JPH088526B2 - Communication equipment for cargo handling vehicles - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a cargo handling vehicle communication device for transferring command data for commanding cargo handling work from a master station to a plurality of cargo handling vehicles which are slave stations. .

[Prior Art] Conventionally, as this type of communication device, a device that transfers command data for cargo handling work to a plurality of cargo handling vehicles (forklifts, etc.) operating in a factory or a warehouse is proposed. (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-193342).

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional communication device, an operator appropriately selects which cargo handling vehicle to transfer the next command data to at the office as a master station. I was just there. For this reason, the number of times the command data is transferred may be biased depending on the cargo handling vehicle, and the number of times the vehicle is operated may increase or decrease extremely, resulting in unevenness among the cargo handling vehicles.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object thereof is to make it possible to average the number of times of operation for each cargo handling vehicle, uniformize the work load for each cargo handling vehicle, and perform a plurality of cargo handling operations. An object of the present invention is to provide a communication device for a cargo handling vehicle capable of improving the operation efficiency of the entire vehicle.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, communication for a cargo handling vehicle that transfers command data for instructing cargo handling work from a master station to a plurality of cargo handling vehicles that are slave stations. In the device, the master station, an input means for inputting data to be transferred to a cargo handling vehicle, a command number storage means for storing the number of times the command data is transferred to each cargo handling vehicle, for each cargo handling vehicle, If the data input by the input means is data for instructing automatic vehicle allocation, and the determination means determines that the data is not data for instructing automatic vehicle allocation, the data is input by the input means. It is determined that the command data based on the data is the first transfer means for transferring to the cargo handling vehicle instructed by the input means, and the data for instructing automatic vehicle dispatch by the determining means. When separated, the command data based on the data input by the input means is transferred to the cargo handling vehicle having the smallest transfer count of the command data based on the storage data stored in the command count storage means. Transfer means, and the first and second
Each time the command data is transferred by the transfer means, the updating means for updating the number of times stored in the command number storage means corresponding to the cargo handling vehicle to which the command data is transferred is provided.

[Operation] By the above means, the command number storage means stores the number of times the command data is transferred to each cargo handling vehicle for each cargo handling vehicle. Here, when the data to be transferred to the cargo handling vehicle is input by the input means, the determination means determines whether or not the data input by the input means is data instructing automatic vehicle allocation. When the determining unit determines that the data is not data for instructing automatic vehicle allocation, the first transferring unit transfers command data based on the data input by the input unit to the cargo handling vehicle instructed by the input unit. To do. On the other hand, when the determining unit determines that the data is data for instructing automatic vehicle allocation, the second transferring unit outputs command data based on the data input by the input unit,
Based on the stored data stored in the command count storage means, the command data is transferred to the cargo handling vehicle with the smallest transfer count. Each time the command is transferred by both transfer means, the updating means updates the number of times stored in the command number storage means corresponding to the cargo handling vehicle to which the command data has been transferred.

[Embodiment] An embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in a forklift will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a forklift (only one unit is shown) 3 serving as a plurality of cargo handling vehicles, which are slave stations operating in a warehouse 2, are provided in an office 1 as a master station in this embodiment. A master station transmitter 4 for transmitting contact information such as command data for commanding cargo handling work is installed.

As shown in FIG. 3, the master station transmitter 4 is a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “personal computer”) as an input means capable of inputting and outputting output of contact information such as command data for transmission to the forklift 3. 5, a control unit 6 for controlling the exchange of signals with the personal computer 5 and for inputting / outputting electric signals, and a radio unit 7 for transmitting electric signals between the control unit 6 as radio waves. ing. The control section 6 constitutes the discriminating means, the first transferring means, the second transferring means and the updating means of the present invention.

Here, the radio unit 7 is provided with an FSK modulation circuit, and uses the frequency of an empty channel of the television and transmits a weak radio wave which is not regulated by the Radio Law.

Further, the control unit 6 is provided with a memory 6a as a command number storage means for accumulating and storing the number of times the command data is transferred to each forklift 3, that is, the number of times corresponding to the operating number of each forklift 3 for each forklift 3. There is. Further, in order to transfer the next command data to each forklift 3, the control unit 6 determines and specifies the forklift 3 having the smallest command data transfer count based on the stored data stored in the memory 6a up to the previous time. It constitutes a cargo handling vehicle specifying means. Therefore, in order to transfer the command data to the forklift 3 specified based on the data stored in the memory 6a, the control unit 6 operates the wireless unit 7 to transmit the radio wave of the command data.

The memory 6a of the control unit 6 not only accumulates and stores the number of times of transfer of the command data, but also serves as a memory for temporarily storing the command data input by the personal computer 5.

On the other hand, the forklift 3 includes the master station transmitter 4
It is equipped with a slave station receiver 8 that receives the radio waves transmitted from. This slave station receiver 8 is the master station transmitter 4
A radio unit 9 for receiving radio waves from the radio unit, a control unit 10 for temporarily storing and controlling the signal from the radio unit 9 and outputting the signal to the output unit, and the output unit for displaying the received command data. A liquid crystal display (LCD) 11, a printer 12 as an output unit for printing command data, a notification buzzer 13 and a rotating lamp 14. The wireless unit 9 includes an FSK demodulation circuit corresponding to the wireless unit 7 of the master station transmitter 4, and receives weak radio waves that are not regulated by the Radio Law.

As shown in FIG. 2, LCD 11, printer 12, buzzer 13
Are arranged on the instrument panel 15, respectively. LCD11 is used to display 20 columns x 4 lines,
As the printer 12, a printer that prints 20 digits on the printing paper P is used.

As shown in FIG. 1, the storage shelves 16 arranged in the warehouse 2 are arrayed with various cargo-handling materials B placed on a plurality of pallets 17. Therefore, the worker W of the forklift 3 identifies the cargo handling material B to be subjected to the cargo handling work based on the command data output and displayed on the LCD 11 or the printer 12, and operates the forklift 3 toward the cargo handling material B.

Next, the operation of the master station transmitter 4 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Note that this flowchart shows the processing operation of the control unit 6.

First, in order to notify the worker W of the forklift 3 of the contact information such as the command data for carrying out the cargo handling work from the office 1, the contact information is input using the personal computer 5. The input method is an interactive method with the personal computer 5.

Then, in step 101, the command data input by the personal computer 5 is input and the input data is stored in the memory 6a.
, And shifts to step 102.

In step 102, it is determined whether or not the input data is data for instructing automatic vehicle allocation. That is, whether the forklift 3 to which the command data should be transferred is automatically specified by the control unit 6 or whether the forklift 3 to be transferred is arbitrarily instructed by the operator of the personal computer 5. To determine.

If the vehicle is automatically dispatched, the process proceeds to step 103, and the forklift 3 having the smallest number of transfer of command data is specified based on the stored data up to the previous time already stored in the memory 6a. For example, when the forklift 3 having the smallest number of times of transfer of the command data is the “A car”, the “A car” is specified.

Then, the process proceeds to step 104, and in order to transfer the command data to the specified forklift 3, the wireless unit 7
Operate. That is, when the specified forklift 3 is the “A vehicle”, the wireless unit 7 is operated to transmit the instruction data of the cargo handling work to the “A vehicle”.

Then, the process proceeds to step 105, and the number of times the command data is transferred is incremented by "1" for the specified forklift 3. That is, when the transfer count of the "car A" is "10", "11" obtained by adding "1" is the cumulative transfer count. This cumulative number of transfers is stored separately for each forklift 3.

On the other hand, in step 102, if the vehicle is not automatically dispatched, the process proceeds to step 106, and the forklift 3 to which the command data is to be transferred is specified based on the data arbitrarily instructed by the operator of the personal computer 5.

Then, the process jumps to step 104 to transfer the command data to the arbitrarily designated and specified forklift 3 and shifts to step 105 to set the command data transfer count to “1” for the specified forklift 3. Just add.

As described above, the command data is transferred to each forklift 3, that is, the radio wave of the command data is transmitted from the master station transmitter 4, and the radio wave is received by the slave station receiver 8 of the specified forklift 3. Then, the receiver 8 for the slave station
The control unit 10 operates the LCD 11 and the printer 12 to display the command data obtained by the processing on the worker W. In addition, the control unit 10 causes the buzzer 13 to ring and the rotary lamp 14 to light in order to call the attention of the worker W.

