Patent Publication Number: US-2006018738-A1

Title: Parking tower

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a parking tower for parking cars and, more particularly, to such a parking tower that enables cars to be parked densely and that enables users to park and retrieve cars rapidly.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      For the advantage of high mobility, most people would like to drive a car instead of using public transportation. Therefore, the number of cars is growing at a high rate in almost all cities around the world. In consequence, it is usually difficult to find a parking place in downtown areas. In order to fully utilize the limited space of land, parking towers are designed for parking cars at different stories above the ground. These parking towers commonly use a computer-controlled transfer mechanism to transfer cars from the entrance to the vacant parking blocks on different stories or to carry parked cars from their respective parking blocks on different stories to the exit. These conventional parking towers are still not satisfactory in function because they require much time to park a car or to carry a parked car to the exit.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is one object of the present invention to provide a parking tower which fully utilizes limited space for parking cars efficiently. It is another object of the present invention to provide a parking tower which enables the user to park a car and to retrieve a parked car rapidly.  
      To achieve these and other objects, the parking tower according to the present invention comprises a steel structure tower body, the steel structure tower body comprising a basement layer below the ground, a plurality of parking layers at different elevations above the ground, and at least one vertical cab well vertically extended from the basement layer through the parking layers, the parking layers each comprising a plurality of parking blocks, and a plurality of support members transversely and longitudinally arranged in each of the parking blocks; a plurality of parking plates each for carrying a car individually; a cab vertically movably installed in the vertical cab well for carrying the parking plates between the basement layer and the parking layers; a parking plate dispensing unit installed in the basement layer and adapted to collect the parking plates and to move the parking plates in and out of the cab; and a plurality of transfer means respectively installed in the parking layers and adapted to transfer the parking plates between the vertical cab well and the support members of each parking layer and to transfer each parking plate from the support members of one of the parking blocks to the support members of another of the parking blocks. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a front view of a parking tower according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a side view of the parking tower according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  is a schematic drawing showing the arrangement of 9 blocks in every parking layer according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 4  is a schematic drawing showing the arrangement of the support members and the transfer mechanism in one parking block according to the present invention.  
      FIGS.  4 A˜ 4 N show the arrangement of the fence structure of the fence plates in one parking block according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 5  is a schematic drawing showing a car being carried on a parking plate supported on the rollers of the transfer mechanism of one parking block according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 5A  is a side view showing the arrangement of the transfer mechanism in one parking block according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 6  is a schematic drawing showing a stack of parking plates carried on the carriage of the parking plate dispensing unit according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 7  is a schematic drawing of the parking plate dispensing unit showing the carriage supported on the support members at the screw rods.  
       FIG. 8  is schematic top view of  FIG. 7 .  
       FIG. 9  is a schematic drawing showing the design of a transmission gear train type transmission mechanism for the parking plate dispensing unit according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 10  is a schematic drawing showing the design of a chain transmission type transmission mechanism for the parking plate dispensing unit according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 11  is a schematic drawing showing the design of a worm and worm gear transmission type transmission mechanism for the parking plate dispensing unit according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 12  is a schematic drawing showing another design of worm and worm gear transmission type transmission mechanism for the parking plate dispensing unit according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 13  is a schematic drawing showing chains and hooks arranged in the parking plate dispensing unit for carrying the parking plates in and out of the carriage according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 14  is a top plain view of one parking plate according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 15  is a schematic drawing showing one parking plate carrier arranged at one side of the parking plate dispensing unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 16  is a schematic drawing showing the arrangement of multiple parking lots in one parking layer according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 17  is a schematic drawing showing the arrangement of multiple parking lots in one parking layer according to another alternate embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 18  is a schematic drawing showing the arrangement of multiple parking lots in one parking layer according to still another alternate embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 19  is a schematic drawing showing the support members of the parking blocks of one parking layer slanted at an angle.  
       FIG. 20  is a schematic drawing corresponding to  FIG. 19  showing cars parked on parking plates with the slanted support members. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a parking tower in accordance with the present invention is shown comprising a steel structure tower body  1 . The steel structure tower body  1  has a basement layer  11  below the ground, and a plurality of parking layers  12  at different elevations above the ground. The parking layers  12  each are divided into 9 transversely and longitudinally aligned blocks (see  FIG. 3 ). The center block is an opening, and a vertical cab well  13  is formed along the center blocks of the parking layers  12  and extended to the basement layer  11  for a cab  3  (this will be described further). The other  8  blocks of each parking layer  12  are parking blocks, each parking block being provided with a support table formed of transversely and longitudinally arranged support members  14  and a transfer mechanism  2  installed in the support members  14  (see  FIG. 4 ). The transfer mechanism  2  comprises a plurality of transverse transfer rollers  21 , a plurality of longitudinal transfer rollers  22 , and linking devices  23  linking the transverse transfer rollers  21  and the longitudinal transfer rollers  22 . As shown in  FIG. 5A , each linking device  23  comprises a worm and worm gear that are driven by a motor.  
