EP1089904B1 - Chair lift with improved boarding - Google Patents

Abstract

A station for boarding a chairlift for continuously moving ropeway transport. The chairlift includes several seats, either fixed or detachably coupled at regular intervals. Each seat is taken in turn by successive ramps, an arrival, a turnaround and a departure ramp, the arrival and departure ramps being parallel. The turnaround ramp includes two turnings, upstream and downstream, separated by a rectilinear transfer ramp. A boarding site is located at an exit of the downstream turning. An angle alpha between the arrival and transfer ramps, corresponding to the upstream turning is acute. An angle between the transfer and departure ramps, corresponding to the downstream turning is obtuse. The drive elements cause each seat to pivot on itself at the transfer ramp.

Description

The subject of the present invention is an improved chairlift at the station boarding. To do this, each seat, before arriving at the embarkation location, is oriented to facilitate boarding.

The state of the art can be defined by the document FR-A-2.614.858 which proposes a family of chair lifts, using single seaters are the buckets can be rotated relative to the hanger, while the railing tubes remain fixed, thus making it easier to embark and disembark passengers while ensuring the relative position of the railing with respect to the latter's locking bucket at the exit of the boarding area. A set of ground guides in collaboration with a caster, a lug, a sliding pivot to stabilize the seats, orient the buckets and to lock the buckets.

This type of chairlift, in addition to the fact that it is only used for clamp seats, called fixed, is impossible to use for seats with more than two seats. So in the boarding area, each seat is sideways, i.e. the backrest is positioned inside the bypass turn.

In addition, the security of such an installation is not the most effective, the person having to be on board with its back to the seat and said seat moving substantially perpendicular to the movement of said seated person There is a risk that this no one can find the seat. The installation of the railing, which is not mobile as is the seat, does not facilitate boarding either

Finally, from an economic point of view, the floor of the boarding station must be arranged to receive guide means, such as rails, and the means for pivoting the seats must be able to be locked when moving the seats between the departure stations and arrival.

- FR-A-2.236.707: Chairlifts with non-detachable seats staggered along an overhead cable with continuous travel along a closed path, passing at the departure station through a ski-lift embarkation site including an access track at said location and a means arranged at the entrance to said track to rhythm the engagement of skiers on the track in rhythm with the movement of the seats, characterized in that said track is a fixed track which converges with said travel trajectory seats at an acute angle to said boarding location to allow skiers at the start moving head-on in the same direction as the seats to gradually fit into the intervals between the successive seats .

This patent describes a chairlift that is not very usable. It is possible to make skiers walk in a straight line, but it is very tricky to make them make turns and especially when they are six front skiers. In this patent, two 30 ° turns are described and the seat of the chairlift is always in a straight line.

- EP-A-0.443.913: The boarding area in a vehicle passing slowly through a station is divided by means of lane dividers oriented in the direction forming an acute angle α with the direction of advance of the vehicle. This arrangement promotes orderly passenger boarding and leads to an increase in the vehicle occupancy rate.

This patent describes a boarding platform which makes an S-shaped journey for passengers before boarding.

- FR-A-2.692.858: This cable transport installation (s), at least one of which is a tractor and is driven at a constant speed in a closed loop between two stations, and carrying a plurality of vehicles ensuring the transport proper comprises at each station an arrival lane equipped with a device for slowing down said vehicles to reduce their speed after declutching the cable (s), and a departure lane provided with a launching device for bringing vehicles at the speed of the cable or cables when they are engaged thereon at the station outlet. Each station also includes a linear transfer device from the cabin from the arrival lane to the departure lane, transfer perpendicular to the axis of said tracks.

This patent describes an installation with cabins. there are no pedestrians or swivel seats .

- FR-A-1.393.778: This patent relates to a mechanical lift installation intended for air transport, between a so-called lower station and a so-called upper station of skiers keeping their skis at their feet at least in the “going” direction, characterized in that it comprises vehicles with lateral loading and unloading driven continuously along a closed loop guide and in which the skiers are supported with their skis arranged transversely to the trajectory of the vehicles. This installation corresponds to the preamble of claim 1.

The present invention aims to increase the speed of a chairlift by modifying the position of the seat in the area before boarding.

This modification consists of a rotation of the seat by an angle which allows the face frontal of the seat to approach a perpendicular to the queue of skiers.

