JPS60112520A - Control system for conveyor system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the traffic by controlling a prime conveyor with a specific code showing a destination of transported object and the object itself, and selectively operating a mergence/diversion mechanism with mergence/diversion point arrival signals in the conveyor control of an automatic warehouse. CONSTITUTION:A specific code showing a transported object and its destination from a control center are data-filed 14, and the transported object is fed to a feed point. Thereby, a prime control unit 9 sends the specific code and destination of the transported object from the data file 14 to a main control unit 10 and displays 20 them. Subsequently, the main control unit 10 performs the control, and when sensors S1-S3 detect the arrival at a mergency point, a mergence/ diversion mechanism 12 is selectively driven via the main control unit 10, and mergency conveyors 1-3 are merged to a main conveyor 4. Diversions 5-6 are performed likewise. Accordingly, the traffic can be reduced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (a1 Technical Field of the Invention) The present invention relates to a conveyor system for automatically shipping products from an automated warehouse, and particularly to a conveyor system control method that can reduce conveyor control traffic.

Background of the technology In recent years, with the progress of factory automation, automation systems for various production processes, parts, product warehouses, etc. have been developed and put into practical use, and automatic control systems for the accompanying conveyor transport equipment have also been attempted. ing.

An example of this is a conveyor system that sends out products from an automated warehouse using multiple conveyors, joins the main conveyor, and then branches to multiple shipping conveyors at the shipping position.In this case, the load on the computer center is reduced. However, it is also desirable to be able to easily respond to computer abnormalities.

(C) Prior Art and Problems The conventional method will be described below with reference to the plan view of FIG. 1, which illustrates an outline of a conveying device to which the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 1, supply conveyors 1 to 3 and shipping conveyors 5 to 7 are located on the left and right of the main conveyor 4 shown by the two-dot chain line.
are connected in parallel at merging points A to C and branching points to F.

With such a configuration, the conveyance device is driven, and the conveyed objects 8 supplied from the supply points a to C are conveyed by the supply conveyors 1 to 3, and then transferred to the main conveyor 4 at the confluence points A to C. It is conveyed by merging with the shipping points d to f, branching off at branch points 1 to 5, conveyed by shipping conveyors 5 to 7, and shipped from shipping points d to f.

The control of this conveyance device is performed by supply conveyors 1 to 3.
The main conveyor 4 and the shipping conveyors 5 to 7 are divided into blocks for each conveyor, and between the supply points a to 02 of each divided block, the confluence points A to C2, the branch points to F, and the shipping points d to f. , first-in/first-out data tracking/v-king and merging/branching control are performed.

However, according to this method, as the transport line becomes more complex, a plurality of control blocks exist on the same system, data tracking becomes complicated, and the load on the control unit (not shown) increases. The drawback is that it is difficult to deal with conveyor abnormalities such as stoppages due to collisions.

fd) Object of the Invention The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks and to provide a conveyor system control method capable of reducing conveyor control traffic.

(e1 Configuration of the Invention The present invention includes a sensor that detects the arrival of transported objects at a merging or branching position, and a control unit that controls the merging and branching of transported objects at the merging or branching position. A main conveyor control device for controlling the main conveyor, and a control code assigning means for assigning a specific code representing the destination of the transported object and the transported object, and based on the destination and the specific code given by the control code assigning means. This is a conveyor system control method characterized by being controlled by a main conveyor control device, thereby achieving the purpose.

([1 Embodiment of the Invention] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 is a control block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart of FIG. 2. The same reference numerals indicate the same objects throughout the figures.

In FIG. 2, 9 is a main control section, 10 is a main conveyor control section, 11 is a main conveyor drive control section, 12 is a merging/branching mechanism section, 13 is a merging/branching control section, 14 is a data file, 15.16 17 is a sensor amplifier, 17 is a merging conveyor drive control section, 18 is a branch conveyor drive control section, 19
20 is a keyboard, 20 is a display, and Sl to S6 are sensors.

The main control section 9 controls the startup of each section, and also controls the operation of the transported object 8.
is started by being supplied from any of the merging conveyors 1 to 3, the data of the II to be transported 8 held in the data file 14, that is, the destination and specific code (from any of the supply points a to C to the shipping point It has a function of sending any one of d to f and, for example, a sequence number) to the main conveyor control unit 10.

The main conveyor control unit 10 starts the main conveyor drive control unit 11 and holds data sent from the data file 14, and stores the data, branch points A to C, and branch points R to F.
Based on the detection signals of sensors S1 to S6 provided respectively in
Merging/branching control unit 13 in order of sequence number of conveyed objects 8
It has the function of starting.

The main conveyor drive control section 11 controls driving and stopping of the main conveyor 4 based on commands from the main conveyor control section 10.

The merging/branching mechanism section 12 has a function of guiding the transported object 8 when the transported object 8 is merged from the merging conveyors 1 to 3 to the main conveyor 4, and when the transported object 8 is branched from the main conveyor 4 to the branching conveyors 5 to 7. Although not shown, they are provided at each confluence point A to C9 branch point to F, respectively.

