JPS61103216A - Forwarding control method of unmanned truck - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To avoid the interruption of drive control of a nondefective truck despite a defective truck occurs by allocating the next transport schedule to the nondefective truck following the defective truck and securing the consecutuve service by the nondefective truck after stopping the defective truck on a sidetruck. CONSTITUTION:Now a truck C2 has a fault and a signal showing this fault is supplied to a sequence controller 9 from a controller 13 put on the truck C2 through an on-truck station 12, an on-truck antenna 11, a loop antenna L1 and a base station 10 respectively. Thus the controller 9 changes a switching point P to the back to give a high-speed command, a medium-speed command, a low-speed command and a stop instruction to loop antennans L1, L8, L9 and L15 respectively. Then the point P is switched to the back side when the truck C2 is positioned on the antenna L8, and the truck C2 is stopped after it is driven up to the antenna L15. Then the point P is switched to the opposite side, and the schedule is carried out by trucks C1 and C2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a method for controlling transportation of an automatic guided vehicle using, for example, a guided radio device.

[Technical dorsal fin of the invention and its problems]

Conventionally, for example, slabs (material) from a casting machine in a steelworks
An automatic guided vehicle capable of traveling on a main track using, for example, a guided radio system is being considered as a vehicle for transporting rolling stock to a rolling facility. In this system, a plurality of carts each equipped with a battery are able to run on a loop-shaped main track using the energy of the batteries, and materials are loaded at a loading station near the main track, and the material is loaded there. It is now possible to unload cargo by sequentially driving carts from the station to the unloading station. A repair facility for repairing the bogie when it breaks down is provided on a lead-in track that branches off from the main track via a switching point.

In an automated guided vehicle with such a configuration, if one of the bogies on the main track breaks down (for example, the specific gravity of the balance liquid decreases and auxiliary equipment such as doors breaks down), all the bogies malfunction. Interrupting driving control, part 11
A broken-down bogie was manually operated by a human and transported to a repair shop within the lead-in track. In this case, if a normal bogie exists between the switching point and the faulty bogie, the normal bogie is manually driven onto the main track ahead of the switching point before the failed bogie is sent to a repair shop, After this, the malfunctioning trolley was sent to a repair shop.

After this, if the bogie on the main track is controlled again without any movement, the bogie will be in a different position than when the travel control was interrupted, making it impossible to continue controlling the bogie's travel. Therefore, conventionally, the bogies were relocated on the main track to the same position at which the bogie running control was interrupted, and the bogie running control was performed. For this reason, it takes a considerable amount of time from the time when the running control of the bogie is interrupted until the running control of the bogie is performed again, and a large amount of manpower is required.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and it is possible to continue the running control of the normal bogie without any interruption even if a faulty vehicle occurs in the bogie under running control.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for controlling transport of an automatic guided vehicle, which improves operational efficiency.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is capable of running on a main track laid in a loop shape and a lead-in track that leads to a bogie repair shop via a switching point on a part of the main track, In a vehicle having a plurality of trolleys for loading objects to be transported at a loading station located near the main track and transporting them to an unloading station located near the main track for unloading, an empty vehicle waits when the trolley becomes empty on the main track. If the trolley at a predetermined position in the zone is a failed trolley, the next transport schedule is assigned to a normal trolley following the failed trolley, and the failed trolley is caused to travel from the empty vehicle standby zone to the trolley repair shop. , a method for forwarding and controlling an automatic guided vehicle, in which the failed truck is stopped on the lead-in track so that the transportation schedule service can be continued on normal trucks other than the failed truck.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 shows a schematic configuration of an automatic guided vehicle that is the subject of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a loop-shaped main track installed on the ground, 2, 3, and 4.5 These are a loading station for loading materials to be transported and an unloading station for unloading materials to be transported, which are located nearby. Reference numeral 6 designates a lead-in track branched off via a switching point P installed midway through the main track 1, 7 designates a repair shop installed in the middle of this lead-in track and 6.

C1, C2, and 03 are automatic guided vehicles (hereinafter simply referred to as trolleys), which can all run on the main track 1 and the lead-in track 6, and each of the trolleys 01 to C3 has an electric drive e1m (see Fig. (not shown), and a battery (not shown) for driving it.

