CN111846724B

CN111846724B - Cargo handling system and cargo handling method

Info

Publication number: CN111846724B
Application number: CN202010723392.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李洪波; 王健
Original assignee: Beijing Jizhijia Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hefei Jizhijia Robot Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-07-24
Filing date: 2020-07-24
Publication date: 2022-02-01
Anticipated expiration: 2040-07-24
Also published as: CN111846724A

Abstract

This specification discloses a cargo handling system and a cargo handling method. Since there is no track between the first connection point and the second connection point, the cost of warehouse modification and maintenance is effectively reduced. And because it is not limited by the track, the route of the target handling equipment can be more flexible when transporting the goods, thereby effectively improving the transport efficiency of the goods.

Description

Cargo handling system and cargo handling method

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of robots, in particular to a cargo handling system and a cargo handling method.

Background

Currently, when goods output from a working area such as a manual work area or an automation area are transported to another area, the goods are generally transported between junction points by using a Rail Guided Vehicle (RGV), and the conventional RGV needs to run along a Rail, that is, only can run along a predetermined Rail, and has a single travel mode.

When the layout of the warehouse needs to be changed, the track needs to be laid again, so that the modification and maintenance cost is high, and the flexibility is poor. On the other hand, the RGV still needs to travel along the rails after the pallets are carried due to the restriction of the rails, which results in low operation efficiency of the RGV in some cases, as shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of an RGV handling cargo in the prior art.

The RGV carries the cargo from location a and travels along the track to location B for unloading, and the next task is to take the cargo from location C to location a, the RGV then has to make a round around the track before returning to location C again.

Further, the RGV can only move along the track due to the limitation of the track, and cannot freely and flexibly move between positions, thereby reducing the efficiency of cargo transportation. Moreover, the conventional RGV can only carry goods between the connection points with the same level, and the carrying mode is too single.

Therefore, how to effectively reduce the cost of warehouse modification and maintenance and improve the efficiency of goods transportation is an urgent problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The specification provides a cargo handling system and a cargo handling method, which are used for solving the problems of high warehouse modification and maintenance cost and low cargo conveying efficiency in the prior art.

The technical scheme adopted by the specification is as follows:

the present specification provides a cargo handling system comprising: the system comprises a control center, a connection subsystem consisting of at least one connection point and at least one track-free horizontal conveying device, wherein a bearing device is arranged on the track-free horizontal conveying device, the bearing device bears at least one carrier, and the carrier is used for containing goods to be conveyed; transporting the carrier from a first connection point to a second connection point through the rail-free horizontal transporting equipment, wherein the rail-free horizontal transporting equipment can run to any position between the first connection point and the second connection point, the rail-free horizontal transporting equipment can run by any passable path between the first connection point and the second connection point, and the first connection point and the second connection point are the same connection point or different connection points; the connection point is used for cargo handover of a first system, cargo handover of a second system or cargo handover between the first system and the second system, the first system and the second system are the same system or different systems, and the first system and the second system comprise: at least one of a manual operation system, an automatic operation system and a semi-automatic operation system;

the control center is configured to determine a target carrier to be carried through the connection subsystem, determine a first connection point and a second connection point for connecting the target carrier, select, from the trackless horizontal carrying devices, trackless horizontal carrying devices matched with the first connection point and the second connection point as target carrying devices for carrying the target carrier according to connection point information corresponding to the first connection point and connection point information corresponding to the second connection point, wherein the connection point information includes: performing path planning according to at least one of the first connection point and the second connection point to obtain a driving path, so that the target carrying equipment carries the target carrier between the first connection point and the second connection point according to the driving path;

the docking subsystem is configured to notify the control center of a target carrier to be transported;

the rail-free horizontal carrying equipment is configured to carry the target carrier between the first connection point and the second connection point according to a running path planned by the control center based on the first connection point and the second connection point.

Optionally, the docking subsystem is configured to notify the control center of a target vehicle to be transported by sending a vehicle take-out message to the control center;

the control center is configured to receive a carrier taking-out message sent by the connection subsystem, and determine a target carrier to be carried according to the carrier taking-out message.

Optionally, the trackless horizontal transfer device is configured to send a connection completion message of the target vehicle to the control center if it is detected that the target vehicle has been transferred to the trackless horizontal transfer device, and send a transfer completion message to the control center if it is detected that the target vehicle is transferred to the second connection point by the trackless horizontal transfer device and connection is completed.

Optionally, the control center is configured to plan a driving path of the target transportation device for transporting the target vehicle between the first and second access points according to at least one of position information of the first and second access points, obstacle information corresponding to at least one obstacle, and passable area information.

Optionally, the control center is configured to determine, according to the information about the junction height of the first junction, a junction height of the first junction as a first junction height, and determine, according to the information about the junction height of the second junction, a junction height of the second junction as a second junction height; and selecting the non-track horizontal carrying equipment with the connection height matched with the first connection height and the second connection height from the non-track horizontal carrying equipment, wherein the arranged bearing device is matched with the connection point type of the first connection point and the connection point type of the second connection point to serve as target carrying equipment for conveying the target carrier.

Optionally, the rail-less horizontal transfer apparatus is configured to transfer the target vehicle between transfer points of the same level or transfer the target vehicle between transfer points of different levels, the transfer points including: at least one of a high-position connection point and a low-position connection point, the high-position connection point having a higher level than the low-position connection point, the low-position connection point comprising: ground connection points and non-ground connection points.

Optionally, the carrying device provided by the rail-free horizontal conveying equipment comprises: at least one of a jacking mechanism and a conveying mechanism;

the control center is configured to determine that the first connection point and the second connection point are high-level connection points or non-ground connection points according to connection point information of the first connection point and connection point information of the second connection point, and select non-track horizontal carrying equipment provided with the jacking mechanism and/or the conveying mechanism from the non-track horizontal carrying equipment as target carrying equipment.

Optionally, the carrying device provided by the rail-free horizontal conveying equipment comprises: a fork mechanism;

the control center is configured to determine that the first connection point and the second connection point are low-level connection points or high-level connection points according to connection point information of the first connection point and connection point information of the second connection point, and select non-track horizontal carrying equipment provided with a fork mechanism from the non-track horizontal carrying equipment to serve as target carrying equipment.

Optionally, the fork mechanism comprises: a double-fingered fork mechanism and a flat fork mechanism;

the control center is configured to determine that at least one of the first connection point and the second connection point is a ground connection point according to connection point information of the first connection point and connection point information of the second connection point, and select a non-track horizontal carrying device provided with a double-fork mechanism from the non-track horizontal carrying devices as a target carrying device;

the control center is configured to determine that the first connection point and the second connection point are non-ground connection points according to connection point information of the first connection point and connection point information of the second connection point, and select non-track horizontal carrying equipment provided with a double-fork mechanism or a flat fork mechanism from the non-track horizontal carrying equipment as target carrying equipment.

Optionally, the carrying device provided in the trackless horizontal conveying equipment has a lifting function;

the control center is configured to determine that the first connection point and the second connection point are different in horizontal height according to the connection point information of the first connection point and the connection point information of the second connection point, and select the non-track horizontal carrying equipment provided with the bearing device with the lifting function from the non-track horizontal carrying equipment as target carrying equipment;

the rail-free horizontal carrying equipment is configured to adjust the horizontal height of the bearing device to be matched with the horizontal height of the first connection point if the horizontal heights of the first connection point and the second connection point are different, to hand over the target carrier at the first connection point through the bearing device after adjusting the horizontal height, to adjust the horizontal height of the bearing device to be matched with the horizontal height of the second connection point, and to hand over the target carrier at the second connection point through the bearing device after adjusting the horizontal height.

