JP2001139291A - Positioning device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To permit accurate positioning of a vehicle even with poor front visibility to improve workability and to prevent the damage of a wall and loads. SOLUTION: An outer mast of a mast 7 of a fork lift truck is fitted with two laser pointers 11, 21 below and above. The laser beam 12 of the first laser pointer 11 is irradiated horizontally forward so as to be parallel with the ground surface, and the laser beam 22 of the second laser pointer 21 is irradiated obliquely downward and forward. The intersecting angle of both laser beams 12, 22 is to be 45 deg., and the vertical plane of an intersecting part of both laser beams 12, 22 serves a reference plane 15. Both laser beams 12, 22 are irradiated to a post 31, and the distance L between both irradiated laser beams 12, 22 corresponds to the distance between the reference plane 15 and the post 31.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a positioning device for a vehicle provided with a laser pointer for emitting a laser beam, for example, a vehicle suitably applied to a forklift.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When transporting a load with a forklift,
If the load is small, it will not obstruct the view ahead, but if you carry a large load, the view ahead will be very poor.When storing the load in a rack, the rack will be almost invisible from the driver's seat. Is the current situation. In such a case, the distance between the load loaded on the fork and the front rack depends on the intuition of the operator.

[0003]

When a large load or a large attachment is attached to the lift bracket, the visibility of the front is deteriorated, the operator operates the forklift with the distance in front as described above. Also,
If the operator is a beginner, the operator may get off the forklift and look directly, which is very poor in workability and involves risks. In addition, when the field of view in front is poor, the positioning of the vehicle is poor, and the load may hit the rack or the wall, even if operated by the operator's intuition, and the wall or the load may be damaged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and enables accurate positioning of a vehicle even when visibility ahead is poor, improves workability, and prevents damage to walls and loads. It is an object of the present invention to provide a positioning device for a vehicle.

[0005]

Therefore, in the vehicle positioning apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of laser pointers for irradiating a linear laser beam forward are arranged on the vehicle.
The laser light from the laser pointer intersects and irradiates the object to be illuminated, and the distance between the plurality of laser beams illuminated on the object to be irradiated corresponds to the distance between the vehicle and the object to be illuminated. And

With such a configuration, a plurality of laser beams, for example, two laser beams are irradiated on the object to be irradiated, and the distance between the two light beams irradiated on the object is changed between the vehicle and the object. , And thereby the positioning between the vehicle and the irradiation target can be accurately performed.

[0007] In the vehicle positioning device according to the second aspect,
Three laser pointers for irradiating a linear laser beam in front of the vehicle are arranged on the elevating body of the vehicle, and among these laser pointers, the first laser pointer is used for detecting the position of the target object in the vertical direction, A laser beam from the first laser pointer and the laser beam from the second laser pointer intersect to irradiate the object to be illuminated, and a distance between the vehicle and the object to be illuminated is a distance between the two laser beams irradiated to the object to be illuminated. The first laser pointer and the second laser pointer are used for position detection in the front-rear direction, and the object is irradiated with laser light from the third laser pointer to detect the position in the left-right direction. It is characterized by.

With this configuration, the target object can be detected in the vertical direction by irradiating the target object with the laser light from the first laser pointer that moves up and down as the elevating body moves up and down. Further, the object to be irradiated is irradiated with two laser beams from the first laser pointer and the second laser pointer, and the distance between the two light beams irradiated on the object is a distance between the vehicle and the object. Accordingly, the position in the front-rear direction between the vehicle and the object to be irradiated can be detected. Further, by irradiating the object with laser light from the third laser pointer, the position of the object in the left-right direction can be detected. By these, ahead of the vehicle and the object,
Up, down, left, and right three-dimensional positions can be accurately detected.

[0009] In the vehicle positioning device according to the third aspect,
Two laser pointers for irradiating linear laser light in front of the vehicle are arranged on the vehicle, and the laser light from the laser pointer is crossed to irradiate the object to be irradiated, and a vertical plane at the intersection of the laser lights is provided. Is used as a reference plane, and the position before and after the irradiation object with respect to the reference plane is detected by the upper and lower positions of one laser beam irradiated on the irradiation object with respect to the other laser light. And

According to this configuration, if one of the two laser beams irradiated on the irradiation object is above the other laser beam, the irradiation object is positioned before the reference plane. It can be seen that if one laser beam is below the other laser beam, the irradiated object is located ahead of the reference plane. Thereby, the front-back direction of the position of the irradiation target with respect to the reference plane known in advance can be confirmed.

[0011] In the vehicle positioning device according to the fourth aspect,
At least two of the plurality of laser beams have different colors.

Thus, by using the laser light of one color as a reference, the vertical direction or the left and right positions of the laser light of the other different color makes it possible to look at the front-back direction of the position of the irradiation object with respect to the reference plane. Can be confirmed.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a positioning device for a vehicle.
The plurality of laser beams irradiated to the irradiation object are characterized in that at least two line lengths are different.

Thus, by using one laser beam having a different line length as a reference, the vertical direction or the left and right position of the other laser beam makes it possible to look at the front-back direction of the position of the irradiation object with respect to the reference plane. You can check.

[0015] In the vehicle positioning device according to the sixth aspect,
It is characterized in that the intersection angle of the laser beams from the two laser pointers for detecting the distance between the vehicle and the irradiation object is approximately 45 degrees.

Thus, since the crossing angle between the two laser beams is set to approximately 45 degrees, the distance between the lines of the two laser beams and the actual distance between the vehicle and the object to be irradiated are one-to-one. It is possible to respond and intuitively recognize or confirm the actual distance only by looking at the distance between the lines of the two laser beams.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (First Embodiment) A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. The vehicle shown in FIG. 1A shows a reach type forklift 1, which is composed of a vehicle body 2 and a cargo handling device 3 provided in front of the vehicle body 2. A driver's seat 4 is provided at the rear of the vehicle body 2,
Above the driver's seat 4, a head guard 5 for protecting the vehicle body 2 and the operator from falling objects such as commodities is provided.

The cargo handling device 3 is disposed between the left and right straddle legs 6, and is driven by a reach cylinder (not shown) in the front-rear direction. A pair of left and right masts 7, a lift bracket 8 attached to the mast 7, The lift bracket 8 includes a pair of left and right forks 9 inclined forward and backward. Although not shown, the mast 7 includes an inner mast and an outer mast, as is well known. A lift cylinder (not shown) drives the lift bracket 8 up and down, and a tilt cylinder drives the fork 9 to tilt forward and backward.

Here, a first laser pointer 11 for irradiating a laser beam to the outer mast side of the mast 7 is attached, and a laser beam 12 from the first laser pointer 11 is radiated horizontally forward. The laser beam 12 is linear. Further, a second laser pointer 21 is attached to the outer mast above the first laser pointer 11 installed on the mast 7, and emits a horizontal linear laser light 22 similarly to the first laser pointer 11. Like that.

The laser beam 12 of the first laser pointer 11 is radiated in parallel with the ground.
The laser beam 22 of the laser pointer 21 is irradiated obliquely downward and forward, and crosses the laser beam 12 of the first laser pointer 11. This laser beam 12 and laser beam 2
The intersection angle with 2 is 45 degrees. In addition, laser light 1
The point where the laser light 22 intersects 2 is a position slightly forward of the tip of the fork 9. As shown by a broken line in FIG. 1A, a plane perpendicular to a position where the laser beams 12 and 22 intersect is set as a reference plane 15.

The two laser beams 12 and 22 from the first and second laser pointers 11 and 21 are slightly shifted laterally from a position that is easy to see from the driver's seat 4, for example, the position of the forklift 1 as shown in FIG. Irradiation is performed on the front portion of the column 31 of the rack 30. The rack 30 includes a plurality of shelves 32, and a pallet 34 in which a load 33 is loaded on each shelf 32 is transported by the forklift 1.
In addition, the fork 9 of the forklift 1 is
The fork 9 is inserted into the insertion port 35, and the pallet 34 is conveyed.

Assuming that the forklift 1 advances to the rack 30 and reaches the position shown in FIG. 1A, the first and second laser pointers 11 and 21 attached to the mast 7 are Laser light 12, 22 respectively
And the laser beams 12 and 22 are
Is illuminated in the form of a horizontal line on the front surface of the light emitting element. Since the laser beam 12 from the first laser pointer 11 is parallel to the ground,
As shown in FIG. 1B, the laser beam is applied to the position of the column 31 whose height is almost the same as the position of the first laser pointer 11. Then, the laser light 22 of the second laser pointer 21 is applied to a position lower than the irradiation position of the laser light 12.

