TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM WITH GUIDES FOR GUIDED TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES AND METHOD FOR OPERATING SAID TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

Abstract

Transportation system with guides for guided transportation vehicles, wherein the transportation vehicles are supplied with electrical power via a contact line, wherein the transportation vehicles are also supplied with data from a control unit via the same contact line.

Claims

1. Transportation system with guides for guided transportation vehicles, wherein the transportation vehicles are supplied with electric current from a current feed of a power network via a contact line, said transportation system comprising: a control unit, wherein the transportation vehicles are supplied with data from a data feed from said control unit via said contact line; wherein said contact line is divided into a plurality of sections for data supply from said control unit to said transportation vehicles, wherein at least one of said transportation vehicles is located in each of said sections at one time and each of said sections is supplied with data from said control unit for only the at least one of said transportation vehicles in that one of said sections.

2. (canceled)

3. Transportation system as claimed in claim 1 wherein only one of said transportation vehicles is located in each of said sections at one time and each of said sections is supplied with the data from said control unit for the only one of said transportation vehicles in that one of said sections.

4. Transportation system as claimed in claim 1 wherein a plurality of said sections have a parallel said current feed from said current source.

5. Transportation system as claimed in claim 1 including a filter device that is connected between the current feed and the data feed of each of said sections of said contact line to prevent the data signals from coupling over to the power network.

6. (canceled)

7. Transportation system as claimed in claim 1 including a modulation device for targeted modulation of the data to the electric current for the supply to a specific one of said at least one of said transportation vehicles in one of said sections of said contact line and a demodulation device in each of said at least one of said transportation vehicles for demodulation of the data from the electric current.

8. (canceled)

9. Transportation system as claimed in claim 1 including a net data transmission rate of the contact line that is low yet a gross data transmission rate is high enough to transmit a required quantity of data.

10. (canceled)

11. Method for operating and controlling a transportation system with guides for guided transportation vehicles wherein the transportation vehicles are supplied with electric current from a current feed of a power network via a contact line, wherein the transportation vehicles are also supplied with data from a control unit via the same contact line, wherein said contact line is divided into a plurality of sections for data supply from said control unit to said transportation vehicles, wherein at least one of said plurality of transportation vehicles is located in each section at one time and each of said sections is supplied with data from said control unit for only the at least one of said transportation vehicles in that one of said sections.

12. (canceled)

13. Method as claimed in claim 11 wherein only one of said transportation vehicles is located in each section at one time and each of said sections is supplied with the data for only the one of said transportation vehicles in that one of said sections.

14. Method as claimed in claim 11 wherein a plurality of said sections have a parallel said current feed from said current source.

15. Method as claimed in claim 11 wherein data transmission is effected by targeted modulation of the data to the electric current for the supply to a specific one of said at least one of said transportation vehicles in an addressed contact line in one of said sections and demodulation of the data from the electric current is effected in said at least one of said transportation vehicles.

16. Method as claimed in claim 11 wherein a net data transmission rate is low yet a gross data transmission rate is high enough to transmit a required quantity of data.

17. (canceled)

18. Method as claimed in claim 11 wherein crosstalk of the data transmission from one of said contact line sections to another of said contact line sections is prevented by a filter device.

19. The transportation system as claimed in claim 1 having at least one level of associated conveyor technology, racks and workstations.

20. The transportation system as claimed in claim 1 having at least one rack with rack bays disposed on both sides of an aisle on a plurality of levels and rails, extending along the levels of the rack in the aisles, for rail-bound transportation vehicles for supplying goods to, and removing goods from the rack bays.

21. The method as claimed in claim 11 in offline operation with reduced transmission redundancy and/or an increased data transmission rate in order to effect an increase in the net data transmission speed to the stationary transportation vehicles.

22. The method as claimed in claim 11 including measuring the wear of current collectors of the transportation vehicles, wherein data transmission quality is monitored and using deterioration of the data transmission as a measurement for wear of the current collectors.

23. Transportation system as claimed in claim 3 wherein a plurality of said sections have a parallel said current feed from said current source.

24. Transportation system as claimed in claim 3 including a filter device that is connected between the current feed and the data feed of each of said sections of said contact line to prevent the data signals from coupling over to the power network.

25. Method as claimed in claim 13 wherein a plurality of said sections have a parallel said current feed from said current source.

26. Method as claimed in claim 13 wherein the data transmission is effected by targeted modulation of data to the electric current for the supply to a specific one of said at least one of said transportation vehicles in an addressed contact line in one of said sections and demodulation of the data from the electric current is effected in said at least one of said transportation vehicles.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0037] Further details, features and advantages of the invention will become clear from the following description of an exemplified embodiment with the aid of the single drawing (FIG. 1) which shows a block diagram of a transportation system with guided transportation vehicles and their current and data supply via a contact line.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0038] In FIG. 1 the transportation system is designated as a whole by 1. It includes central control and current supply electronics 2 which are integrated into a control cabinet. This has a central control 3 for control of the transportation vehicles and a central current feed 4 for supplying the system with electric power.

