UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA

BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS LAPORAN PROJEK SARJANA MUDA

TAJUK: DESIGN OF AUTOMATED GUIDED VEHICLE (AGV) FOR WORKPIECES TRANSPORTATION IN MANUFACTURING PLANT SESI PENGAJIAN: 2014/2015 Saya MOHAMAD ZAWAWI BIN ABDUL RAZAK mengaku membenarkan Laporan PSM ini disimpan di Perpustakaan Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) dengan syarat-syarat kegunaan seperti berikut:

1. Laporan PSM adalah hak milik Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka dan penulis. 2. Perpustakaan Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka dibenarkan membuat salinan

untuk tujuan pengajian sahaja dengan izin penulis. 3. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan laporan PSM ini sebagai bahan

pertukaran antara institusi pengajian tinggi.

4. **Sila tandakan ( )

SULIT

TERHAD

TIDAK TERHAD

(Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau kepentingan Malaysia sebagaimana yang termaktub dalam AKTA RAHSIA RASMI 1972)

(Mengandungi maklumat TERHAD yang telah ditentukan oleh organisasi/badan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan)

Alamat Tetap:

NO 82 A, KAMPUNG BELUM BARU

33300 GERIK PERAK DARUL

RIDZUAN

Tarikh: ________________________

Disahkan oleh:

Cop Rasmi: Tarikh: _______________________

** Jika Laporan PSM ini SULIT atau TERHAD, sila lampirkan surat daripada pihak berkuasa/organisasi berkenaan dengan menyatakan sekali sebab dan tempoh laporan PSM ini perlu dikelaskan sebagai SULIT atau TERHAD.

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DECLARATION

I hereby, declared this report entitled “Design of Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) for

Workpiece Transportation in Manufacturing Plant” is the result of my own research

except as cited in references.

Signature : ………………………………………………

Author’s Name : ………………………………………………

Date : ………………………………………………

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APPROVAL

This report is submitted to the Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering of UTeM as a

partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Manufacturing

Engineering (Robotic and Automation) (Hons.). The member of the supervisory is as

follow:

……………………………………………….

(Project Supervisor)

(Prof. Dr. Bashir Mohamad Bin Bali Mohamad)

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ABSTRAK

Laporan projek ini membentangkan kerja-kerja yang dilakukan pada rekabentuk dan

permodelan mudah kenderaan berpandu automatik. AGV yang merupakan salah satu

system yang mengendalikan peralatan yang telah digunakan secara meluas dalam industri

pembuatan kebanyakan hari. Ini adalah kerana ia memberi lebih banyak kemudahan

sistem pengendalian. Konsep asas AGV yang menggabungkan kenderaan berkuasa bateri

dan tidak memerlukan dengan pengaturcaraan keupayaan untuk pemilihan laluan dan

kedudukan. Ia dilengkapi untuk menavigasi dalam rangkaian laluan panduan fleksibel

yang boleh diubahsuai dengan mudah dan berkembang. Perisian untuk mereka bentuk

AGV yang dipilih berdasarkan pengetahuan penulis. Beberapa idea-idea rekabentuk telah

dihasilkan dan dibahagikan kepada dua komponen utama iaitu kenderaan badan dan

rangka struktur. Dari idea-idea ini direka bentuk, perbandingan telah dibuat untuk

memilih idea Reka bentuk yang terbaik dari mereka bentuk AGV itu. Bahagian penting

AGV direka berdasarkan spesifikasi dan keperluan bahagian-bahagian yang perlu

dipasangkan padanya. Senarai semua bahagian perlu direka dan bahagian-bahagian yang

standard dibentangkan dalam laporan ini. Bahagian-bahagian terperinci dan spesifikasi

dibentangkan dalam solid model dengan dimensi yang memenuhi keperluan

pembangunan masa hadapan. Analisis unsur terhingga (FEA) telah digunakan untuk

menganalisis rekabentuk struktur AGV. Tekanan, anjakan, perubahan bentuk dan faktor

keselamatan adalah diperolehi dari analisis dan dibentangkan. Untuk pembangunan masa

depan, ia dicadangkan untuk fabrikasi dan menguji rekabentuk AGV. Daripada keputusan

ujian, tindakan perlu diambil (jika perlu) untuk penambahbaikan Reka bentuk AGV.

