Abstract
Multi-load Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) has been proposed for a while, but the advantage of its application is still not fully understood today. In order to fill this knowledge gap, a novel integrated model of a multi-load AGV system is developed in this paper by using an advanced form of Petri Nets, namely Coloured Petri Nets (CPNs), to simulate the operation of the AGV system in various scenarios. The study reported in this paper is focused to answer a few key questions, i.e. whether system performance can be continuously improved by increasing the load capacity of the multi-load AGVs; if not, whether there is an optimal load capacity of the multi-load AGV for a particular system; and whether the multi-load AGVs can still work well in a system with flexible loading and unloading points. The research results have shown that the efficiency of the AGV system can be improved by increasing the load capacity at the beginning, but the effectiveness of such an approach will decrease when the load capacity increases above a certain value. In other words, an AGV system may not perform better after using a larger capacity of multi-load AGV and there must be an optimal load capacity of the multi-load AGV for a specific AGV system. In addition, it is found that a system with flexible loading and unloading points can perform better after using a multi-load AGV.
Highlights
Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are increasingly used in a variety of areas of modern industry in order to improve efficiency and productivity
In order to further explore the advantages of using multi-load AGVs, three novel Coloured Petri Nets (CPNs) models have been developed in this paper to simulate the operation of a multi-load AGV
Through investigating the impact of the load capacity of multi-load AGVs on system performance and comparing it with the corresponding single-load AGV systems that can complete the same workload, the following conclusions are drawn: (1) As opposed to conventional mathematical programming methods, the CPN models proposed in this paper do provide a powerful tool to simulate the operation of the systems that have multiple AGVs; (2) Increasing the number of single-load AGVs in a system can reduce mission completion time
Summary
Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are increasingly used in a variety of areas of modern industry in order to improve efficiency and productivity. The transition will be enabled once the number of tokens contained in every input place is equal to, or greater than, the corresponding arc weights. One token is produced in the output place as the weight of the arc connecting the transition and the output place is defaulted to be one Despite their flexibility, conventional PNs meet difficulty when modelling complex systems or systems that are designed to deliver complex tasks and missions [30].
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