WO2022201368A1

WO2022201368A1 - Unmanned transport vehicle equipped with stocker function and unmanned workpiece transport system

Info

Publication number: WO2022201368A1
Application number: PCT/JP2021/012290
Authority: WO
Inventors: 山口徹; 伊藤昌治; 福岡大祐; 黒木昭伍
Original assignee: 株式会社Fuji
Priority date: 2021-03-24
Filing date: 2021-03-24
Publication date: 2022-09-29
Also published as: JPWO2022201368A1

Abstract

Provided are an unmanned transport vehicle equipped with a stocker function and an unmanned workpiece transport system for efficiently transporting workpieces, wherein: the unmanned transport vehicle has a workpiece delivery device that moves a plurality of pallets loaded with workpieces and that positions an arbitrary pallet at a transfer position, a pallet lifting device that lifts the pallet at the transfer position, a vehicle body provided with the workpiece delivery device and the pallet lifting device, and a control device that includes a communication function and that causes the vehicle body to autonomously travel to a specified destination; and, in addition, the unmanned workpiece transport system controls, by means of a controller, said unmanned transport vehicle equipped with the stocker function.

Description

Automatic guided vehicle with stocker function and workpiece automatic guided vehicle system

The present invention relates to an automated guided vehicle with a stocker function and an automated workpiece transport system that efficiently transports a plurality of loaded workpieces.

In a manufacturing factory, a processing line is made up of multiple work machines such as machine tools. Moreover, a plurality of processing lines may be provided depending on the type of work and the details of processing. In each processing line, the workpieces brought in from the supply side are transported to multiple work machines in order, and after performing predetermined processing such as processing and inspection at each machine, they are collected as processed workpieces. . However, although each processing line is automatically transported by an autoloader, when the same work is to be processed across processing lines, it has been necessary for an operator to carry the work. That is, a plurality of works processed in one processing line are transferred from a work stocker to a cart by an operator, transported to the next processing line, and then transferred again to the work stocker on the supply side.

JP-A-2-237736

The transportation of workpieces by workers was not only hard work, but also reduced production efficiency. Therefore, transportation using a forklift or the like is performed, but it is not preferable because it is necessary to secure a place to wait for the forklift in the factory and a large transportation space. In order to solve such a problem, for example, Patent Literature 1 discloses an automatic guided vehicle for transporting pallets. The automatic guided vehicle conveys an empty pallet received from a conveyor to a stacking device, raises a lifter, and repeatedly raises the pallet until it contacts the pallet locked by the bottom flapper, thereby stacking the pallet. It is configured to be supported in a stacked state. However, in order to transport such pallets or workpieces, the work itself of loading the workpieces at a predetermined location reduces the production efficiency.

Therefore, in order to solve this problem, an object of the present invention is to provide an automated guided vehicle with a stocker function and an automated workpiece transport system that efficiently transports workpieces.

An automatic guided vehicle with a stocker function according to one aspect of the present invention includes a work feeding device that moves a plurality of pallets loaded with works and positions an arbitrary pallet at a delivery position, and a pallet lifting device that lifts and lowers the pallet at the delivery position. , a vehicle body provided with the work feeding device and the pallet lifting device, and a control device having a communication function and automatically traveling the vehicle body to a designated destination.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic guided vehicle with a stocker function that moves a predetermined workpiece loaded on a vehicle body that automatically travels along a designated travel route to a delivery position. a station provided for stopping the automatic guided vehicle with a stocker function on the work supply side and the work recovery side of each processing line; and a controller for issuing a movement command to the transport vehicle to move to another station according to a predetermined travel route.

According to the above configuration, an automatic guided vehicle with a stocker function is arranged at a station on the work supply side of the processing line, an arbitrary pallet is positioned at the delivery position by the work feeding device, and the work loaded there is moved to the pallet lifting device. On the other hand, another automatic guided vehicle with a stocker function is also placed at the station on the work collection side of the processing line to process the empty pallet placed at the delivery position. Done works can be collected. Then, the automatic guided vehicle with a stocker function on the work collection side automatically travels to the designated destination by the control device, and, for example, travels to the work supply side station of the second processing line on the first processing line. Machined workpieces can be transported as they are collected.

