Apparatus for left and right alignment of vehicles in parking installation

The present invention relates to a vehicle left and right alignment device for a parking facility. Provided is a vehicle left and right alignment device for a parking facility which is installed at an entrance of a parking facility to align wheels of an incoming vehicle, the device comprising: a front wheel alignment unit (2, 2′) and a rear wheel alignment unit (3) respectively provided on both sides of a central passage part (11) of a frame (1) installed at the entrance of the parking facility. The rear wheel alignment unit (3) comprises: a plurality of rollers (31) extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body and arranged in the vehicle width direction to be rotatable; and a driving unit (30) for rotating the rollers (31) to adjust and align the position of a rear wheel of the vehicle positioned on the rollers (31). The present invention solves conventional problems in which durability is decreased due to occurrence of uneven wear caused by uneven loads applied to a moving means or the body of a vehicle is damaged as a vehicle is moved by a moving means in a non-aligned state. As such, the present invention has an effect of safely performing vehicle transfer by means of a moving means and an effect of reducing manufacturing costs by simplifying a structure.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to an improved vehicle left-right alignment apparatus in parking facility, adapted to lift the vehicles more safely by arms mounted on a conveyance truck at the entrance of parking facility, in which a vehicle coming through path of parking facility is conveyed to the parking area in a lifted-up status by arms mounted on a conveyance truck.

BACKGROUND ART

Lately, as the car users are increased and the land for the parking lot is insufficient to the contrary, the construction of parking buildings have been consistently increased for the efficient use of land and the introduction of automatic parking facilities using parking robots are also increased in the parking-dedicated buildings as well as in the existing building too.

As an example of such a parking robot, Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 1994-0000712 (published Jan. 18, 1994) discloses a vehicle conveying device of a multi-level parking facility, in which a vehicle is lifted by a swing arm attached in an auxiliary carrier and conveyed.

As an another example, the Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1393610 (registered May 2, 2014) discloses a transfer device, in which an vehicle transport apparatus in a parking system, equipped with a pair of pallets, to move a vehicle while lifting the wheels by the rotatable arms mounted on both sides of the main frame.

When such a vehicle conveying device moves to the center of the passage, the arms are rotated at right angle to the wheels of the vehicle in a horizontal storage position on the main frame, then the vehicle is conveyed to the parking location by the conveyance device while lifting the wheels.

However, if the vehicle entering the parking facility is not properly aligned, the arms may not be arranged at right angle to the wheels on both sides of the vehicle, thereby can damage the wheels, or the body of the vehicle as the arm contacted the body. As a result, an accident may occur unintentionally as the vehicle is not conveyed in a stable status.

In order to solve such a problem, Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-0057583 (published on Jul. 7, 2003) discloses a parking facility having a wheel alignment, and Korean Registered Utility Model No. 20-0184354 (Date Mar. 22, 2000) discloses the left-right alignment apparatus for a vehicle in a parking facility.

Such a conventional vehicle alignment apparatus is complicated in structure, and also, there is a problem that the vehicle entering the parking facility may be damaged in moving the vehicle for alignment.

Particularly, the vehicle alignment apparatus disclosed in Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-0184354 (registered on Mar. 22, 2000), as the vehicle (T) enters between the left and right set to park, it becomes possible to flow left and right by idling rollers and, at this time, there is a problem that the vehicle or the wheels may be damaged in the structure in which the wheels of the vehicle are aligned in the center by the left and right guiders advancing proportionally in the left and right.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Object of the Invention

The purpose of the invention is to provide an improved vehicle left-right alignment apparatus in parking facility, in which to solve the technical problems of the conventional apparatus, an arrangement is made for the vehicle that entered the parking facility and conveyed to the parking area in a lifted-up status is to be loaded evenly on both sides by adjusting and making displacement the position of the front and the rear wheels alignment unit in the width direction in a preset range and, as a result, the vehicle is able to be parked properly.

According to the invention, there is provided a vehicle left-right alignment apparatus in parking facility installed at an entrance of a parking facility to align the wheels of the incoming vehicle, comprising:

a front wheel alignment unit and a rear wheel alignment unit provided on both sides of the passage part at the center of the frame installed in the entry part of the parking facility; the rear wheel alignment unit including a plurality of rollers extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body and arranged to be rotatable in the vehicle width direction, and a drive for rotating the rollers so as to adjust and align the position of the rear wheel of the vehicle located above the rollers.

