JPH0815363B2 - Transport control method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION [Overview] In a simultaneous multiple-run control of a linear motor car, when there is an overlap in a transport path between two carriers, the run for one carrier is divided, and runs without overlap are performed at the same time. As a result, the carrier travel time as a whole was shortened and the carrier transportation was sped up.

[Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to a transport control method, and more particularly to a transport control method in which a plurality of carriers having overlapping transport paths are made to travel at the same time.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, technologies for high-speed document processing using a linear motor car for transporting documents, slips, etc. have been developed at each business office. As a circuit for controlling the speed of such a linear motor car, for example, the 13th circuit is used. There is something like the one shown in the figure. In this figure, 1 is a system controller, 2 is a linear motor controller, 3 is a rail forming a track, 4 is a stator (represented by ST1, ST2, ...) As a stator of a linear motor provided along the rail, Reference numeral 5 is a carrier having a secondary conductor plate which is a mover of the linear motor. A station controller (also referred to as a stator controller) 6 controls the stator of the linear motor according to a command from the linear motor controller 2. The station controller 6 is provided corresponding to each stator (represented by STC1, STC2, ... In the figure), and when the carrier 5 passes through the corresponding stator position, the excitation of the stator is controlled to accelerate or accelerate the carrier 5. Decelerate to perform speed control. In this example, a plurality of carriers (CR1 and CR2 2 in the figure) are mounted on one rail 3.
The individual carriers CR1 and CR2 are driven and controlled so that they can travel in a fixed relationship with other carriers. That is, in such a conventional transfer control method, when there is no overlap of the transfer paths between CR1 and CR2 of the carrier 5, for example, CR1 is from the ST1 position to the ST3 position in the stator 4 in FIG. CR2 while being transported
In the case where is conveyed from the ST4 position to the ST7 position, CR1 and CR2 are driven simultaneously by the command signal from the linear motor controller 2, and the respective traveling positions are from the start position to the target position. On the other hand, if there is an overlap of the conveying paths between CR1 and CR2, for example, CR1 is conveyed from the ST1 position to the ST5 position in the stator 4 while CR2 is the ST4 position to the ST7 position in FIG. In the case of being conveyed up to STC4, STC4, STC5, STC6, STC7 in the station controller 6 are first activated by a command signal from the linear motor controller 2, and CR2 is driven to travel from the start position to the target position. Then, in response to a command signal from the linear motor controller 2, STC1, STC2, SST in the station controller 6
3, STC4, STC5 operates, CR1 is driven and it travels from the start position to the target position.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the conventional transport control method as described above, in transporting a plurality of carriers CR1 and CR2 on the same rail, if there is no overlap of the transport paths, the carriers are independent from each other. It is possible to control the drive, but if the transport paths overlap, the transport control is complicated and there is the risk of a rear-end collision.Therefore, drive control is performed on one carrier, and after this is completed, the other carrier is switched on. The drive must be controlled. Therefore, when two or more carriers are traveling at the same time, if there is an overlapping section in the transport path, there is a problem that a great amount of time is required from the start of transport to the end of transport.

The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and an object thereof is to simultaneously convey a plurality of carriers even when the conveyance paths overlap in simultaneously conveying a plurality of carriers. It is an object of the present invention to provide a transport control method capable of achieving the above.

[Structure of Invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a carrier system that moves from a starting point to an arriving point on a rail and has a plurality of carriers that carry articles on the same rail, arriving from the starting points of at least two carriers. When a part of the moving section up to the point overlaps, one carrier is carried in the overlapping moving section, and then the other carrier is carried, and in the non-overlapping moving section, each carrier is run simultaneously. To control it.

