Cable Transport Vehicle Boarding Control With Occupancy Thresholds
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cable transport facilities struggle with accurately regulating passenger flow, especially in large-capacity vehicles or high-demand scenarios, often requiring excessive staff and compromising passenger comfort due to space-consuming chambers or error-prone destination input systems.
Innovation Solution
A control device with a controller that receives variables representing vehicle occupancy, compares them to threshold values, and prohibits access to vehicles in advance if occupancy exceeds the threshold, ensuring efficient passenger flow management without modifying the embarking platform.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If operating staff manually regulate passenger flow with visual checks, then the facility can operate with simple infrastructure, but the accuracy of occupancy estimation deteriorates and staff requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual visual inspection by operating staff with electronic detection systems including cameras, weight sensors, and RFID readers. These automated systems continuously monitor and count passengers, providing precise occupancy data without requiring physical presence of staff at the platform, thus resolving the contradiction between simple infrastructure and accurate measurement.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service through automated passenger counting and identification. Passengers are automatically detected and counted via sensors and cameras without staff intervention, and the system autonomously determines when to prohibit access based on occupancy thresholds, eliminating the need for manual estimation while maintaining simple infrastructure.
2Measurement precision
If chambers are added to control passenger access to vehicles, then occupancy counting accuracy improves, but the platform space required increases and passenger comfort deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using physical chambers that occupy platform space, the patent employs electronic sensing systems (cameras, weight sensors, RFID readers) that can monitor passengers in the existing platform area. These non-intrusive sensors provide accurate counting without requiring additional structural elements, thus resolving the contradiction between counting accuracy and platform space.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from spatial control (physical chambers) to temporal and informational control. By using sensors that detect passengers in three dimensions and processing this data temporally, the system achieves accurate counting without confining passengers to specific spatial zones, thereby maintaining open platform space and passenger comfort.
3Duration of action of moving object
If access is prohibited only at the end of the embarking period, then the embarking time is maximized, but passenger overloading risk increases and safety is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by continuously monitoring occupancy throughout the embarking period and prohibiting access in advance when the threshold is approached, rather than waiting until the end of the period. This proactive approach extends the effective embarking time while ensuring safety compliance by preventing overloading before it occurs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback control where sensor data on current occupancy is continuously fed back to the control system, which dynamically adjusts access prohibition timing. This closed-loop system maximizes embarking time by allowing access as long as safety thresholds are met, while automatically prohibiting access in advance when limits are approached, thus resolving the contradiction between embarking duration and safety compliance.
4Measurement precision
If more staff are deployed to regulate passenger flow during high demand, then occupancy control accuracy improves, but operational costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces manual staff intervention with automated self-service monitoring through sensors, cameras, and RFID readers that continuously track occupancy without human involvement. This eliminates the need to deploy additional staff during high-demand periods while maintaining precise occupancy control, thus resolving the contradiction between measurement precision and staff quantity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes human staff with electronic and optical detection systems including weight sensors, cameras, and RFID readers. These automated systems provide continuous, accurate occupancy monitoring without the need for additional personnel, thereby resolving the contradiction between control accuracy and staff requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a control device of a cable transport facility, comprising a controller capable of organizing an embarking period of a nominal duration (Tn_max) for vehicles at a station. This embarking period (Tn_max) ends with a prohibition of access to the vehicle. The controller comprises an input for receiving at least one variable representative of a vehicle occupancy. The controller is arranged to react upon receipt of such a variable during the embarking period (Tn_max) by comparing it to a threshold value and by triggering the prohibition of access to the vehicle in an anticipated manner and before the end of the embarking period (Tn_max) as a function of the result of the comparison between said variable and the threshold value.