METHOD FOR CONTROLLING CONVEYOR VEHICLES AND CONVEYING SYSTEM

Abstract

In order to provide a method for controlling conveyor vehicles of a conveying system which permits an energy-efficient and cost-efficient operation of said conveying system, it is proposed that the method comprises: Making available a plurality of conveyor vehicles of the conveying system; Specifying a conveying job for conveying one or more conveyed objects; Determining a conveying job data set for controlling a conveyor vehicle when performing the conveying job; Carrying out the conveying job.

Claims

1. A method for controlling conveyor vehicles of a conveying system, the method comprising: providing a plurality of conveyor vehicles of the conveying system; specifying a conveying job for conveying one or more conveyed objects; determining a conveying job data set for controlling a conveyor vehicle when performing the conveying job; and carrying out the conveying job.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the conveying job data set includes one or more conveying job-specific data and/or conveyed object-specific data, and/or one or more of these data are taken into account when determining the conveying job data set, in particular one or more of the following data: type of conveyed object to be conveyed; spatial position and/or sequence of one or more stations in particular workstations, when conveying the conveyed object; or expected and/or required time of stay of the conveyed object and/or the conveyor vehicle at a particular station.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein one or more or all of the conveying job-specific and/or conveyed object-specific data are determined and/or generated from empirical values and/or measured values of completed conveying jobs and/or calibration runs.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the conveying job data set includes one or more state data of the current and/or expected state of the conveying system and/or one or more stations, and/or one or more of these state data are taken into account when determining the conveying job data set, in particular one or more of the following data: current and/or expected utilization of the conveyor vehicles; current and/or expected utilization of one or more conveying route sections; current and/or expected utilization of one or more stations; or current disruption-related or maintenance-related route closures or station failures.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein one or more or all of the state data are determined on the basis of data which are provided by sensors and/or by transmitting current and/or expected operating parameters of one or more additional conveyor vehicles and/or one or more stations.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein a basic conveying path and/or a basic speed profile for carrying out the conveying job is first determined on the basis of one or more conveying job-specific and/or conveyed object-specific data, and at the beginning of the execution of the conveying job and/or during the execution of the conveying job, in particular before, during and/or after a stay at a station, an update and/or if necessary a correction of the basic conveying path and/or of the basis speed profile is carried out, in particular depending on state data of the current and/or expected state of the conveying system and/or one or more stations yet to be approached.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein by updating and/or by correcting the basic conveying route and/or the basic speed profile, a modified conveying route and/or a modified speed profile are obtained.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the conveying job data set is incomplete at the beginning of the execution of the conveying job, and/or initially at least one conveying path and/or a speed profile for complete execution of the conveying job are incomplete, wherein, when a specified intermediate position of the conveyor vehicle is reached, the conveying path and/or the speed profile are determined to completing them.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one local conveying specification and/or at least one global conveying specification is taken into account when determining the conveying job data set, wherein a local conveying specification for a partial region of a conveying area of the conveying system and/or for a subset of the conveyor vehicles applies, and wherein a global conveying specification applies for the entire conveying area and for all conveyor vehicles.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein one or more the following are provided as a local or global conveying specification: a) minimizing the energy requirement of the conveying system; b) minimizing wear of the conveying system; c) maximizing the conveying speed; d) optimizing production utilization; e) homogenizing the conveying route utilization; and/or f) evening out the spatial distribution of the conveyor vehicles within a global conveying area of the conveying system.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein a local conveying specification and/or a global conveying specification can be varied able during a conveying job, wherein this triggers an update and/or correction of a conveying path and/or speed profile, in particular of the basic conveying path and/or the basic speed profile, or the modified conveying path and/or the modified speed profile.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the conveying job data set contains information about conveying area sections of a conveying area of the conveying system to be kept free, or is determined taking into account such information wherein this information describes in particular a spatially and/or temporally limited conveying corridor for exclusive use by one or more other conveyor vehicles.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein, after determining a conveying job data set, in particular after determining and/or updating and/or correcting a conveying path and/or a speed profile, one or more spatially and/or temporally limited conveying corridors are identified for exclusive use by the conveyor vehicle, wherein information relating to this is used or taken into account in the determination of future conveying job data sets for additional conveyor vehicles.

14. A conveying system for conveying conveyed objects, in particular vehicle bodies, the conveying system comprising: a plurality of self-propelled and/or driverless conveyor vehicles for receiving one or more conveyed objects; a conveying area within which the conveyor vehicles are movable along conveying routes; a control system for selecting and/or influencing the conveying routes and/or speeds of the conveyor vehicles, wherein the control system is designed and configured to perform a method according to claim 1.

15. A production system for producing vehicles, in particular passenger cars, wherein the production system includes a conveying system according to claim 14 for conveyor vehicle bodies, wherein the vehicle bodies can be supplied by the conveying system in particular in succession to a plurality of stations designed as processing stations and/or assembly stations.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0129] FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a production system having a conveying system for conveying conveyed objects.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0130] A production system shown schematically in FIG. 1, designated as a whole with 100, is used for example to manufacture workpieces such as motor vehicles.

