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US 12,673,704 B2Granted
System and method for mover self-navigation in an independent cart system
AssigneeRockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
InventorsYuhong Huang, Brian M. Perreault, Peter Eric Malkowski, Jatin P. Bhatt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for controlling movers in a linear drive system includes a plurality of movers and a track providing segments along which the movers may travel and holding driver coils and a segment controller controlling the driver coils. Some of the segments having switches forming branches between segments. A central controller communicates operates with the segment controllers to route the movers along the track by distributing routing decisions for a given mover to a segment controller for a track on which a given mover is currently traveling.
Claims20
A system for controlling movers in a linear drive system, comprising:
- a plurality of movers associated with mover records;
- and
- a track providing a plurality of segments along which the movers may travel, each segment holding at least one electrically controllable driver coil and a segment controller executing a stored program to energize and deenergize the at least one driver coil for movement of the movers on the segment;
- wherein at least some of the segments are switch segments forming branches between segments, wherein each switch segment is selectively controllable to direct each of the plurality of movers along either a first route or a second route;
- the segment controllers operative to:
- (a) circulate mover records among the segment controllers according to physical proximity of a given mover associated with a given record to a given segment controller;
- and
- (b) at each segment controller associated with one of the switch segments, control a switch position to selectively direct each of the plurality of movers along either the first route or the second route according to a data of the mover record corresponding to each of the plurality of movers and its presence at the segment controller corresponding to the switch segment, wherein the data corresponds to a desired destination of the mover.
5 more elements
A method of controlling movers in a linear drive system, comprising:
- providing a plurality of movers, each mover associated with a mover record;
- providing a track providing a plurality of segments along which the movers may travel, each segment holding at least one electrically controllable driver coil and a segment controller executing a stored program to energize and deenergize the at least one driver coil for movement of the movers on the segment;
- wherein at least some of the segments are switch segments forming branches between segments, wherein each switch segment is selectively controllable to direct each of the plurality of movers along either a first route or a second route;
- circulating mover records among the segment controllers according to physical proximity of a given mover associated with a given record to a given segment controller;
- and
- at each segment controller associated with a switch, controlling a switch position to selectively direct each of the plurality of movers along either the first route or the second route according to a data of the mover record corresponding to each of the plurality of movers and its presence at the segment controller corresponding to the switch segment, wherein the data corresponds to a desired destination of the mover.
3 more elements
A system for controlling movers in a linear drive system, comprising:
- a plurality of movers;
- a track providing a plurality of segments along which the movers may travel, each segment holding at least one electrically controllable driver coil and a segment controller executing a stored program to energize and deenergize the at least one driver coil for movement of the movers on the segment;
- wherein at least some of the segments are switch segments forming branches between segments, wherein each switch segment is selectively controllable to direct each of the plurality of movers along either a first route or a second route;
- and
- a central controller communicating mover records with the segment controllers, wherein the segment controllers and central controller operate together to route the movers along the track by distributing routing decisions within the mover records for a given mover to a segment controller for a track segment on which a given mover is currently traveling, and wherein a segment controller associated with one of the switch segments on which a mover is present is operative to control a switch position to selectively direct the mover along either the first route or the second route according to the routing decisions within the mover records.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.