With the AGV, IBG has developed a driverless transport system that can be flexibly adapted to spatial conditions and requirements in terms of size or weight to be transported. The transport system moves autonomously and communicates with robots and automation systems. Track-guided solutions and free navigation, including obstacle avoidance, as well as hybrid variants of the navigation forms are available. The AGV consists of various basic modules. This modular design enables individual adaptation to all requirements. It is equipped with a lift table, a roller conveyor, as a tug or stacker.

New smart factory built
Wilo in Dortmund produces pumps and pump systems for heating, cooling and air-conditioning technology, water supply and wastewater disposal and treatment. The company's newly built Smart Factory relies on automated intralogistics. The AGV solution from IBG is used here.

The vehicle handles transportation between manual and automatic workstations. AGVs transport pumps or assemblies weighing between ten and 1,000 kilograms between the assembly stations within an assembly line. At the work stations, employees carry out assembly processes on the pump. For this purpose, the workpiece is positioned at an ergonomic height using an integrated lifting table to ensure better accessibility. At the end, the employee "releases" the AGV, which then independently follows its travel order to the next station.

The transport system moves autonomously, communicates and transports assemblies weighing up to 1,000 kilograms safely between the assembly stations.

There are also assembly stations where the pump is pushed off with the workpiece carrier via an integrated roller conveyor and automated transfer and picked up again later. This ensures that the pumps are transported safely during the production process - especially during transfers.

Freely navigating AGVs
The AGV fleet used is freely navigating. This means that no tracks are laid and no further markings are necessary. Navigation is based on the characteristics of the existing hall infrastructure. The fleet manager is used to differentiate between various areas on the generated map, such as preferred routes, prohibited areas, fixed and variable objects, workstations and charging stations. The selected navigation method enables the successive connection of adjacent departments and areas.

The vehicles communicate with each other via the fleet manager. In addition, charging processes, the return of unoccupied vehicles, queue control, collision avoidance, routing, automated handover/takeover at corresponding interfaces and vehicle scheduling for transfer from the test benches and e-assembly stations are managed via the higher-level management system. as