JP2003048545A - Carrying vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the operability and safety in a meal serving carrying vehicle. SOLUTION: This carrying vehicle comprises a storage for retaining the heat or cold of food, a drive motor for driving a wheel provided on the lower part of the storage; an obstacle contact detecting means for detecting an obstacle which makes contact with a body; a control part for controlling the drive motor on the basis of the signal detected by the obstacle contact detecting means; and a bumper provided around the storage lower part, the obstacle contact detecting means being provided on the bumper. An obstacle approach detecting means for detecting an approached obstacle is provided on the lower inside of the bumper, and the drive motor is controlled on the basis of the signal detected by the obstacle approach detecting means, whereby when the obstacle comes close to the carrying vehicle, the carrying vehicle can be stopped by controlling the drive motor.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a catering vehicle having a so-called power assist function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Among the vehicles used for serving meals in hospitals, especially those that are large and heavy,
As shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-106081,
A device having a so-called power assist function is known. This power assist function is equipped with a drive motor and connected to the wheels, and when the handle of the transport vehicle is manually operated by pulling or pushing, the drive wheels are also driven by the motor to drive the vehicle to drive the vehicle. Is to help. Here, when the catering worker tries to raise or lower the traveling speed, the steering wheel can be operated to adjust the speed of the drive wheels accordingly, and the transport vehicle can travel stably. More specifically, on the front side of the vehicle body,
The handle is rotatably supported by the support plate by the rotating shaft, and the handle and the output adjusting portion of the drive motor are connected via a connecting member such as a wire. The wire is pulled along with the rotation, and the output of the drive motor is controlled according to the pull amount to assist the traveling.

[0003]

However, since the transport vehicle having the above-mentioned storage is moved by one serving worker, when the handle is pulled and the transport vehicle is moved forward, it is not handled by the serving worker. I can confirm it, but when I retracted it, I could not confirm it even if there was an obstacle because the field of view was blocked by the carrier body. Also, attach a bumper to the main body of the transport car to soften shocks that contact obstacles,
A contact-type obstacle detection device was attached to the bumper, and the transport vehicle was stopped when an obstacle came into contact with the detection device.However, in the case of a transport vehicle that is driven by a drive motor, the bumper or obstacle Even if equipped with a detection device, the transport vehicle itself could not stop immediately and the transport vehicle touched an obstacle,
The obstacles and the body of the carrier were damaged. Further, the contact with the obstacle may cause the food tableware stored in the storage cabinet to fall down and spill the food. Further, when the height of the obstacle is lower than that of the bumper, the obstacle contact detection means does not operate and the obstacle may be caught in the tire.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a transport vehicle which has improved operability and safety in the movement for serving food.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] As a means for achieving the above object, a carrier of the present invention comprises a storage box for keeping food warm or cold, and a drive motor for driving wheels provided at the bottom of the storage box. An obstacle contact detection unit that detects an obstacle that contacts the main body, and a control unit that controls the drive motor based on a signal detected by the obstacle contact detection unit,
In a vehicle equipped with a bumper provided around the lower part of the storage and the obstacle contact detection means in the bumper, an obstacle proximity detection means for detecting an approaching obstacle is provided below the bumper, The drive motor is controlled based on a signal detected by the obstacle proximity detection means. Further, the obstacle proximity detection means is provided on the bumper by a mounting bracket, and the mounting bracket is formed by an elastic body.

[0006]

According to claim 1 of the present invention, a storage box for keeping food warm or cold, a drive motor for driving wheels provided at the bottom of the storage box, and an obstacle for detecting an obstacle in contact with the main body. An object contact detection unit, a control unit for controlling a drive motor based on a signal detected by the obstacle contact detection unit, a bumper provided around the lower part of the storage, and a transport vehicle provided with the obstacle contact detection unit on the bumper. In the case where an obstacle approaches the transport vehicle by providing obstacle proximity detection means inside the bumper below the obstacle to detect an approaching obstacle and controlling the drive motor based on the signal detected by the obstacle proximity detection means. In addition, the drive motor can be controlled to stop the transport vehicle. It also detects obstacles below the bumper,
You can stop the carrier. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the transport vehicle according to the first aspect, the obstacle proximity detection means is provided on the bumper by a mounting bracket, and the mounting bracket is formed of an elastic body.
Even if the obstacle cannot be detected by the proximity switch and the obstacle comes into contact with the obstacle proximity detecting means, the obstacle proximity detecting means itself is destroyed because the bracket of the obstacle proximity detecting means is formed of an elastic body. There is no.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a catering vehicle provided with a storage compartment for a cold room and a cold storage room will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. As shown in FIG. 1, the transport vehicle 1 of this embodiment includes a storage case 10 formed of a rectangular heat insulating box body having open front and back surfaces. In the following, the left side of FIG. 1 will be described as the front side. The inside of the storage 10 is partitioned into three rooms in the front-rear direction by a heat insulating wall (not shown), and each room is further divided into two front and rear by a heat insulating partition wall to form a total of six rooms, from the front. Sequentially, the refrigerating room 12A, the two warming rooms 11A, 1
1B, two refrigerating chambers 12B and 12C and a warming chamber 11C. These are the adjacent warm storage room 11 and cold storage room 12.
And are paired, and each is equipped with a double door 13 that opens.

