JPS59202514A - Method and device for guidance of unmanned truck - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the effects of mutual interference between N and S poles and to secure the safety and assuredness of guidance for an unmanned truck, by using properly a sensor and a part to be detected in response to the N and S poles. CONSTITUTION:In addition to a function which supplies unmanned guidance to a truck 2 along a guide matter 1, speed control sensors 12a-12d are provided at the center part of the truck 2 in order to control the speed of the truck 3. At the same time, magnetism generators 13a-13d for speed control having magnetic poles different from that of the guide zone 1 are provided at both sides of the matter 1. When the magnetic pole of the zone 1 is defined as an N pole, the magnetic pole of each of generators 13a-13d is defined as an S pole respectively. Thus it is avoided that magnetic sensors 6 and 6' for guidance detect the magnetic poles of generators 13a-13d.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method and device for guiding an unmanned trolley by automatically controlling the direction when the unmanned trolley moves along a guidance zone if the unmanned trolley deviates from its direction. .

An unmanned trolley refers to a trolley that has a power source on it and is able to run automatically.The devices that enable such unmanned running are currently used in peripheral equipment of automated warehouses, goods transport equipment in production lines, It is widely used in conveyance equipment in automatic processing lines, and its feature is that it does not have dedicated rails. The fact that it does not have dedicated rails is advantageous in that it can run on general factory corridors, allowing it to share space with forklifts and people, and that it is easy to change its travel route.

Conventionally, electromagnetic induction methods and optical guidance methods have been put into practical use as driving methods for unmanned trolleys.

As shown in Figure 1, the electromagnetic induction method uses a pair of detectors d and d attached to a trolley C to detect the induced magnetic field generated by passing an electric current through an induction wire embedded in the floor of the running surface a. By controlling the running direction so that the detection intensities are the same, the trolley is made to run along the guide line. That is, when a current is passed through the induction wire embedded in the running surface a, an induced magnetic field e is generated, and the system runs while detecting this induced magnetic field e with a pair of detectors d and d. , d shifts in either direction from the guide line, there will be a difference in the intensity detected by the detectors d and d. This allows the vehicle to run along the guide line.

In addition, with this electromagnetic induction method, when guiding the carts to diverge or merge along a complicated route,
There is a method in which the current flowing through the guide wire is an alternating current with a different frequency for each route, and at the intersection point, the frequency of the next route to be traveled is sent to the bogie from the ground, thereby causing the bogie to branch or merge. be. In other words, as shown in Fig. 2, when moving the trolley C to point A, by giving a command to the trolley C at the branch point [to travel along the guidance line b1 of the frequency F1, the trolley C will move to the guidance line b1. It is possible to move to point A according to line b1, and the trolley traveling on guide line b1 can be moved to branch point 0.
When moving to point B, if a command is given to the bogie at branch point Q to run along the guide line of frequency F2, the bogie will branch to point B along guide line b2. Methods of transmitting command signals to the bogies at each branch point include transmitting signals from the ground using radio, light, or sound waves, or burying multiple coils in one place under the running road surface, excitation of each coil,
There is a method in which a certain pattern is displayed by de-energizing, and the truck detects this pattern and issues a travel command. In addition, there is a method in which the frequencies of the guide wires are all the same, and the route is sequentially switched as the cart advances to guide the cart.

However, this guidance method has the following problems.

■ Since the guide wire needs to be buried under the running road surface,
The installation work is complicated, and it is difficult to relocate or change the route, discover and repair broken guide lines, etc.

■ Induction power supplies with different frequencies and electrical work are required, and the control equipment for the route the bogie travels is complex.

■ The guide wire breaks due to subsidence of the running surface a or sudden vibration.

■ Because the magnetic field is adversely affected by conductors near the guide wire, there are many restrictions on the structure of the road surface.

For example, on a reinforced concrete floor, etc., the reinforcing bars and guide wires need to be separated by at least a certain value, so it is necessary to make the distance between the running surface and the reinforcing bars larger than necessary.

■ Since there is a practical upper limit to the strength of the induced magnetic field, the allowable deviation limit between the vehicle body and the guiding wire is small.

Next, in the optical guidance method, a light reflector is installed on the floor of the running surface, the light emitted from the bogie is reflected by this light reflector, and the bogie is guided by detecting the relative position of the reflected light and the bogie. This is a method to do so.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, light emitted from a light source provided on the side of the cart C is reflected by a reflector i on the running surface a, and the position of the light receiving part j that detects the reflected light is used to determine whether the cart C or This method detects the relative relationship between the reflectors i and controls the running direction of the truck according to the amount of deviation. k is a running wheel.

In this method, for example, as shown in Fig. 4, when the light emitted from the light source is detected at the left side of the light receiving part j, the cart C has shifted to the right side of the reflector i, so the amount of shift is A running direction and correction command is given to the bogie C according to the direction, and the trajectory is corrected so that the bogie C moves to the left side.

Other optical methods include a method in which the amount of reflection from a reflector is detected by a pair of light receiving sections, and the positions are controlled so that the amounts of reflection are the same.

When branching or merging the trolley C along a complicated route using such an optical guidance method, there are various methods in which a dedicated light receiving section is provided for left and right branching and for straight running. As a command signal to the trolley at the point (), there are methods of transmitting the signal from the ground using radio, light, sound waves, etc., or a method of installing another reflecting part near the guiding reflection and transmitting the reflected light to the light receiving part. There is a method of receiving light and detecting the pattern to issue a driving command.

However, these optical guidance systems have the following problems.

1) Reflection of light is likely to be inhibited by the attachment of dust or the like to the derivative.

2) Light reflection is likely to be inhibited due to damage to the surface of the dielectric.

3) If the running surface is uneven, it is difficult to install reflectors and even those that are installed are likely to peel off.

As mentioned above, both the conventional electromagnetic induction method and the optical induction method have many problems. The installation method is complicated.

In any of the above conventional methods, in order to obtain information other than induction, it is necessary to install excitation coils, reflectors, magnetic bodies, etc. near the induction body, and to install sensors corresponding to each, and it is difficult to control the structure. In addition to being physically complex, there are only two types of information: whether or not it is sensed.

In view of these conventional problems, the present invention introduces a new method as an induction method, and aims to make it possible to easily obtain more information than before by mainly utilizing the polarity of the magnet. It is something.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 5 to 9, a magnetic guide band (1) extending in the direction in which the unmanned trolley is intended to run is laid on the running surface, while the unmanned trolley Left and right power drive wheels (3) are provided in the center so as to be driven by independent drive motors (4), and left and right driven wheels (5) are provided at the front and rear, and the lower surface of the bogie (2) It has a configuration in which magnetic detection sensors (61 (ei) are attached to the front and rear ends of the
61 (+33); and a travel drive control device (9) that issues a command to control the rotation of the travel drive motor (4) based on the control command calculated by the calculation device (8). , other batteries, etc. are mounted on the trolley (2) so that the trolley (2) can be guided unmanned along the guide zone (1).

The magnetic detection sensor (61 (6'+) is composed of a large number of magnetic detection elements (7), each magnetic detection element (7)
) are arranged at a height position that responds to the strength of the magnetic field aO+ of the induction band (1) having a constant magnetic force, and at a predetermined pitch in the left and right direction of the trolley (2), and each magnetic detection element (7) are each displayed as an address in the arithmetic unit (8), and when any magnetic detection element (7) detects magnetism, the address corresponding to the element (7) is displayed, and At the same time, the distance between the displayed address and the reference position address is calculated by the calculation device (8).

Furthermore, in the present invention, in addition to the function of automatically guiding the trolley (2) along the guide zone (11), in order to control the speed of the trolley (2) (acceleration, deceleration, and stopping), the central part of the trolley (2) is For example, there are speed side sensors (12al
(lz&) (12C) (12d) and a speed control magnet (134) (13A) (13S) (13
d) The t'J 4 bands (11) are appropriately scattered on both sides,
For example, speed control cape sensors (12a) and (12C)
When detects the magnetizing body (L3d) and (13/)) at Ir+], a stop command is issued, or the sensor (12c) and (
12d) detects the magnetizing bodies (13c) and (13d) at the same time, a deceleration command is issued from each arithmetic unit (8). These speed control sensors (42a)
The combinations of (12b), (12c), and (12d) and the speed control magnets (13a), (136), (13r), and (13d) can be any combination suitable for speed control.

Now, based on the state that the center of the magnetic detection sensor (6) with the magnetic pole as the N pole coincides with the center of the induction band (1) with the magnetic pole as N@, each magnetic detection element (7) Among them, a plurality of magnetic detection elements (7) in the center of the magnetic detection sensor (6) detect the magnetism of the induction band (1), and this is displayed as the address of the center in the arithmetic unit (8). As far as possible, since the arithmetic unit (8) calculates the amount of deviation as zero, the cart (2) is driven with the center of the detection sensor (6) and the center of the guide band (11) aligned.

For example, if the trolley (2) shifts to the right side while traveling, a plurality of magnetic detection elements ( 7) detects the magnetism of the induction band (1). Now, the distance from the center (C) of the magnetic detection sensor (6) to the rL-th magnetic detection element (7) sensing magnetism is 11, and the distance from the 71.2nd magnetic detection element (force 1 If the distance at is Z2, then the distance from the center (C) of the magnetic detection sensor (6) to the center line of the guide band (1) is the amount of deviation from the guide band (1).

The magnetic magnetic detection element (from the nth (th) to the 71st.
In 8), the actual shift amount to the right or left when the center (C) of the magnetic detection sensor (6) is taken as a reference is determined using the address characteristics of the 1st to 2nd rL. Once the amount of deviation is determined, a control command that makes the amount of deviation zero is sent from the travel drive control device (9) to the travel drive motor (4), which controls the rotation of the left and right drive wheels (3). Trolley (2)
directional control. A signal is fed from the travel drive motor (4) to the travel drive control device (9) and arithmetic unit (8), direction control is performed until the amount of deviation becomes zero, and magnetic detection of the bogie (2) is performed. The trolley (2) is automatically guided so that the center of the sensor (6) coincides with the center of the guide band (11).

Next, in addition to the above-mentioned guidance of the cart, speed control of the cart is performed in the following manner. A plurality of speed control magnets (13α) (13b) (13C) (13d) are placed in advance along the guide band (1) at the position where the trolley (2) is to be accelerated, decelerated or stopped (Fig. 5). The trolley (2) is installed as appropriate as shown in the example below.
- For example, as shown in the figure, there is a speed control sensor (1
2a) (12b) (12C) (12d) as induction band (1)
The sensors (12α) are arranged at intervals wider than the width of the
(12C) and magnetizing bodies (13a) (13i!l) are made to correspond, and sensors (12C) (12d) are made to correspond to magnetizing bodies (13C) (13d) so that different controls can be performed respectively. If the trolley (2) moves forward and detects, for example, the sensors (12a) and (12C)
When detecting the magnetic body (13a) and (13I!I) at the same time, a truck stop command is output from the computing device (8), the truck is stopped, and the sensor (12C)
When the magnets (13C) and (13d) are detected at the same time, a speed control is performed such that a deceleration command is output from the arithmetic unit (8) to the bogie to decelerate the bogie.

In this case, the magnetic pole of the induction band +1) and the magnetizing body for speed control (1
3a, ) (13b) (13C) (13d-) Tosult the magnetic poles of the same polarity, magnetic detection sensor for induction (6) or (6
) are speed control magnets (13α) (13b) (13C)
(13d-) detects magnetism when passing over it, and the first
As shown in Figure 0, a detection part Oυ unrelated to guidance occurs, making it impossible to determine whether or not the cart (2) has shifted, resulting in a problem with guidance.

Therefore, in the present invention, in order to avoid such problems, if the magnetic pole of the induction band (1) is NIM, the magnetic pole of the speed control magnet (13α), (13b), (13C), (13d,) is set to the above-mentioned induction band. The S pole is different from that in (1), and the magnetic detection sensor for induction +61 (63 detects the magnetism of the speed control magnets (13a), (13b), (13C), and (13d). .

As described above, according to the present invention, in addition to controlling and guiding the direction of the cart, speed control such as stopping, acceleration, deceleration, etc. of the cart is also performed. can be detected, the following excellent effects can be achieved.

(1) By using the sensor and the detected part as N-pole and S-pole, the effects of mutual interference can be removed, and guidance safety and reliability can be achieved.

(11) Conventionally, the same sensor could only pick up two types of signals: the presence or absence of the other party, but with the present invention, five types of signals can be taken out: N pole, S pole, and both poles, regardless of the arrangement, and it can be used over a wide range. Can be guided.

(iii) Since the guide strip is magnetic and only needs to be installed on the running surface, installation and relocation of the guide strip is easy.

(iv) The induction band is not affected by the magnetic material present under the installation surface, and even if the surface of the induction band is damaged, the induction will not be adversely affected as long as magnetism exists.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 to 4 are schematic diagrams of the conventional system, Figure 5 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the device of the present invention, Figure 6 is a side view of Figure 5, and Figure 7 is a magnetic detection sensor. FIG. 8 is a front view showing the relationship between the magnetic detection sensor and the guide band when the cart is moving sideways, FIG. 9 is a block diagram of the device of the present invention, and FIG. 10 is a front view showing the relationship between the guide band. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the induction band and the speed control magnet have the same magnetic poles and are simultaneously detected by a magnetic detection sensor. (1)...Guidance band, (2)...Bogie, (3)...Traveling drive wheel, (6)(6)...Magnetic detection sensor, (7
)...Magnetic detection element, (8)...Arithmetic unit, (9)
... Traveling drive control device, (12α) (12b) (12C
) (12d) Speed control safety, (13a) (
13b) (13c) (13d) Speed control magnet. Patent Applicant Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. Patent Applicant Agent) Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A method for guiding an unmanned trolley in which the trolley travels along a guide zone, which includes detecting a magnetic pole different from the magnetic pole of the guide zone with a sensor different from the sensor that detects the magnetism of the guide zone;
A method for guiding an unmanned truck, characterized by guiding the truck by performing control different from directional control of the truck. 2) Attach a magnetic detection sensor with a large number of magnetic detection elements and a speed control sensor to the cart, and issue commands to the cart to control the deviation and speed of the cart based on the signals from each of the sensors. a computing device;
A control system for controlling the drive unit of the trolley based on commands from the arithmetic unit.
1. A guiding device for an unmanned trolley, comprising: a magnetized induction body; and a speed control magnet for speed control with a magnetic pole different from the magnetic pole of the induction body.