SAFETY BARRIER FOR AUTOMATED VEHICLE PARKING FACILITY

Abstract

A safety barrier assembly for a parking garage is positioned in proximity to an opening in a floor of the parking garage that accommodates vertical movement of a VRC between floors of the parking garage. The safety barrier assembly has left and right vertical guide columns. A handrail and a knee rail have opposite ends guided for vertical movement in the columns. A bottom rail is connected pivotally to the knee rail and hangs to a position below the knee rail when the knee rail is in the lower position. An actuator causes the bottom rail to pivot up as the knee rail is elevated.

Claims

1. A safety barrier assembly for a vehicle parking garage having a vertically reciprocating conveyor VRC and at least one opening in at least one floor of the parking garage for accommodating vertical movement of the vertically reciprocating conveyor, the safety barrier assembly being positioned in proximity to the opening and comprising: left and right vertical guide columns; a substantially horizontal handrail having opposite left and right ends movably engaged in the respective left and right vertical guide columns and movable between upper and lower handrail positions; a substantially horizontal knee rail having opposite left and right ends movably engaged in the respective left and right vertical guide columns and movable between upper and lower knee rail positions, the lower knee rail position being lower than the lower handrail position; a substantially horizontal bottom rail pivotally connected to the knee rail for movement between upper and lower bottom rail positions, the bottom rail being in the lower bottom rail position and spaced above the floor when the knee rail is in the lower knee rail position; and an actuator for pivoting the bottom rail into the upper bottom rail position as the knee rail approaches the upper knee rail position.

2. The safety barrier assembly of claim 1, further comprising at least one hand rail stop on at least one of the vertical guide columns for preventing movement of the handrail below the lower handrail position.

3. The safety barrier assembly of claim 2, further comprising at least one knee rail stop on at least one of the vertical guide columns for preventing movement of the knee rail below the lower knee rail position.

4. The safety barrier assembly of claim 1, further comprising at least one motor for selectively moving at least the knee rail between the lower and upper knee rail positions.

5. The safety barrier assembly of claim 4, wherein the at least one motor is mounted in proximity to an upper end of at least one of the vertical guide columns.

6. The safety barrier assembly of claim 1, further comprising at least one projection projecting from a position in proximity to at least one of the left and right ends of the knee rail, at least part of the projection being aligned vertically with the handrail at a position below the handrail so that the at least one projection causes the hand rail to elevate above the lower hand rail position as the knee rail is elevated above the lower hand rail position.

7. The safety barrier assembly of claim 1, further comprising left and right arms projecting from opposite left and right ends of the bottom rail and pivotally connecting the bottom rail to the knee rail, the actuator projecting from at least one of the arms and into a position aligned vertically with the handrail and at a position below the handrail, the actuator contacting the handrail as the knee rail is being elevated and causes the bottom rail to pivot up in response to further elevation of the knee rail.

8. The safety barrier assembly of claim 7, wherein the handrail, the knee rail and the bottom rail are at substantially equal distances from the floor when the knee rail is in the upper knee rail position.

9. The safety barrier assembly of claim 1, further comprising sensors and a control for keeping the safety barrier assembly at the lower position at all times except when a VRC is determined to be present in the opening.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a safety barrier assembly in accordance with the invention.

[0015] FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the safety barrier assembly of FIG. 2 cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

[0016] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2 and showing the safety barrier assembly in its lowest position.

[0017] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 3, but showing the knee rail elevated into a position where the knee rail is about to lift the handrail and where the bottom barrier is about to be pivoted up.

[0018] FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIGS. 3 and 4, but showing the handrail, the knee rail and the bottom rail elevated sufficiently to be at substantially the same height.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate two adjacent safety barrier assemblies 10 and 12 in proximity to two openings 14 and 16 in a floor 18 of a parking facility. The safety barrier assemblies 10 and 12 are of identical configurations but are illustrated at different height positions. In view of the identical nature of the safety barrier assemblies 10 and 12, only the safety barrier assembly 10 will be described herein.

