JPH0433042B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is directed to a light beam for guiding traveling members such as transportation vehicles by means of a light projecting member that projects a curtain-shaped irradiation light for forming a vehicle guideway. The present invention relates to a light-guided unmanned transportation system in which a vehicle guide path in the guided unmanned transportation system is branched to make the running direction of the vehicle variable.

(Prior Art) In this type of conventional optically guided unmanned transportation system, a vehicle for transportation as a traveling member selects one of the branched vehicle guideways, determines its traveling direction, and determines the direction of travel. In order to run a vehicle along a designated vehicle guideway, there is a mechanism that automatically recognizes and identifies the external situation and the positional relationship of each vehicle itself, which is used as a traveling member for transportation. Of course, the recognition and identification results are used to selectively drive the vehicle by moving the vehicle itself or by using a mechanism for correcting the running direction.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) Therefore, although the mechanism and configuration of the light projecting member itself is relatively simple, the vehicle itself for transportation as a traveling member, and each vehicle itself for traveling purposes. In addition to the various necessary parts used for The structure of the system has become increasingly complex, which tends to lead to mistakes in selection and driving operations, and it is time-consuming not only to assemble it but also to maintain it.
There were considerable practical difficulties and inconveniences, such as being expensive.

(Means for Solving the Problems) Therefore, the present invention provides a light-guided unmanned transportation system comprising a light projecting member, a series circuit for transmitting a light emitting signal from the projector, and a traveling member, which The light member is composed of a series of discretely installed plurality of projectors and a slit plate provided below each projector, and allows the light emitted from each projector to pass through the slit of each slit plate. Each curtain-shaped irradiation light is generated, and a part of one of both ends of each curtain-shaped irradiation light overlaps with a part of one of both ends of the adjacent curtain-shaped irradiation light, and is connected in a series. The series circuit is constructed by attaching a controller to each of the floodlights and connecting adjacent controllers via connection lines. The traveling member has a large number of light receivers or light receiving elements and a wheel drive controller arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to the curtain-shaped irradiation light, and the light receiver or light receiving element in the central portion By means of a signal from the wheel drive controller according to the amount of light received from the individual light receivers or light receiving elements other than the The vehicle is caused to travel along the guideway by changing the rotation of each motor for driving the traveling wheels, and further, the series circuit is formed in three or more rows,
One of them is used as a common series circuit, and the others are used as branch series circuits, and the controller at the starting end of this common series circuit is connected to the terminal end of each of the other multiple series circuits for branching. By connecting the controllers with separate fixed switch connection lines, a series circuit for each system branched into a plurality of routes is formed. It is assumed that the slit plate provided below each of the floodlights to which each control device is attached is fixed, and the slit plate provided below the floodlight to which the control device at the starting end is attached is fixed. It is movable and has the same number of separate slits as the number of branching circuits, and each fixed switch of the connection line with the separate fixed switch portion is connected in accordance with the slit selected by the movement of the movable slit plate. The optically guided unmanned transportation system is characterized in that the parts are selectively brought into conduction, thereby eliminating the above-mentioned difficulties and inconveniences.

(Function) The optically guided unmanned transportation system according to the present invention, in which the vehicle guide path is branched, thereby making it possible to select and vary the running direction of the vehicle for transportation, etc., has the above-mentioned configuration. , when a running member such as a conveyance vehicle is to travel in the direction of a desired location and the cargo loaded on the vehicle is to be transported to the desired location, the starting end of the series circuit that is made common A slit plate placed below the controller is moved, and a specific slit provided in this slit plate is placed below the controller at the end of the branch series circuit that reaches the required point. After making the curtain-shaped irradiation light formed by the slits of the slit plate continuous, if the signal for the projector light emission is sent through the controller on the starting end side of the branching series circuit, Each floodlight attached to each controller in the series circuit that reaches the required point from the common series circuit emits light, and the emitted light is made into a curtain-shaped irradiation light by each slit plate. A portion of the irradiated lights are overlapped to form a series of vehicle guideways that reach the required locations from a common series circuit.

