MATERIAL HANDLING VEHICLE LOCATION SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A material handling vehicle location system in a warehouse in which a plurality of racks composed of upright frame members and lateral frame members connecting the upright members are installed so that a material handling vehicle can travel along a passageway between the racks;
- wherein a first reflector plate is attached to each of the upright frame members at a height position between adjacent lateral frame members or between the floor and a lowest lateral frame member so that they face the passageway, and a plurality of second reflector plates are attached to the lateral frame member along longitudinal direction thereof;
wherein a first sensor which emits a light beam and receives its reflection from each of the first reflector plates and a second sensor which emits a light beam and receives its reflection from each of the second reflector plates are attached to the vehicle; and
wherein a controller which determine current location of the vehicle based on combination of the number of reflections actually received by the first sensor and counted by the controller and the number of reflections actually received by the second sensor and counted by the controller is installed on the vehicle.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The object of the invention is to provide a system which can be constituted quite compactly for detecting actual position of a material handling vehicle in a warehouse in which a plurality of racks composed of upright frame members and lateral frame members connecting the upright members are installed so that material handling vehicles can travel along the passageway between the racks so that current position of the material handling vehicle in the warehouse can be detected with increased reliability even if some of the reflections fail to be received by the sensors.
A first reflector plate S is attached to each of the upright frame members and a plurality of second reflector plates R are attached to the lateral frame member along longitudinal direction thereof, a first sensor 3 and a second sensor 4 each for emitting a light beam and receiving reflection thereof from each of the first and second reflector plates are attached to the vehicle, and a controller is installed on the vehicle to estimate current location of the vehicle based on combination of the number of reflections actually received by the first and second reflector plates and counted by the controller.
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Citations
6 Claims
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1. A material handling vehicle location system in a warehouse in which a plurality of racks composed of upright frame members and lateral frame members connecting the upright members are installed so that a material handling vehicle can travel along a passageway between the racks;
- wherein a first reflector plate is attached to each of the upright frame members at a height position between adjacent lateral frame members or between the floor and a lowest lateral frame member so that they face the passageway, and a plurality of second reflector plates are attached to the lateral frame member along longitudinal direction thereof;
wherein a first sensor which emits a light beam and receives its reflection from each of the first reflector plates and a second sensor which emits a light beam and receives its reflection from each of the second reflector plates are attached to the vehicle; and
wherein a controller which determine current location of the vehicle based on combination of the number of reflections actually received by the first sensor and counted by the controller and the number of reflections actually received by the second sensor and counted by the controller is installed on the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
- wherein a first reflector plate is attached to each of the upright frame members at a height position between adjacent lateral frame members or between the floor and a lowest lateral frame member so that they face the passageway, and a plurality of second reflector plates are attached to the lateral frame member along longitudinal direction thereof;
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4. A material handling vehicle location system in a warehouse in which a plurality of racks composed of upright frame members and lateral frame members connecting the upright members are installed so that two material handling vehicles can travel in the same or counter direction passing each other along a passageway between the racks;
- wherein a first reflector plate is attached to each of the upright frame members at a height position between adjacent lateral frame members or between the floor and a lowest lateral frame member so that they face the passageway, and a plurality of second reflector plates are attached to the lateral frame member along longitudinal direction thereof so that they face the passageway; and
wherein a controller is installed on the vehicle, which controller recognizes another vehicle passing the concerned vehicle and allows exchange of position data of each of the vehicles by wireless radio communication. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
- wherein a first reflector plate is attached to each of the upright frame members at a height position between adjacent lateral frame members or between the floor and a lowest lateral frame member so that they face the passageway, and a plurality of second reflector plates are attached to the lateral frame member along longitudinal direction thereof so that they face the passageway; and
Specification