GB2486243A - Storage and shelter - Google Patents

Abstract

A shelter, such as a bus stop shelter, is combined with a raised storage platform area upon which good containers 23,24 can be placed. The shelter may incorporate lifting devices such as hydraulic rams, and a latching mechanism to secure containers 23,24 in place. A network of bus shelters may thus double as a container 23,24 storage and distribution network.

Description

Containerised Transport Loading and Storage System The invention relates to a system and method for the loading, unloading and storage of goods in containers.

The shipping container has revolutionised the long distance transport of goods in bulk.

Containers of standard sizes are able to hold a wide range of contents yet can be moved carried and stored efficiently by highly mechanized systems.

Until the advent of the shipping container, most goods were unloaded at the docks and painstakingLy packed into the cargo hold of a ship ("break bulk" cargo). The extension of containerisation to smaller cargoes and ultimately to home deliveries has been proposed in UK Patent Application GBO8 12607.0. The proposed system also incorporates delivery vehicles that carry both goods and passengers. Some of the vehicles are modular allowing variable proportions of their internal space to be used for each of these purposes.

Such a system faces a number of challenges. Container ports use vast areas to marshal the containers on and off ships or trains. Extending their use down to residential areas poses particular problems as these are often crowded and space is at a premium. It is impractical to build container cranes and loading bays in the heart of our cities.

Furthermore, the standard-sized reusable containers proposed share one disadvantage with full-size shipping containers. Namely, that the internal volume is rarely 100% utilised. A given size of vehicle can therefore serve fewer delivery points. For example, a traditional postman may have a round that covers several hundred houses.

if he were to deliver the same letters, each inside a box, he would need a larger van -or would have to return to refill his van several times to complete his existing round, In many cases even a larger vehicle would be unable to reach as many of the residential properties as the current vehicle does.

There is therefore a need for a compact and low cost "staging post" to and from which deliveries of whole containers may be made and to and from which local delivery vehicles may collect and return containers.

Existing solutions are now well known for the following. In each case, the examples given are not intended to limit the invention to these specific mechanisms, merely to illustrate that said systems are known and may be used in the realisation of the invention.

1. Categorising andlor uniquely identifying items: barcodes, three-dimensional barcodes, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, optical image recognition etc. 2. Determining the location of an object: "Global Positioning System" (GPS) and derivatives, triangulation using radio transmission from cellular towers, integrating the output of motion detectors or combinations thereof 3. Determining the acceleration and/or velocity and hence displacement of an object: differentiating the location as determined above; gyroscopic sensors; fibre-optic coils etc. 4. Determining the orientation of an object: mercury tilt-switches; liquid-filled capacitive tilt sensors; magnetic direction sensors as used in car dashboard displays etc. 5. Transporting goods in bulk using standardised container sizes is well established in, for example, shipping containers. These have dramatically improved the efficiency of transporting items in bulk over long distances -whether by road, rail, sea or air.

6. Stacking and/or connecting compatible containers together and/or onto platforms with compatible attachments: Lego® bricks, stackable pallets and racking systems, modular shelving systems, shipping containers etc. 7. Hydraulic ram based systems capable of lifting cars and small vans several feet into the air are commonplace in garages and repair shops.

8. Moving and directing items of known size and shape to specific destinations: typically combinations of belts, rollers, winches, hydraulic rams etc. typically under computer control.

9. Moving and directing objects or arbitrary size and shape (within acceptable bounds): Baggage handling systems such as those installed at major airports can route individual items of luggage to specific destinations without manual intervention -typically over conveyor belts and baggage carousels. Larger scale systems are also well known for handling entire containers of bags onto and off larger aeroplanes. These typically use platforms with scissor-jack and/or hydraulic rams to raise and lower them plus passive and/or motorised ball bearing beds to move the containers horizontally onto and within the plane.

Throughout this description, the term "control system" will refer to the combination of hardware and/or software being used to direct the operation of the system as a whole and each individual part thereof It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that a wide range of systems architectures, computer languages, topologies and options may be used to implement such a system. This will typically include a combination of standard computer systems such as those running operating systems like Microsoft Windows, Linux, Unix or others on industry standard hardware platforms such as "PC" platforms using typically Intel or AMD processors, Apple, Sun SPARC or other platforms. Likewise, dedicated computer controllers may be used from some or all elements of the control system. Each element of the control system may be implemented using software running on programmable hardware; through programmed hardware and/or customer designed dedicated hardware.

Likewise the partitioning of functionality between the components of the control system may be achieved in many ways.