Optionally, the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus is configured to, if it is detected that the first connection point has been reached, control the jacking mechanism to adjust an apparatus direction to be consistent with an advancing direction of the travel path and the jacking mechanism does not rotate relative to the target vehicle when jacking the target vehicle;

the rail-free horizontal carrying equipment is configured to control the jacking mechanism to adjust the equipment direction to be consistent with the advancing direction of the target carrier after the target carrier is placed when the target carrier is placed at the second connection point if the target carrier is detected to reach the second connection point, and the jacking mechanism does not rotate relative to the target carrier.

Optionally, at least one blocking wall is arranged in the connection subsystem, and at least one passing door is arranged on the blocking wall;

the control center is configured to obtain opening and closing state information of each passing door on the separation wall, wherein the opening and closing state information is used for representing the opening and closing state of each passing door, determine the passing door in an opening state in each passing door on the separation wall according to the opening and closing state information to serve as a target passing door, and perform path planning according to the first connection point, the second connection point and the target passing door to obtain a driving path, so that the target carrying equipment carries the target carrier among the first connection point, the target passing door and the second connection point according to the driving path.

Optionally, the control center is configured to, if it is monitored that the target passing door is closed during movement of the target trackless horizontal transfer device in the area between the first connection point and the blocking wall, instruct the target transfer device to move into a specified stop area between the first connection point and the blocking wall, and replan traveling path of the target transfer device for transferring the target vehicle between the specified stop area and the second connection point according to the specified stop area and the second connection point.

Optionally, the rail-less horizontal transfer apparatus is configured to transfer the target vehicle between the first connection point and the second connection point according to the traveling path planned by the control center through a preset navigation manner, where the navigation manner includes: at least one of inertial navigation, magnetic navigation, two-dimensional code navigation, visual navigation, laser navigation and hybrid navigation.

Optionally, the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus is configured to, if it is determined that a specific passing area passes between the first and second connection points according to the travel path planned by the control center, transfer the target vehicle in the specific passing area according to a first transfer speed range, and transfer the target vehicle in other areas except the specific passing area between the first and second connection points according to a second transfer speed range, where a maximum speed of the first transfer speed range is higher than a maximum speed of the second transfer speed range.

The present specification provides a cargo handling method, including:

determining a target carrier to be carried through the connection subsystem;

determining a first connection point and a second connection point for handing over the target carrier;

according to the information of the connection point corresponding to the first connection point and the information of the connection point corresponding to the second connection point, selecting non-track horizontal carrying equipment matched with the first connection point and the second connection point from the non-track horizontal carrying equipment to serve as target carrying equipment for conveying the target carrier, wherein the information of the connection point comprises: at least one of connection point height information, connection point position information, connection point orientation information and connection point type;

and planning a path according to the first connection point and the second connection point to obtain a driving path, so that the target carrying equipment carries the target carrier between the first connection point and the second connection point according to the driving path.

Optionally, the determining, by the receiving and docking subsystem, a target vehicle to be transported specifically includes:

receiving a carrier taking-out message sent by the connection subsystem;

and determining the target carrier to be carried according to the carrier taking-out message.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

and receiving the carrying completion information sent by the connection subsystem, monitoring that the target carrier is carried to the second connection point by the target carrying equipment and the connection is completed through the carrying completion information, and reallocating a carrying task to the target carrier.

Optionally, according to the information of the connection point corresponding to the first connection point and the information of the connection point corresponding to the second connection point, selecting, from each piece of trackless horizontal transfer equipment, trackless horizontal transfer equipment matched with the first connection point and the second connection point, as target transfer equipment for transporting the target carrier, specifically including:

determining the connection height of the first connection point as a first connection height according to the connection height information of the first connection point, and determining the connection height of the second connection point as a second connection height according to the connection height information of the second connection point;

and selecting the non-track horizontal carrying equipment with the connection height matched with the first connection height and the second connection height from the non-track horizontal carrying equipment, wherein the set non-track horizontal carrying equipment with the bearing device matched with the connection point type corresponding to the first connection point and the connection point type corresponding to the second connection point is used as target carrying equipment for conveying the target carrier.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

and according to the connection point information of the first connection point and the connection point information of the second connection point, instructing the target carrying equipment to control the horizontal height of a bearing device arranged on the target carrying equipment to be matched with the horizontal height of the first connection point when the target carrying equipment reaches the first connection point, and controlling the horizontal height of the bearing device to be matched with the horizontal height of the second connection point when the target carrying equipment reaches the second connection point.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

determining the direction of the connection point of the first connection point according to the information of the direction of the connection point of the first connection point, wherein the direction of the connection point of the first connection point is used as the direction of the first connection point, and indicating that the target carrying equipment adjusts the direction of the target carrying equipment according to the direction of the first connection point when reaching the first connection point, so that the target carrying equipment can butt-joint the arranged bearing device with the first connection point according to the direction of the first connection point;

determining the direction of the second connection point according to the information of the direction of the second connection point, wherein the direction of the second connection point is used as the direction of the second connection point, and indicating that the target carrying equipment adjusts the direction of the target carrying equipment according to the direction of the second connection point when reaching the second connection point, so that the target carrying equipment can butt the bearing device with the second connection point according to the direction of the second connection point.

Optionally, the carrying device provided by the target carrying apparatus includes: a conveying mechanism;

the method further comprises the following steps:

determining the conveying speed of the first connection point as a first conveying speed and determining the conveying direction of the first connection point as a first conveying direction according to the connection point information of the first connection point, and indicating that the conveying direction of the conveying mechanism is consistent with the first conveying direction and the conveying speed of the conveying mechanism is matched with the first conveying speed when the target carrying equipment reaches the first connection point;

and determining the conveying speed of the second connection point as a second conveying speed and determining the conveying direction of the second connection point as a second conveying direction according to the connection point information of the second connection point, and indicating that the conveying direction of the conveying mechanism is consistent with the second conveying direction and the conveying speed of the conveying mechanism is matched with the second conveying speed when the target conveying equipment reaches the second connection point.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

if the change of the connection point for handing over the target carrier is monitored, the connection point for handing over the target carrier is determined again;

and planning a path according to the determined connection point to obtain a re-planned driving path, so that the target carrying equipment carries the target carrier according to the re-planned driving path.

Optionally, the method further comprises:

and if the connection point information of the first connection point and/or the connection point information of the second connection point is monitored to be changed, selecting the non-track horizontal carrying equipment matched with the first connection point and the second connection point after the connection point information is changed from the non-track horizontal carrying equipment again.

The technical scheme adopted by the specification can achieve the following beneficial effects:

in the cargo handling system provided by the specification, the track is not arranged between the first connection point and the second connection point, so that the cost of warehouse modification and maintenance is effectively reduced. And because the device is not limited by the track, the route of the target carrying equipment can be more flexible when the goods are conveyed, and the conveying efficiency of the goods is effectively improved.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the application and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the application and together with the description serve to explain the application and not to limit the application. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a prior art RGV handling cargo;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a cargo handling system provided herein;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart of cargo handling provided herein;

fig. 4A to 4C are schematic diagrams illustrating that the carrying device on the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus provided in this specification cooperates with the conveying mechanism at the first connection point to take down the target carrier;

fig. 5A to 5D are schematic views of the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus provided with a double-fingered fork mechanism provided in this specification for connecting a target carrier;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of another dual fingered fork mechanism provided herein;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are schematic views of an trackless horizontal handling apparatus capable of adjusting the level of a double-fingered fork mechanism provided herein;

fig. 8A and 8B are schematic views of a trackless horizontal transfer apparatus provided with a carrying device having a lifting function according to the present description;

fig. 9A to 9C are schematic diagrams illustrating the target transportation apparatus provided in this specification adjusting its orientation according to the docking direction of the docking point;

fig. 10A and 10B are schematic diagrams illustrating picking of goods during adjustment of the traveling direction of the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus provided in this specification;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a control center for route planning according to an opened transit door provided herein;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of the control center provided in the present specification re-planning the travel path of the target transport apparatus when the target transit door is closed.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure more apparent, the technical solutions of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the specific embodiments of the present disclosure and the accompanying drawings. It should be apparent that the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present application, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by a person skilled in the art without making any inventive step based on the embodiments in the description belong to the protection scope of the present application.

