Patent Application
20220298757
The present invention relates to a technical field for an automatic sensor identification system and identification method in construction machines such as a hydraulic excavator.
In general, some construction machines such as a hydraulic excavator have an articulated working machine configured by rotatably connecting multiple front members. Moreover, in the construction machine having such articulated working machine, it is well known that each posture information detection sensor (IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), for example) is mounted on each of multiple front members constituting the working machine (boom, stick, bucket, and others, constituting front working machine, for example in hydraulic excavator) for detecting posture information of each front member, a detection signal is input into a control unit from each posture information detection sensor via an onboard network, a posture of each front member is calculated in the control unit, and the calculated posture of front members is displayed on a display unit such as a monitor and made use of for movable range restriction and automatic control of the working machine.
Now, when configuring the working machine to mount multiple posture information detection sensors such as said IMU respectively on multiple front members, input the detection signal from the posture information detection sensors into the control unit via the onboard network, and calculate the posture of front members in the control unit, and if those posture information detection sensors are used which have a common specification mountable on various front members, in order to make it possible to identify which detection signal input denotes the posture information of which front member, it is necessary to identify which one of multiple posture information detection sensors is respectively mounted on which front member. Here, it takes some time and labor to sequentially mount the posture information detection sensors one by one on the front members and perform their identification, because it must be repeated as much time as the number of posture information detection sensors to install and identify the posture information detection sensors. Meanwhile, an identification task mentioned above will be eliminated by using the posture information detection sensor with dedicated identification information for each front member, but the posture information detection sensors cannot be standardized, it takes labor and cost to manage their parts, and wrong posture information detection sensor may be mounted on the front member when mounting each sensor on the front member.
Therefore, a technology is proposed heretofore which, based on a motion of front member obtained as a result of an operation driving one of multiple front members alone and an existence of a change of the posture information detected in the posture information detection sensor, provides a mounted point determination unit to determine a mounted point of posture information detection sensor mounted on a front member corresponding to an operation signal detected in an operation signal detection unit (see PTL 1, for example). This technology enables you to identify which posture information detection sensor is mounted on which front member while mounting the multiple posture information detection sensors on respective front members, so that posture information detection sensors can be standardized and wrong mounting of posture information detection sensor can be eliminated.
[PATENT LITERATURE 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2019-27062
However, in PTL 1 mentioned above, when identifying which posture information detection sensor is mounted on which front member, an operator is supposed to perform an operation to sequentially drive one of multiple front members alone. In addition, since the identification of posture information detection sensors mounted on front members of the working machine is performed in order of distal to proximal, similar to a first embodiment of PTL 1, when the identification goes on in parallel with common tasks such as a digging in hydraulic excavator, it may take time to complete the identification because multiple front members are often driven at a same time in the common tasks such as the digging, and there arises a problem that the posture information of front members cannot be obtained until their identification is completed. On the other hand, in a third embodiment of PTL 1, a mode is configured to perform the identification task and a display is shown to encourage the operator to operate a front member related to the identification in the mode, but the operator has to perform the operation to sequentially drive one of multiple front members individually even though its operating procedures are shown, and it takes labor and the task is a burden of the operator. This is a challenge to be solved by this invention.
The present invention is created to solve these challenges in consideration of current condition above. The invention of claim 1 is an automatic sensor identification system in a construction machine, wherein the construction machine has: an articulated working machine installed on a vehicle body and configured by rotatably connecting multiple front members, a front member driving means for driving each of said multiple front members, multiple posture information detection sensors mounted on said multiple front members respectively for detecting posture information of said front members, and a control unit calculating a posture of front members based on detection signals from the posture information detection sensors; and wherein, when providing the automatic identification system for performing an identification task to identify which one of said multiple posture information detection sensors is mounted respectively on which front member, the automatic identification system has: a task starting means operated for starting the identification task, a front member control means for outputting a control instruction to said front member driving means to drive and stop said multiple front members sequentially, individually, and automatically, and a sensor identification means for identifying the posture information detection sensor mounted on each front member based on changes of a detection value from the posture information detection sensor as said each front member is driven by the front member control means.
