Cable transportation system

Abstract

A cable transportation system comprising: a first terminal station; a second terminal station; a plurality of transporting units moved between the terminal stations; at least one supporting cable for supporting the transporting units between the terminal stations; wherein the supporting cable comprises a first end housed inside the first terminal station and a second end housed inside the second terminal station; a first anchor device for anchoring the first end of the supporting cable inside the first terminal station; a second anchor device for anchoring the second end of the supporting cable inside the second terminal station; wherein the anchor devices are configured to selectively block the ends of the supporting cable inside the respective terminal stations and to enable a stepped sliding of the supporting cable between the terminal stations.

Claims

1. A cable transportation system comprising: a first terminal station; a second terminal station; a transporting unit; a supporting cable configured to support the transporting unit between the first terminal station and the second terminal station, wherein the supporting cable comprises a first end housed inside the first terminal station and a second end housed inside the second terminal station; a first anchor device configured to anchor the first end of the supporting cable inside the first terminal station, the first anchor device configured to selectively block the first end of the supporting cable inside the first terminal station; and a second anchor device configured to anchor the second end of the supporting cable inside the second terminal station, the second anchor device configured to selectively block the second end of the supporting cable inside the second terminal station, wherein at least one of the first anchor and the second anchor is configured to enable a sliding of the supporting cable between the first terminal station and the second terminal station.

2. The cable transportation system of claim 1, wherein the first anchor device comprises a winding drum configured to wind the supporting cable and an upstream clamp coupled to the first end of the supporting cable exiting the winding drum.

3. The cable transportation system of claim 2, wherein the first anchor device comprises a spare drum downstream of the upstream clamp.

4. The cable transportation system of claim 2, wherein the first anchor device comprises a fixed clamp and a mobile clamp downstream of the fixed clamp.

5. The cable transportation system of claim 1, wherein the second anchor device comprises: a blocking pin, a molten head configured to receive the second end of the supporting cable, the molten head defining a hole that receives the blocking pin, a guiding device configured to guide the molten head, the guiding device defining a plurality of through holes such that the molten head is configured to be anchored by the blocking pin to the guiding device in a plurality of positions.

6. The cable transportation system of claim 5, wherein the second anchor device comprises an actuator device configured to move the molten head along the guiding device.

7. The cable transportation system of claim 6, wherein the actuator device is one of a pneumatic actuator and a hydraulic actuator configured to move along the guiding device.

8. The cable transportation system of claim 5, wherein the second anchor device comprises an auxiliary clamp upstream of the guiding device.

9. The cable transportation system of claim 1, further comprising another supporting cable configured to support the transporting unit between the first terminal station and the second terminal station, wherein the other supporting cable comprises a first end housed inside the first terminal station and a second end housed inside the second terminal station.

10. The cable transportation system of claim 9, further comprising a hauling cable configured to move the transporting unit.

11. A cable transportation supporting cable anchoring system comprising: a first anchor device configured to anchor a first end of a supporting cable inside a first terminal station, the first anchor device configured to selectively block the first end of the supporting cable inside the first terminal station; and a second anchor device configured to anchor a second end of the supporting cable inside a second terminal station, the second anchor device configured to selectively block the second end of the supporting cable inside the second terminal station, wherein at least one of the first anchor and the second anchor is configured to enable a sliding of the supporting cable between the first terminal station and the second terminal station.

12. The cable transportation supporting cable anchoring system of claim 11, wherein the first anchor device comprises a winding drum configured to wind the supporting cable and an upstream clamp coupled to the first end of the supporting cable exiting the winding drum.

13. The cable transportation supporting cable anchoring system of claim 12, wherein the first anchor device comprises a spare drum downstream of the upstream clamp.

14. The cable transportation supporting cable anchoring system of claim 12, wherein the first anchor device comprises a fixed clamp and a mobile clamp downstream of the fixed clamp.

15. The cable transportation supporting cable anchoring system of claim 11, wherein the second anchor device comprises: a blocking pin, a molten head configured to receive the second end of the supporting cable, the molten head defining a hole that receives the blocking pin, a guiding device configured to guide the molten head, the guiding device defining a plurality of through holes such that the molten head is configured to be anchored by the blocking pin to the guiding device in a plurality of positions.

16. The cable transportation supporting cable anchoring system of claim 15, wherein the second anchor device comprises an actuator device configured to move the molten head along the guiding device.

17. The cable transportation supporting cable anchoring system of claim 16, wherein the actuator device is one of a pneumatic actuator and a hydraulic actuator configured to move along the guiding device.

18. The cable transportation supporting cable anchoring system of claim 15, wherein the second anchor device comprises an auxiliary clamp upstream of the guiding device.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Further characteristics and advantages of the present disclosure will become clear from the following description of a non-limiting embodiment thereof, with reference to the Figures in the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an intermediate portion between the upstream and downstream stations of a type of cable system into which the present disclosure can be incorporated;

(3) FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an end portion of the system of FIG. 1;

(4) FIGS. 3 to 5 show schematic views of a first anchor device according to the present disclosure in different operating configurations; and

(5) FIGS. 6 to 8 show schematic views of a second anchor device according to the present disclosure in different operating configurations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(6) The present disclosure refers to a cable transportation system.