The merging/branching control section 13 controls the merging points A to C1 branching points to F based on the signals sent from the main concatenation control section 10.
It has a function of selectively operating the merging/branching mechanism section 12 in.

The data file 14 holds the destination of 80 conveyed objects and a specific code transmitted from a control center (not shown) or inputted from the keyboard 19.

Then, according to a command from the main control section 9, the destination and specific code of the corresponding conveyed object 8 are output.

The sensor amplifiers 15 and 16 amplify the detection signals of the sensors S1 to S6 and send the amplified signals to the main conveyor control section 10.

The merging conveyor drive control section 17 controls the driving and stopping of the merging conveyors 1 to 3 based on commands from the main control section 9.

The branch conveyor drive control section 18 controls driving and stopping of the branch conveyors 5 to 7 in response to instructions from the main control section 9.

The keyboard 19 is displayed as a monitor when inputting data by an operator, not by inputting data from the control center, and also displays data on the transported object 8 being transported.

With such a configuration and function, when the transported object 8 is transported, the destination and specific code of the transported object 8 transmitted from the control center are first stored in the data file 14, as shown in FIG. Retained.

When the conveyed object 8 is supplied from any of the supply points a to C, a start signal is transmitted by a sensor (not shown).

Then, the main control section 9 sends the specific code and destination of the transported object 8 held in the data file 14 to the main control section 10, and the specific code and destination of the corresponding transported object 8 are displayed on the display 20. .

The subsequent control is performed by the main conveyor control section 10.

When the conveyed object 8 is conveyed by any of the merging conveyors 1 to 3 and arrives at any of the merging points A to C, it is detected by any of the sensors S1 to S3 and a detection signal is sent to the main conveyor control section. Sent to 10.

The main conveyor control unit 10 activates the merging/branching control unit 13, selects and drives the merging/branching mechanism 12 according to the specific code and destination of the conveyed object 8, and directs the conveyed object 8 to any of the merging conveyors 1 to 3. From there, it joins the main conveyor 4 and is conveyed.

The information signal is sent to the main conveyor control section 10.

Then, the main conveyor control unit 10 selectively drives the merging/branching mechanism unit 12 according to the specific code and destination of the conveyed object 8, guides the conveyed object 8 from the main conveyor 4 to any of branch conveyors 5 to 7, and branches the conveyed object. urge

The conveyed object 8 conveyed by any of the branch conveyors 5 to 7 is sent to any of the shipping points d to f.

The conveyed object 8 that has arrived at any of the shipping points d to f is detected by a sensor (not shown), and the detection signal is sent to the main conveyor control section 10, and further sent to the main control section 9, where the corresponding object is detected. The transport of the transport body 8 is completed and the transport body 8 is shipped.

Also, at the same time as the conveyance ends, the main control unit 9 sends the shipping points d and f.
The arrival position (same as the destination) and specific code of the transported object 8 that has arrived at any of the locations are sent to the control center.

In this way, the main conveyor control unit 10 controls the merging, m-feeding, and branching from the merging points A to C to the branching points to F using the specific code of the conveyed object 8 and the destination data. The file 14 can be easily accessed and the number of accesses can be reduced, reducing the load on the main control section 9.

(As described in detail, according to the present invention, conveyance control in the range from the confluence of the merging conveyor and the main conveyor to the branching point of the main comparer and the branching conveyor is based on the destination and specific code of the conveyed object. Since this is carried out by the main conveyor control device, (1) less data specific to the conveyor is required, data files can be easily accessed, and the number of accesses is reduced.

(2) Therefore, conveyor control traffic is reduced, and the load on the upper control unit can be reduced.

■Conveyor transport control processing can be made more general.

■Even when changing transport lines or adding equipment, there is almost no need to modify the upper level control processing.

There is an effect.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating a conveying device to which the present invention is applied; FIG. 2 is a control block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of FIG. 2. In the figure, 1 to 3 are merging conveyors, 4 is a main conveyor, 5 to 7 are branch conveyors, 8 is a conveyed object, 9 is a main control section, 10 is a main conveyor control section, 11 is a main conveyor drive control section, 12 13 is a merging/branching mechanism section, 13 is a merging/branching control section, 14 is a data file, 15.16 is a sensor, 17 is a merging conveyor drive control section, 18 is a branching conveyor drive control section, 19 is a keyboard, 2o is a display, A to C are confluence points, D to F are branch points, a to C
For example, d to f indicate a supply point, and d to f indicate a shipping point. Figure 1 Figure 2 % 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] It consists of a plurality of supply conveyors, a plurality of shipping conveyors, and a main conveyor commonly connected to the supply conveyors and the shipping conveyor, and the objects to be conveyed and supplied from the plurality of supply conveyors are transferred to the main conveyor. In a conveyor system that transports the objects by merging them and branching them to the plurality of shipping conveyors for transportation and shipping, a sensor detects the arrival of the objects at the merging or branching position, and a sensor at the merging or branching position. a main conveyor control device for controlling the main conveyor, and a control code assigning means for giving a destination of the conveyed object and a specific code representing the conveyed object. A conveyor system control method, characterized in that the conveyor system is controlled by the main conveyor control device based on a destination and a specific code given by the control code giving means.