RAIL SYSTEM WITH A RAIL AND MOBILE PARTS MOVABLE ALONG THE RAIL

Abstract

In a rail system with a rail and mobile parts movable along the rail, e.g., rail vehicles, a profiled part is arranged on the rail and includes a cavity, which, e.g., terminates at an opening into the environment. Regions of a mobile part, e.g., regions of each mobile part, at least partially project into the cavity, and at least one transmitter and receiver are situated in the respective region.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A rail system, comprising: a rail including a profiled part arranged on the rail and having a cavity that terminates at an opening into the environment; and mobile parts adapted to move along the rail; wherein regions of at least one of the mobile parts at least partially project into the cavity, and a transmitter and a receiver are arranged in the region of the mobile part that at least partially projects into the cavity.

17. The rail system according to claim 16, wherein the mobile parts include rail vehicles.

18. The rail system according to claim 16, wherein regions of each of the mobile parts at least partially project into the cavity.

19. The rail system according to claim 16, wherein an absorber is fastened to the mobile part and an absorber is arranged between the regions of the mobile part in a rail direction.

20. The rail system according to claim 19, wherein the absorber is formed of a brush, a fleece, and/or a plastic material.

21. The rail system according to claim 19, wherein in a circumferential angle range that encompasses more than 180° in relation to the rail direction, the absorber touches the profiled part or at least has a smaller distance from the profiled part than the regions of the mobile part.

22. The rail system according to claim 19, wherein the transmitter and receiver are arranged on a side of the region facing away from the absorber.

23. The rail system according to claim 19, wherein a data transmission channel that is arranged in the cavity upstream from the absorber in the rail direction is separated, in particular with the aid of the absorber and especially with regard to the light emitted by the respective transmitter, from a data transmission channel that is arranged in the cavity downstream from the absorber in the rail direction.

24. The rail system according to claim 19, wherein a data transmission channel that is arranged in the cavity upstream from the absorber in the rail direction is separated, with the aid of the absorber and with regard to light emitted by the transmitter, from a data transmission channel that is arranged in the cavity downstream from the absorber in the rail direction.

25. A rail system, comprising: a rail including a profiled part arranged on the rail and having a cavity that terminates at an opening into the environment; and mobile parts adapted to move along the rail and including an antenna projecting at least partially into the cavity to couple and/or decouple electromagnetic waves; wherein the profiled part is arranged as a slotted waveguide and/or a hollow waveguide and is adapted to conduct electromagnetic waves inside the cavity; and wherein a transmitter and a receiver are arranged in a region of at least one of the mobile parts outside the cavity and in such close proximity to the opening that light is radiatable into the cavity with the aid of the transmitter, and light conducted through the cavity is detectable with the aid of the receiver such that the mobile part exchanges data with the aid of the electromagnetic waves and also with the aid of light.

26. The rail system according to claim 25, wherein the mobile parts are arranged as rail vehicles.

27. The rail system according to claim 25, wherein the profiled part is formed of metal and/or is integral with the rail part.

28. The rail system according to claim 25, wherein a frequency of the electromagnetic waves ranges between 1 MHz and 100 GHz.

29. The rail system according to claim 25, wherein the mobile part is movable and guided on the rail by wheels and/or rollers.

30. The rail system according to claim 25, wherein the transmitter includes an LED and/or a laser diode for visible and/or infrared light.

31. The rail system according to claim 25, wherein the receiver includes a photodiode and/or a phototransistor adapted to detect visible and/or infrared light.

32. The rail system according to claim 30, wherein the receiver includes a photodiode and/or a phototransistor adapted to detect visible and/or infrared light.

33. The rail system according to claim 25, wherein a transmitter and a receiver are arranged in a recess of the profiled part.

34. The rail system according to claim 33, wherein the recess is arranged as a round hole and/or a bore having a round hole axis of symmetry or bore axis having an angle of between 10° and 60° with respect to a rail direction, and/or the recess extends through the profiled part and/or a wall of the profiled part.

35. The rail system according to claim 25, wherein the profiled part is integral to the rail.

36. The rail system according to claim 25, wherein the profiled part includes two cavities that extend in parallel with and at a distance from each other.

37. The rail system according to claim 25, wherein a cross-section of the cavity is invariant and/or unable to be modified along a rail direction.

38. The rail system according to claim 25, wherein the opening of the cavity is arranged as a slot that extends in a rail direction.

39. The rail system according to claim 25, wherein the profiled part is formed of plastic, as a drawn part, from metal, and/or as an aluminum continuous casting part.

40. The rail system according to claim 25, wherein the profiled part includes a coated surface region, a coating of the coated surface region being formed of chromium and/or a chromium-containing alloy, the coated surface region bordering and/or restricting the cavity.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a system according to according to an example embodiment of the present invention, the system having a profiled part 5 and mobile parts 6, which are movable along profiled part 5.

[0031] FIG. 2 is an associated longitudinal cross-sectional view.

[0032] FIG. 3 is an associated top view.

[0033] FIG. 4 illustrates a profiled part 41 that has a double cavity.

[0034] FIG. 5 is an associated longitudinal cross-sectional view.

[0035] FIG. 6 is an associated top view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0036] As schematically illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3, profiled part 5 has a cavity that is arranged to be open toward a first side.