(7) Referring now to the example embodiments of the present disclosure illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 8, and specifically referring to FIG. 1 that shows a schematic view of an intermediate portion of a type of cable system into which the present disclosure can be incorporated. In the example that is illustrated, the cable transportation system of FIG. 1 comprises two supporting cables 5 and a hauling cable 20, respectively for supporting and hauling a plurality of transporting units 4. In FIG. 1, the transporting unit 4 comprises a cabin 21 from the roof of which extends a suspension arm 22 anchored at the top to a trolley 23. The trolley 23 comprises rollers 24 that roll along the supporting cables 5. Along the direction of travel A the system comprises a shoe 25, that is, a fixed structure along which the rollers 24 are separated from the supporting cables and travel on specific tracks 26 provided in said shoe. Said tracks 26 also form a seat for the supporting cables 5. As described previously, the supporting cable 20 at the shoe 25 is subject to relatively greater stress and so the supporting cable 20 must regularly be made to slide along the path of the system so that the shoe 25 regularly houses a new section of the supporting cable 20 that was previously outside the shoe 25.

(8) FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of an end portion of the system of FIG. 1, that is, the section of the system comprising a terminal station (upstream 2 or downstream 3) where the transporting units reverse the direction of travel from A to B (see the schematic arrows in FIG. 2). As schematically illustrated, the cabins 4 enter the station supported by the supporting cable 5. Inside the station, the cabins are no longer supported by the supporting cable 5 but by specific tracks (not illustrated). In this example, the supporting cable 5 comprises one end 6 anchored inside the station 2 by specific anchor devices (only schematically illustrated in FIG. 1 and denoted by reference numeral 8).

(9) FIGS. 3 to 5 show schematic views of a first anchor device 8 according to the present disclosure in different operating configurations. Said first anchor device 8 is housed for example inside the upstream terminal station 2 and comprises, for each ascending and descending line, a winding drum 10 around which the ends of the two supporting cables 5 are wound. For the purposes of the present disclosure, the “end” of the cable does not necessarily refer to a short end section of the cable but to the entire length of cable inside the relative station. Thus, the word end refers to both the portion of cable wound around the winding drum 10 and the portion of cable that, downstream of the winding drum 10, is wound onto a spare drum, if present (not visible in FIGS. 3-5). The first anchor device 8 of FIGS. 3 to 5 further comprises a pair of fixed clamps 11 coupled to the ends 6 of the supporting cable 5 exiting the winding drum 10 towards the spare drum. The term “fixed clamps” refers to the fact that such clamps contrast with the fixed structure of the station to compensate the pull exerted by the cable. FIG. 4 shows a first step in the operations for sliding the supporting cables 5 along, in which the ends 6 of the cables have been at least partly freed by the clamps 11. In this example each clamp 11 comprises two clamp portions arranged in series and during the sliding step at least one of the pair of clamps 11 is opened or removed. Instead of said clamp, the present disclosure envisages the use of mobile clamps 11′, that is, clamps capable of compensating any pulling force in the cables and at the same time of sliding the cable with respect to the fixed structure of the station 2 to follow the unwinding of the supporting cables from the spare drum and from the winding drum 10. Such mobile clamps 11′ are schematically illustrated in FIG. 5 and can be permanently mounted on the system to reduce the total amount of time required to move the cables.

(10) FIGS. 6 to 8 show schematic views of a second anchor device according to the present disclosure in different operating configurations. This example shows an anchor device for the ends of the supporting cables 5 housed inside the downstream station 3. According to this example, for each ascending and descending line, the second anchor device comprises a structure 14 inside which the two molten heads of the ends 6 of the two supporting cables 5 are anchored and a guiding device 15 along which the structure is able to slide 14. In the case of mono-cable systems, the structure 14 that slides along the guide 15 can consist directly of the molten head. In that sense, in the following description, reference numeral 14 will be used to indicate the “molten head”. In the example in FIG. 6, the guiding device 15 is a track with a U-shaped cross section inside which the molten head 14 is housed. The side walls of the track comprise a sequence of holes configured to receive a pin 16 which is, in turn, coupled or can be coupled to the molten head 14. When the pin 16 is released from the relative holes, the molten head 14 can be made to slide along the track and then be fixed in the desired position. The pin may be operated manually or automatically (for example, hydraulically or pneumatically). As the molten head 14 slides along the track, the molten head causes the supporting cables to be unwound from the drums housed inside the opposite station and, thus, the entire cable is made to slide along the path. FIG. 7 shows the molten head 14 in a different position with respect to the position shown in FIG. 6. Such travel is generated in this example by a specific actuator device 18 comprising a hydraulic or pneumatic piston 18′. In the position in FIG. 7, the piston 18′ has come out of the relative cylinder 18″ to push the molten head 14 along the guide 15. When the new position for anchoring the molten head 14 along the guide has been reached, the cylinder 18″ is also made to slide along the guide 15 in order to once again internally house the piston 18′ (FIG. 8) and thus return to a configuration in which the piston is ready to push the molten head 14 along the guide 15 again. Auxiliary clamps 19 are shown upstream of the guiding device 15. Such clamps are activated when the molten head 14 reaches the last position in the guide. When this position is reached, the cable must be cut, a new molten head must be produced and re-arranged at the beginning of the guide to start a new sequence of stepped slides.

(11) With reference to the example shown in the figures and with reference to the present disclosure in general, the supporting cables are moved along relatively quickly and relatively safely using equipment incorporated in the system inside the station for anchoring the supporting cables. Moreover, it should be appreciated that in accordance with the present disclosure, both supporting cables can be moved relatively safely at the same time.

(12) Lastly, it is clear that modifications and variations may be made to the disclosure described herein without departing from the scope of the appended claims and without diminishing its intended technical scope. That is, various changes and modifications to the present embodiments described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art and it is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims.