KR20070095833A - Vehicle management device, vehicle management system, and vehicle management method - Google Patents

Abstract

A vehicle management device, a vehicle management system, and a vehicle management method are provided to enhance arrival probability of a carrier toward a destination for a short time by scheduling the carrier in order to avoid congestion. A carrier position detecting unit(21) detects a current position of plural carriers which are driven in a track. A route searching unit(20) searches overall routes of a specific carrier from a departure position to a destination position. A congestion determiner determines congestion states in respective routes, which are searched in the route searching unit, based on a current position of the carrier. A route length calculating unit(24) calculates an overall route length of the respective routes. A route determiner(25) determines the shortest traveling route toward the destination position based on the congestion states and the overall route length. A traveling route instructing unit(27) instructs the traveling route on the carrier.

Description

Vehicle management device, vehicle management system and vehicle management method {VEHICLE MANAGEMENT DEVICE, VEHICLE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, AND VEHICLE MANAGEMENT METHOD}

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vehicle management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a vehicle management apparatus in FIG. 1. FIG.

3 is an explanatory diagram of a carrier data table in FIG. 1;

4 is an explanatory diagram of a route search data table in FIG. 1;

5 is an explanatory diagram of a layout data table in FIG. 1;

6 is an explanatory diagram of a path length data table in FIG. 1;

7 is an explanatory diagram of a congestion situation data table in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a travel route data table in FIG. 1. FIG.

9 and 10 are schematic diagrams showing a conveyance path in the conveyance vehicle management system.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart showing a route setting routine executed by the vehicle management apparatus.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart showing a congestion determination routine executed by the vehicle management apparatus.

Fig. 13 is a flowchart showing a route determination routine executed by the vehicle management apparatus.

Fig. 14 is a flowchart showing a traveling routine executed by the carrier management apparatus.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle management apparatus, a vehicle management system, and a vehicle management method for instructing a vehicle about a traveling route to a target position.

Conventionally, as this kind of apparatus, there exist some which were described in Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2005-92823, for example. Specifically, the current positions of the plurality of transport vehicles traveling on the transport path are managed, all the paths to the target position are searched for the specific transport vehicle, and the total path length of each of these paths is obtained. And it is comprised so that the traveling route which can reach | attain the shortest time to a target position based on a total path length, and instruct | indicates this traveling route to a conveyance vehicle.

However, even when a traveling route that can be reached in the shortest time based on the total route length is determined in advance, if congestion occurs in the traveling route, the vehicle will be stalled. Therefore, in the above-described conventional configuration, as the number of congestion increases, the possibility of congestion increases, and as a result, there is a problem that a situation in which the arrival time to the target position is greatly delayed is likely to occur.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle management apparatus, a vehicle management system, and a vehicle management method capable of increasing the likelihood of reaching the target position in a short time by lowering the probability that the vehicle is congested. .

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, as a carrier management apparatus,

A transport vehicle position detector for detecting a current position of a plurality of transport vehicles traveling on a transport path,

A route search unit for searching all routes from a starting position of a specific carrier to a target position among the plurality of carriers;

A congestion determining unit that determines the congestion situation in each path searched by the path searching unit on the basis of the current position of each carrier;

A path length calculator for obtaining a total path length of each path searched by the path search unit;

A route determination unit that determines a driving route that can reach the target position in the shortest time based on the congestion situation and the total route length;

A configuration is provided that includes a travel route indicating section for indicating the travel route with respect to the specific transport vehicle.

According to the above-described configuration, it is possible to lower the likelihood that the vehicle will be stalled by determining in advance the traveling route that can be reached in the shortest time based on the congestion situation and the total route length, and allowing the vehicle to travel on the traveling route. As a result, it is possible to determine the driving route using only the total path length as in the prior art, and to increase the likelihood of bringing the vehicle to the target position in a short time than when the vehicle is stopped and waiting until the congestion is eliminated. have.

