GOODS OR PASSENGER TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM WITH TRANSFER OF TRANSPORTING UNITS FROM AN AERIAL TRANSPORTING CONFIGURATION TO A LAND TRANSPORTING CONFIGURATION

Abstract

 A transportation system (1) comprising: at least one transporting unit (6) moved along a direction (A), wherein each unit (6) is moved in a first aerial transport phase and in a second land transport phase, wherein each unit comprises a roof (9) provided with a first coupling device (11) and a floor (10) provided with a second coupling device (12); an aerial transport device configured to couple to the first coupling device (11) during an aerial transport phase; a land transport device configured to couple to the second coupling device (12) during a land transport phase, wherein the land transport device comprises a frame (21) configured to receive the floor (10) of the unit (6); the floor (10) of the unit (6) comprising rolling or sliding bodies (20, 23) configured to progressively roll or slide on inclined guides of the frame of the land transport device along the direction (A) during the transition from aerial transport to land transport.

Description

Cross-reference to related applications

[0001] This patent application claims priority from Italian patent application no. 102023000009219 filed on May 9, 2023, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Technical field

[0002] The present invention relates to a transportation system in which goods and/or passengers are transported inside transporting units along a forward direction. In particular, the present invention relates to a transportation system in which there is the need to transfer the transporting units from an aerial transporting configuration to a land transporting configuration. According to the present invention, a preferred, but non-limiting example of such a system can be a passenger transportation system of hybrid type with a first cable section, in which cabins travel in an aerial configuration supported by at least one cable, and a land transportation portion in which the cabins travel resting on land trolleys.

State of the art

[0003] Nowadays, transportation systems are known in which passengers and/or goods are transported inside transporting units. In the case of passenger transportation systems, the units can be cabins moved one after the other along a limited predefined path from a first terminal station to a second terminal station. The present invention refers in general to transportation systems comprising in series two different types of transportation, i.e. in a first section in which the units are moved in an aerial configuration, for example supported by at least one cable, and in the second section in which the units are moved resting on a land trolley or a conveyor. In the case of goods transportation systems, the units can be, for example, containers moved during the transition from cargo ships to land conveyors. In both cases mentioned above (containers or cabins) there is thus a phase in which the units switch from the aerial configuration (suspended at the top of their roof) to the land configuration (with their floor resting on land trolleys or conveyors). In such transition, criticalities can arise due to the fact that the aerial support by its very nature, together with the fact that the load (goods or passengers) inside the units is not always distributed in a homogeneous manner, generates (pitching) oscillations along the forward direction and such movement does not allow a precise control of the lower part of said units. Unfortunately, possible positioning errors of the floor of the units with respect to the land trolley or the conveyor are very dangerous during the transition from aerial to land transport because they can lead to an incorrect coupling between units and land trolley or conveyor.

Description of the invention

[0004] An object of the present invention is to provide an innovative transportation system capable of overcoming the drawback described above, i.e. a system capable of ensuring a controlled transfer of the transporting units from the aerial configuration to the land configuration and vice versa. In accordance with such object, according to the broadest definition of the present invention, a transportation system is provided comprising at least one transporting unit for transporting passengers or goods moved along a forward direction A (substantially horizontal at least during the transfer of the transporting units from the aerial configuration to the land configuration). As described in the foregoing, each transporting unit is moved in a first transport phase in an aerial configuration and in a second transport phase in a land configuration. For such purpose, each transporting unit comprises a roof provided with first coupling devices, which selectively couple to an aerial transport device during an aerial transport phase, and a floor provided with second coupling devices, which selectively couple to a land transport device during a land transport phase.

