Ceiling traveling vehicle system and method for detecting obstacle
AssigneeMurata Machinery, Ltd.
InventorsHaruki Ogo, Yasuhisa Ito
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A ceiling traveling vehicle includes a traveler to travel along a grid-shaped track, a main body coupled to the traveler and below the track, and a detector on a rear side of a center of the main body in a traveling direction of the traveler and below the main body to apply detection light forward in the traveling direction and downward and receive reflected light of the detection light to detect an obstacle.
Claims9
A ceiling traveling vehicle system comprising:
- a track;
- and
- a plurality of ceiling traveling vehicles to travel along the track;
- wherein
- each of the plurality of ceiling traveling vehicles includes:
- a traveler to travel along the track;
- a main body coupled to the traveler and below the track;
- and
- a detector on a rear side of a center of the main body in a traveling direction of the traveler and below the main body to apply detection light forward in the traveling direction and downward and detect an obstacle by receiving reflected light of the detection light;
- wherein
- the track is a grid-shaped track including a plurality of first tracks provided along a first direction and a plurality of second tracks provided along a second direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the first direction, the plurality of first tracks and the plurality of second tracks form a plurality of cells continuous and adjacent to each other in the first direction and the second direction;
- the plurality of cells continuous and adjacent to each other in the first direction form a plurality of rows of cells that each extends in the first direction;
- the plurality of rows of cells are continuous and adjacent to each other in the second direction to form the grid-shaped track;
- the ceiling traveling vehicles are each capable of traveling and shifting from one of the first tracks to one of the second tracks or shifting from one of the second tracks to one of the first tracks;
- and
- the detector is capable of switching a detection range of the detector based on the traveling direction of the traveler in the grid-shaped track.
A method for detecting an obstacle for a ceiling traveling vehicle system including a track and a plurality of ceiling traveling vehicles to travel along the track, each of the plurality of ceiling traveling vehicles including a traveler to travel along the track, a main body coupled to the traveler and below the track, and a detector on a rear side of a center of the main body in a traveling direction of the traveler and below the main body to apply detection light forward in the traveling direction and downward and detect an obstacle by receiving reflected light of the detection light, the track being a grid-shaped track including a plurality of first tracks provided along a first direction and a plurality of second tracks provided along a second direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the first direction, the plurality of first tracks and the plurality of second tracks forming a plurality of cells are continuous and adjacent to each other in the first direction and the second direction, the plurality of cells continuous and adjacent to each other in the first direction form a plurality of rows of cells that each extends in the first direction, and the plurality of rows of cells are continuous and adjacent to each other in the second direction to form the grid-shaped track, the method comprising:
- applying the detection light from the rear side of the center of the main body in the traveling direction of the traveler and below the main body forward in the traveling direction and downward;
- and
- detecting the obstacle by receiving the reflected light of the detection light;
- wherein
- the ceiling traveling vehicles are each capable of traveling and shifting from one of the first tracks to one of the second tracks or shifting from one of the second tracks to one of the first tracks;
- and
- the detector is capable of switching a detection range of the detector based on the traveling direction of the traveler in the grid-shaped track.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.