Storage Carriage Junction Blocking for Aisle Personnel Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
In automatic storage and retrieval systems, personnel safety is compromised when carriages move within the same aisle as staff, especially due to the presence of transverse guides allowing carriages to move between longitudinal guides, posing a risk of collision or obstruction.
Innovation Solution
A control system with a central unit and carriage control units communicates to ensure carriages avoid 'blocked' junctions by marking them as such and generating lists to prevent movement through safety-critical areas, allowing carriages to stop independently and reducing reliance on communication with the central control unit, thereby minimizing collisions and ensuring personnel safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If carriages are allowed to move autonomously along longitudinal and transverse guides, then system productivity and automation are improved, but personnel safety deteriorates due to collision risks in aisles
Solution Approach 1:
The guide system is segmented into longitudinal guides and transverse guides, with junctions marked as blocked to create safe zones. This segmentation allows carriages to operate autonomously in storage areas while preventing entry into personnel zones, resolving the contradiction between productivity and safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary control mechanism where the central control unit communicates blocked junction status to carriage control units. This intermediary system mediates between autonomous carriage operation and personnel safety by providing carriages with information about restricted areas without requiring constant central control intervention.
2Extent of automation
If carriages rely on continuous communication with the central control unit, then route determination is centralized, but system reliability deteriorates due to communication dependencies
Solution Approach 1:
The central control unit performs preliminary action by communicating the status of blocked junctions to carriage control units in advance. Carriage control units store this information locally and can make autonomous decisions based on pre-received data, eliminating the need for continuous communication and improving reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
Carriage control units are designed to self-determine routes based on locally stored information about blocked junctions. Each carriage control unit independently evaluates whether to stop or proceed at junctions without requiring real-time communication with the central control unit, achieving self-service operation that enhances system reliability.
3Productivity
If multiple carriages operate simultaneously on the same guide system, then system productivity increases, but collision risk increases due to shared pathways
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the conflict resolution function from centralized control and embeds it in individual carriage control units. Each carriage control unit independently evaluates blocked junction status and makes stop/continue decisions, allowing multiple carriages to operate simultaneously while each maintains its own safety logic, thus reducing collision risk without sacrificing productivity.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention provides a system for storing product containers. The control system of the system comprises a central control unit to determine a route for a carriage (11) along a part of a guide system (5, 6) and to send a control signal for the route in question to the carriage control unit (22) of the carriage (11). The guide system (5, 6) is provided with unique identification signs (24) at at least some of the junctions. Each carriage (11) is provided with a reader (25) for reading an identification sign (24) and communicating said identification sign to the carriage control unit (22). The central control unit is designed to mark certain junctions as "blocked" under certain circumstances and to generate a list of unique identification signs associated with the "blocked" junctions. Each carriage control unit (22) is designed to store said list in a database of the carriage control unit (22) and to cause the carriage (11) to stop if the identification sign is on the list as stored in the database of the carriage control unit (22).