It will be apparent to one of skill in the art that there are many known methods by which components of the overall system may communicate with each other. The description may give examples but in all cases, it will be understood that a wide range of communication mechanisms may be used, alone or in combination. These include but are not limited to: physical, direct or indirect connection by means of connected conductors; inductive transfer by electromagnetic waves. Such mechanisms are utilized by a wide range of existing systems including but not limited to Universal Serial Bus (USB), Bluetooth, Ultra-low Power Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (many variants), cellular mobile transmissions and satellite links. The signals may be carried by dedicated or shared links e.g. point-to-point connection, broadcast or multicast, corporate intranet or public internet or by any combination thereof. This use of said technologies allows the control system to span the world as needed.

An object of this invention is to provide a system and method of transferring containers holding arbitrary contents to and from a range of vehicles and for storing them when not on said vehicles.

Accordingly, this invention provides a modular loading/unloading station that can also accommodate the needs of passengers travelling on the same vehicles as the containers and/or other vehicles stopping at the same location to allow passengers to board andlor leave said vehicles.

Overview See UK Patent Application GBO8 12607.0 for an example of a Containerised transport system to which this invention is applicable. In summary: Goods are transported in containers that are smaller than standard shipping containers -perhaps 5 feet long by 7 feet high and 7 feet wide. As with shipping containers these can be stacked vertically and affixed to each other and/or to the load bed of the vehicle on which they arc being carried. Two or three such containers would fit on the back of a delivery van. A vehicle the size of a large double-decker bus might be made up of twelve containers stacked two high by six along. Variants on these containers have doors and seats -so can be used to transport people on the same vehicles.

Containers with folding seats can be used to transport both passengers and goods.

Large vehicles carry multiple such containers and, optionally, people along main roads. They deliver containers at "staging posts" -many of which were previously basic "bus stops" -as they go. They also collect containers from the same locations.

The upright supports around the bus stop no longer support a simple roof but rather a platform on which one or more containers can be placed. Containers are moved between the roof and vehicles using hydraulic rams housed within the pillars.

These allow a vehicle to deliver one or more containers and collect other containers while still acting as a shelter for passengers waiting to travel on such hybrid goods/passenger vehicles and/or traditional buses which can continue to use the bus stop.

Detailed Description

A typical system according to the invention is shown in the following figures: Figure I shows an exemplary container next to a person for scale.

Figure 2 shows a vertical support incorporating a telescopic ann.

Figure 3 shows a staging post capable of supporting two containers side-by-side.

Figure 4 shows the staging post in use.

Goods for delivery to or being collected from homes and small business are to be packed into standardized, reusable containers -but to avoid confusion, these will be referred to as "boxes" hereafter. A number of these boxes can be carried inside outer containers or frames -hereafter referred to as "containers". Figure 1 shows the salient features of a typical container (1). Containers for this purpose would be sized so as to fit a) Two or more inside a standard shipping-container (20, 30 or 40 feet long and hereafter referred to as a "shipping-container" to avoid confusion) b) A few on the back of a local delivery van c) Several on a larger delivery truck or lorry.

Note also that, as with shipping-containers, two or more containers may be stacked vertically and locked together without the need for a separate framework to hold them in place. Advantageously, unlike standard shipping-containers, these containers may also be locked together and/or to fixing points on buildings, posts etc. in at least one other dimension.

For the purposes of this description such an outer container (1) is described as being 4 feet eleven inches long by 7 feet high x 7 feet wide. Eight such containers would easily fit inside a standard 40 foot shipping-container and they could be carried two high on many UK roads if loaded on a vehicle with a low load bed (say, II foot from the ground). For the sake of the description below, the maximum laden weight of such a container is taken to be one tonne.

It will be appreciated, however, that other dimensions and weight limits may be more suitable according to the national loading gauge; types of vehicles on which they will travel and size of shipping-containers in which these containers are to be carried.

Where containers are to be stacked on top of each other, the height of bridges and railway tunnels is particularly important. It is therefore likely that the optimal size may differ from one country to another.

In some cases the vehicles carrying these containers will also be used to carry people.

The containers are emptied at a "hub" where much of the routing, filling, emptying, cleaning etc. of the boxes is performed.

For efficient distribution and collection of containers, a multi-stage delivery mechanism is beneficial. For the purposes of this invention, consider two classes of vehicle: a) Those carrying multiple containers to and from the hub. These typically travel on good roads in relatively direct and consistent paths.

b) Those carrying a smaller number of containers (often just one or two at a lime) to the individual addresses where specific boxes are to be delivered and/or collected. These must be more manoeuvrable and are stopping and starting every few yards while covering the circuitous routes needed to visit every property in their area.

It will be appreciated that large, probably diesel-engine, trucks are likely to be the vehicle of choice for (a) while small electric powered vans are better suited to class (b) use. These choices allow each type of power-train to be used in its "sweet-spot" with the electric vehicles doing the slow, stop-start. short-haul work and diesel engines the longer range, heavier work.

For ease of reference, class (a) vehicles will hereafter be referred to as "trucks" and class (b) as "vans". Note however, that trains, light rail vehicles, barges and other vehicles could also be used for class (a) work while, depending on the size of a container, class (b) vehicles could include hand operated electric carts or other smaller vehicles.

There is therefore a need for "staging posts" where a truck can leave one or more containers for later collection by one or more vans and/or collect one or more containers previously left there by one or more vans.

The transfer of containers similar in size to those discussed here from one vehicle directly to another is already practiced: for example, at afrports for the handling of aluminium baggage containers on and off planes. An expensive scissor-jack truck may pass a container off to a fiat-bed truck for onward transport to the terminal. This requires that (in our terminology) the truck and van be present at the staging post at the same time. Given the varying demands on the delivery van, this is unlikely and would delay the smooth progress of the truck.

There arc places where a substantial vehicle can (and does) stop for a minute or two, even in rush-hour every few hundred yards on most major roads in built-up areas.

They are known today as "bus-stops" and many have a shelter under which passengers can stay dry while waiting for a bus to arrive. This shelter is, conveniently of similar dimensions to the aforementioned containers.

Furthermore, the number and size of such shelters is typically proportional to the number of passengers using the stop. Also, conveniently, the distance between stops is roughly correlated to the number of people using them -and hence typically to the population density of an area. This is also roughly correlated to the need for staging posts for the proposed delivery and transport system.

A "staging post" will therefore in many cases be created by converting an existing bus-stop -and typically replacing at least some of the existing buses on that route with hybrid vehicles capable of taking some passengers along with one or more containers.

A typical hybrid bus/truck might be 30 feet long and two decks high. The front lower section would include the driver's cab. The remaining sections on the lower deck may provide more seating -using "containers" that have doors and permanent andlor fold-down seating. The upper sections (any or all of which may be present or not) would typically be goods containers.

It will be appreciated that the length of the bus/truck may vary according to requirements and/or local conditions. Quiet, narrow country roads may see a single-decker 20 foot version once an hour. Major arteries may see 40 foot double-deck versions passing every few minutes.

A further variant on the design of these bus/trucks is that the chassis onto which the containers are loaded may itself be modular and/or telescopic -allowing the length of the bus/truck to be altered according to needs.

The bus "shelter" is now dual purpose. See Figures 3 and 4 for an example. A specific design example is discussed but one skilled in the art will appreciate that there are many alternative approaches to achieving each of the component functions described.

For example, although hydraulic rams are discussed, alternative designs using electric motors and winches may be substituted for these. Similarly, although the design discussed has lifting equipment built into the structure of the bus shelter, it is also possible to provide lifting equipment on the vehicles themselves. Trucks with built-in cranes for moving pallets, sacks or other containers to and from the truck are well known. Such cranes could also move a one ton container.

In the following discussion the side to which vehicles arrive and leave is the "road side" while the other side is the "footpath side" (as "pavement" is interpreted differently in the U.S. and U.K. this term is avoided).

Figure 1 shows the relevant features of a typical container (1). Preferably, these containers (1) incorporate openings (2), (3) by which they may be lifted on a pair of metal forks such as those on the front of a fork-lift truck. Note that in this case the openings are channels extending to the bottom of the container rather than holes in its side. This allow the container to be slid across the top of a set of forks or lifted above the forks rather than requiring the forks to be retracted back in the direction from which they were inserted. Preferably, the openings of the channels are tapered so as to allow some lee-way in positioning of the container when lifting forks first enter the channel.

Figure 2 shows a vertical support pillar (4). This is typically a hollow steel column, open at one side. Although only the section above ground is shown, the colunm extends below the ground where it is fixed in concrete. Note that the hollow section may also extend for some way below ground. Within the hollow section, anchored to the base of the column (typically below ground level), is a telescopic hydraulic ram (5). This is operable such that the top of the ram can be positioned anywhere from approximately one foot above the ground to at least the top of the pillar (4). In some cases the ram may be designed to extend well beyond the top of the pillar -typically by the height of a container (1). Each ram is capable of lifting 0.5 tonne plus safety margin, hence a pair of rams can lift a fully loaded container.