The route determining unit may determine a degree of the congestion situation and determine a route having the shortest total path length as the traveling route among the routes having the lowest degree.

According to the said structure, since the possibility that a conveyance vehicle may become congested can be made still lower, the possibility of bringing a conveyance vehicle to a target position in a short time can be made higher.

The route determining section may determine the degree of the congestion based on a threshold, and lower the threshold over a predetermined period when the congestion is at or above the threshold.

According to the above configuration, when the congestion situation is at or above the threshold, the congestion situation is high, so that the period until a predetermined time elapses is lowered by lowering the threshold value to make it easy to determine that the congestion situation is high. It may be prohibited to be selected as a driving route until the congestion situation of N is sufficiently resolved. This can prevent frequent high levels of congestion.

According to the present invention, as a vehicle management system,

A conveying part having at least one of a confluence part and a branch part;

A plurality of transport vehicles traveling on the transport path based on a travel route;

There is provided a configuration including a carrier management apparatus having the above-described configuration.

According to the present invention, as a vehicle management method,

A carrier position detecting step of detecting a current position of each of a plurality of carriers traveling on a conveying path,

A route searching step of searching for all routes from a starting position of a specific carrier to a target position among the plurality of carriers;

A congestion determination step of determining a congestion situation in each route searched in the route searching step based on a current position of each of the vehicles;

A path length calculating step of obtaining a total path length of each path found in the path searching step;

A route determining step of determining a driving route that can reach the target position in the shortest time based on the congestion situation and the total route length;

A configuration is provided that includes a travel path instructing step of instructing the travel path with respect to the specific carrier.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle management system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a self-propelled vehicle 3 and a transportation path 1 formed as a traveling track of the vehicle 3 (see FIG. 9). And a transport management device 11 that manages the running status of the transport vehicle 3 and instructs the transport vehicle 3 to instruct a travel route to the target position.

The conveyance path 1 is provided with the some conveyance vehicle 3 so that a run is possible. The conveyance path 1 is in communication with a plurality of stations 2 such as a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. Moreover, the conveyance path 1 has the confluence part 4 which the conveyance vehicle 3 collects from two directions, and the branch part 5 which a conveyance vehicle selects in two directions so that it may select. Thereby, the conveyance path 1 combines the confluence part 4 and the branch part 5, and selecting several traveling path | routes from the present position to the target position, such as the station 2, is selected. It is possible. In addition, the conveyance path 1 should just be a structure which has at least one of the confluence | merging part 4 and the branch part 5 at least. In addition, the joining part 4 and the branch part 5 may be three directions or more.

As shown in FIG. 1, the transport vehicle 3 includes a control board 31, a travel position detection sensor 39, a front detection sensor 40, and a travel drive mechanism 38. The traveling position detection sensor 39 detects the marker which is not shown in the conveyance path 1 of FIG. 9, and outputs the signal which shows a present position. In addition, the front detection sensor 40 detects an obstacle such as another transport vehicle 3 existing in front of the transport vehicle 3 and outputs a signal indicating the obstacle. The travel drive mechanism 38 consists of a motor, a travel roller, etc., and enables the conveyance vehicle 3 to travel and stop.

The traveling drive mechanism 38, the traveling position detection sensor 39, and the front detection sensor 40 are connected to the control board 31. The control board 31 has a function of driving control of the travel drive mechanism 38, a function of detecting a current position based on a signal from the travel position detection sensor 39, and based on a signal from the front detection sensor 40. It has various functions, such as the function which avoids the collision with the obstacles, such as the front conveyance vehicle 3, and the function which controls to drive along the travel path obtained by data communication with the conveyance management apparatus 11, etc.

Specifically, the control board 51 includes a control unit 32 that controls various operations, a communication unit 41 and an input / output unit 36 connected to the control unit 32, and a traveling connected to the input / output unit 36. It has a drive part 37. The input / output unit 36 receives various signals from the travel position detection sensor 39 or the front detection sensor 40, transmits them to the control unit 32, and transmits a travel command signal from the control unit 32 to the travel drive unit ( 37). The travel drive unit 37 supplies the driving power to the travel drive mechanism 38 based on the travel command signal. The communication part 41 enables data communication by the radio system with respect to the carrier management apparatus 11.

