EP4711532A1

EP4711532A1 - Work machine with emergency stop switch

Info

Publication number: EP4711532A1
Application number: EP24874542.4A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Tomotaka Mitani; Tomohiko Ochi; Yusuke Sawada
Original assignee: Kobelco Construction Machinery Co Ltd
Current assignee: Kobelco Construction Machinery Co Ltd
Priority date: 2023-10-06
Filing date: 2024-09-26
Publication date: 2026-03-18
Also published as: CN121443807A; JP2025064696A; WO2025074938A1

Abstract

Provided is a work machine allowing a stopping operation to be safely and reliably performed by a peripheral worker. The work machine includes a lower traveling body, an upper turning body mounted on the lower traveling body so as to be capable of turning, and an emergency stop switch (50) attached to the upper turning body. The emergency stop switch (50) includes an operation surface (53), which faces the outside in the upper-turning-body width direction so as to allow a worker located at a lateral side of the work machine in a posture where the front-rear direction of the upper turning body and the front-rear direction of the lower traveling body is coincident with each other to apply a stopping operation to an operation part of the operation surface (53).

Description

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a work machine including an emergency stop switch.

Background Art

As a work machine capable of emergency stop, there is conventionally disclosed a heavy machine with an alarm means in Patent Literature 1. The heavy machine includes a contact type sensor disposed on a rear surface of a turning part of the heavy machine and a control unit that stops power of the heavy machine when a person or an object comes into contact with the contact type sensor.

Citation List

Patent Literature

Patent Literature 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-336178

Summary of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a work machine capable of being urgently stopped quickly by a worker located in the periphery of a work machine. The contact type sensor described in Patent Literature 1, which is disposed on the rear surface of the turning part of the heavy machine in order to urgently stop the motion of the heavy machine when a person comes into contact with the heavy machine that is reversely traveling, cannot be suitable for a switch to be intentionally operated by a worker located in the periphery of the work machine in order to stop the work machine.
Provided is a work machine, including a lower traveling body, an upper turning body mounted on the lower traveling body so as to be capable of turning, and an emergency stop switch mounted on the upper turning body. The emergency stop switch includes an operation surface provided with an operation part that allows a stopping operation for stopping the motion of the work machine to be applied to the operation part. The operation surface faces outside in an upper-turning-body width direction so as to allow a worker located at a lateral side of the work machine in a reference posture where an upper-turning-body front-rear direction, which is a front-rear direction of the upper turning body, and a front-rear direction of the lower traveling body are coincident with each other to apply the emergency stopping operation to the operation part. The upper-turning-body width direction is a width direction of the upper turning body, being a direction orthogonal to the upper-turning-body front-rear direction in the upper turning body.