The driving unit includes a gear provided at one end of each of the plurality of rollers; a driving gear provided on an output shaft of the driving motor rotatable to in forward and reverse directions; a plurality of transmission gears to transmit the rotational force of the driving gear to the gear; and an above driving unit, the gears of the rollers and the transmission gears arranged to rotate the rollers together in the same direction.

Two of a plurality of transmission gears are directly engaged to the driving gear to rotate the roller gears, and each of the remaining transmission gears is arranged between the roller gears arranged in both side from the upper side of the driving gear to rotate adjacent gears.

The front wheel alignment unit may include a circular rotary plate that enables the positions of the front wheels on both sides of the vehicle outside the preset range are adjusted to be located within the set range; a driving motor to rotate the rotary plate in rotation and reverse rotation; and the rotary plates in the front wheel alignment units on both sides may be composed to rotate in the same direction at the same time.

And also, the rotating plate is rotatably supported by a support plate, and on the support plate, the rotation support device is provided at a plurality of places in a circle around the outer frame to support the bottom of the rotating plate.

The rotation support device may be composed of the balls arranged for freely rolling motion possible in a fixed case embedded in the support plate.

When the wheels of the vehicle are positioned on the rotating plate, there may be provided an intermediate support means disposed at a plurality of locations on the support plate in an annular shape radially inward of the rotation support device so as to prevent the intermediate part of the rotation plate from sagging due to the vehicle weight can contain more.

The intermediate support means may be composed of a slide member fixed to the rotation support plate with a pin so that the bottom surface of the rotation support plate is rotated while being slid against the support plate.

Alternatively, the above front wheel alignment part may be composed and arranged in the opposite direction with the same structure as the rear wheel alignment part in the configuration of including the rollers provided with the gears, the drive motors provided with drive gears, and the transmission gears.

Effects of the Invention

According to the invention, vehicle left-right alignment apparatus in parking facility includes the effects that the vehicle can be safely conveyed by the conveyance device and reduce the manufacturing cost by simplifying the structure, to act the load of the vehicle uniformly to the conveyance device, when moving the incoming vehicle by displacing the front wheels and the rear wheels on both sides of the vehicle entering the parking facility in the width direction of the frame, and by solving the problem of the vehicle body is damaged due to the vehicle being conveyed by the conventional conveying device in an unaligned state or low durability occurred by uneven wear due to uneven load.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, a vehicle left-right aligning apparatus of the invention will be more particularly described in consideration of the accompanying drawings which shows the embodiments.

Referring toFIGS. 1 to 5, according to this invention, a vehicle left-right aligning apparatus includes a frame1installed at an entrance of a parking facility, and a front wheel aligning unit2and a rear wheel aligning unit3.

In the central part of the frame1, for example, a passage path11for the conveying device to enter the lower side of the vehicle and lift the vehicle by a conveyance device to convey to the parking area is formed.

When the front wheel of the vehicle is deviated from the set range, the front wheel alignment unit2provided on both sides of the frame1shall be adjusted to the front wheel position on both sides of the vehicle to be positioned within the preset range.

For this purpose, the front wheel alignment unit2includes:

a support plate21mounted on the frame to support the front wheels;

a circular rotating plate22rotatably supported on the support plate21;

a driving motor23for rotating the rotary plate22in forward and reverse directions; and

a rotation support means25mounted on the support plate,

wherein the rotation support means25provided in a circle, at a plurality of places around the outer border supports the bottom surface of the rotary plate22.

And the rotation support means may be composed of the balls252arranged for freely rollable in a fixed case embedded in the support plate.

Besides, when the wheel is positioned on the rotary plate22, in order to prevent the middle part of the rotary plate22from sagging due to the vehicle weight, intermediate supporting means27may be disposed in plural places inwardly to the radial direction at annular shape may be provided on the rotation support means25.

The intermediate supporting means27comprises a slide member212, fixed to the support plate21by a pin211, the bottom surface of the rotating plate22is rotate against the support plate21, while being slid on the slide member212.

At the end of the output shaft231of the driving motor23, a bushing type fixture234, in which a flange232is formed, is fixed to a fastening hole235such as a bolt and the flange232is fixed to the rotary plate22by a fastener237such as a bolt. The driving motor may be composed by a step motor.

In the front wheel alignment units22on both sides, the rotary plates22are simultaneously rotated in the same direction and the position of the front wheel of the vehicle, which is disposed on the rotary plate22and deviated from a preset range, is changed to a preset range.

