KR20040106007A - An Automatic transfer and automatic registration system using an electric palette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A system for automatically transferring and registering articles by using an electric pallet is provided to minimize manpower and reduce process time in transporting articles from the vehicle to the sorting machine and vice versa, and to manage the system efficiently by registering articles automatically. CONSTITUTION: An automatic article transfer system comprises an annular track having an RF-ID reader(102) reading the position information of articles, an electric pallet(101) having a pallet loading container for storing articles and turning along the track, front and rear image sensors controlling the electric pallet by detecting the direction of the electric pallet, a controller processing image information data from the front and rear image sensors, front and rear carriers attached to the electric pallet and composed of a steering unit deciding the direction of the electric pallet moving forward by receiving information from the controller and a speed regulator controlling speed, and an RF-tag installed between the front and rear carries to collect identification or position information of the electric pallet.

Description

An automatic transfer and automatic registration system using an electric palette}

The present invention relates to a product automatic transport and automatic registration system using an electric pallet, and in particular, the electric pallet is a fixed trajectory through an image sensor using a camera mounted in front and rear of the electric pallet in a mailing house and an exchange office dealing with the goods. And move the goods through the speed control device equipped with the electric motor and tachometer to transport the goods, and register and recognize the RF tag attached to the goods. The present invention relates to a product automatic transportation and automatic registration system using an electric pallet.

Recently, automation systems have been introduced to reduce the efficiency and cost of business processes throughout the industrial field, and automated systems have been introduced to handle, classify, and transport mails in the postal service, which is a typical task for handling goods. It is becoming. Particularly, the mails collected from all over the country are unloaded from the mail-loading vehicles, sorted by province, and then transported and loaded into the loaded vehicles by a human hand. However, for this reason, a large number of manpower is required, and at the same time, there is a problem of costly problems, and above all, there has been a problem that a lot of time is spent in handling and sorting mails.

In addition, conventionally, a plurality of ultrasonic sensors are used in a method of correcting a position when an unmanned vehicle travels a predetermined driving path and deviates from the path. In this case, a manufacturing cost increases and a stationary position of the unmanned transportation vehicle is increased. Since there is a need to install the ultrasonic reflector at a position corresponding to the ultrasonic sensor group of the unmanned vehicle every time, there has been a problem that the installation work is cumbersome.

In addition, in order to correct the position when the unmanned vehicle is off the track, the position sensor of the unmanned vehicle is photographed or read by a position detecting device installed at regular intervals on the track to correct the position.

In this case, since the driving position display devices are installed at regular intervals, excessive track departures cannot be avoided because the position cannot be corrected even if the unmanned transportation vehicle leaves the track before reaching the display device.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, the image sensor mounted on the front and rear of the electric pallet to capture more than about 25 images in a second of the trajectory of the electric pallet to grasp the temporal change of these images It is possible to modify the position of the electric pallet by extracting the departure angle and the departure speed from the normal traveling direction. Also, the image sensor captures the trajectory to enable automatic transportation of goods without the need for the installation of a separate ultrasonic sensor. At the same time, it is an object of the present invention to provide a product automatic transport and automatic registration system using an electric pallet so that the RF-tag attached to the article through the antenna to the RF reader to automatically process the registration of the article.

1 is a schematic view showing an automatic goods transport system according to the present invention,

2 is a schematic perspective view of an electric pallet according to the present invention;

3 is a perspective view showing the structure of an electric pallet according to the present invention;

Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the direction control flow of the electric pallet according to the present invention,

5 is a block diagram showing a speed control flow of the electric pallet according to the present invention;

Figure 6 is a trajectory diagram showing the centerline departure distance and departure angle of the electric pallet according to the present invention,

7 is a perspective view of an electric pallet according to the present invention with components for registering an article,

8 is a block diagram showing the flow of the goods registration system according to the present invention.

(Explanation of reference numerals)

101,701: Electric pallet 102,702: RF reader

103: electric pallet branch copper 104: goods transport main copper

201,704: Pallet loading box 202: Front image sensor

203: Rear image sensor 204: Front wheel and rear wheel

301: front wheel enclosure 302: rear wheel enclosure

303: battery 304: RF-tag

703: antenna

The present invention to achieve the object as described above,

In the automatic goods transport system using a carrier that allows free movement along a certain track, an annular orbit with a built-in RF-ID reader that can read the position information of the goods, and a pallet storage box for storing the goods The electric pallet rotating along the track, the front image sensor and the rear image sensor mounted on the front and rear to read and control the direction of the electric pallet, processing the image information data read from the front image sensor and the rear image sensor A control device, a steering device for determining the direction of the electric pallet to move forward by receiving information from the control device, and a speed control device for controlling the speed, respectively, the front wheel enclosure and the rear wheel enclosure attached to the electric pallet, ID and location information is installed on the electric pallet between the front wheel housing and the rear wheel housing And wherein the RF- configured to tag.

