JP2020000159A - Work machine - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a work machine capable of measuring an inclination in a right and left direction of a machine body without increasing a price of the machine body.SOLUTION: A work machine includes: a machine body that can travel freely; a cutting blade for performing cutting work by the driving force from an engine; and a control device 30 that enables steering control of at least one of front wheels and rear wheels remotely. An inclination measuring unit S for measuring an inclined posture in a right and left direction of the machine body is configured so that a plurality of inclination sensors 18 for measuring an inclination in a right and left direction are disposed in a posture for measuring the inclination in a divided region into which an inclination measuring region is divided.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to a working machine that includes a working device and is configured to perform a steering operation remotely.

  Patent Literature 1 as a working machine configured as described above has an inclination sensor on the body, and sets the drive time of the left and right drive motors based on the inclination angle measured by the inclination sensor, so that it can be used on an inclined ground. A technology that enables the vehicle to travel linearly is described.

JP 06-141614 A

  As an example of a working machine, a mowing machine that cuts grass is used. In a machine equipped with an inclination sensor as described in Patent Literature 1, an operator is separated from the machine as in the case of performing wireless control. Even when the control is performed from the position, it is possible to improve the straight running performance of the aircraft without the operator performing any special operation.

  Further, in the remote control, there is also a face that it is difficult for the operator to grasp the inclination angle of the aircraft. For this reason, for example, when cutting the grass by running the aircraft on an inclined surface (slope) such as a river embankment or an embankment portion of a road, the aircraft is tilted to prevent the aircraft from tipping over. It is also conceivable that a sensor is provided and the inclination angle measured by the inclination sensor is transmitted to a control section operated by an operator.

  Focusing on the tilt sensor, the smaller the analog-type tilt angle measurable range, the lower the price. It is also conceivable to provide a three-axis gyro IMU (inertial measurement unit) on the body instead of the tilt sensor. However, the three-axis gyro IMU can measure the acceleration with high accuracy, but is expensive, which leads to an increase in the price of the working machine.

  For these reasons, there is a need for a working machine that can measure the inclination of the machine in the left-right direction without increasing the price of the machine.

  The features of the present invention include a freely movable body, a working device that performs work by driving force from a prime mover, and a control device that enables remote steering control of at least one of a front wheel and a rear wheel. In addition, the inclination measuring unit for measuring the inclination posture of the body in the left-right direction is arranged with a plurality of inclination sensors for measuring the inclination in the left-right direction in an posture that can be measured in a divided region obtained by dividing the inclination measurement region. The point is that it is constituted.

According to this characteristic configuration, it is possible to divide the tilt measurement region for measuring the tilt posture of the body in the left-right direction into a plurality of portions, set a plurality of divided regions, and assign the measurement range of the tilt sensor to each divided region. It becomes possible. This makes it possible to measure the inclination angle of the aircraft in the inclination measurement area even when using an inexpensive inclination sensor with a narrow measurement range by measuring the inclination posture using the inclination sensor corresponding to each division area for each of the divided areas. Becomes possible.
Accordingly, a working machine has been configured that can measure the left-right inclination of the machine without increasing the price of the machine.

  As another configuration, the tilt sensor may be configured as an analog type that outputs a voltage signal corresponding to a tilt attitude.

  According to this, it is possible to use an inexpensive analog sensor having a simple structure as the tilt sensor.

  As another configuration, the inclination measuring unit may be configured to measure an inclination posture in one of the left and right directions from a state in which the body is in a horizontal posture.

  According to this, for example, on a slope (slope) such as an embankment of a river or an embankment portion of a road, a work mode is set such that a fixed side in the lateral direction of the aircraft is set to a lower side. In this case, since it is not necessary to measure the tilt in the reverse direction, it is not necessary to increase the number of tilt sensors to be used, and the cost can be further reduced.

It is a top view of a mower. It is a rear view of a mower on an inclined ground. It is a side view of a mower. It is a block circuit diagram of a control structure. It is a figure showing composition of an inclination measurement part of a horizontal state. It is a figure which shows the inclination measurement part of an inclination state. It is a figure showing the inclination measurement part in the state where it inclined greatly. It is a figure showing composition of an inclination measuring part of other embodiment (a).

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
(Basic configuration)
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, an airframe A which is configured to be able to run freely by left and right front wheels 1 and left and right rear wheels 2 is provided with a cutting blade housing C, and a cutting blade 14 is provided inside the cutting blade housing C. And an engine 3 for driving front left and right wheels 1, rear left and right wheels 2 and a cutting blade 14, and a fuel tank 4 below the engine 3 to constitute a mowing machine as a working machine. ing. This mowing machine has an engine 3, and a driving portion is constituted by a portion from which the driving force from the engine 3 can be taken out.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, F indicates “forward”, B indicates “backward”, R indicates “right”, L indicates “left”, and U Indicates “upward”, and D indicates “downward”.

