US 10,479,613 B2Granted

Transport system and transport method

AssigneeMurata Machinery, Ltd.

InventorKazumi Harasaki

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Abstract

A transport system includes a track, overhead transport vehicles, and a controller. The controller provides a traveling command to travel to a destination point, to a first overhead transport vehicle that is able to receive a transport command to acquire a FOUP from a station and that is less than a first distance from the station. When a second of the overhead transport vehicles that is able to receive the transport command and is less than the first distance from the station, is detected before providing the transport command to the overhead first transport vehicle, the controller provides the traveling command to the second overhead transport vehicle. Then, the controller provides the transport command to the one of the first and second overhead transport vehicles that first passes through the destination point.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A transport system comprising:

a track;
a plurality of transport vehicles that travel along the track and convey a transported object to at least a station;
and
a controller configured or programmed to perform communication with and control behavior of respective transport vehicles of the plurality of transport vehicles;
wherein
in a case that a grip-load request to acquire the transported object from the station is present, the controller is configured or programmed to:
detect that a first transport vehicle of the plurality of transport vehicles is able to receive a transport command corresponding to the grip-load request and is closest to the station, and provide to the first transport vehicle a traveling command to travel to a destination point that is a junction closest to the station among a plurality of junctions on an upstream side of the station;
before providing the transport command, detect that a second transport vehicle of the plurality of transport vehicles is able to receive the transport command and is closest to the station, and provide the traveling command to the second transport vehicle;
and
provide the transport command to one of the first transport vehicle and the second transport vehicle that first reaches the destination point.

7 more elements

A transport method executed in a transport system including a track, a plurality of transport vehicles that travel along the track and convey a transported object to at least a station, and a controller configured or programmed to perform communication with and control behavior of respective transport vehicles of the plurality of transport vehicles, the transport method comprising:

determining that a grip-load request to acquire the transported object from the station is present;
detecting that a first transport vehicle of the plurality of transport vehicles is able to receive a transport command corresponding to the grip-load request and is closest to the station, and providing to the first transport vehicle a traveling command to travel to a destination point that is a junction closest to the station among a plurality of junctions on an upstream side of the station;
before providing the transport command, detecting that a second transport vehicle of the plurality of transport vehicles is able to receive the transport command and is closest to the station, and providing the traveling command to the second transport vehicle;
and
providing the transport command to one of the first transport vehicle and the second transport vehicle that first reaches the destination point.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/776,796Filed 13 Oct 2016
Priority: JP 2015-23183227 Nov 2015
Published: US 2018/0370735 A127 Dec 2018
Granted: 19 Nov 2019
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification14 codes

B65G 43/10
Control devices, e.g. for safety, warning or fault-correcting: sequence control of conveyors operating in combination
B65G 1/0457
Mechanical: with suspended load carriers
G05D 1/02
Control of position, course, altitude or attitude of land, water, air or space vehicles, e.g. using automatic pilots: control of position or…
H10P 72/0608
Position monitoring, e.g. misposition detection or presence detection: of substrates stored in a container, a magazine, a carrier, a boat or the like

Family

US 2018/0370735 A1Pre-grant publication · published 27 Dec 2018
US 10,479,613 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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