Turning device for road-rail vehicles

Abstract

To provide a turning device for road-rail vehicles that can easily stop a road-rail vehicle at a turning stop position suitable for the wiring operation when performing the wiring operation within a railroad crossing.SOLUTION: A turning device for road-rail vehicles includes: a jack for turning which can extend / contract downward; an upper plate which is provided at a lower end of the jack for turning; a lower plate which is rotatably mounted below the upper plate around a rotation central axis O; multiple cameras which acquire image information around a road-rail work vehicle 1; an image processing unit which generates an overhead view image PH of the periphery of the road-rail work vehicle 1 by using the image information acquired by the multiple cameras; and a turning stop position setting unit which determines the turning stop position P for performing the wiring operation on the basis of the overhead view image PH. The turning stop position setting unit detects positions of a pair of rails 61, 62 forming a track R that extends across a railroad crossing 50 on the basis of the overhead view image PH and determines the turning stop position P on the basis of the positions of the pair of rails 61, 62.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a turntable for a road-rail vehicle that is used in a road-rail vehicle that can run on roads and railway tracks. [Background technology]

[0002] Road-rail vehicles are equipped with extendable / retractable track running wheels (hereinafter also referred to as iron wheels) on the front, rear, left and right sides of a vehicle body that is configured to run freely on the road using road running wheels (hereinafter also referred to as tire wheels), and have a track running device that allows it to run on railway tracks (rails) with these iron wheels extended, and are widely used when carrying out construction and inspection of railway facilities such as contact wires on the tracks. In addition, road-rail vehicles are usually equipped with a loading / unloading device that makes it easy to load the vehicle body from the road (for example, a railroad crossing) onto the track, or to unload the vehicle body from the track onto the road within the railroad crossing. Here, loading the vehicle body onto the track is called "loading the vehicle on the track," and unloading the vehicle body from the track is called "unloading the vehicle on the track."

[0003] Conventionally, a turntable equipped with a turntable has been known as a type of loading / unloading device. The turntable is provided below the body of the road-rail vehicle so that it can be freely extended downward. When loading or unloading the road-rail vehicle, for example, the turntable is extended downward within a railroad crossing to raise the car body above the ground and support the car body so that it can rotate horizontally. When loading or unloading the car body, the worker pushes the car body from this state to change the direction of the car body to the direction of the track laying, extends the iron wheels, and then retracts the turntable upward to place the iron wheels on the track and place the car body on the track.

[0004] During the loading work, the road-rail vehicle travels to a railroad crossing in a road running state (a state in which the iron wheels are stored in the vehicle body and the vehicle runs on tires and wheels), and then moves to a position where the vehicle body crosses the tracks at the crossing. After that, as described above, the turntable is extended to lift the vehicle body and rotate it horizontally, and the iron wheels are extended and placed on the tracks. In this case, in order to position the iron wheels directly above the tracks, when the road-rail vehicle is moved to a position where the vehicle body crosses the tracks, it is necessary to stop the road-rail vehicle while accurately aligning the turntable so that the center of rotation of the turntable is in the center of the left and right rails that form the tracks. Conventionally, a device has been proposed that performs the above-mentioned alignment based on an image captured by a camera installed on the road-rail vehicle, and enables the road-rail vehicle to be stopped at a desired position (hereinafter referred to as a rolling stock stopping position) suitable for loading work (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 4619100 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 5919083 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The devices proposed in the above Patent Documents 1 and 2 are configured to attach a pair of front and rear cameras to the bottom (underside) of the body of a road-rail vehicle, and stop the road-rail vehicle when the left and right rails in images taken separately by the pair of cameras are in a specified positional relationship, which results in the road-rail vehicle being able to stop at the turntable stopping position. With this device, the cameras are attached to the bottom of the vehicle body, which causes problems such as difficulty in installing and replacing the cameras, and problems such as the cameras being easily damaged or dirty. In addition, with this device, it is difficult to grasp the positional relationship between the road-rail vehicle and the turntable stopping position, which makes it difficult to stop the road-rail vehicle at the turntable stopping position.

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of such problems, and aims to provide a turntable device for a rail-road vehicle that enables the rail-road vehicle to be easily stopped at a turntable stopping position suitable for loading work when it is traveling on a road and moved into a railroad crossing to perform loading work. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve the above problems, the rolling stock device for a road-rail vehicle according to the present invention is a rolling stock device for a road-rail vehicle (e.g., rolling stock device 110 in the embodiments) for loading and unloading a road-rail vehicle that has road-running wheels (e.g., steering wheels 3S and driving wheels 3D in the embodiments) and track-running wheels (e.g., front iron wheels 12F and rear iron wheels 12R in the embodiments) and that can run on roads and tracks, and comprises a rolling stock jack that is provided on the body of the road-rail vehicle and is extendable and retractable in the vertical direction toward the bottom of the body, a rotating plate support member (e.g., upper plate 131 constituting the rotating support table 130 in the embodiments) provided at the lower end of the rolling stock jack, and a rotating plate support member (e.g., upper plate 131 constituting the rotating support table 130 in the embodiments) provided at the lower part of the rotating plate support member so as to be rotatable about a vertical axis. The system is configured to include a ground contact rotating plate (e.g., the lower plate 135 constituting the rotary support table 130 in the embodiment), a plurality of cameras provided on the road-rail vehicle to acquire image information of the surroundings of the road-rail vehicle, an image processing unit that generates an overhead image of the surroundings of the road-rail vehicle (e.g., the overall overhead image PH in the embodiment) using the image information of the surroundings of the road-rail vehicle acquired by the plurality of cameras, an image display unit (e.g., the monitor 87 in the embodiment) on which the overhead image generated by the image processing unit is displayed, and a stop position setting unit (e.g., the rollover stop position setting unit 83 in the embodiment) that determines a rollover stop position for performing a loading operation based on the overhead image generated by the image processing unit. The stop position setting unit detects the positions of a pair of rails constituting a track extending across the railroad crossing based on the overhead image when the road-rail vehicle is moved into a railroad crossing while traveling on a road, and determines the rollover stop position based on the positions of the pair of rails.