In addition, the front image sensor and the rear image sensor is characterized in that it is composed of a lighting device for illuminating the copper camera and the copper wire.

In addition, the speed control device is characterized in that the speed control motor and the brake motor for operating the spring brake and the spring brake is another feature.

In addition, the antenna and the RF attached to the electric pallet to recognize the ID of the article and transmit to the central DB server by recognizing the RF-tag attached to the article by the RF reader in the automatic goods transport system as described above It is another feature that enables the automatic registration of goods by further including a tag.

In addition, the antenna is another feature that the loop antenna surrounding the pallet loading box inlet of the electric pallet.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail an embodiment of the automatic goods transport and automatic registration system using the electric pallet according to the present invention. First of all, it should be noted that in the drawings, the same components or parts denote the same reference numerals as much as possible. In describing the present invention, detailed descriptions of related well-known functions or configurations are omitted in order not to obscure the subject matter of the present invention.

1 is a schematic view showing the automatic goods transport system according to the present invention, as shown in the following components are installed in a predetermined space.

Electric pallet 101 for carrying and transporting items such as mail, and long round table type sorter (108) for sorting goods loaded on the pallet from the inside of the pallet by region. The goods storage box 109, which is separated in the form of an outward branch and is loaded with goods, a main ship 103 which is drawn on the floor of the workshop along the periphery of the goods sorter and becomes an orbit required for the electric pallet to move, and the goods on the main ship White branch copper wire 104 for branching the electric pallet to the storage of the sorter, RF-reader 102 installed on the ground periodically at regular intervals along the main line, RF- on the electric pallet Two RFIs installed on one side and the other side of the main line for generating an ID and entering departure and destination information. D-tunnels 105 and 106, and sensors 107 which are installed at the branching points of the main and branching lines and decide whether or not the electric pallet branches to the branching line in a yes / no manner. It is installed between the cargo arrival place and the cargo loading departure place shown in FIG.

The main copper wire 103 and the branch copper wire 104 reflect light well so that the image sensor of the electric pallet which will be described later can be easily recognized, and the color of the copper wire is not largely damaged due to contamination of the workplace. It is better to use, preferably white.

As described above, the main copper wire 103 is configured to rotate around the article sorter in an annular shape, branched from the main copper ship and connected to the branch copper line 104 to the article stacker 109 of the article sorter. At the end of each branch line, a sensor is attached to stop the movement of the pallet automatically and load the goods. Once the end of the branch line has been reached, the electric pallet is switched to the manual movement mode, allowing the cargo to be loaded by the unloader. The RF reader 102, which is periodically installed on the ground along the main line, continues to provide the ID and position of the electric pallet 101 which is connected to the electric pallet positioning server by wireless LAN or wired. The position control server displays the position of each electric pallet on a graphic screen to allow the administrator to grasp the movement state of the vehicle at a glance, and to manually adjust the movement of each electric pallet when necessary, thereby enabling efficient operation.

Accordingly, the goods arriving at the cargo arrival place are recorded in the RF tag attached to the electric pallet while passing through the RFID tunnel, and the RF reader reads the RF tag. Read and interpret the information stored in) and transfer it to the location control server.

After the process of transporting the goods arrived from the truck to the goods sorter by the end of the process is finished, the power pallet is moved along the main line to the place where the goods storage containing the sorted goods in the goods sorter. After receiving these items in the cargo container, they are now moved along the main line to the cargo loading site. In order to automatically enter and exit the truck cargo compartment when the electric pallet is unloaded from the truck, copper wires must be drawn in the cargo compartment entrance and the cargo compartment of the truck.

Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of the electric pallet according to the invention, Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the structure of the electric pallet according to the invention, as shown,

The electric pallet 101, which is moved by the front wheel and the rear wheel 204, which depend on both front and rear sides, has a pallet loading box 201 for loading goods thereon, and an image sensor in front and rear of the electric pallet, respectively. (202, 203), the front wheel box 301 and the rear wheel box 302, which includes a steering device and a speed control device, respectively, are mounted on the front and rear of the electric pallet to which the image sensor is connected. An RF-tag 304 containing the ID and the location information and a battery 303 serving as a power source of the electric pallet are mounted between the front wheel box and the rear wheel box.

The pallet loading box 202 may have a variety of shapes, but considering a large number of squares having an hexahedron shape, the hexahedron shape may be most preferable.

Each of the image sensors attached to the front and rear of the electric pallet is characterized in that it is a CMOS camera, it is preferable to use a color camera module with a resolution of 640x480 or more. Particularly, because of the characteristics of the workplace, it is necessary to provide clear images at all times even in areas with low illumination, and the illumination should use progressive type of 0.01 lux or less, and the number of frames should have a frame rate of 60 frames / sec or more. desirable. In addition, since the camera is installed near the ground of the lower portion of the electric pallet, it is difficult to penetrate the light, thereby attaching a lighting device such as a light bulb near the camera to increase the brightness.

6 is a trajectory diagram showing a centerline departure distance and a departure angle of the electric pallet according to the present invention. As shown in FIG.

The image width of the white copper wire 603 captured by the image sensor camera is about half of the horizontal length of the full screen 602 so that how the current front and rear wheels are present from the shapes in which the white copper wire appears on the full screen. It is easy to determine whether or not there is a deviation. In addition, as described above, the camera provides more than 25 images in one second, so as to grasp the temporal change of these images to extract the deviation angle and the departure speed from the normal traveling direction every second and correct the deviation. do.

In this case, the method of image processing the white copper wire 603 image should detect the edge of the image to extract the position and angle occupied by the left and right edge line 601 in the full screen 602. The distance between the vertical line dividing the center of the entire screen and the vertical line dividing the center of the edge line 601 becomes a departure distance (a), and the angle formed by the edge line 601 and the vertical line of the entire screen is a departure angle (b). Becomes

In the controller for correcting the position of the electric pallet from the calculated deviation distance and the deviation angle, the direction of the front wheels is set so that the electric pallet faces the same direction as the deviation distance and the deviation angle, and the deviation distance of the edge line from the initially determined steering angle. And control the position of the electric pallet so that the deviation angle is zero.

At this time, the control reference generates four total of edge line departure distance and departure angle of front wheel, edge line departure distance and departure angle of rear wheel at least 1/25 seconds, and these variables are accepted by single controller to control front motor. To generate a control signal.

When the pallet is unloaded from the truck, in order to automatically enter and exit the cargo compartment of the truck, a white copper wire is drawn at the entrance of the cargo compartment and the truck cargo compartment, and the electric pallet can enter and exit along the white copper wire. In order to be able to proceed in both directions without the front and rear the electric pallet. Therefore, a front wheel and a rear wheel enclosure having steering and speed control devices are required on both the front wheel and the rear wheel, and when the front wheel housing moves backward, the rear wheel housing takes over the function. Here, the controller also allows the electronic or software to be switched between the front wheel control module and the rear wheel control module when the traveling direction of the front and rear sides is changed.

4 is a block diagram showing a flow control flow of the electric pallet according to the present invention, as shown,

The image information from the front and rear cameras is received through the image capture, and the deviation and deviation angles calculated by the image capture are calculated from the reference value through the loop filter, that is, the error is passed through the amplifier. Position correction command is issued to the steering motor. Here, the initial value or the reference value is a value when the electric pallet is in a state parallel to the main line, and preferably the initial value is such that the departure distance and departure angle are zero. However, in the case where the moving direction of the electric pallet is determined by a control panel, a remote controller, or the like, the value may be changed.

Figure 5 is a block diagram showing the speed control flow of the electric pallet according to the present invention, as shown,

In principle, the speed of the electric pallet should be input with a certain value, but in the case of remote control operation or switch operation, the speed may be different, and this speed value is transmitted to the speed control device through the built-in antenna. In order to automatically enter and exit the cargo compartment of the truck, there may be an inclination in the advancing direction of the cargo compartment of the truck. At this time, the speed control motor should be operated at a low speed to automatically maintain the preset entrance and exit speed. However, it is possible for the operator to control the speed with the remote controller, ignoring the set entry / exit speed.

It is preferable to use a tachometer or the like as a speed sensor for detecting the speed of the electric pallet. The tachometer detects the current speed of the electric pallet, and if there is an obstacle in the front, the proximity sensor detects it. When the speed information input through the remote controller is input through the antenna, the information is transmitted to the speed controller. When the electric pallet is advanced, the controller transmits a command to the front wheel speed control motor in the front wheel enclosure attached to the front wheel of the electric pallet, and when the reverse is reversed, the controller transmits a command to the rear wheel speed control motor in the closed wheel enclosure. When the branch point or the stop request point is reached, the controller causes the electric pallet to stop via the brake motor.

When the electric pallet encounters a person or other external obstacles while moving, it detects and stops it, and also stops automatically at the point where the stop is required. Speed control can be enabled. Such a detection system can be achieved through proximity sensors at a certain distance to a collisionable object such as a person, and a stop pattern is added to a certain pattern on the copper line so that the image of the pattern stops when detected by the front or rear camera. Or generate a stop signal according to the radio stop signal of the remote control. At the branch point of the main and branch copper lines, RF-tag information on the electric pallet is read through the RF reader, and the information is transmitted to the server, and the server generates a stop signal through an antenna built in the electric pallet. The signal is then sent to the speed controller.

The stop of the electric pallet is to stop by driving the speed control motor by calculating the stop position in advance so as to operate the brake device of the front wheel and the rear wheel by electric, and use the electric brake when the speed lasts to zero for a long time. The electric brake maintains the stop state by the spring pressure in the normal stop state, and by using the method of releasing this brake using the motor only when the electric pallet is working, so that the brake works even when transported on a truck or the like. Do not move the electric pallet.

Figure 7 shows a perspective view of the electric pallet according to the invention with the components for registering the article, as shown,

When the RF-tag is attached to the goods loaded on the pallet stacking box 704 of the electric pallet 701, the antenna 703 is installed at the inlet side of the pallet stacking box and connected to the RF reader 702. Identify the article. At this time, the antenna is most preferably in the form of a loop antenna that surrounds the pallet loading box inlet of the electric pallet, other antennas may be possible.

8 is a block diagram showing the flow of the goods registration system according to the present invention, as shown,

The RF-reader connects to the wireless LAN and sends the ID of the currently received item to the central database server in real time. The central database server accumulates the data until the last item is received on the electric pallet. Output this data to make a delivery certificate and send it to the destination with the electric pallet, and once the RF-reader once recognized the RF-tag instructed to prohibit the RF response, the RF-reader also provides the RF-tag function It is used to determine the ID of the electric pallet.

Next, when releasing the goods from the electric pallet, the corresponding goods are deleted from the item list stored in the RF reader so that the items stored in the electric pallet and the ID list of the RF reader are always the same. Is always updated by the central control server via a wireless LAN.

By the way, the system for automatically transporting and registering the goods provides a very convenient point of use, but since there is an initial burden that requires a considerable cost to properly build it, the operator does not move the pallet automatically. According to the present invention, a control unit may be separately configured on the electric pallet to drive and control the DC motor installed to move the electric pallet. It is also possible to install a control dial for adjusting the rotational speed of the switch and the DC motor and a turning handle for changing the direction of the electric pallet.

The present invention described above is not limited to the above-described embodiment and the accompanying drawings, and various substitutions, modifications, and changes are possible within the scope without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. It will be evident to those who have knowledge of.

As described above, according to the present invention, by controlling the movement of the electric pallet by a real-time image processing method through a digital camera installed in front and rear of the electric pallet, it is possible to minimize the deviation of the track of the electric pallet, Costs can be minimized by installing ultrasonic image sensors or other devices. Such real-time image processing can realize stable and high performance through high performance digital signal process (DSP) and embedded design. In addition, through the use of the present invention there is an effect that can minimize the cost and manpower required for the classification and transport of goods, such as mail.

Claims (5)

In the automatic goods transport system using a carrier that allows free movement along a certain track, An annular orbit having a built-in RF-ID reader capable of reading the location information of the article; An electric pallet rotating along the track by attaching a pallet loading box to the upper part to hold an article; A front image sensor and a rear image sensor mounted at the front and the rear to read and control the direction of the electric pallet; A control device for processing image information data read from the front image sensor and the rear image sensor; A front wheel box and a rear wheel box respectively attached to the electric pallet, including a steering device for determining the direction of the electric pallet that is advanced from the control device and a speed control device for controlling the speed; An RF-tag installed on the electric pallet between the front wheel box and the rear wheel box by containing ID and position information of the electric pallet; Article automatic transport system using an electric pallet, characterized in that consisting of. The method of claim 1, The front image sensor and the rear image sensor is an automatic conveying system using an electric pallet, characterized in that consisting of a CMOS camera and a lighting device for illuminating the copper wire. The method of claim 1, The speed control device is a product automatic transport system using an electric pallet, characterized in that consisting of a speed control motor and a brake motor for operating the spring brake and the spring brake. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The RF tag further includes an antenna attached to the electric pallet and the RF tag in order to recognize the RF tag attached to the article by the RF reader to identify the ID of the article and transmit it to the central DB server. Automated transportation and automatic registration system using pallets. The method of claim 4, wherein And the antenna is a loop antenna surrounding the pallet loading box inlet of the electric pallet.