Multi-Level Car Parking System - Literature review Example

LITERATURE REVIEW Name Institution Course Date Multi-Level Car Parking System – Literature Review Invention History In 1896, Britain’s William Marshall was issued with the first parking summons, but the summons was later dropped since many people were not sure about the regulations that governed the ‘horseless carriages. Arguably, in 1901, the City & Suburban Electric Carriage Company opened the first multi-storey car park in the world. The car park was located in central London and had seven floors, which was a space for approximately 100 cars as well as an electric elevator that moved the vehicles from one floor to another (Park Mark, 2016). A second garage was opened in 1902 City, whereby a Westminster-based building was converted into a car park and could hold at least 230 vehicles. Still, Hotel La Salle’s car park is the earliest recognized multi-storey car park, which was constructed in the downtown Chicago in 1918. Holabird and Roche are credited for designing the car park, and although Hotel La Salle was bulldozed in 1976, the structure of the car parking was retained since it was considered as the initial landmark status (Mehta, Soni, & Patel, 2011). Furthermore, the structure had been constructed a few blocks from the actual location of the hotel. Failure by the city of Chicago to give Hotel LaSalle multi-storey a landmark status led to its demolition in 2005 (Mehta, Soni, & Patel, 2011). As pointed out by Waghmare et al. (2016), a series of patents were granted in the duration between 1920 and 1930, but the Bowser/Pigeon Hole/Roto Park systems became functional in 1940s in numerous locations. Waghmare et al. (2016) further posit that a number of the early systems were vertical elevator lift modules, whereby vehicles were placed on the structure’s upper levels in order for the mechanical devices and the attendant to move the cars into slots in a structure constructed around the main corridor. The systems’ capacities ranged between 100 and over 600 spaces. Invention and development As pointed out by Agrawal (2017), the automated parking system (APS) concept was steered by a number of factors: the increasing demand for parking spaces and the shortage of land. In 1905, Garage Rue de Ponthieu located in Paris, France was amongst the earliest automated parking systems in the world. The APS involved a revolutionary multi-story concrete structure that was integrated with an internal elevator so as to enable the attendants to move the vehicles to the upper levels. After a while, a paternoster system, a Ferris wheel-like automated parking system was introduced in the 1920s, which turned out to be popular because it made it possible to park eight vehicles in a space normally reserved for two cars. According to Agrawal (2017), the paternoster system was mechanically undemanding and its footprint was exceedingly small; therefore, the system could be utilized easily in scores of places, including inside the buildings. In the same period, APS with over 1,000 cars capacities were being installed by Kent Automatic Garages. Technology advancement, as mentioned by Agrawal (2017), led to the development of the world’s first driverless parking garage, which was first installed in Washington, D.C. in 1951. The interests in APS started increasing in mid-20th century, which saw the introduction of Bowser/Pigeon Hole/Roto Park systems. These systems were installed in 1957 and some systems remained operational for some years. The interests in APS, however, in some countries like the United States started diminishing because of the recurrent mechanical problems as well as delays when patrons were retrieving their cars. However, the interests were renewed in the early 1990s, and as of 2012, there were approximately 25 major existing and intended APS projects (that represented almost 6,000 spaces). As it will be demonstrated later in this literature review, Hoboken garage is one of the first robotic parking garages to be opened in the U.S. Although U.S. interest in APS had started diminishing, other countries across Central America, Asia, and Europe, Asia had since the 1970s advanced the application of the automated parking systems. In the 1990s, as pointed out by Agrawal (2017), Japan was constructing almost 40,000 parking spaces every year by means of paternoster APS. As of 2012, Japan had approximately 1.6 million APS parking spaces. Given that land is becoming scarce because of urbanization and high level of motorization, many countries have renewed interest in automated parking system as alternatives to parking lots, on-street parking as well as multi-story parking garages. People who have worked in Multi-level car parking According to Narone, Chabukswar, Valyal, Hirapure, and Solapure (2015), vertically park cars were first attempted in 1941, when O.A. Light developed a device which made it possible for three cars to be parked vertically, each side having three cars resulting in six parking spaces. Some years later, an automated garage was invented by E.W. Austin and this invention turned out to be the leading automated parking system between the 1940s and 1960s. The systems were commonly referred as Bowser/Pigeon Hole/Roto Park systems. Austin was very active in the vertical parking system as evidence by three-car unit design that he introduced in 1945 and patented in 1948. All through these years, design and development were changed continuously with the aim of improving the automated car park. Eric Jaulmes, in 1964, created automated parking management systems that are almost similar to the one utilized nowadays (Narone, Chabukswar, Valyal, Hirapure, & Solapure, 2015). Jaulmes’ system contained a valet that drove the vehicle into the elevator. Then the car would be taken by the elevator into a predetermined spot, where it would be parked by the valet. When returning down, the valet, if it had been requested could stop in a different space to retrieve a car. As mentioned by Narone, Chabukswar, Valyal, Hirapure, and Solapure (2015), a ‘Vert-a-Park’ system was invented in the mid-1960s by Bob Lichti. The system resembled the Ferris wheel and allowed approximately 22 vehicles to be parked. As mentioned by Harding (1992), objections towards automatic garages were attributed to overreliance on a single elevator to service many multilevel car stalls; therefore, failure of the elevator would make it impossible to retrieve cars. For this reason, the Bowser/Pigeon Hole/Roto Park systems were considered unreliable. Furthermore, mechanical garages were inefficient and cumbersome, especially during rush hours when many customers wanted their cars all together. Applications of Multi-level car parking Waghmare et al. (2016) posit that automated car parks depend on the same technology, which is utilized for document retrieval as well as mechanical handling. In the automated car parks, the drivers are required to leave their vehicles in the entrance module and then a robot trolley car transports the car to a parking slot. The number of cars has increased globally, but the majority of towns do not have adequate parking facilities. This has resulted in congestions and overcrowding since cars are parked along the residential roadway, highway sides, road’s green points and pathway. As mentioned by Dandotia, Gupta, and Pandey (2016), most people lose a lot of their time in traffic jams and failure to solve this problem can lead to economy collapse. Multi-level car parking can help solve this problem urgently. As evidenced in figure one, a multi-level car parking is fundamentally a structure with numerous layers or floors for car parking. Access to these different levels is achieved through exterior or interior ramps. Basically, a multi-level car parking has lifts that are mechanized so as to move the car vehicles to various levels. In view of that, the automated car park requires less ground space and less building volume; hence, leading to cost saving. The system eliminated the need for hiring many employees to monitor the place (Narone et al., 2015). Figure 1: Multi-Level Parking (Narone, Chabukswar, Valyal, Hirapure, & Solapure, 2015) The multi-level car parking is beneficial because it is Space effective, frees the ground level space at, reduce the total ownership cost, and it is environmental friendly. Dahane and Pajgade (2016) assert that contemporary technology has solved many day-to-day life issues. This can be demonstrated by the automated parking system, which enables the drivers to automatically park their cars. The cities and towns’ population have been increasing tremendously because of urbanization. This has consequently increased car ownership as well as high transport demand. Irrespective of social status and income, the mode of travelling has increasingly become very difficult and occasionally completely intolerable. As pointed out by Dahane and Pajgade (2016), travel intensity and transport demand are inclined to increase sharply when the town and city size increase, particularly when the activities’ major centers and city centre continue growing in terms of employment and size. Parking-related stress can be reduced by offering sufficient parking facilities that meet the parking demand. Therefore, the multi-storey car park is considered as the most suitable parking system in congested cities and towns because they are designed with numerous levels or floors for parking purposes. Without a doubt, the multi-level parking systems are not only secure but also environment-friendly and comfortable for the car owners. The system helps urban planners to plan the city better since it reduces traffic congestion and only requires lesser space for parking; thus, more space is left for open areas like recreational grounds and parks. Hoboken Garage A good example of automated parking system is the Hoboken Garage as evidenced in Lina (2008) study. The Hoboken Garage construction cost was $6.2 million and has been operating in the New Jersey, U.S. since 2002. The garage provides a Modular Automated Parking System (MAPS) that is patented. As mentioned by Lina (2008), the Hoboken Garage is utilized by only the local residents. All patrons have cards, which are positioned in the vehicles’ windshield. When the car owners drive into the garage, a sensor detects the card and transmits a signal to the computer indicating that the patron is approaching. At the bay, a green light is an indication for the patron to enter the garage. When the patrons enter the open bay, they are required to position their car, leave the car and then initiate the process of parking by pushing a button. The carrier on steel rails is guided by the central computer system towards an open aisle way with the aim of position close to the arrival station and its pallet. The entry module has an additional rack, which moves above the carrier’s upper surface and then it is inserted below the arrival station’s pallet. Both the Vehicle and the pallet are moved to the carrier. The computer directs the carrier with the vehicle as well as the pallet to move to the multilevel lifting system from the arrival station. After that, the vehicle and the pallet are moved into the lift, and when the designated parking level is reached, another carrier takes the pallet and also the car. This carrier moves the pallet and the car vehicle to the selected parking pace. The figure below shows how the car is transported on the pallet using carrier as well as lift. Figure Two: Hoboken Garage (Lina, 2008) Modular Automated Parking System (MAPS) The MAPS, according to Lina (2008) computerizes the pallets, mechanical lifts, carriers as well as the conveyors for vehicles’ parking and retrieval in multilevel modular garages. MAPS operation is facilitated by flexibility transfer technology. MAPSs have been improved by a new fuzzy logic-based technology with the aim of optimizing the lifts and carriers movement. MAPS make possible a number of cars to be moved autonomously all through the garage. In consequence, this facilitates the retrieval and storage of vehicles. Normally, human machine