Railways – Derailment guards – Supplemental car wheels and rails
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-28
2001-05-29
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Railways
Derailment guards
Supplemental car wheels and rails
C104S247000, C180S167000, C180S168000, C180S401000, C701S023000, C701S041000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06237504
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a guideway transit system which guides a vehicle by holding a guide wheel provided on the vehicle in contact with a guide wall provided on a side of a road, and to an automated vehicle used in such a guideway transit system
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as shown in
FIG. 1
, there is known a guideway transit system which guides a vehicle by constraining guide wheels which laterally project from both sides of the vehicle between guide walls provided on both sides of a road (“Computer Simulation of Lateral Guidance System for Automated Guideway Transit Vehicles”, Tsunashima and Fukumoto, KOBE STEEL ENGINEERING REPORTS, Vol. 37, No. 4 (1987)).
In this system, guide wheels
21
a
,
21
b
, which are connected to each other by a shaft, are provided on a front part of a vehicle
10
. The guide wheels
21
a
,
21
b
laterally project from both sides of the vehicle
10
and are constrained between guide walls (not shown) which are provided on both sides of a road R. The shaft connecting the guide wheels
21
a
,
21
b
is connected to front wheels
11
a
,
11
b
, which are steered wheels, of the vehicle
10
via a link mechanism
20
. In this system, rear wheels
12
a
,
12
b
are not connected to the guide wheels
21
a
,
21
b.
When the guide wheels
21
a
,
21
b
, which are in contact with the guide walls, move with the shaft in accordance with a shape of the road R, a relative position of the guide wheels
21
a
,
21
b
and the vehicle
10
changes. In this case, the link mechanism functions to steer the front wheels
11
a
,
11
b
in accordance with the change in the relative position. Thus, the vehicle
10
can always run along a predetermined path defined on the road R.
In the above-mentioned conventional guideway transit system, since the vehicle is steered by always holding the guide wheels in contact with the guide walls, the guide walls must be provided with relatively high positional accuracy over a whole part of the road on which the vehicle should run. As a length of the road on which the vehicle should run increases, a larger cost is required to construct an infrastructure since it becomes more difficult to provide the guide walls with relatively high accuracy over a whole part of the road.
Additionally, since the vehicle runs with the guide wheels being in contact with the guide walls provided on both sides of the road, vibrations are transmitted from the guide walls to the vehicle via the guide wheels, resulting in ride discomfort for passengers of the vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a first object of the present invention to provide a guideway transit system which can reduce a scale of an infrastructure while maintaining ride comfort for passengers of a vehicle.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide an automated vehicle which is used in such a guideway transit system.
The first object of the present invention can be achieved by a guideway transit system comprising:
a noncontact vehicle guiding system which detects information relating to a lateral position of a vehicle on a road and steers the vehicle to move along a predetermined path on the road based on the detected information;
a contact vehicle guiding system which restricts a lateral position of the vehicle by a contact between a guide wheel which laterally projects from the vehicle and a guide wall provided on a side of the road; and
a controller which prohibits the steering of the vehicle by the noncontact vehicle guiding system when a lateral position of the vehicle is restricted by the contact vehicle guiding system.
In such a guideway transit system, in an area of the road where the noncontact vehicle guiding system operates, the vehicle is steered so as to run along the predetermined path based on the detected information relating to a lateral position of the vehicle without using the guide wheel provided on the vehicle. On the other hand, in an area of the road where the contact vehicle guiding system operates, a lateral position of the vehicle is restricted by the guide wheel, which laterally projects from the vehicle, being in contact with the guide wall provided on a side of the road, and steering of the vehicle by the noncontact vehicle guide system is prohibited. In this case, the vehicle is steered to maintain the lateral position restricted by the contact vehicle guiding system.
The area where the contact vehicle guiding system should operate may be set to be an area where a lateral position of the vehicle should be accurately controlled.
The area where the noncontact vehicle guiding system should operate is set to be an area where the vehicle regularly runs. Thus, vibrations can be prevented from being transmitted to the vehicle from the guide wall via the guide wheel in the regular situation.
Additionally, the contact vehicle guiding system may also operate when the vehicle deviates from the predetermined path due to a trouble in a steering control of the vehicle by the noncontact vehicle guiding system. In this case, the steering control of the vehicle by the noncontact vehicle guide system is prohibited, and, when the vehicle deviates from the predetermined path until the guide wheel comes into contact with the guide wall, a lateral position of the vehicle is restricted by a contact of the guide wheel and the guide wall. When a lateral position of the vehicle is restricted in this way, the vehicle is preferably braked by an emergency braking.
Considering the fact that the contact vehicle guiding system operates when the noncontact vehicle guiding system cannot normally steer the vehicle, it is necessary to provide the guide wall in the area where the noncontact vehicle guiding system should operate. Since the guide wall provided in the area where the noncontact vehicle guiding system should operate has a function of limiting a lateral position of the vehicle within a predetermined range, positional accuracy of the guide walls may be lower than that of the guide walls provided in the area where the contact vehicle guiding system should operate.
As mentioned above, since the noncontact vehicle guiding system regularly steers the vehicle and the contact vehicle guiding system operates only in an area where a lateral position of the vehicle should be accurately controlled, ride comfort for passengers of the vehicle can be maintained in the regular situation. Additionally, since the contact vehicle guiding system operates only when the vehicle cannot be guided along the path by the noncontact vehicle guiding system, accuracy of the guide wall need not be high. Thus, a scale of the infrastructure can be reduced.
The above-mentioned second object of the present invention can be achieved by an automated vehicle, comprising:
a lateral position detector which detects a lateral position of the vehicle on a road;
an automatic steering mechanism which steers the vehicle based on the position detected by the lateral position detector so that the vehicle moves along a predetermined path on the road;
a guide wheel which laterally projects from a vehicle body; and
an automatic steering prohibiting part which prohibits the automatic steering by the automatic steering mechanism when the vehicle is laterally constrained by the guide wheel being in contact with a guide wall which is provided on a side of the road.
In the guideway transit system, the guide wall may be provided on each side of the road and the guide wheel may be provided on each side of the vehicle.
In such a guideway transit system, since the guide wheels can be held between the guide walls, a lateral position of the vehicle is effectively restricted by the contact vehicle guiding system. In this case, a space between the guide walls in the area where the noncontact vehicle guiding system should operate may be set to be so large that the guide wheels of the vehicle are prevented from coming into contact with the guide walls.
In order that the vehicle can be easily steered by restricting a lateral position of the v
Aoki Keiji
Kimpara Hiromitsu
Nakamura Norihiko
Tanahashi Toshio
Morano S. Joseph
Olson Lars A.
Pillsbury & Winthrop LLP
Toyota Jidosha & Kabushiki Kaisha
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