[0005] In such background, the land transport device comprises, obviously in addition to suitable means for its land advancement, a support frame configured to receive the floor of the transporting unit such that, once the transition from aerial to land transport has been completed, the floor of the cabin rests on and is coupled to the support frame of the land transport device. The advancement of the unit along the support frame progressively occurs along the forward direction A providing for the land transport device to be stationary or advance at a lower speed than the unit still coupled to the aerial transport device. In this manner, a front portion of the floor of the unit contacts the frame in a rear portion thereof and, after such first contact, the unit progressively advances on the frame of the land transport device. The adjectives front and rear refer to the direction of motion of the unit. In order to ensure such advancement without damaging the parts in contact, the floor of the transporting unit comprises rolling or sliding bodies configured to progressively roll or slide on the frame of the land transport device along the direction A during the transition from aerial transport to land transport. Rolling or sliding bodies can be provided both in the front portion of the floor and in the rear portion. The frame of the transport device in turn comprises guides, for example tracks or simple shaped portions of said frame, configured to guide the rolling or sliding bodies of the floor of the transporting unit along the direction A. In such manner, the advancement of the unit on the frame is of guided type. According to the present invention, when the land transport device is on a horizontal land surface (condition in which the transition from aerial to land transport preferably occurs), at least a first portion of the guides along the direction A, starting from the rear end, is not horizontal but inclined upward so that, after the first contact between the rolling bodies and the support frame, the unit faces a sort of small rise. Advantageously, the presence of such inclined initial section, together with the difference in speed along the direction A of the unit constrained to the aerial support with respect to the land support cause, even in the presence of oscillations of the transporting units along the direction A during the transition from aerial transport to land transport, after the first contact of the front rolling or sliding bodies with the guides, the inclination of the transporting unit to be progressively geometrically limited and forced for rotating the cabin clockwise along the forward direction. Once also the rear rolling or sliding bodies touch the guides, there is parallelism between floor of the unit and support frame.

[0006] Preferably, the aforementioned inclined rear portion of the guides has an inclination between 1° and 5°. Still more preferably, the inclination is approximately 2°.

[0007] Preferably, also the front portion of the guides provides for an inclined section, i.e. a section inclined in the opposite direction of the rear portion. In fact, the front portion of the guides is inclined downward along the direction A, with an inclination such to bring the floor into a horizontal position (always when the land transport device is in turn on a horizontal ground surface).

[0008] As mentioned in the foregoing, the present invention as defined in its general form also refers to the transportation of goods in which the units are containers moved in an aerial condition so as to be coupled to land conveyors. However, the preferred application of the present invention (which will also be described in detail and shown in the figures) refers to a passenger transportation system comprising two terminal stations between which in series an aerial transportation portion with at least one supporting or supporting hauling cable and a land transportation portion are present, and in which the at least one transporting unit is a cabin. In such example, the aerial transport device comprises an aerial suspension with a suspension arm connected on one side to the cabin and on the other side provided with a selective cable coupling assembly provided with rollers and/or a clamp. In this example, the land transport device is made in the form of a land trolley comprising wheels and the already mentioned support frame. In a system of this type, an intermediate station in which the cabin switches from aerial to land transport can be provided. In such station, the clamp still connected to the cabin can be no longer coupled to the cable but supported by upper tracks provided in the station. However, in both cases, it is possible to speak of aerial support because the cabin is in fact supported suspended from the ground.

[0009] This passenger transportation system comprises at least one control unit, which is preferably configured such that during the transition from aerial to land transport, the forward speed of the land trolley is less than the forward speed of the cabin still coupled to the aerial suspension.

[0010] Preferably, the land trolley also comprises a front end stop limiting the advancement of the cabin on the support frame. The support frame comprises coupling devices which are aligned with the second coupling devices when the cabin reaches the end stop. Once such alignment has been reached, the aerial suspension disengages from the cabin and said cabin is lowered so that coupling devices of the trolley couple to the second coupling devices of the cabin.

[0011] Preferably, the rolling or sliding bodies are made in the form of front rollers and rear rollers placed under the floor of the cabin, in which the front rollers are substantially at the front edge of the floor of the cabin, i.e. in such a position that at the point of contact between the front rollers and the guides, the perpendicular to the guides is in front of the aerial suspension along the direction of motion of the unit. In such manner, a stabilizing torque is created that forces the cabin into rotation in the direction of motion.