1. L2. L3 is a loop antenna installed in an empty vehicle waiting zone near the main track 1, L4 to L14 are speed control loop antennas installed in a closed section near the main track, and L15 is a loop antenna installed near the lead-in track 6. It is a loop antenna.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control device for carrying out the method of the present invention, in which 8 is a schedule device that outputs a transportation schedule, and 9 is a schedule device that inputs the schedule from this schedule device 8 to control the running of carts 01 to c3. , a sequence controller for switching and controlling the switching point P, and 10 a guidance radio device base station for giving speed commands to the carts 01 to C3. 11 is the on-board antenna.
12 is an on-vehicle station of a guidance radio device, and 13 is an on-vehicle control device.

Next, the operation when the present invention is implemented using the control device configured as described above will be explained.

The bogies C1, C2, and C3 have unique numbers, and the on-board station 12 → on-board antenna 11 →
Loop antenna → 1-i (i-1 to 15) → base station 10
It is transmitted to the ground along the following route.

The sequence controller 9 has a trolley with a loop an 9.1
′″tLi (i=1 to 15) 1′″*″″L/
TI Bogie: You can change the car numbers (i-1 to 3) and track the bogies 01 to C3. Also, the speed command of the trolley C1 is as follows: sequence controller 9 → base station 10 → loop antenna 1-i (i-1 to 15) → onboard antenna 1
The information is transmitted to the vehicle through the route 1→onboard station 12→onboard control device 13, and the bogies C1 to C3 are controlled to travel.

The failure states of the bogies 01 to C3 are monitored by the on-board control device 13 when they are above the loop antenna L1, and the results are input to the sequence controller 9 through the same route as the car number.

Now, when the schedule device 8 gives the sequence controller 9 a transport schedule from the loading station 2 to the unloading stage 5, the sequence controller 9 outputs a travel command to the trolley C1 on the loop antenna 1, so the base station 10, a signal to output a high slag command is output from the loop antenna L1. When the cart C1 starts traveling and passes the loop antenna L1, the sequence controller 9 outputs a signal to the base station 10 to output a low speed command to the loop antenna L2, and when the cart C2 passes the position of the loop antenna L2, the sequence controller 9 outputs a signal to the base station 10 to output a low speed command to the loop antenna L2. , loop antenna L
A low speed command is output to loop antenna L1 and L2, and a signal to output a brake command is output to loop antennas L1 and L2. The platforms 11G2.03 now stop at the positions of the loop antennas L1 and 12, respectively.

On the other hand, in order to stop the trolley C1 at the loading station 1,
A medium speed command is output to the loop antenna L5, a low speed command is output to the loop antenna L6, and a stop command is output to the loop antenna L7.

The cart C1 now stops at the loading station 1. When the trolley C1 stops at the position of the loop antenna L7 and is loaded from the loading station 1, it similarly travels to the position of the loop antenna L1-4 and stops. When the unloading is completed at the unloading station 4, the cart C1 is moved to the position of the loop antenna L3 and stopped.

Now, the bogie C2 has broken down, and a signal to that effect is sent from the onboard control device 13 of the bogie C2 to the onboard station 12. On-board antenna 11.
Loop antenna L1. The signals are input to the sequence controller 9 in the order of base station 10° sequence controller 9.

The sequence controller 9 switches the switching point P backward, outputs a high speed command to the loop antenna 1, a medium speed command to the loop antenna L8, a low speed command to the loop antenna L9, and a stop command to the loop antenna L15, and outputs a stop command to the loop antenna L15. C2
is on the loop antenna 8, the switching point P
Turn the cart C2 backwards, move the trolley C2 up to the top of the loop antenna [15, and then stop. After that, the switching point P is switched to the opposite direction, and the execution of the schedule is carried out between the two of machines 11CI and C3.
Run it on the machine.

As a result of the above, the failed bogie C2 is removed from the main track 1.

Next, the above-mentioned operation will be described in detail. First, the flow of signals between the base station 10 and the sequence controller 9 will be explained with reference to FIG. Note that the arrows in FIG. 3 indicate the flow of signals. $1 to 315 are vehicle loop presence signals that become "1" if the trolley Ci is present on the loop antennas L1 to 115. N1 to N4 are vehicle number signals that exist there, and this is BCD (b
i nary-c.

ded (decimal) code.

The sequence controller 9 inputs the vehicle loop presence signals S1 to 315, checks where the trolley is,
Determine existing loops. The loop number corresponding to the determined loop is sent to the upper digits of the loop designation signal NLI~N
By outputting to the base station 9 at L8, the car numbers of the trolleys present there are encoded into N1 to N4 and input to the sequence controller 9. At this time, if the truck is a malfunctioning truck, the failure signal E is "1".

