JPH05274033A - Stop positioning device for unmanned carriage - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accurately stop an unmanned carriage, which can run sideways, in a prescribed attitude in the sideways running state. CONSTITUTION:An unmanned carriage 15 having plural driving wheels 1 and 2 is provided with detectors 22a and 22b for stop and detectors 23a and 23b for stop correspondingly to driving wheels 1 and 2 respectively, and objects 24 and 25 to be detected are arranged in positions corresponding to detectors 22a, 22b, 23a, and 23b in an unmanned carriage stop area on the ground. When detectors 22a and 22b and detectors 23a and 23b detect corresponding objects 24 and 25 to be detected, rotation of driving wheels 1 and 2 corresponding to detectors 22a and 22b and detectors 23a and 23b is stopped independently of each other.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stop positioning device for an automated guided vehicle for transporting an object to be transported in a warehouse or various factories.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an unmanned guided vehicle of this type, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 51-61970, two steerable vehicles are possible in order to allow the guided vehicle to laterally travel. It is known that drive wheels are arranged on an imaginary line parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the vehicle. According to such an unmanned guided vehicle capable of lateral traveling, it is possible to laterally travel from a normal vertical traveling state, and therefore, for example, it is possible to laterally easily mount the guided vehicle to an unloading station, or between vertical traveling routes. It is possible to switch the route of the guided vehicle by running the guided vehicle laterally.However, as described above, when the guided vehicle is laterally attached to the loading / unloading station, or when the guided vehicle is traversed midway between the longitudinal traveling paths. When loading and unloading stations are set, it is difficult to stop the transport vehicle to these stations accurately in a predetermined posture, and the transport vehicle stops in a posture inclining diagonally to the lateral traveling direction to ensure safe loading. There was a risk that loading and unloading could not be done.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its features will be shown by the reference numerals of the embodiments described later. The stop positioning device for an automated guided vehicle according to the present invention includes an unmanned guided vehicle 15 having a plurality of drive wheels 1 and 2 with each drive wheel 1, 2.
Corresponding to the stop detectors 22a, 22b and 23a, 2
3b is provided, and the detection tools 24, 25 are disposed at positions corresponding to the detectors 22a, 22b and 23a, 23b at the ground-side unmanned vehicle stop position.
22b and 23a, 23b respectively correspond to the detected tool 2
When detecting Nos. 4 and 25, the rotation of the drive wheels 1 and 2 corresponding to the detectors is independently stopped.

[0004]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numerals 1 and 2 denote driving and driving devices arranged on the front left side and the rear right side, respectively. Steering wheel,
Numerals 3 and 4 are freewheeling wheels disposed on the front right side and the rear left side. The drive and steering wheels 1 and 2 are rotatably supported by a rotating frame 6 rotatably supported around a vertical shaft 5, and are interlocked with driving motors 7a and 7b supported by the rotating frame 6. It is connected. Each of the rotating frames 6 is interlockingly connected to a steering motor 8 supported on a fixed frame via chain transmission means 9a and 9b, and the motor 8 allows the rotating frame 6 to rotate around a vertical axis 5 in a predetermined forward or reverse direction. It can be rotated at an angle.

On each rotary frame 6 which pivotally supports the driving and steering wheels 1 and 2, a pair of left and right forward pickup coils 10a, 10b and 11a, 11b and backward pickup coils 12a, 12b and 13a, respectively. 13b
Are attached via brackets 14, respectively.
As shown in FIG. 1, when the driving and steering wheels 1 and 2 are in the forward and backward straight traveling directions, the forward pickup coils 10a, 10b and 11a, 11b are located slightly forward of the wheels 1 and 2 just beside them. Are located symmetrically with respect to the front-rear center line of the bogie, and the reverse pickup coils 12a, 12b and 13a, 13b are located slightly rearward of the wheels 1 and 2 in the front-rear center line of the bogie. On the other hand, they are arranged so as to be symmetrically positioned.

The electromagnetic induction carrier 1 constructed as described above.
5 can be moved forward or backward by rotating the front and rear drive and steering wheels 1 and 2 by the drive motors 7a and 7b, respectively. The strength of the magnetic field formed around the torus wire 16 due to the low-frequency alternating current flowing through the torus wire 16 embedded along the vehicle travel path is adjusted by the forward pickup coil 10 during forward travel.
a, 10b and 11a, 11b, the reverse pickup coil 12a,
12b and 13a, 13b to detect each pair of pickup coils 10a, 10b and 11a, 11b,
Alternatively, the steering motors 8 for the front and rear drive and the steering wheels 1 and 2 are controlled according to the deviations of the detection outputs (electromagnetic induction electromotive force) of 12a, 12b and 13a, 13b, and the respective rotating frames 6 are made vertical. The front and rear drive and steering wheels 1 and 2 are rotated about the shaft 5 in the forward rotation direction or the reverse rotation direction by a predetermined angle, respectively.
By automatically performing the steering movement along the torus wire 16, the transport vehicle 15 can be automatically traveled so that the front and rear ends of the transport vehicle 15 follow the torus wire 16.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.
It is also possible to transversely move the vehicle 5 from the vertical traveling route 17 to the rightward traveling route 18 or the leftward traveling route 19. These traverse paths 18, 19 include a topus wire 20 detected only by the pickup coils 10a, 10b attached to the front wheel 1 (the pickup coils 12a, 12b when traveling backward), and the pickup attached to the rear wheel 2. The coils 11a, 11b (the pickup coils 13a, 13b when traveling in reverse) and the topus wire 21 detected only are laid in parallel with each other. Alternating currents having different frequencies are applied to the two torus wires 20 and 21, and the pickup coils 10
Each of a to 13b is configured to detect the topus wire 20 or 21 in which an alternating current of a predetermined frequency is flowing.

In the vertical traveling path 17, the two torus wires 20 and 21 are connected to each other as shown in FIG.
6 is installed in a set of two so as to correspond to No. 6, or only one torus wire, for example, the torus wire 20 is laid in the vertical travel route 17, and the other torus wire 21 is used in the vertical travel route. Install from the position near the end of the.
In this case, of course, when the forward traveling transport vehicle 15 reaches the position where the rear pickup coils 11a and 11b detect the torus wire 21, the rear pickup coils 11a and 11b detect the topus wire 20 and change the frequency. Of the torus wires 21 different from each other can be detected. Further, when branching the traverse paths 18 and 19 from the intermediate position of the longitudinal travel path 17, the longitudinal travel path 17 has an alternating current with a frequency different from that of any of the topus wires 20 and 21 laid on the traverse paths 18 and 19. The torus wire that has been washed away is laid.

In any case, the front pickup coils 10a and 10b of the transporting vehicle 15 which enter the traverse route 18 or 19 from the vertical traveling route 17 detect the topus wire 20 corresponding to the front pickup coils 10a and 10b, and also detect the rear pickup coil. 11a and 11b are corresponding topas wires 2
1 is detected, and the steering motor 8 is detected based on these detection results.
As a result, the front steering wheel 1 moves along the torus wire 20 and the rear steering wheel 2 moves along the torus wire 21, so that the transport vehicle 15 traverses. The vehicle travels sideways on the route 18 or 19.

According to the present invention, for example, in the above-mentioned carrier device, as shown in FIGS.
A pair of left and right detectors (reflective photoelectric switches) 22a, 2 are respectively provided at both front and rear end portions 15a, 15b (left and right sides when traversing).
2b and 23a, 23b are attached, and at the vehicle stop positions A and B set in the traverse routes 18 and 19, the normal position of the vehicle 15 at the stop positions A and B is orthogonal to the route direction. When it is stopped at
Of the detector 2a and 22b facing each other and the detector 2
Detected tools (reflecting plates) 14 and 15 that are slightly longer than the interval between the detectors of each pair are disposed at positions facing 3a and 23b, respectively.

[0011] When the destination of the transporting vehicle 15 entering the rightward traverse route 18 from the vertical traveling route 17 and traveling forward in the lateral direction is the stop position A, as shown in FIG. By passing through (not shown), both drive motors 7a and 7b are decelerated, both steering wheels 1 and 2 are switched to the low speed forward rotation state, and the transport vehicle 15 travels forward at low speed. At the same time, the motor 7a for driving the front steering wheel 1 is stopped when the detectors 22a and 22b are both turned on next by passing the stop position one before, and the detectors 23a and 23b are also stopped. When both are turned ON, the motor 7b for driving the rear steering wheel 2 is prepared to be stopped. In this state, when the front portion 15a of the transport vehicle 15 reaches the position where the detectors 22a and 22b simultaneously detect the front and rear end portions of the detected tool 24 and both are turned on, the driving motor 7a is braked, The front steering wheel 1 stops. Similarly, the rear portion 15b of the transport vehicle 15
However, when the detectors 23a and 23b simultaneously detect the front and rear ends of the detected tool 25 and reach the position where both are turned on, the driving motor 7b is braked and the rear steering wheel 2 is stopped.

Therefore, the stop timings of the steering wheels 1 and 2 are the same when the traversing vehicle 15 is in a normal posture orthogonal to the traverse path direction, and one side is inclined so as to be delayed. At this time, the steering wheel 1 or 2 on the leading side stops first. In this way, the transport vehicle 15 automatically stops in the normal position orthogonal to the traverse path direction at the stop position A regardless of the position until reaching the stop position A.

At the above timing, each steering wheel 1,
Even if 2 is stopped, the attitude of the carrier vehicle 15 finally stopped at the stop position A is the normal attitude due to slight movement of the carrier vehicle 15 due to inertia or movement on the opposite side after one side stops first. There is a fear that it will not tilt and will lean. In such a case, the centering control shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 6 and 7 can be performed. The flowchart of FIG. 6 and the flowchart of FIG. 7 are connected to each other at the connection terminals A and B.

That is, after the both drive motors 7a, 7b are braked at the above timing, the detectors 22a, 2
2b is ON in both directions, and if only the detector 22a is ON, the front part 15a of the guided vehicle is in an underrun state relative to the home position, and therefore the drive motor 7a operates the front part. The orbiting wheel 1 is driven in the forward direction to drive the detector 2
If only 2b is in the ON state, the front portion 15a of the guided vehicle is in the overrun state with respect to the fixed position.
The front steering wheel 1 is reversely driven by a to move the front portion 15a of the vehicle forward and backward until both the detectors 22a and 22b are in the ON state.

After the position adjustment of the front part 15a of the transport vehicle is completed or before the position adjustment is performed, the detectors 22a and 22b.
When both are in the ON state, the detectors 23a and 23b
Check whether both are in the ON state, and the detector 2
If only 3a is in the ON state, the rear portion 15b of the guided vehicle is in the underrun state with respect to the fixed position.
b to drive the rear steering wheel 2 in the normal direction, and the detector 23b
If only one is in the ON state, the rear portion 15b of the guided vehicle is in the overrun state with respect to the fixed position, and therefore the rear steering wheel 2 is reversely driven by the drive motor 7b to move the rear portion 15b of the guided vehicle.
b is moved back and forth until both detectors 23a and 23b are in the ON state.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the front part 1 of the carrier vehicle is shown.
When the stop position check and stop position adjustment of 5a and the rear part 15b of the guided vehicle are completed as described above, the same stop position check and stop position adjustment are repeated again. As a result,
For example, the front portion 15a of the transport vehicle stopped at a predetermined position
(Or the rear part 15b of the carrier vehicle) is rotated from a fixed position by rotating the carrier 15 around the substantially central part for the stop position adjustment with respect to the rear part 15b (or the front part 15a) of the carrier vehicle performed subsequently. Even if there is a deviation, the stop position can be corrected to the fixed position again by the second adjustment.

However, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the stop position adjustment for each of the front part 15a and the rear part 15b of the transport vehicle is performed up to a set number of times, for example, up to two times.
After the stop position is adjusted once, the front part 15a of the vehicle and the rear part 15b of the vehicle are fixed, that is, the detectors 22a and 22b of each pair.
Alternatively, when it is not possible to adjust the position where both 23a and 23b are in the ON state, the detectors 22a and 22b or 23a and 2
It is desirable to display an abnormality and stop the centering control when both 3b are turned off.

Note that the above-described transport vehicle stop control and centering control are performed at the stop position B of the leftward traverse route 19 shown in FIG.
The same can be done when the transport vehicle 15 is stopped. However, a point to be noted here is that, in the centering control, the overrun or underrun determined from the ON / OFF states of the detectors 22a, 22b or 23a, 23b of each pair is the rightward traverse route 1
Since it is the opposite of the stop position check performed at the stop position A of No. 8, the detectors 22a, 22b or 23 of each pair are
That is, it is necessary to reverse the rotation direction of the drive motor 7a or 7b, which is determined from the ON and OFF states of a and 23b.

3 and 4 show a layout in which the forward traveling carrier 15 is made to enter the traverse route 18 or 19 from the longitudinal traveling route 17, the forward pickup coils 12a, 12b and A layout in which the transport vehicle 15 traveling backward using 13a and 13b is made to enter the traverse route from the longitudinal traveling route can be similarly configured.

In the embodiment, two front and rear steering wheels 1,
2 was arranged with the position shifted laterally of the transport vehicle,
Both the front and rear two steering wheels 1 and 2 can be arranged on either one of the left and right sides of the carrier vehicle. In addition, although a carrier vehicle that is automatically steered by an electromagnetic induction system that uses a torus wire and a pickup coil is used, it is automatically steered by a photoelectric induction system that uses a light reflection tape and a reflective photoelectric switch. It is also possible to implement the present invention by utilizing a carrier vehicle. Further, a pair of left and right photoelectric switches 22a, 22b and 23a, 23b are used as fixed position detection detectors provided at the front and rear ends of the transport vehicle, respectively. Board 2
4, 25 are provided, but the invention is not limited to this. For example, a reed switch and a permanent magnet, a reed switch biased by a permanent magnet and a magnetic plate, a set of a light emitter and a light receiver, and a light blocking plate,
Other suitable combinations can be adopted. Further, the detectors may be attached downward to the bottom of the transport vehicle without being attached to the front and rear end surfaces of the transport vehicle.

[0021]

As described above, according to the stop positioning apparatus for an unmanned guided vehicle of the present invention, when the laterally traveling guided vehicle reaches the stop position, one of the detection target devices corresponds to the guided vehicle. When one of the detectors on one side detects, the one driving wheel corresponding to the detector is stopped, and when the detector on the other side of the carrier detects the other detected tool, the corresponding one corresponds to the detector. Since the other drive wheel is stopped, it is possible to stop the laterally traveling transport vehicle in a predetermined posture in which the ground-side object to be detected and the transport vehicle-side detector normally correspond.

Therefore, the laterally traveling transport vehicle is laterally attached to, for example, the unloading station, or the positioning (posture determination) when stopped at the unloading station in the horizontal traveling path is performed accurately to load the cargo. Work such as wholesale can be performed safely and reliably.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view illustrating a configuration of a transport vehicle.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a carrier.

FIG. 3 is a plan view illustrating a rightward traverse path.

FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating a leftward traverse path.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a stop control method.

FIG. 6 is the first half of a flowchart for explaining the procedure of centering control.

FIG. 7 is a second half of a flowchart illustrating a centering control procedure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 2 Driving and Steering Wheels 3, 4 Free-wheeling Wheels 5 Vertical Axis 6 Rotating Frame 7a Driving Motor 7b Driving Motor 8 Steering Motor 10a Forward Pickup Coil 10b Forward Pickup Coil 11a Forward Pickup Coil 11b Forward pickup coil 12a Reverse pickup coil 12b Reverse pickup coil 13a Reverse pickup coil 13b Reverse pickup coil 15 Transport vehicle 16 Torpas wire 20 Torpas wire 21 Torpas wire 17 Traveling path 18 Rightward traverse path 19 Left Traverse route 22a Detector (reflection type photoelectric switch) 22b Detector (reflection type photoelectric switch) 23a Detector (reflection type photoelectric switch) 23b Detector (reflection type photoelectric switch) 24 Detected tool (reflection plate) 25 Detected tool (reflector)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An unmanned guided vehicle having a plurality of driving wheels is provided with a stop detector corresponding to each driving wheel, and the unmanned guided vehicle stop position on the ground side is provided at a position corresponding to each of the detectors. An unmanned vehicle characterized in that a detected tool is provided, and when each of the detectors detects a corresponding detected tool, the rotation of the drive wheels corresponding to the detector is independently stopped. Stop positioning device.