[0037] Profiled part 5 is situated in parallel with a system arranged as a rail system.

[0038] Mobile parts 6, e.g., rail vehicles, which are movable on the rail are included in the system.

[0039] The rail is, for example, produced as a metal profiled part.

[0040] Profiled part 5 is, for example, made of plastic, and the cavity of profiled part 5 has mirrored side surfaces. The mirror coating is, for example, produced by a vapor metal deposition using chromium or a chromium-containing alloy, for example.

[0041] Mobile parts 6 at least partially project into the cavity of profiled part 5 so that each mobile part 6 has a transmitter 4 and a receiver 3 on the front side in the rail direction. Each mobile part 6 similarly has a transmitter 4 and a receiver 3 also on the rear side.

[0042] In the rail direction between transmitter 4 and receiver 3 on the front side and rear side, mobile part 6 has an absorber, which absorbs the radiation, e.g., light radiation, emitted by transmitters 4. The cavity upstream from absorber 7 in the rail direction and the cavity counter to the rail direction downstream from absorber 7 are thereby separated for the radiation to the effect that two separate data communication regions are able to be provided.

[0043] This provides for mobile part 6 to exchange data with a further mobile part 6 at a distance in the rail direction, and also with a third mobile part 6 situated at a distance counter to the rail direction.

[0044] Mobile parts 6 have, for example, an identical configuration.

[0045] In addition, at least one transmitter 2 and one receiver 1 are immovably positioned on profiled part 5. It is therefore also possible to transmit data between a mobile part 6 and the stationary transmitter 2 and receiver 1.

[0046] The cavity provided in profiled part 5 has a cross-sectional profile that is invariable in the rail direction because profiled part 5 can be produced as a continuous casting part.

[0047] Although the cavity is open to the environment, the inner diameter of the cavity narrows more and more with decreasing distance from the outlet of the cavity to the environment. Thus, the cavity has a slot as an outlet and/or opening.

[0048] An LED for the visible or infrared light range may, for example, be used as a transmitter 1, 3 and a correspondingly light-sensitive component such as a phototransistor or a photodiode may, for example, be used as a receiver 1, 3.

[0049] Respective absorber 7 is situated on respective mobile part 6 such that the distance from profiled part 5 ideally is kept to a minimum and especially vanishes.

[0050] To mount transmitter 4 and receiver 3, the particular region of mobile part 6 that projects into the cavity is provided with two leg regions, which are set apart from each other in the rail direction, e.g., in a U-shape.

[0051] Thus, a transmitter 4 and a receiver 3 are situated on each of two the leg regions.

[0052] Absorber 7 is situated on the mobile part between the two legs in the rail direction. Absorber 7 projects beyond the legs in all transverse directions in relation to the rail direction.

[0053] When transmitters 2 and 4 are all operated at the same frequency, i.e., color, it is therefore possible to use only a half-duplex method in the data transmission.

[0054] As illustrated in FIGS. 4 through 6, the profiled part is provided with two cavities that extend in parallel with each other. Each of these cavities is similar to the cavity of the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3.

[0055] Mobile part 40 projects into both cavities. For each cavity, mobile part has, for example, two leg regions so that a transmitter 4 and a receiver 3 are situated in each cavity in a respective leg region in the rail direction, and a transmitter 4 and a receiver 3 are situated also in a respective leg region counter to the rail direction.

[0056] An absorber 7 is situated in each cavity between the two leg regions in the rail direction, e.g., in accordance with the configuration described for the example embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3. Especially for light, the cavity is thus separated with the aid of absorber 7. Light that propagates in front of the mobile part in the rail direction is separated from the spatial region disposed behind the mobile part.

[0057] With the aid of the system illustrated in FIGS. 4 to 6, a duplex method is therefore obtainable as a data transmission between two mobile parts because a transmission is able to be carried out in a first one of the cavities, and the receiving for respective mobile part 40 can be obtained in the other. The same applies to the data transmission between the stationary transmitter 2 and receiver 1 and a mobile part 40, i.e., a transmitter 4 and a receiver 3.

[0058] In further exemplary embodiments, the respective profiled part 5, 41 is produced from a metal such as aluminum. The surface of the material bordering the respective cavity thus is reflective for the radiation, i.e., especially visible or infrared light. As an alternative, the respective profiled part 5, 41 may be produced from plastic, and thus especially as a profiled plastic part. The surface of the material bordering the respective cavity is, for example, coated with a layer that reflects the radiation, e.g., coated with a chromium layer or a chromium-containing layer.

[0059] In further exemplary embodiments, the rail and the profiled part 5, 41 are formed from the same material and thus are integrally configured, i.e., as one part. Thus, the cavity or cavities on the rail is/are provided in integrated form. When the rail system is produced, only the rail thus needs to be installed. The mobile parts 6, 40 are then placed on the rail and project via their leg regions into the cavities so that transmitters 4 and receivers 3 disposed in the leg regions emit radiation into the cavities.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0060] 1 receiver [0061] 2 transmitter [0062] 3 receiver [0063] 4 transmitter [0064] 5 profiled part [0065] 6 mobile part [0066] 7 absorber [0067] 40 mobile part [0068] 41 profiled part