[0039] Guided transportation vehicles 10 are rail-bound satellite vehicles which travel on a respective level I, II, III, IV of an aisle of a rack on travel rails 11, disposed at that location between the sides of the rack, and are guided by rails 11.

[0040] In the region of the travel rails 11 contact lines 12 are disposed which are contacted by the transportation vehicles 10 by means of collectors in order to receive current and data. In the present example, 24 V of direct current are fed to the contact lines 12, meaning that these have two cables 12a, b.

[0041] The transportation vehicles 10 have, in addition to the wheels 14 and the current collector, not shown for the sake of clarity, a unit 15 for data extraction from the tapped current and an intelligent programmable control 16 which converts the orders, travel commands, etc., obtained from the extracted data. It will be understood that the unit 15, in addition to the demodulation of the data from the current, can also modulate data in order to transmit data from the transportation vehicle 10 to the central control 3.

[0042] The intelligent programmable control 16 is supplied in parallel directly with the tapped current in order to power, for example, on-board electronics and the travel drives.

[0043] The current supply to the individual sections of the contact lines of the respective levels I, II, III, IV takes place in parallel via network parts 7 which are supplied from the central current feed 4 and are disposed in a sub-distributor 6.

[0044] A single section-wise current supply to the contact line sections or even a common current supply are also feasible. This depends on the respective circumstances, e.g., length of the sections, type of transportation vehicles, etc.

[0045] In a sub-distributor 6, a unit or device 8 is also provided which, on the one hand, is connected via an Ethernet switch 5, which uses known technology, to the central control 3 and, on the other hand, divides the contact line into sections I, II, III, IV for the purpose of the targeted transmission of data to a specific transportation vehicle 10, wherein only one transportation vehicle 10 is located in each section I, II, III, IV at one time and each section I, II, III, IV is supplied only with the data for the respective transportation vehicle 10.

[0046] The unit 8 is, for this purpose, connected to the respective contact lines 12a, b of a section I, II, III, IV via dedicated lines and addresses these lines in a targeted manner by reason of the address of each transportation vehicle 10 analogously to a computer network. Therefore, the data are transmitted from the central control 3 via the switch 5 to the unit 8 by means of the Ethernet protocol and at that location are converted into the protocol used to communicate via the contact line 12. The address of the transportation vehicle 10 intended to receive the data, are fed in a targeted manner into the contact line 12 of the respective section I, II, III, IV or modulated to the current. It will be understood that the reverse path is also possible.

[0047] The data are then extracted or demodulated from the tapped current by the respective transportation vehicle 10 of the corresponding section I, II, III, IV by means of the demodulated unit 15. These data are then passed to the intelligent programmable control 16. It will again be understood that the reverse path is also possible.

[0048] The unit 8 for targeted modulation thus stores the respective stopover place of a transportation vehicle 10, i.e., the contact line section I, II, III, IV. This can be carried out in a self-learning and automatic manner or can be programmed. The communication from the unit 8 then takes place directly via the respective contact line sections. The back-communication from the transportation vehicle 10 is correspondingly simpler since only one path, namely, the respective contact line section, is available.

[0049] Of course, it is also possible, however, to carry out the data transmission simultaneously into all sections I, II, III, IV or section groups, etc., in the manner of a broadcast signal.

[0050] In order to increase the security and redundancy of the data transmission, the transmitted net data transmission rate of the contact line is so low yet the required gross data transmission rate is high enough to transmit the required quantity of data. Therefore, in spite of the considerable interference, e.g., owing to brush arcing, a secure transmission can be ensured. The net data transmission rate is between 20 and 30 kBaud (higher in offline operation). The use of this data transmission rate, which is very low by today's standards, is possible because, amongst other things, the transportation vehicles 10 include the intelligent programmable control 16 which only has to be supplied with orders but monitors and carries out low operational functions independ-ently. The intelligent programmable control 16 also contains, e.g., a type of system map so that the transportation vehicle 10 knows where it is located and where it must travel to in order to carry out an order.

[0051] In order to prevent undesired crosstalk of the dataaddressed in a targeted mannerfrom the data transmission from the contact line 12 of one section I, II, III, IV into other non-addressed contact line sections, a filter device 9 is connected between the current feed via the network parts 7 and the data feed of each contact line section via the unit 8. The filter device includes, for this purpose, one inductor per cable 12a, b or phase and one capacitor connecting the cable 12a, b. The filter device 9 thus filters the data signals out of the current so that they cannot be propagated via the open current supply.