Patent ID: 8825205

Claim:
A method for controlling movement of travelling carriers in conveying equipment where variable-moving-speed, self-propelled travelling carriers move on their own at a fixed low operating speed in a work area within a moving path for the travelling carriers while maintaining continuous motion in a moving direction and where travelling carriers approach the work area at a high speed, the method comprising: providing each of the travelling carriers with data communication means to perform data communication between front and rear adjacent travelling carriers; setting a measurement starting point upstream of the work area in the moving path; providing a control device installed in each travelling carrier operable to calculate a current location information of an associated travelling carrier corresponding to a moving distance from the measurement starting point; the front travelling carrier transmitting a current location information of the front travelling carrier to the control device of the adjacent rear travelling carrier via the data communication means; the control device of the rear travelling carrier calculating a following distance between the front and rear travelling carriers based on a current location information of the rear travelling carrier and the current location information of the front travelling carrier received from the front travelling carrier via the data communication means; the control device of the rear travelling carrier performing a deceleration control based on decremental changes of the calculated following distance between the front and rear travelling carriers until the following distance reaches a set value; and each of the travelling carriers being self-propelled at the operating speed and entering into the work area by means of the control device installed in each travelling carriers.