JP2020123398A - Travel support system and work vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a technology capable of appropriately setting a virtual maximum occupation region of a work vehicle regulated by a vehicle body and a work device in order to avoid interference with an obstacle.SOLUTION: A travel support system includes: a work vehicle occupation region management unit which manages a virtual vehicle occupation region of a work vehicle occupying a work site upon travel while dividing the work vehicle occupation region into a vehicle body occupation region VA occupied by a vehicle body 1 and a work device occupation region WA occupied by a work device 30; an own vehicle position calculation unit which calculates an own vehicle position as a position of the work vehicle on the work site based on positioning data; and a travel support unit which supports travel of the work vehicle based on the own position and the work vehicle occupation region, in which when the ground height of an obstacle OB present on the work site is lower than the ground height of the work device 30, the work device occupation region WA is reduced or eliminated during travel at least around the obstacle OB.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a work vehicle that travels on a work site and a travel support system that supports travel of the work vehicle.

The work vehicle includes a vehicle body having a traveling mechanism and a work device mounted on the vehicle body, and the work device performs work as the vehicle body travels. For example, rice transplanters, combine harvesters, tractors with cultivating equipment, and the like belong to such work vehicles.

Recently, in order to avoid interference with obstacles whose position is known in advance, such as fences and ridges that define the outer shape of the work site, ponds and structures existing in the work site, and rocks, which obstruct vehicle travel, The work vehicle has a function of checking the positional relationship with an obstacle based on the position of the vehicle calculated using GPS or the like and avoiding interference with the obstacle.

For example, in an autonomous traveling work vehicle according to Patent Document 1 in which a work device (plowing device) is mounted on a tractor vehicle body, a virtual work vehicle occupies a quadrangle area occupied by the entire length of the vehicle body and the width of the work device when traveling. The maximum occupied area is defined and stored in the memory of the control device. At the time of traveling, it is determined whether or not the maximum occupation area of the autonomously traveling work vehicle overlaps with that outside the field. If the vehicle is not within the setting range, the rear end or side edge of the working device may be located outside the field even if the vehicle body is within the setting range in the field. Instead, the driver adjusts the traveling direction of the autonomous work vehicle. The shape of the maximum occupied area is not limited to a quadrangle, and it is also proposed that the circumscribed circle of this quadrangle facilitates recognition of interference with ridges or the like when turning.

However, in the case of a work vehicle, the width of the work device is often larger than that of the vehicle body, and if the area of a quadrangle or circle that circumscribes the work vehicle and the work vehicle defined by the work device is the maximum occupation area of the work vehicle, Depending on the shape of the work device or the vehicle body, a relatively large area around the work vehicle is also included in the maximum occupied area. This means that if a travel locus is selected so that obstacles do not enter such a maximum occupied area in order to avoid interference with obstacles existing in the work area, the work vehicle cannot approach the obstacles and The problem arises that the area that cannot be processed becomes large.

International Publication No. 2015/119266

In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, it is defined by the vehicle body and the working device, which are used to avoid interference with obstacles during traveling such as straight traveling or turning traveling with work, or straight traveling or turning traveling without work. There is a demand for a technique capable of appropriately setting the virtual maximum occupied area of a work vehicle.

A traveling support system according to the present invention for supporting traveling of a work vehicle having a vehicle body and a work device mounted on the vehicle body at a work site is a virtual work vehicle of the work vehicle occupying the work site when traveling. A work vehicle occupation area management unit that manages the occupation area by dividing it into a vehicle body occupation area occupied by the vehicle body and a work device occupation area occupied by the work device, and a work vehicle occupation area management unit that manages the work vehicle at the work site based on positioning data. The vehicle includes a vehicle position calculation unit that calculates a vehicle position, which is a position, and a traveling support unit that assists traveling of the work vehicle based on the vehicle position and the work vehicle occupation area. The traveling of the work vehicle includes traveling such as straight traveling and turning traveling with work, and traveling without traveling such as straight traveling and turning traveling.