[0009] In the turntable device for a road-rail vehicle, it is preferable that the stop position setting unit detects the center position of the portion of the pair of rails that is located below the road-rail vehicle based on the overhead image (for example, intersection C shown in Figure 9 in the embodiment or midpoint M shown in Figure 10) when the road-rail vehicle is moved into a railroad crossing while traveling on a road, and determines the stop position for the turntable relative to this center position.

[0010] In addition, the road-rail vehicle turntable preferably includes a gauge calculation unit (for example, gauge calculation unit 85 in the embodiment) that determines the gauge distance between the pair of rails based on the overhead image.

[0011] Furthermore, it is preferable that the turntable device for the road-rail vehicle is provided with an obstacle monitoring unit (e.g., obstacle monitoring unit 84 in the embodiment) that sets a monitoring range around the road-rail vehicle based on the overhead image and monitors the presence or absence of obstacles within this monitoring range. Effect of the Invention

[0012] As described above, the turntable device for road-rail vehicles of the present invention comprises a turntable jack, a rotating plate support member, a ground contact rotating plate, multiple cameras, an image processing unit, an image display unit and a stop position setting unit, and the image processing unit generates an overhead image of the area around the road-rail vehicle using image information of the area around the road-rail vehicle acquired by the multiple cameras, and the stop position setting unit detects the positions of a pair of rails that form a track extending across the railroad crossing based on the overhead image when the road-rail vehicle is moved into a railroad crossing while traveling on the road, and determines the turntable stopping position based on the positions of this pair of rails, so that it is possible to easily stop the road-rail vehicle at the turntable stopping position while understanding the positional relationship between the road-rail vehicle and the turntable stopping position.

[0013] In the above-mentioned turning device for a road-rail vehicle, it is preferable that the stop position setting unit detects the center position of the portion of the pair of rails located below the road-rail vehicle based on the overhead image when the road-rail vehicle is moved into the railroad crossing while traveling on the road, and determines the turning vehicle stop position relative to this center position. This makes it possible to accurately determine the turning vehicle stop position.

[0014] In addition, the road-rail vehicle turntable preferably includes a gauge calculation unit that calculates the gauge distance between the pair of rails based on the overhead image. By calculating the gauge distance between the pair of rails, it becomes possible to easily check whether the distance between the left and right track running wheels (iron wheels) matches the gauge distance between the pair of rails when performing track installation work. In addition, if the device has a configuration that allows the distance between the left and right iron wheels to be adjustable, it becomes possible to adjust the distance between the left and right iron wheels to match the gauge distance calculated by the gauge calculation unit.

[0015] Furthermore, it is preferable that the road-rail vehicle turntable is provided with an obstacle monitoring unit that sets a monitoring range around the road-rail vehicle based on the overhead image and monitors the presence or absence of obstacles within this monitoring range. This makes it possible to safely carry out wire-laying work, etc. while monitoring the presence or absence of obstacles within the monitoring range. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0016] [Figure 1] 1 is a side view showing the appearance of a rail-mounted working vehicle equipped with a rolling stock device according to the present invention. [Diagram 2] 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional plan view showing the general configuration of the lower part of the rolling device. FIG. [Diagram 3] 2 is a schematic plan view showing the positional relationship between the lower plate and the iron wheels of the rolling mill device. FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control system for switching between road running and track running (laying on a track and retracting a track) using the above-mentioned rolling stock device. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an overall overhead image. [Figure 6] 13 is a diagram showing a state in which an additional image is superimposed and displayed on the overall overhead image. FIG. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the state in which the rail-road vehicle enters a railroad crossing. [Figure 8] 8 is a plan view showing the state in which the rail-road working vehicle has further advanced into the railroad crossing from the position in FIG. 7. [Figure 9] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing an example of how to determine a turning stop position. [Figure 10] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing another method of determining the turning vehicle stopping position. [Figure 11] This is a plan view showing the state in which the rail-road working vehicle has entered the center of the track within the railroad crossing. [Figure 12] This is a plan view showing the positional relationship between the track and the lower plate of the rollover device when the rail-mounted work vehicle has entered the railroad crossing up to the center of the track. [Figure 13] 13 is a plan view showing a state in which the lower plate is rotated from the state shown in FIG. 12. FIG. [Figure 14] This is a plan view showing the state in which the lower plate is grounded and the rail-mounted work vehicle is lifted and supported to start rolling (changing direction). [Figure 15] FIG. 11 is a plan view showing the state after the wiring work is completed. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0017] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a side view of a road-rail work vehicle 1 equipped with a road-rail vehicle turntable (a turntable 110 described later) according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, the road-rail work vehicle 1 has a vehicle body 2 with a driver's cabin 4 at the front, and is configured based on a truck vehicle that can run on a road using road-running wheels consisting of a pair of left and right tires and wheels, steering wheels 3S, arranged at the front of the vehicle body 2, and a pair of left and right tires and wheels, driving wheels 3D, arranged at the rear of the vehicle body 2. The vehicle body 2 is configured with a vehicle body frame consisting of a chassis frame 5 and a subframe 6 attached to the chassis frame 5. Here, FIG. 1 shows only the steering wheel 3S and driving wheel 3D on the left side of the vehicle body 2, but a similar steering wheel 3S and driving wheel 3D are also provided on the right side of the vehicle body 2.

[0018] A work jack 15 is provided behind the steering wheels 3S and behind the drive wheels 3D of the vehicle body 2. The work jack 15 is configured to have an upper jack body 15a fixed to the vehicle body frame, a lower jack body 15b arranged in the upper jack body 15a so as to be movable downward, and a jack cylinder 16 provided inside the upper jack body 15a and connecting the upper jack body 15a and the lower jack body 15b. The jack cylinder 16 moves in an extending and retracting manner, so that the lower jack body 15b moves downward relative to the upper jack body 15a. The work jack 15 is mainly used when the rail-road work vehicle 1 works, and the lower jack body 15b moves in an extending and retracting manner to lift and support the vehicle body 2, thereby stably supporting the entire vehicle body 2. A front iron wheel 12F supported so as to be vertically swingable relative to the vehicle body frame and a front iron wheel swing cylinder 13F for swinging the front iron wheel 12F up and down between a storage position (position shown by a two-dot chain line in the figure) and an extension position (position shown by a solid line in the figure) are provided on the rear side of the work jack 15 behind the steering wheel 3S. A rear iron wheel 12R supported so as to be vertically swingable relative to the vehicle body frame and a rear iron wheel swing cylinder 13R for swinging the rear iron wheel 12R up and down between a storage position (position shown by a two-dot chain line in the figure) and an extension position (position shown by a solid line in the figure) are provided on the rear side of the work jack 15 behind the driving wheel 3D.

[0019] Here, the above-mentioned stored position refers to a position where the front iron wheels 12F and rear iron wheels 12R are raised to a predetermined height above the traveling road surface when the road-rail working vehicle 1 travels on a road or the like using the steering wheels 3S and driving wheels 3D (the position of the front iron wheels 12F and rear iron wheels 12R shown by the two-dot chain line in Fig. 1). Also, the above-mentioned extended position refers to a position where the front iron wheels 12F and rear iron wheels 12R are extended to a position where the front iron wheels 12F and rear iron wheels 12R are positioned on the track, the steering wheels 3S and driving wheels 3D are positioned above and away from the track R, and the front iron wheels 12F and rear iron wheels 12R can travel on the track R.

[0020] 1 only shows the front iron wheel 12F and the rear iron wheel 12R on the left side of the car body 2, but similar front iron wheel 12F and rear iron wheel 12R are also provided on the right side of the car body 2. Also, with regard to the work jack 15, the front iron wheel rocking cylinder 13F and the rear iron wheel rocking cylinder 13R, only those provided on the left side of the car body 2 are shown, but similar work jack 15, the front iron wheel rocking cylinder 13F and the rear iron wheel rocking cylinder 13R are also provided on the right side of the car body 2.

[0021] The control of extending and retracting the front iron wheel swing cylinder 13F and the rear iron wheel swing cylinder 13R to swing the front iron wheel 12F and the rear iron wheel 12R up and down between the stored position and the extended position is performed by an operator operating an iron wheel swing operation device 79 (see FIG. 4). The iron wheel swing operation device 79 is provided at a position that is easy for an operator to operate at the rear end position or side end position of the car body 2, and the operator operates the iron wheel swing operation device 79 to extend and retract the front iron wheel swing cylinder 13F and the rear iron wheel swing cylinder 13R to swing the front iron wheel 12F and the rear iron wheel 12R up and down between the stored position and the extended position.

[0022] The system that performs this operation control is configured as shown in Fig. 4. As shown in Fig. 4, an operation signal from the iron wheel swing operation device 79 is input to a controller 80, and the operation of the iron wheel control device 89 is controlled by the controller 80. The iron wheel control device 89 is composed of, for example, a hydraulic pump driven by an engine or an electric motor, and a hydraulic control valve that controls the supply of hydraulic oil discharged from this hydraulic pump to the front iron wheel swing cylinder 13F and the rear iron wheel swing cylinder 13R. The controller 80 controls the operation of the hydraulic control valve of the iron wheel control device 89, and controls the supply of hydraulic oil to the front iron wheel swing cylinder 13F and the rear iron wheel swing cylinder 13R in response to the operation of the iron wheel swing operation device 79. As a result, when an operator operates the iron wheel swing operation device 79, the front iron wheel swing cylinder 13F and the rear iron wheel swing cylinder 13R are extended and retracted in response to the operation, and the front iron wheel 12F and the rear iron wheel 12R can be swung up and down between the stored position and the extended position.

[0023] A turntable device 110 is provided at the center of the vehicle body 2. As shown in FIG. 1, the turntable device 110 is configured to include a turntable jack 120 that is provided at the bottom of the vehicle body 2 and can be extended downward, and a rotating support table (turntable) 130 provided at the lower end of the turntable jack 120. The turntable jack 120 has two telescopic posts (left telescopic post 121L and right telescopic post 121R) that are offset from each other in the front-rear direction and spaced apart from each other in the left-right direction (vehicle width direction). The left telescopic post 121L is configured to be telescopically movable in the vertical direction downward by telescopic movement of the turntable telescopic cylinder 122L provided therein. Similarly, the right telescopic post 121R is configured to be telescopically movable in the vertical direction downward by telescopic movement of the turntable telescopic cylinder 122R provided therein. The telescopic movement amount of the left telescopic post 121L and the right telescopic post 121R can be adjusted to be the same or different. The rolling jack 120 is configured to be telescopic in the vertical direction toward the bottom of the vehicle body by the two telescopic posts 121L, 121R telescopically moving in the vertical direction.

[0024] The telescopic posts 121L, 121R are controlled to extend and retract in the vertical direction by an operator operating a rolling stock operation device 78 (see FIG. 4). The rolling stock operation device 78 is provided at a position that is easy for an operator to operate at the rear end or side end of the car body 2, and the operator operates the rolling stock operation device 78 to telescopically move the left and right turntable telescopic cylinders 122L, 122R to telescopically move the left and right telescopic posts 121L, 121R in the vertical direction, thereby telescopically moving the rolling stock jack 120 downward, and moving the rotating support table (turntable) 130 provided at the lower end of the rolling stock jack 120 up and down.

[0025] The system that controls the operation of the telescopic posts 121L, 121R is configured as shown in Figure 4. In this system, an operation signal from the rollover operation device 78 is input to a controller 80, which controls the operation of the turntable control device 88. The turntable control device 88 is composed of, for example, a hydraulic pump driven by an engine or an electric motor, and a hydraulic control valve that controls the supply of hydraulic oil discharged from this hydraulic pump to the left and right turntable telescopic cylinders 122L, 122R. The controller 80 controls the operation of the hydraulic control valve of the turntable control device 88, and controls the supply of hydraulic oil to the left and right turntable telescopic cylinders 122L, 122R in response to the operation of the rollover operation device 78. As a result, when an operator operates the turntable operating device 78, the left and right turntable telescopic cylinders 122L, 122R are extended and retracted in accordance with the operation, the turntable jack 120 is extended and retracted downward, and the rotating support table (turntable) 130 provided at the lower end of the turntable jack 120 can be moved up and down.

