A vehicle composite test apparatus

Abstract: The present invention relates to a vehicle composite test apparatus wherein various test items of a vehicle are carried out with the tires (10A, 10B) placed or fixed on support bases being means to be detected, particularly provides a vehicle composite test apparatus wherein the vehicle center line Lc and the measurement reference line Ls can easily and auto­ matically be aligned, and in order to enhance further the effects of the above invention, the present invention also provides a parallel moving mechanism (8, 8′, 9, 9′) consti­ tuted such that a pair of moving platforms (1, 2) for allowing a vehicle to be advanced can smoothly be moved in parallel with precision, a tire guide apparatus (4, 4a, 4b) for guiding tires precisely to tire setting positions of said test apparatus, and a lock mechanism capable of effecting easily and positively the lock operation of a pair of active juxtaposed rollers arranged at said tire setting positions.

Description: The present invention relates to a vehicle composite test apparatus wherein various test items of a vehicle are carried out with the tires placed or fixed on support bases being means to be detected, particularly to a vehicle composite test apparatus wherein a pair of support bases positioned on the front wheel side and a pair of support bases positioned on the rear wheel side can be moved toward or away from supporting points symmetrically in the direction of the width of the vehicle. The Prior Art Vehicle composite test apparatuses are conventionally known wherein, using tires of a vehicle as means to be detected, in addition to basic test items such as the braking, and speed, various positional displacements of wheels such as the toe, camber, caster, and king pin angles that improve the maneuvering stability of the vehicle as well as various test times such as the measurement of light distribution of head lights, and tail lights that will be carried out on the basis of the vehicle center line between the tires can be measured at tire setting positions provided on support bases. In this type of test apparatus, a rear wheel measuring section A and a front wheel measuring section B that are constituted independently as shown in Fig. 4 are arranged to correspond to the wheel bases of a vehicle, the front wheels and the rear wheels are placed respectively on support bases 53, 53′ positioned on the right and left sides of the measuring sections A, B, and thereby the various tests mentioned above are carried out. The constitution of the measuring sections A, B is such that a pair of rails 52, 52′ are placed on rectangular fixed bases 50, 51 extending in the direction of the width of the vehicle, and are arranged in parallel along the direction (hereinafter referred to as the direction of the width of the vehicle) orthogonally to the measurement reference line Ls corresponding to the central line extending along the direction of the advance of the vehicle, the pairs of support bases 53, 53′ are arranged on the opposite sides of the measurement reference line Ls, positioning means 56 for positioning wheels 10 with the opposite sides of the wheels 10 clamped by a plurality of rollers 54, 55 provided on the support bases 53, 53′ are swingably supported on the support bases 53, 53′ through support shafts 57, and said pairs of support bases 53, 53′ are connected movably toward or away from one another by linklike connecting mechanisms 58 having fixed rotation supporting points C, C′ on the measurement reference line Ls called "equalizers." The wheels on the side of the front wheels 10A and on the side of the rear wheels 10B are positioned on the support bases 53, 53′ by the positioning means 56, then following the positioning operation, the connecting mechanisms 58 move symmetrically the pairs of support bases 53, 53′ toward or away from the fixed rotation supporting points C, C′ thereby aligning the measurement reference line Ls connecting the fixed rotation supporting points C, C′ with the vehicle center line Lc, and due to this alignment the above-mentioned various test items that are tested with the wheels 10 of the vehicle being means to be detected can be tested precisely. However, in such apparatus, particularly in the above-described conventional apparatus, since the line C-C′ connecting the fixed rotation supporting points and the rails 52, 52' are integrally attached respectively on the fixed bases 50, 51 on the side of the front wheels 10A and on the side of the rear wheels 10B, the pairs of support bases 53, 53′ movably attached to them are restricted with respect to the direction of the movement. On the other hand, vehicles include, for example, attaching position errors of front wheels 10A and rear wheels 10B due to various production conditions, and cannot be produced with the attaching positions of wheels of the vehicles being very precise, and therefore if, with the state including such errors, the wheels are clamped forcibly on the support bases 53, 53′ whose positions are restricted approximately to the shape of the letter H by the rails 52, 52′ and the line C-C′ connecting the rotation supporting points, the vehicle center line Lc and the measurement reference line Ls may become out of alignment in some cases, and precise measurement becomes difficult. Further, in the above prior technique, to place tires to the prescribed central positions of the support bases 53, 53′, it is needed that the intervals between the support bases 53, 53' on the side of the front wheels 10A and on the side of the rear wheels 10B are moved by equalizers toward or away from one another to correspond to the width of the vehicles to be tested, the widths of vehicles are not necessarily uniform due to the scattering in the production even if the vehicles are of the same type, and in practice it is quite difficult that the support bases 53, 53' are controlled to be moved toward or away from one another to correspond to the intervals between the wheels of the individual vehicles to be tested Further in the case when the vehicle is placed on the support bases 53, 53' with the vehicle dislocated to one side, or is introduced obliquely by mistake, if the wheels are clamped forcibly even by the positioning means 56, the vehicle center line Lc and the measurement reference line Ls are made out of alignment in some cases, and therefore precise measurement becomes difficult. BROWN BOVERI