Fork-Mounted Detection Layout for Blind-Spot-Free Industrial Trucks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing industrial trucks face challenges in completely covering their surroundings, particularly the region in front of the fork prongs, due to dead zones created by load rollers and limited detection unit coverage, leading to potential safety hazards.
Innovation Solution
Assign detection units to the underside of each fork prong, positioned between the wheel and fork end, ensuring overlapping detection regions that cover the entire corridor in front of the fork ends, optionally supplemented by detection units on the vehicle body for comprehensive monitoring.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If detection units are installed on the vehicle body, then the vehicle structure remains simple, but dead zones appear in front of the fork prongs due to load rollers blocking the detection view
Solution Approach 1:
The detection system is segmented into multiple detection units distributed at different locations: vehicle body and fork prongs. This segmentation allows each unit to cover specific zones, collectively eliminating dead zones while maintaining overall system simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
Detection units are positioned in three-dimensional space at multiple heights and locations (vehicle body level and fork prong level). This spatial distribution across different dimensions allows the detection regions to overlap and cover the entire corridor in front of the fork ends, eliminating blind spots caused by load rollers.
2Reliability
If detection units are installed in the fork prong tips, then the view to the front is unrestricted, but monitoring gaps appear immediately in front of the fork prongs and integration becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of placing all detection functions in the fork prong tips, the system segments detection units across multiple locations including the vehicle body and fork prongs at intermediate positions. This reduces integration complexity while maintaining comprehensive coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
Detection units are positioned at intermediate locations on the fork prongs (between the wheel and fork end) rather than at the extreme tips. This intermediary positioning allows the detection regions to overlap and cover the critical zone immediately in front of the fork prongs, eliminating monitoring gaps while simplifying integration.
3Device complexity
If only two detection units are used on the vehicle body, then the device complexity is low, but the entire surroundings of the vehicle cannot be covered
Solution Approach 1:
The detection system is divided into multiple units positioned at strategic locations (vehicle body and fork prongs). This segmentation enables comprehensive coverage of all surrounding zones including the critical corridor in front of the fork ends, while keeping the total number of units reasonable.
Solution Approach 2:
Detection units are distributed across different spatial dimensions and locations, creating overlapping detection regions that collectively cover the entire vehicle surroundings. This multi-dimensional arrangement achieves complete coverage without requiring an excessive number of detection units.
Data Source
AI summary
An industrial truck comprising a vehicle body and a pair of fork prongs. Each of the fork prongs extends from the vehicle body towards a corresponding fork end in a longitudinal direction. The industrial truck comprises a plurality of wheels with which the industrial truck stands and moves on a driving surface in a driven and steered manner. At least one of the wheels is assigned to each of the fork prongs. The industrial truck comprises a lifting mechanism to adjust a height of the fork prongs above the driving surface. The industrial truck comprises at least one detection unit to detect objects located in surroundings of the truck within a detection region and to output corresponding data and a control unit operatively coupled to the at least one detection unit to receive and process the data output by the at least one detection unit.