Here, the laser light 12 and the laser light 22 are 4
Since they intersect at an angle of 5 degrees, the lengths of the sides corresponding to the angles of 45 degrees on both sides correspond one-to-one, and therefore, the laser light 12 and the laser light 22 shown in FIG. Indicates that the distance L between the reference plane 15 and the front surface of the support 31 is equal to the distance L between the rack 30 and the load. That is, the dimension L between the two irradiated laser beams 12 and 22 is the distance in front of the rack 30. Then, when the forklift 1 is further advanced, the irradiation position of the laser light 22 from the second laser pointer 21 rises in accordance with the advance, and in a state where the two laser lights 12 and 22 overlap, This means that the reference surface 15 is located on the front surface of the column 31. That is, the tip of the fork 9 is located near the rack 30, and the position of the forklift 1 in the front-back direction with respect to the rack 30 is optimally determined.

Therefore, even when the load to be mounted on the lift bracket 8 is large, or when the field of vision in the front is deteriorated when a large attachment is mounted, the two laser beams 12 and 22 radiated to the column 31 can be viewed. By moving forward, the reference surface 15 can be accurately positioned with respect to the rack 30, and workability can be improved. In addition, for this reason, the tip portion of the forklift 1 is attached to a wall or a rack 30.
Can be prevented, and damage to walls and loads can be prevented.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, three laser pointers are used to notify an operator of three-dimensional positions in front, up, down, left and right. The three laser pointers are arranged on the lift bracket 8. The first laser pointer 11 and the second laser pointer 21 are arranged on the side of the lift bracket 8 to notify the operator of the distance between the reference surface 15 and the rack 30 as in the previous embodiment, and at the same time, the first laser pointer Lift bracket 8, that is, fork 9 with laser pointer 11
The upper and lower positions are also notified.

First, the first laser pointer 11 is disposed at substantially the same height as the fork 9 and
The fork 9 and the insertion port 35 of the pallet 34 are positioned at the same height at a position where the laser beam 12 from the first laser pointer 11 irradiates the front end face of the upper plate 36 of the pallet 34 with the vertical movement of the fork 9. Will be done. Further, the laser beam 22 from the second laser pointer 21 is irradiated obliquely downward as in the previous embodiment, and the crossing angle is 45 degrees. Then, the laser beam 22 is applied to the front surface of the column 31 below the laser beam 12.

A third laser pointer (not shown) is disposed on the lift bracket 8 at a position corresponding to the center of the pair of forks 9 in the left-right direction, and the laser light 25 is a linear laser light in the vertical direction. . Then, the laser beam 25 from the third laser pointer is applied to the center digit 3 of the pallet 34.
The position irradiated on the front end face of the pallet 7 means that the left and right forks 9 and the left and right insertion ports 35 of the pallet 34 are positioned at the optimal positions in the horizontal direction.

First, the third laser pointer irradiates the laser beam 25, and the forklift 1 is advanced so that the laser beam 25 irradiates the center beam 37 of the pallet 34. Thereby, the forklift 1 and the pallet 34
Position in the left and right direction. Next, the lift bracket 8 is moved up and down so that the laser beam 12 from the first laser pointer 11 irradiates the support 31 and the front surface of the pallet 34, and this laser beam 12 irradiates the front end surface of the upper plate 36 of the pallet 34. The lift bracket 8 is moved up and down so as to be performed. As a result, the insertion port 3 between the fork 9 and the pallet 34
5 can be positioned in the vertical direction.

Next, when the forklift 1 is moved forward as it is, the laser beam 2 emitted from the second laser pointer
2 rises, and when the two laser beams 12 and 22 overlap, positioning of the forklift 1 and the rack 30 in the front-rear direction can be performed. Note that the positioning of the fork 9 in the left-right direction may be performed after the positioning of the fork 9 in the vertical direction, and this is optional for the operator.

In the above description, the upper and lower positions are detected by irradiating the upper plate 36 of the pallet 34 with the laser light 12.
Irradiation at 8 may be performed to detect the position in the up-down direction.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the positional relationship between the forklift 1 (fork 9) and the rack 30 (pallet 34) can be recognized in three dimensions: forward, up, down, left, and right by the three laser pointers. By notifying the operator of the three-dimensional upper position, accurate positioning can be performed, and workability and safety can be improved.

(Third Embodiment) A third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, two laser pointers are arranged on the outer mast side of the mast 7 as in the first embodiment. Can be confirmed. Note that the laser light includes red, blue, green, and the like, and the first laser pointer 11 and the second laser pointer 21 emit laser light of these different colors. The intersection angle between the two laser beams 12 and 22 is set to 45 degrees as in the previous embodiment.

For example, the laser light of the first laser pointer 11 is red, and the laser light of the second laser pointer 21 is green. Now, the left support 3 shown by the dashed line in FIG.
Assuming that forklift 1 is located with respect to
The irradiation position of the green laser light 22 from the second laser pointer 21 is positioned above the irradiation position of the red laser light 12 from the first laser pointer 11. The irradiation positions of the red laser light 12 and the green laser light 22 are shown in FIG. That is, if the irradiation line of the green laser light 22 is above the irradiation line of the red laser light 12, it can be understood that the front surface of the rack 30 or the like is located before the reference surface 15.

The right column 3 shown by a dashed line in FIG.
Assuming that forklift 1 is located with respect to
The irradiation position of the green laser light 22 from the second laser pointer 21 is positioned below the irradiation position of the red laser light 12 from the first laser pointer 11. The irradiation positions of the red laser light 12 and the green laser light 22 are shown in FIG. That is, if the irradiation line of the green laser light 22 is below the irradiation line of the red laser light 12, it can be understood that the front surface of the rack 30 or the like is located deeper (frontward) than the reference surface 15.

As described above, in this embodiment, the colors of the two laser beams 12 and 22 are made different from each other, and
With reference to 2, the laser beam 22 positioned above or below the reference laser beam 12 is viewed to confirm the distance in the front-rear direction with respect to the reference plane 15 known in advance. be able to.

FIG. 5 shows another example of the present embodiment. In correspondence with the case of FIG. 4, the line length of one laser beam 22 in the horizontal direction is made shorter than the line length of the laser beam 12 so as to be visually recognized. This facilitates the distinction between the two. Conversely, laser light 1
The line length of the second line may be shortened. Further, one of the laser beams 12 (or 22) may be a point light beam.

Although the intersection angle between the two laser beams 12 and 22 is set to 45 degrees, another angle may be set. For example, the distance between the two laser beams 12 and 22 applied to the column 31 may be increased or decreased with respect to the actual distance. For example, it is set to twice or half of the actual distance. Also, the second
May be arranged below the first laser pointer 11 so that the laser beam 22 of the second laser pointer 21 is irradiated obliquely upward.

In each of the above embodiments, the reference surface 15
Laser beams 12, 22 for confirming the distance between the rack and the rack 30
Are crossed in the horizontal direction (horizontal direction), but the laser beams 12 and 22 may be crossed in the vertical direction (vertical direction). In this case, in the second embodiment, all three laser beams from the three laser pointers are set in the vertical direction (vertical direction).
It is also possible to use one vertical line for left and right detection, and color-code it. Alternatively, only a necessary laser beam may be irradiated by a switch.

The present invention can be applied not only to a reach type forklift but also to a counter type forklift, and can be applied not only to a forklift but also to an electric vehicle, a gasoline or a diesel vehicle. This is a preferable example when the vehicle is put in a narrow garage.

[0040]

According to the positioning apparatus for a vehicle according to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of laser beams, for example, two laser beams, are radiated to an object to be irradiated, and the laser beam is irradiated to the object. The distance between the light beams corresponds to the distance between the vehicle and the object to be illuminated, whereby the positioning between the vehicle and the object to be illuminated can be performed accurately.

According to the vehicle positioning device of the present invention, the target object is irradiated with the laser light from the first laser pointer that moves up and down as the elevating body moves up and down.
The vertical position of the object can be detected. Further, the object to be irradiated is irradiated with two laser beams from the first laser pointer and the second laser pointer, and the distance between the two light beams irradiated on the object is a distance between the vehicle and the object. Accordingly, the position in the front-rear direction between the vehicle and the object to be irradiated can be detected. Further, by irradiating the object with laser light from the third laser pointer, the position of the object in the left-right direction can be detected. As a result, three-dimensional positions in front, up, down, left, and right between the vehicle and the object can be accurately detected.

According to the vehicle positioning apparatus of the third aspect, if one of the two laser beams irradiated on the object is above the other laser beam, the object is irradiated. It can be seen that the object is located before the reference plane, and that if one laser beam is below the other laser beam, the irradiated object is located ahead of the reference plane . Thereby, the front-back direction of the position of the irradiation target with respect to the reference plane known in advance can be confirmed.

According to the vehicle positioning apparatus of the present invention, since the two laser beams have different colors from each other, the laser beam of one color is used as a reference and the laser beams of the other color are different. Can be confirmed at a glance in the front-back direction of the position of the irradiation target with respect to the reference plane.

According to the vehicle positioning apparatus of the present invention, since the line lengths of the two laser beams irradiated on the irradiation object are changed, one of the laser beams having a different line length is used as a reference. Thus, it is possible to see at a glance the front-back direction of the position of the irradiation target with respect to the reference plane based on the upper and lower positions of the other laser beam.

According to the vehicle positioning apparatus of the present invention, the intersection angle of the laser beams from the two laser pointers for detecting the distance between the vehicle and the object to be irradiated is substantially 45 degrees. The distance between the laser light lines and the actual distance between the vehicle and the object to be irradiated can be one-to-one, and the actual distance can be intuitively determined only by looking at the distance between the two laser light lines. Can be recognized or confirmed.

As described above, according to the present invention, when the present invention is applied to a forklift, when a large load is loaded on a lift bracket or a large attachment is mounted, even if the front view is poor, the present invention can be accurately applied to the reference plane. Since the fork can be positioned at a high speed, workability and safety can be improved, and contact with a wall or a load can be prevented, so that breakage thereof can also be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a side view when two laser pointers according to a first embodiment of the present invention are attached to a mast. (B) is an explanatory diagram of a case where the distance is indicated by two laser beams according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a side view when three laser pointers according to a second embodiment of the present invention are attached to a lift bracket. (B) is an explanatory diagram in the case where the distance is indicated by three laser beams according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view when a laser beam of a different color is used according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing distance confirmation according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the third embodiment of the present invention in which the line lengths are different.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 forklift 7 mast 8 lift bracket 9 fork 11 first laser pointer 12 laser light of first laser pointer 21 second laser pointer 22 laser light of second laser pointer 25 laser light of third laser pointer 31 support 34 pallets

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of laser pointers for irradiating a linear laser beam forward are arranged on a vehicle, and the laser beams from the laser pointer are crossed to irradiate an object to be irradiated. Wherein the distance between the plurality of laser beams corresponds to the distance between the vehicle and the object to be irradiated. 2. A laser pointer for irradiating a linear laser beam in front of a vehicle is disposed on an elevating body of the vehicle, and a first laser pointer among these laser pointers is used in a vertical direction of a target object. For position detection, the laser light from the first laser pointer and the laser light from the second laser pointer are crossed to irradiate the object to be irradiated, and the line between the two laser beams irradiated to the object to be irradiated is interposed between the vehicle and the object. The first laser pointer and the second laser pointer are used for position detection in the front-rear direction in accordance with the distance to the irradiation object, and the object is irradiated with laser light from the third laser pointer to the position in the left-right direction. A positioning device for a vehicle, which is used for detection. 3. A laser pointer for irradiating a linear laser beam in front of a vehicle is disposed on a vehicle, and a laser beam from the laser pointer is crossed to irradiate an object to be illuminated. The vertical plane of the intersection is used as the reference plane, and the front and rear positions of the irradiation object with respect to the reference plane are detected by the upper and lower positions of the other laser light with respect to the one laser light irradiated on the irradiation object. A positioning device for a vehicle, comprising: 4. The vehicle positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least two of the plurality of laser beams have different colors. 5. The vehicle positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of laser beams applied to the object have at least two different line lengths. 6. A method for detecting a distance between a vehicle and an object to be irradiated.
The crossing angle of the laser light from the two laser pointers is approximately 45
The vehicle positioning apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the degree is set to a degree.