Brief Description of Drawings

FIG. 1 is a view showing a hydraulic excavator according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an emergency stop switch of the hydraulic excavator.
FIG. 3A is a diagram showing an electric circuit including the emergency stop switch, showing a normal state where no stopping operation is applied to the emergency stop switch.
FIG. 3B is a diagram showing a circuit including the emergency stop switch, showing an emergency state where a stopping operation is applied to the emergency stop switch.
FIG. 4A is a perspective view showing a case for accommodating the emergency stop switch.
FIG. 4B is a perspective view showing a modification of the case.
FIG. 5A is a perspective view of the hydraulic excavator, showing an attachment position of the emergency stop switch.
FIG. 5B is a perspective view showing the part enclosed by a circle 5B in FIG. 5A and enlarged.
FIG. 6 is a side view showing the emergency stop switch and the periphery thereof.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a routing path of a wire harness to be connected to the emergency stop switch.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an emergency stop notification system of the hydraulic excavator.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a flow of a notification control to be performed by the emergency stop notification system.
FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing an emergency stop switch and the periphery thereof according to a first modification of the first embodiment.
FIG. 11A is a perspective view of a hydraulic excavator according to a second modification of the first embodiment, showing the attachment position of the emergency stop switch.
FIG. 11B is a side view showing the part enclosed by a circle 11B in FIG. 11A.
FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing the attachment position of the emergency stop switch according to the second modification.
FIG. 13A is a perspective view of a hydraulic excavator according to a third modification of the first embodiment, showing the attachment position of the emergency stop switch.
FIG. 13B is a perspective view showing the part enclosed by a circle 13B in FIG. 13A.
FIG. 14A is a perspective view of a hydraulic excavator according to a fourth modification of the first embodiment, showing the attachment position of the emergency stop switch.
FIG. 14B is a perspective view showing the part enclosed by a circle 14B in FIG. 14A.
FIG. 15 is a plan view showing a maximum turning radius circle of the hydraulic excavator.
FIG. 16A is a side view of a hydraulic excavator according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 16B is a perspective view showing an operation chamber of the hydraulic excavator shown in FIG. 16A and an elevation device for elevating and lowering the operation chamber.
FIG. 17 is a side view showing the attachment position of the emergency stop switch according to the second embodiment.
FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing a routing path of a wire harness to be connected to the emergency stop switch according to the second embodiment.
FIG. 19A is a plan view of a work machine according to a first comparative example.
FIG. 19B is a plan view of a work machine according to a second comparative example.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter will be described embodiments for carrying out the present invention with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a hydraulic excavator 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and a cockpit 30 and a work support server 41 which are elements related to the hydraulic excavator 1. The hydraulic excavator 1 is a work machine that performs excavation and the like, including a crawler-type lower traveling body 3, an upper turning body 10 mounted on the lower traveling body 3 so as to be capable of turning, and an attachment. FIG. 1 shows a reference posture of the hydraulic excavator 1, the reference posture being a posture where a lower-traveling-body front-rear direction, which is the front-rear direction of the lower traveling body 3, and an upper-turning-body front-rear direction, which is the front-rear direction of the upper turning body 10, are coincident with each other. FIG. 1 shows an arrow Up indicating the upward direction of the hydraulic excavator 1, an arrow Dw indicating the downward direction of the hydraulic excavator 1, an arrow Fw indicating the frontward direction of the lower traveling body 3 and the frontward direction of the upper turning body 10, and an arrow Rr indicating the rearward direction of the lower traveling body 3 and the rearward direction of the upper turning body 10. The same applies to respective arrows Up, Dw, Fw, and Rr shown in the drawings other than FIG. 1.
The upper turning body 10 includes an upper frame 13, a machine chamber 11, and an operation chamber (cab) 20, the machine chamber 11 and the operation chamber 20 mounted on the upper frame 13. The attachment is attached to a front end of the upper frame 13 capably of being raised and lowered, including a boom 5, an arm 7, and a bucket 9. The machine chamber 11 accommodates a power source and a hydraulic pump which are not graphically shown. The hydraulic pump is driven by the power source to thereby supply hydraulic fluid to a plurality of hydraulic actuators. The power source may be either an engine or a power source other than the engine, for example, an electric motor. The machine chamber 11 is located at a rear part of the upper turning body 10 in the upper-turning-body front-rear direction. The operation chamber 20 allows a not-graphically-shown operator to get in the operation chamber 20 to operate the hydraulic excavator 1. The operation chamber 20 is located in the front part of the upper turning body 10 in the upper-turning-body front-rear direction and on the left side of the upper turning body 10 in an upper-turning-body width direction. The upper-turning-body width direction is the width direction of the upper turning body 10, being orthogonal to the upper-turning-body front-rear direction in the upper turning body 10. The operation chamber 20 includes a door 21, which includes a door opening/closing knob 23 for opening and closing the door 21.
The hydraulic excavator 1 performs a plurality of motions in response to driving operations by an operator getting in the operation chamber 20. The plurality of motions include a traveling motion of the lower traveling body 3, a turning motion of the upper turning body 10, and a derricking motion of the attachment. The hydraulic excavator 1, in the present embodiment, is also configured to perform the plurality of motions in accordance with a driving operation by an operator OP in the cockpit 30 located away from the operation chamber 20. In other words, the hydraulic excavator 1 is configured to be subject to a remote operation in addition to an on-machine operation.
The cockpit 30 is a remote control device, including a controller 31, a seat 32, a monitor 33, an operation lever 35, a camera 37, and a wireless communication device 39 shown in FIG. 8. The seat 32 allows an operator OP to sit on the seat 32. To the operation lever 35 is applied an operation by the operator OP sitting on the seat 32, causing a command signal corresponding to the operation to be input to the controller 31. The monitor 33 displays an image of a work site or the like captured by a camera mounted on the hydraulic excavator 1. The camera 37 is disposed to capture an image of the face of the operator OP sitting on the seat 32.
The controller 31, the work support server 41, and the hydraulic excavator 1 are configured to be capable of communicating with each other via the wireless communication device 39, a wireless communication device 89 shown in FIG. 8, and a network 40. Specifically, an operator OP in the cockpit 30 applies a remote driving operation to the operation lever 35 or the like while viewing the image of the work site displayed on the monitor 33, whereby the command corresponding to the operation is transmitted to the wireless communication device 89 of the hydraulic excavator 1 through the wireless communication device 39 and the network 40, thereby causing the hydraulic excavator 1 to perform the plurality of motions in accordance with the remote driving operation in quite the same manner as the driving operation by an operator getting on the operation chamber 20. The work support server 41 includes a database that stores and holds an operation schedule of the hydraulic excavator 1, weather data, and the like, configured to support the driving operation of the hydraulic excavator 1 by an operator OP as necessary.
The hydraulic excavator 1 further includes an emergency stop switch 50 shown in FIGS. 2 to 9. To the emergency stop switch 50 is applied a stopping operation, in an emergency, by a peripheral worker W, who is a worker located in the periphery of the hydraulic excavator 1, as shown in FIG. 1, whereby the emergency stop of the motion of the hydraulic excavator 1 is performed. For example, in a work machine capable of being remotely operated as in the hydraulic excavator 1, the operation of the hydraulic excavator 1 is performed by an operator OP in the cockpit 30 located away from the operation chamber 20, which may cause a situation where the operator OP is unconscious of the presence of an obstacle or a person in the periphery of the hydraulic excavator 1 or a situation where the hydraulic excavator 1 is rendered incontrollable by poor physical condition of the operator OP. In such a situation, the stopping operation is to be applied to the emergency stop switch 50 by the peripheral worker W.
The emergency stop switch 50 includes a control box 51 shown in FIG. 2, a button 55, and a not-graphically-shown holding mechanism accommodated in the control box 51. The button 55 serves as an operation part, allowing the stopping operation to be applied to the button 55. The control box 51 includes a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape mainly including six outer surfaces. One of the six outer surfaces is an operation surface 53, from which the button 55 protrudes. The direction in which the button 55 protrudes is substantially equal to the normal direction of the operation surface 53.
The emergency stop switch 50 is attached to the upper turning body 10. The emergency stop switch 50 is connected to a device of the hydraulic excavator 1 via the wire harness 57 shown in FIG. 7, the device including the controller 80 shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B.
The button 55 allows a pressing operation to be applied to the button 55 as the stopping operation, by which the motion of the hydraulic excavator 1 is forcibly stopped. The holding mechanism, for example, a latching mechanism, holds the button 55 having been pressed down to a predetermined pressing position at the pressing position, thereby keeping a current cutoff state to prevent the hydraulic excavator 1 from being unintendedly restarted. The holding mechanism is a so-called turn reset type, configured to be made release the holding of the button 55 to allow the button 55 to return to the original position, by the rotation of the button 55 in a designated rotational operation direction, for example, the clockwise direction in FIG. 2, caused by a worker who has confirmed the safety.