      The parking tower further comprises a plurality of parking plates  4  for carrying cars individually, a cab  3  movable in the vertical cab well  13 , and a parking plate dispensing unit  5  adapted to receive and distribute the parking plates  4 .  
      Referring to FIGS.  6 ˜ 8  and  FIGS. 1 and 2  again, the parking plate dispensing unit  5  comprises a plurality of screw rods  51  vertically arranged in parallel corresponding to the four corners of the parking plates  4 , a plurality of support members  52  respectively threaded onto the screw rods  51  and movable along the screw rods  51  upon rotation of the screw rods  51  (see  FIGS. 7 and 8 ), a carriage  53  supported on the support members  52  and movable with the support members  52  along the screw rods  51 , and a transmission mechanism  54  adapted to rotate the screw rods  51  synchronously. The transmission mechanism  54  can be a bevel gear transmission mechanism, transmission gear train (see  FIG. 9 ), a chain transmission mechanism (see  FIG. 10 ), or a worm and worm gear transmission mechanism (see FIGS.  11  and  12 ). Therefore, by means of moving the carriage  53  vertically upwards/downwards along the screw rods  51 , the parking plates  4  can be arranged in a stack on the carriage  53 . Further, chains  55  are arranged vertically and controlled to rotate and to move hooks  56  for lowering the parking plates  4  onto or lifting the parking plates  4  from the carriage  53  (see  FIG. 13 ).  
      Referring to  FIG. 14 , each parking plate  4  comprises a rectangular plate body  41 , a plurality of bottom rollers  42  pivotally provided at the bottom side of the plate body  41 , and a plurality of peripheral rollers  43  pivotally provided around the four sides of the plate body  41 .  
      Further, the first parking layer  12  of the steel structure tower body  1  that is closest to the ground has at least one entrance and one exit or one gate for entrance and exit. One parking plate  4  is transferred from the parking plate dispensing unit  5  to the parking block of the first parking layer  12  adjacent to the entrance by the transfer mechanism  2  of the first parking layer  12  by means of the control of a computer so that a car can be parked on the parking plate  4  on the parking block of the first parking layer  12  adjacent to the entrance. Having been loaded with a car the parking plate  4  is transferred to another parking block of the first parking layer  12 , and the parking plate dispensing unit  5  is controlled to transfer another parking plate  4  to the first parking layer  12  for enabling the parking plate  4  to be further transferred to the parking block of the first parking layer  12  adjacent to the entrance. After the parking blocks of the first parking layer  12  have been fully occupied, the transfer mechanism  2  of the first parking layer  12  is controlled by the computer to transfer one parking plate  4  with the parked car to the cab  3 , enabling the cab  3  to carry the parking plate  4  and the parked car to another parking layer  12  (see  FIG. 2 ). By operating in the aforesaid manner, a car can be quickly carried to any assigned parking block in any of the parking layers  12 . The transfer mechanism  2  of each parking block in every parking layer  12  further comprises a plurality of transversely extended and longitudinally extended fence plates  24  that can be moved up and down to form a fence structure around the respective parking block. FIGS.  4 A˜ 4 N show the arrangement of the fence structure of the fence plates.  
      When retrieving a car, it is transferred with the respective parking plate  4  from the corresponding parking block to the cab  3 , then lowered with the cab  3  to the first parking layer  12 , and then transferred to the parking block in the first parking layer  12  adjacent to the entrance.  
      Referring to  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 1  again, at least one, for example two, parking plate carriers  6  are symmetrically provided at two sides of the parking plate dispensing unit  5 . Each parking plate carrier  6  comprises a carriage  63  adapted to carry a number of parking plates  4  in a stack. When the parking plate dispensing unit  5  is empty, the carriage  63  of one parking plate carrier  6  is moved with the loaded parking plates  4  sideways to the carriage  53  of the parking plate dispensing unit  5  for further dispensing.  
      Referring to FIGS.  16 ˜ 18 , subject to the area of the land for the parking tower, each parking layer  12  may be divided into multiple parking lots each formed of 9 longitudinally and transversely aligned blocks, and a number of vertical cab wells are formed in assigned blocks of the parking lots in every parking layer  12  for a respective cab  3 .  
      Referring to  FIGS. 19 and 20 , the support members  14  in each parking block of the first parking layer  12  adjacent the entrance/exit can be horizontally slanted at an angle so that a car can be moved in and out of the first parking layer  12  from the lateral side.  
      A prototype of parking tower has been constructed with the features of FIGS.  1 ˜ 20 . The parking tower functions smoothly to provide all of the features discussed earlier.  
      Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.