EP0338026A1 - Vehicule a guidage automatique a la fois directionnel et securisant sans rail au sol - Google Patents
Vehicule a guidage automatique a la fois directionnel et securisant sans rail au solInfo
- Publication number
- EP0338026A1 EP0338026A1 EP19880903283 EP88903283A EP0338026A1 EP 0338026 A1 EP0338026 A1 EP 0338026A1 EP 19880903283 EP19880903283 EP 19880903283 EP 88903283 A EP88903283 A EP 88903283A EP 0338026 A1 EP0338026 A1 EP 0338026A1
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- cable
- vehicle
- antenna
- pulleys
- role
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Ceased
Links
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B62—LAND VEHICLES FOR TRAVELLING OTHERWISE THAN ON RAILS
- B62D—MOTOR VEHICLES; TRAILERS
- B62D1/00—Steering controls, i.e. means for initiating a change of direction of the vehicle
- B62D1/24—Steering controls, i.e. means for initiating a change of direction of the vehicle not vehicle-mounted
- B62D1/26—Steering controls, i.e. means for initiating a change of direction of the vehicle not vehicle-mounted mechanical, e.g. by a non-load-bearing guide
Definitions
- VARALE Henri [FR / FR]
- VARALE Hélène [FR / FR]
- VARALE Marc [FR / FR]; Allée du Parc, F-93340 Le Raincy (FR).
- the invention concerns a self-steering means for vehicles other than the conventional ground rails or side rails.
- the vehicle is equipped with an antenna (1) which may have a three-fold function of guidance, ensuring safety, and supplying electrical energy. To this end, it takes the instructions for the direction to be followed from an overhead cable (3).
- the antenna is designed so that the vehicle remains attached to the cable in the event of skidding.
- To supply the vehicle motor it may be double-headed without the system having to take account of two parallel but different trajectories.
- the antenna understood pulleys (2) which turn and align themselves on a cable, and transmit the shape of the trajectory to be folllowed to the driving wheels.
- the directional torque supplied by the antenna is amplified by an auxiliary device.
- a system for verifying the pressure of the pulleys against the cable ensures safety by actuating the braking system in the event of failure of the self-steering system.
- the current generated by the electric motor passes from one cable to the other via the two heads of the double-headed antenna. In event of skidding, the vehicle remains attached to the cable.
- the t jectory imposed on the vehicle, or more precisely, that followed by the point located in the middle of the straight line jo ing the centers of the driving wheels coincides exactly with the line parallel to the overhead cable if there is only one ca or with the line parallel to the curve midway between the two cables if there are two: instead of deviating from the defi trajectory when rounding a bend, the ehicle follows it precisely, which is essential in an urban area, and when the ca lies in a straight line the vehicle follows a rectilinear trajectory without meanders, which is important from every point view.
- the invention relates to a means of autoguiding vehicles other than that of the ground rails or side rails used so far.
- the vehicle is provided with an antenna (1) which can play the triple role of direction, safety, contribution of electrical energy. For this it takes the indications for the trajectory to follow on an overhead cable (3); to guarantee safety, it is designed so that the vehicle remains attached to the cable in the event of a skid; to power the vehicle engine it can be two-headed without this condition causing the system to take into account two parallel but different paths.
- the antenna is constituted by pulleys (2) which roll and orient on the cable and which transmit to the steered wheels the orientation of the path to follow.
- the steering torque provided by the antenna is amplified by an assistance device.
- a system to control the support of the pulleys against the cable ensures safety by initiating braking in the event of a failure of the autoguiding system.
- the electric motor current flows from one cable to the other through the two heads of the two-headed antenna.
- the vehicle remains attached to the cable in the event of a skid. Thanks to the device exposed in the description, the trajectory imposed on the vehicle, or, for more precision, that followed by the point situated in the middle of the straight line which joins the centers of the steered wheels is strictly confused with the parallel to the aerial cable if this cable is unique, or with the parallel to the median curve between the two cables if there are two: instead of deviating, in turns, from the path thus defined, the vehicle follows it precisely, which is essential in urban areas, and, when the cable is in a straight line, the vehicle follows a straight path, without making laces, which is important from all points of view.
