Industrial truck and a method for picking up loads on a load carrier with the industrial truck

Abstract

The invention relates to an industrial truck (1) having at least one fork tine (4) with a fork blade (6) for insertion into a recess in a load carrier and having a fork back (5) angled away from the fork blade (6). The at least one fork tine (4) is mounted with its fork back (5) on a fork carrier (3) that is guided in a height-adjustable manner on the industrial truck (1). A distance sensor (9, 11) is arranged in the region of the fork back (5) or the fork carrier (3), which is aligned with the area in front of the industrial truck and generates a distance signal that represents the distance of the fork back (5) from the load carrier (7). A display device (19) serves to display information for the driver of the industrial truck in response to an information signal.The industrial truck (1) is characterized in that a length determination device is provided for generating a length signal that represents the length of the recess in the load carrier (7) for receiving the at least one fork tine (4). Furthermore, it is characterized by a travel path calculation device for calculating a maximum permissible travel path for the industrial truck (1) for entering the recess in the load carrier (7) in response to at least the distance signal and the length signal and for generating the information signal representing the permissible travel path for the display device. The invention also relates to a method for picking up load (8) located on a load carrier (7) using an industrial truck, in particular using the aforementioned industrial truck (1).

Description

The invention relates to a floor conveyor vehicle having at least one fork tine with a fork plate for driving into a recess of a load carrier for receiving the load carrier, which is intended for receiving a load, and with a fork back angled from the fork plate, with a fork carrier guided in a height-adjustable manner on the floor conveyor vehicle, on which the at least one fork tine is mounted with its fork back, with a distance sensor arranged in the region of the fork back or the fork carrier, which distance sensor is aligned with the front field of the floor conveyor vehicle, for generating a distance signal representing the distance of the fork back from the load carrier, and with a display direction for displaying information for the driver of the floor conveyor vehicle in response to an information signal.The invention likewise relates to a method for receiving cargo optionally located on a load carrier with a floor conveyor vehicle, in particular with a floor conveyor vehicle according to the aforementioned species, having the step:positioning the industrial truck with respect to the load carrier in such a way that the at least one fork blade is preferably situated flush opposite the recess for receiving the fork blade of the load carrier or is moved a little way into the recess.Such industrial trucks are known in principle and serve, among other things, for transporting and / or handling loads or for transporting persons and are also used for the internal transport and lifting tasks of piece goods. In addition to tractors, loaders, and crane trucks, a stacker, particularly forklifts, is a known representative of industrial trucks. Forklift trucks are already known in a wide variety of ways. Since forklifts are used in particular for storing goods and removing goods in or from high-bay stores, there are high safety requirements both in forklifts operated and autonomously controlled by vehicle drivers.Even in the case of goods stores in which stackable boxes, cartons or pallets without shelves or the like are stacked one above the other or next to the other in blocks in so-called block storage, the load is generally stored on one another without relatively large intermediate spaces with or without load carriers such as pallets. In the storage of blocks, not only pallets standardized with respect to their dimensions, such as the so-called Europallets, are used, but also special pallets and similarly designed load carriers. The pallets are received by a industrial truck such as a fork lift truck in that fork blades of the fork prongs retract into entry pockets formed in the manner of recesses and the pallets lift off the floor by corresponding height adjustment of the fork prongs and are moved accordingly by a movement of the industrial truck.In the redistribution of rectangular Europallets, industrial trucks are used whose fork tine lengths are adapted to a longitudinal extent of the Europallets. However, it can occur that such pallets must also be accommodated in such a way that the forks retract into a transverse extension of the pallets, whereby the forks can protrude beyond the pallets. Likewise, when transporting special cargo carriers or special pallets having dimensions that differ greatly from one another, it is not possible to completely prevent the forks from protruding with respect to the special cargo carriers even when experienced industrial truck drivers.Projecting free ends of the forks can lead to damage of different types to the cargo, especially in the case of a block mounting. On the one hand, the fork blades can exit with their free load carriers received on their sides facing away from the industrial truck and possibly enter load carriers located behind them. This would lead to the fact that these further load carriers can be moved together, but cannot be transported or raised safely because of the insufficient penetration depth of the fork blades into the load carriers and this can lead to the pallets falling from an elevated storage position. In addition, there is also the risk that the protruding forks may damage goods or items to be loaded which are mounted on the load carriers. This is particularly the case when the load is cardboard boxes into which the metal forks can penetrate.In the prior art, provisions have already become known for treating these problems. For this purpose, different camera systems are used, for example, which do not display directly visible areas to the