Pallet-based Freight Vehicle
A visualisation of an ULTra container vehicle, based on the aviation industry concept.
The use of different types of containers would allow vehicles to transport a variety of freight (e.g. dry material, waste and cold storage) on the same network.
ULTra vehicles can also be modified to carry freight, with the flat floor and large door opening area allowing pallet-based goods to be easily loaded and unloaded.
For a specific application which requires the movement of freight goods, ULTra PRT can develop and implement a freight, cold storage and waste handling solution that provides the maximum flexibility for PRT and minimum delays in freight handling.
The visualisation seen on the right gives an example of a freight vehicle which can be provided, specified to take a EURO 2 pallet with 1.5m height and maximum 600kg loading. These are containerised to provide rapid loading and unloading using rollers mounted on the vehicle and freight deck, facilitating easy manual operation. Once correctly loaded the container interlocks with the vehicle (requiring an electronic release), and the loader would notify the central controller to dispatch the vehicle to its destination for unloading.
Whilst in transit the freight PRT vehicle will, to the casual eye, look in keeping with the remainder of the vehicles, thus maintaining the prestigious appearance of the PRT system. There may be further opportunity (because of multi-use and rapid loading/unloading) to reduce the overall number of vehicles required, and applying such a standard approach to the two types of vehicle will allow the system to interoperate both freight and passenger vehicles to its full potential.
