Facility Control System and Facility Control Method

• US 20130253669A1
• Filed: 09/19/2012
• Published: 09/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Daifuku Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Daifuku Company Limited
• Inventors: Ikawa, Kouichi, Mori, Kazuto
• Granted Patent: US 9,778,625 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/79
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 9/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/202 where processing functionality is redundant redundant communication control functionality G06F11/2005, redundant storage control functionality G06F11/2089
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2023 Failover techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2033 switching over of hardware resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2035 without idle spare hardware

Abstract

A facility control system comprises a selection processing portion that selects, based on a manual operation and when an abnormal condition occurs in a second-layer computer that issues a task command to a first-layer program which issues an apparatus operating command to an apparatus controller, whether to cause a first-layer computer to execute a second-layer program that had been executed by the second-layer computer, and a substitute command output processing portion which outputs a substitute command in accordance with selection information selected by the selection processing portion. The first-layer computer executes the second-layer program that had been executed by the second-layer computer in which the abnormal condition occurred based on a substitute command outputted by the substitute command output processing portion.

Claims

1. A facility control system comprising:

an apparatus controller that controls an operation of a facility apparatus;

a first-layer computer that executes a first-layer program for issuing an apparatus operating command for the facility apparatus to the apparatus controller that the first-layer computer is assigned to and for managing an operation result of the facility apparatus transmitted from the apparatus controller;

a second-layer computer that executes a second-layer program for issuing a task command to the first-layer computer in order to cause the facility apparatus required to process a task request to be operated in accordance with the task request which is a request for an operation that is to be accomplished by operating the facility apparatus, and for managing a result of a task that is related to the task request based on the operation result of the facility apparatus transmitted from the first-layer computer;

a selection processing portion that selects, based on a manual operation, whether to cause the first-layer computer to execute the second-layer program that had been executed by the second-layer computer, when an abnormal condition occurs in the second-layer computer;

a substitute command output processing portion that issues a substitute command for executing, as a substitute-execution-subject program, the second-layer program that had been executed by the second-layer computer in which the abnormal condition occurred;

wherein the substitute command output processing portion is configured to output the substitute command in accordance with a selection information selected by the selection processing portion, and

wherein the first-layer computer is configured to execute the substitute-execution-subject program based on the substitute command that the substitute command output processing portion outputs.

2. The facility control system as defined in claim 1, wherein

a plurality of the first-layer computers are provided, wherein two or more of the first-layer computers are defined as substitution candidate computers that can execute the second-layer program, and wherein the selection processing portion is configured to be able to select one of the substitution candidate computers for executing the substitute-execution-subject program, based on a manual operation.

3. The facility control system as defined in claim 2, wherein

a high power computer with enough processing power to execute both the first-layer program and the second-layer program simultaneously and a low power computer which has less processing power than the high power computer are used as the first-layer computers, wherein the high power computer is defined as the substitute candidate computer.

4. The facility control system as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

a buffer processing portion that relays data for the task command and data for the operation result communicated between the first-layer computer and the second-layer computer,

wherein the buffer processing portion is configured to relay an exchange of the data between the first-layer computer and the second-layer computer based on identifying information with the identifying information assigned to each of the first-layer computer and the second-layer computer, and

wherein the substitute command output processing portion is configured to issue an identifying information take over command for causing the first-layer computer to take over the identifying information that had been assigned to the second-layer computer when the abnormal condition occurs in the second-layer computer.

5. The facility control system as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

a monitoring computer that executes a monitoring program which collects and displays information on an operational state of the facility apparatus from the first-layer computer or the second-layer computer,

wherein the substitute command output processing portion is configured to issue a second substitution command for executing the monitoring program that had been executed by the monitoring computer in which an abnormal condition occurred, as a second substitute-execution-subject program, and

wherein the substitute command output processing portion is configured to issue the second substitution command to the first-layer computer based on selection information selected by the selection processing portion.

6. The facility control system as defined in claim 1, wherein

the facility apparatus is an article transport device in a distribution facility,

wherein the first-layer computer is configured to manage the apparatus controller that controls the operation of the article transport device,

wherein the second-layer computer is configured to manage article transport information for the entire distribution facility, and

wherein the task request is a transport request for an article in the distribution facility.

7. In a facility control method using a facility control system having:

an apparatus controller that controls an operation of a facility apparatus;

a first-layer computer that executes a first-layer program for issuing an apparatus operating command for the facility apparatus to the apparatus controller that the first-layer computer is assigned to and for managing an operation result of the facility apparatus transmitted from the apparatus controller; and

a second-layer computer that executes a second-layer program for issuing a task command to the first-layer computer in order to cause the facility apparatus required to process a task request to be operated in accordance with the task request which is a request for an operation that is to be accomplished by operating the facility apparatus, and for managing a result of a task that is related to the task request based on the operation result of the facility apparatus transmitted from the first-layer computer;

the facility control method comprising the following steps that are performed by the facility control system;

a selection processing step of selecting, based on a manual operation, whether to cause the first-layer computer to execute the second-layer program that had been executed by the second-layer computer, when an abnormal condition occurs in the second-layer computer;

a substitute command output processing step of issuing a substitute command for executing, as a substitute-execution-subject program, the second-layer program that had been executed by the second-layer computer in which the abnormal condition occurred; and

wherein in the substitute command output processing step, a substitute command for causing the first-layer computer to execute the substitute-execution-subject program is issued in accordance with selection information selected in the selection processing step.

8. The facility controlling method as defined in claim 7, wherein

a plurality of the first-layer computers are provided, wherein two or more of the first-layer computers are defined as substitution candidate computers that can execute the second-layer program, and wherein in the selection processing step, one of the substitution candidate computers for executing the substitute-execution-subject program is selected based on a manual operation.

9. The facility controlling method as defined in claim 8, wherein

a high power computer with enough processing power to execute both the first-layer program and the second-layer program simultaneously and a low power computer which has less processing power than the high power computer are used as the first-layer computers in the facility control system, wherein the high power computer is defined as the substitute candidate computer.

10. The facility controlling method as defined in claim 7, further comprising, as a step performed by the facility control system:

a buffer processing step of relaying data for the task command and data for the operation result communicated between the first-layer computer and the second-layer computer,

wherein, in the buffer processing step, an exchange of the data between the first-layer computer and the second-layer computer is relayed based on identifying information with the identifying information assigned to each of the first-layer computer and the second-layer computer, and

wherein, in the substitute command output processing step, an identifying information take over command is issued for causing the first-layer computer to take over the identifying information that had been assigned to the second-layer computer when the abnormal condition occurs in the second-layer computer.

11. The facility controlling method as defined in claim 7, wherein

the facility control system further includes a monitoring computer that executes a monitoring program which collects and displays information on an operational state of the facility apparatus from the first-layer computer or the second-layer computer,

wherein, in the substitute command output processing step, a second substitution command is issued for executing the monitoring program that had been executed by the monitoring computer in which an abnormal condition occurred, as a second substitute-execution-subject program, and

wherein, in the substitute command output processing step, the second substitution command is issued to the first-layer computer based on a selection information selected in the selection processing step.

12. The facility controlling method as defined in claim 7, wherein

the facility apparatus is an article transport device in a distribution facility,

wherein the first-layer computer is configured to manage the apparatus controller that controls the operation of the article transport device,

wherein the second-layer computer is configured to manage article transport information for the entire distribution facility, and

wherein the task request is a transport request for an article in the distribution facility.