[0026] The rotary support table 130 is configured to include an upper plate 131 that is horizontally provided at the lower end of the rolling jack 120 so as to connect the lower ends of the two telescopic posts 121L, 121R, and a lower plate 135 that is horizontally provided below the upper plate 131 so as to be rotatable around a rotation center axis O that extends vertically. As shown in FIG. 2, a rotary drive motor 132 is provided on the side of the upper plate 131, and a pinion gear (not shown) is attached to a drive shaft that protrudes downward from the rotary drive motor 132. Meanwhile, a large-diameter rotary gear 136 is attached to the upper surface of the lower plate 135, and driven gear teeth 136a are formed on its outer circumferential surface. A pinion gear attached to the drive shaft of the rotary drive motor 132 meshes with the driven gear teeth 136a. Therefore, when the pinion gear is rotated by the rotary drive motor 132, a rotary drive force is transmitted to the rotary gear 136 via the driven gear teeth 136a that mesh with the pinion gear, so that the lower plate 135 to which the driven gear 136a is attached can be rotated relative to the upper plate 131.

[0027] In the rolling device 110, the rolling jack 120 can be extended downward to bring the lower plate 135 of the rotary support table 130 into contact with the ground, thereby lifting and supporting the car body 2 from the ground. By rotating the jack 120, the direction of the car body 2 can be changed, and loading and unloading work can be performed. This direction change is performed by rotating the upper plate 131 and the turning jack 120 relative to the lower plate 135 by the rotary drive motor 132, and further rotating the car body 2 connected thereto, with the car body 2 raised and supported by the turning device 110. Note that this direction change can also be performed by having an operator push the car body 2 to rotate the upper plate 131 and the turning jack 120 relative to the lower plate 135, with the car body 2 raised and supported by the turning device 110.

[0028] The system for controlling the operation of the rotary drive motor 132 is configured as shown in Figure 4. In this system, an operation signal from the rolling car operation device 78 is input to a controller 80, and the operation of the rotary drive motor 132 is controlled by the controller 80.

[0029] The rolling device 110 is located at the center of the lower part of the car body 2, and the rotation center axis O, which extends vertically and is the center of rotation of the lower plate 135 relative to the upper plate 131, is located at the center of the width of the car body 2. Furthermore, the pair of left and right front iron wheels 12F, 12F are located symmetrically in the width direction of the car body, and the pair of left and right rear iron wheels 12R, 12R are also located symmetrically in the width direction of the car body. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the pair of left and right front iron wheels 12F, 12F and the pair of left and right rear iron wheels 12R, 12R are located symmetrically with respect to the front-rear axis A1 that extends forward and backward through the rotation center axis O. In addition, the front iron wheel axis A3 connecting the pair of left and right front iron wheels 12F, 12F and the rear iron wheel axis A4 connecting the pair of left and right rear iron wheels 12R, 12R are parallel to the left-right axis A2 that passes through the rotation center axis O and extends in the width direction, and are perpendicular to the front-rear axis A1. In Fig. 3, the road-rail working vehicle 1 is shown in a simplified form based on its external shape, and only the components necessary for the explanation are shown in a schematic form so that their positional relationships can be understood. For example, only the lower plate 135 of the rolling stock device 110 is shown, and the shape of the lower plate 135 is also simplified and shown as a rectangle.

[0030] In the rolling stock device 110, as described above, the rolling stock jack 120 is extended downward and the rotary support table 130 is jutted out downward to support the car body and perform loading and unloading work, but when traveling on a road or track, the rolling stock jack 120 is contracted upward and the rotary support table 130 is moved upward to store and hold it. When storing and holding it in this way, as shown in Figure 3, the lower plate 135 is held in a rotated position where its longitudinal direction extends in the left-right direction (in the direction of the left-right axis A2) and its lateral direction extends in the front-rear direction (in the direction of the front-rear axis A1).

[0031] A swivel base 20 is provided at the front of the mounting area (at the front of the subframe 6) behind the driver's cabin 4, and is configured to be horizontally swiveled by a swivel motor 21. A boom 30 is attached to a support 22 extending upward from the swivel base 20, with a foot pin 23 as an axis, so that the boom 30 can be swung up and down (raised and lowered). The boom 30 is configured by combining a base boom 30a, an intermediate boom 30b, and a tip boom 30c, which are attached to the support 22 by the foot pin 23 so that they can be raised and lowered, in a nested manner. A boom telescopic cylinder 31 is provided inside the boom 30, and the boom 30 can be telescopically moved in the longitudinal direction by the telescopic movement of the boom telescopic cylinder 31. A boom hoisting cylinder 32 is provided between the base boom 30a and the support 22, and the boom hoisting cylinder 32 can be telescopically moved to raise and lower the boom 30 in the vertical plane.

[0032] A work platform support bracket 35 is attached to the tip of the tip boom 30c so as to be able to swing within the hoisting surface of the boom 30. The work platform support bracket 35 is configured so that the upper surface of the work platform support bracket 35 is always kept horizontal regardless of the hoisting angle of the boom 30 by the extension and retraction of a leveling cylinder 36 provided inside. The extension and retraction of the leveling cylinder 36 is controlled by the detection value of an inclination angle sensor (not shown) that detects the inclination angle of the work platform 40. The work platform 40 is attached to the upper surface of the work platform support bracket 35 so as to be freely rotatable horizontally. A swivel motor 41 is provided inside the work platform support bracket 35, and the work platform 40 can be horizontally rotated (swiveled) relative to the work platform support bracket 35 by driving the swivel motor 41. As described above, the upper surface of the work platform support bracket 35 is always kept horizontal, so the floor surface of the work platform 40 is also kept horizontal regardless of the boom hoisting angle of the boom 30. The work platform 40 is provided with a work platform operation box 42 having operation devices operated to operate various hydraulic actuators such as the swing motor 21, the boom telescopic cylinder 31, the boom hoisting cylinder 32, and the swivel motor 41.

[0033] The road-rail working vehicle 1 configured as above can store the front iron wheels 12F and rear iron wheels 12R and travel on roads etc. using the steering wheels 3S and drive wheels 3D, and can also extend the front iron wheels 12F and rear iron wheels 12R to travel on tracks. In this way, in order to switch between road travel and track travel, the above-mentioned rolling stock device 110 is provided. The configuration of a control system (hereinafter referred to as a rolling stock monitoring and control system) that uses this rolling stock device 110 to perform the work of switching between road travel and track travel (track loading work and track retraction work) will be described below.

[0034] This rolling stock monitoring and control system is a system that allows loading work and the like to be performed while checking the situation around the rail-road work vehicle 1 (host vehicle) through images (video), and as shown in Figure 4, is mainly composed of an imaging device 71 that images the area around the host vehicle, a controller 80 that provides overall control of the rolling stock monitoring and control system, and a monitor 87 that displays the images (video).

