1C and 1B to 1D. If the frequency division number of the synchronous counter 73 is M, then the M counts are the maximum phase angle 2 of the reference AC signal.
Corresponds to π radians (360 degrees). That is, one count value of the synchronization counter 73 indicates a phase angle of 2π/M radians.

[0127] The amplifier 77 amplifies the composite value of the secondary voltages induced in the secondary coils 2A to 2D, and outputs the result to the zero cross circuit 7.
Output to 8. The zero cross circuit 78 is the rotational position sensor 3
A zero-crossing point from a negative voltage to a positive voltage is detected based on the mutually induced voltage (secondary voltage) induced in the secondary coils 2A to 2D of 7 and 41, and a detection signal is output to the latch circuit 79.

The latch circuit 79 latches the count value of the synchronous counter started at the clock signal of the rising edge of the reference AC signal at the time when the detection signal of the zero cross circuit 78 is output (zero cross point). Therefore, the value latched by the latch circuit 79 is exactly the phase difference (phase shift amount) Dθ between the reference AC signal and the mutually induced voltage (combined secondary output).

That is, the combined output signal Y=sin(ωt−θ) of the secondary coils 2A to 2D is given to the zero cross detection means 78. The zero cross detection means 78 outputs a pulse L in synchronization with the timing when the electrical phase angle of the composite output signal Y is zero. Pulse L is used as a latch pulse for latch circuit 79. Therefore, the latch circuit 79 latches the count value of the synchronous counter 73 in response to the rise of the pulse L. The period during which the count value of the synchronization counter 73 goes around once is synchronized with one cycle of the sine wave signal sinωt. Then, the latch circuit 79 receives the reference AC signal sinωt.
A count value corresponding to the phase difference θ between the signal Y=sin(ωt−θ) and the composite output signal Y=sin(ωt−θ) is latched. Therefore, the latched value is output as digital position data Dθ. Note that the latch pulse L can also be used as a timing pulse as appropriate. Further, among the values latched by the latch circuit 79, a value indicating the absolute position within one rotation of the servo motor is output as digital phase data P6, and is used for field switching position control.

The composite output signal of the phase shift type position sensor as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 outputs the absolute rotational position as a phase difference signal, and therefore has the characteristic that it is not easily affected by noise. Therefore, when feeding back the composite output signal from the rotational position sensors 36, 37, 41, 60, and 64 to the position and speed control system 1 as in this embodiment, it is possible to feed it back directly without using a communication line. However, since it is not affected by noise etc., it is not a problem. However, the combined output signal may be fed back using a communication line such as a serial communication interface. In addition,
Although FIGS. 9 and 10 are for absolute detection in the range of one rotation, it is preferable to combine a plurality of such absolute sensors to detect the absolute position over multiple rotations.

Next, an explanation will be given of an automatic warehouse control system in which the above-mentioned automatic warehouse traveling trolley 6 is used to carry in and carry out cargo. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the automatic warehouse control system of this embodiment. In FIG. 11, the traveling trolley 6 has the same configuration as that shown in FIG. 1, but is shown here in a simplified manner.

The crane mast section 5 of the traveling carriage 6 has an elevation origin dog 81 that indicates the origin of the elevation position of the fork section 4, and an elevation end dog 82 that indicates its terminal position. The fork portion 4 has a lifting origin sensor 83 and a lifting end sensor 84 for detecting these dogs 81 and 82, and further includes:
It has a shelf detection sensor 85 and a pillar detection sensor 86 for detecting the overall structure of the warehouse (shelf arrangement, etc.). The shelf detection sensor 85 detects the height position of the shelf in the level direction, and the column detection sensor 86 detects the position of the column in the bay direction. These sensors 83, 84,
85 and 86 are composed of proximity sensors. Since the shelves and pillars are made of metal, their positions can be easily detected without the need for special code plates such as the dogs 81, 82, etc. Note that various types of proximity sensors can be used, such as a high frequency oscillation type, a capacitance type, a magnetic type, a photoelectric type, and an ultrasonic type.