[0020] The safety barrier assembly 10 includes first and second vertical guide columns 20 and 22 supported rigidly on the floor 18 and extending vertically toward a ceiling (not shown). The first vertical guide column 20 is formed with two vertical guides 24 and 26 extending from the floor 18 to the top end of the first vertical guide column 20. Identical guides are formed in the second vertical guide column 22, but are not visible in the figures. A motor 28 is mounted near the top end of the first vertical guide column 20 and is operative to drive chains for vertical movement along the first and second vertical guide columns 20 and 22.

[0021] The safety barrier assembly 10 further includes a handrail 30, a knee rail 32 and a bottom rail 34, all of which extend horizontally parallel to one another and substantially perpendicular to the vertical guide columns 20 and 22. The handrail 30 has a first longitudinal end mounted in the guide 26 of the first vertical guide column 20 and has an opposite second end mounted in the corresponding guide of second vertical guide column 22 to permit a guided vertical displacement of the handrail 30 relative to the vertical guide columns 20 and 22. Similarly, the knee rail 32 has a first longitudinal end mounted in the guide rail 24 of the first vertical guide column 20 and an opposite second end mounted into the corresponding guide of the second vertical guide column 22. Thus, the knee rail 32 also is guided for vertical movement along the first and second guide columns 20 and 22.

[0022] As shown in FIG. 3, the first vertical guide column 20 has a handrail stop 36 that limits the downward movement of the handrail 30 relative to the first vertical guide column 20. Similarly, the first vertical guide column 20 has a knee rail stop 38 for limiting downward movement of the knee rail 32. The handrail stop 36 is higher than the knee rail stop 38. In this embodiment, the handrail stop 36 stops the downward movement of the handrail 30 at a height of approximately 3′ 6″ above the floor 18. On the other hand, the knee rail stop 38 stops the downward movement of the knee rail” at a height of about 1′ 9″ above the floor 18.

[0023] The motor 28 drives at least one chain that is connected to the knee rail 32 to raise or lower the knee rail 32. In one embodiment, the motor 28 drives two chains for driving opposite ends of the knee rail 32. In this regard, one of the chains may be guided horizontally between the top end of the first vertical guide column 20 and the top end of the second vertical guide column 22. The chain that extends to the second vertical guide column 22 then will continue down to connect to the end of the knee rail 32 at the second vertical guide column 22. The handrail 30 is not driven directly by the motor 28. Rather, the ends of the knee rail 32 have rigid projections 40 that extend sufficiently far to engage the underside of the handrail 30 after sufficient upward movement of the knee rail 32. Thus, the projection 40 will apply the lifting forces generated by the motor 28 to the handrail 30 so that after a sufficient upward movement of the knee rail 32, the handrail 30 and the knee rail 32 will move simultaneously up at substantially identical heights, as shown in FIG. 5

[0024] The bottom rail 34 is connected pivotally to the knee rail 32 by arms 42 at opposite ends of the knee rail 32 and the bottom rail 34. The arms 42 permit the bottom rail 34 to pivot down into a position approximately halfway between the knee rail 32 and the floor 18 when the knee rail 32 is in its lowest position, as illustrated in FIG. 3. An actuator 44 extends from the knee rail 42 in a direction generally opposite the direction of the arm 42. The actuator 44 extends sufficiently far to contact the handrail 30 when the motor 28 is lifting the knee rail 32 up, as shown in FIG. 4. Further upward movement will cause the bottom barrier 34 to pivot about the knee rail 32 and into the position shown in FIG. 5 where the handrail 30, the knee rail 32 and the bottom rail 34 are at substantially the same heights and will continue at that common height alignment as the knee rail 32 is being pulled up along in the first and second vertical guide columns 20 and 22 toward the maximum elevation.

[0025] In accordance with the subject invention, the bottom rail 34 stops or warns a person belly-crawling along the floor 18 of the presence of the opening 14 or 16 in the floor to accommodate the VRC. Simultaneously, the knee rail 32 will be contacted by a person crawling on hands and knees to prevent inadvertent movement into the opening 14 or 16. Still further, the handrail 30 will be contacted by a person who is walking. The handrail 30, the knee rail 32 and the bottom rail 34 have a low profile and are at a substantially constant height at their uppermost position so that movement of the vehicle between the vertical guide columns 20 and 22 is not impeded.

[0026] The invention has been described with respect to certain preferred embodiments. However, other changes within the scope of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art after having read this description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings.