AUTONOMOUSLY GUIDED INDUSTRIAL TRUCK HAVING A PAIR OF SCANNER UNITS

Abstract

An autonomously guided industrial truck comprising a vehicle body and a pair of support arms extending from the vehicle body. The vehicle body defines a longitudinal direction and a width direction of the industrial truck in sections in plan view of the industrial truck. Each of the support arms extending from the vehicle body has at least one load wheel. The industrial truck includes a pair of support wheels or drive wheels located underneath the vehicle body on a driving surface and opposite one another relative to the width direction. The industrial truck includes a pair of scanner units arranged vertically above the support wheels or drive wheels. The pair of scanning units defines a scanning plane with respective scanning regions each scanning unit of the pair of scanning units, and wherein the respective scanning units are symmetrically opposite one another within an outline of the vehicle body in the width direction of the industrial truck.

Claims

1. An autonomously guided industrial truck, comprising: a vehicle body that defines a longitudinal direction and a width direction of the industrial truck in sections in plan view of the industrial truck; a pair of support arms extending from the vehicle body, each support arm of the pair of support arms having at least one load wheel; a pair of wheels located underneath the vehicle body on a driving surface and opposite one another relative to the width direction; and a pair of scanner units arranged vertically above the wheels, wherein the pair of, which scanning units defines a scanning plane with respective scanning regions of each scanning unit of the pair of scanning units and, wherein the respective scanning units are symmetrically opposite one another within an outline of the vehicle body in the width direction of the industrial truck.

2. The autonomously guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the pair of scanner units is arranged behind the support wheels or the drive wheels with respect to the longitudinal direction of the industrial truck.

3. The autonomously guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the pair of scanner units does not extend beyond the wheels in the width direction of the industrial truck.

4. The autonomously guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein each scanner unit of the pair of scanner units has a scanning angle of approximately two hundred seventy degrees (270°).

5. The autonomously guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the vehicle body is formed in the vertical region of the scanning plane in such a way that the pair of scanner units jointly cover the entire surroundings of the industrial truck with the respective scanning regions.

6. The autonomously guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the pair of wheels comprises a pair of support wheels, and wherein the industrial truck further comprises a steered drive wheel arranged centrally with respect to the width direction and located on the driving base below the vehicle body.

7. The autonomously guided industrial truck of claim 6, wherein each support wheel of the pair of support wheels comprises a part of a respective support wheel assembly, each of the support wheel assemblies having a respective housing, wherein the respective housings, in sections, form part of the outline of the vehicle body.

8. The autonomously guided industrial truck of claim 7, wherein the support wheel assemblies are arranged in respective front corner regions on the underside of the vehicle body.

9. The autonomously guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the pair of support arms is arranged completely below the scanning plane (E).

10. The autonomously guided industrial truck of claim 1, further comprising a load unit arranged to be horizontally displaceable on the vehicle body with a pair of fork arms and a load stop connecting the fork arms, wherein the pair of fork arms is arranged completely below the scanning plane in a fully lowered state of the load unit.

11. The autonomously guided industrial truck of claim 10, wherein the load stop in its vertical region, which is at a height of the scanning plane when the load unit is in a fully lowered state, can have cutouts at its edges in the width direction.

12. The autonomously guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the pair of scanner units is arranged such that the scanning plane (Elies at a vertical height of approximately 100 mm above the driving surface.

13. The autonomously guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the outline of the vehicle body extends, relative to the width direction, less than 800 mm.

14. The autonomously guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the pair of wheels comprises a pair of drive wheels, and wherein the industrial truck further comprises a steered drive wheel arranged centrally with respect to the width direction and located on the driving base below the vehicle body.

15. The autonomously guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the pair of scanner units is arranged such that the scanning plane has a vertical width of +/−25 mm.

Description

[0026] Further features and advantages of the present invention will become even more apparent from the following description of an embodiment, when this is considered together with the accompanying figures. They show in detail:

[0027] FIG. 1 an isometric oblique front view of an autonomously guided industrial truck according to the invention; and

[0028] FIG. 2 a view of the vehicle from FIG. 1 in a view from below.

