Transportation system and transportation method
AssigneeMurata Kikai Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorToyokazu Kobayashi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In the case of transporting an article to a load port which is occupied by another article, at the time of generating a transportation command, estimated arrival time T1 when the article arrives at the load port and estimated removal time T2 when the article which occupies the load port is removed are compared with each other. If the time T2 is earlier than the time T1, a transportation command for transporting the article to the load port is assigned. If the time t2 is later than the time T1, a transportation command for transporting the article to a buffer on the upstream side of the load port is assigned.
Claims4
A transportation system wherein a plurality of pieces of processing equipment and a plurality of buffers are provided along a travel route for transportation vehicles, and a controller issues a transportation command for a transportation vehicle to transport an article, the transportation system comprising:
- prediction means for predicting whether unloading at a load port of a destination point becomes possible or not within a predetermined time from arrival of the transportation vehicle at the load port;
- and
- assignment means for assigning the transportation command to the transportation vehicle such that, if it is predicted that unloading at the load port becomes possible within the predetermined time, the article is transported to the load port as the destination point, and if it is predicted that unloading at the load port becomes possible after the predetermined time, the article is transported to a buffer as the destination point.
A method of transporting an article by providing a plurality of pieces of processing equipment and a plurality of buffers along a travel route of transportation vehicles, and assigning a transportation command for the article from a controller to a transportation vehicle, wherein
- the controller predicts whether unloading at a load port of a destination point becomes possible or not within a predetermined time from arrival of the transportation vehicle at the load port;
- and assigns the transportation command to the transportation vehicle such that, if the controller predicts that unloading at the load port becomes possible within the predetermined time, the article is transported to the load port as the destination point, and if the controller predicts that unloading at the load port does not become possible within the predetermined time, the article is transported to a buffer as the destination point.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.