The present specification provides a cargo handling system, through which the handling of cargo can be accomplished quickly and efficiently, the cargo handling system is composed of at least one control center, a docking subsystem, and a plurality of rail-free horizontal handling devices. The connection subsystem is composed of at least one connection point, and the connection point is used for goods handover of a first system, goods handover of a second system or goods handover between the first system and the second system. The trackless horizontal transfer apparatus may refer to an automated apparatus such as an AGV, a transfer robot, or the like. The rail-free horizontal carrying equipment is provided with a bearing device, the bearing device can bear at least one carrier, and goods transferred from the connection point can be placed on the carrier. The rail-free horizontal carrying equipment can horizontally carry goods to be carried between the first system and the second system which are not provided with rails through the carrying device.

In this specification, a connection point where the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus takes a cargo may be referred to as a first connection point, and a connection point where the cargo is carried out from the first connection point and then sent to the first connection point may be referred to as a second connection point. The first connection point and the second connection point may be different connection points or the same connection point. For example, the trackless horizontal transfer device may transport carriers containing goods from a docking point to a manual picking station, and after workers at the manual picking station lift off a part of the goods contained in the carriers, the trackless horizontal transfer device may transport carriers containing the remaining goods back to the docking point. In this case, the connection point is both the first connection point and the second connection point.

For another example, assuming that the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus transports the carrier with the cargo from one docking point and then moves to another docking point for unloading, for this case, the docking point for picking up the cargo by the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus is the first docking point, the docking point for unloading is the second docking point, and the first docking point and the second docking point are different docking points.

The first and second systems mentioned above may be the same system or may be different systems, i.e. if the first and second docking points are the same docking point, the first and second systems are the same system. If the first and second docking points are different docking points, the first and second systems are different systems or the same system. The first connection point and the second connection point may correspond to connection points in different systems, or may be two different connection points in the same system. For example, according to the actual storage requirement, a carrier containing goods needs to be transported out from one connection point around a storage rack through a trackless horizontal transportation device, and then is finally accessed by another connection point around the storage rack. In this case, the first and second connection points belong to the same system in which the storage rack is located, but are two different connection points.

Further, no track is arranged between the first connection point and the second connection point, so that the track-free horizontal carrying equipment can drive to any position between the first connection point and the second connection point. That is to say, because there is no restriction of the track, the trackless horizontal transfer device can travel on any passable path between the first connection point and the second connection point, so that the transfer efficiency of the trackless horizontal transfer device can be greatly improved.

In this specification, the first system and the second system may include: manual operation systems (such as manual picking station), automatic operation systems (such as full-automatic warehouse system), and semi-automatic operation systems (such as semi-automatic access system and semi-automatic conveying system). For convenience of description, the cargo handling system provided in the present specification will be described below by taking only the first system as a fully automated warehouse system and the second system as an example of a manual picking station, as shown in fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a cargo handling system provided in the present specification.

The cargo handling system shown in fig. 2 is composed of a control center, a docking subsystem and a plurality of trackless horizontal handling apparatuses. The connection subsystem is composed of a plurality of connection points between a first system and a second system, wherein the first system comprises a storage shelf which is a dense storage type shelf. The first system may transport the goods stored in the storage rack to each of the junction points through a four-way cart provided in the storage rack. The rail-free horizontal carrying equipment can take the goods at the connecting point down and transport the goods to the second system for unloading. The second system comprises a manual goods picking platform and a goods conveying line, and a plurality of connection points are arranged around the goods conveying line. The rail-free horizontal carrying equipment can go to a connection point around the goods conveying line, unloads the transported goods, and continues to carry out goods carrying according to a goods carrying task sent by the control center.

In fig. 2, the connection points disposed around the storage shelf and the goods conveying line may be referred to as connection points included in the connection subsystem. That is, the docking subsystem is responsible for managing docking points around the warehouse racks as well as around the cargo conveyor lines. Because the track is not arranged between the first system and the second system, the maintenance cost is greatly reduced, and because the track is not limited, when the track-free horizontal carrying equipment carries goods between the first system and the second system, the route is more flexible, so that the carrying efficiency of the goods is greatly improved.

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of cargo handling provided in this specification, which specifically includes the following steps:

s301: and determining a target carrier to be carried through the connection subsystem.

In this specification, when a cargo needs to be taken out from the storage rack in the first system and transported to the manual sorting station, the docking subsystem may send a carrier take-out message to the control center, and accordingly, the first system may take out the cargo to be transported by the four-way vehicle as shown in fig. 2. The control center can receive the carrier taking-out message sent by the docking subsystem.

The control center can determine a target carrier corresponding to the carrier taking-out message according to the received carrier taking-out message, wherein the target carrier mentioned here is a carrier for bearing goods to be transported. Since the carriers and the goods are placed together in the storage rack, the first system needs to transport the goods and the carriers carrying the goods together to the connection points arranged around the storage rack through the four-way vehicle. The form of the carrier may be various, for example, a tray, a cage car, etc., and the description does not limit the specific form of the carrier.

S302: and determining a first connection point and a second connection point for handing over the target carrier.

S303: and selecting the non-track horizontal carrying equipment matched with the first connection point and the second connection point from the non-track horizontal carrying equipment as target carrying equipment for conveying the target carrier according to the connection point information corresponding to the first connection point and the connection point information corresponding to the second connection point.

After the control center determines the target carrier, a first connection point and a second connection point for handing over the target carrier can be determined. The specific manner of selecting the first connection point and the second connection point by the control center may be various. For example, the control center may randomly select one connection point from among connection points arranged around the storage rack as a first connection point, and may randomly select one connection point from among connection points around the goods conveyor line; for another example, the control center may send an inquiry request to the docking subsystem to inquire which docking points in the docking subsystem belong to an idle state. After the connection points in the idle state are acquired from the connection subsystem, a first connection point and a second connection point can be selected from the connection points; for another example, the control center may first determine which type of carrier device is the most among currently available rail-free horizontal transportation devices, and may select the first connection point and the second connection point from the connection points suitable for the type of carrier device in the connection subsystem, which is not described in detail herein.

In this specification, the connection points can be roughly classified into two types, one is a high connection point and the other is a low connection point, and the high connection point is a connection point having a certain level from the ground, and the level of the high connection point is higher than that of the low connection point. For such a docking point, it is necessary to be able to lift the carrier or to dock the carrier itself with a trackless horizontal handling device which is high in level. For the high-position connection point, the horizontal height of the low-position connection point is relatively low, or the low-position connection point directly contacts the ground, so the low-position connection point can be roughly divided into two types, one type is a ground connection point, the other type is a non-ground connection point, the ground connection point belongs to the connection point directly contacting the ground, and the non-ground connection point is a connection point having a certain height from the ground (the height of the non-ground connection point from the ground is far less than the height of the high-position connection point from the ground). For a low-level connection point, the horizontal height of the carrying device is required to be lower or the horizontal height of the carrying device can be adjusted to be lower for connection of the rail-free horizontal carrying equipment.

