US3285436A - Directional control device for endless circulation system - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 15, 1966 [SAO INUZUKA ETAL 3,285,436

DIRECTIONAL CONTROL DEVICE FOR ENDLESS CIRCULATION SYSTEM Filed March 31, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Hg/ age In UEYTFORS Esao nuau KaeKeo yum'lnaHa By (Pa-.9-

ATTORNEY Nov. 15, 1966 o [NUZUKA ETAL 3,285,436

DIRECTIONAL CONTROL DEVICE FOR ENDLESS CIRCULATION SYSTEM Filed March 31, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 bi i\ i -gj Il -g m G InuEhTORS I5 InuauHa, KG) YumnaKa ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofiice 3,285,436 Patented Nov. 15, 1966 3,285,436 DIRECTIONAL CONTROL DEVICE FOR ENDLESS CIRCULATION SYSTEM Isao Inuzuka and Takeo Yuminaka, Katsuta-shi, Japan, assignors to Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed Mar. 31, 1964, Ser. No. 356,284 Claims priority, application Japan, Apr. 2, 1963,

3S/16,273 4 Claims. (Cl. 21416.1)

The present invention relates to a parking building in which parking lots are disposed in vertically spaced apart relation for endless circulation therein, that is, a parking building of so-called merry-go-round type, and more particularly to a control device adapted for an efficient and economical operation of the parking building of the type.

In a parking building of the type, a plurality of parking cages are linked together by means of an endless chain and are driven by a main drive gear connected to a main electric motor by way of a suitably designed reduction gearing. A problem which arises in connection with the operation of such parking system is which direction, either leftward or rightward rotation, must be selected in order to bring an automotive vehicle in a specific parking cage in a shortest possible path to a vehicle entrance and exit which is situated at the lowermost or any other position in the parking building. To this end, various direction selecting devices have been devised heretofore, but all of these have been found defective in their complicated structure.

Therefore, the primary object of the invention is to provide a parking building with parking lots arranged for endless circulation which is provided with an improved and simplified direction selecting device which is adapted to automatically select the direction of movement of the train of parking cages in order to bring a specific parking cage to a desired position in a shortest possible path.

According to the invention, there is provided a parking building having parking lots arranged for endless circulation comprising an outer structure, a plurality of parking cages arranged in vertically spaced apart relation in said outer structure, an endless chain for connecting said parking cages in endless linkage so as to support said parking cages depending therefrom, drive means for rotating said endless chain in either direction, calling means for bringing any specific parking cage among said parking cages to a predetermined position, direction selecting means operative in response to a signal from said calling means for determining the direction of rotation of said drive means, and stopping means operative in response to a signal from said calling means for stopping said specific parking cage at the predetermined position.

There are other objects and particularities of the invention which will become obvious from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevational view of .a park ing building to which the invention is applied;

FIG. 2 is a schematic front elevational view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view showing the structure of one form of a direction selecting device which forms the principal feature of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing another form of the direction selecting device; and

FIGS. 5-7 show a preferred form of a control circuit arrangement according to the invention.

At first, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown an outer structure ll of the parking building in which an endless chain 3 is vertically movably disposed. The endless chain 3 is driven by a main drive gear 2 and -ing cages.

supported at opposite ends by follower sprocket wheels 4 and 4. According to the invention, there are provided sixteen parking cages C C which are connected in equally spaced apart relation by the endless chain 3 to form an endless linkage, but it may be understood that the number of the parking cages is in no way limited to sixteen and a greater or a smaller number of cages may be provided as desired. In FIGS. 1 and 2, only four cages out of sixteen are shown, in which the parking cages C and C are full and C and C are empty as shown.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of a direction selecting device of the invention, which includes a generally cylindrical bracket B, along the inner periphery of which relaying elements, or switches S 5 according to the embodiment shown, of the same number with the parking cages, or sixteen in this description, are fitted to cooperate with the respective parking cages. It is so arranged that a pitch between any two adjacent switches is proportional to a pitch between the corresponding park- Generally, the parking cages are equally spaced from each other so that they have a substantially equal pitch therebetween.

Levers L L are made to protrude from the respective switches S S toward the center 0 of the bracket B, and carry rollers R R at the top thereof. The switches 8 -8 are so designed that they are actuated when the respective rollers R R are urged in the radially outward direction or towards the switches. A cam means K of semicircular shape is rotatably disposed about the center 0 of the bracket B in a manner that the semicircumference thereof abuts the half of the rollers R R so as to urge them radially outwardly to thereby actuate the corresponding half of the switches 5 -8 However, it will be understood that the cam K may be of any shape as long as it can sufiiciently actuate the half of the relaying elements of continuous disposition out of the plurality of the relaying elements. Further, it is so designed that the cam K rotates in proportion to the rotation of the endless chain 3, thus the cam K makes one complete turn when the train of the parking cages makes one circulation. In the embodiment shown, the cam K rotates in a direction opposite to that of the endless chain 3. When the parking cages C -C take the positions as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the switches 8 -5 in the direction selecting device are open (or closed) and the switches 5 -8 are closed (or open).

