Our first automated parking structure

Very cool! Congrats!

Update! Late this afternoon, we put cars on both the second and third floors of our first automated parking structure in Sherman Oaks. It worked, thank goodness. We have a couple more weeks of programming and about 3 more weeks to finish the 8 apt. units, before we can clean up and load our personal cars into the structure for the video that will eventually be uploaded to our website and sent all over the world for promotional purposes. I will be putting my Pantera, my XKR, my 280Z, and hopefully my GTO in the structure and in the video, along with my partners' cars. It has been a long road to get to this point, however, we believe the future will be bright. We appear to be headed to our first commercial sale of a much larger structure, about 220 spaces, within the next couple of months and a second structure of about the same size by the end of the year. I didn't have a chance to take pictures today, but tomorrow I will upload some. I would love to get 17 local Pantera owners to come over next month and film all of them coming out, one by one. Anyone interested can reach me at (818) 402-7486. Thanks.

Thats Cool! What happens if the power goes out?

That is very cool. Thanks for sharing and I wish you the best of success an an entrepreneur

If the power goes out, in this case since the building is only 3 blocks away from our offices, we have put generator port to the back of the building where we can bring a portable generator to operate the system. This is how we are operating it now, prior to getting our certificate of occupancy where we can get full, permanent power from the DWP. In large commercial applications, a backup generator will be permanently installed at the site in case of emergency. It will seamlessly kick in when power goes out. Pictures in the next hour!

quote:

Pictures in the next hour!

That is a LONGGGGGGGG hour!!!!!

Sorry, I fell asleep. I have added some to the original post above. Video of the system in motion, early next week.

How does it get the car off the platform that moves it?

Dear Z06
Whether from the lift directly to a space (as in the above grade spaces) or down below in the subterranean level where the pallet is transferred to the shuttle, a parasitic gear is engaged from the lift and the space to be entered. An automatically programmed sensor engages the two parasitic gears which then drives rollers to slide the pallet with the car either in or out of the space. The same holds true for the shuttle to the parking space. The mechanics of the system are stupidly simple; the automation and electronics part is incredibly complicated. The system also has a learning capability. If a car is pulled out of the structure everyday at the same time, the "brains" of the system will store this information and move the car to a closer space minutes before it needs to be retrieved, so that delivery time is kept to a minimum. Upon entrance to the loading bay, the vehicle is photographed (to memorialize whatever the condition of the car was at the time of entry), measured (by sensors because since the system is volumetrically designed, there may be spaces designed for small cars like the Smart Car or large SUVs), and finally, infrared and motion detectors insure nothing living remains in the vehicle before it is transferred. The entire system will not activate if the infrared or motion detectors have been triggered.