[0131] For this purpose, the production system 100 comprises a plurality of stations 102 for carrying out treatment steps, production steps and/or assembly steps.

[0132] The stations 102 are arranged and/or constructed independently of one another, but are connected to one another by means of a conveying system 104 in such a way that conveyed objects, for example vehicle bodies, can be fed to the stations 102 in varying orders.

[0133] For this purpose, the conveying system 104 comprises, in particular, a plurality of conveyor vehicles 106, for example driverless industrial trucks which are freely movable as ground-bound vehicles on a floor, in particular a hall floor.

[0134] The conveyor vehicles 106 can accordingly travel basically any routes within a conveying area 108 of the conveying system 104.

[0135] By means of a control system 110 of the conveying system 104, which in particular is a higher-level control system 110 for controlling all conveyor vehicles 106, a conveying job can be allocated to the conveyor vehicles 106 for each conveyed object to be conveyed.

[0136] For simplicity, the control system 110 is shown several times in FIG. 1, wherein the arrows extending away from the control system 110 indicate an influence on the conveyor vehicle 106 arranged at the particular location.

[0137] As this shows by way of example, the control system 110 can on the one hand be used to act on a conveyor vehicle 106 at a start position 112.

[0138] By means of the control system 110, in particular a conveying job data set is first determined which comprises a basic conveying path and a basic speed profile for performing the conveying job.

[0139] The conveyor vehicle 106 then moves along the specified conveying path on a conveying route 114 from the start position 112 to, for example, one of two stations 102, which are designed, for example, as a production cell. After passing through several stations 102, the conveyor vehicle 106 finally reaches an end position 113.

[0140] Processing, production or assembly then takes place in the particular station 102.

[0141] Between the start position 112 and the stations 102, for example, there can be an intermediate position 116 at which the conveyor vehicle 106 can also be acted upon by means of the control system 110.

[0142] In principle, the control system 110 can be used to act on any conveyor vehicle 106, preferably wirelessly, at any point in the conveyor system 104.

[0143] For an optimized control, however, it is provided that an update and/or correction of the conveying job data set, in particular of the basic conveying path and/or of the basic speed profile, of the particular conveyor vehicle 106 by means of the control system 110 is carried out only at certain intermediate positions 116. In particular, at an intermediate position 116, the control system 110 can be used to determine which station 102 of a group of identical stations 102 is approached by the particular conveyor vehicle 106, for example depending on a current occupancy of the stations 102 of said group.

[0144] In the stations 102, and/or when leaving the stations 102, and also when arriving at a particular station 102, it is preferably likewise possible to use the control system 110 to act on the particular conveyor vehicle 106, for example in order to optimize the conveying path and/or the speed profile of the conveyor vehicle 106 depending on a current route utilization and/or station utilization. Furthermore, as is indicated by the dashed connection between the two central stations 102 in FIG. 1, an alternative conveying route 114 can be selected as required, for example if a disturbance 118, for example an obstacle, has been detected in a conveying route section of the initially specified conveying path, in particular of the basic conveying route section.

[0145] For optimizing the operation of the conveying system 104, in particular the data for creating and/or updating and/or correcting the conveying job data set are decisive. In particular, conveying job-specific and/or conveyed object-specific data can be used here which are independent of the current state of the conveying system 104.

[0146] Furthermore, state data of the current and/or expected state of the conveyor system 104 and/or one or more stations 102 are preferably used to optimize the conveyor job data set, in particular to optimize the conveying path and/or the speed profile.

[0147] As an additional optimization, it can preferably be provided that one or more conveying specifications are taken into account when determining the conveying job data set and/or when updating and/or correcting the same. In particular, these can be local conveying specifications which provide, for example in certain conveying route sections, a curve speed of the particular conveyor vehicle 106 that is reduced to minimize wear. Furthermore, these can be global conveying specifications, in order to minimize the total energy requirement of the conveying system 104, in particular when there is low utilization of the conveying system 104 from the use of reduced speeds of the conveyor vehicles 106.

[0148] Furthermore, for example, an equalization of the conveyor route utilization can be provided as a global conveying specification, wherein the conveyor vehicles 106 are distributed as uniformly as possible, in particular across the various conceivable conveying routes 114. In particular, dust formation in individual conveying route sections can thereby be avoided. Finally, the aforementioned optimization options result in energy- and cost-efficient operation of the conveying system 104 and accordingly an optimal use of the production system 100.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0149] 100 Production system [0150] 102 Station [0151] 104 Conveying system [0152] 106 Conveyor vehicle [0153] 108 Conveying area [0154] 110 Control system [0155] 112 Start position [0156] 113 End position [0157] 114 Conveying route [0158] 116 Intermediate position [0159] 118 Disturbance