A traveling origin dog 87 indicating the origin of the traveling position of the traveling carriage 6 and a traveling end dog 88 indicating the end thereof are provided along the traveling rail 25. these dogs 8
7 and 88 are provided on the traveling route of the traveling trolley 6,
It may also be provided on the side of the traveling rail 25 below the warehouse as shown in the figure. The traveling trolley 6 uses these dogs 87, 8
It has a running origin sensor 89 and a running end sensor 90 for detecting 8. Further, between the travel origin dog 87 and the travel end dog 88, position code plates C0 are provided at approximately equal intervals.
, C1, C2, C3... are provided. The truck 6 has a position correction sensor 23 for detecting the position code plates C0, C1, C2, C3, . . . . These sensors 23, 89, and 90 are also constituted by proximity sensors.

Although the detection signals of these lifting origin sensor 83, lifting end sensor 84, shelf detection sensor 85, pillar detection sensor 86, running origin sensor 89, running end sensor 90, and position correction sensor 23 are not shown, All the information is input to the controller 10. Therefore, the traveling range of the traveling truck 6 is defined by the dogs 87 and 88, and the ascending and descending range of the fork portion 4 is defined by the dogs 81 and 82.

The warehouse 9 is composed of pillars (truss) T0 to T4 and a plurality of arms installed in the level direction of the pillars. Between pillar T0 and pillar T1 (ream R0), there are 6
Each arm is provided, and these arms make up a total of six shelves. Similarly, there is a 5-tier shelf between columns T1 and T2 (Run R1), a 4-tier shelf between columns T2 and T3 (Run R2), and a 4-tier shelf between columns T3 and T4. (Run R3) has three shelves each.

[0136] Each shelf has buckets B00 to B05, B10.
~B14, B20~B23, and B30~B32 are installed. The heights of the buckets in each series R0 to R3 are different, with buckets B00 to B05 having the smallest height and buckets B30 to B32 having the largest height. Although FIG. 11 shows the warehouse 9 in an ideal shape, in reality, the entire pillars may be tilted, or the left and right arms may have different heights. Therefore, in this embodiment, first, the actual shape (arrangement) of columns and shelves in this warehouse 9 is measured using the traveling trolley 6. That is, the positions of the shelves and pillars that constitute the warehouse 9 are detected by the shelf detection sensor 85 and the pillar detection sensor 86 of the fork part 4, and the actual shape of the warehouse 9 is calculated based on the detected positions. Then, based on the calculated shape of the warehouse 9, loading and unloading of cargo is performed.

First, the host controller 10 stops the traveling carriage 6 at the traveling origin dog 87, and stores the position data P4aS outputted from the position sensor conversion means 16 in the memory as the origin position data. Then, the host controller 10 moves the traveling trolley 6 at a low speed that does not cause slipping on the traveling distance detection auxiliary wheels 40, and moves the traveling trolley 6 to the traveling end dog 8.
8 is detected, and the position data at that time is P4.
Store aE in memory as end position data.

[0138] The position sensor converting means 16 stores the position data P4aC0 to P4aC3 at the time when the position correction sensor 23 detects the position code plates C0 to C3 during this movement in the memory, and performs position correction while traveling. When the sensor 23 detects the position code plates C0 to C3, it outputs the stored position data P4aC0 to P4aC3 to the host controller 10. Then, the host controller 10 calculates the absolute value position data from the travel origin dog 87 of the position code plates C0 to C3 based on the actual distance between the travel origin dog 87 and the travel end dog 88 that have been set in advance. Then, it is stored in association with the position data P4aC0 to P4aC3 on the memory.

[0139] From now on, by moving the traveling trolley 6,
Even if the travel distance detection auxiliary wheels 40 slip or otherwise cause an error between the position data P4a and the actual travel distance, the position sensor converting means 16 detects the position code plates C0 to C3. , position data P4aC0 to P4aC3 corresponding to the absolute value distance data of the position code plates C0 to C3 from the running origin dog 87 are outputted, and the error is corrected. Therefore, the upper controller 10
Based on the position data P4a from the position sensor conversion means 16, the accurate moving distance of the traveling trolley 6 can be recognized at all times.

