Cable take-up device for electric drive vehicle
First Claim
1. A cable take-up device for an electric drive vehicle supplied with electric power through a cable, said device comprising a cable drum rotatable in opposite directions for taking up and unwinding the cable;
- a reversible DC motor for driving the drum in its cable taking up and unwinding directions;
detecting means for electrically detecting slackening, i.e. a slack angle, of said cable, said detecting means including a movable bar arranged to contact said cable and follow the slackening thereof and a transducer actuated by said movable bar to produce a slack angle signal representing the instantaneous magnitude of said slack angle;
a slack angle setting device for producing a reference signal representing a preset magnitude of said slack angle;
deviation signal generating means responsive to the signals produced by said transducer and slack angle setting device for generating a deviation signal representing the magnitude and sense of any deviation in magnitude of the instantaneous slack angle from the preset slack angle; and
control means for controlling said DC motor in response to said deviation signal so as to minimize said deviation signal and thereby maintain the slack angle of the cable substantially constant at said preset magnitude thereof.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A cable take-up device mounted at the rear of an electric drive vehicle for winding and unwinding a feeder cable. The device controls a winding angle of the take-up cable so as to maintan it constant. A slack angle of the cable is an angle made between a line drawn along the cable in the vicinity of a winding point and a plane including the winding point and being perpendicular to an absolute plane. According to the invention, this slack angle is controlled so as to provide an optimum tension constantly regardless of forward or reverse running speed change or steering of the vehicle.
42 Citations
7 Claims
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1. A cable take-up device for an electric drive vehicle supplied with electric power through a cable, said device comprising a cable drum rotatable in opposite directions for taking up and unwinding the cable;
- a reversible DC motor for driving the drum in its cable taking up and unwinding directions;
detecting means for electrically detecting slackening, i.e. a slack angle, of said cable, said detecting means including a movable bar arranged to contact said cable and follow the slackening thereof and a transducer actuated by said movable bar to produce a slack angle signal representing the instantaneous magnitude of said slack angle;
a slack angle setting device for producing a reference signal representing a preset magnitude of said slack angle;
deviation signal generating means responsive to the signals produced by said transducer and slack angle setting device for generating a deviation signal representing the magnitude and sense of any deviation in magnitude of the instantaneous slack angle from the preset slack angle; and
control means for controlling said DC motor in response to said deviation signal so as to minimize said deviation signal and thereby maintain the slack angle of the cable substantially constant at said preset magnitude thereof. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
- a reversible DC motor for driving the drum in its cable taking up and unwinding directions;
- 5. A cable take-up device for an electric drive vehicle supplied with electric power through a cable, said device comprising a motor for driving a drum for taking up the cable, a detector for electrically detecting slackening, i.e. a slack angle, of said cable and producing a signal representing the detected slack angle value, which detector includes a bar in contact with said cable and is movable to follow slackening of said cable and a potentiometer having a slider movable in association with said bar, slack angle setting means for generating a signal representing a preset slack angle value, a vehicle inclination angle detector for electrically detecting the inclination angle of the vehicle with respect to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and producing a signal representing the detected inclination angle value, a corrector for correcting the preset slack angle signal by the detected inclination angle signal, and control means responsive to the difference between the detected slack angle signal and the corrected preset slack angle signal for controlling the motor so that the taking up and unwinding of the cable are controlled by driving said drum in the direction that the slack angle of the cable will approach said corrected preset value.
Specification