vehicle driver in front of the load carrier or the free ends of the fork blades on a monitor. With the aid of a corresponding monitor image, however, the industrial truck driver can be provided with a sufficiently accurate overview of the driving-in situation of the fork blades on the load carrier.For example, DE 20 2008 006 639 U1 describes a system for positioning the fork of a forklift relative to obstacles. The system includes a proximity sensor and a fork, which in turn has prongs having a tip and a base portion. The prongs are adapted for attachment via their base portion to the fork and further to the stacker. The distance sensor consists of a peak distance sensor which is arranged at the tip of the tine. Information of the front area in front of the prongs facilitates the operation of the forklift truck and increases the operational reliability.DE 10 2009 004 742 A1 discloses a fork tine for a load fork of a floor conveyor vehicle for receiving a load carrier, which fork tine has a fork back and a support arm. In a bore of the fork back near the support arm there is arranged a sensor which detects the presence of a load on the support arm and is connected to a communication means on the fork back for transmitting a sensor signal to the industrial truck. However, no information is given about a depth of entry of the forks into the load carrier from which a transport-safe movement of the load carrier can be inferred.Furthermore, EP 3 476 793 B1 discloses a industrial truck in which, in order to facilitate the stacking of goods into a rack compartment, individual rack compartment identifiers are captured as digital image data, which are analyzed by a computer unit, by means of a digital camera attached to an end face of a fork tine.Finally, US 2007 / 0215412 A1 describes a device mounted on a fork lift truck, which provides an operator with information about the distance of a pallet load from the upright part of the fork prongs. To determine the distance of the pallet load, sound, infrared or radar waves are emitted and the reflected signals are processed. The range information is transmitted to a distance indicator to prevent damage to walls of truck trailers to be loaded, structures of the warehouse, or other palletized loads.In the prior art, however, provisions for ensuring safe reception of a charge carrier are not taught in a sufficiently practical manner.Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to further develop a known industrial truck and a known method for receiving a load carrier with the industrial truck such that a protrusion of fork prongs of the industrial truck during a reception or during a transport of the load carrier on its side facing away from the industrial truck is avoided and the reception of the load carrier is simplified.The object is achieved by the subject matter of claim 1. For this purpose, the industrial truck specified at the beginning is characterized in that a length determination device is provided for generating a length signal which represents the length of the recess in the load carrier for receiving the at least one fork tine, and a travel path calculation device for calculating a maximum permissible travel path for the industrial truck for driving into the recess of the load carrier in response to at least the distance signal and the length signal and for generating the information signal representing the travel path for the display device.The invention brings with it the advantage of avoiding damage to goods which are stored in the vicinity of the load carrier to be picked up by the industrial truck during the redistribution or transport thereof. Furthermore, according to the invention, the safety of the transferred or transported goods or goods themselves is also increased.The feature load carrier can also already include a load, in particular in the case that the load carrier and the load are formed integrally. According to the invention, the length of the recesses of the load carrier provided for receiving the fork blade is determined as the maximum entry length for the at least one fork blade in order to avoid the fork blade protruding from the side of the load carrier facing away from the industrial truck.The term "fork tine" means in particular a combination of a fork blade for receiving a load and a fork back, with which the fork tine is mounted on a fork carrier preferably in a height-adjustable manner. The fork carrier and the fork tine can be formed as separate components. Alternatively, the fork carrier and the fork tine can also be formed in one piece. The fork carrier then functions as a fork back and the fork blade is welded to the fork carrier. This alternative is used in particular in industrial trucks in the form of lifting trucks. The fork blades are often hollow.The term "camera" means in particular a digital camera.In a industrial truck according to the invention, the length determination device can have a type determination device and a recess length evaluation device, wherein the type determination device is provided for determining the type of the load carrier currently to be picked up and for providing this type to the recess length evaluation device. The recess length evaluation device is configured to determine the length of its recess for the at least one fork tine itself or to query it from a storage element in response to the type of the current charge carrier received from the type determination device and to provide the length of the recess in the form of the length signal for the travel path calculation device.In a first embodiment of the industrial truck according to the invention, the type determination device is a camera, preferably a 3D camera, arranged for example in the region of the fork carrier or the fork rear, with an associated type recognition module. The camera is designed for the pictorial capture of the charge carrier to be recorded in the form of image information. The type recognition module is designed to recognize the type of the current charge carrier by evaluating the image information and to provide the recognized type of the charge carrier to