In this case, even if signals for emitter light emission are simultaneously sent from the starting end side of each series circuit for branching through a controller, etc., the common series circuit and the series circuits for other branches other than those mentioned above may be sent simultaneously. Therefore, no vehicle guideway other than the desired vehicle guideway is formed.

On the other hand, a traveling member such as a transport vehicle can select any one of a large number of light receivers or light receiving elements arranged and installed on the vehicle as a traveling member in a direction substantially perpendicular to the length direction of the irradiated light. The light-receiving member of the element receives the irradiation light for forming the vehicle guideway, and the light-receiving member in the center is constantly activated by a signal from the controller that corresponds to the amount of light received by the light-receiving device that received this irradiation light or the light-receiving element. Alternatively, since the rotation speed of each motor for driving the traveling wheels can be changed so that the light-receiving element is at the receiving position of the irradiated light, the traveling members of the transport vehicle etc. can be The vehicle is forced to travel along the created vehicle guideway.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In the figure, X is a light projecting member, and W is a transport vehicle serving as a traveling member Y.

By the way, in the light projecting member X,...
C ₁ , C′ ₁ , C ₂ , C′ ₂ , C ₃ , C ₄ , etc. are controllers for lighting instruction, only some of which are shown, and each of these controllers
C ₁ , C′ ₁ , C ₂ , C′ ₂ , C ₃ , C ₄ , ... have connecting wires.
r ₁ , r' ₁ , r ₂ , r' ₂ , r ₃ , r ₄ , ... (only part shown)
The projector is transmitted through the projector..., P' ₁ , P ₂ , P' ₂ , P ₃ , P ₄ ,...
...(only part shown) is connected,
The controller..., C ₁ , C ₂ , etc. are connected by the connection line..., c ₁ , and the controller..., C' ₁ , C' _2, etc. are connected by the connection line..., c' ₁ for branching. The controllers C ₃ , C ₄ , . . . are connected by connecting lines c ₃ , c ₄ , . . . to form a common series circuit.

The controller C ₃ at the starting end of the common series circuit and the controllers C ₂ and C′ ₂ at the end of each separate series circuit for branching are made electrically conductive by a movable switch t ₂ to be described later. A connection line c ₂ with a fixed switch part and a connection line c' ₂ with a fixed switch part, which is alternatively brought into conduction with the movable switch t ₂ by a movable switch t' ₂ which will also be described later. connected, branched into a Y-shape, and controlled by
The light emitting signal sent to _C1 is transmitted through _the connection line _C1 to the controller _C2 , and from the controller _C2 to the controller _C3.
The light emission signal ₂ is transmitted from the controller _{C 3} to the controller C 4 via the connection _line C ₃ , and from the controller C ₄ to the adjacent controller C ₄ . A first path that carries the light emitting signal ₄ via a connection line C ₄ is connected to the next controller C ₅ (not shown below).
The light emitting signal sent to X ₁ and also to the controller C′ ₁ is transmitted via the connecting line c′ ₁ to the light emitting signal ′ ₁ to the controller C′ ₂ and from the controller C′ ₂ to the controller C _{3 .} from the controller _{C 3} to the controller _{C 4} via the connecting wire c ₃ and from _the controller C ₄ Alternatively, a series circuit for transmitting the light emission signal of each separate light emitter is formed with a second path _X2 , which transmits _{the light emission signal 4 to} the next controller C5 via the connection line _C4 . ,
When the first path X ₁ is formed, the controller...
The floodlights..., _P2 , _P3 , _P4 ,... are caused to emit light by signals from C1, _{C2 , C3} , _C4 ,...
When the second path X ₂ is formed, the signals from the controllers ..., C _{' 1} , C' ₂ , C ₃ , C ₄ , ... , P' ₂ , P ₃ , P ₄ , ... are made to emit light.

