VEHICLE CENTERING SYSTEM
An automated vehicle centering system for use with a transport mechanism in an automated parking facility comprising a rotatable platform for aligning a vehicle with a conveying direction of the transport mechanism; a plurality of weighing platforms on said rotatable platform for sensing a distribution of a weight of said vehicle on the tires of said vehicle; and a controller to calculate a center of weight for the tires based on said sensing and to determine a centerline of said vehicle.
1 . An automated vehicle centering system for use with a transport mechanism in an automated parking facility comprising:
a rotatable platform for aligning a vehicle with a conveying direction of the transport mechanism;
a plurality of weighing platforms on said rotatable platform for sensing a distribution of a weight of said vehicle on the tires of said vehicle; and
a controller to calculate a center of weight for the tires based on said sensing and to determine a centerline of said vehicle.
2 . A system according to claim 1 wherein said plurality of weighing platforms comprises at least two weighing platforms.
3 . A system according to claim 1 wherein said at least two weighing platforms comprises four weighing platforms.
4 . A system according to claim 3 wherein each of said four weighing platforms supports a different tire of said vehicle.
5 . A system according to claim 1 further comprising a plurality of load sensors to support said weighing platforms and to transmit said distribution of said weight of said vehicle to said controller.
6 . A system according to claim 5 wherein said plurality of load sensors comprises at least two load sensors for supporting each weighing platform of said plurality of weighing platforms.
7 . A system according to claim 6 wherein said at least two load sensors comprise three load sensors.
8 . A system according to claim 6 wherein said at least two load sensors comprise four load sensors.
9 . A system according to claim 1 further comprising a motorized motion mechanism to impart rotary motion to said rotatable platform responsive to a control signal from said controller.
10 . A system according to claim 1 further comprising an interface module for interfacing said controller with the transport mechanism.
11 . A method of aligning a centerline of a vehicle with a conveying direction of a transport mechanism in an automated parking facility, the method comprising:
measuring a distributed weight of the vehicle on each tire;
determining a position of each tire based on said distributed weight; and
calculating the centerline of the vehicle based on said determining of said position of each tire.
12 . A method according to claim 11 further comprising rotating the vehicle until the centerline is aligned with the conveying direction.
13 . A method according to claim 11 further comprising calculating a travel distance between the vehicle centerline and the conveying direction.
14 . A method according to claim 11 further comprising determining a center of weight for each tire.