Automated Container Vehicle Speed Control via Sensor-Based Collision Avoidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing transport vehicles for containers, particularly in terminals, face challenges in ensuring safe and collision-free operation due to the mix of manually guided and automatically guided vehicles, as well as obstacles like people and fixed boundaries, which current systems fail to address effectively.
Innovation Solution
An automatically guided transport vehicle equipped with a sensor apparatus that recognizes objects and cooperates with a vehicle controller to adjust speed and prevent collisions by determining potential movement areas and kinematic limits, allowing for early reduction in speed to avoid contact with recognized objects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the transport vehicle operates at high speed to improve productivity, then the transportation efficiency increases, but the risk of collision with manually guided vehicles and other objects increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor apparatus detects objects and calculates their movement areas in advance before the transport vehicle reaches them. The vehicle controller uses this preliminary information to determine if a collision risk exists and adjusts the speed accordingly, preventing collisions before they can occur.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors the surrounding environment using the sensor apparatus, receives feedback about detected objects and their movement areas, and the vehicle controller dynamically adjusts the vehicle speed based on this feedback to maintain safe operation while maximizing productivity.
2Reliability
If the vehicle controller continuously monitors and adjusts speed based on sensor data to ensure safety, then collision-free operation is achieved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor apparatus serves multiple functions: detecting objects, determining their positions, calculating their movement areas, and providing data for collision risk assessment. The vehicle controller also performs multiple tasks including speed control, collision risk determination, and automatic speed adjustment. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate dedicated components.
3Loss of time
If the detection region is extended to recognize objects earlier, then the braking time available increases, but the sensor apparatus complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
By extending the detection region, the sensor apparatus identifies objects earlier in the vehicle's path, providing advance notice that increases the available braking time. This preliminary detection allows the vehicle controller to calculate movement areas and adjust speed proactively, ensuring safe stopping before potential collision points.
Data Source
AI summary
A transportation vehicle for containers has a vehicle controller for automatically driving and controlling the speed of the transportation vehicle. The transportation vehicle includes a sensor apparatus for object identification, with the sensor apparatus interacting with the vehicle controller such that a movement region of the transportation vehicle can be ascertained. The transportation vehicle is configured to come to a standstill within the movement region by a braking process during a braking time, and that a movement region of an object that is identified by the sensor apparatus can be ascertained, with the object being moved within the movement region during the braking time of the transportation vehicle, so that the permissible speed of the transportation vehicle can be automatically reduced by the vehicle controller, and so that the two movement regions do not touch after the reduction in the permissible speed.