JPS6274702A - Unmanned conveying system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable unmanned vehicles to pass by each other, by providing auxiliary wheels to each unmanned vehicle in such a manner that they do not touch the ground surface, and by laying a railway on which the unmanned vehicles may travel by means of the auxiliary wheels. CONSTITUTION:A pair of running drive motors 12 are provided in each unmanned vehicle in the rear lower section of its vehicle body 11, and there are provided a pair of right and left drive wheels 13 which are rotated by the motor 12. Further, a steered wheel 15 is attached to the lower side of the vehicle body 11 at the center thereof through the intermediary of a rotary mechanism 14 so that it may be turned, in its running direction, by means of a steering drive motor 16. Further, a pair of right and left auxiliary wheels 18, 19 are provided in the front section of the vehicle body 11, having a diameter less than that of the wheels 13, 15. Meanwhile, a pair of right and left elevated rails 22 are laid being supported by support columns 23 in a single track section of a running path for unmanned vehicles 10. Further, a pair of right and left ascending and descending rails 28, 29 are connected to both ends of the elevated rails 22 through the intermediary of a pair of right and left inclined rails 24, 25.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an unmanned transportation system that is essential for automating the transportation of cargo in various factories.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

In recent years, unmanned transportation systems have been widely adopted in various factories in order to reduce the number of personnel through automation. This is a system in which an automated guided vehicle is driven by itself along a computer-controlled route (road surface) to transport cargo to a destination, and it is often operated by multiple automated guided vehicles running at the same time. .

An example of this is explained with reference to Fig. 12. A running route 1 in one building A built on the site of a factory, etc., a running route 2 in the other building JIB, and a route between the two buildings A and B. A traveling route 3 is provided that connects the traveling routes 1.2 of the two, and a plurality of automatic guided vehicles 4... travel back and forth on these traveling routes 1, 2.3. It looks like this.

By the way, in the above-mentioned unmanned guided vehicle system, a plurality of unmanned guided vehicles 4 can move freely at the same time on the travel route 1.2 in each of the buildings A and B, but from one of the two buildings mA and B to the other. When traveling to , you must always take the above driving route 3. However, both buildings A
, B is usually a single track due to the surrounding conditions of the building, etc., and the automatic guided vehicle 4 cannot pass each other on the single track section C, so the automatic guided vehicle 4 cannot pass each other on the single track section C. When there is an unmanned guided vehicle 4 trying to go to building B and the other unmanned guided vehicle trying to go back,
The vehicle that entered the single-track section C first will be given priority, and once it has passed through the single-track section C, the other vehicle that has been waiting until then will be allowed to enter the single-track section C. It needed to be controlled.

Therefore, in such an unmanned conveyance system, for example, cargo such as parts manufactured in one building A is loaded one after another onto a plurality of unmanned guided vehicles 4 and transported to the other building B, where the empty unmanned If the guided vehicles 4 are to repeat the process of returning to building A one after another and transporting the cargo again, several automated guided vehicles 4 will stop at both ends of the above-mentioned single track section C to wait. This results in a jammed condition, which lengthens the cycle time of cargo transportation and reduces work efficiency.In addition, control performance is required to prevent automatic guided vehicles 4 from entering the single track section C from both sides and colliding with each other. This had a double disadvantage in that it had to be added to the system, making the control device that much more complicated.

[Purpose of the invention]

This invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and even under conditions where a single-track section must be provided, it is possible to make automatic guided vehicles run back and forth and pass each other without having to wait at both ends of the single-track section. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an unmanned transportation system that improves work efficiency and simplifies the control device.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the automatic guided vehicle system of the present invention is provided with auxiliary wheels that do not touch the road surface on both sides of an automatic guided vehicle that travels on a road surface using drive wheels, and in which the automatic guided vehicle travels through the auxiliary wheels on both sides. Elevated rails that can be run are installed at a position higher than the vehicle height of the automatic guided vehicle on the road surface such as a single-track section, and the elevated rails are arranged at both ends of the elevated rail so that the elevated rails are tilted from the road surface of the automatic guided vehicle. and a boarding/disembarking rail that enables transfer from the elevated rail to the road surface and that also jumps up and allows the automated guided vehicle to travel on the road surface and pass under the elevated rail regardless of the elevated rail. With this configuration, automatic guided vehicles can run vertically and vertically without colliding even on single-track sections, for example, on the outbound route, they travel on elevated rails, and on the return route, they travel on the road surface below, allowing multiple unmanned guided vehicles to travel vertically without colliding. This allows vehicles to operate smoothly and efficiently transport cargo without having to wait.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 10. First, in FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 10 indicates an automatic guided vehicle, and a pair of driving drive motors 12 are provided at the lower rear part of a vehicle body 11 on which luggage (not shown) is loaded. A pair of left and right drive wheels 13 are provided that are rotatably driven via a reduction gear or the like. Further, a steering wheel 15 is provided at the center of the lower front part of the vehicle body 11 via a rotation mechanism 14 such as a turntable, and the direction of this wheel can be changed via the rotation mechanism 15 by a steering drive motor 16. . In addition, 17 is each of the above-mentioned motors 12
．． This is a battery that serves as the power source for 16 units. By rotationally driving the left and right drive wheels 13 and controlling the direction of the steering wheels 15, the vehicle can freely travel on the road along various travel routes.

A pair of left and right auxiliary wheels 18 and 19 are provided at the front and rear of the vehicle body 11 of the automatic guided vehicle 10. This auxiliary wheel 18.19 has 7 lunges 18a.

The front left and right auxiliary wheels 18 have bearings 20 attached to the lower part of the vehicle body 11 as driven wheels.
One of the left and right auxiliary wheels on the rear side is coaxially supported with the left and right drive wheels 13 at the bottom of the vehicle body 11 as a drive DI,
They are provided so as to protrude equally at both external positions of the vehicle body 11, respectively.

Furthermore, these auxiliary wheels 18 and 19 have a smaller diameter than the driving wheels 13 and the steering wheels 15, and are in a floating state without touching the road surface during normal road running.

On the other hand, FIG. 3 shows a travel path on which the automatic guided vehicle 10 travels. The road surface 21 shown here corresponds to the running route 3 of the single-track section C shown in FIG. Here, the road surface 21 is a single track section, and the automatic guided vehicles 10 cannot pass each other as it is, so in order to make it three-dimensional, a pair of left and right elevated rails 22 are installed on the road surface 21 at a position higher than the vehicle height of the automatic guided vehicle 10. A pair of inclined rails 24 and 25 on the right side are provided via a plurality of support legs 23, and are continuous on both ends of the elevated rail 22 and descend at a moderate slope.
．． It is supported by 27. The lower ends of the inclined rails 24, 25 on both end sides are supported by supports 26, 27 at a position slightly higher than the upper end surface of the auxiliary wheels 18, 19 of the automatic guided vehicle 10 when running on a road surface. Furthermore, the pair of left and right starting end side getting on/off rails 2 are supported by the support 26 at their base ends so as to be connected to the lower end of one of the left and right inclined rails 24.
8 is provided, and a pair of left and right end side getting on/off rails 29 are provided with their base ends supported by pillars 27 so as to be connected to the lower ends of the other left and right inclined rails 25.

Here, the base end of the starting end side getting on/off rail 28 is rotatably pivoted to the support 26 so that the diagonally cut end touches the road surface 21 as shown in FIG. 4(a) during normal times. It rotates downward due to its own weight and becomes inclined at the same slope as the inclined rail 24, and the automatic guided vehicle 10 that has been traveling on the road from one side smoothly climbs onto the inclined rail with its front and rear auxiliary wheels 18 and 19. It is possible to move onto the elevated rail 22 via the rail 24. Conversely, as shown in FIG. 4(b), the automatic guided vehicle 1
When the vehicle 0 runs on the road, the starting end boarding rail 28 is pushed up from below by the left and right auxiliary wheels 18 and jumps up, allowing the automated guided vehicle 10 to pass without any hindrance. As shown in FIG. 5(a), the getting on/off rail 29 has its base end pivotally connected to the support column 27 so as to be rotatable, and the midway portion of the rail 29 is suspended by a lifting spring 30 hooked between it and the upper end of the support support 27. The automatic guided vehicle 10 which is always biased in a horizontal jumping state and which has traveled on the road from the other side can travel on the road below the elevated rail 22 regardless of the rail 29, and Contrary to the above, pass over the elevated rail 22 from one side and over the inclined rail 25 as shown in Fig. 5 (
As shown in b), when the automatic guided vehicle 10 descends, the two end-side boarding and alighting rails rotate downward against the lifting spring 30 due to the load of the guided vehicle 1o, and are inclined at the same angle as the inclined rail 25. , the tip is in contact with the road surface 21,
This allows the automatic guided vehicle 10 to smoothly move onto the road surface 21.