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ABSTRACT

This project report presents the work done on the design and soft modeling of automated

guided vehicle. An AGV is one of a material handling equipment that has been used

widely in most manufacturing industry today. This is because it provides more flexibility

to the material handling system. The basic concept of the AGV incorporates battery-

powered and driverless vehicles with programming capabilities for path selection and

positioning. They are equipped to navigate a flexible guide path network that can be

easily modified and expanded. The software for designing the AGV is chosen based on

the author knowledge. Several design ideas have been generated and divided into two

major components which are the body vehicle and the structure frame. From these

designed ideas, a comparison has been made to choose the best design idea from

designing the AGV. The AGV important parts are designed based on the specification

and requirement of the parts to be attached to it. The list of all parts needs to be fabricated

and the standard parts are presented in this report. The detail of the parts and their

specifications are presented in solid model with the dimensions which fulfills the

requirement for future development. Finite element analysis (FEA) has been used to

analyse the design of the AGV structure. The stress, displacement, deformation and

factor of safety are obtained from the analysis and presented. For future development, it

was suggested to fabricate and test the designed AGV. From the test result, action should

be taken (if necessary) for further improvement of the designed AGV design.

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DEDICATION

My special dedication to my beloved mother, Che Embun Binti Yaacob, for their loves

and supports which never end and with the loves and supports given to me, I managed to

go through 4 years of my study which full with challenges and hunches. To beloved

friends of 4BMFA who have been with me through my journey in education. Also thank

you for all the motivation and their beliefs towards me.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my appreciation to all those who provided me the possibility to

complete this report. A special gratitude give to my final year project supervisor, Prof.

Dr. Bashir Mohamad Bin Bali Mohamad, whose contribution in suggestion and

encouragement, helped to coordinate my project especially in writing this report.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Declaration i

Approval ii

Abstrak iii

Abstract iv

Dedication v

Acknowledgement vi

Table of Content vii

List of Tables x

List of Figures xi

List of Abbreviations, Symbols and Nomenclature xiv

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of study 1

1.2 Problem statement 2

1.3 Project objective 3

1.4 Scope of the project 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 AGVs Classification 4

2.1.1 Guide path Determination 5

2.1.2 Vehicle Load Capacity 6

2.1.3 Vehicle Addressing Mechanism 8

2.2 Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) 9

2.2.1 Driverless Train 9

2.2.2 Pallet Trucks 10

2.2.3 Unit Load Carrier 10

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2.3 AGV Navigation 11

2.3.1 Fixed Path 11

2.3.1 Free Ranging or Non-wire Navigation 13

2.4 Positioning Techniques 14

2.4.1 Odometry 15

2.4.2 Inertial Navigation 16

2.4.3 Magnetic Compasses 16

2.4.4 Active Beacon 17

2.4.5 Global Positioning System (GPS) 18

2.4.6 Landmark Navigation 19

2.4.7 Map Based Positioning 20

2.5 Steering Consideration 21

2.5.1 Steered-Wheel System 22

2.5.2 Skid-Steered System 24

2.5.3 Ackerman Steering 25

2.5.4 Differential Drive System 26

2.6 Microcontroller 33

2.7 Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software 35

2.7.1 AutoCAD 35

2.7.2 SolidWorks 35

2.7.3 Catia 36

2.8 Conclusion 36

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 37

3.1 Flow Chart of Project 37

3.2 Generate preliminary design ideas and specification 39

3.3 Analysis of the preliminary design ideas and specification 42

3.4 Conclusion 44

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CHAPTER 4: DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF THE AUTOMATED

