The present invention relates to lifts and in particular to lifts for providing access to vehicles, for example to wheelchair users.

It is known to provide a lift for a vehicle that is stowed, for example, under the floor of the vehicle, and then movable into an extended position from which it can be lowered to the ground and raised to a level approximately level with the floor of the vehicle. This type of lift is commonly used in ambulances.

New regulations mean that it is becoming increasingly desirable to provide this type of lift for coaches. However, the problem of access to coaches is different to that of ambulances as the coach door is on the side of the vehicle, and the floor level of coaches is typically quite high.

Accordingly the present invention provides a lift system for a vehicle comprising a lift that is arranged to be raised and lowered to provide access to the vehicle and a height-adjustable floor section for the vehicle that is arranged to be lowered to allow access to the vehicle by foot, and raised to allow access from the lift to the vehicle.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a cross section through the vehicle of Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 is a partial longitudinal section through the vehicle of Figure 1 ;

Figure 4 is an enlargement of part of Figure 3 showing a height- adjustable floor section in more detail;

Figure 5 is a transverse section similar to Figure 2 showing a lift of the vehicle of Figure 1 in a deployed position;

Figure 6 is a transverse section similar to Figure 2 showing a lift of the vehicle of Figure 1 in a lowered position;

Figure 7 is a schematic perspective view of the vehicle of Figure 1 showing the lift in a lowered position and the height-adjustable floor section in a raised position;

Figure 8 is a partial section similar to Figure 4 showing the height- adjustable floor section in the raised position;

Figure 9 is a partial section similar to Figure 3 showing the system of Figure 1 in use;

Figure 10 is a schematic perspective view similar to Figure 1 showing the lift in the deployed position;

Figure 11 is a section similar to Figure 4 showing the lift in a raised position; and

Figure 12 is a side view of part of a system according to a second embodiment of the invention.

Figure 13 is a schematic perspective view of a vehicle according to a third embodiment of the invention.

Figure 14 is a schematic perspective view of a vehicle according to the third embodiment.

Figure 15 is a schematic perspective view of a vehicle according to the third embodiment.

Referring to Figures 1 to 3, a coach 10 according to an embodiment of the invention comprises a main passenger area 12 having a main floor area 14 supporting a number of seats 16. This main floor area is 1500mm above ground level. Forwards of this area 14 is a fixed floor area 18 separated from the main floor area 14 by a step 20, and 225mm lower than the main floor area 14. This lower fixed floor area 18 extends across the full width of the vehicle. Forward of the lower fixed floor area 18 on one side, the off side, of the vehicle is a driver's area 22. The floor 24 of the driver's area 22 is 225mm lower than that of the lower fixed floor area 18 and extends to the front end 26 of the coach. To the side of the driver's area 22, on the near side of the vehicle, is an access area 28. One part of this, closest to the driver's area 22, is taken up by a height- adjustable, or moveable, or raisable and lowerable, floor section 30, and another part, closest to the near side of the coach, is taken up by a flight of steps 32 leading down from the adjustable floor section 30 to a door 34 in the near side of the coach. In this embodiment the coach is right hand drive, so the left hand side is the near side and the right hand side is the off side. However, it will be appreciated that, in a right hand drive vehicle the right hand side will be the near side, and the left hand side the off side. To the rear of the adjustable floor section 30 is a narrow fixed floor section 31 , that is level with the adjustable floor section 30 when the adjustable floor section is in its lowered position. This narrow fixed

floor section 31 extends backwards to a line below the front edge of the fixed floor section 18. This leaves a step 33 between the front edge of the lower fixed floor section 18 and the level of the narrow fixed floor section 31 and lowered floor section 30.

Referring to Figures 3 and 4, the adjustable floor section 30 is mounted on a rear pair 36 and a front pair 38 of support arms. These are pivotably connected to a rigid part of the coach structure at their rear ends 40 and to the underside of the adjustable floor section 30 at their front ends. The support arms are arranged to pivot about their rear ends 40 to adjust the height of the adjustable floor section 30 between a lowered position as shown in Figures 1 to 4 and a raised position in which it is level with the lower fixed floor area 18 as shown in Figures 7 and 8. When the adjustable floor section 30 is in its lowered position the support arms are inclined slightly upwards toward the front, so that as the adjustable floor section 30 is raised they rotate upwards and backwards about their rear ends, so that the adjustable floor section 30 moves upwards and backwards until its rear edge 42 abuts against the front edge 44 of the lower fixed floor section 18. A support lip 45 is provided along this front edge 44, i.e. along the vertical part of the step 33, with its top surface spaced down from the top of the fixed floor section by a distance equal to the thickness of the floor section 30. Therefore when the floor section 30 is in the raised position, its rear edge 42 is supported on the lip 45, and its top surface is flush with that of the fixed floor section 18. Raising and lowering of the adjustable floor section 30 is performed by a pair of hydraulic piston and cylinder actuators 46 connected between the rear ends 40 of the front support arms 38 and the front ends 48 of the rear support arms 36. The rear edge 42 of the floor section 30 has a sensing strip 49 along it that is arranged to sense when the rear edge 42 contacts the edge of the fixed floor section 18. A similar strip is provided along the underside of the edge of the floor section 30 nearest the steps 32. This

is arranged to detect when the floor section 30 reaches its fully lowered position. These sensors further provide a safety function that will be described below.

