JPH08289414A - Magnetic levitation conveyance system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent the lowering of the movement efficiency of a conveyance vehicle by adjusting the charging time of an on-vehicle battery in order to enhance the conveyance efficiency of a magnetic levitation conveyance system. CONSTITUTION: A means for controlling the number of an actual conveyance vehicle is included in a charging control device 6 for controlling a charging station 4, and when a signal for indicating that any of the conveyance vehicles on the main line becomes the object for charging is received, the situation of the other conveyance vehicle is investigated, and when the number of the actual conveyance vehicle on the main line is not more than a prescribed number, it is delayed to enter a charging-object conveyance vehicle into a charging station by the means for controlling the number of an actual conveyance vehicle. Therefore, since one or more of conveyance vehicles are made to exist on the main line during the operation of the system, the substantial stop of conveyance is avoided, so that the lowering of conveyance efficiency may be prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic levitation transportation system which adjusts the charging timing of a battery mounted on a transportation vehicle to improve the operation efficiency of the transportation vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a battery mounted on a magnetically levitated vehicle has been subjected to a method of maintaining the required remaining charge by performing periodic charging by time management. When a certain discharge (running) time has passed from the previous charge, the charge management device issues a charge instruction to the transport vehicle on the main line through the operation control system. In response to this command, the carrier vehicle enters the charging station, where the vehicle-mounted battery is electrically connected to the charger, and charging is performed while controlling the charging voltage and current by the charging control circuit in the charger. Then, the carrier vehicle that has been charged is returned to the main line again.

Charging stations are usually installed for the number of transport vehicles in consideration of long-term shutdown of the transport system. This is because restarting can be performed without any problems even after a long-term suspension. That is, in order to levitate the transport vehicle by remote control when restarting after a long-term stop, the remote control signal receiving unit must be in an always operating state even during a long-term stop,
Therefore, it is necessary to keep the charge remaining amount detection circuit for grasping the charge remaining amount of the battery in the operating state, and the battery consumption due to this is inevitable.

If the remaining charge is insufficient due to the battery consumption during the long-term stop, recharging cannot occur if the transport vehicle is located at a place other than the charging station, and the system cannot be started. On the other hand, if all the vehicles are stored in the charging station, they can be charged and restarted without any trouble. For the above reasons, the number of charging stations is the same as the number of transport vehicles.

[0005]

As described above, if the number of charging stations is the same as the number of transport vehicles and charging is performed by time management of the batteries, all vehicles may enter the charging stations at the same time. In this case, the number of vehicles on the main line is zero, and the transportation is temporarily stopped, so that the transportation efficiency is significantly reduced.

Further, conventionally, a carrier to be charged is randomly stored in an empty charging station. Therefore, the use of the charging station is biased, and the mechanical parts of a specific charging station, which has a high utilization rate, and electronic parts. There is also a problem that the parts are being worn out and the charging station is out of order quickly.

An object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic levitation transfer system which takes measures against these problems.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the present invention, a magnetically levitated vehicle equipped with a battery is loaded into a charging station from the main line based on a charging time arrival signal from a charging management device. , In a magnetic levitation transportation system that charges the on-vehicle battery to return to the main line, includes means for managing the number of production vehicles on the main line, and the number management means charges any of the vehicles on the main line. When receiving the signal that the target vehicle has been subject to, check the status of other transport vehicles, and if the number of actual transport vehicles on the main line is not more than the specified number, delay the entry of the target transport vehicle to the charging station, During the system operation, one or more carrier vehicles are allowed to exist on the main line (claim 1).

Regarding the transport system that needs to solve the problem of premature failure of the specific charging station due to the variation in the usage frequency of the charging station,
The charging management device is provided with a function of storing charging histories of a plurality of charging stations and allocating a vehicle to be stored next to a charging station having a shallow charging history (claim 2).

Regarding the transfer system of the present invention,
When an emergency charging request is issued from a vehicle on the main line when the number of vehicles on the main line is below the specified number, the charging management device investigates the charging status of the vehicle being charged and determines the charging time. If there is a delivery vehicle that exceeds the limit, charging for that delivery vehicle is forcibly terminated, and the number management means replaces the delivery vehicle forcibly charged and the emergency charging request vehicle is stored in the charging station. It is more desirable to set it (Claim 3).

Further, in the system having the structure of claim 3, the charge management device is provided with a function of shortening and correcting the traveling time until the next charging in consideration of the previous charging time of the forcibly-charged transfer vehicle. More desirable.

[0012]

[Action]

Claim 1 Since there is always one or more transport vehicles on the main line and the transport does not stop completely even if temporarily, it is possible to suppress a reduction in transport efficiency.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, by sorting the incoming charging stations by managing the charging history, the usage frequencies of the charging stations are averaged, and the biased use of the specific station is prevented.

Claim 3 When the number of vehicles on the main line is limited to a specified number, when the vehicle that has issued the emergency charging request is stored in a vacant charging station, the number of vehicles on the main line becomes less than the specified number and the transportation efficiency is reduced. Is reduced, but without using an empty charging station,
Since the unloading portion is offset by the vehicle forcibly charged and the urgent charging request vehicle is stored, it is possible to maintain the effect of suppressing lowering of the transfer efficiency and also to charge the urgent charging request vehicle.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, when the carrier vehicle forcibly finished charging, when the next charging is carried out normally, the remaining charge amount becomes insufficient on the way, and the emergency charging is required. If emergency charging occurs frequently, system operation becomes awkward and transport efficiency decreases, but if the running time until the next charging is shortened and corrected to accelerate the next charging, the effect of the forced charging termination will not be noticeable.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows an outline of an example of a magnetic levitation transport system of the present invention. This transport system includes a main line track 1 provided with a loading / unloading station 2 at required points, a carrier vehicle 3 that levitates on this track, a charging station 4 provided in the same number as the number of carrier vehicles 3, and an operation control. Device 5 and
It is composed of a charge management device 6.

The transport vehicle 3 includes a levitation magnet that applies a magnetic attraction force to a ferromagnetic rail of the track, a levitation control circuit that performs feedback control based on a signal from a gap sensor to maintain a constant levitation amount, and a track. It is a well-known transport vehicle including a secondary conductor (none of which is shown) that constitutes a linear motor for propulsion in combination with a primary stator provided on the side.

The carrier vehicle is equipped with a battery for supplying the required electric power on the vehicle, and is electrically connected to the battery charge remaining amount monitoring circuit, the communication circuit, and the charger of the battery charging station 4. A charging terminal and the like for connection are provided.

The operation control device 5 has a traveling control function of the transport vehicle 3, the status of each transport vehicle (position, travel route, whether it is an actual vehicle or an empty vehicle,
Whether the vehicle is running or stopped) and the travel time of each transport vehicle, the function of receiving an emergency charging request and battery residual information from the transport vehicle, the charge management device 6, and the travel time of each transport vehicle. It has a function of transmitting the identification information of the carrier vehicle and the on-board battery and the instruction of emergency charging.

On the other hand, the charge management device 6 includes means for managing the charging time of each carrier vehicle and means for managing the number of actual carrier vehicles on the main line. In addition, the function of controlling the charging station 4, the charging history of each charging station is stored,
A function to select and specify a charging station with a shallow charging history as the destination of the next vehicle to be charged for charging, the number of vehicles on the main line is the specified number (this is the desired lower limit number of production vehicles, When the emergency charging request is issued from a vehicle on the main line under the condition that the number of vehicles is below the limit, the charging status of the vehicle being charged is investigated, and there is a vehicle whose charging time exceeds the set time. For example, the function of forcibly ending the charging for the vehicle, the operation control device 5 for the vehicle to be charged.
It has a function to issue a warehousing instruction via.

The charging time management means detects a carrier vehicle when the charging time comes, by time management, and outputs a notification signal thereof. When this charging time arrival signal is output, the number-of-movements management means of the actual transport vehicle investigates the status of other transport vehicles based on the information from the operation control device 5, and if the number of transport vehicles on the main line is more than the specified number. A banning signal for the vehicle that has reached the charging time is issued to the operation control device 5 to delay the unloading of the vehicle. On the other hand, if the number of vehicles on the main line exceeds the specified number,
The operation control device 5 stores the corresponding transport vehicle in the designated charging station.

FIG. 2 shows a specific example of the control flow relating to this. When a charge request (either the charge time arrival signal from the charge time management means or the emergency charge request signal from the transport vehicle) is issued, the number management means investigates the number of actual vehicles on the main line. The number of actual vehicles referred to here includes not only vehicles running on the main line but also vehicles loading and unloading luggage at the station 2. Next, it is judged whether the number of production vehicles on the main line exceeds the specified number, and if it exceeds the number, it is targeted for the designated charging station (here, the charging station with the shallowest charging history). The vehicle is parked and charged. On the other hand, if the number of production vehicles does not exceed the specified number, it is confirmed whether the charging request is due to an emergency charging request. If the result is NO, it means that the number of vehicles on the main line exceeds the specified number. It delays the entry of the target vehicle into the charging station and allows the carrier to operate normally until one of the vehicles finishes charging and returns to the main line. If the answer is YES to the question of an emergency charging request, investigate the charging time of each carrier vehicle being charged,
Check to see if there is a vehicle that has a longer actual charging time than the set time (this is shorter than the full charging time within the range where it can be returned to the main line without any problem). And the answer is YE
If it is S, the charging of the guided vehicle that has exceeded the set time is forcibly ended, and the guided vehicle forcibly charged is returned to the main line and run by the control of the operation control device 5. In addition, the charging station with the shortest charging history is selected from among the empty charging stations including the charging station that is now empty, and the transport vehicle of the emergency charging request is stored in the charging station and charging is performed. Note that the transport vehicle that has been forcibly finished charging and has been discharged is not fully charged, and therefore the travelable time until the next charging is shorter than usual. Therefore, the appropriate running time until the next charging is calculated in consideration of the actual charging time at the time of forced termination, and the running time until the next charging is shortened and corrected so that the next charging instruction will be issued when that time has elapsed. It is good to keep it. By doing so, a shortage of the remaining charge during running does not occur, and a more reliable system can be constructed.

