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Michael Kramer avatar image
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Michael Kramer asked Francesco S answered

AGV Charge Stations

Hello, I need help implementing a better AGV charge station. Currently it works, but has some issues and I'd like some help improving it. Currently by "work" I mean that when an AGV arrives at a control point that is designated as a "ChargeStation" in the "Way Point" menu, it will begin charging. The problem is that it will continue charging even if it is not on a control point. In the video I've attached you can see that AGV03 is charging even though it is off a control point and in motion. The logic I would like to have is to check if the AGV is stopped on a control point (0 speed) and if it's been there for more than X seconds, then begin charging, otherwise don't charge. This will eliminate a "drive-by" charging scenario, which isn't realistic. The .zip file contains the model and a short video of the issue (agv-charge-stations.zip).

Thanks!

FlexSim 16.0.1
agvchargingbattery
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Brenton King avatar image Brenton King ♦ commented ·

Michael,

I can't find a reason why the AGV would continue to charge when it isn't stopped at the way point. Especially when this is what the user manual says, "If you set the AGV to recharge, it will recharge at its recharge rate until it is full or it starts its next travel operation, whichever comes first." It should cancel charging when it gets the travel task. @anthony.johnson do you have any insight for him?

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anthony.johnson avatar image
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anthony.johnson answered Matthew Gillespie commented

The AGV's internal logic only changes the charging state either when the battery level reaches 100% or when the AGV starts a new travel task. In this model, the AGV hasn't finished its current travel operation, and thus doesn't start a new travel operation. When it arrives at the charging station, its current task is to travel to PUQ_Line1, not the charging station control point. It decelerates to stop at the charging station because you've designated the charging station way point as "Always Fire". This causes all AGVs to stop at the way point so they can fire the arrival way point, whether or not that is the final destination of their travel task. So the AGV stops at the point, fires the way point logic, then continues to its destination. It doesn't start a new travel task, so it doesn't change its charging state. I would suggest changing the way point's trigger criterion to something like "Empty at Destination", instead of "Always Fire".

FYI, in FlexSim 2016 Update 1, due to be released in the next few weeks, there will be a new template AGV process flow for controlling AGVs. With this we will encourage users to move away from using way points for AGV control, and instead to use process flow. This will allow users to implement control logic from the perspective of the AGV, which is much more intuitive than the current mechanism of implementing control logic from the perspective of the control points the AGVs pass over. The provided template process flow includes automatic logic that does battery charging.

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Sam Stubbs avatar image Sam Stubbs ♦ commented ·

@Michael Kramer If you want to look at the process flow chart that Anthony mentioned sooner than later, the template model can be found here on one of the posts in the old forum area.

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Michael Kramer avatar image Michael Kramer commented ·

Thanks for the help. I changed the "Trigger Requirement" to "Empty at Destination" and it worked. Then I realized I also wanted a charge station at the drop off area, when the AGV arrived with a load. So I removed the content check and it works fine.

I will definitely be switching over to process flow soon. I have in other models, this one is still a legacy model so that's why I'm trying to polish it up before making the leap for good. Also good to hear about the upcoming release and it's functionality.

Thank you very much!

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Francesco S avatar image
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Francesco S answered

I have exactly the same problem but I don t know how to change the trigger from always on fire to empty at destination.

can anybody show with a picture?

thank you

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Mathilde DOUSSET avatar image
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Mathilde DOUSSET answered Michael Kramer commented
@Michael Kramer

Hi!

How do you make to display the charge of battery of AGV?

Thank you!

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Michael Kramer avatar image Michael Kramer commented ·

This video is what I used to get started:

https://vimeo.com/140361461

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