Autonomous transport system
First Claim
1. An autonomous transportation system including horizontal, sloped and vertical wheel guide sections connected by transitional or curved wheel guide sections, one or more individual vehicles or groups of chained vehicles forming trains and traveling on said wheel guide sections, each vehicle comprising a traction wheel assembly, a cantilever portion, a cabin comprising a main chassis and an articulated sub-chassis, an engine assembly, a security system, and a leveling system for keeping said cabin horizontal when the vehicle runs along a non-horizontal track;
- wherein;
each of said wheel guide sections is formed by two opposed, wheel tracks separated by a structural central portion;
said traction wheel assembly comprising two subsets of wheels, each of said wheels being made by an resilient anti-slippage material and comprising anti-slippage surface design;
each of said wheel tracks forming a rolling track for each of said subset of wheels, said wheel tracks being constructed with an anti-slippage material;
said cantilever portion being engaged at one end to said traction wheel assembly and being engaged to said cabin at its other end by joint means, whereby the center of gravity of the cabin is distant from the longitudinal center axis of the wheel guide thereby forming a lever system which has its force application point at said joint means;
being the combined weight of said cabin and its contents the applied force of said lever system;
whereby at least one wheel of each said subsets of wheels is urged against their corresponding wheel track by pressing forces that result from the torque of said lever system, whereby the frictional forces between said wheels and said wheel tracks avoid wheel slippage when the vehicle is placed on a non horizontal track.
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Abstract
An autonomous transport system is disclosed, formed by four main subsystems: a channel subsystem; a vehicle subsystem; a wheel guide subsystem and central control station subsystem. The system is designed for the transportation of people or goods, to be used in tall buildings and in small and large scale urban environments. It comprises unitary vehicles that may move in different directions: horizontal, steeply sloped and also vertical tracks, thanks to novel traction wheel assemblies that roll on carefully designed wheel tracks. The system'"'"'s cabin maintains the horizontal level/position regardless of the changes of track direction or slanting thanks to pendulum based automatic level control and may rotate up to 180° under normal conditions and even a full 360° turn respect to the wheel assembly in space restricted positions. The cabin is mounted on a cantilever, thereby displacing its center of gravity respect of the wheel guides. Thus, a lever action is established, which presses the wheels against the wheel tracks and therefore enough frictional resistance is obtained so as to avoid wheel slippage on the wheel tracks. The vehicles are moved by non-polluting, electric drives that move and stop them with high energy savings. The vehicle runways are designed taking in account safety features against fire hazards. Several vehicles may be used at the same time and on the same track and may run individually or in groups, conforming a train. The system allows for vehicles to be parked in bypassed positions or else they may be disengaged from the convoy to be used individually.
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Citations
110 Claims
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1. An autonomous transportation system including horizontal, sloped and vertical wheel guide sections connected by transitional or curved wheel guide sections, one or more individual vehicles or groups of chained vehicles forming trains and traveling on said wheel guide sections, each vehicle comprising a traction wheel assembly, a cantilever portion, a cabin comprising a main chassis and an articulated sub-chassis, an engine assembly, a security system, and a leveling system for keeping said cabin horizontal when the vehicle runs along a non-horizontal track;
- wherein;
each of said wheel guide sections is formed by two opposed, wheel tracks separated by a structural central portion;
said traction wheel assembly comprising two subsets of wheels, each of said wheels being made by an resilient anti-slippage material and comprising anti-slippage surface design;
each of said wheel tracks forming a rolling track for each of said subset of wheels, said wheel tracks being constructed with an anti-slippage material;
said cantilever portion being engaged at one end to said traction wheel assembly and being engaged to said cabin at its other end by joint means, whereby the center of gravity of the cabin is distant from the longitudinal center axis of the wheel guide thereby forming a lever system which has its force application point at said joint means;
being the combined weight of said cabin and its contents the applied force of said lever system;
whereby at least one wheel of each said subsets of wheels is urged against their corresponding wheel track by pressing forces that result from the torque of said lever system, whereby the frictional forces between said wheels and said wheel tracks avoid wheel slippage when the vehicle is placed on a non horizontal track. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
- wherein;
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59. An autonomous transportation vehicle to be used individually or in groups forming trains and running on wheel guides having wheel tracks, said vehicle comprising a traction wheel assembly, a cantilever portion, a cabin comprising a main chassis and an articulated sub-chassis, a leveling system that keeps said cabin horizontal when the vehicle runs along non-horizontal wheel guides, and an engine assembly, wherein:
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said traction wheel assembly comprises two subsets of wheels, each of said wheels being made of a resilient anti-slippage material and comprising anti-slippage surface design;
said cantilever portion being engaged at one end to said traction wheel assembly and being engaged to said cabin at its other end by joint means, whereby the center of gravity of the cabin is distant from the longitudinal geometrical center axis of said wheel guides, and forming a lever system which has its force application point at said joint means;
being the combined weight of said cabin and its contents the applied force of said lever system;
whereby at least one wheel of each said subsets of wheels is urged against their corresponding wheel track by pressing forces that result from the torque of said lever system, whereby the frictional forces between said wheels and said wheel tracks avoid wheel slippage when the vehicle is placed on a non horizontal track. - View Dependent Claims (60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100)
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101. An urban transport method carried out by a vehicle including horizontal and vertical wheel guide sections connected by transitional or curved guide sections, one or more individual vehicles or groups of chained vehicles forming trains and traveling on said wheel guide sections, each of said vehicles having a cabin, a wheel traction assembly running on wheel guides and a leveling system;
- the method comprising using one or more of said vehicles inside buildings or outdoors for transporting people or goods;
leveling the cabin'"'"'s position when the vehicle runs along a sloped or vertical wheel guide section to keep the cabin perfectly horizontal with respect to ground by means of said leveling system;
wherein the method further comprises;mounting each of said cabins on a position distant from the wheel guide central geometrical axis, thereby generating a torque effect that creates forces that urge at least one wheel of each of said wheel subsets against said wheel guides when said vehicle travels along sloped or vertical sections, thus avoiding slipping, being thereby each of said vehicles capable of traveling over horizontal, sloped or vertical guide sections without slipping. - View Dependent Claims (102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110)
- the method comprising using one or more of said vehicles inside buildings or outdoors for transporting people or goods;
Specification