| CPC B64F 1/305 (2013.01) | 7 Claims |
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1. A method of controlling traveling of a passenger boarding bridge, the passenger boarding bridge including:
a rotunda connected to a terminal building and rotatable in regular and reverse directions about a vertical axis;
a tunnel unit whose proximal end is connected to the rotunda in such a manner that the tunnel unit is liftable and lowerable, the tunnel unit being configured to be extendable and retractable in a longitudinal direction;
a cab provided at a distal end of the tunnel unit;
a lifting/lowering mechanism mounted to the tunnel unit or the cab and configured to lift and lower the tunnel unit or the cab;
a travel unit mounted below the lifting/lowering mechanism, the travel unit being configured to travel on a ground and rotate in regular and reverse directions about an axis that passes through a center point of the travel unit, such that a travel direction of the travel unit is changeable;
a rotunda angle sensor that detects a rotational angle of the rotunda;
a travel unit angle sensor that detects a rotational angle of the travel unit;
a horizontal distance measurer that measures a horizontal distance from the vertical axis to the center point of the travel unit; and
an inclination angle measurer that measures an inclination angle of the tunnel unit relative to a horizontal plane,
the method comprising, at a time of docking the cab with an entrance of an aircraft:
a step of calculating relative positional information indicating a position of the entrance as seen from the cab when the travel unit is at a movement start position;
a step of calculating positional information of a destination position, the destination position being a position to which the travel unit is moved for docking the cab with the entrance, based on positional information of the travel unit at the movement start position and the relative positional information of the entrance in a case where a distance from the movement start position to the destination position is in a predetermined state in which the distance is less than the horizontal distance from the vertical axis to the center point of the travel unit at the movement start position;
a step of calculating a target travel angle that is an angle formed by a direction extending linearly from the movement start position toward the destination position and a particular direction; and
a traveling step of:
causing the travel unit to travel from the movement start position toward the destination position;
calculating, at predetermined time intervals during traveling of the travel unit, a travel angle that is an angle formed by a current travel direction of the travel unit and the particular direction; and
controlling the travel unit by taking only the travel angle into account, such that the travel angle is kept to the target travel angle, wherein
the step of calculating the positional information of the destination position includes calculating positional information of the movement start position based on the horizontal distance from the vertical axis to the center point of the travel unit, the horizontal distance being measured by the horizontal distance measurer, the rotational angle of the rotunda detected by the rotunda angle sensor, and the inclination angle measured by the inclination angle measurer, and
the traveling step includes calculating the travel angle based on the rotational angle of the travel unit detected by the travel unit angle sensor and the rotational angle of the rotunda detected by the rotunda angle sensor.
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