JPH0780522B2 - Traveling control device for automatic warehouse crane - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse crane for moving articles to desired storage positions on shelves and automatically loading and unloading articles, and more particularly to improvement of a traveling control device for controlling the horizontal traveling thereof. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, a three-dimensional automatic warehouse system is provided with a rack in which a plurality of article storage spaces (hereinafter referred to as shelf booths) are arranged in a horizontal (continuous) and vertical (tier) direction. A stacker crane that can move horizontally along a rack moves to a continuous position that corresponds to the desired shelving space, and then a lifting platform supported by the stacker crane moves to the desired shelving space position. Thus, the work of loading and unloading the goods to and from the target shelf booth is performed.

By the way, in the above-mentioned three-dimensional automatic warehouse system, in addition to a worker manually operating a stacker crane or a hoisting platform to a target position, recently, the number of a desired rack booth is input. As a result, a type has been developed in which the stacker crane and the lifting platform are automatically moved to the desired shelf booth position. In this case, the stacker crane retrieves the serial number to which the shelf booth belongs from the input shelf booth number, obtains the moving direction, moving distance, etc. from the serial number and the serial number of the current position of the stacker crane, and After calculating the traveling control information that controls a series of operations from accelerating the crane to the target position and driving it at a constant speed, then decelerating and stopping it, It will be automatically moved to the position.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional traveling control means for the stacker crane, an error always occurs in the actual traveling of the stacker crane with respect to the traveling control information calculated, so that the number of movements increases as the number of movements increases. As a result, the errors increase and become large, and finally the stacker crane cannot reach the desired continuous position accurately. Therefore, in order to deal with this problem, conventionally, the error is corrected in a state where the error exceeds a predetermined allowable range, but the correction work is complicated and frequent, and the warehousing work is performed during the work. There is an inconvenience that you cannot do it.

[0005]

As described above, in the conventional traveling control means for the stacker crane, it is difficult to correct the error generated in the traveling of the actual stacker crane with respect to the calculated traveling control information, and the automatic control is automatically performed. There is a problem that it is not possible to sufficiently improve the efficiency of the warehousing / delivery work by the warehouse.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and it is possible to easily correct an error generated in the actual traveling of the stacker crane with respect to the calculated traveling control information. An object of the present invention is to provide a very good traveling control device for an automatic warehouse crane, which can effectively promote the improvement of the efficiency of loading / unloading work.

[0007]

A traveling control device for an automated warehouse crane according to the present invention is set so that a plurality of rack booths are arranged horizontally and a rack is movable along the horizontal direction. , A crane main body for automatically loading and unloading articles to and from each shelf booth, and a predetermined constant moving speed of the crane main body with the target position information for moving the crane main body input, the constant speed and starts to decelerate from the moving speed based on the setting information including the braking time and the braking distance, and the like until the vehicle stops, and calculates the running control information for moving the crane body from the current position to the target position, the crane body Current position information and destination position
Calculate the difference component from the information to determine if it is the current position of the crane body.
Calculation to calculate the number of shelving booths existing between
Means and the rack booth number obtained by this calculation means.
Multiply the current position of the crane body to the target position.
A first multiplication means for calculating the total movement distance in
From the total travel distance of the crane body calculated by the multiplication means of
The braking distance in the setting information is subtracted to determine the current position of the crane body.
First subtraction hand that calculates the distance from the position to the deceleration start position
And the distance calculated by the first subtraction means.
Start the deceleration from the current position of the crane body.
First division to calculate the number of shelf booths existing up to the position
Means and the remainder of this first division means
The number calculated by the first dividing means by dividing by the fast moving speed
Decelerate from the moment the crane body passes through all the shelving booths
It takes time to move the crane body at a constant speed before starting.
Calculating means including a second dividing means for calculating, measuring means for actually measuring the braking time from the start of deceleration of the crane body to the stop thereof based on the traveling control information calculated by the calculating means; Second subtraction for calculating a difference component between the braking time measured by the measuring means and the braking time of the setting information
Means and the subtraction result of the second subtraction means
And a second multiplication means for calculating the correction distance by multiplying
The corrected distance obtained by the second multiplication means is used as the second subtraction means.
Depending on the sign of the subtraction result of
Is obtained by the so that with <br/> a more becomes correcting means and acceleration means for adding or subtracting Te.

[0008]

According to the above configuration, the braking time of the setting information is compared with the actually measured braking time, and the setting information used for calculating the traveling control information is corrected based on the comparison result. Therefore, it is possible to easily correct the error generated in the actual traveling of the crane main body with respect to the calculated traveling control information, and it is possible to effectively promote the efficiency improvement of the loading / unloading work by the automatic warehouse. .

