Traveling Vehicle Command Control at Branch-Switching Limits
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional traveling vehicle controllers often fail to assign commands efficiently, leading to late arrivals at destination points due to vehicles detouring at branch points, as they cannot change courses effectively within the branch-switching impossible distance range.
Innovation Solution
The controller performs pseudo-shift processing to determine traveling vehicles as being downstream of the branch point, excluding post-course-switch travel routes and adding correction times to ensure accurate route selection, thereby preventing detours and optimizing route choices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the command is assigned to a traveling vehicle that is closest to the destination point, then the selection process is simple, but the vehicle may fail to change courses at the branch point and detour to reach the destination
Solution Approach 1:
The controller performs preliminary evaluation of each traveling vehicle's ability to change courses at the branch point before assigning the command. This includes determining whether the vehicle is located within the branch-switching impossible distance range and can switch branches in time, preventing detours before they occur
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the simple geometric proximity-based selection with a sophisticated computational evaluation system that calculates branch-switching capability, travel time, and route optimization, substituting mechanical simplicity with intelligent algorithms
2Loss of time
If the controller evaluates branch-switching capability for each vehicle, then arrival time is optimized, but the control process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The command assignment process is segmented into distinct evaluation stages: determining branch-switching impossible distance range, evaluating branch-switching capability, calculating travel time for each vehicle, and final command assignment. This modular approach manages complexity through structured decomposition
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes evaluation parameters based on vehicle positions and branch point characteristics, adjusting the branch-switching impossible distance range and capability criteria according to specific operational conditions to optimize both accuracy and processing efficiency
3Productivity
If a traveling vehicle is located within the branch-switching impossible distance from the branch point, then the vehicle cannot change courses, but the vehicle may still be selected for command assignment
Solution Approach 1:
The controller applies preliminary anti-action by identifying vehicles within the branch-switching impossible distance range and preemptively determining their inability to change courses, then excluding them from command assignment or adjusting their evaluation criteria before the assignment decision is made
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where the determined branch-switching capability and impossible distance range information feed back into the command assignment evaluation, ensuring that vehicles with limited course-changing ability are appropriately considered or excluded based on their specific capabilities
Data Source
AI summary
A traveling vehicle controller includes a command assignment controller to detect a first-to-arrive traveling vehicle that is able to reach a destination point first among traveling vehicles, based on travel route candidates on which the traveling vehicles travel along a travel path from respective positions to reach the destination point, and assign the command to the first-to-arrive traveling vehicle. During detection of the first-to-arrive traveling vehicle, when a traveling vehicle traveling toward a branch point on the travel path is located within a range of a branch-switching impossible distance from the branch point and is scheduled to proceed toward a main way at the branch point, the command assignment controller performs pseudo-shift processing by which this traveling vehicle is determined to be located in a position downstream of the branch point and on a side of the main way.