REVIEW, vol. 73, no.3, March 1986, pages 151-156 and MACHINE DESIGN, vol. 60, no. 9, April 21, 1988, pages 106-107 disclose vehicle composite test apparatus according to the preamble of claim 1 which comprise support bases for vehicle tires which are movable in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle in order to adjust the apparatus to different wheel spacings of various car models. However, no means are disclosed for avoiding the above described drawbacks. Summary of the Invention The object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle composite test apparatus wherein the vehicle center line Lc and the measurement reference line Ls can easily and automatically be aligned in any of the case when vehicles having different widths are to be tested, the case when vehicles having attached position errors or the like between the left and right wheels, and the case when the vehicle is dislocated to one side, or is introduced obliquely. This object is met by the invention as set out in claim 1. Preferred embodiments of the invention are further covered by the dependent claims. The invention provides a parallel moving mechanism that can move long moving platforms in parallel precisely and smoothly that are to be incorporated in a vehicle composite test apparatus, etc., particularly to provide a parallel moving mechanism for long moving platforms that can move the long moving platforms in parallel along beams easily even in the case wherein a force is applied in the direction of the width of the vehicle from one side of the moving platform, and in the case wherein rollers that will be traveled on the beams are loosened themselves or have, for example, sliding resistance. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, in order to introduce tires to the tire setting positions of the above test apparatus with good precision, pairs of rollers are arranged along the direction of the advance of the tires with the rollers converged toward the forward, and the vehicle center is aligned with the center of the roller pairs while the tires are moved onto the paris of the rollers, particularly to provide a tire guide apparatus that can easily and precisely guide and control various tires of vehicles ranging from small vehicles to large vehicles to the center positions of roller pairs without increasing the diameter of the rollers. The present invention provides a lock mechanism of a pair of active juxtaposed rollers used in a vehicle test apparatus that allows lock operation to be performed positively even if gears concentrically fixed to the rollers are rotated with the phases shifted. As shown in Figs. 1 to 3, the first feature of the present invention lies in that pairs of support bases 53, 53' on the side of front wheels and on the side of rear wheels are not integrated onto fixed bases through rails as in the above prior technique, but a pair of moving platforms 1, 2 arranged in parallel on the opposite sides of the measurement reference line Ls are prepared, the support bases 53, 53' on the side of left wheels and on the side of right wheels are attached to prescribed positions preferably corresponding to the wheel bases on the moving platforms 1, 2, the support bases 53, 53' attached onto the moving platforms 1, 2 are connected through pantograph-like moving mechanisms 9, 9', and the support bases 53, 53' can be moved in the direction of the width of a vehicle symmetrically toward or away from supporting points 9a approximately positioned on the measurement reference line Ls. The second feature lies in that the pair of moving platforms 1, 2 can also be moved in the direction of the width of the vehicle, and also connected through pantograph-like moving mechanisms 8, 8' so that the moving platforms 1, 2 can be moved in the direction of the width of a vehicle symmetrically toward or away from supporting points 8a set at positions similar to the above positions. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, at least one pair of guide rollers 4 are set on each of the moving platforms 1, 2 on the inlet side of the support bases 53, 53' with the guide rollers converged toward the support bases 53, 53', and the moving platforms 1, 2 can be moved by the force given to the moving platforms 1, 2 through the guide rollers 4 toward or away from one another correspondingly to the width of the vehicle to be tested when the vehicle is advanced. According to the above constitution, since the moving platforms 1, 2 capable of being moved symmetrically toward or away from the measurement reference line Ls are provided, by moving the moving platforms 1, 2 themselves toward or away from one another correspondingly to the vehicle coming onto the moving platforms 1, 2, particularly by moving the moving platforms 1, 2 by the force given to the moving platforms 1, 2 through the guide rollers 4 toward or away from one another correspondingly to the width of the vehicle to be tested when the vehicle is advanced, the vehicle center line Lc and the measurement reference line Ls can be aligned easily and automatically, particularly, even if the vehicle is introduced with the vehicle dislocated to one side, or is introduced obliquely. Further, since the support bases 53, 53' on which the above tests will be carried out are placed on the moving platforms 1, 2 movably toward or away from one another by substantially common supporting points 8a, 9a, by arranging the support bases 53, 53' respectively for front wheels and rear wheels immediately after the outlets of the guide rollers 4, tires can be placed on the support bases 53, 53' by the guide rollers 4 with the center line Lc and the measurement reference line Ls aligned, so that tests which use the tires 10 as means to be detected can be carried out precisely even in the case of vehicles different in width, or having, for example, attaching position errors between the left and right wheels. Each of the moving mechanisms 8, 9 is composed of a double pantograph mechanism whose supporting points 8a, 9a are substantially coincident, and it is preferable that by using the pantographs, the support bases 53, 53' are connected and the pair of moving platforms 1, 2 are connected. Thus, the alignment of the center (the measurement reference line Ls) of the moving platforms 1, 2 with the center line Lc is made easier, and the measurement of the alignment and toe can be carried out more precisely. According to the above