TRAVEL CONTROLLER FOR WORK VEHICLE

• US 20110060488A1
• Filed: 07/31/2008
• Published: 03/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Aichi Corporation
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Aichi Corporation
• Inventors: Nakazawa, Shunichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,332,089 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/22
• CPC Class Codes: B66F 11/042 actuated by lazy-tongs mechanisms or articulated levers
• CPC Class Codes: B66F 9/20 Means for actuating or controlling masts, platforms, or forks power take-off from vehicle transmissions, combined with vehicle propulsion systems B60K
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility

Abstract

A vehicle 1 used for work at elevated locations comprises a travel body 10, whose front wheels 11a, 11b are drive wheels, a steering cylinder 17, two travel motors 12, a battery B, an inverter IV, a travel operation lever 41, and a steering dial 42. In the vehicle, the steering cylinder 17 drives a steering mechanism 13, which directs the drive wheels 11a, 11b, to change the steering angle of the drive wheels 11a, 11b, and the travel motors 12a, 12b, which receive electric power from the battery B, respectively, drive the drive wheels 11a, 11b. The inverter IV converts DC power from the battery B to AC power, which is supply to the travel motors 12a, 12b to drive the rotation of both the drive motors. The travel operation lever 41 is operated for travel control while the steering dial 42 is operated to steer the travel body 10. The vehicle further comprises a steering control unit 53 and an inverter control unit 51. The steering control unit 53 controls the operation of the steering cylinder 17, so that the steering angle of the drive wheels corresponds to the operation of the steering dial 42, and the inverter control unit 51 controls the operation of the inverter IV to rotate the travel motors 12a, 12b at a speed that corresponds to the operation of the travel operation lever 41.

Claims

1-14. -14. (canceled)

15. A section of active optical fiber comprising

a core with a first index of refraction, said core being active,

an inner cladding layer with a second index of refraction for propagating pump radiation, said second index of refraction being smaller than said first index of refraction and

an outer cladding layer with a third index of refraction around said inner cladding layer, said third index of refraction being smaller than said second index of refraction,

wherein the diameter of said core and the thickness of said inner cladding change gradually along the length of said section of active optical fiber forming a tapered longitudinal profile enabling a continuous mode conversion process along the length of the section of fiber and the tapered core supporting multimode operation at the thicker end of the section of fiber.

16. The section of active optical fiber of claim 15 wherein said core of said section of active optical fiber supports single mode operation at the thinner end of the section of fiber.

17. The section of active optical fiber of claim 15, wherein the outer boundary of said inner cladding layer has a non-circular cross section.

18. The section of active optical fiber of claim 15, wherein said core of said section of active optical fiber is offset from the middle of the fiber.

19. The section of active optical fiber of claim 15, wherein said section of active optical fiber comprises a third cladding layer with a fourth index of refraction around said outer cladding layer, said fourth index of refraction being smaller than said third index of refraction.

20. The section of active optical fiber of any one of claim 15, wherein said core of said section of active optical fiber is strongly birefringent, the core having a refractive index difference of greater than 5×

10<sup>−

5</sup> between the ordinary and extraordinary polarizations.

21. The section of active optical fiber of claim 15, further comprising pump-light coupled to said section of fiber at a angle lower than a maximum angle dictated by numerical aperture of the fiber.

26. A sequence of sections of active optical fiber wherein said sequence comprises more than one of the sections of active optical fiber according to claim 15 residing in sequence to form a section of fiber.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein said method, further comprises

coating the optical fiber with a polymer.

24. A method for fabricating a section of active optical fiber, said method comprising

fabricating a preform for drawing active optical fiber from said preform in a drawing tower,

installing said preform into a drawing tower,

drawing optical fiber in said drawing tower and

altering at least one of the two parameters including the take-off preform speed and the take-up fiber speed during drawing of the optical fiber to synthesize a tapered longitudinal profile for said section of active optical fiber,

wherein said tapered longitudinal profile of said section of active optical fiber is selected from a group of profiles including a power law profile, an exponential profile and a combination of these profiles.

24-1. The method of claim 22 wherein said method further comprises

altering the temperature of said preform to synthesize a tapered profile for said section of active optical fiber.

25. The method of any one of claim 22 wherein said method further comprises the step of

pre-drawing the preform before drawing said active optical fiber.

27. The sequence of sections of active optical fiber of claim 27 wherein a pump-light is coupled to said sequence of sections of active optical fiber from both ends of section.