JPH055126B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an article conveyance system that conveys an article from one station to another by moving a conveyance carrier on a conveyance path. The present invention relates to an initialization processing method for checking whether a carrier is at a predetermined home position.

The recent wave of development of office automation systems has been remarkable, and various systems have been introduced in various fields. One such office automation system is an article conveyance system. An article conveyance system is a system in which a conveyance path is provided in an office, a large number of stations are set on the conveyance path, and a conveyance carrier is moved between the stations along the conveyance path to convey documents, cash, etc. A linear motor car or the like is used as the transport means. In such an article transport system, where the work of each station is determined in advance, each station is classified into a processing request station and a processing station according to the work, and the transfer between the processing request station and the processing station is performed. The transport carrier is configured to move. For example, in a certain business office, each workplace is designated as an accounting processing requesting station, the workplaces to be processed are designated as processing stations, and the slips to be processed are sent from each workplace (i.e., the accounting processing requesting station) to the processing station using a transport carrier. In financial stores and retail stores, each counter or sales floor is used as a processing request station, and the cash storage area is used as a processing station. In some cases, a slip is sent to a processing station by a transport carrier, sales are processed at the processing station, a receipt is issued, and the receipt is returned to the processing request station by the transport carrier, and furthermore, in payment processing, cash withdrawal is required. The location is the processing station, a transport carrier is sent from the processing request station at the counter to the processing station, cash to be withdrawn is loaded onto the transport carrier at the processing station, and the transport carrier loaded with cash is returned to the processing request station. .

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of such a conventional article conveyance system, in which processing request stations WS1,
This example shows a centralized cash withdrawal management system in which WS2, WS3, and WS4 are installed and a processing station PS is installed at the cash withdrawal location. Figure 5A is a side view of the system, and Figure 5B is a top view of the system. It is.

Processing request station WS1, WS2, WS3,
A rail (conveyance path) RL is installed between the WS4 and the processing station PS, and stators S1, S2, S3, S4,...Sn, SP are provided at intervals on the rail RL. The transport carriers CR1 to CR4 moving on the rail RL are located in a storage section C that stores articles.
, wheels W1 and W2 that engage with the rail RL, and 2
A secondary conductor D is provided, and transport carriers CR1 to CR
Secondary conductor D of 4 and stator S1 to SP of rail RL
Transport carrier due to repulsion and attraction of magnetic field
CR1 to CR4 are composed of linear motor cars that start, accelerate, and stop. On the other hand, each of the processing request stations WS1 to WS4 and the processing station P has article handling ports A1 to A4, P and transport carriers CR1 to CR4 lifted from the rail RL, in addition to the stators S1 to S4, SP, mentioned above. Release from rail RL and use article handling ports A1 to A4, P
and then lower the transport carriers CR1 to CR4 from article handling ports A1 to A4 and P to the rail RL, and then lower the transport carriers CR1 to CR4 to the rail RL.
Lift mechanisms L1 to L4, LP are provided to restore the position. Furthermore, the processing station PS has
A cash dispensing machine CD is provided which takes out the requested cash from the cash storage CS, sends it to the cash dispensing unit DU, and loads the cash from the cash dispensing unit DU into the transport carrier of the article handling port P.

For example, in order to issue a withdrawal request from the processing request station WS4 and have the withdrawal processed at the processing station PS, the operator at the counter first inputs the amount of cash to be withdrawn from a teller terminal (not shown) provided at the counter, and then Instruct the transport request using a key or the like.