[0140] When detecting the position code plates C0 to C3 by the position correction sensor 23, the detection position (point of rise of the detection signal) depends on the traveling direction of the traveling trolley 6.
Therefore, it is necessary to store two types of position data P4aC0 to P4aC3 depending on the traveling direction of the traveling trolley 6. That is, when the traveling trolley 6 travels from the traveling origin dog 87 toward the traveling end dog 88, the position sensor conversion means 16 converts the forward direction position data P4aC0F to
P4aC3F is stored, and when traveling in the opposite direction, position data P4aC0B to P4aC3B in the reverse direction are stored. The position sensor conversion sensor 16 outputs forward position data P4aC0F to P4aC3F or reverse position data P4aC0B to P4aC3B depending on the traveling direction.

[0141] When the above-mentioned initialization process is completed,
The host controller 10 now moves the fork portion 4 of the traveling trolley 6 up and down in the level direction, and positions it at the level L0. Then, the traveling trolley 6 is caused to travel in the forward and backward directions, and the positions of the pillars T0 to T4 are detected by the pillar detection sensor 86. At this time, since the positions of both ends of each of the pillars T0 to T4 are detected, the host controller 10
The width of T4 can be recognized. Next, the host controller 10 sequentially positions and stops the fork portion 4 at levels L1 to L9, similarly causes the traveling trolley 6 to travel forward and backward, and detects the positions of the pillars T0 to T4 at each level position L0 to L9. . FIG. 12 shows the position data of the pillars T0 to T4 detected in this way. In FIG. 12, only the center positions T00 to T49 of the columns T0 to T4 are shown, and forward position data and reverse position data are omitted.

Based on the position data of the columns T0 to T4 in FIG. 12, the host controller 10 detects the height positions of the arms forming the shelf in the level direction. First, the host controller 10 controls the fork portion 4 to move up and down on the left side of the column T0. Then, since there is no arm on the left side of the column T0, the higher-level controller 10 recognizes that there is no shelf on the left side of the column T0. Next, the host controller 10 controls the fork portion 4 to move up and down on the right side of the column T0. Then, this time level L00~L05
Since the arm is detected at the position, its level position L00
~L05 is stored on memory. Similarly, pillars T1~
The level positions of the armrests are detected on both the left and right sides of T4. Level L00 indicates the height of the shelf where bucket B00 is stored, and level L32 indicates the height of the shelf where bucket B32 is stored. FIG. 12 shows the level data L00 to L42 of the armrests detected in this way. In addition, in FIG. 12, the level data L00 to L32 of the arms are approximately level L.
Although shown to correspond to the heights from 0 to L9, they are actually stored in the memory in order from the top.

The host controller 10 uses the position data T00 to T4 of the columns T0 to T4 in FIG. 12 detected in this manner.
49 and the level data L00 to L32 of the arms, the shape of the warehouse 9 in FIG. 11 is specified. Then, the host controller 10 calculates the position of the shelf in the bay direction and the level direction from the position data shown in FIG. 12, and stores it in association with the shelf number. As a result, the operator only needs to input the shelf number into the host controller 10, and the host controller 10 controls the travel of the traveling cart 6 and the elevation control of the fork unit 4 based on the position data of the shelf in the bay direction and the level direction. Then, the fork section 4 can be positioned and stopped on the target shelf. Furthermore, even if the pillars that make up the warehouse 9 are tilted, the host controller remembers the position data of the shelves in the tilted warehouse in the bay direction and level direction, so it is possible to accurately carry in and out cargo, etc. can.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an embodiment in which a plurality of automatic warehouse vehicles are controlled simultaneously. In FIG. 13, the same components as in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals, so their explanation will be omitted. Note that each component of the positioning control system for the running position of the truck section 3 includes a positioning control system for the elevating position of the fork section 4, and a system for controlling the positioning of the up/down position of the fork section 4;
In FIG. 13, only the running position control system of the truck parts 3X, 3Y, and 3Z is shown in a simplified manner, and the elevating position control system of the other fork parts 4 is shown in a simplified manner. System and fork 44
, 45 are omitted.

[0145] In this embodiment, the current control systems 2aX, 2aY, and 2aZ of the bogie sections 3X, 3Y, and 3Z are multi-point connected by a serial communication line, and each of the running bogies 6X
, 6Y, 6Z, fork portions 4X, 4Y, 4Z, and forks 44X, 45X, 44Y, 45Y, 44Z, 45Z are simultaneously positioned and controlled. In this embodiment, the output P1aX of the rotational position sensors 36X, 36Y, and 36Z
, P1aY and P1aZ are taken in parallel to the position sensor converting means 15, respectively, and the rotational position sensors 41X, 4
1Y and 41Z outputs P2aX, P2aY and P2aZ
are taken into the position sensor conversion means 16 in parallel. Rotational position sensors 60X, 60Y (not shown),
60Z, 64X, 64Y, 64Z, 37X, 37Y, 3
7Z is also connected in parallel to position sensor conversion means 15 and 16, respectively.

[0146] The position and speed control system 1 performs a position control operation and a speed control operation for each traveling vehicle 6X, 6Y, and 6Z, and controls each traveling vehicle 6X, 6Y, and 6Z using a serial communication line.
Send and receive data. The brake control means 20 is the brake means 33X, 33Y, 3 of each truck part 3X, 3Y, 3Z.
3Z in parallel, and the brake signal BaX. B
aY. Braking operations are executed independently according to BaZ. Brake means 57X, 57Y, 57Z,
39X, 39Y, and 39Z are also connected in parallel to the brake control means 20.

The serial communication interface 14 of the position and speed control system 1 transmits a torque signal T1a, phase data P6a, and various data D1a to the serial communication interfaces 21aX, 21aY, and 21aZ of each current control system.
can be transmitted at the same time, and the traveling motor 34X, 3
It is possible to control 4Y and 34Z simultaneously. Each current control unit 22aX, 22aY, 22aZ determines whether the transmitted data is for its own station, and if it is for its own station, it reads it and performs control according to the data. For example, in the case of data regarding the drive of a servo motor, a drive current is supplied to the servo motor based on the data. Further, when a table number indicating the rating of the servo motor is transmitted, the drive current of the current control section is changed to one corresponding to the rating of the servo motor in accordance with the table number.

[0148] As in this embodiment, a plurality of sets each consisting of a servo motor and a current control system are provided, the position/speed control system is common, and the communication line between them is multi-point connected. It is possible to control the traveling carts for automatic warehouses at the same time.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an embodiment in which a plurality of automatic warehouse vehicles are switched and controlled. In FIG. 14, the same components as in FIGS. 2 and 13 are denoted by the same reference numerals, so the explanation thereof will be omitted. In addition, each component of the positioning control system for the traveling position of the truck section 3 is as follows.
Since it corresponds to each component of the positioning control system for the elevation position of the fork part 4 and the positioning control system for the movement position of the forks 44 and 45, the trolley part 3X is also shown in FIG.
, 3Y, and 3Z are shown in a simplified manner, and the configurations of the other elevation position control systems for the fork portion 4 and the movement position control systems for the forks 44 and 45 are omitted.

This embodiment is different from the one shown in FIG. 13 in that the trolley portions 3X, 3Y, 3Z of a plurality of automatic warehouse trolleys are connected to an axis switching unit 80, and three-phase (U-phase, V-phase, W-phase) ) drive current and rotational position sensor sine signal, cosine signal,
The combined output signal and the brake signal are transferred to the axis switching unit 80.
The point is that it is switched by and driven alternately.

The axis switching unit 80 includes the host controller 10, the serial communication interface 14, the position sensor conversion means 15 and 16, the brake control means 20, the current control systems 2aX, 2aY, 2aZ, and the brake means 33X, 3.
3Y, 33Z and rotational position sensor 36X, 36Y, 36
Z, 41X, 41Y, and 41Z, respectively. Similarly, current control systems 2bX, 2bY, not shown,
2bZ, 2cX, 2cY, 2cZ, brake means 57X
, 57Y, 57Z, 39X, 39Y, 39Z and rotational position sensor 60X, 60Y, 60Z, 64X, 64Y, 6
4Z, 37X, 37Y, and 37Z are also connected to the axis switching unit 80. Then, the axis switching unit 80 transmits a drive current to each traveling motor 34X, 34Y, 34Z and a position sensor signal to each rotational position sensor 36X, 36Y, 3 in accordance with the axis switching signal Ch from the host controller 10.
6Z, 41X, 41Y, 41Z, brake signals are switched and supplied to each brake means 33X, 33Y, 33Z, respectively. Therefore, one set of automatic warehouse traveling vehicles 6X, 6Y, and 6Z is selectively connected to the position and speed control system 1 in response to the axis switching signal Ch of the host controller 10, forming independent servo control loops.