This position very significantly reduces the phenomenon of "sweeping" in the curves, which increases with the width of the seat.

To this end, the present invention relates to a boarding station for a continuous scrolling aerial cable transport chairlift, chairlift with several seats, at least one seat for taking into account person (s), coupled to the regular space cable in a fixed or disengageable manner, at the level of the boarding station, relative to said cable, each seat being taken into account by ramps successive, called arrival, bypass and departure, the arrival and departure ramps parallel, the bypass ramp has two turns, called upstream and downstream, separated by a straight transfer ramp, that the line of skiers is in line with the starting ramp.

The boarding station is characterized by the fact that a boarding location is located at the exit of the downstream turn, and the angle (α) between the arrival and transfer ramps, corresponding to the upstream turn, is acute and the angle (β) between the transfer and departure ramps, corresponding to the downstream turn, is obtuse.

According to an improvement of this embodiment, the drive elements rotate each seat on itself at the transfer ramp before docking.

The drive elements rotate the seat in rotation by an angle  which allows the front face of the seat to approach a perpendicular to the queue, this position of the seat very significantly reduces the phenomenon of "sweeping" in the curves, which increases with the width of the seat.

Whatever the embodiment, on the one hand, the angle α of the upstream turn is understood between 35 and 55 °, and on the other hand, the angle β of the downstream turn is between 125 and 145 °.

More precisely, on the one hand the angle α of the upstream turn is 45 °, and on the other hand, the angle β of the downstream turn is 135 °.

According to the second embodiment, each seat is pivoted from 20 to 40 °, the front face of said seat orienting towards the inside of the turn formed by the arrival and bypass ramps and departure.

More precisely, each seat is pivoted by 30 °, the front face of said seat being oriented towards the inside of the turn formed by the arrival, bypass and departure ramps.

Whatever the embodiment, between the upstream and downstream turns, on the ramp transfer, the drive elements accelerate the seats.

The ratio between the speed of each seat at the boarding location and at the level of the transfer ramp is proportional to the angle α or β of the upstream turn or of the downstream turn.

This report is: V location V transfer = cos α = sin β

If the person or persons to be loaded are supported by a conveyor belt, who transports them to the boarding location, the speed of the treadmill is noticeably identical to the speed of seats when cornering.

The attached drawings are given as indicative and non-limiting examples. They represent two embodiments according to the invention. They will allow to understand easily the invention.

Figure 1 shows a top view of the seating path in an outline classic.

FIG. 2 represents a top view of the routing of the seats in a contour according to a first embodiment of the invention when the seat is at the level of the upstream turn.

FIG. 3 represents a view identical to FIG. 2, when the seat is at the level of the transfer ramp.

FIG. 4 represents a top view of the routing of the seats in a contour according to a second embodiment of the invention.

According to Figure 1, the boarding station 21 is entirely conventional style. She comprises a chairlift 22 provided with an overhead cable 23, on which are secured so disengageable of the seats 24 allowing the transport of people or skiers 25.

The arrows make it possible to distinguish the direction of movement of said seats 24.

First, there is an arrival ramp 26, then a bypass ramp 27 and finally a departure ramp 28.

The seats 24 coming from the landing station, not shown in the figures, end at the arrival ramp 26 while the departure ramp 28 allows the seats 24 to be oriented towards this landing station generally located at altitude.

Also quite classic, there is at the end of the bypass ramp 27, a boarding location 32, on which the skiers 25 take their places to be taken into account by one of the seats 24. These 25 are brought to this location 32 by treadmill 34.

Note that the front face 33 of each seat 24 has a movement which follows exactly the path which is defined by the overhead cable 23.

In this figure 1, we see that the scanning of the seat 24 only allows late the opening of the gates 35. The skiers 25 are caught by the seat 24 before the location boarding 32, and the skier 25 inside the line will sit prematurely in a place which is not hers.

According to Figures 2 and 3, a first embodiment of the present invention is represented. There is a boarding station 1 of a chairlift 2, which has an overhead cable 3. This overhead cable 3 comprises at regular intervals seats 4 which are disengageable. Each seat 4 allows the boarding of a certain number of skiers 5 who are six in number on the figures, this number being nonlimiting but representing a particularly interesting mode of production.