The invention of claim 2 is the automatic sensor identification system in the construction machine of claim 1, wherein the automatic identification system has a mode selection means for selecting a mode to start up the automatic identification system
The invention of claim 3 is the automatic sensor identification system in the construction machine of claim 1 or 2, wherein automatic drive and stop processes of the multiple front members by the front member control means go on only when a task progression means is operating.
The invention of claim 4 is the automatic sensor identification system in the construction machine of claim 3, wherein the task starting means is also used as the task progression means.
The invention of claim 5 is an automatic sensor identification method in a construction machine to identify which one of multiple posture information detection sensors is mounted respectively on which front member, wherein the construction machine has: an articulated working machine installed on a vehicle body and configured by rotatably connecting multiple front members, a front member driving means for driving each of said multiple front members, the multiple posture information detection sensors mounted on said multiple front members respectively for detecting posture information of said front members, and a control unit calculating a posture of the front members based on detection signals from the posture information detection sensors; and wherein the identification method comprises: operating a task starting means for starting an identification task, outputting the control instruction from a front member control means to said front member driving means to drive and stop the multiple front members sequentially, individually, and automatically, and identifying the posture information detection sensor mounted on each front member based on changes of a detection value from the posture information detection sensor as said each front member is driven by the front member control means.
According to the invention of claims 1, 5, the identification task of posture information detection sensor is performed automatically only when the operator operates the task starting means, so that a lot of trouble can be eliminated, the operator's burden can be reduced, and an identification error can be avoided due to a mis-operation of operator.
According to the invention of claim 2, the automatic identification system is not started up when a mode is not selected, so that unintended startup of automatic identification task can be avoided due to a mis-operation of the task starting means.
According to the invention of claim 3, the operator can be aware of drive and stop processes of front members even if front members are automatically driven and stopped, and when the operator stops the operation of task progression means, automatic drive and stop processes of front members are stopped, thereby responding to unexpected incident.
According to the invention of claim 4, the members can be used for diverse purposes and the operator can successively perform a startup and progression of identification task with one operation means, being excellent in operability.
Now, an explanation is provided below about an embodiment of the present invention based on drawings. In the
A cab 11 as an operating room of operator and engine room 12 storing various types of equipment such as an engine are mounted on the upper swiveling body 3, and a hydraulic system (not shown in
Here, an explanation will be given roughly to hydraulic control of the boom cylinder 8 and stick cylinder 9 according to
Meanwhile, the symbols 22a to 22c are IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) measuring angular velocity and acceleration. These IMUs 22a to 22c are equivalent to posture information detection sensors of this invention; but in this embodiment, as shown in
Then, an explanation will be given about a control related to both the IMUs 22a to 22c and automatic identification system of all controls performed by the controller 21 based on the structure block diagram in
As shown in the structure block diagram in
The automatic identification task performed based on the control of the automatic identification control part 25 is to identify which one of IMU 22 is mounted on which one of mounting members 6, 5, and 3; the automatic identification task is performed when the correspondence between IMU 22 and mounting members 6, 5, and 3 is not stored in the memory 26 such as when one of IMU 22 is mounted newly on the hydraulic excavator 1, when the correspondence already stored in memory 26 is requested to be updated such as when replacing IMU 22, and others; and in this embodiment, the automatic identification task is configured to be started based on the operation of the monitor unit 13.
As mentioned above, the monitor unit 13 is arranged in the cab 11 and is able to display various images and various types of body information on a screen and configure various settings; but this unit has various operation means operable by operator such as a touch operation part shown in a screen and an operation key or button arranged adjacent to the screen; as an operation means of the monitor unit 13, a mode selection switch 13a and identification task start button 13b mentioned later and used for automatic identification task are provided, and in the screen of the monitor unit 13, the progress and result of automatic identification task are displayed with figures and characters. Note that the mode selection switch 13a and identification task start button 13b are equivalent to the mode selection means and task starting means of this invention.