- the present invention relates to self-guided vehicles without rail on the ground, which can be used as a means of transport or as a modular toy, that is to say alone or in a train of other vehicles, of variable importance.
- These vehicles are provided with an antenna detecting the directional information provided by an overhead conductor and a transformer of this information which translates it by transforming it into orders imposed on the wheels of the vehicle.
- an antenna detecting the directional information provided by an overhead conductor and a transformer of this information which translates it by transforming it into orders imposed on the wheels of the vehicle.
- a transformer which directs the wheel by its contact with the inner face of the rail.
- the rail is either a simple strip on the upper face of which the wheel rolls while the flange presses against the internal face of the rail, or, in the case of rails placed on the road, a strip called "rut rail, the sausage then engaging in depression or "rut”.
- a side rail was used as a guide element, which only displaces the drawback of the bulk of the rail to itself and adds to it the drawback of the bulk of the lateral guide arm intermediate between the rail and the vehicle. .
- the present invention which can be considered as an improvement to what has hitherto been designed and published, is new in that it eliminates the drawbacks thereof.
- the invention avoids the excessively expensive installation of a so-called "rut" track in the streets of a city for the circulation of trams. It avoids the discomfort caused by this rut track for general circulation and by its frequent maintenance due to the rapid wear of the rails in such an environment of great pollution. As it combines in a single installation the energy supply means and the autoguiding means, it also makes it possible to make another saving.
- the invention has the advantage of providing a simple, robust, reliable means, providing a multiple result which is at the same time directional, reassuring and of energy supply.
- an overhead cable which can also be used to supply electrical energy to a vehicle, carries within it all the elements necessary to determine at any time the orientation and therefore , in time, the trajectory of the vehicle, and in addition it can also serve to ensure the safety of this same vehicle by keeping it on its trajectory in the event of a skid or breakdown of the system responsible for directing it.
- the second idea consists in using these properties with an antenna which is capable both of picking up directional elements, of transmitting them to a device which transforms them into actions of sufficient intensity applied to the wheels of the vehicle to orient them exactly on the line indicated by the overhead cable, to use the cable to hold the vehicle if it deviates from its planned path and, finally, to bring to the motor terminals a current of sufficient intensity under the voltage which exists between the two conducting cables.
- the third idea of the invention is to use the pressure exei'cé by the antenna on the cables to ensure the safety of the vehicle. adding to the antenna a control device for maintaining the support of the antenna against the cable to automatically initiate braking if this pressure comes to decrease by reason of a derailment of the pulley or of the slider which bears against the cable.
- the invention also consists in the choice of means.
- the original idea of the invention is to provide an antenna comprising a shaft movable around a vertical geometric axis parallel to the pivot axes of the wheels and situated in their plane, to make the orientation of the tree integral with that of the pulleys or sliders which roll or slide against the cable and finally, to transmit this orientation to the wheels by a system which preserves it but which amplifies the intensity of the torque which it exerts on the wheels compared to that of the torque which determines the orientation of the antenna and which would be ineffective in orienting the wheels, due to its weakness.
- Another choice of the means of the invention is to roll or slide the bins or the cursors either under the cables, as this is done for trains, trams or s trolleybus, but above the cables so as to ensure the safety of the trajectory of the vehicle which remains, with pulleys with deep grooves, as hooked to the cables, if necessary, a little like a cable car cabin, if the wheels have a tendency to skid on the self on which they move.
- This means consists in making the vertical shaft carrying the antenna capable of tilting slightly to the left or to the right by stretching or compressing one or two return springs vertically and using this tilt to bring the vehicle back to ia good trajectory as will be described in detail below.
- another choice of means is to make the antenna two-headed, each of its heads playing the roles envisaged so far, but also ensuring electrical contact with the cable against which it is supported and this in isolation from the electrical point of view. , from the other head of the antenna, to transmit the current coming from the cable to one of the terminals of the vehicle engine.
- an elastic system maintains the contact of the pulleys or sliders with their cable and absorbs the unevenness of the ground during the movement of the vehicle.
- This means consists in subjecting the contact pressure between the cables and the pulleys or sliders to a device controlling the support maintenance between these two parts, a device which automatically triggers braking of the vehicle if pulleys or sliders come, when derailing, to leave the cable they follow.
- the system acts by a mechanical or electromagnetic relay on the braking system which it triggers under the action of the opening of the pantographs or other systems responsible for maintaining the support of the antenna against the cables.
- V.A.C.M.A. used in locomotives to control manual driver pressure.
- the invention relates to a vehicle provided with a system fulfilling both a role of autoguiding and a role of strengthening safety or a system playing in addition to these two roles, that of supplying the engine of the electric vehicle. It uses the following points:
- the antenna carries pulleys or sliders which roll or slide against the overhead cable (s) which they take at all times the orientation which they transmit to the antenna by rotating it around its vertical axis.
- the steering actions of the wheels are done through the rack and the quadrilateral of Jeantaud for example.
- FIG. 1 represents a front view of the equipment of a vehicle with a device for guiding, securing and supplying electrical energy.
- FIG. 2 shows this same equipment seen in profile but in which, for greater clarity, the pantograph has been set at 90 degrees relative to its position in FIG. 1.
- FIG. 3 represents a two-headed antenna without a security role.
- Figure 4 shows the arrangement of overhead cables and a single-headed antenna.
- First here are the modalities of realization of overhead cables.
- the cable (3) is welded or fixed from below, from distance distance, on the end of the branch (5) of a J-shaped support, the long branch (6) of which is suspended from the element (7) representing the arm of a gallows support or a cable stretched over it and across the road.
- the device with which the vehicle is provided is made up of four parts: the pulleys or sliders and, their supports, the pantographs and their supports the transmission and transformation shaft, the assistance device.
- the highest part includes two symmetrically identical parts. Each of these parts comprises a cylindrical steel bar (1) of approximately 15 millimeters in diameter. This bar is. first, starting from the bottom, vertical and then bent successively inwards, upwards, outwards and downwards so as to form a hook supporting the yoke of a pulley or the jaw of a cursor with deep throat (2). The opening of each of the Cs thus drawn by the trees (1) is turned to the right for those who must hang on the right cable and to the left for those who must hang on the left cable. It is also possible to provide the reverse, although the first arrangement appears to be easier to set up the vehicle.
- Each bar (1) is carried vertically by a pantograph ABCDEF on the horizontal bar AB from which it is fixed integrally in the middle thereof.
- the horizontality of the bar AB is ensured by two vertical guides not shown constituted by a cylindrical rod of 15 millimeters in diameter and sixty centimeters in length, fixed normally on the base DE and crossing with a soft sheath a sheath of a few centimeters carried vertically by the AB bar.
- the pantographs are themselves carried by a tree (4) in the form of a capital letter T with a vertical rod and horizontal arms.
- This tree is constituted by a hollow vertical tube surmounted by a hollow horizontal bar MM to which it is integral.
- the bar is fixed on the tube so as to be normal to the plane of the steered wheels in the absence of steering. It is slightly longer than the distance, according to normal, between the two overhead cables, so that it can thus support at each of its ends, symmetrically with respect to its center, ie vertical siipport of pantographs.
- the distance between the centers of the bases of the two pantograph supports is equal to the spacing of the two overhead cables.
- These supports are carried on the bar MM by bearings not shown, so as to be able to pivot around the vertical axis of their base and inside a sleeve of electrically insulating material, fixed in the bar MM.
- Each of the two pulleys, or each of the two sliders (2) is oriented by rolling or sliding reciprocally against one or the other of the two parallel cables (3). Their orientation movement rotates, jointly for each of them, the shaft (1) and the pantograph and its support.
- each of the pulleys or each of the sliders also drives its support in a translational movement during which the center of the base of the support and the corresponding point of the bar describe a curve parallel to that of the corresponding cable.
- the bar drives and pivots the shaft (4) which directs the next shaft (7).
- the shaft (4) can either be mounted on ball bearings not shown, integral with the bodywork so that this shaft (4) can rotate on itself around a vertical axis, or be wrapped in a thick sheet metal tube (16) inside which it can freely rotate on itself under the effect of the orientation of the pulley.
- the ttube widens at its base to wrap the first of the universal joints (8) without interfering with the function operation.
- This tube is integral at right angles, in its wide part with a cylindrical bar (17) held horizontal by bearings (18) fixed to the body of the vehicle.
- the meeting point of the axis of the tube and that of the horizontal bar is coincident with the center of the cross of the first of the universal joints (8).
- the horizontal bar meshes with a vertical shaft (19).
- This shaft itself meshes with the pivot (20) of an axle with steerable wheels controlled by the rack. It also controls, at the same time as the pivot, the drawer of a torque assistance distributor which it exerts itself on the pivot.
- the tube (16) is held vertically by the combined actions of the bar (17) and two helical springs (21) and (22).
- the antenna consisting of elements (1), (2), (4) and the pantographs ABCDEF, tilts to the right.
- the wheel carried by the bar (17) rotates the vertical shaft (19) which in turn pivots the steerable axle to the right.
- the vehicle thus returns in line with the path it must follow and the antenna straightens up.
- the fourth part of the device which has been mentioned above is a transmission shaft (7) placed after the second bar, to which it is connected by a double gimbal (8).
- This gimbal allows the shaft (7) to receive a desired inclination while at all times retaining the orientation transmitted by the bar (4), but it can obviously be eliminated if the shaft (7) is placed in a fixed position in the extension of the bar (4).
- the length of the shaft (7) is such that it crosses the entire height of the passenger compartment to reach the rack (10) of the control system for the direction of the steerable wheels, on which it acts by a toothed pinion (9 ) under the action of the cup it receives from the pulleys or sliders (2) through the other parts of the assembly. In its rotation, this shaft also controls the distribution slide of an action assistance device which it exerts itself on the rack.
- the steering control and the assistance device are not shown in the figures. Their description is useless here because they can be constituted like those, used in the automotive industry.
- the assembly described replaces a driver acting on a steering wheel by imposing on the steering wheels the orientation which he detects on an overhead cable and which they must take to follow the route traced by the cable.
- electrical energy is brought to the motor terminals by electrically conductive cables, connected to the base of each of the supports and passing inside the bar, the vertical shaft which carries it, and that which transmits the orientation of the pulleys to the steering rack or to the assistance device, to reach the motor terminals.
- the primary shaft (7) which engages in the assistance distributor, with a toothed wheel (11) which meshes with an intermediate wheel (12) which in turn meshes with another toothed wheel ( 13) mounted integral with a shaft (14) movable around its axis and provided with a manual flywheel (15) within the reach of the driver who can thus, to compensate for a failure of the automatic guidance system, replace him by engaging the steering wheel by action on the intermediate gear (12).
- the action to be exerted on the steering wheel is not greater than that provided by the antenna since the assistance device is in any case brought into play by the shaft (7).
- the assistance device can be omitted if the vehicle is light and if the trajectory curves are not very pronounced.
- the same device with or without an auxiliary steering wheel can also be applied to the rear wheels if they are steerable. This promotes the registration of the vehicle in the coui'bes small radius of curvature, and this is very important for long vehicles.
- the support maintenance control device associated with a servo-brake. It suffices to mount a dynamometer, for example between the branches AF and FE of the pantograph or in place of the springs I which ensure the tendency of the pantograph to close to maintain contact of the pulleys or sliders with the cable which directs them. If the pulley or the slider derails, the pantograph closes, the dynamometer records a thrust which it applies to the master cylinder of an automatic braking system and the vehicle stops.
