EP0576320B1 - System for the running of automatic vehicles - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a network for the circulation of automatic vehicles subject to mechanically follow one or the other of at least two traffic lanes of the network, which are connected together by at least one exchanger which allows the change of lanes. vehicles by selection, by each vehicle entering the exchanger, of a route determined during its crossing of the exchanger, which leads either to the pursuit by the vehicle on its route on the same lane, i.e. when the vehicle changes lanes.

Although the design of such a type of network can find many applications, the present invention will be specially described below in the case of a network for the circulation on its own site of automatic passenger transport vehicles, and more particularly in the case of a network comprising tangent circulation loops.

Various network designs are known in which the exchangers allowing the vehicles to change direction, also called switches, all have the drawback of being active devices which are associated with the track proper and which are most often controlled from '' a central system (DE-A-2 500 790). In addition, none of these network designs allows the simultaneous passage of two vehicles or two convoys in the exchanger. This is the case, for example, of railway networks comprising switches of the double junction type with crossing.

The object of the present invention is to remedy these drawbacks.

• chaque voie comporte, en amont de l'échangeur, des moyens de détection de l'arrivée d'un véhicule en direction de l'échangeur ; et
• le réseau comporte des moyens d'inhibition de moyens de sélection de changement de voie associés à chaque véhicule, lorsque lesdits moyens de détection associés aux deux voies détectent l'arrivée simultanée, ou quasi simultanée, d'un véhicule sur chacune des deux voies.

To this end, the invention relates to a network of the type mentioned above, characterized in that:

• each channel comprises, upstream of the exchanger, means for detecting the arrival of a vehicle in the direction of the exchanger; and
• the network comprises means for inhibiting means for selecting lane change associated with each vehicle, when said detection means associated with the two lanes detect the simultaneous, or almost simultaneous, arrival of a vehicle on each of the two lanes.

Thus, the design, in accordance with the present invention, for an automatic vehicle traffic network prevents any collision of two vehicles arriving simultaneously in the exchanger, respectively by one or the other of the two paths associated with the exchanger.

Preferably, the selection means of each vehicle normally occupy a first position requiring the vehicle to continue its journey on the same lane and are likely to occupy a second position corresponding to the lane change in response to a command order, and the inhibition means prevent the formation and / or transmission of the order.

Thus, increased security is obtained insofar as each vehicle has its own preselection mode corresponding to the continuation of its circulation on its path of entry into the exchanger.

Preferably, each channel comprises, upstream of the exchanger and downstream of the detection means, means of identification by the vehicle of the identity of the exchanger into which it will enter, and means on board each vehicle establish a change of direction order based on relative information to the path that the vehicle must travel and according to parameters representative of the identified exchanger into which the vehicle will enter.

Thanks to these characteristics, each vehicle determines, by its own means, a possible change of direction by means of the exchanger, when approaching each exchanger that it encounters on its route.

In order to ensure their function, it is sufficient then that the inhibition means prevent the functioning of the identification means.

According to one embodiment of the network, the identification means comprise at least one fixed identification pad associated with the track and each vehicle includes means for reading the identification pads to determine the parameters representative of the identity of the vehicle. exchanger into which the vehicle will enter.

In this design, the inhibition means prevent the identification pads from being read by the vehicles.

In order to increase the operational safety of the network, each channel comprises, upstream of the exchanger and downstream of the detection means, first transmission means which transmit to the selection means of each vehicle a switching order towards said first position, when the detection means associated with the two lanes detect the simultaneous, or almost simultaneous, arrival of a vehicle on each of the two lanes.

When, according to a preferred design, the network includes means for identifying the exchangers and first transmission means, the latter are located upstream of the exchanger and downstream of the identification means.

Network security can be further increased and for this purpose it is provided that each channel comprises, downstream of the exchanger, second transmission means which transmit, to the selection means of the vehicle leaving the exchanger, an order switching to said first position in which the selection means require the vehicle to continue its journey on the same lane.

