AUTONOMOUSLY-GUIDED INDUSTRIAL TRUCK HAVING THREE STRUCTURAL LEVELS

Abstract

An autonomously-guided industrial truck comprising a vehicle frame defining, in a plan view, a vehicle contour in sections. The vehicle frame comprises three structural levels, arranged one above the other in a vertical direction, each with its own contour. The three structural levels include a lower structural level in which a base structure is attached, an upper structural level with a covering, and a middle structural level comprising a frame structure for connecting the lower structural level and the upper structural level. The industrial truck includes at least one drive wheel assigned to the vehicle frame to stand below the vehicle frame on a driving surface and at least one scanner unit arranged completely within the vehicle contour such that a scanning plane of the at least one scanner unit lies at least in sections vertically in a region of the middle structural level.

Claims

1. An autonomously-guided industrial truck, comprising: a vehicle frame defining, in a plan view of the industrial truck, a vehicle contour in sections, the vehicle frame comprising three structural levels, arranged one above the other in a vertical direction, the three structural levels comprising: a lower structural level in which a base structure is arranged, the lower structural level having a first contour; an upper structural level with a covering, the upper structural level having a second contour; and a middle structural level comprising a frame structure for connecting the lower structural level and the upper structural level; at least one drive wheel assigned to the vehicle frame to stand below the vehicle frame on a driving surface; and at least one scanner unit arranged completely within the vehicle contour such that a scanning plane of the at least one scanner unit lies at least in in some of the sections vertically in a region of the middle structural level.

2. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the first contour of the lower structural level and the second contour of the upper structural level are, at least in some of the sections, substantially the same.

3. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 1, further comprising a pair of support rollers or drive rollers opposite each other in a width direction, wherein the pair of support rollers or driver rollers are assigned to the vehicle frame and are fully accommodated within the lower structural level in relation to the vertical direction.

4. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 3, wherein the pair of support rollers or drive rollers are designed as support rollers, wherein a single, controlled drive wheel is assigned centrally to the vehicle frame in relation to a width direction of the autonomously-guided industrial truck to stand below the autonomously-guided industrial truck on a driving surface, and wherein the base structure comprises an opening for receiving the single, controlled drive wheel.

5. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 4, wherein the pair of support rollers are part of support roller arrangements with a housing, wherein the housing defines, in at least some of the sections, the first contour of the lower structural level.

6. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the base structure comprises or is formed by a base plate.

7. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 1, further comprising two wheel arms, each of the two wheel arms being associated with at least one load wheel and each of the two wheel arms being firmly connected, in the region of the lower structural level, to the vehicle frame to extend backwards from the vehicle frame along a longitudinal direction of the industrial truck.

8. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the at least one scanner unit has one or more of a scanning angle of approximately two hundred seventy degrees (270°) or a scanning field width, in the vertical direction, of approximately fifty millimeters (50 mm).

9. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the at least one scanner unit is arranged such that the scanning plane is completely covered in a range of three hundred sixty degrees (360°) by the at least one scanner unit.

10. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 3, wherein the at least one scanner unit is arranged behind the pair of support rollers or drive rollers in a longitudinal direction of the industrial truck.

11. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 1, further comprising a load unit guided in a vertically-displaceable manner on the vehicle frame, for bearing a load.

12. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 11, wherein the load unit has two fork prongs and a load stop connecting the fork prongs, wherein the load stop comprises two recesses opposite one another in a width direction, and wherein the two recesses are aligned, in a maximally-lowered state of the load unit, with the middle structural level.

13. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the frame structure of the middle structural level one or more of: lies completely within and at a distance from the vehicle contour with respect to a width direction; surrounds an opening of the base plate; has a tapered shape in a front section with respect to a longitudinal direction; or delimits, at least in some of the sections, a scanning region of at least one of the at least one scanner unit.

14. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the frame structure of the middle structural level comprises at least two connecting struts extending substantially in a longitudinal direction, wherein the at least two connecting struts extend between a front section and a rear section of the vehicle frame and, in at least some of the sections, in both the middle structural level and the upper structural level, but, in a longitudinal region of a tapered shape of the frame structure, only in the upper structural level.

15. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 14, wherein two of the connecting struts delimit the frame structure of the middle structural layer in some of the sections to an outside in a width direction.

16. Autonomously-guided The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 1, further comprising an extension of approximately eight hundred millimeters (800 mm) or less in the width direction.

17. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein in the vertical direction: the lower structural level extends up to a height of approximately seventy five millimeters (75 mm) above the driving surface; the middle structural level extends from a height of approximately seventy five millimeters (75 mm) up to a height of approximately one hundred twenty five millimeters (125 mm); and the upper structural level extends from a height of approximately one hundred twenty five millimeters (125 mm).

18. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 1, wherein the at least one scanner unit comprises a pair of scanner units opposite one another in a width direction.

19. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 6, wherein the base plate comprises an opening for receiving the single, controlled drive wheel.

20. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 11, further comprising lifting profiles for guiding the load unit, the lifting profiles extending in the vertical direction only in a region of the upper structural level.

21. The autonomously-guided industrial truck of claim 11, wherein the load unit has a monofork with a load stop, wherein the load stop comprises two recesses opposite one another in a width direction, and wherein the two recesses are aligned, in a maximally-lowered state of the load unit, with the middle structural level.

Description

[0029] Further features and advantages of the present invention will become even more apparent from the following description of an embodiment, when viewed together with the accompanying figures. In detail, the following are shown in a schematic representation in each case:

[0030] FIGS. 1A and 1B an autonomously-guided industrial truck according to the invention viewed from above and below;

[0031] FIG. 2 the industrial truck according to the invention in a front view;

[0032] FIG. 3 the industrial truck according to the invention viewed from the side; and

[0033] FIGS. 4A and 4B isometric views of the industrial truck according to the invention obliquely from the front and obliquely from the rear.

[0034] FIGS. 1A through 4B show an embodiment of an autonomously-guided industrial truck according to the invention schematically in different views, with some of the components of the industrial truck being omitted in some of the figures for reasons of clarity.

[0035] The industrial truck shown in the figures is generally denoted by reference number 10 and comprises a vehicle frame 12 and a load unit 14, guided in a vertically-displaceable manner on the vehicle frame 12, with two fork prongs 14a and 14b, as well as a load stop 14c connecting the fork prongs 14a, 14b to accommodate a load, which is guided by means of lifting profiles 16, which will be discussed in more detail further below.

[0036] FIGS. 1A and 1B also show that the industrial truck 10 comprises two wheel arms 18a and 18b, which have only schematically illustrated load wheels 20a, 20b in the region of their ends facing away from the vehicle body 12. Furthermore, a longitudinal axis and a width axis L or B are drawn in FIGS. 1A and 1B, which, in the usual manner, depict the corresponding directions in the industrial truck 10 and span a horizontal plane.

[0037] In particular, the view from below in FIG. 1B further shows that the vehicle body 12 on its underside has a base plate 22, the contour of which corresponds at least in sections to the contour of the vehicle frame 12 and which has a central opening 24 for receiving a drive wheel 26 that can be seen, for example, in FIG. 3. Furthermore, FIG. 1B shows that the base plate 22 further has, in its front lateral corner regions, two recesses 28a and 28b, in which the support roller arrangements 30a and 30b, which are clearly visible for example in FIG. 4A, can be mounted, which accordingly also form part of the contour of the base plate arrangement and are spaced apart at a maximum from one another with respect to the width direction B in order to ensure a secure standing of the industrial truck 10 even during fast cornering and high cargo load.

[0038] In addition, FIGS. 1A and 1B show further recesses 32a and 32b in the base plate 22, which are provided for receiving lower sections of scanner units 34a and 34b, which are clearly visible, for example, in FIGS. 2 and 3, which extend upwards from the further recesses 32a and 32b and beyond the base plate 22.

