The present disclosure relates to seat systems for use with a moving walkway.
Some moving walkways can be designed to cover long distances. There are certain members of our society that walking long distances or standing for long durations are difficult for them. To date, moving walkways have only been designed for a person to walk or stand on them. No ability for a person to sit as they ride the moving walkway has been developed.
Accordingly, there is a need for a moving walkway that provides a seat system so that people riding a moving walkway can have the option to do so in a seated position.
The present disclosure is directed to a seat system for a moving walkway. The seat system includes multiple seat apparatuses for a moving walkway wherein each seat apparatus includes a seat. The seat system also includes a propulsion system for propelling the seat apparatuses on a passenger side and a return side of a loop track the seat apparatuses travel around. The seat system further includes a frame for supporting the seat system and enclosing the return side for the seats.
The present disclosure relates to seat systems 10 that can be used with a moving walkway 12 or a modular moving walkway 12a. The present disclosure is also directed to a method of installing, operating and monitoring the seat system 10 as described herein. The moving walkway 12 can be an accelerating walkway that includes a moving base treadway 14 that can be a belt-type, pallet-type or other accelerating treadway mechanism. The seat systems 10 can be designed to be synchronized with the speed of the moving base treadway 14, or to have substantially the same speed as the moving base treadway 14 of the moving walkway 12 or have substantially the same speed as each moving base treadway 14 of each module of a modular moving walkway 12a. The moving walkways seat systems 10 can be used with continuous, unibody moving walkways 12 or discrete, modular moving walkways 12a connected together to be practically continuous. The seat system 10 includes a seat apparatus 16, a propulsion system 18 for driving the seats 20 of the seat apparatuses 16 and a frame 22 for supporting the propulsion system 18 and the seat apparatuses 16.
In one embodiment shown in
The propulsion system 18 includes linear motors 40 that define at least a part of a path the seats 20 will travel and a permanent magnet 42 associated with the seat 20 of each seat apparatus 16. The number of linear motors 40 depends upon the setup of the moving walkway 12, or how many modules there are for a modular moving walkway 12a. Each module of a modular moving walkway 12a could have multiple linear motors 40 and the modules can be positioned such that the modular moving walkway 12a is practically continuous and movement of the seats 20 is smooth and continuous. The linear motor 40 and each permanent magnet 42 cooperate to propel each seat 20 around the path defined by the layout of the linear motors 40. Each linear motor 40 includes charged coils disposed therein. The linear motor 40 could also include embedded sensors (e.g., hall effect sensors). The linear motors 40 can be operated by motor drives 44, such as an inverter, which receives commands from a control system 46. The control system 46 includes any necessary computing hardware to accomplish the desired function of the seat systems 10. For example, the computer system 46 can include a controller (PLC), memory, graphical user interface (GUI), a communication interface, and any other hardware or software known to those of ordinary skill in the art. The control system 46 can be configured to set motion profiles for each seat 20 by communicating with the linear motor 40, or linear motors 40, included in the propulsion system. The control system 46 can coordinate electrical or electromagnetic impulses to each linear motor 40 along the path. The control system 46, via the impulses sent to the linear motor(s) 40, can modulate the speed of each seat 20 for acceleration, constant speed, deceleration, safety stops, and/or other movement patterns.
The seat system 10/10a, whether oriented as a vertical loop or horizontal loop, can also include transition zones 48. The transition zones 48 of the horizontal loop seat system 10 occur where the seats 20 transition from traveling a first direction to traveling a second direction and where the seats 20 transition from traveling the second direction back to the first direction. This transition area 48 could be covered or uncovered (i.e., included inside a housing. As stated above, the seats 20 in the vertical loop system 10a are disposed at least partially in the side housing after the seats 20 move from passenger side 24 of the vertical loop system 10a to the return side 26 of the vertical loop system 10a and from the return side 26 to the passenger side 24 of the vertical loop.
In the vertical loop seat system 10a, the side housing 25 can include a slot 49 wherein a part of the seat apparatuses 16 can pass therethrough so the only part of the seat apparatus 16 that are outside of the housing are the seats 20. The slot can be disposed anywhere in the side housing such that the passengers would have access to the seats 20 when they are traveling on the moving walkway 14. When a part of the seat apparatus 16 is passing through the slot in the side housing, the seat apparatus 16 is traveling on the passenger side 24 of the vertical loop. After the seat apparatus 16 transitions to the return side 26 of the loop, or during the transition, the seat apparatus 16 will be inside of the side housing and not visible to the passengers on the moving walkway 14.
