JPH0536385U - Car distance detection device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (Correction) [Purpose] To provide a device for accurately detecting the inter-vehicle distance of a carrier even in a curve. An inter-vehicle distance detecting device is provided in the front part of a carrier, and is a projector 51 for radially projecting a plurality of rays of light, a light receiver 51 for receiving reflected light beams, and a circle provided at the rear part of the carrier. It has an arc-shaped convex reflector 52.
The sensitivity of the light receiver 51 is adjusted so that the intensity of light at a point at a distance R1 equal to the remaining distance obtained by subtracting the radius R2 of the arc surface of the convex reflector 52 from the desired vehicle-to-vehicle distance can be received. To do. The light beam projected from the succeeding carrier is reflected by the convex reflecting plate 52 of the carrier traveling in the front and received by the light receiver 51. Only the light rays projected to the contact points of the circular arc curve of radius R1 and the circular arc surface of R2 are received as reflected light rays. The vehicle-to-vehicle distance is always detected as (R1 + R2) regardless of the orientation of the carriers.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a device for accurately detecting an inter-vehicle distance of a carrier.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 Conventionally, each carrier traveling on the same traveling path is provided with an inter-vehicle distance detecting device for keeping a constant inter-vehicle distance and preventing rear-end collision between carriers. An inter-vehicle distance detecting device 10 shown in FIG. 8 includes a light emitter / receiver 12 that projects a single ray 11 of light forward and receives a ray of light that returns by reflection, and a flat reflecting plate 13. It is composed of. The inter-vehicle distance detection device 20 shown in FIG. 9 has a gutter shape that is directed vertically, and an emitter / receiver 22 that projects a single ray 21 toward the front and receives a ray that returns by reflection. Further, a cross section parallel to the running surface of the carrier is composed of an arcuate concave reflecting plate 23 which is concave toward the carrier.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, in the inter-vehicle distance detecting device 10 shown in FIG. 8, at the curve 15 of the traveling path 14, the reflection plate 13 of the carrier 16 traveling ahead is inclined with respect to the following carrier 17. For this reason, the light beam projected from the succeeding carrier 17 may be reflected obliquely and may not return to the light projecting / receiving device 12, which causes a problem that the inter-vehicle distance L1 cannot be kept constant. .. Also, in the inter-vehicle distance detecting device 20 shown in FIG. 9, the reflecting plate 23 of the carrier 26 traveling in the front is inclined with respect to the following carrier 27 at the curve 25 of the traveling path 24. Therefore, the light beam 21 strikes a position different from the position where the carrier 26 is traveling along the straight line portion of the traveling path 24, so that the distance between the position of the concave reflection plate 23 of the front carrier 26 and the subsequent carrier 27. L2 is the same as the set inter-vehicle distance L1, but the actual inter-vehicle distance is shortened by L3 in FIG. 9 depending on the inclination of the concave reflection plate 23, and the inter-vehicle distance cannot be kept constant. Have a point. Further, in any of the inter-vehicle distance detecting devices 10 and 20 shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, if the inter-vehicle distance is to be kept constant even on the curves 15 and 25 of the traveling road, it is necessary to incorporate a special control circuit. The problem of occurs.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The present invention is provided in a front portion of a carrier for projecting a plurality of rays of light in a radial direction forward, a light receiver for receiving the light rays returning by reflection, and a rear portion of the carrier. The above problem is solved by a device having an upper gutter-shaped convex reflector having a circular arc-shaped cross section parallel to the traveling surface of the carrier.

[0005]

[Action]

 An arc-shaped curve is formed by connecting arbitrary points that are substantially parallel to the traveling surface of the carrier and have the same light intensity on each of the radially projected rays. A distance equal to the remaining distance (eg, R1 in FIG. 1) obtained by subtracting the half-diameter R2 of the circular arc surface of the convex reflector from the desired vehicle-to-vehicle distance (eg, L4 in FIG. 1) among these arbitrary points. The sensitivity of the light receiver is adjusted so that the intensity of light at a point in R1 can be received. The light beam projected from the projector of the succeeding carrier is reflected by the convex reflector of the carrier traveling in the forward direction and is received by the photoreceiver. Since the convex reflector has an arc-shaped cross section, only the light rays projected aiming at the center of curvature of the arc surface of the convex reflector are received among the plurality of projected light rays. Therefore, by utilizing this, the vehicle-to-vehicle distance can be always maintained at (R1 + R2) regardless of the orientation of the carriers.

[0006]

【Example】

 Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The carrier 30 (see FIGS. 3 to 5) is a kind of carrier vehicle that has a driving unit 31 and a driven unit 32 and travels on the rail G to carry a conveyed object (not shown). The driving part 31 and the driven part 32 are connected by a connecting rod 33 so that the direction can be freely changed. The connecting rod 33 is provided with a hanger 34 for loading or suspending the transported objects.

The drive unit 31 is composed of a drive wheel 36 rotated by a motor 35 with a speed reducer, and eight guide rollers 37 for contacting both sides of the rail G up and down, and has a plurality of current collectors 38. ing. The current collector 38 contacts a cable (not shown) such as a power cable and a control signal cable laid on the side surface of the rail G. The driven part 32 is composed of a driven wheel 40 and eight guide rollers 41 which come into contact with both sides of the rail G vertically.

The inter-vehicle distance detecting device 50 of the carrier 30 is composed of a light emitting / receiving device 51 and a convex reflecting plate 52. The light emitter / receiver 51 is provided at the front portion (the left end portion in FIG. 3) of the carrier 30, and is substantially parallel to the traveling surface of the carrier 30 and radially has a plurality of rays (hereinafter referred to as “beam light”). ) B for projecting light toward the front (not shown) and a light receiving portion (not shown) for receiving the light beam returning by reflection. The convex reflecting plate 52 is provided on the rear portion (the left end portion in FIG. 3) of the carrier 30, and has a gutter shape that is oriented in the up-down direction and a cross section parallel to the running surface G3 (see FIG. 3) of the carrier 30 is outside the carrier 30. A projecting / receiving device 51 and a convex reflecting plate 52, which are in the shape of an arc with a radius R2 protruding toward one side and which reflect the beam light B projected from the succeeding carrier, are provided for each carrier. There is.

Next, the operation of the inter-vehicle distance detecting device 50 will be described. First, when the distance between the convex reflector 52 of the front carrier 301 and the emitter / receiver 51 of the succeeding carrier 302 in the straight line portion G1 of the rail G (see FIG. 2) is the above-described R 1, the control circuit (illustration is shown). Adjust the control circuit so that (omitted) operates and the carrier speed is controlled. As a result, the radius of the arcuate surface 53 of the convex reflecting plate 52 is R2, so the inter-vehicle distance L4 of the carrier is set to (R1 + R2). In addition, since the light intensity is the same at a point of radius R1 of a plurality of light beams that are radially emitted substantially in parallel with the traveling surface of the carrier 30, connecting such R1 points results in a radius R1. Becomes an arc.

When the carrier travels on the linear portion G1 of the rail G, the beam light B projected from the light projecting portion of the projector / receiver 51 of the succeeding carrier 302 is a convex reflecting plate of the carrier 301 traveling in front. The light is reflected by 52 and is received by the light receiving portion of the projector / light receiver 51. The received beam light is the beam light B1 projected from the plurality of projected beam lights by aiming for the center of curvature O of the arc surface 53 of the convex reflecting plate 52. When the carriers 301 and 302 approach each other and the distance between the light emitter / receiver 51 and the convex reflector 52 becomes R1, the control circuit operates to decelerate the subsequent carrier 302 or accelerate the front carrier 301. The subsequent collision of the carrier 302 is prevented. As a result, the distance between the carriers becomes the set inter-vehicle distance L4.

