JP2002034308A - Work vehicle control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problems of a conventional work vehicle control system, wherein a line trouble, a radio disturbance or the like during communication is liable to cause the impossibility or retardation of the transmission of information from the host controller to a work vehicle or the impossibility of the transmission from the work vehicle to the host controller, when a tractor or the like is subjected to an unmanned automatic work, and especially wherein it is difficult to always rapidly and surely transmit and receive information in a mountainous region, because the communication state is not good. SOLUTION: This work vehicle control system comprises plural tractors 3... and a host controller 4 having a database for memorizing the performances or work information of the tractors. The tractor is equipped with a communication means using a transceiver line for receiving the information of the host controller 4 via the other work vehicle 3 or transmitting the information via the other work tractor and further with a communication means using a telephone line for receiving the information of the host controller 4 without passing through the other work vehicle 3 or transmitting the information without passing through the other work tractor.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a work vehicle management system for agriculture, construction, and transportation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the field of various work vehicles, a plurality of work machines are collectively managed by a host control unit, for example, a facility equipped with a personal computer and communication equipment, for the purpose of improving work efficiency. In addition, there is known an apparatus that allows unmanned work or provides or collects various types of information even for a person.

For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-243738, a work continuation time is calculated in accordance with the amount of fertilizer consumed in an agricultural tractor, and the calculation result is displayed. 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a work vehicle management system configured to extract a specific storage location from among storage locations as a candidate consumable material supply location and transmit map information of the storage location to the vehicle.

[0004] However, these vehicles work in various situations. For example, information cannot be transmitted from the host control unit to the vehicle due to a line trouble during communication, radio wave interference, or the like, or information is transmitted from the vehicle to the host. Could not be sent. In particular, when working in mountainous areas, communication conditions are poor, and it has been difficult to always and quickly transmit and receive information.

The various control devices mounted on the tractor are configured to be executed based on control means provided on the vehicle body, more specifically, on the basis of set values stored in a storage device thereof. When working vehicles in unexpected situations (differences in crops and soil), accurate work was sometimes difficult to perform.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, the present invention has a work vehicle management system configured as follows.
That is, a plurality of work vehicles 3 including an actuator 1 for driving a working unit, a traveling unit, or a steering unit of a vehicle, and a sensor 2 for detecting an operation state of the actuator 1, In the work vehicle management system, which comprises a host control unit 4 having a database in which individual performances or work information of the work vehicles 3... Are stored, the work vehicles 3. First communication means for receiving via the vehicle 3 or transmitting via the other work vehicle 3, and receiving information from the host control unit 4 without passing through the other work vehicle 3 or not passing through the other work vehicle And a second communication means for transmitting the work vehicle.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the work vehicle management system according to the first aspect, wherein the first communication means and the second communication means use radio waves having different frequencies. The invention of claim 3 provides a plurality of work vehicles 3 including an actuator 1 for driving a work unit, a traveling unit, or a steering unit of the vehicle, and a sensor 2 for detecting an operation state of the actuator 1, In a work vehicle management system including a host control unit 4 having a database in which individual performance or work information of the vehicles 3... Is transmitted, a detection value of the sensor 2 of the vehicle is transmitted to the host control unit 4 and a host control is performed. A work vehicle management system characterized in that it receives a drive command for the actuator 1 with respect to the detection value of the sensor 2 calculated based on the data stored in the unit 4 and drives the actuator. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the host control unit 4 includes a database having at least weather information or geological information, and issues a drive command of the actuator 1 to a detection value of the sensor 2 calculated based on the information of the database. 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the actuator is received to drive the actuator.
The work vehicle management system described in (1).

[0008]

In the work vehicle management system according to the first aspect of the present invention, in addition to the path for providing or collecting information from the host control unit 4 through a specific path, the work vehicle 3 is connected via the work vehicle 3. Since a path for transmitting or receiving information is provided, information can be transmitted or received using the other communication means even if the communication condition of the one communication means deteriorates. In addition, since information is transmitted and received via one of the communication means via another vehicle, even if there is a local radio wave interference, this can be solved by changing the position of the vehicle.

