Facility control system and facility control method

• US 9,778,625 B2
• Filed: 09/19/2012
• Issued: 10/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Daifuku Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Daifuku Company Limited
• Inventors: Ikawa, Kouichi, Mori, Kazuto
• Primary Examiner(s): Lin, Jason
• Application Number:
  US13/622,682
• Publication Number:
  US 20130253669A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,840 Days
• Field of Search: 700 79, 700 2
• 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:

a plurality of apparatus controllers, each of which controls an operation of a corresponding one of a plurality of facility apparatuses;

a plurality of first-layer computers, each of which executes a first-layer program for issuing an apparatus operating command for a corresponding one of the plurality of facility apparatuses to a corresponding one of the plurality of apparatus controllers that each first-layer computer is assigned to and for managing an operation result of the corresponding facility apparatus transmitted from the corresponding apparatus controller, the plurality of first-layer computers including a first task computer assigned to one type of the apparatus controllers and a second task computer assigned to a different type of the apparatus controllers;

a second-layer computer that executes a second-layer program for issuing a task command to at least one of the plurality of first-layer computers in order to cause at least one of the plurality of facility apparatuses 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 at least one of the plurality of facility apparatuses, and for managing a result of a task that is related to the task request based on the operation result of the at least one of the plurality of facility apparatuses transmitted from the at least one of the plurality of first-layer computers; and

wherein the plurality of facility apparatuses are a plurality of article transport devices in a distribution facility, wherein each of the plurality of first-layer computers is configured to manage the corresponding apparatus controller that controls the operation of a corresponding one of the plurality of article transport devices, 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;

a service switching program comprising a selection processing portion and a substitute command output processing portion;

wherein the selection processing portion is configured to display an information window on a display, the information window showing a list of a state of each of the plurality of first-layer computers and a state of the second-layer computer to distinguishably indicate whether each of the computers is operating normally or an abnormal condition has occurred, and

recognizably showing which program or programs are currently executed by which computer or computers,

wherein the selection processing portion is configured to display an indication that an abnormal condition has occurred on the information window and to accept a manual operation for selecting whether to cause one of the plurality of first layer computers to execute the second-layer program that had been executed by the second-layer computer, when an abnormal condition is detected in the second-layer computer;

wherein the substitute command output processing portion 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 two or more of the plurality of the first-layer computers including the first task computer and the second task computer 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 the manual operation,

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 selected one of the substitution candidate computers is configured to execute the substitute-execution-subject program based on the substitute command that the substitute command output processing portion outputs, and

wherein the substitute-execution-subject program is executed by a selected one of the substitution candidate computers when the substitute command is issued with the selection information indicating the selection by the manual operation to cause the selected one of the substitution candidate computers to execute the second-layer program that had been executed by the second-layer computer, when an abnormal condition is detected in the second-layer computer.

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

wherein the selection processing portion is configured to display a selection window on the display, the selection window accepting the manual operation for selecting whether to cause one of the plurality of first-layer computers to execute the second-layer program,

wherein the selection window accepts the manual operation for selecting one of the substitution candidate computers for executing the substitute-execution-subject program, and

wherein the selection window is displayed when the information window accepts a specific manual operation.

3. The facility control system as defined in claim 1, 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 plurality of first-layer computers, wherein the high power computer is defined as one of the substitute candidate computers.

4. The facility control system as defined in claim 1, further comprising a message queue program comprising a buffer processing portion that relays data for the task command and data for the operation result communicated between the plurality of first-layer computers and the second-layer computer,

wherein the buffer processing portion is configured to relay an exchange of the data between the plurality of first-layer computers and the second-layer computer based on identifying information with the identifying information assigned to each of the plurality of first-layer computers 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 selected one of the substitution candidate computers 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 each of the facility apparatuses from the plurality of first-layer computers 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 one of the plurality of first-layer computers based on selection information selected by the selection processing portion.

6. The facility control system as defined in claim 1, wherein the facility apparatus controlled by the apparatus controller that the first task computer is assigned to acts as a first article transfer device for transferring an article in a distribution facility, and

wherein the facility apparatus controlled by the apparatus controller that the second task computer is assigned to acts as a second article transfer device for transferring an article in the distribution facility, which is different from the first article transfer device in article transfer form.