the recess length evaluation device.Alternatively, the type determination device of a second embodiment of the industrial truck according to the invention is the display device which is designed, for example, in the form of a user interface (human machine interface HMI), which is in data connection with the storage element and is designed to display to the driver of the industrial truck, preferably a plurality of possible charge carrier types stored in the storage element for selecting the charge carrier type currently to be transported, wherein the display device is designed to provide the selected charge carrier type for the recess length evaluation device. The storage element is preferably part of a inventory management system in which the necessary information can be stored and also dynamically queried.As a further alternative of a type determination device, in a third embodiment of the industrial truck according to the invention, it is designed as a code reader, for example in the form of a scanner or a digital camera, with an associated decoding module. The code reader is designed to detect a two- or three-dimensional identifier in the form of a code attached to the charge carrier and to transmit the identifier to the decoding module. The decoding module is designed to decode the identifier with respect to the type of charge carrier and to provide the type for the recess length evaluation device.The lengths of their recesses for receiving the fork blade can preferably be stored in the storage element for a plurality of load carrier types or updated in connection with a inventory management system.Within the scope of the invention, the length of its recess in a longitudinal and / or transverse direction can be stored in the storage element for at least one of the stored types of charge carriers. The recess length evaluation device is then also supplied with longitudinal / transverse information which indicates whether the currently selected load carrier is to be approached in its longitudinal or in its transverse direction. The recess length evaluation device is further designed to retrieve the length (I EF) of the recess of the current charge carrier from the storage element in the longitudinal or in the transverse direction as a function of this longitudinal / transverse information and to install it in the length signal for the travel path calculation device.Within the scope of the invention, the data connection between the storage element and the recess length evaluation device can be configured to be wired or wireless, for example as a radio connection.In a fourth embodiment of the industrial truck according to the invention, the length determination device is a code reader, for example in the form of a scanner or a digital camera, and a decoding module. The code reader is designed to detect a two- or three-dimensional identifier attached to the charge carrier in the form of a code and to transmit the identifier to the decoding module. Furthermore, the decoding module is designed to decode the identifier with respect to the length of the recess in the load carrier for receiving the fork blade and to provide the length of the recess in the form of the length signal to the travel path calculation device.Within the scope of the invention, the distance sensor can be a camera provided in the region of the fork carrier or the fork rear, preferably a 3D camera, which is designed to determine the distance of the industrial truck from the load carrier to be picked up by the industrial truck, in particular the distance (d R) of the fork rear from the load carrier.The camera can be a camera operating on the principle of time of flight measurement, for example a time of flight camera.Preferably, the travel path calculation device is designed to calculate the maximum travel path (d vw) of the fork blade into the recess of the load carrier provided for the fork blade according to the following equation: wherein the calculation parameters I G are the fork blade length, d R are the distance of the fork back from the load carrier and I EF are the length of the recesses for receiving the fork blade of the load carrier.The display device is preferably designed to output the information for the driver to the driver in the form of an optical, acoustic and / or haptic signal.The above object of the invention is achieved with the above advantages also by the method according to claim 15. For this purpose, the method specified at the beginning for receiving cargo located on a load carrier using a industrial truck is distinguished in that the length L EF of the recess is determined, in that a maximum permissible travel path d vw for the industrial truck for entering the recess of the load carrier is calculated according to the length of the recess and the distance of the fork back from the load carrier, and in that information representing the maximum permissible travel path d vw is displayed to the driver of the industrial truck.According to the invention, a travel path d vw which is maximally permissible for receiving a charge carrier is determined directly from a determined charge carrier type and its longitudinal or transverse alignment and a length of the recess assigned to these directions or from a length of the charge carrier contained in an identifier, taking into account its orientation.The front of the industrial truck with the load carrier to be currently recorded can be monitored according to the method according to the invention with the aid of a front camera for generating an image signal with alignment information which indicates how the industrial truck is currently aligned with the load carrier. Furthermore, the calculation of the maximum travel distance d vw still permissible can be carried out by triangulation with additional consideration of the image signal.The invention is explained in more detail below in connection with accompanying drawings, shown at different scales and partially schematically, with reference to exemplary embodiments. In the following drawings, like technical elements are denoted by like reference numerals. The following are