JP-7856950-B2 - Conveying system

JP7856950B2JP 7856950 B2JP7856950 B2JP 7856950B2JP-7856950-B2

Inventors

北村亘

Assignees

村田機械株式会社

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230224
Priority Date: 20220329

Claims (4)

A transport vehicle that moves along a track to transport goods, A control device for controlling the transport vehicle, Equipped with, The destination of the transport vehicle includes a processing location, which is a location for transferring the article to the processing device, and a storage location, which is a location for transferring the article to a storage rack for temporary storage. The control device is When bringing down the target route, which is a route selected from among multiple routes on the aforementioned orbit, (1) A process of moving the items located in the closed area, which is the area that will be closed due to the downtime of the target route, to an effective area, which is the area that will not be closed before and after the downtime of the target route, using the transport vehicle; or (2) A process of permitting transport with the processing location in the closed area as the destination and prohibiting transport with the storage location in the closed area as the destination; This process is performed after the aforementioned pre-processing, and includes a route down process that prohibits the transport vehicle from traveling along the target route, A transport system characterized by performing the following actions.
A transport vehicle that moves along a track to transport goods, A control device for controlling the transport vehicle, Equipped with, The destination of the transport vehicle includes a processing location, which is a location for transferring the article to the processing device, and a storage location, which is a location for transferring the article to a storage rack for temporary storage. When the control device lowers a target route, which is a route selected from multiple routes on the track, it performs a preprocessing step to allow only some of the transport vehicles to pass through the target route. If there is an alternative route that avoids the aforementioned target route, the transport vehicle will be driven to its destination via a route that does not pass through the aforementioned target route. If there is no alternative route that avoids the aforementioned target route, the transport vehicle will be driven to its destination via the route that passes through the aforementioned target route . The control device is a process performed after the pre-processing, and is characterized by performing a route down process that prohibits the transport vehicle from traveling along the target route .
A transport system according to claim 1 , The aforementioned pre-processing includes a process of moving the article located in the closed area to the effective area using the transport vehicle, The control device is characterized in that, after a destination has been secured for all items to be moved from the closed area to the effective area, it moves all of the items from the closed area to the effective area.
A transport system according to claim 3, The transport system is characterized in that the aforementioned article is a container for containing an object to be transported.

Description

This invention primarily relates to a transport system for transporting goods using a transport vehicle. The transport system described in Patent Document 1 comprises a travel path, a transport vehicle that travels along the travel path, and a control device that controls the transport vehicle. The control device can perform a route down process on a portion of the travel path. The control device controls the transport vehicle so that it does not pass through the travel path that has been routed down. International Publication No. 2010/100834 Means and effects for solving the problem The problems that this invention aims to solve are as described above, and next, the means for solving these problems and their effects will be explained. In view of the present invention, a transport system having the following configuration is provided. That is, the transport system comprises a transport vehicle and a control device. The transport vehicle transports articles by traveling along a track. The control device controls the transport vehicle. The destination of the transport vehicle includes a processing location, which is a location for handing over the articles to a processing device, and a storage location, which is a location for temporarily storing the articles. When the control device brings down a target route, which is a route selected from a plurality of routes on the track, it performs pre-processing and route down processing. The pre-processing includes at least one of: (1) a process of using the transport vehicle to move the articles located in a closed area, which is an area that is to be closed by the downing of the target route, to an effective area, which is an area that is not closed before and after the downing of the target route; or (2) a process of permitting transport with the processing location in the closed area as the destination and prohibiting transport with the storage location in the closed area as the destination. The route down processing is a process performed after the pre-processing, and is a process of prohibiting the transport vehicle from traveling along the target route. This allows for the closure of the target route to be carried out in stages. Therefore, the processing load on the control device can be reduced. A second aspect of the present invention provides a transport system having the following configuration: The transport system comprises a transport vehicle and a control device. The transport vehicle transports articles by traveling along a track. The control device controls the transport vehicle. The destination of the transport vehicle includes a processing location, which is a location for handing over the articles to a processing device, and a storage location, which is a location for handing over the articles to a storage rack for temporary storage. When the control device brings down a target route, which is a route selected from a plurality of routes on the track, it performs a pre-processing to allow only some of the transport vehicles to pass through the target route. If there is an alternative route that avoids the target route, the control device makes the transport vehicles travel to the destination via a route that does not pass through the target route. If there is no alternative route that avoids the target route, the control device makes the transport vehicles travel to the destination via a route that passes through the target route. The control device performs a route down processing, which is performed after the pre-processing, and which prohibits the transport vehicles from traveling along the target route. This allows for the gradual closure of the target route. Consequently, the processing load on the control device can be reduced. Furthermore, while decreasing the frequency with which transport vehicles pass through the target route, passage through the target route can still be permitted when it is essential. In the aforementioned transport system, the pre-processing includes a process of moving the articles located in the closed area to the effective area using the transport vehicle, and it is preferable that the control device moves all the articles from the closed area to the effective area after securing a destination for all the articles to be moved from the closed area to the effective area. This allows items to be evacuated smoothly after the evacuation destination has been set. In the aforementioned transport system, the article is preferably a container for holding the object to be transported. This reduces the likelihood of containers remaining in the closed area, thus suppressing the decrease in transport efficiency after the route-down process. A schematic plan view of a transport system according to one embodiment of the present invention.Front view of the transport system.A schematic plan showing the closed area and the open area after the target route has been defined.A flowchart illustrating the process from receiving a route do