- the master cylinder can also be remotely controlled by an electromagnetic relay controlled by a switch operated by the opening of the pantograph.
- the system described here is a combination of the cable car in that the vehicle is hung up and if necessary suspended in the event of a skid, and the trolley bus, in that instead of being pulled into the empty it is driven by wheels resting on the ground, the combination providing safety and autoguiding.
- the novelty compared to the cable car is also that the vehicle is hooked resiliently to the steering cable, instead of a rigid suspension, and that the steering effect acts on the steerable steering wheels and not directly on the bodywork.
- the novelty compared to the trolleybus is also obvious, it is neither self-driving nor secured by the cables which supply it.
- the invention is new in that it brings new results both by new means and by a combination of means, some of which are new.
Abstract
Description
Claims
Applications Claiming Priority (4)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
FR8705567A FR2613998B2 (fr) | 1983-11-24 | 1987-04-14 | Train autoguide sans rail au sol |
FR8705567 | 1987-04-14 | ||
FR8712715 | 1987-09-08 | ||
FR8712715A FR2620101B2 (fr) | 1983-11-24 | 1987-09-08 | Train autoguide sans rail au sol |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
EP0338026A1 true EP0338026A1 (fr) | 1989-10-25 |
Family
ID=26225932
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP19880903283 Ceased EP0338026A1 (fr) | 1987-04-14 | 1988-04-12 | Vehicule a guidage automatique a la fois directionnel et securisant sans rail au sol |
Country Status (2)
Country | Link |
---|---|
EP (1) | EP0338026A1 (fr) |
WO (1) | WO1988007952A1 (fr) |
Families Citing this family (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
KR20030063820A (ko) * | 2002-01-24 | 2003-07-31 | 주식회사 금성기공 | 버터플라이 밸브 |
GB2464472B (en) * | 2008-10-15 | 2010-11-03 | Anthony Ralph Kennard | A guided vehicle |
GB2613885A (en) * | 2021-12-19 | 2023-06-21 | Ralph Kennard Anthony | An overhead system to supply guidance and or power to wheeled vehicles |
Family Cites Families (8)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
DE257745C (de) * | 1911-09-01 | 1913-03-18 | Felix Amsberg | Lenkvorrichtung fur motorwagen mit einer oberhalb der fahrbahn angeordneten fuhrungsschiene |
US2022186A (en) * | 1932-11-28 | 1935-11-26 | Richards Wilcox Mfg Co | Tractor-trailer system |
FR806464A (fr) * | 1933-04-25 | 1936-12-17 | Procédé et dispositifs de direction des véhicules automobiles | |
GB495768A (en) * | 1937-05-14 | 1938-11-14 | Horace Hogg | An improvement in or relating to steering means for trackless trolley vehicles |
FR1126508A (fr) * | 1955-05-12 | 1956-11-26 | Mft Fr Pneumatiques Michelin | Perfectionnement au guidage automatique des véhicules sur route |
NL100716C (fr) * | 1956-09-04 | |||
FR1161636A (fr) * | 1956-11-16 | 1958-09-02 | Chausson Usines Sa | Installation pour la commande de la direction d'un véhicule comportant un dispositif de repérage d'une trajectoire à suivre |
DE3005685C2 (de) * | 1980-02-15 | 1983-09-15 | Mannesmann AG, 4000 Düsseldorf | Förderanlage mit auf dem Boden fahrenden Fahrzeugen |
-
1988
- 1988-04-12 WO PCT/FR1988/000178 patent/WO1988007952A1/fr not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1988-04-12 EP EP19880903283 patent/EP0338026A1/fr not_active Ceased
Non-Patent Citations (1)
Title |
---|
See references of WO8807952A1 * |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
WO1988007952A1 (fr) | 1988-10-20 |
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