Two-carriage automatic parking system

Abstract

 The automatic parking system comprises a plurality of superimposed circular ring elements, each of which for receiving a plurality of radially arranged motor vehicles.
At the centre of the ring element arrange­ment is a platform which can rotate and vertically reciprocate.
On the platform there are arranged raising carriages for raising either the front portion of a motor vehicle or the overall motor vehicle to be hand­led for input or output into/from the parking system.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a double carriage automatic parking system and to the related raising carriages included therein.

[0002] As is known, automatic parking systems are presently required as very useful means far parking motor vehicles in general,

[0003] Also known is the fact that an automatic parking system should be able of easily and quickly parking a lot of motor vehicles so as to easily and quickly convey them to available places.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The aim of the present invention is to pro­vide such an automatic parking system which is very efficient in handling the motor vehicles to be parked and, in particular, which quickly conveys the motor vehicles to be parked to the available respective places.

[0005] Within the scope of the above mentioned aim, a main object of the present invention is to pro­vide an automatic parking system which comprises means for easily handling entering and exiting motor vehicles.

[0006] Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic parking system which comprises means for directly sequentially handling the motor vehicles at the input and output ends of the parking system itself.

[0007] According to one aspect of the present in­vention, the above mentioned aim and objects, as well as yet other objects, which will become more apparent hereinafter, are achieved by a double carriage automa­tic parking system, characterized in that said parking system comprises a structure including a plurality of superimposed circular ring elements each of which for receiving a plurality of radially arranged motor vehi­cles, at the central portion of said structure being provided a rotary vertically reciprocating platform thereon there are supported motor vehicle raising carriages for raising either the front portion of a motor vehicle or the overall motor vehicle to be handled at the input and output of said parking system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] Further characteristics and advantages of the automatic parking system according to the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of some preferred embodiments thereof which are illustrated, by way of an indicative but not limitative example, in the figures of the ac­companying drawings, where:

Figures 1 and 2 show the full raising carria­ ge respectively in its lowered and raised condition;

Figures 3a and 3b show the two positions which can be assumed by a front-raising carriage;

Figures 4a, 4b and 4c show some typical embodiments of the subject parking system;

Figure 5 shows a parking device consisting of a double carriage for simultaneously handling two motor vehicles;

Figure 6 shows a possible operation mode of the mentioned double carriage device;

Figure 7 shows a typical arrangement with the parking module of the parking system arranged radially along a circular ring pattern;

Figures 8a and 8b show the arrangement of the double carriage respectively handling two motor vehicles and a single motor vehicle;

Figure 9 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the parking system, a portion of which is embedded in the ground, taken along the line A-A of figure 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] With reference to the figures of the accompa­nying drawings, the parking system according to the present invention comprises a motor vehicle handling carriage which has been specifically designed with a maximum height of the carriage part to be arranged under the motor vehicle of substantially 8 cm.

[0010] The mentioned motor vehicle handling carria­ge is of the motor vehicle "raising" type, and the motor vehicle can be raised according to two operating modes, that is:

a) full raising;

b) front raising.

[0011] Figure 1 shows a full raising type of car­riage in its "lowered" condition.

[0012] Since the maximum height of the carriage is of 8 cm, the carriage can be arranged under the motor vehicle so as to arrange the two fixed arms 1 of the carriage against the front wheels and arrange the two movable arms 2 of the carriage in a perpendi­cular tilted condition at the other sides of the front wheels (as is shown in figure 2).

[0013] The rear part of the carriage 3 will be arranged in a proper position depending on the spacing of the rear wheels, as controlled by sensors arranged on the carriage.

[0014] With the carriage properly arranged, the fork members 4 will project under the rear wheels of the motor vehicles,

[0015] Figure 2 shows the carriage in its raised condition.

[0016] This raising is carried out, at the front, by a device 5 arranged at the forepart of the motor vehicle and, at the rear, by a roller or wheel device 6 including rollers or wheels which at the input posi­tion, are flush with the carriage and are successive­ly downward displaced so as to raise said carriage.

[0017] Figure 3 shows the front raising carriage which comprises fork members 7 which, at the input position, are closed at the centre of the carriage it­self.

[0018] In operation, said fork members, under the control of a system arranged in the front part of the carriage, are opened so as to raise the front of the motor vehicle through a system also arranged at the forepart of the carriage.

[0019] The disclosed movements can be obtained either by mecanical or pneumatic systems or by fluid controlled systems or, if desired, by mixed solutions.

[0020] The two disclosed carriages will load and unload the motor vehicle always in the same direction.

[0021] Figure 4 shows some typical solutions:

- Figure 4a shows a system with a single loading, un­loading and storing side 14;

- Figure 4b shows a system having double storing sides 14 and 14′, with the possibility of providing loading and unloading sides as required; this system, in particular, will comprise a rotary platform;

- Figure 4c shows a so-called "circular" system 15 op­timizing the characteristics of the carriage.

[0022] Figure 5 shows a parking system, indicated overally at the reference number 11 and consisting of a double carriage which can simultaneously handle two motor vehicles.

[0023] This system is of the "circular" type with a double carriage which, if required, can be either of the full raising type or of the front raising type.

[0024] Figure 6 shows the concept of the double carriage system which, for a quick motor vehicle hand­ling, comprises two inputs and two outputs.

