JPH07160990A - Automatic traffic control equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide automatic traffic control equipment by which one-way alternate traffic control at a road work site or the like is implemented smoothly by taking the traffic volume of both lanes into account. CONSTITUTION:The equipment is provided with a robot body 1 formed symmetrically with respect to its front side and rear side, a turning base 3 pivoting the robot body 1, and a moving truck 2 on which the robot body 1 and the turning base 3 are mounted. The robot body 1 is provided with a display device 8 emitting continuously a red light or a green light, a drive section 7A pivoting-driving the display device 8, a distance detector 11 measuring a distance from a vehicle, and a controller 12 controlling the display device 8 based on the distance and installed at both each ends of a one-way traffic passing block in pairs. The controllers 8 of robot body 1 are communicated through a wired line or a radio channel. The controller 8 discriminates it that a passing vehicle is in existence when the distance is a predetermined distance or below based on the distance up to the passing vehicle on both lanes detected by the distance detector 11 and a proceed signal is given by the display device of a lane on which the passing vehicle is in existence and a stop signal is given by the display device of a lane on which no passing vehicle is in existence. Furthermore, when passing vehicles are in existence simultaneously on both the lanes, a proceed signal is set to place a priority to one of them.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic traffic control device for instructing a vehicle such as an automobile to stop and proceed, and particularly to automatically control one-way alternating traffic at a road construction site unmanned and efficiently. Regarding the organizer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, when traffic on one side is obligatory at a road construction site or the like, simple traffic control signals are installed at both ends of a construction section so that both up and down lanes can be trafficked. The red stop signal or the green advancing signal is alternately switched and displayed for each vehicle to control the traffic.

That is, in traffic control by the above traffic light, switching between red and green is performed within a preset fixed time, and at the time of switching, the switching timing of one traffic light from the red signal to the green signal is delayed for a predetermined time. The signals of both lanes are temporarily displayed in red for a predetermined time.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional traffic control using a traffic light, the advance and stop of the upper and lower lanes are alternately performed at predetermined time intervals without considering the current traffic volume. Since the traffic light is switched on and off, for example, even though there is a passing vehicle only in one of the up lanes, this up lane side is stopped and the down lane side with no passing vehicles is set to the traveling state. Since there are many cases where irrational traffic control such as traffic accidents is done, there is a problem that efficient and smooth traffic control cannot be performed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an automatic traffic control system capable of smoothly performing one-sided alternate traffic regulation at a road construction site or the like in consideration of the traffic volume of both lanes. To provide.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is to install an automatic traffic control device for controlling traffic on a one-side alternating traffic section such as a road construction site at both ends of the one-side alternating traffic section. An indicator that lights up and displays a stop signal or a progress signal, and a distance detector that is provided in the vicinity of each indicator and that detects a distance to a vehicle on both lanes that is about to enter the one-side alternating traffic section When there is a passing vehicle within a predetermined distance only on one of the lanes based on the distance detected by the distance detector, the indicator on the one lane side is used as a traveling signal and the indicator on the other lane side is displayed. When the vehicle is a stop signal and both vehicles are within a predetermined distance on both lanes, the indicator on one lane side is given priority to the progress signal and the indicator on the other lane side is the stop signal. Lighting control means , It is configured to include a.

[0007]

In the automatic traffic control system of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, the distance detectors detect the distances to the vehicles in the up and down lanes that are about to enter the one-sided alternating traffic section. Based on the detected distance, the controller determines that there is a passing vehicle if it is within a predetermined distance. And
When there is a traffic vehicle only on one lane side and there is no traffic vehicle on the other lane side, the controller uses the indicator on one lane side as a progress signal and displays on the other lane side. Signal to stop. Further, when there is a passing vehicle on both lanes at the same time, one of the lanes is given priority as a traveling signal and the other lane is given as a stop signal.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

An automatic traffic control system according to the present invention is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 5, there is provided an automatic traffic control device 100 for controlling traffic on a one-side alternating traffic section X such as a road construction site 20. The automatic traffic control apparatus 100 is installed at both ends of the one-side alternating traffic section X on an up lane or on a down lane. An indicator 5 that lights up and displays a red stop signal or a green progress signal for vehicles 21 and 22 on the lane, and an indicator that is provided in the vicinity of each indicator 5 and tries to enter the one-sided alternating traffic section X Based on the distance detector 11 that detects the distances L1 and L2 to the vehicles 21 and 22 on both lanes and the distances L1 and L2 to the vehicles 21 and 22 on both lanes detected by this distance detector 11, When the vehicles 21 and 22 on the lane are both within the predetermined distance α, the controller 12 that prioritizes the display device 8 on one lane side to give a progress signal and the display device 8 on the other lane side to a stop signal have .

