AUTOMATED GUIDED VEHICLE

• Main Authors: Geldersma, Matthew, O´Brien, Mark D, Khodl, Michael S, Kuruvila, Riju, Berghorn, David M, Alfaro, René D, Grasch, David M
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 23.02.2022
• Subjects: ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PLURAL DIVERSE PRIME-MOVERS INVEHICLES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF PROPULSION UNITS OR OFTRANSMISSIONS IN VEHICLES; ARRANGEMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH COOLING, AIR INTAKE, GASEXHAUST OR FUEL SUPPLY OF PROPULSION UNITS, IN VEHICLES; AUXILIARY DRIVES FOR VEHICLES; CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE ORDIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; CONTROLLING; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; HAULING; HOISTING; HOISTING, LIFTING, HAULING OR PUSHING, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR, e.g. DEVICES WHICH APPLY A LIFTING OR PUSHING FORCEDIRECTLY TO THE SURFACE OF A LOAD; INSTRUMENTATION OR DASHBOARDS FOR VEHICLES; LAND VEHICLES FOR TRAVELLING OTHERWISE THAN ON RAILS; LIFTING; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; MEASURING; MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; MOTOR VEHICLES; NAVIGATION; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY; PHYSICS; RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; REGULATING; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TOTHE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT; SURVEYING; SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES; TESTING; TRAILERS; TRANSPORTING; VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS; VEHICLES IN GENERAL

An automated guided vehicle (AGV) comprising:a base frame having an upper portion configured to support a material handling apparatus;a propulsion system adapted to propel the base frame;first and second directional sensors disposed at opposing ends of the base frame and at least one operable to emit a sensor field within at least one slot disposed between the upper portion and a lower portion of the base frame; and wherein the sensor fields of the first and second directional sensors each comprise coverage of at least 180 degrees in a substantially horizontal plane and are arranged to provide a combined sensor field substantially surrounding the AGV.