INDUSTRIAL TRUCK WITH DETECTION DEVICES ON THE FORKS

Abstract

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.

Claims

1. An industrial truck, comprising: a vehicle body; a pair of fork prongs, each of the fork prongs extending from the vehicle body towards a corresponding fork end in a longitudinal direction; a plurality of wheels with which the industrial truck stands and moves on a driving surface in a driven and steered manner, wherein at least a first wheel of the plurality of wheels is assigned to a first fork prong of the pair of fork prongs and at least a second wheel of the plurality of wheels is assigned to a second fork prong of the pair of fork prongs; a lifting mechanism configured to adjust a height of the fork prongs above the driving surface; a plurality of detection units, each detection unit configured to detect objects located in surroundings of the industrial truck within a detection region and to output corresponding data; and a control unit operatively coupled to each detection unit and configured to receive and process the data output by each detection unit, wherein a first detection unit of the plurality of detection units is assigned to the first fork prong and is arranged on an underside of the first fork prong at a position in the longitudinal direction of the first fork prong between the fork end of the first fork prong and the first wheel or a foremost wheel assigned to the first fork prong, wherein a second detection unit of the plurality of detection units is assigned to the second fork prong and is arranged on an underside of the second fork prong at a position in the longitudinal direction of the second fork prong between the fork end of the second fork prong and the second wheel or a foremost wheel assigned to the second fork prong, and wherein the first detection unit and the second detection unit are aligned with one another so that a detection region of the first detection unit and a detection region of the second detection unit together substantially cover the entire corridor formed in front of the fork end of the first fork prong and the fork end of the second fork prong by corresponding extensions of the first fork prong and the second fork prong.

2. The industrial truck of claim 1, wherein each of the detection region of the first detection unit and the detection region of the second detection unit is approximately ninety degrees (90°).

3. The industrial truck of claim 1, wherein a third detection unit of the plurality of detection units is assigned to the vehicle body.

4. The industrial truck of claim 1, wherein at least a third detection unit of the plurality of detection units is assigned to the vehicle body, and wherein the third detection unit is aligned with of the first detection unit so that a detection region of the third detection unit and the detection region of the first detection unit jointly cover substantially the entire region on one side of the industrial truck.

5. The industrial truck of claim 1, wherein at least a third detection unit and a fourth detection unit of the plurality of detection units are assigned to the vehicle body, and wherein the first detection unit, the third detection unit and the fourth detection unit are arranged such that the detection region of the first detection unit, a detection region of the third detection unit and a detection region of the fourth detection unit jointly and substantially cover the entire space outside an outline of the industrial truck.

6. The industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the detection region of the first detection unit and the detection region of the second detection units are aligned with one another to jointly form an overlap in front of the pair of fork prongs.

7. The industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the first detection unit is connected to the first fork prongs by means of substantially vertically extending attachment units.

8. The industrial truck of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of detection units comprises a laser scanner.

9. The industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the first fork prongs in the region of the first detection unit is formed with side walls extending down over the first detection unit and the second fork prong in the region of the second detection unit is formed with side walls extending down over the second detection unit.

10. The industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the first fork prong is provided with side walls that extend in the longitudinal direction in front of the first fork prong to a position behind the region of the first detection unit such that the detection region of the first detection unit is not impaired by the side walls.

11. The industrial truck of claim 10, wherein a contour of the longitudinally extending side walls substantially corresponds to a contour of the detection region of the first detection unit.

12. The industrial truck of claim 1, wherein a coupling between at least one of the first detection unit or the second detection unit and the control unit is established by means of a bus system.

13. The industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the control unit is integrated in a higher-level control unit of the industrial truck or is formed thereby.

14. The industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to determine an operating mode of the industrial truck based on the data received from the plurality of detection units.

15. The industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the first fork prong in the region of the first detection unit is formed in a tapered manner in the longitudinal direction of the first fork prong and the second fork prong in the region of the second detection unit is formed in a tapered manner in the longitudinal direction of the second fork prong.

16. An industrial truck, comprising: a vehicle body; a pair of fork prongs, each of the fork prongs extending from the vehicle body towards a corresponding fork end in a longitudinal direction; a plurality of wheels with which the industrial truck stands and moves on a driving surface in a driven and steered manner, wherein at least a first wheel of the plurality of wheels is assigned to a first fork prong of the pair of fork prongs and at least a second wheel of the plurality of wheels is assigned to a second fork prong of the pair of fork prongs; a lifting mechanism configured to adjust a height of the fork prongs above the driving surface; at least one detection unit configured to detect objects located in surroundings of the industrial truck within a detection region and to output corresponding data; and a control unit operatively coupled to the at least one detection unit and configured to receive and process the data output by the at least one detection unit, wherein a first detection unit of the at least one detection unit is assigned to the first fork prong and is arranged on an underside of the first fork prong at a position in the longitudinal direction of the first fork prong between the fork end of the first fork prong and the first wheel or a foremost wheel assigned to the first fork prong, and wherein the first detection unit is configured so that a detection region of the first detection unit substantially covers the entire corridor formed in front of the fork end of the first fork prong and the fork end of the second fork prong by the corresponding extensions of the first fork prong and the second fork prong.