FIGS. 3A and 3B show an electric circuit including the emergency stop switch 50, and the electric circuit is a circuit for turning on and off the energization of a lever lock solenoid 83. The lever lock solenoid 83 is included in a lever lock valve composed of an electromagnetic selector valve, and the lever lock valve is interposed between a pilot hydraulic source and a plurality of remote control valves included in a not-graphically-shown hydraulic system. The lever lock valve is an unload valve, configured to be closed to shut off the unload circuit, by the energization of the lever lock solenoid 83, to allow a pilot primary pressure to be supplied from the pilot hydraulic source to each of the remote control valves, thereby enabling operation of the operation lever included in each of the remote control valves. On the other hand, the lever lock valve is configured to be opened to open the unload circuit, by the block of the energization of the lever lock solenoid 83, to stop the supply of the pilot primary pressure to the plurality of remote control valves, thereby disabling the operation of the operation lever, that is, performing a lever lock. FIG. 3A shows a normal state where no stopping operation is applied to the emergency stop switch 50 to make the lever lock solenoid 83 energized, while FIG. 3B shows an emergency state where the stopping operation is applied to the emergency stop switch 50 to block the energization of the lever lock solenoid 83.
As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the emergency stop switch 50 is electrically connected to the controller 80. The controller 80 is configured to detect the application of the pressing operation, namely, the stopping operation, to the button 55 of the emergency stop switch 50 to transmit an alert notification to the cockpit 30.
The electric circuit further includes an emergency stop relay 81. The emergency stop relay 81 includes a relay coil 81a composed of an electromagnetic coil, and a relay contact 81b; the relay coil 81a is interposed between the power supply and the emergency stop switch 50, and the relay contact 81b is interposed between the power supply and the lever lock solenoid 83.
The emergency stop switch 50 is a normally close type of switch: in a normal state where the pressing operation, i.e., the stopping operation, is not applied to the button 55 of the emergency stop switch 50, a switch contact included in the emergency stop switch 50 is closed to allow the energization of the relay coil 81a, as shown in FIG. 3A. This causes the relay coil 81a to be excited to close the relay contact 81b to allow a current to flow through the lever lock solenoid 83, thereby making the lever lock valve including the lever lock solenoid 83 closed to allow a pilot fluid to be supplied to each of the remote control valves. The hydraulic excavator 1 is thus kept operable as usual.
In contrast, in an emergency state where the pressing operation, namely, the stopping operation, is applied to the button 55 of the emergency stop switch 50, the switch contact of the emergency stop switch 50 is opened to stop a current from flowing through the relay coil 81a of the emergency stop relay 81 as shown in FIG. 3B. This brings the relay coil 81a into a non-excited state, where the relay contact 81b is opened to stop a current from flowing through the lever lock solenoid 83, thereby making the lever lock valve including the lever lock solenoid 83 opened to block a pilot fluid from being supplied to each of the plurality of remote control valves, that is, unloading each of the plurality of remote control valves to brought them into a hydraulic lock state. Thus, the plurality of actuators included in the hydraulic excavator 1, for example, the attachment, the traveling motor, and the like, are disabled from being operated.
The wire harness 57 for electrically interconnecting the emergency stop switch 50 and the controller 80 or the like, if disconnected, generates a state where no current is supplied from the emergency stop switch 50 to the controller 80, similarly to the emergency state shown in FIG. 3B. This causes the controller 80 to judge the state where the wire harness 57 is disconnected to be the emergency state, thereby allowing a fail-safe to be achieved.
The hydraulic excavator 1 further includes a case 60 shown in FIG. 4A. The case 60 accommodates the emergency stop switch 50 to protect the emergency stop switch 50. The case 60 is formed of a strong material such as metal in order to prevent an object such as soil or rubble from directly hitting the emergency stop switch 50 to damage the emergency stop switch 50, attached to the upper turning body 10 of the hydraulic excavator 1 while accommodating the emergency stop switch 50. In other words, the emergency stop switch 50 is attached to the hydraulic excavator 1 via the case 60.
The case 60 shown in FIG. 4A is formed into a shape of a rectangular parallelepiped box, in other words, has a rectangular cylindrical part and a pair of opposite ends closing the axial opposite ends of the rectangular cylindrical part. Specifically, the case 60 includes four side walls 61, 62, 63, 64 constituting the rectangular cylindrical part, and a pair of end walls 68 forming the opposite ends; each of the side walls 61 to 64 has a rectangular shape elongated axially while each of the pair of end walls 68 has a substantially square shape. The side wall 61 of the side walls 61 to 64 is opposed to the operation surface 53 of the emergency stop switch 50, and formed with an opening 66 passing through the side wall 61. The opening 66 is formed at a position corresponding to the operation surface 53, specifically, a position where the opening 66 allows the button 55 of the emergency stop switch 50 accommodated in the case 60 to be operated through the opening 66. One of the pair of end walls 68 has a discharge hole 67 penetrating therethrough, allowing rainwater or soil to be discharged from the inside of the case 60 through the discharge hole 67.
The case 60 further includes a plurality of magnets 65. In the example shown in FIG. 4A, the plurality of magnets 65 are fixed to the side wall 62 opposed to the outer surface of the side wall 61, out of the side walls 61 to 64, the side wall 62 located on the side opposite to the operation surface 53, and the outer surface of the side wall 63 serving as the bottom wall in the posture shown in FIG. 4A. Each of the magnets 65 is, preferably, attached to the side walls 62, 63 detachably via a fastener such as a bolt. The plurality of magnets 65 are attracted to the metal part of the upper turning body 10 by magnetic force, thereby allowing the emergency stop switch 50 to be easily attached to the upper turning body 10 via the case 60 without applying special machining to the upper turning body 10.
FIG. 4B shows a case 70 which is a modification of the case 60. The case 70 includes four side walls 71, 72, 73, 74 constituting a rectangular cylindrical part similarly to the side walls 61 to 64 and an end wall 78 for closing one of the opposite ends of the rectangular cylindrical part, but the other of the opposite ends is opened to enclose an opening 76. Each of the side walls 71 to 74 has a rectangular shape, and the end wall 78 has a substantially square shape. The case 70 accommodates the emergency stop switch 50 so as to let the operation surface 53 of the emergency stop switch 50 opened to the outside of the case 70 through the opening 76, allowing the button 55 of the emergency stop switch 50 to be operated through the opening 76.
The case 70 further includes a plurality of magnets 75 similar to the plurality of magnets 65, and the plurality of magnets 75 are fixed to respective outer surfaces of the four side walls 71, 72, 73, 74, preferably attached detachably via fasteners such as bolts. Similarly to the plurality of magnets 65, the plurality of magnets 75 allow the emergency stop switch 50 to be easily attached to the metal part of the upper turning body 10 via the case 70 without applying special machining or the like to the upper turning body 10.
Each of the magnets 65 and 75 is preferably covered with a relatively soft member such as rubber. The members prevent the magnets 65 and 75 from directly contacting the upper turning body 10 to damage or recess the upper turning body 10 during the attachment of the cases 60 and 70 to the upper turning body 10.
Next will be described about a preferable arrangement of the emergency stop switch 50. To explain the superiority of the arrangement, prepared are a first comparative example shown in FIG. 19A and a second comparative example shown in FIG. 19B.
Similarly to the hydraulic excavator 1 according to the embodiment, the hydraulic excavator 101 shown in FIGS. 19A and 19B includes a lower traveling body 103, an upper turning body 110 mounted on the lower traveling body 103, and an emergency stop switch 150. In the first comparative example shown in FIG. 19A, the emergency stop switch 150 is attached to the rear surface 112 of the upper turning body 110, which is a surface facing rearward in the upper-turning-body front-rear direction, in a posture where the operation surface of the emergency stop switch 150 faces rearward of the upper turning body 110 in the upper-turning-body front-rear direction. Besides, in the second comparative example shown in FIG. 19B, the emergency stop switch 150 is attached to the front surface 114 of the upper turning body 110, that is, a surface facing forward in the upper-turning-body front-rear direction, in a posture where the operation surface of the emergency stop switch 150 faces frontward of the upper turning body 110 in the upper-turning-body front-rear direction.
The time during which the hydraulic excavator 101 shown in each of FIG. 19A and FIG. 19B takes a reference posture where the orientation of the upper turning body 110 and the orientation of the lower traveling body 103 is coincident with each other is longer than the time during which both the orientations are not coincident with each other, that is, the time during which the hydraulic excavator 101 takes a turning posture where the upper turning body 110 has turned from the reference posture with respect to the lower traveling body 103. For the reason, there is more likely to occur a situation in which an operator getting in the upper turning body 110 is unconscious of the presence of an obstacle or a person in the periphery of the hydraulic excavator 101 or a situation in which the hydraulic excavator 101 is rendered uncontrollable during the forward or backward movement of the hydraulic excavator 101 in the reference posture than during the turning of the upper turning body 110. At the time of such a forward or backward movement of such hydraulic excavator 101, it is desirable for safety that a peripheral worker W who works in the periphery of the hydraulic excavator 101 is located at a lateral side, that is, an outside in the upper-turning-body width direction 110, of the hydraulic excavator 101 in the reference posture as shown in FIGS. 19A and 19B. Specifically, it is more desirable for safety that the peripheral worker W stands at a position away from the hydraulic excavator 101 in the width direction of the upper turning body 110, such as a position indicated by the circular mark in FIG. 19A, than a position away from the hydraulic excavator 101 in the direction in which the hydraulic excavator 101 moves forward or backward, such as a position indicated by the X mark.