Based on this, after determining the first connection point and the second connection point, the control center needs to select the trackless horizontal carrying device for carrying the target carrier from the trackless horizontal carrying devices as the target carrying device according to the connection point information of the first connection point and the second connection point. Among them, the contact point information mentioned here may include: the system comprises a connection point height information and a connection point type, wherein the connection point height information is used for representing the horizontal height of the connection point and whether the connection point belongs to a high-level connection point, a non-ground connection point or a ground connection point, and the connection point type is used for representing which conveying mechanism is specifically arranged at the connection point.

Further, the control center may determine the connection height of the first connection point as the first connection height according to the connection height information of the first connection point, and determine the connection height of the second connection point as the second connection height according to the connection height information of the second connection point. And then selecting the non-track horizontal carrying equipment with the connection height matched with the first connection height and the second connection height from the non-track horizontal carrying equipment, wherein the set bearing device is matched with the connection point type corresponding to the first connection point and the connection point type corresponding to the second connection point to serve as target carrying equipment for conveying the target carrier.

That is, the control center needs to select, from the plurality of trackless horizontal transfer apparatuses, a trackless horizontal transfer apparatus that is adapted to the first and second connection point heights and that is adapted to the first and second connection point types as a target transfer apparatus, so that the selected target transfer apparatus can smoothly transfer the target carrier at the first and second connection points.

In this specification, the carrying device provided on the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus may have various forms. For example, the carrying device may be in the form of a jacking mechanism, and the target handling apparatus may jack up the target carrier at the first connection point by controlling the jacking mechanism to transfer the target carrier from the first connection point onto the target handling apparatus. Similarly, the target carrying equipment can control the jacking mechanism to jack up the target carrier first, and then descend the jacking mechanism at the second connection point, so that the carried target carrier is transferred to the second connection point.

The carrier means may also be in the form of a conveyor mechanism such as rollers, conveyor belts, flues, roller chain conveyor lines (like abacus beads) or the like. For this case, the first and second connection points are also provided with the same or similar conveying means. Correspondingly, when the target carrying device is at the first connection point or the second connection point, the arranged conveying mechanism may be in butt joint with the conveying mechanism at the first connection point or the second connection point, so as to horizontally move the target carrier between the connection point and the carrying device, as shown in fig. 4A to 4C.

Fig. 4A to 4C are schematic diagrams illustrating that the carrying device on the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus provided in this specification cooperates with the conveying mechanism at the first connection point to take down the target carrier.

In fig. 4A, a conveyor line in the form of a conveyor belt is provided at the first junction, and a conveyor means in the form of a conveyor belt is provided on the target handling device. When the target carrying equipment moves to the first connection point, the conveying mechanism in the form of the conveyor belt can be aligned in parallel with the conveying line arranged at the first connection point by adjusting the pose of the conveying mechanism. In fig. 4B, when the target carrier moves through the conveying line to the conveying mechanism in the form of a conveyor belt, a part of the target carrier is pressed against the conveying mechanism. With rotation of the conveyor line in the form of a conveyor belt and/or rotation of the conveyor mechanism in the form of a conveyor belt, the target carrier will move from the conveyor line at the first junction onto the conveyor mechanism, as shown in fig. 4C. And once the target carrying equipment determines that the target carrier has completely moved to the conveying mechanism, the target carrying equipment can stop the rotation of the conveying mechanism, and then carries the target carrier to go to the second connection point for unloading. The unloading process is substantially similar to the process of taking goods at the first junction and will not be described in detail.

In this specification, the conveying mechanism can be divided into two types, one is a power type conveying mechanism and one is a non-power type conveying mechanism, and as the name implies, the power type conveying mechanism means that the non-track horizontal transfer device can control the conveying mechanism to move, for example, if the conveying mechanism is in the form of a conveyor belt, the non-track horizontal transfer device can control the conveyor belt to rotate. The unpowered conveying mechanism is a conveying mechanism which cannot move, such as a fluent strip, a ball chain conveying line and the like. It should be noted that, since the unpowered conveyor mechanism itself has no power, it is necessary that the conveyor mechanism disposed at the connection point (including the first connection point and the second connection point) can be disposed at a certain inclination angle. In this way, the target carrier can slide into the unpowered conveying structure of the target conveying equipment at the connecting point, so that the process of transferring the target carrier from the connecting point to the target conveying equipment is completed. It is worth mentioning that the jacking mechanism does not belong to the conveying mechanism.

The carrying means may also be in the form of a fork mechanism, such as a double-fingered fork mechanism, a flat-plate fork mechanism, etc. For this case, when the target carrying device arrives at the connection point, the fork mechanism may be inserted below the target carrier, so as to realize the process of connecting the target carrier from the connection point, as shown in fig. 5.

Fig. 5A to 5D are schematic diagrams of the target carrier being connected by the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus provided with the double-fingered fork mechanism provided in this specification.

Fig. 5A is a trackless horizontal transfer apparatus having a double-fingered fork mechanism, which can only correspond to a ground access point, wherein the double-fingered fork mechanism is disposed in the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus. When the trackless horizontal transfer device reaches the connection point, the double-fork mechanism can be controlled to extend out of the trackless horizontal transfer device and be inserted into the jack arranged below the target carrier in a manner shown in fig. 5B. And when the double-finger forks extend into the jacks arranged below the target carrier, the trackless horizontal carrying equipment can control the jacking device to lift the target carrier, pull the target carrier to the positions of the double-finger forks according to the direction shown in fig. 5C, and when the target carrier is completely moved onto the trackless horizontal carrying equipment, control the jacking device to put down the target carrier, so that the target carrier is placed on the trackless horizontal carrying equipment in the manner shown in fig. 5D.

The plate fork mechanism works in a similar manner to the double-finger fork mechanism described above, except that it is a plate, rather than a double-finger fork, that is inserted into a receptacle below the target vehicle (if the plate fork mechanism is a plate fork mechanism, only one receptacle for receiving a plate should be provided below the target vehicle). The specific operation is not described in detail here.

In addition to the double-fingered fork mechanism described above, other forms of double-fingered fork mechanisms are possible, as shown in fig. 6.

Fig. 6 is a schematic view of another dual fingered fork mechanism provided herein.

The double-fingered fork mechanism is provided in the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus shown in fig. 6, and is different from the double-fingered fork mechanism shown in fig. 5A to 5D in that the double-fingered fork mechanism shown in fig. 5A to 5D is extended from the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus only when transferring the load, and the double-fingered fork mechanism shown in fig. 5A to 5D is retracted into the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus when transferring the load to the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus. While the double-fingered fork mechanism shown in fig. 6 is always extended outside. For the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus shown in fig. 6, during the transfer of the target carrier, the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus may insert the double-fingered fork mechanism into the insertion hole below the target carrier placed on the ground, so as to transfer the target carrier to the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus.

The double-fingered fork mechanism shown in fig. 6 can only correspond to ground access points, but in practice, a double-fingered fork mechanism similar to the structure shown in fig. 6 can be combined with a lifting mechanism, and can also correspond to non-ground access points or high-level access points. That is, if the trackless horizontal conveyance device is provided with the lifting device, the horizontal height adjustment of the double-fingered fork mechanism can be realized, as shown in fig. 7A and 7B.

Fig. 7A and 7B are schematic diagrams of the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus capable of adjusting the level of the double-fingered fork mechanism provided in the present specification.

