Material or article handling – Apparatus particularly adapted for charging or discharging a... – With means to transfer – or facilitate transfer of – vehicle...
Utility Patent
1999-07-07
2001-01-02
Olszewski, Robert P. (Department: 3652)
Material or article handling
Apparatus particularly adapted for charging or discharging a...
With means to transfer, or facilitate transfer of, vehicle...
C414S264000, C414S280000
Utility Patent
active
06168365
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a carrier in a parallel-type parking installation, in particular to an improved pallet carrying apparatus for carrying a pallet having a vehicle thereon between a lift in a hoistway and parking rooms, which has a simple structure, a lower manufacturing cost, a less breakdown and an accurate and fast movement of pallets.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A parallel-type parking installation has a growing interest these days because of increasing parking difficulties. Generally, the parallel-type parking installation is mounted in a basement of a large building, an underground of a park, or a parking lot to have a plurality of floors. A general parallel-type parking installation is shown in FIG.
1
and FIG.
2
. As shown in the figures, the parallel-type parking installation includes a hoistway
1
passing through floors and a plurality of parking rooms
2
positioned in each floor. In the hoistway
1
, a lift
3
is mounted. On the lift
3
, a pallet
4
can be laid for loading a vehicle thereon. With the pallet
4
loading a vehicle thereon, the lift
3
can move the vehicle vertically to a desired floor through the hoistway
1
.
The parking rooms
2
are generally separated in two rows and arranged side by side in each floor, between which two rows a carrier C and a traveling rail
5
are located. The carrier C can travel along the traveling rail
5
with its rollers. After loading the pallet
4
having a vehicle thereon from the lift
3
, the carrier C moves the vehicle to a respective parking room along the traveling rail
5
. Because the carrier C can move at a high speed, the carrier C may load or unload a vehicle as fast as possible.
Furthermore, since the parking installation may have a different configuration according to its mounting circumference, a configuration of the carrier C can be modified depending on the parking installation.
FIG.
3
and
FIG. 4
are a plane view and a front view of the conventional carrier C respectively. Referring to the figures, the carrier C of the parallel-type parking installation roughly consists of upper and lower frames
10
,
20
, a travel driving unit M and a pallet transferring unit T. The upper and lower frames
10
,
20
form a figure of the carrier C, which travels along the traveling rail
5
located between two rows of a plurality of the parking rooms
2
. The travel driving units M are mounted on each end of the upper and lower frames
10
,
20
for giving a driving force such that the carrier C can travel along the traveling rail
5
. The pallet transferring unit T at both ends of an upper surface of the upper frame
20
makes the pallet
4
loaded on or unloaded from the carrier C.
The travel driving unit M, in detail, includes a travel roller
12
rolling along and in contact with the traveling rail
5
, a motor
11
for supplying a power to the travel roller
12
and a driving shaft of the motor
11
.
The pallet transferring unit T includes a plurality of transferring rollers
21
, which are arranged serially in both sides on the upper frame
20
with an appropriate interval. A chain sprocket, not shown in figures, is attached to the transferring rollers
21
, which connected by a chain
27
. The transferring rollers
21
roll with use of a driving force from a separate transferring motor
28
through the chain
27
for loading the pallet
4
on the carrier C. The pallet transferring unit T also includes drawing rollers
22
, which are respectively connected to corners of the upper frame
20
for moving vertically. The drawing roller
22
is connected to an arm
24
, which can rotate within a certain angle range by being pushed or drawn by a hydraulic cylinder
23
. As the arm
24
rotates, the drawing rollers
22
lift the pallet
4
upward such that the pallet
4
can move.
Operation of the carrier C as constructed above is as follows. At first, a driver loads a vehicle on the pallet
4
, which is positioned on the lift
3
in a stand-by state at an entrance of the parking lot. After that, when the driver presses a “parking” button on a control panel (not shown), the lift
3
moves to a designated floor in which a parking space remains.
At this time, the carrier C, which have executed a previous loading/unloading process, is positioned near the lift
3
in a stand-by state. The pallet
4
, moved to the designated floor on the lift
3
, is then slid and loaded on the carrier C together with the vehicle thereon. After that, as the travel rollers
12
roll with use of the power of the travel motor
11
, the carrier C having the pallet
4
and the vehicle thereon travels along the traveling rail
5
and stops at a position of the designated parking room
2
.
When the carrier C reaches at the designated parking room
2
, the transferring motor
28
of the pallet transferring unit T is activated for rotating a plurality of the transferring rollers
21
. As the transferring rollers
21
rotate, the pallet
4
having the vehicle moves to a parking area in the parking room. At time that about ⅘ in length of the pallet
4
enters in the parking room, the hydraulic cylinder
23
is activated. The hydraulic cylinder
23
lifts the drawing roller
22
through the arm
24
such that the pallet
4
can move to a regular parking position in the parking room.
On the other hand, the process is reversed when moving the pallet
4
from the parking room
2
onto the carrier C. At first, the pallet transferring unit T of the carrier C is activated for rotating the transferring rollers
21
, and, at the same time, the hydraulic cylinder
23
is activated for lifting the drawing rollers
22
upward through the arms
24
. Because the drawing roller
22
is rotated for lifting a bottom surface of the pallet
4
, the pallet
4
is slightly moved toward the carrier C. Then, the pallet
4
moves to a regular loading position on the carrier C with use of a plurality of the transferring rollers
21
.
However, the above-explained conventional pallet transferring unit T has a very complex structure in fact that the unit should include a plurality of the transferring rollers
21
and the drawing rollers
22
, the transferring motor
28
and the chain
27
for driving the transferring rollers
21
, and the hydraulic cylinder
23
for driving the drawing roller
22
. In addition, according to the complex configuration the conventional pallet transferring unit has problems of frequent breakdowns and high manufacturing cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the present invention is designed to overcome problems of the prior art, so objects of the invention are to provide an enhanced pallet transferring unit in a parking installation which has a simple structure, a low manufacturing cost, less breakdowns and an accurate and fast movement of pallets.
In order to obtain the above object, one embodiment of the present invention provides a parking installation which comprises a pallet on which a vehicle is loaded, wherein a guide member is formed on a lower surface of the pallet along its longitudinal center line;
a carrier for loading the pallet thereon, the carrier traveling along a traveling rail formed across parking rooms;
travel rollers mounted at both ends of the carrier for rolling on the traveling rail;
first driving motor connected to a shaft of the travel roller for supplying a driving force to rotate the travel roller;
pallet transferring means mounted rotatably to both ends of the carrier, the means being in contact with the guide member and transferring the pallet longitudinally; and
including a pivotable arm with a fixed end pallet drawing/pushing means mounted adjacent to the pallet transferring means to rotate the pivotable arm through a predetermined arc about the fixed end, the pallet drawing/pushing means either drawing a stopper formed on a lower surface of the pallet such that the guide member of the pallet comes in contact with the pallet transferring means or pushing the stopper such that the guide member of the pallet departs from the pallet trans
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
LG Industrial Systems Co. Ltd.
O'Connor Gerald J.
Olszewski Robert P.
LandOfFree
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