apparatus, while the position of the vehicle introduced along the approach paths provided on the moving platforms 1, 2 is controlled by guide roller pairs 12 converged forward, the moving platforms 1, 2 are moved in parallel symmetrically toward or away from the measurement reference line Ls approximately correspondingly to the distance of the width of the vehicle, and thereafter the left and right wheels 10 are placed on the support bases 53, 53'. Therefore, since the support bases 53, 53' on the side of the front wheels 10A, and the on the side of the rear wheels 10B are also moved symmetrically toward or away from one another by clamping the wheels 10 by the positioning means 56, for example the attaching position errors of the front wheels 10A and the rear wheels 10B are absorbed thereby the measurement can be precise, but in order to attain the above operation smoothly, it is required to assume that the moving platforms 1, 2 are moved in parallel on the beams 5, 6, since the moving platforms 1, 2 are long, and since for example the rollers 7A, 7B on which the beams 5, 6 will be traveled are loosened themselves or have sliding resistance, and since the vehicle approaches from one side of the moving platforms 1, 2, the force given to the moving platforms 1, 2 in the direction of the width of the vehicle will be applied much on the side of the beam 5, and therefore it is substantially impossible to move the moving platforms 1, 2 in parallel on the beams smoothly only by the rollers 7a, 7B, so that the above techniques have been very difficult to be used in practice. Therefore, in the present second embodiment , as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, a parallel moving mechanism for the long moving bodies 1, 2 is suggested whose feature lies in that operation transferring shafts 21 extending along the longitudinal direction of the moving bodies 1, 2 and supported rotatably on the moving platforms 1, 2 are provided, that a plurality of link bodies 22, 23 are arranged along the longitudinal surfaces of the beams, and that one side of each of the link bodies 22, 23 is fixed to each of the operation transferring shafts 21 and the other side is pivotally supported on the beam. Next, the operation of the above arrangement will be described with reference to Fig. 1. 1. When a pressing force is applied from one side of the moving platforms 1, 2 longitudinally of one beam 5, following the movement of the moving platforms 1, 2, the link body 22 pivotally supported on the beam 5 is bent or spread. 2. By the bending or spreading, the operation transferring shaft 21 fixed to one side of the link body 22 is rotated forcibly. 3. Due to the rotation of the operation transferring shaft 21, the link body 23 pivotally supported on the other beam 6 is bent or spread. 4. The bending or spreading of that link body 23 applies a pressing force on the side of the other beam 4 of the transferring platforms 1, 2. 5. As a result, if a pressing force is applied on one side, the pressing force is applied to the moving platforms 1, 2 in two directions near the beams 5, 6 positioned on the front and rear sides, and therefore for example even if the rollers 7A, 7B that will be traveled on the beams are loosened themselves or have sliding resistance, the long moving platforms 1, 2 can be moved in parallel precisely and smoothly. Therefore, according to the present invention, even if a force is applied in the direction of the width of the vehicle from one side of the moving body, and for example the rollers that will be traveled on the beams are loosened themselves or have sliding resistance, the long moving bodies can be moved in parallel along the beams easily, and particularly it is quite suitable as a parallel moving mechanism for long moving bodies that will be incorporated into a vehicle composite test machine wherein moving bodies are moved in parallel while a vehicle approaches from one side as described above. In the case of the embodiment described, although the link bodies 22, 23 are composed of a pair of arms 24, 25 pivotally supported, the present invention is not limited to it. In the test apparatus applied to the present invention, a guide apparatus comprising pairs of rollers which are arranged on approach paths positioned on the inlet side of the test apparatus along the approach direction with them converged forward is provided, while a vehicle is being mounted onto the pairs of rollers through the tires, the vehicle is guided and controlled with the vehicle being moved to the center position of the rollers, and is placed on the tire setting positions 8 on the test base, more particularly on active juxtaposed roller pairs. On the other hand, in the conventional tire guide apparatus 1', as shown in Fig. 11, pairs of guide rollers 40 are arranged along the direction of the approach of tires with them converged forward to allow the movement and control toward the center positions, but in the above test apparatus, since various many vehicles different in the type of tires 10A, 10B ranging from small vehicles to large vehicles are tested, correspondingly it is required that the guide apparatus 40 can guide and control smoothly the tires 10A, 10B of any of small vehicles and large vehicles, but since the width of the tires 10A , 10B scatters from 125 mm to 245 mm that is about twice as much as the former, it is difficult to make easy the guide and control to meet it. That is, since the guide apparatus 40 guides and controls the tires 10A, 10B while the curvature surfaces of opposed rollers are used to press one of the curvature surfaces against the tire side surface, its preferable shape is required to be constituted in such a manner that, as shown in Fig. 11, the distance between the side surfaces of rollers on the inlet side is set larger than the width of the tires 10A, 10B to facilitate the approach of the tires 10A, 10B between the rollers, and that the tires 10A, 10B can be mounted onto the curvature surfaces of the opposed rollers in order to facilitate the movement of the tires 10A, 10B to the center positions on the outlet side of the rollers. Therefore it is preferable that at least the central interval RC of the rollers near the outlet side is set larger than the width of the tire 10A of a large vehicle, and that the roller side surface interval RW near the outlet side is set smaller than the width of the tire 10B of a small vehicle. However, to make