[0029] In FIG. 1, an autonomously guided industrial truck according to the invention is shown in the first instance in an isometric oblique view from the front and is generally designated by reference sign 10. The industrial truck 10 comprises a vehicle body 12, which comprises a base plate 14 and an upper section 16, which accommodates components necessary for operating the industrial truck, for example an energy store, a control unit and the like. In this case, a longitudinal direction L and a width direction B are defined by the vehicle body.

[0030] As can be seen in particular from the view from below in FIG. 2, the vehicle body 12 also defines, in sections, in plan view or naturally also the view from below from FIG. 2 of the industrial truck 10, an outline thereof, wherein, in the specific embodiment shown in the figures, the outline of the base plate 14 substantially corresponds to that of the upper part 16, which, however, could also be accomplished differently in other embodiments of the present invention by the base plate 14 or the upper part 16 protruding beyond the other one of these two components in each case.

[0031] Furthermore, the industrial truck 10, as can be seen even better in FIG. 2, comprises a pair of support arms 18a and 18b extending from the vehicle body 12, each having a load wheel 20a or 20b attached thereto. Since the industrial truck 10 is embodied as a five-wheeled vehicle, a steered drive wheel 22 can also be seen in the figures, which steered drive wheel is arranged centrally in relation to the width direction B and which projects through a substantially circular recess 24 in the base plate 14 in a manner that is rotatably mounted about a vertical axis in order to be able to achieve the steering capability thereof. Furthermore, two support wheels 26a and 26b can be seen in the figures as parts of support wheel assemblies 28a and 28b, which are integrated in front corner regions of the vehicle body 12 and do not extend beyond the base plate 14 in the vertical direction, so that the base plate 14 and the support wheel assemblies 28a and 28b form a common vertical plane on their upper sides or the base plate 14 alternatively projects even beyond the support wheel assemblies 28a and 28b. The support wheels 26a and 26b are fully spaced apart from one another in the width direction B of the industrial truck 10 within the scope of the prescribed external dimensions of the industrial truck 10, in order to enable increased stability or maximum cornering speeds of the industrial truck 10, even in the laden state.

[0032] In the longitudinal direction L behind the support wheel assemblies 28a and 28b, two scanner units 30a and 30b are also located opposite one another in the width direction B within the outline of the vehicle body 12 in plan view, which scanner units 30a and 30b can be used both for personal safety and for navigation of the industrial truck 10 and are arranged in relation to the vertical direction, such that their scanning plane E lies in the height region between the base plate 14 with the support wheel assemblies 28a and 28b recessed therein on the one hand and the upper part 16 of the vehicle body 12 on the other hand. Although, due to their construction, the scanner units 30a and 30b also each extend vertically into the region of the base plate 14 or of the upper part 16 of the vehicle body 12, their scanning plane corresponds, in terms of its vertical position along with its vertical extension, to exactly one intermediate region 32 between these two components of the vehicle body 12, in which only a frame element 34 running forwards in the longitudinal direction L is provided to externally cover the steered drive wheel 22 and to connect the base plate 14 and the upper part 16.

[0033] As a result of this structural measure of arranging the support wheel assemblies 28a, 28b completely below the scanning plane E spanned by the scanner units 30a and 30b, along with the provision of only the frame element 34 in this vertical section of the vehicle body 12, it is possible, as can be clearly seen in FIG. 1, to realize the achievement of a substantially complete and partially overlapping covering of the entire angle range of the scanning plane E in the longitudinal direction L in front of the vehicle body 12 by means of the scanning regions S1 and S2 of the scanner units 30a and 30b.

[0034] In a similar manner, measures are likewise taken in the rear region of the industrial truck 10 in the longitudinal direction L so that the two scanning regions S1 and S2 can achieve the largest possible area coverage of the scanning plane S, in particular can cover the entire region next to and behind the industrial truck 10, in some cases even with an overlap between the two scanner units 30a and 30b.

[0035] In particular, both the support arms 18a and 18b and also the fork arms to 36a and 36b of a load unit (not shown in more detail) that are shown in FIG. 1 arranged vertically above said support arms in a fully lowered state, are designed to be so flat with respect to the vertical direction in such a way that, in the state shown in FIG. 1, the scanning plane E is completely above these components and thus a scanning thereof is possible, which thus allows 360° coverage of the surroundings around the industrial truck 10 overall.