It is the figure which simply showed the utilization condition about one Embodiment of the automatic guided vehicle with a stocker function. 1 is a perspective view showing a state of use of an embodiment of an automatic guided vehicle with a stocker function; FIG. It is a perspective view showing an automatic guided vehicle with a stocker function. It is a side view showing an automatic guided vehicle with a stocker function. 1 is a diagram simply showing an unmanned work transfer system; FIG. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a situation in which works of the same type are loaded on a pallet having the same number as an automatic guided vehicle with a stocker function on the supply side on the recovery side;

An embodiment of an automated guided vehicle with a stocker function and an automated workpiece guided vehicle system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram simply showing a usage situation of an automatic guided vehicle with a stocker function according to this embodiment. Specifically, a first processing line 61 and a second processing line 62 are provided in a factory, and an unmanned carrier with a stocker function transports workpieces between the two lines. The first and

second machining lines

61 and 62 are equipped with a plurality of working machines such as predetermined machine tools and inspection machines to perform a series of machining operations on the workpiece W, and the workpieces W loaded are sequentially loaded by an autoloader. configured to be sent.

In the first processing line 61, a work supply stocker 65 is provided at the left end of the drawing, and a plurality of works W are loaded and prepared there. The works W in the work supply stocker 65 are sequentially loaded into the work machine 611 by the autoloader, and after being subjected to predetermined processing, other work machines arranged on the first processing line 61 perform predetermined processing. is applied. A work recovery stocker 66 is provided next to the work machine 615 on the output side of the right end of the drawing of the first processing line 61, and the processed work W processed in the first processing line 61 is recovered in a loaded state. It's like The work supply stocker 65 and the work recovery stocker 66 shown in parentheses in FIG. 1 represent the role of the stocker (the same applies to 67 and 68).

Here, the work W that has undergone a certain amount of processing in the first processing line 61 is further processed in the second processing line 62 . In such a case, until now, the operator had to take out the work W from the work collection stocker 66, carry it to the second processing line 62, and transfer it to the work supply stocker 67. After such preparation, in the second processing line 62 , the work W is taken out from the work supply stocker 67 and thrown into the working machine 621 . Then, the processed works W that have been subjected to predetermined processing, etc., are sequentially transported by the autoloader and collected from the working machine 625 to the work collection stocker 68 .

The automatic guided vehicle 1 with a stocker function of the present embodiment can continuously and automatically convey the work W when the work W continues to be processed from the first processing line 61 to the second processing line 62. It is configured as follows. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the automatic guided vehicle 1 with a stocker function arranged with respect to the work machine 611 of the first processing line 61. As shown in FIG. The work machine 611 is a front two-spindle lathe, and the automatic guided vehicle 1 with a stocker function is arranged beside the body so as to serve as the workpiece supply stocker 65 shown in FIG. The work machine 611 is provided with a gantry-type autoloader 651 by which the work W is taken out from the automatic guided vehicle 1 with a stocker function.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the automatic guided vehicle 1 with a stocker function, and FIG. 4 is a side view showing the automatic guided vehicle 1 with a stocker function. An automatic guided vehicle with a stocker function (hereinafter referred to as "an automated guided vehicle stocker") 1 of the present embodiment is an automatic guided vehicle (AGV: Automatic Guided Vehicle) capable of automatically traveling within a factory (including between factories depending on the equipment). Vehicle), which can serve as the

work supply stockers

65 and 67 and the

work recovery stockers

66 and 68 described above.

The stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 has wheels on the front, rear, left, and right of the vehicle body 10, and is provided with a traveling device that causes the wheels to run and turn by controlling a battery-driven traveling motor and turning motor. Further, the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 is provided with a magnetic guide sensor 16 as a detection device on the bottom surface of the vehicle body 10 as shown in FIG. On the other hand, a magnetic guide tape 50 is attached to the floor of the factory. Therefore, the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 has a control device 18 (see FIG. 5) for controlling the driving of the traveling motor and the turning motor, and when the magnetic guide sensor 16 detects the magnetic guide tape 50, the detection signal is generated. It is possible to travel according to a travel route set in advance by the control device 18 having received the signal. Note that the detection device used to guide the travel route is not limited to the magnetic sensor.

The stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 is configured with a work feeding device 3 that moves a plurality of pallets 11 in the circumferential direction along an oval course on the upper surface of the vehicle body 10 . The work feeding device 3 has three long positioning pins 13 thrust upwards from the travel table 12, and the pallet 11 is mounted on the travel table 12 so as to be restrained by the positioning pins 13. there is That is, the disk-shaped pallet 11 has three radial slits 111 , and is mounted on the traveling table 12 with three positioning pins 13 piercing the slits 111 . Therefore, the pallet 11 can move vertically along the positioning pins 13 while maintaining a horizontal posture, and a plurality of works W can be stacked thereon.

The work feeding device 3 has a pair of sprockets pivotally supported inside the vehicle body 10, and an endless roller chain to which a plurality of traveling bases 12 are connected is stretched over the sprockets. The work feeding device 3 is configured such that a driving motor 14 is connected to one sprocket, and rotation of the driving motor 14 is applied to the roller chain so that the plurality of pallets 11 move simultaneously along an oval course. ing. The work feeding device 3 is controlled to rotate so that an arbitrary one of the plurality of pallets 11 is stopped at the transfer position P. As shown in FIG.

The stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 is provided with a cover 15 that surrounds the space through which the autoloader enters and exits for workpiece transfer. A cover 15 is provided on one side half of the work feeding device 3, and the other side is open so that the worker can load the work. A transfer position P is a position where the work W is transferred by the autoloader 651, and a skylight 151 is formed in the cover 15 at a corresponding position. The stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 is provided with a skylight 151 as well as a work window through which the autoloader enters and exits in the cover 15 so as to correspond to various autoloaders on the work supply side and the work recovery side.

The stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 is provided with a pallet lifting device 17 that lifts and lowers the pallet 11 at the delivery position P. This is because the work W is transferred to and from the autoloader 651 at a constant height. The pallet lifting device 17 lifts and lowers the pallet 11 stopped at the delivery position P along the positioning pins 13 . The structure of the pallet lifting device 17 is such that, for example, the pallet 13 is supported by a lift capable of lifting and lowering via a plurality of shafts, and the lift is configured such that the rotational output of the lifting motor is transmitted as linear motion by a ball screw. ing.

Next, in the factory where the first and

second processing lines

61 and 62 are installed, an unmanned work transfer system is constructed. FIG. 5 is a diagram simply showing the unmanned work transfer system. The workpiece unmanned transport system controls movement of a plurality of stocker unmanned transport vehicles 1 with respect to the first and

second processing lines

61 and 62, and a controller 21 issues a movement command to each stocker unmanned transport vehicle 1. is configured as follows. That is, a communication device 28 is connected to the controller 21, a communication device 19 is connected to the control device 18 of the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1, and wireless communication is enabled between the controller 21 and the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1. there is

The controller 21 is a higher-level computer with respect to the control device 18 of the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1, and the storage section 24, the input section 25 and the display section 26 are connected to the arithmetic processing section 23. The arithmetic processing unit 23 executes various programs and performs various data processing, and the storage unit 24 stores various programs and data. Further, the input unit 25 receives instructions from the operator, various data, data input from an external storage medium, program input, and the like. The display unit 26 displays information of the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 moving in the factory and various data.

The controller 21 exchanges workpiece information with a plurality of stocker automatic guided vehicles 1 (A, B, C, D). In stocker automatic guided vehicles 1 (A, B, C, D) all of which have the same structure, a plurality of pallets 11 are assigned pallet numbers as shown in FIG. Numbers and works W are loaded in the same pattern. In this embodiment, a transfer work table is created in which the types and numbers of works W loaded on each pallet 11 are arranged in accordance with the pallet number, and can be managed by the controller 21 as work information loaded on the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1. It has become.

Spaces on both sides of the first and

second processing lines

61, 62 are defined as

stations

71, 72, 73, 74 for the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 to supply and collect the works W. Stations 71 to 74 are provided with a configuration capable of distinguishing between stocker automatic guided vehicles 1 (A to D). That is, the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 (A to D) is provided with an identification mark, and

readers

85, 86, 87, 88 are provided in each of the stations 71 to 74 (adjacent work machine 611, etc.). Therefore, in the workpiece automatic carrier system, by issuing a movement command from the controller 21 to the four stocker automatic carrier vehicles 1 (A to D), it is possible to adjust to which station in the factory they should be moved. .

By the way, in the first processing line 61 (the same applies to the second processing line 62), a LAN is constructed by connecting the control devices of the work machines to each other through hubs, and mutual information communication is possible. The first and

second processing lines

61 and 62 are provided with

controllers

81 and 82 capable of wireless communication with the controller 21, which can be any of the controllers mounted on the work machines. Selected and fulfilling its role. Readers 85-88 are connected to

such controllers

81,82. Although infrared communication is used for wireless communication in the unmanned workpiece carrier system, wireless communication such as wireless LAN or Bluetooth (registered trademark) may be used.

Next, returning to FIG. 1, the effects of the automated guided vehicle with the stocker function and the automated workpiece guided vehicle system will be described. In the first processing line 61, a stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 loaded with a plurality of works W as a work supply stocker 65 is stopped at a station 71 beside the work machine 1 as shown in FIG. On the other hand, an empty stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 is stopped at a station 72 as a stocker 66 for recovering works on the opposite side of the line. As described above, the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 serves as the

work supply stockers

65, 67 and the

work recovery stockers

66, 68. Therefore, in the following description, for example, the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 (65) is used. The role of the stocker automated guided vehicle 1 described and changed will be described in accordance with the reference numerals in FIG.

On the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 (65) on the supply side, works W are loaded on a plurality of pallets 11 that are sorted by type. In the first processing line 61, the transfer work table of the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 (65) is obtained, and continuous automatic processing is executed. When the first processing line 61 starts processing, the rotation of the drive motor 14 is transmitted to the roller chains and the pallets 11 move all at once. Among a plurality of pallets 11, the pallet 11 on which the work W to be processed is mounted is positioned at the transfer position P, and lifted to a predetermined height by the pallet lifting device 17 while maintaining a horizontal posture.

The delivery height is the height at which delivery by the autoloader 651 is possible, and the drive of the pallet lifting device 17 is controlled based on the detection signal of the sensor that detects the uppermost work W loaded on the pallet 11. The uppermost work is taken out by the autoloader 651, and the pallet 11 is raised by the height of one work each time. When all the works W mounted on the pallet 11 are taken out, the pallet 11 is moved all at once by the drive motor 14 again, and the pallet 11 on which the next work W to be processed is mounted is moved to the transfer position P and positioned. be done. Then, the work W is picked up by the autoloader 651 repeatedly.

The work W taken out from the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 (65) by the autoloader 651 is supplied to the work machine 611, which is a front two-spindle lathe, where predetermined processing such as cutting is performed. After that, the works W are sequentially conveyed to the next work machine equipped with an inspection device or the like. The work W that has been subjected to the predetermined processing in the processing line 61 is sent to the recovery stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 (66) and recovered. The stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 (66) at the time of collection moves a plurality of pallets 11 all at once through the roller chain through the rotation of the drive motor 14, and the pallet with the target pallet number is reproduced so as to reproduce the work table for transportation. 11 is positioned at the delivery position P.

A machined work W is placed on the pallet 11 from the autoloader of the work machine 615, and the height of the pallet 11 is lowered by one work in order to receive the next machined work W. When the predetermined number of works W are loaded, the next target pallet 11 moves to the delivery position P. By the way, the transfer work table is handed over between the supply-side and recovery-side stocker automatic guided vehicles 1 (65) and 1 (66). The work W that has been collected may be discharged in the middle of the line and may not reach the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 (66) on the recovery side. In this case, NG work information is sent from the control device 81 to the controller 21, and the transfer work table for the collection-side stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 (66) is remade without the NG work.

