JPH02294706A - Confluence control system for unmanned carrier vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Purpose of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a merging control system for automated guided vehicles.

(Prior Art) In automatic guided vehicle systems used in factories and the like, collisions are prevented by controlling the running of the automatic guided vehicles using a merging control system.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of such a merging control system.

The system shown in this figure is composed of ground-side equipment 6!101 installed on the ground side and vehicle-mounted equipment 6!103 mounted on the automatic guided vehicle 102a, 102b side. While checking the existence of the automatic guided vehicles 102a and 102b, each of these automatic guided vehicles 102a and 1
02b to run and stop to prevent a collision.

Ikegami Set @101 each running route 1 04 a, 1 0
Consisting of automatic guided vehicle presence detectors 105a and 105b installed on this side of the confluence point G of 4b, and temporary stop signal transmitters 106a and 106b installed near these automatic guided vehicle presence detectors 105a and 105b. When the automatic guided vehicle presence detectors 105a and 105b detect a signal indicating the presence of each automatic guided vehicle 102a and 102b, a temporary stop signal is generated and transmitted to each temporary stop signal transmitter 106a and 106b. Output from the corresponding side.

In addition, on-vehicle installation (W103 is each automatic guided vehicle 102g, 10g
It is composed of an automatic guided vehicle presence signal transmitter 107 provided on the side of the vehicle body of 2b, and a temporary stop signal receiver 108 provided in the vicinity of this automatic guided vehicle presence signal transmitter 107. The transmitter 107 constantly outputs a signal indicating the presence of each automatic guided vehicle 102aSIQ2b to the outside. And a pause signal receiver 108
When a temporary stop signal is received by the vehicle, the vehicle stops temporarily and checks whether there is another automatic guided vehicle at the merging point G. If there is no other automatic guided vehicle, the vehicle enters the merging point G.

In this way, in this merging control system, before entering the merging point G, the automatic guided vehicle 102aS102b
By temporarily stopping the automatic guided vehicle to check whether another automatic guided vehicle exists at the confluence point G, and when no other automatic guided vehicle is present, the automatic guided vehicle enters the confluence point.
Collisions between the automatic guided vehicles 102a and 102b are prevented.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the conventional merging control system described above, each automatic guided vehicle 102a is
, 102b is always suspended, so
There was a problem in that the operating efficiency of the automatic guided vehicles 102a and 102b could not be improved.

Furthermore, when there are a large number of automatic guided vehicles, there is a problem in that control at the meeting point G becomes complicated, making it difficult to ensure safety.

In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a merging control system for automatic guided vehicles that can improve the operating efficiency of automatic guided vehicles while ensuring high safety.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for solving the problem) In order to achieve the above object, the automatic guided vehicle merging control system according to the present invention controls the travel of automatic guided vehicles traveling on each travel route at the confluence point of a plurality of travel routes. In a merging control system for automated guided vehicles, an automatic guided vehicle detection section is provided before the merging point of each traveling route, and an automated guided vehicle detection section is provided at the merging point before the merging point of each traveling route and from each of the automatic guided vehicle detection sections. When passage of an automatic guided vehicle is detected by either of the temporary stop signal transmission unit provided at a nearby point and each of the automatic guided vehicle detection units, the automatic guided vehicle detection unit corresponds to the automatic guided vehicle detection unit that detected the automatic guided vehicle passing. The present invention is characterized by comprising a control section that selects one temporary stop signal transmission section and causes other temporary stop signal transmission sections to output temporary stop signals until a predetermined condition is met.

(Function) In the above configuration, when passage of an automatic guided vehicle is detected by any of the automatic guided vehicle detection units provided on each travel route, the control unit detects the automatic guided vehicle that detected the automatic guided vehicle passing. Select one pause signal transmission section corresponding to the automatic guided vehicle, and output a pause signal from the other pause signal transmission sections until a predetermined condition is met, reducing the number of pauses of the automatic guided vehicle. Prevent collisions between automated guided vehicles.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an automatic guided vehicle merging control system according to the present invention.