The trackless horizontal conveyance device shown in fig. 7A is provided with a double-fingered fork mechanism and a lifting mechanism (the lifting mechanism is not shown in detail in fig. 7A and 7B). The rail-free horizontal carrying equipment can adjust the horizontal height of the double-fork type mechanism by controlling the lifting of the lifting mechanism. For example, the two-fingered fork mechanism can be adjusted to the level shown in fig. 7A by the lifting mechanism for the ground access point or the non-ground access point, and the two-fingered fork mechanism can be adjusted to the level shown in fig. 7B by controlling the lifting mechanism for the high access point.

From the above-described two-fingered fork mechanisms, the non-track horizontal transfer apparatus provided with the two-fingered fork mechanism may be practically applicable to various scenes, for example, may be applicable to transfer of goods between a ground connection point and a non-ground connection point, may also be applicable to transfer of goods between a ground connection point and a ground connection point, may also be applicable to transfer of goods between a non-ground connection point and a non-ground connection point, may also be applicable to transfer of goods between a high-position connection point and a non-ground connection point, or may be applicable to transfer of goods between a high-position connection point and a high-position connection point.

It should be noted that, for different types of carrying devices, the types and heights of the corresponding connection points are different. The target carrying equipment provided with the jacking mechanism can be butted with a non-ground connection point in the low-level connection point, and it can be understood that if the lifting range of the jacking mechanism is increased, the target carrying equipment of the type can also be butted with the high-level connection point while being capable of being butted with the non-ground connection point. For the target carrying equipment provided with the conveying mechanism, if the height of the conveying mechanism is adjustable, the target carrying equipment can be butted with a non-ground contact point in the low-level contact points and can also be butted with the high-level contact point. Specifically, if the control center determines that the first connection point and the second connection point are high-level connection points with higher horizontal heights according to the connection point information of the first connection point and the second connection point, the control center may select, from the trackless horizontal transfer devices, trackless horizontal transfer devices provided with jacking mechanisms or conveying mechanisms adapted to the first connection point and the second connection point, as target transfer devices, so as to transfer the target carrier between the high-level connection points.

For low-level access points, a trackless horizontal handling device with a fork mechanism can be used for carrying goods. For example, if the control center determines that the first and second connection points are low connection points based on the connection point information of the first and second connection points, the control center may select a non-track horizontal transfer device provided with a fork mechanism from the non-track horizontal transfer devices as a target transfer device. For the ground access point, the control center may select, from the trackless horizontal transfer apparatuses, trackless horizontal transfer apparatuses provided with the double-fingered fork mechanisms shown in fig. 5A to 5D, fig. 6, or fig. 7A and 7B, as target transfer apparatuses, and for the non-ground access point, the control center may select, from the trackless horizontal transfer apparatuses, trackless horizontal transfer apparatuses provided with the double-fingered fork mechanisms shown in fig. 7A and 7B, or flatbed fork mechanisms, as target transfer apparatuses. For non-ground access points, the control center may also select a conveying device with a jacking mechanism or a conveying device with a conveying mechanism from the non-track horizontal conveying devices as a target conveying device, where the selected target conveying device needs to be matched with the type of the access point, for example, if the selected target conveying device is the conveying device, the selected target conveying device with the conveying mechanism needs to be matched with the type of the access point of the first access point and the type of the access point of the second access point.

For the target carrying equipment provided with the conveying mechanism, if the conveying mechanism is a power type conveying mechanism, the control center needs to determine the conveying speed of the first connection point from the acquired connection point information as the first conveying speed, and determine the conveying direction of the first connection point as the first conveying direction. Correspondingly, when the target carrying equipment reaches the first connection point, the first conveying direction and the first conveying speed can be determined according to the control center, the conveying direction of the conveying mechanism is controlled to be consistent with the first conveying direction, the conveying speed of the conveying mechanism is controlled to be matched with the first conveying speed, the conveying speed of the conveying mechanism can be the same as the first speed, and some difference can exist between the conveying speed and the first speed.

Similarly, the control center may determine, according to the obtained information of the second connection point, the conveying speed of the second connection point as the second conveying speed, and determine the conveying direction of the second connection point as the second conveying direction. Correspondingly, when the target carrying equipment reaches the second connection point, the conveying direction of the conveying mechanism can be controlled to be consistent with the second conveying direction, and the conveying speed of the conveying mechanism is controlled to be matched with the second conveying speed, the conveying speed of the conveying mechanism can be the same as the first speed, and also can have some difference with the first speed, so long as the two can be effectively matched, and the target carrier can be effectively and stably moved from the conveying mechanism to the second connection point.

If the selected connection points (i.e. the first connection point and the second connection point) are one high-position connection point and one low-position connection point, the control center may select a trackless horizontal carrying device that is both suitable for the high-position connection point and the low-position connection point, and the trackless horizontal carrying device is provided with a carrying device having a lifting function, and may select a trackless horizontal carrying device as shown in fig. 8A and 8B.

Fig. 8A and 8B are schematic diagrams of a trackless horizontal conveyance apparatus provided with a carrying device having a lifting function according to this specification.

In the trackless horizontal conveyance apparatus shown in fig. 8A, a slide is provided, and a carrying device for carrying a target vehicle can be lifted and lowered by the slide, that is, the horizontal height from the ground can be adjusted by the slide. When a low-level connection point needs to be docked, the docking can be performed in the mode shown in fig. 8A, and when a high-level connection point needs to be docked, the carrying device can be lifted through the slide way to be adjusted to a position corresponding to the connection point, as shown in fig. 8B. The trackless horizontal transfer apparatus shown in fig. 8A and 8B may further be provided with a carrier device in the form of a conveying mechanism (not shown in detail in fig. 8A and 8B), and during the process of transferring the target carrier at the connection point, the horizontal height of the carrier device may be adjusted by the slide to match the horizontal height at the connection point, and then the carrier device in the form of the conveying mechanism may be abutted with the conveying mechanism at the connection point, so as to smoothly transfer the target carrier from the carrier device in the form of the conveying mechanism to the connection point, or smoothly transfer the target carrier from the connection point to the carrier device in the form of the conveying mechanism.

In this regard, in this specification, if the control center determines that the first and second connection points have different horizontal heights according to the connection point information of the first and second connection points, the control center may select, as the target transport device, a trackless horizontal transport device provided with a carrier device having a lifting function from among the trackless horizontal transport devices.

Correspondingly, when the target carrying equipment reaches the first connection point, the horizontal height of the first connection point from the ground can be determined according to the connection point information of the first connection point, the bearing device is adjusted to the position consistent with the horizontal height of the first connection point from the ground or the position slightly lower than the horizontal height of the first connection point from the ground, and the bearing device is in butt joint with the conveying line arranged at the first connection point, so that the target carrier is borne through the bearing device. And determining the horizontal height of the second connection point from the ground according to the connection point information of the second connection point, adjusting the bearing device to a position consistent with the horizontal height of the second connection point from the ground or adjusting the bearing device to a position slightly higher than the horizontal height of the first connection point from the ground when the target carrying equipment moves to the second connection point, and butting the bearing device with the second connection point so as to unload the target carrier at the second connection point.

For example, if the first connection point selected by the control center is 0.4 m from the ground, and the second connection point is 1.2 m, when the target transport apparatus reaches the first connection point, the horizontal height of the carrier device may also be adjusted to 0.4 m, and the target vehicle at the first connection point is transported onto the carrier device, and then goes to the second connection point. When it is determined that the target vehicle reaches the second connection point, the horizontal height of the carrying device can be adjusted to 1.2 meters, so that the target vehicle is transferred to the second connection point through the carrying device.

