JP2017040076A - Self-propelled work machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform snow removal work before the snow piles up by travelling in a self-propelled manner according to a preset mode accordingly by automatically monitoring a peripheral environment such as snowfall.SOLUTION: A crawler type work machine drives and travels electrically toward any direction freely by mounting a rechargeable battery, and it includes a shovel or a snow clearing plate as a work tool and a drive mechanism for those. Furthermore, it includes a system controller incorporating a positional information system and a computer, and a snow accumulation monitoring system, and it performs work such as snow removal and the like by the instruction from the system controller based on snow accumulation imaging by a monitoring camera or snowfall sensing information in the snow accumulation monitoring system.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a self-propelled working machine for automatically monitoring a surrounding environment and self-propelling at any time according to a setting mode and mainly performing snow removal and weeding work.

  As a snowplow generally used in a region with a lot of snow, a simple one such as one that is connected to an automobile and performs snow removal by running the automobile (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-301433), etc. Are known. The snowplow has two blades arranged between the pair of augers along the axial direction of the auger shaft and at different positions from the two impellers along the rotational direction. When the blade is inserted into the snow along the running direction during running, the blade can scrape the snow and send it out to the impeller, and the snow will be thrown up and thrown up by the impeller A snow remover is known (republished patent WO2010 / 095234).

  In addition, the snow removing part has a snow removing part that can be moved up and down and can be rolled and controlled in the snow throwing direction and distance at the front part of the machine body by crawler traveling. There is also known a snowplow having a function to spin-turn the crawler traveling device described above (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-219642). In addition, in a simple one, a snow removal member that pushes snow to the front of the vehicle having a drive wheel and its drive motor is provided at the center of the width of the vehicle, and the left and right operation handles with grips are provided at the rear of the vehicle. There is also known a hand-push type snow remover equipped with (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-240026).

  In addition, a crawler belt is provided on the left and right sides of the vehicle body frame, a drive motor that drives the crawler belt and a battery that drives the crawler belt, and a snow discharge member that pushes snow out to the front of the vehicle body frame. A snowplow having an operation handle is also known (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-193031). Furthermore, it is a crawler traveling type snow remover, which has an auger and an impeller in the front, a handle and a stowable riding plate at the rear of the vehicle body, and the operator gets on the board by pulling out the riding plate. A snowplow is also known (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-293339).

JP 2003-301433 A Republished patent WO2010 / 095234 JP-A-10-219642 JP 2000-240026 JP JP 2001-193031 A JP 2003-293339 A

  However, since the snow removal device disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above is installed and operated in a vehicle, the vehicle itself must sufficiently withstand running in snow. Therefore, it can be used only in limited scenes as a snow removal device. In the snow removal unit and the snow removal machine disclosed in Patent Document 2, the snow accumulated in front of the snow removal unit is pushed into the auger housing, collected on the center side along the axial direction of the auger shaft, and sent to the inside of the flange plate. It can be piled up in a place where it does not get in the way because it is thrown up by the impeller body and thrown through the shooter toward the side or front of the snowplow with good convergence. The cost is also high and skill is required for operation.

  Further, the snowplow disclosed in Patent Document 3 improves the traveling and turning performance of the crawler, and the collected snow is thrown in a certain direction so that the functionality is improved. It is large and expensive, and requires a lot of skill in operation due to the large number of operating levers. Furthermore, although the snowplow disclosed in Patent Document 4 is relatively small and easy to operate, it is basically a manual push operation, so that the burden on the worker is large. Also, the one disclosed in Patent Document 5 is not manually pushed but is a battery-driven walking type, so that the snow removing force of the snow removing member that pushes out snow is weak.

  Furthermore, the snowplow disclosed in Patent Document 6 is substantially the same type as the crawler traveling snowplow described in Patent Document 2 or Patent Document 3 described above, and has a riding plate stored in the rear part of the vehicle body. Since it is pulled out during use so that the operator can ride on it, it can be driven easily even in places where it is difficult to walk, but there is still a problem that it is large and expensive.

Therefore, in the present invention, it is not a snow removal of a large amount of snow, but it is detected when the snow begins to fall, and it is automatically operated unattended and can be easily removed regardless of day or night even when the amount of snow is extremely small. To eliminate the amount of snow on the road surface and site surface, or automatically detect the start of snowfall according to a pre-programmed driving pattern, and remove snow while the amount of snow is small to remove snow at the target location. The present invention relates to a self-propelled working machine characterized by being eliminated.