As can be seen in Figure 2 the vertical distance between the raised and lowered positions of the adjustable floor section 30 is 225mm so that, in its lowered position it is level with the floor 24 of the driver's area 22. Also, when the adjustable floor section 30 is in the lowered position, its left hand edge 51 , which is nearest the steps 32 runs in the longitudinal direction of the coach, parallel to the edges of the steps 32, and is above and parallel to the rear edge 50 of the uppermost fixed step 52 of the flight 32, by a distance of 225mm. This is a step height that is consistent with current regulations. From a practical point of view this distance could be anywhere within the range 200mm to 300mm, preferably 200mm to 250mm. Therefore the adjustable floor section 30 forms a top step of the flight 32 in this position. A passenger entering the coach on foot can climb the steps, each of which is 225mm high, step up from the uppermost fixed step 52 onto the adjustable floor section 30, turn, and then step up from the rear edge 42 of the adjustable floor section 30 onto the lower fixed floor section 18. The height between the lowered adjustable floor section 30 and the lower fixed floor section is again 225mm, but could be within the range 200 to 300mm, preferably 200 to 250mm. From there they can further step up the further 225mm step 20 to the main fixed floor area 14 to enter the main passenger area 12.

Referring to Figures 2, 5 and 6, a lift 60 is stowed, when in its stowed condition, in a stowage box 62, which extends transversely across the coach 10 beneath the steps 32, adjustable floor section 30 and driver area 22. The box 62 is approximately 220mm high, being the same height as each of the steps 32, with its lower side 64 level with the underside of the coach body 66 and the bottom step 68 of the flight 32, and its upper side

70 level with second step 72. The front face 74 of the stowage box 62 is open. The lift comprises a carriage 76 which can be slid, by means of an electric motor 77 to a deployed position at the front of the stowage box, and a stowed position at the rear of the stowage box 62. Four lifting arms 78 are pivotably connected at one end to the front of the carriage 76, and a platform 80 supported on the other ends of the lifting arms 78. The lift also includes foldable handrails 82, which can be folded down onto the platform 80", and up into an in-use position, by hydraulic actuators 83. An inner bridge plate 84 can be unfolded from the inner edge of the platform 80, by means of a hydraulic actuator 85, to form a bridge over the gap between the platform 80 and the adjustable floor section 30. An outer bridge plate 86 can be unfolded from the outer edge of the platform 80, by means of a hydraulic actuator 87, to form a bridge between the outer edge of the platform 80 and the ground. When this bridge plate 86 is in its vertical stowed position, and the lift 60 is retracted into the stowage box 62, this bridge plate 86 forms the riser between the bottom step 68 and the second step 72. A further hydraulic actuator 88 is provided, acting between the lifting arms 78, to raise and lower the platform 80.

The electric motor 77 is controlled by a system controller 90, which also controls a hydraulic controller 91 which in turn controls the flow of hydraulic fluid, supplied under pressure by a pump 92 from a reservoir 94, via feed and return lines 96 to and from the hydraulic actuators 83, 85, 87, 88 to control raising and lowering of the platform 80, the handrails 82, and the bridge plates 84, 86. The system controller 90 is connected to a user operated control input 98, which is located in the vehicle in the driver's area 22. The control input 98 is in the form of a handset having four buttons 100, 102, 104, 106, the function of which will be described below. The controller 90 also receives inputs from the sensors 49 on the rear and left hand edges of the adjustable floor section 30 so that it can detect when the floor section has reached its fully raised

and lowered positions. It should be noted that the controller 90 is dedicated to control of the lift and adjustable floor section 30, but is also arranged to receive as an input a signal from another control system on the vehicle, or a separate sensor, indicating whether the door 34 is open or closed. The hydraulic system is also self-contained so that it can be fitted to the vehicle as part of the lift system.

