Steering of Forklift Trucks

A counter balance forklift truck, the counter balance forklift truck comprising:

• at least one control unit,
• an endless rotating steering device generating steering command to at least one steered wheel,
• a plurality of electric drive motors of the counter balance forklift truck, each of the plurality of the electric drive motors configured to generate a driving force to at least one driving wheel,
• the control unit is configured to:
• detect that a steering command generated with the endless rotating steering device corresponds to a reference steering point,
• provide, in response to the detection, at least two states for selecting a travel direction of the counter balance forklift truck,
• detect a selected state among the at least two states in accordance with a detection of a change in a steering command generated with the endless rotating steering device of the counter balance forklift truck, and
• generate control signals individually to the plurality of electric drive motors of the counter balance forklift truck for controlling the motion of the counter balance forklift truck to meet the travel direction selected with the steering device.

A computer program product for controlling a motion of a counter balance forklift truck which, when executed by at least one processor of a control unit of the counter balance forklift truck, cause the control unit of the counter balance forklift truck to perform:

• detecting that a steering command generated with an endless rotating steering device corresponds to a reference steering point,
• in response to the detection providing, by a control unit, at least two states for selecting a travel direction of the counter balance forklift truck,
• detecting a selected state among the at least two states in accordance with a detection of a change in a steering command generated with the endless rotating steering device of the counter balance forklift truck, and
• generating control signals, by the control unit, individually to a plurality of electric drive motors of the counter balance forklift truck, each of the plurality of the electric drive motors configured to generate a driving force to at least one driving wheel, for controlling the motion of the counter balance forklift truck to meet the travel direction selected with the steering device.