A machine room 15 is provided on the upper surface of the storage case 10, and is equipped with a heating device for heating the warming room 11 and a freezing unit for cooling the refrigerating room 12. Paired heating room 1
Although not shown, shelves are formed in a plurality of stages in the refrigerating compartment 1 and the refrigerating compartment 12. By placing a tray on which hot food and cold food are separately placed on the shelves while penetrating the partition wall, Hot foods placed on one tray are stored in the hot room 11 and cold foods are stored in the cold room 12, respectively. The storage case 10 has a temperature control unit (not shown) so that the food to be loaded is kept at a set constant temperature.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a handle, which is a left and right support plate 27.
An electric control device, which is provided on the side surface (front surface side) of the carrier 1 through the housing, accommodates an electric control device and the like between the support plates 24 of the handle 20, and has an operation panel on the surface. Is equipped with. The caterer uses his own power to handle the handle 20
Is pushed or pulled to rotate the end of the handle 20 fixed to the support plate 27 as an axis and is driven by a drive motor (not shown) to move the carriage 1 backward and forward. Reference numeral 16 is a free wheel, which rotates in response to the movement of the drive wheel 17 and the drive wheel 17.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a bumper, which is mounted around the main body of the carrier 1 via a bracket 19 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and when the carrier 1 collides with an obstacle, the bumpers 18 impact each other. It is loosening. The bumper 18 provided on the rear surface side opposite to the handle 20 has a belt switch 21 which is a contact type sensor for detecting a collision with an obstacle and outputting a signal to the control unit C. Cage, control unit C
Receives a detection signal from the belt switch 21 of the bumper 18 to stop the movement of the transport vehicle 1.

The belt switch 2 is provided on the bumper 18 on the rear surface side.
The non-contact type sensor 25 is provided below 1 in parallel with the mounting bracket 22 fixed below the bumper 18 at predetermined intervals. This mounting bracket 22
Is made of stainless steel, has an L-shaped cross section, and is slightly shorter than the bumper 18 on the rear surface side. Non-contact type sensor 25 fixed to the mounting bracket 22
Then, when the detection signal is received by the control unit via the signal line 29, the drive motor is de-energized and the transport vehicle 1 is stop-controlled. The non-contact type sensor 25 is electrically supplied from a battery for a drive motor through a lead wire 30, and the main body of the non-contact type sensor 25 is provided with a light receiving part and a light projecting part. The light received from the mold sensor 25 is reflected by an obstacle, and the light receiving section detects the reflected light. If the reflection angle is within a predetermined angle, the drive motor is stopped and controlled. Further, since the non-contact type sensor 25 is located below the bumper 18, it can be accurately detected without being affected by light from an illumination device in a room such as a hospital. Further, since the non-contact type sensor 25 is provided inside the lower side of the bumper 18, the non-contact type sensor 25 is less likely to be affected by water drops when the inside of the storage case 10 is washed and the dew condensation water that has adhered to the refrigerating room 12 and dropped.

Further, by fixing means such as the mounting screw 32,
Mounting bracket 22 to which the non-contact type sensor 25 is fixed
Are fastened together with the bumper 18 to the bracket 19 fixed to the storage case 10 by the fixing means such as the screw 31, so that the bumper 1 for the mounting bracket 22 is fixed.
There is no need to newly provide a structure for fixing to 8. Further, since the mounting bracket 22 is detachable from the bumper 18, it is possible to easily replace the non-contact sensor that requires regular maintenance, and the non-contact sensor 25 operating in the market is not provided. It can also be easily attached to the bumper of a carrier.

Further, in another embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, the mounting bracket of the non-contact type sensor has an upper plate 23 and a lower plate 24 connected by a hinge 26 having a coiled spring. The non-contact sensor 25 is fixed to the lower plate 24 with a mounting screw 32, and the upper plate 23 is fastened together with the bumper 18 with a screw 31 to be mounted on the bracket 19. Due to the mounting bracket structure of the hinge 26 equipped with this coiled spring, the non-contact type sensor does not detect an obstacle due to adjustment of the reflection angle of light, etc., and if the transport vehicle does not stop, it will contact the obstacle. However, since the hinge 26 bends and escapes, the impact at the time of contact is less likely to be transmitted to the non-contact sensor 25, so that the non-contact sensor 25 is not destroyed by the impact. When the contact with the obstacle disappears, the hinge 26 provided with the coil-shaped spring returns to the original state of FIG. 4, and the non-contact sensor 25 is provided at an appropriate position. It should be noted that the mounting bracket of the non-contact type sensor only needs to have an elastic action like the hinge, and the mounting bracket itself may be a spring-shaped mounting member.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a carrier of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway side view of the non-contact type sensor mounting state of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the non-contact type sensor mounting state of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway mounting view of another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Carrier 10 ... Storage 11 ... Storage room 12 ... Refrigerator 13 ... Door 15 ... Machine room 16 ... Free wheel 17 ... Drive wheel 18 ... Bumper 19 ... Bracket 20 ... Handle 21 ... Belt switch 22 ... Mounting bracket 23 ... Upper plate 24 ... Lower plate 25 ... Non-contact type sensor 26 ... Hinge 27 ... Support plate 28 ... Operation control box 29 ... Signal line 30 ... Lead wire 31 ... screw 32 ... Mounting screw

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) A61G 12/00 A61G 12/00 C B62B 3/00 B62B 3/00 B

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A storage box for keeping food warm or cold, a drive motor for driving wheels provided at the bottom of the storage box, obstacle contact detection means for detecting an obstacle in contact with the main body, and the obstacle contact box. A control unit for controlling the drive motor based on a signal detected by a detection unit, a bumper provided around the lower portion of the storage, and a vehicle equipped with the obstacle contact detection unit on the bumper, below the bumper. on the inside,
Equipped with obstacle proximity detection means to detect approaching obstacles,
A transport vehicle for controlling the drive motor based on a signal detected by the obstacle proximity detection means. 2. The transport vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the obstacle proximity detection means is provided on the bumper with a mounting bracket, and the mounting bracket is formed of an elastic body.