Next, an explanation will be given about a control of automatic identification task performed by the automatic identification control part 25 based on the flow chart diagram in
If the judgment is “YES” in the step S1, that is, if “automatic identification task mode” is selected, it is further judged whether an operation to start the identification task is performed (step S2). In this embodiment, the operation to start the identification task is to be performed when the operator pushes the identification task start button 13b provided on the monitor unit 13.
If the judgment is “NO” in the step S1, that is, if “automatic identification task mode” is not selected, the flow goes back to the judgment in step S1. Also, if the judgment is “NO” in step S2, that is, if the operation to start the identification task is not performed, the flow goes back to the judgment in the step S2.
Meanwhile, if the judgment is “YES” in the step S2, that is, if the operation to start the identification task is performed (identification task start button 13b is pushed), the controller 21 outputs the control instruction to drive the stick 6 alone in-side (step S3). In particular, the control instruction to output a pilot pressure to proportional solenoid valve 20A for stick extended side is output by the controller 21, thus the stick control valve 18 is switched to extended operating position X to extend a stick cylinder 9, thereby driving the stick 6 in-side.
Then, the controller 21 judges whether there is any one of IMU 22 where the detection value changes not less than preset threshold, among a plurality of IMU 22 into which a detection value is input (step S4). This judgment in step S4 continues until the change of detection value in any one of IMU 22 will be greater than or equal to the threshold.
If the judgment is “YES” in the step S4, that is, if there is any one of IMU 22 where the detection value changed not less than preset threshold, the one of IMU 22 is identified to be the stick IMU 22a mounted on the stick 6, and a correspondence between the individual identification number of the stick IMU 22a and the estick 6 is registered and stored in memory 26 (step S5). That is to say, when the stick 6 is driven alone in the operation in step S3, the detection value of IMU 22a mounted on the stick 6 should change and the detection value of IMU 22 mounted on the boom 5 and upper swiveling body 3 should not change, so IMU 22a with changed detection value is identifiable to be stick IMU 22a; in this case, a case of misjudgment where the detection value changed a little due to a vibration and others can be excluded by setting the change to not less than the threshold.
After the operation in the step S5 ended, the controller 21 outputs the control instruction to stop driving the stick 6 in-side (step S6). In particular, the controller stops the control instruction to output the pilot pressure to proportional solenoid valve 20A for stick extended side, thus the stick control valve 18 is returned to neutral position N to stop the stick cylinder 9, thereby stopping driving the stick 6.
After the operation in the step S6 ended, the controller 21 further outputs the control instruction to drive the boom 5 alone (step S7). In particular, the control instruction to output the pilot pressure to proportional solenoid valve 19A for boom extended side is output by the controller 21, thus the boom control valve 17 is switched to extended operating position X to extend the boom cylinder 8, thereby moving the boom 5 up.
Then, the controller 21 judges whether there is any one of IMU 22 except the stick IMU 22a where the detection value changes not less than preset threshold, among a plurality of IMU 22 into which a detection value is input (step S8). This judgment in step S8 continues until the change of the detection value in any one of IMU 22 except stick IMU 22a will be greater than or equal to the threshold.
If the judgment is “YES” in the step S8, that is, if there is any one of IMU 22 except stick IMU 22a where the detection value changed not less than preset threshold, the one of IMU 22 is identified to be a boom IMU 22b mounted on the boom 5, and a correspondence between the individual identification number of the boom IMU 22b and the boom 5 is registered and stored in memory 26 (step S9). That is to say, when the boom 5 is driven alone in the operation in step S7, the detection value of IMU 22b mounted on the boom 5 and IMU 22a mounted on the stick 6 coupled with the end part of boom 5 should change and the detection value of IMU 22c mounted on the upper swiveling body 3 should not change, so IMU 22b with changed detection value except stick IMU 22a is identifiable to be boom IMU 22b; in this case, similar to stick IMU 22a, a case of misjudgment where the detection value is changed a little due to a vibration and others can be excluded by setting the change to not less than the threshold.