As a result, the transport carrier CR4 is lowered to the rail RL by the lift mechanism L4 and returned, the stator S4 is energized, and it departs toward the processing station PS, after which it is accelerated by the stator Sn of the acceleration station on the way. However, it reaches the processing station PS and is stopped by reverse excitation of its stator SP. The arriving transport carrier CR4 is then raised to the article handling port P by the lift mechanism LP, and is moved to the cash dispensing unit DU of the cash dispensing machine CD.
Located at the bottom of. The cash dispensing machine CD takes out cash equivalent to the amount of cash withdrawn from the above-mentioned teller terminal from the cash storage CS to the cash dispensing unit DU.
Cash is loaded from the cash discharge unit DU into the transport carrier CR4. Upon completion of this loading, the transport carrier CR4 is returned to the rail RL by the lift mechanism LP, and the stator SP is energized to cause the transport carrier CR4 to depart toward the processing request station WS4. The transport carrier CR4 is accelerated by the stator Sn of the acceleration station on the way,
It reaches the processing request station WS4, is stopped by reverse excitation of its stator S4, is released from the rail RL by the lift mechanism L4, and returns to its home position below the article handling port A4. The counter operator takes out the loaded cash from the transport carrier CR4 and hands it to the customer who made the request. Such transport carriers CR1 to CR4 are used for processing request stations WS1 to WS to which they belong, except when they are in transit.
It is located at the home position of No. 4 (below the article handling ports A1 to A4) and is evacuated so as not to obstruct the movement of other carriers on the rail RL.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In such an article conveyance system, at the initial stage of the system, each conveyance carrier CR1 to
Transport control is started assuming that CR4 is at the home position, but there may be cases where there is no transport carrier at the home position at the time of initialization. For example, when performing a transport carrier movement test in test mode, you may forget to return the transport carrier to the home position at the end of the test, or you may make a setting mistake by not setting the transport carrier to the correct home position when replacing it. This is the case, for example, when the power of the transport carrier is cut off during transport and the transport carrier is still on the rail when the power is turned on again.

In such a case, since the transport control is started assuming that the transport carrier is at the normal home position, there is a problem in that the normal transport operation cannot be performed and the system goes down.

In order to solve this problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-63263 and other publications detect that the transport carrier is at the home position at the time of initialization, and if the transport carrier is not at the home position, control is performed to return the transport carrier to the home position. Although it is proposed to do
The following problem arises.

Even if there is a transport carrier at the home position station, there is no guarantee that there will be no extra transport carriers outside the home position. If there is an extra transport carrier, normal transport will not be possible and the system will go down. Become.

If an abnormality occurs in the home position sensor system, it will malfunction and normal transportation will not be possible.

[Means for solving problems]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an initialization processing method for an article conveyance system that can confirm whether or not the conveyance operation can be performed normally at the time of initialization.

Therefore, the first aspect of the present invention provides a plurality of processing requesting stations, a single or plural processing stations, a transport path connecting the processing requesting stations and the processing stations, and a transport path installed for each of the processing requesting stations. The transport carrier is normally stopped at a home position set for each processing request station, and the transport carrier is moved from the processing request station to the processing station in accordance with a transport request from the processing request station. In the article conveyance system, the control section is configured to perform a predetermined process on the conveyance carrier at the processing station and then return the conveyance carrier to the processing requesting station. The presence or absence of a transport carrier at each processing request station, each processing station, and the transport path is detected, and it is determined that the transport carrier is present at each home position and there is no transport carrier at any other location other than the home position. It is characterized by confirmation.

A second aspect of the present invention is a plurality of processing requesting stations, a single processing station or a plurality of processing stations, a transport path connecting the processing requesting stations and the processing stations, and a transport path installed for each of the processing requesting stations. The transport carrier is normally stopped at a home position set for each processing request station, and the transport carrier is moved from the processing request station to the processing station in accordance with a transport request from the processing request station. In the article conveyance system, the control section is configured to perform a predetermined process on the conveyance carrier at a processing station and then return the conveyance carrier to the processing requesting station. Detecting the presence or absence of the transport carrier in the processing request station, each of the processing stations, and the transport path, and confirming that the transport carrier is present at each home position and that there is no transport carrier other than the home position. In addition, the present invention is characterized in that a transport carrier that is not at the station at the home position and is at a station other than the home position is controlled to move to the home position.

Furthermore, a third aspect of the present invention provides a plurality of processing requesting stations, a single or plural processing stations, a transport path connecting the processing requesting stations and the processing stations, and a transport path installed for each of the processing requesting stations. The transport carrier is normally stopped at a home position set for each processing request station, and the transport carrier is moved from the processing request station to the processing station in accordance with a transport request from the processing request station. In the article conveyance system, the control section is configured to perform a predetermined process on the conveyance carrier at a processing station and then return the conveyance carrier to the processing requesting station. Detecting the presence or absence of the transport carrier in the processing request station, each of the processing stations, and the transport path, and confirming that the transport carrier is present at each home position and that there is no transport carrier other than the home position. Further, if the transport carrier is not at the home position station and the transport carrier is in the middle of transport according to the transport request, the transport carrier is controlled to move according to the transport request. There is.

