Article transport facility

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12565244-B2
Application number	US-202218084050-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2022
Priority date	Dec 20, 2021
Publication date	Mar 3, 2026
Grant date	Mar 3, 2026

Abstract

An article transport facility includes a transport vehicle and a controller, and the transport vehicle includes: a drive unit; a speed detector configured to detect a traveling speed; and a distance detector configured to detect an inter-vehicle distance, which is a distance to another transport vehicle. The controller is configured to (i) refer to at least one target speed that is set in advance according to the inter-vehicle distance, and (ii) perform an inter-vehicle adjustment control to control the drive unit in such a manner as to cause the traveling speed to approach the at least one target speed, based on the traveling speed and the inter-vehicle distance, the at least one target speed includes an accelerating target speed and a decelerating target speed, and the accelerating target speed is lower than the decelerating target speed for each inter-vehicle distance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An article transport facility comprising:
a transport vehicle that travels along a travel path to transport an article; and a controller, wherein the transport vehicle comprises:
a vehicle body;
a drive unit configured to cause the vehicle body to travel;
a speed detector configured to detect a traveling speed of the vehicle body; and
a distance detector configured to detect an inter-vehicle distance, which is a distance to another transport vehicle located forward of the transport vehicle in a traveling direction,
wherein: the controller is configured to (i) refer to at least one target speed that is set in advance according to the inter-vehicle distance, and (ii) perform an inter-vehicle adjustment control to control the drive unit in such a manner as to cause the traveling speed to approach the at least one target speed corresponding to the inter-vehicle distance, based on the traveling speed detected by the speed detector and the inter-vehicle distance detected by the distance detector, the at least one target speed includes an accelerating target speed used during acceleration of the vehicle body, and a decelerating target speed used during deceleration of the vehicle body, in the inter-vehicle adjustment control, the accelerating target speed and the decelerating target speed are changed respectively corresponding to inter-vehicle distance, and the accelerating target speed is lower than the decelerating target speed for each inter-vehicle distance.

2 . The article transport facility according to claim 1 ,
wherein the controller is configured to:
in response to the traveling speed being a speed between the accelerating target speed and the decelerating target speed that correspond to the inter-vehicle distance, maintain the traveling speed;
in response to the traveling speed being lower than the accelerating target speed corresponding to the inter-vehicle distance, cause the vehicle body to accelerate at a preset reference acceleration until the accelerating target speed is reached; and
in response to the traveling speed being higher than the decelerating target speed corresponding to the inter-vehicle distance, cause the vehicle body to decelerate at a preset reference deceleration until the decelerating target speed is reached,
wherein: the accelerating target speed and the decelerating target speed are set continuously in such a manner as to decrease with a decrease in the inter-vehicle distance, and for each traveling speed, the inter-vehicle distance corresponding to the accelerating target speed differs from the inter-vehicle distance corresponding to the decelerating target speed by a distance greater than or equal to a constant-speed necessary distance, which is a travel distance that needs to be traveled at a constant speed by the transport vehicle.

3 . The article transport facility according to claim 1 ,
wherein, while said another transport vehicle is stopped, the decelerating target speed is set such that, the target transport vehicle has a deceleration less than or equal to a maximum deceleration, which is a maximum value of a deceleration allowed for the transport vehicle, while the traveling speed of the transport vehicle is reduced in such a manner as to approach the decelerating target speed, which decreases stepwise or continuously with a decrease in the inter-vehicle distance.

4 . The article transport facility according to claim 1 ,
wherein the controller is configured to:
in response to the traveling speed being a speed between the accelerating target speed and the decelerating target speed that correspond to the inter-vehicle distance, maintain the traveling speed;
in response to the traveling speed being lower than the accelerating target speed corresponding to the inter-vehicle distance, cause the vehicle body to accelerate at a preset reference acceleration until the accelerating target speed is reached; and
in response to the traveling speed being higher than the decelerating target speed corresponding to the inter-vehicle distance, cause the vehicle body to decelerate at a preset reference deceleration until the decelerating target speed is reached,
wherein: the accelerating target speed and the decelerating target speed are set continuously in such a manner as to decrease with a decrease in the inter-vehicle distance for each of a plurality of distance segments in which the inter-vehicle distance is segmented.

5 . The article transport facility according to claim 1 ,
wherein a difference between the accelerating target speed and the decelerating target speed is set to be smaller as the inner-vehicle distance is shorter.

6 . An article transport facility comprising:
a transport vehicle that travels along a travel path to transport an article; and a controller, wherein the transport vehicle comprises:
a vehicle body;
a drive unit configured to cause the vehicle body to travel;
a speed detector configured to detect a traveling speed of the vehicle body; and
a distance detector configured to detect an inter-vehicle distance, which is a distance to another transport vehicle located forward of the transport vehicle in a traveling direction,
wherein: the controller is configured to (i) refer to at least one target speed that is set in advance according to the inter-vehicle distance, and (ii) perform an inter-vehicle adjustment control to control the drive unit in such a manner as to cause the traveling speed to approach the at least one target speed corresponding to the inter-vehicle distance, based on the traveling speed detected by the speed detector and the inter-vehicle distance detected by the distance detector, the at least one target speed includes an accelerating target speed used during acceleration of the vehicle body, and a decelerating target speed used during deceleration of the vehicle body, and the accelerating target speed is lower than the decelerating target speed for each inter-vehicle distance, wherein the controller is configured to:
in response to the traveling speed being a speed between the accelerating target speed and the decelerating target speed that correspond to the inter-vehicle distance, maintain the traveling speed;
in response to the traveling speed being lower than the accelerating target speed corresponding to the inter-vehicle distance, cause the vehicle body to accelerate at a preset reference acceleration until the accelerating target speed is reached; and
in response to the traveling speed being higher than the decelerating target speed corresponding to the inter-vehicle distance, cause the vehicle body to decelerate at a preset reference deceleration until the decelerating target speed is reached,
wherein: the accelerating target speed and the decelerating target speed are set stepwise in such a manner as to decrease with a decrease in the inter-vehicle distance in a unit of a plurality of distance segments in which the inter-vehicle distance is segmented, and the accelerating target speed set for a target segment, which is a distance segment of interest, is a speed equivalent to the decelerating target speed set for a shorter-distance-side adjacent segment, which is a distance segment adjacent to the target segment on a shorter side of the inter-vehicle distance relative to the target segment.

7 . The article transport facility according to claim 6 ,
wherein the plurality of distance segments each have an upper limit and a lower limit separated by a distance greater than or equal to a constant-speed necessary distance, which is a travel distance that needs to be traveled at a constant speed by the transport vehicle.

8 . An article transport facility comprising:
a transport vehicle

Assignees

• Daifuku Kk

Inventors

• Otsuka Hiroshi
• TOMIDA Daichi

Classifications

• H10P72/3218 Primary

  Conveying cassettes, containers or carriers · CPC title

• B61L15/0062

  On-board target speed calculation or supervision · CPC title

• B61L23/041

  Obstacle detection · CPC title

• B61L23/34

  for indicating the distance between vehicles or trains by the transmission of signals therebetween · CPC title

• H10P72/3214

  by means of a cart or a vehicle · CPC title