Thus, the path selection means of each vehicle leaving a heat exchanger are, when approaching the next heat exchanger that the vehicle will encounter, in the preferred safety position corresponding to the continuation of the path of the vehicle on the same lane.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the means for selecting the path of each vehicle can be of the type comprising at least one mechanical selection member mounted movable between said first and second positions, the first and / or second transmission means being then produced in the form of a cam profile with which a cam follower member mechanically connected to the selection member cooperates.

This design allows the first transmission means to be produced in a particularly simple manner in the form of a support element for the cam profile which is retractable between a first position in which the cam profile is projecting and a second position in which it is retracted, the second transmission means being produced in the form of a fixed support element with respect to the track and the vehicle.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the means for selecting each vehicle comprises a steering member produced in the form of a roller mounted axially movable between a first position and a second vertical position, so as to be received selectively in complementary guide grooves of the exchanger arranged on different levels to cause, or not, a change of direction of the vehicle as a function of the vertical position occupied by the guide roller.

The invention finds particular application in the case where each of the two lanes constitutes a circulation loop of a network comprising at least two tangent circulation loops.

• La figure 1 illustre un réseau du type comportant deux boucles tangentes de circulation reliées entre elles par un échangeur.
• La figure 2 est une vue de dessus de l'échangeur illustré sur la figure 1.
• La figure 3 est une vue en perspective, à plus grande échelle et avec un arrachement partiel, de l'échangeur illustré sur la figure 1.
• La figure 4 est une vue en perspective selon la flèche F de la figure 3 illustrant la coopération des organes de sélection des véhicules avec les rainures formées dans l'échangeur.
• La figure 5 est une vue en coupe à plus grande échelle selon la ligne V-V de la figure 2.
• La figure 6 est une vue en bout selon la flèche F' d'une des branches de l'échangeur illustré sur la figure 2.
• La figure 7 illustre schématiquement une partie du réseau illustré sur la figure 1 comportant l'échangeur et des portions en amont et en aval de l'échangeur.
• La figure 8 montre le schéma synoptique de la partie de réseau montrée par la figure 7.

Le réseau 10 illustré schématiquement sur la figure 1 est du type comportant deux boucles tangentes 12 et 14 sur lesquelles peuvent circuler, par exemple dans le sens indiqué par les flèches C, des véhicules de transport de passagers et, par exemple, des taxis automatiques à usage urbain circulant en site propre.The figures of the appended drawings will make it clear how the invention can be implemented. In these figures, identical references designate similar elements.

• FIG. 1 illustrates a network of the type comprising two tangent circulation loops linked together by an exchanger.
• FIG. 2 is a top view of the exchanger illustrated in FIG. 1.
• FIG. 3 is a perspective view, on a larger scale and with a partial cutaway, of the exchanger illustrated in FIG. 1.
• Figure 4 is a perspective view along arrow F of Figure 3 illustrating the cooperation of the vehicle selection members with the grooves formed in the exchanger.
• FIG. 5 is a sectional view on a larger scale along the line VV of FIG. 2.
• FIG. 6 is an end view along arrow F ′ of one of the branches of the exchanger illustrated in FIG. 2.
• FIG. 7 schematically illustrates part of the network illustrated in FIG. 1 comprising the exchanger and portions upstream and downstream of the exchanger.
• Figure 8 shows the block diagram of the network part shown in Figure 7.

The network 10 illustrated schematically in Figure 1 is of the type comprising two tangent loops 12 and 14 on which can circulate, for example in the direction indicated by the arrows C, passenger transport vehicles and, for example, automatic taxis to urban use circulating on its own site.

In order to allow vehicles to pass from one loop to another, the network 10 includes a direction change device or exchanger 16, the function of which is equivalent to that of a double junction with crossing used in the field of roads. of iron.

The exchanger 16 has a design symmetry with respect to a median longitudinal plane PL and with respect to a median transverse plane PT.

