()
For the last year and a half or so, we bombarded you with news about how many vehicles any given manufacturer sells each month.
Naturally, the question arises: where will we park them all? We mean, the streets aren't getting bigger, cities grow much slower in size than the sales rate of new vehicles.
Enter the automated parking systems. This solution allows, for instance, for 20 cars to occupy the same footprint as four would have done in normal parking conditions.
An automated parking garage can be erected on any empty lot, even in between buildings. They come in several sizes, so a city can choose which type of garage fits its needs best. The building itself is made of a metal skeleton which can be covered on the outside with pretty much what ever is needed for it to fit in the city landscape.
HOW IT WORKS
Automated parking systems make use of computers, sensors, cameras and mechanical components to take the car, move it throughout the garage and park it in an empty slot. The process is very simple and it requires little effort from the driver.
There are two types of automated parking systems, depending on the manner in which they transport the car from entry to the parking spot: horizontal platforms or vertical lifts. In both types of systems, the car is driven into the multi-storied garage as usual. Once positioned on the ramp, the driver shuts down the engine, secures the parking brake and steps out of the car. While the driver does all this, sensors analyze the vehicle to determine it's size and overall shape.
Once the driver has exited the building, the mechanical arms of the living building are set in motion. Depending on the available empty spots in the garage, the system determines where to take the car. Using various electro-mechanical components, the car is moved into the respective spot, either vertically or horizontally. For the fastest such systems, the whole process can take as little as two and a half minutes from entry to parking the car in its spot.
Automated parking systems give you a card or key containing a code which identifies the position of the vehicle. Once you scan your card or key, the system finds the car and sets in motion it's mechanical arms to bring the car back to you.
ADVANTAGES
Automated parking systems are, if you like, the next generation multi-storied car parks. Having no access ramps, automated parking occupies less space on the ground. Space is also gained from the fact that the cars are staked together much closer compared to usual parking lots, because they don't require clearance for the doors to open.
Automated parking systems can help cut CO2 emissions and fuel consumption levels because they don't require the engine to be running while the car is moved about through the building. Automated parking systems can be built both above or underground, depending on the available space in a given city.
DISADVANTAGES
The disadvantages of using such systems are pretty much limited to the so-called acts of God. For instance, an earthquake can damage or even bring down such a parking system, damaging the cars in it as well. Still, being a mechanical gizmo, an automated parking system may from time to time fail and scratch or damage the body of the car. Some may even go on and say you may get the neighbors car...
|
|
|
Regardless of how we look at them, automated parking systems are the future in parking.
, , .
, : ? , , , .
. , , 20 , .
, . , , . , , .
, , , . .
, : .
, , . , , . , . , , .
, , . , , , . .
, , . , , .
. , . , , . CO2 , . , , .
- . , , . , . , , .
1. http://www.autoevolution.com/news/how-automated-parking-systems-work-19523.html
..
