A MULTI-STORIED PARKING APPARATUS

Abstract: A parking apparatus includes a multi-storied building having at least one parking position (101, 102, 103 or 104) on each of its stories, and a transporting device (105) having a central portion and four primary sides each of which is capable of adjoining thereto the parking position (101, 102, 103 or 104), and is capable of vertically moving a car to any one of the stories of the building and of conveying the car between the central portion (105) and the parking position (101, 102, 103 or 104).

Description: The present invention relates to a parking apparatus, and more particularly to a multi-storey parking apparatus according to the pre-characterizing part of claim 1. As the number of cars rapidly increases, it is more and more difficult to find a parking place in urban areas during office hours. A common prior art with respect to a parking apparatus is a multi-storey building made of two opposite halves, each composed of numerous parking divisions with the space between the halves mounted with a car-carrying means capable of reaching any parking division at any storey of the building. Although such a parking apparatus solves some problems encountered by prior apparatus, it still has the following disadvantages: 1) the middle longitudinal space mounting the car-carrying means is relatively large and wastes space; 2) the whole car-carrying means structure itself is extremely large; 3) the time used for the car-carrying means to park or retrieve a car is rather long; and 4) because of its large size, the car-carrying means is very power consuming. Efforts were made to construct parking apparatuses overcoming at least some of these drawbacks. For instance, FR-A-1 585 920 shows a parking system consisting of a plurality of parking levels, said parking levels being accessible by means of an elevator. Conveying belts are provided for moving the car perpendicular to its longitudinal axis from the elevator into a parking position and vice versa. However, according to FR-A-1 585 520 the distance between the conveying belts for moving the car from the elevator into the parking position depends on the distance between the front pair and the rear pair of the wheels of the car. This, as the conveying belts always convey a car perpendicular to its longitudinal axis, so that for a correct conveying operation the two paral-lel conveying belts and the front and rear pair, respectively, of the car to be conveyed substantially must be in register. Otherwise, as for example in case of an inadvertent misadjustment of the car relative to the conveying belts or in case of an inadvertent selection of a wrong compartment (too long or - the worst case - too short for the car) the danger of damage or crash appears. EP-A-0 232 725 shows a storage system for containers, cargo carriers or cars. Platforms are provided for carrying a cargo carrier or a car and conveying means are provided for moving the platforms in X- and Y-direction. Therefore, in addition to weight and mass of the car, weight and mass of the platform must be manipulated, so that the driving means for the conveying means must have the respective driving forces and are therefore bulky and expensive. In addition thereto, inertia of the car plus platform is substantially higher than of a car alone so that the means for decelerating the conveying means (e. g. brakes), the means for accelerating the conveying means (e. g. motors, gears, shafts), the conveying means itself and finally the means for securing car plus platform in the parking position must also have the respective dimensions and strength, respectively, this also leading to bulkiness and high costs. US-A-4 039 089 shows a parking apparatus with a plurality of parking levels, said parking levels being accessible by one or more elevators. Each elevator carries conveyor means for lengthwise pushing or retrieving a car into or out of a parking position, respectively. DE-A-1 951 724, from which the present invention starts from, shows a kind of storing or parking apparatus for storing containers or parking cars. The cars to be parked are to be placed on a platform and said platform then is moved from a central elevator to adjacent parking positions. This movement is accomplished by a kind of conveyor belt and during movement the platforms are supported by rollers or the like being embedded in the ground level or floor in each storey of the parking apparatus. Means are provided in the platform for securing a front wheel of the car standing on the platform so that upon movement of the platform by means of the elevator and the conveyor belt the car cannot make any random movements. The means for securing a front wheel of the car is substantially composed of a recess in the surface of the platform, said recess containing a plate for positively locking the wheel of the car. The plate can be shifted in axial direction of the platform in order to have an adaption to different car sizes in such a way that parts of the car never protrude from the circumferential rim of the platform. From the subject matter of the generic DE-A-1 951 724 again several drawbacks arise: With the storing apparatus of DE-A-1 951 724 the cars must first be arranged on the platforms before they are stowed away or parked. In other words, not the cars alone are moved, but always a car plus its related platform has to be moved by the conveyor belts. This leads to the drawback of burkiness as mentioned with respect to EP-A-0 232 725. For, in addition to weight and mass of a car, weight and mass of the platform must be manipulated so that the driving means for the conveyor belts and for the elevators must have the respective driving forces and are therefore bulky and expensive. In addition thereto, inertia of the car plus platform is substantially higher than of a car alone so that the means for decelerating the conveyor belts (brakes or the like), the means for accelerating the conveyor belts (motors, gears, shafts and the like), the conveyor belts itself and finally the means for securing car plus platform in the parking position must also have the respective dimensions and strength, respectively, this