However, each of the emergency stop switches 150 attached to the center part of the rear surface 112 or the front surface 114 of the upper turning body 110 as shown in FIG. 19A and FIG. 19B is hard to reach for the hand of the peripheral worker W located at a lateral side of the hydraulic excavator 101, which may hinder the peripheral worker W from quickly operating the emergency stop switches 150 and 160.
Even if the hand of the peripheral worker W located at a lateral side of the hydraulic excavator 101 can reach the emergency stop switch 150, there occurs a problem that the stopping operation itself is difficult because the direction of the forward or backward movement of the hydraulic excavator 101 in the reference posture, which is the upper-turning-body front-rear direction, is parallel to the direction in which the stopping operation is applied to the emergency stop switch 150 by the peripheral worker W. For example, when the hydraulic excavator 101 moves forward as indicated by a white arrow in the second comparative example shown in FIG. 19B, the direction in which the peripheral worker W applies the stopping operation to the emergency stop switch 150, which is the direction indicated by the black arrow in FIG. 19B, is opposite to the direction of the forward movement of the hydraulic excavator 101; this may cause the body, for example, the hand, of the peripheral worker W trying to apply the stopping operation to the emergency stop switch 150 to interfere with the hydraulic excavator 101. This problem also occurs similarly when the hydraulic excavator 101 is moving backward in the first comparative example shown in FIG. 19A. When the hydraulic excavator 101 moves forward in FIG. 19A or when the hydraulic excavator 101 moves backward in FIG. 19B, conversely, the peripheral worker W has to apply the stopping operation to the emergency stop switch 150 at a speed that exceeds the speed of the forward movement or rear end of the hydraulic excavator 101.
In consideration with the above circumstances, the emergency stop switch 50 according to the present embodiment is attached, as shown in FIG. 5A, to a part on the front side of the operation chamber 20 in the upper turning body 10 such that the operation surface 53 faces the outer side in the width direction of the upper turning body 10, namely, the upper-turning-body width direction. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5B and FIG. 6, the emergency stop switch 50 is attached to the end on one side in the upper-turning-body width direction, that is, on the left side where the operation chamber 20 is located, in the front surface 13a of the upper frame 13. The upper frame 13, which is made of metal, allows the emergency stop switch 50 to be easily attached to the upper frame 13 by utilization of the magnet 65 of the case.
The emergency stop switch 50 and the case 60 to accommodate the emergency stop switch 50, which are attached to a part on the front side of the operation chamber 20 in the upper frame 13, can be restrained from interfering with the body of an operator getting in the operation chamber 20, thus being inhibited from hindering the operator getting in the operation chamber 20, even though located on the same side as the operation chamber 20 in the upper-turning-body width direction.
Besides, since the emergency stop switch 50 is attached to the upper turning body 10 such that the operation surface 53 faces the outside in the upper-turning-body width direction, that is, the left side in the present embodiment, the operation surface 53 faces the outside (left side) in the width direction of the entire hydraulic excavator 1 in the reference posture where the orientation of the upper turning body 10 is coincident with the orientation of the lower traveling body 3. This renders the direction in which the stopping operation is applied to the operation surface 53 of the emergency stop switch 50 by the peripheral worker W, namely, the stopping operation direction, inward in the width direction of the hydraulic excavator 1 in the reference posture, to prevent the operation direction from being coincident with the moving direction of the hydraulic excavator 1, that is, the forward movement direction or the backward movement direction, thereby facilitating the operation of the button 55 of the emergency stop switch 50 by the peripheral worker W.
Regarding the position of the emergency stop switch 50 in the upper-turning-body width direction, the operation surface 53 is disposed, as shown in FIG. 5B, at a position on the inner side of the outer surface of the upper frame 13, namely, the left side surface 13b, under condition of allowing the peripheral worker W located at a lateral side of the hydraulic excavator 1 to operate the emergency stop switch 50, specifically, a position closer to the center of the upper turning body 10 than the left side surface 13b by the distance d1 shown in FIG. 5B.
Thus locating the operation surface 53 of the emergency stop switch 50 under condition of allowing the operation surface 53 to be operated by the peripheral worker W located at a lateral side of the hydraulic excavator 1 enables the peripheral worker W to reliably and safely apply the stopping operation to the button 55, which is the operation part of the emergency stop switch 50, while being located in a safety area deviated from the course of the forward movement and the backward movement of the hydraulic excavator 1, that is, in the present embodiment, the area on the left side in the traveling direction of the hydraulic excavator 1.
Besides, since the peripheral worker W heads for the operation chamber 20 in many cases of trying the emergency stop of the operation of the hydraulic excavator 1, the stopping operation can be easily applied to the emergency stop switch 50, which is located on the same side as the operation chamber 20, namely, the left side, in the upper-turning-body width direction in the present embodiment, by the peripheral worker W approaching the operation chamber 20.
In addition, the operation surface 53 of the emergency stop switch 50, located on the inner side of the outer side surface of the upper frame 13, that is, the left side surface 13b in the present embodiment, in the upper-turning-body width direction, allows the outer side surface to serve as a protection guard that prevents an object such as rubble from hitting the emergency stop switch or the case 60 accommodating the emergency stop switch from the outside to inhibit the emergency stop switch 50 from being damaged.
Regarding the height of the operation surface 53, it is preferable that the upper end of the operation surface 53 is at the same height as or lower than the upper end of the door opening/closing knob 23 of the door 21 of the operation chamber 20. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the position of the emergency stop switch 50 is set such that the upper end of the operation surface 53 is lower than the upper end 23a of the door opening/closing knob 23 by a distance H. Since the door opening/closing knob 23 is usually disposed at a height to allow the door opening/closing knob 23 to be operated by an operator who is going to get into the operation chamber 20 from the lateral side of the hydraulic excavator 1, the location of the upper end of the operation surface 53 at the same height as or lower than the upper end 23a of the door opening/closing knob 23 enables the peripheral worker W located at a lateral side of the hydraulic excavator 1 to easily access the operation surface 53.
FIG. 7 shows a thick solid line and a thick dashed line that indicate the routing path of the wire harness 57 connected to the emergency stop switch 50. The wire harness 57 includes a switch vicinity section 57a, an outdoor front section 57b, an outdoor inner section 57c, an outdoor lower section 57d, and an indoor section 57e.
The switch vicinity section 57a is inserted through a not-graphically-shown harness hole formed in the case 60 to extend over the inside and outside of the case 60. As shown in FIG. 7, the outdoor front section 57b is routed so as to extend in the upper-turning-body width direction along the front surface 13a of the upper frame 13. To the front surface 13a of the upper frame 13 is attached a protective member 58, which has a shape that is lowered forward in the upper-turning-body front-rear direction to cover the outdoor front section 57b of the wire harness 57. The protective member 58 inhibits an object such as rubble from coming into contact with the wire harness 57 to cause the wire harness 57 to be disconnected.
The outdoor inner section 57c extends in the upper-turning-body front-rear direction along the inner surface of the operation chamber 20 in the upper-turning-body width direction, namely, the left surface in FIG. 7. The outdoor inner section 57c has a front end, which is connected to an inner end of the outdoor front section 57b in the upper-turning-body width direction via a bent part. The bent part is a part at which the wire harness 57 is bent by approximately 90 degrees. The outdoor inner section 57c has a rear end, which is continued to the outdoor lower section 57d, which is the part enclosed by the circle 7A in FIG. 7.
The outdoor lower section 57d is continued with the indoor section 57e through a through hole formed in the bottom part of the operation chamber 20. The indoor section 57e is routed in the operation chamber 20 and connected to the controller 80 installed in the operation chamber 20. The wire harness 57 is, thus, routed to electrically interconnect a plurality of outdoor devices provided outside the operation chamber 20 and the controller 80 in the operation chamber 20, the plurality of outdoor devices including the emergency stop switch 50. Thus utilizing the existing through-hole formed in the bottom of the operation chamber 20 allows the emergency stop switch 50 and the controller 80 in the operation chamber 20 to be electrically interconnected without applying special machining to the upper turning body 10.
The controller 80 can function as a wireless emergency stop device, installed on the rear side of an operation seat in the operation chamber 20. The indoor section 57e includes a first indoor portion extending rearward from a position near the through hole on the right side of the operation seat 25 in the operation chamber 20, a second indoor portion extending obliquely upward to the left from the end of the first indoor portion on the back side of the operation seat 25, and a third indoor portion extending upward from the end of the second indoor portion to a part enclosed with a circle 7B in FIG. 7 to be connected to the controller 80.
Next will be described about an emergency stop notification system according to the present embodiment.
