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US 10,307,624 B2Granted
Active trolley support system
AssigneeGorbel, Inc.
InventorBenjamin A. Strohman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A trolley for use with a fall arrest system, the trolley providing active control of both downward movement of a body attached to a rope or cable and horizontal position along a track.
Claims19
A fall arrest system, comprising:
- a track;
- a trolley operatively associated with, and traveling along, said track;
- a trolley braking mechanism, associated with said trolley, said braking mechanism including a brake member that is placed into frictional contact with said track in response to a braking signal;
- a drum for winding and unwinding a rope thereon;
- an energy storage assembly, operatively connected to the drum, for storing energy as the rope is unwound therefrom and releasing energy as the rope is rewound thereon;
- a drum rotation sensor, said rotation sensor sensing angular rotation of the drum about its axis and producing a drum rotation signal in response to such rotation;
- at least one rope angle sensor, said angle sensor sensing when the rope exceeds a predefined angle relative to vertical and producing an excess angle signal in response thereto;
- and
- a controller receiving as inputs of at least the excess angle signal and the drum rotation signal and controlling the operation of the fall arrest system, including:
- (a) initiating the trolley braking mechanism, by outputting the braking signal in response to at least the excess angle signal, and (b) stopping further drum rotation in response to at least the drum rotation signal.
7 more elements
A fall arrest system, comprising:
- a track;
- a trolley operatively associated with, and traveling along, said track;
- a trolley braking mechanism, associated with said trolley, said braking mechanism including a brake member that is placed into frictional contact with said track in response to a braking signal;
- a drum for winding and unwinding a rope thereon;
- an energy storage assembly, operatively connected to the drum, for storing energy as the rope is unwound therefrom and releasing energy as the rope is rewound thereon, wherein said energy storage assembly for storing energy includes at least one constant force spring and where the at least one constant force spring includes a gas spring;
- a drum rotation sensor, said rotation sensor sensing angular rotation of the drum about its axis and producing a drum rotation signal in response to such rotation;
- at least one rope angle sensor, said angle sensor sensing when the rope exceeds a predefined angle relative to vertical and producing an excess angle signal in response thereto;
- and
- a controller receiving as inputs of at least the excess angle signal and the drum rotation signal and controlling the operation of the fall arrest system, including:
- (a) initiating the trolley braking mechanism in response to at least an output of the rope angle sensor, and (b) stopping further drum rotation in response to at least the drum rotation signal.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.