also leading to bulkyness and high costs. Furthermore, only one front wheel of the car is secured on the surface of the platform. For adjusting these securing means to the respective size of the car by hand, much time is necessary in order to position the car in a trial-and-error-way until the adjustment is such that no portion of the car protrudes from the circumferential rim of the platform. In view of these drawbacks it is a primary object of the present invention to have a parking apparatus being capable of parking or stowing away, respectively, a car in a quick and safe manner without the necessity of manipulations to be carried out in addition to the mere conveying operation of the car. The solution of this object is achieved by what is claimed in claim 1. According to the invention, a pair of front and rear wheel-pushers is allotted to an elevator which is movable up and down for accessing the several storeys in the parking apparatus for urging against a front and a rear pair of the four wheels of a car to respectively push said car more toward rear and front sides, respectively, of a central portion of the elevator such that said car is centrally positioned on said elevator. Said pair of front and rear wheel-pushers is furthermore for clamping therebetween the four wheels of said car when said elevator is moving and for releasing said car, when conveying means convey said car from said central portion to a parking position. By means of the wheel-pushers it is therefore possible to clamp and hold all four wheels of the car with utmost security so that upon movement of the elevator a car by no means can carry out random movements endangering the security. As the wheel-pushers are furthermore capable of adjusting the relative position of the car on the elevator such that no portions of the car protrude from the circumferential rim of the elevator, security of the whole parking apparatus is still more increased and this being possible without additional manipulations or operations, e.g. by hand. According to the present invention no platforms for carrying the cars are necessary so that conveying of the car is carried out with high velocity as weight and mass of the platform do not have to be transported. Advantageous modifications of the present invention are subject matter of the subclaims. The following is a more detailed description of the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic view showing an integral parking unit of a multi-storey parking apparatus according to the present invention; Fig. 2 shows how to combine Figs. 2A and 2B in order to arrive at a sectional view taken along line D-D in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line B-B in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing a connector mounted, a transporting means and a parking position of the parking apparatus shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a structural view showing the pivoting portion of the connector shown in Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along line C-C in Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a plan view showing the wheel-pusher of the transporting means of the parking apparatus shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 7A is a sectional view taken along line A-A' in Fig. 7; Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing a conveying belt used in the parking apparatus shown in Fig. 1 in the longitudinal direction of a car; Fig. 9 is a simplified schematic view showing an integral parking unit of the parking apparatus shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 10 is a schematic view showing the disposition of parking units in a storey in the multi-storey parking apparatus shown in Fig. 1; and Figs. 11A through 110 are schematic views showing all possible combinations of a parking unit in the multi-storey parking apparatus shown in Fig. 1. As shown in Figs. 1, 10 and 11A, an integral parking unit of the multi-storey parking apparatus according to the present invention includes four coplanar side parking positions 101, 102, 103 and 104 in the multi-storey building and a central transporting means 105 capable of being commonly used for all parking positions in each storey of the building adjoining four primary sides of transporting means 105 when elevated to the respective storey. Figs. 11B through 110 show all possible combinations between transporting means 105 and parking positions 101-104 when the parking space is spatially limited somehow or other. As shown in Fig. 10, a regular disposition of the parking positions and the transporting means in each storey of the multi-storey building of the parking apparatus according to the present invention includes a relatively large number of integral parking units as shown in Fig. 11A and a relatively small number of partial parking units as shown in some of Figs. IIB through 110. Refering now to Figs. 1-7, each portion (101-105) of the integral parking unit is constructed by the floor 200 and the structural steel beams 201-204. The parking positions 101-104 are respectively provided with four pairs of synchronous conveying belts 101a-104a respectively driven by four driving assemblies 101a'-104a' respectively mounted on the respective floor 200. Transporting means 105 defining therein a central portion includes four pairs of conveying belts 105a-105d being respectively flush with the respective conveying belts 101a-104a and respectively driven by the driving assemblies 105a'-105d' mounted on the floor 200 of the transporting means 105. The driving assemblies 101a'-104a' and 105a'-105d' respectively synchronously drive the pairs of the conveying belts 101a-104a and 105a-105d by motors. The transporting means 105 further includes a pair of front and rear wheel-pushers 105e each of which, as shown in Figs.7 and 7A, includes a front rod 1, a pair of pushing elements 3 respectively hinged to the two ends of the front rod 1 by a pair of hinges 2, a nut 4, two connecting rods 5 respectively connected between the nut 4 and the pushing elements 3, an engaging pipe 6 perpendicular to the front rod 1, a guide rod 6a connected to the nut 4 and slidable in engaging pipe 6, a threaded shaft 7 engaging with nut 4, and a gear 8 secured to the shaft 7 so that when the gear 8 is driven, the nut 4 made irrotatable by the guide rod 6a will slide along the shaft 7. When the nut 4 is slid rightwards, the connecting rods 5 at the first stage urge the pushing elements 3 to reach the dotted positions (I). If the nut 4 is further slid rightwards, it will force the front rod 1, the pushing elements 3 and the engaging pipe 6 to reach the ultimate position (II). Each of the pushing element 3 includes a floor-contacting roller 9a assistantly supporting the respective pushing element 3 on the front rod 1, and two rotatable rollers 9 rotating in one direction when a car wheel W is pushed thereby to rotate in the opposite direction. Two pairs of connectors 301, 302 are respectively mounted between the transporting means 105 and the right and left parking positions 101, 103. Each connector 301, as shown in Figs. 3-6, includes several rotatable rollers 301a flush with conveying belts 105c, 101a, a pair of pivotable side mounting plates 301b secured to a shaft 311 driven by a transmitting shaft 312, which fixes thereto a gear 313 driven by a motor to collapse the side plates 301b between a solid position and a dotted position, as shown in Fig. 4, and a pair of fixed side mounting plates 301d. As shown in Fig. 8, each of the conveying belts 104a, 105a, 105b, 105d, 102a moving in the direction of arrow EE' includes two chains 10 mounting thereon a pluralily of longitudinally grooved plates 11 having longitudinal sides 11a capable of positively carrying a car wheel 12 prevented from running thereon easily. Each of the conveying belts 101a, 105c, 103a moving in the direction perpendicular to the arrow EE' direction can also be made by chains 10 and plates 11 or by a flat belt of hard rubber material. As it has been notoriously known in the relevant art, the present multi-storey parking apparatus can easily be computerized. A computerized operating procedure thereof will be described with reference to Fig. 9. If it is desired to park a car in the present parking apparatus, the person in charge first selects an unoccupied parking position from the display and lowers the respective transporting means 105 to the ground floor. Assuming parking position 101 is selected, the car is driven along the direction of arrow F into the respective transporting means 105 with the hand-brake released. A measuring device 106 includes a sensor generating a first signal when the rear wheel has reached a predetermined point on the conveying belt 105a. When the rear pair of wheels of the car press upon the measuring device 106, a micro-processor generates a second signal in response to the first signal, and an infrared detector detects the position of the front wheel in response to the second signal, the micro-processor (not shown ) will then calculate the distance between the front and rear wheels and the pair of wheel-pushers 105e will be instructed to move toward each other in accordance with the calculated wheel distance such that the wheel-pushers 105e will centrally position therebetween the four wheels of the car on the conveying belts 105c in a perfect manner no matter what the magnitude of the calculated wheel distance is. Thus, when the transporting means 105 is elevated, the car will not randomly run thereon even in the event of an earthquake. After the transporting means 105 has reached the desired storey of the parking building, the wheel-pushers 105e are retreated to the original positions, as shown in Fig. 9, and connectors 301 are operated to be flush with the conveying belts 105c, 101a. Then, the conveying belts 105c, 101a are driven at the same speed to run in the direction of arrow G to carry the car from the transporting means 105 through connectors 301 into the parking position 101. Thereafter, the side plates 301b are driven to be vertical in order to guard the car in the parking position 101. A similar computerized procedure can be followed if another parking position 103 is selected. If another parking position 102 is selected, the right wheel-pusher 105e will be retreated to the original position after the transporting means 105 has reached the desired storey and the pushing elements 3 of the left wheel-pusher 105e will push the rear pair of wheels of the car from the left conveying belt 105c to the conveying belts 105b. Then, the conveying belts 105b, 105d, 102a are driven to run in the direction of arrow F in order to convey the car from transporting means 105 to the selected parking position 102. Thereafter, the left wheel-pusher 105e is retreated to the original position and the car wheels can be stopped by a pair of stoppers ( not shown ) in the selected parking position 102. A similar computerized procedure can be followed if parking position 104 is selected. If the owner wishes to retrieve his car, the respective computerized procedure described above will be executed in a reverse order. The advantages achieved by the multi-storey parking apparatus according to the present invention can be summarized as follows: 1) Theoretically, the present invention can be embodied by a multi-storey building having at each of its storeys a transpoting means 105 and any one of parking positions 101-104 so that it can be constructed on any location no matter how small but possible it is. 2) It only requires a relatively short time for the transporting means 105 to park or retrieve a car to or from its parking position. 3) Concerning construction, the present invention needs only a small amount of foundation work, since it can be easily constructed with cement or steel piles, shaped steels, floor plates and partitioning walls. 4) The apparatus can park any car, regardless its wheel distance, without the possibility of the car or any article in it being stolen. 5) Outside hours of operation of the parking building, the ground floor can be put to other use, such as car maintenance. Although the present invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment, of course numerous modifications can be easily made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the present invention.

