JPH04330505A - Method for controlling unmanned carrier vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an unmanned carrier vehicle control method capable of easily corresponding to the addition or change of a station without returning an unmanned carrier vehicle to the initial position at the time of generating a trouble or the like. CONSTITUTION:Position detecting means 8 to 13 are provided on plural points of a traveling route 1, the values corresponding to respective detection signals are transferred to a memory 30, and at the time of specifying a stop point, the value of the specified point is compared with the previously transferred values by a control part 20 to control the traveling of the vehicle 3.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a method for controlling an automatic guided vehicle, and more specifically, the present invention relates to a method for controlling an automatic guided vehicle, and more specifically, the present invention relates to a method for controlling an automatic guided vehicle.
The present invention relates to a method of controlling an automatic guided vehicle so that it can be stopped freely at a desired station.

0002

[Prior Art] As a conventional control method for this type of automated guided vehicle, an initial starting point of the automated guided vehicle is determined in advance on a traveling path, and the automated guided vehicle is caused to travel along the traveling path from this starting point. The moving position of the automated guided vehicle is recognized in relation to multiple sensors placed along the travel path, and the guided vehicle is stopped when it is determined that it has reached a station position where stopping is required. What it does is known.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional automatic guided vehicle control method as described above, if a problem occurs for some reason while traveling on the travel route, it is difficult to move the automatic guided vehicle to the initial starting point. I had to bring it back down and start it again. Also, if there is a change in the driving route or a stop station is added on the driving route,
It takes time and effort to change the control software, and the work is a big burden.

The purpose of the present invention is to focus on such conventional problems, and to solve them, it is possible to eliminate the need to return an automatic guided vehicle to its initial starting point when a trouble occurs, and also to add a stopping station or change the traveling route. The purpose of this invention is to propose a control method for automatic guided vehicles that can easily respond to changes in the number of vehicles.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve such an object, the present invention digitizes a plurality of points on a travel path along which an automatic guided vehicle travels according to the direction of the travel path, and provides a method for digitizing a plurality of points on a travel path on which an automatic guided vehicle travels, When the automatic guided vehicle is detected by each position detection means, the corresponding numerical value is transferred to the memory each time by the detection signal, and when the stopping point of the automatic guided vehicle is specified, the specified point is A numerical value corresponding to is transferred to a memory, and the automatic guided vehicle is controlled based on a comparison between the numerical value and a numerical value corresponding to a signal from a position detection means related to the point where the automatic guided vehicle is located. Features.

[0006]

[Operation] According to the present invention, the numerical values of the designated stop position transferred to the memory and the current position are compared according to the position of the automatic guided vehicle on the travel route, and control is performed based on the result. Even if there is a problem where the automated guided vehicle stops at any position, it can be restarted from that position.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Examples of the present invention will be described in detail and specifically below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the relationship between an automatic guided vehicle to which the present invention is applied, its traveling route, and control means, where 1 is a traveling route, 2 is a home station provided at the starting point of the traveling route 1, and 3 is a home station provided at the starting point of the traveling route 1. This is an unmanned guided vehicle that can travel along a travel path 2. In addition, in this example, a plurality of stations 4, 5, 6, and 7 are provided so that conveyed articles can be transferred to and from the automatic guided vehicle 3. In this case, 8, 9, 10, 11,
Twelve and thirteen position detection sensors are provided.

[0009] The automatic guided vehicle 3 is provided with a drive means (not shown), and is driven in response to a drive signal from the control unit 20 to freely move the guided vehicle 3 along the travel path 1. Also, it can be stopped at a desired station. Furthermore, the position detection sensors 8 to 13 detect when the transport vehicle 3 comes to their respective positions and send detection signals to the control unit 20. Further, 30 is a readable/writable memory (RAM) used for the software according to the present invention;
31 is a ROM, and the memory 30 has a position storage area 30P for storing the position of the guided vehicle 3 on the traveling route 1 and a designated destination where the guided vehicle 3 should be stopped for work, as will be described later. A destination storage area 30S for storing and an area for storing calculation results etc. in the control unit 20 (
30C (hereinafter referred to as a control data storage area), etc. are provided.

Furthermore, in this example, when the automatic guided vehicle 3 moves along the travel path 1, the movement position, which is digitized as a position number, is determined by the control unit 20 based on the signals from the sensors 8 to 13.
The relationship between the position number N and the sensors 8 to 13 is shown in FIG. That is,
As shown in this figure, numerical position numbers 1 to 6 for the sensors 8 to 13 are set as a table in the memory 30 according to the order of movement on the travel path 1. Therefore, if the transport vehicle 3 is detected by the sensor 9, for example, the corresponding position number 2 is transferred to the position storage area 30P of the memory 30 and stored in accordance with the detection signal.

Next, an example of the control operation according to the present invention will be explained according to FIGS. 3 and 4.

Now, with respect to the arrangement of the travel path 1, stations 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and sensors 8 to 13 as shown in FIG. It is assumed that the transported object 14 is generated at 6. Then, in this case, since the position of the conveyance vehicle 3 has been detected by the sensor 10 of the station 4, the position storage area 30P of the memory 30 has the numerical value 3 of the position number N.
is in a transferred state. On the other hand, since the transported object 14 has occurred at the station 6, the destination storage area 30S
, the numerical value 5 of the position number N corresponding to station 6 is transferred as the stop position.

Therefore, in the control section 20, (
As shown in A), the numerical value 3 of the position number N stored in the destination storage area 30P is subtracted from the numerical value 5 corresponding to the stop position, and the sign of the numerical value of the obtained calculation result is determined. However, in this case, since the numerical value 2 of the calculation result is greater than 0, the control unit 20 instructs the transport vehicle 3 to move forward and drives it in that direction. The numerical value of this calculation result is transferred to the control data storage area 30C every time there is a change.
The numbers stored in may be absolute values.

[0014]Although not shown in the drawings, for example, if the transport vehicle 3 were to be located at or past station 7, the numerical value 6 would be transferred to the position storage area 30P as the position number N. In this case, since 5-6=-1 is obtained by the calculation shown in (A), the control section 20 outputs a command to the transport vehicle 3 to move backward, that is, to return to the station 6.

Next, if the conveyance vehicle 3 moves forward from the state shown in FIG. 30 position storage areas 30P
The number 4 is transferred to . Therefore, in this case, (
As shown in B), 1 (>0) is transferred to the control material storage area 30C as the calculation result, and the control unit 20 instructs the transport vehicle 3 to move further forward. In this case, when the numerical value stored in the control data storage area 30C becomes 1, for example, a deceleration command is issued, and when the conveyance vehicle 3 is detected by the next sensor 12, the numerical value becomes 0. It may be arranged to stop at the point where . In any case, the automatic guided vehicle 3 is stopped when the calculation result becomes 0.

[0016]

As explained above, according to the present invention, a plurality of points on a traveling path on which an automatic guided vehicle travels are digitized according to the direction of the traveling path, and individual When the automatic guided vehicle is detected by the position detection means, the corresponding numerical value is transferred to the memory each time according to the detection signal, and when the stopping point of the automatic guided vehicle is specified,
A numerical value corresponding to the specified point is transferred to a memory, and the automatic guided vehicle is detected based on a comparison between the numerical value and a numerical value corresponding to a signal from a position detection means related to the point where the automatic guided vehicle is located. Since the automatic guided vehicle is controlled, if for some reason the automatic guided vehicle deviates from the driving path or a failure occurs on the driving path, the automatic guided vehicle can be moved from the stopped position due to the failure without returning to the initial position such as the home station. It is now possible to proceed again. Furthermore, compared to conventional control methods, the control program and the like can be significantly simplified, and no time is required for testing and adjustment. Furthermore, changes such as adding or deleting stations can be easily handled by simply changing the position number for the sensor detection position, and there is no need to reorganize complicated software, making unmanned transportation easy for operators to use. We can suggest ways to control the car.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an automatic guided vehicle travel control device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of quantifying a travel detection position and transferring the numerical value according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a traveling position detection operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing an example of calculations performed by the control unit according to the traveling position detection operation shown in FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Travel path 2 Home station 3 Automatic guided vehicle 4, 5, 6, 7 Station 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Position detection sensor 2
0 Control unit 30 RAM 30P Position storage area 30S Destination storage area 30C Control data storage area 31 ROM

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of points on a travel path on which an automatic guided vehicle travels are digitized according to the direction of the travel path, and the automatic guided vehicle is detected by individual position detection means provided at the plurality of points. The numerical value corresponding to the detection signal is transferred to the memory each time, and when the stopping point of the automatic guided vehicle is specified, the numerical value corresponding to the specified point is transferred to the memory, and the numerical value and the automatic guided vehicle are transferred to the memory. A method for controlling an automatic guided vehicle, characterized in that the automatic guided vehicle is controlled based on a comparison with a numerical value corresponding to a signal from a position detection means related to a point where the vehicle is located.