shown: FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of a floor conveyor vehicle and a load to be picked up by the same, FIG. 2 shows a schematic illustration of a first embodiment of the industrial truck according to the invention, FIG. 3 shows a schematic illustration of the determination of the charge carrier type according to a second embodiment of the industrial truck according to the invention, FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a first embodiment of the method according to the invention, FIG. 5 is a flow chart to illustrate a second embodiment of the method according to the invention, FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a third embodiment of the method according to the invention, FIG. 7 is a flow chart to illustrate a fourth embodiment of the method according to the invention, and FIG. 8 shows an exemplary embodiment of the display device according to the invention.The exemplary embodiments are described below primarily for the case in which two fork prongs are present for retraction into two recesses in the load carrier. However, they also apply equally if only one fork tine is present for retraction into only one recess in the load carrier.A industrial truck 1 designed as a fork lift is illustrated in FIG. 1. The forklift 1 has a fork carrier 3 which is guided on a lifting frame 2 in a height-adjustable manner with respect to its standing surface. Two fork prongs 4 are secured to the fork carrier 3, forming a fork. With fork blades 6 angled with respect to a fork back 5, a load carrier 7 preferably designed as a pallet is received-optionally with or without piece goods 8 located thereon. In this case, the fork blades 6 are retracted into recesses of the pallet 7 in such a way that they do not project beyond the pallet 7 in the direction indicated by the arrow r in FIG. 1. Distance sensors 9 and 11 are provided on the fork back 5 in such a way that their measuring axes 13 extend in front of the fork carrier 3 in a measuring space 15 opposite a drive unit 17 of the fork lift 3. A distance determined, for example, by a reflection of the piece good 8, is transmitted by the distance sensors 9, 11 to a display device 19 provided in a driver's cab 18 via a radio connection designed, for example, as a Bluetooth connection.On the fork lift 1 according to FIG. 1, further sensors or cameras can be provided, for example on the fork carrier 3 or the lifting frame 5, as illustrated in FIG. 1, for observation in front and for maintaining the greatest possible operational reliability. Such sensors or cameras 20 can be provided with corresponding computing, transmitting and receiving units and transmit the obtained information or image data to the display device 19. Alternatively, an electronic control unit 21 can be provided for recording, processing and forwarding corresponding data.In order to ensure that the fork blades 6 do not project outward beyond the pallet 7 received by the forklift 1 on a side facing away from the fork carrier 3, the travel path d vw( see FIG. 2 ) not to be exceeded for this purpose is calculated with the aid of a travel path calculation device 37 when the fork blades 6 are introduced. Such a determination of the travel path d vw presupposes the distance of the fork lift truck 1 from the pallet 7 existing before retraction, i.e. the distance d R of the fork backs 5 from the pallet 7, a determination of the length L G of the fork blades 6 and the length L EF of recesses of the pallet 7 for receiving the fork blades 6 with a length determination device 38, 40, 45. The distance d R is determined using the distance sensors 9, 11 (FIG. 1 ). The length L G of the fork blades 6 is known or stored in a storage element 24 or in the control unit 21, and the retraction length L EF of the pallet 7 must be determined according to the invention before the respective introduction of the fork blades 6 into the pallet.Since different types of pallets 7 with different recesses 6 must be accommodated according to the invention, a determination of the type of the respective pallet 7 is necessary in the first, second and third embodiments of the method according to the invention. In these cases, the length determination device 38, 40, 45 contains a type determination device 39, 41, 42 and a recess length evaluation device 36, respectively, which determines the length of the recess 6 directly from the type of the pallet 7 or, for example, queries it from the storage element 24. In addition, it is important whether the pallet 7 is to be retracted in its longitudinal direction or transverse direction. This will be considered in more detail below.In a first embodiment of the industrial truck 1 and method according to the invention, illustrated with reference to FIG. 2, both the type of pallet 7 to be picked up and the transverse or longitudinal alignment thereof with respect to the forklift 1 and its forks 6 are captured by a 3D camera 29. The type of the pallet 7 is identified with the aid of the 3D camera 29 by recording image data of the pallet 7. the image data can be evaluated with regard to the type of the load carrier 7 in a type recognition module 35 integrated in the 3D camera 29 or assigned to the camera. The type of charge carrier 7 determined in this way is then forwarded to a recess length evaluation device 36 for determining the length of the recess in the charge carrier from its type.Alternatively, in a second embodiment of the industrial truck 1 and method according to the invention, the display device 19 designed as a user interface 23-human machine interface HMI (FIG. 3 ) assumes the task of the type determination device. The display device 19 or the user interface 23 is in a data connection with the storage element 24. A driver of the forklift 7 can read corresponding data from a storage element 24 containing information of the pallet 7 to be conveyed including the respective recess lengths through a manual selection via the user interface 23. This presupposes that the forklift driver is carrying the pallet 7 to be picked up, i.e. the type of pallet 71, 72, 73,... 