In the future, it is expected that, automated parking systems will be used increasingly in private and public transport because, when compared with conventional parking systems, they offer a higher space and volume utilisation.

Furthermore, new traffic concepts involve automatic parking systems as a link between public transport and passenger-car traffic to offer attractive and secure stations, even on restricted sites at the city outskirts.

For these reasons, the Institute for Materials Flow Systems, in Dortmund, Germany, developed an automatic parking system, which meets the requirements for flexible size, high space utilisation and high performance. The system, which is based on satellite store technology, can offer a low, as well as high parking capacity in line with throughput. Even during peak times the user need not wait for a long time to retrieve his car.

The basic system operates in the form of the pallet-free transverse storage of vehicles and consists of several components.

System modules can be combined in several ways to build larger parking facilities. It can be built on surface, underground, and in mixed engineering fashion. The conveyor system consists of two vertical conveyors in the aisle for the horizontal distribution carriage and for the

distribution carriage itself. This distribution carriage is rail-bound and

drives in the aisles of the storage system where it is responsible for the horizontal car transport. In addition, the system is equipped with a buffer system for parked cars consisting of horizontal conveyors. This buffer is coupled directly with the transfer system (input/output boxes).

When the user has expressed and acknowledged his or her wish to park a car, a parking ticket is issued, and the car is brought to the buffer zone by a plate conveyor. The distribution

carriage takes the car up sideways in front of the vertical conveyor (VC1). Then, the distribution carriage is transported to the respective storage level by the vertical conveyor VC1 and unloaded in the storage aisle. From there, the distribution carriage goes to the storage slot, predetermined by the computer. There, it puts down the car sideways and proceeds to the vertical conveyor (VC2), which brings it to the transfer level, where it can take up another car.

The retrieval process is performed in reverse order. Since the distribution carriages are brought to the upper parking levels by VC1 and brought down by VC2, the distribution

carriages operate in 'rotation'. As the horizontal conveyor processes are separated from the vertical ones and several distribution carriages are used, the system can run at high cycles. Thanks to the redundancy of some of the system components, users can be served even when single components break down and it is also possible to maintain the system during

operation.

Passenger-car distribution vehicle

A passenger-car distribution vehicle (PDV) operates without pallets and does not require a special design of the storage shelf. Once a car has been measured, the positioning data is transmitted to the distribution carriage and to mounted handling device telescopic arms-pair I and II. The telescopes are positioned on the axle base during the trip of the PDV, so that the car can be taken up immediately when the PDV arrives at the storage or buffer stations.

Pairs I and II of the PDV's telescopic arms are extended to the end of the telescopic path. Then the telescopes of each pair are moved in opposite directions to lift the car. When the car axles have been lifted from the storage shelf, the telescopes are retrieved until they reach their final position on the PDV. The telescopic arms are designed so that the car cannot roll off, and the PDV can be driven with high acceleration and deceleration.