[Effect]

In the first aspect of the present invention, at the time of initializing the system, the control unit detects the presence or absence of the transport carrier in each station and transport path, and detects whether the transport carrier is at the home position and at the processing requesting station having the home position. Confirm that there is no transport carrier other than the position,
The normal transport operation is guaranteed by confirming whether the transport carrier can transport normally.

Further, in addition to the above-mentioned first invention, a second invention of the present invention provides a method for automatically controlling the movement of the transport carrier to the home position in order to perform recovery when the transport carrier is not at the home position. This ensures normal transport operation.

Furthermore, in addition to the above-mentioned first invention, the third aspect of the present invention is to perform recovery when the transport carrier is not at the home position. If it goes down during conveyance due to breakage or the like, the conveyance before it goes down is continued to ensure normal conveyance operation, and the conveyance before it goes down is not wasted.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to Examples.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.
In the figure, the same parts as shown in FIG. 5 are indicated by the same symbols, and 1 is a system controller, which determines the destination according to a transport request given via a linear motor controller, which will be described later. 10 is a processor that issues a running instruction and performs initial processing at the time of system initialization; 11 is a processor that performs destination determination processing, initialization processing, etc.; 11 is a memory;
A determination area 11a stores data and programs necessary for the processing, and also stores the name of the processing request station determined to send the transport carrier to the processing station PS, and a predetermined initial sensor pattern. 2 is a linear motor controller, and system controller 1 has a pattern area 11b.
Based on the destination determined from , the controller departs for each processing request station WS1 to WS4, acceleration station AS, and processing station PS, which will be described later.
20 which gives acceleration, stop commands and lift up/down commands, notifies the system controller 1 of transport requests from each control unit, and detects the position and running state of the transport carrier based on status information from each control unit; 21 is a processor that performs the process of determining and transmitting the driving pattern and the process of monitoring the status; 21 is the interface that exchanges data and commands with each control unit;
A memory 22 stores data and programs necessary for processing by the processor 20, and has a running pattern storage area 22a and a running state storage area 22b. In the travel pattern storage area 22a, the travel modes of each station for transporting the transport carrier from each departure station to the destination station are stored as patterns, where "1" is the departure mode, "2" is the acceleration mode, and " 3” indicates a stop mode, for example, processing request station WS1→processing station PS
(If WS1 is the departure station and PS is the stop station), there is a “1” (departure) in the station WS1 column and a “2” in the intermediate WS2 to AS columns.
(acceleration), and “3” (stop) is stored in the station PS column. In addition, the running state storage area 22b
The state of the transport carrier at each station WS1 to PS is stored, and when the sensor of the stator (described later) detects the transport carrier on the rail at each station, "1" is stored, and when it is not detected, "0" is stored. T1 to T4 are transport request keys, which are provided at each processing request station WS1 to WS4,
DL, which is pressed by the operator to instruct the linear motor controller 2 to request transport via the control unit.
1 to DL4, DLP are lift sensors, which detect that the transport carrier is at the home position of the lift mechanisms L1 to L4, LP, DS
1 to DS4, DA, DSP are stator sensors,
3a to 3d are control units for detecting that the transport carrier is in the stators S1 to S4, Sn, and SP, and each processing request station WS1 to
The lift mechanisms L1 to L4 are provided in the WS4, and the stators S1 to S4 are controlled according to commands from the linear motor controller 2, and their states are detected by the sensors DL1 to DL4 and DS1 to DS4, and the linear motor controller 2 4 is a control unit provided in the acceleration station AS,
The stator Sn is controlled according to commands from the linear motor controller 2, and its status is monitored by a sensor.
What is detected by the DA and notified to the linear motor controller 2, 5 is a control unit, which is a processing station.
It is provided in the PS and controls the lift mechanism LP and stator SP according to commands from the linear motor controller 2, detects its state with sensors DLP and DSP, and notifies the linear motor controller 2 of the detected state. Furthermore, when the departure command "1" is set from the linear motor controller 2, these control units 3a to 3d, 4, and 5 enter the departure mode, and lower the lift mechanisms L1 to L4, LP to move the transport carrier onto the rail RL. Reset the sensor DS1 to DS4,
After detecting this with DSP, stators S1 to S4,
When the SP is accelerated and the conveyance carrier is started, and the acceleration command "2" is set, the mode becomes acceleration mode, and the sensor installed at the entrance of the stator is activated.
When the DS1 to DS4, DA, and DSP transport carriers are detected, the stator is accelerated and the transport carriers are accelerated, and when the stop command "3" is set,
In the stop mode, sensors DS1 to DS4 and DSP detect that the transport carrier has entered the stator, control the stator to stop, stop the transport carrier, and then move the lift mechanism upward to move the transport carrier from the rail RL. Each station moves the transport carrier onto the rail RL using the stator's sensor to move the carrier up to the goods handling port.
“1” when DSP is detected, lift mechanism sensor DL1
~ When detecting the existence of a transport carrier in the lift mechanism in DL4 and DLP, status data of "2" is notified to the linear motor controller 2.

Next, regarding the operation of the configuration of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, first, the normal transport processing operation will be explained using the processing flowchart shown in FIG.

First, processing request stations WS1 to WS4
When one of the transport request keys T1 to T4 is pressed, a transport request is input to the interface 21 via the control units 3a to 3d. The processor 20 of the linear motor controller 2 notifies the system controller 1 of this transport request.

The processor of the system controller 1 responds to this transport request by processing the decision area 11 of the memory 11.
a, and checks whether the processing request station has already been determined for the processing station SP. If it has not been determined, it is determined that the transport process is not in progress, and if it has been determined, it is determined that the transport process is in progress, and the memory 11 is Register in the queue and wait until transportation and return are completed.

If the conveyance process is not in progress, the processor 10
The processing request station where the transport request was made is the departure station, and the processing station
A traveling instruction is given to the linear motor controller 2 with the PS as the destination station, and the processing request station name is registered in the column of the processing station of the destination in the determination area 11a of the memory 11.

In the linear motor controller 2, the processor 20 receives this and determines a corresponding travel pattern. That is, the processor 20 uses the memory 22
The travel pattern storage area 22a of is indexed based on the departure station name and destination station name, the corresponding travel pattern is extracted, and the corresponding travel pattern included in the travel pattern is sent to each control unit 3a to 3d, 4, and 5 via the interface 21. Send running commands (start, acceleration, stop commands). For example, if the departure station is WS1 and the destination station PS, the first travel pattern in the pattern storage area 22a is selected, the departure command "1" is sent to the control unit 3a, the acceleration command "2" is sent to the control units 3b to 3d, and 4, and the control unit 5, a stop command "3" is sent.

Each of the control units 3a to 3d, 4, and 5 is set to a start, acceleration, or stop mode in accordance with a given command, and each controls the lift mechanism and stator of its own station in accordance with this mode. For example, in the above example, the control section 3a of the processing request station WS1 is set to the departure mode, and the lift mechanism L1 is first lowered to return the transport carrier CR1 to the rail R1, and the control section 3a is set to the departure mode.
a detects this with the output of the stator sensor DS1, then controls the acceleration (departure) of the stator S1, causes the transport carrier CR1 to depart along the rail RL, and sends a message "1" to the linear motor controller 2 indicating the completion of the start. ” will be notified. In addition, the control units 3b to 3d of the intermediate processing request stations WS2 to WS4 and the acceleration station AS,
4, the acceleration mode is set, and when the transport carrier CR1 enters each stator S2 to S4, Sn, this is detected by the sensors DS2 to DS4, DA, and the acceleration coils of the stators S2 to S4, Sn are excited. The incoming transport carrier CR1 is accelerated and the linear motor controller 2 is notified of "1" indicating the end of acceleration. Furthermore, the control unit 5 of the processing station PS is set to the stop mode, and when the transport carrier CR1 enters the stator SP, the stator sensor DSP detects this, energizes the stop coil of the stator SP, and stops the incoming transport carrier. Stop the carrier CR1,
This notifies the linear motor controller 2 of "1" indicating the end of the stop, and then lifts the transport carrier CR1 to the article takeout port P (home position) using the lift mechanism LP, and uses the output of the lift sensor DLP to The linear motor controller 2 is notified of "2" indicating that the transport carrier is at the home position of the lift, that is, the rail RL is released.

