Laser level selection

Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Construction or agricultural-type vehicle

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C701S213000, C356S147000, C356S152100, C356S249000, C356S138000, C455S166200, C375S213000, C342S457000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06324455

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND
The idea of using lasers for controlling machinery is well known in the art. Indeed, in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,131 issued to Clegg, a fully automated earth grading system for grading a tract of land is disclosed. The system comprises a power driven earth grading machine which comprises a frame, an earth grading tool, and means for adjusting the earth grading tool relative to the frame. The system additionally includes a laser beam generator remotely located from the earth grading machine for projecting a laser beam in a predetermined pattern relative to the earth to be graded. A detector was carried on the grading machine for receiving the laser beam.
A laser aligned robotic machining system for use in rebuilding heavy machinery is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,137 issued to Polidoro et al. In this invention a precision positioning system is used for resurfacing and repairing rails and guideways of large, heavy machinery at user's facilities. The precision positioning system comprises several elements including a monorail frame, multiple guides extending along an outer surface of the monorail frame, supports for holding the monorail frame in position, a movable base surrounding the monorail frame and a laser alignment system.
In the U.S. Pat. No. 5,767,479, Kanaoka discloses a laser beam machining apparatus and corresponding method which employs a laser beam to pretreat and machine a workpiece. A laser beam is carried out by irradiating beforehand the laser beam along a final locus for a main machining, under such a condition as to obtain an energy density for forming a groove angled to a surface of a work. Thereafter, the laser beam is irradiated to the groove, while changing only the energy density according to a cutting condition to cut the work.
However, the prior art inventions do not address the following problem. As machines change grade, they quickly move out of the range of the laser, typically (+/−) 1 meter in the vertical direction. If multiple laser systems are set up, they would conflict with each other and be difficult to distinguish one from the other.
What is needed is a multiple laser system combined with a satellite navigational system for controlling grading machine, wherein at each position of the grading machine a single laser is selected to control the vertical coordinate of an implement.
SUMMARY
The present invention is novel and unique because it discloses a multiple laser system combined with a satellite navigational system for controlling grading machine. At each position of the grading machine a single laser is selected to control the vertical coordinate of an implement.
One aspect of the present invention is directed to a system for guiding a grading machine in a job site.
In one embodiment, the system of the present invention comprises: (1) a satellite positioning system (SATPS) receiver configured to obtain the rough position coordinates (X
rough

machine
, Y
rough

machine
, Z
rough

machine
) of the grading machine, (2) a laser tracker configured to latch on a single laser beam at each location of the grading machine, and (3) a signal system.
The laser beam provides a reference plane having a high accuracy vertical coordinate (Z
laser
) at each location (Y
rough

machine
, Y
rough

machine
, Z
rough

machine
) of the grading machine. The signal system is configured to precisely guide the grading machine according to a given road design by generating a signal proportional to the difference between a design vertical coordinate (Z
design
) and a real time vertical coordinate (Z
laser
) at each location (X
rough

machine
, Y
rough

machine
, Z
rough

machine
) of the grading machine.
The SATPS receiver can comprise: (a) a real time kinematic (RTK) global positioning system (GPS) receiver, (b) a GLONASS receiver, (c) a combined GPS/GLONASS receiver, (d) a low Earth Orbiting Communication Satellite (LEOS), (e) a pseudolite, or (f) an inertial navigation system (INS).
In one embodiment, at least one laser system comprises a laser system providing a horizontal reference plane with a constant elevation.
In another embodiment, at least one laser system comprises a laser system providing a tilted reference plane with a changing elevation.
In one embodiment, at least one laser system comprises a modulation system used to modulate the laser beam with attitude and elevation data.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the system further includes a mast configured to physically move up or down the laser tracker in order to latch on one laser beam at each location of the grading machine.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the system further includes a mast including a continuous column of laser trackers, wherein at least one laser tracker is configured to latch on one laser beam at each location of the grading machine.
In one embodiment, the signal system further includes: (a) an electronic design file configured to store a plurality of road design surfaces, and (b) an on-board computer.
The on-board computer is configured to use a road design surface. For each selected road design surface, the on-board computer is configured to perform a number of operations: (a) identify position coordinates (X
i-laser
, Y
i-laser
, Z
i-laser
) for each laser system, (b) determine the rough position coordinates (X
rough

machine
, Y
rough

machine
, Z
rough

machine
) for each location of the grading machine using the GPS receiver, (c) select the single optimum laser system that is used by the laser tracker to obtain the precise vertical coordinate (Z
laser
) of the grading machine, and (d) determine the cut or fill (Z
design
, -Z
laser
) by comparing the road design vertical coordinate (Z
design
) with the precise vertical coordinate (Z
laser
) at each ground position (X
grade

machine
, Y
grade

machine
) of the grading machine.
In one embodiment, the system of the present invention further includes a software package TRIMDESIGN used for the selected road design to calculate an optimum number of laser systems to place on the job site, and to calculate the optimum positions (X
opt
k-laser
, Y
opt
k-laser
, Z
opt
k-laser
) for each laser system.
In one embodiment, the system of the present invention further includes: (a) a Trimble hand-held field computer, and (b) a field RTK GPS receiver.
In this embodiment, the optimum laser positions (X
opt
k-laser
, Y
opt
k-laser
, Z
opt
k-laser
) for each “k”-th laser system are transferred to the Trimble hand-held field computer, and the actual laser positions (X
actual
k-laser
, Y
actual
k-laser
) for each “k”-th laser system are determined by using the field RTK GPS receiver.
In this embodiment, the precise vertical coordinate (Z
actual
k-laser
) for each “k”-th laser system can be determined by using an optical or electronic leveling method, and the actual coordinates (X
actual
k-laser
, Y
actual
k-laser
, Z
actual
k-laser
) for each “k”-th laser system can be communicated back to the on-board computer from the Trimble hand-held field computer using a communication link in real time.
Another aspect of the present invention is directed to a method for guiding a grading machine.
In one embodiment, the method comprises the following steps: (a) generating the rough position coordinates (X
rough

machine
, Y
rough

machine
, Z
rough

machine
) of the grading machine, (b) obtaining precise vertical coordinate (Z
laser
) of the grading machine by latching on a single optimal laser beam at each location of the grading machine, (c) processing the rough coordinate data (X
rough

machine
, Y
rough

machine
, Z
rough

machine
), the precise vertical coordinate laser data (Z
laser
) and a road design (Z
design
) data by using an on-board computer, and (d) performing the precise vertical guiding of the grading machine.
In one embodiment, the step of performing the precise vertical guiding of the grading machine further includes the steps of: (e) displaying the rough position coordinates (X
rough

machine
, Y
rough

machine
, Z
rough

machine
) of the grading machine, the

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