Attached at right-angles to the top of the ram (5) is a telescopic arm (6). Within the hollow "U" shaped steel sections of this arm are one or more further, dual-action hydraulic rams capable of both pushing the arm out to its full extent and pulling it back to its minimum length. The length of the arm when fully retracted is slightly less than the distance between pillar and parked vehicle from which containers are to be loaded or removed (2 feet). At full extent (shown), the arm reaches almost to the far side of a container on said vehicle. Note that the sections sit inside each other such that the upper edge of the extended arm is level while the lower edge is stepped. As well as being optimal from a cantilever design perspective, this allows a container to be pulled across the top of the arm as it retracts. Optionally, small rollers may be fitted to the upper edge of the sections to allow a container to slide across them more easily.

At the end of the arm is a metal peg (7) which can be raised proud of the top surface of the arm(6) (as shown) by a solenoid or other means or allowed to drop into the arm so as to lie flush with the top edge of the arm (6) while the arm is being inserted through the channel (2), (3) under a container. When raised, the peg engages with a correspondingly sized slot near the far end of the channel on the underside of the container. This allows the arm to "hook" into the container so that as the arm is retracted with the peg raised, the container (1) is pulled with it. If the peg is lowered, the arm can be retracted without bringing the container with it.

As with the connections between standard shipping containers, a more sophisticated mechanism may be used to latch the container firmly onto the end of the arm.

For safety reasons, the side of the pillar (4) shown as open in Figure 2 may be shielded by one or more thin overlapping metal or plastic sheets attached to the underside of the arm (6). As the arm rises or lowers, so the sheets rise and lower to avoid foreign objects -including hands -from entering the pillar.

Optical sensors, cameras and/or light sources (8),(9), (10), (11) may be built into the end of the arm (6). The forward facing ones (8),(9) are used to sense the presence or absence of the container, the distance from sensor to container and the precise location of the channel under it as the arm first extends towards the container. As the pillar cannot move, feedback from these sensors can be coupled to the control system of the vehicle before and!or after it has fully stopped adjacent to the pillar. Precisely positioning the vehicle to within an inch Optical sensor (10) is typically used alongside optical (often infra-red) source (11). A light beam shone from (11) at angle upwards and towards (10) will be reflected back from the underside of the container until the sensors pass beneath the hole into which peg (7) should be inserted. Hence, as the arm extends, the control circuitry can raise peg (7) precisely in the centre of the hole in the underside of the container. This hole is slightly larger than the peg so as to allow the peg to rise into it easily. Similarly when being lowered, once the weight of the container has been taken by the vehicle or the platform onto which it is place, a slight movement of the arm will free the peg (7) allowing it to fall back into the arm (6).

Further sensors may be used beneath the arms to detect objects beneath them. Optical and/or pressure sensors can be used to stop the arms moving should anyone or anything be in their path. Safety may be further enhanced by providing glazed panels and door between the uprights. The operation of these could be interlocked with the rams so that the rams will not operate unless the doors are correctly closed, stopping passengers from walking under the moving container and arms. Where passengers are boarding or disembarking from a mixed use vehicle, the doors of the vehicle may open so as to block access to the sides where containers may be moving. Passengers thus walk through a short corridor formed of the open vehicle doors and/or doors in the front of the shelter.

Figure 3 shows a simple staging post/bus-stop capable of holding two containers. This consists of four of the hydraulic uprights described above (12), (13), (14), (15). In this case, the vertical hydraulic ram is shown shielded for safety reasons as described above. Figure 3 shows one pair or arms (16), (17) fully extended and the other pair (18), (19) fully retracted. A flat platform (20) is supported by struts (21) attached to the back of the uprights. The top surface of the platform is set below the level of the tops of the uprights by thc height of the channels (2), (3) so that as the arms retract, the container slides onto the roof of the shelter. The roof may include rollers and/or low friction materials to help containers move across it more easily.

The mechanism and the control of the rams and latching is typically performed remotely using a wireless link between the electronics within the structure and a control system accessible from within the vehicle alongside or on a handheld unit.

The roof (20) of the shelter is typically double-skinned. Forming it at least partially from hollow steel sections provides the strength and rigidity it requires to safely hold a stack of at least one and potentially several containers on top of it. In this way, the roof acts as a temporary storage location without taking up any more ground area than the bus shelter it replaces.

It will also be appreciated that having the containers 8 feet or so off the ground makes them much less susceptible to vandalism and theft than if they were at ground level.

Their safety may be further enhanced by the positioning of other devices used to deter people from climbing on signs e.g. spikes, razor wire, overhangs etc. The roof of the staging post still acts as a shelter for passengers waiting under it -just as it did when it was a simple bus stop. However, advantageously, the roof or the hollow sections within it may a) Contain the electronics and/or hydraulic systems b) Have photovoltaic panels installed on it.

