Design of Ultrasonic Distance Measuring System for Auto Palletizer in Earthquake Rescue Warehouse

In order to ensure the safe use of smart devices such as auto palletizer, unmanned navigation robot, self-operated robot, etc. in modern warehouse, automatic obstacle avoidance and navigation technology have been widely used to measure the spacing between equipment, equipment and warehouse facilities or other obstacles. A design scheme of ultrasonic ranging system based on Tiva C series single chip microcomputer is proposed. Since the frequency of Tiva C series MCU is as high as 80 to 120 MHz, the capacity of time measurement will be enhanced which will improve the measurement accuracy. When the timer is started, the PWM channel is started to drive the ultrasonic transmitter and the capture channel will capture the echo signal. The ultrasonic velocity is adjusted real-time according to the actual environmental temperature. With the system, distance between stacker and the obstacle were calculated in order to determine following motion of the stacker, such as keeping moving or making a sound-light alarm or decelerating to stop, with the pre-design threshold value of distance. Through abundant tests, the system illustrated that it achieved predetermined function, the alarm and stop distance meet the requirements and could be used in the actual environment.