According to this configuration, the virtual occupation area occupied by the vehicle body and the work device with respect to the work site is managed separately, that is, divided into the vehicle body occupation area and the work apparatus occupation area, and therefore, the work apparatus Even if the width of the work vehicle is larger than that of the vehicle body, the work vehicle occupying area as a whole does not include a dead area where no member of the work vehicle exists. For example, even if the vehicle occupancy region and the work device occupancy region approach an obstacle, as long as one of the occupancy regions does not interfere with the obstacle, the vehicle is not allowed to perform a non-working operation even if the traveling assistance that allows the traveling is performed. It is possible to suppress the inconvenience that the region remains.

The main reason for setting the vehicle body occupying area and work equipment occupying area is to replace the area of the own vehicle that is necessary to avoid interference with obstacles with a virtual shape that is simpler than the actual one, and to minimize the possibility of interference. It is a simple calculation. Therefore, it is preferable that the traveling support unit has a function of determining a possibility of interference between the vehicle body and the work device and an obstacle existing on the work site. Obstacles that exist on the work site and do not move themselves are obstacles that surround the work site, such as fences and ridges, and internal obstacles such as wells, utility poles, and rocks that exist at the work site. Is. Of course, if the work vehicle has an obstacle detection function, moving obstacles such as people, animals, and work vehicles can also be handled as obstacles in the present invention.

Therefore, it is convenient that the position and size of obstacles such as ridges and fences that demarcate the work site, or utility poles, wells, and rocks existing in the work site are managed in advance. Furthermore, when the vehicle industry vehicle itself has an obstacle detection function, it is convenient if the position and size of the obstacle detected during traveling are managed at that time. To this end, in one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, a work site management unit that manages obstacle information including the position and size of the obstacle at the work site is provided. In this case, the traveling support unit can also support traveling of the work vehicle in consideration of the obstacle information.

Various running states occur in the work vehicle. For example, as factors that determine the running state, posture changes of working equipment, low speed or high speed running, straight running or turning running, high load work or low load work, and even rough ground or mud running ground, etc. Can be mentioned. Steering stability and braking performance of the work vehicle vary depending on the traveling state. In a traveling state in which the steering stability and braking performance of the work vehicle deteriorate, the work vehicle occupation area can be increased to improve safety. From this, it is convenient to provide a function of changing the size of the work vehicle occupying area according to the traveling state of the work vehicle.

In particular, the vehicle speed of the work vehicle not only greatly affects the steering stability and braking performance of the work vehicle, but also affects the calculation accuracy of the vehicle position. From this, it is advantageous to adopt a configuration in which the size of the work vehicle occupying area is changed according to the vehicle speed of the work vehicle.

If the work equipment has a high height above ground, the work equipment is unlikely to come into contact with obstacles such as short rocks and wells existing in the work area, or obstacles such as low ridges and fences. .. When the interference relation regarding the height between the work device and the obstacle is known in advance, it is possible to determine the obstacle that does not need to consider the interference with the work device during traveling. In one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, when the ground height of an obstacle existing in the work site is lower than the ground height of the work device, at least while traveling around the obstacle, The work device occupation area is reduced or eliminated. As a result, the problem of unnecessarily considering the interference between the work device and the obstacle is reduced.

2. Description of the Related Art There is a work device mounted on a vehicle body of a work vehicle through a lifting mechanism. In such a working device, the possibility of interference with an obstacle varies depending on the position of the height above the ground. Therefore, in one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention when the working device is mounted on the vehicle body via an elevating mechanism for changing the ground height of the working device, one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention is The work device occupation area is changed accordingly. As a result, the problem that the traveling efficiency is deteriorated is reduced in consideration of the wasteful interference between the work device and the obstacle.

The vehicle body occupying region and the work device occupying region are mainly used by the traveling support unit to realize traveling that avoids interference with obstacles. Further, the damage caused by the interference with the obstacle also differs depending on the type of the work device. When traveling with large damage due to interference, it is preferable to reduce the risk of interference with an obstacle by increasing the occupation area of the work vehicle. Therefore, the weight of the vehicle body occupation area and the work device occupation area, in other words, the importance of the size of the occupation area is different for each work site or each traveling. Therefore, in one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the size of the vehicle body occupation area and the size of the work device occupation area can be set independently of each other. As a result, it is possible to select an appropriate traveling in consideration of both safety and traveling efficiency.

