JPH05143891A - Direction indication device for unmanned carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent an operator and the unmanned carrier from contacting each other by indicating the travel direction of the unmanned carrier which enters an intersection in a conveyance system which has the unmanned carrier. CONSTITUTION:The unmanned carrier 10 receives travel commands by radio under the control of a controller 20 and travels along specific guide lines 11-14. When photosensors 16-19 which are provided nearby the intersection 15 detect the unmanned carrier 10, a specific arrow of a direction marker 31 blinks. Consequently, the operator can recognize the travel direction of the unmanned carrier 10. When the unmanned carrier 10 reaches the next guide lines 11-14, the blinking of the arrow of the direction marker 31 stops.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automated guided vehicle provided for transporting works and the like in a factory or the like, and more particularly to a device for indicating the traveling direction of the automated guided vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known an automatic guided vehicle system (hereinafter referred to as an AGV system) that conveys a work between processing stations in order to perform various kinds of processing on the work in an unmanned factory. .. In this AGV system, the automatic guided vehicle is controlled in its traveling direction and the like by a control device equipped with a computer, and travels along a guide line, for example. Further, since the AGV system is premised on that there is no worker, it has not been conventionally configured to display the traveling direction of the automatic guided vehicle.

[0003]

In such an AGV system, an operator may walk in a factory for maintenance or the like. In such a case, the operator can predict the traveling direction of the unmanned guided vehicle at a place other than the intersection because the unmanned guided vehicle travels on the guided line. Many. Therefore, there is a problem that the worker and the automatic guided vehicle may come into contact with each other at the intersection.

An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic guided vehicle direction indicator which can eliminate the risk of a worker contacting an automated guided vehicle at an intersection such as an AGV system and improve safety. I am trying.

[0005]

An automatic guided vehicle direction indicating device according to the present invention is provided with a control means for instructing an advancing direction to an automated guided vehicle entering an intersection and a control means provided near the intersection. And a direction indicator for displaying the traveling direction of the automatic guided vehicle.

[0006]

The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 schematically shows a confluence zone where four guide lines 11, 12, 13, 14 intersect in a factory using an AGV system. In the confluence zone, the guide wire 11,
12, 13 and 14 are arranged radially at a right angle to each other with the intersection 15 as the center. Automated guided vehicle 10
Receives a traveling control command by wireless communication with a control device 20 arranged in a control room (not shown) in this factory, and travels on the guide lines 11, 12, 13, and 14. When the automated guided vehicle 10 enters the intersection 15, the blinker 22 and the direction mark 31 described later blink, so that the worker walking in the factory can recognize the traveling direction of the automated guided vehicle 10.

Optical sensors 16, 17, 18, and 19 are provided in the vicinity of the intersection 15 of the guide lines 11, 12, 13, and 14. When the automatic guided vehicle 10 passes just before these optical sensors 16, 17, 18, and 19, the optical sensors 16 and 1
7, 18, and 19 detect the automatic guided vehicle 10 and output a signal to the control device 20. Thereby, the control device 20 can confirm that the automatic guided vehicle 10 has entered the intersection 15 side. In addition, in order to make the automatic guided vehicle 10 recognize the ends of the guide lines 11, 12, 13, and 14 at the end of the straight line section of the guide lines 11, 12, 13, and 14, that is, the end near the intersection 15, Wide parts 11a, 12a, 13
a and 14a are provided.

FIG. 2 shows an automated guided vehicle 10.
The automated guided vehicle 10 has a base 21 for transporting the work W. In addition, the automatic guided vehicle 10 includes guide lines 11 and 1
A known sensor 23 including a large number of photoelectric switches for detecting 2, 13, and 14 is provided, and the displacement between the position of the sensor 23 and the guide lines 11, 12, 13, and 14 is minimized. .. The automatic guided vehicle 10 includes a pair of drive wheels 24.
And a pair of driven wheels (not shown), the left and right drive wheels 24
It turns due to the difference in rotation. Further, the automatic guided vehicle 10 is equipped with a rotation drive device and a computer (not shown) for controlling the rotation speed of the drive wheels 24 and the like. A drive motor 25 and a rotary encoder 26 are coaxially connected to the drive wheels 24, respectively, and the drive motor 25 and the rotary encoder 26 are connected to a computer via a rotary drive device. That is, the rotation of each traveling motor 25 is controlled by the control signal from the computer, and the automatic guided vehicle 10 is controlled.
Goes straight, turns or stops. The unmanned guided vehicle 10 has wide portions 11a, 12a of the guide wire near the intersection 15,
When reaching the vehicles 13a and 14a, the automated guided vehicle 10 is controlled by a computer to go straight or turn and travel to other wide portions 11a, 12a, 13a and 14a of the guide lines.

The turn signals 27 are provided at the four corners of the front and rear of the automatic guided vehicle 10. The blinker 27 blinks in response to a command signal from the control device 20. That is, the winkers 27 start blinking and indicate the traveling direction when the automatic guided vehicle 10 receives a command signal for turning right or left from the control device 20. Then, the automatic guided vehicle 10 turns at the intersection 15, and the wide portions 11a, 12a of the other guide lines,
When reaching 13a and 14a, the blinker 27 stops blinking.

FIG. 3 shows a direction mark 31.
The direction sign 31 is provided on the ceiling 32 near the intersection 15. On the signboard 36 of the direction sign 31, an arrow 3 indicating a right turn is shown.
3, an arrow 34 indicating straight ahead, and an arrow 35 indicating left turn are formed, respectively. These arrows 33, 34, 35 blink by a control circuit (not shown) built in the direction indicator 31. That is, this control circuit is connected to the control device 20, and when the automatic guided vehicle 10 enters the intersection 15,
One of the arrows 33, 34, and 35 corresponding to the traveling direction of the automated guided vehicle 10 blinks in accordance with the traveling direction instructed by the control device 20 to the automated guided vehicle 10.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. The automatic guided vehicle 10 is controlled by the control device 20 and travels on predetermined guide lines 11, 12, 13, and 14 to travel to a destination. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, when the automated guided vehicle 10 is traveling on the guide wire 11, the optical sensor 16 causes the automated guided vehicle 1 to move.
When 0 is detected, the control device 20 recognizes that the automatic guided vehicle 10 enters the intersection 15. Here, when the driverless vehicle 10 is going to turn right toward the guide line 14,
The control device 20 outputs a command signal for turning right to the automatic guided vehicle 10 by wireless communication. This makes the direction mark 3
Among the arrows 33, 34, and 35 of 1, the arrow blinks when the automatic guided vehicle 10 turns right. At this time, the blinker 27 on the right side of the automated guided vehicle 10 also starts blinking.

When the automated guided vehicle 10 reaches the wide portion 11a of the guide line near the intersection 15, it turns to the right and advances to the wide portion 14a of the other guide line 14. Automated guided vehicle 1
When 0 shifts to the wide portion 14a, blinking of the winker 27 of the automatic guided vehicle 10 and blinking of the arrow of the direction indicator plate 36 are stopped by wireless communication with the control device 20. Then, the automated guided vehicle 10 travels on the guide wire 14 and advances toward the destination.

In the above embodiment, the automatic guided vehicle 10 has the winker 27, but the winker 27 may be omitted and only the direction mark 31 may be provided.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is no possibility that an operator and an automatic guided vehicle may come into contact with each other at an intersection, and the safety of a system using the automatic guided vehicle is improved. ..

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing a configuration in the vicinity of a merging zone where guide lines intersect, showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing an automatic guided vehicle.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a direction sign.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Automated guided vehicle 15 Intersection 20 Control device 31 Directional sign

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A control means for instructing an advancing direction for an automated guided vehicle entering an intersection, and a direction which is provided in the vicinity of the intersection and operates in response to an instruction from the control means to display the advancing direction. A direction indicating device for an automatic guided vehicle, comprising: a marking means.