JPH0444963B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an unmanned transportation system in which a plurality of vehicles are driven along the same travel route using a light guidance system, and in particular, to preventing vehicle collisions in this system. Regarding safety equipment for

[Summary of the invention]

This is an unmanned transportation system in which a plurality of vehicles are driven along the same travel route using a light guidance system, in which guiding light is irradiated onto the vehicles divided into predetermined sections along the travel route, and the vehicles are detects the reflected light of the vehicle, detects the presence or absence of a vehicle in the guidance light irradiation section based on the reflected light detection signal and the guidance light irradiation signal, and stops the guidance light irradiation in the subsequent adjacent section when a vehicle is present. This is a safety device that prevents vehicle collisions by stopping the vehicle in the following adjacent section.

[Conventional technology]

A light-guided unmanned transportation system that irradiates a vehicle with guiding light and controls the vehicle's travel in response to the detection signal is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-144218 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-1989.
Various systems are known, as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 177614 and the like.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In the above system, when a plurality of vehicles are allowed to travel on the same travel route, it is necessary to prevent rear-end collisions between the vehicles. However, in conventional optically guided unmanned transportation systems, an effective security system has not been established in such cases.

For example, there is a conventional check-in/check-out method for detecting the presence of a vehicle in a predetermined section of a driving route. Transmission and reception are performed using electromagnetic induction, and the equipment is large and complex. Furthermore, this method merely confirms the presence of a vehicle and is not intended for security purposes, and even if it were adopted, it would not be suitable for induction systems because it is an electromagnetic induction system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the problems of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a safety device for preventing a rear-end collision of an unmanned guided vehicle that is compatible with a light-guided unmanned transportation system.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a security device for a light-guided automated guided vehicle system in which a plurality of light-guided automated guided vehicles are allowed to travel on the same travel route, the travel route being divided into multiple sections. A guiding light irradiating means, a controller for controlling the irradiation operation of the guiding light irradiating means, and a response light detecting means are installed in each section, and each guiding light irradiating means corresponds to the traveling route. The vehicle is equipped with a traveling control detector that receives the guiding light, a photoresponse that emits light in response to the receiving of the guiding light, and a light transponder that emits light in response to the receiving of the guiding light. The vehicle is configured to stop when the guiding light is not received, and when the response light detection means detects the emitted light from the photoresponse, it transmits the detection output to the section where the vehicle is present. It is characterized in that the light is supplied to the controller of the adjacent section to stop the irradiation operation of the guiding light irradiation means of the subsequent adjacent section.

[Effect]

When the guiding light is irradiated onto a traveling vehicle in a predetermined section of the driving route, the reflected light from a photoresponse on the vehicle, such as a reflector, is detected, and the detection signal and the guiding light generated when the guiding light is irradiated are detected. The presence or absence of a vehicle in the section is detected based on the irradiation signal. As a result, when the presence of a vehicle is detected, the irradiation of the guiding light in the subsequent adjacent section is stopped and the following vehicle is stopped in the subsequent adjacent section.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be further described below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings. The figure shows an embodiment in which the security system of the present invention is applied to a light-guided unmanned transportation system. In the figure, A _i to _{A i+o} are guiding light irradiation controllers, B _i to _{B i+o} are light receivers, S _i to _{S i+o} are slit plates,
R _i to _{R i+o} are reflectors, D _i to _{D i+o} are photodetectors, W are automatic guided vehicle guidance light irradiation controllers A _i to _{A i+o} , and light receivers B _i
〜B _i+o and the slit plates S _i 〜S _i+o are provided for each of a plurality of divided sections along the travel route X of _the above-mentioned vehicle. Guided light f _i from (not shown) is irradiated onto the vehicle W via the slit plate S _i .

A photodetector D _i and a reflector R _i are provided on the vehicle W, and similar devices are provided on other vehicles (not shown). The photodetector D _i is composed of a known array of photosensitive diodes, etc., and the guided light f _i
When it receives the light, it detects the left-right deviation of the vehicle W with respect to the traveling route X, and controls the drive system of the vehicle so that it travels on the route X. Since known techniques are used for these, detailed explanations are omitted. do. It is assumed that the vehicle W can be driven along the route X from left to right with respect to the paper by optical guidance.

In addition, a part of the guided light f _i irradiated to the vehicle is reflected by the reflector.
It is reflected by R _i , and the reflected light r _i is received by a light receiver B _i to generate a light reception signal R _i .

The light reception signal R _i and the guiding light irradiation signal F _i generated by the protector A _i at the time of guiding light irradiation are input to the controller A _i+1 in the subsequent section.

Therefore, in the controller A _i+1 , R _i
By obtaining the AND output of and F _i , it is possible to detect the presence or absence of a vehicle W in the guidance light irradiation section. That is, if the AND output is "1", it means that the vehicle W is present in the above section, so in that case, the irradiation of the guiding light by the controller A _i+1 in the subsequent adjacent section is stopped by the above AND output. .

Thus, if the following vehicle exists in the section A _i+1 ,
Since the controller A _i causes the vehicle to stop in that section, even if multiple automatic guided vehicles are traveling on the same travel route X using the guiding light method,
A safe distance between each vehicle is maintained at all times, making it possible to prevent rear-end collisions.

Although the above embodiment uses a reflector, it is of course not limited to this, and in short, this means that light is generated (or reflected) in response to guided light.
Any photoresponsive device that does this will suffice.

[Effect]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to achieve the desired safety with a relatively simple configuration, and in particular without requiring any floor-mounted objects, and moreover, it is similar to the guiding light system for vehicle running. Since it is a light detection method, it is a security method suitable for optically guided unmanned transportation systems.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figure is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. A _i ~A _i+o ...Guiding light irradiation controller, S _i ~ _{S i+o} ...
Slit plate, R _i ...Reflector, D _i ...Photodetector, W
...Vehicle, B _i ~ _{B i+o} ... Light receiver.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A security device for a light-guided unmanned transport system in which a plurality of light-guided unmanned guided vehicles are driven on the same travel route, and the travel route is divided into a plurality of sections, each of which has a A guiding light irradiating means, a controller for controlling the irradiation operation of the guiding light irradiating means, and a response light detecting means are installed, and each guiding light irradiating means guides the respective installed section of the travel route. The vehicle is equipped with a travel control detector that receives the guiding light, and a photoresponse that emits light in response to receiving the guiding light, and when the vehicle is not receiving the guiding light. When the response light detection means detects the emitted light from the light response device, the response light detection means transmits the detection output to the controller installed in an adjacent section following the section in which the vehicle is present. A security device for a light-guided unmanned transportation system, characterized in that the security device is configured to supply light to the guide light to stop the irradiation operation of the guide light irradiation means in the subsequent adjacent section.