JPH0714711B2 - Unmanned carrier - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a split type projecting variable bumper arranged in an unmanned conveying device for automatically conveying articles.

(Prior Art) Generally, in an unmanned vehicle that transports articles, the impact at the time of a collision occurs when the travel control system has an obstacle, or when an obstacle or a worker is located on the transportation path. In order to prevent the unmanned guided vehicle itself, and to ensure the safety of obstacles in the transport path or workers, etc., project it in front of and behind the body of the unmanned guided vehicle to mitigate the impact in the event of a collision and to prevent this collision. Bumpers with collision sensors that detect and automatically stop automated guided vehicles are often deployed. Regarding the bumper of such an automatic guided vehicle, the applicant of the present application has previously mentioned in Japanese Patent Application No. 61-135631 that the safety requirement and unmanned automatic transfer in a complicated room such as a clean room for semiconductor manufacturing are involved. Solves the conflicting problem of difficulty in running and loading and unloading vehicles When a bumper is harmonized, that is, the bumper protrusion amount is variably adjusted according to the vehicle speed, and the collision sensor detects contact between an obstacle and the bumper. Proposed a bumper amount variable bumper capable of stopping an automatic guided vehicle within the range of the bumper length.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, if the bumper protrusion amount is variably adjusted according to the vehicle speed and the collision sensor is provided to absorb and avoid the impact as described above, the automatic guided vehicle bends to the left or right. Therefore, when traveling in a high speed state when traveling on a curve, the length of the bumper is set to be long corresponding to the speed, so that the bumper length is too long and the turning radius of the automated guided vehicle widens, causing a difference in the inner ring or Due to the outer ring difference, the unmanned guided vehicle main body or the bumper comes into contact with the installed equipment or the like which is originally in a position where the vehicle can travel without making contact, and an unnecessary stop is forced. Moreover, even if the bumper comes into contact with the bumper, the impact of the collision cannot be sufficiently absorbed because the vehicle is traveling on a curve, and there is a risk of destroying the load of the automatic guided vehicle and the installed equipment.

Also, when traveling on a curve, the speed (acceleration) differs depending on the left and right positions in the traveling direction of the vehicle, so the bumper protrusion length cannot be adjusted appropriately according to the speed, and the bumper length is unnecessarily long or There was also the problem of being short enough. For this reason,
If the bumper length is too long, the above-mentioned harmful effects and risks will be further promoted, and if it is too short, it will be too late when the collision sensor detects a contact, and the collision impact will be given to the carrier vehicle, workers, obstacles, etc. There was a risk of it.

Furthermore, even when going straight ahead, the collision sensor provided on the bumper does not properly respond to obstacles located in front of the left or right vehicle body end of the automated guided vehicle body, and the impact of collision is avoided. There was a danger that I could not do it.

The present invention has been made in view of such conventional circumstances, and improves safety by avoiding a collision impact with an installed device or the like located beside a traveling road even when an automated guided vehicle travels in a curve. An object of the present invention is to provide a split type protrusion amount variable bumper that can be achieved and can avoid the impact of a collision even when an obstacle or the like is located in front of the vehicle width end of the automatic guided vehicle.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides bumpers on the left and right at the front end position in the traveling direction of the automatic guided vehicle body,
In an unmanned transportation device that travels by adjusting the protruding length of the corresponding bumper with an adjusting device, when the unmanned transportation vehicle body bends and travels, when the collision sensor on the side of the curve detects an obstacle, the bumper on the side of the curve bends. The configuration is characterized in that an adjusting device is provided which adjusts the protrusion length to a predetermined length and shortens the protrusion length of another bumper to a predetermined length.

(Operation) In the bumper of the present invention, the speed of the unmanned guided vehicle is low due to the speed-dependent protrusion length adjusting device provided in each bumper divided into at least two parts in the vehicle width direction of the unmanned guided vehicle body. When the vehicle is running at a low speed for a short time, the protruding length of each bumper is automatically adjusted to be short, and at the time of running at a high speed where the travel distance is long, it is automatically adjusted to be long. Since such automatic adjustment is performed independently for each of the divided bumpers, it is possible to adjust the appropriate protrusion length for each bumper according to the traveling state of the automatic guided vehicle, and the collision sensor also Work for each bumper.

