JPH11151627A - Automatic carrying vehicle control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To lessen the number of stand-by automatic carrying vehicles at the time of the failure of or periodic inspection for an automatic carrying vehicle by providing an automatic carrying vehicle total management device for integrally managing the automatic carrying vehicles, arranged in plural production lines. SOLUTION: Automatic carrying vehicles 33 and 34, unneeded in a bay 30, receive moving instructions, from an automatic carrying vehicle total management device 1 to a bay 10, and move to the bay 10 passing through an interbay moving route 2 in an on-line condition intact. The vehicles 33 and 34, moved to the bay 10, receive the map data of the bay 10 and teaching data which are a control program inherent in the automatic carrying vehicle in the bay 10, from the total management device 1, at first timing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control system for an automatic carrier having a mechanism for transferring parts and the like, which is used in a production line in a factory.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the transfer of a wafer cassette or the like in a production line in a factory, particularly in a clean room, has been performed by an automatic transfer vehicle (Auto) in order to save labor and maintain the cleanliness of the production line.
maticGuided Vehicle (AGV) is often used. The automatic carrier used here was set up for the purpose of operating only within a unique production line (hereinafter, abbreviated as a bay), and was controlled and operated by a program dedicated to the operating bay.

As an example of the configuration of an automatic transport vehicle and an automatic transport vehicle control device in a factory bay according to the prior art, an automatic transport vehicle 11 and an automatic transport vehicle 12 are arranged in a bay 10 as shown in FIG. These automatic transport vehicles are controlled according to a control program passed from the automatic transport vehicle control device 19 dedicated to the bay 10 and perform predetermined work.

Similarly, an automatic transport vehicle 21, an automatic transport vehicle 22, and an automatic transport vehicle 23 are arranged in the bay 20, and these automatic transport vehicles are transferred from an automatic transport vehicle control device 29 dedicated to the bay 20. A predetermined operation is performed under the control of the control program. The bay 30 has an automatic guided vehicle 31,
Automatic carrier 32, automatic carrier 33 and automatic carrier 34
These automatic transport vehicles are controlled by a control program passed from an automatic transport vehicle control device 39 dedicated to the bay 30.

[0005]

However, in the above-described method, it is necessary to prepare a predetermined number of dedicated automatic transport vehicles for each bay, and it is necessary to prepare for the failure or maintenance of the automatic transport vehicles. It was necessary to keep a standby automatic carrier for each bay. For this reason, the number of auxiliary automatic transport vehicles required increases, and there is a problem that it is not possible to flexibly respond to a change in the production line plan, and a solution has been a problem.

The present invention has been made under such a background, and as an automatic carrier applicable to any bay, the number of automatic carriers used in each bay is changed according to the workload of each bay. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic transport vehicle control system capable of reducing the number of spare automatic transport vehicles.

[0007]

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic transportation vehicle having a plurality of production lines and a transfer mechanism disposed on the production lines. An automatic transport vehicle control device provided for each of the production lines, an automatic transport vehicle total management device for integrally managing the automatic transport vehicles provided on the plurality of production lines, and Provided is an automatic guided vehicle control system including a moving route.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the automatic transport vehicle control system according to the first aspect, when the automatic transport vehicle in one production line is moved to another production line, the automatic transport vehicle total management device is provided. Is moved to another production line through the inter-production-line movement route according to the instruction, and the automatic transportation vehicle control device of the production line after the movement requires predetermined map data and the automatic transportation vehicle for the moved automatic transportation vehicle. The teaching data is read.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the automatic transport vehicle control system according to the first or second aspect, the production line is a production line in a clean room.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a production facility having an automatic guided vehicle control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1A, reference numeral 1 denotes an automatic carrier control device 19, 29, 3 of three production lines connected by a LAN by Ethernet.
9 is an automatic guided vehicle total management device for integrated management of the vehicle 9.

In the three production lines denoted by reference numerals 10, 20 and 30, a plurality of processing machines and the like and stockers such as workpieces and processing tools used in the respective production lines are arranged. Is usually called a bay. In this bay, a work passage for transporting a workpiece or a processing tool or the like between the stocker and the processing machine or the like is provided, and particularly in a clean room bay, for maintaining cleanness and saving labor, An automatic transport vehicle moves along the work passage to transport a workpiece, a processing tool, and the like.

The automatic carrier control device 19 is provided in the bay 10.
An automatic transport vehicle 11 and an automatic transport vehicle 12 controlled by the automatic transport vehicle 12 are provided, and play a predetermined role in the bay 10 such as transport of a workpiece or a tool.