The vehicles 18 illustrated schematically in Figure 4 can be of any design, such that they are mechanically subject to follow a determined path, for example along a circulation loop.

In the embodiments illustrated in the figures, each vehicle 18 includes at least one path selection member 20 in the exchanger, which is for example constituted by a rod 22 which extends in a vertical direction and which brings its end a cylindrical guide roller 24, mounted for rotation about a vertical axis.

Each selection member 20, or steering member, is capable of moving vertically relative to the body of the vehicle 18 between a first position, illustrated for the vehicle on the left in FIG. 4, in which the roller 24 is located at a first level bottom N1, and a second position, illustrated for the vehicle on the right in FIG. 4, in which the steering roller 24 is located at a second high level N2.

The difference in altitude between the two levels represented by the mixed lines N1 and N2 corresponds substantially to the height h of the guide roller 24.

The track followed by a vehicle 18 is materialized by a guide groove with a profile complementary to that of the guide roller 24.

The cross-sectional profile of the guide grooves is for example illustrated in FIG. 5 in which it can be seen, considering for example the central groove, that it essentially consists of two side walls 26, which extend in parallel vertical planes which are spaced from each other by a transverse distance slightly greater than the diameter of the guide roller 24.

The profile of the groove is completed at its upper part by a parallel longitudinal groove 28 of smaller section, which allows the passage of the guide rod 22, the groove 28 opening for this purpose vertically upwards.

The different sections of grooves formed in the body of the exchanger 16 illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 6 will now be described in detail.

Considering the direction of circulation C indicated in the figures, the exchanger 16 comprises two inlet sections TE and two outlet sections TS.

The height H of the guide grooves constituting the inlet TE and outlet TS sections is, as can be seen in particular in FIGS. 4 and 6, substantially equal to twice the height h of the guide rollers.

A vehicle 18 can therefore travel in the sections TE and TS, whatever the vertical position occupied by its guide roller 24.

It is also possible to make a change in the vertical position of the guide rollers 24 in the TE inlet and TS outlet sections.

Each inlet section TE is extended in the direction of the associated outlet section TS by a first intermediate section TI1, so as to constitute a section of continuous curve and without inflection point, which extends the curvature of the associated circulation loop.

The height of the groove of each of the first intermediate sections TI1 is substantially equal to the height h of a guide roller 24 and the grooves constituting the sections TI1 are located at the first low level N1.

It is therefore understood that a roller 24 occupying its first low position, corresponding to the vehicle 18 on the left in FIG. 4, is guided in its movements successively by the aligned sections TE, TI1 and TS.

Each of the entry sections TE also extends by a second intermediate section TI2, also called section crossing, which extends laterally in derivation with respect to the general direction common to the associated sections TE and TI1.

The height of the grooves constituting the second intermediate sections TI2 is substantially equal to the height h of a roller 24 and these grooves are located at the high level N2, as can be seen in FIGS. 3 and 5.

It is therefore understood that a vehicle 18 which enters the entry section TE with its roller 24 in the high position, corresponding to the vehicle in the right part of FIG. 4, is then guided laterally by the second associated intermediate section TI2, which then causes the change of direction of the vehicle 18, that is to say the change of circulation loop, since each intermediate section TI2 is extended in the direction of the exit section associated with the other circulation loop.

The change of lane or bifurcation therefore occurs substantially at the point B of connection between an entry section TE and the two intermediate sections TI1 and TI2 which are associated with it and this as a function of the low or high position occupied by the roller guide 24 of the vehicle entering the TE entry section.

Each vehicle 18 comprises means 30 for controlling the vertical movements of the selection members 20 actuated by a circulation management unit 47. Such control means 30 may comprise jacks or electromagnets.

The exchanger 16 as just described can be described as "passive" insofar as the selection of the route that a vehicle makes in the exchanger is made from the vehicle itself. So there is a non-zero probability that two vehicles arriving simultaneously or almost simultaneously in the exchanger 16, each by one of the two lanes 12 or 14, collide in the event that at least one of the two vehicles makes a lane change during its crossing of the interchange.