the guide apparatus 40 satisfying these conditions, since it is required that the above "roller central interval - roller side surface interval", in other words, the roller diameter, is set equal to or larger than the scatter between the above tire widths W1, W2 to be used (specifically 245 to 125 mm = 120 ⊘), the roller diameter become necessarily large, and as a result if the above guide and control is effected by using rollers 40 having a large diameter, circular top sections 40A of the roller circumferential surfaces will be pressed against the most weak parts of the tire side wall surface 10A1, and consequently the side wall surfaces of the tire 10A, 10B will be scarred or damaged in some cases. In addition, when the roller diameter is made large as described above, in the case of the tire 10B having a small diameter for small vehicles, the circular top sections of the roller circumferential surfaces will abut against a wheel, etc., and therefore precise guide and control cannot be carried out necessarily. Therefore the feature of this embodiment lies in that as shown in Figs. 8 to 10 a plurality of pairs of rollers 4a, 4b are placed along the tire approach direction L with them spaced, converged forward, and arranged stepwise upward, and particularly the interval of the rollers 4a, 4b at least near the outlet is successively increased toward the upper rollers 4a. The rollers 4a, 4b may be set two-stepwise as shown by an embodiment given later and also may be set three-stepwise. According to the embodiment as shown in Fig. 8, when the tire 10B for small vehicles has come in, the guide and control is effected by the lower rollers 4b with the side surfaces restricted, and when the tire 10A for large vehicles has come in, while the tires are being mounted onto the lower rollers 4a, the guide and control is effected by the upper roller 4a with the side surfaces restricted, so that when the diameter of the rollers 4a, 4b is made smaller, smooth control can be made. In this case, since the upper rollers 4a near the outlet which can effect the side surface restriction are spread wider than the lower rollers 4b and themselves have a small diameter, there is no fear that the roller circumferential surfaces are pressed against the most weak parts of the side surfaces of the tires 10A, or are abutted against the wheels, etc. in any case of a small vehicle and a large vehicle, and as a result, the tire side wall surface 10A will not be scarred or damaged, and the rollers are pressed against the slant surfaces near the bottom surfaces of the tires 10A, 10B, so that precise measurement becomes possible. By slanting at least the upper rollers 4a downward gradually toward the outlet side from the inlet side in the tire approach direction L, the impact at the time when the tire leave the rollers 4a, 4b is minimized, the tires can be introduced precisely to the tire setting positions of the test base, and the tires 10A, 10B can be retracted easily. Therefore, according to this embodiment, various tires for small vehicles and large vehicles can be guided and controlled easily and precisely to the center positions of the rollers without increasing the diameter of the rollers, and as a result, the tire side surfaces can perfectly be prevented for example from being scarred or damged at the time of the guide and control. As shown in Fig. 2 , after the tires 10A are placed on the pairs of active juxtaposed rollers 61, 62 juxtaposed orthogonally to the direction of the advance of a vehicle by the tire guide 4 of the invention, while a prescribed rotating force is transmitted to the tires 10A by driving and rotating through the active rollers 61, 62, the side wall surfaces of the tires 10A are clamped by using the positioning rollers 65a to 65b, thereby for example various data obtained by using the tires 10A as means to be detected that include the displacement of the support shaft 4 which is rotated and displaced are detected, and various positional displacements of the tires 10A including the toe, camper, caster, king pin angle, etc. that improve the maneuvering stability of a vehicle, and the alignment measurement that will be effected with the vehicle center line between the tires 10A used as reference are carried out. Therefore, it is required that the active juxtaposed rollers 61, 62 used for the test apparatus give a rotational force to the placed tire 10A and is provided with a lock means, and while the lock means prevents the juxtaposed rollers from rotating idly, the active juxtaposed rollers 61, 62 cause, for example, the tire 10A placed on the rollers to be removed. As such a lock means, a device is suggested which is constituted in such a manner that gears are concentrically fixed to side ends of the rollers, and a pair of lock members having meshing sections capable of meshing with the gears are provided, are arranged in positions where the lock members can face the gears on the side of the side ends of the rollers, and can integrally be reciprocated in parallel with the axes of the rollers by a reciprocating means including a fluid cylinder, etc. so that the lock members and the gears may be meshed at the time of the forward movement or the backward movement to effect locking, and the reverse action may allow unlocking. However, it is not only very difficult to cause the lock members to engage smoothly with the rotating gears while moving the lock members orthogonally to the rotational direction of the gears, but also it is further difficult to cause the lock members to perform the locking due to the shift of the phases of the gears attached to the pair of lock members. That is, since the rollers are not rotated synchronously necessarily, and the gears attached to the rollers include assembling errors more or less, it is seldom that the gears are rotated with the phases registered when the rollers are rotated, and generally they are rotated with the phases shifted. On the other hand, although the lock members can integrally be reciprocated by a reciprocating means, in other words, the locking and unlocking can be simultaneously carried out, in the case of a pair of gears whose phases are shifted, even if one side is locked, it is impossible to lock the other side at the same time. Therefore it is considered to provide such reciprocating means individually, but it is difficult as mentioned above to cause the lock members to engage smoothly with the rotating