EP4137442A1 - Autonomously guided industrial truck with a pair of scanner units - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an autonomously guided industrial truck (10), comprising a vehicle body (12) which defines a longitudinal direction (L) and a width direction (B) of the industrial truck (10) and, in sections, an outline thereof in a plan view of the industrial truck (10). , a pair of wheel arms (18a, 18b) extending from the vehicle body, each having at least one load wheel (20a, 20b), a pair of support wheels (26a, 26b) standing on a driving surface below the vehicle body (12) and which are relative to the Width direction (B) opposite, with respect to the width direction (B) arranged centrally steered drive wheel (22) which stands up below the vehicle body (12) on the driving ground; and a pair of scanner units (30a, 30b) arranged vertically above the support wheels (26a, 26b) and defining a scan plane (E) with their respective scan areas (S1, S2) and located within the outline of the vehicle body (12) symmetrically in the width direction (B) of the industrial truck (10).

Description

The present invention relates to an autonomously guided industrial truck with a vehicle body, which defines a longitudinal direction and a width direction of the industrial truck and, in sections, an outline thereof in a plan view of the industrial truck.

It is known in the technical field of industrial trucks (often also referred to as AGV—Automated Guided Vehicles) to use scanner units for environment monitoring, both to prevent collisions with objects or people and to record the environment in a navigation context. Accordingly, these scanner units are used both to monitor specified safety fields and to record loads or load-carrying aids, such as pallets.

This is from the prior art, for example DE 10 2019 213 942 A1 , A scanner arrangement for three-wheeled vehicles is known, in which two scanner units are each positioned laterally next to a drive device. This allows for full 360° coverage of the area with overlaps between the scan areas of each scanner unit.

Furthermore, in vehicles with a four-wheel or five-wheel chassis with wheel arms below the load-carrying means, it is known to arrange a scanner in each case in the front area of the vehicle, to the side next to the drive axle. However, the respective scanning areas of this pair of scanners are limited by the wheel arms in the direction of the load, so that a blind spot or dead area occurs, especially when entering a pallet.

Problems arise here in the practical use of the aforementioned autonomously guided industrial trucks known from the prior art, for example, for reasons of stability and load distribution as well as driving characteristics and tipping safety, an industrial truck with three-wheel chassis for picking up pallets close to the ground can only be implemented as a counterbalanced truck. However, this leads to a relatively heavy and expensive overall structure of the corresponding vehicle.

On the other hand, vehicles with wheel arms can be made lighter and more compact, but as already mentioned above, the wheel arms with a suitable load carriage in the direction of the load restrict the view or the achievable scan area of the scanner units used.

Even with four-wheeled vehicles, there is only a very narrow possible track width of the drive axle, provided that the scanner units are to be arranged within the vehicle contour and have to monitor the surroundings of the industrial truck both at the drive device and at the necessary wheels . As a result, in four-wheel or five-wheel vehicles, the scanner units have generally been arranged outside the contour or the outline of corresponding vehicles in the area of their vehicle body, which, however, inevitably led to an increase in the overall width of the vehicle. As a result, such vehicles in scenarios in which a maximum width of such a vehicle must not be exceeded, for example in logistics facilities with block storage, in which pallets are parked on the driving surface with a minimum distance and consequently a corresponding industrial truck the external dimensions of the corresponding pallets, especially in the width direction must not be exceeded, are not used in the desired manner. If Euro pallets are used in such logistic facilities with block storage, the maximum permissible width of industrial trucks that can be used is less than 800 mm.

Furthermore, in such logistics facilities, it should be noted that it may be desirable to set the vertical height of the scan level in such a way that unloaded pallets can already be detected, in order to be able to ensure the safety and navigability of the relevant industrial truck during operation. Accordingly, it may be desirable to set the scanning plane at a vertical height of about 100 mm, which enables such detection of unloaded pallets, but on the other hand the integration of the corresponding scanner units in the industrial truck is further complicated, since in this vertical Height often disturbing components of the truck are arranged and in particular support or drive wheels are usually sections in this vertical area.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide an autonomously guided industrial truck that eliminates the above-mentioned problems of known industrial trucks from the prior art and in particular a reduction in the overall width of the vehicle and optimal positioning of the scanner units for use in logistics facilities enabled with block storage.