  In this mowing machine, a mowing device (an example of a working device) includes a bowl-shaped mowing blade housing C that opens downward, a plurality of mowing blades 14 housed therein, and a drive system that drives the plurality of mowing blades 14. Is configured. The engine 3 and the fuel tank 4 are arranged between the front wheels 1 and the rear wheels 2 in the front-rear direction of the fuselage A at a position deviated rightward and outward from the center of the fuselage A in the left-right direction.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the airframe A has a body 5 made of sheet metal or resin so as to cover the engine 3, the fuel tank 4, the main transmission case 21, the traveling transmission case 22, and the like. A bumper 6 is provided at a front end and a rear end of the body 5.

  The mower performs steering operation of left and right front wheels 1 and left and right rear wheels 2, switches between forward and reverse, and controls a throttle 30 of the engine 3 and the like, and a radio signal. And a wireless communication unit 31 for transmitting information by remote control to the control device 30. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, in order to enable wireless remote control, the remote control terminal 32 operated by an operator is configured to be operable. The remote operation terminal 32 is configured to transmit and receive information to and from the wireless communication unit 31 and includes a display (not shown) that displays information transmitted from the control device 30.

  This mowing machine is designed to be able to perform mowing work on an inclined ground (slope) such as a river embankment or an embankment portion of a road. The engine 3 and the fuel tank 4 are arranged at a position deviated to one side in the left-right direction (the right side in this embodiment) and at a low position of the body A. Further, the left side width W1 is set wider than the right side width W2 of the left and right front wheels 1 and the rear wheels 2.

  In this mowing machine, in order to improve the performance of preventing overturning on an inclined ground, the auxiliary frame 7 extends rightward and outward from the right side of the body A, and the balancer 8 is attached to the auxiliary frame 7. The auxiliary frame 7 can be separated from the body A.

  When the mowing work is performed on the inclined ground from this configuration, the engine 3, the fuel tank 4, and the balancer 8 are raised by always arranging the right side of the aircraft A on the high side of the inclined ground and running the aircraft A. The reaping operation is performed in a state where the aircraft A is prevented from tipping over from the wide contact surface between the left front wheel 1 and the left rear wheel 2.

[Cutting blade housing]
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the cutting blade housing C has a vertical wall 11 in a vertical position at a portion surrounding the outer peripheral portion of the flat upper wall 10. A rotary disk 13 is provided at the lower end of a drive shaft 12 that vertically passes through the center of the upper wall 10 of the cutting blade housing C, and a plurality of plate-shaped cutting blades 14 are provided on the outer periphery of the rotary disk 13.

  With such a configuration, when the drive shaft 12 is driven and rotated, the rotating disk 13 and the plurality of cutting blades 14 are integrally rotated, and the plants and the like on the ground are cut.

(Drive structure)
A main frame (not shown) is provided inside the body 5, and the engine 3 and the fuel tank 4 are supported on the main frame. A main transmission case 21 is disposed at the center of the body A in the left-right direction while being supported by the main frame.

  A traveling transmission case 22 is disposed on the opposite side of the engine 3 with respect to the main transmission case 21, a front drive case 23 is disposed at a front position of the fuselage A, and a rear drive case 24 is disposed at a rear position of the fuselage A. ing.

  In this mowing machine, the driving force of the engine 3 is transmitted to the main transmission case 21, and the driving force from the main transmission case 21 is transmitted from the drive shaft 12 to the cutting blade 14 via the rotating disk 13, thereby cutting grass and the like. enable. Further, the driving force from the main transmission case 21 is transmitted to the traveling transmission case 22, further transmitted from the front driving case 23 to the left and right front wheels 1, and transmitted from the rear driving case 24 to the left and right rear wheels 2, so that the body A It is possible to run.

  Although not shown in the drawings, a transmission unit that transmits the driving force of the engine 3 to the main transmission case 21 includes a centrifugal clutch and a brake that applies a braking force to the entire drive system. The main transmission case 21 incorporates a work clutch mechanism for intermittently driving force transmitted to the drive shaft 12 and a forward / reverse switching mechanism for switching the rotation direction of the driving force transmitted to the traveling transmission case 22 between forward and reverse.

(Steering operation structure, etc.)
The left and right front wheels 1 and the left and right rear wheels 2 are supported so as to be steerable with respect to the fuselage A. The left and right front wheels 1 are linked by a tie rod or the like, and are configured to be steerable by a driving force of a front steering motor 25. Similarly, the left and right rear wheels 2 are linked by tie rods, and are configured to be steerable by a driving force of a rear steering motor 26.