79, 80 or can be visually recognized and can accordingly select in the storage element 24 via the user interface 23. The type selected by the driver is then output via the user interface 23 to the recess length evaluation device 36 so that the latter-in cooperation with the storage element 24-determines the length of the recesses for receiving the fork blades 6 in the longitudinal or transverse direction in the selected pallet 7.According to a third embodiment of the industrial truck 1 and method according to the invention, information about the type of load carrier 7 is attached to the industrial truck in the form of a 2D or 3D code. The code is detected by means of a code reader 43 designed as a scanner or digital camera and is output to a decoding module 44. The decoding module determines the type of charge carrier 7 from the received code and transmits the code to the recess length evaluation device 36 for determining the length of the recess.A fourth embodiment of the industrial truck according to the invention differs from the three aforementioned embodiments in that no separate type determination is required for determining the recess length of the pallet 7. A two- or three-dimensional identifier in the form of a code attached to the pallet 7 contains the recess length in coded form. The code is detected by the code reader and transmitted to a decoding module associated therewith. The decoding module decodes the identification regarding the length of the recess in the pallet 7 for receiving the fork blade 6, and provides the length of the recess to the travel path calculation device 37. Preferably, the identifier is attached to a transverse side of the pallet 7 if the identifier contains the length of the recess in the transverse direction. Alternatively, the identification is preferably attached to a longitudinal side of the pallet 7 if an identification contains the length of the recess in the longitudinal direction.All four embodiments thus respectively determine the length L EF of the recess and transmit it to the travel path calculation device 37. in the travel path calculation device 37, a maximum travel path d vw for the fork lift truck 7 is then calculated from the distance d R of the fork lift truck 1 from the pallet 7, the length L G of the fork blades 6 and the length L EF of the recesses. This travel path is calculated such that the free ends 6 aof the forks 6 do not come out of the pallet 7, but the pallet 7 is nevertheless securely accommodated. The travel path can be displayed to the forklift driver via the display device 19.Since the maximum permissible travel distance d VW is always also dependent on the orientation of the pallet 7 with respect to the forklift 1, it must be known or determined whether the pallet 7 is to be approached in its longitudinal or transverse direction. In the first embodiment of the industrial truck according to the invention, the longitudinal or transverse alignment of the pallet 7 with respect to the forklift 1 is determined from the image data recorded with the 3D camera 29. In the second embodiment, the length of the recesses 6 of the pallet 7 in the longitudinal and transverse directions can be obtained from the storage element 24 via the user interface 23. The driver of the forklift 1 operating the user interface 23 inputs the information as to whether the pallet 7 is to be approached in the longitudinal or transverse direction. In the third and fourth embodiments of the industrial truck and method according to the invention, the alignment information of the pallet with respect to the vehicle must be supplied to the recess length evaluation device 36 as additional input information. The alignment information can be implemented, for example, via different distances of a reference marking from the identifier. A smaller distance of the reference marking from the identifier represents a longitudinal alignment of the pallet 7 and a larger distance of the reference marking from the identifier represents a transverse alignment of the pallet 7.As shown in simplified form in FIG. 8, the display device 19 can be a simple signal display 26 in which, by means of arrow symbols and a circle symbol, an exceeding of the permissible travel distance d vw(26 a), a sufficient introduction of the fork blades 6 into the pallet 7 ( 26 b) or an excessively low retraction of the fork blades 6 can be displayed for the driver in an easily comprehensible manner ( 26 c).The method according to the invention for receiving cargo 8 optionally located on a load carrier 7 with a industrial truck 1 is explained below by way of example with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 to 7.In all embodiments of the method according to the invention, provision is made for the fork blade 6 to be moved into the recess of the load carrier 7 in accordance with the maximum permissible travel path and for the load carrier 7 to be lifted by displacing the height of the fork carrier 3 with the fork tine 4.In embodiments 1-3, the determination of the length of the recess comprises the substeps of determining the type of the charge carrier 7 currently to be accommodated and for this type of determining the length of its recess for accommodating the fork tine 4 for the calculation of the maximum permissible travel path d VW.According to the first embodiment of the method according to the invention illustrated in FIG. 4, the determination of the type of the charge carrier 7 to be currently recorded comprises the substeps of pictorially capturing the charge carrier 7 to be recorded in the form of image information with the aid of a camera 29, preferably a 3D camera, arranged for example in the region of the fork carrier 3 or the fork back 5, and recognizing the type of the current charge carrier 7 by evaluating the image information. For this purpose, the image information is fed to a type recognition module 35 for recognizing the charge carrier type from the image information. Together, the camera 29 and the type recognition module 35 form a type recognition device 39. the type recognition module 35 transmits the recognized type of the charge carrier 7 to the recess length evaluation device 36, which then determines the recess length of the charge carrier 7 and transmits it to the travel path calculation device 37. The travel path calculation device 37 calculates the maximum permissible travel path d VW and outputs it to the display device 19 with an information signal representing it. In this embodiment of the method according to the invention, the length determination device 38 comprises the type determination device 39 and the recess length evaluation device 36.Alternatively, according to FIG. 5, the length determination device 40 comprises the type determination device 41 comprising the user interface 23. in the second embodiment of the method according to the invention illustrated with reference to FIG. 5, the determination of the type of the charge carrier 7 to be currently picked up comprises the substeps of displaying preferably a plurality of possible charge carrier types (71,..., 80) for the driver of the industrial truck 1 and selecting the charge carrier type (71,..., 80) to be currently transported from the displayed charge carrier types (71,..., 80) by the driver. These two substeps are carried out by the type recognition device 41. The charge carrier type selected by the driver (71,..., 80) is then transmitted to the recess length evaluation device 36. The following steps are the same steps already explained in the first embodiment of the method according to the invention.The type detector 42 may alternatively comprise a code reader 43 and a code decoding module 44, as shown in Fig. 6. Together with the recess length evaluation device 36, the type determination device 42 forms the length determination device 45. according to this structure, in the third embodiment of the method according to the invention according to FIG. 6, the determination of the type of the charge carrier 7 to be currently accommodated comprises the substeps of acquiring a two- or three-dimensional identifier attached to the charge carrier 7 to be currently accommodated in the form of a code and decoding the identifier with respect to the type of the charge carrier 7. The following steps are the same steps already explained in the first embodiment of the method.In the method according to the invention, the determination of the length of the recess of the load carrier 7 currently to be picked up for picking up the fork tine 4 in a longitudinal and / or transverse direction of the load carrier 7 can take place in response to longitudinal / transverse information which indicates whether the load carrier 7 currently to be transported is to be picked up in its longitudinal or in its transverse direction.In the fourth embodiment of the method according to the invention, illustrated with reference to FIG. 7, the substeps of detecting a two- or three-dimensional identifier in the form of a code attached to the charge carrier 7 currently to be picked up and decoding the identifier with respect to the length of the recess in the charge carrier 7 to pick up the fork blade 6 are carried out in order to determine the length of the recess of the charge carrier 7. The fourth embodiment of the method according to the invention thus differs from the first three embodiments in that no type recognition is carried out by the length determination device 46. This is because, in contrast to the statements one to three of the method according to the invention, the length of the recess of the charge carrier 7 is obtained directly without separate type recognition by decoding the code of the identifier. With the obtained recess length, the calculation of the maximum permissible travel distance d takes place in vw as in the first three method embodiments and as explained below.In the method according to the invention, the calculation of the maximum travel distance d vw of the fork blade 6 into the recess of the current load carrier 7 provided for the fork blade 6 takes place according to the following equation: wherein the calculation parameters L G have the meaning of a fork blade length, d R have the meaning of a distance of the fork back 5 from the load carrier 7, and L EF have the meaning of a length of the recesses for receiving the fork blade 6 of the load carrier 7.By the calculation and specification of the maximum permissible travel path according to the invention, the handling of the industrial truck 1 or the movement of the load carrier 7 with loaded goods optionally located thereon is facilitated in a particularly advantageous manner for the driver. This applies in particular if the information about the maximum permissible travel path is processed and illustrated in a simplified manner as described above with reference to FIG. 8.References included in the specificationThis list of documents cited by the applicant has been produced in an automated manner and is only included for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent application or utility model application. The DPMA does not take any adhesion for any faults or omissions.Patent Literature citedDE 20 2008 006 639 U1

[0008] DE 10 2009 004 742 A1

[0009] EP 3 476 793 B1

[0010] US 2007 / 0215412 A1

[0011]

Claims

Industrial truck (1) having at least one fork tine (4) with a fork plate (6) for driving into a recess of a load carrier for receiving the load carrier (7) which is intended for receiving a load (8), and with a fork back (5) angled from the fork plate (6); with a fork carrier (3) which is guided in a vertically adjustable manner on the industrial truck (1) and on which the at least one fork tine (4) is mounted with its fork back (5); with a distance sensor (9, 11) which is arranged in the region of the fork back (5) or the fork carrier (3) and is aligned with the front field of the industrial truck (1) for generating a distance signal which represents the distance of the fork back (5) from the load carrier (7); and having a display device (19) for displaying information for the driver of the industrial truck (1) in response to an information signal; characterized in that a length determination device (38; 40; 45; 46) for generating a length signal which represents the length of