Parking plant for motor vehicles

Abstract: The parking plant comprises a plurality of parking places, each of which is provided with a pair of transporting parallel bands (5b), and means for putting a motor vehicle on said transporting bands. Said means comprise a rotatable translating platform (15), provided with a similar pair of transporting parallel bands (23) and with an actuating device (25) for setting the bands into motion. The plant comprises also a loading platform (7), movable in a vertical direction, which is also rotatable and comprises a pair of transporting parallel bands (9); on these bands (9) a motor vehicle can be putted while entering or leaving. Means (27, 19, 33) are also included for displacing the translating platform (15) so as to bring it to a loading / unloading position in which its transporting bands (23) are aligned with the transporting bands (3b, 9) of one of the parking places or of the loading platform, and means (29) are provided for transmitting the motion of the transporting bands (23) of the translating platform (15) to the adjacent transporting bands (5b, 9) of a parking place or of the loading platform (7) as the translating platform (15) is located in the relative loading / unloading position, and precisely, in such a way that the direction of motion is the same for both pairs of bands. The plant can be provided with means and devices for the automatic and programmed execution of all parking operations.

Description: The present invention relates to a plant for the shelter of motor vehicles and in particular to a parking plant which is automatically operable such as that known from US-A-2 791 338. Parking problems, especially in the centre of big cities, are known to everybody. The most common solution is one which provides an area where the motor vehicles are to be parked, usually by the drivers themselves, all aligned to each other, in appropriate places, or parking places, which are of predetermined extent inside the same area. Obviously, for such an operation one needs approaching ways, and adequate spaces to maneuver the vehicle, and to enable the entry and exit of the people inside the vehicle the minimum distance between adjacent parking places must exceed a minimum value to enable the opening of the doors. This solution, in many cases, is not realizable, because the area which is to be used for the building of the parking plant is not available to an extent to be able to satisfy all required conditions, or it has a cost which precludes the possibility of its employment as a parking plant because the pofits would be irrelevant. Another known solution requires digging to obtain extended underground rooms for the use as a parking plant. Such a solution, however, even if it is realizable, is expensive, and in any case, it requires considerable space for approaching and maneuvering the vehicle as for the case of parking plants at ground level. Another known solution provides the construction of buildings with many floors where the motor vehicles are parked in appropriate places inside extended rooms. Due to the vertical extension of the buildings, the urban area employed is much less than that needed by ground-level-plants. Even that solution, however, needs approaching ways to be provided, usually ramps having a helical structure, which need much space and not easy to pass for the vehicles, and the maneuvering space and distances between the vehicles required have a similar extension than that already found in the other cited solutions. In any case, the known buildings and plants for the parking of vehicles require uneasy maneuvering in order to put the motor vehicle inside the plant, and such maneuvering will be particularly difficult in the case in which the space, for approaching and maneuvering of the vehicle is reduced to a minimum, as is often the case when the number of parking places inside the plant is maximized. The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a parking plant in which the approaching and maneuvering spaces are very limited compared to those of the known plants. Another purpose is to provide such a plant which can be used easily without involving personally the driver of the motor vehicle to be parked in the maneuvering. One object of the present invention is to provide means capable of easily transforming an already existing building into a plant. The translating platform of the invention is rotatable and can be aligned with the parking place. The angle of rotation can be arbitrary, and preferably, if enough space is available, the parking places can all be arranged orthogonally to the translational path of the translating platform, so that said angle of rotation is of 90°. A further object of the present invention is to realize the translating platform in two parts, an upper part and a lower part or truck, the upper part being capable of translating relative to the truck so as to approach the parking place. In this way, even if the parking places are distributed at random on both sides of the translation path of the translating platform, with an arbitrary inclination, it is possible to park the vehicle. Obviously, the means provided by the invention can be used also in a building expecially constructed for the purpose of realizing a parking plant. These and other objects are achieved by a parking plant as defined in the appended claims. The invention will be more easily understood by the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, which is done by way of example and therefore not limiting the idea of the invention, with the help of the annexed drawings, in which: figures 1 and 2 show respectively a sectional elevation and a top view of the plant according to the invention and figures 3, 4 and 5 show a top view, a lateral section and a longitudinal section of the translating platform which enters into the plant of figures 1 and 2. As can be seen in figures 1 and 2, the parking plant comprises a structure with two