In addition, FIG. 6 shows a state in which two automatic guided vehicles 10.10 are running in opposite directions, one on the elevated rail 22 and the other on the road surface 21 below, and the left and right elevated rails are running in opposite directions. The left and right support legs 23 supporting the automatic guided vehicle 10 are erected at intervals larger than the entire width of the automatic guided vehicle 10, and the left and right elevated rails 22 are attached to the upper ends of the left and right auxiliary wheels 18, 18 and 19. The width between the rails is equal to the width of the 19 wheels.

7 and 8 show the relationship structure between the drive wheels 13 of the automatic guided vehicle 10 and the drive instep auxiliary wheels 19 arranged coaxially therewith. A small drive gear 31 is provided in direct connection with the small gear 31 for driving.
A bearing housing 34 is attached to the lower part of the vehicle body 11, and an axle 33 is rotatably driven by a large driving gear 32 that meshes with the bearing housing 34.
．． 35 is supported by roller bearings 36, 37, the drive wheel 13 is supported at the middle part of this axle 33, and the auxiliary wheel 19 is supported at the outer end.
are installed respectively. Here, since the drive wheel 13 and the auxiliary wheel 19 have different diameters (DI>D2), when both are directly connected to the axle 33 and driven to rotate, a difference occurs in their circumferential speeds, and the road surface The speeds are different when traveling on the elevated rail 21 and when traveling on the elevated rail 22, causing trouble in controlling the transport cycle time. For this reason, in order to make the circumferential speeds of the drive wheel 13 and the auxiliary wheel 19 the same, the auxiliary wheel 19 is attached directly to the axle 33, but the drive wheel 13 is connected to the axle 33 via a bearing 38. It is rotatably mounted and rotationally driven by the axle 33 via a reduction gear mechanism 39. The reduction gear mechanism 39 includes a large gear 40 fitted onto an axle 33, and a pair of small gears 42 supported by shafts 41 respectively protruding from the bearing housing 34 so as to mesh with the large gear 40. It is composed of an annular gear 43 fixed to one side of the drive wheel 13 in a state of meshing with the double gear 42 so as to be inscribed therein, and by appropriately setting the gear ratio of each gear 40, 42, 43. The rotation speeds of the driving wheel 13 and one auxiliary wheel, which have different diameters from each other, are changed to make the circumferential speeds of both wheels the same.

In other words, if the number of rotations of the above-mentioned traveling drive motor 12 is N, the number of teeth of the small drive gear 31 is Zp, and the number of teeth of the large drive gear 32 is Zg, then the number of rotations N2 of the auxiliary wheel 19 is as follows. . On the other hand, the large gear 4 of the reduction gear mechanism 39
0 is the rotation speed N of the auxiliary wheel 19 determined by the above formula (1)
2, but if the number of teeth of the large gear 40 is 71, the number of teeth of the small gear 42 is 72, and the number of teeth of the annular gear 43 is 73, the gear ratio GR can be expressed as follows. Here, assuming that the diameter of the driving wheel 13 is DI and the diameter of one auxiliary wheel is D2, the number of teeth of the large gear 40 is 71 so that the following relational expression is established.
If the tooth @Z2 of the small gear 42 is selected, the drive wheel 13
The circumferential speeds of the outer circumferential surfaces of the auxiliary wheels 19 and auxiliary wheels 19 become the same. It is clear that the relationship between the rotational speed N1 of the drive wheel 13 and the rotational speed N2 of the auxiliary wheel 19 at this time is as follows using the above equations (1) and (2).

In this way, by making the circumferential speed of the driving wheels 13 and the auxiliary wheels 19 the same, the automatic guided vehicle 10 always has a constant speed both when traveling on the road surface 21 and when traveling on the elevated rail 22, which prevents deviations in the transportation cycle time. This eliminates the need for troublesome controls for corrections such as

Another advantage of having the same circumferential speed is, for example, in the case of an automatic guided vehicle (not shown) in which both the front and rear wheels for running on road surfaces and the front and rear wheels for running on rails are drive wheels, as shown in Figure 4. When the rear drive wheels are on the road surface and the front auxiliary wheels are on the rails as in (a), if the circumferential speeds of the two wheels are different, the slower wheel will always have a braking effect, causing energy loss. However, this problem can be solved, which would make it difficult for the vehicle to run smoothly and, in extreme cases, cause damage to some of the components such as the drive mechanism.

Next, the control device for the steering drive motor 16 that steers the automatic guided vehicle 10 will be described in comparison with the current one. FIG. 9(a) is a block diagram of the current steering drive motor control device. , a steering command circuit 50 and a steering angle (deviation) detection circuit 51, which is always necessary for optical guidance, electromagnetic induction, or gyro guided vehicles, are provided, and a command signal from the steering command circuit 50 and a steering angle (deviation) detector circuit are provided. 51 is obtained by the first deviation detector 52, the steering angle deviation signal is outputted as a speed command signal, and the difference between this and the speed signal from the speed detection circuit 53 of the steering drive motor 16 is output. The difference is obtained by the second difference detector 54, and its output signal is sent to the current command circuit 55 to output a current command signal, and this signal and the current detection signal from the current detection circuit 56 of the steering drive motor 16 are output. A third deviation detector 57 obtains the difference between the two and the deviation current signal is sent to the steering drive motor 16 together with the signal from the triangular wave generating circuit 58, and the motor 16 is controlled to control the automatic guided vehicle 10. It is designed to perform normal steering operation. In other words, normal running is possible only after the steering angle deviation signal from the steering angle (deviation) detection circuit 51 is obtained.

A typical example of the steering angle deviation signal is shown in FIG. 1o.

The horizontal axis is the amount of deviation, and the vertical axis is the voltage level. The higher the voltage level, the greater the restoring force, and the steering drive motor 16 always converges in the range of straight travel when the steering angle deviation signal disappears. The force that tries to do so comes into play.

However, in the current steering drive motor control device described above, from the moment when the automatic guided vehicle 10 climbs onto the elevated rail 22 from the road surface 21 as described above, the guided vehicle 10
is tilted, making it difficult for the steering angle (deviation) detection circuit 51 to accurately obtain a steering angle deviation signal. Therefore, in addition to the above-mentioned current control device, a rail detection circuit 59 is provided as shown in FIG. 9(b), and when this circuit detects a rail, it always gives a signal in the normal straight-ahead range, and the problem will be eliminated. . The five rail detection circuits are configured to detect the rail using an optical sensor or a proximity switch, and electrically output a signal in the normal straight-travel range shown in FIG.

Therefore, if the above-described automatic guided vehicle system is applied to the single-track section C in Fig. 12, the 10 automatic guided vehicles can enter from both sides even in the single-track section C, and the 10 automatic guided vehicles can run vertically passing each other without colliding. For example, since the outbound route runs on the elevated rail 22 and the return route runs on the road surface 21 below it, there is no longer a need for the automatic guided vehicle 10 to wait at both ends of the 'single track section C as in the past. , to operate the plurality of automatic guided vehicles 10 smoothly without stagnation,
It becomes possible to perform efficient transport work with a short cycle time for transporting cargo, and it also becomes possible to easily control the operation of each automatic guided vehicle 10, and to simplify the control device.

Moreover, the number of mechanically and electrically modified parts of the automatic guided vehicle 10 itself is small, and even if elevated rails are attached, the positive side of efficiency improvement is far greater and more significant. Furthermore, since the automatic guided vehicle 10 can run three-dimensionally on a single track section, it is also possible to create a new automatic guided vehicle system, such as improving the traveling route.

