JP2003073093A - Automated forklift - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automated forklift dispensing with stopping the forklift unnecessarily and capable of detecting an obstacle in no contact therewith. SOLUTION: This automated forklift 1 is provided with a fork 3 vertically moving along a mast 10 erected in the front part of a car body, traveling passage detecting means 6 provided on a floor surface and detecting a guide line so as to travel along the guide line, a control device 7 controlling the loading, unloading, and traveling based on a command from a central command device, and a non-contact type obstacle detector 11 capable of changing the detection width according to the width of a cargo. This automated forklift stops the traveling, when the obstacle is detected in a prescribed position corresponding to the cargo width.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an unmanned forklift performing automatic cargo handling work, and more particularly to an unmanned forklift designed to detect the presence or absence of an obstacle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, unmanned forklifts have been designed to be autonomously driven along a guide line laid in advance on a road surface in an automatic warehouse or the like. As such an unmanned forklift truck, a bottom view of a schematic configuration is shown in FIG. 5, in which a fork 3 movable up and down along a pair of masts erected on the front part of the vehicle body 2 is provided. A pair of left and right traveling wheels 4 are provided on the front side, and one drive steering wheel 5 is provided on the rear side. In addition, in the car body 2,
A magnetic sensor 6 as a traveling road detecting means for detecting a guide wire laid on a road surface is attached to the front side thereof, and a traveling device for traveling drive of the driving steered wheels 5 and a steering device for steering are provided. The control device 7 for controlling the above device is built in.

In such an unmanned forklift 1, a bumper 8 is provided on the rear surface of the vehicle body 2 and on the lower portions of the left and right side surfaces to reduce the impact upon collision with an obstacle. The obstacle is detected by this collision, and the forklift 1 is stopped. However, when loading a luggage having a width larger than the width of the vehicle body, the obstacle cannot be detected by the above method, and the obstacle protruding directly to the left and right of the vehicle body may be directly hit by the obstacle, and the luggage may be damaged or dropped.

Therefore, in order to avoid a collision of the luggage protruding from the vehicle body 2 to the left and right, an obstacle detecting filler 51 is provided laterally protruding on the side surface of the central portion of the vehicle body. The obstacle detecting filler 51 is attached to, for example, a side surface of the vehicle body 2 via an attaching portion, and is swingable around a vertical axis in the attaching portion. Then, the filler 51 is urged by the spiral spring in a direction to return to the normal state a, and the filler 51 for obstacle detection is caused by collision with the obstacle.
When the state becomes an abnormal state b, the forklift 1 is stopped.

As the guide system of the above unmanned forklift, an electromagnetic induction system or a magnetic induction system in which the position is detected by a dielectric installed on the floor or the like, and a light projection between the floor and the vehicle
There are used an optical guidance system in which the position is detected by receiving light, a laser navigation system in which a laser is projected and received between a plurality of reflectors to detect the position.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned forklift, when loads of different sizes are to be loaded, the filler must be allowed to have a margin larger than that of the maximum width of the loads, and the filler must be projected largely. Therefore, when loading a load smaller than the maximum width of the load or when not loading the load, an obstacle in a range that does not need to be detected must be detected and the forklift must be stopped unnecessarily.

The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and an object thereof is to provide an unmanned forklift that prevents a load placed on a fork from colliding with an obstacle without unnecessarily stopping the forklift. To provide.

[0008]

An unmanned forklift according to claim 1 of the present invention is a guide wire provided on a floor surface in which a fork is mounted so as to be vertically movable along a mast which is erected on a front portion of a vehicle body. An unmanned vehicle equipped with a traveling path detecting means for detecting a guide line so as to travel along the vehicle, and a controller for loading luggage on the fork and traveling based on a command from a central command device provided outside the vehicle body. It ’s a forklift,
A non-contact type obstacle detection device capable of changing the detection range according to the luggage is provided, and the traveling is stopped when an obstacle is detected in the detection range. Thereby, the obstacle can be detected according to the width of the luggage without complicating the device and the control. In addition, the detection width can be changed, and the width with a margin larger than the actual width of the luggage is detected, but the margin can be reduced, and as a result, obstacles are not detected unnecessarily, Therefore, it is not necessary to stop unnecessarily, and productivity can be improved.

