JPH05134747A - Curve stable running method for unmanned carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make an unmannd carrier perform a curve running in a stable state by moving articles loaded in a loading device provided on this carrier to the in-corner side of the curve running by a right and left moving means of this loading device just before the unmanned carrier is made to perform the curve running. CONSTITUTION:A unmanned carrier 1 is made to perform a curve running by moving an article B loaded on this loading device 9 to the in-corner side of the curve running, namely in the direction to the side reducing centrifugal force working at the time of performing the curve running by a right and left moving means 8 of the loading device 9 provided on the upper part of this unmanned carrier 1 just before the carrier 1 is made to perform the curve running in either direction of the right and left. This right and left moving means 8 rotates each roller 7 via each sprocket and each chain by driving a driving motor. Namely, by rotating the roller in the clockwise direction viewed from a back side in the case of the right turning, the article B loaded on the roller 7 is made to move to the right side to be the in-corner side of the curve running.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for stably driving an automated guided vehicle in a curved manner so that the automated guided vehicle carrying articles can be stably curved.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, an unmanned guided vehicle that travels by an electromagnetic induction method or the like has been used for the purpose of saving labor when carrying various products in a factory or the like. This automated guided vehicle carries articles, such as various products, loaded on an upper loading section, and travels straight or curved to a target location to carry the articles.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art When the above-mentioned conventional automatic guided vehicle travels, there are the following problems. That is, when an automated guided vehicle loaded with articles is caused to travel in a curve, centrifugal force acts so that the loaded article travels to an outer position in the loading section of the automated guided vehicle with respect to the curved traveling direction (for example, curved to the right). Sometimes the articles tend to move to the left side position in the loading section above the automated guided vehicle. Then, the center of gravity of the automatic guided vehicle is located on the outer side portion and tends to lean outward. For this reason, there is a problem in that the stability of the automated guided vehicle when it is traveling on a curve is deteriorated, and the automated guided vehicle is hindered from traveling on a curve.

Further, in the case where the articles loaded on the upper loading section of the automated guided vehicle are heavy and the traveling speed is high, the centrifugal force acts as described above when the automated guided vehicle travels in a curve. Since the center of gravity is located on the outer side portion, there is a risk that the automatic guided vehicle may be inclined outward and fall.

[0005]

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems. That is, it is an object of the present invention to provide a curve stable traveling method for an automated guided vehicle, which allows the automated guided vehicle to travel in a curved state in a stable state.

[0006]

The present invention adopts the following means in order to achieve the above object. According to the present invention, immediately before the automated guided vehicle is curved in either the left or right direction, the articles loaded on the loaded apparatus are curvedly run by the left and right moving means of the loading apparatus provided on the upper portion of the automated guided vehicle. The vehicle is moved to the in-corner side of the vehicle to make a curve.

[0007]

The present invention has the following functions. Immediately before the automated guided vehicle travels in a curve, the articles loaded on the loading device provided at the upper part of the automated guided vehicle are
By moving the loading device to the inside corner side of the curve running by the left and right moving means, the center of gravity is located on the inside corner side of the curve running, that is, on the direction side that reduces the centrifugal force acting during the curve running. As a result, when the automatic guided vehicle travels in a curve, the centrifugal force to the outside (the side opposite to the direction in which the vehicle travels in the curve) does not significantly act, so that stable curve travel is performed.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A curve stable traveling method for an automated guided vehicle according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings showing an embodiment. In this specification, the front means the upper side in FIG. 1, the rear means the lower side in the figure, the left means the left side in the figure, and the right means the right side in the figure.

First, an automatic guided vehicle used in the embodiment method will be described. The automated guided vehicle 1 shown in the figure has a front traveling wheel 2 and rear traveling wheels 3 and 4 (see FIGS. 1 to 3) provided at the bottom, and a loading device provided at the upper portion with a left-right moving means 8 formed of a roller conveyor. A device 9 is provided. The roller conveyor constituting the left-right moving means 8 has a plurality of rollers 7 arranged in parallel to the left and right with an axis centering in the front-back direction of the automatic guided vehicle 1. These rollers 7 are the sprocket 5 and the sprocket 5.
An interlocking mechanism having a chain 6 (see FIGS. 4 and 5) receives the rotational force from a drive motor (not shown) which is rotatable in the forward and reverse directions and rotates in the same direction.
Further, the stopper 1 capable of projecting and retracting outside the rollers 7, 7 located at the left and right ends of the stacking device 9, that is, the left and right ends.
0 and 10 are provided. These stoppers 10,
As shown in FIG. 3, reference numeral 10 denotes a rod 1 of cylinders 11, 11 arranged in an upright state inside the automatic guided vehicle 1.
The cylinders 11 and 11 are integrally provided at the tips of the rods 2 and 12, and are configured to be projected and retracted with respect to the upper surface of the stacking device 9 by driving the cylinders 11 and 11 to move the rods 12 and 12 up and down. Has been done.

The automated guided vehicle 1 is constructed so that the front traveling wheels 2 are driven and rotated by a drive motor. The curved traveling of the automated guided vehicle 1 is performed by the front traveling wheels 2 being directed in the direction of the curved traveling (right in FIG. 1, left in FIG. 2).

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the sprocket 5 of the above-mentioned left and right moving means 8 is provided side by side on the one end side of each roller 7 in front and rear, and the sprockets of the adjacent rollers 7, 7 are adjacent to each other. Chains 6 are laid over 5 and 5, respectively. Therefore, by driving a drive motor (not shown), each roller 7 is moved to each sprocket 5
And is rotated in the same direction via each chain 6.

