EP0208759B1

EP0208759B1 - Multistory automatic garage

Info

Publication number: EP0208759B1
Application number: EP86900833A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Paolo Pietropaoli
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: PIETROPAOLI, PAOLO
Priority date: 1985-01-10
Filing date: 1986-01-10
Publication date: 1990-09-05
Anticipated expiration: 2006-01-10
Also published as: IT8547537A1; AU5354686A; WO1986004107A1; EP0208759A1; IT8547537A0; DE3673901D1; IT1181845B

Abstract

An automatic garage comprises a motor vehicle elevator (24) which travels on a rail (22) between two multistory stands (20) wherein said motor vehicles are stored each in a single box (38). The movement of each motor vehicle from the elevator into the box and vice-versa is carried out by means of a mat which rolls on roller planes which mat is spread out over the supporting means of the motor vehicle either on the same elevator surface or over the box where the vehicle is contained or along the vehicle travel within said garage. At one end at least of said stand range a roller conveyor (42) is provided adapted for moving said mats from the exit to the entrance of said garage. Some transferring units are provided for moving said vehicles crosswise of said elevator travel. Four transitory boxes at both the incoming and ougoing ends of the garage are provided, easing for particularly crowded moments of said vehicles.

Description

The present invention relates to a multi-storey automatic garage of the type described in the preamble to claim 1.
Store plants in which the materials to be stored are placed on loading units, mats or pallets and then moved by wheeled elevators travelling on floor rails are well known. Due to the precisely defined location of the storage boxes or spaces in the plant, the automatic transfer and centering of the loads to be stored are made feasable without any human presence.
Any movement from the elevator to said boxes and vice-versa is made by resorting to the use of roller conveyors of which both the elevator and the vehicle boxes are provided. The motor for operating said roller conveyors are usually placed on the elevator, in which case the box rollers are actuated by friction from the elevator when the latter contacts the box (cf CH-A-453658).
U.S. Pat. 2.714.456 describes a mechanical parking system in which cars are loaded in stalls on the various storeys of a multi-tier parking unit by means of a suitable crane mechanism. Such systems are in general well known in the art, and usually utilize a crane-way running between two multi-storey parking structures, each having a row of boxes on each floor to receive cars from the elevator mechanisms which move vertically and horizontally on the crane ways.
The use of mats for carrying the motor vehicles within the boxes according to the present invention has been suggested by the following advantages:

a. The maximum saving of space;
b. The danger of drips from overlying vehicle is avoided;
c. Because the parked motor vehicles are constantly braked, the danger of hazardous movements of the same within the garage is reduced to a minimum;
d. The motor vehicles speed within the garage can be high being of the order of 19.5 m/min (65 feet per minute) when travelling on roller conveyors and 100 m/min (330 feet per minute) when travelling on the wheeled elevator. A car when travelling in neutral gear cannot be moved at the above speeds since it must be stopped at short distance from starting;
e. The cost of fire fighting equipment is reduced since the storage areas cannot be entered by unauthorised persons;
f. The motor vehicle, during its travel within the garage, except when being withdrawn from a box always maintains its front in the same direction, whereby no backing of the vehicle is required for moving it into and out of the garage.