floors which is divided into small rooms, or boxes, indicated by reference numeral 1. In this example the boxes are such as to be able to contain two motor vehicles each. Obviously, the division into boxes is not necessary, and the boxes could have such dimensions as to contain only one vehicle or more than two vehicles. The structure comprises also closely located columns, indicated by 3, which, in general could also not be present or be more spaced apart from each other, to more clearly illustrate the fact that the plant according to the invention can be realized in confined areas. In the interior of the boxes there is provided a supporting structure, generally indicated by reference numeral 5, which is made of a pair of steel beams 5a fixed to the floor and parallel to each other. Between each pair of beams 5a, a band 5b is mounted in such a way as to be able to move freely sliding on two rollers, or between a pair of gear wheels at the end of the beams (not shown). The bands can be made of hard reinforced rubber as is usual for transporting bands, or they can be replaced by metallic tracks. The dimensions of the transporting bands or the tracks and the distances between them are such as to allow every type of vehicle to be put on them, with the wheels on one side of the vehicle being set on the surface of a band. For blocking the motor vehicle in a certain position blocking means of the wheels can be provided (not shown). The space defined by a pair of transporting bands used to accept a motor vehicle will be called parking-place in the following. The plant also comprises a loading platform 7 and a hydraulic cylinder 8 for the lifting of the platform 7 from the lower to the upper floor. On the loading platform 7 there has been mounted a supporting structure comprising transporting bands, or tracks 9, similar to the supporting structure 5 inside the boxes. The hydraulic cylinder 8 is mounted in the interior of a space 11 and is guided into the space 11 by a truck 13 whose wheels 13a slide along the walls of the space 11. The loading platform 7 also rotates around a vertical axis passing through its center by means of a suitable device, for example an electro-mechanical or hydraulic actuator (not shown). The plant also comprises a translating platform, indicated generally by 15, mounted on a truck 17. The latter is pulled by an appropriate actuating device (not shown), by means of a chain 19, along the floor which separates two series of parking places and is guided by two rails 21 which engage with four wheels 17a of the truck 17. Even if in the drawings only the upper floor of the structure has parking places, it is obvious that also the lower floor can be similarly equipped, but in this case also a translating platform in the lower floor should be provided. It is also possible to realize a plant comprising a structure having more than two floors. With reference to figs. 3, 4 and 5, the translating platform 15 comprises a pair of transporting bands, or tracks 23, similar to those of the parking places, and arranged at the same height of these. These bands however, instead of being free to slide on their respective bearing, are actuated by an actuating assembly, indicated generally by 25 in fig. 5, mounted by means of members not shown in the figure, to the frame 24 of the translating platform 15. In particular, an electric motor 25a rotates by means of a cog belt 25b, a worm 25c, which in turn sets a gear 25d into rotation, which is keyed on a shaft 25e together with a belt pulley 25f. The latter transmits the motion, by means of a cog belt 25g, to a pulley 23a keyed on an axis 23b on which two pairs of driving wheels 23c of the transporting bands 23 are keyed. A pair of crown wheels 27, keyed on an axis 27a, mounted on the frame 24 so as to be freely rotatable, is provided at the other end of the transporting bands 23. Friction wheels 29, whose way of operation will be described later, are connected to the axes 23b and 27a by means of arms 31 so as to be rotated by the transporting bands 23. A hydraulic cylinder 33 mounted between the truck 17 and the frame 24 of the platform 15 and guiding means, indicated generally by 35 in Fig. 5, allow a longitudinal displacement of platform 15 relative to the truck 17. The platform 15, is also rotatable around a vertical axis a-a passing through the center of the truck 17 by means of a crown wheel, a pinion and an electric actuator, schematically shown and indicated by 36 in the drawing. To understand the way of operation of the plant, consider the case of a motor vehicle to be put in the parking place. The motor vehicle, indicated by reference numeral 37 in the figures, enters the plant in the lower floor and is set by the driver himself directly on the transporting bands 9 of the loading platform 7, which is located, in this situation, in the lowest position, that is at the same level of the lower floor. By actuating the hydraulic cylinder 8, the motor vehicle is brought to the upper floor and precisely with loading platform 7 on the same level of translating platform 15. The loading platform 7 is then rotated by 90° so that its transporting bands 9 are aligned to the transporting bands 23 of the translating paltform 15, which in the meantime is set near the point of arrival of the lifting device, as shown in figures 1 and 2. Then, hydraulic cylinder 33 is actuated so as to displace translating platform 15 with respect to the truck 17, until the ends of the relative transporting bands 23 are located near the ends of transporting bands 9 of the loading platform 7 and precisely until the friction wheels 29 are in contact with said bands 9 in such a way as to be engaged by way of friction with the adjacent bands of both platforms. At this moment motor 25a of the actuating assembly 25 is actuated in such a way as to move the transporting bands 23 of the translating platform 15 clockwise, that is so as to move from left to right, looking at the drawing, an object