Analysis of autonomous vehicle storage and retrieval system by open queueing network

• Published in: 2009 IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering pp. 455 - 459
• Main Authors: Heragu, S.S., Xiao Cai, Krishnamurthy, A., Malmborg, C.J.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.08.2009
• Subjects: Automotive engineering; Costs; Intelligent vehicles; Material storage; Materials handling; Mobile robots; Performance analysis; Queueing analysis; Remotely operated vehicles; Storage automation
• ISBN: 1424445787; 9781424445783
• ISSN: 2161-8070
• DOI: 10.1109/COASE.2009.5234100

Automated vehicle storage/retrieval system (AVS/RS) technology is a relatively new material handling technology. It is a flexible system that is a viable alternative to automated storage/retrieval systems (AS/RS). The manufacturing system performance analyzer (MPA) is an open queuing network (OQN) analyzer based on the parametric decomposition method. This paper models the AVS/RS and uses MPA to analyze the performance of an AVS/RS configuration. Experimental results are provided to show that the OQN methodology can be applied effectively to analyze an AVS/RS when vehicle utilization is between 60% and 85%. MPA is a better choice than simulation to quickly evaluate alternate configurations of the AVS/RS.