[0025] Each input 8 comprises a device for proper­ly arranging the motor vehicle front wheels, and, in the case of a front raising operation, the rear wheels will be free; a possible solution would be that of a driving chain (like that of the car washing systems).

[0026] Each output 9 provides a rotary platform 12 for properly arranging the motor vehicle in the most suitable output position.

[0027] In this connection it should be apparent that each input of the subject parking system is oppo­sitedly arranged to a respective output.

[0028] Figure 7 shows a typical arrangement, in­dicated generally at the reference number 13, with the parking modules radially arranged along a circular ring configuration.

[0029] With such an arrangement the motor vehicle handling movements will be reduced to a minimum and will include:

a) an independent movement of each carriage which has all of the control and driving parts arranged in the forepart of the carriage thereat can also be arranged a TV camera and and illuminating light. In the case of a front raising mode of operation, the carriage will be "guided" as shown in figure 8, at the four corners thereof so as to provide the required stability and a minimum space requirement for the fore­part of the carriage. As two motor vehicles are hand­led, the position will be that of figure 8a, with the carriage at the center, whereas, if a single motor vehicle is handled, the position will be that of figu­re 8b. This arrangement directly derives from the fact that, for the raising and rotary movements, it will be necessary to have a balanced load with respect to the center of the parking circular tower;

b) a rotary movement of the carriage about the central line of the circular tower;

c) a vertical movement of the assembly along the two side guides 10 as clearly shown in figures 7 and 9.

[0030] The above mentioned two b) and c) movements, in particular, can be carried out simultaneously.

[0031] The system can be operated either with a single loading mode of operation, a single unloading mode of operation or with a mixed loading/unloading mode of operation,

[0032] More specifically, in the case of a single loading mode of operation, the carriage will be arran­ged on the first input, so as to properly load the motor vehicle, and will be rotated while the second carriage will load the second motor vehicle at the second input. The raising, rotating and unloading operations will be preferably carried out contempora­neously in two opposite modules.

[0033] The single unloading operation will be simi­lar to the single loading operation, being however carried out in a reverse direction.

[0034] In the case of a mixed operation, the motor vehicle will be loaded at the first input; the carriage will be caused to raise and rotate in order to unload the motor vehicle and, then, it will take the motor vehicle at the output and will be lowered so as to un­ load the motor vehicle at the second output while taking up simultaneously the motor vehicle at the se­cond input and so on.

[0035] The subject parking system can be complete­ly pre-fabricated and can be also arranged underground.

[0036] The front carriage affords the possibility of installing all of the apparatus necessary for the control and driving of the system and, to this end, a single electrical power supply will be sufficient as well as a single connection by an optic fibre cable in order to provide all of the auxiliary services, TV monitoring included.

[0037] Likewise, for perforning the circular move­ment, it will possible to mount on the tower structure the related electric and electronic apparatus, the raising movements forming the most conventional part of the system.

[0038] The parking system, in particular, will be controlled by a single controlling system of the so-­called "building automation" controlling type.

[0039] From the above disclosure it should be apparent that the invention fully achieves the intend­ed aim and objects.

[0040] While the invention has been disclosed and illustrated with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it should be apparent that the disclosed em­bodiments are susceptible to many modifications and variations all of which will come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A double carriage automatic parking system characterized in that said parking system comprises a structure consisting of a plurality of superimposed circular ring member each of which is provided for re­ceiving a plurality of radially arranged motor vehicles, at the centre of said structure there being provided a rotary vertically reciprocating platform supporting motor vehicle raising carriages for raising either a complete motor vehicle or exclusively the front portion of the motor vehicles to be handled at the input and output of said parking system.

2. An automatic parking system according to claim 1, characterized in that said complete-raising carriage has a maximum height of 8 cm and comprises two fixed arms to be arranged against the front wheels of a motor vehicle and two movable arms to be arranged in a tilted condition at the other sides of said front wheels, the rear portion of said carriage including sensor means for properly arranging said rear portion of said carriage under the rear wheels of said motor vehicle, fork elements being moreover provided for engaging said rear wheels of said motor vehicle.

3. An automatic parking system, according to the preceding claims, characterized in that said parking system comprises a raising device for fully raising said carriage, said raising device being arranged at the front portion of said carriage and further com­prising, at the rear of said carriage, a roller or wheel device to cooperate in raising said carriage.

4. An automatic parking system according to claim 1, characterized in that said front raising carriage essentially comprises fork members which, at an input position, are closed at the centre of said carriage, said fork members being driven by a system arranged at the front portion of said carriage to be opened to raise the front portion of a motor vehicle by a system arranged at the front portion of the car­riage.

5. An automatic parking system, according to the preceding claims, characterized in that said parking system comprises either mecanical or pneumatic, oleodynamic driven systems or mixed driving systems.

6. An automatic parking system according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said parking system comprises a parking device consisting of a double carriage able of handling simultaneously two motor vehicles.

7. An automatic parking system according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said parking system further comprises, at each input thereof, a device for properly arranging the front wheels of a motor vehicle, each output of said parking system being provided with a rotary platform, each said input being oppositedly arranged with re­spect to each said output.

8. An automatic parking system according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that all of the driving and control apparatus of said parking system are arranged at the front portions of said carriages.

Drawing