JPH01204111A - Carrier vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize the tracking of the proper information on the commodities regardless of the environments by using a bar code reader to read and store the proper information written into the bar code labels attached to the commodities and transmitting the stored information to a station via an optical communication unit. CONSTITUTION:A carrier vehicle 1 travels automatically among plural stations within a work site to carry an object 15 containing a bar code 16. Then the vehicle 1 contains a bar code reader 5 and a signal transmission means 9 which transmits the information signal of the object 15 to each station from the vehicle 1. When the object 15 containing the bar code to which the proper information on the object 15 is written is put on the vehicle 1, the reader 5 reads said proper information and this information signal is sent to the station via the means 9. Thus it is possible to perform the tracking of the proper information on the object 15 regardless of the environments at a low cost and with high reliability.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an automatically traveling transport vehicle, and more specifically to a transport vehicle capable of tracking unique information of transported articles.

[Prior art]

Transport vehicles, especially unmanned guided vehicles, have made great progress over the past few years as core equipment for factory automation.

In conventional conveyance vehicles, articles to be conveyed are placed on the upper part of the conveyance vehicle, and the articles are automatically traveled within a workplace using a guidance method such as an optical system or an electromagnetic system, and the articles are conveyed to a station within the workplace.

However, with the development of factory automation, it is no longer sufficient to have a system that only transports the goods like conventional transport vehicles (the transport vehicle detects unique information such as the product type, loft number, serial number, etc. There has been a demand for a system that can track where items are located in the workplace.In order to satisfy this demand, it is necessary to provide unique information to the items themselves (or attach a barcode label with unique information to the item). 2. Description of the Related Art There is a system in which a barcode reader is installed at each station in a workplace, and unique information of an article inputted in the barcode is transmitted to each station along with loading and unloading of the article.

In addition, instead of a bar code, a magnetic card or an IC card with battery backup is attached to the article, and the article's unique information is written on it, and a dedicated IC card reader is installed at each station, so that the article's unique information can be sent to each station. There is a system that transmits the loading and unloading of goods.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in a system where barcode readers are installed at stations to read the unique information of goods, it is necessary to install barcode readers according to the number of stations, so as the number of stations increases, the barcode reader There are problems in that the number increases, the price of the entire system increases, and reliability decreases.

Furthermore, in systems that use IC cards or magnetic cards and have readers installed at stations, in addition to the problems mentioned above, IC cards and magnetic cards are more expensive than barcodes, and their surroundings are less susceptible to the effects of heat, gas, solvents, etc. It is difficult to adapt to the environment, and non-contact readers are expensive (and the detection distance cannot be made very large).Furthermore, IC cards require battery maintenance.

The present invention was developed in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a transportation vehicle that is equipped with a barcode reader and can track the unique information of articles at low cost and with high reliability regardless of the environment. shall be.

Means for Solving Problem C] A conveyance vehicle according to the present invention is a conveyance vehicle that loads articles with barcodes attached and automatically travels between a plurality of stations provided in a workplace. The present invention is characterized in that it comprises a barcode reader that reads a barcode, and a signal transmitting means that transmits an information signal of the article from the conveyance vehicle to the station.

[Effect]

In the present invention, when an article with a barcode on which unique information of the article is written is placed on a conveyance vehicle, the unique information is read by a barcode reader installed on the conveyance vehicle, and the information signal is transmitted. Since the signal is transmitted to the station by the signal transmitting means, the unique information can be tracked at low cost and with high accuracy.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be described in detail below based on drawings showing embodiments thereof. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conveyance vehicle according to the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a schematic plan view showing the configuration of the transport vehicle.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes the body of a conveyance vehicle supported by a pair of left and right drive wheels 10.10 and four casters 11.11 provided on the front, rear, left and right sides. Drive wheel 10.10 is aircraft l
The drive servo motors 12 and 12 are mounted on the left and right sides of the center part of the drive motors 12 and 12, respectively, and are coaxially and directly connected to each drive servo motor. Then, the vehicle body 1 is steered by driving each of the drive wheels 10, 10 separately, and the vehicle body 1 is moved forward and backward in the traveling direction indicated by the white arrow by simultaneous driving.

At the center of the upper part of the machine body 1, a loading platform 2 is provided for placing an article 15.15 to be transported.
．． Barcode labels 16, 16, etc. containing unique information such as the product type, loft number, serial number, etc. of the article 15゜15 are affixed to the side surfaces of the article 15 in the front-rear direction. The loading platform 2 has two sets of roller conveyors 2L 21 each consisting of a plurality of rollers cantilevered on both sides in the front-rear direction, and the articles 15 are conveyed at a station between the 2 & IIO roller conveyors 21.21. A transfer machine 3 for unloading and loading is provided. The transfer machine 3 has a lifting mechanism (not shown) and a movement mechanism in the left and right directions, and has a locking part 31 in the shape of an elongated flat plate with its left and right ends bent upward.
is provided, and the articles 15.15 are unloaded and loaded by lifting and lowering and moving left and right the stop 31.31.