[0012] Preferably, at least the front rollers are connected to the floor of the cabin in a damping manner.

Brief description of the drawings

[0013] Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the following description of a non-limiting example embodiment thereof, with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawings, wherein:

• Figure 1 is a schematic view of a portion of an example of transportation system according to the present invention, in particular a portion of a hybrid cable aerial/land trolley system for transporting passengers in cabins is shown;
• Figure 2 is an enlarged schematic view of the cabin during the transition from aerial transport to land transport;
• Figures 3-6 show phases of the transition from aerial to land transport in the system of Figure 1 according to the present invention;
• Figure 7 shows a first phase of the transition from land to aerial transport in the system of Figure 1 according to the present invention.

Description of an embodiment of the invention

[0014] As indicated above, Figure 1 shows a schematic view of a portion of a hybrid aerial/land transportation system (schematized with reference numeral 1) according to the present invention for transporting passengers. Such figure shows a portion of system configured as a cable aerial transportation system, identified by reference numeral 2, and a portion of system configured as a land transportation system, identified by reference numeral 4. Such two different transporting configurations are jointed to each other at an intermediate station 18 which, for example, a cabin 6 enters after travelling a section in aerial mode and which the cabin 6 exits for travelling a section in land mode. The arrows A and B indicate how, according to the present invention, the direction of travel of the system can be indifferently oriented so as to switch from aerial to land transport (direction A) or vice versa. Naturally, the system can be of the "back-and-forth" type with one single ascending and descending branch or can have parallel ascending and descending branches. For the purposes of the present invention, the actuation of the movement along the aerial section can be of any type, namely the presence of a haulage cable or suitable motorized drives integrated in the transporting units can be provided. According to the example schematized in Figure 1, the portion of system configured as aerial system comprises one single cable, i.e. a supporting cable 3 which also acts as hauling cable. However, alternative solutions can be provided with one or more supporting cables and a cable dedicated to the sole function of hauling cable. Reference numeral 13 indicates the transporting units travelling along the system. As it will become apparent, such transporting units change when switching from the aerial section to the land section (and vice versa) with the sole exception of the cabin 6 as single element that travels along the entire system. Along the portion of aerial system, each transporting unit 13 comprises a cabin 6 and an aerial transport device. In the example of Figure 1, the aerial transport device comprises a suspension arm 15 coupled on one side to the roof 6 of the cabin 6 and on the other side connected to a clamp 7 gripping the cable 3. The clamp 7 is of known type. In the case of two supporting cables and one hauling cable, also a trolley with rolling rollers is present on the cables in addition to the clamp 7. In the portion of the system configured as land system 4, each transporting unit 13 comprises the "same" cabin 6 and a land transport device or land transport vehicle, in this example a land trolley 8 equipped with wheels 22 lying directly on the ground 5. For the purposes of the present invention, one or more physical guides for guiding the land trolley 8 or a remote or autonomous guide in the absence of predefined guides can be provided. Reference numeral 14 schematizes a control unit which controls the various components of the system 1, in particular the forward speed in station 18 of the cabin 6 when still connected to the aerial suspension 15 and the speed of the trolley 8 in the transition from aerial to land transport. As is shown in this example, once the coupling with the trolley 8 has been completed, the aerial suspension 15 is unconstrained from the cabin 6. Conversely, in the transition from land to aerial transport, once the cabin has been coupled to the aerial suspension 15, the trolley 8 is unconstrained from the floor of the cabin.