Generally, when the vehicle is stopped and turned off the engine, as the steering wheel is locked, and the rotary plate22in which the front wheels of the vehicle disposed rotates simultaneously, and the angle of the front side of the vehicle is changed to inside or outside on the frame, and at the same time, the rear wheel parts of the vehicle is also changed in the vehicle width direction as described later, the position of the vehicle is aligned within a preset range.

Such a change of the rear part of the vehicle body, in other words, change the position of the rear wheel is performed in the rear wheel alignment unit3, and, to do this, the rear wheel alignment unit3, provided on both sides of the frame1, is extended in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and include the plurality of rollers31arranged in the vehicle width direction and a driving unit for rotating the rollers31.

The rollers31are supported rotatablely for both ends in the fixing parts321installed at preset distance in the width direction of the frame1, and one end of each rollers are extended through the fixing portion321and gears36are mounted at the above extended, and the rollers31are rotated by rotating the gear36provided at one end of the rollers31through a plurality of transmission gears352which is engaged with the driving gear351provided on the output shaft of the forward and reverse rotatable driving motor35,

Two among the multiple transmission gears352rotate the gear36of the roller31which are directly engaged with the driving gear351, and each of the remaining transmission gears352disposed between the gears36of the rollers31causes adjacent gears36to rotate, by doing this, the rollers31are rotated together in the same direction to displace the rear wheels together in the width direction of the vehicle.

Thus, when the driving gear351provided on the output shaft of the driving motor35rotates clockwise, two transmission gears352engaged with the driving gear352on both sides are rotated counterclockwise, and the gears36provided at one end of the roller31engaged with the transmission gears352rotate in the clockwise direction.

On the contrary, when the driving motor35rotates counterclockwise and the driving gear351of the output shaft rotates counterclockwise, the transmission gears352rotate in the clockwise direction, and the rollers31rotate together with the gears36in the counterclockwise direction.

The arrangement of the rollers31provided with the gear36of the rear wheel alignment unit3, and the drive motor35provided with the driving gear351and the transmission gear352provided with the drive gear351are additionally in opposite as shown inFIG. 1, and this is because there may be differences in the distance between the front wheel and the rear wheel depending on the vehicle body length and type of vehicle.

The drive motor, the transmission gear and the rollers of the rear wheel alignment unit3′, which are additionally provided as described above, are disposed and operated in the reverse direction to the rear wheel alignment unit3.

Thus, as the rollers31are rotated in the forward and reverse directions in accordance with the forward and reverse rotations of the driving motor35, the rear wheel of the vehicle disposed thereon is moved in the vehicle width direction.

Although not shown in the drawing, positioning sensors for sensing the position of the vehicle are provided to the front and rear wheels of the vehicle, and the driving motor23of the front wheel alignment unit2and the driving motor35of the rear wheel alignment unit3are independently controlled by a control unit not shown according to the signals from the position sensors,

For instance, inFIG. 6, the vehicle misaligned upwards is in position (A), as the rotation plate22of the front wheel alignment unit2rotates clockwise and the rollers31of the rear wheel alignment unit3are also rotated in the clockwise direction samely, the vehicle moves to position (B) and aligned.

As a result, the vehicle is provided with front and rear wheels on both sides arranged evenly on both sides of the passage path11in a preset range so that the forwarding vehicle's load which has entered at the entrance path11is balanced on both side when the conveyance device lifts the vehicle.

InFIG. 7, a modified embodiment of the front wheel alignment unit2is shown. In the modified embodiment, instead of changing the position of the front wheel by rotating the circular rotary plate22rotatably supported on the support plate21by the drive motor23, the front wheel alignment unit2′ can be arranged as the same structure as the rear wheel alignment unit3′ that includes the rollers31provided with the gear36, the driving motor35provided with the driving gear351and transmission gears352in the same arrangement with the rear wheel alignment unit3.

Accordingly, as the front and rear wheels are driven by rollers rotated in the vehicle width direction to a vehicle which has entered the wrong position at the entrance of the parking facility conveying the vehicle to the correct position in the vehicle width direction by the rollers, can move the vehicle safely to the correct parking position when the vehicle is lifted by the conveyance device which enters the passage path11formed at the center portion of the frame1.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

This invention can be used to align the front and rear wheels of a vehicle transported by the conveying device.