JPH04328608A - Controller for unmanned vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To omit the restoration processing which is carried out by an operator by restoring the present position of an unmanned vehicle set before a power failure before the power failure is recovered and the vehicle operating program step number and automatically carrying on the drive of the vehicle in the state set before the power failure. CONSTITUTION:A counter value store part 51 and a step number store part 52 are provided in a power failure holding area. Then the value of an up-down counter 53 used for control of the present position of an automatically governed vehicle is stored in the part 51 every time the data are updated. Meanwhile the step number of a pointer 32 is stored in the area 52 every time the step is updated. When the power failure is recovered, the value of the part 51 is set at the counter 53 and the step of the pointer 32 is set at the value of the part 52. Thus a controller 19 can know the present position of the vehicle and the vehicle program to be carried out and therefore carries on the transfer work designated before the power failure.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for an automatic guided vehicle that transports parts, etc. in an unmanned operation, and more particularly to a recovery processing technique for an automated guided vehicle when power is restored.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Automated transport vehicles are known that transport materials, parts, and products while moving unmanned between stations in an automated warehouse and a processing and assembly department within a factory. There are two types of transport vehicles of this type: trackless type (electromagnetic induction, optical induction) and tracked type. Tracked type vehicles receive power supply via a trolley, so they are more efficient than using battery power. Since there is no need for monitoring or charging, there are no problems such as power failures, making it suitable for unattended continuous operation. However, in the event of a power outage, the power supply to these trolleys will be cut off, so
Operations will be stopped immediately.

[0003] In order to continue the transport work when the power is restored, the operator must go to the place where the transport vehicle is stopped, manually move the transport vehicle to the next station, and check the current position on the transport vehicle. was made aware. At that time, each station is equipped with an absolute address detection dog, and the transport vehicle is equipped with an absolute address sensor, so
Through this sensor, the control device of this transport vehicle was able to recognize the current position. Next, the operator used the pointer increment and decrement buttons on the operation panel of the carriage to set the pointer to the carriage operation program step to be executed by the carriage. The operator then put the transport vehicle into automatic mode and gave an automatic start command, and the transport vehicle continued the transport work from there, knowing the current position and the trolley program to be executed.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As mentioned above, in conventional transport vehicles, in order to continue the transport work when the power is restored, the operator must go to the place where the transport vehicle is stopped and check the current position of the transport vehicle. There was a problem that the operator had to recognize the step and set the pointer to the step to be executed by the conveyance vehicle, which was extremely troublesome for the operator. Furthermore, the above-mentioned restoration work in an FMS (Flexible Manual Manufacturing System) line that uses a plurality of transport vehicles is tedious and time-consuming for the operator, and can be dangerous. Additionally, because the restoration work was done manually, it took a considerable amount of time to start up the system, which significantly reduced line efficiency (operating rate).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a control system for an automatic guided vehicle that eliminates the need for manual recovery processing by an operator, which was conventionally necessary in order to continue the transportation work when the power is restored. The goal is to provide equipment.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a control device for an automatic guided vehicle that receives power from an external source and travels, which generates a pulse signal in accordance with the traveling of the automatic guided vehicle. a pulse generator; an up-down counter that counts pulses of the pulse generator to manage the current position of the automated guided vehicle; and is provided in a power outage holding area and stores the value of the up-down counter each time the counter value is updated. a counter value storage section; a step number storage section that is provided in the power outage holding area and stores the step number of the pointer in the bogie operation program storage section every time the pointer step is updated; The present invention is characterized by comprising a control section that sets the up/down counter to the value of the step number storage section, sets the step of the pointer to the value of the step number storage section, and then starts automatically.

The present invention also provides a storage means for retaining the current position of the automated guided vehicle immediately before the power outage and the step number of the trolley operation program at the time of power outage, and a storage means for retaining the current position of the automatic guided vehicle immediately before the power outage and the step number of the trolley operation program at the time of power restoration, and using the data stored in the storage means at the time of power restoration. The present invention may be characterized by comprising a control means that automatically continues the transport work from the state before the power outage by restoring the current position and the cart operation program step number of the automatic guided vehicle.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the control device for the automatic guided vehicle is provided with a pulse generator, an up/down counter, a counter value storage section, and a pointer step number storage section. The counter value storage section and the step number storage section are provided in the power outage holding area. Then, the value of the up/down counter for current position management is stored in the counter value storage section every time data is updated. Further, the step number of the pointer is stored in the step number storage section every time a step is updated. When the power is restored, the value in the counter value storage section is set to the up/down counter, and the step of the pointer is set to the value in the step number storage section. This allows the control device to know the current position of the transport vehicle and the trolley program to be executed, so that the transport work performed before the power outage can be continued without the need for recovery processing by the operator.