That is, the axis switching unit 80 has switching elements provided corresponding to each of the constituent elements, and selectively conducts only the switching elements corresponding to one set of automatic warehouse trolleys. By letting 1
Only the set of automatic warehouse traveling carts are selectively connected to the position and speed control system 1. At this time, the traveling motors 34X, 34Y,
If all the ratings of 34Z are the same, it is sufficient to perform only switching control while keeping the table number indicating the rating of the servo motor constant. In addition, if the ratings of the traveling motors 34X, 34Y, and 34Z are different, if the table number indicating the rating of the servo motor is transmitted via the communication line before controlling the servo motor, one current The control system 2 can sequentially switch and control servo motors with different capacities.

[0153] The serial communication system employed in this embodiment is a novel communication system that is inexpensive in cost, is constructed with simple hardware, and is capable of transmitting and receiving data at high speed. For more information on this serial communication method, see
Since this is described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2-49640 previously filed by the applicant of the present application, its explanation will be omitted. Further, the servo motor is not limited to a synchronous type servo motor, but may be an induction type AC servo motor. In that case, there is no need to generate phase signal P6. In addition, not only AC servo motors,
Needless to say, other types such as a DC servo motor may also be used. Further, the position sensor is not limited to an inductive phase shift type sensor, but an optical absolute encoder, an incremental encoder, or other types of sensors may be used. Furthermore, the communication line is not limited to electric cables, but optical cables may also be used.

In the above embodiment, the height measuring device 50 is always installed on the crane mast section 5 and the positioning is controlled while measuring the height of the fork section 4.
The height of the fork part 4 is changed with a load whose weight is known in advance (for example, every 10 kg) loaded on the fork part 4, and the height measuring device 50, detection data, and rotational position sensor 60 detect the height at that time. A table is created for each weight of the baggage, and the position sensor conversion means 1
Store it in the memory in 5. Thereafter, even without the height measuring device 50, the accurate height of the fork portion 4 can be detected by reading out the table corresponding to the weight of the load according to the detection data of the rotational position sensor 60.

[0155]

Effects of the Invention According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to accurately detect the moving distance of the automatic warehouse trolley, and to control the accurate positioning of the automatic warehouse trolley at a predetermined position. . According to the second aspect of the invention, it is possible to accurately position and control the fork portion on the target shelf.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of a traveling trolley for an automatic warehouse according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a positioning control method for a traveling cart for an automatic warehouse according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the traveling trolley for automatic warehouses of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating another embodiment of the positioning control system for a traveling trolley for an automatic warehouse according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating still another embodiment of the positioning control method for a traveling cart for an automatic warehouse according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the positioning control of the automatic warehouse traveling vehicle using a movement speed pattern of the automatic warehouse traveling vehicle and an ascending/lowering speed pattern of the fork portion 4.

7 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the height measuring device of FIG. 1. FIG.

8 is a side view showing the height measuring instrument of FIG. 1 with a part of the holding member removed.

9 is a diagram showing an absolute position sensor made of an inductive phase shift type position sensor, which is an example of the rotational position sensor shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. FIG.

10 is a diagram showing an example of the position sensor converting means of FIGS. 2, 4, and 5. FIG.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an automatic warehouse control system.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing position data of columns and shelves detected by an automated warehouse traveling trolley.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment in which a plurality of automatic warehouse traveling carts are controlled simultaneously.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an embodiment in which a plurality of automatic warehouse traveling carts are switched and controlled.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional traveling trolley for automatic warehouses.

