JPH06270040A - Control for automatic transfer equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To carry out the transfer of a workpiece with high efficiency by grasping the situation at present of all the processing equipment independently of the existence of the output of the transfer demand at the workpiece, when the transfer demand is outputted from any of the processing equipment, in the control method for the transfer equipment applied in an FA line or for an automatic warehouse. CONSTITUTION:The processing situation at present in each working machine 1, 2, 3 and the output situation of the transfer demand for carrying out the transfer of a work are checked in the proper timing. The generation timing of the transfer demand supplied from each working machine which does not output the transfer demand is estimated, and the evaluation of the transfer order is carried out by the weighting on the basis of the estimated generation timing of the transfer demand and the transfer demand at present. A transfer vehicle 5 is controlled for the working machines 1, 2, and 3 according to the evaluated transfer order, and work transfer is carried out.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control method for automatic transportation equipment applicable to so-called FA lines and automatic warehouses having processing equipment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in this type of automatic transfer equipment, a work is transferred in response to a work transfer request output from any one of a plurality of processing equipments such as processing machines and warehouses. A vehicle (transportation facility) is operated to transport the work between a plurality of processing facilities. Then, in the above-described automatic transfer equipment, for example, when a plurality of processing equipments simultaneously output a transfer request, the processing equipments are given priority to each processing equipment according to a preset priority according to the processing capacity and the processing amount of each processing equipment. On the other hand, the transfer vehicle is automatically controlled and the work is transferred. As one based on the above control technique, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-
Techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 128104 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-226607 are known.

[0003]

However, in the conventional technique as described above, among the transportation requests currently output without considering the existence of the processing equipment which has not output the transportation request,
The following problems have been pointed out because the guided vehicles are automatically controlled according to the preset priority order. That is, for example, in the situation where a transport vehicle is located in the vicinity of the processing facility that is currently being processed but is expected to finish processing soon and output the transport request, the transport request is output from the processing facility at a distant position. In such a case, the above-mentioned transfer vehicle must return to the processing equipment located in the vicinity of the processing equipment after finishing the transfer processing of the work in the processing equipment at the above-mentioned distant position, which is preferable in terms of transfer efficiency. I can not say. Therefore, the present invention was devised in view of the above circumstances, and regardless of whether or not a transfer request is output, the present situation of all the processing equipment to be controlled is grasped, and the transfer request is sent from any one of the processing equipment. It is an object of the present invention to provide a control method for an automatic transfer facility that can efficiently transfer a work when output is performed.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the main means adopted by the present invention is the gist of the invention. However, the transfer of a work is performed in response to a work transfer request output from a work processing facility. In the control method of the automatic transfer facility for operating the equipment and transferring the work between a plurality of processing equipments, the current processing status and the output status of the transfer request in each processing equipment are detected at an appropriate timing and the transfer request is transmitted. Predict the generation timing of the transfer request from other processing equipment that is not outputting, evaluate the transfer order by weighting based on the predicted generation time of the transfer request and the existing transfer request, and evaluate the evaluated transfer order. Is a method for controlling an automatic transportation facility according to the point that the above-mentioned transportation facility is operated.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings for the understanding of the present invention. The following embodiments are examples of embodying the present invention and are not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention. Here, FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of an automatic transfer facility capable of implementing a control method according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in the automatic transfer facility, and FIG. It is explanatory drawing in the case of evaluating the conveyance order with respect to processing equipment. The automatic transfer equipment to which the control method according to this embodiment can be applied is as shown in FIG.
A plurality of processing equipments such as processing machines 1, 2, 3, ..., which perform processing of workpieces, and a warehouse 4 storing the above-mentioned workpieces, and a carrier vehicle for transporting the workpieces between the processing equipments in response to a request for transporting the workpieces. 5 (transport facility), and a control device 6 for evaluating the transport sequence of the works with respect to a plurality of processing facilities and controlling the transport vehicle 5 in accordance with the evaluated transport sequence. The control device 6 further stores, for example, data relating to a processing plan for one day in each processing machine, and the data is output to each processing machine. Also,
The operating rate of each processing machine is calculated from the processing amount and setup time of each processing machine. The weighting coefficient for rank is set high, and this data is also input.

