The Elevator and Swiveling Functions

"It is only the intellectually lost who ever argue." (Oscar Wilde)

FLYWAY´ s® advanced design incorporates the ability to raise/lower the carriage or cabin, as well as to swivel it sideways when loading/unloading. It should be noted, however, that the technical soultions presented on this page are not the only ones. SwedeTrack System has other designs, and the best lift arrangement still needs to be arrived at through practical tests. Generally speaking, FlyWay´s lifts can use either a "scissors"-arrangement or hydraulically controlled arms to steady and maneuver the carriage. Both arrangements will be briefly described here. This page is divided into 11 chapters:

General The Elevator Assembly Stabilizing the Carriage during Raising/Lowering The Ball-joint Arrangement Swiveling the Carriage Handling Sloping Beams The Height above the Ground The Upper Girder Attachment Long Beamcars need Two Elevators Steadying the Beamcar for Emergency Evacuation Dual-mode Capability

1. General

The FLYWAY® beam cars have 5 exciting, potential features: Figure 1:3 The carriages can be lowered to the ground The carriages can be twisted sideways in either direction They adapt intelligently to side forces during travel They can negotiate sloping beams They can handle dual-mode vehicles. Figure 1:1 shows a cut-through view of the beam and the propulsion car. It shows the "scissors"-arrangement and is quite schematic. Also, all details are not shown, for patent-reasons. But two functions should be kept separate, to avoid confusion. The "stabilizing wheels" near the top of figure 1:1 are for stabilizing the propulsion car when it switches beams. This function is detailed elsewhere. The stabilizers on the elevator assembly, on the other hand, are for keeping the carriage (and the elevator assembly) underneath the beam stable as it is being raised or lowered, and also during travel. These four wheels run along tracks on the underside of the beams (as shown in figure figure 1:1), and are more easily seen in figure 1:3 above, where they are mounted on the plate above the carriage. Figure 1:1

Figure 1:4 n the FLYWAY® concept, the propulsion car inside the beam carry the carriage underneath by way of an elevator. Figure 1:2 shows the beam and the elevator assembly. As mentioned above, this is just one alternative design. The left of this figure shows a cross-sectional view through the beam, the right drawing shows a sideview. As shown in figure 1:2, the elevator is operated by means of steel cables (one ordinary cable (A) and one for emergency use (B)), and the cabin or flatcar beneath is steadied by some suitable arrangement, such as the "scissors" construction shown here. Figure 1:5 One proposed solution is to use a "scissors" arrangement, to stabilize the carriage. These scissors beams would consist of steelgirders. This construction must be stable; it cannot be allowed to swing sideways. Consequently, when the car is stationary and the carriage beneath is being lowered, stabilizers on the top of the scissors construction will press against the underside of the beam (see figures 1:1 and 1:2). The horisontal crossbars (indicated by X in figure 1:2) would add some stability to the scissors arrangement, but they might not really be necessary.

Figure 1:2

2. The Elevator Assembly

he elevator is of the conventional type, with a winch and a motor on the propulsion car. The winchmotor would be controlled by the car's computer. It might be advisable to have 2 wires. In addition to the elevator wire (indicated by A in figure 2:2), there is a safety wire (B) which automatically locks the carriage in the air, should the carriage's weight be transferred to this wire. This would happen, for instance, if the ordinary elevator wire were to break apart. Ordinary safety belts in motorcars function according to the same principle. This emergency wire would go to a separate winch drum.	One disadvantage as compared to ordinary elevators in buildings is the fact that the FlyWay® elevator will have to make do without a counterweight. This lack of counterweight would normally require an elevator motor with about twice the strength that would otherwise have been necessary. Alternatively the winch could be equipped with some kind of a spring (mechanical or hydraulic) to balance the weight of the load. Just like the air springs in a car hatch.	Figure 2:4

