Transportation system with high speed vehicles and automatic control

A transportation system, comprising:

• a plurality of carrier vehicles, a guideway for supporting said carrier vehicles for movement and having stop positions therealong, means for supporting a load on said carrier vehicles, drive means carried by said carrier vehicles for coaction with said guideway for effecting movement of said carrier vehicles along said guideway, and control means for controlling said drive means to effect movement of each of said carrier vehicles from any one of said stop positions to another of said stop positions, said carrier vehicles including direction control means, and said guideway including guide means extending therealong for cooperation with said direction control means for guiding said carrier vehicle along said guideway, said direction control means being selectively operable between first and second conditions, said guideway further including a plurality of Y junctions each having an entrance and first and second exits, said guide means including a left portion for cooperation with said direction control means in said first condition thereof to guide said carrier vehicles from said entrance to said first exit and including a right portion for cooperation with said direction control means in said second condition thereof to guide said carrier vehicles from said entrance to said second exit, track means in said guideway and including a pair of tracks, each of said carrier vehicles comprising frame means and front and rear bogies supporting said frame means and journaled by said frame means for angular movements about front and rear vertical turn axes, each bogie including left and right support wheels for engagement with said pair of tracks to support said vehicle for movement, said direction control means including front direction control means associated with said front bogie and operative in controlling the angular position of said front bogie about said front vertical turn axis and including rear direction control means associated with said rear bogie and operative in controlling the angular position of said rear bogie about said rear vertical turn axis.

A transportation system, comprising:

• a plurality of carrier vehicles each adapted to carry a load, a guideway for guiding said carrier vehicles for movement therealong and having stop positions therealong, drive means carried by said carrier vehicles for coaction with said guideway for effecting movement of said carrier vehicles along said guideway, and control means for controlling said drive means to effect automated movement of each of said carrier vehicles from any one of said stop positions to another of said stop positions, said control means including a plurality of monitoring and control means along said guideway assigned to contiguous portions of said guideway along the length thereof, each of said monitoring and control means comprising speed command signal developing means for developing a speed command signal for control of carrier vehicles moving along said guideway, means for transmitting said command speed signal from each of said monitoring and control means to carrier vehicles in said assigned portion of said guideway, receiving means on each of said carrier vehicles for receiving said speed command signal when moving past each of said assigned portions of said guideway, and control circuit means on each of said carrier vehicles for responding to reception of said speed command signal to control said drive means for drive of said carrier vehicles at a speed commanded by said speed command signal, the lengths of said assigned portions along said guideway being substantially less than a safe following distance of a vehicle behind a vehicle that is moving at a maximum speed along said guideway, and message developing means for supplying a message to each of said monitoring and control means which includes speed and location data as to any vehicle ahead that has a speed of movement such as to require any deceleration of a vehicle passing said monitoring and control means, said speed and location data including the speed of the vehicle ahead and the assigned portion of the guideway ahead in which it is moving, and each of said monitoring and control means including processor means operative to control said speed command signal as a function of said speed and location data as to any vehicle ahead.

A transportation system, comprising:

• a plurality of carrier vehicles each adapted to carry a load, a guideway for guiding said carrier vehicles for movement therealong and having stop positions therealong, drive means carried by said carrier vehicles for coaction with said guideway for effecting movement of said carrier vehicles along said guideway, and control means for controlling said drive means to effect automated movement of each of said carrier vehicles from any one of said stop positions to another of said stop positions, said control means including a plurality of monitoring and control means along said guideway each being assigned a portion of said guideway along the length thereof, each of said monitoring and control means comprising speed command signal developing means for developing a speed command signal for control of carrier vehicles moving along said guideway, means for transmitting said command speed signal from each of said monitoring and control means to said assigned portion of said guideway, receiving means on each of said carrier vehicles for receiving said speed command signal when moving past said each assigned portion of said guideway, and control circuit means on each of said carrier vehicles for responding to reception of said speed command signal to control said drive means for drive of said carrier vehicles at a speed commanded by said speed command signal, each of said monitoring and control means including passing vehicle detection means for detecting the passing of carrier vehicles past said assigned portion of said guideway, and detected vehicle speed signal means for developing a detected vehicle speed signal corresponding to the speed of said passing carrier vehicles, each of said monitoring and control means including detected vehicle data transmission means for transmitting data corresponding to said detected vehicle speed signal, and detected vehicle data receiving means for receiving data corresponding to data transmitted from detected vehicle data transmission means of a monitoring and control means assigned to a portion of said guideway ahead of said assigned portion for control of a command speed signal to be transmitted to said assigned portion and to control speed of passing carrier vehicles to maintain a safe distance between carrier vehicles.