[Explanation of symbols]

Claims (26)

[Claims] [Claim 1] A fork section for loading and unloading cargo, etc., a crane mast section for guiding the up and down movement of the fork section, and a traveling cart having the crane mast section and traveling in a predetermined direction. , provided on this traveling trolley,
a driving wheel that causes the traveling truck to travel in a predetermined direction while receiving loads from the fork portion, the crane mast portion, the traveling truck, the cargo, etc.; a traveling motor that provides rotational force to the driving wheel; a first position detector that detects the rotational position of the motor and outputs a first detection signal;
an auxiliary wheel for detecting travel distance that is attached to the traveling dolly so as to rotate as the traveling dolly runs, but is attached to the traveling route of the traveling dolly with a constant load regardless of the load; a second position detector that detects a rotational position and outputs a second detection signal; a lifting motor that moves the fork part up and down; a lifting motor that detects the rotational position of the lifting motor and outputs a third detection signal; a third position detector that outputs a rotational position of the traveling motor according to the first and second detection signals, and a third position detector that outputs a rotational position of the lifting motor according to the third detection signal; A traveling trolley for an automated warehouse, characterized in that it is equipped with a position speed control means for controlling. 2. The automatic warehouse travel system according to claim 1, wherein the traveling distance detection auxiliary wheels are in contact with the traveling route of the traveling trolley via an elastic body such as a spring. Dolly. 3. The travel distance detection auxiliary wheel is configured of a pinion, is in contact with a rack provided on the travel path, and is configured of a rack and pinion. Traveling trolley for automated warehouses. 4. A lifting position detector for measuring an actual lifting position of the fork portion and outputting a fourth detection signal, wherein the position speed control means is configured to measure the actual lifting position of the fork portion and output a fourth detection signal. The automatic warehouse traveling trolley according to claim 1, wherein the rotational position of the lifting motor is controlled by the lifting motor. 5. The fork unit detects a fork that moves when loading and unloading the cargo, a fork driving means that moves the fork, and a moving position of the fork, and outputs a fifth detection signal. The automated warehouse travel system according to claim 1, further comprising: a fifth position detector, wherein the position speed control means controls the movement position of the fork in accordance with the fifth detection signal. Dolly. 6. The position and speed control means according to claim 1, wherein the first detection signal indicating the current position of the traveling motor is adjusted to a position command signal indicating a predetermined position at which the traveling vehicle should be positioned. a position control means that performs negative feedback and outputs a speed command signal according to the position deviation; a position correction means that adds a position correction signal according to the first and second detection signals to the position command signal; A speed control means for negatively feeding back a feedback speed signal indicating the current speed of the traveling motor with respect to the speed command signal, and outputting a current command signal according to the speed deviation; and a current control means that supplies the traveling motor to the traveling motor, and performs positioning by adding the position correction signal of the position correction means to the position command signal from an arbitrary time during acceleration/deceleration control of the automatic warehouse traveling trolley. A positioning control system for a traveling trolley for an automated warehouse. 7. Positioning control is performed by adding a position correction signal corresponding to a difference value between the first and second detection signals to the position command signal during deceleration during the acceleration/deceleration. A positioning control method for a traveling trolley for an automatic warehouse described in . 8. Position and speed control means according to claim 4, wherein the third detection signal indicating the current position of the lifting motor is subtracted from the position command signal indicating the predetermined position at which the fork portion should be positioned. position control means for returning and outputting a speed command signal according to the positional deviation;
position correction means for adding a position correction signal corresponding to a detection signal of the motor to the position command signal; and a feedback speed signal indicating the current speed of the lifting motor to be negatively fed back to the speed command signal to compensate for the speed deviation. a speed control means for outputting a current command signal according to the current command signal; and a current control means for supplying a drive current to the lifting motor according to the current command signal, and the current control means outputs a current command signal according to the current command signal, and 1. A positioning control method for a traveling trolley for an automated warehouse, characterized in that positioning control is performed by adding to the position command signal from an arbitrary time during acceleration/deceleration control of a part. 9. Positioning control is performed by adding a position correction signal corresponding to a difference value between the third and fourth detection signals to the position command signal during deceleration during the acceleration/deceleration. A positioning control method for a traveling trolley for an automatic warehouse described in . 10. The positioning control according to claim 6, wherein after the acceleration/deceleration control ends, the position correction signal is added to the newly generated position command signal according to the error to perform positioning control. The positioning control method of the traveling trolley for automated warehouses described above. 11. The position and speed control means according to claim 1, further comprising detection signal selection means for inputting the first and second detection signals and selectively outputting one of them, and positioning the traveling carriage. The first or second position selected by the detection signal selection means in response to a position command signal indicating a predetermined position to be detected.
a position control means that negatively feeds back a detection signal of the motor and outputs a speed command signal corresponding to the positional deviation; It is comprised of a speed control means that outputs a current command signal according to the speed deviation, and a current control means that supplies a drive current according to the current command signal to the traveling motor, and Negative feedback is applied to the control means to control the acceleration/deceleration of the automatic warehouse traveling trolley, and at an arbitrary time during the acceleration/deceleration control, the detection signal selection means is switched to apply the second detection signal to the position control means. A positioning control system for a traveling trolley for automated warehouses, which is characterized by controlling the positioning by returning the vehicle. 12. After the acceleration/deceleration control is completed, the detection signal selection means is switched and a second detection signal is negatively fed back to the newly generated position command signal according to the error to perform positioning control. The positioning control system for a traveling trolley for an automated warehouse according to claim 11. 13. The position speed control means according to claim 4, further comprising detection signal selection means for inputting the third and fourth detection signals and selectively outputting one of them, and positioning the fork portion. Position control means for negative feedback of the third or fourth detection signal selected by the detection signal selection means with respect to the position command signal indicating a predetermined position to be performed, and outputting a speed command signal according to the position deviation thereof. and speed control means for negatively feeding back a feedback speed signal indicating the current speed of the lifting motor with respect to the speed command signal, and outputting a current command signal according to the speed deviation; current control means for supplying a drive current to the lifting motor; the third detection signal is negatively fed back to the position control means to control acceleration/deceleration of the fork section; A positioning control system for a traveling trolley for an automatic warehouse, characterized in that the detection signal selection means is switched at a time of , and the fourth detection signal is negatively fed back to the position control means to perform positioning control. 14. The positioning control system for a traveling cart for an automated warehouse according to claim 11, wherein positioning is controlled by switching the detection signal selection means during deceleration during the acceleration/deceleration. 15. After the acceleration/deceleration control is completed, the detection signal selection means is switched and a fourth detection signal is negatively fed back to the newly generated position command signal according to the error to perform positioning control. 14. The positioning control system for a traveling trolley for an automated warehouse according to claim 13. 16. The position speed control means according to claim 1, wherein the first detection signal indicating the current position of the traveling motor is subtracted from a position command signal indicating a predetermined position at which the traveling trolley is to be positioned. Return to the first position according to the position deviation.
a position control means for outputting a speed command signal for the automated warehouse; a constant speed signal generating means for outputting a second speed command signal for causing the automated warehouse trolley to travel at a constant speed; a speed signal selection means for inputting a command signal and selectively outputting one of the command signals; and a current speed of the traveling motor with respect to the first or second speed command signal selected by the speed signal selection means. The present invention is comprised of a speed control means for negatively feeding back a feedback speed signal indicating the speed deviation and outputting a current command signal according to the speed deviation, and a current control means for supplying a drive current to the traveling motor according to the current command signal. the first speed command signal is input to the speed control means to control the acceleration and deceleration of the automatic warehouse traveling trolley, and when decelerating during this acceleration/deceleration control, the moving speed of the automatic warehouse traveling trolley is set to the first speed. At the time when the speed corresponding to the second speed command signal is reached, the speed signal selection means is switched to input the second speed command signal to the speed control means, and the second detection signal is set to the position command signal. A positioning control method for a traveling trolley for an automated warehouse, characterized in that positioning control is performed by stopping the traveling motor at a coincident time. 17. Position and speed control means according to claim 4, wherein the third detection signal indicating the current position of the lifting motor is subtracted from the position command signal indicating the predetermined position at which the fork portion should be positioned. position control means for returning and outputting a third speed command signal according to the positional deviation; constant speed signal generating means for outputting a fourth speed command signal for raising and lowering the fork portion at a constant speed; Said third and fourth