CR1 illustrated above is from ST1 position in the stator 4 to ST
While it can be transported to 5 positions, CR2 is from ST4 position to ST7
The operation of the present invention will be described according to the case where it is conveyed to the position. In this case, the transport path of CR1 and the transport path of CR2 overlap between ST4 and ST5 in the stator 4, and the fact of this overlap is recognized by the linear motor controller that is the transfer control device. Therefore, the transport control device controls the CR1 and CR2 so that they do not collide with each other even if they run simultaneously.
Divide 1 transfer into two transfers, ST1 to ST3 and ST3 to ST5, and press C
Execute ST1 to ST3 transfer of R1 and ST4 to ST7 transfer of CR2 at the same time. Regarding CR1, if it can be confirmed that CR2 has passed ST4 and ST5 when CR1 reaches the ST3 position, then again
Transfer control from the ST3 position to the ST5 position is performed, and the transfer to the ST5 position is completed. According to such transport control, even if the transport paths of a plurality of carriers are overlapped with each other, it is possible to simultaneously run the plurality of carriers, and it is possible to perform additional transport control of the carriers with respect to a slightly overlapping part of the transport paths. As a result, the overall transport efficiency is improved.

〔Example〕

1 to 3 are diagrams showing a speed control system for a linear motor car according to an embodiment of the present invention. In these figures, 4 is a stator, 103 and 104 are guide plates, and 105a.
Is an upper guide roller, 105b is a lower guide roller, 105c is a horizontal guide roller, 107 is a comb-shaped light shielding plate for speed detection, and 120 and 121 are rails mounted parallel to each other. The carrier 5 is mounted on the rails 120 and 121 so as to be movable. The linear motor is composed of a stator 4 as a primary side stator and a movable part secondary conductor provided at the bottom of the carrier 5, both of which have a predetermined gap by upper and lower guide rollers. . Therefore, when an alternating current flows through the coil of the stator 4, the coil is excited and a propulsive force in a fixed direction is generated between the coil and the secondary conductor based on the electrical principle. The carrier 5 receives this propulsive force and is guided by the wheels 105a, 105b and the horizontal guide roller 105c that maintains the position in the left-right direction, and travels on the rail. Further, since the propulsive force depends on the magnitude of the magnetic flux generated by the strength of the electric current, the traveling speed can be changed and adjusted under this principle. This is the principle of sequential conveyance when using a linear motor.

