Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Construction or agricultural-type vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-09
2001-08-07
Cuchlinski, Jr., William A. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Construction or agricultural-type vehicle
C052S111000, C052S116000, C052S238100, C052S365000, C212S111000, C212S118000, C212S240000, C212S255000, C212S271000, C212S294000, C212S295000, C212S250000, C182S115000, C182S116000, C182S120000, C182S018000, C182S019000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06272413
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a boom-equipped vehicle which comprises an automotive vehicle body, a movable boom which is mounted on the vehicle body and at least being raised and lowered and extended and contracted, and a work station such as a work platform and a crane mounted on the tip of the boom. More particularly, the invention relates to a safety system which prevents the vehicle body from tipping.
The present invention furthermore relates to a safety system which enables such a boom-equipped vehicle to face and climb safely an elevational difference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A boom-equipped vehicle generally comprises an automotive vehicle body, a movable boom which is mounted on the vehicle body, and a work station which is mounted on the tip of the boom. The boom can be raised and lowered and extended and contracted and turned horizontally clockwise and counterclockwise on the vehicle body, and the work station can be a crane or a work platform for workmen to board. Such boom-equipped vehicles include, for example, crane trucks and aerial work platform machines. For such a boom-equipped vehicle to be used for performing a task, at first, the movable boom must be raised or lowered,extended or contracted and turned horizontally clockwise or counterclockwise to bring the work station to a desired aerial position.
While the boom is being moved, for example, being extended,the center of mass of the vehicle body shifts toward the tip of the boom, and, as a result, the moment that tends to act to tip or overturn the vehicle increases (this moment is hereinafter referred to as “tipping moment”). As the tipping moment increases, the vehicle becomes increasingly unstable and vulnerable for tipping. This is a particular problem which occurs with a boom-equipped vehicle. Therefore, a boom-equipped vehicle is generally equipped with a safety system which restricts the movement of the boom so that the tipping moment will not grow to a magnitude which actually tips the vehicle body.
Even while a boom-equipped vehicle incorporating such a safety system operates with the boom being raised and extended within a range of tolerance, there is still a danger of tipping. For example, when the boom is extended by a great amount, or when the boom is raised greatly upward though it is not extended by a large amount, the stability of the vehicle body is decreased substantially. If the vehicle in such a condition moves and encounters an upslope or a sudden difference in elevation (hereinafter referred to as “step”), then the tipping moment increases rapidly and the vehicle may overturn.
There is little problem of this kind as long as a boom-equipped vehicle travels over a flat ground. However, when the center of mass of the vehicle changes by a large amount as it encounters and moves over a step with the vehicle body being inclined, there is a danger that the vehicle may be overturned. To prevent such an accident, conventionally, there are rules. For example, a boom-equipped vehicle should not be driven over a dangerously large step (for example, a difference in elevation of 100 mm), which threatens to overturn the vehicle, or it should be driven very slowly in such a situation, notwithstanding whether the vehicle may overturn or not.
In such methods, the decision to drive the vehicle over the step or not is made by the driver with an intuition. Therefore, the driver in fear of the vehicle's overturning tends not to drive the vehicle over steps that can be safely climbed over if it is really tried. Thus, the prior-art safety system has been accompanied with this disadvantage which unnecessarily limits the utility and the workability of a boom-equipped vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a safety system which enables a boom-equipped vehicle with the boom being raised or extended to move over an upslope or a step at a high level of safety without any risk of the vehicle being turned over.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a safety system for a boom-equipped vehicle, which system is capable of determining precisely whether the vehicle can move safely over a step appearing in front, or not.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a safety system for a boom-equipped vehicle which system enables the vehicle to pass safely over a step that is determined to be climbed safely.
To achieve these objectives, the present invention provides a first embodiment of safety system for a boom-equipped vehicle which comprises an automotive vehicle body (for example, the crawler body
11
described in the following section), a boom provided at least extensible and liftable on the vehicle body, and a work station (for example, the aerial platform
15
described in the following section) mounted at a tip of the boom. This safety system comprises elevation angle detecting means which detects the elevation angle of the boom, length detecting means which detects the length of the boom, slope angle detecting means which detects the inclination or slope angle of the vehicle in the front and rear direction, and travel restricting means which forbids the vehicle to travel if the elevation angle of the boom detected by the elevation angle detecting means is greater than a predetermined reference elevation angle or if the length of the boom detected by the length detecting means is greater than a predetermined reference length and if the slope angle of the vehicle body detected by the slope angle detecting means is greater than a predetermined reference slope angle.
With this safety system, when the vehicle starts traveling with the boom of the vehicle set at an elevation angle greater than the reference elevation angle or at a length greater than the reference length and if the slope angle of the vehicle body becomes greater than the reference slope angle, the vehicle is stopped. Therefore, there is no possibility that the vehicle body would topple over even while the vehicle with the boom being lifted and extended substantially travels over an upslope or a step. As a result, the worker aboard the vehicle can carry out his work safely in an efficient manner.
A second embodiment of safety system according to the present invention is provided for a boom-equipped vehicle which comprises an automotive vehicle body, a boom provided at least extensible and liftable on the vehicle body, and a work station mounted at a tip of the boom. This safety system comprises elevation angle detecting means which detects the elevation angle of the boom, length detecting means which detects the length of the boom, slope angle detecting means which detects the inclination or slope angle of the vehicle in the front and rear direction, and travel restricting means which forbids the vehicle to travel if the slope angle of the vehicle body detected by the slope angle detecting means is greater than a reference slope angle which is determined in correspondence to the combination of the elevation angle of the boom detected by the elevation angle detecting means and the length of the boom detected by the length detecting means.
With this safety system, if the slope angle of the vehicle body becomes greater than the reference slope angle which is determined in correspondence to the combination of the elevation angle and the length of the boom at the moment, then the vehicle is stopped. Therefore, as in the case of the above mentioned first invention, there is no possibility that the vehicle body would topple over even while the vehicle with the boom being lifted and extended substantially travels over an upslope or a step.
It is preferable that each of the two safety systems described above include boom actuation restricting means which forbids the lifting and extending of the boom while the vehicle is stopped by the travel restricting means. In this way, while the vehicle body is restrained from moving, the lifting and extending of the boom is also restrained to prevent the vehicle from being brought into a further unstable condit
Ohira Akihiko
Takahashi Norihisa
Yamaguchi Nobuyuki
Cuchlinski Jr. William A.
Kabushiki Kaisha Aichi Corporation
Klauber Stefan J.
Klauber & Jackson
Mancho Ronnie
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