In order to solve this problem, the circulation network is advantageously produced in the manner schematically illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8.

Upstream of the exchanger 16, considering the direction of circulation indicated by the arrows C, each of the tracks 12, 14 includes means 40, which make it possible to detect the arrival of a vehicle 18 in the direction of the exchanger 16 As shown diagrammatically in FIG. 7, the detection means 40 can for example consist of two electrical tracks between which the vehicle establishes contact by means designed for this purpose.

The detection means 40 are connected to a traffic management unit 41 (see FIG. 8) which, when two vehicles 18 circulate simultaneously on the conductive tracks 40 of the tracks 12 and 14, produces on its output 43 an inhibition signal whose function will be described later.

Each of the channels 12, 14 also includes a fixed stud 42, which allows the identification, by an arriving vehicle 18, of the identity of the exchanger 16 into which it will penetrate.

Each pad 42 contains, for example in the form of coded information, parameters relating to the identity of the exchanger 16. Each vehicle 18 comprises, in addition to the control means 30 and the traffic management unit 47 , reading means 45, for example optical or magnetic, which, when the vehicle passes right of a pad 42, decipher the coded parameters and transmit them to the traffic management unit 47 on board the vehicle.

On the basis of the parameters relating to the identity of the exchanger 16 and on the basis of stored information relating to the overall journey to be made by the automatic vehicle 18, the on-board management unit 47 produces a command signal, or command, which is transmitted to the means 30 for controlling the vertical movements of the selection member 20 of the vehicle.

This command order has the consequence of causing or not the switching of the selection means 20, in order to effect or not a change of lane.

In order to avoid the collision of two vehicles arriving simultaneously, it is for example provided that the inhibition signal produced by the traffic management unit 41 is transmitted to the identification pads 42, in order to make it impossible to read these last by the 18 arriving vehicles.

Insofar as the traffic management unit 47 on board each vehicle 18 no longer has the identification parameters of the exchanger 16, it can no longer produce control signals from the selection means 20 and each vehicle 18 is then subject to remain on the same track, when crossing the exchanger 16.

As a variant, the inhibition signal emitted by the traffic management unit 41 could be transmitted to the traffic management units 47 of the vehicles 18, so that the latter can no longer produce control signals towards the means 30.

In order to increase network security, each channel 12, 14 comprises, downstream of the detection means 40 and identification 42 and upstream of the exchanger 16, pads 44, each of which has a profile on its upper face cam 46 provided for mechanically cooperating with the selection member 20 of each vehicle.

The design of the cam profile 46 is such that it is capable of causing the switching member 20 to switch to its first position, or high position, corresponding to the continuation of the journey without changing lanes in the exchanger 16.

Each of the pads 44 is mounted vertically movable between a high position (in solid lines in FIG. 8) for which the cam profile 46 protrudes from the upper face of the corresponding track 12, 14, so as to be able to cooperate with the selection member 20 of a vehicle and a low position (dotted in Figure 8) for which the profile 46 is retracted.

The movements of the pads 44 between their projecting positions and their retracted positions are controlled by actuators 49 (for example jacks or electromagnets) controlled by the output 43 of the traffic management unit 41 as a function of detection by means 40 of the simultaneous arrival of two vehicles.

Thus, when two vehicles 18 arrive simultaneously on the exchanger 16, the traffic management unit 41 causes the mobile pads 44 to rise, so that the latter automatically cause the selection means 20 to switch to their high position, and this even in the event of a breakdown, or faulty operation, of the traffic management units 47 and / or of the control means 30 on board the vehicles 18.

Finally, downstream of the exchanger 16, each channel 12, 14 has a fixed pad 48, the design of which is similar to that of the movable pads 44, that is to say the top face of which has a cam profile 50 , which automatically causes the selection means 20 to switch to their high position.