[0009] Further, by making the frequencies of the first and second communication means different from each other as described above, even if radio wave interference of a specific frequency occurs, transmission and reception of information can be performed without interruption as much as possible. it can. According to the third and fourth aspects of the present invention, by driving the actuator 1 based on the information of the host control unit 4, the actuator 1 is more precise and more precise than the control based on limited information on the vehicle side. Optimal work can be performed.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to an agricultural machine, particularly a management system for a tractor 3. First, the configuration of the tractor 3 will be described. The tractor 3, as shown in FIG.
And the vehicle travels by transmitting the rotational power of the engine 11 to the rear wheels 12 or the front and rear wheels 12, 13 via a plurality of transmissions. The engine 11 is provided with an electric motor 14 and an engine rotation sensor 15 for detecting the number of engine rotations in a governor device as an actuator for adjusting the rotation of the engine. It has a configuration. A brake disk is provided on the left and right drive shafts of the rear wheels 12 so that the disks can be press-fitted by the expansion and contraction of a piston of a hydraulic cylinder 16 serving as a brake actuator so that the left and right rear wheels 12, 12 can be independently braked. Has become.

A meter panel 18 having a built-in liquid crystal monitor 17 is provided behind the engine 11, and the liquid crystal monitor 17 displays a vehicle speed, an engine speed, a fuel remaining amount, various actuator states and a map. Has become.
A GPS receiver 19 and a gyro sensor 20 are provided inside the meter panel 18 and connected to the controller 7.

A connector for connecting a PHS type mobile phone is provided on the upper part of the meter panel 18, and a power switch of the mobile phone is turned on / off by a changeover switch 22 provided on the side of the cockpit 23 of the tractor 3. When the mobile phone is turned off, the mobile phone is set to a data communication state or a voice communication state.

An arm in the cockpit 23 has a built-in speaker 24 at the back of the operator when the mobile phone is set in a talking state and a sound collecting microphone 25 extending to a position near the mouth of the operator. Is extended. As a result, when the tractor 3 is being operated by a man, it is possible to make a call without interrupting the operation to perform the key operation of the mobile phone, and to operate the tractor by voice using a separately provided voice identification function. Can be.

The speaker 24 and the sound collecting microphone 25
When the tractor 3 is equipped with an audio device such as a radio or audio, this may be substituted. A handle post 27 for supporting a steering handle 26 serving as a steering unit is provided behind the meter panel 18, and a steering wheel operation electric motor 28 serving as a steering actuator is provided inside the handle post 27.

A position lever 31 for changing the height of the work equipment 30, a speed change lever for traveling, and a PT for turning on and off the rotation of a PTO shaft at the rear of the vehicle body are provided beside the cockpit 23.
An O on / off switch, and a manual / automatic (unmanned traveling) mode setting device 29 for selecting whether to operate the tractor 3 manually or also based on communication with the host control 4 are provided. A potentiometer 32 for detecting a lever operation position is provided at a rotation base of the position lever 31, and the detection value is transmitted to the controller 7, and a working machine lifting hydraulic cylinder serving as a working machine lifting actuator at the rear of the tractor 3. The lift arm 34 is rotated up and down by driving the lift arm 33. Also this lift arm 3
A lift arm angle sensor 2 for detecting an operation angle of the arm 34 is provided at the rotation base of the arm 4.

The controller 7 of the tractor 3 (tractor A in FIG. 1) will be described. The controller 7
A communication modem 35 which internally converts radio waves transmitted and received from a telephone line into a signal for performing data communication with the host control unit 4, a CPU for processing various information,
A RAM for temporarily storing various sensor detection values and the like, an EEPROM for storing various control programs, and the like are provided, and a transceiver device 36 is connected to transmit and receive data between tractors.

