The Basics of Automatic Guided Vehicle Systems

System Management: System Monitoring

AGVS system monitoring is an important consideration in many systems. Simple systems do no require extensive monitoring or control. Sophisticated systems benefit greatly from monitoring. When a sophisticated system is installed, usually there is a high degree of automation and throughput required. A breakdown or slowdown in the system could cause serious problems if not detected immediately. There are three approaches to monitoring:

• Locator Panel
• CRT Color Graphics Display
• Central Logging and Report

A simple monitoring system for AGVS systems can be a locator panel which merely indicates if a vehicle is in a given area of the guide path. It does not identify the vehicle specifically or its condition. A light next to the area a vehicle occupies illuminates to indicate that there is a vehicle in that location. Sometimes a timer is used for each zone to indicate if that zone has been occupied for too long which might indicate that a vehicle problem exists in that location.

A CRT color graphics display specifically shows where each vehicle is including its status. CRT color graphics is usually a real time monitoring type, which can instantly detect a problem, identify specific vehicles, and show the location of the failure on the graphics display. Other useful information includes whether the vehicle is moving or is blocked by the other traffic, whether the vehicle is loaded or empty, if the battery is O.K. and where the vehicle is going. Operators can spot blockages and slowdowns quickly and take corrective action as required.

The CRT color monitor can show system condition either in graphic form or in a table form. The table form lists each vehicle ID, its location, destination, condition, mode of control, load status, and alarm condition in a column format listing which is continually updated.

A central logging and report capability for monitoring an AGVS system is helpful when attempting to develop historical data on the systems performance. Periodically, performance reports can be printed out indicating such things as how long the vehicles were moving, how many loads a given vehicle transported to a given stop station, and where were they taken or even when did a vehicle have a low battery or when did a specific load get picked up and where did it go.

Performance data can be quite useful for keeping system efficiency at the highest possible levels.