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EP-3747827-B1 - MATERIAL HANDLING VEHICLE

EP3747827B1EP 3747827 B1EP3747827 B1EP 3747827B1EP-3747827-B1

Inventors

  • RINGIUS, Gabriel
  • LARSSON, HENRIK

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20190604

Claims (12)

  1. Material handling vehicle (1), comprising: a load carrier (2), preferably a pair of forks, a drive motor (3), a hydraulic motor (4) powering an hydraulic pump (5), a hydraulic system (6) pressurized by said pump, an energy source (23) for powering the vehicle and its motors, a control unit (7), wherein said load carrier (2) is arranged by means of the hydraulic system to lift a load, the material handling vehicle (1) have a longitudinal direction (8) and a transversal direction (16), a first side (9) extending parallel with the longitudinal direction, a second side (10) extending in parallel with the longitudinal direction, a back side (11) transversal to the longitudinal direction, a front side (17) transversal to the longitudinal direction, characterized in that the material handling vehicle (1) comprises detecting devices (18, 19, 20, 21; 24, 25) on the first side (9) and the second side (10), wherein the detecting devices (18, 19, 20, 21; 24, 25) are arranged such that they are able to detect a wall-ribbon (12, 13) that extend in parallel with a warehouse rack (14, 15), and further the detecting devices (18, 19, 20, 21; 24, 25) are arrange to be able to detect a distance (32, 33) from at least one of the first side (9) or the second side (10) to the wall-ribbon (12, 13), wherein at least one of the detecting devices (18, 19, 20, 21) comprises a pin (30) that extend outside the first and/or second side (9,10) of the vehicle (1), wherein at least two pins are comprised and at least one is positioned on the first side (9) and at least one on the second side (10) respectively, and wherein said pin or pins (30) comprises a spring (26) and an rotating centre (31) that allows for the pin or pins (30) to move slightly around said centre (31) when in contact with a wall-ribbon (12, 13), the angle of the pin (30) to the first and/or second side (9, 10) of material handling vehicle (1) can be adjusted for adjusting the detected distance (32, 33) outside the first and/or second side (9, 10) of the material handling vehicle (1).
  2. Material handling vehicle (1) according to claim 1, wherein said detecting devices are arranged such that they are operable to send a signal to the control unit (7) and the control unit (7) is arranged to control steering of the vehicle (1), when following the wall-ribbon (12, 13), wherein said control of the steering is arranged such that the detected distance to the first or the second side (9, 10) can be kept essentially constant.
  3. Material handling vehicle (1) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the detecting devices (18, 19, 20, 21; 24, 25) are installed on the lower part of a chassis (27) of the vehicle, preferably said detecting devices comprises at least one contactless sensor device (24, 25) wherein the detecting devices (18, 19, 20, 21; 24, 25) have a field of detection in the shape of an triangle (28) that is extending away from the first side (9) and/or the second side (10) at an maximal angle of 100°, preferably 90° or even more preferred 45°, most preferred 30°, most preferred 20°, or wherein a field of detection is a pin-like field (29) achieved by means of a laser device.
  4. Material handling vehicle (1) according to any of the claims above, comprising four detecting devices (18, 19, 20, 21; 24, 25), two in the front and two in the back, two on the first side (9) and two on the second side (10) of the vehicle (1), wherein the front part and the back part of the vehicle are monitored for the distance to the wall-ribbon (12,13).
  5. Material handling vehicle (1) according to any of the claims above, wherein the respective pin (30) of the two pins (30) has a length that will allow for respective the at least two pins on the first and second side (9, 10) of the vehicle(1) at the same time to detect a wall-ribbon (12, 13) on respective side (9, 10) of the vehicle (1), or the pin (30) has a length that will make it possible for respective at least two pins on the first and second side (9, 10) of the vehicle (1) to engage the wall-ribbon (12) on the first side (9) at the same time as the pin disengages a wall-ribbon (12, 13) on the second side (10).
  6. Material handling vehicle (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said pin (30) is flexible, preferably the pin itself comprises at least one switch for detecting contact by the pin (30) with the wall-ribbon by actuation of said switch.