The automatic guided vehicle merging control system shown in this figure includes ground-side equipment 1 installed on the ground side, and each automatic guided vehicle 2a, 2b.
The automatic guided vehicle 2a traveling on the main line side is given priority, and the automatic guided vehicle 2b traveling on the branch line side enters the confluence point first. In other cases, automatic guided vehicle 2 running on the main line side
A is allowed to proceed directly to the confluence point without stopping. In addition, when the automatic guided vehicle 2b traveling on the branch line side enters the confluence point earlier than the automatic guided vehicle 2a traveling on the main line side, the automatic guided vehicle 2b is allowed to enter the confluence point without temporarily stopping. .

Ground equipment (i!1 is a control circuit 8 that controls the operation of the entire ground equipment, and passage detectors 6a each installed on the near side of the confluence point G of the main line route 4 and branch line route 5 as shown in Fig. 2) , 6b, and a temporary stop signal transmitter 7 installed at a point closer to the confluence G than each of these passing detectors 6a and 6b.
a, 7b, and controls on/off of each temporary stop signal transmitter 7a, 7b based on the result of detection of the passage of the automatic guided vehicle 2a, 2b by each passage detector 6a, 6b. The merging control of 2a and 2b is performed.

Further, the temporary stop signal receiver 3 provided in each automatic guided vehicle 2a, 2b is connected to a corresponding temporary stop signal transmitter 7a.
, 7b is turned on and outputs a pause signal,
While this is detected and this pause signal is output,
Stop the corresponding automated guided vehicle.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

First, each automatic guided vehicle 2a, 2b operates as shown in the flowchart of FIG.

As shown in this figure, when each automatic guided vehicle 2a, 2b starts traveling (step STI), it checks whether the section it is currently traveling is a merging section (step ST2).
.

Then, if the section in which the vehicle is traveling is a merging section, it is checked whether a pause signal is received by the pause signal receiver 3 (step ST3), and if the pause signal is not received, This checking operation is repeated until the vehicle passes through the merging section.

If the temporary stop signal receiver 3 receives a temporary stop signal from the corresponding one of the temporary stop signal transmitters 7a and 7b within the merging section, the automatic guided vehicles 2a and 2b receive this temporary stop signal. It pauses at that spot until no more reception is received (steps ST4, ST5).

After this, if no temporary stop signal is received, the automatic guided vehicles 2a, 2b start traveling again (step ST6).

The following steps are performed until reaching the destination (step ST7).
), the automatic guided vehicles 2a and 2b travel while repeating the above-mentioned operations.

In addition, in the section type check operation described above (step ST
2) If the section in which they are currently traveling is recognized as not being a merging section, or if the temporary stop signal receiver 3 does not receive a temporary stop signal even if it is a merging section, the automatic guided vehicles 2a, 2b
The vehicle skips the above-mentioned temporary stop operation and runs continuously.

On the other hand, the ground equipment 1 operates as shown in the flowchart of FIG.

As shown in this figure, the control circuit 8 of the ground equipment 1 first turns off the main line side temporary stop signal transmitter 7a and (
Step ST10), branch line side temporary stop signal transmitter 7b
is turned on (step STI1), and a pause signal is output only from this pause signal transmitter 7b.

Thereafter, it is checked whether each passage detector 6a, 6b detects passage of the corresponding automatic guided vehicle 2a, 2b.

Then, both the passing detectors 6a and 6b are connected to the automatic guided vehicle 2a,
If the passage of 2b is not detected (step ST12)
, it is checked whether or not only the passage detector 6a provided on the main line side detects passage of the automatic guided vehicle 2a among these passage detectors 6a and 6b (step ST1).
B).

If only the passage detector 6a detects the passage of the automatic guided vehicle 2a, the control circuit 8 waits until the automatic guided vehicle 2a traveling on the main line passes the confluence point G (step ST20). , this automatic guided vehicle 2a is at the meeting point G
The current merging control ends when the vehicle has passed through.

