Luminescent compound for controlling traveling and method...

Compositions – Organic luminescent material containing compositions – Synthetic resin containing

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C701S023000, C180S168000, C180S167000, C180S169000, C428S690000, C428S691000, C252S301160, C252S30140R

Reexamination Certificate

active

06203725

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a luminescent dye compound used for a method for controlling traveling of a traveling articles including automatic guided vehicles such as an industrial robot, and a laminated article for detection and an ink composition for detection used for the method
2. Description of the Related Art
As a method for controlling traveling of an architectural robot, a method has been suggested in which a guidepath is embedded under a road surface, and a current is applied to generate a magnetic field for controlling (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 60(1985) -31620). However, this method cannot be applied for floors of an office or a department store in which various variations in layout are required since the embedding cost is high, and since, as the most important problem, it is very difficult to change a track. On the other hand, as a guiding method in which the guidepath is not installed on the floor, there is known a method for traveling control in which a laser beam, ultrasonic wave or light emitting diode beam is applied toward a wall, a reflected wave from the wall is detected and a traveling machine moves with keeping a constant distance from the wall (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. 57(1982)-155610, 3(1991)-228105). However, there are troubles in this method that when a wall has unevenness, a reflected wave cannot be detected due to scattering and an automatic guided vehicle collides with the wall, and further, when an obstacle is placed between a wall and the automatic guided vehicle, a reflected wave generated by collision of an irradiation wave with the obstacle is mistook for a reflected wave from the wall, and the automatic guided vehicle deviates from the track and cannot travel along the wall. Further, there has been suggested a guiding system in which an infrared ray source is installed on the ceiling, an infrared ray is transmitted toward a floor surface, and an automatic guided vehicle is guided by this infrared ray (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 5(1993)-150827). However, this system has problems that when an infrared ray is disturbed by an obstacle, it cannot function at all, as well as the apparatus and installing procedure thereof need high cost.
Recently, to solve the above-described problem, there has been suggested an automatic guided vehicle guiding system in which a guide line is drawn on a floor surface with a material containing a luminescent dye as a main component, and the traveling of the automatic guided vehicle is controlled with detecting a light emitted from the luminescent dye by a photosensor installed on the automatic guided vehicle (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. 6(1994)-149350 and 8(1996)-22322).
In these methods, a luminescent dye which is exciting and emits a light by absorbing an ultraviolet ray, visible light or infrared ray is installed on a guidepath, and the resulting emitted light is detected by a photosensor installed on an automatic guided vehicle for conducting automatic guide, and the characteristic thereof is that the guidepath can be installed inexpensively without requiring a special construction.
The present inventors have found during the investigation of automatic controlled traveling that when automatic traveling control is conducted by a known method (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 6(1994)-149350), a lot of malfunctions occur and the method is practically problematical.
The present inventors have intensively studied a cause which brings about malfunction, and consequently, have found that there are two causes as a cause which brings about malfunction, as described below:
(1) Sufficient emission strength cannot be obtained and therefore detection is impossible.
(2) An irradiation light is reflected from floor, wall or scattered and therefore a photo-detecting apparatus malfunctions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a luminescent compound for controlling traveling which manifests sufficient emission strength for the optical control of traveling articles such as an automatic guided vehicle to realize stable traveling without malfunction.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a resin composition for detection, a molded resin for detection and an ink composition for detection containing the above-described luminescent compound for controlling traveling.
Further, the present invention provide a method for optically controlling traveling articles such as an automatic guided vehicle.
The present inventors have intensively studied in consideration of these problems, and as a result, found that stable traveling without malfunction can be realized by selecting a luminescent compound for controlling traveling, wherein the minimum wavelength end (A nm) of the luminescent compound used for optically controlling traveling and the maximum wavelength end (B nm) of an irradiation light used for controlling traveling satisfy the following relation:
A−B≧150 nm  (1).
completing the present invention. In the present invention, the term “the minimum wavelength end” means the minimum wavelength in the wavelength region of a luminescence spectrum having the maximum luminescent intensity, and the term “the maximum wavelength end” means the maximum wavelength in the wavelength region of an irradiation light spectrum.
The traveling controlling which is the object of the present invention can be carried out by applying the compound having the aforesaid characteristics or installing a resin film containing the compound on the floor or wall in which an automatic guided vehicle such as a robot are moved.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Namely, the present invention includes the following aspects.
(i) A luminescent compound used for optically controlling a traveling article, wherein the minimum wavelength end (A nm) of the luminescent compound used for controlling traveling and the maximum wavelength end (B nm) of an irradiation light used for controlling traveling satisfy the following relation:
A−B≧150 nm  (1).
(ii) A luminescent compound for controlling traveling, wherein the luminescent compound for controlling traveling of (i) is a compound represented by the following general formula (2):
wherein, R
1
, R
2
, R
3
, R
4
, R
5
, R
6
, R
7
and R
8
are each independently represent a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group or a substituted or unsubstituted heteroaryl group, and A
+
represents a quaternary ammonium ion or phosphonium ion.
(iii) A resin composition for detection which comprises the luminescent compound for controlling traveling of paragraph (i) and a resin.
(iv) A molded resin material for detection which is obtained by molding the resin composition of paragraph (iii).
(v) The resin composition for detection of paragraph (iii) and the molded resin of paragraph (iv) in which the resin is selected from polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polymethyl acrylate, polymethyl methacrylate or a copolymer thereof.
(vi) The resin composition for detection of paragraph (iii) and the molded resin of paragraph (iv), in which the luminescent compound for controlling traveling of (i) is a compound represented by the aforementioned formula (2).
(vii) The resin composition for detection of paragraph (iii) and the molded resin of paragraph (iv), wherein the amount added of the compound of paragraph (i) is from 0.01% by weight to 10% by weight based on the molded resin.
(viii) The molded resin material for detection of paragraph (iv) in which the thickness of the material is from 10 to 500 &mgr;m.
(ix) The molded resin material for detection of paragraphs (iv) and (viii) in which the material has an adhesive layer.
(x) A laminated article for detection obtained by applying on a resin film an adhesive containing the luminescent compound for controlling traveling of paragraph (i).
(xi) The laminated article for

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