US 5,706,735 AGranted

System for automated transport of automobile platforms, passenger cabins and other loads

AssigneeAutran Corp.

InventorVanMetre Lund

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A system is provided that uses small carrier vehicles that operate along electrified guideways and use standardized connections to automatically carry passenger cabins, freight loads and automobile platforms to desired destinations. Front and rear bogies of the vehicles pivot about front and rear vertical turn axes and carry direction control wheels that cooperate with guide ribs along tracks for selective control of movement to either of two exits from a Y junction. Electric power can be supplied through upper and lower track structures which can be of laminated construction. The guideway provides a protected environment for error-free data transmissions made through closely spaced inductive couplings between monitoring and control circuits along the guideway and control circuits of the carrier vehicles. Control circuitry is provided to obtain highly reliable control of vehicle speed and of starting, stopping and merge operations.

Claims27

Dependent claims

A transportation system, comprising:

a plurality of carrier vehicles, a guideway for guiding said carrier vehicles for movement therealong, and track means supported by said guideway, said track means including a pair of metallic electrically conductive left and right lower tracks for connection to one terminal of an electrical power source and a pair of metallic electrically conductive left and right upper tracks for connection to an opposite terminal of said electrical power source, said lower and upper tracks being so supported by said guideway as to be electrically insulated from each other, each of said carrier vehicles including electrically powered drive means for coaction with said guideway for effecting movement of said carrier vehicle along said guideway, front and rear pairs of left and right lower wheels for engagement with said pair of left and right lower tracks for support of said vehicle, front and rear pairs of left and right upper wheels engageable with said upper tracks to restrict rocking movements of said carrier vehicles, pressure applying means for urging said upper wheels into pressure engagement with said upper tracks, at least one of said front and rear pairs of left and right lower wheels including metallic peripheral portions for electrically conductive engagement with said lower tracks, at least one of said front and rear pairs of left and right upper wheels including metallic peripheral portions for electrically conductive engagement with said upper tracks, said metallic peripheral portions of said lower and upper wheels being insulated from one another, and first conduction means for conducting current from each of said metallic peripheral portions of said lower wheels to one terminal of said electrically powered drive means of said vehicle, and second conduction means for conducting current from each of said metallic peripheral portions of said upper wheels to an opposite terminal of said electrically powered drive means.

A transportation system comprising a track structure for engaging wheels of a vehicle movable thereon, said track structure including elongated metal strips each being so positioned as to provide a width that is substantially greater than its maximum thickness and each having a length that is a fraction of the length of said track structure, said strips being arranged in groups with the strips of each group in end-to-end relation and with said groups of strips being engaged in side-by-side relation to form an assembly such that edge surfaces of said strips are in adjacent coplanar relation to provide a substantially continuous wheel engaging surface in a first plane with opposite edge surfaces in a second plane that is parallel to said first plane, and connecting means for holding said strips together in a manner such as to allow for thermal expansions and contractions without changing the length of said track structure.

A transportation system, comprising:

a plurality of carrier vehicles, a guideway including tracks for supporting said carrier vehicles for movement and including a plurality of Y junction portions each having an entrance and left and right exits, said tracks including left and right track portions in all portions of said guideway and additional track portions in said Y junction portions that cooperate with said left and right track portions to provide substantially continuous support of vehicles moving through said Y junctions, said additional track portions including portions that extend from left track portions at said entrances to left track portions at said right exits and portions that extend from right track portions at said entrances to right track portions at said left exits, said carrier vehicles including direction control means, and said guideway including left and right guide rib means extending along and on the outside of said left and right track portions 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, each of said Y junctions including portions of said left guide rib means cooperating with said direction control means in said first condition thereof to guide said carrier vehicles from said entrance to said first exit and including portions of said right guide rib means cooperating with said direction control means in said second condition thereof to guide said carrier vehicles from said entrance to said second exit, said direction control means including left control means disposed in an inactive elevated position above said rib means and above the level of said track portions while in said second condition thereof and lowered to an active position in said first condition thereof for cooperation with said left rib means and right control means disposed in an inactive elevated position above said rib means and above the level of said track portions while in said first condition thereof and lowered to an active position in said second condition thereof for cooperation with said right rib means, a turn control member pivotal about a horizontal axis and supporting said left and right control means on opposite ends thereof, and means for controlling pivotal movement of said turn control member.