Furthermore, each of the floodlights P ₁ , P′ ₁ , except for the floodlight P ₃
There are fixed slit plates below P ₂ , P′ ₂ , P ₄ , ...
S ₁ , S' ₁ , S ₂ , S' ₂ , S ₄ , ... (only some are shown)
However, a movable slit plate S ₃ is arranged below the projector P ₃ , and the slit plates S ₁ , S' ₁ , S ₂ , S' ₂ , S ₄ ,...
... were formed with slits s ₁ , s′ ₁ , s ₂ , s′ ₂ , s ₄ , ..., and a part of the movable slit plate S ₃ near the slit plate S ₄ was made to have the same shape. Separate slits _s3 and slits _s'3 are formed, and a switch support rod T is connected to the slit plate _S3 .
A slit plate _S3 is moved to the tip thereof, and when the slit _s3 is used for irradiation with the light emitted from the projector _P3 , the connecting wire _c2 with the switch part is made conductive, and the slit _s'3 is used for irradiation. Separate movable switches t ₂ and t' ₂ are installed to bring the connection line c' ₂ with the switch part into conduction when the apparatus is used for the purpose of operation.

Then _{, a} first path _{X1 is} formed, and each controller _is
Each floodlight P ₁ connected to C ₁ , C ₂ , C ₃ , C ₄ , ...
P ₂ , P ₃ , P ₄ , ... are made to emit light, and the emitted light is transmitted through the slits s ₁ , of each slit plate S ₁ , S ₂ , S ₃ , S ₄ , ...
s ₂ , s ₃ , s ₄ , . . . to form a curtain-shaped irradiation light L ₁ , L ₂ , L ₃ , L ₄ , . . . and a second path X ₂ to form each floodlight P′ ₁ , P′ ₂ ,
P ₃ , P ₄ , ... are caused to emit light, and the emitted light is passed through the slits s′ ₁ , S′ ₁ , S′ ₂ , S ₃ , S ₄ , ...
When s' ₂ , s' ₃ , s ₄ , . . . form a curtain-shaped irradiation light L' ₁ , L' ₂ , L' ₃ , L ₄ , . . . for forming a vehicle guideway, then this Curtain-shaped irradiation light L ₁ , L ₂ , L ₃ , L ₄ , ...
A part of both ends of each curtain-shaped irradiation light L' ₁ , L' ₂ , L' ₃ , L ₄ , . The lengths l ₁ , l′ ₁ , l ₂ , l′ ₂ , l ₃ , l′ ₃ , l ₄ , . . . are approximately equal to the lengths of .

In addition, as particularly shown in FIG. 2, the transport vehicle W serving as the traveling member Y has a power source I, a wheel drive controller A (hereinafter abbreviated as controller A), and a vehicle W in a required traveling state. When the irradiation light L ₁ , L ₂ ,
Similarly to L ₃ , L ₄ , ..., the above-mentioned irradiation light L' ₁ , L' ₂ ,
Light receivers or light receiving elements v ₀ , v ₁ , v′ ₁ , arranged in a direction orthogonal to L′ ₃ , L ₄ , ...
A light receiving device V consisting of v ₂ , v′ ₂ , ..., the irradiated light
L ₁ , L' ₁ , L ₂ , L' ₂ , L ₃ , L' ₃ , L _{4 ,} . The irradiation light L ₁ , L′ ₁ ,
Light receiving element that receives light L ₂ , L′ ₂ , L ₃ , L′ ₃ , L ₄ , ...
Depending on the signals from the controller A based on the signals from v ₁ , v _{' 1} , v 2 , v' ₂ , ..., the motor M ₁ can change its rotational speed so that _the light receiving element v ₀ is at the light receiving position. ，
M ₂ , wheels w ₁ , w ₂ directly connected to motors M ₁ , M ₂ via reduction gears, driven wheels w′ ₁ , w′ ₂ (one not shown), etc. Vehicle W
, the light receiving element v ₀ constantly irradiates the irradiated light L ₁ , L ₂ , L ₃ ,
L ₄ ,... or irradiation light L' ₁ , L' ₂ , L' ₃ , L ₄ ,...
It is corrected to be in a position where it can receive the irradiated light L ₁ , L ₂ , L ₃ , ... or the irradiated light
L _′ , L′ ₂ , L′ _{3 ,} L ₄ , _. , ... is not sent to the controller A, the vehicle W
is also designed to maintain a stopped state.