In the first and

second processing lines

61 and 62 , the work W is continuously processed, so the work W processed in the first processing line 61 is automatically transported to the second processing line 62 . At this time, in the automatic workpiece carrier system, the controller 21 transmits the carrier work table in the stocker automatic carrier 1 (66) to the control device 82. FIG. Then, the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 ( 66 ) on the recovery side receives a movement command from the controller 21 and moves from the station 72 of the first processing line 61 to the station 73 of the processing line 82 .

The stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 departs from the station 72 and automatically travels by drive control of the travel motor and the swing motor, and moves along the travel route 55 indicated by the dashed line in FIG. 1 while the magnetic guide sensor 16 detects the magnetic guide tape 50. . Then, the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 (66) on the first processing line 61 moves to the second processing line 82 and stops at the station 73, thereby serving as the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 (67) on the supply side. replaced by something that fulfills

On the other hand, the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 that has finished supplying the works in the station 71 is loaded with new works W by the worker. Alternatively, when another automatic stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 loaded with works W enters the station 71, it moves to an empty station 72 and plays the role of the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 (66) on the recovery side. will be replaced. Any stocker unmanned guided vehicle 1 follows a movement command from the controller 21, automatically travels along a travel route determined according to a predetermined magnetic tape 50 attached to the floor surface, and the arrangement position is changed.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, since the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 automatically conveys the collected processed work to the next processing line as it is, it is possible to load and unload the work by the operator, or to transport the work using a trolley. work becomes unnecessary. Since the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 replaces the work stocker conventionally used in the processing line, it is not necessary to secure a dedicated waiting area in the factory. In addition, since the controller 21 manages the transfer work table, the status of the works W loaded on the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 can be grasped, and the processing across the processing lines can be performed appropriately.

In the above embodiment, the stocker automatic guided vehicle 1 automatically travels while detecting the magnetic guide tape 50 by the magnetic guide sensor 16. However, in other embodiments, the stocker automatic guided vehicle detects the self-moving position. It is assumed that the vehicle is configured to automatically run while driving. For example, a stocker automatic guided vehicle that moves from the station 72 of the first processing line 61 to the station 73 of the processing line 82 by providing an encoder for the traveling motor and the turning motor and calculating the rotation speed and steering angle of the wheels. Detect the position of In other embodiments, a stocker automatic guided vehicle using a GPS device or the like is used to detect the position of movement of the vehicle.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described, the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.
For example, the structure of the work stocker in the automatic guided vehicle with a stocker function of the above embodiment is an example, and other different structures may be used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Unmanned guided vehicle with a stocker function 3... Work feeder 10... Car body 11... Pallet 16... Magnetic guide sensor 17... Pallet lifting device 21... Controller 28... Communication device 50... Magnetic guide tape 61... First processing line 62... Second 2

processing lines

65, 67

work supply stocker

66, 68

work recovery stocker

71, 72, 73, 74

station

85, 86, 87, 88 reader P delivery position W work

Claims

a workpiece feeding device that moves a plurality of pallets loaded with workpieces and positions an arbitrary pallet at a delivery position;
a pallet lifting device for lifting and lowering the pallet at the delivery position;
a vehicle body provided with the work feeding device and the pallet lifting device;
a control device having a communication function and automatically driving the vehicle body to a specified destination;
An automated guided vehicle with a stocker function.
2. The stocker according to claim 1, wherein said work feeding device moves a plurality of pallets on the upper surface of said vehicle body in the circumferential direction along an oval course, and said transfer position is provided on said oval course. Automatic guided vehicle with function.
An unmanned guided vehicle with a stocker function that moves a predetermined work loaded on a vehicle body that automatically travels according to a designated travel route to a delivery position;
a station provided for stopping the unmanned guided vehicle with a stocker function on the work supply side and the work collection side of each of a plurality of processing lines;
a controller that issues a movement command to the unmanned guided vehicle with a stocker function to move to another station according to a predetermined travel route, according to the processing status of the workpiece in the processing line;
An unmanned work transfer system having
The controller commands the unmanned guided vehicle with a stocker function, which has collected the processed work at the work collection side station of the first processing line, to move to the work supply side station of the second processing line. Item 4. The unmanned workpiece transfer system according to item 3.