Rail Subsection Speed Control for Container Handling Vehicles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing automated storage and retrieval systems face operational errors due to areas outside specifications, leading to system stops or crashes, which reduce capacity when all vehicles are slowed to ensure safety.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for controlling container handling vehicles to reduce speed and/or acceleration based on subsection-specific thresholds, using a central operational controller to manage vehicle movements and avoid errors without significantly reducing system capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the speed and acceleration of container handling vehicles are reduced to ensure safety in out-of-specification areas, then system reliability is improved, but system productivity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The rail system is divided into multiple subsections, with each subsection having its own movement threshold based on local conditions. This segmentation allows different speed limits to be applied in different areas, enabling full speed operation in safe areas while restricting speed only in out-of-specification areas, thus maintaining overall system productivity while improving reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
Each subsection of the rail system is assigned a specific movement threshold tailored to its local conditions. This local quality approach ensures that safety requirements are met in problematic areas without unnecessarily limiting the speed of vehicles in areas that meet specifications, thereby resolving the contradiction between reliability and productivity.
2Stability of the object's composition
If all container handling vehicles are slowed down to prevent operational errors in out-of-specification areas, then system stability is improved, but system capacity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the speed of container handling vehicles based on real-time location and subsection characteristics. Vehicles automatically adapt their speed to match the movement threshold of the current subsection, allowing dynamic optimization of both stability and capacity rather than using a static speed limit for the entire system.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system continuously monitors the location of container handling vehicles and adjusts their speed based on feedback from the subsection's movement threshold. This feedback mechanism ensures that vehicles maintain appropriate speeds to prevent operational errors while minimizing the impact on system capacity.
3Reliability
If a uniform speed limit is applied across the entire rail system to ensure safety, then system reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The rail system is segmented into multiple subsections, each with its own movement threshold stored in the control system. This segmentation approach manages complexity by organizing control parameters in a structured, modular way, making the control system more manageable while still providing differentiated speed control to maintain reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
Movement is controlled of a plurality of container handling vehicles on a rail system arranged at least partially across a top of a framework structure of an automated storage and retrieval system, on which rail system the plurality of container handling vehicles are operable to raise storage containers from, and lower storage containers into, storage columns arranged in rows between upright members and horizontal members of the framework structure. The storage containers are also transported above the storage columns. The movement control is performed by a central operational controller which is in communication with a local controller in each container handling vehicle. The central operational controller receives data relating to a subsection of the rail system. The data includes a container handling vehicle movement threshold for the subsection. The central operational controller instructs a container handling vehicle to follow a path which takes in at least a part of the subsection. The central operational controller instructs the container handling vehicle to reduce speed and/or acceleration such that the movement of the container handling vehicle within the subsection is below the container handling vehicle movement threshold of the sub section.