gears while moving the lock members orthogonally to the rotational direction of the gears, so that not only the locking cannot be effected smoothly, but also for example the tooth surface are inclined to be damaged or dragged by the impact or the like produced at the locking. In addition, since the juxtaposed rollers are arranged in a limited space at the bottom section of the tire, it is very difficult to provide several reciprocating means for the lock members respectively because the space is limited. Therefore, the feature of the present embodiment lies in that, as shown in Figs. 12 to 14, in a lock mechanism of a pair of active juxtaposed rollers 61, 62 wherein a pair of lock members 612, 622 engageable with gears 611, 621 concentrically fixed respectively to the active juxtaposed rollers 61, 62 can be reciprocated along the roller axes by guide means 613, 623, at the time when the lock is released the lock members 612, 622 are integrally moved in the direction wherein they are disengaged with the gears 611, 621 whereas at the time when the locking is effected the locking is not effected integrally since the phases of the gears 611, 621 fixed respectively to the rollers 61, 62 are different, and energizing means 614, 624, preferably resilient members, connected respectively to the lock members 612, 622 are used to effect locking independently with respect to each other. If the rollers 61, 62 effect the locking by independent energizing forces, it is very difficult to throw engaging members 612a, 622a of the lock members 612, 622 into the rotating tooth surfaces. Therefore, the second feature of this embodiment lies in that even when, in the case, at the time of locking, while the lock members 612, 622 and the gears 611, 621 are being allowed to engage imperfectly, the the lock members 612, 622 and the gears 611, 621 are engaged imperfectly by the energizing forces of the energizing means 614, 624, the rollers 61, 62 can be rotated desirable angles against the energizing forces of the energizing means 14, 24. As a result, the lock members 612, 622 and the gears 611, 621 can smoothly be engaged respectively by the slight idle rotation of the rollers 61, 62 at the time when the tires are removed or by the inertia force after the stop of the rotation of the rollers 61, 62. The engagement can be effected separately and with a time-lag even when the phases of the gears 611, 621 are different since the lock members 612, 622 are pulled respectively by the energizing members 614, 624. The energizing means 614, 624 are not limited necessarily to resilient members, and air cylinders 69 whose pressure is weakened can be used therefor if the rollers 61, 62 can be rotated desirable angles against the energizing forces of the energizing means 614, 624. When once the lock members and the gears 611, 621 are locked, since it is very difficult to unlock in the case of the resilient members 614, 624, it is preferable to use a fluid cylinder. In the later case, by constituting the stroke of the fluid cylinder 69 such that the engaging members 612a, 622a of the lock members are extended outside of the gears 611,621 provided to the side ends of the rollers 61, 62, it is preferable to constitute in such a way that the engaging sections 612a, 622a of the lock members are abutted first against the circumferential surfaces of the gears 611, 621 by the energizing forces of the resilient members 614, 624 at the time of locking, and are pressed thereto to such a state that the rotation of the rollers 61, 62 is liable to be allowed, and the engaging sections 612a, 622a of the lock members are moved to the engaging positions, where they will be engaged with the tooth surfaces of the gears 611, 621, by the slight rotational displacement of the rollers 61, 62 and are engaged. Consequently, according to the invention, even if the gears concentrically fixed respectively to the rollers are rotated with their phases shifted, the locking can easily be effected positively, and since it is enough if the lock means comprises a resilient member capable of abutting against the gear circumferential surface, there is no fear that at the time of locking, for example, the tooth surface is damaged or dragged. Since the lock/release mechanism of the present invention may be composed of only a fluid cylinder, a pair of resilient members, etc., it can be arranged in such a limited space between the pair of rollers that the rotational force can be given to the tire. Brief Description of the Drawings Figs. 1 to 3 show a vehicle composite test apparatus of an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view thereof; Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view thereof; and Fig. 3 is a schematic view of essential parts thereof. Fig. 4 is a schematic view showing a prior vehicle composite test apparatus. Figs. 5 to 7 show a parallel moving mechanism for moving platforms of an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 7 is a whole plan view thereof; Fig. 5 is a plan view of essential parts showing the parallel moving mechanism; and Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view taken along line A-A′ thereof. Figs. 8 to 10 show a guide apparatus of an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 8 is a plan view thereof; Figs. 9 (a) and (b) are a left side (outside) view thereof and a right side (inside) view thereof; and Fig. 10 is a cross sectional view taken along line B-B′. Fig. 11 is a front sectional view of a prior guide apparatus. Figs. 12 to 14 show an active juxtaposed roller pair of an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 12 is a plan view thereof; Figs. 13 (A) and (B) cross sectional views taken along line C-C′ of Fig. 12, showing the locked state and the unlocked state respectively; and Fig. 14 is a perspective view of essential parts, showing the configuration of the lock mechanism thereof. EMBODIMENTS Now, suitable embodiments of the present invention will be described illustratively in detail with reference to the drawings. The size, the material, the shape, the relative arrangement, etc. of the constitutional parts described for the embodiments, unless otherwise specified, are not intended to limit the scope of the invention to them only, and are just illustrative examples. Figs. 1 to 3 show a vehicle composite test apparatus of an embodiment of the present invention. First, the overall constitution will briefly be described with