In the linear motor controller 2, the interface 21 receives these notified status information, the processor 20 stores it in the running status storage area 22b of the memory 22, confirms the position of the transport carrier, and transfers the status information from the processing station PS to the rail. When receiving the RL release "2", it is determined that the conveyance is completed, the contents of the running state storage area 22b are reset to "0", and while preparing for the next run, the system controller 1 is notified of the completion of conveyance.

Accordingly, the system controller 1 gives a cash loading (dispensing) instruction to the cash dispensing machine CD (FIG. 5) and waits for the completion of dispensing from the cash dispensing machine CD.
When the dispensing completion is issued from the cash dispensing machine CD, the system controller 1 starts the return process.

That is, the processor 10 of the system controller 1 obtains the requested station name in the determination area 11a of the memory 11, sets this processing requesting station as the destination station, sets the processing station PS as the departure station, and instructs the linear motor controller 2 to run.

On the other hand, the linear motor controller 2 receives the destination station and the departure station, and controls the return of the transport carrier from the processing station to the processing requesting station in the same manner as in the steps described above.

When the system controller 1 receives the conveyance processing/return processing completion notification from the linear motor controller 2, the processor 10 erases the process requesting station name from the determination area 11a of the memory 11, and ends the general transport processing.

Next, the initialization processing according to the first invention and the second invention of the present invention will be explained using the processing flow diagram of FIG. 3.

(a) When the system controller 1 is instructed to initialize the system after power off or system reset from a console (not shown), the system controller 1 issues an instruction to the linear motor controller 2 to grasp the state.

(b) As a result, linear motor controller 2
In this case, the processor 20 controls each control unit 3a to 3d,
4 and 5 via the interface 21. As a result, each control section 3a
~3d, 4, 5 are own lift sensors DL1~
DL4, DLP and stator sensor DS1~DS4,
Look at the output of DA and DSP, and lift sensor DL1
~DL4, DLP conveyance carrier detection output is “2”, stator sensor DS1~DS4, DA,
If there is a conveyance carrier detection output of DSP, it will be “1”,
Otherwise, "0" is returned to the linear motor controller 2 as status information. In the linear motor controller 2, the processor 20 receives this via the interface 21 and stores it in the running state storage area 22b of the memory 22.

The processor 20 controls all the control units 3a to 3d,
After receiving the status information from 4 and 5 and storing it in the running status storage area 22b of the memory 22, the system controller 1 is notified of the completion of status grasping.

(c) The system controller 1 is the processor 10
reads the contents of the running state storage area 22b of the memory 22 and stores the contents of the pattern area 11 of the memory 11.
Compare with the contents of b. In the pattern area 11b, there is a sensor (state) in advance when the transport carrier is at the regular home position at the initial time.
For example, when the home positions are at processing request stations WS1 to WS4, the normal status patterns are WS1 to WS4.
It is “222200” in PS order. That is, the control section 3
“2” from a to 3d, other control units 4,
5 is a case where "0" is issued.

Based on this comparison, the processor 10 determines which stations WS1 to WS4 have their home positions.
When all are “2” with transport carriers,
It is determined that the transport carrier is in all home positions.

(d) When it is determined that there are transport carriers at all home positions, the processor 10 next detects whether there are transport carriers outside the home position.
The state signal of the PS is checked, and if it is "0", it is determined that there is no transport carrier outside the home position, and the check is terminated. Conversely, if it is "1", it is determined that there is a transport carrier outside the home position, and an error process is performed. In this case, since there are already transport carriers at all home positions, an extra transport carrier is provided, and a "number of carriers error (too many)" is displayed on the console (not shown).