In addition, FIG. 11 shows another embodiment of this invention,
This is an example of a three-dimensional driving path for an automatic guided vehicle (top, middle, and bottom). Here, a road surface 21 and an elevated rail 2 similar to the above embodiment are shown.
It has a structure in which the upper and lower two stages of running track consisting of 2nd grade and the upper and lower running tracks are stacked on top of each other, as indicated by the same reference numerals, and there is an opening in the upper road surface 21'. A lower elevated rail 22 is located in the center at the same height, and boarding and alighting rails 28' and 29 openably and closably connect both ends of the elevated rail 22 and the road surface 21' above the inclined rail 24.25. ' is provided. Although the getting on/off rails 28' and 29' are different from the other getting on/off rails 28, 29 in terms of grounding locations and convenience, they each operate in the same way as described above. This makes it possible for the automatic guided vehicle to travel in various ways as indicated by arrows in the figure, and provides a system that is particularly effective for carrying cargo into a multi-level automated warehouse or the like. Furthermore, the system can be further improved if the automatic guided vehicle itself is equipped with forward and backward movement capabilities.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since this invention has been made as described above, even under conditions where a single-track section must be provided, automatic guided vehicles can be made to travel back and forth passing each other without having to wait at both ends of the single-track section, thereby facilitating the transportation work. An unmanned transportation system that can improve efficiency and simplify the control device can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 to 10 show an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 is a side view of the automatic guided vehicle, Figure 2 is a bottom view of the same, and Figure 3 is a diagram showing the road surface on which the automatic guided vehicle runs. 4(a) and 4(b) are side views showing the operation of the starting end boarding and alighting rails, and FIG. 5(
a) and (b) are side views showing the operation of the end-side boarding and alighting rails, Figure 6 is a diagram of the automatic guided vehicle running on the road surface and elevated rail, and Figure 7 is the driving wheel and auxiliary of the automatic guided vehicle. A sectional view of the mounting structure including the drive system with the wheels, Figure 8 is a principle diagram of the structure of the reduction gear of the drive wheel to equalize the circumferential speed of the auxiliary wheel, and Figure 9 (a) is the conventional steering wheel. FIG. 9(b) is a block circuit diagram of a control device for a drive motor, FIG. 9(b) is a block circuit diagram of a control device for a steering drive motor of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 11 is a schematic configuration diagram of a three-dimensional traveling path showing another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 12 is a plan view showing a conventional general automatic guided vehicle travel route. 10...Automated guided vehicle, 13...Drive wheel, 15...
- Steering wheel, 18.19... Auxiliary wheel, 21... Road surface, 22... Elevated rail, 24.25... Inclined rail, 28° 29... Rail for getting on and off, 30... Rail Jump biasing means (spring), 39... Gear mechanism that reduces the peripheral speed of the drive wheel and the auxiliary wheel at the same speed. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 2 Figure 3 (a) (b) Figure 4

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) Auxiliary wheels that do not touch the road surface are provided on both sides of the automatic guided vehicle that travels on the road surface using drive wheels, and elevated rails that allow the automatic guided vehicle to travel via the auxiliary wheels on both sides are installed on the unmanned road surface. It is installed at a position higher than the vehicle height of the guided vehicle, and is placed on both ends of the elevated rail so that it is slanted to enable the automated guided vehicle to transfer from the road surface to the elevated rail and from the elevated rail to the road surface. An unmanned transportation system comprising a boarding and alighting rail that is raised and allows an unmanned guided vehicle to travel on the underside of the elevated rail and pass through it regardless of the elevated rail. (2) The unmanned transportation system according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary wheels are configured to be rotated at the same circumferential speed as the driving wheels. (3) The boarding/disembarking rail at the starting end of the elevated rail is always inclined so that the automatic guided vehicle can ride onto the elevated rail from the road surface, and the automated guided vehicle is jumped up by the automatic guided vehicle traveling backwards on the road surface. The boarding and alighting rails at the end of the elevated rail are constantly biased in a raised state to allow the passage of unmanned guided vehicles traveling in the opposite direction on the road surface. 2. The automatic transport system according to claim 1, wherein the automatic transport system is configured to be tilted due to the load of the transport vehicle, thereby enabling the automatic transport vehicle to move onto a road surface.