WO1993009045A1 - Drive system for a storage facility - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention resides in a drive system suitable for a multi-level storage facility (10) having a plurality of movable carriages (11) configured as an endless train, the facility having vertically spaced horizontal courses (12) along which carriages travel and vertical turns (13) bridging between the horizontal courses (12), the drive system including decouplable drive means for moving the carriages about the courses (12), the drive means being actively coupled to the train along part only of the train's travel. Preferably, the carriages (11) of adjacent horizontal courses (12) are arranged to travel in opposite horizontal directions, each pair of adjacent courses (12) having associated therewith a vertical turn (13) through which carriages travel one at a time between the said pair of courses (12), the arrangement being that for the whole train, at any one time, the number of carriages (11) travelling in the vertical direction equals the number of vertical turns (13).

Description

DRIVE SYSTEM FOR A STORAGE FACILITY

FIELD OF INVENTION

THIS INVENTION relates storage facilities employing a plurality of movable carriages configured as an endless train and to conveyor drive systems suitable for use in an

automated multi-level storage facility.

BACKGROUND ART

Conventional storage facilities, for example,

warehousing and car parks usually involve fixed constructions comprising parking bays (for pallets or cars) and roadways (for forklifts or cars) which use space inefficiently and are not attune to systematic parking and retrieval processes.

It has been proposed to reduce the space occupied by and retrieval requirements for stored goods by providing a multi-level storage facility having a plurality of storage locations accessible by conveyor arrangements or robotic pallet trucks. The goods can be retrieved by driving the conveyor or truck to locate a selected location and to discharge the retrieved goods at an exit station.

To date however, these forms of storage facilities have either been very expensive and for some have not received ready acceptance despite their space saving characteristics when compared to more conventional warehouse type storage facilities. The main problems with known automated multilevel storage facilities are high parking and retrieval times. Another problem with these facilities has been the use of drive systems which are too complex to operate and/or are expensive to build. In addition, during the construction of a new building it has been traditional to provide basement car parking or other storage facilities where piers and concrete reinforced pillars are used in grid patterns designed to give vehicle access and parking spaces in the basement of the building. Not only does this arrangement provide inefficient use of space, but where a building is to be built on top of the piers and pillars, the piers and pillars must be of adequate size to provide foundations to distribute the load of the building while still permitting the desired spacing for vehicle access and this results in localised points of load distribution.

It is an object of the present invention to alleviate at least to some degree the aforementioned problems

associated with the prior art.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

In one aspect therefore, the present invention resides in a drive system, suitable for a multi-level storage facility having a plurality of movable carriages configured as an endless train, the facility having vertically spaced

horizontal courses along which carriages travel and vertical courses bridging between the horizontal courses, the drive system including decouplable drive means for moving the carriages about the courses, the drive means being actively coupled to the train along part oniy of the train's travel. Preferably, the carriages of adjacent horizontal courses are arranged to travel in opposite horizontal directions, each pair of adjacent courses having associated therewith a vertical turn through which carriages travel one at a time between the said pair of courses, the arrangement being that for the whole train, at any one time, the number of carriages travelling in the vertical direction equals the number of vertical turns.

Although each decouplable drive means can be driven independently and in synchronisms in one preferred drive system, the train of carriages is driven through a plurality of adjacent turns using a common drive source coupled to a common drive transmission means, each turn having an

auxiliary drive transmission means with the auxiliary drive transmission means being driven in concert with the common drive transmission means. Preferably, the auxiliary drive transmission means comprises a primary drive transmission means and a secondary drive transmission adapted to engage consecutive sections of the train of carriages as the train travels through a said turn.

Preferably, the decouplable drive means includes a variable velocity section so that the train can travel at different velocities over part of its travel according to changes in the geometry of the path travelled. Where the decouplable drive means is employed, over the duration of a variable velocity turn the drive means preferably includes resilient coupling means so that the drive means can

accommodate the change in velocity. Where primary and secondary drive transmission means are employed, one or the other drive transmission means can be arranged to travel at higher velocity. Typically, the secondary drive transmission means operates at peak velocity as the train travels through a turn.

According to another aspect the present improvement resides in a multi-level storage facility including, a

plurality of carriages configured as an endless train, spaced apart tracks along which the train of carriages travels and including a horizontal track section at a loading level where multiple carriage can be loaded and unloaded and a plurality of vertical track sections arranged in serpentine fashion and having opposite ends of the vertical track sections connected with respective opposite ends of the horizontal track

section, an endless chain in each track and interconnecting adjacent carriages, adjacent track sections being connected by curved track sections of constant curvature and drive means for driving the chain in order to drive the train of carriages along the tracks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the invention can be. more readily

understood and be put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings and wherein:-

Fig. 1 is a schematic side view of a typical prior art multi-level storage facility to which the present invention can be applied;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating typical carriages suitable for the car storage facility of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end view of a modified carriage; Fig. A is a detailed view illustrating a drive according to the prior art as supplied to the facilty of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a detailed view illustrating an alternative drive according to the prior art suitable for a storage facility of thetype illustrated in Fig. 1.

Fig 6 is a schematic view to that of Fig. 1 illustra ting a prefered drive system for a storage facility according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is the cubicle design when all cubicles are connected to each other without spaces in between the cubicles forming a contineous train of cubicles which in turn provides a contineous cubicle floor in the horizontal which in turn provides for a muchsafer way for passengers to disembark as well as eliminating the need for special object indicating/location equipment to make certain that the spaces between the cubicles are clear before the system can be activated to move.

Fig.8 is a pictorial view illustrating a composit arrangement of storage facilities according to the present invention in a typical warehousing environment and Fig 33 to 43 are flow charts dealing with a typical computor control system for a storage facility according to the present invention.

Refereing to Fig 1, a schematic side view of a multi levelstrorage facility 10 having a plurality of movable carriages 11 configured as an endless chain. The storage facility 10 includes vertically spaced horizontal courses 12 along which carriages 11 travel, the carriages of adja cent course being arranged to travel in respective opposite horizontal directions as shown by arrows A & B.

As can be seen in embodiment of Fig 1, the number of carriages traveling in the vertical directions equals the number of vertical turns. The storage facility 10 employs a frame work to form a square matrix, with the beams 15 providing the tracks along which the train of carriages can travel. Each beam and post are. made from standardised sections so that storage facilities are modular and can be built lengthwise or upwards to requirements. As will be appreciated, the carriages can be loaded and unloaded at any level in the car park depending upon

requirements. For example, all or a portion of the car park can be located above or below ground level as desired.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, in Fig. 2, there is illustrated a portion of the train of carriages and for convenience, three carriage embodiments are illustrated in Fig. 2 with Fig. 3 being a side view of a still further alternative. Carriage 16 is an open framework embodiment, carriage 17 is a partially closed embodiment having a

partially open side wall to enable the driver of a car parked in the carriage to step outside the carriage and carriage 18 includes a closed-in floor section 19. Features common to each carriage embodiment include spaced tracks 20, side wall openings 21 and suspension bars 22 which enables the

carriages to be supported on the structural beams 15 which also serve as tracks for the train of carriages.

As can be seen, the tracks 20 include two detent means 23 in which the wheels of a vehicle locate automatically when a vehicle is driven into the carriage along the tracks 20. The tracks 20 serve to guide the wheels of a vehicle into position within the carriage. The side wall openings 21 provide sufficient space for the driver's door and passenger doors to be opened and for the driver and passengers to step directly from their vehicle into the space between the

carriages. The carriages are maintained in their spaced fixed relationship on suspension rods 22 by pivoting

connecting rods 24. Wheel assemblies (not shown) are coupled to each end of the suspension rods 22 (see

Fig. 4). In the illustrated embodiment, each carriage is spaced by 620mm and each carriage has a width of 2380mm, the carriages being located at 3000mm centres. The applicant has found that such a spacing provides a closely packed

arrangement of carriages. To facilitate passage of the carriages as they move through vertical turns, the corner edges 25 of the carriages are chamferred as illustrated at 25 on carriage 18.

Referring now to Figs. 4 and 5, there is illustrated in respective schematic side views typical drive means by which the train of carriages 11 can be driven about the track provided by the beams 15 and turns 13. In the illustrated embodiment, each beam 15 and turns 13 carries a channel 26 and thus, a pair of opposed channels 26 (one of which can be seen in Figs. 4 and 5) are used to support the opposite ends of each carriage 11. Wheel assemblies 27 comprising a pair of wheels 28 travel in the channels 26 and the wheel

assemblies are pivotally coupled relative to suspension rods 22.

As can be seen in Fig. 4, at any one time, only a single carriage 11 is being lifted or lowered vertically as the carriages 11 travel around a turn 13. The turn 13 illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 is in the form of a half

ellipse. In the embodiment of Fig. 4, an endless chain 29 is used to drive carriages 11 along the horizontal courses 12 by utilising fingers 30 which co-operate with fetches 31 on the top and bottom of the carriages 11. Thus, the endless chain 29 in the illustrated embodiment drives two levels of carriages and is decoupled from the carriages as they approach the vertical turns. The carriages travel through the vertical turns 13 by virtue of the connecting rods 24. In the illustrated embodiment of Fig. 6, two endless chains are employed located in side by side relationship (one of which can be seen in Fig. 4).

Referring to Fig. 5, an alternative drive arrangement is illustrated. Like numerals where applicable have been used to illustrate like features. The wheel assemblies 28 have been omitted for clarity. As can be seen, the drive is a rotary drive 32 employing three carriage pick-up arms 33 disposed about a drive axis 34 such that the arms are located on radii position at 120° intervals. In the position

illustrated in Fig. 5, the pick-up arms 34 are shown coupled to three carriages 11 and as can be seen, the free ends of each arm 38 include catches 35 which become coupled with and decoupled from the main suspension rods 22 in order to move carriages about the turn 13. As can be seen, the arms 33 extend and retract as the carriages move. around the turn 13 whilst maintaining positive drive on the carriages throughout the passage of a carriage around the turn 13. Thus, the arms are coupled to take into account the change in geometry encountered by the carriages as the train travels through the turn. Other ways of achieving this are described below.

Referring to Fig. 6, there is illustrated an automated storage facility 90 similar to that illustrated in Fig. 1 and where appropriate, like numerals have been used to ustrate e eatures. e train of carriages is driven using three main drives illustrated generally at 91, 92 and 93 with the three drives being synchronised and each drive having its own motor and its own drive transmission means in the form of an endless drivesuch as a rope drive which bridges between the individual turns 13 with each turn having an auxiliary transmission means whichtakes drive from the respec tive endless drive. Thus each main drive 91,92 and 93, a common drive is employed at each location thus, simplefying control of the overall storage facility.

The embodiment shown in Fig 9 utilises a rope orchain drive to drive the drive wheels as shown in earlier embodiments. The cubicles 291 are connected together by a lug 292 bolted to a vertical frame member 293 on each side a first cubicle which engages a nylon brush or catch 294 bolted to a vertical frame member 295 on each side of a second cubicle as can be seen in Fig 10.

A motor 296 drives an endless chain or rope 297 that engages sprockets 298 and 299 on respective drive wheels 300 and 301. The drive wheels 300 and 301 engage and drive the cubicles which form a continuous chain. The pick up points in the drive wheels can be spaced at 120 degrees, 180 degree or at 144 degrees in case of a five arm drive wheel in which case one arm engages, missing the next at 72° and picking up the cubicle with the next arm 2x72° = 144 degrees.

Sprocket wheel 302 is shown in the stop stat position and sprocketwheel 304 shows the cubicle movement between the engaged and disengaged positions. It is to be noted that in this case the pick up points are at 180° and that there is small horizontal movement between 15° to + 15° to the hori zontal resulting in smooth operation. The broken line repre sentations of the cubicles represents the change in position of the cubicles upon 90° rotation of the drive wheels.

