JPS5972525A - Operation control system of plural unmanned guided car - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate easy maintenance and inspection of traveling routes, by using the information on the distance traveled in place of a marker provided at a branch on the route. CONSTITUTION:An unmanned guided car is guided and controlled by magnetic fields of guiding lines RA-RC laid along the traveling route of the car. Station markers a-c are attached to the route only at the positions of stations A- C for loading and unloading goods. Thus no marker is attached at branch and junction points. At the same time, the guided car contains previously the information on the traveled distance. The car detects a station marker (a) and starts traveling toward a branch area 2. Then the distance traveled is calculated, and the arrival time at the area 2 is decided from the calculated distance information and that stored previously to the car. Then the traveling route of the car is selected based on a traveling program.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to an operation control method for an unmanned guided vehicle.

The unmanned guided vehicle performs steering operations by detecting the magnetic field of the guide wire laid along the route.It also detects markers affixed at appropriate points on the route and pre-programs the vehicle's on-board travel program. The vehicle advances by one step, obtains necessary commands for operations such as acceleration, deceleration, branching, merging, and stopping, and travels in conjunction with the above-mentioned steering operation.

By the way, markers affixed on driving roads are usually exposed on the road surface and are subject to dirt and damage due to the pressure of footing, wheels, people, etc., and must be replaced frequently, making maintenance and inspection troublesome. Therefore, it is conceivable to obtain mileage information from the unmanned guided vehicle and use this instead of marker information. In other words, the present invention is applicable only to unmanned guided vehicles, which require highly accurate stopping in connection with ground transportation equipment, and which require accurate position information on the travel route. Markers are placed, and at other branching points, for example, mileage information based on the loading/unloading point markers is used in place of conventional branching road markers, and the driving program is created. This will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

As for the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a traveling layout of a conventional example, and FIG. 2 shows a traveling layout according to this invention.

In Figure 1, there are three stop stations for loading and unloading, A, B, and O, and each of these three stations is connected to two other stop stations via a three-way intersection. be done. Markers corresponding to each route are attached to the branch points of this three-way intersection, and the vehicle that detects this is given location information to the effect that it is a branch point. For example, if the driving program uses this location information to instruct the right-hand side. , the unmanned guided vehicle operates the right-side guide sensor to detect the magnetic field of the guide line on the right-hand road and travels along the right-hand road. In addition, branch points are indicated by a break, and loading/unloading stations A, B,
(For each travel route with ft, mark the markers corresponding to RA, RB, Re loading and unloading stations A, B, O.
b, c, correspond to each running route arranged at the branch point, so let the power be sa, sb, sc.

That is, in the case of this conventional example, branch markers sa, sb, and sc are pasted at the end of the branch point, and if the unmanned guided vehicle M is to travel from station A to station C, for example, the station marker Upon detection of point a, the vehicle starts traveling towards the branch point. When the vehicle reaches the branch point and detects the branch marker sa, the pre-installed travel program instructs the vehicle to activate the inner fabric guide sensor of the vehicle's left and right guide sensors), and the vehicle selects the travel route FRO. Branched out. The detection signal of the branch marker Sa of the traveling route) Re may be programmed to pass through the branch point and output a later speed increase command, and the vehicle speed increases and the vehicle is accelerated toward station C.

Upon detection of marker C at station C, a stop command is output and the vehicle stops.

This invention, in the conventional example described above, places markers only at loading/unloading stop stations where highly accurate stopping positions are required in relation to ground transportation equipment such as loading/unloading operations. Other branch markers and the like are replaced with mileage information determined from the wheel rotational speed, for example, to reduce the number of markers on the road to the necessary minimum, and to reduce the work of attaching markers, maintenance, and inspection. FIG. 2 shows a traveling railer (1) according to an embodiment of the present invention, which corresponds to the conventional example shown in FIG.

In FIG. 2, the markers are at each station A.

Only station markers a, b, and c corresponding to B and O are placed, and no other branch markers are pasted. In other words, similar to the example in Fig. 1, the unmanned guided vehicle is at station A.
Considering the case of traveling to direction C, the route starts traveling toward the branching point ■ by detecting station marker a, and at the same time calculates distance information based on the vehicle rotational speed, and this distance information is programmed in advance. When the travel distance E to the branch point M is reached, it is determined that the branch point has been reached. This replaces the detection signal of the conventional branch marker sa, and by outputting this travel distance information, the travel program is advanced by one step and an instruction is given to activate the inner fabric guide sensor of the left and right guide sensors of the vehicle. When the vehicle reaches the branch marker SC of the conventional driving route RO, the vehicle selects ROk and passes through the 0 branch point in the conventional example. The distance information obtained from the wheel rotation speed matches the on-board reference distance information, and the same command as the branch marker sa detection signal is given to the vehicle based on this coincidence output. As a result, the vehicle accelerates and travels toward station C. In this way, the present invention replaces the conventional markers that correspond to instructions such as branching, merging, and stopping along the travel route with travel distance information. It can be said that it is a software substitute for markers that do not require very severe positional accuracy for vehicle driving, and it greatly reduces the number of markers on the driving road. This will greatly contribute to simplifying roadway maintenance and inspection work.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a traveling layout of a conventional example, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a traveling layout of an embodiment of the present invention. RA, RB, RO...Travel route guide lines A, B, Ct
@・Loading ψUnloading station a, b, c...Station marker M...Unmanned guided vehicle applicant Shinko Electric Co., Ltd. agent Patent attorney Haruya Saito

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Detects the magnetic field from the guide wire laid along the running route and performs steering operation l/1. It also detects markers pasted on the road, advances the on-vehicle driving program one step in advance based on the marker detection signal, obtains commands such as acceleration, deceleration, branching, merging, and stopping, and in conjunction with the above-mentioned steering operation. In an unmanned guided vehicle that travels, station markers corresponding to the loading and unloading stop stations are pasted at corresponding points on the driving route, and the remaining markers are removed and the mileage information from the unmanned guided vehicle is used. An operation control system for an unmanned guided vehicle characterized by replacing the system with the following.