In spite of all the above undoubted advantages no garage has been used up to now wherein the vehicles are always moved on mats because, when dealing with motor vehicles a constant flow of vehicles to be stored, either incoming and outgoing is confronted, which cannot be delayed as in the case of other merchandise to be stored. In fact, in the case of vehicles, the waiting time must be reduced to a minimum and a storage procedure cannot be programmed for fixed times during the day. Summing up, too many vehicles cannot be kept waiting in a transitory area before they can be transferred into a storage box since each vehicle arrival and departure time is different and never foreseable. Furthermore, every vehicle needs to be ready for departure.
These problems have been solved according to this invention by the characterising features of claim 1. According to the invention, a group of four transitory boxes is provided, one at the entrance and one at the exit of the garage for the movement of motor vehicles into and out of the same. All the vehicle traffic is made to pass through said group of boxes, while vehicle mats are continuously recycled from the exit to the entrance of the garage. For the latter movement, a roller conveyor is provided. Due to the position of the above transitory boxes, the problem has been faced of providing the garage of this invention with transfer roller conveyors by which any mat either alone or carrying a vehicle can be moved sideways from its location. For such a movement of the mat, as described hereinafter, the terminal sections of the roller conveyor, in addition to the rollers typical of a roller conveyor but crosswise thereof, are also provided with a platform made of steel profiles which carry a range of small wheels or short rollers of which the axes are perpendicular to the axes of the last named rollers, each range of said wheels being inserted between a pair of said rollers. The rollers provide for the movement crosswise of the position of the mat either with or without an overlaying vehicle while said wheels provide for the displacement of a further empty mat in the direction from the exit to the entrance of the garage.
By means of the above features the following results are attained:

- only two communications with the ordinary road network are required: one for the entrance and one for the vehicle exit;
- the stored vehicle is left closed and braked without anybody on board, the engine being left cut off.

The garage system itself provides means for allowing access to said entrance section of roller conveyor to a fresh vehicle and later for returning it, as required, at the garage exit.
Further advantages and features of this invention will appear with reference to the attached drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 shows an elevation cross-section of the garage of this invention;
Fig. 2 shows a plan view of the garage of fig. 1;
Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of the vehicle elevator of the invention;
Fig. 4 shows a partly exploded view of a transfer and roller conveyor;
Fig. 5 shows a longitudinal cross-section of the elevator and of one of the boxes. It shows the mechanism by which a roller conveyor of a box is actuated by a motorized elevator;
Figs. 6-24 show some examples of the mats and vehicles movements.

With reference to the figures, the automatic garage of this invention for the storage of motor vehicles comprises two parallelepipedal pigeonholed blocks that are made of a stand 20 with several spaces or boxes in each of which a vehicle to be stored can be placed. The two blocks or stands 20 are separated from one another by an intervening corridor 60 along the center of which an elevator is made to run on a rail 22, which elevator comprises a portal framework 30 having a ceiling horizontal 32, said framework in addition to running on a floor railway 22 is guided by a ceiling U-rail attached to the building.
Between and along the portal uprights 30, a vertically slidable platform 26 is mounted which can be lifted by means of chains 28 driven by actuating cylinders (not shown) embedded in said uprights. A pair of motor vehicles resting on mats can be placed on platform 26 side by side, which vehicles can be moved by a roller conveyor with which said platform is provided.
As mentioned before, the garage of this invention has substantially rectangular shape, one of the shorter sides thereof having the length of two vehicle boxes 38 plus the intermediate corridor 60.
At the entrance and exit head of the garage, two groups of four vehicle boxes are located at positions symmetrically opposed to each other with respect to corridor 60. One of the two groups of boxes 39"', 39", 39', 39 will be called entrance transitory boxes. Of these boxes, box 39'" is placed adjacent to one row of main storage boxes 38 while transitory box 39" is placed directly behind box 39'" with respect to corridor 60. Box 39, 10 located adjacent to 39" but closer to the entrance head.
The same arrangement applies to the four exit transitory boxes 40"', 40", 40' and 40. The total of eight transitory boxes and one end of the intervening corridor all border on a roller conveyor 42 which communicates with the entrance and exit of the garage. The length of conveyor 42 is thus equal to the length of four vehicle boxes plus the width of corridor 60.
The first section 44 of the conveyor 42 has the length of a vehicle box and comprises a transfer and conveying device already known in the trade. Hence this will only be summarily described with reference to fig. 4. It comprises a quadrilateral frame 62 on which a series of rollers 42' are mounted, the axes of which are in the direction of said conveyor 42 with the exception of a first roller 62' on which the vehicle to be stored is placed for movement crosswise of conveyor 42 and towards the first transitory box 39, and with the exception of the last roller 62" of which the axis is crosswise to rollers 42' and which is consequently the first roller of conveyor 42. A line of empty mats arrive from the garage exit side to the garage entrance side by means of the conveyor 42.
A further series of profiles 45 is provided between each pair of the above rollers 42' which are simultaneously vertically movable by means not shown. Each of the above profiles is equipped with a series of rotatable small wheels 66 which can be moved vertically together with said profiles at an height such that an empty mat, after having moved along roller conveyor 42 and surpassed roller 62' spreads on rollers 66 for receiving vehicle thereon, said vehicles entering the garage on their own power means. The above series of profiles 45 will than be lowered such that the vehicle and underlying mat are pushed onto box 39 by rollers 42'.
A device similar to that of section 44 of conveyor 42 can be provided at entrance transitory boxes 39, 39', 39", 39'" and at exit transitory boxes 40, 40', 40", 40"'. The roller conveyor 42, apart from end sections 44, 44' is decked with rollers the axes of which are transverse to the same conveyor.
Boxes 39, 39" and 40, 40" need to be motorized because they cannot be contacted by elevator 24. However, boxes 39', 39"', 40', 40'" need not be motorized.
Such a solution is shown in fig. 5, wherein the motor for rollers 26' is not shown. The rotation of rollers 26' is transmitted to rollers 46 of box 38 through oscillating friction arm 48 of elevator 24 whereby mat 41 which, in this case, is empty and is transferred out of the elevator platform 26 as shown by arrow M, arm 48 being provided with an end wheel 48' which frictionally engages wheel 50' which is the first roller of storage box 38, the rest of the roller wheels of the same box being coupled to the first one.
Figs. 6-24 show diagrammatically the operation of the garage.
In figs. 6-24 an empty small rectangle represents an empty mat while an occupied mat is represented by a black circle in a rectangle.