The operation of the direction selecting device will now be explained with reference to control circuits shown in FIGS. 5-7. The circuit of FIG. 5 includes a DC. source indicated at and Symbols P and P denote contacts of a lock-out relay, which are arranged to operate in a manner that they are closed and opened under an operable condition in which the parking cages are ready for operation, and opened and closed as soon as the cages start to move, respectively. In order to avoid any confusion, the operating winding of the relay is not illustrated therein. The operable condition referred to above includes stoppage of the parking cages and complete closure of a door between the parking cage and :a vehicle entrance and exit. Push button switches B -B and calling relays A A associated with the respective parking cages C -C are connected to the and terminals of the power source through the contact P Self-holding circuits of these calling relays A A are formed by their own auxiliary contacts A -A and the lock-out relay contact P The calling relays A -A are used to set a position of stopping the operation in response to a call and for other purposes including the control and indication of the operation. Therefore, control circuits for such purpose-s must actually exist, but any illustration and explanation thereof will not be made herein since they are not directly related with this invention. The push button switches B -B connected to the (-1-) terminal of the power source through the contact P are in turn connected to transfer contacts S S through diodes D D respectively. Normally open or make contacts (as shown at a) of the switches 8 -8 are connected to a rightward direction selecting relay R, while normally closed or break contacts thereof (as shown at b) are connected to a leftward direction selecting relay L. Actually, the contacts of the switches -8 shown in FIG. are utilized as the transfer contacts 8 -5 In the circuit diagram of FIG. 6, there are shown contactors 11 and 12 for effecting normal and reverse rotation, respectively, of a main electric motor M. Energization circuits of the respective contactors 11 and 12 are formed by a contact L,,- of the leftward direction selecting relay L and a contact R of the right-ward direction selecting relay R, while they have their self-holding circuits formed by their own auxiliary contacts and a stoppage ordering contact SD. These contactors 11 and 12 are interlocked with each other by their auxiliary contacts 11 and 12 In the circuit diagram of FIG. 7, symbol M designates the induction motor which is connected through normally open contacts 11,, 11 12 and 12 of the contactors 11 and 12 to a three-phase A.C. source indicated at U, V and W so that any two phases of the three phases can be switched over to rotate the motor in either direction.

When, with the parking cages in the operable condition as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, it is desired to bring the empty parking cage C down to the vehicle entrance and exit for parking an automotive vehicle therein, the push button switch B may be depressed. Under this state, the switch S in FIG. 3 is inoperative and the transfer contact S in FIG. 5 is closed at its break contact side. Therefore, by depressing the push button switch B the calling relay A and the leftward direction selecting relay L are energized by circuits of ).P,,B g 2S (break contact side)-L and the contact L of the relay L is closed. Then, the normal rotation contactor 11 is energized by a circuit of (+)12 11L in FIG. 6 and locks itself through a circuit of (+)12 1111 SD-(). Therefore, the contacts 11,, and 11,, in FIG. 7 are closed to rotate the induction motor M in the normal direction and the train of the parking cages is made to rotate in the leftward direction as viewed in FIG. 2. When the cage C travels down to the vehicle entrance and exit, the stoppage ordering contact SD is made to open since the calling relay A is in its energized state, but any detailed explanation of such operation will not be made herein. By the opening of the contact SD, the contactor 11 is released to open its contacts 11,, and 11 and the induction motor M is thereby brought to a halt. With the stoppage of the motor M, the train of the parking cages ceases to move, while at-the same time the contact P is closed and the contact P is opened. Therefore, the calling relay A is deenergized and restored to the normal inoperative state.

Explanation will next be made with regard to a case of bringing down the parking cage C (not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) to the vehicle entrance and exit when the direction selecting device is in the state as shown in FIG. 3. The switch S associated with the cage C is urged to its operative position by the cam K as shown in FIG. 3.

Therefore, it is closed at the make contact side and opened at the break contact side. When, under this state, the

p a push button switch B corresponding to the parking cage C is depressed, the calling relay A is energized by a circuit of (+)P B A and the rightward direction selecting relay R is also energized by a circuit of FIG. 5. Therefore, the train of the parking cages now is made to rotate in the rightward direction and the parking cage C travels the shortest path to be brought to the vehicle entrance and exit.

It will be seen that the cam K in FIG. 3 rotates in either direction in interlocked relation with the movement of the train of the parking cages. Therefore, it is possible to detect the direction in which any parking cage travels the shortest path to reach the vehicle entrance and exit. Suppose, for example, that the parking cage C has been moved by the above operation from the position of FIG. 1 to be brought to a halt at the lowermost position or the vehicle entrance and exit. Since, in this case, the cam K takes the position at which it urges the rollers R -R radially outwardly, it can readily be detected that the direction of the shortest path is rightward for the parking cages C -C and leftward for the parking cages C C16 and C1C6.