[0035] The imaging device 71 has a front camera 71F, a rear camera 71B, a left side camera 71L, and a right side camera 71R. The cameras 71F, 71B, 71L, and 71R are attached via support brackets (not shown) on the front, rear, left, and right sides of the vehicle body 2. Each of the cameras 71F, 71B, 71L, and 71R is equipped with a lens having a wide angle of view (for example, an angle of view of 180 degrees or more), such as a fisheye lens or a wide-angle lens.

[0036] 1 and 5, the front camera 71F is disposed in the center in the vehicle width direction at the front of the vehicle body 2, and is installed so that the optical axis of the lens faces diagonally downward with respect to the ground. The front camera 71F has an imaging range (field of view range) mainly in front of the vehicle among the surroundings of the vehicle, and obtains an image (forward image) of the area in front of the vehicle as a moving image or a still image. The front camera 71F may be disposed at another position in the front of the vehicle body 2, for example, on the front bumper at the front of the vehicle body 2 or in the front grill at the front of the vehicle body 2.

[0037] 1 and 5, the rear camera 71B is disposed in the center of the subframe 6 at the rear of the vehicle body 2 in the vehicle width direction, and is installed so that the optical axis of the lens faces diagonally downward with respect to the ground. The rear camera 71B has an imaging range (field of view) mainly behind the vehicle among the surroundings of the vehicle, and obtains an image (rear image) of the rear of the vehicle captured as a moving image or a still image. Note that the rear camera 71B may be disposed in another position at the rear of the vehicle body 2, and may be disposed, for example, on the chassis frame 5 at the rear of the vehicle body 2 or above the tail lamp at the rear of the vehicle body 2.

[0038] 1 and 5, the left side camera 71L is disposed on the upper left side of the driver's cabin 4 (on the left side of the rear end of the upper surface of the driver's cabin 4) and is installed so that the optical axis of the lens faces diagonally downward with respect to the ground. This left side camera 71L has an imaging range (field of view range) that is mainly the left side of the vehicle among the surroundings of the vehicle, and obtains an image (left side image) of the left side of the vehicle captured as a moving image or a still image.

[0039] 5, the right side camera 71R is disposed on the upper right side of the driver's cabin 4 (on the right side of the rear end of the upper surface of the driver's cabin 4) and is installed so that the optical axis of the lens faces diagonally downward with respect to the ground. This right side camera 71R has an imaging range (field of view range) that is mainly the right side of the vehicle among the surroundings of the vehicle, and obtains an image (right side image) of the right side of the vehicle captured as a moving image or a still image.

[0040] In this manner, the cameras 71F, 71B, 71L, and 71R are disposed at the front, rear, left side, and right side of the vehicle body 2. This solves problems that arise in conventional systems in which the cameras are disposed at the bottom of the vehicle body 2, namely, the difficulty of installing and replacing the cameras, and the ease with which the cameras become damaged or dirty.

[0041] Each of the cameras 71F, 71B, 71L, and 71R outputs a captured image (a front image, a rear image, a left side image, and a right side image) to the controller 80. Each of the cameras 71F, 71B, 71L, and 71R may output the captured image to the controller 80 via a wired connection such as an electric cable, or may output the captured image to the controller 80 via wireless communication.

[0042] As shown in FIG. 4, the controller 80 has an image storage unit 81, an image processing unit 82, a turning vehicle stopping position setting unit 83, an obstacle monitoring unit 84, and a gauge calculation unit 85.

[0043] The image storage unit 81 stores a vehicle image PG (see FIG. 5) that typically shows the rail-mounted working vehicle 1. When an overall overhead image PH, which will be described later, is generated and displayed on the monitor 87, this vehicle image PG is an image that is positioned approximately in the center of this overall overhead image PH.

[0044] The image processor 82 applies a predetermined image processing (e.g., viewpoint conversion processing) to the four captured images captured by the cameras 71F, 71B, 71L, and 71R to generate partial overhead images PH1 to PH4 (front overhead image PH1, rear overhead image PH2, left side overhead image PH3, and right side overhead image PH4) as shown in Fig. 5, and generates an overall overhead image PH that shows a pseudo overhead view of the rail-road working vehicle 1 and its surroundings (the entire periphery of the rail-road working vehicle 1) from directly above by combining these partial overhead images PH1 to PH4 with the vehicle's own vehicle image PG stored in the image storage unit 81. The image processor 82 outputs the generated overall overhead image PH (including the partial overhead images PH1 to PH4) to the monitor 87.

[0045] The rolling stock stopping position setting unit 83 determines a rolling stock stopping position P (see FIG. 8) of the vehicle suitable for carrying out loading and unloading work of the rail-road working vehicle 1 based on the overall overhead image PH generated by the image processing unit 82, and sets and displays it on the overall overhead image PH. Although the specific details of how to determine the rolling stock stopping position P will be described later, when the rail-road working vehicle 1 is moved into a railroad crossing while traveling on a road, the rolling stock stopping position setting unit 83 detects the positions of a pair of rails 61, 62 (see FIG. 8) that constitute a track R that extends across the railroad crossing based on the overall overhead image PH, and determines the rolling stock stopping position P based on the positions of the pair of rails 61, 62, and sets and displays it on the overall overhead image PH. The rolling stock stopping position setting unit 83 can also set and display a predetermined additional image on the overall overhead image PH. As shown in Fig. 6, the additional images include a rotation center axis O of the lower plate 135 of the rolling stock device 110, a front-rear axis A1 that passes through the rotation center axis O and extends in the fore-aft direction of the vehicle body, a left-right axis A2 that passes through the rotation center axis O and extends in the vehicle width direction, and a pair of vehicle width axes A5, A6 that extend parallel to the front-rear axis A1 and indicate the vehicle width of the rail-road working vehicle 1. Note that Fig. 6 shows a slightly simplified view of the rail-road working vehicle 1 in the host vehicle image PG.

