Earth working – Automatic power control – Land leveller type
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-07
2002-09-17
Batson, Victor (Department: 3671)
Earth working
Automatic power control
Land leveller type
C356S004080, C356S141100, C701S050000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06450267
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a rotary laser irradiating system for forming a reference plane in civil engineering work such as ground leveling work. In particular, the invention relates to a construction equipment control system utilizing a laser reference plane to be formed by rotary irradiation of a laser beam for the purpose of controlling height in ground leveling operation.
When ground leveling operation for preparing land for housing lots or for road paving is performed using construction equipment such as a bulldozer, a grader, etc., a reference for the ground leveling is needed. In recent years, a system using a laser beam has become widespread for the purpose of determining height, which serves as a reference for the ground leveling operation. As one of the systems using the laser beam, there is a construction equipment control system which comprises rotary laser irradiating systems.
FIG. 8
shows a case where this construction equipment control system is adopted for a bulldozer.
In
FIG. 8
, reference numeral
1
denotes a rotary laser irradiating system, and
2
a bulldozer. The rotary laser irradiating system
1
is placed at a predetermined position via a tripod
3
on the land developed for housing lots. The rotary laser irradiating system
1
projects a laser beam
4
in a horizontal direction and rotates the laser beam, and a reference plane is formed by the laser beam
4
.
The bulldozer
2
has a blade
5
, which is supported in such manner that it can be moved up or down. A pole
6
is erected on the blade
5
, and a level sensor
7
serving as photodetecting means is mounted on the pole
6
. The level sensor
7
receives the laser beam
4
from the rotary laser irradiating system
1
and detects a photodetecting position. The bulldozer
2
is provided with a control unit (not shown), which detects a height position of the blade
5
based on a photodetection signal from the level sensor
7
and controls a height of the bulldozer based on the detection results.
As described above, a horizontal reference plane is formed by the laser beam
4
. By keeping a distance between the horizontal reference plane and a blade tip
5
′ of the blade
5
to a constant value, a ground surface can be prepared on horizontal level. Also, by changing a distance to the blade tip
5
′, it is possible to change the height of the leveled ground.
The laser beam
4
projected from the rotary laser irradiating system has a limited reaching range due to the limitation of light intensity. For this reason, in case of a construction site of relatively small extent, when the rotary laser irradiating system
1
is once set for the operation, the area of the scheduled construction falls within the range of the laser beam
4
. However, in a construction site of wider extent, it is inconvenient that the rotary laser irradiating system must be set again and adjusted for the next operation. Further, in case of a construction with difference in elevation, the system must be set again, and the construction operation cannot be carried out continuously and must be interrupted each time for re-adjustment.
In case of road construction, road may be curved, or the laser beam
4
may be cut off by an obstacle such as a mountain or a hill, etc. In these cases, the rotary laser irradiating system
1
must be moved as the construction operation proceeds, and it must be newly set again. In addition to the troublesome procedure related to the re-setting of the system, an error may also occur during the re-setting.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a construction equipment control system, by which it is possible to perform setting of the reference planes for wider range using a plurality of rotary laser irradiating systems, to eliminate troublesome procedure caused by interrupting construction work in the middle of the work and performing re-setting, and to prevent occurrence of the error.
To attain the above object, the construction equipment control system of the present invention comprises a plurality of rotary laser irradiating systems for forming laser reference planes by irradiating laser beams by rotary irradiation, a surveying system for measuring positions of the rotary laser irradiating systems, and a construction operation system for controlling and operating construction work of a construction equipment based on the laser reference planes, wherein the construction operation system comprises a photodetection sensor for receiving light beams from the rotary laser irradiating systems as reference positions for the construction operation, a global positioning system (GPS) for detecting a position of the construction equipment, and transmitting means for transmitting detection results of the GPS to the surveying system, the surveying system comprises transmitting means for transmitting data relating to the reference planes to be formed based on results of measurement and results of detection of the GPS to the rotary laser irradiating systems, the rotary laser irradiating systems comprise receiving means, the receiving means receives the data from the transmitting means, the rotary laser irradiating systems form the laser reference planes based on the data, and the construction equipment performs construction work using the laser reference planes as reference. Also, the present invention provides a construction equipment control system as described above, wherein the surveying system comprises a operation control system for controlling construction operation of the construction equipment, the operation control system is provided with working data for performing the construction operation, calculates data for forming the laser reference planes necessary for the construction operation based on the working data and the position of the construction equipment determined by the GPS and positions of the rotary laser irradiating systems measured by the surveying systems and transmits the data to the rotary laser irradiating systems, and the laser reference planes necessary for the construction operation are formed by the rotary laser irradiating systems. Further, the present invention provides a construction equipment control system as described above, wherein the working data is height data at a construction site. Also, the present invention provides a construction equipment control system as described above, wherein the operation control system is provided with working route data indicating a route of construction. Further, the present invention provides a construction equipment control system as described above, wherein the operation control system is provided with tilting data at a construction site in addition to the construction route data indicating the route of construction. Also, the present invention provides a construction equipment control system as described above, wherein the rotary laser irradiating systems comprise a reflection unit for reflecting a distance measuring light beam toward an automatic surveying system, a rotating mechanism for directing the system itself toward a predetermined direction, a signal receiving unit for receiving communication data, a tilting mechanism for tilting the laser reference plane, and a tilt setting unit for controlling the tilting mechanism and the rotating mechanism so that the laser reference plane has a tilt angle in a predetermined direction based on the result received from the signal receiving unit. Further, the present invention provides a construction equipment control system as described above, wherein each of the rotary laser irradiating systems further comprises a lift mechanism, and elevation of the laser reference plane can be adjusted by the lift mechanism and it is controlled by the tilt setting unit together with the tilting mechanism and the rotating mechanism. Also, the present invention provides a construction equipment control system as described above, wherein the rotary laser irradiating systems synchronize rotation of laser b
Kimura Kazuaki
Ohtomo Fumio
Batson Victor
Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon
Nields & Lemack
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