In a work machine to be remotely operated like the hydraulic excavator 1 according to the present embodiment, it is difficult for a peripheral worker W to make an operation abnormality determination and an operator consciousness determination. The operation abnormality determination is a determination on whether or not the motion of the hydraulic excavator 1 at the work site is a result of an intentional operation by an operator or an abnormal one different from the operator's intention. The operator consciousness determination is a determination on whether an operator is conscious of an obstacle or a person present around the hydraulic excavator 1. The above determinations are important for the peripheral worker W in the periphery of the hydraulic excavator 1 that is remotely operated to judge whether to perform the emergency stop of the hydraulic excavator 1.
To facilitate such judgment by a peripheral worker W, the hydraulic excavator 1 according to the present embodiment includes an emergency stop notification system. The emergency stop notification system includes a notification judgment part 80a and a notification device 87 shown in FIG. 8. The notification judgment part 80a serves as a judgment part that judges whether to perform the emergency stop of the hydraulic excavator 1 based on information on an operation performed for the controller 31 of the cockpit 30 and information on a situation around the hydraulic excavator 1. The notification device 87 notifies a peripheral worker W of the hydraulic excavator 1 that the emergency stop switch 50 is to be operated for stopping when the notification judgment part 80a judges that the emergency stop of the hydraulic excavator 1 is to be performed.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the emergency stop notification system. The emergency stop notification system includes a plurality of cockpit-side elements provided in the cockpit 30, and a plurality of work-machine-side elements provided in the hydraulic excavator 1. The plurality of cockpit-side elements include the controller 31, the wireless communication device 39, the monitor 33, the plurality of operation levers 35, and the camera 37, and the plurality of work-machine-side elements include the controller 80, the wireless communication device 89, the emergency stop switch 50, the camera 85, and the notification device 87. The emergency stop notification system notifies that the emergency stop switch 50 is to be operated for stopping when a predetermined cockpit-side notification condition or a predetermined work-machine-side notification condition is satisfied. The cockpit-side notification condition is a condition related to an abnormality in the cockpit 30, and the work-machine-side notification condition is a condition related to an abnormality in the hydraulic excavator 1 that is the work machine.
The controller 31 is composed of a microprocessor, including a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores a processing program, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) that temporarily stores data. The controller 31 is configured such that the CPU, the ROM, and the RAM execute the processing program in cooperation with each other to thereby execute a plurality of controls.
As shown in FIG. 8, the controller 31 includes a looking judgment part 31a, an operation judgment part 31b, a communication state judgment part 31c, and a notification reason determination part 31d.
The looking judgment part 31a judges whether or not an operator OP is looking away, based on the image data of the face of the operator OP captured by the camera 37, generating a judgment signal corresponding to the result of the judgment and inputting the judgment signal to the wireless communication device 39. Specifically, the looking judgment part 31a generates a looking-away signal that is an abnormality judgment signal corresponding to the judgment result that the operator OP is looking away, or a non-looking-away signal that is a normality judgment signal corresponding to the judgment result that the operator OP does not look away; the generated judgment signal is transferred from the wireless communication device 39 to the wireless communication device 89 of the hydraulic excavator 1, being input to the controller 80 of the hydraulic excavator 1.
The operation judgment part 31b makes a judgment on an abnormality based on a predetermined operation time that is a time during which a predetermined operation is continuously applied to the operation lever 35. For example, a sudden occurrence of a physical condition failure in the operator OP sitting on the seat 32 of the cockpit 30 generates a possibility of the continuity of no movement of the operator OP with application of a predetermined operation to the operation lever 35 for a long time, for example, a possibility of the elapse of a long time while the operator OP keeps the operation lever 35 having rotated to a predetermined position. Focusing on the predetermined operation time during which a certain input operation is thus continuously performed, the abnormality judgment by the operation judgment part 31b is performed. Specifically, the operation judgment part 31b measures the time during which a certain input operation is continuously applied to the operation lever 35, namely, the predetermined operation time, based on the operation signal input from the operation lever 35, and judges whether or not the predetermined operation time exceeds a preset allowable time, generating a judgment signal corresponding to the judgment result and inputting the judgment signal to the wireless communication device 39. Specifically, the operation judgment part 31b generates an abnormal operation signal, which is the abnormality operation signal corresponding to the judgment result that the predetermined operation time exceeds the allowable time, or a normal operation signal that is a normality judgment signal corresponding to the judgment result that the predetermined operation time is equal to or less than the allowable time; the generated judgment signal is transferred from the wireless communication device 39 to the wireless communication device 89 of the hydraulic excavator 1, and input to the controller 80.
Each of the looking-away signal, the non-looking-away signal, the abnormal operation signal, and the normal operation signal, corresponds to information on an operation in the remote operation device.
The communication state judgment part 31c judges whether or not there has occurred a communication abnormality in the wireless communication device 39, generating a judgment signal corresponding to the judgment result and inputting the judgment signal to the wireless communication device 39. Specifically, the communication state judgment part 31c generates a communication abnormality signal that is an abnormality judgment signal corresponding to the judgment result that the communication abnormality has occurred, or a communication normality signal that is a normality judgment signal corresponding to the judgment result that no communication abnormality has occurred; the generated judgment signal is transferred from the wireless communication device 39 to the wireless communication device 89 of the hydraulic excavator 1 while being supported by the work support server 41, and input to the controller 80.
The notification reason determination part 31d determines the reason for a notification that the stopping operation is to be applied to the emergency stop switch 50, when the notification is issued based on the abnormality in the hydraulic excavator 1 that is a work machine, based on the information input from the controller 80 of the hydraulic excavator 1, and makes the monitor 33 display the determined reason. That is because there are many cases where the reason for the notification performed based on the abnormality on the work-machine side cannot be known to an operator OP who is performing operations in the cockpit 30.
Similarly to the controller 31 in the cockpit 30, the controller 80 of the hydraulic excavator 1 includes a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM, configured such that the CPU, the ROM, and the RAM execute a processing program in cooperation with each other to thereby execute a plurality of controls. Specifically, the controller 80 further includes, in addition to the notification judgment part 80a, a peripheral circumstance judgment part 80b and a communication state judgment part 80c.
The peripheral circumstance judgment part 80b is configured to perform: detecting a detection target, for example, an obstacle or a person, in the periphery of the hydraulic excavator 1, based on image data of the peripheral circumstance of the hydraulic excavator 1 captured by the camera 85 installed in the hydraulic excavator 1; determining the relative position of the detected obstacle (for example, a dump truck, a soil-and-sand mound, or a person) to the hydraulic excavator 1 and the distance thereto from the hydraulic excavator 1; judging whether or not the detection target is present in a target area preset around the hydraulic excavator 1 based on the determined relative position and the distance; and generating a judgment signal corresponding to the judgment result and inputting the judgment signal to the notification judgment part 80a. Specifically, the peripheral circumstance judgment part 80b is configured to output a target presence signal that is an abnormality judgment signal when judging the detection target to be present within the target area set around the hydraulic excavator 1, and configured to output a target absence signal that is a normality judgment signal when judging that the detection target is absent within the target area.
The target presence signal and the target absence signal correspond to information on a peripheral circumstance of the work machine.
The communication state judgment part 80c judges whether or not there has occurred a communication abnormality in the wireless communication device 89, generating a communication abnormality signal that is an abnormality judgment signal corresponding to the judgment result that the communication abnormality has occurred, or a communication normality signal that is a normality judgment signal corresponding to the judgment result that no communication abnormality has occurred and inputting the generated signal to the notification judgment part 80a.
The notification judgment part 80a is configured to input a notification start command signal to the notification device 87 when the abnormality judgment signal is input, specifically, when at least one of the looking-away signal generated by the looking judgment part 31a, the abnormality operation signal generated by the operation judgment part 31b, the communication abnormality signal generated by the communication state judgment part 31c, the target detection signal generated by the peripheral circumstance judgment part 80b, and the communication abnormality signal generated by the communication state judgment part 80c is input.