  The steering operation of the front and rear wheels by the traveling operation structure, the switching between forward and backward by the forward and backward switching mechanism, and the intermittent driving force by the work clutch mechanism are remotely operated by the above-mentioned radio signal.

  In this mowing machine, an operator at a position away from the machine A operates the remote control terminal 32 to realize wireless remote control. The camera includes a camera 16 and a rear camera 17, and includes a tilt measuring unit S that measures a tilt posture of the body A in the left-right direction.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, inside the body 5, there is provided a control device 30 for realizing shift control, steering control, and the like, and a wireless communication unit 31 that receives a wireless signal and provides the control device 30 with the wireless signal. Have.

(Control configuration)
As shown in FIG. 4, the control device 30 includes image information captured by the front camera 16, image information captured by the rear camera 17, and a tilt measurement unit S that measures the tilt of the body A in the left-right direction. And the information from the input. The control device 30 includes a front steering motor 25, a rear steering motor 26, a shift control unit 33 that performs a shift in the main transmission case 21, and a throttle control unit 34 that controls the number of revolutions of the engine 3. And a control signal is output.

  The control device 30 includes a microprocessor and a digital signal processor (DSP) for processing information, a memory required for processing, a manual control unit 30a, an automatic control unit 30b, and a tilt angle acquisition unit 30c. And

  The manual control unit 30a, the automatic control unit 30b, and the tilt angle acquisition unit 30c are assumed to be configured by software, but some of them are a combination of hardware such as a logic circuit and software. May be configured.

  The manual control unit 30 a performs traveling in response to an operation on the remote operation terminal 32 and realizes control of each unit of the body A. The automatic control unit 30b determines a boundary between the already-cut area and the un-cut area from image information captured by the front camera 16 and the rear camera 17 and automatically travels along the boundary, When the vehicle reaches the outside, control such as automatic switchback for switching the traveling direction is realized. The automatic control unit 30b also reduces the traveling speed of the aircraft A based on the inclination angle acquired by the inclination angle acquisition unit 30c, stops traveling, and performs a steering operation in a direction to prevent the aircraft A from tipping over. Do.

  The inclination angle acquisition unit 30c measures the inclination angle of the body A in the left-right direction based on the signals from the two inclination sensors 18 constituting the inclination measurement unit S, and allows the operator to grasp the measured inclination angle. It is transmitted to the remote operation terminal 32.

  The inclination angle acquisition unit 30c is configured to provide information on the inclination angle measured by the inclination measurement unit S to the automatic control unit 30b. Then, the automatic control unit 30b reduces the traveling speed, stops traveling, or performs traveling to prevent the body A from tipping over when the acquired inclination angle exceeds a preset angle. The control mode is set so that the traveling operation for turning the direction to the lower side of the inclined ground can be automatically performed.

(Inclination measurement unit)
As shown in FIG. 5, the two inclination sensors 18 constituting the inclination measuring unit S are of an analog type that each have the same measurable measurement range θ and output the measurement result as a voltage signal. In other words, the area that can be measured by the tilt measurement unit S is defined as a tilt measurement area, and an area obtained by equally dividing the tilt measurable area into two is referred to as a divided area. θ.

  The inclination sensor 18 outputs different voltage signals corresponding to the inclination posture in a region extending from one end to the other end of the measurement range θ. In particular, the two inclination sensors 18 are provided in different postures with respect to the support plate 19, and the support plate 19 is fixed to the body A.

  In the reaping work on the inclined ground, as shown in FIG. 2, the aircraft A is inclined in a predetermined direction in the left-right direction. Therefore, the inclination measuring unit S is used only in an inclined area where the aircraft A is inclined at the time of operation based on the horizontal posture. It is configured to measure the inclination of the body A. Further, in the inclination measuring section S, the above-described inclination measurement area is arranged in an area which is deviated to one of the left and right directions with respect to the horizontal so that the inclination posture of the machine A can be measured in the reaping work on the inclined ground. The range obtained by adding the measurement ranges θ of the two tilt sensors 18 shown in FIG. 5 is a tilt measurement region, and a region obtained by equally dividing the tilt measurement region into two is a divided region, and the two divided regions (which coincide with the measurement range θ) In ()), the inclination posture is measured by the corresponding inclination sensor 18.

  That is, if one of the two inclination sensors 18 shown in FIG. 5 is referred to as a first sensor S1 and the other is referred to as a second sensor S2, the first sensor S1 determines the measurement range θ when the body A is in the horizontal posture. At one end, the tilt angle can be measured. Explaining from the direction of action of gravity, in the horizontal posture, the direction G of action of gravity is at one end (the right end in the figure) of the measurement range θ of the first sensor S1. Then, when the inclination angle of the body A increases, as shown in FIG. 6, the gravitational action direction G is displaced to the other end side (the left side in FIG. 6) of the measurement range θ.