As shown in
Similarly, the transition areas 48 for the horizontal loop seat system 10 can include a horizontally disposed rotary wheel 66 that includes notches 68 therein to engage the protruded portion 58 of the base member 58 of the seat apparatus 16. In this embodiment, the horizontally oriented rotary wheel 66 can operate in substantially the same way as the vertically disposed rotary wheel 52 to deliver the seat apparatus 16 from the first direction of travel for the first moving walkway 12b to the second direction of travel for the second moving walkway 12c. A second rotatory wheel 66/transition area 48 can cause the seat apparatus 16 to go from the second direction of travel on the second moving walkway 12c back to the first direction of travel of the first moving walkway 12b. The rotary wheels 52/66 described herein, whether it be for the vertical or horizontal loop system 10a/10, can have as many notches 54/68 as desirable to accomplish the desired transition function. The notches 68 can be shaped to accommodate clockwise or counterclockwise rotation. This would permit the seat systems 10/10a to operate bidirectionally. The notches 54/68 could be shaped such that each notch 54/68 can accommodate bidirectional movement of the seat system. The wheel 52/66 could be completely toothed (geared) for engagement with the seat apparatuses 16.
The frame 22 of the seat system 10 can be supported inside the side housing 25 in any manner known in the art and can be supported by any part of the side housing. The frame 22 is designed for the linear motors 40 of the seat system 10 to be mounted in a position such that the permanent magnet 42 of the seat apparatus 16 is positioned adjacent to the base member 58 of the seat apparatus 16 to provide the propulsion of the seat apparatus 16. The frame 22 also provides the linear return track 62 and the linear passenger track 60 that guides the seat apparatuses 16. Each of the linear return track 62 and the linear passenger track 60 can be defined by multiple shoulders 70 that can engage with wheels 72 supported by the seat apparatus 16. The wheels 72 engage the shoulders 70 and prevent the seat apparatus 16 from moving upward, downwards or towards the linear motors 40.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the seats 20 can be propelled along the return side 26 of the vertical loop seat system 10a via belt conveyors. The belt conveyors in this embodiment can be a flat or grooved belt that frictionally engages a part or parts of the seat apparatuses 16 to move the seat apparatuses 16 along the return side 26. The belt conveyors can also be metal belts that magnetically propel the magnet arrays 42 comprised in the seat apparatus 16. The belt conveyor for this embodiment can be similar to the belt conveyor described in ′419 application. Therefore, the seat apparatus 16 could be propelled by the belt conveyor in the same manner the handgrasp apparatuses are in the ′419 application. The belt conveyor can be propelled by a motor used to turn a gear the belt conveyor is engaged with.
The seat apparatus 16 can include the base member 58 for supporting the seat 20 and the permanent magnet 42 that is magnetically propelled by the linear motor(s) 40. The base member 58 could also support the protruded portion 56 of the seat apparatus 16 described above. The seats 20 of each seat apparatus 16 can be oriented in any position desirable. For example, the seats 20 could be mounted to the base member 58 such that each seat 20 faces the direction the moving walkway 14 travels or each seat 20 could face inward (or toward the center of the moving walkway 14 and perpendicular to the direction of travel of the moving walkway 14). In a further embodiment when the seat system 10a is oriented in the vertical orientation, the seat 20 can be collapsible so that the seat 20 can more easily travel on the return side 26 in the side housing 25.
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure shown in
Similar to that described for the handrail system in the ′419 application, the propulsion of the seats 20 can be accomplished with a permanent magnet attached to the seat apparatus 16 and positioned adjacent to a linear motor 40. In another embodiment, the magnetic propulsion could be accomplished using aluminum extrusion or other magnetically propelled material. In yet another embodiment, the magnetic propulsion of the seats 20 can be accomplished by using a linear motor attached to the seat apparatuses 16 and using a permanent magnet, aluminum extrusion or other magnetically propelled material that is stationary and supported by the frame 22 of the seat system 16. The propulsion system for this embodiment can be similar to the propulsion system described in ′419 application in that the handgrasp apparatus in the ′419 application can be replaced with the seat apparatus 16 disclosed herein.