As described above, the present invention is characterized in that when the power is restored, the current position of the transport vehicle and the step number of the transport vehicle operation program before the power outage are restored, thereby automatically continuing the transport work from the state before the power outage. shall be.

0010

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of an FMS line suitable for running an automatic guided vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. The transport vehicle 1 travels on a rail 2, and the traveling rail can be changed by driving shifters 3 and 4. First, transport vehicle 1
receives the unprocessed work from the carry-in conveyor 5 and conveys it to the carry-in port of the first processing machine 6. The transport vehicle 1 then moves to the first
The workpiece processed in the first step is received from the carry-out port of the processing machine 6 and transported to the carry-in port of the second process machine 7. Similarly, the transport vehicle 1 sequentially transports the work to the third process processing machine 8 and the fourth process (final process) processing machine 9, and carries out the work completed in all processes to the carry-out conveyor 10. Thereafter, the transport vehicle 1 again receives the unprocessed workpiece from the carry-in conveyor 5, and repeats the above-mentioned transport operation.

[0012] Some FMS lines require a long processing time, and at the end of the workday, the transport vehicle 1 is stopped without waiting for all processes of the unprocessed workpieces that have already been input to be completed, and then the circuit breaker on the ground side (Fig. 2 11), and there is a request to immediately continue the work from this state the next day. The present invention can also satisfy this need.

FIG. 2 shows the internal structure of a carrier according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 11 is a circuit breaker that interrupts the circuit on the ground side, 12 is a trolley for power supply, 13 is a rail on which wheels run, 14 is a rack arranged parallel to the rail 13 and fixed, and 15 is a rack. 14 is a pinion that meshes with the trolley 14; 16 is a transfer device for loading and unloading workpieces; 17 is a trolley shoe that slides in contact with the trolley 12 to receive electric power; and 18 is a circuit breaker that interrupts the trolley side circuit. Further, reference numeral 19 is a control device that controls the entire truck;
22 is a transfer motor that drives the transfer device 16; 23 is a travel motor that rotates the pinion 15 to drive the cart; 20 is a transfer motor amplifier (20) that amplifies the power supplied to the transfer motor 22; AMP), and 21 are amplifiers that amplify the power supplied to the travel motor 23. Furthermore, numeral 24 is a load sensor that detects the loading of a workpiece, 28 is an origin sensor that detects the origin dock 63, and 29 is a pulse generator that detects the rotation speed of the travel motor 23.

The main functions of the transport vehicle 1 are transfer and travel. The control device 19 controls the transfer motor 22 and the travel motor 23 via the transfer motor amplifier 20 and the travel motor amplifier 21 in accordance with the operation program of the trolley 1. When the transfer motor 22 rotates, the transfer device 16 rotates, and as a result, the transfer device 16 loads the work onto the cart,
Unloading from the trolley. The state of the workpiece is detected by the presence sensor 24. On the other hand, when the travel motor 23 rotates, the rack 15 rotates, and the rack 15 meshes with a pinion 14 fixed on the ground, thereby causing the carrier 1 to travel on the rails 13.

The travel motor 23 includes a pulse generator 2.
9 is coupled, and the pulse generator 29 generates two-phase pulses by the rotation of the motor 23. The two-phase pulse is input to an up/down counter (53 in FIG. 3), which will be described later, and the current position of the transport vehicle 1 is managed by the count value of the up/down counter. An origin dock 63 is provided at the end of the rail, and when the carrier vehicle 1 passes the origin dock position, the origin sensor 28 is activated and the up/down counter 53 is set to the origin set value based on the sensor output.

Power is supplied to the control device 19 via the ground side circuit breaker 11, the trolley 12, the trolley shoe 17, and the truck side circuit breaker 18.

FIG. 3 shows a circuit configuration of the control device 19 shown in FIG. The control device 19 includes a truck operation program storage section 31, a pointer 32, a pointer control section 33, a command analysis section 34, a driver switch 35, a travel driver 36, and a transfer driver 3.
7, an OR element 38, and an operation panel 41, and further includes a counter value storage section 51, a step number storage section 52, and an up/down counter 53. The operation panel 41 is equipped with a command display section 42, a pointer decrement button, and a pointer increment button. Bogie operation program storage section 31, counter value storage section 51, and step number storage section 52 indicated by * marks
is stored in a power outage holding area of memory backed up by a battery (not shown).