After the operation in the step S9 ended, the controller 21 outputs the control instruction to stop driving the boom 5 (step S10). In particular, the controller stops the control instruction to output the pilot pressure to proportional solenoid valve 19A for boom extended side, thus the boom control valve 17 is returned to neutral position N to stop the boom cylinder 8, thereby stopping driving the boom 5.
After the operation in the step S10 ended, the controller 21 identifies IMU 22c except stick IMU 22a and boom IMU 22b identified respectively in the steps S5 and S9 as vehicle body IMU 22c mounted on the upper swiveling body 3, and a correspondence between the individual identification number of the vehicle body IMU 22c and the upper swiveling body 3 is registered and stored in memory 26 (step S10). Thus, all IMU 22a to 22c are identified as being mounted on any one of mounting members (stick 6, boom 5, and upper swiveling body 3) and the automatic identification task ends.
In addition, in the control performed by the automatic identification control part 25, the control in steps S3, S6, S7, and S10 is performed by front member control means 25a provided in the automatic identification control part 25, and the control in steps S4, S5, S8, S9, and S11 is performed by sensor identification means 25b provided in the automatic identification control part 25.
Also, the operation to start the identification task, that is, the operator's operation who pushes the identification task start button 13b, is equivalent to the step to operate the task starting means for starting the identification task of this invention; the steps S3, S6, S7, and S10 are equivalent to the step to output the control instruction from front member control means of this invention to front member driving means to drive and stop multiple front members sequentially, individually, and automatically; the steps S4, S5, S8, and S9 are equivalent to the step to identify the posture information detection sensor mounted on each front member based on changes of the detection value from posture information detection sensor as the each front member is driven by the front member control means.
The correspondence between respective IMUs 22a to 22c and mounting members 6, 5, and 3 registered in the memory 26 is used when calculating the posture of the stick 6, boom 5, and upper swiveling body 3 in the posture calculation part 27. That is to say, the posture calculation part 27 identifies which detection signal is output from which IMU 22a, 22b, or 22c mounted on which one of mounting members 6, 5, or 3 based on the fixed identification number added to the detection signal input from IMUs 22a to 22c and the correspondence stored in the memory 26. Then, the posture calculation part 27 calculates the posture of mounting members 6, 5, and 3 where the IMUs 22a to 22c are mounted based on the measured value of IMUs 22a to 22c. For example, in this embodiment, a tilt angle of stick 6 is calculated according to the measured value of stick IMU 22a mounted on the stick 6, the tilt angle of boom 5 is calculated based on the measured value of boom IMU 22b mounted on the boom 5, and the tilt angle of upper swiveling body 3 is calculated according to vehicle body IMU 22c mounted on swiveling frame 3a of the upper swiveling body 3. Moreover, the posture calculation part 27 is configured to calculate various postures and positions (tilt of upper swiveling body 3, position of boom 5, stick 6, and bucket 7 in a coordinate system with reference to upper swiveling body 3, and others, for example) of hydraulic excavator 1 based on calculated postures of these mounting members 6, 5, and 3 and various types of data preliminarily input (supporting part's position of boom 5 related to upper swiveling body 3, length between supporting parts of boom 5, stick 6, and bucket 7, and others, for example), display the various types of posture and position information calculated on the monitor unit 13, and output it to various control means (not shown) in order to use it for various automatic controls such as movable range restriction control of front working machine 4.