The speed detecting device is composed of the sensors S1, S2, S3, S4 and the comb-shaped light shielding plate 107, and the sensors S1, S2, S3, S4, (herein, optical sensors are used) are the stators 4. Is fixed at the position (on the rail in the figure), while the light shield plate
107 is attached to a guide plate 103 that is integral with the carrier 5, and blocks or passes the light rays of the sensors S1, S2, S3, S4 as the carrier 5 travels. The linear motor controller 2 that controls the speed of the linear motor car sets the speed at the stop point (for example, the ST7 position in FIG. 13) to 0, and sequentially performs the start point by back calculation (also at the ST1 position).
Up to each linear motor, namely stator ST1, ST2, ST3,
Standard speed curves in flat straight line conversion to be assigned to ST4, ST5, ST6 and ST7 are stored as data, and this is instructed to the station controller 6 together with the respective operation modes. As for the operation mode, the linear motor at the starting point is instructed in the start mode, the linear motor in the stopping point is in the stop mode, and the linear motor in the middle point is instructing the acceleration / deceleration mode. Further, the sensors S1 and S4 recognize the traveling direction of the carrier 5, sequentially move the speed detection sensor, and perform speed control based on the fed back speed information. Further, the linear motor controller 2 holds speed control data preset according to the rail shape and other factors, and sends a control signal to each station controller 6.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the station controller 6 incorporated in the above embodiment. This circuit basically has a motor control unit (that is, a CPU) 31 that performs speed detection and speed control for the stator 4, and a lift-up and a lift-down for retracting the carrier from the transport path and getting in and out of the transport path. Mechanical control unit MCC provided only on a specific station controller for management
And the control of both are summarized, the linear motor controller 2
It is composed of a processor for main control (station), that is, a station CPU 30 for exchanging commands with the CPU. The station CPU 30 has a memory 30a inside and a cable 40
Data and commands are exchanged with the linear motor controller 2 (FIG. 13) via the CPU, and flags and data are exchanged with the motor control processor 31 and the mechanical control CPU 38, which mainly functions as a relay processor.
The motor control CPU 31 controls the excitation of the stator 4 in response to an instruction from the station CPU 30, and has a carrier speed measurement counter 31a and a memory 31b therein. A multiplexer (MPX) 32 selects the outputs of the sensors S1 to S4 that detect the slit portion 107 of the carrier 5 according to the selection signal SEL of the motor control CPU 31 and outputs them to the motor control processor 31. 33 is a maximum / minimum speed setting switch, which sets the speed based on the rail shape connected to each station. Reference numeral 34 is a coil driving driver, each of which is composed of a solid state relay.
The driver 34a AC-drives the acceleration / deceleration AC coil 114b of the stator 4 according to the direction (right, left) instruction from the motor control CPU 31. The driver 34b drives the positioning single-phase coil 114a of the stator 4 according to the positioning command PCMD from the motor control CPU 31, and the driver 34c drives the positioning damping coil 114c of the stator 4 according to the damping command SCMD from the motor control processor 31. . An interface circuit 35 includes a station CPU 30 for main control, flag units 35a and 35b for transmitting and receiving a flag, and a station CPU.
Register for sending and receiving command data to and from 30
It has 35c and 35d. A first bus 36 is for exchanging flags, data, and commands between the station CPU 30 and the interface circuit 35. 37
Is a second bus for exchanging flags, data and commands with the station CPU 30 and the interface circuit 39 of the mechanical control unit MCC. Like the interface circuit 35, the interface circuit 39 has flags 39a and 39b and registers 39c and 39d.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a traveling management flag 45 for controlling the speed of a plurality of carriers on one rail 3 in the linear motor controller 2 of this embodiment. The travel management flag 45 is bit-assigned corresponding to all stations and all stators on the rail 3 which is a transport path, and in this embodiment, each bit of F1 to F16 is provided. Each bit of the travel management flag 45 is provided. The stator 4 (including the station; the same applies hereinafter) in which "1" is displayed among the bits of the traveling management flag 45 is a command for traveling the carrier 5 (sending, acceleration / deceleration, stop, liftdown). , A command such as lift-up) is transmitted, and carrier travel is performed between the stators corresponding to the flag bits for which "1" is displayed. In the case of FIG. 5, the carrier 5 travels between the No. 1 to No. 7 stators, and there is no scheduled travel between the other stators. When the carrier 5 starts moving, the linear motor controller 2 confirms with the station controller 6 that the traveling operation is completed so as to follow the carrier 5. More specifically, when the carrier 5 starts, the linear motor controller 2 causes the station controller 6, STC1, STC2,
(Sensing command is sequentially sent to the flag bits with "1" written) to obtain operation end information.
When the operation completion confirmation is performed for each stator,
Driving management flag 4 corresponding to the stator (eg ST1)
Rewrite bit F1 of 5 from "1" to "0". However, in this case, when the carrier travel is for a plurality of carriers CR1 and CR2 having the overlapping transport path, one carrier, that is, the carrier on the chasing side is normally split traveled. Therefore, when the carrier 5 is on the rail 3 at the end of this divided traveling, it must be treated as still traveling, and the corresponding bit of the management flag 45 is left at "1". The travel management flag 45 is used to know the overlap of the transport paths by looking at the travel management flag 45 corresponding to the transport section when a new travel instruction is received from the system controller 1.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the internal structure of the travel register 46 provided in the linear motor controller 2. The running register 46 is a standby register unit 47 in which running operation data of the carrier 5 is written until a running command is input from the system controller 1, and the running control data of the actual carrier 5 is written and output. Execution register part
48, each of which is composed of a plurality of small registers (indicated by R1, R1 ... In the figure) so as to store a plurality of types of traveling motion data or traveling control data. The small registers R1, R2 ..., which are the constituent units of the standby register unit 47 and the execution register unit 48, have a 4-byte structure, as shown in FIG. 6, and each have a divided running number, a starting station number, and a stop. The station number and the carrier confirmation position station number are stored. Carrier confirmation position The station number refers to the stator number that is being confirmed when the operation is completed. The split running number is the same number assigned so that it can be found that the original transport is the same when the vehicle is split and run. Say.
If it is not necessary to divide the transport path, write "0".