On the controller input side, the GPS receiver 19, gyro sensor 20, manual / automatic mode setting device 29, potentiometer 32 of position lever 31, lift arm angle sensor 2, engine rotation sensor 15, A sound microphone 25 and the like are connected and provided. On the output side, a working machine elevating hydraulic cylinder 33, a left and right rear wheel, via a steering wheel operating electric motor 28, an engine rotation adjusting electric motor 14, and various hydraulic control valves. 12 brake hydraulic cylinders 16 and the like are connected.
7. The speaker 24 is connected and provided.

In the figure, the controllers of the tractors B and C have the same configuration as that of the tractor A, so that illustration of various sensors and actuators is omitted. On the other hand, the host control unit 4 includes a personal computer, a communication device, and the like, and includes a machine repair information, a machine performance information, a crop growing information, a work information, a weather information, such as a data file shown in FIGS. , Map information and the like, and the information is transmitted to and received from each tractor 3 by a manager manually or automatically by a computer through a telephone line and this relay base or a transceiver line.

When the tractor 3 is automatically operated by using the tractor 3 management system configured as described above, communication is performed as shown in FIG. First, prior to the work, the tractor 3 is moved to the field where the work is to be performed, and the manual / automatic mode setting device 29 is set to “automatic (unmanned traveling)”.
Set the mode. Thus, the tractor 3 is first set to a communication state with the host control unit 4 via the communication modem 35. When the work is started, the work state, for example, the engine rotation and position information is periodically transmitted to the host control unit 4. That is, the sensor information is transmitted via the first communication means via the route of the tractor A, the communication line a, the relay base, the communication line b, and the host control unit 4 in this example in the illustrated example.

Thereafter, an operation signal of the actuator in response to the transmission signal, for example, a steering direction in response to position information indicating that the user is working on the edge of a field, an output signal such as lifting of a working machine or a brake operation, or simply the transmission signal is a host control unit. 4 until it receives a communication completion signal indicating that it has been received. If the intended signal is not received within a predetermined time after the standby, the output information is converted to a transceiver line, and another tractor, tractor C in FIG. The communication is tried to receive the output signal corresponding to the sensor signal instead, and the signal is transmitted to the tractor 3. That is, in the example shown in the figure, the sensor information is sequentially transmitted to the tractor A, the transceiver device 36, the communication line d, the transceiver device 36, the tractor C, the communication line c, the relay base,
It is transmitted via the communication line b and the path of the host control unit 4.

Similarly, when the information is not transmitted from the host control unit 4 to the target tractor using the communication modem 35, the information is transmitted to the inaccessible tractor 3 via another tractor C. That is, the information is sequentially transmitted to the host control unit 4, the communication line b, the relay station, the communication line c, the tractor C, the transceiver device 36, the communication line d, the transceiver device 36, and the tractor A. Then, the administrator of the host control unit 4 grasps the received information and the working state at any time by the display on the screen of the personal computer or by voice.

Thus, even when the telephone line is congested, the communication becomes impossible due to the line disconnection, or the communication modem itself breaks down, it is possible to transmit / receive information using another tractor 3. As a result, it is possible to avoid a state in which communication cannot be performed for a long time as much as possible, and it is possible to perform quick or accurate work.

Also, even if the tractor 3 is working and running beside a shade or a large facility and communication becomes impossible, another tractor 3 is used to perform communication bypassing the obstacle. The communication can be avoided as much as possible, and a quick or accurate operation can be performed.

In this case, a telephone line is used as the first communication means, and a telephone line and a transceiver line are used as the second communication means, that is, a part of the second communication means uses a line having a different frequency. Therefore, even if, for example, radio wave interference that interferes with a specific frequency occurs on the tractor side, transmission and reception of information can be performed without interruption.