Claims: A multi-storey parking apparatus, comprising: a multi-storey building having at least one parking position (101, 102, 103, 104) on each of its storeys; an elevator (105) for vertically moving between the individual storeys and for conveying a car to be stored into said parking position (101, 102, 103, 104), said elevator (105) being part of a transporting means (105), having a central portion and four primary sides each of which is capable of adjoining thereto said at least one parking position (101, 102, 103, 104); and conveying means (105a - 105d) for conveying said car from said central portion to said at least one parking position (101, 102, 103, 104) and vice versa, characterized in that a pair of front and rear wheel-pushers (105e) is allotted to said elevator (105) for urging against a front and a rear pair of said four wheels to respectively push said car more towards rear and front sides, respectively, of said central portion of said elevator (105) such that said car is centrally positioned on said elevator (105), wherein said pair of front and rear wheel-pushers (105e) is furthermore for clamping therebetween the four wheels of said car when said elevator (105) is moving and for releasing said car, when said conveying means (105a - 105d) convey said car from said central portion to said at least one parking position (101, 102, 103, 104). A parking apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said elevator (105) or central portion, respectively, is adjoined at said four primary sides by four parking positions (101, 102, 103, 104). A parking apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that said four primary sides are a front, a rear, a left and a right side with respect to said car when positioned in said central portion of said transporting means (105) and said transporting means (105) further includes a pair of connectors (301, 302) mounted between each of said left and right sides and a respective adjoining parking position (101, 102, 103, 104) to enable said conveying means (105a - 105d) to smoothly convey said car between said central portion and said respective parking position (101, 102, 103, 104). A parking apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that each said connector (301, 302) is collapsible in order not to interfere with an elevating movement of said elevator (105). A parking apparatus according to any one of the claims 1 to 4, characterized in that each of said wheel-pushers (105e) includes two pushing elements (3) being collapsible when not in use. A parking apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that each of said wheel-pushers (105e) further includes: a front rod (1) having two ends for respectively pivotally mounting thereon said pushing elements (3); a nut (4); two connecting rods (5) respectively connected between said nut (4) and said pushing elements (3); an engaging pipe (6) perpendicular and secured to said front rod (1); a guide rod (6a) connected to said nut (4) and being slidable in said engaging pipe (6); and a threaded shaft (7) engaging with said nut (4) and securing thereto a gear (8) so that when said gear is driven, said nut slides along said threaded shaft (7). A parking apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6 characterized in that said conveying means (105a - 105d) includes a pair of conveying belts being capable of carrying thereon the four wheels of said car. A parking apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said transporting means (105) further includes a measuring device (106) comprising: a sensor generating a first signal when one wheel of said car has reached a predetermined point on said transporting means (105); a microprocessor electrically connected to said sensor and generating a second signal in response to said first signal; and an infrared detector electrically connected to said microprocessor, receiving said second signal and detecting a position of a corresponding distant wheel of said car in order that said microprocessor can calculate the distance between the front pair and the rear pair of said wheels of said car. A parking apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized by further comprising a plurality of integral parking units, each of which includes an elevator (105) and at least one additional parking position (101, 102, 103, 104) at each said storey such that the floor (200) of each said storey is completely occupied by all said parking positions (101, 102, 103, 104) and the respective elevators (105).

Inventors: WU, SHUN-CHING
Applicants: WU, SHUN-CHING
Application year: 1989
Main classification: E04H6
IPC codes: E04H6