a speed signal selection means for inputting a speed command signal and selectively outputting one of the speed command signals; and a speed signal selection means for selectively outputting one of the speed command signals; a speed control means for negatively feeding back a feedback speed signal indicating the current speed and outputting a current command signal according to the speed deviation; and a current control means for supplying a drive current to the lifting motor according to the current command signal. The third speed command signal is input to the speed control means to control the acceleration and deceleration of the fork section, and when decelerating during this acceleration/deceleration control, the vertical speed of the fork section is controlled by the fourth speed command. At a time when the speed corresponding to the signal is reached, the speed signal selection means is switched to input the fourth speed command signal to the speed control means, and at a time when the fourth detection signal coincides with the position command signal. A positioning control method for a traveling trolley for an automated warehouse, characterized in that positioning is controlled by stopping the lifting motor. 18. The position speed control means according to claim 5, wherein the fifth detection signal indicating the movement position of the fork is negatively fed back to a position command signal indicating a predetermined position at which the fork should be positioned. a position control means for outputting a speed command signal according to the position deviation; and a current command signal for negative feedback of a feedback speed signal indicating the moving speed of the fork with respect to the speed command signal, and a current command signal according to the speed deviation. 1. A positioning control system for a traveling cart for an automated warehouse, comprising: a speed control means for outputting a current command signal; and a current control means for supplying a drive current to the fork drive means in accordance with the current command signal. 19. The speed control means and the current control means are connected by a bidirectional communication line.
8. The positioning control system for a traveling trolley for an automatic warehouse according to 8. 20. The current control means according to claim 6, 11 or 16, the current control means according to claim 8, 13 or 17, and the current control means according to claim 18 are bidirectional. A positioning control system for a traveling trolley for an automated warehouse, which is characterized by multi-point connection through communication lines. 21. The lifting position detector includes a measuring wire connected to the variable pulley, a wire drum for winding up the measuring wire, and a fourth wire drum for detecting the rotational position of the wire drum. 5. The automated warehouse system according to claim 4, further comprising a position detector and a take-up spring that applies a constant rotational force to the wire drum, and is attached to the upper end side of the crane mast section. Running trolley. 22. At least the second and fourth position detectors among the first, second, third, and fourth position detectors detect the rotational position of the traveling motor in absolute position. It is an absolute type position sensor, and has a winding part,
a member that is displaced relative to the winding part and changes the magnetic resistance in the winding part according to the relative position, and the winding part is connected to a plurality of phase-shifted primary AC signals. 2. The driving motor according to claim 1, further comprising a phase shift type position sensor that is excited by the motor and generates an output AC signal having an electrical phase shift corresponding to the absolute position of the traveling motor.
Or the traveling trolley for automatic warehouses according to 21. 23. An automatic storage system comprising a plurality of traveling carts for automatic warehouses according to claim 11, and a multi-point connection between the plurality of current control means through the communication line, respectively. Positioning control system for warehouse trolleys. 24. A plurality of traveling carts for automated warehouses according to claim 11 are provided, and switching means is provided for selectively switching one of the plurality of traveling carts to be subjected to positioning control in response to a switching signal. A positioning control system for a traveling trolley for an automated warehouse, which is characterized by: 25. In the positioning control method for an automatic warehouse traveling trolley according to claim 2, in which the traveling trolley for an automatic warehouse is positioned and stopped at a predetermined position, in order to correct the slippage of the travel distance detection auxiliary wheel, The second
A positioning control system for a traveling trolley for an automated warehouse, which is characterized by correcting a detection signal of. 26. In the automatic warehouse control method using the automatic warehouse traveling trolley according to claim 4, the positions of pillars and shelves constituting the warehouse are detected, and a pillar detection signal and a shelf detection signal are output. A pillar detector and a shelf detector are provided in the fork part, and the second detection signal is generated at the time when the pillar detection signal is output from the pillar detector due to the traveling movement of the traveling truck, and the fork part is moved up and down to detect the second detection signal. The actual shapes of the columns and shelves constituting the warehouse are recognized based on the fourth detection signal at the time when the shelf detection signal is output from the shelf detector, and the actual shapes of the columns and shelves constituting the warehouse are recognized. An automatic warehouse control system characterized by controlling the traveling position of a traveling trolley and the raising and lowering position of the fork part.