US 5,213,176 AGranted

Self-propelled vehicle

AssigneeHitachi, Ltd.

InventorsNoriyuki Oroku, Takamichi Suzuki, Toyohide Hamada, Minoru Ikeda, Hiroshi Kikuchi, Masayasu Akaiwa, Isao Takahashi, Naoki Takehara, Kazumi Adachi

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

patentgrep

Loading patent…

Abstract

A self-propelled vehicle capable of all directional movement over a floor surface and adapted to be guided along a path such as a semiconductor processing line. The vehicle is provided with at least three wheels having a construction enabling rotational movement in a rotational plane of the wheel and in a direction orthogonal thereto. When at least four wheels are provided, the vehicle is provided with a suspension mechanism for mounting the wheels and a mechanism for maintaining a parallel relationship of the suspension mechanism and a chassis of the vehicle so that slanting of the vehicle body during travel is avoided. Also, the vehicle is provided with a vibration preventing base interposed between the vehicle and a substance mounting base for controlling the proper vibration frequency of the vibration presenting base to be lower than 1/.sqroot.2 of the proper vibration frequency of the vehicle.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A self-propelled vehicle comprising:

at least three wheels for driving the vehicle, each wheel including at least one shaft extending in a tangential direction of an outer circumferential surface of the wheel, and roller means rotatable mounted for rotation about the at least one shaft so that the wheel is movable at least in a rotational direction of the wheel and a rotational direction of the roller means;
means for mounting the at least three wheels with respect to a chassis of the vehicle in directions so that the rotary axes of the wheels are in a nonparallel relationship, the chassis having a major rectangular shape with a pair of sides and a minor sides, the major axis being longer than the minor sides, one of the wheels being mounted at the center point of one of the major sides and the two remaining wheels being mounted at opposite ends of the other one of the major sides, and
motor means for driving respective ones of the at least three wheels, and control means for controlling the motor means, the control means including means for detecting a lateral deviation of the vehicle with respect to the travelling direction of the vehicle and an angular deviation of the travelling direction with respect to a guidance target, means for evaluating a predetermined determinant in accordance with the travelling direction of the vehicle together with a desired travelling speed, means for estimating circumferential speeds of the at least three wheels in accordance with the results of evaluating the determinant, and rotational speed means for controlling the rotational speed of the motor means for the at least three wheels in accordance therewith.

A self-propelled vehicle comprising:

a rectangular chassis having a pair of major sides and a pair of minor sides, the major sides being longer than the minor sides;
three wheels for supporting the chassis on a travelling surface for the vehicle, the three wheels being mounted so that the rotary axes of the wheels are in a nonparallel relationship and arranged so that a rotational plane of one wheel is directed in a direction extending substantially in parallel to the main travelling direction of the vehicle along a guide target formed on the travelling surface, and rotational planes of the remaining two wheels being directed at symmetrical opposite angles with respect to the main travelling direction of the vehicle, one of the wheels being mounted at the center point of one of the major sides and the two remaining wheels being mounted at opposite ends of the other one of the major sides each of the wheels being connected to a respective motor mounted on the chassis for driving a respective wheel, each of the wheels including a plurality of roller lines arranged alternately in a zig-zag form about the outer circumferential surface of the wheel so that rollers of one roller line are overlapped in relation to rollers of another roller line, each of the rollers of a respective roller line being rotatably mounted for rotation about a shaft arranged so as to extend in a tangential direction of an outer circumferential surface of the wheel, and each of the rollers having a barrel shape so that a circumferential surface of one of the rollers of the wheels is always in contact with the travelling surface;
power means provided on the chassis for at least supplying power to the driving motors for the wheels;
and
controlling means for controlling each of the driving motors for driving the wheels in accordance with a longitudinal direction travelling speed, a lateral travelling speed and rotational angles speed obtained by a lateral deviation and an angular deviation of the vehicle measured by a sensor mounted on the vehicle for sensing the guide target.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 07/624,052Filed 7 Dec 1990
Priority: JP 1-3174718 Dec 1989
Granted: 25 May 1993
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification13 codes

B60B 19/003
Wheels not otherwise provided for or having characteristics specified in one of the subgroups of this group: multidirectional wheels
B62D 61/06
Motor vehicles or trailers, characterised by the arrangement or number of wheels, not otherwise provided for, e.g. four wheels in diamond pattern:…
G05D 1/0231
Specially adapted to land vehicles: using optical position detecting means
G05D 1/0272
Using internal positioning means: comprising means for registering the travel distance, e.g. revolutions of wheels