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US 12,662,039 B2Granted
Transport system
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorBas van den Heuvel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A transport system has a transport vehicle comprising a load area having a load surface on which a plurality of rack units of the transport system can be arranged one behind the other in a vehicle longitudinal direction and can be either locked in position or displaced in the vehicle longitudinal direction, whereby an accessible intermediate space can be produced between two adjacent rack units. In order to enhance improve the effective usability of a load space of a commercial vehicle, the transport vehicle is configured such that the intermediate space can be accessed regardless of the position thereof from an access side arranged laterally in the vehicle transverse direction.
Claims18
A transport system comprising:
- a transport vehicle comprising:
- a load area having a load surface;
- a vehicle sidewall;
- and
- a roof which extends at least predominantly above the load area and which is supported, at least partially, by the vehicle sidewall;
- and
- a plurality of rack units arranged on the load surface one behind the other in a vehicle longitudinal direction and configured to be either locked in position or displaced in the vehicle longitudinal direction, whereby an accessible intermediate space can be produced between two adjacent rack units, wherein the transport vehicle is configured such that the intermediate space can be accessed regardless of the position thereof from an access side arranged laterally in a vehicle transverse direction and positioned opposite the vehicle sidewall, wherein the roof is further supported by a rearmost rack unit of the plurality of rack units in the vehicle longitudinal direction, wherein the rearmost rack unit is permanently connected to the load surface of the transport vehicle and is not displaceable in the longitudinal direction of the transport vehicle, and wherein each of the plurality of rack units comprises:
- a locking element;
- and
- a latch element, wherein the locking element and the latch element of adjacent rack units of the plurality of rack units are configured to engage such that the adjacent rack units are locked in position relative to one another.
7 more elements
A transport system comprising:
- a transport vehicle comprising a load area having a load surface;
- a vehicle sidewall;
- a roof which extends at least predominantly above the load area;
- and
- a plurality of rack units arranged on the load surface one behind the other in the vehicle longitudinal direction and configured to be either locked in position or displaced in the vehicle longitudinal direction, whereby an accessible intermediate space can be produced between two adjacent rack units, wherein the transport vehicle is configured such that the intermediate space can be accessed regardless of the position thereof from an access side arranged laterally in a vehicle transverse direction, wherein the load area has at least one guide element which extends in the vehicle longitudinal direction and with which the plurality of rack units cooperate, so that the plurality of rack units are displaceable in a guided manner in the vehicle longitudinal direction, and wherein the load area is at least partly open on the access side, so that a side wall, arranged on the access side, of at least one rack unit forms an outer surface of the load area, wherein the plurality of rack units comprises:
- a plurality of storage compartments, wherein at least one of the plurality of storage compartments provides a cooling function;
- and
- a rack battery unit that supplies energy to the plurality of storage compartments and wherein one of the plurality of rack units has a rack-mounted connector on a second rack side wall of the corresponding rack unit, wherein the rack-mounted connector is connected to a vehicle-mounted connector to effectuate an energy transfer between the corresponding rack unit and a vehicle battery unit, and wherein the second rack side wall faces a vehicle side wall of the transport vehicle that is positioned opposite the access side, wherein the roof is supported by the vehicle sidewall and by a rear-most rack unit of the plurality of rack units in the vehicle longitudinal direction, wherein the rearmost rack unit is permanently connected to the load surface of the transport vehicle and is not displaceable in the vehicle longitudinal direction of the transport vehicle.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.