Unloading control device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025066172-A1
Application number	US-202418787299-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 29, 2024
Priority date	Jul 31, 2023
Publication date	Feb 27, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

Provided is an unloading control device includes a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the pallet held by the forks abuts on an upper surface of the loading portion based on the change amount of the posture of the pallet with respect to the forks estimated by the change amount estimation unit, a tilting control unit configured to control a tilt cylinder of the forklift so that the forks tilt in a direction approaching parallel to a main surface of the pallet when the determination unit determines that the pallet held by the forks abuts on an upper surface of the loading portion, and a withdrawing control unit configured to control the forklift so as to remove the forks from the pallet according to the tilt angle of the forks detected by the tilt angle detector after the forks approach parallel to the main surface of the pallet.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An unloading control device for loading a pallet held by forks of a forklift onto a loading portion to remove the forks from the pallet, the unloading control device comprising:
a pallet detection unit configured to detect the pallet held by the forks and acquire detection data of the pallet; a tilt angle detector configured to detect a tilt angle of the forks; a lowering control unit configured to control a lift cylinder of the forklift so as to lower the forks holding the pallet toward the loading portion; a change amount estimation unit configured to estimate a change amount of a posture of the pallet with respect to the forks based on the detection data of the pallet acquired by the pallet detection unit and the tilt angle of the forks detected by the tilt angle detector when the forks holding the pallet are lowered; a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the pallet held by the forks abuts on an upper surface of the loading portion based on the change amount of the posture of the pallet with respect to the forks estimated by the change amount estimation unit; a tilting control unit configured to control a tilt cylinder of the forklift so that the forks tilt in a direction approaching parallel to a main surface of the pallet when the determination unit determines that the pallet held by the forks abuts on an upper surface of the loading portion; and a withdrawing control unit configured to control the forklift so as to remove the forks from the pallet according to the tilt angle of the forks detected by the tilt angle detector after the forks approach parallel to the main surface of the pallet.

2 . The unloading control device according to claim 1 , wherein the pallet detection unit acquires point cloud data of the pallet in three dimensions, and
when the forks holding the pallet are lowered, the change amount estimation unit collates latest point cloud data of the pallet acquired by the pallet detection unit with reference point cloud data of the pallet acquired before the latest point cloud data by the pallet detection unit to estimate a change amount of a posture of the pallet with respect to the forks.

3 . The unloading control device according to claim 1 , further comprising a height position detector configured to detect a height position of the forks, wherein
the change amount estimation unit estimates a change amount of a height position and a posture of the pallet with respect to the forks based on detection data of the pallet acquired by the pallet detection unit, a height position of the forks detected by the height position detector, and a tilt angle of the forks detected by the tilt angle detector when the forks holding the pallet are lowered, and the determination unit determines whether the pallet held by the forks abuts on an upper surface of the loading portion based on the change amount of the height position and the posture of the pallet with respect to the forks estimated by the change amount estimation unit.

4 . The unloading control device according to claim 3 , wherein the determination unit determines that the pallet held by the forks abuts on the upper surface of the loading portion when the change amount of the posture of the pallet with respect to the forks is larger than a first threshold, and determines that the pallet held by the forks abuts on the upper surface of the loading portion when the change amount of the posture of the pallet with respect to the forks is equal to or smaller than the first threshold and a change amount of a height position of the pallet with respect to the forks is equal to or larger than a second threshold, and
the tilting control unit controls the tilt cylinder such that the forks tilt in a direction approaching parallel to a main surface of the pallet when the change amount of the posture of the pallet with respect to the forks is larger than the first threshold.

5 . The unloading control device according to claim 1 , further comprising a pallet holding detector configured to detect whether or not the pallet is held by the forks, wherein
the determination unit determines whether or not the pallet held by the forks abuts on an upper surface of the loading portion based on the change amount of the posture of the pallet with respect to the forks estimated by the change amount estimation unit and a detection result of the pallet holding detector.

6 . The unloading control device according to claim 5 , wherein the determination unit determines that the pallet held by the forks abuts on the upper surface of the loading portion when the change amount of the posture of the pallet with respect to the forks is larger than a threshold, and determines that the pallet held by the forks abuts on the upper surface of the loading portion when the change amount of the posture of the pallet with respect to the forks is equal to or smaller than the threshold and the pallet holding detector detects that the pallet is not held by the forks, and
the tilting control unit controls the tilt cylinder such that the forks tilt in a direction approaching parallel to a main surface of the pallet when the change amount of the posture of the pallet with respect to the forks is larger than the threshold.

Assignees

• Toyota Jidoshokki Kk
• Aist

Inventors

• Kato Takuro
• Morisawa Mitsuharu

Classifications

• B66F9/0755

  Position control; Position detectors · CPC title

• B66F9/16

  inclinable relative to mast · CPC title

• B66F9/24 Primary

  Electrical devices or systems · CPC title