When the seat systems 10/10a are used with a modular moving walkway 12a, several modules at the beginning and end of the modular moving walkway 12a can be operated at a constant speed to facilitate a passenger being able to safely transition from a seated position to a standing position. Similarly, this constant speed of the modules of the modular moving walkway 12a can also facilitate a passenger transitioning from a standing position to a seated position.
Referring now to
The I/O section 90 may be connected to one or more user-interface devices (e.g., a keyboard, a touch-screen display unit, etc.) or a disc storage unit 120. Computer program products containing mechanisms to effectuate the systems and methods in accordance with the described technology may reside in the memory section 110 or on the storage unit 120 of the control system 46.
The control system 46 can also include a communication interface 140 capable of connecting the control system 46 to an enterprise network via the network link 130, through which the control system 46 can receive instructions and data embodied in a carrier wave. When used in a local area networking (LAN) environment, the control system 46 is connected (by wired connection or wirelessly) to a local network through the communication interface 140, which is one type of communications device. When used in a wide-area-networking (WAN) environment, the control system 46 typically includes a modem, a network adapter, or any other type of communications device for establishing communications over the wide-area network. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the control system 46 or portions thereof may be stored in a remote memory storage device. It is appreciated that the network connections shown are examples of communications devices for and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used.
In an example implementation, a browser application, a compatibility engine applying one or more compatibility criteria, and other modules or programs may be embodied by instructions stored in memory 110 and/or the storage unit 120 and executed by the processor 80. Further, local computing systems, remote data sources and/or services, and other associated logic represent firmware, hardware, and/or software, which may be configured to operate the seat system 10/10a, and the moving walkway 12 the seat system 10/10a is implemented into. The control system 46 of the seat system 10/10a may be implemented using a general purpose computer and specialized software (such as a server executing service software), a special purpose computing system and specialized software (such as a mobile device or network appliance executing service software), or other computing configurations. In addition, user requests, profiles and parameter data, agent profiles and parameter data, location data, parameter matching data, and other data may be stored in the memory 110 and/or the storage unit 120 and executed by the processor 80.
The embodiments of the invention described herein are implemented as logical steps in one or more computer systems. The logical operations of the present invention are implemented (1) as a sequence of processor-implemented steps executed in one or more computer systems and (2) as interconnected machine or circuit modules within one or more computer systems. The implementation is a matter of choice, dependent on the performance requirements of the computer system implementing the invention. Accordingly, the logical operations making up the implementations of the invention described herein are referred to variously as operations, steps, objects, or modules. Furthermore, it should be understood that logical operations may be performed in any order, adding and omitting as desired, unless explicitly claimed otherwise or a specific order is inherently necessitated by the claim language.
Data storage and/or memory may be embodied by various types of storage, such as hard disk media, a storage array containing multiple storage devices, optical media, solid-state drive technology, ROM, RAM, and other technology. The operations may be implemented in firmware, software, hard-wired circuitry, gate array technology and other technologies, whether executed or assisted by a microprocessor, a microprocessor core, a microcontroller, special purpose circuitry, or other processing technologies. It should be understood that a write controller, a storage controller, data write circuitry, data read and recovery circuitry, a sorting module, and other functional modules of a data storage system may include or work in concert with a processor for processing processor-readable instructions for performing a system-implemented process.
For purposes of this description and meaning of the claims, the term “memory” (e.g., memory 110) means a tangible data storage device, including non-volatile memories (such as flash memory and the like) and volatile memories (such as dynamic random-access memory and the like). The computer instructions either permanently or temporarily reside in the memory, along with other information such as data, virtual mappings, operating systems, applications, and the like that are accessed by a computer processor to perform the desired functionality. The term “memory” or “storage medium” expressly does not include a transitory medium, such as a carrier signal, but the computer instructions can be transferred to the memory wirelessly.
From the above description, it is clear that the present disclosure is well-adapted to carry out the objectives and to attain the advantages mentioned herein as well as those inherent in the disclosure. While presently preferred embodiments have been described herein, it will be understood that numerous changes may be made which will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art and which are accomplished within the spirit of the disclosure and claims.
Not applicable. The present application is a conversion of U.S. Provisional Application having U.S. Ser. No. 63/454,754, filed Mar. 27, 2023, and a continuation of U.S. Patent Application having U.S. Ser. No. 18/615,419, filed Mar. 25, 2024, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e). The disclosures of which are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63454754 | Mar 2023 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 18615419 | Mar 2024 | US |
Child | 18618642 | US |