A Study on a Congestion-free Design of AGV System

무혼잡 무인 운반 차량 시스템의 설계에 관한 연구

It is essential to construct on efficient material flow system for the successful introduction of automated manufacturing systems. Automated Guided Vehicle System(AGVS) ploys a significant role more and more in modern manufacturing environments, because of the flexibility and the precision they offer. However, as the size and the complexity of systems increase, the problems of dispatching, routing and scheduling of AGVs became complicated due to their independent and asynchronous demands. In this paper, we review relevant papers, and provide a new and more efficient method for partitioning the AGV system by introducing the concept of Central Path. This method named Central Path design has advantages, since each partitioned workstation group is served by one AGV and the material handling between groups is performed by special AGV that is used for the Central Path. Therefore the congestion problems never occur. Furthermore Central Path Design has a high flexibility for alteration and extension of system. Finally, we demonstrate its efficiency using simulation.