(e) On the other hand, if it is determined in step (c) that there is no transport carrier at any home position, the processor 10 detects whether there is a transport carrier outside the home position, as in step (d). , station AS without home position,
Check the status signal of the PS, and if it is "0", it is determined that there is no transport carrier outside the home position,
Handle errors. In this case, there is a shortage of transport carriers, and a "number of carriers error (insufficient)" is displayed on a console (not shown).

(f) Conversely, if either of the status signals of stations AS or PS is "1" or "2", it is determined that there is a carrier outside the home position, and the carrier is returned to the home position. That is, the processor 10 sets the processing requesting station whose home position has no transport carrier in step (e) as the destination station, sets the acceleration or processing station where the carrier outside the home position is detected as the departure station, A running instruction is given to the linear motor controller 2. The linear motor controller 2 performs the steps described above.
, the transport carrier is moved to the destination station, and the system controller 1 is notified. This causes the processor 10 to return to step (a) again.

In this way, in the first aspect of the present invention, in the initialization process, it is detected whether the transport carrier is at the normal home position and then the normal transport process is performed. , transportation will not become impossible, and transportation processing can be guaranteed. Moreover, in the second invention of the present invention,
If it is determined in the initialization process that there is no transport carrier at the home position, recovery is performed and the transport carrier is returned to the home position to ensure subsequent transport processing.

Next, the third invention of the present invention will be explained using the process flow diagram of FIG.

(g) Perform steps (a), (b), (c), (d), and (e) above.

(h) Next, in step (e), when it is determined that there is a carrier outside the home position, the processor 10 checks the contents of the determination area 11a of the memory 11, and if the requested station name remains in the determination area 11a, the processor 10 determines that there is a carrier outside the home position. It is determined that it is on the way, and if there is no remaining, it is determined that it is not in the middle of being transported.

(i) If it is determined that the transport is not in progress, the transport carrier outside the home position is returned to the home position, as in step (f) above.

(j) If it is determined that the transport is in progress, the transport process is restarted. Therefore, the processor 10 inquires of the linear motor controller 2 whether the conveyance is interrupted during the conveyance process or the return process, and if the conveyance process is in progress, the linear motor controller 2 uses the detected station of the conveyance carrier as the departure station and the processing station as the destination station. Give a driving instruction to the controller 2, and perform the steps described above.
, , , are executed, and the transport carrier is returned to the home position. Conversely, if the return process is in progress, a travel instruction is given to the linear motor controller 2 with the detected station of the transport carrier as the departure station and the processing request station in the determination area 11a of the memory 11 as the destination station, and the steps described above are carried out.
is executed, the transport carrier is returned to the home position, and the initialization process is completed.

In the embodiments described above, a linear motor car is used as the transport means, but other known transport means may be used, and although the system controller 1 and linear motor controller 2 have been described as having separate configurations, they may be integrated into one. It is also possible to implement both functions with one processor. Furthermore, there may be a plurality of processing stations, and the application is not limited to conveying cash.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to examples, the present invention can be modified in various ways according to the gist of the present invention.
These are not excluded from the present invention.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transport means for transporting an article by moving a transport carrier along a transport path between a processing requesting station and a processing station; a control unit that moves the transport carrier located at a home position of the processing request station to the processing station in accordance with a transport request of the processing station, and returns the transport carrier from the processing station to the processing request station; At the time of initialization, the control unit reads a status signal indicating whether or not the transport carrier is at the home position from the processing request station, and confirms that the transport carrier is at the home position. This has the effect that the subsequent conveyance operation can be guaranteed at the initial time before starting the normal conveyance process, and there is no possibility that the conveyance operation will become impossible during the conveyance operation. Therefore, even if you do not accidentally set the transport carrier to the home position during test mode or carrier exchange processing,
By detecting this, it is possible to prevent the system from going down due to the inability of the transport operation, and it also has the effect of reducing the effort of the maintenance personnel.