reference to Fig. 1. Two parallel fixed beams 5, 6 are arranged orthogonally to the direction in which a vehicle will come in, that is, along the width of the vehicle, and are spaced apart from each other, and long moving platforms 1, 2 placed on the beams 5, 6 can be moved in parallel through a plurality of rollers 7. The moving platforms 1, 2 are arranged on the opposite sides of the measurement reference line Ls, cover bodies 12 to which vehicle incoming paths and guide roller pairs 4, 11 that will be described later are attached are mounted on the moving platforms 1, 2, prescribed parts of the cover bodies 12, the distance between them corresponding to wheel bases, are cut to form rectangular recesses, a pair of rails 13 are extended through the rectangular recesses in the direction of the width of the vehicle, and test units 50 including the above-mentioned support bases 53, 53 are arranged on the rails 13 movably in the direction of the width of the vehicle. The moving platforms 1, 2 are connected through a pair of pantographs 8, 8' that can be extended from or contracted to the supporting shafts 8a positioned on the measurement reference line Ls so that the moving platforms 1, 2 can be moved in reference to the supporting shafts 8a in the direction of the width of the vehicle by the extension or contraction of the pantographs 8, 8'. Each of the above-mentioned test units 50 is constituted in such a manner that a drive roller pair 60, the above-mentioned positioning means 56, a camber sensing roller 67, etc. that will be used for carrying out basic tests about the braking, speed, etc. with the tire 10 mounted in known manner are arranged on the support base 53 (53′), the support bases 53, 53′ on the side of front wheels 10A, and the support bases 53, 53′ on the side of rear wheels 10B are connected through pantographs 9, 9′, respectively, and each of supporting shafts 9a of the pantographs 9, 9′ and each of the supporting shafts 8a of the pantographs 8, 8′ connecting the moving platforms 1, 2 are integrated by each of supporting rods 14 in such a manner that both the supporting points 8a, 9a of the pantographs 8, 8′, 9, 9′ are positioned on the measurement reference line Ls. If the supporting shafts 8a, 9a are positioned on the measurement reference line Ls, the pantographs 8, 8′, 9, 9′ may be pivotally supported on beams 15 that serve as their fixing means and are fixed to the bottom of the apparatus body as shown in Fig. 2, or may be supported on the floated supporting points 8a, 9a, if they constitute pantograph mechanisms. It is preferable that each of the mechanisms of the pantographs 9, 9′ connecting the support bases 53, 53′ and each of the mechanisms of the pantographs 8, 8′ connecting the moving platforms 1, 2 shear the supporting point 8a (9a), and, for that purpose for example as shown in Fig. 3, the pantograph 8 and the pantograph 9 may comprise a double pantograph mechanism 20 wherein the supporting points 8a, 9a are registered by a shaft 16. In this way, the moving platforms 1, 2 can parallelly be moved positively toward or away from the supporting points 8a, 9a, and therefore the alignment and toe measurement by the pantographs 9 connecting the support bases 53, 53′ can be carried out very precisely. Each of the cover bodies 12 has the first guide roller pair 11 on the inlet side that are arranged with the forward ends converged, and the second guide roller pairs 4 on the inlet side of the drive roller pairs that are arranged with the forward ends converged and with the space between them being set smaller than that between the first guide rollers 11 so that the side surfaces of the tires 10 can ride on them. In order to make the guide and control good, the second guide roller pair 4 comprise guide roller pairs 4a, 4b with one over the other and the forward ends directed downward. According to the above embodiment, after the tires 10 of a vehicle moved along approach paths on said moving platforms 1, 2 are first guided toward the centers of the approach paths with rough precision by the first guide roller pairs 4, then while the tires 10 are moved on the inner circumferential surfaces of the second guide roller pairs 4 thereby controlling the positions, the moving platforms 1, 2 are precisely moved symmetrically toward or away from the measurement reference line Ls with the moving platforms 1, 2 kept in parallel so that the distance between them may correspond to the width of the vehicle, and then all the left and right wheels 10 are positioned on the drive roller pairs of the test units 50 in place. Thereafter, since by clamping the front wheels 10 by the positioning means 56, the support bases 53, 53′ on the sides of the front wheels 10A and the rear wheels 10B are moved toward or away from the supporting point 9a on the measurement reference line Ls by the pantographs 9, 9', for example the error of the attached positions of the front wheels 10A and the rear wheels 10B is absorbed to allow various test items to be measured precisely. Figs. 5 to 7 show a parallel moving mechanism of moving platforms of the present second embodiment, and the long moving platforms 1, 2 can be traveled, through a plurality of rollers 7A, 7B, on two fixed beams 5, 6 that are positioned on the opposite sides of the length of the arrangement and are in parallel with the width of the vehicle. Of the rollers 7A, 7B, the rollers 7A comprise flanged guide rollers to effect the guide and control. The moving platforms 1, 2 are provided with side frames 26 on the longitudian outer end sides between the beams 5, 6, and horizontal fixed plates 28 each having a bearing 27 fixed on the undersurface are fixed near the side walls of the beams 5, 6 of the inner walls of the side frames 26. On the other hand, brackets 29 are attached to the beams 5, 6 at prescribed sections on their opposed side surfaces, and one end of each of link bodies 23 that will be described later is pivotally supported by each of shafts 29a projected from the brackets 29. Each of the link bodies 23 comprises a pair of arms 24, 25 whose ends are pivotally supported together, and can be bent in planes that are parallel with the side walls of the beams 5, 6, and the other ends are fixed to shaft ends of operation transferring shafts 21 that will be described later. The operation transferring shafts 21 are extended linearly along the length of the moving platforms 1, 2 between the opposed beams 5, 