On the other hand, the notification judgment part 80a is configured to input the notification stop command signal to the notification device 87 when the normal state signal is input after inputting the notification start command signal to the notification device 87, specifically, in any of the following cases: the case where the non-looking-away signal is input from the looking judgment part 31a that had generated the look-away signal; the case where the normal operation signal is input from the operation judgment part 31b that had generated the abnormal operation signal; the case where the communication normality signal is input from the communication state judgment part 31c that had generated the communication abnormality signal; the case where the target absence signal is input from the peripheral circumstance judgment part 80b that had generated the target presence signal; and the case where the communication normality signal is input from the communication state judgment part 80c that had generated the communication abnormality signal. In addition, the notification judgment part 80a is configured to also input the notification stop command signal to the notification device 87 in the case where a pressing operation, that is, a stopping operation, is applied to the button 55 of the emergency stop switch 50 after inputting the notification start command to the notification device 87.
The notification device 87 includes a notifier installed on the hydraulic excavator 1, for example, at least one of a speaker, a rotary lamp, and an electric bulletin board, and is configured to notify a peripheral worker W around the hydraulic excavator 1 that the emergency stop switch 50 is to be operated for stopping, for example, through a sound emitted from the speaker, a light emitted by the rotary lamp, and/or characters and images displayed on the electric bulletin board, when the notification start signal is input from the notification judgment part 80a. On the other hand, the notification device 87 is configured to stop the notification through the sound, light, and/or the characters and images, when a notification stop command signal is input from the notification judgment part 80a in a state where the notification device 87 is notifying that the emergency stop switch 50 is to be operated for stopping.
As has been described, the notification judgment part 80a of the emergency stop notification system according to the present embodiment can accurately judge whether to notify an operator that the emergency stop of the hydraulic excavator 1 is to be performed, based on the state of the operation to the controller 31 in the cockpit 30 and the peripheral circumstance of the hydraulic excavator 1. For instance, the judgment on whether to perform the notification can be accurately made based on the presence or absence of a looking-away by an operator OP in the cockpit 30 or continuity of an unintended rotational operation of the operation lever 35, or the presence or absence of an obstacle or a person in the periphery of the hydraulic excavator 1.
Besides, the notification device 87 can effectively assist a peripheral worker W to determine whether to perform the emergency stop of the hydraulic excavator 1, by notifying the peripheral worker W of the hydraulic excavator 1 that the emergency stop switch 50 is to be operated for stopping in response to the command signal input from the notification judgment part 80a. Thus, prompting the peripheral worker W to operate the emergency stop switch 50 when the emergency stop is necessary enables the emergency stop function equipped to the hydraulic excavator 1 to be more effectively exhibited.
Next will be described about an example of the notification control to be performed by the emergency stop notification system with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 9.
The notification judgment part 80a judges whether or not any abnormal state signal has been input (step S1). When the notification judgment part 80a judges that any abnormal state signal is not input (NO in step S1), specifically, when no abnormal state signal is input from any of the looking judgment part 31a, the operation judgment part 31b, the communication state judgment part 31c, the peripheral circumstance judgment part 80b, and the communication state judgment part 80c, the notification control is unexecuted. On the other hand, when judging that any of the abnormal state signals is input (YES in step S1), the notification judgment part 80a inputs a notification start command signal to the notification device 87, thereby activating the notification device 87 to notify the peripheral worker W in the periphery of the hydraulic excavator 1 that the emergency stop switch 50 is to be operated for stopping (step S2).
When the stopping operation of the emergency stop switch 50 is performed after the start of the notification (YES in step S3), the notification judgment part 80a inputs the notification stop command signal to the notification device 87 to make the notification device 87 stop the notification (step S5). When the normal state signal is input during the notification (YES in step S4), the notification judgment part 80a also inputs the notification stop command signal to the notification device 87 to make the notification device 87 stop the notification (step S5).
FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing an emergency stop switch 50 and the mounting structure thereof according to a first modification of the first embodiment. The hydraulic excavator according to the first modification includes a support member 59 shown in FIG. 10 in addition to the emergency stop switch 50 and a case 60 to accommodate the emergency stop switch 50. The support member 59 is attached to an undercover 26 of an operation chamber 20 while supporting the emergency stop switch 50 and the case 60. Specifically, the support member 59 includes a switch support part 59a and an attachment part 59b. The attachment part 59b, which is a rear end in the upper-turning-body front-rear direction, is attached to the undercover 26 through a pair of bolts 26a. The pair of bolts 26a originally serves as a fastener for fastening the undercover 26 to a operation chamber main body of the operation chamber 20, screwed to the operation chamber main body while vertically penetrating both of the attachment part 59b and the undercover 26. The support member 59 is, thus, attached to the operation chamber 20 by use of the bolt 26a for fixing the undercover 26 to the operation chamber main body as a support member fastener. On the other hand, the emergency stop switch 50 and the case 60 accommodating the emergency stop switch 50 are attached to the switch support part 59a by a pair of bolts 69, which are switch fasteners, while being supported on the switch support part 59a. The pair of bolts 69 are screwed to the case 60 or the emergency stop switch 50 while vertically penetrating the switch support part 59a.
The use of the support member 59, the support member fastener and the switch fastener allows the emergency stop switch 50 and the case 60 to be fixed to the upper turning body 10 more firmly than by use of the magnet 65. In addition, the use of the pair of bolts 26a for attaching the undercover 26 as the support member fastener allows the emergency stop switch 50 to be attached to the upper turning body 10 without applying special machining or the like to the upper turning body 10.
FIG. 11A, FIG. 11B and FIG. 12 show a second modification of the first embodiment. FIG. 11A is a perspective view showing a hydraulic excavator 1 according to the second modification example, and FIGS. 11B and 12 are a side view and a perspective view showing the part enclosed by a circle 1B in FIG. 11A and enlarged.
The emergency stop switch 50 according to the second modification is attached to the part enclosed by the circle 11B in FIG. 11A, which is a part on the rear side of an operation chamber 20 in an upper turning body 10. Specifically, the emergency stop switch 50 is accommodated in a case 60, which is attached to a bottom part 11a of a machine chamber 11 of the upper turning body 10, more specifically, a part on the left side of the bottom part 11a in the upper-turning-body width direction, that is, a part on the side closer to the operation chamber 20 in the upper-turning-body width direction, as shown in FIGS. 11B and 12.
The emergency stop switch 50 and the case 60 accommodating the emergency stop switch 50, thus, even though located on the same side as the operation chamber 20 with respect to the upper-turning-body width direction, can be inhibited from hindering an operator who is going to get into the operation chamber 20 because of being attached to the upper turning body 10 at a position on the rear side of the operation chamber 20 in the upper turning body direction.
The operation surface 53 of the emergency stop switch 50 according to the second modification is attached to an attachment position shown in FIGS. 11B and 12 while facing the outside in the upper-turning-body width direction. The attachment position is a position to allow a peripheral worker W located on the left side of the hydraulic excavator 1 in the reference posture to apply the stopping operation to the emergency stop switch 50, the position being closer to the center than the left side surface 11b of the machine chamber 11 in the upper-turning-body width direction, more specifically, the position closer to the center than the left side surface 11b by the distance d2 shown in FIG. 12, that is, the position separated from the left side surface 11b rightward by the distance d2 in the upper-turning-body width direction.
Thus locating the operation surface 53 of the emergency stop switch 50 on the inner side of the left side surface 11b, which is the outer surface of the machine chamber 11, in the upper-turning-body width direction enables the left side surface 11b of the machine chamber 11 to prevent an object such as rubble from hitting the operation surface 53, that is, to serve as a protective guard, in summary, enables the left side surface 11b to reduce damage in the emergency stop switch 50.
FIGS. 13A and 13B show a third modification of the first embodiment. FIG. 13A is a perspective view showing the hydraulic excavator 1 according to the third modification, and FIG. 13B is a perspective view showing a part enclosed by a circle 13B in FIG. 13A.
The emergency stop switch 50 according to the third modification and a case 60 accommodating the emergency stop switch 50 are attached to the part enclosed by a circle 13B in an upper turning body 10 shown in FIG. 13A, which is a part of the upper turning body 10 on the rear side of an operation chamber 20 in the upper turning body 10. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 13B, the emergency stop switch 50 is attached to a part of a bottom part 11a of the machine chamber 11 on the side opposite to the operation chamber 20 in the upper-turning-body width direction, i.e., on the right side in the upper turning body 10 illustrated in FIGS. 13A and 13B, via the case 60.
Since the part thus located on the side opposite to the operation chamber 20 in the upper-turning-body width direction and on the rear side of the operation chamber 20 is likely to be a blind spot from an operator in the operation chamber 20, the function of the emergency stop switch 50 can be more effectively exhibited. Specifically, to the emergency stop switch 50 according to the third modified example can be quickly applied a stopping operation by a peripheral worker W located on the side (right side) opposite to the operation chamber 20 in the upper-turning-body width direction.