The control unit 32 also includes a RAM 33, a ROM 34, and a CPU 35 that performs information processing. The ROM 34 stores various programs and data such as the traveling routine of FIG. 14. The traveling routine is configured to cause the CPU 35, which is a computer, to execute a process of traveling based on the traveling route data received from the vehicle management apparatus 11. In addition, the RAM 33 is configured to temporarily store various data such as travel route data used when executing a program such as a travel routine.

The vehicle management apparatus 11 which enabled data communication with respect to the said conveyance vehicle 3 is a target from the starting position of the specific conveyance vehicle 3 among the some conveyance vehicles 3 which drive the conveyance path 1. All routes to the location are searched, the congestion situation in each of these routes is obtained based on the current position of each vehicle 3, and the total path length of each route is obtained, and the target is based on the congestion situation and the total path length. It is comprised so that the conveyance management method which determines the traveling route which can reach | attain the shortest time to a position, and instruct | indicates to the specific conveyance 3 is carried out.

As a specific example, the carrier management device 11 has an information processing device 13 including a monitor, a keyboard, and the like, and a mass storage device 12 such as a hard disk device. The mass storage device 12 is a travel that stores the data of the congestion situation data storage unit 14 that stores the data of the congestion situation in each part of the transport path 1 and the travel route set in each transport vehicle 3. A path data storage unit 15, a path length data storage unit 16 for storing data of a path length in each part of the conveyance path 1, and a transport vehicle for storing data of the current position of each carrier 3 The result of searching the data storage 17, the layout data storage 18 which stores the data of each part and all of the conveyance path 1, and all the routes from the starting position of the conveyance 3 to the target position It has a route search result storage unit 19 for storing. In addition, the detail of these storage parts 14-19 is mentioned later.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the information processing apparatus 13 includes a carrier position detecting unit 21, a path searching unit 20, a congestion determining unit 23, a path length calculating unit 24, and a path determining unit. The unit 25 has a traveling route indicating unit 27 and a transmitting / receiving unit 26. The carrier position detection part 21 has a function which detects the current position of the some conveyance vehicle 3 which travels in the conveyance path 1, and stores it in the conveyance data storage part 17, respectively. The route search section 20 has a function of searching for all the routes from the starting position of the specific carriage 3 to the target position among the plurality of carriages 3 and storing the route in the route search result storage section 19. The congestion determining unit 23 has a function of determining the congestion situation in each path searched by the path search unit 20 based on the current position of each vehicle 3. The path length calculation unit 24 has a function of calculating the total path length of each path searched by the path search unit 21. The route determining unit 25 has a function of determining the traveling route that can reach the target position in the shortest time based on the congestion situation and the total route length. The traveling route indicating unit 27 has a function of instructing a traveling route to the specific carrier 3 through the transmitting and receiving unit 26.

In addition, the route determining section 25 has a function of determining, as the travel route, the route having the shortest total route length among the routes having the lowest congestion status. As a result, the route determining unit 25 makes it possible to lower the possibility that the transport vehicle 3 is stagnant. Here, "congestion situation" means both the congestion level and the number of congestion occurrences. "Congestion situation level" means the density of the conveyance vehicle 3 calculated | required based on the relationship between the path length of each section which divided | segmented the conveyance path 1 into several, and the number of the conveyance vehicles 3 which exist in each section. Related to. If this conveyance balance density exceeds a threshold, it is determined as stagnant. However, this threshold is empirically determined based on performance, and a different value is also adopted by history. In addition, "a congestion occurrence number" means the quantity of the section | region where the density of the conveyance vehicle 3 is more than predetermined value. In addition, although the station 2, the confluence part 4, and the branch part 5 are made into the area | region of the conveyance path 1 in this embodiment, it is not limited to this, The area | region partitioned every fixed distance may be sufficient.