Therefore, the worker W of the forklift 3 runs the forklift 3 in order to carry out the cargo handling work according to the command data displayed on the LCD 11 or the command data printed on the printing paper P of the printer 12.

As described above, in this embodiment, the command data can be transferred to the forklift 3 arbitrarily designated by the operator, and the command data can be automatically transferred to the forklift 3 specified by the automatic vehicle allocation. The vehicle allocation of the forklift 3 can be performed flexibly. Moreover, in automatic vehicle dispatching, the forklift 3 having the smallest number of past transfer of command data is automatically specified and the command data is transferred. It will be updated regardless of whether it is due to automatic dispatch. Therefore, it is possible to average and transfer the command data to all the forklifts 3, and it is possible to prevent deviation in the number of transfer of the command data among the forklifts 3 in advance. As a result, it is possible to prevent the number of operations of each forklift 3 from being extremely biased, to average the number of operations of each forklift 3, and to equalize the work load of each forklift 3 to make it more than one. It is possible to improve the operation efficiency of the forklift 3 as a whole.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and a part of the configuration can be appropriately modified and carried out as follows without departing from the spirit of the invention.

(1) In the above-described embodiment, the manned forklift 3 is embodied, but it may be embodied as a manned cargo handling vehicle other than the forklift 3, or may be embodied as an automatically operated unmanned cargo handling vehicle or an automated guided vehicle. Good. In the case of the unmanned guided vehicle, the command data may be transferred to the guided vehicle through a guide line for guiding the guided vehicle.

(2) Although the master station transmitter 4 is installed in the office 1 in the above-described embodiment, the master station transmitter 4 is installed in the other forklift 3.
It may be installed in. In short, the parent station does not have to be the office 1, but may be a moving body such as the forklift 3 or the like.

(3) In the above embodiment, the master station transmitter 4 is a unidirectional communication device that performs only transmission, but it may be embodied as a master station transmitter / receiver that is a bidirectional communication device. Good.

(4) In the above embodiment, the frequency of an empty channel of the television is used as the radio wave for transmission and the weak radio wave which is not regulated by the Radio Law is used, but the frequency and output of the radio wave are not limited to this. Instead, it is acceptable if the use is permitted.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to transfer command data to a cargo handling vehicle that is arbitrarily designated by the input means, and to automatically transfer to the cargo handling vehicle specified by automatic vehicle allocation. Since the command data can also be transferred, the cargo handling vehicle can be flexibly allocated.

Moreover, in automatic vehicle dispatching, the cargo handling vehicle with the smallest number of past transfer of command data is automatically specified and the command data is transferred, and the transfer count depends on the instruction from the input means. It will be updated regardless of whether it is due to automatic dispatch. As a result, the number of times of operation for each cargo handling vehicle can be averaged, and the work load of each cargo handling vehicle can be equalized, and the operational efficiency of the entire cargo handling vehicles can be improved, which is an excellent effect. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment embodying the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an instrument panel, and FIG. 3 shows a relationship between a master station transmitter and a slave station receiver. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the operation of the master station transmitter. In the figure, 1 is an office as a parent station, 3 is a forklift as a cargo handling vehicle that is a child station, 5 is a personal computer as an input means, 6 is a discriminating means, a first transfer means, a second transfer means and an update. The control unit, 6a, which constitutes the means, is a memory as a command number storage means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A communication apparatus for a cargo handling vehicle that transfers command data for commanding cargo handling work from a master station to a plurality of cargo handling vehicles that are child stations, wherein the master station stores data to be transferred to the cargo handling vehicle. Input means for inputting, instruction number storage means for storing the number of times the instruction data is transferred to each of the cargo handling vehicles for each of the cargo handling vehicles, and data input by the input means is data for instructing automatic vehicle allocation. Determining means for determining whether or not the load handling vehicle is instructed by the input means, based on the data input by the input means when it is determined that the data is not data for instructing automatic vehicle dispatch by the determining means. And a finger based on the data input by the input unit when the determination unit determines that the data is data for instructing automatic vehicle allocation. Second transfer means for transferring the data to the cargo handling vehicle having the smallest transfer count of the command data based on the stored data stored in the command count storage means; and the command data by the first and second transfer means. Communication device for a cargo handling vehicle, which updates the number of times stored in the command number storage means corresponding to the cargo handling vehicle to which the command data has been transferred.