< Orientation of operation surface >

In the third modification example, as shown in FIG. 13B, the operation surface 53 of the emergency stop switch 50 faces the outside in the upper-turning-body width direction and is disposed at a position closer to the center than the right side surface 11c of the machine chamber 11 in the upper-turning-body width direction under condition of allowing a peripheral worker W located on the side (right side) opposite to the operation chamber 20 with respect to the hydraulic excavator 1 to apply a stopping operation to the emergency stop switch 50, that is, a position separated from the right side surface 11c leftward in the upper-turning-body width direction.
Thus locating the operation surface 53 of the emergency stop switch 50 on the inner side of the right side surface 11c in the upper-turning-body width direction, which is the outer surface of the machine chamber 11, enables the right side surface 11c of the machine chamber 11 to prevent an object such as rubble from hitting the operation surface 53, that is, to serve as a protective guard, in summary, enables the left side surface 11b to inhibit the emergency stop switch 50 from being damaged.
FIGS. 14A and 14B show a fourth modification of the first embodiment. FIG. 14A is a perspective view of a hydraulic excavator 1 according to the fourth modification, and FIG. 14B is a perspective view showing the part enclosed by a circle 14B in FIG. 14A.
The hydraulic excavator 1 according to the fourth modification includes two emergency stop switches 50A and 50B and cases 60 and 70 that accommodate the emergency stop switches 50A and 50B, respectively. The emergency stop switches 50A and 50B and the cases 60 and 70 are attached to the part enclosed by the circle 14B in the upper turning body 10 shown in FIG. 14A, which is a front end on the right side in the upper-turning-body width direction. As shown in FIG. 14B, the emergency stop switch 50A and the case 70 accommodating the emergency stop switch 50A are attached to a front surface 19a of an upper frame 19 which supports a trunk room 17 in the upper turning body 10. Specifically, the case 70 accommodating the emergency stop switch 50A includes a plurality of magnets 75 similarly to the case 70 shown in FIG. 4B, and the plurality of magnets 75 are fixed to the upper frame 19 by magnetic force. Besides, the case 60 accommodating the emergency stop switch 50B includes a plurality of magnets 65 similarly to the case 60 shown in FIG. 4A, and the plurality of magnets 65 are fixed to the right side surface 19b of the upper frame 19 by magnetic force.
In the fourth modification, as shown in FIG. 14B, both of the operation surfaces 53A and 53B of the emergency stop switches 50A and 50B face the outside in the upper-turning-body width direction, and are disposed at positions to allow a peripheral worker W located on the right side of the hydraulic excavator 1 to apply a stopping operation to the emergency stop switches 50A and 50B. Specifically, the operation surface 53A of the emergency stop switch 50A is disposed at a position closer to the center of the upper turning body 10 than the right side surface 19b of the upper frame 19 in the upper-turning-body width direction, which is a position on the left side of the right side surface 19b in the upper-turning-body width direction, under condition of allowing a peripheral worker W located on the right side of the hydraulic excavator 1 to apply the stopping operation to the emergency stop switch 50A. On the other hand, the operation surface 53 of the emergency stop switch 50B is disposed at a position where the operation surface 56 is protruded outward in the upper-turning-body width direction, namely, rightward, beyond the right side surface 19b of the upper frame 19. Thus disposed operation surface 53B can be also inhibited from being hit by an object such as rubble, by the case 60 that accommodates the emergency stop switch 50B.
Even in the case of the emergency stop switch 50B according to the fourth modified example where it is difficult to render the operation surface 53B close to the center of the upper turning body 10 in the upper-turning-body width direction, it is desirable to confine the emergency stop switch 50B, more desirably, the case 60 accommodating the emergency stop switch 50B, inside a maximum turning radius circle CR as shown in FIG. 15. The maximum turning radius circle CR is the circle having a radius equal to a maximum turning radius of the upper turning body 10 with the turning center of the upper turning body 10 as a center, the maximum turning radius being a planar distance between the turning center and the farthest part from the turning center in the upper turning body 10 not including a working device such as the attachment.
The emergency stop switch 50, if deviated outward beyond the maximum turning radius circle CR, would have a turning radius greater than the maximum turning radius of the upper turning body 10 to thereby increase the possibility that the emergency stop switch 50 is brought into contact with an obstacle or a person by the turning of the upper turning body 10. This forces an operator to perform careful work to avoid the contact, which may deteriorate workability.
In contrast, locating the emergency stop switch inside the maximum turning radius circle CR can provide a work machine with an emergency stop function without increasing burden on the work by the operator.
Besides, both of the operation surfaces 53A and 53B of the emergency stop switches 50A and 50B according to the fourth modification are located at positions to allow a peripheral worker W located on the right side of the hydraulic excavator 1, that is, on the opposite side to the operation chamber 20, to apply the stopping operation to the emergency stop switches 50A and 50B, specifically, to apply a pressing operation to the buttons 55A and 55B of the emergency stop switches 50A and 50B, thereby allowing a peripheral worker W present in an area on the opposite side to the operation chamber 20 to be likely to be the blind spot of the operator, that is, the area on the right side of the hydraulic excavator 1, to reliably and quickly operate the emergency stop switches 50A and 50B.
Next will be described a second embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIGS. 16A, 16B, and 17.
FIG. 16A shows a hydraulic excavator 201 according to the second embodiment. The hydraulic excavator 201 includes a lower traveling body 203, an upper turning body 210 mounted on the lower traveling body 203 so as to be capable of turning, and an attachment including a boom 205, and the upper turning body 210 includes, in addition to a machine chamber 211 and an operation chamber 220, an elevation device 90 that elevates and lowers the operation chamber 220. The operation chamber 220 is provided at a position on the front side in the upper-turning-body front-rear direction of the upper turning body 210 and on the left side of the upper turning body 210 in the upper-turning-body width direction. The elevation device 90 is configured to elevate and lower the operation chamber 220 between a lower position shown in FIG. 16A and an upper position shown in FIG. 16B.
As shown in FIG. 16B and FIG. 17, the elevation device 90 includes a base 91, a pair of link members 92, a cylinder 94, and an emergency descent valve 93. The base 91 is disposed upright on an upper frame of the upper turning body 210 at a position frontward of the machine chamber 211 shown in FIG. 16A. The pair of link members 92 are arranged to interconnect the operation chamber 220 and the base 91, constituting a parallel link mechanism in association with the operation chamber 220 and the base 91. Each of the link members 92 has opposite ends, which are rotatably connected to the operation chamber 120 and the base 91, respectively. The parallel link mechanism allows the operation chamber 120 to make translation between the lower position frontward of the base 91 as shown in FIG. 16A and the upper position as shown in FIG. 16B while keeping its horizontal posture. The cylinder 94 has opposite ends, which are rotatably connected to the operation chamber 120 and the base 91, respectively. The cylinder 94 is composed of, for example, a hydraulic cylinder capable of expansion and contraction motions, disposed so as to elevate and lower the operation chamber 120 between the lower position and the upper position through the expansion and contraction motions. The emergency descent valve 93 is a valve to be operated in an emergency to thereby lower the pressure in the cylinder 94 to make the operation chamber 120 descent to the lower position, disposed at a position at which the emergency descent valve 93 can be operated by a peripheral worker W around the hydraulic excavator 101, specifically, on an outer side (left side) surface of the base 91 in the upper-turning-body width direction.
FIG. 17 is a side view showing an attachment position of an emergency stop switch 250 and a case 260 to accommodate the emergency stop switch 250 according to the second embodiment. The emergency stop switch 250 is attached to a part of the upper turning body 210, the part located on the rear side of the operation chamber 220 located at the lower position and kept from being either elevated or lowered regardless of the movement of the elevation device 90. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 17, the case 260 accommodating the emergency stop switch 250 is attached to the outer side (left side) surface of the base 91 via a support member 259 at a position below the emergency descent valve 93. The emergency stop switch 250 is, thus, attached to the base 91, which is a part of the elevation device 90 to be kept from being either elevated or lowered, via the case 260 and the support member 259. This allows a peripheral worker W on the ground at a position on the lateral side of the hydraulic excavator 201, i.e., on the left side in the graphically shown example, to easily apply a stopping operation to the emergency stop switch 250 regardless of elevating or lowering the operation chamber 220.
Moreover, the emergency stop switch 250, located in the vicinity of the emergency descent valve 93, allows the operation chamber 220 to be quickly lowered by the operation applied to the emergency descent valve 93 immediately after the movement of the hydraulic excavator 201 is stopped by a stopping operation applied to the emergency stop switch 250 in a state where the operation chamber 220 has been elevated from the lower position.
In the second embodiment, the emergency stop switch 250 is also disposed such that the operation surface 253 of the emergency stop switch 250 faces the outside in the upper-turning-body width direction, in other words, such that the operation surface 253 faces the outside (left side) in the width direction of the hydraulic excavator 201 in a reference posture where the upper-turning-body front-rear direction of the upper turning body 210 and the front-rear direction of the lower traveling body of the lower traveling body 203 is coincident with each other.
Regarding the height of the operation surface 253, as shown in FIG. 17, the upper end of the operation surface 253 is located at the same height as or a height lower than the upper end 224 of the door opening/closing knob 223 of the door 221 of the operation chamber 220 located at the lower position. This enables a peripheral worker W on the ground at a position on the same side (the left side in the figure) of the hydraulic excavator 201 as the door 221 to easily apply a stopping operation to the operation surface 253 regardless of elevating or lowering the operation chamber 220.
FIG. 18 shows a thick solid line and a thick dashed line that indicate the routing path of a wire harness 257 connected to the emergency stop switch 250 according to the second embodiment. The wire harness 257 is inserted through a harness hole formed in the case 260 to be routed over the inside and outside of the case 260, and extends, as shown in FIG. 18, along the back surface 91a of the base 91, between the base 91 and the machine chamber 211 arranged in the upper-turning-body front-rear direction. The wire harness 257 includes a part 257a extending in the upper-turning-body width direction from the case 260 to a position on the inner side (the right side in FIG. 18) of the case 260 in the upper-turning-body width direction, and a part 257b extending from the inner end of the part 257a to the upper end of the base 91 along the back surface 91a of the base 91.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 18, a hydraulic hose 95 connected to the cylinder 94 and a wire harness 97 other than the wire harness 157 are routed vertically along the back surface 91a of the base 91 while being arranged side-by-side in the upper-turning-body width direction, and the wire harness 257 connected to the emergency stop switch 250 is routed so as to merge with the other wire harness 97 at the upper end part of the base 91.
The other wire harness 97 is routed to electrically interconnect a controller installed in the operation chamber 220 and a device provided outside the operation chamber 220, while the bottom of the operation chamber 220 is formed with a through-hole allowing the other wire harness 97 to pass through the through-hole to allow the other wire harness 97 to be routed over the inside and outside of the operation chamber 220. The wire harness 257 connected to the emergency stop switch 250 is routed over the inside and outside of the operation chamber 220 together with the other wire harness 97 through the through hole. Thus using the through-hole formed in the bottom portion of the operation chamber 220 makes it possible to electrically interconnect the emergency stop switch 250 and the controller in the operation chamber 220 without applying special machining to the upper turning body 210.
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment but allowed to be variously modified, for example, as follows.
The work machine according to the present invention is not limited to the hydraulic excavators 1, 201. The work machine according to the present invention may be a work machine other than a hydraulic excavator, for example, a self-traveling work machine such as a crawler crane.
The lower traveling body according to the present invention is not limited to one including a pair of crawlers, such as the lower traveling bodies 3 and 203, but also allowed to be, for example, a lower traveling body including a plurality of wheels.
The upper turning body according to the present invention is not limited to the upper turning body 10, 210 in which the operation chambers 20, 220 are located on the left side in the upper-turning-body width direction, but also allowed to be, for example, one where an operation chamber is located on the right side in the upper-turning-body width direction.
The work machine according to the present invention is not limited to one capable of being remotely operated, but also allowed to be, for example, a work machine that is operated based on only a driving operation by an operator getting in the operation chambers 20, 220.
The emergency stop notification system is optional, not necessarily required.
Thus, the above-described embodiment is illustrative, not intended to limit the present invention to the embodiment. Furthermore, all modifications and changes under the equivalent scope of the claims are encompassed in the scope of the present invention.
As has been described, there is provided a work machine capable of being urgently stopped quickly by a worker located in the periphery of a work machine. The work machine includes a lower traveling body, an upper turning body mounted on the lower traveling body so as to be capable of turning, and an emergency stop switch mounted on the upper turning body. The emergency stop switch includes an operation surface provided with an operation part that allows a stopping operation for stopping the motion of the work machine to be applied to the operation part. The operation surface faces outside in an upper-turning-body width direction so as to allow a worker located at a lateral side of the work machine in a reference posture where an upper-turning-body front-rear direction, which is a front-rear direction of the upper turning body, and a front-rear direction of the lower traveling body are coincident with each other to apply the emergency stopping operation to the operation part. The upper-turning-body width direction is a width direction of the upper turning body, being a direction orthogonal to the upper-turning-body front-rear direction in the upper turning body.
The operation surface including the operation part in the emergency stop switch, which faces outside in the upper-turning-body width direction, allows a peripheral worker located on the lateral side of the work machine in the reference posture where the upper-turning-body front-rear direction and the front-rear direction of the lower traveling body are coincident with each other, that is, a peripheral worker located in a safety area deviated from the course of the lower traveling body, to apply the stopping operation to the operation part, thereby enabling the peripheral worker to stop the motion of the work machine safely and quickly. Besides, the direction in which the stopping operation is applied to the operation part by the peripheral worker, namely, the upper-turning-body width direction or a direction close thereto, is greatly different from the traveling direction of the work machine, namely, the traveling direction of the lower traveling body, which allows the work machine to be effectively inhibited from interference with the hand or the like of the peripheral worker who tries to apply the stopping operation to the emergency stop switch.
In the case of the upper turning body including an operation chamber to allow an operator to get in the operation chamber to operate the work machine, it is preferable that the emergency stop switch is disposed at a position on a front side or a rear side of the operation chamber in the upper-turning-body front-rear direction, and the operation surface is disposed at a position closer to a center of the upper turning body in the upper-turning-body width direction than a side surface of the upper turning body around the emergency stop switch under condition of allowing a peripheral worker located at a lateral side of the work machine in the reference posture to apply the stopping operation to the emergency stop switch.
Since the position on the front side or the rear side of the operation chamber is likely to be a blind spot when viewed from the operator in the operation chamber, the emergency stop switch attached to such a position enables a peripheral worker present at a position that is likely to be a blind spot of the operator to appropriately and quickly apply the stopping operation to the emergency stop switch.
Besides, the disposition of the operation surface at a position closer to the center of the upper turning body in the upper-turning-body width direction than the side surface of the upper turning body around the emergency stop switch under condition of allowing the peripheral worker to apply the stopping operation to the emergency stop switch enables the side surface of the upper turning body to serve as a protective guard that prevents an object such as rubble from hitting the operation surface, thereby allowing the emergency stop switch to be inhibited from being damaged.
In the case where the operation chamber includes an openable and closable door, which includes a door opening/closing knob to be operated for opening and closing the door, it is preferable that the operation surface is disposed at a position at which the operation surface has the same height as or is lower than an upper end of the door opening/closing knob.
Since the door opening/closing knob is a part to be operated by an operator for opening and closing the door of the operation chamber, the location of the upper end of the operation surface at a position having the same height as or lower than the upper end of the door opening/closing knob allows a peripheral worker located at a lateral side of the work machine to easily apply a stopping operation to the operation part of the operation surface.
Preferably, the operation chamber is disposed on one side of the left side and the right side in the upper-turning-body width direction, and the operation surface is disposed so as to face the one side. This enables a peripheral worker who approaches the work machine from the one side to the operation room to easily and quickly apply a stopping operation to the emergency stop switch. Moreover, the emergency stop switch, located on the front side or the rear side of the operation chamber, can be inhibited from hindering an operator who is going to get into the operation chamber.
The operation chamber may be configured to be elevatable and lowerable between a lower position and an upper position higher than the lower position. In this case, it is preferable that the emergency stop switch is attached to a part of the upper turning body, the part located on a front side or a rear side of the upper turning body in the upper-turning-body front-rear direction and kept from being either elevated or lowered. This allows a peripheral worker on the ground to easily apply the stopping operation to the emergency stop switch regardless of elevating or lowering the operation chamber.
In this case, it is preferable that an upper end of the operation surface is located at the same height as an upper end of the door opening/closing knob of the operation chamber located at the lower position or a position lower than the state of the door opening/closing knob. This allows a peripheral worker on the ground to easily apply a stopping operation to the operation surface of the emergency stop switch regardless of elevating or lowering the operation chamber.
The emergency stop switch is preferably attached to the upper turning body at a position inside a maximum turning radius circle of the upper turning body. The maximum turning radius circle is a circle having a radius equal to a maximum turning radius of the upper turning body with a turning center of the upper turning body as a center, and the maximum turning radius of the upper turning body is a planar distance between the turning center and a part farthest from the turning center in the upper turning body not including the attachment. The disposition of the emergency stop switch inside such a maximum turning radius circle enables the emergency stop switch to be prevented from being brought into contact with an object in the periphery of the working machine by the turning of the upper turning body, regardless of whether or not the emergency stop switch is located inside or outside the outer surface of the upper turning body in the turning radial direction, thereby making it possible to inhibit the burden on an operator from being increased in order to prevent the emergency stop switch from being damaged.
The work machine may be configured to be remotely operated by an operation performed in a remote operation device located away from the operation chamber. In this case, it is preferable that the work machine further includes: a judgment part that judges whether to perform an emergency stop of the work machine based on information on the operation in the remote operation device and information on a peripheral circumstance of the work machine; and a notification device that notifies a peripheral worker in the periphery of the work machine that the stopping operation is to be applied to the emergency stop switch when the judgment part judges that the emergency stop of the work machine is to be performed. The notification enables the peripheral worker to easily determine whether to apply the stopping operation to the emergency stop switch.

