NON TRACK-BOUND, ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN VEHICLE

Abstract

An electrically driven vehicle contains a current collector for supplying electrical energy from a bipolar overhead line system. The collector has an articulated support rod, which bears, on the contact wire side, a contact collector having a contact strip, and which is coupled, on the vehicle side, to a lift drive for positioning the support rod and for pressing the contact collector to a contact wire of the overhead wire system, a detection device for detecting a lateral position of a contact point of the contact wire on the contact strip and a driver assistance system for executing an automatic steering intervention as a function of the detected lateral position of the contact point. The vehicle has increased availability for a feed of electrical energy from the overhead line system in that the contact strip is supported on the contact collector via at least two spring elements.

Claims

1-9. (canceled)

10. A non-track-bound, electrically driven vehicle, comprising: a current collector for feeding electrical energy from a two-pole overhead line, said current collector having a contact rocker with a contact strip, a lift drive and an articulated support linkage supporting said contact rocker with said contact strip on a contact wire side and on a vehicle side said articulated support linkage is coupled to said lift drive for setting up said articulated support linkage and for pressing said contact rocker onto a contact wire of the two-pole overhead line; a recorder for recording a lateral position of a contact point of the contact wire on said contact strip; a driver assistance system for executing an automatic steering intervention in dependence on a measured lateral position of the contact point; at least two spring elements, said contact strip being braced against said contact rocker via said at least two spring elements; said recorder having two path sensors for measuring compression paths of said at least two spring elements; and an evaluation unit connected to said two path sensors for ascertaining the lateral position of the contact point from sensor signals representing measured compression paths.

11. The vehicle according to claim 10, wherein said two path sensors are embodied for measuring the compression paths of said at least two spring elements in a contactless manner.

12. The vehicle according to claim 10, wherein said evaluation unit is embodied to ascertain the lateral position of the contact point from a difference between a quotient derived from the two sensor signals representing the compression paths and a reciprocal value of the quotient.

13. The vehicle according to claim 10, wherein said driver assistance system configured to execute the automatic steering intervention in such a manner that the contact point of the contact wire on said contact strip is kept within a predefined operating region of said contact strip.

14. The vehicle according to claim 13, wherein said driver assistance system is configured to execute the automatic steering intervention in such a manner that the predefined operating region of said contact slip is evenly utilized.

15. The vehicle according to claim 10, wherein said evaluation unit is embodied to ascertain a contact force between said contact strip and the contact wire from a sum of two of the sensor signals that represent the compression paths.

16. The vehicle according to claim 10, wherein said current collector has a controller for activating and deactivating a pressure application of said lift drive, wherein said controller is connected to said evaluation unit and is configured in such a manner that said lift drive is actuated to regulate a contact force between said contact strip and contact wire in dependence on the contact force.

17. The vehicle according to claim 16, wherein said controller is configured in such a manner that said lift drive is deactivated if no compression path of said at least two spring elements is measured above a predefinable setup height of said contact rocker.

18. The vehicle according to claim 16, wherein said controller is configured in such a way that said lift drive is deactivated when the measured lateral position of the contact point reaches or exceeds edge-side limit positions of an operating region of said contact strip.

Description

[0018] Further properties and advantages of the vehicle according to the invention will emerge from the drawings described in further detail below, in which

[0019] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a vehicle according to the invention with a current collector in a side view and

[0020] FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a partial cutout of a contact rocker of the current collector from FIG. 1 in a front view.

[0021] In accordance with FIG. 1, a non-track-bound, electrically driven vehicle 1, which may be embodied as a tractor unit of an articulated truck, comprises a current collector 2 for feeding electrical energy from a two-pole overhead line system. The overhead line system comprises two contact wires 3 that are embodied as forward and return conductors and are tensioned in parallel above an electrified lane 4 of a roadway. The current collector 2 has an articulated support linkage 5, which on the contact wire side supports two contact rockers 7 that are arranged next to one another in relation to a vehicle longitudinal axis 6. Each contact rocker 7 has two elongated contact strips 8 that are arranged one behind the other in relation to the vehicle longitudinal axis 6 and are provided for establishing an electrical sliding contact with the contact wires 3. On the vehicle, the support linkage 5 is coupled to a lift drive 9 for setting up the support linkage 5 and for pressing the contact rockers 7 onto the contact wire 3 of the overhead line system. The current collector 2 has a control unit 10 for activating and deactivating a pressure application of the lift drive 9, whereby the support linkage 5 is set up and collapsed and as a result the contact rockers 7 can be raised and lowered between a lower idle position and an upper contact position. The vehicle 1 further comprises a driver assistance system 11 for executing an automatic steering intervention, which may be embodied as a lane departure warning system with corresponding identification sensor system for lane markings.

