PRT SYSTEMS OVERVIEW

BASIC CONCEPTS

Definition

A PRT is an automated vehicle that travels around a continuous closed path, similar to a very small freeway. It is a rubber tired vehicle similar to a small electric automobile. It is capable of traveling up and down some fairly steep grades (up to 20% grades), and can achieve speeds over 40 mph. It is sometimes described as a horizontal elevator.

The letters PRT stand for "personal rapid transit". Its design intent is to allow a family or an individual to go to a station that is similar to an elevator lobby, where they push a button, and a door opens so that they can enter a waiting car. This is very much like an elevator so far.

When they are seated, the door closes, and a route map or list of destinations appears on the dashboard of the car. The many stations along the guideway are labeled next to a button. When the occupants select their destination by pushing one of the buttons, the vehicle automatically starts, goes from the station out onto the main roadway (like an auto going from an on ramp onto a freeway) and drives directly to its selected destination.

Where a vertical elevator will stop at intermediate floors to pick up others, your PRT will not stop until it gets to the station of your choice. When you arrive at your destination, the PRT stops, the door opens, the occupants leave the car, and another party enters it to go on their way.

Other Names for PRTs

This type of people mover has been studied for a very long time. Therefore it has acquired many different names:

Other Shapes for PRTs

Disneyland showcased a PRT concept in Tomorrowland with their WEDWAY elevated people mover. Many AGVs are built as trains, using very unique vehicles traveling along very unique elevated guideways, and are most often steered by a curb or rail along the guideway. Our PRTs are steered electronically and do not need a curb.

The TIG version of a PRT

For reasons stated in the Design Philosophy section, TIG believes that a PRT should be as much like a private automobile driving along the highway as possible. One major difference is that a PRT is automated, and does not have a driver. It is steered, started, and stopped electronically upon command of a remote control center that manages the roadway and all of the vehicles and PRT stations that are a part of it.

The PRT that we have designed for most applications has the following distinguishing features in addition to those noted above:

1. The PRT is essentially a battery powered small car that has unlimited range (it can drive forever) without needing to stop so that its batteries can be re-charged.
2. The "highway" that is dedicated to its use is simply a concrete or asphalt roadway, with bridges where needed.
3. The roadway has two continuous current carrying wires embedded just below its top surface. These wires provide the following functions:

1. Monitoring of vehicle systems
2. Talking with vehicle occupants
3. Sending messages to vehicle

Alternative uses for PRTs

The PRT vehicle is not tied to the guideway. The PRT can be easily and quickly fitted with a steering wheel, a brake, and an accelerator so that it can be driven manually. With a full charge on the batteries, the PRT can be driven off of the guideway as if it were an electric car. In this mode, it can drive around your development for over 2 ½ hours without a recharge. When it runs low on power, it can go back to the guideway and be recharged while it is moving along. Just imagine what you, your staff, and your guests could do with that!

Free Ranging PRTs

In addition to cable guidance, GPS satellite systems can be used to guide and locate automated vehicles. This type of system is presently in use in the following systems:

C. Astro-Blaster at DisneyQuest in Florida

2. The FROG system in Holland

The main purpose of the Horizontal Elevator is to facilitate travel around your development, but to do it in such a way as to provide what some people might consider a very enjoyable ride system, not just another train or taxi system. It also provides the best possible way for people to get from the shopping centers and entertainment complexes to other points of origin and destination within the area covered by your development, such as:

1. Parks.
2. Sports Arenas.
3. Interfaces with other public transportation systems.

This system is easily expanded in any direction at any time in the future. You need only add a new "Y" intersection into the track and you have created another alternate path to some new location that you will surely develop as time goes by.

A CONCEPT SCENARIO

To further define the concept, let us take you for an imaginary ride on our system. Imagine if you would the possibility of having the Disney Wedway people mover from Tomorrowland moved onto your property, but in a totally new and improved format.

Your APM would look similar to the Wedway, but it would have many stations along its route, not just one. It would move a lot faster, and it would easily travel up and down some pretty steep grades because the motors will be on the cars, not in the track.

Imagine that you are at a horizontal elevator station, and that you have just entered your personal 6 seater car with your friends. You would be greeted by an announcement: "Welcome to the new Myrtle Beach APM System. Please select your destination." You would find in your personal car a control panel listing all of the many stops along the route. Seat yourself, choose your selected destination with the push of a button and be instanty and quietly wisked away.

When you arrive at the station of your choice, your car would enter an unload zone just as at Disneyland, and you would step onto either a moving turntable, a moving sidewalk, or simply onto the platform from a car that had come to a complete stop. The empty car would then move into the loading area, and the next passengers would get in and select their destination. In many ways, this is a better system than a vertical elevator in that the car is smaller (4 to 8 seats), and you don’t have to stop at other people`s stops, only your own.

If no one wanted the car, it could simply stand idle in the station in a passive storage mode. If the station filled up with too many cars, empty cars would leave the station and would "dead-head" into active storage on the main line until a station attendant who needed more cars could call in "dead-headers" from the main line. Alternate passive storage could occur with trains stored in the storage and maintenance areas where cars could be automatically brought into and out of the system under central computer control.

THE APM TRAIN

The APM system of track and controls can be used for similar vehicles operating as trains. This could be considered a smaller version of the larger TRAMS. The APM and Train configurations are described below:

DETAILS OF THE TIG APM SYSTEM

APM OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS

DETAILS OF THE TIG TRAIN SYSTEM

TRAIN OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS

VEHICLES

VEHICLE POWER

Power can be transferred from the track to the vehicle by means of the following options:

VEHICLE PROPULSION

The vehicle propulsion will be accomplished by means of motors on board each car. Several drive systems are available:

VEHICLE BRAKING

With a traction drive system, the vehicles will have disc brakes connected directly to the drive wheels.

PRT RELATED WEBSITES

For those interested in the further information on PRT/APM/AGV systems, we suggest that you start with some of the following websites. Those listed at the bottom of this page are perhaps the most similar to the TIG concepts.

http://www.apmstandards.org/ the Automated People Mover Standards Committee Web Site.

http://www.taxi2000.com/ a personal rapid transit system of computer-controlled, three-passenger vehicles on slim guideways operating on-demand and nonstop direct to any station in the network

http://www.advancedtransit.org/ In 1989 ATRA published a report examining the feasibility of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) which led to the demonstration project undertaken by the Chicago RTA and the Raytheon Corporation in the 1990's. ATRA's Technical Committee has been working to update the original report and has now released its new report which it has named: Personal Automated Transportation: Status and Potential of Personal Rapid Transit

http://www.smartskyways.com/

http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/sys21.htm Jerry Schneider’s website

THE BEST WEBSITES FOR PRT SYSTEMS:

http://www.yamaha-motor-europe.com/agv/ Driverless transport vehicles form the main component of a high-frequency short-range transportation system that meets current and future societal needs for high quality mobility.

http://www.2getthere.nl/ The FROG system

http://www.cybermove.org/

http://www.cybercars.org/