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of the automated warehouse described in this embodiment. That is, FIG.
In FIG. 11, reference numeral 11 is a rack, and a plurality of shelf booths 12, 12, ... Are arranged in the horizontal (continuous) and vertical (step) directions. A load receiving table 13 is installed at one end of the rack 11 so that a load 14 to be stored in the rack 11 from the outside or a load 14 to be taken out from the rack 11 and carried out to the outside can be placed.

Here, each rack booth 12 of the rack 11 is
12, ... A passage is formed on the front side, and guide rails 15 and 16 are laid above and below the passage.
The stacker crane 17 is guided by the guide rails 15 and 16 so as to be movable in the connecting direction of the rack 11, that is, in the directions of arrows A and B in the figure. The stacker crane 17 includes a main body portion 17b having drive wheels 17a guided by the guide rails 16 and a main body portion 1b.
7b, the crane 17c is vertically raised and has a top portion supported by the guide rail 15 and a crane portion 17c.

A lifting platform 17d is supported on the crane unit 17c so as to be vertically movable along the crane unit 17c in the step direction of the rack 11, that is, in the directions of arrows C and D in the figure.
And a fork 17e for carrying the load 14 between the lifting / lowering platform 17d and the shelf booth 12. In addition, the drive wheels 17a are rotatably driven on the main body portion 17b so that the stacker crane 17 is guided by the guide rails 15 and 16.
Drive device 17f that is self-propelled along the lift platform 1
An elevating drive device 17g for elevating the 7d along the crane part 17c is installed.

Further, the lower ends of the partition plates 18, 18, ... In the figure for partitioning each rack of the rack 11 and the load receiving base 13 are described.
The detection dock 1 for detecting the continuous position
9, 19, ... Are installed. The detection dock 1 is attached to the main body portion 17b of the stacker crane 17.
A position detector 20 is provided for detecting the position of the stacker crane 17 by detecting 9, 19, ....
As shown in FIG. 2, the position detector 20 is composed of a pair of detectors 20a and 20b installed at intervals corresponding to both ends along the traveling direction of the stacker crane 17 with respect to one detection dock 19. Has been done.

The detection outputs of the detectors 20a and 20b are supplied to the arithmetic control unit 22 via the input / output unit 21. The arithmetic control unit 22 is mainly composed of, for example, a microcomputer and the like, and includes the detectors 20a,
Based on the detection output of 20b, the control program stored in the memory 23, the setting data described later, and the like, travel control data for moving the stacker crane 17 to a desired continuous position is generated, and the input / output unit 24 is set. To the crane drive control device 25 through the stacker crane 1
7 to control traveling. The arithmetic control unit 22 determines the continuous position of the stacker crane 17 when the detection outputs of the detection dock 19 are generated from the two detectors 20a and 20b.

Here, FIG. 3 shows a stacker crane 17
The figure shows a state of a series of speed control from the start of movement to the stop of the target position. That is, when the movement starts, the stacker crane 17 is accelerated with the acceleration α, and when the high-speed moving speed V _H is reached, the constant-speed traveling state is set. In this state, when the stacker crane 17 reaches the front side by the entire braking distance S _S from its stop position, the stacker crane 17 is decelerated at the deceleration β, and then, the stacker crane 17 is traveled at a low speed V _L for a predetermined distance, It is decelerated and stopped.

In this case, the low-speed braking distance from when the acceleration α, the deceleration β, the high-speed moving speed V _H , the low-speed traveling speed _VL and the moving speed of the stacker crane 17 become the low-speed traveling speed _VL until the vehicle is stopped. S _{L and the} like are fixed values that have already been set when the automatic warehouse was designed. Therefore, the high-speed braking distance S _G until the stacker crane 17 changes from the high-speed moving speed V _H to the low-speed traveling speed V _L is S _G = (V _H ² -V _L ² ) / 2β (1), and thus the total braking distance S _S from the start of deceleration of the stacker crane 17 to the stop thereof is expressed as S _S = S _G + S _L (2).

Further, the high-speed braking time t _G required for the stacker crane 17 to change from the high-speed moving speed V _H to the low-speed traveling speed _VL is t _G = (V _H -V _L ) / β (3) The low-speed braking time t _L required from the movement speed of the stacker crane 17 to the low-speed traveling speed V _L until it is stopped is t _L = S _L / V _L (4), and from this, the stacker crane 17 The total braking time t _S required from the start of deceleration to the stop thereof is expressed as t _S = t _G + t _L (5).

Further, the total moving distance S _T from when the stacker crane 17 starts moving to when it stops is shown in FIG.
Suppose that the rack pitch of each shelf booth 12, 12, ... Is R _P and the number of shelf booths (stations) existing between the current position of the stacker crane 17 and the target position is N, as shown in S. _{T = R P × N ... (} 6) next, from this, the high-speed movement distance S _H to the stacker crane 17 is decelerated from the start moved, expressed by _{S H = S T -S S ...} (7) Be done.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of generating the traveling control data based on the control program stored in the memory 23. First, when started (step S1), in step S2, the arithmetic control unit 22
Expresses the fixed values described above based on the acceleration α, the deceleration β, the high speed moving speed V _H , the low speed traveling speed _VL and the low speed braking distance S _L , and calculates the expressions (1) to (5), The braking distance S _G , the total braking distance S _S , the high speed braking time t _G , the low speed braking time t _L and the total braking time t _S are calculated, and these are stored in the memory 23 as setting data.