the recess in the load carrier (7) for receiving the at least one fork tine (4); and a travel path calculation device (37) for calculating a maximum permissible travel path (d VW) for the industrial truck (1) for moving into the recess of the load carrier (7) in response to at least the distance signal and the length signal and for generating the information signal representing the travel path (d VW) are provided for the display device (19).Industrial truck (1) according to Claim 1, characterized in that the length determination device has a type determination device (39; 41; 42) and a recess length evaluation device (36), in that the type determination device (39; 41; 42) is provided for determining the type of the charge carrier (7) which is currently to be picked up and for providing this type to the recess length evaluation device (36); and in that the recess length evaluation device (36) is designed in response to that from the type determination device (39; 41; 42), to determine the length of its recess for the at least one fork tine (4) itself or to query it from a storage element (24) and to provide the length of the recess in the form of the length signal for the travel path calculation device (37).Industrial truck according to Claim 2, characterized in that the type determination device (39) is a camera (29), preferably a 3D camera, arranged for example in the region of the fork carrier (3) or of the fork rear (5), with an associated type recognition module (35), in that the camera (29) is designed for pictorially capturing the charge carrier (7) to be recorded in the form of image information; and in that the type recognition module (35) is designed for recognizing the type of the current charge carrier (7) by evaluating the image information and for providing the recognized type of the charge carrier (7) to the recess length evaluation device (36).Industrial truck according to Claim 2, characterized in that the type determination device is the display device (19), for example designed in the form of a user interface (human machine interface HMI) (23), which is in data connection with the storage element (24) and is designed to display a plurality of possible charge carrier types stored in the storage element (24) to the driver of the industrial truck (1) for selecting the charge carrier type (71,..., 80) to be currently transported; and in that the display device (19) is designed to provide the selected charge carrier type (71,..., 80) for the recess length evaluation device (36).Industrial truck according to Claim 2, characterized in that the type determination device (42) is a code reader (43), for example in the form of a scanner or a digital camera, having an associated decoding module (44); in that the code reader (43) is designed to record a two- or three-dimensional identifier in the form of a code attached to the load carrier (7) and to transmit the identifier to the decoding module (44); and in that the decoding module (44) is designed to decode the identifier with respect to the type of the load carrier (7) and to provide the type to the recess length evaluation device (36).Industrial truck according to one of Claims 2 to 5, characterized in that the lengths of their recesses for receiving the fork blade (6) are stored in the storage element (24), preferably for a plurality of load carrier types (71,..., 80).Industrial truck according to Claim 6, characterized in that the length of its recess in a longitudinal and / or transverse direction is stored in the storage element (24) for at least one of the stored types of charge carriers (7); in that the recess length evaluation device (36) is also supplied with longitudinal / transverse information which indicates whether the currently selected charge carrier (7) is to be approached in its longitudinal or in its transverse direction, and in that the recess length evaluation device (36) is designed to call the length (I EF) of the recess of the current charge carrier (7) in the longitudinal or in the transverse direction from the storage element (24) as a function of this longitudinal / transverse information and to install it in the length signal for the travel path calculation device (37).Industrial truck according to one of Claims 2 to 7, characterized in that the data connection between the storage element (24) and the recess length evaluation device (25; 36) is configured in a cable-bound or cable-free manner, for example as a radio connection.Industrial truck according to Claim 1, characterized in that the length determination device (46) is a code reader (43), for example in the form of a scanner or a digital camera, and a decoding module (44); in that the code reader (43) is designed to record a two- or three-dimensional identifier in the form of a code attached to the load carrier (7) and to transmit the identifier to the decoding module (44); and in that the decoding module (44) is designed to decode the identifier with respect to the length of the recess in the load carrier (7) in order to receive the fork blade (6) and to provide the length of the recess in the form of the length signal to the travel path calculation device (37).Industrial truck according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the distance sensor (9, 11) is a camera (29), preferably a 3D camera, provided in the region of the fork carrier (3) or of the fork rear (5), which is designed to determine the distance (d R) of the industrial truck (1) from the load carrier (7) to be picked up by the latter, in particular the distance (d R) of the fork rear (5) from the load carrier (7).Industrial truck according to Claim 10, characterized in that the camera (29) is a camera which operates on the principle of measuring the time of flight, for example a time of flight camera.Industrial truck according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the travel path calculation device (37) is designed to calculate the maximum permissible travel path (d vw) of the fork plate (6) into the recess of the load carrier (7) provided for the fork plate (6) according to the following equation: d vw = ( d R - L G ) + L