Optical Guided Tractor Transport System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current transport systems with guided vehicles face limitations in flexibility, adaptability, and cost-effectiveness, as they require complex infrastructure and cannot easily change routes or handle chaotic product transport, leading to inefficiencies and increased space requirements.
Innovation Solution
A transport system where products are moved on trailers by tractors, with a central control determining individual routes, using optical markings on the transport track for navigation, allowing for flexible and adaptable routing without the need for complex rail systems, enabling independent movement and overtaking of vehicles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If rail-guided vehicles are used for product transport, then transport routes can be precisely controlled, but the infrastructure becomes complex and难以 to change routes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical rail guidance system with an optical guidance system using markings on the floor. Tractors equipped with optical sensors read these markings to determine their position and orientation, eliminating the need for physical rails while maintaining precise route control. This substitution directly resolves the contradiction by providing route flexibility without infrastructure complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using physical rails that define the transport path, the patent uses optical copies or representations of the route through markings on the floor. These markings serve as a virtual guide that can be easily changed without physical reconstruction, allowing flexible route adaptation while keeping the infrastructure simple.
2Reliability
If industrial trucks with high safety equipment are used to share space with employees, then collision avoidance is improved, but driving speed decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent separates human and vehicle movement into different spatial dimensions by elevating the transport system to overhead rails. Employees work at ground level while vehicles travel overhead, eliminating the need for complex safety equipment and sensors. This dimensional separation allows vehicles to travel at higher speeds without compromising employee safety.
3Reliability
If separate transport routes are provided for vehicle and employee movement, then collision safety is improved, but space requirement increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes the vertical dimension to separate vehicle and employee pathways. By positioning transport vehicles overhead on elevated rails while employees work at ground level, the system achieves complete separation without requiring additional horizontal space. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining collision safety while minimizing space requirements.
4Quantity of substance
If heavy loads are transported using industrial trucks, then transport capability is improved, but the complexity of safety equipment and sensors increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs overhead rail-mounted vehicles to transport heavy loads, separating the transport function from ground-level employee activities. This dimensional separation eliminates the need for complex safety equipment and sensors on the vehicles, as the overhead position inherently protects employees from collision risks while maintaining full load capacity.
Data Source
Figure 1a
Figure 1b
Figure 2a~2d
AI summary
Contrary to many transport systems, in which the product to be transported is moved along rails and physical guides, according to the present invention the product to be loaded, located in particular on trailers (2a), is moved on a planar transport path (3a), which can be freely traveled upon, along the desired transport routes (12) by self-propelled tractors (4a...) with the aid of visual markings, for example on the transport path (4a...). Because the number of tractors simultaneously carrying out the transportation can be easily increased and because of the simple design of the transport paths (3a...), high flexibility is possible.