7. The facility control system as defined in claim 6, wherein the first article transfer device is a stacker crane, and the second article transfer device is a conveyor.

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

a plurality of apparatus controllers, each of which controls an operation of a corresponding one of a plurality of facility apparatuses;

a plurality of first-layer computers, each of which executes a first-layer program for issuing an apparatus operating command for a corresponding one of the plurality of facility apparatuses to a corresponding one of the plurality of apparatus controllers that each first-layer computer is assigned to and for managing an operation result of the corresponding facility apparatus transmitted from the corresponding apparatus controller, the plurality of first-layer computers including a first task computer assigned to one type of the apparatus controllers and a second task computer assigned to a different type of the apparatus controllers; and

a second-layer computer that executes a second-layer program for issuing a task command to at least one of the plurality of first-layer computers in order to cause at least one of the plurality of facility apparatuses 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 at least one of the plurality of facility apparatuses, and for managing a result of a task that is related to the task request based on the operation result of the at least one of the plurality of facility apparatuses transmitted from the at least one of the plurality of first-layer computers;

wherein the plurality of facility apparatuses are a plurality of article transport devices in a distribution facility, wherein each of the plurality of first-layer computers is configured to manage the corresponding apparatus controller that controls the operation of a corresponding one of the plurality of article transport devices, 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;

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

(a) selecting, based on a manual operation, whether to cause one of the plurality of first-layer computers 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; and

(b) 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;

wherein two or more of the plurality of first-layer computers including the first task computer and the second task computer are defined as substitution candidate computers that can execute the second-layer program,

wherein in step (a), one of the substitution candidate computers for executing the substitute-execution-subject program is selected based on the manual operation,

wherein in step (b), a substitute command for causing the selected one of the substitution candidate computers to execute the substitute-execution-subject program is issued in accordance with selection information selected in step (a) and wherein the substitute-execution-subject program is executed by the selected one of the substitution candidate computer when the substitute command is issued,

wherein, in step (a), when the abnormal condition is detected in the second-layer computer, a selection processing portion of a service switching program displays an indication that an abnormal condition has occurred on an information window on a display and is ready to accept the manual operation, and

wherein the information window is configured to show a list of a state of each of the plurality of first-layer computers and a state of the second-layer computer to distinguishably indicate whether each of the computers is operating normally or an abnormal condition has occurred, and recognizably show which program or programs are currently executed by which computer or computers.

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

wherein in step (a), a selection window is displayed on the display, the selection window accepting the manual operation for selecting whether to cause one of the plurality of first-layer computers to execute the second-layer program,

wherein the selection window accepts the manual operation for selecting one of the substitution candidate computers for executing the substitute-execution-subject program, and

wherein in step (a), the selection window is displayed on the display when the information window accepts a specific manual operation with the indication being displayed on the information window.

10. 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 one of the substitute candidate computers.

11. The facility controlling method as defined in claim 8, further comprising, as a step performed by the facility control system:

(c) relaying data for the task command and data for the operation result communicated between the plurality of first-layer computers and the second-layer computer,

wherein, in step (c), an exchange of the data between the first-layer computers and the second-layer computer is relayed based on identifying information with the identifying information assigned to each of the plurality of first-layer computers and the second-layer computer, and

wherein, in step (b), an identifying information take over command is issued for causing the selected one of the substitution candidate computers 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.

12. The facility controlling method as defined in claim 8,

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 each of the facility apparatuses from the plurality of first-layer computers or the second-layer computer,

wherein, in step (b), 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 step (b), the second substitution command is issued to one of the plurality of first-layer computers based on a selection information selected in step (a).

13. The facility control method as defined in claim 8,

wherein the facility apparatus controlled by the apparatus controller that the first task computer is assigned to acts as a first article transfer device for transferring an article in a distribution facility, and

wherein the facility apparatus controlled by the apparatus controller that the second task computer is assigned to acts as a second article transfer device for transferring an article in the distribution facility, which is different from the first article transfer device in article transfer form.

14. The facility control method as defined in claim 13, wherein the first article transfer device is a stacker crane, and the second article transfer device is a conveyor.