The AGV car can generally control its travel route and behavior through a computer, or use an electromagnetic track to set up its travel route. The electromagnetic track is glued to the floor, and the unmanned vehicle relies on the information brought by the electromagnetic track to move and move.

Introduction to AGV

Automated Guided Vehicle is abbreviated as AGV, usually also called AGV. It refers to a transport vehicle equipped with electromagnetic or optical automatic guidance devices that can travel along a prescribed guidance path, with safety protection and various transfer functions. In industrial applications A transport vehicle that does not require a driver, and uses a rechargeable battery as its power source.

Generally, its travel route and behavior can be controlled by a computer, or an electromagnetic track can be used to set up its travel route. The electromagnetic track is glued to the floor, and the unmanned vehicle relies on the information brought by the electromagnetic track to move and move.

Types of AGV

1. Latent type: Dive into the bottom of the material truck, automatically hook up and separate to realize material delivery and recycling operations.

2. Traction type: The traction of the feeder is realized through the automatic hooking and tripping mechanism at the tail.

3. Self-unloading type: knapsack platform, using rollers, belts or Other methods to achieve material docking.

4. Lifting type: the carrying platform can automatically lift materials, and can run operations synchronously with the assembly line.

5. Forklift type: use an open forklift for material handling.

Advantages introduction

① High degree of automation; controlled by computer, electronic control equipment, magnetic induction sensor, laser reflector, etc. When auxiliary materials are needed in a certain part of the workshop, the staff enters relevant information into the computer terminal, and the computer terminal sends the information to the central control room. Professional technicians issue instructions to the computer. With the cooperation of electronic control equipment, this The instruction was finally accepted and executed by the AGV-sending the auxiliary materials to the corresponding place.

② Charging automation; when the power of the AGV trolley is about to run out, it will send a request instruction to the system to request charging (general technicians will set a value in advance), and automatically go to the charging place after the system allows it to "queue" for charging. In addition, the battery life of the AGV trolley is very long (more than 2 years), and it can work for about 4 hours per 15 minutes of charging.

③ It is beautiful and enhances the viewing degree, thereby enhancing the image of the company.

④ Convenient and reduce floor space; the AGV trolley in the production workshop can shuttle back and forth in each workshop.

AGV's guidance method

Folding magnet gyro guide

This kind of AGV is equipped with a special magnetic position sensor, and a small magnet is installed on the ground along the running path. The AGV relies on the position sensor to sense the position of the small magnet, and then uses the gyroscope technology to continuously control the running direction of the unmanned truck. Realize automatic handling.

Folding electromagnetic induction guide

Electromagnetic induction guidance is generally to bury wires on the ground along a pre-set travel path. When high-frequency current flows through the wires, electromagnetic fields are generated around the wires. Two electromagnetic sensors are installed on the AGV symmetrically. The difference in the strength of the electromagnetic signal can reflect the extent to which the AGV deviates from the path.

The AGV's automatic control system controls the steering of the vehicle based on this deviation, and continuous dynamic closed-loop control can ensure the AGV's stable and automatic tracking of the set path. This electromagnetic induction guided navigation method is currently used in most commercial AGVSs, especially suitable for large and medium AGVs.

Folding laser guidance

A rotatable laser scanner is installed on this kind of AGV, and a laser positioning mark with a highly reflective reflector is installed on the wall or pillar along the running path. The AGV relies on the laser scanner to emit a laser beam and then receives the reflection from the surrounding positioning marks. After returning the laser beam, the on-board computer calculates the current position of the vehicle and the direction of movement, and compares it with the built-in digital map to correct the position, thereby realizing automatic transportation.

At present, the application of this kind of AGV is becoming more and more common. And based on the same guiding principle, if the laser scanner is replaced with an infrared transmitter or an ultrasonic transmitter, the laser-guided AGV can be changed to an infrared-guided AGV and an ultrasonic-guided AGV.

Basic application of AGV

① Warehousing industry

The warehousing industry is the earliest application place for AGV. In 1954, the world's first AGV was put into operation in the warehouse of Mercury Motor Freight Company in South Carolina, USA, to realize the automatic transportation of goods in and out of the warehouse.

At present, there are about 20,000 AGVs of various kinds operating in 2,100 large and small warehouses in the world. In the three-dimensional warehouse in the development zone that Haier Group put into operation in 2000, 9 AGVs formed a flexible automatic handling system in the warehouse, which successfully completed the handling of 23,400 inbound and outbound goods and parts every day.

② Manufacturing

AGV shows its talents in the production line of the manufacturing industry, completing material handling tasks efficiently, accurately and flexibly. And a flexible logistics handling system can be composed of multiple AGVs, and the handling route can be adjusted in time with the adjustment of the production process, so that a production line can produce more than a dozen products, which greatly improves the flexibility of production and the competitiveness of the enterprise.

In 1974, in order to improve the flexibility of the transportation system, the Volvo Kalmar car assembly plant in Sweden adopted an automatic car assembly line based on AGVS as a carrier. The assembly line is composed of multiple AGVSs that can load car bodies. After adopting this assembly line, assembly time is reduced. By 20%, assembly failures have been reduced by 39%, investment recovery time has been reduced by 57%, and labor force has been reduced by 5%. At present, AGV has been widely used in the manufacturing and assembly lines of major automobile factories in the world, such as GM, Toyota, Chrysler, and Volkswagen.

In recent years, as the basic handling tool of CIMS, the application of AGV has penetrated into many industries such as mechanical processing, home appliance production, microelectronics manufacturing, cigarettes, etc. The production and processing field has become the most widely used field of AGV.

③ Post office, library, port terminal and airport

In post offices, libraries, docks, airports and other occasions, the transportation of items has the characteristics of large changes in workload, strong dynamics, frequent adjustments of operating procedures, and single handling process. AGV's parallel operation, automation, intelligence and flexibility The characteristics of chemistry can well meet the handling requirements of the above-mentioned occasions.

Sweden started to use AGV at the Greater Stockholm Post Office in 1983, Japan at the Tama Post Office in Tokyo in 1988, and China in 1990 at the Shanghai Post Hub to complete the handling of postal products. At the port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 50 AGVs called "yard tractors" complete the repetitive work of transporting containers from the side of the ship to a warehouse hundreds of yards away.

④ Tobacco, medicine, food, chemical industry

For the tobacco, medicine, food, chemical and other industries that have special requirements for handling operations such as cleanness, safety, and emission-free pollution, the application of AGV has also received attention. Many domestic cigarette companies, such as Qingdao Yizhong Group, Yuxi Hongta Group, Honghe Cigarette Factory, Huaiyin Cigarette Factory, use laser-guided AGV to complete the handling of pallet cargo.

⑤ Dangerous places and special industries

In the military, based on AGV's automatic driving, it integrates other detection and disassembly equipment, which can be used for battlefield demining and position reconnaissance. The MINDER Recce, which is being developed by the British military, is a reconnaissance vehicle with mine detection, destruction and route verification capabilities. Automatic reconnaissance vehicle.

In steel plants, AGV is used for charge transportation, reducing the labor intensity of workers. In nuclear power plants and places where nuclear radiation is used for preservation and storage, AGVs are used for the transportation of goods to avoid dangerous radiation. In the film and film warehouse, AGV can accurately and reliably transport materials and semi-finished products in a dark environment.