Also, the speed command to the bogie can be made by selecting the loop using the upper and lower digits N11 to NL8 of the loop designation signal, and outputting any command of the high speed command signal CV3 among the brake command signals CVn to ensure that the vehicle is on the loop. It is transmitted to the existing trolley.

Next, the processing contents of the sequence controller 9 will be explained using FIGS. 4 to 10. Figure 4 is a flowchart for determining whether there is a broken vehicle, Figure 9 is a flowchart for driving control, Figure 10 is a flowchart for managing loading and unloading, and Figure 5 is a flowchart for managing loading and unloading. Tables, Figure 6 is a data table of travel routes, Figure 7 is an F table.

FIG. 8, which is a diagram showing the T table, is a travel data table used during actual travel control.

The process 41 in FIG.
If Sl among (i-1 to 15) is "1", it is determined that the cart is present above the loop antenna.

Then, by outputting the code "0" to the upper digits N11 to NL4 of the loop designation signal and the code "1" to the lower digits NL5 to NL8 of the loop designation signal, the bogie failure signal E on the loop antenna 1 becomes "1". If the fault signal E is "1" and it is a faulty vehicle, it is determined by the process 42 whether the vehicle is broken or not. F+0 to F+3 in the diagram
set it on the table.

If it is determined in the process of 42 that the truck on top of the loop antenna 1 is not a broken vehicle, check whether the new schedule table shown in FIG. 5 has been given in the process of 43. j too l! If it is 1 "0", it is determined that there is no new schedule, and the process of 42 is performed again. If neither i nor j in Figure 5 has a value of "0", i has a value of "1" or a value of "2", and j has a value of "3" or a value of "4".
is set and the time is set.

First, in the process of 45, the table in FIG.
) from F+0 to F+3 in Figure 7.
, and the primary objective loop is the loading station loop. Next, in the process 46, data for four pieces from TL+(j-i) are set from T-)-0 to T+3 in FIG. 7, and the secondary purpose is set as the unloading station loop. After that, the values of i and j in FIG. 5 are set to "0". This means that the travel control route has been set to loading station 2.3 and unloading station 4.5, and both i and j have the value "0" until the next new schedule is input. In step 47, the travel request is set to "1". This is referred to in the process 91 in FIG. 9 and reset to 0'' in the process 9E.

Next, when the vehicle loop existence signal s1 becomes "0" in the process of 48, the bogie determines that the loop antenna L1 has been disconnected, and the work request is set to 1'' in the process of 49.
102 to 10 referred to in the process of FIG. 10 101 and described later
After the process of 6, it is reset in the process of 1O7. Trolley C
2 travels to the destination station or processing station 7 according to the process shown in FIG. If the travel request is "1" in the process 91, it is determined that there is a travel request. In the process of 92, if the value of k is not "O", it is determined that the vehicle has not traveled to the first objective loop (loading station or repair shop), and in the process of 93, the process from F+0 to F+3 in Figure 7 is determined. Set the value as it is from FT+O to FT+3 in Figure 8, and then set the value “
Let it be 0°'.

In addition, if the value of k is "0" in the process 92, it is regarded as a running flow up to the first objective loop, and the process 94 is performed to make the cart run until the second objective loop for unloading. The values from T+O to T+3 in Figure 7 are the same as FT+ in Figure 8.
Set to 3. When the destination of the vehicle is the loop antenna L5 of the loading station 3, the process of 96, that is, the high-speed start command output, is bypassed in the process of 95 for medium speed start.

97 to 98.9G, 9M, 9N, 99.9A to the following categories
, 9B, 9C and up to 9D, the cart C2 is made to run and stopped in the target loop.

Furthermore, through the processing of 9G, the objective loop determines whether there is a repair shop or not and controls the switching point P. That is, if the target loop is the repair shop 7 (if the content of FT+3 is 115), a turn-back command is output to the switching point P by the process of 9M, and a route for moving the trolley to the loop antenna L15 is secured.

If the destination is not the repair shop 7, a counter command is output to the switching point P by the process 9N so that the cart does not enter the repair shop 7. These are controlled in advance upon entering the loop antenna L8 to prevent derailment at the bogie switching point.