Further, if only the passage detector 6b detects the passage of the automatic guided vehicle 2b (step ST14), the control circuit 8 turns on the temporary stop signal transmitter 7a on the main line side (step ST15), and turn off the temporary stop signal transmitter 7b (step ST16), output a temporary stop signal only from the temporary stop signal transmitter 7a on the main line side, and temporarily stop the automatic guided vehicle 2b running on the branch line side. Instead, proceed directly to junction G.

After that, the control circuit 8 waits until the automatic guided vehicle 2b running on the branch line side passes the confluence point G (step STi
7) When the automatic guided vehicle 2b has passed through the confluence point G, the main line side temporary stop signal transmitter 7a is turned off (step ST18), and the branch line side temporary stop signal transmitter 7b is turned on. (Step ST19) A temporary stop signal is output only from this temporary stop signal transmitter 7b, and the current merging control is ended.

Further, in the output check operation of each of the passage detectors 6a and 6b described above, if both of these passage detectors 6a and 6b indicate that the automatic guided vehicle is passing (step ST12)
, the control circuit 8 firstly controls the automatic guided vehicle 2 running on the main line side.
Wait until a finishes passing through the confluence point G (step ST
21). At this time, the temporary stop signal transmitter 7 on the branch line side
Since a temporary stop signal is output from the stop signal transmitter 7, the automatic guided vehicle 2b running on the branch line side uses this temporary stop signal transmitter 7.
When it receives the pause signal output from b, it pauses.

After that, when the automatic guided vehicle 2a has finished passing the confluence point G, the control circuit 8 performs the above-mentioned temporary stop processing on the main line side and temporary stop cancellation processing on the branch line side, so that the automatic guided vehicle 2b on the branch line side runs. (steps ST15, ST16)
).

Next, the control circuit 8 waits until the automatic guided vehicle 2b running on the branch line side passes the confluence point G (step ST1).
7) When the automatic guided vehicle 2b has passed through the confluence point G, the main line side temporary stop signal transmitter 7a is turned off (step ST18), and the branch line side temporary stop signal transmitter 7b is turned on. (Step ST19) A temporary stop signal is output only from this temporary stop signal transmitter 7b, and the current merging control is ended.

As described above, in this embodiment, except when two automatic guided vehicles 2a and 2b enter the junction point G at the same time, the automatic guided vehicles 2a and 2b are allowed to enter the junction point G without temporarily stopping, and When two automatic guided vehicles 2a and 2b enter at the same time, only the automatic guided vehicle 2b on the branch line side is temporarily stopped, and the automatic guided vehicle 2a on the main line side is allowed to directly enter the confluence point G without stopping. Therefore, the number of temporary stops of the automatic guided vehicles 2a and 2b can be significantly reduced.
, 2b can be improved in operational efficiency.

Further, since it is possible to completely prevent the two automatic guided vehicles 2a and 2b from entering the merging point G at the same time, a collision at the merging point G can be completely prevented.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the operating efficiency of an automatic guided vehicle while ensuring high safety.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the automatic guided vehicle merging control system according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an arrangement example of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the arrangement of the automated guided vehicle according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of operation, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of operation of ground equipment in the same embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional automatic guided vehicle merging control system. 2a, 2b...Automated guided vehicle 4...Travel route (main route) 5...Travel route (branch route) 6a, 6b...Automated guided vehicle detection unit (passing detector) 7a
, 7b... Temporary stop signal transmission section (temporary stop signal transmitter) 8... Control section G... Merging point agent Patent attorney Noriyuki Chika

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an automatic guided vehicle merging control system that controls the travel of automatic guided vehicles traveling on each route at a confluence point of multiple travel routes, an automatic guided vehicle detection unit provided before the confluence point of each travel route. and a temporary stop signal transmission section provided at a point before the convergence point of each travel route and closer to the confluence point than each of the automatic guided vehicle detection sections; When the passage of the automatic guided vehicle is detected, one pause signal transmission unit corresponding to the automatic guided vehicle detection unit that detected the passage of the automatic guided vehicle is selected, and the other temporary stop signal transmission units are used until a predetermined condition is met. A merging control system for automated guided vehicles, comprising: a control unit that outputs a temporary stop signal;