placed on them. The motion is transmitted, by means of friction wheels 29, to the transporting bands 9 of the loading platform 7, and so the latter move in the same sense of the transporting bands 23 of the translating platform 15. The motor vehicle is thus displaced to the right, looking at the drawing, and is transferred from the loading platform 7 to the translating platform 15. The motor 25a is stopped exactly at the time when the motor vehicle 37 is entirely on the transporting bands 23 of the translating platform 15. Hydraulic cylinder 33 is again actuated so as to bring the translating platform 15 in a central position with reference to the truck 17. The truck 17 is then displaced along the passageway by means of the chain 19 until it reaches a position adjacent to an empty parking place, and the platform 15 is rotated by 90° so as to align its transporting bands with those of the parking place. The aforementioned operations which are necessary to approach and actuate the adjacent transporting bands are repeated so as to displace the motor vehicle 37 from the translating platform 15 to the chosen parking place, and the parking operations of the motor vehicle 37 are thus ended. During the operations at the upper floor, another vehicle can be put on the loading platform 7 and carried to the upper floor. Entirely similar operations are accomplished in order to take back a motor vehicle from a parking place and to deliver the same at the exit of the plant at the lower floor, the motor vehicle being delivered to the owner without any particular maneuvering being required. According to a particularly useful embodiment of the invention, the described parking plant can be equipped with means and devices for the automatic and programmed execution of all parking operations. In particular, position sensors of some of the moving bodies and programming devices will be necessary. Furthermore centralized commanding and controlling devices will enable the functioning of the plant in a wholly automatic way under the control of only one person. Such menas and devices are not described here, because they are known to everybody concerned with automation tecniques. Even if only one embodiement of the invention has been shown and described, it is clear that a number of different embodiments and modifications are possible not departing from the scope of the invention. For example, instead of using a pair of transporting bands, or tracks, for the platforms and for the parking places, one can equally well utilize a unique transporting band, or a unique track, obviously one having an adequate width; or, the truck 17, instead of being pulled by chain 19, could be actuated by a motor arranged on the truck itself; or, at last, one could provide two or more translating platforms on the same truck, in such a way as to be able to put simultaneously two or more vehicles in their respective parking place, in the case, obviously, in which the structure of the plant is such as to allow the construction, on the same floor, of two or more superimposed parking places.

Claims: A parking plant for motor vehicles comprising a plurality of parking places (1) and means for locating the motor vehicles in said parking places (1) , said means comprising: at least a transporting band (5b) in every parking place; at least a translating platform (15) comprising at least a transporting band (23) and an actuating device (25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e, 25f, 25g, 23a, 23b, 23c) capable of moving said transporting band; a truck (17) which forms the lower part of the translating platform (15) for displacing the translating platform (15) so as to bring it to a loading/unloading position where its transporting band (23) is aligned, in the sense of motion, with the transporting band (5b) of anyone of the parking places and adjacent to it, and means (29) for transmitting the motion of the transporting band (23) of the translating platform (15) to the adjacent transporting band (5b) of a parking place (1) when the translating platform (15) is located in the respective loading/unloading position, characterized in that the translating platform (15) is formed by an upper part movable with respect to said lower part or truck (17) both along a linear path, preferably by means of an hydraulic cylinder (33), in order to take up the variable distance between the translating platform (15) and the transporting bands of the parking place (1), and around a variable angle, through rotation means (36) which allow the transporting bands (23) of the translating platform (15) to be aligned with those (5b) of the parking place (1), the plant being further characterized in that said means (29) for transmitting the motion to the transporting bands (5b) of the parking places (1) are friction wheels (29) pivotally connected to the translating platform (15), and in that a loading platform (7) is provided, which is rotatable around an axis orthogonal to it, said loading platform (7) having at least one transporting band (9), a loading/unloading position being provided in which the transporting band (23) of the translating platform (15) is aligned with the transporting band (9) of the loading platform and adjacent to it, means (8) being provided for vertically displacing the loading platform (7). A parking plant according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises means for sensing the position and means for controlling the displacements of the loading platform (7) and of the translating platform (15) so as to bring the latter in different predetermined positions for effecting the loading/unlodaing according to a predetermined succession, the plant being further characterized in that said transporting bands (5b, 9, 23) are in the form of transporting tracks.

Inventors: GALLIANI MASSIMO, VALERIO RUGGIERO, GALLIANI, MASSIMO, VALERIO, RUGGIERO
Applicants: RACIS SRL, RACIS S.R.L.
Application year: 1991
Main classification: E04H6
IPC codes: E04H6