For this purpose, the autonomously guided industrial truck according to the invention comprises a vehicle body, which defines a longitudinal direction and a width direction of the industrial truck and, in sections, an outline thereof in a plan view of the industrial truck, a pair of wheel arms extending from the vehicle body, each with at least one load wheel, a pair of supporting or driving wheels standing on a running ground below the vehicle body, which are opposite to each other in the width direction, and a pair of scanner units arranged vertically above the supporting wheels, which define a scanning plane with their respective scanning areas and are located within the outline of the Vehicle body symmetrically opposite in the width direction of the truck.

In addition to embodiments with four wheels, in which the support or drive wheels according to the invention act as drive wheels, there are also embodiments conceivable, in which the support wheels or drive wheels act as pure support wheels and the industrial truck also comprises a steered drive wheel that is arranged centrally with respect to the width direction and stands up on the driving surface below the vehicle body.

In this way, on the one hand, the construction of an autonomously guided industrial truck with at least four wheels is made possible, which results in advantageous driving and stationary properties, in particular with a higher load and fast cornering, and on the other hand, an arrangement of the scanner units within the contour of the vehicle body at one position , on which the support or drive wheels do not form any disruptive obstacles for the scanner unit, so that optimal coverage of the area around the industrial truck in the vertical area of the scan plane can be achieved by the pair of scanner units.

It should be noted here that within the scope of the present invention the arrangement of the scanner units above the support or drive wheels is related to the fact that the actual scan plane is above these support or drive wheels, while individual components or sections of the scanner Units can also overlap with the support or drive wheels in the vertical direction, for example if brackets or housing sections of the scanner units extend vertically below the spanned scan plane, which, however, are irrelevant for the actual scan function of the scanner units.

It should also be noted that the respective scanning areas of the individual scanner units are defined both by the specific design of the scanner units used in the industrial truck according to the invention and by possible shadowing areas which result from components of the industrial truck lying within the scanning plane or Attachments can result from it. It should always be noted that due to the relatively low vertical arrangement of the scanner units in the industrial truck according to the invention, frame elements are inevitably used to connect components located below and above the scan plane, for example sections of the vehicle body or something similar must be present. Because of the central arrangement of the steered drive wheel in five-wheeled embodiments, as well as the associated components, such as a drive motor and the like, and the range of rotation that must be provided for this steered drive wheel, these cannot be placed arbitrarily close to a longitudinal central axis in the width direction, It is also desirable to position the scanner units as far outward as possible in the width direction, but still protected within the outline of the vehicle body, which also prevents the truck from being widened by the scanner units.

Furthermore, with regard to optimal coverage of the surroundings of the industrial truck by the pair of scanner units, it can be advantageous if these are arranged behind the support wheels or drive wheels with respect to the longitudinal direction of the industrial truck. Alternatively, however, embodiments are also conceivable in which the scanner units are placed in front of or also directly above the support wheels or drive wheels in the longitudinal direction of the industrial truck.

In addition, it can be advantageous both with regard to the stability and driving safety of the industrial truck according to the invention and the coverage of the area around it by means of the respective scan areas by the scanner units if the scanner units do not extend beyond the support in the width direction of the industrial truck. or drive wheels extend out.

Due to the above-mentioned inevitable shadowing of certain areas of the scan plane in the area of the vehicle body by structural parts, such as connecting frame elements between a part of the vehicle body below and one above the scan plane, scanner units in particular can be used which each have a scan angle of about 270°. In this way it can be ensured that the scanner units, due to their design, are able to cover as large an area as possible of the area surrounding the industrial truck, but on the other hand an even larger scan angle can be used to reduce costs can be dispensed with, since such a capability of the scanner unit could not be utilized anyway due to the shadowing areas that are inevitably present, or sufficient all-round surveillance can already be achieved using two scanners with a respective scanning range of 270°, as will be described in more detail below becomes.