In the bay 20, the automatic carrier control device 29 is provided.
The automatic transport vehicles 21, 22, and 23 controlled by the automatic transport vehicles are provided, and play a predetermined role in the bay 20 such as transport of a workpiece or a tool. .

In the bay 30, there are provided four automatic transport vehicles represented by automatic transport vehicles 31 to 34 which are controlled by the automatic transport vehicle control device 39.
The bay 30 plays a predetermined role such as transporting a workpiece or a tool.

An interbay moving route 2 for transferring an automatic guided vehicle is provided between the bays. The inter-bay movement route 2 is used to transfer the automatic transport vehicles between the production lines when the production amount in each production line fluctuates and a surplus automatic transport vehicle is generated or when the state of the shortage of the automatic transport vehicles occurs. It has the purpose of causing the automatic guided vehicle to move by itself in response to a command issued by the automatic guided vehicle total management device 1.

In the production facility having such a configuration, the work amount in the bay 30 is reduced and the operation can be performed by two automatic transport vehicles, and there are two surplus automatic transport vehicles.
At 0, the workload increases and four automatic transport vehicles are required, and the existing automatic transport vehicle 11 and the automatic transport vehicle 12 alone cannot perform the predetermined transport processing, and the automatic transport is not possible. Suppose a situation occurs where there is a shortage of cars.

In such a situation, by moving two surplus automatic carriers provided in the bay 30 to the bay 10 and using the same in the bay 10, a predetermined amount of work can be achieved in both bays. Can be processed and the availability of production equipment can be improved without the need for new investment.

However, since the automatic transport vehicle to be moved does not have the ability to automatically move to another bay, the automatic transport vehicle total management device 1 sends another bay to the target automatic transport vehicle. To the other bay using this inter-bay movement route 2.

That is, as shown in FIG.
Automatic transportation vehicles 33 and 34 that are no longer needed
, A command to move to the bay 10 is issued from the automatic carrier total management device 1, and moves to the bay 10 through the interbay moving route 2 in the online state.

At the first timing, the automatic transport vehicle 33 and the automatic transport vehicle 34 that have moved to the bay 10 transmit the map data of the bay 10 and the teaching data, which is a control program unique to the automatic transport vehicle of the bay 10, to the automatic transport vehicle. Received from the automatic carrier total management device 1.

The automatic transport vehicle 3 moved to the bay 10
3 and the automatic transport vehicle 34 receive the map data of the bay 10 and the teaching data which is a control program unique to the automatic transport vehicle from the automatic transport vehicle total management device 1, and The operation can be performed.

The operation of one embodiment of the present invention has been described above in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and a design change or the like may be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. The present invention is also included in the present invention. Further, the use place of this system is not limited to the clean room, and the present invention also includes a system using a general-purpose automatic carrier in a production facility in a normal atmosphere other than the clean room.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, an automatic guided vehicle is not unique to a bay, but can be shared by the entire building or factory, and can be moved between bays as necessary. Therefore, the number of spare automatic transport vehicles at the time of failure of the automatic transport vehicle or the periodic inspection can be reduced, and the effect of flexibly responding to a change in the production plan can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a production facility having an automatic guided vehicle control system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a conventional production facility that performs transport by an automatic transport vehicle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 1 Automatic carrier total management device 2 Travel route between production lines (travel route between bays) 10 Production line (bay) 11, 12 Automatic carrier 19 Automatic carrier control device 20 Production line (bay) 21, 22, 23 Automatic carrier Vehicle 29 Automatic carrier control device 30 Production line (bay) 31, 32, 33, 34 Automatic carrier 39 Automatic carrier control

Claims (3)

[Claims] A plurality of production lines, at least one automatic transport vehicle having a transfer mechanism disposed on the production line, the automatic transport vehicle control device provided for each of the production lines, An automatic transport vehicle control system comprising: an automatic transport vehicle total management device that integrally manages the automatic transport vehicles provided in the production line; and a movement route of the automatic transport vehicle between production lines. 2. When an automatic guided vehicle in one production line is moved to another production line, the automatic guided vehicle is moved to another production line through a production line moving route according to an instruction of the automatic guided vehicle total management device, 2. The automatic transport vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a predetermined map data and teaching data required by the automatic transport vehicle are read by the automatic transport vehicle control device of the production line after the movement. Car carrier control system. 3. The automatic carrier control system according to claim 1, wherein the production line is a production line in a clean room.