In addition, the route determination unit 25 determines the degree of the congestion state, which is the congestion state level, based on the threshold value, and lowers the threshold value for a predetermined period when the density of the carrier vehicle 3 is about the threshold value or more. As a result, when the congestion situation is at or above the threshold, the route determining unit 25 has a high degree of congestion (congestion situation level). Therefore, the passage until the predetermined time elapses lowers the threshold to a high congestion situation. By making it easy to determine the degree of, it is possible to prohibit the selection as a travel route until the high degree of congestion is sufficiently resolved. This makes it possible to prevent frequent high levels of congestion.

The above-mentioned congestion status level includes a deadlock state (sections ST6 to ST8 in FIG. 10) in which the carriers 3 interfere with each other, and a dead state (BP20 in FIG. 9). Two forms of (section of -ST6) exist. In addition, the deadlock state is determined as a distribution state of a carrier vehicle existing in a closed loop track and on a track joining and a branching track, and the distribution state is in a specific pattern unique to the predefined track. Is considered deadlock. Then, the path determining unit 25 has threshold values of the deadlock state and the stagnation state, respectively, and determines these levels of congestion while changing these threshold values as described above.

In this embodiment, the block having each of the above functions is constituted by software (routing routine in FIG. 11, congestion determination routine in FIG. 12, and route determination routine in FIG. 13). Specifically, the carrier position detection step of detecting the current positions of the plurality of transport vehicles 3 traveling on the transport path 1 and the starting position of the specific transport vehicle 3 among the plurality of transport vehicles 3, respectively. A route search step of searching all the paths from the target position to the target position; a congestion determination step of determining a congestion situation in each route found in the route search step based on the current position of each vehicle 3; A path length calculation step of obtaining a total path length of each path found in the step, a path determination step of determining a driving path that can reach the target position in the shortest time based on the congestion situation and the total path length, and for a specific carrier By having a carrier management program which causes a computer to execute a travel path instruction step for instructing a travel route, a block having each of the above functions is formed. In addition, all or part of the blocks having the above functions may be configured by hardware.

Then, the vehicle data storage unit 17, the route search result storage unit 19, the layout data storage unit 18, the route length data storage unit 16, the congestion situation data storage unit 14, and the driving route data The data table of the storage unit 15 will be described.

The carrier data storage unit 17 has a carrier data table, as shown in FIG. 3. This data table has a carrier ID field and a current position column. Carrier ID column is an area | region which stores ID number which is identification number of carrier 3, Specifically, ID number, such as "H001", "H002", "H003", is memorize | stored. In addition, the present position column stores data indicating the present position of the transport vehicle 3. Thereby, the carrier data table makes it possible to grasp | ascertain in which position of the conveyance path 1 each conveyance vehicle 3 exists.

As shown in Fig. 4, the route search data table has a search result field, a route number field set in the search result field, and a congestion situation field. The search result column is increased or decreased depending on the number of routes from the current position to the target position. The path number column indicates a combination of specific sections of the search result, and the congestion status level column indicates a congestion status level of each section. Thus, for example, in FIG. 4, the route from the current position to the target position exists in two kinds of "search result 1" and "search result 2", and the "1" in the section "A4" in "search result 1". It can be seen that there is a level of congestion.

As shown in FIG. 5, the layout data table has a route point field, a contact 1 field, and a contact 2 field. The route point column stores the position points representing the front end and the rear end of the section consisting of the station 2, the confluence 4 and the branch 5, and the contact 1 column and the contact 2 column are positions. The next position point that can be progressed from the point is stored. This data table makes it possible to search from the current position to the target position.

As shown in Fig. 6, the path length data storage unit 16 has a path number field, a path content field and a path length field. The route contents column shows the specific contents of the section indicated by the route number. For example, if the route number is "A1", it is understood that the route contents are the sections from ST1 to BP12. In addition, the path length stores section length data indicating the length of each section. If the path number is "A1", it is understood that the path length is L1.