In this embodiment configured as described above, an articulated front working machine 4 rotatably connecting multiple front members such as the stick 6 and boom 5 is installed on the upper swiveling body 3 as a vehicle body, and IMUs 22a to 22c as the posture information detection sensor for detecting the posture information are mounted respectively on the stick 6, boom 5, and upper swiveling body 3. And, the posture of stick 6, boom 5, and upper swiveling body 3 is calculated by the controller (control unit) 21 based on the detection signal from these IMUs 22a to 22c, the calculation result is displayed on the display unit such as monitor unit 13 and used for various automatic controls; an automatic identification system is provided in this controller which performs the identification task to identify which one of IMU 22 is mounted respectively on which one of front members (stick 6, boom 5) when a plurality of IMU 22 is mounted newly; the automatic identification system is configured to have the identification task start button 13b (task starting means) for being operated to start the identification task, the front member control means 25a for outputting the control instruction to stick and boom driving means (proportional solenoid valves 20A, 19A for stick and boom extended side constituting stick and boom driving means in this embodiment) for driving and stopping the stick 6 and boom 5 sequentially, individually, and automatically, and the sensor identification means 25b for identifying IMUs 22a, 22b mounted on the stick 6 and boom 5 based on changes of the detection value of IMU 22 as the stick 6 and boom 5 are driven by the front member control means 25a.
As such, in this embodiment, when performing the identification task to identify which one of IMU 22 is mounted respectively on which one of front members (stick 6, boom 5), if the identification task start button 13b is operated to perform the identification task, the control instruction is output from the front member control means 25a to the stick and boom driving means to drive and stop the stick 6 and boom 5 sequentially, individually, and automatically so that IMUs 22a, 22b are identified by the sensor identification means 25b based on changes of the detection value of IMU 22 as the stick 6 and boom 5 are driven. In consequence, only when the operator operates the identification task start button 13b, the identification task of IMU 22 is automatically performed, the operator does not need to sequentially drive front members, so that a lot of trouble can be reduced, the burden of operator is reduced, and the identification error can be avoided due to the mis-operation of operator.
Additionally, the automatic identification system is provided with a mode selection means (mode selection switch 13a) for selecting a mode (“automatic identification task mode”) to start up the automatic identification system. Thus, when “automatic identification task mode” is not selected, the automatic identification task is not performed, and unintended startup of automatic identification task can be avoided due to the mis-operation of the task starting means (identification task start button 13b).
Note that it is to be understood that this invention is not confined to the embodiment mentioned above; for example, automatic drive and stop processes of multiple front members by front member control means can be configured to go on only when the task progression means is operating. According to the configuration in this manner, the operator can be aware of an ongoing of automatic drive and stop processes of front members even if front members are automatically driven and stopped, and when the operator stops the operation of the task progression means, automatic drive and stop processes of front members are stopped, thereby responding to unexpected incident. In this case, the task progression means is also used as the task starting means. For example, the identification task start button 13b as the task starting means of the embodiment mentioned above may be also configured to use as the task progression means; thus, when the identification task start button 13b is pushed, the identification task may be started; and, when the identification task start button 13b is kept pushed, the automatic drive and stop processes of the front members may continue. In this manner, when the task starting means is also used as the task progression means, members can be used for diverse purposes and the operator can successively perform the startup and progression of identification task with one operation means, being excellent in operability. In addition, the task progression means and task starting means can be provided separately, and another manipulator (operation lever, for example) installed in the construction machine may be configured to be used as the task progression means only during the identification task.
Furthermore, in the embodiment mentioned above, both mode selection means (mode selection switch 13a) and task starting means (identification task start button 13b) are installed on the monitor unit 13, but without being limited to this, they may be installed in an appropriate place in the cab, for example, in an operation panel where various operation switches are arranged concentratedly.
Also, the posture information detection sensor for detecting the posture information of front members may not be limited to IMU, but for example, may be a tilt angle sensor or gyro sensor.
Furthermore, in this embodiment, the stick and boom are exemplified as the front member where the posture information detection sensor is mounted, but this invention can be exploited in cases: where a work attachment such as the bucket is rotatably installed at the end part of stick, similar to this embodiment, and the posture information detection sensor will be provided on the work attachment; where the boom is installed horizontally swingably on the vehicle body and the posture information detection sensor will be provided on the horizontally swingable boom; or where the posture information detection sensor will be provided on various front members constituting articulated working machine installed on the construction machine except hydraulic excavator.
The present invention can be used when mounting the multiple posture information detection sensors on the construction machine such as the hydraulic excavator.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-110906 | Jun 2019 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2020/025279 | 6/12/2020 | WO |