Next, in step S3, the arithmetic control unit 22
Waits until the target position data for moving the stacker crane 17 is input, and when the target position data is input, in step S4, the current position data of the stacker crane 17 is subtracted from the target position data to obtain the current position of the stacker crane 17. The number of stations N existing between the position and the target position
Then, in step S5, the total movement distance S _T is calculated by performing the calculation of the equation (6) based on the rack pitch R _P which is one of the fixed values stored in the memory 23. After that, in step S6, the calculation control unit 22 calculates the high-speed moving distance S _H by performing the calculation of formula (7) based on the total moving distance S _T and the total braking distance S _S.

Then, in step S7, the arithmetic control unit 22
Divides the high-speed moving distance S _H by the rack pitch R _P to obtain the number of stations n existing between the current position of the stacker crane 17 and the deceleration start position and the remainder S _P thereof. After that, in step S8, the arithmetic control unit 22
By dividing the remainder S _P by the high speed V _H , n
The high-speed extension time t _d for moving the stacker crane 17 at high speed is calculated from the time when the stacker crane 17 has passed all the rack booths 12 to the start of deceleration.

The above description will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
In (a), the current position of the stacker crane 17 is at the position of serial number 1, and from that position, the stacker crane 1
7 is moved to the position of serial number 7. First, when the serial number 7, which is the target position data, is input, the current position data (serial number 1) is subtracted from the target position data (serial number 7) and the current position of the stacker crane 17 from the target position to the target position is subtracted. The number of stations 6 existing in
Is multiplied by the rack pitch R _P to obtain the total movement distance S _T.

Next, the total braking distance S _S , which is the setting data, is subtracted from the obtained total moving distance S _T to obtain the high-speed moving distance S
_H is calculated, and this high-speed moving distance S _{H is set} to the high-speed moving speed V _H.
By dividing by, the number of stations n existing between the current position of the stacker crane 17 and the deceleration start position (in this case, five station numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) is obtained. Further, the surplus S _P obtained by dividing the high-speed moving distance S _H by the high-speed moving speed V _H is the distance from when the stacker crane 17 passes through the shelf booth 12 with serial number 6 to when the deceleration is started. By dividing S _P by the high-speed moving speed V _H , from the time when the stacker crane 17 passes through the shelf booth 12 with serial number 6 until the deceleration starts,
The high speed extension time t _d for moving the stacker crane 17 at high speed is calculated.

Therefore, the target position data is input,
The number of stations n existing between the current position of the stacker crane 17 and the deceleration start position and the speed at which the stacker crane 17 is moved from the time when the stacker crane 17 passes through the n-th shelf booth 12 until the deceleration starts. If the high-speed delay time t _d is calculated, the arithmetic control unit 22
While the stacker crane 17 starts moving at an acceleration α and moves at a high moving speed V _H , the position detector 2
It is detected that n times have passed by the output of 0, and after detection,
By continuing the high speed movement of the stacker crane 17 for the high speed extension time t _d , the stacker crane 17
Can be moved by the high-speed moving distance S _H. Thereafter, deceleration is started, and the stacker crane 17 moves for the entire braking distance S _S and then stops, whereby the stacker crane 17 can be moved to the target position of the serial number 7.

Here, as shown in FIG. 5 again, the stacker crane 17 moves to the target position on the basis of the number n of stations and the high speed extension time t _d which are the traveling control data generated by the processing up to step S8. Then, in a series of operations until it is stopped, the arithmetic control unit 22
The total braking time t _S required from the start of deceleration of the stacker crane 17 to the stop thereof is measured. Then, in step S10, the arithmetic control unit 22 calculates the error time t _c by subtracting the actually measured total braking time t _S ′ from the total braking time t _S of the setting data stored in the memory 23, and in S11, the high-speed movement speed V to the error time t _c
The correction distance S _c is calculated by multiplying by _H. Then, in step S12, the arithmetic control unit 22 adds the correction distance S _c to the total braking distance S _S of the setting data stored in the memory 23, and the corrected total braking distance S _S is set as the setting data in the memory 23. Are stored in the stacker crane 17, and are used for the calculation in step S6 when the stacker crane 17 moves next time.