As shown in Fig. 7, the congestion state data storage unit 14 has a path number field, a conveyance order field, a conveyance vehicle density field, a congestion situation level field, and a passing history field. The conveying order column stores the number of conveying vehicles 3 present in the section indicated by the route number. The carrier density column stores carrier density data indicating the number of carriers 3 per unit section length based on the number of carriers 3 and the section length in each section. Thereby, when the value of carrier density data is large, it turns out that deadlock is easy to generate | occur | produce in the area.

In addition, the congestion status level column stores level data of each section at the present time. That is, the congestion status level column stores the normal level "0", which is neither deadlock nor congestion, the level "1" of the congestion state, and the level "2" of the deadlock state. The passage history column stores history data of past congestion situation levels in each section. That is, the pass history column stores the normal level "a" which was neither deadlock nor congestion, the level "b" which was in a stagnant state, and the level "c" which was in a deadlock state.

As shown in FIG. 8, the traveling route data storage part 15 has the conveyance vehicle ID field which memorize | stored all conveyance vehicle IDs, and the conveyance path column corresponding to each conveyance vehicle ID, and each conveyance vehicle 3 ) Stores the driving route actually running. For example, in the transport vehicle 3 having a transport vehicle ID of "H001", the transport vehicle 3 travels so as to reach ST5 of the target position via a travel route connected to each path number such as A1 from the current position of ST1.

Next, the operation of the vehicle management system will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, the carrier management apparatus 11 and the carrier 3 are capable of data communication at an arbitrary timing by a radio system. As shown in FIG. 11, the vehicle management apparatus 11 executes a route setting routine, and determines whether or not a route request signal has been received from the vehicle 3 (S1). If the route request signal is not received (S1: N0), the routine ends and returns to the main routine (not shown).

In addition, the main routine executes control routines other than the path setting routine in parallel. For example, when the conveyance vehicle 3 travels the conveyance path 1 and detects a marker and transmits the positional information of this marker to the conveyance management apparatus 11, this positional information is conveyed to the conveyance vehicle 3 of the conveyance vehicle 3; A routine and the like are stored in the carrier data table of FIG. 3 as the current position. As a result, the vehicle management apparatus 11 updates the current position of each vehicle 3 in real time.

On the other hand, when the route request signal is received (S1: YES), the carrier ID included in the signal is acquired (S2). 1 and 3, the current position corresponding to the vehicle ID is obtained based on the vehicle data table of the vehicle data storage unit 17 (S3). Thereafter, the target position that is the destination of the transport vehicle 3 is obtained by manual operation by the operator or automatic operation by management information (S4).

Next, a path search process is executed. In other words, all the paths from the current position to the target position are searched based on the layout data table (FIG. 5) of the layout data storage unit 18. FIG. The search result is stored in the path search data table (Fig. 4) of the path search result storage unit 19. For example, in FIG. 4, path numbers for two kinds of search results 1 and search results 2 from the current position of ST1 to the target position of ST5 are stored (S5).

Subsequently, congestion determination processing is performed using the path length data table, the vehicle data table, and the path determination table (S6). That is, as shown in FIG. 12, the current position of the conveyance vehicle 3 is acquired (A1), and the route number containing the present position is acquired (A2). Thereafter, the transport order corresponding to the path number is added by "1", and the transport order is stored in the congestion status data table (Fig. 7) (A3). Then, it is determined whether or not the addition of the conveying order based on the current position is completed for all the conveying vehicles 3 (A4), and if not, it is executed again from A1 (A4: NO). On the other hand, when the addition is completed (A4: YES), the passage history in each section is acquired based on the congestion status data table (A5), and it is determined whether or not it has been congested in the past for a predetermined period (A6). . If the level "b " (A6: YES) is indicative of the state of congestion, the congestion threshold is set to " S2 " and the lock threshold is set to " D1 ". That is, each threshold is set to use strict judgment criteria for the determination of the stagnant state and normal judgment criteria for the determination of the deadlock state. By setting such a threshold value, A11 is executed after setting such that the priority to be selected as the travel route is lowered until it is returned to a state where the congestion state is unlikely to occur (A8).