  7. Material handling vehicle (1) according to any of the preceding claims , wherein said pin (30) has an idle position that is angled backwards towards the backside (11) of material handling vehicle (1).
  8. Material handling vehicle (1) according to any of the claims above, wherein at least one further detecting device is provided on either of the first or the second side (9, 10) wherein this detecting device comprises a camera, preferably a 3D camera.
  9. Warehouse system (40), comprising a material handling vehicle (1) according to any of the claims 1-8 and a warehouse rack (14, 15), wherein the warehouse rack (14, 15) is modified with a wall-ribbon (12,13), said wall-ribbon having a length such that it can extend between two upright beams of the warehouse rack and that the wall-ribbon has a vertical height that is less than the distance between two consecutive horizontal beams in vertical direction in the warehouse rack, such that the wall-ribbon does not prevent a load to be positioned in the warehouse rack (14, 15), and that the wall-ribbon (12, 13) is mounted so that it that extends along the warehouse rack (14, 15) in a parallel manner, close to or in contact with the floor of a warehouse, preferably said wall-ribbon (12,13) is arranged such that it is mountable to the warehouse rack (14, 15) itself, even more preferred by providing the warehouse rack (14, 15) with a screw attachment arrangement and/or an adhesive attachment arrangement and/or a weld attachment arrangement, said wall-ribbon (12, 13) is preferred to have a weight per meter length of 0,01-10 kg/meter, preferably 0,01-5 kg/meter or even more preferred 0,01-2 kg/meter, even more preferred said wall-ribbon is not attached to the floor of the warehouse.
  10. Method for controlling a material handling vehicle (1), wherein a material handling vehicle (1) have a longitudinal direction (8) and a transversal direction (16), a first side (9) extending parallel with the longitudinal direction, a second side (10) extending in parallel with the longitudinal direction, a back side (11) transversal to the longitudinal direction, a front side (17) transversal to the longitudinal direction, wherein the material handling vehicle comprises detecting devices (18,19,20,21;24,25) on the first side (9) and the second side (10), wherein the detecting devices (18, 19, 20, 21; 24, 25) are arranged such that they are able to detect a wall-ribbon (12, 13) that extend in parallel with a warehouse rack (14, 15), and further the detecting devices (18, 19, 20, 21; 24, 25) are arranged to be able to detect a distance (32, 33) from at least one of the first side (9) or the second side (10) to the wall-ribbon (12, 13), wherein at least one of the detecting devices (18, 19, 20, 21) comprises a pin (30) that extend outside the first side (9) and a second pin that extend outside the second side (10) of the vehicle (1), and wherein said pin or pins (30) comprises a spring (26) and an rotating centre (31) that allows for the pin or pins (30) to move slightly around said centre (31) when in contact with a wall-ribbon (12, 13), preferably the angle of the pin (30) to the first and/or second side (9, 10) of the material handling vehicle (1) can be adjusted for adjusting the detected distance (32, 33) outside the first and/or second side (9, 10) of the material handling vehicle (1), wherein the method comprises the steps of: • (I) compare a detected distance (32) with a predetermined distance range, between a first longitudinal side (9, 10) of the material handling vehicle (1) and a wall-ribbon (12, 13) attached to a warehouse rack (14), • (II) determine if the detected distance is within the predetermined distance range, control the vehicle (1) to head straight forward in the longitudinal direction (8), • (III) determine if the detected distance (32, 33) is not within the predetermined distance range steer towards the wall-ribbon (12, 13) if the detected distance is larger than the predetermined distance range, steer away from the wall-ribbon (12-13) if the detected distance is smaller than the predetermined distance range steer away from the wall-ribbon (12, 13).
  11. Computer software that when executed on a control unit (7) of a material handling vehicle (1) according to any of the claims 1-8, controls the material handling vehicle (1) to perform the method according to claim 10.