3. Stabilizing the Carriage during Raising/Lowering

Figure 3:1	Figure 3:2

nother disadvantage (apart from the lack of a counter-weight) as compared to ordinary elevators (i.e. elevators in buildings, that run in shafts) is that FLYWAY´s® elevators are not automatically stabilized sideways by being mounted in a shaft. We have to use other solutions to compensate for this. During travel, the upward pressure of plate D (in figure 1:2) against the underside of the beam when the carriage is being raised or lowered (and while standing on the ground) would be supplied by a retraction mechanism in the propulsion car, which pulls the small shaft holding plate D upwards, against the beam. The top surface of these stabilizers would be equipped with rubber wheels, running along the underside of the beam, thus allowing the rest of the lift assembly to steady the carriage both when the carriage is being raised and lowered during travel and, of course, during normal travel.	These wheels would have the added benefit of helping to stabilize the carriage when it is moving and subjected to strong sidewinds and to centrifugal force in the curves. With this arrangement, the carriage could be kept at an adequate distance from the underside of the beam, so that it won't scrape into the beam when the beam is sloping (as in figure 6:10 below). With the "scissors" arrangement, the crossed girders are too rigid to respond to centrifugal force when the vehicle passes through curves (figure 3:3). The ball joint between the carriage and the elevator assembly will, however, allow the carriage to adapt to external forces during travel, working in conjunction with the hydraulic arms. Thus, the car should bend with the centrifugal force, but not be pushed askew from sidewinds.	Figure 3:5

4. The Ball-joint Arrangement

his joint is only used with the "scissors" arrangement. The main advantage of the ball-joint arrangement (see figure 1:2 above) is that the cars can negotiate sloping beam sections without the carriages tipping in the direction of travel. This provides better comfort for the passengers, and might be necessary in order to carry certain goods, like that being carried on flatcars. The ability to keep the carriage level at all times and compensate for shifting loads (such as people that move about in a passenger cabin) requires that the hydraulic pistons are automatically regulated so that independently of the centre of gravity the floor in the cabin is kept horizontal.

The hydraulic pistons thus fill 5 functions: They swivel the carriage They keep the carriage level despite shifting loads They permit the carriage to adapt to centrifugal forces during travel They prevent the carriage from swinging due to other forces during travel They serve as shock absorbers, if necessary, when touching the ground

5. Swiveling the Carriage

Figure 5:1 Figure 5:2	he ability to rotate around the swiveling-axis is an option that could come in very handy in many situations. It could be performed using the ball-joint shown in figure 1:2 above. If we use the girders described above, this swiveling could be done also when the girders are in the folded-up position, since the stabilizers will only be needed when the carriage is lowered. The girders in the scissors construction are always oriented in parallel to the direction of travel, as is shown in figure 1:2. The carriage is rotated in the horizontal plane around the ball joint, using active hydraulic arms. These would be two hydraulic piston devices that are controlled in an intelligent manner from the propulsion car, thus the label "active". Using the "scissors" type of lift, he ball joint allows the carriage to be swiveled, using these arms, while the scissors assembly remains oriented along the beam. The control signal is transmitted to the carriage below by means of cable along the lift wire. This technology is really not new; it is well tested and widely used. Using this technique, the carriages could be swiveled a maximum of 90 degrees, as illustrated in figure 5:1 at left. We do not rule out the possibility of being able to swivel 180 degrees, but that would have to be done in a different manner. Figure 5:2 show, in a simplified animation, how motor vehicles wait on the ground to be loaded onto beamcarried flatcars. This technique of handling road vehicles is described elsewhere. The alternative rig shown at right (figure 5:3) could also be used for swivelling, although maybe not as much as 90 degrees. This is a matter of design. The swivelling would be done by altering the length of the hydraulic arms, relative to each other.	Figure 5:3

6. Handling Sloping Beams

igure 6:10 shows a sloping beam. These have to be allowed for in all city-wide beam networks. Sloping beams would be used: a) to change between different beam levels b) to berth at a station, for cars not using elevators c) to follow the contour of the ground.	Figure 6:10

hen hydraulic arms are used, the ability to negotiate sloping beams while keeping the carriage level requires that the lift machinery cooperates with these arms insofar as it would have to allow the plate (D in figure 2:2) to move vertically relative to the beam, whenever the beamcar passes over vertical knees on the beam. This is best accomplished with some spring mechanism on the lift wire. Consider figure 6:12 below. During horizontal travel (view 1) plate D is just pressed against the beam. This is done by the liftwire.

When beam tilts downwards (view 2), plate D needs some slack to be able to move away from the beam's underside. This is indicated by A in figure 6:12. During travel along a slope (view 3) the hydraulic arms will regulate the carriage´s position relative to plate D. When the beam bends upwards again (view 4) some slack is again needed to allow plate D to keep clear from the knee at A. Thus, the hydraulic arms need to be computer controlled.

The beams must not slope too steep, either. Their inclination is limited by: The size of plate D. It must be big enough to make a steady anchor point for the girders, but not so big that it will have trouble handling the beam knees and curvatures. The traction of the wheels of the propulsion car. They should preferably have rubber tyres. The strength of the traction motor relative to the load it must carry.

Figure 6:12

7. The Height above the Ground

F rom what height could the cars be lowered and reach the ground? That would, of course, depend on: The number of girders The length of those girders, and The maximum angle they could be stretched out. Figure 7:14 Assuming, of course, that this is the lift arrangement that will be used. As an example, let us set the number of girders to 2 * 4 * 2 = 16.This would result in 10 pivot points on each side, indicated by the blue dots to the left in figure 8:1. Let us assume that the girders are 10 centimeters (= 4 inches) wide. This would result in a distance between the roof of the carriage and the underside of the beam of at least 50 centimeters during transport. Further, if those girders were 176 cm. long between the pivots, and could be folded down to an angle of 45 degrees, the resulting lowering would be approximately 4 * 176 * sinus 45° = 500 centimeters. That is a vertical span of 5 meters, or almost 17 feet. Figure 7:14 shows how the scissors unfold if the number of girders are even. Figure 7:15 shows how the scissors unfold if the number of girders are odd. Figure 7:15

8. The Upper Girder Attachment

igure 8:1 shows the upper attachment for the girders that constitute the "scissors" stabilization for the lift. It is a roughly squarish plate, not broader than the beam. It fills 3 functions:

Figure 8:1 It stabilizes the elevator and carriage during lowering and raising of the lift (as mentioned) It serves as a stable attachment for the cabin or carriage during the trip, insofar as it has small rubber wheels (see figure 1:2) that touches against the beam if the going gets a bit rough. It serves as an extra emergency brake that, together with the propulsion car itself, clamps against the bottom of the beam (the red arrows in the left part of the figure).

Note that the pivot points have to slide in the upper and lower girder attachments as the scissors mechanism folds/unfolds (as indicated by A in the figure at upper right). The reason for this is that the pivot points will then come vertically under each other, maximizing the extension of the elevator and also even out the strain on the girders. An example of what would happen if the girders were fixed in the plates, and an odd number of girder-pairs were used, is shown in figure 7:15 above. When the beamcar travels, there is a space of about an inch (2.5 centimeters) between the rubber wheels and the floor of the beam. At sudden jerks and other uneven movements, these wheels will come in contact with the beam and help steadying the vehicle. When the car emergency brakes, these wheels are braked as well, and might come under considerable stress. But emergency braking should normally not be a daily occurence.	When the beamcar stops at a station or is queued on the beam, the upper girder attachment (together with the propulsion car inside the beam) will clamp onto the beam after the car has stopped, and the wheels of the propulsion car will be locked. This clamping to the beam will thus be used in two situations: braking in an emergency and as a parking brake when the car is stationary. It will not be used for the normal braking of the car. Figure 8:2 shows how this works. The left figure shows how only the stabilizer wheels have contact with the beam during travel. At right, the vehicle is stationary. As the girder plate is pressed upwards, the clamps make contact with the beam. The stabilizer wheels rest on springs on their axis, and are pressed down by the beam, towards the girder plate.	Figure 8:2

9. Long Beamcars need Two Elevators

Beamcars with 2 Elevators

Figure 9:20

ufficiently long beamcars might need 2 elevators, as shown i figure 9:20. This adds the requirement that the 2 elevators in the car will have to work in conjunction, to keep the carriage level during raising/lowering. A second consideration is; if there are more cars coupled together, the whole trainset would have to be kept level. A third consideration would be to what degree the carriages

would be allowed to tilt in the direction of travel when negotiating a slope. Single carriages could be kept level by temporarily lowering the high end when the car is going through the vertical bend on the beam. For trainsets, however, this manuever would be tricky. But, yes, it could be accomplished for trainsets as well. Figure 9:21 shows what it might look like.

Figure 9:21

10. Steadying the Beamcar for Emergency Evacuation

ormally, the carriage will reach the ground, and stand steady on its feet while cargo is loaded/unloaded or when passengers are embarking/disembarking, as the case may be. One could, however, imagine a situation where a beamcar cannot be moved for some reason, and has to be evacuated where it is. It could happen, then, that it is positioned at a place where it won't reach the ground.

