EP0179188A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Transporting system of floated carrier type
Assignee: Toshiba Corp
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Filing: 1985-04-25
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2005-04-25
Abstract
Abstract In a transporting system for transporting cargo to a predetermined position, a carrier (2) is located above rails (4) and a first support plate (7) is located under the rail (4) and is coupled with the carrier by a pair of columns (6). A second support plate (11) is rotatably coupled by a coupling mechanism (9). Four magnetic floating assemblies (8) are so disposed on the first and second plates (7, 11) as to face the rails (4) and a control unit (14) is disposed on the first support plate (7). The carrier (2) is floated by an attractive force produced between the rail (4) and the magnet units (10) of the assemblies. A gap sensor (12) of each of the assemblies (8) generates an output signal corresponding to a gap between the rails (4) and the magnet unit (10) and a current supplied to the magnet unit (10) is also detected by a current detector (24). The outputs from the gap sensor (12) and the current detector is fed as feedback signal to an operational circuit (28) of the control unit (14). Thus, the current supplied to the magnet unit (10) is so adjusted by the operational circuit (28) as to supply the current when an external force is applied to the carrier (2).
Inventors
- 👤 Mimpei C/O Patent Division Morishita
- 👤 Teruo C/O Patent Division Azukizawa
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 22:14
CPC Classifications
B; B60; B60L; B60L13/00; B60L13/04; B60L13/06; B65; B65G; B65G54/00; B65G54/02; B60L2200/00; B60L2200/26
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 15
Claim 1
Independent Claim
198 words
A transporting system for transporting cargo to a predetermined position, characterized by comprising: a carrier (2) for carrying cargo; at least one rail (4) extending along a running path of said carrier (2) and having a bottom section made of a ferromagnetic material; floating means (8) including a plurality of magnet units (10) having respective combinations of permanent magnets (16) and electromagnets (20) provided on said carrier (2) such as to face said rail (4), said carrier (2) being caused to float with respect to said rail (4) by electromagnetic attractive forces acting between said magnet units (10) and the bottom section of said rail (4); means (12) provided on said carrier (2) for sensing the gap (G) between each said magnet unit (10) and said rail (4) to generate an output signal; and means (14) for energizing said electromagnets (20) by supplying a current thereto according to the output of said sensing means (12) when an external force is applied to said carrier (2) to prevent vertical motion of said carrier (2) to hold the current supplied to said electromagnets (20) to be substantially zero in a steady state of said carrier (2) free from vertical motion.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
198 words
A transporting system for transporting cargo to a predetermined position, characterized by comprising: a carrier (2) for carrying cargo; at least one rail (4) extending along a running path of said carrier (2) and having a bottom section made of a ferromagnetic material; floating means (8) including a plurality of magnet units (10) having respective combinations of permanent magnets (16) and electromagnets (20) provided on said carrier (2) such as to face said rail (4), said carrier (2) being caused to float with respect to said rail (4) by electromagnetic attractive forces acting between said magnet units (10) and the bottom section of said rail (4); means (12) provided on said carrier (2) for sensing the gap (G) between each said magnet unit (10) and said rail (4) to generate an output signal; and means (14) for energizing said electromagnets (20) by supplying a current thereto according to the output of said sensing means (12) when an external force is applied to said carrier (2) to prevent vertical motion of said carrier (2) to hold the current supplied to said electromagnets (20) to be substantially zero in a steady state of said carrier (2) free from vertical motion.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
37 words
The transporting system according to claim 1, characterized in that said sensing means (12) senses the gap (G) between said magnet units (10) and said rail (4) and generates an output corresponding to the sensed gap (G).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
59 words
The transporting system according to claim 2, characterized in that said sensig means (12) includes a light-emitting element (34) for emitting a light beam toward said rail (4) and a light-receiving element (36) for generating a signal corresponding to the intensity of the received light beam reflected by said rail (4), said intensity being related to the gap (G).
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
43 words
The transporting system according to claim 1, characterized in that said sensing means (12) includes a sensor (130) for sensing the acceleration of said carrier (2) when said carrier (2) undergoes a vertical motion and generates an output corresponding to the sensed acceleration.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
22 words
The transporting system according to claim 1, characterized by further comprising means for sensing a current (24) supplied to said electromagnets (20).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
91 words
The transporting system according to claim 1, characterized by further comprising means for propelling said carrier (2) including a conductor plate (38) provided on said carrier (2) and a plurality of stator units (40) disposed along said rail (4) such as to give a shifting magnetic field to said conductor plate (38), said carrier (2) being given a propelling power by electromagnetic forces acting between a magnetic flux set up by current induced in said conductor plate (38) by said shifting magnetic field and flux generated by said stator units (40).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
34 words
The transporting system according to claim 6, characterized in that said conductor plate (38) extends from the bottom of said carrier (2) and said plurality of stator units (40) face said conductor plate (38).
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
71 words
The transporting system according to claim 1, characterized in that said energizing means (14) includes means (15, 22) for generating an exciting current, a state observer for determining the magnitude of said external force from an output signal of said sensing means (12), and means (28) for feeding back the magnitude of external force determined by said state observer (122) with a predetermined gain to said exciting current generating means (22).
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
72 words
The transporting system according to claim 1, characterized in that said energizing means (14) includes means (130) for feeding back deviations of the gap (G) between said electromagnets (20) and said guide rail (4), speed of said carrier (2) in the vertical direciton and exciting current supplied to said electromagnets (20) with respective predetermined gains not all being zero through a filter having a first order transfer function to said exciting current.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
49 words
The transporting system according to claim 1, characterized in that said energizing means (14) includes an integral compensator (116) for integrating said exciting current deviation with a predetermined gain and means (120) for feeding back the output of said integral compensator (116) to said exciting current generating means (14).
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
56 words
The transporting system according to claim 1, characterized in that a value detected by said sensing means (12) is at least one of the gap between said electromagnets (20) and said guide rail (4), the speed change of said carrier (2), the acceleration change of said carrier (2) and exciting current supplied to said electromagnets (20).
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
77 words
The transporting system according to claim 1, characterized by.further comprising a first support plate (7, 7-1, 7-2) secured to said carrier (2) such that it extends along said rail (4), a second support plate (11, 11-1, 11-2, 11-3, 11-4) extending along said first support plate (7, 7-1, 7-2) and provided with magnet units (10), and means (9) for rotatably coupling said second support plate (11, 11-1, 11-2, 11-3, 11-4) to said first support plate (7, 7-1, 7-2).
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
34 words
The transporting system according to claim 12, characterized by further comprising a further support plate (11-1, 11-2, 11-3, 11-4) extending along said first support plate (7, 7-1, 7-2) and provided with magnet units (10).
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
30 words
The transporting system according to claim 11, characterized in that said magnet units (10) are capable of being rotated in a plane parallel to the underside of said rail (4).
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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