Transporting system, transporting carriage and method for transporting metal coils

• US 9,221,482 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2011
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Primetals Technologies Austria Gmbh (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Siemens VAI Metals Technologies GmbH (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Gatterbauer, Roland, Hofer, Roland
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Jason C
• Application Number:
  US13/880,951
• Publication Number:
  US 20130206923A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,554 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B21C 47/24 Transferring coils to or from winding apparatus or to or from operative position therein; Preventing uncoiling during transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B61B 13/12 Systems with propulsion devices between or alongside the rails, e.g. pneumatic systems cable traction B61B9/00; car shunting devices B61J
• CPC Class Codes: B61J 1/04 of normal railroad type
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 27/00 Central railway traffic control systems; Trackside control; Communication systems specially adapted therefor

Abstract

A transporting system for transporting metal coils, for example hot coils, may include a multi-track rail system; a number of driverless transporting carriages, which can be moved on the rail system by means of a drive device and are equipped with an on-board communication device; a locating device, with which up-to-the-moment locational information can be determined for each transporting carriage located on the rail system; and a central control device, to which the locational information of each transporting carriage can be fed, wherein a communication link, which at least in certain sections is formed without any lines, can be established between the control device and the communication device.

Claims

1. A transporting system for transporting metal coils comprising:

a multi-track rail system;

several driverless transporting carriages configured for movement on the rail system by means of a drive device, each of the several driverless transporting carriages being equipped with at least one on-board communication device;

a locating device on each of the several driverless transporting carriages configured for continuously determining current location information for a respective one of the several driverless transporting carriages located on the multi-track rail system; and

a central control device configured to receive continuously determined location information of each of the several driverless transporting carriages via the at least one on-board communication device on each of the several driverless transporting carriages, wherein a communication connection, including at least one wireless section, is established between the control device and each on-board communication device.

2. The transporting system of claim 1, wherein the communication connection is established via at least one leaky waveguide arranged on a side of a track of the multi-track rail system.

3. The transporting system of claim 2, wherein the at least one leaky waveguide is connected to a base station by means of electric connections.

4. The transporting system of claim 1, wherein the locating device comprises a portion of a position sensor.

5. The transporting system of claim 4, wherein the position sensor comprises the locating device which comprises a reading head arranged on a side of a respective one of the several driverless transporting carriages, and the position sensor further comprises a code rail arranged on a side of a track of the multi-track rail system.

6. The transporting system of claim 5, wherein the code rail is coded with an absolute path coding.

7. The transporting system of claim 1, wherein the multi-track rail system comprises a first rail track and a second rail track, loaded driverless transporting carriages are allocated to the first rail track, and unloaded driverless transporting carriages are allocated to the second rail track.

8. The transporting system of claim 1, further comprising a drive device for each of the several driverless transporting carriages, wherein the drive device is an electric motor controlled by power electronics, the energy provision of the electric motor being established by a contact line arranged on a side of a track of the multi-track rail system.

9. The transporting system of claim 7, further comprising at least one push station configured to push a driverless transporting carriage of the several driverless transporting carriages between the first rail track and the second rail track or from one of the first rail track and the second rail track into a parked position.

10. The transporting system of claim 7, further comprising at least one turntable configured to change a direction of motion of a driverless transporting carriage of the several driverless transporting carriages on one of the first rail track and the second rail track.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the central control device allocates a logical channel to each on-board communication device of a driverless transporting carriage of the several driverless transporting carriages.

12. A method for transporting metal coils on a multi-track rail system by several driverless transporting carriages, each of the several driverless transporting carriages being driven by a drive device, the method comprising:

continuously determining current location information of each of the several driverless transporting carriages using a locating device;

transmitting the continuously determined current location information to a central control device;

generating control information to control the drive device using the central control device, the control information being generated based on the location information of at least one of the several driverless transporting carriages located on the multi-track rail system;

establishing a communication connection between the central control device and at least one communication device arranged on board of each of the several driverless transporting carriages; and

transmitting the control information from the central control device to the at least one communication device arranged on board of each of the several driverless transporting carriages via the communication connection, which includes at least one radio connection.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the communication connection is established via at least one leaky waveguide arranged on a side of a track of the multi-track rail system.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the communication connection is established via at least one leaky waveguide, the at least one leaky waveguide being with attached to a base station.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the locating device comprises a portion of a position sensor, the locating device moving along the tracks of the multi-track rail system.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the location information of each of the several driverless transporting carriages is optoelectronically scanned using a reading head of the position sensor arranged on a side of a respective one of the several driverless transporting carriages, and a code rail of the position sensor arranged on a side of a track of the multi-track rail system, the locating device comprising the reading head.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the reading head scans the code rail, the code rail being coded with an absolute path coding.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the multi-track rail system comprises a first rail track and a second rail track, loaded transporting driverless carriages are allocated to the first rail track, and unloaded driverless transporting carriages are allocated to the second rail track.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising using at least one push station to push a driverless transporting carriage of the several driverless transporting carriages between the first rail track and the second rail track or from one of the first rail track and the second rail track into a parked position.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein an electric motor, controlled by power electronics, is used as the drive device, the energy of the electronic motor being conveyed by means of a contact line arranged on a side of a track of the multi-track rail system.

21. Several driverless transporting carriages for transporting metal coils, each of the several driverless transporting carriages being driven by a drive device on a multi-track rail system, each of the several driverless transporting carriages comprising:

an on-board device comprising a locating device, configured to continuously determine current location information of the respective one of the several driverless transporting carriages, and at least one on-board communication device,

wherein each on-board communication device is configured for data transfer via a communication connection including at least one wireless section.

22. The several driverless transporting carriages as claimed in claim 21, wherein the at least one wireless section is configured for radio communication with a leaky waveguide arranged on a side of a track of the multi-track rail system.

23. The several driverless transporting carriages as claimed in claim 21, wherein the at least one wireless section operates in a frequency range of 2.4 GHz or 5 to 6 GHz.

24. The several driverless transporting carriages as claimed in claim 21, each of the several driverless transporting carriages further comprising a vehicle chassis with a support saddle for transporting a metal coil and a heat shield arranged on the support saddle to protect the respective on-board device against heat build-up.