Vehicle having rail-mounted components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11027628-B2
Application number	US-201916401495-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 2, 2019
Priority date	May 2, 2019
Publication date	Jun 8, 2021
Grant date	Jun 8, 2021

Abstract

A vehicle includes a cabin and a track assembly. The track assembly is coupled to a portion of the cabin. The track assembly includes a rail assembly. The rail assembly defines an interior aperture. The interior aperture is inaccessible from a top side, a first lateral side, and a second lateral side of the rail assembly. The rail assembly defines a first external channel in the first lateral side and a second external channel in the second lateral side. The first and second external channels receive a carriage power conductor and a carriage data conductor, respectively.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle, comprising:
a cabin; and
a track assembly coupled to a portion of the cabin, the track assembly comprising:
one or more retention structures;
one or more carriage structures, each of the one or more carriage structures extending through one of the one or more retention structures to create carriage assemblies; and
one or more rail assemblies that receive the carriage assemblies such that the carriage assemblies slidably couple with the rail assembly, wherein the rail assembly defines an interior aperture, the interior aperture being inaccessible from a top side, a first lateral side, and a second lateral side of the rail assembly.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the one or more rail assemblies are installed in at least one of a floor and a ceiling of the cabin.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising:
a storage unit coupled to one or more of the one or more carriage structures such that actuation of the associated one or more of the one or more carriage structures along the one or more rail assemblies results in actuation of the storage unit within the cabin.

4. The vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the storage unit comprises a plurality of storage compartments.

5. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising:
a plurality of storage units independently coupled to one or more of the one or more rail assemblies.

6. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein each of the plurality of storage units is coupled to an associated one of the one or more carriage structures.

7. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein each of the plurality of storage units is coupled to a plurality of the carriage structures, and wherein each of the carriage structures is positioned on a separate one of the one or more rail assemblies.

8. The vehicle of claim 5 , wherein at least one of the plurality of storage units is capable of being actuated along the one or more rail assemblies by a tractor assembly.

9. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first external channel defined by the first lateral side of the rail assembly; and
a carriage power conductor received within the first external channel.

10. The vehicle of claim 9 , further comprising:
a second external channel defined by the second lateral side of the rail assembly; and
a carriage data conductor received within the second external channel.

11. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first interior channel defined by the first lateral side of the rail assembly and positioned within the interior aperture; and
a tractor power conductor received within the first interior channel.

12. The vehicle of claim 11 , further comprising:
a second interior channel defined by the second lateral side of the rail assembly and positioned within the interior aperture; and
a tractor data conductor received within the second interior channel.

13. The vehicle of claim 12 , further comprising:
a tractor assembly that movably couples with the rail assembly within the interior aperture.

14. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising:
a plurality of access doors on at least one side of the vehicle such that the cabin of the vehicle can be accessed by a user.

15. The vehicle of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of access doors comprise three individual access doors that are selectively actuated to grant access to a front portion, a middle portion, or a rear portion of the cabin.

16. The vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the individual access doors are horizontally offset from adjacent others of the individual access doors such that actuation of one of the individual access doors results in adjacent individual access doors overlapping with one another.

17. A vehicle, comprising:
a cabin; and
a track assembly coupled to a portion of the cabin, the track assembly comprising:
a rail assembly that defines an interior aperture, the interior aperture being inaccessible from a top side, a first lateral side, and a second lateral side of the rail assembly, wherein the rail assembly defines a first external channel in the first lateral side and a second external channel in the second lateral side, the first and second external channels receiving a carriage power conductor and a carriage data conductor, respectively.

18. The vehicle of claim 17 , further comprising:
a first interior channel defined by the first lateral side of the rail assembly and positioned within the interior aperture; and
a tractor power conductor received within the first interior channel.

19. The vehicle of claim 18 , further comprising:
a second interior channel defined by the second lateral side of the rail assembly and positioned within the interior aperture; and
a tractor data conductor received within the second interior channel.

20. The vehicle of claim 19 , further comprising:
a tractor assembly that movably couples with the rail assembly within the interior aperture, wherein the tractor assembly indirectly couples with rail-mounted components to actuate the rail-mounted components along the rail assembly.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Dry Alan George
• Line Johnathan Andrew

Classifications

• E05Y2800/426

  against unauthorised use, e.g. keys · CPC title

• B60P1/649

  Guiding means for the load-transporting element · CPC title

• F16C29/045

  having rolling elements journaled in one of the moving parts · CPC title

• E05F2017/005

  for sliding wings · CPC title

• E05Y2201/684

  Rails; Tracks · CPC title