On the other hand, if there is no congestion (A6: NO), it is subsequently determined whether or not there has been a deadlock state for a predetermined period from the present (A7). If the level " c " indicating the deadlock state (A7: YES) is set, the congestion threshold is set to " S2 " and the lock threshold is set to " D2 ". That is, by setting each threshold to use strict judgment criteria for the determination of both the stagnant state and the deadlock state, the priority to be selected as the driving route is lowered until the congestion and the deadlock return to a state where it is difficult to occur. Set to not be selected or selected (A10), and then execute A11.

On the other hand, if it is not in the deadlock state, that is, if the level " a " (A7: NO) indicating a normal state that was neither deadlock nor congestion (A7: NO), the congestion threshold is set to "S1" and the lock threshold is "D1". Set to. That is, by setting each threshold value so as to use normal determination criteria for the determination of both the stagnant state and the deadlock state, the priority selected as the travel route is set to be high (A9), and then A11 is executed.

Next, the carrier density is calculated. Specifically, the carrier density is calculated based on the conveyance order of the congestion status data table of FIG. 7 acquired in A1 to A4 and the path length of the path length data table of FIG. 6 (A11). Thereafter, the carrier density and the lock threshold are compared to determine whether the carrier density is greater than or equal to the lock threshold (A12). If the carrier density is greater than or equal to the lock threshold (A12: YES), " 2 " representing the deadlock state is selected (A14), and " 2 " is stored in the congestion status level field in the congestion status data table in Fig. 7 (A17). ).

On the other hand, if the carrier density is less than the lock threshold (A12: NO), it is subsequently determined whether the carrier density is greater than or equal to the stagnation threshold (A13). If the carrier density is equal to or greater than the congestion threshold (A13: YES), " 1 " which is the congestion state is selected (A16), and " 1 " is stored in the congestion status level field in the congestion status data table in Fig. 7 (A17). On the other hand, if the carrier density is less than the congestion threshold (A13: NO), " 0 " which is a normal state that is neither deadlock nor congestion is selected (A15), and the congestion state level field in the congestion state data table of FIG. "0" is stored (A17).

After that, it is determined whether or not the level setting of all the paths has been completed (A18), and if not completed (A18: NO), the process is executed again from A5. On the other hand, upon completion (A18: YES), the routine is terminated and the routine returns to the path setting routine of FIG.

If the congestion determination process is executed as described above, then the route determination process is executed (S7). That is, as shown in FIG. 13, a route determination routine is executed, and as in the route search data table of FIG. 4, the congestion situation level of the congestion situation data table of FIG. 7 is set corresponding to the route number of the route search result (B1). ). Thereafter, the search result including "2" in the deadlock state is set to "invalid" not to be selected as the driving route (B2), and then it is determined whether there is a valid search result other than "invalid" ( B3). If a valid search result does not exist (B1: NO), in order to secure a waiting time until the `` invalid '' is resolved, the waiting command is stored in the driving route data in correspondence with the carrier ID (B4), This routine is terminated and the routine returns to the path setting routine of FIG.

On the other hand, if there is a valid search result (B3: YES), the total value of the congestion status levels in each search result is calculated (B5), and the total path length (driving time) in each search result is calculated ( B6). Then, in order to select the path which is most likely to be congested, the search result of the congestion situation level is lowest is extracted (B7). From the search result of the lowest value, the total path length (run time) extracts the search result of the lowest value, thereby selecting a path that can reach the target position in the shortest time (B8). Thereafter, the search result is stored in the traveling route data table of FIG. 8 as traveling route data in association with the carrier ID (B8), and then the routine returns to the route setting routine of FIG. When the above path determination processing is completed (S7), the travel path signal (traveling path data, carrier ID, etc.) is transmitted to the transport vehicle 3 (S8), and the routine returns to the main routine (not shown) from this routine.

