Article Transport Facility Destination Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing article transport facilities face efficiency decreases due to waiting times when article transport vehicles reach destinations that are already at maximum capacity or have reserved space, leading to increased overall transport times and reduced efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The article transport facility includes a control system that calculates a receivable-article number for each receiving conveyor by subtracting the held and reserved article numbers from the maximum holdable number, allowing it to select the most efficient destination based on available capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If the control system selects a destination based on shortest path cost alone, then the transport speed is improved, but the article transport vehicle may reach a destination that is already at maximum capacity or has reserved space, causing waiting time and reducing productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The control system performs preliminary calculation of the receivable-article number for each receiving conveyor before selecting the destination. By subtracting the held-article number and reserved-article number from the maximum holdable-article number in advance, the system identifies destinations that are ready to receive articles, preventing the transport vehicle from arriving at full destinations and having to wait.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system continuously monitors the state of receiving conveyors (held-article number, reserved-article number, maximum holdable-article number) and uses this feedback information to dynamically adjust destination selection. The receivable-article number serves as a feedback metric that guides the control system to select optimal destinations that can immediately accept articles.
2Productivity
If multiple receiving conveyors are monitored for destination selection, then the productivity is improved by avoiding full destinations, but the device complexity increases due to additional calculations and data tracking
Solution Approach 1:
The control system applies different evaluation criteria to different receiving conveyors based on their individual states. Each receiving conveyor is assessed by its specific receivable-article number (maximum holdable-article number minus held-article number minus reserved-article number), allowing the system to select the most suitable destination for each article based on local conditions at each receiving conveyor.
Data Source
AI summary
An article transport facility includes an article transport vehicle and a control system that controls the article transport vehicle. The article transport facility includes a plurality of receiving conveyors each to be a destination of an article. The plurality of receiving conveyors can hold less than or equal to a maximum holdable-article number of articles. The control system calculates, for each of the plurality of receiving conveyors, a receivable-article number by subtracting a held-article number and a reserved-article number from the maximum holdable-article number, and selects a receiving conveyor to be the destination of the article based on the receivable-article number of each of the plurality of receiving conveyors.