Vehicle parking carriages

A vehicle transporting arrangement for transporting a vehicle in a parking building automatically from a drive-in module to a parking space (27), wherein the arrangement includes a first carriage (1), a so-called transfer carriage, which can be moved on and between different parking floors or storeys of the parking building and which includes a second carriage (2) and a third carriage (3), each of which includes lifting devices (4, 5, 6, 7) for lifting and supporting a pair of vehicle wheels, the second and third carriages being positioned sequentially in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the first carriage on a parking floor and being movable in relation to the first carriage at right angles to its direction of movement on a parking floor. According to the invention, at least one of the second and the third carriages (2, 3) includes drive wheels (10) and drive elements for moving the carriage in relation to the first carriage (1).

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a vehicle transporting arrangement in a 
parking building for transporting automatically a vehicle from a drive-in 
module to a parking place, said transport arrangement including a first 
carriage which can be moved on and between different parking floors or 
storeys in the building and which carries a second and a third carriage, 
wherein each of said carriages includes lifting means for lifting and 
supporting a vehicle wheel-pair and said carriages being positioned 
sequentially in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of 
the first carriage on a parking floor and being movable relative to the 
first carriage in a direction perpendicular to its direction of movement 
on a parking floor. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Vehicle transport arrangements of this kind are known from SE-B-459 110, 
SE-B-463 219 and SE-B-465 585 and function relatively well. However, it 
has been found difficult to satisfactorily resolve the problem of moving 
the vehicle supporting carriages relative to the transfer carriage which 
carries these carriages as they are transported from and to a respective 
drive-in module and drive-out module to and from a location opposite a 
parking space and into and out of a parking space respectively. One cause 
which contributes to these difficulties is that the distance through which 
the vehicle, and therewith the vehicle-carrying carriages, shall be moved 
coincides essentially with the extension of the transfer carriage in the 
direction of vehicle movement and is therewith long in relation to the 
space at the disposal of the vehicle moving devices. The transport 
arrangement described in SE-B-463 219 uses linear gearing which includes 
two rods that can be moved relative to one another and which are driven by 
a relatively complicated chain mechanism, said gearing taking-up a 
relatively small amount of space when the rods are retracted. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The primary object of the present invention is to solve the problem of 
moving the vehicle-carrying carriages relative to the transfer carriage to 
and from a parking space, without using telescopic devices of one kind or 
another and without requiring a large amount of space to accommodate the 
vehicle moving arrangement. 
This object is achieved in accordance with the invention by means of a 
vehicle transporting arrangement of the kind defined in the introduction 
which is characterized in that at least one of the second and the third 
carriages includes drive wheels and drive means for moving the carriage in 
relation to the first carriage. 
According to one preferred embodiment, only one of the second and the third 
carriages is equipped with drive wheels and drive means and the second and 
third carriages are joined together by means of a variable length 
connection. The second or the third carriage is belt-driven and the belts 
of said second and third carriages run on rails mounted on the first 
carriage and also at each parking space, and the second and third 
carriages are provided a mutually remote ends thereof with brushes which 
brush the rails clean as respective carriages move therealong. Each belt 
of the second and the third carriages has provided centrally on its inner 
surface a longitudinally extending rib which engages a respective groove 
provided on each wheel of the second and the third carriages, thereby to 
prevent the belts sliding sideways on the wheels and ensuring that the 
second and the third carriages will move in a straight line. 
In order to ensure that a vehicle will always be moved into a correct 
vehicle depositing position in a parking space, the parking space is 
equipped with position sensors which disclose when the second and the 
third carriages, and therewith also a vehicle carried thereby, are located 
in a vehicle parking position in a parking space. The first carriage is 
also equipped with position sensors which disclose when the second and the 
third carriages, and therewith a vehicle carried thereby, are located in a 
transport position on the first carriage, wherein the arrangement also 
includes first-carriage control means which are constructed to move the 
first carriage only when the second and the third carriages are located in 
the transport position. This eliminates functional errors due to 
inexactitudes when driving the carriages, for instance due to the belts 
slipping in relation to drive wheels or supportive surfaces, these 
inexactitudes being liable to accumulate with time also to result in an 
operational breakdown, such breakdowns also being liable to damage a 
deposited vehicle. 
The safety of a vehicle that has been deposited or parked can be further 
enhanced by providing at least one of the carriages with a device which 
will detect when a parking space is already occupied, said device 
advantageously having the form of a Doppler radar.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
FIG. 1 illustrates vary schematically a vehicle transporting arrangement 
which is intended for use in a vehicle parking building of the same type 
as those described in the aforementioned Swedish published specifications. 
The transport arrangement includes a first carriage 1, a so-called 
transfer carriage, and two further carriages, i.e. a second carriage 2 and 
a third carriage 3 which are movably carried on the transfer carriage 1. 
The transfer carriage 1 can be moved horizontally on rails on respective 
parking floors, or storeys, in the parking building and can be moved 
between floors with aid of hoist arrangements, lifts or elevators. The 
carriages 2 and 3 are fitted with opposing pairs of lifting blocks 4, 5 
and 6, 7 respectively, which can be turned from an inward position, shown 
with regard to carriage 2 in FIG. 1, to an outward position shown with 
regard to carriage 3 in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 shows the left lifting block of the 
pair of lifting blocks 7 in an outwardly turned position, and the right 
lifting block in an inwardly turned position. The pairs of lifting blocks 
are conveniently operated with the aid of hydraulic piston-cylinder 
devices or the like not shown. 
FIG. 2 is a side view of the carriage 3. The carriage is belt-driven and 
includes drive belts 8, 9 which run round wheel-pairs 10, 11, of which the 
wheels of the wheel pairs 10, 11 that coact with the belt 9 are shown in 
FIG. 2. The belts 8, 9 may be made of reinforced polyurethane, for 
instance. The wheel pair 10 is driven by means of a motor (not shown), for 
instance a hydraulic motor or an electric motor mounted on the carriage 3, 
wherein the output shaft of the motor drives the wheels of said wheel-pair 
via an appropriate transmission, in a conventional manner. Each of the 
wheels may alternatively be driven by its own individual motor. The 
carriage 2 also includes belts 12, 13, which run round freely-rotating 
wheels of the wheel-pair 14, 15. The belts 8, 9 of the carriage 3 and the 
belts 12, 13 of the carriage 2 run on glide rails 16, 17 fitted along the 
full length of the transfer carriage 1. Each belt has provided on its 
inner surface a longitudinally extending rib 18 which runs in a groove or 
channel formed in the wheels of each wheel-pair. This prevents the belts 
from moving sideways in relation to the wheels. Each carriage 2, 3 also 
includes a belt tensioning device which may be of any suitable kind and of 
which the belt-tensioning device 19 that acts on the outermost non-driving 
wheel-pair 11 of the carriage 3 is shown in FIG. 2. 
The carriage 2 of the illustrated embodiment does not include a pair if 
driving wheels, but is instead connected to the carriage 3 by means of a 
fixed connection of variable length, for instance a hydraulic 
piston-cylinder device which is fixedly mounted on the carriage 2 and the 
piston rod 20 of which is firmly attached to the carriage 3. 
The transfer carriage 1 is intended to move a vehicle carried by the 
carriages 2 and 3 from a drive-in module to an empty parking space on one 
of the floors of the parking building and from a parking space to a 
drive-out module respectively. To this end, the carriage 1 is equipped 
with wheels 21-24 of which at least both wheels of one wheel-pair are 
driven by means of drive means (not shown) provided on the carriage 1. The 
wheels 21-24 run on rails 25, 26 on each floor, these rails extending at 
right angles to two rows of parking places ;27, as illustrated 
schematically in FIG. 4. 
A vehicle is parked in the parking building principally in the same as in 
the parking building described in SE-B-459 110 and SE-B-465 585, and the 
parking procedure in this regard will not therefore be described in detail 
in this document. Thus, when parking a vehicle in the parking building, a 
vehicle is driven into a drive-in module by the driver of the vehicle, who 
then leaves the module. Unless already done, the carriages 2 and 3 are 
then moved from the transfer carriage into the drive-in module, so that 
the pair of lifting blocks of one carriage will be located opposite the 
front wheels of the vehicle, whereafter the blocks of this pair are moved 
from an inwardly turned position to an outwardly turned position and 
therewith lift and support the front wheels of the vehicle. The second 
carriage is the moved relatively to the first carriage, and therewith 
relative to the vehicle by means of the hydraulic piston-cylinder device 
that connects the carriages 2 and 3 together. During this movement, those 
lifting blocks of the lifting-block pair of this carriage that are located 
nearest the front wheels of the vehicle are turned outwardly and movement 
is interrupted as these lifting blocks engage the rear wheels of the 
vehicle, whereafter the inwardly turned lifting blocks of these 
lifting-block pairs are turned outwards so that the vehicle rear wheels 
will be lifted and supported by the second carriage. The carriages 2 and 3 
are then returned to the transfer carriage 1 which transports the vehicle 
to its intended parking space in the building. All movements of the 
transport devices are controlled automatically by means of a computer. 