The system outline diagram shown in FIG. 8 shows a system using telephone lines of different frequencies. Next, the "load control device" for driving the hydraulic cylinder 33 for lifting and lowering the work implement of the tractor 3 will be described.

The conventional tractor is configured to perform a so-called "load control" in which the working machine is raised by a certain amount when the engine speed becomes equal to or lower than a predetermined rotational speed or when the deceleration rate becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined value. In this load control, a control program is stored in a storage device such as an EEPROM provided in a controller on the tractor side, and is executed based only on sensor information on the vehicle body.

However, the capacity of the storage device provided in the controller is limited, and precise control cannot be performed according to, for example, soil quality, weather, or other factors. Therefore, here, the operation of the load control device, that is, the operation amount of the hydraulic cylinder 33 for lifting and lowering the work implement is changed with reference to the land information DB and the weather information DB of the host control unit 4. Specifically, when the rotation speed of the engine 11 is under the predetermined condition, if the land information held by the host control unit 4 indicates hard soil, the rising amount is increased or the speed is increased at a high speed, and the soft soil is increased. If so, control is performed to raise the work machine 30 at a small amount or at a low speed.
Also, when referring to the weather information DB, the hardness of the field is assumed based on data such as past rainfall, sunshine, and temperature,
As described above, as the viscosity of the soil in the field is assumed to be higher, the amount of rise is increased or the speed of rise is increased at high speed.

Thus, the tractor 3 drives the work implement lifting hydraulic cylinder 33 based on the data from the host control unit 4 to perform control based on only the tractor-side preset data. , Precise and optimal work can be performed. Note that the control for driving the tractor-side actuator by the host control unit 4 is not limited to the load control, but uses a separately configured actuator related to “tilling depth control”, “horizontal control”, or “straight running control”. The configuration may be such that the existing stored values, operating speed, operating amount, and dead zone on the tractor side are appropriately changed and updated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system outline diagram (1).

FIG. 2 is an overall side view of the tractor.

FIG. 3 is a data file example of a machine repair DB.

FIG. 4 is an example of a data file of a machine performance DB.

FIG. 5 is a data file example of a work information DB.

FIG. 6 is a data file example of a weather information DB.

FIG. 7 is a control flowchart.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a system (2).

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Hydraulic cylinder for lifting and lowering work equipment 2 Lift arm angle sensor 3 Tractor 4 Host controller 5 Transceiver device 6 (for telephone line) Communication modem 7 Controller

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Claims (4)

[Claims] A plurality of work vehicles including an actuator for driving a working unit, a traveling unit, or a steering unit of a vehicle, and a sensor for detecting an operation state of the actuator.
, And a host control unit 4 having a database in which individual performance or work information of the work vehicles 3 is stored.
A first communication unit for receiving the information of the host control unit 4 via another work vehicle 3 or transmitting the information via the other work vehicle 3, and transmitting the information of the host control unit 4 to another work vehicle 3. 3
And a second communication unit for receiving without passing through or transmitting without passing through another work vehicle. 2. The work vehicle management system according to claim 1, wherein the first communication means and the second communication means use radio waves having different frequencies. 3. A plurality of work vehicles 3 including an actuator 1 for driving a work unit, a traveling unit, or a steering unit of the vehicle, and a sensor 2 for detecting an operation state of the actuator 1.
And a host control unit 4 having a database storing the performance or work information of each of the work vehicles 3. In the work vehicle management system, the detection value of the sensor 2 of the vehicle is transmitted to the host control unit 4. And a drive system for driving the actuator 1 upon receiving a drive command for the actuator 1 with respect to the detection value of the sensor 2 calculated based on the data stored in the host control unit 4. 4. The host control unit 4 includes a database having at least weather or geological information, and receives a drive command of the actuator 1 with respect to a detection value of the sensor 2 calculated based on the information of the database and receives the command. The work vehicle management system according to claim 3, wherein the actuator is driven.