Abstract
A major step in the design of an AGV system involves the choice of its layout. Three different AGV layouts serving the same FMS are compared in this paper: a bidirectional line, a bidirectional loop and a unidirectional loop. Different numbers of vehicles are tried by running an ECSL program written for the AGV/FMS simulation. Various velocities and scheduling policies are used which show that bidirectional layouts are more advantageous than unidirectional ones in general, although the latter have been rendered more competitive by the application of a control algorithm for the avoidance of blockages on the track. Scheduling policies, however, are proved to be a key issue. It is therefore necessary to refer any comparison of layouts to a particular scheduling policy. In addition, it was observed that a compromise between factors measuring AGV-layout performance has to be made when assessing layouts, since these factors often follow opposite trends.
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Vosniakos, G.C., Davies, B.J. On the path layout and operation of an AGV system serving an FMS. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 4, 243–262 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02601524
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02601524