As detailed elsewhere, the carriage could be evacuated anyway, provided it stays steady and does not swing back and forth. This problem of steadying the car could be solved in a very elegant way, as shown in figure 10:1 below. Normally, as the girders unfold during lowering of the carriage, the upper and lower attachments will slide (indicated by A) so as to stay vertically relative to the other joints in the scissors assembly.

Should the carriage be lowered further than the normal scissors angle of about 45 degrees, the lower attachment will pull 2 blocks, mounted on a sliding beam (C), inwards. This beam is mounted atop the carriage by way of the ball joint mentioned. As these blocks move inwards, they will fit neatly between other blocks on the roof of the carriage (indicated by B), thus preventing the carriage from swinging sideways.

11. Dual-mode Capability

he dual-mode concept means that people and freight can be transported in the same vehicle, that travels both on the road and connected to a beam propulsion vehicle, alternately. This is an important feature, if the beam network is to gain enough popularity to grow and ultimately cover the whole urban area. If dual-mode capability is not included in the network it will not gain the acceptance and ridership necessary to finance its growth. It will just be another public transport system, albeit more sophisticated than today´s. You can read more about dual-mode transportation on this page. The FlyWay® system goes further than that. SwedeTrack System has designed a lift interface that would enable all kinds of loads to quickly and automatically be connected and disconnected to a beam propulsion vehicle. This capability has several advantages: Repair and maintenance of both propulsion vehicles and carriages can be performed separate from each other. This means for instance that if a propulsion vehicle has to be brought out of service, its carriage can still be in traffic, connected to another propulsion vehicle, and vice versa. This enhances the system´s economy and flexibility. A certain carriage of any kind can be connected to a lift arrangement of any kind, if there are several lift arrangements being used, maybe from different manufacturers. People can have their own, private passenger cabins or other types of carriages, just as they own motorcars today. When they want to go someplace, they just call for a propulsion vehicle to come and fetch their carriage.

Figure 11:1 provides an idea how the FlyWay® interface would work. The cargo, equipped with the "Plate C" interface, stands on the ground, underneath the beam. It could be a passenger cabin, a flatcar, a container transport, or a genuine dual-mode vehicle. "Plate B" is part of the lift assembly. As the propulsion vehicle approaches, it will have to locate the load. This is initially done by informing the prop. vehicle of the load´s whereabout and identity. At the specified location, it slows down and activates a laser (1 in the figure). This laser would, in turn, perform three tasks: It locates and reads a strip-coded identity label on plate C (2). If the identy is correct, the prop. vehicle then proceeds until it is directly above the load. This is ascertained by the aid of a marker (3) on plate C. If required, the lift arms will also move plate B sideways and rotate it a bit, to get it aligned with plate C. As the lift lowers, the laser will monitor the distance to plate C. As plates B and C meet up, the grip arms (5) move inwards to lock onto plate C. One could conceivably also use electro-magnets for this interlocking. This procedure should not have to take longer than about 20 seconds. Releasing a load would be even quicker. But it is clear that the mobility of plate C needs to be greater than the lifts so far described on this page would allow. Plate C might need to be: moved sideways, maybe up to 40 cm in each direction twisted, preferably up to 90 degrees, as mentioned earlier slanted, not much, but one should not have to depend on the load being absolutely horizontal.

Figure 11:1 One relatively easy way to achieve this would be to use only two hydraulic arms, diametrically positioned as shown in figure 11:2, and where the upper arm attachments on plate B (indicated by A in in figure 11:3) can be independently rotated. This is how industrial robot arms move, so there is nothing special about this technique. When plates B and C disengage on reaching the destination, the driver of a dual-mode vehicle would get a green light on his dashboard, possibly together with charging information. And he can drive off. There are a few things that the propulsion vehicle needs to be informed about, regarding its new load. It needs to check that the load is not too heavy, and this could be measured by the lift as the lift (tries to) lift it off the ground. It also needs to know the length, height and width of the load. It might be too big to be allowed to travel certain routes. Such information could be conveyed from the system computers. Information about the nature of the load could also be vital for various reasons, such as priority travel, choice of route and safety distance to the vehicle ahead (if the load cannot handle too quick emergency braking). Such information would have to be conveyed from the system computers.

Figure 11:2	Figure 11:3

	Figure 11:4

Figure 11:5