In each of the transport vehicles 3, when the travel route of the target position is needed, the travel routine of FIG. 14 is executed. That is, first, a route request signal including its own vehicle ID is transmitted to the vehicle management apparatus 11 (C1), and it is determined whether the traveling route signal received from the vehicle management apparatus 11 has been received. (C2). If the driving path signal is not received (C1: NO), C2 is executed again, and waits until the driving path signal is received. When the driving route signal is received (C2: YES), it is determined whether the driving route signal includes its own vehicle ID (C3), and if not (C3: NO), the C2 is re-executed. Wait for self-designated driving route signal.

On the other hand, when the traveling route signal includes its own vehicle ID (C3: YES), the driving route data is subsequently extracted from the traveling route signal (C4), and the contents of the traveling route data indicate the standby command. It is determined whether or not there is (C5). In the case of a waiting command (C5: YES), after waiting for a predetermined time (C6), C1 is executed to retransmit the route request signal to the vehicle management apparatus 11 to obtain the latest traveling route signal.

On the other hand, when it is not a wait signal (C5: NO), it travels based on the traveling route data (C7), and it is determined whether or not the target position has been reached (C8). If it has not reached (C8: NO), the driving based on the traveling route data is continued by the execution of C7, and when the target position is reached (C8: YES), the routine is finished.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the conveyance management apparatus 11 of this invention is the conveyance position detection part which detects the present position of each conveyance vehicle 3 which travels the conveyance path 1 ( 21 and a route search unit 20 for searching all routes from the starting position of the specific carrier 3 to the target position among the plurality of carriers 3, and each route searched by the route search unit 20. A congestion determination unit 23 that determines the congestion situation in the vehicle based on the current position of each vehicle 3, and a path length calculation unit 24 that calculates the total path length of each path searched by the path search unit 20. ), A route determination unit 25 for determining a traveling route that can reach the target position in the shortest time based on the congestion situation and the total route length, and a traveling route indicating unit for instructing the traveling route to the specific carrier 3 ( 27).

According to the above-described configuration, the possibility that the transport vehicle 3 is stagnated is determined in advance by determining the traveling route that can be reached in the shortest time based on the congestion situation and the total path length, and traveling the traveling route to the transport vehicle 3. Can be lowered. As a result, as in the prior art, the driving path is determined only by the total path length, and when it is congested, the possibility of bringing the carrier 3 to the target position in a shorter time than when the vehicle is stopped and waiting until the congestion is eliminated is determined. Can be made higher.

The route determining section 25 determines the degree of congestion and determines the route having the shortest total route length among the routes having the lowest degree as the travel route.

According to the said structure, since the possibility that the conveyance vehicle 3 may stand still can be made lower, the possibility of bringing the conveyance vehicle 3 to a target position in a short time can be made higher.

The route determining unit 25 determines the degree of congestion based on the threshold, and when the congestion is at or above the threshold, the threshold is lowered over a predetermined period.

According to the above configuration, when the congestion situation is at or above the threshold, the congestion situation is high, so that the period until a predetermined time elapses is lowered so that the threshold value can be easily judged as a high congestion situation. It may be prohibited to be selected as a driving route until the congestion situation is sufficiently resolved. As a result, frequent high levels of congestion can be prevented.

Moreover, the conveyance management system of this invention is the conveyance path 1 which has at least one or more of the confluence | merging part 4 and the branch part 5, and the multiple which runs the conveyance path 1 based on a traveling path | route. It has the structure which has the conveyance vehicle 3 of this and the said vehicle management apparatus 11 mentioned above.

According to the above-described configuration, it is possible to lower the possibility that the transport vehicle 3 may become stagnant by determining in advance the traveling route that can be reached in the shortest time based on the congestion situation and the total route length, and traveling the traveling route on the transport vehicle. have. Thereby, the possibility of making the conveyance 3 reach a target position in a short time can be made high.

The vehicle management method of this invention searches all the paths from the starting position of the specific conveyance vehicle 3 to the target position among the some conveyance vehicles 3 which drive the conveyance path 1, The traffic jam is determined based on the current position of each vehicle 3, and the total path length of each path is determined, and the driving path that can reach the target position in the shortest time is determined based on the traffic jam and the total path length. It is a structure which instruct | indicates about the car 3. As shown in FIG.

More specifically, in the conveyance position detection step (S3 * S4 of FIG. 11) which respectively detects the present position of the some conveyance vehicle 3 which travels on the conveyance path 1, and the some conveyance vehicle 3; The route search step (S5 of FIG. 11) which searches all the paths from the starting position of the specific carrier 3 to the target position, and the congestion situation in each route searched in the route search step of each vehicle 3 A congestion determination step (S6 in FIG. 11, a congestion determination routine in FIG. 12) determined based on the current position, a path length calculation step (B8 in FIG. 13) for obtaining the total path length of each path searched in the path search step; A route determination step (B6 to B9 in FIG. 13) that determines a traveling route that can reach the target position in both short-terms based on the congestion situation and the total route length, and the driving that instructs the traveling route with respect to the specific transport vehicle 3; Is configured to include a path instruction step (S8 in FIG. 11). have.

According to the above-described configuration, the possibility that the transport vehicle 3 may be stalled is determined in advance by determining the traveling route that can be reached in the shortest time based on the congestion situation and the total path length, and traveling the traveling route to the transport vehicle 3. Can be lowered. Thereby, the possibility of making the conveyance 3 reach a target position in a short time can be made high.

As mentioned above, although the Example of this invention was described, it is only what illustrated the specific example, It does not specifically limit this invention, A concrete structure, etc. can change a design suitably. In addition, the action and effect described in the Example of this invention are only listing the most suitable action and effect which arise from this invention, and are not limited to what was described in the Example of this invention.

By reducing the likelihood that the vehicle will be congested, there is provided a vehicle management apparatus, a vehicle management system, and a vehicle management method which can increase the likelihood of reaching the target position in a short time.

Claims (5)

As a carrier management apparatus, A transport vehicle position detector for detecting a current position of a plurality of transport vehicles traveling on a transport path, A route search unit for searching all routes from a starting position of a specific carrier to a target position among the plurality of carriers; A congestion determining unit that determines the congestion situation in each path searched by the path searching unit on the basis of the current position of each carrier; A path length calculator for obtaining a total path length of each path searched by the path search unit; A route determination unit that determines a driving route that can reach the target position in the shortest time based on the congestion situation and the total route length; A driving route indicating unit for indicating the traveling route with respect to the specific carrier; Carrier management device comprising a. The carrier management according to claim 1, wherein the route determining unit determines a degree of the congestion situation and determines a route having the shortest total path length among the routes having the lowest degree as the traveling route. Device. The carrier management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the route determining unit determines the degree of the congestion situation based on a threshold value, and lowers the threshold value over a predetermined period when the congestion situation is at or above the threshold value. As a carrier management system, A conveying path having at least one of a confluence and a branch; A plurality of transport vehicles traveling on the transport path based on a travel route; Carrier management device described in claim 1 Carrier management system comprising a. As a carrier management method, A carrier position detecting step of detecting a current position of each of a plurality of carriers traveling on a conveying path, A route searching step of searching for all routes from a starting position of a specific carrier to a target position among the plurality of carriers; A congestion determination step of determining a congestion situation in each route searched in the route searching step based on a current position of each of the vehicles; A path length calculating step of obtaining a total path length of each path found in the path searching step; A route determining step of determining a driving route that can reach the target position in the shortest time based on the congestion situation and the total route length; A driving route instruction step of instructing the traveling route with respect to the specific carrier; Carrier management method comprising a.

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