Fig. 6: Two vehicles 1, 2 represented by black circles are present at the garage entrance, another two vehicles 3, 4 are present in the same row (a) of storage boxes and another two in the other row (b) where two empty mats are also present. Some empty mats are present along roller conveyor 42 and an occupied mat is shown at the exit box 44' with an outgoing vehicle.
Fig. 7: Vehicle 1 and mat moves to box 39 vehicle 2 waits in front of entry box 44 while outgoing vehicle leaves the garage. The rest being unchanged.
Fig. 8: Vehicle 1 moves from box 44 to box 39 while the empty mat is recycled along conveyer 42. The rest being unchanged.
Fig. 9: Vehicle 2 moves from box 44 to box 39 and vehicle 1 moves from box 39" to box 39"'. The rest being unchanged.
Fig. 10: Vehicle 1 has moved to box 39'11 and vehicle 2 moves to box 39'. Elevator 24 moves along corridor 60, with two empty mats thereon and an empty mat has moved to section 44. The rest being unchanged.
Fig. 11: Two empty mats are moved on boxes 41', 40''' and vehicles 1 and 2 move on elevator 24. The rest being unchanged.
Fig. 12: Vehicles 1 and 2 on elevator 24 move towards the box to be occupied by the same; two empty mats move from box 40', 40"' to boxes 40, 40" respectively, the rest being unchanged.
Fig. 13: Vehicles 1 and 2 move to respective storage boxes, an empty mat moves from box 40 to section 44' and another empty mat moves from box 40" to box 40.
Fig. 14: Elevator 24 moves towards the storage box containing vehicle 3, an empty mat moves from box 40 and another empty box moves from section 44' to conveyor 42. The rest being unchanged.
Fig. 15: Vehicle 3 moves from its storage box to elevator 24 and an empty mat moves from box 40 to section 44'. The rest being unchanged.
Fig. 16: Elevator 24 with vehicle 3 moves towards the garage exit while conveyor 42 is now full of empty mats.
Fig. 17: Elevator 24 takes on board vehicle 4. The rest being unchanged;
Fig. 18: Elevator 24 moves towards the garage exit. The rest being unchanged.
Fig. 19: Vehicles 3 and 4 move to boxes 40'" and 40' respectively.The rest being unchanged.
Fig. 20: Vehicles 3 and 4 move from boxes 40'" and 40' to boxes 40" and 40 respectively. Elevator 24 is left free. Two further vehicles 5 and 6 are present at the garage entrance. All the rest being unchanged.
Fig. 21: Vehicle 5 from section 44 of conveyor 42 moves to box 39. Vehicle 4 moves from box 40 to section 44'. The rest being unchanged.
Fig. 22: Vehicle 5 moves from box 39 to box 39", vehicle 4 exits the garage. The rest being unchanged.
Fig. 23: Vehicle 6 moves from section 44 to box 39.

