Extendable Wheel Base for Cantilever Vehicle Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
The instability of container handling vehicles with a cantilever design is exacerbated by the weight distribution, where the center of gravity of the cantilever and the container is outside the base of the wheels, leading to instability, especially when handling heavy loads.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves extending the wheels on the cantilever side of the container handling vehicle to shift the center of mass towards the cantilever, ensuring stability during transportation of heavy containers by engaging these wheels with both inner and outer tracks as needed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the container handling vehicle uses a cantilever design to transport containers, then the vehicle can access storage columns and transport containers efficiently, but the center of gravity falls outside the base of the wheels causing instability
Solution Approach 1:
The wheel base is extended in the longitudinal dimension of the vehicle, projecting wheels forward beyond the front face of the vehicle body. This dimensional extension shifts the wheel contact points with the rail forward, moving the support base forward to align with the cantilever's center of gravity and improve stability during container transport operations
2Stability of the object's composition
If the wheels are extended forward on the cantilever side, then the center of mass shifts towards the cantilever improving stability, but the wheel base configuration becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The wheel base configuration is made adjustable rather than fixed. The distance between the front wheels and rear wheels can be varied depending on the operational requirements and load conditions, allowing the vehicle to optimize its stability characteristics dynamically while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure
Data Source
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AI summary
A container handling vehicle and a method with a cantilever solution operating on an automated storage and retrieval system comprising a framework structure forming a three-dimensional storage grid structure for storing storage containers for storing items, where a rail system is arranged on the framework structure and provides available routes for the container handling vehicles handling and transferring the storage containers. Each rail has a first and a second track allowing two container handling vehicles to pass each other using the same rail. The at least one container handling vehicle has front wheels (302), back wheels and side wheels (301), wherein the front wheels (302) have extenders allowing them to use the second track to manoeuvre the container handling vehicle.