In the FIG. 4 illustration, the transfer carriage has been stopped in front 
of an empty parking space 27 in the building and the carriages 2 and 3 
have been driven into the parking space on rails 29, 30 provided at each 
parking space, by activating the drive means of the carriage 3. Each 
parking space 27 includes position sensors 28 which function to ensure 
that the vehicle is correctly positioned in the parking space, i.e. that 
the whole of the vehicle is accommodated in the space and that no part of 
the vehicle protrudes so as to prevent subsequent movement of the transfer 
carriage, or to prevent the vehicle from being driven too far into the 
space and therewith damage the front of the vehicle. The sensors thus 
detect when the vehicle has been driven to the intended parking position. 
These position sensors may have the form of inductive sensors mounted on 
the carriage 2 and magnets mounted in the rails 29, 30 in the parking 
space. Naturally, other types of suitable position sensors may be used. 
For instance, photocells may be provided for detecting the position of the 
vehicle or the position of the front carriage as seen in the direction of 
vehicle movement. When the parking building includes parking spaces of 
mutually different lengths which are intended to accommodate vehicles of 
different lengths, the parking spaces may conveniently also be provided 
with detectors which detect when the rear end of the vehicle has passed 
the entrance to the parking space. The signal from the position sensor 28 
will thus cause driving of the carriage 3 to stop and the pairs of lifting 
blocks of the carriages 2 and 3 to be moved inwards, whereafter the 
carriages 2 and 3 are backed onto the transfer carriage 1 with the lifting 
blocks in their inwardly turned or swung positions. 
In addition to ensuring that the vehicle will not be damaged when 
depositing the vehicle in a parking space or when leaving the vehicle, the 
position sensors also ensure that no possible inexactitudes in driving the 
carriage 3 will be accumulated so that the relative positions of the 
carriages 2 and 3 and the transfer carriage 1 with respect to time become 
indefinite, i.e. such inexactitudes in which the distance moved by the 
carriage 3 does not coincide exactly with the rotational movement of the 
periphery of the drive wheels, for instance due to slipping between belt 
and wheel or belt and rails. In order to ensure that the carriage 3 will 
always be located in precisely the same position on the transfer carriage 
1, it may be suitable to provide similar position sensors which sense the 
relative position of the carriages when the carriages 2 and 3 are placed 
on the transfer carriage 1, particularly when the position sensors 28 are 
intended to directly detect the position of the vehicle and not the 
position of the front parts of the carriages 2 and 3. It is pointed out in 
this regard that even when the position sensors 28 include coacting 
devices on the front carriage and in the parking space, it is necessary to 
provide both carriages 2 and 3 with such devices, since these carriages 
are driven in either one or the other direction, depending on in which of 
the parking spaces 27 located on either side of the transfer carriage 1 
the vehicle carried by the carriages 2 and 3 is to be parked. 
Each of the carriages 2 and 3 is also provided with brushes 31 at their 
mutually distal ends. These brushes function to brush clean the rails on 
the carriage and parking spaces in front of the carriage belts. 
According to one advantageous variant of the invention, either the carriage 
1 or the carriages 2 and 3 is/are provided with means for detecting 
whether or not a parking space is empty. This will doubly assure that a 
vehicle carried by the carriages 2 and 3 will not be driven into an 
occupied parking space should the automatic control of the transfer 
carriage fail for some reason or other, such that the carriage is stopped 
in front of an occupied parking space. For instance, a Doppler radar 32 
may be fitted to the carriages 2 and 3 as shown in FIG. 1. 
A parked vehicle is collected from a parking space and transported to a 
drive-out module in a corresponding manner. 
It will be understood that the illustrated and described embodiment can be 
modified within the scope of the invention. For instance, the carriage 2 
may be provided with drive means for one or more pairs of wheels, in which 
case the hydraulic piston-cylinder device connecting the carriages 2 and 3 
can be omitted. All wheels of the carriages may be driven and the 
carriages may be driven on conventional wheels instead of belts. The 
carriage wheels coacting wit the belts may have double flanges which 
prevent the belts from moving sideways in relation to the wheels, instead 
of or supplementary to the grooves coacting with ribs on the belts. The 
invention is therefore limited solely by the content of the following 
claims.