In a completely conventional manner, there is therefore an arrival ramp 6, on which the seats 4 are slowed down from a speed which is equivalent to the speed of movement to a speed which is substantially 1.2 meters per second (m / s). In this case, the distance between two 4 adjacent seats is 6.48 m = δ.

The duration between the passage of a first seat 4 and the following seat is 5.4 s.

Next is located the bypass ramp 7 whose very specific structure will be described later.

Finally, the bypass ramp 7 ends at the starting ramp 8 which is a ramp acceleration allowing the clamping of the grippers of each seat 4 and the re-speeding of each seat 4 to find the running speed of the overhead cable 3.

The whole invention resides in the shape of this bypass ramp 7 since there are two turns, one upstream 9, the other downstream 11, separated from each other by a transfer ramp 10.

The advantage of this invention lies in the fact that the two turns, upstream 9 and downstream 11, do not are not on the same level. They are offset so that the transfer ramp 10 is in the position of crosswise and not, conventionally, perpendicular to the direction of movement of the seats 4.

In this position, there is therefore an angle α between the arrival ramp 6 and the ramp transfer 10, and an angle β between this same transfer ramp 10 and the starting ramp 8.

According to the example shown in Figures 2 and 3, the angle α of the upstream turn 9 in projection horizontal of the lane before boarding is 45 °. At the downstream turn 11, the angle β is therefore 135 °, α + β corresponding to 180 °.

In FIG. 2, the seat 4 then has a completely normal position.

In FIG. 3, the seat 4 has undergone a rotation of 30 °, which places its front face 13 at 15 ° compared to the queue of skiers 5.

In fact, the angle of 30 ° corresponds to the angle  between the longitudinal axis of the seat 4 and the perpendicular to the transfer ramp 10, that is to say to the longitudinal axis of said seat 4 having not .

It is therefore obvious that the arrival ramp 6 and the departure ramp 8 will be parallel.

After opening the gates 15, the skiers 5 are supported by a conveyor belt 14 which travels at a constant speed, of the order of 1 m / s, which is identical to the speed of each seat 4, at boarding location 12 but also at bends upstream 9 and downstream 11.

In this configuration, it is obvious that the scanning of the outer end of the seat 4 is almost non-existent and that the boarding of skiers 5 on the same seat 4 is almost simultaneously.

In addition, at the transfer ramp 10, the speed can be 1.4 m / s, the speed being relative to the angle α or to the angle β.

So: 1.4 x cos 45 ° = 0.99, and 1.4 x sin 135 ° = 0.99, or about 1 m / s, which corresponds to the speed of travel of the carpet 14, and therefore to the speed of supply of the skiers 5 to the boarding location 12.

This increase in speed allows for an identical time space, that is to say 5.4 s, significantly increase the distance between two seats 4 which is then γ = 7.56 meters.

The two essential advantages of these two devices, therefore, are, on the one hand, to allow the rotation of the seat 4 for a tangential docking limiting the sweeping phenomenon, and allowing the rapid opening of the gates 15 after the passage of said seat 4 preceding the skiers 5.

On the other hand, increasing the distance between two adjacent seats 4 makes it safer and The approach phase for skiers 5 towards boarding location 12 is more comfortable.

The invention fits into the volume of a so-called standard station. The only modifications concern the speed variation in pre-embarkation dragging and the installation of a device allowing the rotation of the seat before and after boarding. This device can be made from the seat hanger, the clamp or a parallel drag system. This invention is particularly suitable for detachable installations with six places, but it can also be applied to fixed clamp installations, regardless of the capacity of the seats.

According to FIG. 2, the row of skiers is stopped at the downstream end of the treadmill 14 ready for be carried by seat 4. At this point, the speed of seat 4 has been reduced to 1 m / s.

A second row of skiers 5 is located behind the seat 4 on the treadmill 14, the speed is also 1 m / s. The third row of skiers 5 approaches the closed gates 15.

In FIG. 3, the first row of skiers 5 is on board the seat 4 which is taken charged by the launcher. The second row is ready to come out of the mat 14 and to position itself on boarding location 12. The second seat 4 is then ready to pass in front of the gates which will open when the seat 4 is opposite the second door 15.

In Figure 4, tangential docking takes place at an angle of 15 °, the angles α and β being respectively 15 ° and 165 °.

The same result can be obtained, according to FIG. 4, without pivoting the seat and by tilting the lane before boarding by 15 °. This would lead to a very large increase important the rolling and dragging of seats. The length of the pre-boarding area between gate and boarding would also be greatly increased, hence a significant difficulty in managing boarding.

In this embodiment, there is no rotation of seat 4. The length of the contour and the length of the carpet are much greater, hence a significant additional cost.

In addition, three rows of skiers 5 are simultaneously on the carpet, hence a management very complicated or impossible to board.

REFERENCES

1.

Boarding station

2.

Chair lift

3.

Overhead cable

4.

seating

5.

Person or skier

6.

Arrival ramp

7.

Bypass ramp

8.

Starting ramp

9.

Upstream turn of ramp 7

10.

Bypass ramp transfer ramp 7

11.

Downstream turn of ramp 7

12.

Boarding location

13.

Front of seats 4

14.

Conveyor belt

15.

wickets

21.

Boarding station

22.

Chair lift

23.

Overhead cable

24.

seating

25.

Person or skier

26.

Arrival ramp

27.

Bypass ramp

28.

Starting ramp

32.

Boarding location

33.

Front of seats 24

34.

Conveyor belt

35.

wickets

α.

Upstream turn angle

β.

Downstream turn angle

there.

Distance between two adjacent seats 4 on the ramp 10

δ.

Distance between two adjacent seats on the other ramps

.

Angle of seat 4 with respect to the perpendicular to the direction of movement.

Claims (11)

1. Loading station (1) for a chair-lift (2) using continuous overhead cable (3), the chair-lift (2) comprising several seats (4), with at least one seat to accommodate person(s) (5), coupled to cable (3) at regular intervals in a fixed or disengageable manner at loading station (1), relative to said cable (3), each seat (4) being accommodated by successive ramps, called arrival ramp (6), bypass ramp (7) and departure ramp (8), arrival ramp (6) and departure ramp (8) being parallel, bypass ramp (7) comprising two bends, so-called upstream (9) and downstream (11), separated by a straight transfer ramp (10), the queuing skiers being lined up with departure ramp (8), characterized in that
      a loading position (12) is situated at the exit from the downstream bend (11), and
      the angle α between arrival ramp (6) and transfer ramp (10), forming the upstream bend (9), is sharp, and angle β between transfer ramp (10) and departure ramp (8), corresponding to the downstream bend (11), is obtuse.
2. Loading station (1) for chair-lift (2) using a continuous overhead cable (3), according to claim 1, characterized in that
      the drive elements cause each chair (4) to pivot on itself at transfer ramp (10) before docking.
3. Station according to claim 2, characterized in that
      the drive elements cause chair (4) to rotate by an angle  that enables the front of the seat to come closer to a position perpendicular to the queue of skiers, this position of the chair very notably reduces the "sweeping" phenomenon that may occur in bends and that increases with the width of the chair.
4. Station according to any one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that
      the angle α of upstream bend (9) is between 35 and 55°, and
      the angle β of downstream bend (11) is between 125 and 145°.
5. Station according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that
      the angle α of the upstream bend (9) is 45°, and the angle β of downstream bend (11) is 135°.
6. Station according to claim 2, characterized in that
      each chair (4) is pivoted by 20 to 40°, so that front (13) of said chair (4) is oriented towards the inside of the bend formed by arrival ramp (6), bypass ramp (7) and departure ramp (8).
7. Station according to any one of claims 2 or 6, characterized in that
      each chair (4) is pivoted by 30°, so that the front (13) of chair (4) is oriented towards the inside of the bend formed by arrival ramp (6), bypass ramp (7) and departure ramp (8).
8. Station according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that
      between upstream bend (9) and downstream bend (11), on the transfer ramp (10), the drive elements cause chairs (4) to accelerate.
9. Station according to claim 8, characterized in that
      the ratio between the speed of each chair (4) at loading position (12) and transfer ramp (10) is proportional to angle α or β of upstream bend (9) or downstream bend (11).
10. Station according to claim 9, characterized in that
       the ratio is: V positionV transfert = cos α = sin β
11. Station according to any one of claims 9 or 10, in which person(s) (5) to be transported are carried to loading position (12) by a passenger conveyor belt (14), characterized in that
       the speed of passenger conveyor belt (14) is roughly identical to the speed of seats (4) in bend (9 or 11).

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