Further, in a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transport means for transporting the article by moving a transport carrier along a transport path between the processing requesting station and the processing station; a control section for moving the transport carrier located at a home position of the processing requesting station to the processing station and returning the transport carrier from the processing station to the processing requesting station; , reads a status signal indicating whether or not the transport carrier is at the home position from the processing request station;
It is characterized by confirming that the transport carrier is at the home position and, if the transport carrier is not at the home position, controlling the movement of the transport carrier to the home position. In addition to the effect of the first invention, there is also the effect that recovery is automatically executed when the device is not at the home position, which ensures even more normal transport operation.

Further, in a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a conveyance means for conveying the article by moving a conveyance carrier along a conveyance path between the process requesting station and the process requesting station, and a conveying means for conveying the article according to a conveyance request from the process requesting station. a control section for moving the transport carrier located at a home position of the processing requesting station to the processing station and returning the transport carrier from the processing station to the processing requesting station; ,
A status signal indicating whether or not the transport carrier is at the home position is read from the processing request station, and it is confirmed that the transport carrier is at the home position. If the carrier is in the middle of transportation due to the transportation request, the transportation carrier is controlled to move according to the transportation request, so in addition to the first aspect of the invention, before system initialization. Since the conveyance process is restarted and returns to the home position, recovery is automatically performed to ensure a more normal conveyance operation, and there is also an effect that the previous conveyance process is not wasted.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a conveyance process in the configuration of the embodiment shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is an initialization process flow diagram of an embodiment of the first invention and the second invention of the present invention, FIG. 4 is an initialization process flow diagram of an embodiment of the third invention of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a conventional FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an article conveyance system. In the figure, WS1 to WS4...processing request stations,
PS...Processing station, 1...System controller (control unit), 2...Linear motor controller (control unit), RL...Rail (transport path), CR1 to CR4
...transport carrier.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A plurality of processing request stations, a single processing station or a plurality of processing stations, and a transport path connecting the processing request station and the processing station;
A transport carrier is installed at each processing request station and is normally stopped at a home position set for each processing request station; An article conveyance system comprising: a control section that causes the conveyance carrier to be moved from a station to the processing station, performs a predetermined process on the conveyance carrier at the processing station, and then returns the conveyance carrier to the processing requesting station; At the time of initializing the system, detects the presence or absence of a transport carrier in each of the processing request stations, each processing station, and the transport path, and determines whether the transport carrier is present at each home position and is located at a location other than the home position. An initialization processing method for an article conveyance system, characterized in that it is confirmed that the conveyance carrier is absent. 2. a plurality of processing request stations, a single or multiple processing stations, and a transport path connecting the processing request station and the processing station;
A transport carrier is installed at each processing request station and is normally stopped at a home position set for each processing request station, and the transport carrier is moved to the processing request station in accordance with a transport request from the processing request station. and a control unit configured to move the transport carrier from the processing station to the processing station, perform a predetermined process on the transport carrier at the processing station, and then return the transport carrier to the processing request station, the control unit comprising: , at the time of initializing the system, the presence or absence of a transport carrier in each of the processing request stations, each processing station, and the transport path is detected, and the transport carrier is present in each of the home positions, and the transport carrier is located in a position other than the home position. Initialization of the article conveyance system, characterized in that it is confirmed that the conveyance carrier is absent, and a conveyance carrier that is not at the home position station and is at a station other than the home position is controlled to move to the home position. Processing method. 3. a plurality of processing request stations, a single or multiple processing stations, and a transport path connecting the processing request station and the processing station;
A transport carrier is installed at each processing request station and is normally stopped at a home position set for each processing request station, and the transport carrier is moved to the processing request station in accordance with a transport request from the processing request station. and a control unit configured to move the transport carrier from the processing station to the processing station, perform a predetermined process on the transport carrier at the processing station, and then return the transport carrier to the processing request station, the control unit comprising: , at the time of initializing the system, the presence or absence of a transport carrier in each of the processing request stations, each processing station, and the transport path is detected, and the transport carrier is present in each of the home positions, and the transport carrier is located in a position other than the home position. It is confirmed that the transport carrier is not present, and if the transport carrier is not at the home position station and the transport carrier is in the middle of transport due to the transport request, the transport carrier is set to comply with the transport request. An initialization processing method for an article conveyance system, characterized in that the movement of the article conveyance system is controlled.