[0015] Figure 2 shows an enlarged schematic view of an example of a cabin 6 during the transition between the aerial transport and the land transport section. The trolley in this case is only schematic and only functional for showing a possible example of coupling without showing the support frame 21 of the trolley 8, which will be explained in detail in the following. According to such example, it is possible to see the aerial support device, in particular the lower portion of the suspension arm 15, coupled to the roof 9 of the cabin 6. On the opposite side, the outer face of the floor 10 of the cabin 6 rests on and is firmly coupled to the land trolley 8 with the wheels 22 rolling directly on the ground 5. According to such example, both the coupling with the aerial support device and the coupling with the land support device respectively comprise four male-female coupling points between suitable pins and seats. Reference numeral VI indicates the coupling 11 between pins projecting downward of the aerial support device into seats obtained on the roof of the cabin. Reference numeral VIII indicates the coupling 12 between pins projecting downward from the floor of the cabin into seats obtained on the frame of the land trolley 8. Depending on the direction of travel of the system, the cabin 6 will leave the station 18 constrained to the sole trolley 8 or to the sole suspension 15.

[0016] Figures 3-6 show phases of the transition of the cabin from aerial to land transport in the system of Figure 1. In particular, Figure 3 shows an approaching phase of the cabin 6, still suspended from the suspension 15, toward the trolley 8. In such phase, as also in the subsequent phases up to the coupling to the trolley 8 and the release from the suspension 15, along the direction A the cabin 6 still suspended from the suspension 15 travels at a higher speed than the trolley 8. In the condition of Figure 3, the cabin 6 can oscillate with pitching rotations as a natural cause of the suspension constraint placed on top of the roof 9 and/or due to a inhomogeneous load inside the cabin 6. In such approaching phase, the floor 10 of the cabin 6 is at a height only slightly greater than a support frame 21 of the trolley 8 configured precisely to receive the floor 10 of the cabin 6.

[0017] The phase represented in Figure 4 shows the first contact between the cabin 6 still suspended from the suspension 15 and the trolley 8. As is shown, such first contact occurs at front casters or rollers 20 which collide with the support frame 21 of the trolley 8. In the contact zone, the support frame 21 comprises guides along the direction A which, according to the present invention, when the trolley 8 is on a horizontal surface 5, have a first portion starting from the rear end inclined upward. In this manner, also in the presence of oscillations of the transporting units along the direction A, during the transition from aerial transport to land transport, after the first contact of the front rollers 20 with the guides of the frame 21, the inclination of the cabin 6 is progressively geometrically limited and straightened. In such regard, Figure 4 shows the axis orthogonal to the guides of the frame 21 passing from the front rollers 20. As such axis is downstream of the suspension 15, a stabilizing torque for the cabin 6 is generated. In order to shift such axis as downstream as possible, the front rollers 20 are coupled to the front edge of the floor 10.

[0018] The phase represented in Figure 5 shows the progressive advancement of the cabin 6 still constrained to the suspension 15 on the frame 21 of the trolley 8. In such phase, also the rear rollers 23 of the floor 10 rest on the frame 21.

[0019] Figure 6 shows the cabin 6 when it is in the coupling condition to the trolley 8 and the suspension 15 has been released. Such position is reached thanks to a front end stop 24 provided on the trolley 8 beyond which the cabin 6 can obviously not advance with respect to the frame 21. In such position, the cabin 6 is also lowered with respect to the trolley so as to allow the mutual coupling of the coupling devices, now aligned, provided on the floor 10 and on the trolley 8. This lowering is further generated by the fact of providing a front or downstream portion of the guides along the direction A inclined downward. The inclination of this second portion is such that, when the trolley 8 is in turn on a horizontal ground surface 5, the floor 10 of the cabin is in a horizontal position parallel to the ground 5.

[0020] Finally, Figure 7 shows a first phase of the transition from land to aerial transport in the system of Figure 1. In such case, the forward direction is the one indicated by letter B and it is noted that the cabin 6 has already been coupled to the suspension 15 so as to move the cabin 6 at a higher speed than that of the trolley 8. By effect of these different speeds, the cabin 6 begins to travel along the guides and also in this case, as in Figure 4, by effect of the inclination of the guides a torque is generated which straightens the cabin 6 during the transition from land to aerial transport.

[0021] Finally, it is evident that modifications and variations can be made to the invention described herein without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A transportation system (1) comprising:

- at least one transporting unit (6) for transporting passengers or goods moved along a forward direction (A), wherein each transporting unit (6) is moved in a first transport phase in an aerial configuration and in a second transport phase in a land configuration, wherein each transporting unit comprises a roof (9) provided with first coupling devices (11) and a floor (10) provided with second coupling devices (12);

- an aerial transport device configured to couple to the first coupling devices (11) during an aerial transport phase;

- a land transport device configured to couple to the second coupling devices (12) during a land transport phase, wherein the land transport device comprises a support frame (21) configured to receive the floor (10) of the transporting unit (6);

characterized in that:

- the floor (10) of the transporting unit (6) comprises rolling or sliding bodies (20, 23) configured to progressively roll or slide on the support frame (21) of the land transport device along the forward direction (A) during the transition from aerial transport to land transport;

- the support frame (21) of the transport device comprises guides configured to guide the rolling or sliding bodies (20, 23) of the floor (10) of the transporting unit (6) along the forward direction (A);

wherein, when the land transport device is on a horizontal surface, at least a first portion of the guides starting from the rear end is inclined upward so that, even in the presence of oscillations of the transporting units (6) along the forward direction (A) during the transition from aerial transport to land transport, after the first contact of the rolling or sliding bodies (20) with the guides the inclination of the transporting unit (6) is progressively geometrically limited.

2. Transportation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a second portion of the guides starting from the front end is inclined downward along the direction opposite to the forward direction (A), with an inclination such that, when the land transport device is on a land horizontal surface and the unit (6) has reached the end of the guides, the floor (10) of the unit (6) is in a horizontal position.

3. Transportation system as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the system comprises two terminal stations, an aerial transportation portion (2) with at least one cable (3) and a land transportation portion (4); wherein the at least a transporting unit (6) is a cabin for transporting passengers; wherein

- the aerial transport device comprises an aerial suspension with a suspension arm (15) and a selective cable coupling assembly (3) provided with rollers and/or a clamp;

- the land transport device is realised in the form of a land trolley comprising wheels (22) and the support frame (21) ;

wherein an intermediate station (18) where the cabin switches from aerial to land transport is provided.

4. Transportation system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the system comprises at least one control unit (14) configured such that during the transition from aerial to land transport, the forward speed of the land trolley is less than the forward speed of the cabin (6) coupled to the aerial suspension.

5. Transportation system as claimed in claim 3 or 4, wherein the land trolley comprises an end stop (24) limiting the advancement of the cabin (6) on the support frame (21), the support frame (21) comprising coupling devices that, when the cabin reaches the end stop, are aligned with the second coupling devices (12) of the cabin (6).

6. Transportation system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the aerial suspension is released from the cabin (6) when the cabin (6) reaches the end stop (24) of the land trolley.

7. Transportation system as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the cabin (6) is lowered when the cabin (6) reaches the end stop (24) of the land trolley and the trolley coupling devices are aligned with the second coupling devices (12).

8. Transportation system as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 7, wherein the rolling or sliding bodies are made in the form of front casters or rollers (20) and rear casters or rollers (23) placed under the floor (10) of the cabin (6), wherein the front rollers (20) are substantially at the front edge of the floor (10) of the cabin (6) in such a position that at the point of contact between the front rollers (20) and the guides the perpendicular to the guides is in front of the aerial suspension in the direction of motion so as to create a stabilizing torque that forces the cabin (6) into rotation.

9. Transportation system as claimed in claim 8, wherein at least the front rollers (20) are connected to the floor (10) of the cabin (6) in a damping manner.

10. Transportation system as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the first inclined rear portion of the guides has an inclination between 1° and 5°.

Drawing