ASRS Vehicle-Drone Port Coordination to Reduce Transfer Congestion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing automated storage and retrieval systems face congestion issues around pick-up and drop-off ports due to inefficient handling and transfer processes, leading to increased operational costs and reduced storage capacity, as container handling vehicles move without payload and require additional infrastructure.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that coordinates the operation of container handling vehicles and drones to minimize waiting time and travel costs by assigning optimal ports and routes for transferring storage containers, utilizing a weighting function to synchronize the movements of vehicles and drones, ensuring efficient transfer and reduced congestion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If container handling vehicles transfer storage containers at ports located at the lower part of the automated storage and retrieval system, then the storage containers can be accessed from outside the storage grid, but congestion occurs around the ports due to vehicles moving without payload and inefficient transfer processes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces drones operating in the vertical dimension below the storage grid to handle container transfers. Instead of all vehicles operating horizontally at the same level causing congestion, drones operate in a different spatial dimension (below the grid) to perform pick-up and drop-off operations, separating transfer traffic from storage traffic and eliminating congestion around ports.
Solution Approach 2:
Drones serve as intermediary vehicles between the external environment and the storage grid. They act as a buffer layer that handles container transfers without requiring container handling vehicles to leave their operational routes, thereby maintaining continuous payload operations and improving transfer efficiency.
2Ease of operation
If additional infrastructure is added to handle container transfers, then storage container accessibility is improved, but storage capacity is reduced and operational costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The existing ports and delivery columns in the storage grid are made multi-functional. They serve both as storage access points for container handling vehicles and as transfer points for drones. This eliminates the need for separate infrastructure dedicated solely to external access, preserving storage capacity while improving accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes its existing infrastructure (delivery columns and ports) to serve the additional function of drone transfers. The delivery columns, already present for vehicle operations, automatically serve as transfer stations for drones without requiring additional dedicated infrastructure, thereby maintaining maximum storage capacity.
3Productivity
If container handling vehicles wait at ports for transfer operations, then container transfers can be completed, but waiting time increases and operational efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a weighting function that calculates and prioritizes transfer operations in advance. Drones are assigned and dispatched before container handling vehicles arrive at the ports, ensuring that transfer operations are already in progress or ready to begin when vehicles arrive, thereby eliminating waiting time and maintaining continuous payload operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The weighting function continuously monitors the positions and statuses of both container handling vehicles and drones, dynamically adjusting transfer priorities and drone dispatch timing. This real-time feedback mechanism ensures that drones are dispatched at optimal moments to minimize vehicle waiting time while ensuring complete transfer operations.
Data Source
AI summary
The operation of container handling vehicles and remotely operated specialized container handling vehicles are controlled by a method such that total elapsed time or waiting time cost for transferring specified storage containers between them is minimal or optimal. The specialized container handling vehicles are operating at a level below an automated storage and retrieval system having a framework structure defining a storage grid for storing storage containers in grid cells. The storage containers are stored and retrieved by container handling vehicles running on top of the storage grid. At least one operational controller, which is in communication with a first type of controller in each container handling vehicle and a second type of controller in each specialized container handling vehicle, performs the followings steps: when a specified storage container is to be transferred from a storage column and its corresponding grid cell to a specialized container handling vehicle: assigning and instructing a container handling vehicle to pick up the storage container from the grid cell and lower it to a selected port, located at the lower end of an identified free delivery column by transmitting instructions to the first type of controller of the assigned container handling vehicle, where the port selected is included as a variable in a weighting function together with time and waiting cost to derive a trade-off of the container handling vehicle and the specialized container handling vehicle having the best matching travel time to the port; moving the container handling vehicle to the grid cell, picking up the storage container and transporting it to a grid cell of the delivery column where the port is; transmitting a signal to the specialized container handling vehicles comprising information of the selected port at a first location and when the storage container will be available at the port; based on responses from the specialized container handling vehicles, assigning and instructing a specialized container handling vehicle to retrieve the specified storage container at the selected port; moving the assigned specialized container handling vehicle to the selected port at the first location, picking up the storage container and bringing it to a second location; and/or, when a specified storage container is to be transferred to a grid cell, for storage in its corresponding storage column, by a specialized container handling vehicle: determining which port at a first location that is to be used, where the port selected is included as a variable in a weighting function together with time and waiting cost to derive a trade-off of the container handling vehicle and the specialized container handling vehicle having the best matching travel time to the port; transmitting instructions to the second type of controller of the specialized container handling vehicle, to transport the storage container from its current location representing the second location, to said determined port at the first location; moving the specialized container handling vehicle from the second location to the determined port at the first location; transmitting a signal to the container handling vehicles comprising information of the determined port to retrieve the storage container from; based on responses from the container handling vehicles, assigning and instructing a container handling vehicle to lift and retrieve the specified storage container from the determined port to be used at the first location; lifting the storage container from the determined port through the delivery column and moving the container handling vehicle for transporting the storage container to a grid cell corresponding to the storage column the specified storage container is to be transferred to.