Automatically guided vehicle
First Claim
1. An automatically guided vehicle which, having a steering drive unit mounted on a lower surface of a chassis which is equipped with no less than four wheels each at the four corners thereof, runs on a path being guided by guide signals transmitted by guiding material laid along the path;
- said wheels at the four corners of the chassis are casters that can be switched between free and fixed modes;
a single steering drive unit is detachably mounted on the lower surface of said chassis at approximately the center of said chassis and can move by itself in the direction said vehicle is moving;
sensors to detect said guide signals transmitted from said guiding material are provided at the front and rear part of said steering drive unit;
said steering drive unit moves by itself toward the direction in which said vehicle is moving to change operation position thereof when switching between forward and backward running occurs; and
said casters change said modes wherein said front casters function as free wheels and said rear casters function as fixed wheels when switching between forward and backward running occurs.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An automatically guided vehicle that runs guided by guide signals transmitted from guiding material laid on the floor. The wheels at the four corners of the chassis of the vehicle are casters that can be switched over between free and fixed modes. A steering drive unit which can move by itself in longitudinal direction is mounted on the lower surface of the chassis at approximately the center thereof. Sensors that detect guide signals are provided at the front and rear parts of the steering drive unit. The steering drive unit changes its operating position automatically as the vehicle switches over between forward and backward running modes. The casters change modes in such a manner that, as the automatically guided vehicle switches over between forward and backward running modes, the casters at the front function as free wheels while the casters at the rear function as fixed or pivot-restrained wheels.
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Citations
5 Claims
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1. An automatically guided vehicle which, having a steering drive unit mounted on a lower surface of a chassis which is equipped with no less than four wheels each at the four corners thereof, runs on a path being guided by guide signals transmitted by guiding material laid along the path;
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said wheels at the four corners of the chassis are casters that can be switched between free and fixed modes; a single steering drive unit is detachably mounted on the lower surface of said chassis at approximately the center of said chassis and can move by itself in the direction said vehicle is moving; sensors to detect said guide signals transmitted from said guiding material are provided at the front and rear part of said steering drive unit; said steering drive unit moves by itself toward the direction in which said vehicle is moving to change operation position thereof when switching between forward and backward running occurs; and said casters change said modes wherein said front casters function as free wheels and said rear casters function as fixed wheels when switching between forward and backward running occurs. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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Specification