Memc wants to increase its production flow of silicon discs for the semiconductor industry.

To this end, it is deploying two high-performance robots to polish and stack the silicon discs.

These stacks of discs are then placed in bins that are picked up by AGVs that transport them to an outfeed conveyor from the department, all managed by warehouse management software.

Missions are created automatically by some sensors placed on converyors and stations.

The layout was very tight and AGVs could drive only in a small area with little maring, so high precision in navigation was demanded.

AGV navigation type: optical guidance

Traffic controller: 486 PC, with Digiboard multiserial ports, connected to all devices on the layout, DI/DO signals and infrared transreceivers to communicate with AGVs.

Charging concept: charging stations with contacts on the side of the AGV, when batteries are low, the vehicle is sent there to stay and charge, as well the AGV goes on charger when there are no transports to execute.

This AGV system is working over three shifts.

Number of AGVs: 3

AGV manufacturer: Digitron

Function: AGV traffic controller development

Year: 1994