In operation, as indicated above, when the lift is not in use, the lift is stowed in the stowage box 62 and the adjustable floor section 30 is in the lowered position as shown in Figures 1 to 4. In order to deploy the lift, one of the buttons 100, which is a lift out/up button is pressed. The controller 90 interprets this as a request to deploy the lift 60 and controls the electric motor 77 to slide the lift 60, from the stowed position of Figure 2, out of the stowage box 62 into the deployed position of Figure 5, and then to raise the handrails 82 and bridge plates 86, 84 into vertical positions as also shown in Figure 5. Simultaneously with this movement of the lift 60, the controller 90 also controls the actuator 46 of the adjustable floor section 30 to raise the adjustable floor section 30 to its raised position as shown in Figures 7 to 9. It uses the sensor 49 to detect when the raised position is reached and stops raising the floor section 30 at that point. The controller 70 is arranged to stop raising the floor whenever it receives a signal from the sensor 49, so that if an obstacle such as a passenger's leg or foot, becomes trapped between the floor section 30 and the fixed floor section 18, the controller will stop raising the floor thereby preventing the obstacle from being crushed. In this case, assuming there are no obstacles, the floor section 30 is arranged to reach its raised position within about 5 seconds, and the lift 60 is arranged to reach the deployed position within about 8 seconds. When the lift 60 has reached its deployed position, the handrails 82 and inner bridge plate 84 are raised to their vertical positions as shown in Figure 5 in response to pressing the bridge plate / hand rails deploy button 104. The lift can then

be raised or lowered using the lift out / up button 100 or the lift down / in button 102. Assuming that the out / up button 100 is pressed, the lift is then raised to its raised position in which the lift platform 80 is substantially level with the raised adjustable floor section 30, and the inner bridge plate 84 lowered so that its end rests on the adjustable floor section 30, as shown in Figures 10 and 11, bridging the gap between the lift platform 80 and the adjustable floor section 30. A wheelchair 108 that has been located on the lower fixed floor area 18 can then be pushed onto the adjustable floor section 30, and from there over the inner bridge plate 84 onto the raised lift platform 80 as shown in Figure 11.

Because the adjustable floor section is about 900mm wide from the side nearest the driver to the side nearest the door, there is sufficient room on it for a wheelchair to be turned through ninety degrees as it is pushed onto, or off the lift. Because of the fixed distance between the door and the edge of the driver's area, this area is only large enough because the floor section 30 extends all of the way to the top of the steps 32 when in its lowered position.

When the lift 60 is to be lowered from the raised position to the lowered position, the lift down / in button 102 is pressed. This is recognised by the controller 90, as the lift 60 is in the raised position, as a request to lower the lift 60. The controller responds by lifting the inner bridge plate 84 to its vertical position, lowering the lift to its lowered position, and lowering the outer bridge plate 86, so that the lift is in the position shown in Figure 6. This allows the wheelchair 108 to be pushed off the lift onto the ground. If the lift is to be raised again, either to allow another wheelchair to leave the coach or to lift another one into the coach, the lift up/out button is pressed. This causes the controller to raise the outer bridge plate 86, raise the lift back up to the raised position, and lower the inner bridge plate 84 onto the adjustable floor section 30.

If it is desired to stow the lift away, whether it is in the raised or lowered position, the bridge plate / handrails stow button 106 is pressed, which causes the controller to fold down the handrails 82 and the inner bridge plate 84. The lift down / in button is then pressed which, because the handrails and bridge plates are stowed, is recognized as a request to stow the lift. The controller therefore causes the lift to be raised or lowered to be level with the stowage box 62, and the electric motor 77 powered to withdraw the folded lift into the stowage box 62. As the lift is being retracted, the controller also lowers the adjustable floor section 30 to its lowered level, thus returning the system to its normal condition for normal passenger entry and exit. It detects when the lowered level is reached using the sensor on the left hand edge of the adjustable floor section, and uses this as a signal to stop lowering the floor section 30. If before the lowered position is raised an obstacle, such as a passenger's foot, becomes trapped under the edge of the floor section 30, the sensor will send a signal to the controller 70 which will respond by stopping lowering the floor section. This provides a safety feature to prevent crushing of part of a passenger, or other obstacle.

It will be appreciated that the embodiment described above has many benefits. When the lift is stowed and the adjustable floor section lowered, they do not take up any significant space in the access area 28 or the fixed floor area 18 or the main passenger area. This is an advantage over other systems that for example, fold against the front windscreen of the coach, or require separate access through the side of the coach not through the main passenger door. Also the adjustable height floor section 30 enables normal access by foot to be made up a series of steps, the flight 32 and the step up from the floor section 30 to the lower fixed floor section 18, which meet tight requirements of height and tread depth, for example as specified in EU directive 2001/85/EC and the UK Public

Services Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000. Specifically all of the steps are around 225mm in height. Furthermore, as can best be seen in Figure 3, the height of the adjustable floor section 30 when in its lowered position is low enough to allow sufficient headroom for an adult standing on it. The regulations mentioned above refer to a 'cylindrical gauge' that is a representation of the space that a standing adult needs. The arrangement described above allows sufficient room, and in particular headroom, within the access area 28 because the adjustable floor section 30 can be lowered when not in use for the lift 60. Also, as shown in Figure 3, the approach angle 'a' of the coach is not affected by the lift, as the lift is stowed within the side profile of the coach bodywork as seen in Figure 3.

