Component Parts of a Mechanical Parking Garage

A mechanical parking garage is composed of numerous tightly interconnected components. If any single component malfunctions, the entire system will fail to operate properly. To quickly and accurately locate problems when malfunctions occur, it is essential to understand the complete component parts of a mechanical parking garage.

The steel structure frame includes:(1) Main structural frame: Used to bear the weight of the garage’s own components and the weight of stored vehicles (by supporting the vehicle-carrying plate frames of the parking compartments). The outermost layer is covered with exterior decorative panels (which can be used for spray-painted outdoor sign advertisements or attached with TV screens).(2) Internal structural brackets: Used to form parking compartments and support some mechanical and electrical components inside the parking garage.

The design and manufacture of the steel structure frame shall comply with the provisions of GB/T 3811 Crane Design Code. If necessary, some steel structure frames can be hot-dip galvanized or electro-galvanized.

The vehicle-carrying plate is placed on the vehicle-carrying plate frame within the steel structure frame and is used to transport and support vehicles. It shall be made of non-combustible materials, be lightweight while having sufficient strength and rigidity, and be capable of preventing liquid leakage.

According to its structural form, vehicle-carrying plates can be divided into frame-type and panel-assembled type.

The lifting device consists of:(1) Traction drive unit: Including the motor, reducer, and brake.(2) Transmission components: Including wire ropes and pulleys (or lifting chains and sprockets), etc.(3) Lifter: Composed of a vehicle-carrying platform and traversing slides. The vehicle-carrying platform is a rectangular frame made of left/right vertical frames and front/rear crossbeams, used to support vehicles during lifting.(4) Counterweight and balance chain: Familiar to elevator designers.(5) Lifting guide rails and counterweight guide rails.

The traction drive unit lifts or lowers the vehicle-carrying platform via wire ropes (or chains), while the counterweight moves accordingly to balance the weight—this helps reduce the motor power required.

Currently, there are multiple design types of traversing devices. For the commonly used sliding fork-type traversing device, its working process is as follows: The motor drives the long shaft to rotate through chain transmission; the two ends of the long shaft drive the three-stage sliding forks at both ends to perform synchronous lateral movement via chains and sprockets, thereby realizing the lateral movement of the vehicle.

The three-stage sliding fork is composed of a support plate, guide wheels, second/third-stage sliding forks, sprockets, racks, gearboxes, etc. The chain transmission in the second and third-stage sliding forks is equipped with a "stroke doubling mechanism".

The electrical control system is one of the core technologies of vertical lifting parking garages. It completes all vehicle storage and retrieval actions through computer programs based on input operation commands, and is directly related to the speed of vehicle storage and retrieval.

The electrical control system mainly includes:(1) Power supply section: Provides power required for various actions and corresponding automatic power protection functions (such as short-circuit, overload, phase loss, and phase sequence error protection).(2) Program control section: Analyzes vehicle storage/retrieval programs based on input commands and outputs various control action instructions.(3) Call operation panel and signal indication section: Used to input vehicle storage/retrieval commands and display working status or fault information. The operation can be carried out in fully automatic mode or manual step-by-step mode.(4) Speed regulation section: More advanced systems use frequency converters to control motors or pump stations, realizing the adjustment of lifting speed and traversing speed.(5) Automatic fault tracking, detection, and handling section.

Safety protection devices shall comply with GB 17907-1999 General Safety Requirements for Mechanical Parking Equipment. Generally, the following devices are installed:(1) Emergency stop switch;(2) Over-travel prevention device (over-limit switch);(3) Vehicle length, width, height, and weight limitation device;(4) Vehicle stopping device (to prevent vehicles from sliding on the lifter);(5) Vehicle position detection device on the vehicle-carrying plate;(6) Interlocking safety inspection device for entrance/exit doors and enclosures;(7) Automatic detection device for preventing overlapping parking;(8) Warning device for vehicles entering/exiting the parking garage;(9) Protection devices against overspeed, over-lifting, and over-lowering of the lifting device (e.g., lifter buffers and counterweight buffers);(10) Anti-pinch device for the automatic entrance/exit door of the parking garage;(11) Automatic operation stop device when a vehicle door is accidentally opened;(12) Braking protection during power failure and normal operation protection during power recovery.

The parking garage door refers to the door for vehicles to enter and exit the parking garage. Its main functions are: preventing personnel from entering when the lifter is not parked in the correct position; and preventing unauthorized persons from entering when the garage is unattended.

Other auxiliary equipment includes:(1) Ventilation, smoke exhaust, and heating equipment;(2) Lighting equipment;(3) Fire-fighting equipment;(4) Drainage equipment;(5) Lightning protection facilities;(6) Power supply equipment;(7) Monitoring and automatic toll collection equipment.