EP0246098A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Transporting system of floated carrier type
Assignee: Toshiba Corp
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Filing: 1987-05-14
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2007-05-14
Abstract
Abstract In a transporting system, four magnetic units (31) are mounted on corners of carrier (15) and the carrier is suspended under rails (12a, 12b) by electromagnetic attractive forces acting between the magnetic units (31) and the bottom section of the rails (12a, 12b). Each of the magnetic unit (31) has a permanent magnet (53) and electromagnets (51, 52) and gap sensors (34) are provided on the carrier (15) to sense a gap between each magnetic unit (31) and the rail (12a, 12b). A battery (42, 43) for supplying a current to the magnetic unit (31) is mounted on the carrier 15. The carrier (15) is floated in a zero power control mode, even when an external force is applied to the carrier (15) by a zero power control circuit (63, 68, 79, 81) which maintain the current supplied to the magnetic unit (31) to be substantially zero. The carrier (15) is softly landed on the rail (12a, 12a) or started to flow from the rail (12a, 12a) in response to an external command in a soft landing or a soft start mode by an actuating unit 67. In the soft landing and the soft start mode, the zero power control circuit (63, 68, 79, 81) is opened and the current supplied to the magnetic unit (31) is controlled in accordance with a target value by an actuating unit.
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
2026-10-26 00:34
CPC Classifications
H; H02; H02N; H02N15/00; B; B65; B65G; B65G54/00; B65G54/02; B60; B60L; B60L13/00; B60L13/04; B60L13/06; B60L13/10; B61; B61C; B61C11/00; B60L2200/00; B60L2200/26
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim
311 words
A transporting system for transporting cargo to a predetermined position, comprising: a carrier (15) for carrying cargo; at least one rail (12a, 12a) extending along a running path of said carrier and having a bottom section made of a ferromagnetic material; floating means (25, 27, 31, 51, 52, 53) including a plurality of magnetic units (31) having respective combinations of permanent magnets (53) and electromagnets (51,52) provided on said carrier (15) such as to face said rail (12a, 12b), said carrier (15) being caused to float with respect to said rail (12a, 12b) by electromagnetic attractive forces acting between said magnets (51, 52, 53) and said bottom section of said rail (12a, 12b); means (42,43), provided on said carrier (15), for generating an exciting current; and sensing means (34) provided on said carrier (15) for sensing one of a gap between each magnetic unit (31) and said rail and the exciting current to generate an output signal; characterized by further comprising: means (41) for controlling the exciting current, which includes zero power control means (63, 68 - 79,81) for maintaining the exciting current supplied to said electromagnets (51, 52) to be substantially zero in a stable floating condition in response to output of said sensing means (34), even when an external force is applied to said carrier (15); and means (65, 66, 67, 80) for generating a gradually varying target value and setting said controlling means (41) in one of zero power control mode, soft start mode and soft landing mode in accordance with an external command, said zero power control means (63, 68 - 79, 81) being energized in the zero power control mode (63, 68 - 79,81), said zero power control means (63,68 - 79, 81) being deenergized and said control means (41) being operated in accordance with a target value and the output of the sensing means (34).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
311 words
A transporting system for transporting cargo to a predetermined position, comprising: a carrier (15) for carrying cargo; at least one rail (12a, 12a) extending along a running path of said carrier and having a bottom section made of a ferromagnetic material; floating means (25, 27, 31, 51, 52, 53) including a plurality of magnetic units (31) having respective combinations of permanent magnets (53) and electromagnets (51,52) provided on said carrier (15) such as to face said rail (12a, 12b), said carrier (15) being caused to float with respect to said rail (12a, 12b) by electromagnetic attractive forces acting between said magnets (51, 52, 53) and said bottom section of said rail (12a, 12b); means (42,43), provided on said carrier (15), for generating an exciting current; and sensing means (34) provided on said carrier (15) for sensing one of a gap between each magnetic unit (31) and said rail and the exciting current to generate an output signal; characterized by further comprising: means (41) for controlling the exciting current, which includes zero power control means (63, 68 - 79,81) for maintaining the exciting current supplied to said electromagnets (51, 52) to be substantially zero in a stable floating condition in response to output of said sensing means (34), even when an external force is applied to said carrier (15); and means (65, 66, 67, 80) for generating a gradually varying target value and setting said controlling means (41) in one of zero power control mode, soft start mode and soft landing mode in accordance with an external command, said zero power control means (63, 68 - 79, 81) being energized in the zero power control mode (63, 68 - 79,81), said zero power control means (63,68 - 79, 81) being deenergized and said control means (41) being operated in accordance with a target value and the output of the sensing means (34).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
36 words
A system according to claim 1, characterized in that said setting means includes mechanically non-contacting signal transmitting means (67), and an external command is externally transmitted to said setting means through said signal transmitting means (67).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
51 words
A system according to claim 2, characterized in that said signal transmitting means includes: light emitting means (49, 93), provided outside said carrier (15), for generating an optical signal; and photo detecting means (46), provided on said carrier (15), for receiving the optical signal and converting it into an electrical signal.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
48 words
A system according to claim 1, characterized in that said setting means includes means (67) for generating, in accordance with a command, a first actuating signal for gradually floating said carrier (15) and a second actuating signal for gradually landing said carrier (15) on said rail (12a, 12b).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
32 words
A system according to claim 4, characterized in that said zero power control means (65, 66, 67, 80) includes switching means (80) opened/closed in accordance with the first and second actuating signals.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
82 words
A system according to claim 1, characterized In that said zero power control means (65, 66, 67, 80) includes an integrating compensator (81) for integrating with a predetermined gain a deviation between a value of the exciting current of said electromagnets (51,52) detected by said sensing means (42,43) and a target value from said setting means (65, 66,67, 80), and means (77) for feeding back an output value from said integrating compensator (81) to the exciting current of said electromagnets (51, 52).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
91 words
A system according to claim 1, characterized in that said zero power control means (63, 68 -79, 81) includes means (73, 74, 75) for multiplying predetermined gains to deviations between the detected values of a gap length, a speed, and an exciting current detected by said sensing means (34) and the output values from said setting means (65, 66, 69, 80), the predetermined gains not being zero at the same time, and for feeding back the product values to the exciting current through a filter (95) having a primary transfer function.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
102 words
A system according to claim 1, characterized in that said zero power control means (63, 68 - 79,81) includes a state observer (101) for observing a magnitude of an external force along a direction of the gap length acting on said carrier (15) in accordance with the output value from said sensing means (34), and means (73, 74, 75) for multiplying a predetermined gain to a deviation between the magnitude of the external force observed by said state observer (101) and the target value from said setting means (65, 66, 67, 80) and for feeding back the product to the exciting current.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
98 words
A system according to claim 1, characterized in that said zero power control means (63, 68 - 79, 81) includes a state observer (101) for observing a magnitude of an external force along a direction of the gap length acting on said carrier (15) in accordance with the output value from said sensing means (34), and means (73, 74, 75) for feeding back a deviation between a value obtained by multiplying the output value from said state observer by a predetermined gain and the output value from said setting means (65, 66, 67, 80) to the exciting current.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
70 words
A system according to claim 1, characterized in that said setting means (65, 66, 67, 80) generates a target value to be compared with at least one of detected values of a gap length between said electromagnets (51, 52) and said guide rail (12a, 12b), a rate of change of the gap length, an acceleration of change of the gap length, and the exciting current of said electromagnets (51, 52).
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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