Device for detecting a load carrier carried on an underride shuttle

A underride shuttle, comprising:

• a vehicle body having a bearing surface which is adjustable in height on its upper surface;
• a field of sensor units integrated in the bearing surface of the vehicle body, each sensor unit configured to detect a respective detection position of a load carrier when supported on the underride shuttle and to output a corresponding sensor bit depending on a presence of a predetermined property at the detection position;
• a memory unit storing data to allocate load carrier codes to respective load carrier types;
• and
• an evaluation unit operatively coupled to the sensor units and the memory unit and configured to receive sensor bits output by the sensor units, to determine a load carrier code from at least one portion of the sensor bits and to derive a load carrier type of the load carrier when supported on the underride shuttle based in part on the load carrier code and the data stored in the memory unit.

A system comprising an underride shuttle and a load carrier,

• wherein the underride shuttle comprises:
• a vehicle body having a bearing surface which is adjustable in height on its upper surface;
• a field of sensor units integrated in the bearing surface of the vehicle body, each sensor unit configured to detect a respective detection position of the load carrier and to output a corresponding sensor bit depending on a presence of a predetermined property at the detection position;
• a memory unit storing data to allocate load carrier codes to respective load carrier types;
• and
• an evaluation unit operatively coupled to the sensor units and the memory unit and configured to receive sensor bits output by the sensor units, to determine a load carrier code from at least one portion of the sensor bits and to derive a load carrier type of the load carrier based in part on the load carrier code and the data stored in the memory unit;
• and
• wherein the load carrier is carried on the underride shuttle and is provided on at least one portion of its underside with a field of detection positions that can be detected by the sensor units while the load carrier is received in a target orientation with respect to the bearing surface.

A method for detecting a load carrier supported on an underride shuttle comprising:

• detecting, by a field of sensor units arranged on an outer side of the underride shuttle, respective detection positions of a load carrier;
• outputting, by the sensor units, corresponding sensor bits depending on the respective detection result by the sensor units;
• determining, by an evaluation unit, a load carrier code from the sensor bits;
• and
• determining, by the evaluation unit, the load carrier type of a currently worn load carrier based on the load carrier code and data stored in a memory unit.