Excavating – Ditcher – Condition responsive
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-14
2001-09-25
Pezzuto, Robert E. (Department: 3671)
Excavating
Ditcher
Condition responsive
C701S050000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06293033
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to the technical field of a construction machine such as a hydraulic shovel.
BACKGROUND ART
Generally, construction machine such as hydraulic shovels each include a plurality of actuators such as a swing motor and a boom cylinder, and a plurality of operating members for operating the actuators. Some of those construction machines are constructed such that operating signals from the operating members are inputted to a control unit which outputs operation commands to the actuators in accordance with the inputted operating signals.
Meanwhile, operability of construction machines has been poor in the past because correlations (operational patterns) between operating members and actuators operated upon manipulation of the operating members have not been standardized, and the correlations differ depending on manufacturers, the models and types of the construction machines, or the JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards) specifications. It has been therefore required to be able to change the operational patterns in match with operators. Such a change of the operational patterns has been hitherto performed by rearranging connections of lines between actuators and valves operated by the operating members. However, rearranging works of line connections have been problematic in that they are complicated and troublesome, and are poor in efficiency.
In consideration of the above problem, as disclosed in JP-B2-3-61811, there has been proposed such a system that several kinds of operational patterns are stored in a memory of a control unit beforehand, and the operator can select any desired one of the stored operational patterns.
The system disclosed in JP-B2-3-61811 however has the problem that because the desired one is selected from among the several kinds of operational patterns stored in the memory beforehand, the operator cannot select an operational pattern other than those stored in the memory, and therefore the system is not flexibly adaptable for various needs.
On the other hand, it is conceivable to store all the operational patterns in the memory. This solution would however give rise to the following problems. Assuming, for example, that two joy stick levers are used to control the extending and contracting operations of a boom cylinder, a stick cylinder and a bucket cylinder, and the leftward and rightward swing operations of a swing motor, total 40320 kinds of operational patterns at maximum must be stored and a large-capacity memory is required. In addition, the process of selecting the desired one from among such a large number of operational patterns is also complicated. Those problems are to be solved by the present invention.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In view of the state of art set forth above, the present invention has been made with the object of solving the above-mentioned problems. According to the present invention, in a construction machine comprising a plurality of actuators, a plurality of operating members for operating the actuators, and a control unit for receiving operating signals from the operating members and outputting operation commands to the actuators, the control unit is connected to setting means for setting an input/output relationship between any of the plurality of operating members and any of the plurality of actuators, and the control unit includes a memory for storing in a rewritable manner the input/output relationships set by the setting means.
With the above features, the correlations between the operating members and the actuators can be optionally set to make the construction machine adaptable for various needs, and the capacity of the memory used can be reduced.
In the above construction machine, the setting means is constructed such that, by manipulating any of the plurality of operating members in a state in which any of the plurality of actuators is selected by selecting means, the input/output relationship between the manipulated operating member and the selected actuator is set. By so constructing the setting means, the correlations between the operating members and the actuators are set upon the operating members being manipulated by the operator himself. As a result, the setting is simple to implement and the operator can surely keep in mind the set correlations
In the above construction machine, the operating members are control levers, control pedals and/or control switches, and the actuators are operated under proportional control, on/off control and/or toggle control. More concretely, the operating signals are provided from sensors for detecting the directions and angles of the control levers, and the actuators are a boom cylinder, a stick cylinder, a bucket cylinder and a swing hydraulic motor. Further, the operating signals are signals from switches provided on the control levers and the control pedals, and the actuators are a dozer cylinder, a tilt cylinder and an angle cylinder.
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patent: 5513551 (1996-05-01), Morishita
patent: 5682312 (1997-10-01), Rocke
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patent: 6119054 (2000-09-01), Miki et al.
patent: 63-116565 (1988-07-01), None
patent: B2-3-61811 (1991-09-01), None
patent: 6-213211 (1994-08-01), None
Furuta Hideto
Moriya Naoyuki
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
Pezzuto Robert E.
Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi Ltd.
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