At the rear of the loading platform 2, two barcode reading devices 5, 5 are mounted with a bracket 4 formed of a flat plate interposed therebetween, appropriately spaced apart from each other in the left-right direction, with their reading surfaces facing the loading platform 2. The barcode reading devices 5, 5 use CCD cameras and can be driven by DC power from a battery mounted on the aircraft 1.

Further, an emergency push button switch 9.9 is attached to the front left end and rear right end of the upper surface of the body 1 to stop the transport vehicle in an emergency. Further, in the center of the left and right sides of the machine body 1, an optical communication unit 9 is provided as a signal transmitting means for transmitting and receiving signals such as traveling control and unique information of articles between the station 19 and the machine body 1.
．． 9 is installed with its transmitting section and receiving section arranged side by side. Furthermore, an ultrasonic sensor 8.8 for detecting obstacles and an operation panel 7 for a travel control device of the aircraft body 1 are provided on the front surface of the aircraft body 1. Furthermore, guide sensors 18, 18 are attached to the center of the front and rear of the lower surface of the fuselage 1. Guide sensor 1
8.18 consists of a light emitting part and a pair of light receiving sensors, and a pair of light emitting parts emit light from the light emitting part to the vicinity of the guide tape attached to the floor in the workshop and forming the traveling route of the aircraft 1. The light receiving sensor receives light and outputs a signal corresponding to the amount of received light.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the control system of the transport vehicle, and 20 is a vehicle control device equipped with a microcomputer. Code reader 5.5, guide sensor 18.18, optical communication unit 9.9, drive wheel 10.
The servo motor 12.12 is directly connected to the servo motor 12.10, and the servo motor 12.
Two rotary encoders 22 (one not shown) are connected to detect the rotation distance and rotation angle of i2, and DC12V is applied from the battery 21.21 to the vehicle control device 20, which is applied to each device. It is the driving power source. Also, items 15.15 read by barcode reader 5.5
The unique information is converted into a digital signal by the vehicle control device 20, further converted into an optical signal by the optical communication unit 9.9, and transmitted to each station. Guide sensor 18
The respective outputs of the pair of light receiving sensors are compared by the vehicle control device 20, and a steering signal corresponding to the difference is outputted to the respective servo motors 12 and 12.

Next, the operation of the transport vehicle configured as described above will be explained. When the conveyance vehicle arrives at the station 19, the articles 15.15 placed on the station 19 are moved up and down and left and right by the locking part 31 of the moving machine 3, so that the article 15.15 is moved onto the loading platform 2.
will be placed on. When placed on the loading platform 2, the article 15.1
5 has its unique information read by a barcode reader 5.5, the unique information is transmitted to the station 19, and further stored in the vehicle control device 20.

When the conveyance vehicle arrives at the next station, the unique information stored in the vehicle control device 20 is transmitted to the optical communication units 9 and 9.
at the same time as the goods 15.1
5 is also unloaded by the transfer machine 3.

In this way, the unique information is read, stored, and transmitted each time loading and unloading at each station, and the unique information of the articles 15, 15 is tracked within the workplace.

In this way, in the present invention, since the conveyance vehicle is equipped with a barcode reader, even if the number of stations increases,
There is no need to add barcode readers, and unique information on items can be tracked at low cost.

Note that in this embodiment, two barcode readers can be used at once.
Although two units are installed to read the unique information of each article, the present invention is not limited to this, and any number of units may be used.

Further, in this embodiment, a barcode reader consisting of a CCD camera is used, but the present invention is not limited to this, and any device may be used as long as it can be driven by the DC power source of the battery of the transport vehicle.

Further, in this embodiment, an optical communication unit is used as the signal transmitting means to transmit and receive information signals between each station and the transport vehicle, but the present invention is not limited to this. You may use the signal transmission means (
, information signals may also be transmitted and received between the central station and the transport vehicle.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the article is unloaded at the same time as the unique information is transmitted to the station, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it is not necessarily necessary to unload the article at the time of transmission.

〔effect〕

As detailed above, in the conveyance vehicle according to the present invention, a barcode reader is installed in the body of the vehicle, and the unique information written on the barcode label attached to the article is read and stored when the article is loaded. At the time of unloading, the information is transmitted to the station by the optical communication unit, so it has excellent effects such as being able to track the unique information of the article at low cost, with high reliability, and regardless of the environment.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conveyance vehicle according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing its configuration, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of its control system. It is a diagram. 1... Airframe 5... Barcode reader 9... Optical communication unit 16... Barcode label 20.
・・Vehicle control device

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a transport vehicle loaded with barcode-attached articles and automatically traveling between a plurality of stations provided in a workplace, a barcode reader that reads the barcode of the article; A conveyance vehicle characterized by comprising: signal transmitting means for transmitting an information signal of the article from the conveyance vehicle to the station.