This embodiment of the invention permits the use of wider cubicles allowing disembarking and entering of the vehicle to tale place within tbe cubicles, in fact the

floors of the adjacent cubicles directly budd up to this cubicle floor providing a continuous floor to give easy access and comfort. The wider cubicles are joined together by the sliding brush shown in Fig 10 to provide maximum cubicle density and do not use connecting rods as was the case in the mark 1 design

It is to be noted that the stop start position (see sprocket wheel 302), the wheel 302 is engaged to only two cubicles at any one time. Before and after 30°to the ver tical only one cubicle will actually be engaged. In this embodiment, the bend between each adjacent horizontal course is a true circle which results in simpler construction and driving of the train but it is otherwise similar to the earlier embodiments. Guide tracks can be incorporated to control cubicle sway if required. The embodiments shown in Fig 12 is a single loop facility 350 in which the cubicles may be connected together in a similar manner shown in fig 10 and it must be noted that if the system is applied to the typical track layout of the storage systems it will also work. Alternatively, the cubicles could be connected together by sliding engagement of cast nylon locking pieces mounted on both sides of each cubicle. For example, one cubicle could have a pair of vertical support members constructed of tubes 370 on each side and the adjacent cubi clecould have one only heavier wall tube support 371 on each side adapted to engage an adjacent pair of tubes 370 as shown in Fig 11 and to be locked thereto by strips of bolted on polyurethane 372. Fig 14. shows how the locking devise disengages and engages in the curves while the cubicles form a rigged chain.

Drive wheels 351 and 352 are driven by a chain not shown and each have two slots 353 to 356 at 180°spacings which are adapted to engage the axels on the cubicles.

Cubicles 357 are not connected to its adjacent cubicle as it passes through the centre of the end portion of the loop 350. As the drive rotates, cubicles 358 will be engaged and cubicles 359 will be disengaged. Initially two cubicles will be engaged and the one cubicle will be engaged with a repeating pattern 2-1, 2-1.

The loop 350 of Fig 12 is 3000mm high and each cubicle can be 2250 high. The embodiment shown in Fig 13 is another single loop facility 360 in which the cubicle height can be 2250mm and width 2500mm. The loop height in this case

works out at 3500mm. The cubicles are not connected together (361) again, this can be adopted to the special track layout of the storage systems.

Each drivewheel 362 and 363 has three slots 364, 365 and 366 spaced apart by 120 to engage the driving axels on the cubi cles. innitially, three cubicles are engaged as shown in Fig 13 followed by two and this pattern is repeated.

A further embodiment of the invention is shown in Fig 15 Double pulley 400 drives rope 402 around the driven pulley 403 and a counterweight (Not shown) may be connected to the motor shaft & Platform assembly to automatically tention the belt 402 especially during start up when the motor pulley has a ten dency to run up the rope.

The motorpulley (sheeve) is double grooved also drives rope 405 that passes around drivewheel sheeve 406, 407, 408 & 409. which are coupled respectively to drive wheels 410, 411, 412 & 413.

At the left hand of Fig 15 there is a second motor 415 which drives a rope or chain 416 that engages a sheeve or sprocket 417 coupled to drive wheel 418. Drive wheel 418 is also double sheeved. 419 that drives rope or chain 420 that engages sheeves or sprockets 421 and 422 on the respective drive wheels 423 and 424. A similar arrangement is present ai the right hand end of Fig 15 and includes drive wheels 425 426 and 427 interconnected by rope or drive chain 428 that is driven by chain or rope 429 connected to motor 430.

The drive wheels 418 and 426 each carry a larger sproc ket or sheeve which engage and drive and drive a second main drive chain 434 that passes around idlers 435 and drive wheels 424 and 427 have sprockets 431 that engage and drive a third main drive chain 436 that passes around idlers 437.

Illustrated here are drive wheels with (5) slots or arms which provide smoothness in operation combined with maximum cubicle height and width anablihg the system to accept most larger cars, vans and even four wheel drives. A nuber of modifications and alternative drive arrange ments are made possible by incorporationg the five slot or five arm drive wheels which can be adopted to various diameter to suit. the track width which is directly related to cubicle width and height. The most suitable for the mechanical car parking systems is 3200 mm but this can be changed to suit other applications and storage systems.

input lane, the system typically stores the condition of the barrier, e.g. open or closed, indicator lights, e.g.

indicating whether the storage facility is full or whether carriages are available, an indication of the storage facilities which can be accessed through that barrier and the total number of vehicles counted over a predetermined time period.

The output structure for the system includes auditing data and is usually associated with some form of pay station and data including pay station number, cash register float, cash receipts, credit receipts and other data which may be required for auditing purposes.

A typical operation sequence for storage of a vehicle from a cue can involve the following sequence of events.

Initially, a vehicle presents at a control barrier where a record is allocated to the vehicle, a carriage is then allocated to the vehicle and the driver is advised to wait until the system is ready for him to proceed. A barrier number is assigned to the vehicle and the barrier is opened and a green indicator light is lighted indicating to the driver to proceed. Direction lights are then sequentially lit and the driver proceeds to the allocated storage facility and carriage. The carriage status is at this time assigned as a "waiting vehicle". An additional control barrier can be employed adjacent where the carriages are.loaded, if so, this barrier is opened once any vehicle in the carriage has been unloaded. As the vehicle is proceeding to the carriage and the carriage barrier is open, vehicle status is changed to Direction lighting is employed so that a driver can proceed from the control barrier to a carriage allocated to him and the control system operates the direction lighting so that it can be switched on, switched off or switched to a flashing mode as required.

Where a plurality of storage facilities are employed in a composite storage facility, data is stored per storage facility in the form of an identification number of control barriers, the number of carriages, the number of vehicles in the particular storage facility and the current position of the carriages. In addition, each storage facility is

assigned a status typically including an awaiting load, an awaiting unload (these statuses may occur together as

different carriages, may be loaded or unloaded at the same time) and whether the train of carriages is moving or

stationary. When moving, the position of the carriages is continually updated and the position to which the carriages are being moved is also stored. Furthermore, in respect of each storage facility, the system also stores a stack of requests for operations, e.g. a typical stack of operations might involve "loading gates 1, 3, 5"; "unload gates 2, 4"; "move to position 10"; "unload gate 2"; "load gate 2" and so forth. Most operations are sequential, but loading and unloading of different carriages may proceed in parallel, but clearly unloading and loading for a single carriage must wait for the carriage to be emptied 'before it can be loaded.

Data is stored in relation to input structures which typically involve a control barrier in association with an referenced to the ticket number. Typically, the storage facility identification is also stored indicating where the vehicle currently is, where the vehicle will be in the futur and where the vehicle has been within the facility. It will also carry the carriage number and the various control barrier identifications indicating control barrier used for parking and retrieval. As the vehicle transits the storage facility, it is preferred to store times at which various actions take place during the course of storage and

retrieval.

Data is stored for each carriage in the storage

facility and mainly relates to carriage status including whether the carriage is empty, awaiting a vehicle, in the process of loading, is loaded or is in the process of

unloading. Information would also be stored identifying the vehicle using the carriage or the last vehicle which was in the carriage. Typically, time data would also be stored indicating changes of status.

Control barriers in the form of say, boom gates, can be employed at say a main entrance and/or at carriage loading sites within the storage facility. For each control barrier, it would be assigned direction lighting which would have a particular status depending on the status of the control barrier, likewise vehicle detectors and ticket issuing and validation apparatus would be employed adjacent each control barrier and appropriate data would be stored from generated information at these peripheries. typically tracks each vehicle from the time the vehicle presents at a control barrier until it leaves the storage facility (i.e. has been retrieved). The data captured during this process is written away to journal files for later analysis/reporting.

The data structures that are employed in a typical system include those associated with the vehicle being stored, the facility identification (where a plurality of storage facilities are employed in composite form as in say, Fig.25), the carriage identification, the control barrier data, various directional lighting, various input facilities including data associated with vehicles entering the facility and various output peripheries dealing with data associated with vehicles leaving the facility.

Typically, each vehicle is assigned a record in memory for the entire time is known to be in the storage facility. When the vehicle is retrieved, the record is flushed to say a main storage disk and removed from the active memory. The record can contain a series of time stamps (essentially for fee calculation) and reference data, i.e. ticket number, etc. Typically, at any one time, the data associated with the vehicle will involve creation of a record as well as

indicating the vehicle status, for example, whether the vehicle is proceeding to a carriage, in the process of being parked, is stored, is awaiting retrieval or whether it has left the car park and its record has been deleted. A ticket would normally be issued to each vehicle entering the storage facility and the vehicle identification would be cross Figs. 31 and 32 show two further arrangements of storage facilities according to other embodiments of the invention. In Fig.24 , cubicles 460 are 2500 mm wide with a 450 mm spacing to prevent cubicle collision and the drive wheel 462 has a diameter of 3000 mm. The spacing between drive wheels is 9550 mm. In Fig.25 , the cubicles are 2400 mm wide with no spacing therebetween which allows the spacin between the drive wheels to be 9100 mm. Thus, there is a relationship between the wheel diameter and track width (or drive wheel spacing).

Referring now to Fig.25 , there is illustrated in pictorial view a composite arrangement of storage facilities 10 for a typical warehousing environment and as can be seen, the carriages 11 of each storage facility 10 can be loaded from the end from say, a truck 48 and depending upon the arrangement of the tracks, the storage facilities can be accessed through an entrance 49 or at each end for improved loading and retrieval times.

While many and varied arrangements of storage

facilities according to the present invention are

contemplated, it is preferred that the storage facilities be automated and preferably under computer control for

allocation and retrieval of carriages. To this end, a typical storage facility can be configured with a plurality of input queues, carriages, automatically activated gates, pay booths or other peripheries. Thus, a control system is required and described below is a typical control system for a storage facility for storing vehicles. The system modification wherein there is provided a lower idler wheel, lower chain and a lower drive plate.

The main drive chains 432, 434 and 436 have two functions - to drive the cubicles in the horizontal only and to keep the drive wheels synchronised. In long applications, it may be necessary to install an extra pulley between the main horizontal tracks with an extra chain being driven by the drive wheels in the centre of the facility.

Fig. 21 is a perspective view of the installation shown in Fig. 22 which includes tracks 450 in which wheels fitted to each cubicle run to control the swinging in the curves. This arrangement avoids cubicle swing and/or excessive angle of the floor of the cubicle due to an unevenly loaded vehicle or a wrongly parked vehicle.

Further embodiments of the invention shown in Figs 22 and 23. Fig.22, the cubicle 460 are permanently connected to a sprocket chain 461. Each cubicle is 2400 mm wide, and there is a 800 mm. spacing between cubicles and the drive wheel 402 has a diameter of 3000 mm. In Fig.23, the

cubicles 460 are connected together by sliding connections which disengage and engage as they enter and leave the

curves. The cubicles are 2500 mm wide, there is no spacing between them and the drive wheel 467 has a diameter of 3200 mm. As can be seen, the arrangement of Fig. 22 has 8

cubicles and that of Fig.23 has 10 cubicles although the overall length of the Fig.23 arrangement is 15125 mm as against 13,600 mm for the Fig. 22 arrangement. Each cubicle is, in this instance, 2600 mm wide in the horizontal plane which means that for the 12° notation of the wheel the cubicle moves 216.65 mm in the horizontal plane. Thus, with an 18° rotation there is a difference of 177 mm between the length of the arc (502 mm) and the movement in the horizontal (325 mm). This theoretical difference is translated to a practical difference of 190 mm in Fig.18 as the push-up point.

The speed ratio of 4020 to 2600 equals 1.546 and this directly relates the ratio of the diameter of the drive wheel to the diameter of the sprocket attached to the drive wheel that engages the chain that drives the cubicles in the horizontal.

Fig. lg shows a modification of the drive wheel of Fig. 17 in which the arms 440 are retractable and extendable under the influence of rollers 460 affixed thereto which run in a slot in the guide 461 fixed to the frame of the facility. As can be seen arms 440a and 440b are retracted and arms 440c, 440d and 440e are extended, the point change being just before the push-up point at 0° and just after the

disconnect point at 180°. The advantage of this is that the speed at the points is the lowest. Safety catches may be employed to ensure the cubicle push-up bars can not be missed. Such safety catches could be activated by the extending arms.

Fig. 20 is an enlarged view of an idler wheel 433, guiding the main drive chain 432. The chain 432 engages the drive plate 445 of the trolley 443. Fig. 20 includes a The five arm drive wheel can also be adopted to drive cubicles connected tp a heavy sprocket chain arrangement which runs in the track itself with enough space in between the cubicles to allowe passing of the cubicles in the curved circular sections. Drawings 22,23 , 24 and 25 refer where it can be seen that the horizontal tracks at 3000 mm spacing can accommodate 2400 ×2100 mm cubicles provided a spacing between the cubicles of min 800 mm is allowed for.

This is of course a simpler construction but this is at the price of reduced efficiency in overall density.

A modification of the drive system of Fig 15 is shown in Fig 16 . In this modification, the chain 405 passes around sprocket 404 in between its runs around drive wheels 412, 410 and 411, 413. In addition, each of the drive wheels 423 and 424 has its own drive motor 405 and the right hand drive wheels 425, 426. and 427 are driven by motor 438 that drive double sheeve or sprocket units 439 that inturn drive the chain 428 and the drive chains 432, 434 and 436.

Fig.17 is an enlarged view of the drive wheel 418 of Fig 15 The drive wheel 418 has five push-up arms 440 which are spaced by 72°. At the end of each arm 440 there is a slot 441 for engaging the bar442 of the cubicle 443. Each bar 442 is connec ted to a trolley 443 having wheels 444 which run along the track of the storage facility.

Fig.18 is a diagrammatic representation of the drivewheel 418 showing the 72 arm spacing and 18°push - up point where the slot 441 pushes up the bar 442 whilst the trolley is still in the horizontaltrack and as the speed accelerates rapidly to the curve speed.

In this instance, the drive wheel 418 has a diameter of 3200mm which means that the arc of 335 mm exists around the circumference of the wheel for each 12 or 4020mm for each 144° (The spacing between two non-adjacent arms.)

With a drive wheel diameter of 3000mm and the tracks spaced at that same distance, 144° spacing is 3770mm and the cubicle width and height are reduced to maximum 2400mm and 2100 mm height which is acceptable in case the cars are smaller while the speed ratio remains practically the same at 1.57. "proceeding to carriage". The time is recorded for fee calculation purposes. A detector adjacent the carriage detects the vehicle, the vehicle status is changed to

"parking". The carriage barrier is opened and an indicator light flashes green advising the driver to drive the vehicle into the carriage. The carriage status is then changed to "loading". All direction lights are extinguished to this particular carriage, and carriage and vehicle status is updated. The process is then repeated for the next vehicle in the cue.

As the vehicle needs to travel a predetermined path to the allocated carriage, an incorrect parking sequence will be indicated to an operator who would then, if necessary, be able to alter the data recorded for that vehicle so that a system data is correct at all times. Thus, a vehicle is appropriately stored with correct data so that it can be retrieved. The carriage status is then changed to "loaded", lights are appropriately allocated to their particular colour and the vehicle status data is changed to "stored".

A typical retrieval sequence can be as follows:- The owner of a vehicle presents at a pay station with his ticket, the ticket is read and the fee calculated and payment made. At this stage the vehicle status will have been changed to "awaiting retrieval" and a stacked retrieve sequence is allocated to the storage facility and carriage concerned. The stacked retrieve sequence can involve

revalidation of the vehicle owner's ticket at the carriage barrier once the carriage in question has been retrieved and once the ticket has been revalidated, the carriage barrier can open and the appropriate light indication given to the owner of the vehicle to drive the vehicle from the carriage. At this stage, the carriage status would be "unloading" and the vehicle status would be "awaiting retrieval". A detector appropriately located adjacent the carriage at the unloading stage sees the vehicle pass and detectors within the carriage indicate that there is no vehicle in the carriage and

therefore, the carriage status changes to "empty", the carriage barrier is closed and indicator lights changed to appropriate ready state prior to a carriage being reloaded. The vehicle status would then change to "deleted" and the record for that vehicle is copied to a main storage disk and the data would be "removed from memory". As for input of the vehicle, appropriate direction lighting can be used to enable the driver to exit the storage facility.

Figs. 26 to 36 are flow charts of a typical computer based control system for a car park storage facility

according to the present invention operating along similar lines to those discussed above. Fig. 26 is a main programme sequence initiating "ACCEPT CAR" and "PROCESS CAR"

subprogrammes. It will be noted that in the flow charts for brevity, the terminology has been modified slightly. A vehicle is also referred to as a "CAR", an individual storage facility is referred to as a "UNIT", a carriage is referred to as a "CUBICLE", a train of carriages is referred to as a "CAROUSEL" and "GATE" and "CONTROL BARRIER" are used

interchangeably for a main entrance barrier and also a carriage barrier. The barrier referred to in each car is clear from the particular sequence involved. "A", "B" and "C" as circled are loop paths appropriate to each programme sequence. "COMMON" refers to a common pathway prior to branching to a specific storage facility and carriage.

Fig. 27 is a sequence of events relating to initial storage of a vehicle, i.e. the "ACCEPT CAR" subprogramme. Fig. 28 is a sequence relating to control of direction lights as a vehicle enters the car park and moves to a carriage. Fig. 29 is a sequence involving allocation of a carriage. Fig. 30 relates to calculation of the weight vehicles in the storage facility where the coefficients "COEFF1" to "COEFF3" are weights which may be allocated to tune the algorithm in real time for selection of a carriage. The selection of a

carriage involves the following preferred algorithm.

Firstly, the system asks the question "is there a carriage at a carriage barrier ready for loading?". If so, then that carriage is selected. If indicator lights are on, the system waits. If a carriage is not available for each storage facility, the system calculates a weight (numerical value) based on the suitability of that storage facility for

processing a load request and then selects the lowest storage facility weight and the first available carriage in that facility. If the "CAROUSEL" is required to move, a "stack move request" is initiated after any current load/unload operations are completed. A weight can be assigned by an operator to cope with various operational requirements, for example, high input volume or high levels or retrieval requests. In the present algorithm, carriages will be allocated to a) spread vehicles over all storage facilities as evenly as possible; b) try to process multiple arrivals in a batch where possible; and c) try to reduce the movement of the "CAROUSELS" wherever possible to cut down times and reduce power usage by adjusting relative priorities.

Figs. 38 and 39 illustrate a sequence involved in loading a vehicle into a carriage. Fig.33 relates to a typical retrieval sequence involving firstly. Fig.34. as a fee tendering sequence and Figs.35 and 36 being flow charts illustrating a typical car retrieval sequence.

Whilst the above control system has been illustrated in relation to a vehicle storage facility, it will be

appreciated that a similar control system can be employed in a storage facility for say, storage of pallets of goods in a warehousing environment in order to keep and monitor an inventory of goods under automated computer control.

Likewise, it will be appreciated that whilst the above embodiments have been of the present invention, many

variations and by way of a common rope. Ss thereto will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the broad ambit and scope of the invention as herein set forth.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. THE DRIVE METHODS EMPLOYED TO MOVE THE STORAGE CUBICLES AS A CONTINUOUS INTERMITTENT INTERLOCKING ENDLESS TRAIN OF CUBICLES WITHOUT SPACES BETWEEN THE CUBICLES OR WITHOUT INTERLOCKING CONNECTIONS THROUGH THE SERPENTINE EQUALISING TRACK LAYOUT BY WHICH THE NUMBER OF CUBICLES BEING LIFTED TO A HIGHER HORIZONTAL TRACK SECTION EQUALS THE NUMBER OF CUBICLES OF CUBICLES BEING LOWERED TO THE LOWER HORIZONTAL TRACK SECTION.

THE DRIVE WHEEL CONNECTING POINTS CAN BE AT 180 degrees, 120 degrees OR 144 degrees.

2. THE DRIVE METHODS WHICH CAN BE EMPLOYED TO MOVE AN ENDLESS TRAIN OF CUBICLES WHICH ARE CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER BY A SPROCKET CHAIN OR SIMILAR IN OR OUTSIDE THE WHEEL TRACKS WHERE THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE CUBICLES EQUALS THE THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE DRIVE WHEEL CONNECTION POINTS WHICH CAN BE AT 120 , 180, OR 144 DEGREES AND OR

ALTERNATIVELY THE DRIVE WHEEL ITSELF CAN BE A SPROCKET WHEEL WHICH DRIVES THE SPROCKET CHAIN CONTINUOUSLY.

IN THIS CASE THE SPROCKET CHAIN CAN BE DRIVEN ONLY IN THE HORIZONTAL OR ONLY IN THE CURVED SECTIONS OR BOTH.

AGAIN THE SAME EQUALISING TRACK LAYOUT IS USED BY WHICH THE NUMBER OF CUBICLES LIFTED IS THE SAME AS THE NUMBER OF CUBICLES BEING LOWERED.

GENERAL:

CLAIM 1. Provides the highest density at a price.

CLAIM 2. Provides a lower density at a lower price.