[0039] In contrast, the plan view of FIG. 1A shows a covering 36 and a frame structure 38, which both extend above the base plate 22 and shall be described in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

[0040] These figures show a front view or a side view of the vehicle 10, and it can be clearly seen that the vehicle frame or vehicle body 12 has three structural levels arranged vertically one above the other, viz., a lower structural level E1, which comprises, among other things, the base plate 22 and the support roller arrangements 30a and 30b and, in this vertical range, corresponds to the contour of the vehicle frame in the plan view of FIG. 1A; a middle structural level E2, in which the frame structure 38 and, in sections, the scanner units 34a and 34b are arranged, wherein the frame structure 38 in the width direction B lies completely within and at a distance from the contour of the vehicle frame in the plan view of FIG. 1B, and an upper structural level E3, in which the covering 36 is arranged and which accommodates further components (not shown) of the industrial truck 10, e.g., a battery arrangement, a control unit, a communications unit, electrical and/or hydraulic drive units, and similar functional elements, which are responsible for the operation of the industrial truck 10.

[0041] Furthermore, it can be seen that the controlled drive wheel 26 extends over all three structural levels E1 through E3 in the vertical direction and is surrounded in sections by the frame structure 38 in the width direction. The frame structure 38 further converges into a front—in relation to the longitudinal direction L—section with two side walls 40a and 40b standing at an angle to one another.

[0042] FIG. 3 also shows how the scanning plane S, which is spanned by the scanner units 34a and 34b and is substantially vertically aligned, lies with respect to its height position, viz., centered on the middle structural level E2, wherein the vertical extension of the middle structural level E2 is supposed to just correspond to the corresponding width of the scanning plane S.

[0043] In particular, in the isometric oblique front view in FIG. 4A shown in a partially cut-through manner, it can also be seen that, in addition to the two tapering walls 40a and 40b, the frame structure 38 also comprises two connecting struts 42a and 42b extending substantially in the longitudinal direction L, which, on the one hand, constitute a lateral boundary, i.e., lateral walls, of the frame structure 38 and, for this purpose, extend in sections both in the middle structural level E2 and the upper structural level E3, while, however, in the longitudinal region of the tapering walls 40a and 40b, being present only in the upper structural level E3.

[0044] This can ensure, on the one hand, the structural strength of both the connection between the lower structural level E1 and the upper structural level E3 and the distribution of forces from the base plate 22 into the covering 36 or further components arranged in the upper structural level E3, e.g., a sheet metal construction (not shown in the figure), which can carry further elements in the region of the upper structural level E3.

[0045] In addition, the fact that the connecting struts 42a and 42b are provided only above the middle structural level E2 in the region of the tapering walls 40a and 40b ensures that they do not present an obstacle to the spreading out of the scanning plane S by the two scanner units 34a and 34b.

[0046] The angle overlap of the individual scanning regions S1 and S2 indicated in the figures can be achieved by the two scanner units 34a and 34b due to the fact that these scanner units 34a and 34b are each provided with a design-related scanning angle of 270°. It is obvious that, by providing the frame structure 38 provided centrally in the width direction B and, in addition, the two tapering walls 40a and 40b in the surrounding region lying in front of the vehicle 10 with respect to the longitudinal direction L, there is only a very small triangular dead zone T, whereas, in the rear area of the industrial truck 10, due to the flat design of the wheel arms 38a and 38b and the forks 14a and 14b of the load unit 14, which, in their maximally-lowered state, are also located completely in the region of the lower structural level E1, an overlapping of these forks 14a and 14b is possible in such a way that the scanning plane S runs above it, and the load forks 14a and 14b are thus overscanned.

[0047] A further measure which contributes to complete angle coverage of the scanning plane E is the provision of recesses 14d in the load stop 14c of the load unit 14, which are opposite one another in the width direction B, and the arrangement of the lifting profiles 16 only in the region of the upper structural level E3. In this way, in the region of the middle structural level E2, a respective window is created by the recesses 14d, which window allows for a further enlargement of the angle coverage of the respective scanning regions S1 and S2, as can be seen, for example, in FIGS. 4A and 4B, so that they intersect already in the region of the fork prongs 14a and 14b, hence, there is an overlap of the scanning regions S1 and S2 behind the industrial truck 10, which, overall, allows and effects a complete 360° coverage of the scanning plane S.