The traveling instructed by the system controller 1 is first written in the standby register unit 47. Now, as a basic operation of this transfer control device, consider a case where one carrier 5 is controlled to be transferred between stations ST3 to ST10.

When such a travel command is transmitted from the system controller 1 to the linear motor controller 2, "1" is written in the flag bits F3 to F10 in the travel management flag 45 of the linear motor controller 2, while the travel register 46 is being written.
As shown in the uppermost part of FIG. 7, "0, 3, 10, 0" is written in the standby register section 47 in order from the upper area. This means that there is no need for separate transport, the starting station number is 3 and the stop station number is 10. When the writing of the transport control data to the running management flag 45 and the running register 46 is completed, the next step is to carry.

When carrying the carrier 5, the linear motor controller 2 judges whether or not the carrier 5 can be run, and if it is possible, the linear motor controller 2 sends a running command to each station controller 6.
In the transmission of the traveling command, the acceleration / deceleration command and the stop command (or the stop and lift-up command) are transmitted to the stator 4 in which the acceleration / deceleration and the stop are performed. Also, a sense command is transmitted to the station controller to confirm the mode. Then, when the mode is runnable, a start command (or lift down + start command) is sent to the start station. In the present embodiment, since the traveling management flag 45 is used as described above, the station controller sends a group of commands such as (lift down + start) and (stop + lift up), and the station controller switches between the mechanism and the motor. I try to give instructions to each while watching each movement. When this run command is sent, the run register
46 is activated, the control data stored in the standby register unit 47 is shifted to the execution register unit 48, and "3" which is the starting station is written in the storage area of the carrier confirmation position station number. And
After the start of the traveling of the carrier 5, when the traveling confirmation of the carrier is taken in each station, the display of the carrier confirmation position station is sequentially switched in the order of 3 → 4 → 5 → ... → 10. When the carrier 5 reaches the station 10, the purpose of the traveling control has been achieved. Therefore, the linear motor controller 2 issues an end notification to the system controller 1 and the execution register section 48 is shown at the bottom of FIG. To be cleared.

In such traveling control of the carrier 5, the system controller 1 manages at which stator position the carrier 5 exists, and issues a traveling instruction to the linear motor controller 2 based on this management. The traveling instruction from the system controller 1 is processed by interruption,
The instruction data is written in the standby register section 47 of the running register 46 as described above. On the other hand, the linear motor controller 2 transmits a traveling command to each station controller 6 and continuously repeats two processes as shown in FIG. 8 alternately. That is, in the first processing step, the end of the operation of the carrier in the running is confirmed, and when the end of the operation is confirmed, a sense command is issued to the next station. In other processing steps, whether or not the vehicle is waiting is checked for execution, and if it is possible, a data shift is performed in the traveling register 46 to issue an execution command to each station controller 6 that controls the traveling. Emit.

Next, two carriers of CR1 and CR2 are installed on one rail 3, and of the carriers CR1 and CR2, CR1 is transported from the ST5 position of the stator to ST10, while CR2 is ST.
Consider the case where there is an instruction to simultaneously convey from the 2nd position to the ST6 position.

When such a travel instruction is transmitted from the system controller 1 to the linear motor controller 2, the command data from the system controller 1 is analyzed in the travel register 46 of the linear motor controller 2 and the travel management flag is checked to determine CR1. It is recognized that the transport path of CR2 and the transport path of CR2 are overlapped, and the calculation processing divides the transport of CR2 into two transports of ST2 to ST4 and ST4 to ST6, and transports of ST1 to ST10 of CR1. An operation system that simultaneously executes ST2 to ST4 transfer of CR2 is formed. That is, the data "1" is written in the flag bits F2 to F10 in the running management flag 45, while the running register 46 is placed in the upper register in the small register R1 of the standby register unit 47 as shown in FIG. 9 (a). "0,5,10,0" is written in order from the area, and "0,5,10,0" is written in the small register R2 of the standby register section in order from the upper area.
It is written as "2,6,0". Under this condition, the linear motor controller 2 judges whether or not the carrier 5 can run, and if it is determined that the carrier 5 can run, the CR1 transfer is executed at the station. A running command is sent to the controller 6, that is, STC5 to STC10, whereby the data "0,5,10,0" in the waiting register unit 47 in the running register 46 is changed to the execution register unit 4.
At the same time as shifting to 8, the start station number of CR1 "5" is written in the carrier confirmation position station number area of the execution register section 48 (Fig. 9 (b)).

