JPH11156652A - Control system for automatic carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate the smooth running of even a number of automatic carriers used on the same production line by starting, if transfer work is carried out for parts or the like by one automatic carrier, transfer work by the other automatic carrier after load transfer work is finished by the one automatic carrier. SOLUTION: Automatic carriers AGV5 to 7 are moved in the path 21 of a production line 20, load specified part items among part items stored in a stocker 22 and transfer the same to the machine 23 of a specified work machine. On the same production line, the plurality of automatic carriers AGV5 to 7 are located close to each other and, when these carriers simultaneously carry out part item transfer work, if there is a possibility of interference between the arms of the transfer mechanisms of the automatic carriers AGV5 and 6, control is performed to prevent the other adjacent automatic carrier AGV6 from carrying out transfer work until the transfer work by the one automatic carrier AGV5 is finished.

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 transfer mechanism using a robot arm.

[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 guided vehicle (AGV) used here is:
It operates as a dedicated machine in a unique production line (hereinafter abbreviated as a bay), and is controlled and operated by a program dedicated to the operating bay. In addition, in order to save labor and maintain cleanliness, an automatic transfer vehicle (AGV) having a transfer mechanism using a robot arm is often used mainly for handling semiconductor wafer cassettes and the like in a production line, particularly in a clean room.

An automatic carrier (AG) used in a production line
V) receives an operation command from an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) control device by wireless communication via a modem (modem) and a transceiver (transceiver), and follows a path in a production line according to the operation command to a predetermined processing machine or the like. In order to transfer parts such as wafer cassettes.

[0005]

However, according to the above-mentioned method, when a plurality of automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) with robot arms work at positions close to each other in a passage of a production line, the automatic guided vehicles (AGV) are used. However, there is a problem that the robot arms of the transfer mechanism contact each other and work cannot be performed smoothly, and a solution has been a problem.

The present invention has been made under such a background, and when a plurality of automatic transport vehicles (AGVs) move to a close opposing stop position to perform a transfer operation, one automatic transport vehicle (AGV) is used. After the transfer operation of the (AGV) is completed, the transfer operation of the next automatic transfer vehicle (AGV) is started.
An object of the present invention is to provide a control method V).

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a production line having a plurality of automatic transport vehicles, wherein when the plurality of automatic transport vehicles are located in close proximity to each other, one of the automatic transport vehicles is provided. If the automatic transport vehicle is performing a transfer operation of parts and the like, another automatic transport vehicle starts the transfer operation after the one automatic transport vehicle has completed the transfer operation. Provide vehicle control system.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the control system for an automatic guided vehicle according to the first aspect, wherein the production line is a production line in a clean room.

[0009]

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 illustrating a configuration of a control device for an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a host computer, which issues an overall operation command to an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) controller 2. An automatic guided vehicle (AGV) controller 2 includes a modem (modem) 3
It controls the operation and transport operations of an automatic carrier vehicle (AGV) 5, an automatic carrier vehicle (AGV) 6, and an automatic carrier vehicle (AGV) 7 via a transceiver (transceiver) 4.

An automatic guided vehicle (AGV) 5 includes a transceiver 51
The control signal is received from the automatic carrier (AGV) controller 2 via the modem 52, the automatic carrier (AGV) driving unit 53 is controlled via the modem 52, and the transfer mechanism 54
And to drive other mechanisms. Further, the automatic guided vehicle (AGV) 6 receives a control signal from the automatic guided vehicle (AGV) controller 2 by a transceiver 61 and controls an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) driving unit 63 via a modem 62. The transfer mechanism 64 and other mechanisms are driven. Further, the automatic guided vehicle (AGV) 7 is controlled by the transceiver 71 by the automatic guided vehicle (AGV) controller 2.
, And controls an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) driving unit 73 via a modem 72 to control the transfer mechanism 7
4 and other mechanisms are driven.

The automatic transport vehicle (AG) having such a configuration
FIG. 2 shows an actual layout of a production line using V). In this figure, an automatic transport vehicle (AGV) 5, an automatic transport vehicle (AGV) 6 and an automatic transport vehicle (AGV) 7 are arranged in a passage 21 of a production line 20, move in this passage 21, and move to a stocker 22. The designated parts are loaded from among the parts stocked in the machine, and are transferred to a machine (hereinafter, simply referred to as a machine) 23 such as a predetermined processing machine.

Next, before describing the operation of the control method of an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) according to one embodiment of the present invention, the description will be made of the case where one automatic guided vehicle and another automatic guided vehicle or other obstacle are used. The “proximity” will be described. First, while the automatic guided vehicle is moving, a moving route and a moving time are calculated by the automatic guided vehicle (AGV) controller 2 so that the automatic guided vehicle does not come into contact with another automatic guided vehicle or other obstacles. A command is issued to the carrier. If there is an obstacle not detected by the automatic guided vehicle (AGV) controller in the moving route of the automatic guided vehicle, the approach switch provided on the automatic guided vehicle detects the approach of the obstacle and stops. Or change the route.

