EP0755343B1 - Embarking device for chairlift with fixed clamps - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to an embarking device for a chairlift (3) with cable (5) and vehicles (4), having fixed clamps (7), comprising at least one transport system (2) having a conveyor belt (2a) travelling at a constant speed v1 synchronized with the speed v2 of the cable (5) of the chairlift (3), upstream of the transport system (2), an acceleration system (1) having at least one acceleration band (1a) for passing at least one user wearing the skis from a substantially zero speed up to substantially constant speed v1 of said conveyor belt (2a) and upstream of the acceleration band (1a), a queueing and access path (10) characterized in that the conveyor belt (2a) is substantially out of level (13) with respect to the acceleration band (1a) so that the front portion of the skis comes in contact with the conveyor belt (2a) only when the inertia centre of the user passes beyond the downstream extremity of the acceleration band (1a).

Description

The invention relates to a boarding device for chairlift with fixed clamps. The invention relates more particularly to a boarding device for cable chairlift and vehicles with fixed clamps.

One of the main concerns of the chairlift manufacturers as well as the purchasers of these chairlifts is to obtain the best cost / hourly rate with optimal security mainly for the users but also for the equipment.

Two main categories of chairlifts exist, namely:

The chairlift with detachable vehicles is a chairlift having a high speed, therefore a high cable speed, but which requires at the embarkation or disembarkation station to disengage the vehicle on a secondary circuit so that skiers can be loaded and unloaded at speeds in line with their safety. Such devices provide good security and a high flow rate but require a substantial initial investment and significant maintenance due to the secondary declutching circuit and the fatigue caused by the disengageable clamps of vehicles undergoing a multitude of clutch / declutching cycles (four on one way / vehicle return).

The second category of chair lifts is called a vehicle with fixed clamps. In this category of chairlifts, the vehicles are not detachable from the conveyor cable. In fact, to ensure the safety of users at the embarkation station and the disembarkation station, such a chairlift cannot have as high a speed as that of detachable chairlifts. The main limit on the speed of a chairlift with fixed clamps is due to the limit imposed by the relative speed of the vehicle in relation to the user. Such devices with vehicles with fixed grippers are of course much lower in cost than devices with detachable grippers.

Manufacturers of fixed-grip chairlifts in order to increase the speed of their chairlifts have developed boarding devices that set the user (s) in motion. Therefore, for a constant vehicle / user relative speed, by giving an initial speed to the users, the speed of translation of the cable is increased by this initial speed and therefore the hourly speed of the chairlift with fixed clamps is increased.

As is known, in particular in documents EP-A-430 091 and AT-A-3427/87, such boarding devices for chairlifts with fixed clamps comprise a conveyor belt moving at a continuous speed synchronized with the speed of the cable from the chairlift and upstream of which there is an inclined acceleration ramp for passing the user (s) from a substantially zero speed up to substantially the constant speed of said conveyor belt. By this principle the user (s) are on the one hand accelerated from v = 0 to v = v1 = constant by the inclined ramp of acceleration then pass on the conveyor belt running at a constant speed v1 and, on this band conveyor are caught up by the vehicle with fixed grippers traveling at a constant speed v2 greater than v1.

Such devices have their limit insofar as the acceleration induced by the inclined acceleration ramp, and therefore the speed v1 of the conveyor belt is limited on the one hand by the safety of the user and on the other hand by the length of the inclined acceleration ramp.

One of the aims of the present invention is to make it possible, for a given acceleration, to significantly reduce the distance of the acceleration band. Conversely, another object of the present invention is to allow, for a given length of acceleration band, to obtain an output speed v1 greater than that known from the prior art.

To this end, the invention relates to a boarding device for cable chairlift and vehicles with fixed clamps comprising at least one conveyor belt moving at a continuous speed synchronized with the speed of the cable of the chairlift, further comprising upstream of the conveyor belt at least one acceleration belt for passing at least one user wearing skis at a substantially zero speed up to substantially the constant speed of said conveyor belt, and upstream of the acceleration belt, a path access and queues. According to the invention, the acceleration belt is substantially raised relative to the conveyor belt so that the front part of the skis comes into contact with the conveyor belt only when the center of inertia of the user passes beyond from the downstream end of the acceleration band.

The advantage of such a device is to ensure better safety for the user, the front of the ski not wearing on the carpet at constant speed before the user is actually brought to said constant speed. In addition to improved user safety, such a device makes it possible to reduce the length of the conveyor belt.

Another object of the present invention is to ensure that the acceleration band has additional safety and acceleration maintenance means for the user so that the acceleration applied to the acceleration band and therefore the user can be greater than the accelerations of the prior art while maintaining maximum safety for the user. To this end, the invention relates to a boarding device for chair lifts as described above, the acceleration band further comprising a plurality of lanes in particular in number equivalent to the number of seats on each vehicle, each lane being provided on either side of a mobile ramp (handrail) accelerated synchronously with the acceleration band.

