The invention relates to a conveying system provided with a rail system and with a trolley for accommodating goods, which, is movable along said rail system. Said rail system is in at least one discharge station for discharging goods from said trolley provided with means for placing at least one supporting surface supporting said goods in a sloping position, such that any goods present on said trolley can slide from the trolley through an outlet opening, transversely to the direction of movement of the trolley during operation. At least one closing means is provided, by which said outlet opening can be opened or closed, at least in the discharge station.

The present application discloses a method and apparatus for conveying parcels on a plurality of transport units (32) moving in a conveying path (30) between an induction station (26) and a discharge station (28). Each transport unit has a driven carrier belt (36) thereon, which is moveable orthogonally to the conveying path. The induction station includes a plurality of tandem driven induction belts (62), extending at an angle to the conveying path. The.discharge station has a plurality of receiving ports (46) positioned along the conveying path.

The invention provides a crossbelt sortation system (25) with a transport unit test station (96) that is positioned adjacent to the conveying path. The purpose of the test station is to test movement of the carrier belt associated with individual ones of the transport units passing the test station. Each of the transport units (32) includes a magnet (204a, 204b) that moves in proportion to the linear speed of the carrier belt (36) associated with that transport unit. The test station includes a sensor (200) that senses the magnet of a transport unit passing the test station (96). The sensor includes at least one Hall-effect cell (208a, 208b) and a magnetic antenna (210) coupled with the Hall-effect cell.

The invention relates to a conveying system provided with a rail system and with a trolley for accommodating goods, which, is movable along said rail system. Said rail system is in at least one discharge station for discharging goods from said trolley provided with means for placing at least one supporting surface supporting said goods in a sloping position, such that any goods present on said trolley can slide from the trolley through an outlet opening, transversely to the direction of movement of the trolley during operation. At least one closing means is provided, by which said outlet opening can be opened or closed, at least in the discharge station.

The invention relates to a conveying system provided with a rail system, with a trolley (4) or the like, which is movable along said rail system, and with a switch device (16), by means of which a trolley (4) can be diverted from one rail track (1) to another rail track (13) connected to said first rail track. The trolley (4) or the like is provided with two guide means, which are arranged some distance apart and which cooperate during operation with a fixed guide means (6) extending in the longitudinal direction of a rail track. The trolley (4) is furthermore provided with two further guide means, which are arranged some distance apart and which are furthermore arranged in staggered relationship with respect to each other, transversely to the intended direction of movement, for cooperation with guide means, which form part of said switch device (16), for diverting said trolley (4) from one rail track (1) to the other (13), which guide means are disposed near the connection between said two rail tracks.

A transporting system has: a pair of left and right guide rails (1A, 1B); a transporting electric car (2) supported by and running along the rails; a driving system (9) to drive the electric car; and a power supply system (10) for the driving system. The driving system is composed of a secondary conductor (16) horizontally secured to one of the guide rails (1B) and a linear motor body (17) installed in the electric car. The power supply system (10) is composed of: a pair of induction wire lines (21) serving as a non-contact power source secured to and along the other guide rail (1A); and induction coils (22) intervening therebetween, with the induction wire lines being disposed horizontally, side by side and in parallel with each other, and the induction coil being fixed to and carried by the electric car, so that the automobile electric car operates in a more reliable manner, more quietly, faster and more effectively to keep clean the environment around it.

Material handling car and track assembly, the assembly comprising a car (1) having wheels (4) mounted thereon, and a track (6) having two parallel rails (8), the wheels (4) being adapted to roll on the rails (8) to facilitate movement of the car (1) along the track (6), a metal slider (12) extending from an underside of the car (1) and lengthwise of the car (1), and opposed linear motors (16) mounted between the tracks (6) and spaced from each other to define a gap (15) between the motors (16), the slider (12) being adapted to pass through the gap (15), the motors (16) being operative to act on the slider (12) to impart thrust to the car (1), the motors (16) being oriented such as to substantially eliminate magnetic attraction between the motors (16) and the car (1). The invention further contemplates opposed magnets (22) mounted between the tracks (6) and spaced from each other to define a gap (29) between the magnets (22), the slider (12) being adapted to pass through the gap (29) between the magnets (22), the magnets (22) being operative to act on the slider (12) to impart braking to the car (1), whereby to decelerate the car (1).