Further, the loading device 9 is provided with guide portions 13 and 13 for guiding the articles B at the front and rear positions of the upper surface at the time of loading the articles B or moving them by the left and right moving means. Article guide slopes 14, 14 are formed at the left and right ends of the inwardly facing surfaces of the guide portions 13, 13 and expand and slope outward.

[0013]

[Method of Embodiment] Next, a method of the embodiment will be described. According to the present invention, when the automatic guided vehicle 1 having the above-described configuration is caused to travel on a curve, stable traveling on a curve is performed. That is, immediately before the automated guided vehicle 1 is made to curve in either the left or right direction, the articles loaded on the loading device 9 by the left and right moving means 8 of the loading device 9 provided on the upper portion of the automated guided vehicle 1. B is moved to the in-corner side of the curve traveling, that is, to the direction side in which the centrifugal force acting during the curve traveling is reduced.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, immediately before the automated guided vehicle 1 travels rightward in a curve,
When the driving motor of the left-right moving means 8 in the loading device 9 is driven to rotate the rollers 7 rightward through the sprockets 5 and the chains 6 (clockwise when viewed from the rear side in FIG. 1), the rollers are rotated. Item B loaded on 7 is on the right,
That is, it is moved to the in-corner side of the curve running.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, immediately before the automated guided vehicle 1 is leftwardly curved, the drive motor of the left and right moving means 8 in the loading device 9 is driven to cause each roller 7 to move each roller 7 to each sprocket 5 and each chain. When it is rotated counterclockwise through 6 (rotation in the counterclockwise direction when viewed from the rear side in FIG. 2), the articles B loaded on the rollers 7 are moved to the left side, that is, to the in-corner side of the curve running.

As described above, when the automatic guided vehicle 1 is made to curve while the article B is moved to the curved inner corner side, the center of gravity of the automatic guided vehicle 1 is on the curved inner corner side, that is, at the time of curved travel. Since it is located on the side of reducing the centrifugal force acting (right side in FIG. 1, left side in FIG. 2), a large centrifugal force to the outside (left side in FIG. 1, right side in FIG. 2) is applied. Since there is no action, the automated guided vehicle 1 can perform stable rightward or leftward curve traveling.

When the articles B are loaded on the loading device 9 of the automatic guided vehicle 1, the two stoppers 10, 10 are set in a state where the rods 12, 12 of the cylinders 11, 11 are retracted downward, and It is in a state of being submerged without protruding to the upper surface. Therefore, the articles B can be easily loaded without any obstacle. Next, immediately before the automatic guided vehicle 1 travels, both stoppers 10, 10 are connected to the cylinder 1
When the rods 12 and 12 of 1 and 11 are advanced upward, the rods 1 and 11 are projected to the upper surface of the loading device 1.
Therefore, as described above, when the automatic guided vehicle 1 travels rightward or leftward in a curve, the left-right moving means 8
Even if the article B is moved to the in-corner side of the curve traveling by the article B, the article B can be stopped from moving at the right end or the left end of the loading device 9 by the stoppers 10 and 10 protruding as described above. It does not fall from above the device 9.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the automatic guided vehicle 1 which is driven by a total of three traveling wheels including the front traveling wheels 2 and the rear traveling wheels 3 and 4 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention can be applied even to an unmanned guided vehicle 1 in which four front traveling wheels and two rear traveling wheels are provided, two in total.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the left and right moving means 8 is described as a roller conveyor, but the left and right moving means 8 is not limited to this and may be, for example, a chain conveyor.

[0020]

The present invention has the following effects by the above method. That is, when the automatic guided vehicle travels in a curve, the article on the loading device at the upper part of the automated guided vehicle is moved to the inside corner side of the curved travel by the left and right moving means. Since the centrifugal force acting on the occasion is located on the side where the centrifugal force is reduced and a large centrifugal force does not act on the outside, it is possible to stably perform the curved traveling of the automatic guided vehicle.

Further, even if the above-mentioned article is heavy, it is possible to perform stable curve traveling without hindering the curve traveling, and the automatic guided vehicle inclines while leaning outward during curve traveling. There is no danger such as.

Also, the article is relatively small,
Even if the left and right spaces on the upper surface side of the loading device are large and there is a lot of play, this article does not move to the outside of the curve running by centrifugal force when the automated guided vehicle travels in a curve, Since this state is maintained by being moved to the in-corner side of the curved traveling, it is possible to stably perform the curved traveling of the automatic guided vehicle.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a method for stably driving an automated guided vehicle in a curve according to the present invention, and showing a state when the automated guided vehicle travels in a curve to the right.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing another embodiment of the method for stably driving a curve of an automatic guided vehicle according to the present invention, showing a state when the automatic guided vehicle is curved leftward.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the automated guided vehicle in the state of FIG. 1 as viewed from the rear side.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the automated guided vehicle in the state of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view of the automated guided vehicle in the state of FIG. 1 with a part thereof cut away.

[Explanation of Codes] 1 Automated guided vehicle 8 Left and right moving means 9 Loading device 10 Stopper B Article

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. Immediately before the automated guided vehicle is made to curve in either the left or right direction, the articles loaded on the loaded apparatus are curved by the left and right moving means of the loading apparatus provided at the upper part of the automated guided vehicle. A method for stably driving a curve in an automated guided vehicle, which is characterized by moving the vehicle to the in-corner side of the traveling to make a curve traveling. 2. The retractable stoppers provided at the left and right ends of the stacking device prevent articles that are moved to the in-corner side of the curve traveling from falling and allow the article to travel in the curve. Stable driving method for automated guided vehicles.