FR3110620A1 - Bicycle storage facility - Google Patents

Abstract

Installation (1) for storing bicycles comprising a storage area (2), an entrance (3) into said storage area (2), a transfer support (4) and a system for loading/unloading the support ( 4) transfer, the inlet (3), forming an airlock, is equipped with a first opening (6) that can be closed for access to the interior of the airlock and a second opening (8) that can be closed for access to the storage zone (2), of at least one presence detection system (10) comprising sensors, the transfer support (4) comprises a movable plate surmounted by a rail provided with a weight sensor. The installation (1) comprises a device for driving the rail and the associated plate in displacement and at least one control unit (14) for the driving device, and the control unit (14) is configured to acquire data sensors of the presence detection system (10) and of the weight sensor and for controlling the drive device as a function of at least said data. Figure for abstract: Fig. 1

Description

bicycle storage facility

The present invention relates to a bicycle storage facility.

It relates in particular to a bicycle storage facility comprising a storage area, an entrance to said storage area, a transfer support having at least one configuration in which it is arranged in said entrance and a system for loading / unloading a bicycle the transfer medium.

Bike storage facilities have grown in recent years. The difficulty is to offer secure storage without compromising the simplicity of the installation.

An object of the invention is therefore to provide a storage installation whose design makes it possible to guarantee secure handling of bicycles, in particular to avoid storing bicycles in the storage area in the presence of a person in the airlock.

To this end, the subject of the invention is a bicycle storage facility comprising a storage zone, an entrance into said storage zone, a transfer support having at least one configuration in which it is arranged in said entrance and a system for loading/unloading the transfer support by bicycle, characterized in that the entrance, forming an airlock, is equipped with a first access opening inside the airlock and with an element for closing said first opening mounted movable between a closed position and an open position of said first opening, of a second opening for access to the storage area and of a closing element of said second opening mounted movable between a closed position and an open position of said second opening, of at least one presence detection system comprising sensors, in that the transfer support comprises a movable plate and a rail fitted to one of the faces forming the top face of said plate, said rail being provided with at least one weight sensor, in that the installation comprises a device for driving the rail and the associated plate in movement and a control unit at least for the device for driving the movement of the rail and of the associated plate to allow movement at least of the rail in at least two directions and in that the control unit is configured to acquire data supplied by the sensors of the presence detection system and by the weight sensor and to control the drive device in displacement of the rail and of the associated plate as a function of at least said data. The presence of an airlock associated with a rail equipped with at least one weight sensor inside the airlock allows easy loading of the bicycle into said installation while guaranteeing the absence of the possibility of penetration or transfer of a no one in the storage area.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the sensors of the presence detection system comprise at least two infrared sensors. Preferably, at least one of the sensors is a thermal sensor for detecting the presence of a person by heat.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the entrance forming an airlock takes the form of an enclosure of generally parallelepiped shape comprising a top face, a bottom face and side faces.

According to one embodiment of the invention, at least some of the sensors of the presence detection system are arranged at the upper corners of said enclosure, each upper corner corresponding to the angle formed by two side faces and the face of the above. This results in the possibility of covering the area of interest inside the airlock with only two sensors arranged at two opposite corners of the enclosure.

According to one embodiment of the invention, at least some of the sensors of the presence detection system are arranged at the level of a side face of the enclosure along a so-called horizontal line extending parallel or transverse to the longitudinal axis of the rail. This arrangement makes it easy to guarantee that the bicycle to be stored complies with a predetermined size and to easily identify, for example, the presence of a child on the luggage rack.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the system for loading/unloading the transfer support by bicycle is carried by the transfer support and is mounted fixed in movement at least to the rail of the transfer support. This results in simplicity of manufacture and the guarantee of precise positioning of the system for loading/unloading the transfer support by bike in relation to the rail of the transfer support.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the system for loading/unloading the transfer support by bicycle comprises a clamp, said clamp being a telescopic clamp mounted to move in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the rail of the transfer support. This design allows safe loading and unloading of the bike.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the installation comprises a first device for actuating the closing element of the first opening for moving said closing element between a closed position and an open position of said first opening, a second device for actuating the closing element of said second opening for moving the closing element between a closed position and an open position of said second opening and the control unit is configured to control the first and second actuation devices as a function at least of the data of the sensors of the presence detection system and of the weight sensor. This arrangement makes it possible to coordinate the movements of the closure member and of the closure element and prevents a person from entering the storage area.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the closing element of the first opening is a sliding door and the closing element of said second opening is a sliding door, preferably of the guillotine type.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the device for driving the rail and the associated plate in displacement comprises a mast movable parallel to itself and along which the plate and the associated rail are slidably mounted. The storage area can thus be formed of superimposed shelves, all of the shelves being accessible using the device for driving the rail and the associated tray in displacement.

The invention will be better understood on reading the following description of exemplary embodiments, with reference to the appended drawings in which:

shows a schematic top view of an installation according to the invention in the positioned state of a bicycle in front of the airlock formed by the entrance;

shows a schematic top view of an installation according to the invention in the positioned state of a bicycle in the airlock formed by the entrance;

shows a schematic top view of an installation according to the invention in the driven state in movement of a bicycle in the storage area;

shows a schematic top view of an installation according to the invention in the unloaded state of the bicycle in the storage area;

shows a partial schematic view of an installation according to the invention;

shows a detail view of Figure 5;

shows an enlarged view of part of Figure 6;

shows a simplified perspective view of the entrance forming an airlock; the shutter and closing elements of the first and second openings of the entrance not having been represented.

As mentioned above, the installation 1, object of the invention, is intended to allow the storage of bicycles in a storage area 2 organized here in the form of an aisle bordered longitudinally on each of its longitudinal sides by a set of stacked shelves. Of course, this storage zone 2 can be organized in the form of an aisle bordered longitudinally only on one longitudinal side of a set of shelves or even take any other form of embodiment without departing from the scope of the invention.

Each shelf is here formed of a succession of rails arranged side by side, each rail serving to receive a bicycle.

The installation 1 further comprises an entry 3 into the storage zone 2. This entrance 3 is provided at the end of the aisle of the storage zone 2 but could also have been arranged at any location in said aisle. This entry 3 forms an airlock. This entry 3 takes the form of an enclosure of generally parallelepipedal shape comprising a face 31 from above, a face 32 from below and faces 33 from the sides. This entrance 3 is equipped with a first opening 6 for access to the interior of the airlock provided at the level of a side face 33 of the enclosure. This first opening 6 is an opening that can be closed using an element 7 for closing the first opening 6. This closing element 7 is mounted to move between a closed position and an open position of said first opening 6. This shutter element 7 can be made in one or more parts. In the example shown, this shutter element 7 is a sliding door and the installation 1 comprises a first device 15 for actuating the shutter element 7 of the first opening 6 for moving said element 7 from closure between a closed position and an open position of said opening 6. This first actuating device 15 may conventionally be formed by at least one electric motor associated if necessary with one or more actuators. The entrance 3 is equipped with a second opening 8 for access to the storage zone 2 provided at the level of a side face 33 of the enclosure. This second opening 8 is an opening that can be closed using an element 9 for closing the second opening 8. This element 9 for closing the second opening 8 is also mounted to move between a closed position and an open position of the second opening 8. Again, this closing element 9 can be made in several parts. In the example shown, this closing element 9 is a guillotine door, that is to say a door of the plate type, movable up and down.

The installation 1 comprises, for the actuation of this closing element 9 and its movement between an open position and a closed position of the second opening 8, a second actuating device 16 .

Again, this second actuating device 16 may conventionally be formed by at least one electric motor associated, if necessary, with one or more actuators. These first and second actuation devices can be controlled with a control unit 14 which will be described in more detail below. Entrance 3 is further equipped with a presence detection system 10, in particular for detecting the presence of living beings inside the airlock formed by said entrance 3. This presence detection system 10 comprises sensors 11. These sensors 11 of the presence detection system 10 comprise at least two infrared sensors. In the example represented, the number of sensors is greater than two. Two of the infrared sensors are thermodetector sensors. These sensors respond to a change in temperature to transmit a signal to the control unit 14 mentioned above. These first two sensors are here arranged at the upper corners of said enclosure, each upper corner corresponding to the angle formed by two side faces 33 and the face 31 of the top of the enclosure.

Installation 1 comprises an additional series of infrared sensors 11. These sensors are arranged at a side face 33 of the enclosure along a so-called horizontal line extending parallel or transversely to the longitudinal axis of the rail 42. These infrared sensors 11 make it possible in particular to control the dimension in height of the bike to be stored and to check that it complies with the imposed size.

The installation 1 further comprises a transfer support 4 to allow movement of the bicycle to be stored or removed from storage within the installation 1. This transfer support 4 comprises a movable plate 41 and a rail 42 surmounting said plate 41. in other words, the rail 42 equips one of the faces forming the top face of said plate 41, this plate 41 obviously comprising a top face and a bottom face. This rail 42 can be a U-shaped rail open to the sky. This rail 42 is used to receive the wheels of a bicycle rolling in the rail 42. This rail 42 is provided internally, that is to say here inside the U of a sensor 12 of weight. This weight sensor 12 makes it possible to detect the weight of the bicycle inserted in said rail 42.

The installation 1 further comprises a device 13 for driving the rail 42 and the associated plate 41 in displacement. This displacement training device 13 can have a large number of shapes. In the examples shown, the device 13 for driving the rail 42 and the associated plate 41 in displacement comprises a mast 131 movable parallel to itself and along which the plate 41 and the associated rail 42 are slidably mounted. The mast is here slidably movable along two rails positioned on the ground and extending inside the aisle of storage zone 2 parallel to the longitudinal axis of said aisle. The plate 41 and the associated rail 42 move up and down along said rail. A motorized rack system can be provided for this purpose. The movement of the mast parallel to itself along the rails on the ground can be obtained using a motor and a gear or belt drive system or by any other suitable means. In addition, the mast 131 can also be a rotary mast mounted for rotation around its longitudinal axis. This arrangement allows storage in either set of shelves.

Thanks to this design of the device 13 for driving the plate 41 and the associated rail 42 in displacement, the plate 41 and the associated rail 42 can be positioned opposite any of the shelves of the storage zone 2 with the rail 42 of the plate 41 being positioned opposite a rail of a shelf. The transfer of the bicycle from one rail to the other can take place using a system 5 for loading/unloading the transfer support 4 on the bicycle. In the examples shown, the system 5 for loading/unloading on a bicycle 30 the transfer support 4 is carried by the transfer support 4 and is mounted fixed in movement at least to the rail 42 of the transfer support 4. This system 5 for loading/unloading on bicycles 30 the transfer support 4 comprises a gripper. Said gripper is a telescopic gripper mounted to move in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the rail 42 of the support 4 for transfer. For this purpose, the gripper can be equipped with a jack. This cylinder moves back and forth the active part of the gripper. One of the chambers of this jack can be provided with a pressure sensor to detect a resistance exerted on the gripper during an extension of the jack. This clip has two arms facing each other. These branches form the active part of the clamp. The arms of the clamp extend parallel to the rail 42 of the plate 41. These arms are mounted to move in the direction of bringing them closer together or apart from one another. A strain gauge can be installed between said branches to modulate the force generated when bringing the branches of said grippers closer together. A presence sensor can also be arranged at the arms of the clamp. Thus, when a bicycle is positioned on the rail 42, the arms of the clamp can be positioned on either side of the front wheel of the bicycle to enclose it. These branches are mounted movable in the direction of a separation from each other and the approximation or separation of said branches can be controlled using the control unit 14 mentioned above depending at least data provided by the strain gauge and the presence sensor described above.