[0013] Next, when the automatic transport vehicle performs the transfer operation of parts and the like, together with the stop position data of the automatic transport vehicle, the automatic transport vehicle performs a specific transfer operation instructed to the automatic transport vehicle. The automatic transport vehicle (AGV) controller 2 grasps the action range of the arm and the like, and the entry of another automatic transport vehicle into this action range is “close”.

[0014] When a plurality of automatic guided vehicles perform transfer operations simultaneously, the action range of one automatic guided vehicle known by an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) controller and the action range of another automatic guided vehicle are known. It is "proximity" if even one part overlaps. However, even if the action ranges overlap, there is a time difference between the action of one automatic transport vehicle and the action of another automatic transport vehicle.

Next, an operation of the control system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In step s1 of FIG. 3, among the automatic transport vehicles (AGV) 5 to automatic transport vehicles (AGV) 7, the automatic transport vehicle (AGV) 5 for which the transfer of parts is instructed by the automatic transport vehicle (AGV) controller 2 is Stocker 2
Automatic transport vehicle (AGV) from the parts stored in 2
The parts specified by the controller 2 are loaded on an automatic carrier (AGV), and the machine 23 specified by the automatic carrier (AGV) controller 2 in step s2.
To a position where components can be transferred to

Next, in step s3, the automatic transport vehicle (AGV) controller 2 controls the automatic transport vehicle (AGV).
V) Investigate whether there is another automatic transport vehicle (AGV) close to 5, and if another automatic transport vehicle (AGV) is not close, in step s5, perform a predetermined transfer operation to perform a series of operations. End the operation. By the way, in step s3, if there is an adjacent automatic guided vehicle (AGV), step s3
At 4, the automatic carrier (AGV) controller 2 checks whether or not the adjacent automatic carrier (AGV) is performing a subcontracting operation. If not, the process proceeds to step s5 to perform a transfer operation, and a series of operations ends.

By performing the above-described control, when a plurality of automatic transport vehicles (AGVs) are located in close proximity on the same production line, and the parts are transferred at the same time, the transfer of the automatic transport vehicles (AGV) is performed. If there is a possibility that the arms of the loading mechanism may interfere with each other, another automatic transport vehicle (AG) that is in close proximity to the automatic transport vehicle (AGV) until the transfer operation of one automatic transport vehicle (AGV) is completed.
Since the control is performed so that the transfer operation of V) is not performed, smooth operation can be performed even when a large number of automatic transport vehicles (AGVs) are used in the same production line.

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. For example, in the present embodiment, the production line has been described assuming a clean room. However, it goes without saying that the invention can be applied to a production line having a normal atmosphere.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a plurality of automatic transport vehicles (AGVs) are located close to each other on the same production line and the parts are simultaneously transferred, the automatic transport is performed. If there is a possibility that the arms of the transfer mechanism of the vehicle (AGV) may interfere with each other, the transfer of the other adjacent automatic transport vehicle (AGV) is continued until the transfer operation of one automatic transport vehicle (AGV) is completed. Since the loading operation is controlled so as not to be performed, an effect is obtained that a smooth operation can be performed even when a large number of automatic transport vehicles (AGVs) are used in the same production line.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an automatic guided vehicle (AG) according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a block diagram showing composition of a control device of V).

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a layout in a production line.

FIG. 3 shows an automatic guided vehicle (AG) according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a flowchart explaining control of V).

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 host computer 2 automatic carrier (AGV) controller 3 modem (modem) 4 transceiver (transceiver) 5 automatic carrier (AGV) 51 transceiver (transceiver) 52 modem (modem) 53 automatic carrier (AGV) drive Unit 54 transfer mechanism 6 automatic carrier (AGV) 61 transceiver (transceiver) 62 modem (modem) 63 automatic carrier (AGV) drive unit 64 transfer mechanism 7 automatic carrier (AGV) 71 transceiver (transceiver) 72 transceiver (modem) 73 automatic transport vehicle (AGV) drive unit 74 transfer mechanism 20 production line 21 automatic transport vehicle (AGV) passage 22 stocker 23 processing machine (machine)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a production line having a plurality of automatic transport vehicles, when one of the automatic transport vehicles is performing a transfer operation of parts and the like when the plurality of automatic transport vehicles are in close proximity to each other. An automatic transport vehicle control system, wherein the transfer operation is started after the automatic transport vehicle has completed the transfer operation. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the production line is a production line in a clean room.