The optically guided unmanned transportation system according to the present invention in which the vehicle guide path is branched and the traveling direction of the vehicle can be selectively varied is configured as described above.
Now, if the slit plate _S3 is moved so that the irradiation light _L3 can be obtained using the slit _s3 formed in the slit plate _S3 , the switch support rod T connected to this slit plate _S3 can be moved. Movable switch that moves with the
At _t2 , as shown in FIG. 1, it becomes possible to send the light projection signal ₂ through the connection line _c2 with the fixed switch part, and the first path _X1 is formed.

Therefore, the light emission signal sent to the controller C ₁ is sent from the controller C ₁ to the controller C ₂ , and from the controller C ₂ to the controller.
As shown in C ₃ , the light emitting signal ₁ ,
c ₂ , ₃ , ₄ , ... to each projector P ₁ , P ₂ , P ₃ ,
When P ₄ , ... is made to emit light, the emitted light is transmitted to _the slits _{s 1} , s ₂ , _{s 3 ,}
The curtain-shaped irradiation light L ₁ , L ₂ , _{L 3 ,} L ₄ ,
...and this curtain-shaped irradiation light L ₁ , L ₂ , L ₃ , L ₄ ,
... forms a series of vehicle guideways with both ends partially overlapping.

Therefore, any one or two of the light receiving elements v ₀ , v ₁ , v′ ₁ , v ₂ , v′ ₂ , . . . arranged in an array on the transportation vehicle W receives the irradiated light. L ₁ , L ₂ ,
L ₃ , ... receives one irradiation light (two irradiation lights in the overlap part), sends the signal to controller A, and motors M ₁ and M ₂ are activated by the signal from controller A. The vehicle W operates, and the light receiving element v ₀
The irradiated light L ₁ , L ₂ , L ₃ , L ₄ , ... is corrected so that it can receive the irradiated light L 1 , L 2 , L 3 , L ₄ , ...
The vehicle is forced to travel along a vehicle guideway formed by L ₂ , L ₃ , . . .

That is, the vehicle W, as shown in FIG.
If the vehicle W is now in a position to receive the irradiation light L ₄ and its traveling direction is the direction indicated by the arrow Z, the vehicle W will be in a position to receive the irradiation light L ₄ , the irradiation light L ₃ , the irradiation light
It travels in the direction of the irradiation light _L1 through _L2 in this order.

In addition, the vehicle W is irradiated with the light shown in FIG. 1... L ₅ ,
When it _is desired to run L ₄ , L' ₃ , L' ₂ , L' ₁ , . . . in the order of ₂ short-circuits the connecting wire c′ ₂ with the switch portion, while cutting off the continuity on the side of the connecting wire c ₂ with the switch portion, and the irradiated light……, L ₅ , L ₄ , L′ ₃ , L′ ₂ , L ′ ₁ ,
It is sufficient to form a vehicle guideway by...

In short, even if there is a branch point on the vehicle taxiway and the running direction of the vehicle W is divided by this, the vehicle W is only moved by the movement of the slit plate _S3 in the light projecting member X for forming the vehicle taxiway. , by making the vehicle run along a series of only one guiding path formed by changing the path by the movable switches t ₂ and t' ₂ linked to this movement. As in a guided unmanned transportation system, in addition to the various necessary components provided for each vehicle itself for traveling, various components and mechanisms for selecting a travel route that are linked to control each necessary component for traveling. Since this eliminates the need for such operations, not only is the configuration of each vehicle W itself extremely simplified, but also operational errors are almost eliminated.