Next, when the answer to the above question is NO (when there is no carrier vehicle whose actual charging time is longer than the set time)
, The transport vehicle for the emergency charging request is stored in the vacant charging station (which also has a short charging history, of course). In this case, the number of production vehicles on the main line will be less than the specified number, but considering the remarkable reduction in the transportation efficiency when the vehicle cannot run due to insufficient battery level, the number of production vehicles will be less than the specified number. Also, it is advantageous to perform emergency charging. In this case, if the transport vehicles whose actual charging time has reached the set time are forcibly finished charging and then returned to the main line, the time required for the number of actual vehicles to fall below the specified number will not be so long. As a result, it is possible to quickly recover the transport efficiency that has temporarily decreased.

It should be noted that adding a function of storing the charging history of each charging station to the charging management device and selecting a charging station with a shallow charging history as the storage destination of the next vehicle to be charged means that the charging station has a uniform life. This function is effective in terms of conversion, but this function may be added as needed.

[0025]

As described above, in the magnetic levitation transfer system of the present invention, one or more transfer vehicles are placed on the main line during operation by adjusting the charging timing of the on-vehicle battery. The number of moving vehicles rarely becomes zero (there may be zero when priority charging of vehicles requiring emergency charging occurs, but this is extremely rare and takes a short time), and the transport efficiency can be improved.

Further, the structure to which the structure of claim 2 is added is as follows.
The life of the charging station can be made uniform, and the total repair time can be shortened. This also has a positive effect on the improvement of the transportation efficiency.

Further, according to the invention to which the configuration of claim 3 is added, since the number of actual vehicles is maintained at a prescribed number or more if there is a vehicle whose actual charging time exceeds the set value even when an emergency charging is requested, The efficiency improvement effect is further enhanced.

In addition to the above, the configuration according to claim 4 is added to prevent shortage of the battery remaining amount of the carrier vehicle forcibly finished charging at the time of emergency charging request, reduce the number of emergency charging requests, and improve the transportation efficiency. It becomes easier to maintain.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of an example of a magnetic levitation transportation system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an example of control by the charge management device of the system of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 main track 2 loading / unloading station 3 transport vehicle 4 charging station 5 operation control device 6 charging management device

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] July 18, 1995

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0007

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[0007] The present onset Ming, has been an object of the present invention to provide a magnetic levitation transport system, which has taken measures against this, such as the problem.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Internal reference number FI Technical indication H02J 7/04 H02J 7/04 C

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A magnetic levitation transportation system in which a battery-equipped magnetic levitation transportation vehicle is loaded from a main line to a charging station based on a charging time arrival signal from a charge management device, the on-vehicle battery is charged, and the vehicle is returned to the main line. In the above, when the number management means of the production carrier vehicles on the main line is included, and the number management means receives a signal indicating that one of the carrier vehicles on the main line has been charged, the other carrier vehicles are If there are more than the specified number of production vehicles on the main line, delay the loading of the charge target vehicles to the charging station, and allow one or more vehicles to exist on the main line during system operation. Magnetic levitation transportation system characterized by. 2. The magnetic levitation according to claim 1, wherein the charging management device is provided with a function of storing charging histories of a plurality of charging stations and allocating a vehicle to be loaded next to a charging station having a shallow charging history. Transport system. 3. When an emergency charging request is issued from a transport vehicle on the main line under a situation where the number of transport vehicles on the main line falls below a prescribed number, the charge management device investigates the charging status of the transport vehicle being charged,
If there is a transporting vehicle whose charging time exceeds the set time, the charging for that transporting vehicle is forcibly terminated, and the number management means replaces the forced charging completed transporting vehicle to store the emergency charging request vehicle at the charging station. The magnetic levitation transportation system according to claim 1, which is configured to perform. 4. The magnetic levitation transfer system according to claim 3, wherein the charge management device is provided with a function of shortening and correcting the traveling time until the next charge in consideration of the previous charge time of the forcibly-charged transfer vehicle.