Patent ID: 6032110
Filing Date: 2000-02-29
Classification: G01B,G05D

Abstract:
A lateral position detecting apparatus for detecting a lateral position of a moving body, comprising:alternating current magnetic field transmitting devices installed on a surface of a running path of the moving body at a lateral center line of a running lane of the running path at predetermined intervals in a longitudinal direction;driving means for driving one of the alternating current magnetic field transmitting devices so that the alternating current magnetic field transmitting device transmits an alternating current magnetic field;alternating current magnetic field receiving means installed on a lower portion of the moving body for sequentially receiving the alternating current magnetic fields transmitted by the alternating current magnetic field transmitting devices while the moving body is moving; andlateral position detecting means provided on the moving body for detecting a lateral position of the moving body based on the alternating current magnetic fields sequentially received by the alternating current magnetic field receiving means,wherein:the alternating current magnetic field transmitting devices are each a magnetic field transmitting coil having an axis oriented in a vertical direction against the running path;the driving means each includes oscillation means driven by electric power supplied by a power supply into oscillation and a driving circuit driven by the oscillation for driving one of the magnetic field transmitting coils associated with the driving means so that the magnetic field transmitting coil transmits an alternating current magnetic field;the alternating current magnetic field receiving means includes a pair of magnetic field receiving coils installed on the lower portion of the moving body at positions symmetrical with respect to a lateral center line of the moving body for receiving the alternating current magnetic fields transmitted by the transmitting coils while the moving body is moving;the lateral position detecting means includes voltage detecting means for detecting the alternating current magnetic fields received by the magnetic field receiving coils as detection voltages, and distance determining means for determining a distance from the lateral center line of the moving body to the axis of the magnetic field transmitting coil from the detection voltages by using data representing relations among the distance, one of the detection voltages and a ratio of the another of the detection voltages to the one of the detection voltages; andthe distance determined by the distance determining means is used as a basis for detecting the lateral position of the moving body.