A transportation system, comprising:

• a plurality of carrier vehicles each adapted to carry a load, a guideway for guiding said carrier vehicles for movement therealong and including a main line guideway and branch line guideway merging with said main line guideway in a certain region, drive means carried by said carrier vehicles for coaction with said guideways for effecting movement of said carrier vehicles along said guideways, and control means for controlling said drive means, said control means including a plurality of main line monitoring and means along said main line guideway each being assigned a portion of said main line guideway along the length thereof, said control means further including a plurality of branch line monitoring and control means along said branch line guideway each being assigned a portion of said branch line guideway along the length thereof, each of said main line an branch line monitoring and control means comprising speed command signal developing means for developing a speed command signal for control of carrier vehicles moving along said guideways, means for transmitting said command speed signal from each of said monitoring and control means to said assigned portion of said guideway, receiving means on each of said carrier vehicles for receiving said speed command signal when moving past each of said assigned portions of said guideway, and control circuit means on each of said carrier vehicles for responding to reception of said speed command signal to control said drive means for drive of said carrier vehicles at a speed commanded by said speed command signal, each of said monitoring and control means including passing vehicle detection means for detecting the passing of carrier vehicles past said assigned portion of said guideway, and detected vehicle speed signal means for developing a detected vehicle speed signal corresponding to the speed of said passing carrier vehicles, each of said monitoring and control means along said main line guideway including detected vehicle data transmission means for transmitting data corresponding to said detected vehicle speed signal, and detected vehicle data receiving means for receiving data corresponding to data transmitted from detected vehicle data transmission means of a main line monitoring and control means assigned to a portion of said main line guideway ahead of said assigned portion for control of a command speed signal to be transmitted to said assigned portion and to control speed of passing vehicles to maintain a safe distance between vehicles, merge control means coupled to said main line and branch line monitoring and control means for monitoring detected vehicle data and for controlling timed acceleration of carrier vehicles from a stop position on said branch line guideway to safely enter traffic on said main line guideway, said merge control means being operative to apply signals to said detected vehicle data receiving means of said main line monitoring and control means to simulate a carrier vehicle so traveling as to reach said merge region at the same time as a carrier vehicle being accelerated on said branch line guideway.

A transportation system, comprising:

• a plurality of carrier vehicles each adapted to carry a load, a main line guideway, a branch line guideway merging with said main line guideway in a certain region, drive means carried by said carrier vehicles for effecting movement of said carrier vehicles along said guideways, and control means for controlling said drive means to effect automated movement of each of said carrier vehicles from one to another of stop positions along said main line and branch line guideways, said control means including a plurality of monitoring and control means along each of said main line and branch line guideways each being assigned a portion of the respective one of said guideways along the length thereof, each of said monitoring and control means comprising speed command signal developing means for developing a speed command signal for control of carrier vehicles, means for transmitting said command speed signal from each of said monitoring and control means to said guideway portion assigned thereto, receiving means on each of said carrier vehicles for receiving said speed command signal when moving along each said assigned guideway portion, and control circuit means on each of said carrier vehicles for controlling drive thereof at a speed commanded by said speed command signal, the lengths of said assigned portions along said guideway being substantially less than a safe following distance of a vehicle behind a vehicle that is moving at a maximum speed along said guideway, and message developing means for supplying a message to each of said monitoring and control means which includes speed and location data as to any vehicle ahead that has a speed of movement such as to require any deceleration of a vehicle passing said monitoring and control means, said speed and location data including the speed of the vehicle ahead and the assigned portion of the guideway ahead in which it is moving, and each of said monitoring and control means including processor means operative to control said speed command signal as a function of said speed and location data as to any vehicle ahead, said message developing means further including means for supplying messages to monitoring and control means along said main line guideway to simulate a carrier vehicle so moving along said main line guideway as to reach said merge region at the same time as a vehicle moving along said branch line guideway.