6, and the front and rear sides of the operation transferring shafts 21 are pivotally supported on bearings 27 on the sides of the moving platforms 1, 2. The action of the above embodiment was described in detail in the section of the operation of the invention, and therefore the description thereof is omitted. Figs. 8 to 10 show a guide apparatus related to an embodiment of the present invention. This apparatus comprises two pairs of roller shafts 4a, 4b which have the same diameter and the same length, and are arranged with the forward ends converged along the advance direction L, and pairs of brackets 4c, 4e stood vertically on bases 4b for supporting rotatably the rollers 4a, 4b. The side surface interval FW1 of the roller pair 4b, positioned lower, on their inlet side is set wider than the maximum tire width W1, and the interval between the rollers 10 and the shaft diameter thereof are selected such that the minimum tire width W2 which will come into the guide apparatus 1 is positioned between the side surface interval RW1 and the central interval RC1 of the lower roller pair 4a near the outlet side. Although the angles of the rollers 4b with the direction of the advance of the vehicle are set approximately symmetrically with respect to the transversal direction, the angles of the rollers 4b with the direction of the advance of the vehicle are not necessarily set symmetrically with respect to the vertical direction, and for example as shown in Fig. 9 (a) and (b), the roller shaft 4b positioned outside is inclined downward in the tire advance direction L from the inlet side toward the outlet side while the roller shaft 4b positioned inside is extended approximately horizontally. On the other hand, the interval between the rollers 4a positioned above is set wider than that of the rollers 4b positioned below with their forward ends converged, and the interval is not necessarily uniform relative to the rollers 4b positioned below, and is set to increase near the outlet more than on the inlet side. That is, since on the inlet side the side surface interval width FW1 of the lower rollers 4b is set wider than the maximum tire width W1, if the interval between the upper rollers 4a is set to the same as that, there are no troubles for the advance of tires 10A, 10B, but since on the outlet side the guide and control is effected on the basis of the interval between the rollers 4a, 4b, by increasing the interval between the upper rollers 4a near the outlet side to a certain extent under a prescribed limitation, the types of the tires 2A, 2B that can be guided and controlled can be increased. Therefore, in this embodiment, the central interval RC2 of the upper rollers 4a near the outlet side is set approximately equal to or wider than the maximum tire width W1, and the side surface interval RW2 is set smaller than the maximum tire width W1. The upper rollers 4a are inclined downward in the tire advance direction L from the inlet side toward the outlet side and are supported on the brackets 4c, 4e. According to the embodiment, the operation of the present invention can be attained smoothly. Figs. 12 to 14 shows an active juxtaposed roller pair of an embodiment of the invention. In Fig. 12, reference numeral 68 indicates a disklike base plate rotatable on a support shaft 64, a pair of support plates 619, 629 are stood in parallel on the left and right sides of the base plate 68, and a pair of rollers 61, 62 are pivotally supported between the support plates 619, 629. The rollers 61, 62 are arranged in parallel with one over the other and symmetrically with a support shaft64 between them, and spur gears 611, 621 having a diameter equal to or a little larger than the diameter of the rollers 61, 62 are fixed concentrically on one side of the rollers 61, 62. On the other hand, an air cylinder 69 fixed approximately at the central position of the support plates 619, 629 is placed in the central space between the rollers 61, 62, and a pair of cylinder pistons 618, 628 extending axially of the rollers 61, 62 along and near the rollers 61, 62 are connected through a bar 691 extending normally to the cylinder 69, and a pair of lock members 612, 622 having meshing sections 611a, 621a projected therefrom and meshable with the gears 611, 621 are provided to the forward ends of the pistons. A pair of guide shafts 613,623 for sliding axially the rollers 61, 62 with the positions of the lock members 612, 622 controlled are extended through below the lock members 612, 622, and the opposite ends of the guide shafts 613,623 are fixed to the support plates 619, 629. The air cylinder 69 uses a single-acting type air cylinder 69 that can be moved forward in the direction shown by the arrow by the application of pressure, and can be moved backward only by an external force with the air pressure released and with it freed. Coiled springs 614, 624 are connected between the lock members 612, 622 and the support members in such a way that when the air cylinder 69 is freed, the lock members 612,622 may be pulled. Reference numerals 615,625 indicate stoppers for restricting the backward stroke of the lock members 612,622. The order of the operation of the embodiment will now be described. First, when the air cylinder 69 is driven to move the lock members 612, 622 forward against the resiliency of the coiled springs 614, 624, engaging sections 612a, 622a of the lock members engaging with the gears 611, 621 are projected at least outside of the gears 611, 621 thereby releasing the lock. With this state kept, the rollers 61, 62 are rotated, and tests of vehicles including the alignment test, etc. are carried out. When it is required to remove the vehicle after the vehicle tests, the feed of the electricity to the motor providing a driving force for the rollers 61, 62 is stopped, the pressure of the fluid cylinder 69 is released to be free, and then as a result engaging sections 612a, 622a of the lock members are abutted against the circumferential surfaces of the gears 611, 621 and are engaged imperfectly therewith by the energized force of the resilient members 614,624 at the time of the locking operation. By the inertia force of the rollers 61, 62, or the slight idle rotation of the rollers 61, 62 at the time of the removal of the tire 610, the gears 611,621 whose phases are different are engaged with the lock members 612, 622 respectively thereby allowing the perfect lock of the rollers 61, 62.