Of course, the control center may select, as the target transport apparatus, a trackless horizontal transport apparatus that transports the target carrier from among the trackless horizontal transport apparatuses. The control center may select the target carrying device from the trackless horizontal carrying devices in various ways. For example, the trackless horizontal carrying equipment with a large electric quantity can be used as the target carrying equipment according to the acquired electric quantity information of each trackless horizontal carrying equipment; for another example, the control center may use the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus closer to the storage rack as the target transfer apparatus according to the distance between each trackless horizontal transfer apparatus and the storage rack. Other alternatives are not illustrated in detail here.

In one embodiment of the invention, the equipment type of the target handling equipment is matched with the first and second access point types. The type of equipment mentioned here is mainly used to characterize which type the carrying device provided on the target handling equipment belongs to specifically. That is, if the carrying device disposed on the target carrying device has a lifting function, the corresponding first and second connection points may be high-level connection points or low-level connection points; if the carrying device arranged on the target carrying equipment is the double-fork type mechanism of the carrying equipment as shown in fig. 5A to 5D and fig. 6, the corresponding first connection point and second connection point are both ground connection points; if the carrying device arranged on the target carrying equipment is a double-fork type mechanism shown in 7A and 7B, the corresponding first connection point and second connection point can be non-ground connection points or ground connection points, and if the lifting range of the double-fork type mechanism is large enough, the corresponding first connection point and second connection point can also correspond to a high-position connection point; if the carrying device arranged on the target carrying equipment is a conveying mechanism with a certain horizontal height, or a lifting mechanism capable of being lifted is adopted, and the lifting range of the lifting mechanism is large, the corresponding first connection point and the second connection point can be high-position connection points or non-ground connection points. In any of the above manners, the control center needs to ensure that the determined first connection point and the determined second connection point are matched with the selected equipment type of the target carrying equipment.

In this specification, the specific manner in which the target handling apparatus determines that the target vehicle has been completely moved onto the carrying device may be various. For example, if a photoelectric sensor is arranged at the carrying device, whether the target vehicle has completely moved onto the carrying device can be determined through a sensor signal sent by the photoelectric sensor; for another example, a photoelectric sensor may also be disposed at the docking point, when the docking subsystem determines that the target carrier has moved out of the docking point through the photoelectric sensor, the photoelectric sensor may send a signal to the control center, and the control center may send an instruction to the target carrying apparatus according to the signal, so that the target carrying apparatus determines that the target carrier has completely moved onto the carrying device through the instruction. Other ways are not illustrated in detail here.

In this specification, the control center may determine, according to the information on the orientation of the connection point included in the acquired information on the connection point of the first connection point, the orientation of the connection point of the first connection point as the orientation of the first connection point, and determine, according to the information on the orientation of the connection point included in the acquired information on the connection point of the second connection point, the orientation of the connection point of the second connection point as the orientation of the second connection point. Then, if when the target carrying equipment arrives at the first connection point, the orientation of the target carrying equipment can be adjusted according to the orientation of the first connection point determined by the control center, so that the target carrying equipment can be butted with the arranged bearing device according to the orientation of the first connection point. Similarly, when the target carrying device reaches the second connection point, the orientation of the target carrying device itself may be adjusted according to the orientation of the second connection point determined by the control center, so that the target carrying device can butt-joint the carrying device with the second connection point according to the orientation of the second connection point, as shown in fig. 9A to 9C.

Fig. 9A to 9C are schematic diagrams of the target conveying apparatus, which is provided by the present specification and has a jacking mechanism as a load bearing device, adjusting its orientation according to the orientation of the connection point.

In fig. 9A, the orientation of the connection point at the connection point is a horizontal direction, and the orientation of the apparatus when the target conveyance apparatus approaches the connection point is a vertical orientation as shown in fig. 9A. Therefore, when the target transporting device reaches the connection point, the orientation of the device may be adjusted clockwise according to the orientation of the connection point determined by the control center, as shown in fig. 9B, so that the orientation of the device finally coincides with the orientation of the connection point, and when the orientation of the device is adjusted as shown in fig. 9C, the target carrier carrying the cargo is connected at the connection point. Fig. 9A-9C merely exemplify one of the possibilities. It can be understood that, if the carrying device of the target carrying device is a non-jacking mechanism, the adjusting device can be selected according to the situation, so that the device can be in orientation correspondence with the connection point when running to the connection point, and then can be smoothly connected with the connection point.

S304: and planning a path according to the first connection point and the second connection point to obtain a driving path, so that the target carrying equipment carries the target carrier between the first connection point and the second connection point according to the driving path.

The control center may plan a driving path from the first connection point to the second connection point according to a preset path planning algorithm, where the path planning algorithm mentioned herein is an existing conventional path planning algorithm, and the description is not limited in particular.

In the process of path planning, the control center may specifically plan a driving path that starts from the first connection point, bypasses each obstacle, and finally reaches the second connection point according to the connection point position information of the first connection point, the connection point position information of the second connection point, the obstacle information corresponding to each obstacle, and the passable area information. The control center determines which areas can pass between the first connection point and the second connection point, and then plans a driving path passing through the passable areas.

In this specification, after the target carrying device has loaded the target carrier, a connection completion message may be sent to the control center, and after receiving the connection completion message, the control center may plan a driving path, so that the target carrying device carries the target carrier from a first connection point and carries the target carrier to a second connection point. If the target carrying equipment monitors that the target carrier is carried to the second connection point by the target carrying equipment and is connected, the information of carrying completion can be sent to the control center. And after receiving the carrying completion information, the control center determines that the target carrier is already connected at the second connection point, and further allocates other conveying tasks to the target carrying equipment. Of course, the above mentioned connection completion message and the transportation completion message may also be sent to the control center by the connection subsystem including a plurality of connection points, that is, if the connection subsystem determines that the target vehicle has completed transferring at the first connection point or the second connection point, the connection completion message or the transportation completion message may be sent to the control center.

According to the method, the track is not arranged between the first connection point and the second connection point, so that the cost of warehouse modification and maintenance is effectively reduced. And because the device is not limited by the track, the running route can be selected more flexibly in the process of carrying the goods by the carrying equipment, so that the carrying efficiency of the track-free horizontal carrying equipment is effectively improved.

For the target carrying equipment with the jacking mechanism as the bearing device, in order to further improve the conveying efficiency of the goods, in this specification, if the target carrying equipment monitors that the target carrying equipment reaches the first connection point, the jacking mechanism can be controlled to adjust the equipment direction to be consistent with the advancing direction of the traveling path when jacking the target carrier, and the jacking mechanism does not rotate relative to the target carrier. That is, when the first docking point jacking mechanism is lifted to pick up goods or when the second docking point jacking mechanism is lowered to place goods, the equipment is adjusted to be consistent with the advancing direction, and the jacking mechanism does not rotate relative to the target carrier, so that the time for steering the equipment is saved, as shown in fig. 10A and 10B.

Fig. 10A and 10B are schematic diagrams illustrating picking of goods during adjustment of the traveling direction of the trackless horizontal conveyance device provided in this specification.

In fig. 10A, when the target transport apparatus reaches the first connection point, the apparatus head is directed to face the storage rack (i.e., the left direction in fig. 10A), and after the target transport apparatus finishes picking up the goods at the first connection point, the target transport apparatus should proceed along a direction parallel to the storage rack (i.e., the direction indicated by the arrow in fig. 10A) according to the traveling path. When the target carrying equipment moves to the position below the first connection point, the jacking mechanism can be lifted, and the equipment head direction can be adjusted at the same time, so that the final equipment head direction is consistent with the advancing direction of the running path. That is to say, the adjustment of the equipment head towards the direction is realized to this period of time at this in-process of jacking mechanism is being risen to the target haulage equipment, and like this, the target haulage equipment need not to adjust the direction again after accomplishing to get goods, can directly move ahead to transport efficiency has been improved effectively.