  12. Computer program product comprising a storage medium on which the computer software according to claim 11 is stored.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention is related to a material handling vehicle according to claim 1 The invention is also related to a warehouse system comprising the material handling vehicle of claim 1 and a warehouse rack, claim 10 which claims a method for controlling the material handling vehicle, a computer software of claim 11, and a computer program product according to claim 12. BACKGROUND In material handling in narrow aisles of warehouses it is commonly known to control the steering of material handling vehicles. The reason being that the warehouse ground space needs to be effectively used and thus the aisles is arranged to be very narrow. As a consequence the warehouse racks in the warehouses have become positioned so close to each other that manual control of the material handling vehicles would be dangerous for the operators, and also for the goods and material handled. The control of steering while in the aisle is known by different aisle following techniques. On such common method is to mill down wires into the floor of the warehouse which the material handling vehicles can detect and follow in an automatic manner. Aisle following can also be performed in a mechanical way by using a rail on the sides of the aisle, that side rolls on the material handling vehicle can follow. These known technologies require quite extensive modification of the warehouse itself. It is a cumbersome operation to mill down wires in the floors. The rails needed for mechanical control of the vehicle sideways in the aisle are difficult to install due to strength required of the components. Also the rails require a lot of maintenance as the guided material handling vehicles tend to bruise the rails after a certain time. Also the rails of a warehouse for guiding a very narrow aisle warehouse truck is very solid and have high strength. In general they are made from steel that can be 5-20 mm thick so that the material handling vehicle can enter into the rail without damaging the rail. The rail is in general bolted to the concrete floor at a plurality of positions along the rail. Thus the installation of the rail is cumbersome and amounts to a time and cost consuming process. Document US 2011/0153139 A1 discloses an optoelectronic sensor to be used with a vehicle in a storage and logistic centre. The sensor allows for increased availability by applying intelligent protected field adaption to the movement and position of the vehicle, in such a way that the front of the vehicle is monitored dynamically into the path of the vehicle. The main reason being to prevent unnecessary shut downs due to path borders coming into the field of detection of the vehicle. The optoelectronic sensor requires very complex algorithms to function properly. Another document disclosing a material handling vehicle operating in narrow aisles is known from WO 2011/002478. This document discloses the features of the preamble of claim 1. J SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to present a material handling vehicle. The material handling comprising a load carrier, preferably a pair of forks, a drive motor, a hydraulic motor powering an hydraulic pump, a hydraulic system pressurized by said pump and an energy source for powering the vehicle and its motors. The material handling vehicle further comprises a control unit. The load carrier is arranged by means of the hydraulic system to lift a load. The material handling vehicle have a longitudinal direction and a transversal direction. The material handling vehicle has a first side extending parallel with the longitudinal direction. The material handling vehicle has a second side extending in parallel with the longitudinal direction. The material handling vehicle also has a back side transversal to the longitudinal direction and a front side transversal to the longitudinal direction. Wherein the material handling vehicle comprises detecting devices on the first side and the second side. The detecting devices are arranged such that they are able to detect a wall-ribbon. The wall-ribbon extend in parallel with a warehouse rack. The detecting devices are arrange to be able to detect a distance from at least one of the first side or the second side to the wall-ribbon. The advantage of the vehicle is that the modification of the material handling vehicle is cost effective and unexpectedly effective for achieving narrow aisle function ability. A material handling vehicle can be modified into having the capability to be used in narrow aisles in a warehouse. In general narrow aisles vehicles or very narrow aisle vehicles are very specialised. By the disclosure above it is made possible to achieve a material handling vehicle that is easier to modify into narrow aisle capability. It is possible to use a material handling vehicle which is guided in the aisle by means of rolls with vertical rotation axis that engage rails to the side, however this means that the