Next, transfer CR2 between ST2 and ST6 with ST2 to ST4 and ST4 to
In order to divide into ST6 conveyance, the linear motor controller 2 assigns the division traveling number “1” to the traveling register 46, judges whether or not the carrier traveling is possible on the CR2 transportation path, and determines that it is possible. Then, the station controller 6 or ST in which the first division of CR2 is executed
Send a run command to C2 to STC4. As a result, in the running register 46, the data “1,2,4,2” is written in the area of the next stage of the execution register section 48, and first, the carrier confirmation state in ST2 is set. On the other hand, the data "1, 4, 6, 0" is written in the standby register section 47 (Fig. 9 (c)). Carrier CR
1, CR2 starts running, station controller 6
From ST2, ST3, ST4 or ST5, S
Sense commands are sequentially sent to the linear motor controller from T6 to ST10 to confirm the end. When the end confirmation up to ST4 is obtained for the first divided conveyance of CR2, the divided traveling is indicated by setting the carrier confirmation position station number to 0 (FIG. 9 (d)).

Next, in the standby traveling and the divided traveling ST4 to ST6, the linear motor controller 2 determines whether or not the carrier traveling is possible at the time when the other divided transportation ST2 to ST4 is completed. At this point, the carrier position confirmation of the transport of CR1 has been completed until ST7, so that the transport route does not overlap between CR1 and CR2. Therefore, it is judged that the carrier can run,
A travel command is sent from the linear motor controller 2 to the station controllers STC4 to STC6. As a result, in the running register 46, the data “1,4,6,0” stored in the standby register section 47 is shifted to the execution register section 48. In this shift operation, one of the divided conveyances has already been completed and the divided state has disappeared, so the divided traveling number area of the execution register section 48 becomes "0", and "4" is set in the carrier confirmation position station number area. It is written (Fig. 9 (e)). After that, the carrier is confirmed for each station up to the stop station and the traveling of CR1 and CR2 is controlled.
When all the carriers travel to the stop station, the carrier is checked and passed to the system controller 1, the series of carrier travel control is completed, and the travel register 46 is cleared.

FIG. 10 shows a flowchart for confirming the end of operation during running. First step (hereinafter STP
In (1), it is checked whether or not there is running running. This is done by searching the execution register section 48 of the running register 46 for data. If there is no running running in this running running check, the process ends, and if there is running running, STP2 senses to the carrier confirmation position station number. Then, in STP3, it is checked whether or not an operation end notification has been received, and if there is an end notification, the process proceeds to STP4 to clear the corresponding station of the travel management flag 45. Then ST
At P5, it is checked whether or not the carrier 5 has finished running. If the running is not finished in this check, it moves to STP7 and it is checked whether there is any running running. If there is no running running, the process ends. If there is running running, the process goes to STP8 and the running running register The next running amount is read from, and the processing operation after STP2 is continued. on the other hand,
In the traveling end check in STP5, if it is confirmed that the traveling of the carrier 5 is completed, it is checked in ST9 whether or not the previous traveling is the first traveling divided. In this confirmation operation, if it is recognized that the traveling is the first divided traveling, the process of STP10 is started, the traveling management flag is reset to the stop station, and the carrier confirmation position station number is set to zero. And STP7
Enter the process. On the other hand, if it is confirmed in STP9 that it is not the first divided run, the process moves to STP11 to notify the system controller that the carrier run has ended, and the data written in the execution register section 48 of the run register 46 is cleared. It