Note though, that if a container is sitting on the platform, it would shade any photovoltaic panels beneath it. Hence a design option allows for the, relatively lightweight photovoltaic panel to be raised above the containers -either on its own lifting mechanism or, by sliding horizontally so as to rest on the top of a container before the container is lifted onto the platform, it will then be lifted up as the container itself rises. Once the container is lowered again, the panel may slide back to its normal position.

As the frame will have one or more containers weighing a ton on either side of it at any given time, it may be advantageous to provide a counterweight that can be moved to the opposite side of the frame from the container. Building strain gauges into the vertical columns would allow the system to determine which direction the counterweight should move in.

Said counterweight could take the form of steel, concrete or other materials. It could either be solid or a hollow shell into which a ballast material such as sand or water could be placed. In the case of a fluid filled weight, the balance of the structure could be maintained not by moving the structure itself but by pumping water to and from different locations. The use of such counterweights may allow a lighter or less extensive footing to be used under the ground.

Figure 4 shows the staging post in operation.

1. A truck or van (22) carrying one or more containers (I) pulls up immediately in front of the staging post -approximately two feet from the uprights.

2. The vehicle is positioned to an accuracy of a few inches so that a pair of horizontal arms can extend and enter the channels (2), (3) in the underside of the container.

3. As the arms approach the far side of the container, sensors detect the location of a hole in the top of the channel and pegs (7) on each arm rise to engage with this hole.

4. The arms are raised, lifting the container off the bed of the vehicle. They continue to lift until the base of the container is a fraction of an inch above the level of the roof (20). The nearest container (23) in Figure 4 is just below this level.

5. The arms (6) then retract, pulling the container towards the uprights and on to the roof (20).

6. When fully retracted, the container is largely supported by the roof but overhands the front of the shelter by the fully retracted arm length. The more distant container (24) in Figure 4 has already been offloaded and pulled back into position on the roof as described.

Moving containers from the roof (20) to vehicle (22) is achieved with the same procedure in reverse. It will be appreciated that, subject to the framework being designed to cope with the necessary strains, both containers could be moved at once, providing for faster loading/unloading.

It will be appreciated that more sophisticated telescopic arms, capable of pushing the container fully onto the roof, would allow the arms to be fully extracted from under the container. They can then be used in conjunction with a higher vertical ram (5) to lift a further container higher and slide it onto the top of the container already on the roof (20).

It will further be appreciated that although Figure 4 shows a staging posts with two pairs of arms, any number may be placed side by side and that each may operate concurrently so as to load or unload multiple containers in the same time it would take a single staging post to load or unload a single container.

Where vehicles carrying more than one layer of containers are used, it is advantageous to have the platform onto which containers are moved at exactly the same height as the second layer of containers on the vehicle. This allows containers to be slid on and off the roof platform without having to be raised or lowered. This reduces the energy and time required to move them.

Claims (13)

1. CLAIMSWhat is claimed is: I. A structure consisting of at least a platform raised above the ground on supports in which said platform may hold one or more containers in which objects may be transported while allowing people to shelter beneath the platform.
2. 2. A structure of Claim 1 incorporating means of lifting and moving said containers.
3. 3. A structure of Claim 2 in which said means of lifting and moving said containers incorporates one or more hydraulic rams.
4. 4. A structure of Claim 2 in which said means of lifting and moving the containers is built into the members supporting the platform above the ground.
5. 5. A structure of Claim 1 in which the said platform incorporates a latching mechanism compatible with the containers for which it is designed thus allowing said containers to be firmly affixed to it.
6. 6. A structure of Claim S in which the said latching mechanism can be controlled remotely.
7. 7. A structure of Claim 1 in which the said platform includes photovoltaic cells.
8. 8. A structure of Claim 7 in which said photovoltaic cells are on a panel that can be lifted above the top of any container using the platform.
9. 9. A structure of Claim 8 in which the photovoltaic panels are moved horizontally onto the top of the container before it is raised onto the platform
10. 10. A structure of Claim 1 incorporating sensors that assist in aligning the adjacent vehicle with the structure prior to commencing the movement of containers.
11. 11. A structure of Claim 1 in which the height of the platform is substantially the same as the height of a second, or higher layer of containers on the vehicles.
12. 12. A structure of Claim 12 in which containers are moved horizontally between platform and adjacent vehicle using any of hydraulic rams, winches, pulleys, ball bearing beds, rollers.
13. 13. A structure of Claim 1 in which said platform is protected from access from below, for example by means of sharp spikes or edges, razor wire, overhang.