  In addition, the second sensor S2 is in a state where measurement is impossible because the gravitational action direction G is outside the measurement range θ of the second sensor S2 when the body A is in the horizontal posture as shown in FIG. FIG. 7 shows a case where the inclination angle of the body A increases from this horizontal posture and the direction of gravity G exceeds the measurement range θ of the first sensor S1 (exceeds the other end of the measurement range θ). As described above, the state where the gravitational action direction G is included in the measurement range θ of the second sensor S2 is reached. Thus, in the inclination posture shown in FIG. 7, the inclination angle of the body A is measured by the second sensor S2.

  The control device 30 includes an A / D converter that separately quantizes the voltage signals from the two inclination sensors 18 and determines that the signal from the first sensor S1 has exceeded the limit of the measurement range θ. In this case, the signal from the second sensor S2 is obtained, and the digital signal obtained by converting the signal from the second sensor S2 by the A / D converter is limited to the limit of the measurement range θ of the first sensor S1. The processing mode is set so that the value of the corresponding digital signal is always added.

  Thereby, the inclination measuring unit S can measure the inclination posture in a range twice as large as the measurement range θ of the two inclination sensors 18. Note that the processing required for the above-described addition is assumed to be performed by hardware using the logic of the control device 30 or the like, but may be realized by software processing.

  Further, at the time of work, the tilt angle transmitted from the aircraft A is displayed on the display of the remote operation terminal 32, and the operator can always grasp the attitude of the aircraft A from the tilt angle displayed on the display. Then, when the aircraft A reaches the inclination angle at which the aircraft A may fall, the traveling speed is automatically reduced, the control for stopping the traveling is performed, and the automatic operation is performed in a direction to prevent the aircraft from overturning. A direction operation is performed.

  In particular, since the tilt sensor 18 which is an analog type and has a narrow measurement range θ is relatively inexpensive, an increase in the cost of the mower can be suppressed. In addition, when the harvesting work is performed on the inclined ground, the range that can be measured by the inclination measuring unit S is set to one by the body A, and the measurement range θ of the two inclination sensors 18 is doubled by the control device 30. By setting the processing mode of the tilt angle acquisition unit 30c, it is possible to increase the measurable without increasing the number of the tilt sensors 18.

[Another embodiment]
The present invention may be configured as follows in addition to the above-described embodiment (those having the same functions as those of the embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and symbols as those of the embodiment).

(A) As shown in FIG. 8, the tilt measuring unit S is configured so that the tilt angle can be measured by the two tilt sensors 18 even when the body A is tilted in any of the left and right directions from the state in the horizontal posture. In this configuration, a measurement area twice as large as the measurement range θ of the two inclination sensors 18 is an inclination measurement area, and a divided area obtained by dividing the measurement area into two is the measurement range θ.

  In this alternative embodiment (a), as the inclination measuring unit S, the same inclination sensor 18 as that described in the embodiment is used, and when the body A is in the horizontal posture, one of the two inclination sensors 18 is: The one end of the measurement range θ includes the gravitational action direction G, and the other of the two tilt sensors 18 is arranged so as to include the gravitational action direction G at one end of the measurement range θ.

  With such a configuration, even when the body A is tilted in any direction from the horizontal direction to the left or right direction, the tilt posture of the body A can be measured by one of the two tilt sensors 18.

(B) The inclination measuring unit S is configured by using three or more inclination sensors 18. By using three or more tilt sensors 18 in this manner, the range that can be measured can be expanded even with the use of inexpensive tilt sensors 18.

(C) In this working machine, the engine 3 is provided in the prime mover, but it may be provided with an electric motor instead of the engine 3. With such a configuration, it is possible to perform driving force work of the electric motor and perform traveling.

(D) Only one of the front wheel 1 and the rear wheel 2 is configured to be steerable. With this configuration, the configuration of the body A can be simplified, and the cost of the mower can be further reduced.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for a working machine that includes a working device and is configured to be remotely operable.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Front wheel 2 Rear wheel 18 Tilt sensor 30 Control device A Body S Tilt measuring unit

Claims (3)

A freely movable body, a working device that performs work by driving force from a driving unit, and a control device that enables remote steering control of at least one of a front wheel and a rear wheel,
An inclination measuring unit that measures the inclination posture of the aircraft in the left-right direction is configured by arranging a plurality of inclination sensors that measure inclination in the left-right direction in an posture that can be measured in a divided region obtained by dividing the inclination measurement region. Working machine.   The work machine according to claim 1, wherein the tilt sensor is configured as an analog type that outputs a voltage signal corresponding to a tilt attitude. The work machine according to claim 1, wherein the inclination measuring unit is configured to measure an inclination posture in one of left and right directions from a state in which the body is in a horizontal posture.

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