For confirmation of the end of operation during running as described above,
FIG. 11 shows a flow chart for checking whether or not the vehicle can be executed while waiting. In such an operation, first, when the processing operation is started, it is checked in the STP 21 whether or not there is a traveling waiting. If there is no traveling in standby here, the processing operation ends, while if there is traveling in standby, the process proceeds to STP22 and it is checked whether it is the remaining portion of the divided traveling. If it is determined in this step that it is the rest of the divided run, it is checked in STP23 whether the first run of the divided run has ended, and if it is the end, the process of STP24 is performed. In this step, in order to check whether or not the rest of the divided traveling can be performed, it is sequentially checked from the start station based on the traveling management flag whether or not the traveling is possible. Then, in STP25, it is determined whether or not traveling is possible. If traveling is impossible, it is checked in STP26 whether or not divided traveling is possible. If divided traveling is possible here, the process proceeds to STP27 and a traveling command is transmitted to each station controller 6. When the traveling command is transmitted, the bit corresponding to the station of the traveling management flag 45 is set to "1" in the next STP28.
Is set. Then, at STP29, the running register 46
In the execution register section 48, the data relating to the stop station number and the carrier confirmation position station number are rewritten. Next, in STP30, the starting station number of the standby register unit 47 of the running register 46 is rewritten into the number of the stop station to be divided and executed, and the processing operation is ended.

If it is confirmed that the vehicle can travel in the traveling check of STP25, a traveling command is transmitted to each station in STP31. Then, when this traveling command is transmitted, "1" is set in the station corresponding bit of the traveling management flag 45 in the next STP32. Then ST
In P33, the execution register section 48 of the traveling register 46 rewrites the data regarding the stop station number and the carrier confirmation position station number, and clears the divided traveling number. Then, in STP34, the data for the current travel is cleared from the standby register unit 47 of the travel register 46, and the data for the remaining travel is refilled.

Further, if it is determined in STP22 that it is not the rest of the divided traveling, in STP35, the traveling propriety is sequentially checked based on the traveling management flag from the starting station, and it is determined in STP36 whether traveling is possible. . If it is judged that it is impossible to run here, it is checked in STP37 whether split running is possible, and if split running is possible
The process proceeds to STP38, and a travel command is transmitted to each station controller 6. Next, in STP39, "1" is set to the bit corresponding to the station of the traveling management flag 45. Then, in the STP 40, the divided traveling is added to the execution register section 48 of the traveling register 46, and an empty divided traveling number area is set.
Next, in STP41, the starting station number of the divided traveling in the standby traveling register section of the traveling register 46 is rewritten to the divided number and the divided traveling number is set, and the processing operation is ended.

If it is judged that the vehicle can travel in the traveling propriety check of STP36, each station controller 6 in STP42.
A travel command is transmitted to. Next, in STP43, the bit corresponding to the station of the traveling management flag 45 is set to "1". Then, in STP44, this run is added to the execution register section 48 of the run register 46. Next, in STP45, the travel data in the standby register section 47 of the travel register 46 is cleared, the data for the remaining travel is written, and the processing is ended.

Furthermore, if it is determined that the end of the split run in STP23 at the beginning of the split run is not finished, or if STP2
6 or if it is determined in STP37 that disassembling traveling is not possible, the process proceeds to STP46 and it is checked whether there is another waiting traveling in traveling register 46, and if there is no waiting traveling, the processing ends. On the other hand, if there is a waiting drive, STP4
At 7, the data for the next running is read from the standby register unit 47, and the process proceeds to each processing step after STP22.

It should be noted that the above description has been given of the case where the carrier path is always divided and the carrier is made to travel when the divided travel is possible when the plurality of carriers 5 are simultaneously run. However, although the linear mora car enables high-speed transportation, it requires a certain time, for example, 1 to 2 seconds, to stop the traveling carrier. For this reason, it may take time if the short transport distance is divided and run. Therefore, as a modified example of the present invention, in the following cases, it is possible to make the vehicle stand by until the vehicle can travel the entire traveling section without being divided even if the traveling is possible.

(1) When the transport distance is short.

For example, if the transport distance is 4 stations or less, no division is performed.

(2) When the moving distance after division is short.

For example, if the number of stations that can be divided and moved is three or less, it is not divided.