[0046] The obstacle monitoring unit 84 sets a monitoring target range for the rail-road working vehicle 1 based on the overall overhead image PH generated by the image processing unit 82, and monitors the presence or absence of obstacles within this monitoring target range. The range boundary line BR is set and displayed as an additional image on the overall bird's-eye view image PH. This monitoring target range boundary line BR forms a circle centered on the rotation central axis O, and the area inside the circle is set as the monitoring target range. The monitoring target range is the range (range in plan view) through which the rail-mounted working vehicle 1 passes when it moves in a horizontal rotational motion around the rotation central axis O.

[0047] The gauge calculation unit 85 calculates the gauge distance of the pair of rails 61, 62 that constitute the track R based on the overall overhead image PH generated by the image processing unit .

[0048] The monitor 87 is provided inside the driver's cabin 4 and is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display panel having a touch panel function. The monitor 87 displays the overall bird's-eye view image PH generated by the image processing unit 82. The monitor 87 is also configured to be able to switch the image display mode by operating a changeover switch (not shown) on the screen. The display modes include a basic bird's-eye view display mode in which no additional image is displayed and only the overall bird's-eye view image PH is displayed, a rolling stock stop position setting display mode in which the rotation center axis O, the front-rear axis A1, the left-right axis A2, a pair of vehicle width axes A5, A6, and the rolling stock stop position P are superimposed on the overall bird's-eye view image PH, and a rolling stock monitoring display mode in which the monitoring target range boundary line BR is superimposed on the overall bird's-eye view image PH. In this way, by providing multiple display modes, the display mode can be switched according to the purpose, such as using the basic overhead view display mode when simply parking the rail-road work vehicle 1 in a parking space, and using the rolling stock stopping position setting display mode and the rolling stock monitoring display mode when performing line loading work, making it highly versatile.

[0049] Next, we will explain the procedure for switching between road travel and track travel (laying on tracks and retracting tracks) using the control system (including the rolling stock monitoring control system) in Fig. 4. This switching operation is performed by moving the road-rail work vehicle 1 into a railroad crossing 50 (see Fig. 7). Figs. 7 to 15 show the railroad crossing 50, the road 51 within the crossing 50, and the track R in a plan view. At this crossing 50, the track R, which is composed of a pair of rails 61, 62, extends diagonally across the road 51.

[0050] First, the procedure for moving the rail-road working vehicle 1 within the railroad crossing 50 and stopping the rail-road working vehicle 1 at the rolling stock stopping position P (also referred to as the "stop position alignment procedure") will be described with reference to Figs. 7 to 11. Of these figures, Figs. 7, 8, 10, and 11 show an overall overhead image PH generated by the image processing unit 82. In this overall overhead image PH, the rail-road working vehicle 1 in the vehicle image PG is shown in a simplified form. Note that this simplification is for the sake of convenience of explanation, and it is not necessary to display the rail-road working vehicle 1 in a simplified form in the actual vehicle image PG. However, in consideration of ease of viewing, the display mode of the rail-road working vehicle 1 in the vehicle image PG may be appropriately changed when the display mode of the image on the monitor 87 is switched.

[0051] FIG. 7 shows the state where the rail-road working vehicle 1 is approaching the railroad crossing 50 and is at a position slightly away from the track R. In the stop position adjustment procedure, first, an operator in the driving cabin 4 operates the changeover switch of the monitor 87 to switch the display mode of the image on the monitor 87 to the rolling stock stop position setting display mode. As a result, the image processing unit 82 generates an overall bird's-eye view image PH and displays it on the monitor 87, and the rolling stock stop position setting unit 83 sets the rotation center axis O of the lower plate 135 of the rolling stock device 110, the front-rear axis A1, the left-right axis A2, and a pair of vehicle width axes A5, A6 based on the overall bird's-eye view image PH and displays them superimposed on the overall bird's-eye view image PH. Note that, for the sake of convenience, the pair of vehicle width axes A5, A6 are not shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8.

[0052] FIG. 8 shows a railroad work vehicle 1 entering a railroad crossing 50 and positioned on a track R. 2. When the road-rail working vehicle 1 moves to a state where it covers a part of the pair of rails 61, 62 in this way, the rolling stock stop position setting unit 83 determines the rolling stock stop position P based on the overall overhead image PH and displays it superimposed on the overall overhead image PH. This rolling stock stop position P can be determined, for example, as follows. Here, two methods are illustrated. In both methods, when the road-rail working vehicle 1 is moved to a state where it covers a part of the pair of rails 61, 62 by running the road-rail working vehicle 1, the center position of the part of the pair of rails 61, 62 that is located below the road-rail working vehicle 1 is detected based on the overall overhead image PH, and this center position is determined as the rolling stock stop position P. Both methods are executed by the road-rail working vehicle stop position setting unit 83.

[0053] FIG. 9 shows an outline of a first method for determining the rolling stock stopping position P. In this first method, first, based on the overall overhead image PH, the portions (also called "hidden rail portions") 61a, 62a of the pair of rails 61, 62 located below the road-rail working vehicle 1 are detected and supplemented (the supplemented hidden rail portions 61a, 62a may be superimposed on the overall overhead image PH). Next, on the overall overhead image PH, intersections Q1, Q2 between the rail 61 (here, the inner edge end of the rail 61) and the vehicle width axes A5, A6, and intersections Q3, Q4 between the rail 62 (here, the inner edge end of the rail 62) and the vehicle width axes A5, A6 are detected. Next, on the overall overhead image PH, a line segment L1 connecting the intersections Q1 and Q4, and a line segment L2 connecting the intersections Q2 and Q3 are obtained. Then, an intersection point C between the line segment L1 and the line segment L2 is obtained as the center position of the hidden rail portions 61a, 62b, and this intersection point C is set as the rolling stock stopping position P.

[0054] FIG. 10 shows an outline of the second method for determining the rolling stock stopping position P. In this second method, too, first, the hidden rail portions 61a, 62a are detected and supplemented based on the overall overhead image PH. Next, on the overall overhead image PH, an intersection Q5 between the rail 61 (the inner edge of the rail 61) and the longitudinal axis A1, and an intersection Q6 between the rail 62 (the inner edge of the rail 62) and the longitudinal axis A1 are detected. Next, on the overall overhead image PH, a line segment L3 connecting the intersection Q5 and the intersection Q6 is determined. Then, a midpoint M of the line segment L3 is determined as the center position of the hidden rail portions 61a, 62a, and this midpoint M is set as the rolling stock stopping position P.

[0055] When the rolling stock stopping position P is set and displayed on the overall overhead image PH, the worker (driver) in the driver's cabin 4 drives and operates the rail-mounted work vehicle 1, causing it to travel within the crossing 50 so that the rotation center axis O is located at the rolling stock stopping position P. In this way, the rolling stock stopping position P is the target position at which the rail-mounted work vehicle 1 is stopped, and by running and moving the rail-mounted work vehicle 1 while aligning it so that the rotation center axis O is located at the rolling stock stopping position P, it is possible to accurately stop the rail-mounted work vehicle 1 at the rolling stock stopping position P. Note that the driving operation of the rail-mounted work vehicle 1 to position the rotation center axis O at the rolling stock stopping position P can be performed while grasping the positional relationship between the rolling stock stopping position P and the rail-mounted work vehicle 1 (rotation center axis O) in the overall overhead image PH, so that the rail-mounted work vehicle 1 can be easily stopped at the rolling stock stopping position P. As another embodiment, the rail-road work vehicle 1 may be provided with an automatic driving device that can automatically operate the rail-road work vehicle 1, and this automatic driving device may be used to automatically move the rail-road work vehicle 1 so that the rotation center axis O is positioned at the turntable stopping position P.

[0056] FIG. 11 shows the state in which the rail-mounted work vehicle 1 has traveled and stopped so that the rotation center axis O is located at the rolling stock stopping position P (the rail-mounted work vehicle 1 has stopped at the rolling stock stopping position P). In this state, an operator in the driver's cabin 4 operates the changeover switch of the monitor 87 to switch the image display mode on the monitor 87 to the rolling stock monitoring display mode. This causes the obstacle monitoring unit 84 to set the monitoring range of the rail-mounted work vehicle 1, and the monitoring range boundary line BR is superimposed on the overall overhead image PH displayed on the monitor 87. Note that the system may be configured so that when the rail-mounted work vehicle 1 has traveled and stopped so that the rotation center axis O is located at the rolling stock stopping position P, the system automatically switches to the rolling stock monitoring display mode. The rail-mounted work vehicle 1 When the vehicle is stopped at the vehicle stop position P, the display mode is switched to vehicle monitoring mode, the monitoring range is set, and the monitoring range boundary line BR is superimposed on the overall overhead image PH, thereby completing the stopping position alignment procedure.

[0057] Next, the procedure for horizontally rotating (changing direction) the road-rail working vehicle 1 using the turntable device 110 from a state in which the road-rail working vehicle 1 has stopped at the turntable stopping position P, and loading it onto the track R (also referred to as the "road-rail working vehicle loading procedure") will be described with reference to Figs. 12 to 15. In these figures, the road-rail working vehicle 1 is shown in a further simplified form in the vehicle image PG, and the pair of left and right front iron wheels 12F, 12F and the pair of left and right rear iron wheels 12R, 12R are shown therein, as well as the lower plate 135 of the turntable device 110, in a simplified form. Note that this is shown for the sake of convenience, and it is not necessary to display these lower plates 135 etc. in the actual vehicle image PG. However, in order to enable the positional relationship between the front iron wheels 12F, 12F and the rear iron wheels 12R, 12R and the track R (rails 61, 62), and the positional relationship between the lower plate 135 and the track R to be confirmed from the overall overhead image PH, when the image display mode on the monitor 87 is switched to a rolling stock monitoring display mode or the like, these lower plates 135, etc. may be displayed.

[0058] As shown in Fig. 12, when the road-rail working vehicle 1 is stopped so that the rotation center axis O is located at the rolling stock stopping position P, the lower plate 135 is stored and held in a rotation position in which its longitudinal direction extends in the left-right direction (the direction of the left-right axis A2) and its lateral direction extends in the front-rear direction (the direction of the front-rear axis A1). Then, the worker performing the line loading operation operates the rolling stock operating device 78 to extend the rolling stock jack 120 downward to a position where the lower plate 135 can rotate, and then drives the rotary drive motor 132 to rotate the lower plate 135 around the rotation center axis O (see Fig. 13) until it is rotated to a rotation angle position where the longitudinal direction of the lower plate 135 is perpendicular to the extension direction of the rails 61, 62. Next, the worker operates the rolling stock operating device 78 to extend the rolling stock jack 120 further downward to move the rotating support table 130 downward, and then the lower plate 135 touches the ground so that the car body 2 is lifted and supported by the rolling stock device 110.

[0059] Next, the worker operates the rolling cart operation device 78 to drive the rotary drive motor 132, and rotates the car body 2, which is lifted and supported by the rolling cart device 110, around the rotation center axis O (see FIG. 14). When the rotary drive motor 132 starts to rotate the car body 2 and during the rotary movement, the obstacle monitoring unit 84 monitors the presence or absence of obstacles within the monitoring range (the area inside the monitoring range boundary line BR). The presence or absence of an obstacle is determined by image recognition based on the overall overhead image PH, and if an obstacle is present, the obstacle monitoring unit 84 restricts the rotary movement of the car body 2 by the rotary drive motor 132. On the other hand, if it is determined based on the overall overhead image PH that there is no obstacle or that the obstacle has been removed, the restriction on the rotary movement of the car body 2 by the rotary drive motor 132 is released. By monitoring the presence or absence of obstacles in this way, the rolling of the rail-road working vehicle 1 can be performed safely. An alarm device that notifies the worker of the presence or absence of an obstacle by light, sound, or the like may be provided. This makes it easier for the worker to recognize whether or not there is an obstacle.

[0060] The rotational movement of the car body 2 by the rotary drive motor 132 continues until the car body 2 faces the direction of the track R (the position where the front and rear axis A1 is parallel to the pair of rails 61, 62 that constitute the track R), and the car body 2 is stopped at that position (see FIG. 15). In this state, the worker operates the iron wheel swing operation device 79 to extend the pair of front iron wheels 12F, 12F and the pair of rear iron wheels 12R, 12R. When the iron wheels are extended, the gauge distance of the pair of rails 61, 62 is calculated by the gauge calculation unit 85. This gauge distance is calculated based on the overall overhead image PH, and the calculation result (gauge distance value) is displayed on the monitor 87. This makes it easy to check whether the interval between the pair of front iron wheels 12F, 12F and the interval between the pair of rear iron wheels 12R, 12R match the gauge distance of the pair of rails 61, 62. In addition, if the road-rail work vehicle 1 has a mechanism for changing and adjusting the interval between the iron wheels (also called an "iron wheel width adjustment mechanism"), Using this iron wheel width adjustment mechanism, an operator can easily and accurately adjust the spacing between the pair of front iron wheels 12F, 12F and the spacing between the pair of rear iron wheels 12R, 12R so that they match the gauge distance (narrow gauge, mark gauge, broad gauge, etc.) of the pair of rails 61, 62 calculated by the gauge calculation unit 85.