17. The industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the detection region of the first detection unit is approximately one hundred fifty degrees (150°).

18. The industrial truck of claim 16, wherein at least a second detection unit of the at least one detection unit is assigned to the vehicle body, and wherein the second detection unit is aligned with the first detection unit so that a detection region of the second detection unit and the detection region of the first detection unit jointly cover substantially the entire region on one side of the industrial truck.

19. The industrial truck of claim 16, wherein at least a second detection unit and a third detection unit of the at least one detection unit are assigned to the vehicle body, and wherein the first detection unit, the second detection unit and the third detection unit are arranged such that the detection region of the first detection unit, a detection region of the second detection unit and a detection region of the third detection unit jointly and substantially cover the entire space outside an outline of the industrial truck.

20. The industrial truck of claim 16, wherein at least one of the at least one detection unit comprises a laser scanner.

Description

[0022] Further features and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the following description of one embodiment thereof when this is considered together with the accompanying drawings. In detail, in the drawings:

[0023] FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an industrial truck according to the invention with indicated monitoring regions of a plurality of detection units;

[0024] FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the fork ends of the industrial truck from FIG. 1 in a detailed view; and

[0025] FIG. 3 is a view of the fork ends from FIG. 2 obliquely from below.

[0026] In FIG. 1, an industrial truck according to the invention is shown purely schematically in a plan view and denoted by the reference sign 10.

[0027] The industrial truck 10 substantially corresponds to a known type of an autonomously operated lift truck and comprises a vehicle body 12 and a pair of fork prongs 14 and 16 extending from the vehicle body 12 to a corresponding fork end 14a, 16a in a longitudinal direction L, which fork prongs are vertically displaceable by means of a lifting mechanism (not shown) for picking up loads.

[0028] In the embodiment shown, a total of four wheels 18a-18d are provided on the industrial truck 10, the two wheels 18c and 18d each being assigned to one of the two fork prongs 14 and 16, while the other two wheels 18a and 18b are assigned to the vehicle body 12. Alternatively, of course, embodiments of industrial trucks according to the invention with a different configuration of wheels are also conceivable, for example with only three wheels, one of which is assigned to the vehicle body 12 and one of which is assigned to one of the fork prongs 14 and 16.

[0029] Furthermore, a total of four detection units 20a-20d with corresponding detection regions 22a-22d can be seen in FIG. 1, wherein the two detection units 20a and 20b are assigned to the vehicle body 12 in such a way that they are provided at its rear end in the longitudinal direction L on an outside thereof in order to be able to collectively cover both the entire region to the side of the industrial truck 10 and behind the industrial truck 10 with the detection regions 22a and 22b thereof.

[0030] In contrast, the two detection units 20c and 20d are each assigned to one of the fork prongs 14 and 16 and are arranged on the underside of the corresponding fork prong 14, 16 at positions in the longitudinal direction L thereof between the wheel 18c or 18d assigned to these fork prongs 14, 16 and the corresponding fork end 14a or 16a. In this way, it is achieved that the two monitoring regions 22c and 22d have an overlap 22e which already begins in the longitudinal direction L on the side of the two fork ends 14a and 14b in the direction of the vehicle body 12, so that the entire corridor 24 in front of the fork ends 14a, 16a is covered between the corresponding extension of the two fork prongs 14, 16. Together with the detection regions 22a and 22b of the two detection units 20a and 20b assigned to the vehicle body 12, monitoring of the entire space outside the outline of the industrial truck 10 is also achieved without any gaps or dead zones being created.

[0031] To clarify the monitoring region 22c of the detection unit 20c assigned to the fork prongs 14, reference is also made to FIG. 2, in which this is shown again in an enlarged view. This shows that the detection region 22c of the detection unit 20c is approximately 90° and is oriented relative to the fork prongs 14 in such a way that the central axis M between the two fork prongs 14 and 16 is intersected by the detection region 22c before the two fork ends 14a and 16c.

[0032] Finally, reference should also be made to FIG. 3, in which the fork prongs 14 and 16 are shown obliquely from below, whereby it can be seen that the two detection units 20c and 20d are surrounded by corresponding pulled down side walls 26 extending downwards in the vertical direction over the detection units 20c and 20d and are formed in a tapered manner in the longitudinal direction L in order not to show any impairment of the detection regions 22c and 22d explained with reference to FIG. 2. In particular, the region in the longitudinal direction L in front of the detection units 20c and 20d is free of such side walls and the contour of the downwardly extending side walls substantially corresponds to the contour of the detection region of the at least one detection unit. It can also be seen that the detection units 20c and 20d are attached to the undersides of the fork prongs 14 and 16 by means of simple angle plates 28.

[0033] In the view from FIG. 3, it can also be seen that in the embodiment shown in this case, the two wheels 18c and 18d are each designed as a pair of wheels which ensure permanent ground contact when the fork prongs 14 and 16 are raised, but, if a detection unit was arranged in the longitudinal direction L behind them, it would create a considerable dead zone.