Three-Level AGV Truck Frame With Internal 360° Scanner Layout
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing autonomously-guided industrial trucks face limitations in flexibility due to scanner units being positioned outside the vehicle frame, which impairs their panoramic view and makes them unsuitable for narrow spaces and low-height applications, particularly in logistics facilities with block storage.
Innovation Solution
The industrial truck is designed with a three-level vehicle frame structure, where scanner units are positioned within the frame's middle level, allowing a horizontal scanning plane for optimal obstacle detection, and support rollers are integrated within the lower level to maintain a narrow width and low height, ensuring complete 360° coverage without dead zones.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If scanner units are positioned outside the vehicle frame to ensure panoramic view, then scanning coverage is improved, but vehicle width increases and flexibility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions scanner units from a two-dimensional external positioning to a three-dimensional internal positioning within the vehicle frame. By utilizing the vertical dimension and positioning scanners at different heights (first scanner at upper level, second scanner at lower level), the system achieves comprehensive 360-degree scanning coverage without increasing vehicle width, thus resolving the contradiction between scanning coverage and vehicle compactness.
2Measurement precision
If scanner units are positioned high to avoid obstruction from support wheels, then scanning function is improved, but ability to detect low-lying obstacles is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the scanning function into two separate scanner units positioned at different vertical levels. The first scanner unit is positioned at the upper level to perform general panoramic scanning, while the second scanner unit is positioned at the lower level to specifically detect low-lying obstacles. This segmentation allows each scanner to optimize its detection range and angle for different obstacle types, resolving the contradiction between scanning function and obstacle detection accuracy.
3Adaptability or versatility
If vehicle width is reduced to navigate narrow spaces, then adaptability is improved, but scanner unit positioning becomes more constrained
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a nested frame structure where the first frame member contains the first scanner unit at the upper level, and the second frame member contains the second scanner unit at the lower level. This nested arrangement allows both scanners to be integrated within a compact vehicle width while maintaining their respective scanning functions. The multi-level nesting resolves the contradiction between narrow navigability and scanner positioning constraints.
Data Source
AI summary
An autonomously-guided industrial truck comprising a vehicle frame defining, in a plan view, a vehicle contour in sections. The vehicle frame comprises three structural levels, arranged one above the other in a vertical direction, each with its own contour. The three structural levels include a lower structural level in which a base structure is attached, an upper structural level with a covering, and a middle structural level comprising a frame structure for connecting the lower structural level and the upper structural level. The industrial truck includes at least one drive wheel assigned to the vehicle frame to stand below the vehicle frame on a driving surface and at least one scanner unit arranged completely within the vehicle contour such that a scanning plane of the at least one scanner unit lies at least in sections vertically in a region of the middle structural level.