All the mats on conveyor 42 move from their respective position on conveyor 42 towards section 44. Vehicle 4 moves away from garage 20.
Fig. 24: An empty mat is in section 44, vehicle 3 leaves garage 20. The rest being unchanged.
Thus a preferred embodiment of this invention has been described. However it is obvious that many variations and modifications can be made to it to meet different traffic flows by those skilled in the art. For instance the garage entrance and exit can be doubled and each placed at either end of the garage, the garage can be equipped with two elevators whereby the garage activity can be doubled. Said roller conveyor and the related transit groups of transitory boxes can be located at any of the storage floors.
Such variants are deemed to be covered in the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A multi-storey automatic garage for parking motor vehicles in a building comprising two parallelepiped pigeonholed blocks (20) opposed to one another and comprising a plurality of boxes (38) in each of which a vehicle can be stored, said two blocks (20) being separated from one another by an intermediate corridor (60) along the center of which a motor vehicle elevator (24) travels on at least one rail (22), said elevator being a portal framework comprising uprights (30), a horizontal ceiling member (32) and platform (26), said platform (26) being suspend between said uprights (30) from said ceiling member (32) and capable of moving up or down and carrying at least one vehicle placed thereon, the garage further comprising mats (40) on which said vehicles are placed stationary when said vehicles are within the garage, characterised in that said building has a first group of positions or transitory boxes (39, 39', 39", 39"'), for entry into the garage, and a second group of position or transitory boxes (40, 40', 40", 40"') for exit out of the garage, said groups being arranged sym- metricaly opposed to each other with respect to said corridor (60), a first pair of said first group (39''', 39') being aligned with the adjoining storage boxes (38) along said corridor and a second pair (39, 39") being set behind the former pair with respect to said corridor, the same arrangement being applicable to said second group (40, 40', 40", 40"'), and in that adjacent said two groups of transitory boxes a roller conveyor (42) adapted for moving said mats extends in a direction perpendicular to the corridor (60) between the entrance section (44) and the exit section (44') of the garage.

2. A garage as claimed in claim 1 wherein in said entrance section (44) of said roller conveyor (42), a transfer and conveying device is mounted which is provided with rollers, whose axes extend in the direction of the roller conveyor (42), and of a series of profiles (45) which are simultaneously vertically movable; each of said profiles (45) being equipped with a series of rotatable small wheels (66), whereby a vehicle on said section (44) of roller conveyor (42) can be pushed into one (39) of said second pair (39, 39") transitory boxes.

3. A garage as claimed in claim 1 and 2 wherein the transitory boxes (39, 39', 39", 39"') at the entrance and the transitory boxes (40, 40', 40", 40"') at the exit are also provided with the transfer and conveying device.

4. A multi-storey automatic garage as claimed in claim 1, wherein said roller conveyor (42) and the related groups of transitory boxes (39-40) can be located at any of the storage floors.

5. A multi-storey automatic garage as claimed in claim 1, wherein said elevator is provided with an oscillating friction arm (48) for transmitting rotation to rollers (46) of a storage box roller conveyor, whereby a mat (41) with or without overlaying vehicle is put on or extracted from the related storage box whenever said elevator is mating said box; said oscillating friction arm being provided with an end wheel (48') which engages wheel (50') of the storage box roller conveyor.