interface and computer are utilized to monitor MAPS so as to show the car movements in real time. Lina (2008) asserts that the HMI allows for the diagnostics and maintenance of the car park system and the computer could be accessed remotely. There are different types of MAPS; for instance, the Model RPS 1000 is an enormous parking garage capable of accommodating between 200 and 5000 cars. This type of MAPS is extremely flexible and its modular design allows for applications under a building, underground, above ground, inside the building, or on top of a building. Figure 3: Model RPS 1000 (Lina, 2008) Another type of MAPS Model RPS 100, which normally holds approximately 30 to 200 cars and it, is suitable for small sites that have increased demand for parking. Figure 4: Model RPS 100 (Lina, 2008) The third and fourth types of MAPS are the Model RPS 20W and Model RPS 20L, which are considered to be efficient space solution for small applications (mainly between 10 and 30 cars). Figure 5: Model RPS 20W (Lina, 2008) Figure 6: Model RPS 20L (Lina, 2008) Automatic Car Parking System in Singapore’s Central Business District As an automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) parking system, MHE Demag is used in Singapore’s CBD, whereby the Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) enables the drivers to efficiently park their vehicles. This system does not require steel structure; thus, resulting in substantial cost saving (MHE Demag, 2015). Besides that, the system reduces delays since it provides faster retrieval time, since the average time for retrieving a car is 2 minutes. This is more efficient as compared to the conventional multi-storey car parks that took between 10 and 15 minutes to retrieve a car. Figure 7: MHE-Demag parking solution M-Park @ Club Street is one of automated parking system located in Singapore’s CBD and it provides tan electronic parking system where a machine parks the vehicles automatically. The four-story 142-slot parking garage is owned by the Singapore’s Land Transport Authority and has helped reduce the space of land required for car parks. As mentioned by Yong (2011), the garage was constructed in 2008 and the overall parking process is decently simple, fast and smooth. The drivers are given instructions through electronic signs and then the car is secured through a prompted four-digit pin before being moved into the lift and rotated mechanically into the designated spot. To collect their cars, the drivers are required to need to key in the 4 digits pin number on the touch screen panel and the system would send the elevator to retrieve the vehicle. Figure 8: M-Park @ Club Street parking (Yong, 2011) Using Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) to Control the Car Parking According to Mamun et al. (2015), drivers normally benefit from a well-organized parking can since they are able to save not just time but also energy. For the multi-level car parking system, Mamun et al. (2015), posit that Infrared sensor (IR) electronic sensors could be installed at the gates where the cars enter and departure in order to sense the cars that are either entering or exiting. The sensors then send the input signals to programmable Logic Controller with the aim of counting how many vehicles enter and exit park respectively. This PLC-enabled system can automatically restrict and monitor the vehicles in the parking space. The vehicles in the park are the difference between the number of vehicles entering and those exiting. Therefore, when the cars are approaching the entry gate, a decision will be made by PLC whether there is parking space or not. Figure 9: PLC Enabled Car Parking System (Mamun, et al., 2015) According to Lina (2008), PLC can help the parking system to handle complex tasks like process control, position control, as well as other difficult applications. More importantly, the operation speed and programming case are drastically improved. References Agrawal, S. (2017). Fabrication of vertical car parking system- a prototype. International Journal on Research & Modern Trends in Engineering & Management, 2(1), 1-5. Dahane, R. A., & Pajgade, P. S. (2016). Design Of Multi-Level Car Parking. International Journal of Innovative and Emerging Research in Engineering, 3(1), 308-311. Dandotia, U. s., Gupta, R., & Pandey, M. (2016). study of analysis and design of multi level parking. International Journal of Engineering Development and Research, 4(2), 1412-1414. Harding, W. (1992, May). Mechanical Parking: The New Generation. Retrieved from Stokes Industries Co. Ltd.: http://www.stokesindustries.com/article/history Lina, L. (2008). Automated Parking System. Thesis, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Malacca, Malaysia. Mamun, A. A., Rahman, M., Ahamed, N. U., Ahmed, N., Hassnawi, L. A., & Yusof, Z. B. (2015). Automatic Car Parking and Controlling System Using Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, 10(1), 69-75. Mehta, C., Soni, J., & Patel, C. (2011 ). Microcontroller based Multi-Storey Parking. Nirma University International Conference on Engineering (NUiCONE) (pp. 1-4). Gujarat, India : IEEE. MHE Demag. (2015, August 25). Automated Car Parking System in Singapore's Central Business District. Retrieved from MHE Demag: http://mhe-demag.com/automated-car-parking-system-in-singapore.html Narone, S. G., Chabukswar, S. S., Valyal, S. A., Hirapure, R. B., & Solapure, V. R. (2015). Vertical Car Parking – A Prototype. International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering, 5(4), 199-203. Park Mark. (2016). Brief history of car parks. Retrieved from http://www.parkmark.co.uk/brief-history-of-car-parks Waghmare, A., Nirwan, T., Rahate, G., Shahu, A., Bhujade, K., & Saiyyed, A. A. (2016). INTRODUCTION TO MULTISTAGE CAR PARKING SYSTEM. IPASJ International Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 4(4), 16-19. Yong, M. (2011, July 12). Singapore: 21st Century Electronic Parking. Retrieved from Untapped Cities: http://untappedcities.com/2011/12/07/21st-century-parking/ Read More

After a while, a paternoster system, a Ferris wheel-like automated parking system was introduced in the 1920s, which turned out to be popular because it made it possible to park eight vehicles in a space normally reserved for two cars. According to Agrawal (2017), the paternoster system was mechanically undemanding and its footprint was exceedingly small; therefore, the system could be utilized easily in scores of places, including inside the buildings. In the same period, APS with over 1,000 cars capacities were being installed by Kent Automatic Garages.

Technology advancement, as mentioned by Agrawal (2017), led to the development of the world’s first driverless parking garage, which was first installed in Washington, D.C. in 1951. The interests in APS started increasing in mid-20th century, which saw the introduction of Bowser/Pigeon Hole/Roto Park systems. These systems were installed in 1957 and some systems remained operational for some years. The interests in APS, however, in some countries like the United States started diminishing because of the recurrent mechanical problems as well as delays when patrons were retrieving their cars.

However, the interests were renewed in the early 1990s, and as of 2012, there were approximately 25 major existing and intended APS projects (that represented almost 6,000 spaces). As it will be demonstrated later in this literature review, Hoboken garage is one of the first robotic parking garages to be opened in the U.S. Although U.S. interest in APS had started diminishing, other countries across Central America, Asia, and Europe, Asia had since the 1970s advanced the application of the automated parking systems.

In the 1990s, as pointed out by Agrawal (2017), Japan was constructing almost 40,000 parking spaces every year by means of paternoster APS. As of 2012, Japan had approximately 1.6 million APS parking spaces. Given that land is becoming scarce because of urbanization and high level of motorization, many countries have renewed interest in automated parking system as alternatives to parking lots, on-street parking as well as multi-story parking garages. People who have worked in Multi-level car parking According to Narone, Chabukswar, Valyal, Hirapure, and Solapure (2015), vertically park cars were first attempted in 1941, when O.A. Light developed a device which made it possible for three cars to be parked vertically, each side having three cars resulting in six parking spaces.

Some years later, an automated garage was invented by E.W. Austin and this invention turned out to be the leading automated parking system between the 1940s and 1960s. The systems were commonly referred as Bowser/Pigeon Hole/Roto Park systems. Austin was very active in the vertical parking system as evidence by three-car unit design that he introduced in 1945 and patented in 1948. All through these years, design and development were changed continuously with the aim of improving the automated car park.

Eric Jaulmes, in 1964, created automated parking management systems that are almost similar to the one utilized nowadays (Narone, Chabukswar, Valyal, Hirapure, & Solapure, 2015). Jaulmes’ system contained a valet that drove the vehicle into the elevator. Then the car would be taken by the elevator into a predetermined spot, where it would be parked by the valet. When returning down, the valet, if it had been requested could stop in a different space to retrieve a car. As mentioned by Narone, Chabukswar, Valyal, Hirapure, and Solapure (2015), a ‘Vert-a-Park’ system was invented in the mid-1960s by Bob Lichti.

The system resembled the Ferris wheel and allowed approximately 22 vehicles to be parked. As mentioned by Harding (1992), objections towards automatic garages were attributed to overreliance on a single elevator to service many multilevel car stalls; therefore, failure of the elevator would make it impossible to retrieve cars. For this reason, the Bowser/Pigeon Hole/Roto Park systems were considered unreliable.

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