In this example, for the sake of brevity, the connections are made to the respective controllers shown in the drawings and described in the specification of Patent Application 1, which was filed by the applicant of this patent at the same time as the application of this patent. Illustrations and explanations of safety measures such as those for preventing a rear-end collision of the vehicle W using the light receivers and light-receiving elements, and reflectors that reflect the irradiated light onto the respective light receivers and light-receiving elements are omitted.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, the present invention is similar to the conventional light-guided unmanned conveyance system of this kind, which is equipped with a branching part in the travel path of a traveling member such as a conveyance vehicle. Not only are they linked to control the conveyance vehicle itself as a running member, along with each necessary member used for running, but at the branching part of the running route, either one of the running routes is controlled. Eliminates the need to incorporate sensors such as television cameras that are given commands to select
It has now become possible to provide a light-guided unmanned transportation system that can select a travel route with an extremely simple configuration and without causing operational errors, no matter how complex the bends and branches are.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the optically guided unmanned transportation system according to the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining its configuration, and FIG. This is a system diagram for. X: light projecting member, X ₁ ; first path, X ₂ ; second
system, C ₁ , C′ ₁ , C ₂ , C′ ₂ , C ₃ , ...; controller,
c ₁ , c′ ₁ , c ₃ , c ₄ , ..., r′ ₁ , r ₂ , r′ ₂ , r ₃ , ...;
Connection wire, c ₂ , c′ ₂ ; Connection wire with fixed switch part,
P ₁ , P′ ₁ , P ₂ , P′ ₂ , P ₃ , ...; Floodlight, S ₁ , S′ ₁ ,
S ₂ , S′ ₂ , S ₃ , ...; Slit plate, s ₁ , s′ ₁ , s ₂ ,
s′ ₂ , s ₃ , s′ ₃ , ...; slit, T: switch support rod, t ₂ , t′ ₂ ; movable switch, Y: running member,
W: Transportation vehicle, Z: Traveling direction, I: Power source, A;
Wheel drive controller, V; light receiving device, v ₀ , v ₁ , v′ ₁ ,
...; Light receiver or light receiving element, M ₁ , M ₂ ; Motor, w ₁ , w ₂ ; Wheels, w′ ₁ , w′ ₂ ; Driven wheels (one not shown).

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A light-guided unmanned transportation system comprising a light projecting member, a series circuit for transmitting a light emitting signal from the projector, and a traveling member, wherein the light projecting member is installed discretely. It consists of a series of multiple floodlights and a slit plate provided below each floodlight, and each curtain-shaped illumination light is generated by passing the emitted light from each floodlight through the slit of each slit plate. A part of one of both ends of each curtain-shaped irradiation light overlaps with a part of one of both ends of the adjacent curtain-shaped irradiation light to form a continuous vehicle guideway. The series circuit is configured by attaching a controller to each of the floodlights and connecting adjacent controllers via a connection line, and the running member is configured by attaching a controller to each of the floodlights and connecting adjacent ones of the controllers via a connection line. It has a large number of light receivers or light-receiving elements and a wheel drive controller arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to the curtain-shaped irradiation light, and each light receiver or light-receiving element other than the central light receiver or light-receiving element According to the signal from the wheel drive controller according to the amount of light received from the wheel drive controller, each of the drive wheels on both sides is controlled so that the light receiver or light receiving element in the center always receives the irradiated light. The rotation of the motor is changed to cause the vehicle to travel along the guideway, and further, the series circuit is formed in three or more rows,
One of them is used as a common series circuit, and the others are used as branch series circuits, and the controller at the starting end of this common series circuit is connected to the terminal end of each of the other multiple series circuits for branching. By connecting the controllers with separate fixed switch connection lines, a series circuit for each system branched into a plurality of routes is formed. It is assumed that the slit plate provided below each of the floodlights to which each control device is attached is fixed, and the slit plate provided below the floodlight to which the control device at the starting end is attached is fixed. It is movable and has the same number of separate slits as the number of branching circuits, and each fixed switch of the connection line with the separate fixed switch portion is connected in accordance with the slit selected by the movement of the movable slit plate. A light-guided unmanned transportation system characterized by selectively bringing parts into a conductive state.