After having crossed the exchanger 16 and having passed a fixed stud 48, each vehicle can continue its journey on the corresponding track with its selection means 20 switched to the preferential safety position, or high position, in which they will present themselves at the approach of a next interchange.

Claims (12)

1. Network (10) for the running of automatic vehicles (18) constrained mechanically to follow one or other of at least two running trackways (12, 14) of the network, which are joined together by at least one interchange (16) which allows the vehicles (18) to change trackways, through each vehicle penetrating the interchange, by selecting a given path as it passes through the interchange, this resulting either in the vehicle continuing on its path on the same trackway or in the vehicle changing trackway, characterized in that each trackway (12, 14) includes, upstream of the interchange (16), means (40) for detecting the arrival of a vehicle in the direction of the interchange and in that the network includes means (41) for inhibiting means (20) for selecting a change in trackway which are associated with each vehicle, when the said detecting means (40) associated with the two trackways (12, 14) detect the simultaneous or almost simultaneous arrival of the vehicle (18) on each of the two trackways.
2. Network according to Claim 1, characterized in that the selection means (20) of each vehicle normally occupy a first position (N1) requiring the vehicle to continue its path on the same trackway and are capable of occupying a second position (N2) corresponding to the change in trackway in response to a control order, and in that the inhibition means (41) prevent the formation and/or the transmission of the said control order.
3. Network according to Claim 2, characterized in that each trackway includes, upstream of the interchange (16) and downstream of the detecting means (40), means (42) via which the vehicle identifies the identity of the interchange (16) which it is about to penetrate and in that on-board means (47, 20) on each vehicle determine a direction-change order as a function of information relating to the path that the vehicle is to follow and as a function of parameters representing the identified interchange which the vehicle is about to penetrate.
4. Network according to Claim 3, characterized in that the inhibition means (41) prevent the operation of the identification means (42).
5. Network according to either of Claims 3 and 4, characterized in that the identification means (42) include at least one stationary identification pad associated with the trackway (12, 14) and in that each vehicle includes means (45) for reading the identification pads (42) in order to determine the said parameters.
6. Network according to Claim 5 taken in combination with Claim 4, characterized in that the inhibition means (41) prevent the vehicles from reading the identification pads (42).
7. Network according to any one of Claims 2 to 6, characterized in that each trackway includes, upstream of the interchange (16) and downstream of the detecting means (40), first transmission means (44) which transmit to the selection means (20) of each vehicle an order to switch over into the said first position, when the said detecting means (40) associated with the two trackways (12, 14) detect the simultaneous or almost simultaneous arrival of a vehicle on each of the two trackways.
8. Network according to Claim 7 taken in combination with any one of Claims 3 to 6, characterized in that the said first transmission means (44) are situated upstream of the interchange (16) and downstream of the identification means (42).
9. Network according to any one of Claims 2 to 8, characterized in that each trackway (12, 14) includes, downstream of the interchange (16), second transmission means (48) which transmit, to the selection means of the vehicle leaving the interchange (16), an order to switch over into the said first position.
10. Network according to any one of Claims 7 to 9, characterized in that the path selection means (47, 20) of each vehicle include at least one mechanical selection member (20) mounted so that it can move between the said first and second positions in that the said first or second transmission means (44, 48) are produced in the form of a cam profile (46, 50) with which there interacts a cam follower member mechanically joined to the selection member.
11. Network according to any one of Claims 2 to 10, characterized in that the selection means of each vehicle include a steering member (24) produced in the form of a roller mounted so that it can move axially between a first vertical position (N1) and a second vertical position (N2), so as to be accommodated selectively in complementary guide slots in the interchange, which slots are arranged on different levels so as to bring about or not to bring about a change in direction of the vehicle as a function of the vertical position occupied by the guide roller (24).
12. Network according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that each one of the two trackways constitutes a running loop of a network including at least two tangential running loops.

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