Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
  • B66B—ELEVATORS; ESCALATORS OR MOVING WALKWAYS
  • B66B21/00—Kinds or types of escalators or moving walkways
  • B66B21/10—Moving walkways
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B66—HOISTING; LIFTING; HAULING
  • B66B—ELEVATORS; ESCALATORS OR MOVING WALKWAYS
  • B66B29/00—Safety devices of escalators or moving walkways
  • B66B29/08—Means to facilitate passenger entry or exit

Definitions

• the invention relates to an urban transport system using fast conveyor belts.
• Prior art systems present access probl ems when the bel t is in motion as well as problems concerning the succeeding alighting, and also the problem of passing from one belt to another.
• Aim of the present invention is to eliminate the above-described drawbacks by providing a transport system which exploits, with the aim of facilitating said access to and alighting from a conveyor belt- type transport system, the different linear
• - Figure 1 shows a schematic plan of a particular of the transport system
• - Figure 2 shows a plan of a particular of the system of transport according to a different embodiment
• FIG. 3 shows a schematic plan of the transport system according to a further embodiment.
• Fig. 1 shows a conveyor belt (with jointed elements) 1 which winds around a platform or disc 2 revolving about its own axis and which is accessible on its upper surface.
• the platform or disc 2 is doughnut-shaped, that is it has a circular central aperture which is occupied by a stationary structure 3.
• the belt 1 and the platform or disc 2 are in mutual contact, or near-contact, and the belt 1 may drive the platform or disc 2, or vice-versa, or the two elements may even be motorised independently of one another, as long as their linear velocities are more or less the same along the external lip of the platform or disc 2 and the belt 1.
• the passenger At the point of the disc where he finds himself after alighting from the belt 1, the passenger will be travelling at a linear velocity which is more or less identical to that of the belt 1, but as he moves towards the centre the velocity at which he is moving is reduced in relation to his distance from the rotation of the platform or disc's 2 axis.
• the velocity of the internal lip of the platform or disc 2 can be so low as to permit the system's users to pass without difficulty from the platform or disc 2 to the internal stationary structure 3.
• the platform or disc 2 is flat, and preferably it will be of a form tending to a paraboloid of revolution, in order to
• barriers (not illustrated) is also envisaged, which can be used by the users to counter the low acceleration of Coriolis generated by the users' movement on the platform or disc 2.
• Staircases or lifts can be installed in the
• stationary structure 3 to carry the passengers to a different level from that of the belt 1 and thus outside the transport system.
• FIG.2a indicates a further platform or disc 2 which enables the belt 1 to return to the original direction of movement which it had before reaching the first platform or disc 2.
• the winding angle of the belt 1 around the platform or disc 2 can be varied according to the
• An auxiliary belt 6 winds around platforms or discs 7 and moves at the same velocity as the belt 1 in the areas where it flanks said belt 1.
• the platforms or discs 7 do not revolve around a stationary central area, as does the platform or disc 2 of Fig.1 and one platform 8 of Fig.3.
• the platforms or discs 7 have instead a central area whi ch i s sol id to them, al so havi ng a pl atf orm 9 with diameter inferior to platform or disc 7 which platform 9 is solid to said central area and is situated at a different level to that of the first platform and linked to it by stairs and/or lifts.
• Another belt 10 winds around platform 9 and also around platform 8.
• a user When a user wishes to alight from one of the belts 1, he can step on to the auxiliary belt 6 in the area where the two belts 1 and 6 are parallel. Once on the auxiliary belt 6, the user can transfer on to one of the platforms or discs 7, in the same way as has been explained for Fig.1, and thus can reach platform 9 by moving on the structure which rigidly links the two platforms.
• the linear velocity with which the user is moving at the moment of transferring to the belt 10 will be lower than his original velocity thanks to the ratio between the diameters.
• the belt 10 will bring the user to the platform 8 whose velocity is identical or nearly identical to that of the belt 10. The user can then transfer to said plaform 8 and descend to a stationary area 11, in the same way as was explained for Fig.1.
• the reduction of the velocity from the original velocity to that at alighting on to the stationary area 11 will be in proportion to the original winding diameters of the belts around the platforms and the diameter of the stationary area 11. Said reduction in velocity also depends on the accurate synchronisation of the movements of the belts and platforms.
• stationary area 11 could be substituted by a further platform having the same diameter as it and being solid to the platform 8; around this new platform a further belt could wind; and this belt could draw another platform of greater diameter, causing a greater reduction of velocity.
• the platform could be constituted by a series of areas having circular crown form and revolving with decreasing angular velocities from the periphery to the centre.
• the transport system of the present invention is thus a fast conveyor belt, equipped with revolving platform systems for the access and alighting of passengers and for the realisation of connections between different transport lines.
• Said system has the advantage that, by exploiting the different linear velocities which on a revolving rigid body exist at different points from the rotation axis, it permits easy access to said belt when in movement as well as easy alighting from same and simple transfer from one conveyor belt to another.

Landscapes

• Escalators And Moving Walkways (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=11254101

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Families Citing this family (1)

Family Cites Families (6)

• 1990
  • 1990-03-09 IT IT04250790A patent/IT1244254B/it active IP Right Grant
• 1991
  • 1991-03-06 WO PCT/IT1991/000018 patent/WO1991014643A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 1991-03-06 EP EP91905470A patent/EP0518932A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 1991-03-08 CN CN91101970.7A patent/CN1056289A/zh active Pending

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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