A driverless transport vehicle for autonomous transport and replacement of at least one spinning can. In order to provide a driverless transport vehicle which reliably ensures an automated supply of the spinning machines fed with fibre band, the driverless transport vehicle has an autonomous travelling drive, a transport platform for accommodating the at least one spinning can, and a manipulator unit for taking up and setting down the at least one spinning can, the manipulator unit having a gripper for grasping the spinning can and an actuating device for adjusting the gripper.

The invention relates to method of controlling a transport vehicle for transporting exactly one sliver can (2) in a spinning mill between a filling station (3) for depositing a sliver into cans (2) and working positions of the cans (2) at workstations of the spinning machines (4), which ensures supplying the spinning machines with full cans (2) with a sliver. A request for can (2) replacement at the respective workstation of the spinning machine (4) is generated on the basis of the information from the spinning machines (4) about the remaining quantity of the sliver in the cans (2) at the individual workstations of the spinning machines (4), or information about the removal of the can (2) by the operator during spinning, the information being passed to the control system (5) of the spinning mill, which on the basis of this request predicts the moment of the conveying of the can (2) by the transport vehicle (1) to the respective workstation and the request is placed into a request queue which is optimized for the maximum utilization of the spinning machines (4) with respect to the current position and working activity of the transport vehicles (1), whereby in order to control the individual transport vehicles (1), data/information from the localization system, as well as data/information from the transport vehicle (1), is evaluated and processed.

The invention also relates to a transport vehicle for performing the above described method.

A self-driving vehicle for transporting a receiving container for a fibre sliver over an underlying surface between sliver-delivering and sliver-fed textile machines. The vehicle has an undercarriage with a plurality of wheels, a vehicle body supported by the undercarriage, a transport surface for the receiving container, fastening elements for fastening the receiving container to the vehicle body, an on-board electrical system having an electrical energy storage means, an electrical drive unit and a control unit. The wheels include two fixed wheels aligned in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle and having rotational axes fixed with respect to the vehicle body and at least one spring-mounted support wheel supported on the vehicle body via a spring arrangement and configured to be freely pivotable about a pivot axis. The invention also relates to a can device having a receiving container for a fibre sliver and the self-driving vehicle.

A driverless transport device having a self-driving vehicle for transporting a receiving container for a fibre sliver between sliver-delivering and sliver-fed textile machines. The vehicle has an undercarriage with a plurality of wheels, a vehicle body supported by the undercarriage and having a transport surface for the receiving container, fastening elements for fastening the receiving container to the vehicle body, and an on-board electrical system having an electrical energy storage means, an electrical drive unit and a control unit. A safety device for impact detection. is arranged on the vehicle and is in signalling communication with the control unit and for generating a switching signal on impact with an obstacle. The vehicle is dimensioned so that, in an installed state, the receiving container is fastened to the vehicle body in contact with the transport surface and entirely covers the undercarriage, the electrical drive unit and the electrical energy storage means.