Therefore, the user has an additional support point in addition to the support points of his skis on the acceleration band. All of these support points undergo the same acceleration at the same time.

• La figure 1 est une vue schématique de côté d'un dispositif d'embarquement pour télésiège selon l'invention.
• La figure 2 est une vue schématique de dessus de la représentation de la figure 1.
• La figure 3 est une vue suivant la flèche A de la représentation de la figure 1.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will result from the description which follows with reference to the appended drawings in which:

• Figure 1 is a schematic side view of a boarding device for chairlift according to the invention.
• FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of the representation of FIG. 1.
• FIG. 3 is a view along arrow A of the representation of FIG. 1.

The invention relates to a boarding device for users of cable-driven chairlifts and vehicles with fixed clamps.

In the description which follows the concepts of upstream and downstream must be understood relative to the direction of movement of the user. The user moving from upstream to downstream.

The user boarding device according to the invention comprises, from upstream to downstream, an acceleration system 1 making it possible to pass a user wearing skis with an initial speed substantially zero. up to speed v1; this acceleration system 1 is followed by a transport system 2 of the user or users wearing skis allowing the transport at constant speed v1 of the user or users over a certain distance.

The transport system 2 also acts as a pier for the user (s) on the vehicles 4 with fixed clamps 7 of the chairlift 3 with cables 5. Said vehicles 4 having a constant speed v2 greater than the constant speed v1 of the transport.

The acceleration system 1 according to the embodiment shown in the figures comprises a rotating conveyor belt 2a driven by a motor (not shown) whose upper face is horizontal and moves from upstream to downstream in a synchronized cyclic movement of acceleration / deceleration from v = 0 to v = v1 then from v = v1 to v = 0.

The acceleration system 1 further comprises movable handrails 8 defining a certain number of lanes 9 in particular in a number equivalent to the number of seats 16 on each vehicle 4. These mobile handrails 8 are subjected to the same clocked movement as the strip d acceleration 1a of the acceleration system 1. As a result, the user or users undergoing acceleration have an additional point of support of the hand on the handrails 8. Thus the user or users do not risk to tilt backwards under the effect of acceleration on their own inertia.

The upstream end of the acceleration system 1 comprises transition means 11 between the waiting wire path 10 and the acceleration system 1. The purpose of these transition means 11 is to position the front part of the skis a few centimeters above the acceleration band 1a in such a way that users in wait are not driven by the acceleration band 1a while users are already present there.

Another object of these transition means 11 is to limit the frictional forces of the rear part of the skis of a user driven by the acceleration band 1a of the acceleration system 1.

In the embodiment shown in the figures, these transition means 11 are free roller means 11. These roller means 11 have an axis of rotation perpendicular to the direction of acceleration of the acceleration system 1. The roller means 11 are arranged or have a diameter such that it creates a negative drop 15 with the acceleration system 1 so that the user (s) on standby have the front part of their skis positioned a few centimeters above the strip of acceleration 1a of the acceleration system 1.

These roller means 11 can be either a single roller 11 for all of the corridors 9 or several rollers 11 of the same axis 17, each intended for a corridor 9 and being free to rotate independently of the others.

The downstream end of the acceleration system 1 is extended by the transport system 2. The transport system 2 according to the embodiment shown in the figures comprises a rotating conveyor belt 2a driven by a motor (not shown) at a speed constant v1 and whose upper face is horizontal and moves from upstream to downstream.

The upper face of the conveyor belt 2a is slightly elevated 13 relative to the acceleration belt 1a of the acceleration system 1. Therefore, the front part of the skis of the accelerated user (s) does not come into contact with the belt conveyor 2a only when the center of inertia of the user (s) passes beyond the downstream end of the acceleration band 1a.

The transport system 2 also constitutes the loading system for the user (s) on the vehicles 4 of the chairlift 3.

The process for boarding the user (s) on the vehicle 4 of the chairlift 3 is equivalent to that existing when the user (s) statically await the arrival of the vehicle. The only difference comes from the fact that in the present invention the user or users have an initial speed v1, and the vehicle 4 of the chairlift 3 has a speed v2 representing the sum of the speed v1 with a boarding speed conventionally used in the devices boarding of static users.

At the downstream end of the transport system 2, a negative drop 14 is made on the order of 1 to 2 meters to prevent the latter from being struck by the vehicle 4 in the event of a fall by one or more users. was intended to charge them.

• une position fermée où il bloque l'accès du ou des usagers au système d'accélération ;
• et une position ouverte où il libère l'accès au système d'accélération 1 (en pointillés fig 2).