Claims

A work machine comprising:
a lower traveling body;

an upper turning body mounted on the lower traveling body so as to be capable of turning; and

an emergency stop switch attached to the upper turning body, wherein:
the emergency stop switch includes an operation surface, which is provided with an operation part that allows a stopping operation for stopping a motion of the work machine to be applied to the operation part; and

the operation surface faces outside in an upper-turning-body width direction so as to allow a worker located at a lateral side of the work machine in a reference posture where an upper-turning-body front-rear direction, which is a front-rear direction of the upper turning body, and a front-rear direction of the lower traveling body are coincident with each other to apply the stopping operation to the operation part, the upper-turning-body width direction being a width direction of the upper turning body, the upper-turning-body width direction being a direction orthogonal to the upper-turning-body front-rear direction in the upper turning body.
The work machine according to claim 1, wherein: the upper turning body includes an operation chamber, which allows an operator to get in the operation chamber to operate the work machine; the emergency stop switch is disposed at a position on a front side or a rear side of the operation chamber in the upper-turning-body front-rear direction; and the operation surface is disposed at a position closer to a center of the upper turning body in the upper-turning-body width direction than a side surface of the upper turning body around the emergency stop switch, under condition of allowing a peripheral worker located at a lateral side of the work machine in the reference posture to apply the stopping operation to the emergency stop switch.
The work machine according to claim 2, wherein the operation chamber includes an openable and closable door, which includes a door opening/closing knob to be operated for opening and closing the door, and an upper end of the operation surface is located at a position having the same height as or lower than an upper end of the door opening/closing knob.
The work machine according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the operation chamber is disposed on one side of a left side and a right side in the upper-turning-body width direction, and the operation surface faces the one side.
The work machine according to claim 1, wherein: the upper turning body includes an operation chamber, which allows an operator to get in the operation chamber to operate the work machine; the operation chamber is configured to be elevatable and lowerable between a lower position and an upper position higher than the lower position; and the emergency stop switch is attached to a part of the upper turning body, the part located on a front side or a rear side of the upper turning body in the upper-turning-body front-rear direction and kept from being either elevated or lowered.
The work machine according to claim 5, wherein an upper end of the operation surface is located at a position having the same height as or lower than an upper end of a door opening/closing knob of a door of the operation chamber located at the lower position.
The work machine according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the emergency stop switch is disposed inside a maximum turning radius circle of the upper turning body, the maximum turning radius circle being a circle having a radius equal to a maximum turning radius of the upper turning body with a turning center of the upper turning body as a center.
The work machine according to claim 1, wherein the work machine includes an operator chamber that allows an operator to get in the operation chamber, and the work machine is configured to be remotely operated by an operation performed in a remote operation device located away from the operation chamber, the work machine further comprising: a judgment part that judges whether to perform an emergency stop of the work machine based on information on an operation in the remote operation device and information on a peripheral circumstance of the work machine; and a notification device that notifies a peripheral worker in a periphery of the work machine that the stopping operation is to be applied to the emergency stop switch when the judgment part judges that the emergency stop of the work machine is to be performed.