(3) When the remaining distance when dividing is short.

For example, if the remaining distance when dividing is two stations or less, the division is not performed. However, in this case, when the remaining first divided station is the stop station of another run and the remaining transport distance of the other run is long (for example, 4 stations between the remaining transport stations of another run). In the above case) is divided.

The determination of whether or not to divide the transport path under such conditions is performed in the processing steps of STP26 and STP37 shown in FIG. The processing operation of this is shown in FIG. That is, in STP51, it is checked whether the transport section is four stations or less. If it is less than 4 stations, division is not possible. If there are more than 4 stations, the process moves to STP52 and it is checked whether or not the vehicle can be divided. If the vehicle is not in a state where the vehicle can be divided, the vehicle cannot be divided. If the vehicle can be divided, the process proceeds to STP53, and it is checked whether there are three or less stations that can be divided and moved. If it is less than 3 stations, it cannot be divided. If there are more than 3 stations, the process moves to STP54, and it is checked whether the remaining distance when dividing is 2 stations or less. If it is larger than two stations, it is determined that it can be divided. On the other hand, when the number of stations is two or less, the process proceeds to STP55, and it is checked whether or not the divided adjacent station hits a stop station in another carrier traveling. If you do not hit the stop station here, you cannot divide, and if you hit the stop station, STP5
Move to 6 and 4 between the remaining transfer stations of another run
It is checked whether it is over the station. If it is 4 stations or more, it is determined that the division is possible, while if it is less than 4 stations, it is determined that the division is impossible. Then, the result of the determination as to whether or not the division is possible is output as the processing result of STP26 or STP37 in the processing operation shown in FIG.

By doing so, it is possible to make a more detailed decision as to whether or not to divide the carrier traveling, depending on the situation, and the traveling control of the carrier becomes even more effective.

In the above description, an example in which two carriers start at the same time was explained, but even when a new transport instruction is received at a place where there is already a carrier in progress, it is possible to know the overlap of transport paths by looking at the running management flag. Of course, it is possible to drive at the same time by splitting the drive if necessary.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, in transporting a plurality of carriers, when a part of the moving sections from the starting point to the arriving point of at least two carriers overlap, the overlapping moving sections are defined as one carrier. After carrying out the above procedure, the other carrier is carried, and in the non-overlapping movement sections, it is controlled so that each carrier is run simultaneously, so that it is possible to run simultaneously and reduce the operation time required to carry the carrier. The carrier can be transported at high speed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the structure of a linear motor car to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a front view showing the structure of a linear motor car to which the present invention is applied, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the linear motor car shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a configuration circuit of a station controller used for executing the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a travel management flag used in the control system of the present invention. FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the internal configuration of the travel register used in the control system of the present invention, FIG. 7 is a view showing data changes in the travel register during carrier travel, and FIG. 8 is a linear motor. FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the carrier traveling monitoring operation by the controller, FIG. 9 is a diagram showing data change in the traveling register during divided traveling, FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing confirmation processing of operation termination during running, and FIG. 11 is waiting. FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing the execution propriety check processing during running, and FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the division propriety judgment processing shown by B in FIG. Chromatography chart, FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a general example of a conveying system of the linear motor car. 1 …… System controller 2 …… Linear motor controller 3 …… Rail (transport path) 4 …… Stator (station) 5 …… Carrier 6 …… Station controller 30 …… Station CPU 31 …… Motor control CPU 45 …… Running Management flag 46 …… Running register 47 …… Standby register 48 …… Execution register section

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Tomoyuki Kashiwazaki 1015 Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Fujitsu Limited (72) Inventor Akihiro Nakamura 1015 Kamedotachu, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Fujitsu Limited ( 56) References JP-A-60-89214 (JP, A) JP-A-60-238908 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Moving from the starting point to the arrival point on the rail,
In a transport system in which a plurality of carriers for transporting articles exist on the same rail, when a part of the travel sections from the starting point to the arrival point of at least two carriers overlap, the overlapping travel sections are one of the carriers. After carrying, the other carrier is carried, and in a non-overlapping movement section, each carrier is controlled to run at the same time.