Excavating – Ditcher – Condition responsive
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-08
2002-10-29
Will, Thomas B. (Department: 3671)
Excavating
Ditcher
Condition responsive
Reexamination Certificate
active
06470606
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a vehicle provided with an apparatus for monitoring a condition of sediment or the like existing on the front of a blade at a dozing working time by using the blade and also relates to a method of monitoring a forward side portion of the blade.
As a technique for recognizing an excavating or digging condition of a forward working machine of construction equipment, the prior art provides, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI 7-42201, in which a plurality of light emitting elements are arranged to one of side plates of a bucket for the excavating working and a plurality of light receiving elements are also arranged on the other one of side plates thereof at portions corresponding to each other, respectively, and the light emitting elements and the light receiving elements are connected, through optical fibers, to a light emitting/receiving device disposed in an operation room or chamber of a vehicle so as to discriminate whether sediment such as soil enters the bucket or not by detecting a cutoff (interrupting) state of light signals. An alarm device is also disposed so as to generate an alarm when the bucket is substantially filled up with the soil.
The prior art also provides Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI 9-209394, which discloses a technique such that, in consideration of force relation between a horizontal force component and a perpendicular force component generated through the pushing of the excavated soil against the blade, an amount of the sediment including soil, small rocks or the like on the front of the blade is analyzed by means of a computer and then calculated in accordance with the excavated condition. In this technique, the amount of the sediment is continuously calculated and as occasion demands, the vertical motion or the angle of the blade is controlled to be variable, so as not to cause crawlers of a vehicle to be shoe-slipped.
However, according to the prior art techniques mentioned above, although the filling-up condition of the excavated sediment in the bucket can be recognized or the amount of the sediment to be excavated by using the blade can be calculated, a technique is not disclosed for recognizing the excavating condition on the front of the forward working machine, such as the blade of a construction machine.
Moreover, generally, in the dozing working of a bull-dozer, it is difficult to recognize a scooping condition of the sediment on the front of the blade, and this working has been relayed on experience of an expert and it is difficult for a beginner to adjust an edge angle of the blade.
That is, the most significant problem is no observation or monitoring of the sediment scooping condition of the blade at an actual working during the excavating and ground leveling working of the blade of the bull-dozer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to solve a problem of not observing the scooping state of an excavated sediment on the front of a blade of a vehicle and, therefore, to provide a vehicle having an apparatus for monitoring a forward side portion of a blade of the vehicle and a method of monitoring the forward side portion thereof, wherein, in a state wherein an operator sits in an operator seat in an operation room, an image of the forward side portion of a blade of a vehicle, such as a construction machine, i.e. bull-dozer, is picked up by a blade forward monitoring device disposed at a forward side portion of the vehicle and the picked up image is displayed on an image display device to thereby visually observe the scooping state of the sediment such as soil by the blade of the vehicle at the time excavating occurs.
More specifically, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle having an apparatus for monitoring a forward side portion of a blade of the vehicle and a method of monitoring the forward side portion thereof, wherein a forward monitoring device, for example, a television camera set, is disposed above a blade of a vehicle to be movable in perpendicular and horizontal directions through remote control in an operation room of the vehicle, and a picked up image of a cutting edge portion of a central portion, lateral side portions or corner portions of the blade during the excavating operation is displayed on an image display device disposed at the front portion in the operation room.
The above and other objects can be achieved according to the present invention by providing, in one aspect, a vehicle provided with a forward monitoring apparatus: comprising:
a vehicle body having an operation room;
a forward monitoring apparatus for monitoring a forward portion of a blade provided for the vehicle body; and
a display means for displaying an image of the forward portion monitored by the forward monitoring apparatus.
A moving mechanism is further disposed so as to be operated in the operation room through a remote control to move the monitoring apparatus from a position for picking up an image of a forward central position of the blade to a position for picking up an image of a forward lateral side position and/or a position for picking up an image of a forward vertical side position, and the display means on which the picked up image is displayed is disposed in the operation room.
There are further disposed a lift cylinder provided for the vehicle body for moving the blade, a position detection means for detecting a position of the blade moved by the lift cylinder and generating a position signal and a control means for calculating an excavating position by a cutting edge of the blade in response to the position signal from the position detection means and generating a command signal to the moving mechanism in accordance with a result of the calculation so as to direct the forward monitoring apparatus to a position for picking up the image of the excavating position.
The monitoring apparatus is a television camera set provided with a zoom mechanism which is operated remotely in the operation room.
According to the above one aspect of the present invention, the condition of sediment or the like scooped on the front of the blade of a vehicle such as bull-dozer can be monitored in the sediment or soil excavating work or ground leveling work, thus improving the workability of the vehicle and ensuring the safe and effective working condition.
Furthermore, by locating the moving mechanism for the forward portion monitoring apparatus, the operator can observe the scooping condition of the blade at the lateral side portion thereof and can easily operate the blade while observing the scooped condition and the lateral balance condition of the sediment.
Still furthermore, the arrangement of the control system operated remotely in the operation room allows the operator to easily monitor and control the movement of the blade.
The above operation can be further facilitated by using, as the monitoring apparatus, a television camera set provided with a zoom mechanism.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a method of monitoring a forward portion of a blade of a vehicle comprising the steps of:
preparing a forward monitoring apparatus to be mounted to a vehicle body and preparing a display means in an operation room of the vehicle;
picking up an image of the forward portion of the blade by the forward monitoring apparatus; and
displaying an image of the forward portion on the display means so that an excavating working is carried out while monitoring the forward portion of the blade.
According to this blade forward portion monitoring method, the blade forward condition can be easily monitored by the operator in the operation room to thereby facilitate the working of the blade.
The nature and further characteristic features of the present invention will be made further clear from the following descriptions made with reference to the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4633383 (1986-12-01), Omachi et al.
patent: 4776750 (1988-10-01), Griswold, Jr. et al.
patent: 5141384 (1992-08-
Nagahiro Yuuichi
Yokoyama Toshio
Frishauf Holtz Goodman & Chick P.C.
Komatsu Ltd.
Markovich Kristine M
Will Thomas B.
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