  That is, the present invention is a crawler type work machine that is loaded with a rechargeable battery and is driven to drive in an electrically free direction, and includes a work excavator, a snow plate, and positional information such as GPS. A system controller with a built-in system and computer, and a snow cover monitoring system and automatic return means to the replenishment charging station are installed, and when it is not snowing, it waits at a specific standby position or at the replenishment charging station with full charge.

When the snow cover monitoring system detects snow cover or snowfall, the work equipment will automatically drive away from a specific standby position or rechargeable charging system position regardless of daytime or nighttime, immediately heading in the direction of snow cover, and immediately Snow removal work is started with work tools such as a snow drain plate. In this case, it is possible to remove snow over a wide area, for example, on the premises of a company or factory, but usually a driving pattern pre-programmed by a program for securing a snow removal passage previously stored in the computer of the system controller. The snow removal work is carried out using the location information system according to the above. When the snow removal work is completed or the capacity of the on-board battery decreases, the battery automatically returns to the replenishment charging station and starts charging immediately.

The work machine according to the present invention is a crawler type work machine that is loaded with a rechargeable battery and is driven to travel in an electrically free direction. The work machine includes an excavator, a snow drain plate, etc., which are work tools, GPS, etc. The system controller with a built-in location information system and computer, and a monitoring system such as a camera or snow detector for monitoring snowfall or snowfall, and automatic return means to the replenishment charging station, operate the work equipment Does not require workers. Therefore, if the snow cover monitoring system is always in the monitoring state even in the unattended situation at midnight, it is possible to reliably remove the target snow removal passage according to the program recorded in the system controller in the unattended state to secure the walking passage. it can.

  In addition, when the amount of charge on the work equipment decreases after working for a long time, if the amount of charge falls below a preset value according to the program of the system controller, it automatically returns to the replenishment charging station and starts charging. Therefore, the work machine does not get stuck in the snow due to running out of battery.

1 is an overall perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a self-propelled working machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart of the system configuration | structure of the self-propelled working machine which is one Example of this invention. The first half figure of the flowchart of "full automatic travel mode" taken up as Example 1 of the present invention. The latter half figure of the flowchart of "fully automatic driving mode" taken up as Example 1 of this invention. The first half of the flowchart of the “designated area travel mode” taken up as the second embodiment of the present invention. The latter half figure of the flowchart of "running mode in the designated area" taken up as the second embodiment of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described. In the self-propelled working machine in the embodiment of FIG. 1, 1 is a frame body of the working machine P, 2 is a front drive wheel attached to the front side of the frame body 1, and 3 is a rear side attached to the rear side of the frame body 1. The drive wheels 4a and 4b represent a pair of left and right rubber endless crawlers wound around the front drive wheel 2 and the rear drive wheel 3, and are driven by the power of the battery 5 such as lithium loaded. By the driving device (not shown), the entire frame body 1 can move forward, backward, turn left and right, and freely swivel around the center of the frame body as a rotation axis.

  Reference numeral 6 denotes an attachment device for a work tool (shovel) S, which enables the excavator S to be moved in the left and right directions in addition to the vertical movement by the motor drive means (not shown) via the pinion shaft 8, so that the excavator S can be freely moved. Can turn around. In this case, the excavator S is removed and replaced with a device intended for weeding separately (for example, a circular saw that can be rotated in the horizontal direction, or a paddy field management machine disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-23807). It can also be used for weed cutting work. Further, 7 is a system controller, 8 is a position information detection device erected on the upper surface of the system controller 7 (in this embodiment, a direction sensor such as GPS and a geomagnetic sensor is used), and 9 is constant toward the front of the work machine. (In the case of the present embodiment, a camera mounted at a position higher than the upper end portion of the shovel S), and in this embodiment, represents a monitoring system.

Further, the system controller 7 described above has a built-in computer C, and the power of the battery 5 is always supplied when the power supply (not shown) of the work machine P is ON, as shown in FIG. The built-in computer C always detects the direction by the direction detection means 10 (not shown), and the current position information is always detected by the “geomagnetic sensor” 11 and the “position information detection means (GPS)” 12 on the [input side]. Be informed. Note that the position information detecting means used here is not limited to GPS, but includes a higher-accuracy self-positioning system that will be realized in the future.

Further, the human body detection sensor 13 searches for the presence of a person near the work machine P, the distance sensors A and 14 search for the presence of surrounding obstacles, and the distance sensors B and 15 Thus, the distance between the lower end of the excavator S and the ground is detected and stored, and control is performed so that there is almost no collision or contact between the excavator S and the ground. In this case, ultrasonic sensors are used as the distance measuring sensors A and 14 and the distance measuring sensors B and 15.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a camera mounted at a certain height toward the front of the work machine as described above, and a white snowfall scene registered in the computer C in advance or a whitened image of the ground due to snowfall. Is detected as snowfall information, this information is sent to the computer C to notify the start of snowfall. Reference numeral 16 denotes a snowfall sensor attached separately from the camera 9, and when the monitoring information by the snowfall sensor 16 or the camera 9 coincides with the work start reference information of the work machine P registered in the computer C in advance, Immediately, the work machine P is switched to the work start mode.

As for [output side], M1 is a travel motor (1) 17, M2 is a travel motor (2) 18, M3 is a free arm A, 19, M4 is a free arm B, 20, M5 is a free arm C, 21 It is connected. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, reference numeral 22 represents a stationary rechargeable charging station. In this embodiment, a charging system in which charging sockets are in contact with each other is used. The replenishment charging station 22 is provided with a charging socket 23a protruding in the lateral direction.

Therefore, when the standby position of the work machine P is the replenishment charging station 22, the charging socket 23a and the power receiving socket 23b are always in contact with each other, and the work machine P is overdischarged due to work and the remaining power of the battery 5 is small. When this happens, it automatically returns to the replenishment charging station 22, and the work machine P is turned backward so that the rear side to which the power receiving socket 23b is attached immediately before the replenishment charging station 22 faces the charging socket 23a. Inversion, charging of the battery 5 is started by bringing the power receiving socket 23 b attached to the rear surface of the system controller 7 into contact with the charging socket 23 a of the replenishment charging station 22.

In this case, the backward reversing operation of the work machine P for facing the constant charging socket 23a includes an electric motor energized from the battery 5 mounted on the work machine P and a prime mover mounted on the work machine P. While driving the wheel with the prime mover and traveling in the work area defined by the area wire, the electric motor drives the work machine mounted on the work machine P and works, and the magnetic field strength of the area wire Is detected by a magnetic sensor disposed on the work implement P, and travels back to the battery replenishment charging station 22, and the area wire is offset in either the left or right direction in plan view. When the work implement P is connected to the electric socket 23a of the replenishment charging station 22 by P is turned from the straight position to the offset direction, then are also available induce working machine P to return to the straight posture.
In addition, a non-contact type charging system can also be adopted, and a power transmission loop coil is provided on the replenishment charging station 22 side, and a power receiving loop coil is provided on the work machine P side. Charging can also be enabled.
In this case, charging is not performed when the electric capacity of the battery 5 is fully charged.

As for the automatic return of the work vehicle in this case, the crawler is driven by a motor to work while traveling in the work area defined by the area wire, and the magnetic field strength of the area wire is arranged on the work vehicle. The vehicle travels while being detected by the sensor, returns to the replenishment charging station 22 disposed on the area wire, and when the work vehicle is electrically connected to the replenishment charging station 22, the work vehicle is offset from the straight running position to the left and right. The rear power receiving socket 23b may be made to contact the charging socket 23a of the replenishing charging station 22 by turning in the direction.

In addition, the system controller 7 shown in the present embodiment incorporating the computer C has the following three driving modes.
1. Fully automatic travel mode In addition to the snowfall sensor 16, various sensors, a controller and the like are provided to automatically travel in a predetermined area.
2. Specified area travel mode A human inputs a travel point in advance to the controller, and passes the input point or travels repeatedly.
3. Remote maneuvering mode A mode in which humans run while maneuvering with a remote control.

Among the above travel modes, 1. Will be described based on the flowcharts of FIG. 3 (first half diagram) and FIG. 4 (second half diagram).
In [Fully automatic driving mode], only the start (standby start) and stop (standby end) commands are set by humans, and the work equipment performs self-diagnosis between the start of standby and the end of standby automatically. It is something to do.
In FIG. 3 (first half diagram), after setting a standby mode as a “start” 22, a “self-diagnosis” 23 is performed. Specifically, the work machine performs a self-diagnosis to check whether there is a failure in each sensor, motor, or the like shown in FIG.
When the “abnormal” 24 signal is issued, a warning signal 25 is issued to stop / end the system.

If there is no abnormality, “store in memory” 26 is executed.
A range in which the machine P can travel autonomously so as not to go out of an area designated in advance is stored in the memory as longitude and latitude data.
“Initialization of driving parameters” 27
Here, the traveling speed and the like are initialized.
"Current position" 28
The current position is acquired from the GPS sensor.
"Checking the current position" 29
It is confirmed whether or not its own position is within a preset range. If NO, the process returns to D.

"Run permission" 30
If travel permission is not possible (NO), a human will operate with a remote control or the like. Return to E above.
“Checking system components” 31
Check whether there are any faults or abnormalities in each part of the system. If there is an abnormality, a stop signal 32 is issued to stop the work machine, and the process returns to the previous period E in FIG.
"Checking people and animals" 33
It is confirmed whether there are any people or animals in the surroundings. If there are any, a stop signal 32 is issued to stop the working machine and return to E in FIG.
“Check for potential collisions” 34
If there are no people, check for possible collisions ahead of the next run. Here, when an object with a possibility of collision is detected, a stop signal 32 is issued to stop the working machine and return to E in FIG.
"Work machine start" 35
G after the work machine start 35 is connected to G in FIG. 4 in the latter half (before confirmation 36 of whether there is a failure or abnormality in each part of the system).
Figure 4 (latter half) “Fault / Abnormal” 36
Following the system, check whether there are any faults or abnormalities in each part. If there is a failure or abnormality, the vehicle is stopped by the stop mode 37, and the process returns to E (before the travel permission 30) in FIG.

"Checking people and animals" 38
Make sure that there are no people or animals around. If there is, stop in the stop mode 37 and return to E in FIG. 3 (before the travel permission 30).
"Confirmation of obstacles" 39
Check if there is a possibility of collision in front of the vehicle. In some cases, the work machine P is stopped in the stop mode 37, and the process returns to E (before the travel permission 30) in FIG.
"Snow condition check" 40
It will be in a standby state until snowfall or snowfall confirmation, and it will be monitored by a surveillance camera and a snowfall sensor whether it is snowing or snowing.

"Check your location" 41
It is confirmed whether or not the current position of the work machine is within a designated area set and registered in advance in the system controller 7. In this case, if you are out of the designated area,
When it is confirmed that the current position of the work implement is within the designated area set and registered in advance in the system controller 7, the process moves to the next battery remaining amount check 43. .
“Battery Check” 43
When the remaining battery voltage is insufficient and it is determined as “NO”, the vehicle moves to the next replenishment charging station 22 and the work vehicle P turns from the straight running position to the left and right offset directions to replenish the rear receiving socket 23b. The charging 44 at the replenishing charging station is started by contacting the charging socket 23a of the charging station 22.
"Standby position" 45
If the state of charge is sufficient as a result of the battery check or the charging at the replenishment charging station 22 is completed, the work machine P returns to the standby position and waits.

In this case, the standby position of the work machine P may be the supplementary charging state position at the supplementary charging station 22.
“Setting conditions” 46
When the work implement senses snowfall and starts snow removal work, when the conditions set in the controller 7 in advance, such as a certain time from the start of work, the travel distance, the amount of snow in the excavator S, etc., are reached, Therefore, snow is removed toward the snow dump.
"Stop command by controller" 47
When the general snow removal is completed, a work stop signal is output from the controller 7 to enter the stop mode 48, and the process returns to E (before the travel permission 30) in FIG. If the work is not completed, the process returns to the fully automatic running mode D (before the memory store) in FIG.

Of the three travel modes described, 2. The “designated region travel mode” will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIG. 5 (first half) and FIG. 6 (second half). 2. The “in-designated area travel mode” has two operation modes, and a person can select one of them as needed.
"Start" 48
“Self-diagnosis” 49
Self-diagnosis is performed as to whether or not there is a failure in main parts such as various sensors and motors attached to each part of the work machine P. If there is an abnormality as a result of the diagnosis, a warning signal 51 is issued to stop the system, and the current standby state is terminated.
"Store of input information" 52
If no abnormality is recognized as a result of the self-diagnosis described above, a person inputs (stores) the traveling / passing point of the work machine P to the controller 7 as longitude / latitude data, and inputs the order of traveling simultaneously.