The jacking mechanism of the target handling apparatus may adopt the example in fig. 10B, the jacking mechanism of the target handling apparatus includes four jacking pillars, when the jacking mechanism is controlled to jack up the target carrier, the jacking mechanism does not rotate relative to the target carrier, the four jacking columns can be synchronously controlled to rotate according to the direction opposite to the direction of the adjusting equipment head, thereby realizing that the jacking column does not rotate relative to the target carrier when the jacking mechanism is lifted in the process that the direction of the adjusting equipment head is consistent with the advancing direction of the running path, the conveying efficiency is improved, and simultaneously, after the jacking mechanism jacks the target carrier through the raised jacking column, the jacking column and the target carrier cannot slide when the heading direction of the target carrying equipment adjusting equipment head is consistent with the advancing direction of the running path, so that the service lives of the target carrier and the jacking mechanism are also ensured. It is to be understood that the arrangement of the jack mechanism of the target conveying apparatus is not limited to the type shown in fig. 10B, and all that can realize the jack function is possible, for example, the jack column may be arranged at an intermediate position of the target conveying apparatus.

In the process that the target carrying device moves the target carrier to the second connection point, the device direction of the target carrying device can be adjusted in a similar manner. Specifically, when the target carrying device monitors that the target carrying device reaches the second connection point, when the jacking mechanism descends to place the target carrier at the second connection point, the direction of the device is adjusted to be consistent with the advancing direction of the target carrier after the target carrier is placed, and the jacking mechanism does not rotate relative to the target carrier.

It should be noted that, in addition to the forms shown in fig. 10A and 10B, the target transport apparatus may control the rotation direction and the rotation speed of the target transport apparatus, so that the jacking columns of the jacking mechanisms do not rotate relative to the target vehicle. That is, the target carrying equipment does not control the rotation of the jacking column, but controls the rotation of the target carrying equipment to realize the relative rotation between the target carrying equipment and the jacking column, so that the jacking column of the jacking mechanism does not rotate relative to the target carrier.

The navigation modes adopted by the rail-free horizontal carrying equipment in the process of transporting goods can be various, such as visual navigation (e.g., Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM)), laser navigation, inertial navigation, two-dimensional code navigation (a plurality of two-dimensional codes are arranged in an operating area, each two-dimensional code identifies a specific position, the carrying equipment can determine the current position by identifying the two-dimensional code), magnetic navigation, hybrid navigation (a plurality of navigation modes are used in a mixed mode), And the like.

In practical applications, one or more partition walls (such as a firewall for preventing fire) may be disposed between the first connection point and the second connection point (i.e., in the connection subsystem), and one or more passing doors are disposed on the partition walls, so that when the control center performs path planning on the transportation route of the target transportation device, the control center needs to determine the open/close state of each passing door, that is, the target transportation device needs to pass through the opened passing door in the process of transporting goods. Specifically, in this specification, the control center may acquire opening/closing state information of each passage door on the barrier wall, where the opening/closing state information mentioned here is used to indicate the opening/closing state of each passage door. The control center can acquire the opening and closing state information of each passing door in various manners, for example, the opening and closing state of each passing door is identified through the image of each passing door acquired by the arranged camera, or a sensing signal is acquired through a sensor arranged on each passing door, and then the opening and closing state information of each passing door is acquired according to the sensing signal.

The control center can determine the passing door in an open state in the passing doors on the barrier wall according to the acquired opening and closing state information to serve as a target passing door, and performs path planning according to the first connection point, the second connection point and the target passing door to obtain a driving path, and the driving path indicates the target carrying equipment to carry the target carrier. The target transport apparatus may pick up the goods from the first access point according to the instruction of the control center, and pass through the target passage door, and finally deliver the target carrier to the second access point, as shown in fig. 11.

Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of the control center provided in the present specification performing route planning according to an opened passing gate.

In fig. 11, the blocking wall is provided with A, B, C three pass doors, wherein the control center determines B, C pass doors to be in the closed state and a pass door a to be in the open state according to the acquired opening and closing state information of each pass door, so that the pass door a can be determined as the target pass door. The control center can plan a path according to the first connection point, the second connection point and the A pass gate, and instruct the target carrying equipment to carry the target carrier through the obtained running path. As can be seen from fig. 11, after the target transport apparatus has handed over the target vehicle from the first connection point, it travels to the a-pass gate, and in the subsequent process, it passes through the a-pass gate to reach the second connection point (the second connection point is not shown in fig. 11).

It should be noted that, in practical applications, in the process of transporting the target carrier by the target transport apparatus, if the pass gate that is originally in the open state is temporarily closed, the target transport apparatus cannot go to the second access point through the pass gate. For this situation, if the control center detects that the target transit door is closed during the movement of the target transporting device in the area between the first access point and the blocking wall, the control center may instruct the target transporting device to move into the designated stopping area between the first access point and the blocking wall. Then, the control center may re-plan the path of the target transportation device moving to the second connection point according to the designated stopping area and the second connection point. The designated stopping area mentioned here may be understood as an area where the trackless horizontal conveyance apparatus is temporarily parked, as shown in fig. 12.

In fig. 12, the target transporting apparatus takes a good from the first docking point, then arrives at the position 1, and arrives at the position 2 according to the route planned by the control center, and at this time, the control center determines that the target passing door (a passing door) in the previous open state is in the closed state, and then the target transporting apparatus may be instructed to go to the specified stop area shown in fig. 12, and the route planning is performed again. The control center needs to determine the opening and closing state of each passing door according to the latest acquired opening and closing state information of each passing door. According to the acquired opening and closing state information, when the current C passing door is in an open state, the control center can plan a driving path which starts from the specified stopping area, passes through the C passing door and finally reaches the second connection point according to the specified stopping area, the C passing door and the second connection point, further instruct the target carrying equipment to start from the specified stopping area, reach the position 3 and the position 4 based on the re-planned driving path, and finally go to the second connection point (the second connection point is not shown in fig. 12) after passing through the C passing door and successively reaching the position 5 and the position 6.

There may be some specific passing areas in the first and second connection points, there are no obstacles in the specific passing areas, and there may be guard rails blocking other obstacles from entering, so that the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus can rapidly pass through the specific passing areas. And other areas except the specific passing area are possibly provided with obstacles, and some workers can pass through the areas, so that the speed of the trackless horizontal carrying equipment is not too high when the trackless horizontal carrying equipment runs in the areas except the specific passing area, and potential safety hazards are avoided.

Based on this, in this specification, if the target transportation device determines that the first connection point passes through the specific passing area in the process of moving to the second connection point according to the driving path planned by the control center, the target transportation device may transport the target vehicle in the specific passing area according to a first transportation speed range, and transport the target vehicle in other areas except the specific passing area between the first connection point and the second connection point according to a second transportation speed range, where a maximum speed of the first transportation speed range is higher than a maximum speed of the second transportation speed range.

That is, the target carrying device can travel at a high speed when traveling to a specific passage area, and the speed should not be too high when traveling to other areas, so as not to collide with other objects or workers. And the trackless horizontal carrying equipment can run at high speed in a specific passing area, so that the conveying efficiency of the trackless horizontal carrying equipment can be further improved.