When the carrier (see FIG. 1) travels along the curve G2 of the rail G, the orientations of the projector / receiver 51 and the convex reflector 52 change, but in this case as well, the beam light received is received. Among the plurality of projected light beams B, the projected light beam B1 is aimed at the center O of curvature of the arc surface 53 of the convex reflector 52. Therefore, also in this case, when the carriers 301 and 302 approach each other and the distance between the light emitter / receiver 51 and the convex reflecting plate 52 becomes R1, the control circuit operates to decelerate the subsequent carrier 302, or The front carrier 301 is accelerated to prevent a rearward collision of the subsequent carrier 302. As a result, the distance between the carriers becomes the set inter-vehicle distance L4.

As described above, among the plurality of projected light beams, the projected light beam B 1 is received by aiming at the center of curvature O of the arc surface 53 of the convex reflecting plate 52. That is, the beam light B1 emitted from the contact point P between the arc surface 53 of the convex reflecting plate 52 and the arc-shaped curve having the radius R1 is received. Even if the carriers G are changed in direction by the curve G2 of the rail G and the position of the contact P is changed, the light beam B1 projected on the contact P is still received. Therefore, the inter-vehicle distance detecting device 50 can always detect the inter-vehicle distance of the carrier at a constant value (R1 + R2 = L4) regardless of the orientation of the carriers.

Next, the advantage of forming the reflection plate in a convex shape will be described from another surface. Assuming that the reflecting plate is a flat plate 60 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 or a gutter-shaped concave plate 61 oriented in the up-and-down direction and a cross section parallel to the traveling surface of the carrier is concave toward the carrier, the rail is In the G curve G2, the following carriers 304 and 306 and the front carriers 303 and 305 are speed-controlled so that the distances L5 and L6 from the light emitter / receiver 51 to the concave plate 61 are equal to the inter-vehicle distance L4. To be done. Therefore, depending on the inclination of the flat plate 60 or the concave plate 61, the actual inter-vehicle distance becomes longer by L7 and L8 than the inter-vehicle distance L4 when traveling on the straight part of the rail G, and the inter-vehicle distance becomes longer. Therefore, if the reflector is a flat plate or a concave plate, the inter-vehicle distance cannot be kept constant.

[0014]

[Effect of the device]

 The inter-vehicle distance detecting device of the present invention has the following effects. (1) The vehicle-to-vehicle distance can be kept constant regardless of whether the road is straight or curved. (2) It is not necessary to incorporate a special control circuit for traveling along a curve on the road while keeping the distance between vehicles constant. (3) If the distance between vehicles can be kept constant even if there is a curve on the road, the storage efficiency of the carrier can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a carrier equipped with an inter-vehicle distance detecting device of the present invention when traveling on a curve of a traveling path.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the carrier of FIG. 1 traveling on a straight line portion of a traveling path.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the carrier of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a view taken along arrow 4-4 in FIG.

5 is a right side view of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a plan view for explaining the features of the inter-vehicle distance detecting device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view for explaining the features of the inter-vehicle distance detecting device of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a carrier equipped with a conventional inter-vehicle distance detecting device when traveling along a curve on a traveling path.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a carrier equipped with another conventional inter-vehicle distance detecting device when traveling along a curve on a traveling path.

[Explanation of symbols]

 B, B1 light beam (beam light) G3 carrier running surface 30,303,304,305,306 carrier 50 inter-vehicle distance detecting device 51 emitter / receiver (emitter, receiver) 52 convex reflector

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A light projector, which is provided at a front portion of a carrier, for radially projecting a plurality of rays of light, a light receiver for receiving the light rays returning by reflection, and a light emitter provided at a rear portion of the carrier. An inter-vehicle distance detecting device for a carrier, comprising a gutter-shaped convex reflecting plate having a circular arc-shaped cross section parallel to the traveling surface of the carrier.