ES355018A1 - Improvements in and relating to Parking Structures - Google Patents

Abstract

A vehicle parking structure includes an entry station, a vertically movable lift, and parking bays laterally of the lift shaft, the entry station, the lift floor and the floor of each of the bays comprising conveyer means for displacing a vehicle thereon transversely of its longitudinal axis. In Fig. 1, lift shafts 2 having entry stations 3 are provided at either side of a two-lane roadway 1. Conveyer belts 12 of each parking bay 4a-4d and those of the entry stations 3 are driven by the conveyer belt drive means of the associated lift floor 5. The drive for the lift comprises winches 16 and cables 17 which pass over pulleys 18. Conveyer details. A motor 6 drives shafts 7 which support drive rollers 8 for the belts of the lift floor, the shafts also having gears 19. Similar shafts of the parking bay and entry station conveyers have gears 20 and, by means of an idler pinion 21 which may be introduced between the gears 19, 20, the parking bay and entry station conveyers may be driven. The conveyer belts may be supported by rollers 13 or by a slideway consisting of an anodized aluminium plate having its surface sealed with silicon oil. The slideway may be dished for positively positioning a vehicle. At least one of the drive rollers 8 has teeth which engage in holes 12a in the conveyer belts. These may be of transverse steel strips linked together or of a woven textile, e.g. impregnated polyester yarn. In place of the conveyer belts, endless chains 26 may be used, Fig. 9. The sprocket wheels 27 of the ends of adjacent conveyers are interspaced to provide improved vehicle-transfer between the conveyers. In a further modification, Figs. 10, 11a, 11b chain elements consist of rollers 37 which are guided in guideways 42 formed in a track 41. The rollers 37 comprise self-lubricated sintered bronze cores 37a surrounded by a jacket 37b of synthetic material which may be an acetal resin. The rollers may alternatively run on needle bearings. Roller housings 35a are covered by a synthetic material or rubber sheath 43 and have central compartments containing rollers 40 which teeth of a sprocket 34 engage. The sheath 43 has steel cores 43b. A driver having activated an automatic parking circuit, when the lift floor 5 reaches the level of the entry station 3, a gate 16 opens and the belts of the station 3 move the vehicle transversely on to the lift floor 5 after which the conveyers are automatically switched off. The lift next moves to the level of the bay selected by the driver, and the vehicle is parked by automatic operation of the appropriate conveyers. Automatic retrieval of the vehicle is initiated by the driver. Fig. 12 (not shown) represents an underground and multi-storey structure.