Article transport system and method of operating article transport system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023207364-A1
Application number	US-202218147258-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 28, 2022
Priority date	Dec 28, 2021
Publication date	Jun 29, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of operating an article transport system includes deriving a predicted transport request time-point of a target apparatus from pre-collected operation data of the article transport system, calling a transport vehicle of the article transport system at a time-point prior to the derived predicted transport request time-point, and moving the called transport vehicle to the target apparatus.

First claim

1 . A method of operating an article transport system, the method comprising:
deriving a predicted transport request time-point of a target apparatus from pre-collected operation data of the article transport system; calling a transport vehicle of the article transport system at a time-point prior to the derived predicted transport request time-point; and moving the called transport vehicle to the target apparatus.

2 . The method of claim 1 , the method comprises:
deriving a predicted arrival consumption time required for the transport vehicle to arrive at the target apparatus, based on the operation data, in calling the transport vehicle; and deriving a transport vehicle in-advance calling time-point at which the calling of the transport vehicle is performed, based on the derived predicted transport request time-point and the derived predicted arrival consumption time.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the transport vehicle in-advance calling time-point is equal to or earlier than a time-point obtained by subtracting the predicted arrival consumption time from the predicted transport request time-point.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the method comprises collecting data while the article transport system operates for a set period, wherein the collected data include:
a) a transport request time-interval of the target apparatus; b) an arrival consumption time required for the transport vehicle to arrive at the target apparatus in calling the transport vehicle; and/or c) a movement distance by which the transport vehicle moves to the target apparatus in calling the transport vehicle.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the method comprises adding representative values of the collected data to the operation data.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the method comprises applying a weight to each of the representative values stored in the operation data to derive the predicted transport request time-interval, the predicted arrival consumption time, and/or the predicted movement distance of the transport vehicle.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein a larger magnitude of the weight is applied to the representative value more recently added to the operation data.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein a sum of the weights is 1.

9 . A method of operating an article transport system, wherein the article transport system includes:
a rail installed above substrate treatment apparatuses; and transport vehicles traveling along the rail and transporting an article to the substrate treatment apparatus, wherein the method comprises: a data collection step for collecting operation data while the article transport system operates; and an in-advance calling time-point calculation step including: deriving a predicted transport request time-point of the substrate treatment apparatus, based on the operation data; and deriving an in-advance calling time-point of the transport vehicle, wherein the in-advance calling time-point is earlier than the derived predicted transport request time-point.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the in-advance calling time-point calculation step includes:
deriving a predicted transport time-interval of the substrate treatment apparatus based on the operation data; and deriving the predicted transport request time-point by adding the predicted transport time-interval to an actual transport request time-point.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the in-advance calling time-point calculation step includes:
deriving, based on the operation data, a predicted arrival consumption time required for the transport vehicle to arrive at the substrate treatment apparatus, and/or a predicted movement distance by which the transport vehicle moves to arrive at the substrate treatment apparatus; and designating, as the in-advance calling time-point, a time-point equal to or earlier than a time-point obtained by subtracting the predicted arrival consumption time from the predicted transport request time-point.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises an in-advance calling execution/non-execution determination step for determining whether the designated in-advance calling time-point has passed a current time-point, and determining whether to proceed with in-advance calling of the transport vehicle based on the determining result.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises a transport step for transporting the article using a transport model selected from among a first transport model and a second transport model based on the determination result in the in-advance calling execution/non-execution determination step,
wherein the second transport model is different from the first transport model.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein when the designated in-advance calling time-point does not pass the current time-point, the transport step is performed based on the first transport model,
wherein the first transport model is configured to: select one of the transport vehicles and measure a distance between the selected transport vehicle and the substrate treatment apparatus; and determine whether the selected transport vehicle can be reserved, based on the measured distance.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the first transport model is further configured to determine whether the transport vehicle can be reserved, based on a ratio between the measured distance and the predicted movement distance.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the first transport model is further configured to:
when an actual transport request of the substrate treatment apparatus occurs while the reserved transport vehicle is moving to the substrate treatment apparatus, confirm the reservation of the transport vehicle and perform transport using the transport vehicle.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the first transport model is further configured to:
when an actual transport request of the substrate treatment apparatus does not occur while the reserved transport vehicle is moving to the substrate treatment apparatus, allow the reserved transport vehicle to wait at a position above the substrate treatment apparatus.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the method comprises applying the second transport model to call another transport vehicle when collision avoidance of the transport vehicle is required while the transport vehicle is waiting at the position above the substrate treatment apparatus.

19 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the second transport model is configured to:
allow the substrate treatment apparatus to generate an actual transport request; search for the transport vehicle capable of performing the actual transport request of the substrate treatment apparatus; allow a control device to assign a task to the found transport vehicle; and allow the transport vehicle to which the control device has assigned the task to perform transport.

20 . (canceled)

Assignees

• Semes Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jin Mei Xiang
• Kim Sik

Classifications

• H10P72/3221

  Overhead conveying · CPC title

• H10P72/3218

  Conveying cassettes, containers or carriers · CPC title

• H10P72/3214 Primary

  by means of a cart or a vehicle · CPC title

• H10P72/0612

  Production flow monitoring, e.g. for increasing throughput · CPC title

• H10P72/3216 Primary

  using a general scheme of a conveying path within a factory · CPC title