Controllers Design for the Multi-Shuttle and Multi-Station Transportation System

Tien Dong Ha,Tran Thanh Cong Vu,Tuong Quan Vo,Minh Tien Trinh

doi:10.4236/ojapps.2021.118069

Abstract

Nowadays, the Multi-Shuttle and Multi-Station Transportation System (MMTS) is one of the most interesting research topics in many fields of industries. It is an effective solution to reduce unexpected accidents that occur during transportation as well as increase productivity in manufacturing. The aim of this paper is to introduce the controller design for the MMTS which is built in our BK-Recme BioMech Lab at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (VNU-HCM), Viet Nam. Based on the design of this system, the control algorithms will be conducted to check the operation of the whole system. To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of this model, we design a series of random instances for different quantities of nodes as well as the different quantities of shuttles. Our system includes 4 stations and 6 shuttles which are assembled in the serial chain system. However, the number of stations and number of shuttles can be expanded to any desired ones which are based on the requirement of the industries. In this paper, we mainly focus on the controller design of this system to make it operate in an effective way that the goods will be transported and delivered to the target station as fast as possible. In order to solve the large-scale instances and realistic transport problems, we propose three algorithms for three progresses as shuttles calling, path reading and shuttles communicating. The shuttles calling is to decide which shuttle should be called to the start-node. Path reading to determine the shortest way to go from start-node to end-node. Finally, shuttles communicating, which allow one shuttle to interact with the next shuttles so we have a loop of orders (shuttle 1 to shuttle 2; shuttle 2 to shuttle 3; etc.; shuttle n-1 to shuttle n). This proposes solution can help us to solve the huge numbers of shuttles and stations in the system. The specific result of this study is applying Dijkstra’s algorithm to propose an algorithm that allows handling a transportation system without caring about the number of shuttles as well as the number of stations for the closed-loop path. Several test problems are carried out in order to check the feasibility and the effectiveness of our purposed control algorithm.

Highlights

In order to solve the large-scale instances and realistic transport problems, we propose three algorithms for three progresses as shuttles calling, path reading and shuttles communicating
The shuttles calling is to decide which shuttle should be called to the start-node
This paper introduces the Multi-Shuttle and Multi-Station Transportation System (MMTS) design for general manufacturing facilities and warehouse operation

Summary

Introduction

This paper introduces the Multi-Shuttle and Multi-Station Transportation System (MMTS) design for general manufacturing facilities and warehouse operation. This proposed system is suitable to apply in industries to do the task of moving material from one location to other locations in the manufacturing environments or warehouses. The ideas of this system have been proved to be so necessary for industries to improve productivity. We can see that there are many studies related to multi-station transportation systems, just a few of them concern about algorithms to handle the movement of vehicles in the system. The most important thing is that the general algorithm can handle the situation by changing the number of shuttles and the stations in closed-loop transportation

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Conclusion