[0061] After the iron wheels are extended, the worker in charge of the wiring operation operates the rolling stock operation device 78 to move the rolling stock jack 120 upward and retract it, and lifts up the rotating support table 130 (upper plate 131 and lower plate 135). This releases the lifting support of the car body 2 by the rolling stock device 110, and the pair of front iron wheels 12F, 12F and the pair of rear iron wheels 12R, 12R are placed on the pair of rails 61, 62 (wire-mounted state). Then, the rolling stock jack 120 is used to lift up and store the rotating support table 130, and the wiring operation is completed. At this time, if the lower plate 135 is located in a rotation position (also referred to as the "reference rotation position") in which its longitudinal direction extends in the left-right direction of the car body and its lateral direction extends in the front-rear direction, the wiring operation is completed without the need to rotate the lower plate 135. On the other hand, if the lower plate 135 is not located at the standard rotation position, the worker operates the rolling stock operating device 78 to drive the rotation drive motor 132, rotate the lower plate 135 to the standard rotation position and store it there, thereby completing the wire-laying work.

[0062] During the period from the extension of the iron wheels to the laying of the iron wheels, the vehicle body 2 of the road-rail working vehicle 1 may be monitored to see if it is maintained in a position facing the track R, and if it is determined that it is not maintained, the work may be stopped. This can improve the safety of the laying work. This monitoring can be performed by the obstacle monitoring unit 84 based on the overall bird's-eye view image PH. Also, a device (also called a "completion confirmation operation device") may be provided to have the worker confirm whether the laying work has been completed correctly and to output a signal indicating the confirmation result to the controller 80. Then, if the controller 80 cannot recognize that the laying work has been completed correctly based on the signal from the completion confirmation operation device, the operation of the road-rail working vehicle 1 may be restricted. This can ensure the safety of the work after the laying work.

[0063] Furthermore, in the above-mentioned wire-laying work, the work from rotating and moving (rolling) the car body 2 to placing the iron wheels on the wire may be configured to be performed automatically. This can improve the workability of the wire-laying work. In the case of automating the work, before rolling, the direction in which the car body 2 faces with respect to the track R may be detected based on the angle at which the pair of rails 61, 62 intersect with the front-rear axis A1 in the overall bird's-eye image PH, and the direction and angle of rolling may be determined based on the detection result. This can make the rolling work efficient. In addition, each time each work is performed, the worker may confirm whether the work has been performed correctly, and a device (also referred to as a "work-specific confirmation operation device") may be provided to output a signal indicating the confirmation result to the controller 80. Then, if the controller 80 cannot recognize that the work has been performed correctly based on the signal from the work-specific confirmation operation device, it may be restricted so that the work cannot be moved to the next work. This can ensure that each work is performed reliably and that safety in each work is ensured.

[0064] The above describes the loading operation of the rail-road work vehicle 1, which has been traveling on the road up to the railroad crossing 50, onto the track R within the crossing 50. However, by performing the reverse operation to that described above within the crossing 50, it is possible to perform the derailment operation of transferring the rail-road work vehicle 1 from the track R to the road 51.

[0065] In the above-described embodiment, a rail-rail work vehicle equipped with working equipment for working at height has been used as an example of a rail-rail work vehicle to which the present invention can be applied, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can also be applied to, for example, rail-rail work vehicles equipped with crane equipment or various other types of working equipment, and can also be applied to rail-rail work vehicles for transporting materials that are not equipped with working equipment. [Explanation of symbols]

[0066] 1 Railroad work vehicle 2. Body 3S steering wheel 3D Driving Wheel 12F Front Iron Wheel 12R Rear iron wheel 50 Railroad Crossing 51 Road 61,62 Rail 71F Front camera 71B Rearview camera 71L Left side camera 71R Right side camera 110 Turntable 120 Bicycle jack 130 Rotating Support Table 135 Lower plate O Rotational axis P Bicycle stop position R orbit PH Overall View Image PG Vehicle image BR Surveillance Area Boundary

Claims

1. A rolling stock device for a road-rail vehicle for loading and unloading a road-rail vehicle having road-running wheels and track-running wheels and capable of running on roads and tracks, comprising: A rolling stock jack provided on the body of the road rail vehicle and capable of extending and retracting in the vertical direction toward the bottom of the body; A rotating plate support member provided at a lower end of the rolling jack; a grounding rotary plate provided at a lower portion of the rotary plate support member so as to be rotatable about a vertical axis; A plurality of cameras provided on the road-rail vehicle for acquiring image information of the surroundings of the road-rail vehicle; an image processing unit that generates an overhead image of the surroundings of the road-rail vehicle using image information of the surroundings of the road-rail vehicle acquired by the plurality of cameras; an image display unit on which the overhead image generated by the image processing unit is displayed; a stop position setting unit that determines a stop position for a rolling stock for performing a loading operation based on the overhead image generated by the image processing unit, The stop position setting unit detects the position of a pair of rails that constitute a track extending across the railroad crossing based on the overhead image when the rail-road vehicle is moved into the railroad crossing while traveling on the road, and determines the stop position for the railroad vehicle based on the position of this pair of rails.

2. The rolling stock device for a road-rail vehicle as described in claim 1, characterized in that when the road-rail vehicle is moved into a railroad crossing while traveling on a road, the stop position setting unit detects the center position of the portion of the pair of rails that is located below the road-rail vehicle based on the overhead image, and determines the rolling stock stop position relative to this center position.

3. The turning device for a road-rail vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising a gauge calculation unit for calculating the gauge distance between the pair of rails based on the overhead image.

4. A turning device for a rail-road vehicle as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it is equipped with an obstacle monitoring unit that sets a monitoring range around the rail-road vehicle based on the overhead image and monitors the presence or absence of obstacles within this monitoring range.

Images