In the above configuration, the truck operation program storage section 31 stores a sequence of instructions corresponding to the operation of the truck in the form of a program. Normally, instructions are executed sequentially from the beginning. The command analysis unit 34 analyzes the command pointed to by the pointer 32, and switches the driver switch 35 to the travel driver 36 if it is a travel command, and switches the driver switch 35 to the transfer driver 37 if it is a transfer command.

Each driver 36, 37 executes an operation (motor control) corresponding to the command, and outputs a completion signal when the operation is normally completed. These completion signals are input to the pointer control section 33 via the OR element 38. The pointer control unit 33 increments the pointer 32 when the completion signal is input. Thereafter, the instructions up to the end instruction are executed in the same manner.

The flowchart in FIG. 4 shows the control device 1 in FIG.
9 shows control operations related to the present invention in No. 9. As shown in FIG. 4, the value of the up/down counter 53 for managing the current position of the transport vehicle 1 is stored in the counter value storage section 5 every time the counter value is updated.
1 (steps S6, S7). pointer 32
The step number is also stored in the step number storage section 52 via the pointer control section 33 every time the pointer step is updated (steps S8 and S9). As mentioned above, since the trolley operation program storage section 31, counter value storage section 51, and step number storage section 52 are provided in the power outage holding area,
Even if there is a power outage, the trolley operation program, the current position of the transport trolley,
The step number of the bogie operation program that was being executed is retained.

[0021] When the power is restored thereafter, the counter value storage unit 51
When the value of the up/down counter 53 is set (step S1) and the step of the pointer 32 is set to the value of the step number storage section 52 (step S2), the transport vehicle 1
The current position of the robot and the steps of the bogie movement program that were being executed can be reproduced. In this state, if the transport vehicle 1 is automatically started (step S5), the transport work can be continued without the operator's recovery work (steps S6 to S5).
10).

FIG. 5 shows the operation of the transport vehicle 1 after power is restored in the embodiment of the present invention. According to the embodiment of the present invention, unlike the conventional example shown in FIG. 6, there is no need for any recovery processing by the operator when the power is restored, and the transport work can be continued immediately after the power is restored. In addition, the reference numeral 61 in FIG. 6 is a running control dog, and the reference numeral 62 is an absolute address detection dog.

[0023]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention,
When the power is restored, the current position of the transport vehicle and the trolley operation program step number before the power outage are restored, and the transport work is automatically continued from the state before the power outage. This eliminates the need for operator recovery processing to continue operations, and also provides the following benefits:

■ Dangerous work is eliminated because the operator does not need to enter the operating area of the transport vehicle.

[0025] ■ The system can be started up immediately after power is restored, increasing the operating rate.

[0026] Anyone can easily start up the system.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a configuration example of an FMS line suitable for traveling by an automatic guided vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the internal configuration of a transport vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the control device in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the control operation of the control device of FIG. 3 according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart showing the operation of the transport vehicle after power is restored in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a timing chart showing the operation of the transport vehicle after power is restored in the conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Unmanned guided vehicle 11, 18 Breaker 12 Trolley 13 Rail 17 Trollishu 28 Origin sensor 29 Pulse generator 31 Bogie operation program storage section 32 Pointer 33 Pointer control section 51 Counter value storage section 52 Step number storage section 53 Up/down counter 63 Origin dock

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A control device for an automatic guided vehicle that receives power from an external source and travels, including a pulse generator that generates a pulse signal according to the traveling of the automatic guided vehicle, and a pulse generator that counts the pulses of the pulse generator to control the automatic guided vehicle. An up/down counter that manages the current position of the transport vehicle;
a counter value storage section provided in the power outage holding area and storing the value of the up/down counter each time the counter value is updated; and a counter value storage section provided in the power outage holding area that updates the step number of the pointer of the bogie operation program storage section by a pointer step. A step number storage section that is stored every time, and when the power is restored, the value of the counter value storage section is set to the up/down counter, and the step of the pointer is set to the value of the step number storage section, and then automatic startup is performed. 1. A control device for an unmanned guided vehicle, comprising: a control unit that controls the operation of the vehicle; 2. Storage means for retaining the current position of the automatic guided vehicle immediately before the power outage and the step number of the trolley operation program at the time of power outage; 1. A control device for an automated guided vehicle, comprising: a control means for automatically continuing the transportation operation from a state before a power outage by restoring the current position and the step number of the vehicle operation program.