"Input required information" 53
Furthermore, the work start point, end point, number of repetitions, etc. of the work machine P are input to the controller 7 as necessary.
"Run permission" 54
If the controller 7 is ready to run by a signal sent from a remote control, etc., the next human sensor will move to the decision, but if it is not possible to run, that is, if it is judged NO Returns to D in FIG.
"Human sensor" 55
The human sensor is read to determine whether or not there are people or animals around the work machine 1. When there is a person or the like around 56, a stop signal 57 of the work implement P is issued, the travel of the work implement P is stopped, the travel stop is notified 58, and the process returns to D in FIG.

“Camera imaging” 59
When it is confirmed that there is no person or the like in the reading result of the human sensor 55, it is next detected whether there is an obstacle in the traveling direction of the work vehicle P from the camera image.
"Obstacle" 60
It is determined whether or not there is an obstacle in the traveling direction of the work vehicle 1 from the imaging of the camera, and if it is determined that there is an obstacle, the process returns to A in FIG. And let them know that they have stopped running. Then, the determination of “running permission” is received again.
"Initialization of driving parameters" 61
In the case where there is no obstacle in the traveling direction of the work vehicle P, the travel speed and the like are set again to initialize the parameters.
“Confirming the current position” 62
The current position is acquired from the longitude and latitude displayed by the self-position confirmation system (a confirmation system using a GPS sensor in this embodiment) attached to the work vehicle 1.

At the end of FIG. 5, after confirmation of the current position 62, H is followed by H before the drive motor control 63 of FIG. 6. In FIG.
"Control of drive motor" 63
The driving of the motor is controlled by calculating the steering angle, speed, etc. of the work implement P when the work implement P advances from the first target point and the current position.
"Arrival at the first target point" 64
It is confirmed whether or not the work machine P has arrived at the first target point set in advance. If not, the process returns to B in FIG.
“Comparison with each target position” 65
If it has arrived at the first target point, each point position up to the second, third,... N and the current position of the work implement P are set in the memory of the controller 7 in advance. Travel while comparing the two.

“Confirmation of passing each point” 66
Passing through each target point stored in the memory of the controller 7 in advance, it is confirmed whether or not all missions have been fulfilled. If not, the process returns to E on FIG.
“System Exit” 67
When all the missions are fulfilled in the above “confirmation of passing of each point position” 66, the system ends 68. In this case, when the normal standby position is a position where the charging sockets 23a and 23b are in contact with the replenishment charging station 22, the standby position is a position in contact with the replenishment charging station 22 and is prepared for the next snowfall. become.

<Safety detection program>
It should be noted that the following safety detection program can be incorporated into the system in the present embodiment. That is, the next “C routine” is incorporated at the position C in FIG. This is the “detection of failures and abnormalities in each part of the system” 69
"Detection of people and animals" 70
That is, it is confirmed whether or not a person or an animal is present around the work machine P using an infrared sensor or a human sensor.
"Obstacle detection" 71
The camera device provided in the work vehicle P is used to check whether there is any object that may cause a collision ahead of the traveling. If the presence signal of an obstacle or the like is confirmed here, the process is performed by returning to A of FIG. 4 described above. If no obstacle is detected here, the process returns to the next step, that is, the chart 64 indicating whether or not the first target point in FIG. 6C has been reached.

Claims (5)

A crawler type working machine equipped with a rechargeable battery and driven and driven in an electrically free direction, and includes a shovel or snowboard and a driving mechanism thereof as a work tool, and further includes a position information system and a computer. The system controller with built-in and a snow cover monitoring system, and the snow cover imaged by the monitoring camera in the snow cover monitoring system, or in the area or navigation passage set in advance by instructions from the system controller based on the snow detection information A self-propelled working machine characterized by performing snow removal and other work along the road. The system controller has a built-in computer, and the direction detection means always detects the direction and can set various programs. On the input side, the geomagnetic sensor and position information detection means always acquire the current self-position information, In addition, a human body detection sensor and a distance measurement sensor are connected, and a snowfall monitoring camera or snowfall detection device is provided, and each of these pieces of information is automatically identified and set in a preset travel area. The self-propelled working machine according to claim 1, wherein the work can be automatically performed according to the above. The self-propelled working machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the distance measuring sensor is an ultrasonic sensor. The self-propelled working machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the working tool of the working machine can be replaced with a mowing tool. In addition to the work equipment, there is a replenishment charging station. When the remaining battery power decreases due to overdischarge of the work equipment, the work equipment automatically returns to the replenishment charging station according to the program set in the system controller. The self-propelled working machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the battery mounted on the working machine is replenished and charged.

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