Next, in the process of 99, if the truck is present in the loop with the value of FT+2, the process of 9A, that is, a low speed start command is output. If the truck is present in the loop of value FT+3 in the process 9B, a brake command is output to the truck in the process 9c. After this, 9c)): 9D by processing
In other words, if the trolley has stopped, the process proceeds to process 9E. Thereafter, the travel request is reset to "O" through the process of 9E. If the stopped place is a repair shop, the value of k is set to 1'' in order to bypass the process of traveling to the second objective loop for the next new schedule process by the process of 9F.

Whether or not the stopped loop is the loop antenna 115 of the repair shop 7 is determined based on the contents of FT+3.

The operation when restarting the cart at the loading station or the unloading station will be explained with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 10. In the process 101, it is determined whether there is loading or unloading work, and if the work request is 1'', it is determined that there is work.The process 102 selects the loop of the contents of FT+3 in FIG. If the stop answer AVo signal in Figure 3 is "1", it is determined that the vehicle is stopped at the loading station loop in the process of 102. If it is determined that the loading work is completed in the process of 103, the process of 104 is executed. The driving request is set to “1” by
Reset to . As a result, the truck travels again according to the flow shown in FIG. 9. Through the process 105, it is determined whether the vehicle has reached the unloading station loop and has stopped i by the same process as whether the vehicle has stopped at the loading station loop.

If it is determined that the unloading is completed by the process in step 106, then step 10
The work request is reset to 0'' through the process 7, and the car is returned to the waiting loop through the process 108, completing the -cycle work.

As a result of the above, the broken car is automatically sent to the repair shop, and then the normal car runs on main track 1 and is loaded.

Unloading work can be accomplished without automatic interruption.

However, the present invention is not limited to the optical guidance method or the electromagnetic induction method.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention described above, there is provided a forwarding control method for an automatic guided vehicle in which, even if a failure occurs in a trolley under running control, running control of a normal trolley can be continued without any interruption, thereby improving work efficiency. can.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an automatic guided vehicle that is the object of the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control device for realizing the method of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the breakdown of control signals between the guided radio equipment base station of FIG. 2 and the sequence controller, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a new schedule table, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a data table of driving routes,
Fig. 7 is a diagram showing the F table and the D table, Fig. 8 is a diagram showing a running data table used when the bogie is actually running, Fig. 9 is a flowchart for controlling the running of the bogie,
FIG. 0 is a management flowchart when loading onto a trolley and unloading a single trolley. 1... Main track, 2.3... Loading station, 4
゜5... Unloading station, 6... Leading track, 7.
... repair shop, 8 ... schedule device, 9 ... sequence controller, 10 ... guidance radio device base station,
11... On-vehicle antenna, 12... On-vehicle station, 13...
・On-board 1tilJ control device, L1-L3...Empty vehicle waiting zone loop antenna, L4-L14...Closed section loop antenna, Li2...Retracting track section loop antenna, P...Switching point, 01-C3 ...Dolly.

Claims (1)

[Claims] It is possible to run on a main track laid in a loop shape and on a lead-in track that leads to a bogie repair shop via a switching point on a part of this main track, and the loaded station near the main track is used to transport vehicles. In a vehicle having a plurality of trolleys for loading goods and transporting them to an unloading station located near the main track for unloading, a predetermined transport schedule is given to each of the trolleys, and a vehicle is installed within a certain range of the main track. When there is a normal empty vehicle at a predetermined position in the empty vehicle waiting zone, this empty vehicle is driven to the loading station specified in the transport schedule, and the objects to be transported are loaded onto the empty vehicle and the After traveling on the main track and transporting to the unloading station position specified in the transport schedule and unloading the transported items to make it an empty car again, the empty car is run toward the empty car waiting zone. The first car among the trolleys in the empty car standby zone departs for the transportation schedule service, passes through the empty car standby zone, and is sequentially packed in front of the empty car standby zone. If the new leading car in the standby zone is a normal empty car, the next transport schedule will be assigned to this cart and it will run automatically, and if the cart at a predetermined position in the empty car standby zone is a broken car. If so, the next transport schedule is assigned to a normal bogie following the failed bogie, the failed bogie is driven from the empty vehicle standby zone to the bogie repair shop, and the failed bogie is stopped on the lead-in track. A forwarding control method for an automatic guided vehicle, characterized in that a transport schedule service can be continued on normal vehicles except for a failed vehicle.