A magnetic levitation carrier apparatus of the type wherein a plate-like moving element (SFT) is moved by a linear motor disposed inside a fixing element (STT), wherein when the moving element is supported in a vertical direction by first to fourth electromagnet devices (MGV₁₀ ∿ MGV₄₁) and force is allowed to act on the moving element in a horizontal direction perpendicular to the moving direction by fifth and sixth electromagnet devices (MGH₁₀ ∿ MGH₂₁), the gap between the moving element and each electromagnet device is detected by a gap sensor so as to output gap data. As to the vertical direction, for example, an attraction command (fv₁ ∿ fv₂) is obtained from the output value of a feedback quantity calculation circuit (10) to which the gap data (Xv₁ ∿ Xv₄) are inputted and the output value of a variable gain gv (1) generation circuit (60) to which the position (1) of the centroid of the moving element is inputted and is linearized by a linearilization circuit (71 ∿ 74) and then outputted to each electromagnet. In this manner, the variable gain can be accomplished easily by an analog circuit and the control gain in each control direction can be given independently.

The linear motor supporting apparatuses (4) are mounted to the front and rear portion of each bogie (1) of a vehicle (5) to maintain the small distance between an on-board coil (7) and a ground stator (8), the on-board coil (7) and the ground stator (8) together constituting the linear-induction motor (6). The linear motor supporting apparatus incorporates a servo device (4) which regulates the vertical position of the on-board coil (7) according to the contour of the ground stator (8) to keep the on-board-coil-to-ground-stator distance (21) to a small predetermined value. The servo device (9) consists of a valve body (17), a valve box (18), and a servo device body (19). The valve body (17) is secured to a sensor member (16), which runs on and is kept in contact with the ground stator (8). The valve box (18) is secured to the on-board coil (7). The servo device body (9) is mounted through a spring to the bogie (1). The ground stator (8) has some laying errors and there are variations in its height. When the sensor member (16) during operation is lifted up due to height variations in the ground stator (8), the valve body (17) moves up causing, through hydraulic pressure, the valve box (18) to follow its upward motion. This in turn causes the on-­board coil (7), which is integral with the valve box (18), to move up thus keeping the distance between the on-board coil (7) and the ground stator (8) constant.

A transporting system of floated carrier type including a guide rail (12a, 12b) having a bottom surface portion formed of a ferromagnetic material, a carrier (15) arranged to be freely movable along the guide rail (12a, 12b), at least one magnetic supporting unit (31) placed on board of the carrier (15) and including electromagnets (51, 52) arranged so as to face the bottom surface portion of the guide rail (12a, 12b) via gap and a permanent magnet (53) that is placed in the magnetic circuit formed by the electromagnets (51, 52), the guide rail (12a 12b), and the gap, for supplying magnetomotive force required for floating the carrier (15). A sensor section (61) is attached to the carrier (15) for detecting changes in the magnetic circuit. The length of the gap is controlled by a zero power feedback loop that stabilizes the magnetic circuit in a state in which the current flowing in the electromagnets (51. 52) is zero, by controlling the exciting current in the electromagnets (51, 52) based on the output of the sensor section (61). However, the zero power feedback loop is actuated only when the gap length between the electromagnets (51,52)and the guide rail (12a, 12b) is within predetermined range. With this construction, it becomes possible to realize reduced power consumption as well as reduction in size of the system.

A truck apparatus which includes: a truck (6) having a plurality of support wheels (7) and guide wheels (8), both wheels being rotatably attached to the truck (6); a supporting mechanism, disposed along a line of travel of the truck (6), for supporting the truck (6) to vertically and horizontally guide the truck along the line (L) of travel by engaging with the supporting wheels (7) and the guide wheels (8); and a drive unit (25) for driving the truck (6) along the line (L) of travel. The support mechanism includes a support rail member (27) for supporting and vertically guiding the support wheels (7) and a horizontal guide rail member (28) for horizontally guiding the guide wheels (8) by contacting the guide wheels (8). The drive unit (25) includes first mounting mechanism for mounting the drive unit (25) to one of both the support rail (27) member and the horizontal guide rail member (28) so that the drive unit (25) is slidable along the line (L) of travel.