It will be appreciated that various modifications can be made to the embodiment described above, depending on the particular requirements of any coach. For example, the raising and lowering mechanism for the adjustable floor section may be different, and may use a pneumatic system, for example using air bags, or electric motors or actuators. These might lift and lower the floor section vertically, rather than on rotating arms as in the embodiment described. Also the shape and size of the adjustable floor section can be varied, although it will generally be desired to make it as large as packaging constraints allow. The control of the adjustable floor section and lift can also be varied as required. For example they could each be independently controllable by the driver or other user.

Various interlocks can also be added to the system. For example the controller can then be arranged to control the system so that the lift can only be deployed, or possibly only be raised, when the adjustable floor section is in its raised position, as detected by the sensor strip. The controller can also be arranged to control the adjustable floor section so

that it is always lowered when the lift is stowed. Interlocks can also be provided with the operation of the door 34, which will generally be opened and closed by an actuator. In particular the controller can prevent deployment of the lift unless the door is fully open, as detected by a door sensor.

Referring to Figure 12, a second embodiment of the invention is similar to the first, except that the support arms 136, 138 of the adjustable floor area 130 are adjustable in length. To achieve this the arms 136, 138 are each formed in two halves 136a, 136b, 138a, 138b with a screw threaded adjustor 139 acting between the two halves. This enables the length of each of the arms, and therefore the height of the rear edge, front edge, and both side edges of the floor section 130 to be adjusted. The advantage of this is mainly that the rear edge of the floor section 130 can be adjusted so that, when the floor section is in the raised position in which it abuts the edge of the lower fixed floor section 18, it is level with the lower fixed floor section 118. In this embodiment the support arms 136, 138 could be moved towards the front of the vehicle, to be in a similar position to those shown in Figure 4, so that they do not need to be let into the narrow area of fixed floor to the rear of the lowered adjustable floor section, as is necessary for the arrangement shown in Figure 12.

Referring to Figures 13 to 15, a coach 300 according to a third embodiment is similar to the coach 10 of the first embodiment and similar features have been given corresponding reference numerals. The coach 300 has a similar main passenger area 12 and floor area 14. Forward of its floor area 318 on the off side is the driver's area 22 and on the near side is the access area 28. The fixed floor area 318 differs from the corresponding area 18 of the first embodiment in that it 318 extends into the area between the driver's area 22 and the flight of steps 332. The extended part 319 of the floor section 318 corresponds in length to the

length of each step in the flight 332. The length is measured in the direction from the front to the rear of the coach 300. There is thus an additional step 352 which is the uppermost fixed step of the flight 332. The steps of the flight 332 are of the same dimensions as the steps of the flight 32 of the first embodiment. The width of the floor section of the fixed floor area 318 adjacent the driver is about one step width less than the width of the adjustable floor section 30 of the first embodiment.

An adjustable floor section 330 in the form of a retractable step is housed beneath the lower fixed floor area 318 adjacent the top step 352. The retractable step is moveable between an extended position, projecting from the riser 353 between the uppermost fixed step 352 and the upper surface of the lower fixed floor area 318, and a retracted position in which it is stowed under the floor area 318 having its front edge 354 flush with the front face 353. The retractable step 330 has a top surface 331 which is flush with the lower fixed floor area 318 when the step 330 is in its extended position. The retractable step 330 is of the same length as the other steps in the flight 332 (and the same length as the extended part 319 of the floor section 318) . When the step 330 is in its retracted position, easy access to the coach 300 is possible by foot by climbing the steps 332. When the step 330 is in its extended position it is parallel to and above the tread of the top fixed step 352 and forms an extended part of the lower fixed floor area 318. The lift 60 can then be used to gain easy access to the vehicle - the inner bridge plate 84 is deployed as in the first embodiment to rest on the extended step 330 (as shown in Figure 15) .

The step 330 is mounted on moveable support arms located beneath the lower fixed floor area 318 and driven by hydraulic actuations which are controlled by the controller 90. The control mechanism for deployment of the lift 60 and step 330 between its retracted and extended positions is

similar to that of the first embodiment so that a similar control input 98 is used to deploy the lift 60 and step 330.

When the step 330 is in its extended position, the area of the fixed floor area 318 adjacent the driver's area 22 is effectively increased to provide sufficient room for a wheelchair to be turned through ninety degrees as it is pushed onto or off the lift.

In other embodiments the adjustable floor section 30 may be retractable instead of height adjustable. The retractable step 330 may be height adjustable. Either of the adjustable floor sections may be foldable and may be rotatably mounted to move between their lift access and foot access positions.