GUIDED VEHICLE 45

4.1 AGV parts 45

4.1.1 Assembly design and AGV structure 48

4.1.2 Parts specification 51

4.2 Model analysis 60

4.3 Von Mises Stress analysis 61

4.3.1 Element quality 61

4.3.2 Direct method computation 64

4.4 Factor of Safety 67

4.5 Encoder DC motor 68

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION FOR FUTURE WORK 71

5.1 Conclusion 71

5.2 Suggestion for future work 72

REFERENCES 73

APPENDICES 75

A Project Gantt Chart 76

B Detail drawings and dimensions of the parts to be fabricated 77

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LIST OF TABLES

3.1 The comparison for design ideas of body vehicle 41

3.2 The comparison for design ideas of structure frame 41

4.1 List of parts need to be fabricated 46

4.2 List of standard parts 47

4.3 Shows the fabricated parts and their specifications 51

4.4 Shows the standard parts and their specifications 55

4.5 The element quality of the chassis of AGV 61

4.6 Parameter of Aluminium Alloy 6061 61

4.7 Applied load resultant on chassis of AGV 62

4.8 Minimum and maximum pivot 63

4.9 Minimum pivot 63

4.10 Translational pivot distribution 63

4.11 The values of force (x,y,z) and moment (x,y,z) of model 64

4.12 Show the detailed about the pin connection encoder motor 69

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LIST OF FIGURES

1.1 AGV application for warehousing industry 1

1.2 The present condition between bandsaw machine and CNC machine at FKP 2

2.1 Deadlock situation in manufacturing systems 6

2.2 Single load vehicle 7

2.3 AGVS Classification Scheme 8

2.4 Driverless train 10

2.5 Pallet truck control by human operator 11

2.6 Unit load carrier for heavy product 12

2.7 Existing navigation technologies of AGV 14

2.8 Magnetic compasses used to detected the route of AGV 17

2.9 Active beacon system 18

2.10 GPS working principle 19

2.11 A map claim with landmarks labeled 20

2.12 A typical scan of a room 21

2.13 (a) Ackerman-steered system; (b) Differential-steered system 22

2.14 Steered-wheel system in tricycle configuration 23

2.15 Steered-wheel configuration as used in automobiles 23

2.16 Skid-steered system in four wheel vehicle 25

2.17 Schematic of a robot with Ackerman steering 26

2.18 Differential drive system in most robots 27

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2.19 Differential steering is a result of different wheel speeds causing the

robot to change direction 28

2.20 Basic operation of a shaft encoder 29

2.21 Pulses showing distance travelled by an AGV obtained by the use of encoder 30

2.22 Path of wheels through a turn 32

2.23 Microchip 16F877A is one of microcontroller 33

2.24 A typical microprocessor system 34

3.1 Flow chart of project methodology 38

3.2 Sketch of the body vehicle design ideas 40

3.3 Sketch of the structure frame design ideas 41

3.4 Conceptual design of automated guided vehicle (AGV) 43

4.1 The assembly design of automated guided vehicle 48

4.2 Structure of automated guided vehicle 49

4.3 Exploded view of AGV with the name of each part 50

4.4 Aluminium Alloy 6061-T6 chassis of AGV 60

4.5 Boundary condition of AGV chassis 62

4.6 Static Case Solution-deformed mesh 1 64

4.7 Static Case Solution 1-Von Mises Stress (nodal value) 2 65

4.8 Static Case Solution 1-Von Mises Stress (nodal value) 2 65

4.9 Static Case Solution 1-Translational displacement vector 66

4.10 Show the maximum of stress on chassis of AGV 67

xiii

4.11 Show the pin connection of encoder DC motor 68

4.12 Show the connection motor to PIC microcontroller 69

xiv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, SYMBOLS AND

NOMENCLATURE

AGV - Automated Guided Vehicle

CNC - Computer Numerical Control

CAD - Computer-Aided Design

CAM - Computer-Aided Manufacturing

CPU - Central Unit Processing

DC - Direct Current

FEA - Finite Element Analysis

GPS - Global Positioning System

RPM - Revolution per Minutes

PC - Personal Computer

3D - Three Dimensional

2D - Two Dimensional

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of study

Basic Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) technology is not a new technology. Fifty years

ago when AGVs were first entered the market and industry were called driverless systems.

Going through the years of development, advances in electronics have led to improvement in

automated guided vehicles. Nowadays, the technology of AGV is widely used in environment to

perform variety of task that involves automation. (Groover, 2000)

Figure 1.1: AGV application for warehousing industry

(Source: http://www.seegrid.com/industries/warehousing)

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The automated guided vehicle is highlighted as a flexible transport vehicle for existing

lines in variety industrial fields. An automated guided vehicle (AGV) is a vehicle that is

equipped with automatic guidance system either electromagnetic or optically. This vehicle is

capable of transportation of material, sorting and material handling work also handling

dangerous materials. An AGV consist of one or more computer controller wheel based load

carriers that run on the plant floor without the need for an onboard operator or driver. As it

names was automated, this vehicle is programmed to handle operation on its own. (Junemann

and Schmidt, 2000)

1.2 Problem statement

The problem on the manufacturing plant at Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering UTeM

is that there is no automated guided vehicle (AGV) system to transport raw material from cutting

process station using bandsaw machine to milling, turning, CNC and welding station. Figure 1.2

showed the condition of cutting process station and nearby stations.

Figure 1.2: The present condition between bandsaw machine and CNC machine at Faculty of

Manufacturing Engineering (Source: AMC laboratory UTeM)

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1.2 Project objective

1. To design an automated guided vehicle (AGV) for work-pieces transportation in

manufacturing plant.

2. To develop a soft prototype of the above designed AGV.

1.4 Scope of the project

This project will cover the following scope:

1. The design an automated guided vehicle is limited to the maximum load that can

be transport. The maximum load for this design is about 200N.

2. The application of this AGV is limited to the laboratory area of the block PFI-B,

Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka.

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, we will discuss more about Automated Guided Vehicle System, its classification,

the vehicle load capacity, the vehicle itself and the application of the vehicle in material handling

and industry. The reference sources and information are obtained from website, books, journals,

articles, conference and magazine. This chapter is to enhance the knowledge of student about the

project.

