Patent · US Expired

Control system for a monorail vehicle

US5819189A · kind A · utility

20Cited by
20References
12Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 12, 1996
Grant dateOct 6, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 12, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY02T10/70
  • WIPO fieldTransport
  • WIPO sectorMechanical engineering

Abstract

A monorail vehicle used for material handling purposes comprises a number of cars which run on a track. The cars are linked together in one or more trains and each train has a master car and several slave cars. An embedded computer in the master car keeps track of the location on the train on the track by means of pulses from a Hall effect sensor in a brushless DC motor which powers the train. A central computer in an off board work station issues commands to the train and by monitoring its position on the track loop, the embedded computer in the master car of the train determines when to execute the command. A special jumper is used to connect the cars of the train together which distributes control signals to the various cars in the train without regard to the position of the cars in the train.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.