That is, as in the example shown in FIG. 6A, the target position data (serial number 7) is input to generate the serial number n and the high speed extension time t _d, and based on these traveling control data. 6B, when the stacker crane 17 is actually moved, the total braking time t _S of the setting data stored in the memory 23 is measured. It is assumed that the braking time is longer than t _S ′. Then, the correction distance S _c obtained by multiplying the error time t _c by the high speed moving speed V _H is added to the total braking distance S _S of the setting data stored in the memory 23, and the corrected total braking distance is obtained. S _S is stored in the memory 23 as setting data. Therefore, during the next movement of the stacker crane 17, as shown in FIG. 6C, the total braking time t _S is corrected to be longer than that before correction, that is, t _S = t _S ′. Therefore, the error between the calculated value and the actually measured value is automatically corrected.

When the total braking time t _S of the setting data stored in the memory 23 is shorter than the actually measured total braking time t _S ′, contrary to the above, the error time t _c becomes high. moving speed V _H correction distance S _c obtained by multiplying the is subtracted from the total braking distance S _S configuration data stored in the memory 23, the memory 23 as the corrected total braking distance S _S configuration data has been By being stored, when the stacker crane 17 is moved next time, the total braking time t _S is corrected to be shorter than that before correction. Therefore, the actual stacker crane 1 for the calculated traveling control data
It is possible to easily correct the error that occurs in the traveling of No. 7, and it is possible to effectively promote the improvement of the efficiency of the loading / unloading work by the automatic warehouse.

Here, in the above embodiment, the setting data stored in the memory 23 is based on the difference between the total braking time t _S of the setting data stored in the memory 23 and the actually measured total braking time t _S ′. The total braking distance S _S is corrected not every time the stacker crane 17 is moved, but the difference between the total braking time t _S and the actually measured total braking time t _S ′ is calculated. The total braking distance S _S may be corrected only when it exceeds a predetermined allowable range defined in advance. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0028]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention,
An extremely good automated warehouse that can easily correct the error that occurs in the actual traveling of the stacker crane with respect to the calculated traveling control information and can effectively promote the efficiency improvement of the loading and unloading work by the automated warehouse. A traveling control device for a crane can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a traveling control device for an automatic warehouse crane according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram showing a configuration of a control part of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a series of speed control states in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining the rack pitch of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram shown for explaining the arithmetic operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram shown for explaining a correction operation of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... rack, 12 ... shelf booth, 13 ... container, 14 ...
Load, 15, 16 ... Guide rail, 17 ... Stacker crane, 18 ... Partition plate, 19 ... Detection dock, 20 ... Position detector, 21 ... Input / output unit, 22 ... Arithmetic control unit, 23 ... Memory, 24 ... Input / output Part, 25 ... Crane drive control device.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A rack in which a plurality of shelves are arranged in the horizontal direction, a crane main body which is set so as to be movable along the horizontal direction of the rack, and which automatically stores articles in and out of the shelves, In the state where the target position information for moving the crane main body is input, a preset constant speed moving speed of the crane main body, a braking time and a braking distance from the constant speed moving speed until the deceleration is started and stopped. based like the setting information including, it calculates a travel control information for moving to the target position the crane body from the current position, the Kure
Calculate the difference component between the current position information and the target position information
From the current position of the crane body to the target position
The calculation means for calculating the number of shelving booths existing between
Multiply the rack pitch by the number of booths obtained by the delivery means,
Complete movement of the crane body from the current position to the target position
First multiplication means for calculating a distance, and the first multiplication means
From the total travel distance of the crane body calculated in
The braking distance of the constant information is subtracted, and the current
First subtraction to calculate the distance from the position to the deceleration start position
Means and the distance calculated by the first subtraction means
Divide by the clock pitch to determine whether it is the current position of the crane body.
From the deceleration start position to the number of shelf booths existing
The first division means and the remainder of the first division means are
Divide by the constant moving speed of the lane body to obtain the first division
The crane main body is fully used for the number of shelves calculated by
From the point of passing the crane to the start of deceleration, the crane
Second dividing means for calculating the time for moving the main body at a constant speed
And a measuring means for actually measuring the braking time from the start of deceleration of the crane body to the stop thereof based on the traveling control information calculated by the calculating means, and the braking means measured by the measuring means. Second subtraction means for calculating a difference component between the time and the braking time of the setting information;
2. The subtraction result of the subtraction means 2 is multiplied by the constant moving speed,
Second multiplication means for calculating the correction distance, and the second multiplication means
The correction distance obtained by the means is subtracted from the second subtraction means.
Depending on whether the result is positive or negative,
A traveling control device for an automated warehouse crane, comprising: a correction means including an addition / subtraction means for adding or subtracting . 2. The correction means calculates the correction distance calculated by the second multiplication means in the setting information when the subtraction result of the second subtraction means substantially exceeds a predetermined allowable range. The traveling control device for an automatic warehouse crane according to claim 1, wherein the traveling control device adds or subtracts from the braking distance.