2.1 AGVs Classification

Modern AGV system differs from the classic one as described for instance in the book of

Junemann and Schmidt (2000) and Tompkins et al. (2003) in several respect. Rather than using

fixed paths, many modern AGV are free ranging, which means the path of the vehicle are

software programmed and can be change relatively easy when new stations or even flows are

added. Modern technology also allows the vehicle to make decisions on its own compare to the

past when control was perform by central controllers. This leads to adaptive, self-learning system

of the AGV (Tuan Le-Anh and De Koster). In this section, AGVs classification according to the

journal by Peter et al will describe.

According to the journal, the automated guided vehicle system can be divided into three

basic levels such as below:

i. Guided path determination

a) Static path

i. Unidirectional

ii. Bidirectional

b) Dynamic path

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ii. Vehicle capacity

a) Single unit load

b) Multiple loads

iii. Vehicle addressing mechanism

a) Direct address

b) Indirect address

2.1.1 Guide path Determination

Automated Guided Vehicle (AGVs) guide paths can be determined in two ways, which

are static or dynamic determination. Static guide paths system, it can be further divided into

unidirectional and bidirectional systems. In static guide path, the vehicles use a set of

predetermined paths between possible origin and destinations. Variety of guidance mechanisms

can be used such as wires embedded in the floor, chemical or optical sensors, dead reckoning and

mapping of the paths by using software.

In unidirectional system, the vehicle will only travel in single direction following

predetermined lane. If many vehicle are used, each of them will have its own lane or path and

each of the lane is controlled independently even through the directions are different. This type

of system is easier to control as deadlocking and collision problems can be avoided. In

bidirectional system, vehicles can travel in forward and backward movement using the same

guide path. In order to do so, a turning or turnaround point is specified for the vehicle. Although

this type of system can bring improvement in productivity and less vehicle usage, however, the

control system is complex since multiple vehicle share the same guide path and must be able to

avoid deadlock situation.

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Figure 2.1: Deadlock situation in manufacturing systems: a) Part routing deadlock; b) AGV

deadlock (Peter et al)

Dynamic guide path system use fully autonomous vehicle, which are capable of

determining its path through obstacle detection and avoidance system. In this system, the vehicle

is given the destination, a location that the vehicle knows through coordinate system. The vehicle

the determined its path from its current position to the desired position its internal navigation

scheme (Peter et al).

2.1.2 Vehicle Load Capacity

In automated guided vehicle system, the vehicle can be classified based on its load

capacity, which is either single load or multiple load vehicles. System that use single load

vehicle is known as single load system, an empty vehicle will be assigned for a task for example

taking a load and deliver it. From its current position, it will then travel to a station to pick up the

load and then travel to the desired position to drop off the load.

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Figure 2.2: Single load vehicle

(Source: http://www.jbtc-agv.com/en/Solutions/Products/Unit-Load-Automatic-Guided-

Vehicles-AGVs)

During performing its task, it is not in tempted with another assignment and will only

move in path to pick up and drop off the load. In multiple load system, the task of the vehicle is

more complicated where the vehicle may be interrupted while performing its task. It may stop to

another station to pick up another load. In this type of system, the planning and scheduling

functions of controller might be difficult as the plan and schedule must integrate the new task

into previously assigned tasks. (Peter et al 1991)

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2.1.3 Vehicle Addressing Mechanism

Vehicle addressing system in AGVs can be grouped into two, which are direct or indirect

address system. In direct address system, any vehicle is allowed to visit any stations available in

the same system. This system is much alike the taxi service. The planning function for this

system routes vehicle from its current location to its destination considering the current status of

the system. In other words the routes are not determined in advanced. Vehicles must be assigned

to tasks since vehicle are not restricted to serve any particular station. The planning function

might be complicated since the location of the vehicle is not known initially but only changes

upon system changes.

Figure 2.3: AGVS Classification Scheme (Peter et al)

In indirect address system, vehicles will stop at stations in a fixed sequence, which is

more likely a bus service. The routes are predetermined as part of the system design, not one of

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the controller planning function. Compare to direct address system, the dispatching in this

system is straight forward. As the route of the vehicle is predetermined, it will pick up and drop

off loads when it reach each stations in its route (Peter et al).

2.2 Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV)

According to (Groover, 1987), Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) can be grouped into

three categories as below:

1. Driverless train

2. Pallet trucks

3. Unit load carriers

2.2.1 Driverless Train

Driverless train basically consists of towing vehicle, which is the AGV that pull or more

trailers forming a train. This type of AGV is used when heavy payloads involve and loads need

to be travel in large distances like in a warehouse. The task usually involves intermediate pick up

and drop off points along its path. (Groover, 2001)