Method for operating a long stator linear motor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10370195-B2
Application number	US-201815944368-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 3, 2018
Priority date	Apr 4, 2017
Publication date	Aug 6, 2019
Grant date	Aug 6, 2019

Abstract

To make it possible to operate a conveyor installation (1) in the form of a long stator linear motor in a simple manner, a first trigger point (Tx) is defined in at least one first position (Px) on the conveying track (2) and a first program code (Fx) which can be executed in the system controller (6) and with which a transport unit (TEn) is moved along a track section of the conveying track (2) in accordance with a defined movement profile is assigned to the first trigger point (Tx), and this program code (Fx) is executed for each transport unit (TEn) that reaches the first trigger point (Tx).

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A method for operating a conveyor installation in the form of a long stator linear motor, comprising:
moving, via a system controller, a plurality of transport units along a conveying track of the conveyor installation,
defining a first trigger point in at least one first position on the conveying track; and
assigning a first program code, which is executable in the system controller and with which a transport unit is moved along a track section of the conveying track in accordance with a defined movement profile, to the first trigger point;
executing the first program code for each transport unit that reaches the first trigger point,
wherein a memory region allocated to each of the plurality of transport units stores specific data relating to each of the plurality of transport units,
reading out the specific data for a transport unit located at the first trigger point; and
checking a condition defined in the first program code; and
based on the checked condition, defining further movement of the transport unit along the conveying track.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
moving the transport unit from the first trigger point to a subsequent trigger point using the first program code; and
when the transport unit reaches the subsequent trigger point, executing an assigned program code for the subsequent trigger point to continue moving the transport unit along the track section of the conveying track.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the memory region comprises a unique memory region allocated to each of the plurality of transport units.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
defining a second trigger point in at least a second position on the conveying track;
assigning a second program code that implements additional functionality of the conveyor installation to the second trigger point, and
executing the second program code for each transport unit that reaches the second trigger point.

5. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the unique memory region is allocated to each of the plurality of transport units when initializing the conveyor installation.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one position sensor is arranged in a vicinity of the first trigger point to determine when the transport unit is located at the first trigger point.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein a plurality of trigger points, which includes the first trigger point, is distributed over the conveying track and position sensors associated with the plurality of trigger points are distributed along the conveying track to determine at least one of: when the transport unit travels over an associated trigger point; when the transport unit is within a certain predetermined region around the associated trigger point, or when the transport unit passes the associated of trigger point.

Assignees

• B & R Ind Automation Gmbh

Inventors

• Huber Stefan

Classifications

• G05B19/4189 Primary

  characterised by the transport system · CPC title

• B65G43/08

  Control devices operated by article or material being fed, conveyed or discharged {(and controlling the discharging devices B65G47/42)} · CPC title

• G05B2219/45051

  Transfer line · CPC title

• H02K41/031

  of the permanent magnet type · CPC title

• B65G43/10 Primary

  Sequence control of conveyors operating in combination · CPC title