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Electric overhead conveyer

  • US 6,679,459 B2
  • Filed: 08/26/2002
  • Issued: 01/20/2004
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2000
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. Electric suspension conveyor comprising:

  • a) a running rail system forming a line network;

    b) a plurality of carriages, each having;

    ba) at least one travelling mechanism which runs in the running rail system;

    bb) at least one drive motor;

    bc) an autonomous carriage control which, in turn, comprises;

    bca) a processor;

    bcb) a memory in which can be stored the entire line network and the maximum permissible speed at each location of the line network and the minimum permissible distance from the preceding carriage;

    bcc) a controller, driven by the processor, which energizes the drive motor;

    c) a central control which assigns travel tasks to individual carriages and clears travel paths in the line network;

    d) a code rail system which extends along the line network and carries a code, which can be read out by each carriage, for the position at which the respective carriage is located;

    e) a databus rail system which extends along the line network and via which the carriages communicate with one another and with the central control, f) the carriage control of each carriage requesting from the code rail system, during travel, the respective location of the carriage, obtaining from the memory the maximum speed for this location of the line network and, in the absence of other information, attempting to bring the carriage to the maximum speed, characterized in that g) the central control either operates each carriage in an individual travel mode or, in a group mode, combines several carriages, traversing certain distances of the line network one behind the other, to form groups in which all carriages have essentially the same speed, and can transmit information on the membership of the group to the individual carriages;

    h) the carriage control of each carriage in group mode respectively requests from the code rail system, during travel, the respective location of the carriage, exchanges information, via the databus rail system, on the instantaneously permissible speed in each carriage in the group, and drives the drive motor of the corresponding carriage so that the carriage travels at the lowest permissible speed of all carriages in the group.

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