The unmanned forklift according to claim 2 of the present invention is the unmanned forklift according to claim 1, wherein the obstacle detecting device is a distance measuring system for detecting a distance to the obstacle. The unmanned forklift according to claim 3 of the present invention is the unmanned forklift according to claim 1 or 2.
In the invention described above, the obstacle detection device is a photoelectric system that detects a distance by projecting and receiving light. Accordingly, the unmanned forklift of the present invention detects the position of the obstacle without contact, so that the obstacle detection device is not damaged and the difference between the actual size of the luggage and the detected width can be reduced.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 are views for explaining an unmanned forklift according to an embodiment of the present invention for detecting an obstacle according to a load width, FIG. 1 is a side view of the unmanned forklift according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic view thereof. 3 is a bottom view for explaining the configuration, FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining the schematic configuration of the control system, and FIG. 4 is a plan view for explaining the detection operation of the detection device. The same parts as those of the conventional example are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In the unmanned forklift 1 of the present embodiment, the straddle arm 9 extends forward and backward so that the vehicle body 2 is mounted, and the unmanned forklift 1 extends along the mast 10 which is erected at the front portion of the vehicle body 2 as in the conventional unmanned forklift truck. A fork 3 is attached so as to be movable up and down, and a traveling path detecting means (magnetic sensor) 6 for detecting the guide wire so as to travel along the guide wire provided on the floor surface.
Is equipped with. Furthermore, based on a command from the central command device, a control device 7 for loading, unloading, and traveling,
Obstacle detection device 11 capable of changing the detection width according to the load width
Is provided.

A pair of left and right traveling wheels 4 and a magnetic sensor 6 are provided on the front side of the vehicle body 2, and one drive steering wheel 5 is provided on the rear side of the vehicle body 2. Further, a magnetic sensor 6 and an obstacle detection device 11, and a control device 7 such as a microcomputer for controlling a traveling device for traveling drive of the device driving steered wheels 5 and a steering device for steering (neither is shown). It is built in.

The control unit 7 has an arithmetic control unit 12 and a memory 13 for storing various data. Arithmetic control unit 1
The memory 2, the obstacle detection device 11, and the traveling device 1 receive a command from the central command device and execute the command.
4, the steering device 15, the cargo handling device 16 and other parts are controlled.

For example, the control device 7 sets an obstacle detection range of the obstacle detection device 11 in response to a load type, a loading place and an unloading place instruction from the central command device, and sets the unmanned forklift truck. Carrying out and carrying out cargo handling work. When the obstacle detection device 11 detects that there is an obstacle within the width closer to the size of the luggage during traveling, the control device 7 stops the traveling of the unmanned forklift 1 and waits for the next command.

The obstacle detecting device 11 is a distance measuring device utilizing the principle of detecting the position by receiving the light that is projected, reflected and returned. For example, wavelengths 800 to 900
A 50 nm to 120 nm LED is radiated in a semicircular range, and the LED that is reflected and returned is measured, coordinates are calculated from the distance to the obstacle and the radiation angle, and the width of the set width is set. It is designed to determine whether or not it is an obstacle.

The detection width of the obstacle detection device 11 is an arbitrary range by adjusting the output volume by the control device 7, for example, W = 0.2 to 3 m, D as shown in FIG.
= 1 to 5 m is set. Then, if necessary, even if W is within the range of the size of the luggage, if D = 1 m or more, it is set to slow down and stop at D = 0.5 m.

Next, in the unmanned forklift having the above-mentioned structure, the traveling when the unmanned forklift 1 travels along the traveling path with the forklift side facing backward and loads and unloads luggage from the shelf will be described. Here, for the sake of convenience of explanation, as an example, the size of the cargo to be conveyed by the unmanned forklift 1, the loading and unloading of the cargo, the travel passage, and the adjustment of the width detection are performed by the control device 7 based on a command from the central command device. And

In the unmanned forklift 1, when the control device 7 is instructed on the size of the load to be picked up from the central control room,
The output volume of the obstacle detection device 11 is changed to change the detection width of the obstacle to a predetermined width. The detection width of the obstacle is determined in advance in relation to the size of the luggage, and is adjusted to the predetermined detection width. In addition, the location of the parcel to be unloaded, the place of unloading, and the traveling path are changed from the central command unit to the control unit
When instructed to, the control device 7 drives the traveling device 14 and the steering device 15 while detecting the guide wire with the magnetic sensor 6 so as to travel on a predetermined traveling path.