Claims: A vehicle composite test apparatus wherein various test items of a vehicle are carried out with the tires placed or fixed on movable support bases (53, 53'), characterized in that support bases (53, 53') respectively for left wheels (10A, 10B) and right wheels (10A, 10B) are attached on a pair of moving platforms (1, 2) arranged in parallel on the opposite sides of a measurement reference line (Ls), and in that said pairs of the support bases (53, 53') on the front wheel side and on the rear wheel side and the pair of said moving platforms (1, 2) are movable symmetrically in the direction of the width of the vehicle toward or away from respective supporting points (8a, 8a'; 9a, 9a') of said support bases (53, 53') and of said platforms (1, 2), said supporting points being approximately positioned on the measurement reference line (Ls). A vehicle composite test apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said support points (8a, 8a'; 9a, 9a') support means (8, 8'; 9, 9') for moving said support bases (53, 53') and/or said moving platforms (1, 2) toward or away from said supporting points (8a, 9a, 8a', 9a'). A vehicle composite test apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein double pantograph mechanisms (20) each having said supporting points (8a, 9a, 8a', 9a') substantially in common are provided, and pantographs (8, 9) of the double pantograph mechanism (20) function as moving means for connecting said support bases (53, 53'), and as moving means for connecting said pair of the moving platforms (1, 2). A vehicle composite test apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one pair of guide rollers (4, 11) are arranged on each of the moving platforms (1, 2) on the inlet side of the support base (53, 53') so that they are converged toward the support base (53, 53'), and the moving platforms (1, 2) can be moved toward or away from one another correspondingly to the width of the vehicle to be tested by the energized force applied to the moving platforms (1, 2) through said guide rollers (4, 11) when the vehicle is advanced. A vehicle composite test apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said moving platforms (1, 2) are supported on two beams (5, 6) being arranged in the widthwise direction, and alignment of the movement of each of said platforms (1, 2) with respect to said beams (5, 6) is controlled by operation transferring shafts (21) extending along the length of said platforms (1, 2), both ends of said shafts (21) being connected to each of said beams (5, 6) through link bodies (23), wherein one end of each of said link bodies (23) is fixed to said shafts (21) and the other end is supported pivotally on one of said beams (5, 6). A vehicle composite test apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein each of said link bodies (22, 23) comprises a pair of arms (24, 25) supported pivotally. A vehicle composite test apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterized by guide roller pairs (4) arranged in the direction of the advance of a tire, each consisting of at least two pairs of rollers (4a, 4b) disposed above one another, each pair of rollers (4a, 4b) having the forward ends of said rollers (4a, 4b) converged and directed downward, and the distance between the rollers of the upper roller pair (4a) increasing toward the forward end. A vehicle composite test apparatus as calimed in claim 7, wherein at least said pair of upper rollers (4a) are inclined downward in the direction of the advance of the tire from the inlet side toward the outlet side. A vehicle composite test apparatus as claimed in any of the preceding claims, comprising a lock mechanism for a pair of driven juxtaposed rollers (61, 62) used to give a rotational force to a tyre (10A), which includes a pair of lock members (612, 622) engageable with gears (611, 621) concentrically fixed to the pair of rollers (61, 62), the lock members (612, 622) capable of being reciprocated along the axes of said rollers along guide means (613, 623) by a pair of energizing means (614, 624). A vehicle composite test apparatus as claimed in claim 9, comprising gears (611, 621) arranged on the side of the side ends of said active juxtaposed rollers (61, 62), a fluid cylinder (69) wherein engaging sections of said lock members (612, 622) can be extended at least outside of said gears (611, 621), and a pair of resilient members (614, 624) that are connected respectively separately to said lock members (612, 622) and whose resilient force is energized in the lock operation direction.

Inventors: FUKUDA YUTAKA, HIGUCHI YUKIO, IMOTO YUKIHIRO, NAKANO NORIYOSHI, FUKUDA, YUTAKA, HIGUCHI, YUKIO, IMOTO, YUKIHIRO, NAKANO, NORIYOSHI
Applicants: ANZEN MOTOR CAR, ANZEN MOTOR CO., LTD.
Application year: 1989
Main classification: G01M17
IPC codes: G01M17