System, in particular a manufacturing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9810531-B2
Application number	US-201314763691-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 13, 2013
Priority date	Jan 28, 2013
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

A system for an installation and a method for operating a system, including stationary transceiver modules and a vehicle having a transceiver module, the individual transceiver module having a controllable light source and a light sensor, so that a data transmission is able to be carried out between the vehicle and the stationary modules.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for an installation, comprising:
stationary transceiver modules; and
a vehicle having a transceiver module, wherein each transceiver module has a controllable light source and a light sensor, so that a data transmission is able to be carried out between the vehicle and the stationary transceiver modules;
wherein:
each module has two polarization foils, with polarization directions that differ,
a first polarization foil covers a first controllable light source and a first light sensor, and
a second polarization foil covers a second controllable light source and a second light sensor.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein a light from the transceiver modules is visible light or infrared light.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the data transmission is able to be carried out bidirectionally.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein a light cone emitted by one of the stationary transceiver modules overlaps with a light cone of a further one of the stationary transceiver modules.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
each stationary transceiver module has an arrangement for controlling the controllable light source, and
after the vehicle has entered a sensitive region of a sensor of a first one of the stationary transceiver modules, the sensitive region corresponding to a position region that is able to be covered by the light cone of the first stationary transceiver module, and after a light emitted by the transceiver module of the vehicle has been detected with the aid of the sensor disposed on the first stationary transceiver module, the arrangement for controlling the controllable light source controls the light in such a way that at least the position region is illuminated.

6. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the vehicle includes a memory in which at least one of positions of the stationary transceiver modules and zones assigned to the positions are stored, and
each stationary transceiver module transmits identifying information to the vehicle, so that the vehicle ascertains one of the stored position and the assigned zone from the identifying information of the stationary transceiver module.

7. The system as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
an arrangement for ascertaining an orientation situated at least one of in one of the stationary transceiver modules and on the vehicle.

8. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein a light intensity of an individual controllable light source is modulated for the data transmission.

9. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein stationary controllable light sources of the stationary transceiver modules serve as illumination for the installation.

10. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the module situated on the vehicle is disposed on a top side of the vehicle.

11. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein stationary controllable light sources of the stationary transceiver modules are supplied from an electrical cable, the electrical cable having a first current component for an energy supply of the light sources and a second current component that is modulated at a higher frequency than a frequency of the first current component, the electrical cable being connected to a central control.

12. The system as recited in claim 7 , wherein the arrangement for ascertaining the orientation includes an evaluation arrangement to which signals from a first light sensor and a second light sensor are supplied.

13. The system as recited in claim 8 , wherein the light intensity is modulated using a frequency between 100 kHz and 10 MHz.

14. A method for operating a system for an installation that includes stationary transceiver modules and a vehicle having a transceiver module, wherein each transceiver module has a controllable light source and a light sensor, so that a data transmission is able to be carried out between the vehicle and the stationary transceiver modules, the method comprising at least one of:
transmitting data between the vehicle and one of the stationary transceiver modules using light modulation; and
transmitting a synchronization signal simultaneously from all stationary transceiver modules, for vehicles or stationary machines, each vehicle and machine having a light sensor for detecting the light emitted by one or more controllable light source(s) of the individual module;
wherein:
polarized light is transmitted by a stationary transceiver module,
and an arrangement for ascertaining a polarization direction of the polarized light is situated on the vehicle, the arrangement including a first light sensor, which is situated under a cover of a first polarization foil, and a second light sensor, which is situated under a cover of a second polarization foil, the first and second polarization foils having different polarization directions.

15. The method as recited in claim 14 , wherein after the vehicle has entered a sensitive region of the sensor of a first stationary transceiver module, after the vehicle has entered a position region that is able to be illuminated by a light cone of the first stationary transceiver module, and after a light emitted by the controllable light source of the transceiver module of the vehicle has been detected by the sensor situated on the first stationary transceiver module, the controllable light source of the first stationary transceiver module is controlled in such a way that at least the position region is illuminated.

16. The method as recited in claim 15 , wherein the position region is illuminated with or without a modulation of the light emitted by the first stationary transceiver module.

Assignees

• Sew Eurodrive Gmbh & Co Kg

Inventors

• Hua Zhidong
• Keppler Christoph Steffen

Classifications

• G01B11/00

  Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques · CPC title

• G01B11/26 Primary

  for measuring angles or tapers; for testing the alignment of axes · CPC title

• H04B10/116

  Visible light communication · CPC title

• G08C23/04

  using light waves, e.g. infrared · CPC title

• H04B10/1125

  using a single common optical path · CPC title