In this specification, a situation that the selected connection point is changed may occur, for example, after the control center determines the first connection point and the second connection point, the second connection point fails to perform the connection task due to a fault, and the control center needs to reselect the second connection point. For this situation, if the control center monitors that the connection point of the handover target vehicle is changed, the control center may re-determine the connection point of the handover target vehicle. Further, the control center can plan a path according to the determined connection point to obtain a re-planned driving path, so that the target carrying equipment carries the target carrier according to the re-planned driving path.

Further, if the control center determines the first connection point or the second connection point again, it needs to be ensured that the target carrying device selected from the trackless horizontal carrying devices should be matched with the first connection point or the second connection point determined again. For example, assuming that the first and second connection points selected by the control center are both low-level connection points, the control center may select a target transportation device suitable for the low-level connection point accordingly. Before the target carrying equipment does not reach the first connection point, the control center determines that the first connection point cannot be used due to faults according to the connection point information of the first connection point, which is sent from the connection subsystem, and the high-order connection point is reselected as the first connection point, the control center firstly judges whether the current target carrying equipment is matched with the reselected first connection point, if the current target carrying equipment can be matched with the first connection point, directly planning a path and moving to the reselected first connection point, if the current target carrying equipment can not be matched with the first connection point, the control center instructs the current target carrying equipment to stop moving to the first connection point, selecting the non-track horizontal carrying equipment matched with the two connection points as new target carrying equipment according to the second connection point and the reselected first connection point, and planning a path for the target carrying equipment, and indicating the reselected target carrying equipment to move to the first junction.

In summary, it is necessary to ensure that the selected target carrier and the reselected access point should be matched.

It should also be noted that the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

The above description is only an example of the present application and is not intended to limit the present application. Various modifications and changes may occur to those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present application should be included in the scope of the claims of the present application.

Claims

1. A cargo handling system, comprising: the system comprises a control center, a connection subsystem consisting of at least one connection point and at least one track-free horizontal conveying device, wherein a bearing device is arranged on the track-free horizontal conveying device, the bearing device bears at least one carrier, and the carrier is used for containing goods to be conveyed; transporting the carrier from a first connection point to a second connection point through the rail-free horizontal transporting equipment, wherein the rail-free horizontal transporting equipment can run to any position between the first connection point and the second connection point, the rail-free horizontal transporting equipment can run by any passable path between the first connection point and the second connection point, and the first connection point and the second connection point are the same connection point or different connection points; the connection point is used for cargo handover of a first system, cargo handover of a second system or cargo handover between the first system and the second system, the first system and the second system are the same system or different systems, and the first system and the second system comprise: at least one of a manual operation system, an automatic operation system and a semi-automatic operation system;

the control center is configured to determine a target carrier to be carried through the connection subsystem, determine a first connection point and a second connection point for connecting the target carrier, select, from the trackless horizontal carrying devices, trackless horizontal carrying devices matched with the first connection point and the second connection point as target carrying devices for carrying the target carrier according to connection point information corresponding to the first connection point and connection point information corresponding to the second connection point, wherein the connection point information includes: performing path planning according to at least one of the first connection point and the second connection point to obtain a driving path, so that the target carrying equipment carries the target carrier between the first connection point and the second connection point according to the driving path, wherein the target carrying equipment is determined by the following method: determining the connection height of the first connection point as a first connection height according to the connection height information of the first connection point, and determining the connection height of the second connection point as a second connection height according to the connection height information of the second connection point; selecting non-track horizontal carrying equipment with a connection height matched with the first connection height and the second connection height from the non-track horizontal carrying equipment, wherein a carrying device is matched with the connection point type of the first connection point and the connection point type of the second connection point to serve as target carrying equipment for conveying the target carrier;

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the docking subsystem is configured to notify the control center of a target vehicle that needs to be transported by sending a vehicle retrieval message to the control center;

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the trackless horizontal transfer device is configured to send a docking completion message to the control center if it is detected that the target vehicle has been transferred to the trackless horizontal transfer device, and send a docking completion message to the control center if it is detected that the target vehicle has been transferred to the second docking point by the trackless horizontal transfer device and docked completely.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the control center is configured to plan a driving path for the target transportation device to transport the target vehicle between the first and second access points according to at least one of position information of the first and second access points, obstacle information corresponding to at least one obstacle, and passable area information.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus is configured to transfer the target vehicle between docking points at a same level or transfer the target vehicle between docking points at different levels, the docking points comprising: at least one of a high-position connection point and a low-position connection point, the high-position connection point having a higher level than the low-position connection point, the low-position connection point comprising: ground connection points and non-ground connection points.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the carrier means of the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus arrangement comprises: at least one of a jacking mechanism and a conveying mechanism;

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the carrier means of the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus arrangement comprises: a fork mechanism;

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the fork mechanism comprises: a double-fingered fork mechanism and a flat fork mechanism;

9. The system according to claim 5, wherein the carrying device of the trackless horizontal handling apparatus is provided with a lifting function;

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus is configured to control the jacking mechanism to jack up the target vehicle while adjusting an apparatus direction to be consistent with a forward direction of the travel path and the jacking mechanism is not rotated relative to the target vehicle if it is detected that the first docking point has been reached;

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the docking subsystem includes at least one barrier wall, the barrier wall having at least one access door;

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the control center is configured to instruct the target handling equipment to move into a designated parking area between the first docking point and the barrier wall if it is monitored that the target passing door is closed during the movement of the target non-rail horizontal handling equipment in the area between the first docking point and the barrier wall, and to re-plan the travel path of the target handling equipment for handling the target vehicle between the designated parking area and the second docking point according to the designated parking area and the second docking point.

13. The system according to claim 1, wherein the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus is configured to transfer the target vehicle between the first and second docking points according to the travel path planned by the control center by a predetermined navigation method, the navigation method including: at least one of inertial navigation, magnetic navigation, two-dimensional code navigation, visual navigation, laser navigation and hybrid navigation.

14. The system according to claim 1, wherein the trackless horizontal transfer apparatus is configured to transfer the target vehicle in a specific passage area in accordance with a first transfer speed range if it is determined that a specific passage area is passed between the first and second junction points according to the travel path planned by the control center, and transfer the target vehicle in other areas than the specific passage area between the first and second junction points in accordance with a second transfer speed range, a maximum speed of the first transfer speed range being higher than a maximum speed of the second transfer speed range.

15. A method of transporting cargo, comprising:

determining a target carrier to be carried through the receiving and docking subsystem;

according to the information of the connection point corresponding to the first connection point and the information of the connection point corresponding to the second connection point, selecting non-track horizontal carrying equipment matched with the first connection point and the second connection point from the non-track horizontal carrying equipment to serve as target carrying equipment for conveying the target carrier, wherein the information of the connection point comprises: at least one of a junction height information, a junction position information, a junction orientation information, and a junction type, wherein the target handling device is determined by: determining the connection height of the first connection point as a first connection height according to the connection height information of the first connection point, and determining the connection height of the second connection point as a second connection height according to the connection height information of the second connection point; selecting non-track horizontal carrying equipment with a connection height matched with the first connection height and the second connection height from the non-track horizontal carrying equipment, wherein the set non-track horizontal carrying equipment is used as target carrying equipment for conveying the target carrier, and the type of a connection point corresponding to the first connection point of the carrying device is matched with the type of a connection point corresponding to the second connection point;

16. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the target vehicle to be transported via the receiving docking subsystem comprises:

receiving a carrier taking-out message sent by the connection subsystem;

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

20. The method according to claim 15, wherein the load bearing means of the target handling device arrangement comprises: a conveying mechanism;

the method further comprises the following steps:

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

22. The method of claim 15, further comprising: