Passenger boarding bridge
A passenger boarding bridge is capable of avoiding docking by backward travel of travel wheels. The passenger boarding bridge includes: a rotunda connected to an entrance of a terminal building and supported to be rotatable horizontally; an extendable and retractable tunnel unit whose proximal end is connected to the rotunda; a cab provided at a distal end of the tunnel unit; travel wheels configured to travel forward and backward in changeable directions; an operating device that is operated to input an operation command to the travel wheels; and a determiner configured to, during a period from when the cab starts being moved from a predetermined position, until the cab is docked with an aircraft, while the travel wheels are traveling backward, perform determination whether or not there is a possibility that the cab will come closer to the aircraft to get docked with the aircraft.
1 . A passenger boarding bridge comprising:
a rotunda connected to an entrance of a terminal building and supported such that the rotunda is rotatable horizontally;
a tunnel unit including a first end and a second end, the first end being connected to the rotunda, the tunnel unit being extendable and retractable;
a cab provided at the second end of the tunnel unit, the cab being configured to be docked with an aircraft;
a travel device that supports the tunnel unit and includes a pair of travel wheels, the travel device being configured to travel forward in a first direction by regular rotation of the pair of travel wheels and to travel backward in a second direction opposite to the first direction by reverse rotation of the pair of travel wheels, wherein the first direction is a direction along which movement of the travel device causes the tunnel unit to be extended, and the second direction is a direction along which movement of the travel device causes the tunnel unit to retract;
an operating device that is manually operated to input an operation command to the travel device; and
a controller including a processing unit and a storage unit that stores a control program, wherein when the processing unit executes the control program, the control program causes the controller to, during a period from when the cab starts being moved from a predetermined position through an operation of the operating device to cause the travel device to travel, until the cab is docked with the aircraft, while the travel device is traveling backward in the second direction in accordance with a manual control input of a backward travel operation command from the operating device, determine whether or not the cab comes closer to the aircraft as a result of the travel device traveling backward in the second direction,
wherein the passenger boarding bridge is configured to perform a warning and/or stop the travel device from traveling backward in the second direction in a case where the controller determines that the cab comes closer to the aircraft as a result of the travel device traveling backward in the second direction, thereby avoiding the cab becoming docked with the aircraft by backward travel of the travel wheels.
2 . The passenger boarding bridge according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is configured to:
while the travel device is traveling backward in the second direction, calculate, multiple times sequentially, a coordinate value of a current position of a predetermined part of one of the tunnel unit, the cab, or the travel device by using an orthogonal coordinate system having an origin that is a position of a rotational center of the rotunda in a plan view; and
determine whether or not the cab comes closer to the aircraft as a result of the travel device traveling backward in the second direction, based on a change in the coordinate value of the current position of the predetermined part, the coordinate value being calculated multiples times sequentially.
3 . The passenger boarding bridge according to claim 2 , wherein
as the orthogonal coordinate system, an XY orthogonal coordinate system having the origin that is the position of the rotational center of the rotunda in the plan view is preset such that, in the XY orthogonal coordinate system, regions that are located on an opposite side of an X-axis from the entrance of the terminal building are a first quadrant and a second quadrant, the X-axis being set in parallel to an end surface of the entrance of the terminal building, and
the controller is configured to:
in a case where an entrance, of the aircraft, with which the cab is to be docked is scheduled to be located in the first quadrant, while the travel device is traveling backward in the second direction, calculate, multiple times sequentially, a Y coordinate value of the current position of the predetermined part of one of the tunnel unit, the cab, or the travel device by using the XY orthogonal coordinate system; and
determine whether or not the cab comes closer to the aircraft as a result of the travel device traveling backward in the second direction, based on whether or not the Y coordinate value of the current position, the Y coordinate value being calculated multiple times sequentially, increases.
4 . The passenger boarding bridge according to claim 3 , wherein
the controller is configured to:
in a case where the entrance, of the aircraft, with which the cab is to be docked is scheduled to be located in the second quadrant, while the travel device is traveling backward in the second direction, calculate, multiple times sequentially, an X coordinate value of the current position of the predetermined part by using the XY orthogonal coordinate system; and
determine whether or not the cab comes closer to the aircraft as a result of the travel device traveling backward in the second direction, based on whether or not the X coordinate value of the current position, the X coordinate value being calculated multiple times sequentially, decreases.
5 . The passenger boarding bridge according to claim 2 , wherein
as the orthogonal coordinate system, an XY orthogonal coordinate system having the origin that is the position of the rotational center of the rotunda in the plan view is preset such that, in the XY orthogonal coordinate system, regions that are located on an opposite side of an X-axis from the entrance of the terminal building are a first quadrant and a second quadrant, the X-axis being set in parallel to an end surface of the entrance of the terminal building, and
the controller is configured to:
in a case where an entrance, of the aircraft, with which the cab is to be docked is scheduled to be located in the second quadrant, while the travel device is traveling in the second direction, calculate, multiple times sequentially, an X coordinate value of the current position of the predetermined part of one of the tunnel unit, the cab, or the travel device by using the XY orthogonal coordinate system; and
determine whether or not the cab comes closer to the aircraft as a result of the travel device traveling backward in the second direction, based on whether or not the X coordinate value of the current position, the X coordinate value being calculated multiple times sequentially, decreases.
6 . The passenger boarding bridge according to claim 1 , further comprising a distance sensor that is mounted to the cab and that measures a distance between the cab and the aircraft, wherein
the controller is configured to, while the travel device is traveling backward in the second direction, determine whether or not the cab comes closer to the aircraft as a result of the travel device traveling backward in the second direction, based on whether or not the distance between the cab and the aircraft, the distance being measured by the distance sensor, decreases.
7 . The passenger boarding bridge according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is configured to determine, when the distance between the cab and the aircraft has become a predetermined distance or less, whether or not the cab comes closer to the aircraft as a result of the travel device traveling backward in the second direction.
8 . The passenger boarding bridge according to claim 1 , further comprising a warning unit configured to perform the warning in the case where the controller determines that the cab comes closer to the aircraft as a result of the travel device traveling backward in the second direction.
9 . The passenger boarding bridge according to claim 1 , further comprising a warning unit configured to perform the warning, wherein
while the travel device is traveling backward in the second direction, in the case where the controller determines that the cab comes closer to the aircraft as a result of the travel device traveling backward in the second direction:
when a distance between the cab and the aircraft is greater than a predetermined distance, the passenger boarding bridge does not stop the travel device from traveling backward in the second direction while the warning unit performs the warning, or
when the distance between the cab and the aircraft has become the predetermined distance or less, the passenger boarding bridge stops the travel device from traveling backward in the second direction while the warning unit performs the warning.
10 . The passenger boarding bridge according to claim 1 , wherein
a rudder angle of the travel device is changeable within a range of −90 degrees to +90 degrees with respect to a longitudinal direction of the tunnel unit.
11 . The passenger boarding bridge according to claim 1 , wherein when the controller determines that the cab comes closer to the aircraft as a result of the travel device traveling backward in the second direction, the controller invalidates the backward travel operation command to stop the travel wheels from traveling backward in the second direction.