When determining the above-mentioned priorities,
It may be determined according to the importance of the work to be processed. Subsequently, the control procedure in the automatic transfer facility will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. In addition, in FIG.
S1, S2, ... Show each processing step. Also, for the sake of explanation, the processing equipment is targeted at the processing machines 1, 2, and 3,
The weighting coefficient of each processing machine is 1 in the processing machine 1, 5 in the processing machine 5, and 9 in the processing machine 3.
And First, the current processing status and output status of the transfer request in each processing machine are checked at appropriate timing (S1), and a transfer request is generated from a processing machine that has not output a transfer request, that is, a processing machine that is currently processing. The time is predicted (S2). Specifically, in each processing machine, the timing of occurrence of a transport request based on the present time is predicted from the difference between the preset standard work time and the elapsed work time. Then, when the work is finished on any of the processing machines and, for example, the transport request is output from the processing machine 1 (S3), at S4,
After that, the transport state by the transport vehicle 5 and the operating states of the processing machines 1, 2, and 3 are simulated for a certain time, and the transport order for each processing machine is evaluated. This evaluation procedure will be described in detail. At the current time when the transport request is output from the processing machine 1, for example, if the situation is as shown in FIG. 3A, both the processing machines 2 and 3 are currently performing processing work, but processing is performed more than the processing machine 2. It is predicted that the machine 3 will finish the work earlier and output the transport request soon.

Here, as shown in FIGS. 2B to 2G, all combinations (6 ways) of the processing order of the work carried by the carrier 5 to the processing machines 1, 2 and 3 are determined, and the respective combinations are determined. In this case, the transport waiting time from the time when the transport request is generated in each processing machine to the arrival of the transport vehicle 5 when the transport processing sequence is followed is calculated, and the evaluation value of the transport processing sequence for each case is obtained. Specifically, for each processing machine, each waiting time is multiplied by each weighting coefficient to calculate each evaluation value, and the total evaluation value for each combination of each transport processing order is obtained by summing each evaluation value. It can be seen that the lower the total evaluation value, the shorter the waiting time of the processing machine with the higher priority, and the better the transfer efficiency. Therefore, the total evaluation value in this example is 43 in the case of (B),
24 in the case of (C), 38 in the case of (D), 81 in the case of (E), 100 in the case of (F), and 14 in the case of (G).
Since it is 8, the work can be transported most efficiently by controlling the movement of the transport vehicle 5 according to the transport processing sequence 3, 2, 1 shown in (C) having the lowest value (S5). . That is, rather than immediately moving the transport vehicle 5 in accordance with the transport request from the existing processing machine 1, the processing machine 3 is expected to finish processing soon and output the transport request. It is most efficient to carry the work according to (1) and then carry the work to the processing machines 2, 1. Depending on the situation at the time when a transfer request is output from any one of the processing machines, if the work is transferred immediately without waiting for the processing of the other processing machines to finish, the transfer efficiency is the best. Needless to say, there are cases where it occurs. In the above embodiment,
The case where the control method according to the present invention is applied to only the processing machine as the processing equipment has been described as an example, but the same can be applied when the warehouse 4 is added as the processing equipment to the above configuration. Furthermore, even when handling a plurality of transport vehicles, it can be similarly implemented by simulating a method of distributing a transport request for each transport vehicle.

[0008]

As described above, according to the present invention, the automatic transfer system for operating the work transfer equipment in response to the work transfer request output from the work processing equipment and transferring the work among a plurality of processing equipments. In the equipment control method, the current processing status of each processing equipment and the output status of the transportation request are detected at an appropriate timing to predict the generation timing of the transportation request from other processing equipment that does not output the transportation request. The control method of the automatic transfer equipment is such that the transfer order is evaluated by weighting based on the predicted occurrence time of the transfer request and the existing transfer request, and the transfer equipment is operated according to the evaluated transfer order. Therefore, regardless of whether or not a transfer request is output, the current status of all the processing equipment to be controlled is grasped, and it is effective when the transfer request is output from any of the processing equipment. Good it can be performed workpiece transfer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of automatic transportation equipment that can carry out a control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in the automatic transfer facility.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a case where a transfer order is evaluated for a plurality of processing facilities.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 2, 3, ... Processing machine (processing equipment) 4 ... Warehouse (processing equipment) 5 ... Transport vehicle (transport equipment) 6 ... Control device S1 to S5 ... Processing step

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method for controlling an automatic transfer facility for operating a work transfer facility in response to a work transfer request output from a work processing facility and transferring the work between a plurality of process facilities, at an appropriate timing. Detects the current processing status and output status of the transfer request at each processing facility, predicts the time when the transfer request is generated from other processing equipment that does not output the transfer request, and generates the predicted transfer request. A method for controlling automatic transportation equipment, in which the transportation order is evaluated by weighting based on time and existing transportation request, and the transportation equipment is operated according to the evaluated transportation order.