When the vehicle comes to the front of the cargo to be unloaded, the traveling device 14 is stopped and the steering device 15 is operated to reverse the traveling direction so that the forklift side travels forward. The control device 7 operates the cargo handling device 16 to pick up a load and places it on the fork 3. Next, the traveling device 14,
The steering device 15 is operated to retreat to a predetermined traveling path, whereupon the forklift side is moved backward and the predetermined traveling path is traveled again to travel near a predetermined unloading place. Therefore, the traveling device 14 is stopped again, and the steering device 1
5 is operated to reverse the traveling direction, so that the forklift side travels forward. When you reach the designated unloading location,
The control device 7 operates the cargo handling device 16 to unload the cargo. The controller 7 operates the unmanned forklift 1 based on a command from the central command device.

If the obstacle detection device 11 detects that there is an obstacle at a position closer than the width of the luggage, the control device 7
Stops the traveling device 14 to stop traveling of the forklift 1.

As described above, the unmanned forklift of the present invention is provided with the obstacle detection device which detects the obstacle in a non-contact manner according to the load width and the control device which stops the traveling. Therefore, since it is not intended to detect by contacting an obstacle with a filler or the like, it detects an obstacle in a range that does not need to be detected, and does not unnecessarily stop the forklift,
Productivity can be improved.

In the above description, the size of the load carried by the unmanned forklift, the loading / unloading of the load, the traveling passage,
Although the adjustment of the load width detection is performed by the control device based on the command from the central control room, the example has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, input the type of luggage, its size, the location of loading and unloading of luggage, the passage, etc. from the central command device to the control device,
A memory may be used so that the control device can appropriately make necessary settings such as an adjustment value for load width detection, and the traveling of the unmanned forklift and the cargo handling work may be controlled based on this setting.

[0023]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention.
The unmanned forklift according to 1 is provided with an obstacle detection device that detects an obstacle in a non-contact manner according to the load width, and a control device that stops traveling, so that the obstacle is detected by contacting the obstacle with a filler or the like. Therefore, it is possible to detect an obstacle in a range that does not need to be detected and stop the forklift unnecessarily, thereby improving productivity.

The unmanned forklift according to claim 2 can detect an obstacle according to the load width of the load,
It is possible to prevent luggage from falling and damage, and to operate the unmanned forklift safely. Since the unmanned forklift according to claim 3 is provided with an obstacle detection device that detects an obstacle in a non-contact manner according to the load width and a control device that stops traveling, it can be controlled by a simple control device. Productivity can be improved without stopping the forklift as necessary.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an unmanned forklift according to the present invention that detects an obstacle according to the load width.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the unmanned forklift for detecting an obstacle according to the load width according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control system of an unmanned forklift that detects an obstacle according to the load width of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating the operation of the obstacle detection device.

FIG. 5 is a bottom view of an unmanned forklift to which an obstacle is detected according to a conventional load width.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Unmanned forklift 2 car body 3 forks 4 running wheels 5 steering wheels 6 Magnetic sensor (traveling road detection means) 7 Control device 11 Obstacle detection device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A traveling path detecting means for detecting a guide wire so that the fork is mounted so as to be movable up and down along a mast which is erected on a front portion of a vehicle body so as to travel along the guide wire provided on a floor surface. Based on a command from a central command device provided outside the vehicle body, it is an unmanned forklift equipped with a control device for loading luggage on the fork and running, and changing the detection range according to the luggage. An unmanned forklift truck, which is provided with a possible non-contact type obstacle detection device and stops traveling when an obstacle is detected in the detection range. 2. The unmanned forklift according to claim 1, wherein the obstacle detecting device is a distance measuring system that detects a distance to the obstacle. 3. The unmanned forklift according to claim 1, wherein the obstacle detection device is a photoelectric system that detects a distance by projecting and receiving light.