Although the description has been made with regard to the direction selecting device of FIG. 3, a similar effect can be attained by a device as shown in FIG. 4. According to the device of FIG. 4, cams K K corresponding to the respective parking cages (E -C are coaxially mounted on a rotatable shaft and switches S -S such as on-oif switches are disposed in parallelly aligned relation with the shaft. The respective switches 8 -8 are arranged to be actuated through springs SP -SP on the ends of which cam engaging rollers R R are fitted.

From the foregoing description, it will be understood that the direction selecting device of extremely simple structure can effectively detect the direction in which any specific parking cage at any position travels the shortest path to reach the vehicle entrance and exit, and thus the operating efiiciency of the parking building of the type described can markedly be improved.

What is claimed is:

1. A parking building having parking cages arranged for endless circulation comprising an outer structure, a plurality of parking cages arranged in vertically spaced apart relation in said outer structure, an endless chain for connecting said parking cages in endless linkage so as to support said parking cages depending therefrom, drive means for rotating said endless chain in either direction, calling means for bringing any specific parking cage among said parking cages to a predetermined position, direction selecting means operative in response to a signal from said calling means for determining the direction of rotation of said drive means, and stopping means operative in response to a signal from said calling means for stopping said specific parking cage at the predetermined position, said direction selecting means comprising a cylindrical bracket, a plurality of relaying elements corresponding in number to said parking cages, said relaying elements being disposed along the inner periphery of said cylindrical bracket at pitches proportional to those of said parking cages associated therewith, and earn means arranged to rotate about the central axis of said cylindrical bracket at a reduced rate proportional to the rotation of said endless chain, said cam means being operative to actuate at any one time only half of the continuously disposed relaying element whereby a selected cage can be brought to said predetermined position by the shortest route.

2. In a conveyor system, a plurality of load movers movable in an endless path successively past a station,

motive means for effecting movement of said load movers, calling means for energizing said motive means to cause a particular one of said load movers to be transferred to said station, and direction selecting means responsive to said calling means for determining the shortest route of movement of said one load mover to said station, said direction selecting means comprising a plurality of relaying elements each corresponding respectively to one of said load movers and being disposed in a circular configuration facing a central axis in the order of position of said load movers, a cam element arranged to rotate about said central axis at a reduced rate proportional to the movement of said load movers, said cam element being operative to actuate at any one time only half of the circularly disposed relaying elements whereby a selected one of said load movers can be brought to said station by the shortest route.

3. In a conveyor system, a plurality of load movers movable in an endless path successively past a station, motive means for effecting movement of said load movers, calling means for energizing said motive means to cause a particular one of said load movers to be transferred to said station, and direction selecting means responsive to said calling means for determining the shortest route of movement of said one load mover to said station, said direction selecting means comprising a plurality of relaying elements each corresponding respectively to one of said load movers and being disposed in a circular configuration facing a central axis in the order of position of said load movers, a cam element arranged to rotate about said central axis at a reduced rate proportional to the movement of said load movers, said cam element being operative to actuate at any one time only half of the circularly disposed relaying elements whereby a selected one of said load movers can be brought to said station by the shortest route, said cam element being driven in synchronism With said load movers by said motive means.

4. In a conveyor system, a plurality of load movers movable in an endless path successively past a station, motive means for effecting movement of said load movers,

calling means for energizing said motive means to cause a particular one of said load movers to be transferred to said station, and direction selecting means responsive to said calling means for determining the shortest route of movement of said one load mover to said station, said direction selecting means comprising a plurality of relaying elements each corresponding respectively to one of said load movers and being disposed in a circular configuration facing a central axis in the order of position of said load movers, a cam element arranged to rotate about said central axis at a reduced rate proportional to the movement of said load movers, said cam element being operative to actuate at any one time only half of the circularly disposed relaying elements whereby a selected one of said load movers can be brought to said station by the shortest route, said cam element being driven in synchronism with said load movers by said motive means, said relaying elements being disposed along the inner periphery of a cylindrical bracket with a spacing proportional to the spacing of said load movers.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,856,876 5/1932 Lewis. 1,940,867 12/1933 James et a1. 1,972,258 9/ 1934 Boyle.

MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner.

GERALD M. FORLENZA, Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. 2. IN A CONVEYOR SYSTEM, A PLURALITY OF LOAD MOVERS MOVABLE IN AN ENDLESS PATH SUCCESSIVELY PAST A STATION, MOTIVE MEANS FOR EFFECTING MOVEMENT OF SAID LOAD MOVERS, CALLING MEANS FOR ENERGIZING SAID MOTIVE MEANS TO CAUSE A PARTICULAR ONE OF SAID LOAD MOVERS TO BE TRANSFERRED TO SAID STATION, AND DIRECTION SELECTING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID CALLING MEANS FOR DETERMINING THE SHORTEST ROUTE OF MOVEMENT OF SAID ONE LOAD MOVER TO SAID STATION, SAID DIRECTION SELECTING MEANS COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF RELAYING ELEMENTS EACH CORRESPONDING RESPECTIVELY TO ONE OF SAID LOAD MOVERS AND BEING DISPOSED IN A CIRCULAR CONFIGURATION FACING A CENTRAL AXIS IN THE ORDER OF POSITION OF

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