The boarding device according to the invention further comprises, upstream of the acceleration system 1, clocking means 12 movable between two extreme clocked positions, namely:

• a closed position where it blocks the access of the user (s) to the acceleration system;
• and an open position where it frees access to the acceleration system 1 (dotted in fig 2).

In the embodiment shown in the figures, the timing means 12 comprise timing gates 12, each blocking or releasing access from an associated corridor 9.

The operation of the device will now be described by following the successive stages undergone by an on-board user.

The user presents himself in front of one of the lanes 9, the front part of the skis being raised relative to the acceleration band 1a of the acceleration system 1 thanks to the free rollers 11. The clocked gate is in the closed position.

The acceleration band 1a is stopped, the clocked gate passes to the open position, the user advances with the help of the handrail 8 which is also stopped. At this stage, at least the front part of the user's skis is in contact with the acceleration band 1a, the user having also taken support on the handrail 8.

The acceleration band 1a and the handrail 8 as well as the user are subjected to the acceleration cycle of the acceleration system. The clocked gate passes to the closed position. At the downstream end of the acceleration system 1, the front part of the user's skis is raised a few centimeters above the transport system so that the user / skis assembly can still be accelerated without it there is a distortion between the constant speed of the transport system and the accelerated movement of the acceleration system 1. When the center of gravity of the user passes the downstream end of the acceleration system 1, the user switches to the conveyor belt of the transport system 2, its speed being then substantially equal to the speed v1 of the transport system 2.

The above steps are synchronized with the vehicle 4 of the chairlift 3 so that once the user on the transport system 2, said vehicle considered to be driven at a speed v2 greater than v1 comes to pick up the user before l downstream end of the transport system 2.

In parallel with this user boarding phase, the acceleration system 1 decelerates by speed v1 to v = 0, the gates clocked 12 pass in the open position, a new user enters at least partially in the corridor 9 and is accelerated to the transport system 2 according to the steps previously described.

The new user arrives on the transport system 2 after the passage of the vehicle 4 of the chairlift 3 intended for the first user.

Thanks to the device according to the invention, it is possible to obtain at much lower costs ski flows equivalent to those of chairlifts with detachable grippers. It will thus be possible to obtain speeds v2 of vehicles with fixed pliers of the order of 3.5 to 4 meters / second compared to the conventional speeds known on chair lifts with vehicles with fixed pliers and with static boarding which are of the order of 2.30 to 2.5 meters / second.

Claims (7)

1. A boarding device for a chairlift (3) having cables (5) and vehicles (4) with fixed clamps (7) comprising at least a transportation system (2) having a conveying belt (2a) moving at a constant speed v1 synchronised with the speed v2 of the cable (5) of the chairlift (3), upstream from the transportation system (2), an accelerating system (1) having at least an accelerating belt (1a) allowing at least a user having skis on, to go from a speed substantially equal to zero to the substantially constant speed v1 of said conveying belt (2a) and upstream from the accelerating belt (1a), an access path and a queue line (10), characterised in that the upper face of the conveying belt (2a) is substantially at a negative difference in Level (13) with respect to the upper face of the accelerating belt (1a) so that the front part of the skis comes into contact with the conveying belt (2a) only when the user's center of inertia goes beyond the downstream end of the accelerating belt (1a), the accelerating belt (1a) including a plurality of lanes (9) whose number is notably equivalent to the number of seats (16) on each vehicle (4), and whose axis is in the direction of or faces the acceleration, each lane (9) being separated from the previous one and the following one by means of a mobile handrail (8) which is synchronously submitted to the same acceleration as the accelerating belt (1a).
2. A device according to claim 1, characterised in that it has, upstream from the accelerating belt (1a), pace means (1a) synchronised with the accelerating belt (1a) and the speed of the cable (5) of the chairlift (3) for synchronising the user(s)' access on the accelerating belt (1a) with the vehicle (4) which he/she (they) shall board on.
3. A device according to claims 1 or 2, characterised in that each lane (9) has a mobile pace gate (12) located upstream and between two extreme paced positions, i.e. a closed position wherein the access to the associated lane (9) is prohibited and an open position wherein the access to the associated lane (9) is authorised.
4. A device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that it has, upstream from the accelerating belt (1a) transition means (11) for raising the front part of the user(s)' skis in the queue line and/or for limiting the frictional forces of the rear part of skis when the front part is carried away by the accelerating belt (1a).
5. A device according to claim 4, characterised in that the transition means (11) are rotating idle roller means (11) disposed crosswise with respect to the accelerating belt (1a) and creating in Level (15) with respect to the upper face of the accelerating belt (1a).
6. A device according to claim 5, characterised in that the roller means (11) comprise a plurality of idle and independent rollers (11), each one being associated with a lane (9) of the accelerating belt (1a).
7. A device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that it comprises a negative difference in Level (14) in the range of 1 to 2 meters at the downstream end of the transportation system (2).

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