EF, wherein the calculation parameters have the following meanings: L G fork plate length, d R distance of the fork back from the load carrier; and L EF length of the recesses for receiving the fork plate (6) of the load carrier (7).Industrial truck according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a front field camera is provided for monitoring the front field of the industrial truck (1) with the load carrier (7) to be recorded at the moment and for generating an image signal with alignment information which indicates how the industrial truck (1) is currently aligned with the load carrier (7), and in that the travel path calculation device (37) calculates the maximum permissible travel path (d VW) by triangulation with additional consideration of the image signal.Industrial truck according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the display device is designed to output the information for the driver to the driver in the form of an optical, acoustic and / or haptic signal.Method for receiving cargo (8) optionally located on a load carrier (7) with a floor conveyor vehicle, in particular with a floor conveyor vehicle (1) according to one of the preceding claims, comprising the step: - positioning the floor conveyor vehicle (1) with respect to the load carrier (7) in such a way that the at least one fork blade (5) is preferably situated flush opposite the recess for receiving the fork blade (6) of the load carrier (7) or is moved a little way into the recess; characterized in that the length (I EF) of the recess is determined; a maximum permissible travel path (d VW) for the industrial truck (1) to enter the recess of the load carrier (7) is calculated according to the length of the recess and the distance of the fork back (5) from the load carrier (7); and an information representing the maximum permissible travel path (d VW) is displayed to the driver of the industrial truck (1).Method according to claim 15, characterised bythe following further steps: - retraction of the fork blade (6) into the recess of the load carrier (7) according to the maximum permissible travel path (d vw); and - lifting of the load carrier (7) by height displacement of the fork carrier (3) with the fork tine (4) and the load carrier (7).Method according to claim 15 or 16, characterised in that the determination of the length of the recess comprises the following substeps: - determining the type of the charge carrier (7) which is currently to be picked up; and - for this type: determining the length of its recess for picking up the fork tine (4) for the calculation of the maximum permissible travel path (d vw).Method according to Claim 17, characterized in that the determination of the type of the charge carrier (7) currently to be recorded comprises the following substeps: - pictorial recording of the charge carrier (7) to be recorded in the form of image information with the aid of a camera (29), preferably a 3D camera, arranged for example in the region of the fork carrier (3) or of the fork back (5); and - identifying the type of the current charge carrier (7) by evaluating the image information.Method according to Claim 17, characterized in that the determination of the type of the charge carrier (7) currently to be picked up comprises the following substeps: - display of preferably a plurality of possible charge carrier types (71,..., 80) for the driver of the industrial truck (1); and - selection of the charge carrier type (71,..., 80) currently to be transported from the displayed charge carrier types (71,..., 80) by the driver.Method according to claim 17, characterised in that the determination of the type of the charge carrier (7) to be picked up currently comprises the following substeps: - detection of a two- or three-dimensional identifier in the form of a code attached to the charge carrier (7) to be picked up currently; and - decoding of the identifier with respect to the type of the charge carrier (7).Method according to one of Claims 17 to 20, characterized in that the determination of the length of the recess of the load carrier (7) currently to be picked up for picking up the fork tine (4) in a longitudinal and / or transverse direction of the load carrier (7) takes place in response to longitudinal / transverse information which indicates whether the load carrier (7) currently to be carried is to be picked up in its longitudinal or in its transverse direction.Method according to claim 15 or 16, characterised in that the determination of the length of the recess comprises the following substeps: - detection of a two- or three-dimensional identifier (31), which is attached to the load carrier (7) which is currently to be received, in the form of a code; and - decoding of the identifier (31) with respect to the length of the recess in the load carrier (7) in order to receive the fork blade (6).Method according to one of Claims 15 to 22, characterized in that the calculation of the maximum permissible travel path (d vw) of the fork blade (6) into the cutout of the current charge carrier (7) provided for the fork blade takes place according to the following equation: d vw = ( d R - L G ) + L EF. wherein the calculation parameters have the following meaning: L G fork blade length, d R distance of the fork back (5) from the charge carrier (7); and L EF length of the cutouts for accommodating the fork blade (6) of the charge carrier (7).Method according to Claim 23, characterized in that the front of the industrial truck (1) with the load carrier (7) which is currently to be recorded is monitored with the aid of a front camera in order to generate an image signal with alignment information which specifies how the industrial truck (1) is currently aligned with the load carrier (7), and in that the maximum permissible travel path (d VW) is calculated by triangulation with additional consideration of the image signal.Method according to one of Claims 15 to 24, characterized in that the display device is designed for the optical, acoustic and / or haptic display of information for the driver.

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