More specifically, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a robot body installed at both ends of the one-side alternating traffic section X, and the robot body 1 is mounted on a pedestal 3 on a movable carriage 2. . The pedestal 3 can rotate on the dolly 2 as a fixed part, and by this rotation, the front side or the back side of the robot body 1 can be arbitrarily faced to the vehicle as a traffic control target. The weight 4 mounted on the carriage 2 is for balancing the weight with the robot body 1.

FIG. 2 shows the rotary pedestal 3 from the state of FIG.
It is a front view in the case of being rotated once, and shows a case where the back surface portion of FIG. 1 appears in the front surface. In this way, the robot body 1
The shape seen from the front and the shape seen from the back are symmetrical.

A transparent housing 5 is attached to the robot body 1 via a rotary shaft 7 so as to be rotatable in a vertical plane.
Light emitting diodes 6 are arranged in the transparent housing 5. The light emitting diode 6 comprises a red light emitting diode which emits red light and a green light emitting diode which emits green light, and the transparent housing 5 and the light emitting diode 6 constitute a display 8 for lighting and displaying a red stop signal or a green progress signal. .

The rotary shaft 7 is rotationally driven by a drive unit (not shown) such as an electric motor, and this rotational drive is performed by a controller 1 described later.
Controlled by 2.

The display 8 is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2,
When instructing to stop, it is set to the horizontal position and emits red light, and when instructing to proceed, it is set to the upper position and emits green light. The horizontal position or the upper position of the display 8 is set by rotationally driving the rotary shaft 7 by the drive unit as described above.

The display 8 is the robot body 1 in FIG.
2 is held in its left-hand part, and in FIG. 2, it is held in its right-hand part. As a result, it is possible to control traffic on both sides of the up and down lanes by alternating traffic on one side.

The head 1a of the robot body 1 is provided with an eyeball 9 which is a yellow lamp as a blinking indicator and a mouth 10 which is a speaker as a voice transmitting section. The blinking indicator 9 emits a blinking yellow light, and the voice sending unit 10 sends voices such as "stop!" And "progress!" To alert the driver.

On the right or left arm of the robot body 1,
Distance detector 11 for measuring the distance to the vehicle in the lane facing
Is arranged, and the distance detector 11 measures the distance between the facing vehicle and the robot body 1 by electromagnetic waves, light, or the like.

At the bottom of the robot body 1, the above-mentioned indicators 8, 9 are displayed based on the distance signal from the distance detector 11.
A controller 12 that controls the drive unit and the voice output unit 10 is arranged.

Next, the operation of the controller 12 will be described with reference to FIG. The distance signal is input from the distance detector 11 to the controller 12, and the time signal indicating the current time, the measurement time, or the like is input from the timer 13. The controller 8 normally causes the yellow blinking indicator 9 to blink, and controls the lighting of the indicator 8 based on the distance signal and the audio sending unit 10.
Sound control.

The lighting control of the display 8 is such that the red light emitting diode 6 of the display 8 is used when instructing the oncoming vehicle to stop.
Is turned on and the position of the display 8 is set to the horizontal position by the drive unit 7A. Further, when instructing the vehicle to face the vehicle to proceed, the drive unit 7A controls the position of the green light emitting diode 6 of the display 8 so that the display 8 is at the upper position.

Next, actual traffic control will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4 shows a case where a pair of robot bodies 1A and 1B forming an automatic traffic control device are arranged in the traffic zone of the vehicle on the left side because of a work area such as the road construction site 20. The robot body 1A arranged on the left side of the road construction site is arranged in the state of FIG. 1, and the robot body 1B arranged on the right side is arranged in the state of FIG. Robot body 1
Arrangement of A and 1B can be freely set by rotating the rotation base 3 and moving the carriage 2. The robot bodies 1A and 1B arranged on the left and right are in a state of being able to communicate with each other wirelessly or by wire, and it is possible to recognize what kind of display each other has and also the traffic situation of the vehicle in the lane of the other party. is there.

By the way, when traffic is regulated on such roads, there are roughly three cases of traffic of vehicles as follows. There are no passing vehicles in both lanes. There are passing vehicles in only one lane. Passing vehicles exist in both lanes at the same time.

Here, each of the above-mentioned situations is judged by the controller 12 based on the signal from the distance detector 11.
In this case, the controller 12 causes the indicators 8 of the robot main bodies 1A and 1B on both lanes to be stop signals. That is, both the indicators 8 of the robot main bodies 1A and 1B are set in the horizontal position, and the red light is lit continuously or at midnight.

Further, in the case of, when the vehicle on one of the lanes approaches the predetermined distance α, the controller 8 causes the indicator 8 on the one of the lanes to indicate the progress signal (the green light is continuously lit at the upper position). ). Then, when a plurality of vehicles are connected and traveling, immediately after the last vehicle enters the one-side alternating traffic section X, that is, when there is no vehicle within the predetermined distance α on the one lane, immediately. The display 8 on the one lane side is switched to the stop signal. Therefore, as in the conventional case, an unreasonable traffic control is performed in which the indicator on the lane side where there is no passing vehicle is used as the traveling signal and the indicator on the lane where the passing vehicle is present is switched to the stop signal. There is no need to stop the vehicle in vain.

In the case of 1, it is necessary to determine the priority order of the vehicles, and here it is assumed that the left vehicle 21 has priority over the right vehicle 22. In other words, if left-to-right traffic is uphill, Fig. 4 is downhill one-way traffic,
In addition, it is a traffic regulation that gives priority to uphill traffic. In this case, the controller 8
First, one of the up lane sides is given priority and the indicator 8 of the robot body 1A is set as a progress signal, and the display 8 of the robot body 1B on the other down lane side is set as a stop signal. Then, when the last vehicle 21 on the up lane enters the one-side alternating traffic section X, immediately, the robot body 1 on the up lane side
The display 8 of A is switched to the stop signal, and the last vehicle 2
After allowing sufficient time for 1 to finish passing through the one-side alternating traffic section X, the display 8 of the robot 1B on the other down lane side is switched from the stop signal to the progress signal.

At this time, when a large number of vehicles are connected to both the up lane and the down lane, and the traffic is congested, the controller 8 uses the timer 13 to measure the continuous display time of the progress signal. The longest display time is limited, and the display 8 of the upper and lower lanes is alternately switched as described above to control lighting at regular intervals. Therefore, only the up lane side, which is the priority side, does not continue to be a traveling signal for a long time.

Therefore, as described above, in the automatic traffic control device 100 of this embodiment, the controller 1 is appropriately selected according to the traffic conditions of the vehicles on the up and down lanes detected by the distance measuring device 11.
2 controls the indicators 8 installed at both ends of the one-side alternating traffic section X by alternately switching from the stop signal to the traveling signal, so that the vehicles 21 and 22 on the upper and lower lanes can be efficiently and safely operated and unmanned. You can automatically guide and organize traffic.

Further, since the robot main body 1 having a symmetrical shape on the front and back sides is rotatable, it is possible to handle both upward and downward passages. Further, the stop, progress and attention progress can be clearly instructed by the red and green lights and the yellow blinking light, and further, the attention can be called by the voice, so that the driver of the vehicle is not likely to be erroneously recognized or anxious.

FIG. 5 shows a case where the automatic traffic control device 100 is arranged in the traffic zone of the vehicle on the right side because of the work area 20. In this case, the robot body 1A arranged on the left side of the road construction site 20 is arranged in the state of FIG. 2, and the robot body 1B arranged on the right side is arranged in the state of FIG. As in the case of FIG. 4, the robot bodies 1A and 1B arranged on the left and right are connected to each other wirelessly or by wire and can communicate with each other, and various operation controls by the controller 12 are also performed in the same manner.

In the above embodiment, the operating time zone of the voice transmitting unit was not explained, but it may be operated only in the normal time zone or only in the midnight time zone, and the operation is always performed regardless of the time zone. You may make it operate.

[0031]

As described above, according to the automatic traffic control system of the present invention, the controller controls the one-side alternating traffic section according to the traffic situation of the vehicle on the up and down lanes detected by the distance measuring device. Since the display devices 8 installed at both ends are alternately switched from the stop signal to the progress signal and controlled, the vehicles on the upper and lower lanes can be efficiently and safely automatically guided by the unmanned traffic control. It can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a robot main body used in an embodiment of an automatic traffic control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view when the rotary base is rotated 180 degrees from the state of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block system diagram of an embodiment of an automatic traffic control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a traffic state for explaining the actual traffic control.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of a traffic state for explaining the actual traffic control.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Robot body 1a Head 1A Robot body on the up lane side 1B Robot body on the down lane side 2 Vehicle 3 Rotation pedestal 4 Weight 5 Transparent housing 6 Light emitting diode 7 Rotation axis 8 Indicator 9 Flashing display 10 Voice output 11 Device 12 controller 13 timer 100 automatic traffic control device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An automatic traffic control device for controlling traffic on a one-side alternating traffic section such as a road construction site, which is installed at both ends of the one-side alternating traffic section and displays a stop signal or a progress signal by lighting. And a distance detector that is provided in the vicinity of each of the indicators and that detects a distance to a vehicle on both lanes that is about to enter the one-sided alternating traffic section, based on the distance detected by the distance detector, When a passing vehicle exists within a predetermined distance only on one lane, the indicator on the one lane side is used as a progress signal and the indicator on the other lane side is used as a stop signal, and the passing vehicles on both lanes are When both are within a predetermined distance, the automatic traffic control device is characterized by having a controller that gives priority to the display device on one lane side to make a progress signal and makes the display device on the other lane side a stop signal. .