Electricity: motive power systems – Positional servo systems – Vehicular guidance systems with single axis control
Patent
1982-06-14
1984-09-25
Truhe, J. V.
Electricity: motive power systems
Positional servo systems
Vehicular guidance systems with single axis control
318480, 340903, 343 7VC, 367909, G05D 102, G01C 308, G08G 100
Patent
active
044737874
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention concerns an equipment for maintaining the spacing of track-bound vehicles with light emitters radiating rearwardly against the direction of travel and with light receivers receiving from in front in direction of travel, which equipment by means of a drive control reduces the speed of a vehicle with decreasing spacing from the vehicle travelling directly ahead, wherein the spacing is determined on the basis of the received light signals.
An equipment of that kind for vehicles steerable automatically by means of a guide cable is known from the DE-OS No. 26 46 587. The guide cable is installed in the travel path and is supplied with a control pulse at regular time spacings for maintaining the spacing of the vehicle. The control pulse propagates along the guide cable and on reaching a vehicle effects the emission of a light pulse against the direction of travel. The control pulse and the light pulse originating from the preceding vehicle is detected on the following vehicle and the spacing is determined on the basis of the time between the pulses.
The equipment requires expensive locally fixed installations for maintaining the spacing. The locally fixed installations consist of the guide cable installed in the travel path and of the associated driving devices. The driving devices must be provided in such a manner that the control pulse propagates in a like sense of direction with respect to the direction of travel of the vehicles on each travel path portion, because the running times of the pulses in the guide cable and in the air are to be added or to be subtracted in accordance with the sense of direction. The parts of the equipment arranged on the vehicles are expensive, because the times to be evaluated between the pulses are very short in consequence of the very high speeds of propagation. The equipment does not evaluate reliably the short times between the pulses in case the pulses are distorted or in case the times are very short, wherein the distortions of the pulses increase with increasing length of travel path or guide cable and wherein the times between the pulses decrease with decreasing spacing.
The invention is based on the task of proposing a relatively simple equipment for maintaining the spacing of track-bound vehicles, which operates reliably on travel paths as long as desired, can be operated without locally fixed installations and the reliability of which increases with decreasing spacing.
The problem is solved according to the invention thereby, that a light emitter, operating with modulated light and radiating uniformly rearwardly and laterally in desired directions, is arranged at the rear on the vehicles, that a light receiver, demodulating light received from ahead and from the sides in desired directions, is arranged at the front on the vehicles and that the drive control reduces the speed of the vehicle with increasing received light intensity.
An example of embodiment of the invention, which is more closely explained in the following, is illustrated on the accompanying drawing.
There show:
FIG. 1 in side elevation, a vehicle movable forwardly and rearwardly and with light emitters and light receivers provided at both sides,
FIG. 2 a block schematic diagram of a light emitter arranged at the end of the vehicle and a light receiver arranged at the same end of the vehicle,
FIG. 3 in plan view, a schematic illustration of two vehicles on straight path,
FIG. 4 an illustration of the dependence of a signal AH on a spacing d,
FIG. 5 in plan view, a schematic illustration of two vehicles on a curved path and
FIG. 6 in plan view, a schematic illustration of three vehicles on neighbouring straight paths.
A battery-operated vehicle, which can move forwardly and rearwardly on a travel path 2 by means of wheels 3 and 4, of a floor conveyor plant is designated by 1 in the FIG. 1. A guide cable 5, which co-operates with not more closely illustrated steering equipments of the vehicle 1, can be disposed in the support of the travel path 2 for the automatic steering of the vehicle 1. D
REFERENCES:
patent: 1747041 (1928-10-01), Alexanderson
patent: 3370166 (1968-02-01), Rold et al.
patent: 3790780 (1974-02-01), Helmcke et al.
patent: 3892483 (1975-07-01), Saufferer
patent: 4026654 (1977-05-01), Beaurain
patent: 4028662 (1977-06-01), Young
Inventio AG
Kleeman Werner W.
Ro Bentsu
Truhe J. V.
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