[0022] In order to record a lateral position 12 of a contact point 13 of the contact wire 3 on a contact strip 8, for example measured from a contact strip center 20, the vehicle 1 comprises a recording facility 14 with further reference to FIG. 2. To this end, the contact strips 8 are in each case braced against the contact rocker 7 via two spring elements 15 embodied as leaf springs, for example. The recording facility 14 has two path sensors 16 that operate in a contactless manner for measuring compression paths 15L and 15R of the spring elements 15. The compression paths 15L and 15R can be identified in FIG. 2, as the contact strip 8′ is also modeled in a neutral position, in which it is not in contact with a contact wire 3. The compression paths 15L and 15R are given by the spring constants of the spring elements 15, by the lateral position 12 of the contact point 13 and by the contact force 17 acting at the contact point 13 between contact wire 3 and contact strip 8. The recording facility 14 also has an evaluation unit 18, which is connected to the path sensors 16 by radio or in a wired manner and ascertains the lateral position 12 of the contact point 13 from sensor signals that represent the measured compression paths 15L and 15R. The driver assistance system 11 guides the automatic steering intervention as a function of the recorded lateral position 12 of the contact point 13, in order to make available a constant maintaining of contact between the current collector 2 and the overhead line system.

[0023] In order to minimize negative effects due to non-linearities in the sensor signals of the path sensors 1 operating in a capacitive or inductive manner, the evaluation unit 18 is embodied to ascertain the lateral position 12 of the contact point 13 from the difference between the quotient derived from the two sensor signals representing the compression paths 15L and 15R and the reciprocal value of said quotient.

[0024] The driver assistance system 11 is configured to execute the automatic steering intervention in such a manner that the contact point 13 of the contact wire 3 on the contact strip 8 is kept within a predefined operating region 19 of the contact strip 8, preferably such that the operating region 19 of the contact strip 8 is used evenly. This distributes the abrasion of the contact strips 8 over the entire operating region 19 thereof, meaning that they wear down less quickly and have to be replaced less often. In addition, the formation of ruts in the lane 4 is reduced when the driver assistance system 11 does not permanently keep the vehicle 1 in the center of the lane, but rather utilizes a certain driving corridor within the electrified lane 4.

[0025] The evaluation unit 18 is moreover embodied to ascertain the contact force 17 between the contact strips 8 and the contact wires 3 from the sum of the two sensor signals that represent the compression paths 15L and 15R. This results in the sum of the sub-contact forces, which cause the compression paths 15L and 15R, at the spring elements 15 with known spring constant. The control unit 10 is connected to the evaluation unit 18 and is configured such that the lift drive 9 is actuated to regulate the contact force 17 between contact strip 8 and contact wire 3 as a function of the ascertained contact force 17. In this way, no further measuring apparatus is required for determining the contact force 17 and it can be regulated in a desired force range.

[0026] The control unit 10 is also configured in such a manner that the lift drive 9 is deactivated if no compression path 15L and 15R of the spring elements 15 is measured above a predefinable setup height of the contact rockers 7. The current collector 2 is thus lowered when no contact wire 3 is present above the vehicle 1. The lift drive 9 may also be deactivated if the measured lateral position 12 of the contact point 13 reaches or exceeds edge-side limit positions 19L or 19R of the operating region 19 of the contact strip 8. If a manual steering intervention via the steering wheel 21 necessitates leaving the driving corridor traveled by the driver assistance system 11, for example during overtaking or evasive maneuvers, then the current collector 2 is lowered when the contact point 13 reaches one of the limit positions 19L or 19R, so that the current collector 2 automatically assumes a safe operating position.