For example, when traveling on a left-handed curve at a high speed, the bumper on the left side in the direction of travel is set to have a shorter protrusion length in the first half of the curve to collide with installed equipment such as semiconductor manufacturing equipment on the left side of the curved road. You can drive like not to. At this time, the bumper on the right side in the traveling direction can be variably adjusted to an appropriate length in accordance with the speed (acceleration) determined according to the traveling speed and the curve angle as usual. In addition, in order to avoid contact between the right bumper and the equipment installed diagonally to the front right of the road due to the outer wheel difference, the protruding length of the right bumper can be shortened to the range of the outer wheel difference in the latter half of the left turn curve. Is. In this way, the protruding length of each of the separately arranged bumpers can correspond to the curved state.

Even if the bumper length is set to be short when traveling on a curve as described above, the control device that stops the automatic guided vehicle by the signal from the collision sensor is working, so that it is possible to prevent obstacles on the road. The automated guided vehicle can be stopped, and the impact of collision can be avoided.

In addition, when the automated guided vehicle goes straight ahead or recedes straight, even if an obstacle or the like is located in front of the vehicle width end on the left side or the right side of the automated guided vehicle, the protruding length is adjusted for each bumper and each bumper is adjusted. Since the collision sensor is provided in the vehicle, a more complete response can be taken, and the obstacle can be sufficiently dealt with.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of a split type variable protrusion amount bumper for an automated guided vehicle of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic view showing an automatic guided vehicle in which a split type variable bumper for an automated guided vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention is arranged and semiconductor wafers are transferred in a dust-free chamber. FIGS. 6A to 6C are explanatory views showing an operating state of the split variable bumper for an automated guided vehicle according to the embodiment of the present invention used in FIG.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, the automated guided vehicle main body 1 includes a semiconductor wafer storage carrier 3 by an expandable / contractible loading / unloading arm 2 and an air cleaned by a fan 4 and a HEPA filter 5 provided on the ceiling. Are accommodated in the conveyed article accommodating portion 6 and the traveling drive device 8 controlled by the control device 7 travels in the direction of the arrow in the figure. In addition, the EHPA is installed at the bottom of the automatic guided vehicle body 1.
An exhaust fan 10 for exhausting air through the filter 9 is provided so that dust generated in the automatic guided vehicle main body 1 is not exhausted to the outside.

In the traveling direction of the unmanned guided vehicle body 1, a collision sensor 11 connected to the control device 7 and a protrusion length adjusting device 12 are provided respectively, and a pair of bumpers 13 divided into two left and right in the vehicle width direction. , 13a are provided. Such bumpers 13,13a
Is formed of an elastic member such as urethane rubber in order to absorb impact.

The protrusion length of the pair of bumpers 13 and 13a described above is determined by the collision sensor 11 included in each of the bumpers 13 and 13a depending on the speed of the automated guided vehicle, after detecting contact with any bumper 13 or 13a and obstacles. The protrusion length adjusting device 12 adjusts the length to a length slightly longer than the actually measured distance required until the vehicle body 1 stops. Further, the protrusion length adjusting device 12 can adjust not only the speed control but also the protrusion length of each bumper 13, 13a for each bumper according to the traveling state such as a curve.

2 (a) to 2 (c) show the operating states of the bumpers 13 and 13a which are variably adjusted by the protrusion length adjusting device 12, and FIG. 2 (a) shows the automatic guided vehicle in a straight traveling state. When the vehicle is traveling at low speed, Fig. 2 (b) shows that the automated guided vehicle is traveling at a high speed in a straight state, and Fig. 2 (c) shows that the automated guided vehicle is traveling to the left (in the first half of the curve). In the step), the operating state is shown when the protruding length of the left bumper 13 is shortened. In the latter half of the curve in FIG. 2 (c), if the protruding length of the bumper 13 on the right side is shortened, a collision due to a difference in outer wheel can be avoided. Reference numeral 14 in the figure denotes installed equipment such as semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

In the above embodiment, the bumper according to the present invention is arranged as a pair of left and right bumpers 13, 13a at the forward position of the unmanned guided vehicle main body 1 in the traveling direction, but is further divided into three or more. Alternatively, not only the front position but also the rear position and the side position may be arranged. Further, the bumper shape is not limited to the illustrated shape, but may be another shape such as an arc shape, and a spring or the like may be additionally added as a cushioning material.

3 and 4 are graphs showing the relationship between the protruding length of the bumper and the speed of the automatic guided vehicle according to the present embodiment adjusted by the protruding length adjusting device 12, and FIG. 3 corresponds to the speed. Then, the amount of change in protrusion length that is analog-controlled is represented by curve C,
The dotted curve E represents the change during traveling on the curve. Further, FIG. 4 shows the amount of change similarly in the case of digital control by a polygonal line D and a dotted curve F. Both figures are graphs showing an example of the protrusion amount of only one bumper, but as described above,
The amount of protrusion can be set for each bumper according to the traveling state.

FIG. 5 shows a main part of another embodiment of the present invention.
In the automatic guided vehicle of this embodiment, a pair of rod-shaped bumpers 13b and 13c are provided on the left and right sides of the automatic guided vehicle main body 1 in the traveling direction, and the projection length is changed by rotating the pair of bumpers 13b and 13c. The protrusion length adjusting device 12a for causing the bumper 13b and the collision sensor 11a for detecting the pressure applied to the bumpers 13b and 13c from the front position are provided. In addition,
The bumper 13b, 13c may be attached to the front portion of the automated guided vehicle main body 1 at a stepped position in the vertical direction.

In this embodiment having the above configuration, the protrusion length adjusting device 12a is
The bumper 13b, 13c is configured to rotate when a rotational force of a certain value or more generated by the pressure applied to the bumpers 13b and 13c from the front is generated, and absorbs the impact of contact.

Further, the protrusion length of the pair of bumpers 13b, 13c corresponds to the speed of the automatic guided vehicle, as in the above-described embodiment, and the collision sensor
11a is adjusted to a length slightly longer than the actually measured distance required until the automated guided vehicle main body 1 stops after detecting contact of any bumper 13b, 13c with an obstacle, etc. It is adjusted individually according to the running conditions such as curves.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

In the bumpers 13, 13a, 13b, 13c of the present embodiment, the protrusion length adjustment corresponding to the speed provided for each bumper 13, 13a, 13b, 13c which is divided into at least two in the width direction of the automated guided vehicle body 1 By means of the devices 12 and 12a, the projecting length of each bumper 13, 13a, 13b, 13c is automatically adjusted to a short value when the unmanned guided vehicle 1 is running at a low speed and a short stop distance, and the stop distance is long. When driving at high speeds, the length is automatically adjusted. Such automatic adjustment is performed by dividing each of the bumpers 13, 1
3a, 13b, 13c are performed independently, so that the protrusion length of each bumper can be adjusted by the protrusion length adjusting device 12, 12a provided on each bumper according to the traveling state of the automatic guided vehicle, and the collision sensor 11,11a also works for each bumper. For example, when traveling on a left-handed curve at a high speed, the bumper on the left side in the direction of travel is set to have a shorter protrusion length in the first half of the curve to collide with installed equipment such as semiconductor manufacturing equipment on the left side of the curved road. You can drive like not to. At this time, the bumper 13a (or 13c, 13c) on the right side in the traveling direction corresponds to the speed (acceleration) determined according to the traveling speed and the curve angle as usual,
It can be variably adjusted to an appropriate length. Also, in order to avoid contact between the right bumper and the equipment installed diagonally to the front right of the road due to the difference in outer wheels, in the latter half of the left turn curve,
It is also possible to shorten the protruding length of the right bumper to within the range of the outer ring difference. In this way, the protruding length of each of the separately arranged bumpers can correspond to the curved state.

As described above, the bumper 13a,
Even if the bumper length of 13c is set to be short, even if the protrusion length is changed for each bumper, due to the action of the collision sensors 11, 11a provided in each bumper, a signal from the collision sensor 11, 11a Since the control device 7 for stopping the automatic guided vehicle operates, the automatic guided vehicle can be stopped just at the protrusion length of the bumpers 13, 13a, 13b, 13c, and the impact of the collision can be absorbed and avoided.

Further, even when an obstacle or the like is located in front of the vehicle width end of the unmanned guided vehicle body 1, the protrusion length is adjusted for each bumper 13, 13a, 13b, 13c, and the collision provided for each bumper is adjusted. Sensor 1
Since 1,11a works, we can take a more complete correspondence,
It is possible to sufficiently cope with the obstacle and avoid the impact of collision.

(Effect of the invention) As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the bumper arranged at the front or rear of the unmanned guided vehicle body in the traveling direction is divided into at least two in the vehicle width direction, Since each of the at least two bumpers arranged in a divided manner is provided with a protrusion length adjusting device from the body of the automated guided vehicle and a collision sensor for detecting contact with an obstacle,
Even when the automated guided vehicle travels in a curve or rotates, the automated guided vehicle can be stopped within the bumper protrusion length when a collision with an obstacle or the like located on a curved road is avoided, and the impact of the collision is avoided. It is possible to improve the safety of the automatic guided vehicle itself, obstacles, workers and the like. In addition, when the automated guided vehicle travels straight or in a curve, even when an obstacle or the like is located in front of the vehicle width end of the automated guided vehicle,
Since the bumper protrusion length adjusting device and the collision sensor of each of the bumpers divided into at least two parts work effectively, there is an effect that the impact of a collision can be avoided.

Further, according to the present invention, comparing the impact force that collides with the bumper of the automated guided vehicle body on the bending side with the impact force that collides with the other outside bumper, the speed of the bending side bumper is the speed of the other bumper. Since it is slower, the impact force of the outer bumper is larger, so the cushioning value can be increased by increasing the specified length of this bumper, and the turning radius can be increased by shortening the bumper on the curved side. Becomes larger, which enables smoother bends. Therefore, the impact force of the bending side bumper and the impact force of the outside bumper are substantially the same, so the bumper has the same impact force, and the unmanned conveyance vehicle body reliably and even when bending. The effect of being able to stop while maintaining a sense of stability is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic view of an automated guided vehicle in which a split-type protruding amount variable bumper for an automated guided vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention is arranged in front of the automated guided vehicle body to carry semiconductor wafers in a dust-free chamber. FIGS. 2 (a) to 2 (c) are explanatory views showing an operating state of the split type protruding amount variable bumper for an automatic guided vehicle according to the embodiment of the present invention used in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 and FIG. FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between the protruding length of the bumper adjusted by the protruding length adjusting device and the speed of the automatic guided vehicle, and FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing the main part of another embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure. 1 ... Automated guided vehicle body 7 ... Control device 11,11a ... Collision sensor 12,12a ... Projection length adjustment device 13,13a, 13b, 13c ........ Bumper

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Riki Tomoyoshi 1-26-2, Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Within Tokyo Electron Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-62-293322 (JP, A) JP-A-SHO 60-113750 (JP, A) JP-A-62-212709 (JP, A) Jitsuko 51-35735 (JP, Y2)

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claims: 1. An unmanned carrier device in which bumpers are provided on the left and right at the front end position in the traveling direction of an unmanned carrier body, and the corresponding bumper protrusion lengths are adjusted by an adjusting device for traveling. At this time, when the collision sensor on the bend side detects an obstacle, the adjusting device adjusts the protruding length of the bumper on the bending side to a predetermined length and shortens the protruding length of other bumpers to a predetermined length. An unmanned conveyance device characterized by being provided with.