How to limit the number of AGVs on a path?

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jacopo-r asked Feb 13, '23 Jason Lightfoot commented Feb 13, '23

How to limit the number of AGVs on a path?

Hello everyone,

In my demo model (Demo_2Lanes.fsm) I have a certain number of AGVs that need to go to 3 different destinations. As you can see from the model, there are two vertical lanes connected to three horizontal paths. In a realistic scenario an AGV will take the outer lane to go to a farther destination (Destination 3 in my case) if the inner lane is too busy with AGVs going to a closer destination.

In the model I tried to stress this behavior by arbitrarily setting the destination for each AGV. The first 9 should go to destination 2 while all the next ones should go to the farther destination 3. So far, only the first 9 AGVs move. I tried by checking and unchecking the "Divide by speed" box in the AGV Network - General, but it doesn't change anything.

Any idea on how to model this behavior?

PS: the question asks for how to limit the number of AGVs on a path because that is my general thought. Can I limit the number of AGV on the inner lane so an AGV will take the outer one if that is too busy? Does it mean that an AGV has to be able to recalculate its route continuously? Can it do that?

Thank you in advance.

Software Version:

FlexSim 23.0.2

agv agvnetwork agvrouting

demo-2lanes.fsm (55.6 KiB)

Answer 1 · 2023-02-13T12:59:28Z

Jason Lightfoot answered Feb 13, '23 Jason Lightfoot commented Feb 13, '23

Here's your model modified to process the allocation failed event by issuing a redirect at an addition CP before the branch point.

I also added a Connection relationship between the new CP and the alternate route CP:

And since there was not enough space to allow 9 AGVs to destination 2 and have any pass to destination 3, I change the number going to dest2 to eight.

I'm not sure this answers all your questions, but it's one approach that may give you some ideas on how to implement your solution. Another would be to implement some waypoint logic and check allocated capacities.

demo-2lanes_allocFailed_redirect.fsm

1676293006715.png (12.6 KiB)

1676293065006.png (19.0 KiB)

demo-2lanes-allocfailed-redirect.fsm (65.8 KiB)

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jacopo-r commented · Feb 13, 2023 at 01:44 PM

Thank you @Jason Lightfoot :)

Is there anywhere a post or some tutorial about what you mentioned with "waypoint logic and check allocated capacities"? I would be interested to study this further.

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Jason Lightfoot ♦ jacopo-r commented · Feb 13, 2023 at 02:04 PM

I don't know of any tutorials - waypoints are described here and there are many posts on this site that discuss them and provide examples.

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