Through various measures, the vehicle body could be formed in the vertical area of the scan plane in such a way that the scanner units with the respective scan areas can sweep over or cover the entire area around the industrial truck, for example by connecting the above and below the Frame elements lying in the scanning planes are arranged as centrally as possible with respect to the width direction of the industrial truck, or by being formed in a tapering manner in their frontmost area with respect to the longitudinal direction. This could then only result in a narrow dead zone directly in front of the industrial truck in a central area, but from a certain distance from the vehicle body in this direction the scanning plane would also be covered over the entire angular range.

In order to be able to achieve the flat design of the support wheels necessary for the lowest possible vertical arrangement of the scanner units and thus the scan plane in five-wheel embodiments with a centrally arranged steered drive wheel, it can be advantageous if this is not the case in the prior art provided on a frame construction above the support wheels or mounted on the side of the truck by means of a coupling rocker, but are designed as parts of support wheel assemblies with respective housings, which sections can form part of the outline of the vehicle body. In particular, if these support wheel arrangements are arranged in the respective front corner areas on the underside of the vehicle body, for example in corresponding recesses of a base plate on the underbody of the vehicle body, a particularly compact design can be achieved in relation to the vertical direction, while at the same time a maximum in the width direction Distance between the support wheels is achieved, which in turn can lead to the best possible stability and excellent driving characteristics of the industrial truck.

In order to achieve the largest possible coverage of the surroundings of the industrial truck by means of the scanner units in the scanning plane also in a rear area of the industrial truck according to the invention, the wheel arms of the industrial truck can also be arranged completely below the scanning plane. This makes it possible that the corresponding scan areas can extend over the wheel arms and accordingly these wheel arms can be “scanned over”.

As a further measure to ensure that the entire rear area around the industrial truck is covered by the two scanner units, in the case of a horizontally displaceable load part arranged on the vehicle body, a pair of fork arms and a load stop connecting the fork arms can be used to ensure that the fork arms are also arranged completely below the scan plane in a maximum lowered state of the load part. In this way, these forks can also be scanned in their maximally lowered state in the manner just described. Alternatively, however, the industrial truck can also be designed in such a way that when it is ready to drive, the load part is always raised so far that the forks and all other components are located completely above the scan level, so that there is no need to switch off individual areas of the truck scan level to worry about. While this alternative may be structurally somewhat easier to implement, since the very flat design of the forks and possibly the wheel arms can be dispensed with and only a corresponding programming of a control unit has to be carried out, an industrial truck according to the invention equipped in this way may have a somewhat Reduced operating efficiency, since the load part must always be lowered separately before driving into a pallet or the like, since permanent travel with the load part lowered to the maximum is not possible for the reasons just mentioned. In addition, when driving such a truck in warehouses with mixed operation, in which manually steered vehicles are also used, permanently raised load forks pose an increased risk of injury for people located there.

As a further measure to increase the achievable scan angle of the individual scanner units in the embodiment just described, the load stop can have cutouts in its vertical area, which is at the height of the scan plane when the load part is in the maximum lowered state exhibit. Conveniently, these cutouts may correspond to the intended vertical dimensions of the scan plane and protrude widthways into the body of the load part to such an extent that the desired angular coverage is achieved without unduly weakening its structure or unduly complicating the connection of the corresponding forks.

In particular, in this and also in all previously described embodiments, the scanner units can be arranged in such a way that the scanning plane is at a vertical height of approximately 100 mm above the driving surface and/or has a vertical width of +/-25 mm. Here, the value of 100 mm is to be interpreted accordingly as the mean value of the height of the scan plane in its vertical extension and it goes without saying that the concept of the scan plane is not to be understood in the strictly geometric sense as a two-dimensional object, since this plane is at a practical consideration always has a vertical width.

As already mentioned above, the industrial truck can be designed in such a way that the extent of its outline in relation to the width direction is less than 800 mm, which should enable use in logistic facilities with block storage.

• Fig. 1 eine isometrische schräge Vorderansicht eines erfindungsgemäßen autonom geführten Flurförderzeugs; und
• Fig. 2 eine Ansicht des Fahrzeugs aus Fig. 1 in einer Ansicht von unten.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of an embodiment thereof when this viewed together with the accompanying figures. These show in detail:

• 1 an isometric oblique front view of an autonomously guided industrial truck according to the invention; and
• 2 a view of the vehicle 1 in a bottom view.

In 1 First of all, an autonomously guided industrial truck according to the invention is shown in an isometric oblique view from the front and is generally denoted by the reference numeral 10 . The industrial truck 10 includes a vehicle body 12, which includes a base plate 14 and an upper section 16, which accommodates components necessary for operating the industrial truck, for example an energy store, a control unit and the like. Here, a longitudinal direction L and a width direction B are defined by the vehicle body.

As can be seen in particular from the bottom view of 2 can be understood, the vehicle body 12 is also defined in sections in plan view and of course also in the view from below 2 of the industrial truck 10 an outline thereof, wherein in the specific embodiment shown in the figures the outline of the base plate 14 essentially corresponds to that of the upper part 16, which could also be solved differently in other embodiments of the present invention, in that the base plate 14 or the upper part 16 protrudes beyond the other of these two components.

Furthermore, the industrial truck 10, as even better in 2 1, a pair of wheel arms 18a and 18b extending from the vehicle body 12 each have a load wheel 20a and 20b mounted thereon. Since the industrial truck 10 is designed as a five-wheeled vehicle, the figures also show a steered drive wheel 22 that is arranged centrally with respect to the width direction B Way protrudes in order to be able to accomplish the steerability of it. Furthermore, two support wheels 26a and 26b can be seen in the figures as parts of support wheel arrangements 28a and 28b, which are integrated in the front corner regions of the vehicle body 12 and do not extend beyond the base plate 14 in the vertical direction, so that the base plate 14 and the support wheel assemblies 28a and 28b form a common vertical plane at their tops or alternatively the base plate 14 even protrudes beyond the support wheel assemblies 28a and 28b. The support wheels 26a and 26b are at a maximum distance from one another in the width direction B of the industrial truck 10 within the framework of the given external dimensions of the industrial truck 10 in order to enable increased stability or maximum cornering speeds of the industrial truck 10 even when loaded.

In the longitudinal direction L behind the support wheel arrangements 28a and 28b, two scanner units 30a and 30b are also located opposite one another in the width direction B within the outline of the vehicle body 12 in plan view, which can be used both for personal safety and for navigating the industrial truck 10 and which are arranged with respect to the vertical direction such that their scanning plane E lies in the height range between the base plate 14 with the support wheel assemblies 28a and 28b embedded therein on the one hand and the upper part 16 of the vehicle body 12 on the other hand. Although the scanner units 30a and 30b also extend vertically into the area of the base plate 14 or the upper part 16 of the vehicle body 12 due to their design, their scanning plane corresponds exactly to an intermediate area in terms of both their vertical position and their vertical extent 32 between these two components of the vehicle body 12, in which only one frame element 34 tapering forward in the longitudinal direction L is provided for the outer lining of the steered drive wheel 22 and for connecting the base plate 14 and the upper part 16.

This structural measure of arranging the support wheel arrangements 28a, 28b completely below the scan plane E spanned by the scanner units 30a and 30b and only providing the frame element 34 in this vertical section of the vehicle body 12, as in 1 can be clearly seen, it can be achieved that in the longitudinal direction L in front of the vehicle body 12 by the scan areas S1 and S2 of the scanner units 30a and 30b an essentially complete and partially overlapping coverage of the entire angular range of the scan plane E can be achieved .

Similarly, in the rear area of the industrial truck 10 in the longitudinal direction L, measures have also been taken to ensure that the two scan areas S1 and S2 can cover the scanning plane S over the largest possible area, in particular the entire area next to and behind the industrial truck 10 can cover, sometimes even with an overlap between the two scanner units 30a and 30b.

In particular, both the wheel arms 18a and 18b and those also arranged vertically above them and in 1 Fork tines 36a and 36b, shown in a maximally lowered state, of a load part, not shown, are designed so flat with respect to the vertical direction that in 1 The state shown, the scan plane E is completely above these components and thus an over-scanning of them is possible, which thus allows a total of 360 ° coverage of the area around the industrial truck 10 around.

Claims (13)

Autonomously guided industrial truck (10), comprising: - A vehicle body (12) which defines a longitudinal direction (L) and a width direction (B) of the industrial truck (10) and in sections in plan view of the industrial truck (10) an outline thereof; - a pair of wheel arms (18a, 18b) extending from the vehicle body, each having at least one load wheel (20a, 20b); - a pair of supporting or driving wheels (26a, 26b) standing on a running ground below the vehicle body (12) and facing each other with respect to the widthwise direction (B); and - A pair of scanner units (30a, 30b) arranged vertically above the support or drive wheels (26a, 26b), which define a scan plane (E) with their respective scan areas (S1, S2) and are located within the Outline of the vehicle body (12) symmetrically in the width direction (B) of the truck (10) opposite. Autonomously guided industrial truck (109 according to claim 1,
the scanner units (30a, 30b) being arranged behind the support or drive wheels (26a, 26b) with respect to the longitudinal direction (L) of the industrial truck (10). Autonomously guided industrial truck (10) according to one of the preceding claims,
wherein the scanner units (30a, 30b) do not extend beyond the support or drive wheels (26a, 26b) in the width direction (B) of the industrial truck (10). Autonomously guided industrial truck (10) according to one of the preceding claims,
wherein the scanner units (30a, 30b) each have a scanning angle of approximately 270°. Autonomously guided industrial truck (10) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the vehicle body (12) is formed in the vertical area of the scan plane (E) in such a way that the scanner units (30a, 30b) with their respective scan areas (S1 , S2) sweep the entire area around the industrial truck (10) together. Autonomously guided industrial truck (10) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the support or drive wheels (26a, 26b) are designed as support wheels (26a, 26b), and wherein the industrial truck also has a steered drive wheel ( 22), which stands up on the driving surface below the vehicle body (12). Autonomously guided industrial truck (10) according to claim 6,
the support wheels (26a, 26b) being formed as parts of support wheel assemblies (28a, 28b) with respective housings which partially form part of the outline of the vehicle body (12). Autonomously guided industrial truck (10) according to claim 7,
wherein the support wheel assemblies (28a, 28b) are disposed in respective front corner portions on the underside of the vehicle body (12). Autonomously guided industrial truck (10) according to one of the preceding claims,
wherein the wheel arms (18a, 18b) are located entirely below the scan plane (E). Autonomously guided industrial truck (10) according to one of the preceding claims,
further comprising a horizontally displaceable on the vehicle body (12) arranged load part with a pair of forks (36a, 36b) and a load stop connecting the forks (36a, 36b), wherein the fork tines (36a, 36b) are arranged completely below the scanning plane (E) when the load part is in a maximally lowered state. Autonomously guided industrial truck (10) according to claim 10,
wherein the load stop has cutouts at its edges in the width direction (B) in its vertical area, which is at the level of the scan plane (E) when the load part is in the maximum lowered state. Autonomously guided industrial truck (10) according to one of the preceding claims,
wherein the scanner units (30a, 30b) are arranged in such a way that the scanning plane (E) is at a vertical height of approximately 100 mm above the driving surface and/or has a vertical width of +/- 25 mm. Autonomously guided industrial truck (E) according to one of the preceding claims,
the extension of the outline of the industrial truck (10) in relation to the width direction (B) being less than 800 mm.

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