A transportation system, comprising:

a plurality of carrier vehicles, a guideway including tracks for supporting said carrier vehicles for movement and including a plurality of Y junction portions each having an entrance and left and right exits, said tracks including left and right track portions in all portions of said guideway and additional track portions in said Y junction portions that cooperate with said left and right track portions to provide substantially continuous support of vehicles moving through said Y junctions, said additional track portions extending from left track portions at said entrances to left track portions at said right exits and extending from right track portions at said entrances to right track portions at said left exits, said carrier vehicles including direction control means, and said guideway including left and right guide rib means extending along and on the outside of said left and right track portions 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, each of said Y junctions including portions of said left guide rib means cooperating with said direction control means in said first condition thereof to guide said carrier vehicles from said entrance to said first exit and including portions of said right guide rib means cooperating with said direction control means in said second condition thereof to guide said carrier vehicles from said entrance to said second exit, said direction control means including left control means disposed in an inactive elevated position above said rib means and above the level of said track portions while in said second condition thereof and lowered to an active position in said first condition thereof for cooperation with said left rib means and right control means disposed in an inactive elevated position above said rib means and above the level of said track portions while in said first condition thereof and lowered to an active position in said second condition thereof for cooperation with said right rib means, said left control means including a pair of wheels engageable with inner and outer sides of said left rib means and journaled for rotation about vertical axes, and said right control means including a pair of wheels engageable with inner and outer sides of said right rib means and journaled for rotation about vertical axes.

A transportation system, comprising:

a plurality of carrier vehicles, a guideway including tracks for supporting said carrier vehicles for movement and including a plurality of Y junction portions each having an entrance and left and right exits, said tracks including left and right track portions in all portions of said guideway and additional track portions in said Y junction portions that cooperate with said left and right track portions to provide substantially continuous support of vehicles moving through said Y junctions, said additional track portions extending from left track portions at said entrances to left track portions at said right exits and extending from right track portions at said entrances to right track portions at said left exits, said carrier vehicles including direction control means, and said guideway including left and right guide rib means extending along and on the outside of said left and right track portions 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, each of said Y junctions including portions of said left guide rib means cooperating with said direction control means in said first condition thereof to guide said carrier vehicles from said entrance to said first exit and including portions of said right guide rib means cooperating with said direction control means in said second condition thereof to guide said carrier vehicles from said entrance to said second exit, said direction control means including left control means disposed in an inactive elevated position above said rib means and above the level of said track portions while in said second condition thereof and lowered to an active position in said first condition thereof for cooperation with said left rib means and right control means disposed in an inactive elevated position above said rib means and above the level of said track portions while in said first condition thereof and lowered to an active position in said second condition thereof for cooperation with said right rib means, said left and right control means including left and right control wheels engageable with said left and right rib means.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 08/746,318Filed 12 Nov 1996 · continuation in part
Priority: 7 Jun 1995
Granted: 13 Jan 1998
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

B61L 27/04
Central railway traffic control systems; Trackside control; Communication systems specially adapted therefor: automatic systems, e.g. controlled…
B61B 13/00
Railway systems: other railway systems
B61L 3/225
Using magnetic or electrostatic induction; using electromagnetic radiation: using separate conductors along the route
B61L 23/002
Control, warning or like safety means along the route or between vehicles or trains: control or safety means for heart-points and crossings of…

Family

Serial475,750Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 7 Jun 1995
Serial477,182Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 7 Jun 1995
Serial481,771Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 7 Jun 1995
US 5,598,783 AParent of this continuation-in-part
US 5,590,603 AParent of this continuation-in-part
US 5,590,604 AParent of this continuation-in-part
US 5,706,735 AThis patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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