Crown Equipment Corporation

Florian Trautner

Stefan Hannemann

Kevin Anthony Gilliland

Adam Wietholter

Robert Shearrer

Dominik Hartinger

A materials handling vehicle including a vehicle-side charging contact assembly coupled to a battery, a steerable drive wheel defining a drive wheel track width W, and a pair of load wheels defining a load wheel gap G between the pair of load wheels that is larger than the drive wheel track width W. A charging station includes a pair of floor-side charging contacts configured to transfer charging current to the vehicle-side charging contact assembly. The pair of floor-side charging contacts define an inner contact spacing Sthat is larger than the drive wheel track width W, and an outer contact spacing Sthat is larger than the inner contact spacing Sand smaller than the load wheel gap G to permit passage of the steerable drive wheel between the floor-side charging contacts, followed by passage of the pair of load wheels outside of the floor-side charging contacts.

Materials handling vehicle charging system comprising a floor-mounted charging plate

An electrically operated steering system () is provided for a vehicle () with a rack () for attaching the steering system () to a frame of the vehicle (), two steerable wheels () that are pivotably attached to the rack (), a rod element () arranged on the rack (), which is slidable in its longitudinal direction in relation to the rack (), a kinematic unit (), which is coupled to the rod element () and which transforms a movement of the rod element () into a steering rotation of the wheels (), an electric machine (), which is mechanically connected to the rod element () for effecting the movement of the rod element (), and a lateral force absorbing mechanism (), which is configured for absorbing a lateral force produced by the kinematic unit () in relation to the rod element ().

Electrically operated steering system for a vehicle

The invention relates to an electrically operated steering system () for a vehicle () with a rack () for attaching the steering system () to a vehicle frame of the vehicle (), two steerable wheels () that are pivotably attached to the rack (), a rod element () arranged on the rack (), which is slidable in its longitudinal direction in relation to the rack (), a kinematic unit () which is coupled to the rod element () and which transforms a movement of the rod element () into a steering rotation of the wheels (), an electric machine (), which is mechanically connected to the rod element () for effecting the movement of the rod element (), and a lateral force absorbing mechanism () which is configured for absorbing a lateral force produced by the kinematic unit () in relation to the rod element (). The invention further relates to a vehicle () comprising such a steering system ().

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Munich, Germany

Florian Trautner