In the example shown, the plate 41 of the transfer support 4 has an L-shape and the gripper is arranged on the vertical branch of the L. The telescopic part of the gripper allows movement of the gripper above and along the rail 42 of the plate 41 to allow the passage of the bicycle from the rail 42 of the plate 41 to a rail of the storage area 2 or vice versa.

Finally, the control unit 14 described above also forms the control unit of the device 13 for driving the movement of the rail 42 and of the plate 41 to allow movement at least of the rail 42 in at least two directions. In particular, this control unit 14 is configured to acquire data supplied by the sensors 11 of the presence detection system 10 and by the weight sensors 12 and to control the device 13 for driving the movement of the rail 42 and of the plate. 41 associated according to at least said data. Control by the control unit 14 takes place in particular at the level of the motors of the drive device 13. The control unit 14 is in the form of an electronic and computer system which comprises for example a microprocessor and a working memory. According to a particular aspect, the control unit can take the form of a programmable automaton. That is, the described functions and steps can be implemented as a computer program or via hardware components (eg programmable gate arrays). In particular, the functions and steps performed by the control unit or its modules can be performed by instruction sets in the computer module implemented in a processor or controller or be performed by dedicated electronic components or components of the FPGA type or Asic. It is also possible to combine computer parts and electronic parts. When it is specified that the unit or liquidity means or modules are configured to carry out a given operation, this means that the unit includes computer instructions and the corresponding means of execution which make it possible to carry out said operation and/ or that the unit includes corresponding electronic components.

In practice, the control unit 14 is configured to control a movement of the rail 42 and of the plate 41 associated when the weight of the bicycle is less than a set weight value stored in a memory of the installation 1 and when the different sensors detect no presence in the enclosure. This displacement takes place here in X and in Y thanks to the design of the device 13 for driving in displacement.

The control unit 14 is also configured to control the first device 15 for actuating the element 7 for closing the first opening 6 and the second device 16 for actuating the element 9 for closing the second opening. 8 according to at least the data from the sensors 11 of the presence detection system 10 and from the sensor 12 of weight.

In practice, after loading a bicycle into the enclosure of the entrance forming an airlock, the element 7 for closing the first opening 6 is brought into the closed position and the element 9 for closing the second opening 8 for access to storage area 2 is brought into the open position only if the measured weight is less than a set weight, and if said various sensors 11 of the presence detection system 10 do not detect any presence in the enclosure. At the end of the closure of the element 7 for closing the first opening 6, the branches of the pliers can also be controlled in approximation.

The operation of an installation 1, as described above, is summarized in FIGS. 1 to 4. The bicycle 20 is brought by its user into the airlock by rolling the bicycle in the rail 42 of the plate 41 until the front wheel of the bicycle fits between the arms of the clamp. The user comes out of the airlock. If the weight sensor detects a weight lower than a predetermined preset weight stored in memory and if the various sensors 11 of the presence detection system 10 do not detect any presence, then the shutter element 7 of the first opening is brought into position closed and the closing element 9 of the second opening 8 for access to the storage area 2 is brought into the open position. The arms of the gripper are, for their part, moved closer to each other to a position depending on the data provided by the strain gauge. The transfer support can then be moved into the storage area as illustrated in FIG. 3. Once the transfer support 4 is facing a rail of the storage area 2, the telescopic part of the gripper is urged into the direction of an extension and the clamp 5 is controlled in movement in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the rail 42 to cause the bicycle to circulate in the rail 42 of the plate 41 in a direction opposite to its direction of movement during its loading on transfer support 4. The bicycle is then brought onto the rail of storage area 2. The arms of the clamp are open when the pressure of the pressure sensor is greater than a predetermined stored value to release the bicycle before the clamp returns to a position corresponding to the retracted position of the telescopic system of the clamp. The transfer support 6 can then be brought into the airlock for a new loading by bike. Destocking works in a similar way. The transfer support is brought opposite a rail of the storage area and the gripper picks up the bicycle. An identification system at the entrance to the airlock can make it possible to associate the bicycle with an owner and allow the owner provided with an identification code or the like to retrieve his stored bicycle.

Claims (10)

Installation (1) for storing bicycles (30) comprising a storage area (2), an entrance (3) into said storage area (2), a transfer support (4) having at least one configuration in which it is disposed in said entrance (3) and a system (5) for loading/unloading the transfer support (4) by bicycle, characterized in that the entrance (3), forming an airlock, is equipped with a first opening ( 6) access to the interior of the airlock and an element (7) for closing said first opening (6) mounted to move between a closed position and an open position of said first opening (6), a second opening (8) for access to the storage zone (2) and of an element (9) for closing said second opening (8) mounted to move between a closed position and an open position of said second opening (8) , of at least one presence detection system (10) comprising sensors (11), in that the transfer support (4) comprises a movable plate (41) and a rail (42 ) fitted to one of the faces forming the top face of said plate (41), said rail (42) being provided with at least one weight sensor (12), in that the installation (1) comprises a device ( 13) for driving the rail (42) and the associated plate (41) in movement and at least one control unit (14) for the device (13) for driving the movement of the rail (42) and the plate (41) associated to allow movement at least of the rail (42) in at least two directions and in that the control unit (14) is configured to acquire data supplied by the sensors (11) of the system (10) for detecting presence and by the weight sensor (12) and for controlling the device (13) for driving the movement of the rail (42) and of the associated plate (41) as a function of at least said data. Installation (1) for storing bicycles (30) according to claim 1, characterized in that the sensors (11) of the presence detection system (10) comprise at least two infrared sensors. Installation (1) for storing bicycles (30) according to one of Claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the inlet (3) forming an airlock takes the form of an enclosure of generally parallelepipedal shape comprising a face (31) top, a bottom face (32) and side faces (33). Installation (1) for storing bicycles (30) according to claim 3, characterized in that at least some of the sensors (11) of the presence detection system (10) are arranged at the level of the upper corners of the said enclosure, each upper corner corresponding to the angle formed by two side faces (33) and the face (31) above. Installation (1) for storing bicycles (30) according to one of Claims 3 or 4, characterized in that at least some of the sensors (11) of the presence detection system (10) are arranged at the level of a side face (33) of the enclosure along a so-called horizontal line extending parallel or transverse to the longitudinal axis of the rail (42). Installation (1) for storing bicycles (30) according to one of Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the system (5) for loading/unloading on a bicycle (30) the transfer support (4) is carried by the transfer support (4) and is mounted fixed in movement at least to the rail (42) of the transfer support (4). Installation (1) for storing bicycles (30) according to one of Claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the system (5) for loading/unloading the transfer support (4) on the bicycle (30) comprises a clamp, said clamp being a telescopic clamp mounted to move in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the rail (42) of the transfer support (4). Installation (1) for storing bicycles (30) according to one of Claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the installation (1) comprises a first device (15) for actuating the element (7) of closure of the first opening (6) for the displacement of the said closure element (7) between a closed position and an open position of the said first opening (6), a second device (16) for actuating the element (9 ) closing said second opening (8) for movement of the closing element (9) between a closed position and an open position of said second opening (8) and in that the control unit (14) is configured to control the first and second actuating devices (15, 16) as a function of at least data from the sensors (11) of the presence detection system (10) and from the weight sensor (12). Installation (1) for storing bicycles (30) according to one of Claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the element (7) for closing the first opening (6) is a sliding door and in that the element (9) for closing said second opening (8) is a sliding door, preferably of the guillotine type. Installation (1) for storing bicycles (30) according to one of Claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the device (13) for driving the rail (42) and the associated plate (41) in displacement comprises a mast (131) movable parallel to itself and along which the plate (41) and the associated rail (42) are slidably mounted.