Further, the present invention also includes a work vehicle incorporating the above-described driving support system. In such a work vehicle according to the present invention, the vehicle body occupies a vehicle body, a work device mounted on the vehicle body, and a virtual work vehicle occupying area occupying the work site when traveling on the work site. A work vehicle occupancy area management unit that manages a vehicle body occupancy area and a work device occupancy area occupied by the work apparatus separately; a vehicle position calculation unit that calculates a vehicle position based on positioning data from a positioning module; The vehicle includes a travel support unit that supports travel based on the vehicle position and the work vehicle occupation area. Such a work vehicle can also obtain the same effects as the above-described driving support system, and can incorporate the various preferred embodiments described above.

In particular, if the traveling support unit has a function of determining the possibility of interference between the vehicle body and the work device and an obstacle existing in the work area, the vehicle may be identified as an obstacle based on the determined possibility of interference. Driving that avoids interference can be realized.

Therefore, in such a work vehicle, obstacle information including the position and size of obstacles such as ridges and fences that demarcate the work site or utility poles, wells, and rocks existing in the work site, and further, It is preferable that a work site management unit that manages obstacle information including the position and size of the obstacle detected during traveling is provided.

Further, the work vehicle traveling on the work site can travel along the guide travel route by manual steering or automatic steering. In a work vehicle that performs manual steering, when the notification unit that notifies the possibility of interference is provided, the driver can perform driving that avoids interference with an obstacle due to the notified possibility of interference. In addition, a work vehicle that performs automatic steering includes an automatic traveling control unit that automatically steers the vehicle so that the vehicle travels along a guide traveling route. It can be configured to automatically steer to avoid objects.

It is an explanatory view explaining that a virtual work vehicle occupation area of a work vehicle is divided into a vehicle body occupation area occupied by a vehicle body and a work apparatus occupation area occupied by a work apparatus. It is explanatory drawing explaining expansion/contraction of a work apparatus occupation area according to the height relationship of a work apparatus and an obstacle. It is a side view of a tractor showing one of the embodiments of a work vehicle. It is a functional block diagram which shows the control system of a tractor. FIG. 7 is an operation screen view for adjusting the sizes of the vehicle body occupation area and the work device occupation area.

Before describing specific embodiments of the driving support system and the work vehicle according to the present invention, the basic principle of the driving support system will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the work vehicle includes a vehicle body 1 having a traveling function and a work device 30 mounted on the vehicle body 1 via an elevating mechanism 31. Further, this work vehicle is equipped with a satellite positioning module configured by a GNSS module or the like, and positioning data indicating the coordinate position of the vehicle body (hereinafter simply referred to as the own vehicle position) is output. Note that the position of the vehicle represented by the positioning data is based on the position of the antenna, but the position correction process is performed so that the position of the vehicle is not the position of the antenna but the optimum position of the vehicle.

In FIG. 1, the ridges or fences that form the outer boundary area of the work site and the installations existing in the work site that hinder the traveling of the work vehicle are regarded as obstacles and occupy the work site of the obstacles. The area is illustrated as a failure area OB. The travel route LN set as the travel target of the work vehicle, which is set on the work site, is formed by a straight route extending in parallel with each other and a 180° turning route connecting the straight routes. When the work vehicle travels by manual steering by the driver, a function of notifying the deviation between the travel route LN and the position of the own vehicle works to assist the work vehicle traveling along the travel route LN. In addition, when the work vehicle travels along the travel route LN by automatic steering, a travel assist function is performed in which the steered wheels are controlled so as to correct the deviation between the travel route LN and the vehicle position.

In the example of FIG. 1, the coordinate position on the map of the obstacle, its size, and the ground height are registered in advance in the control system of the work vehicle, and the obstacle region OB corresponding to the obstacle is set. Further, in order to simplify the calculation of the positional relationship between the vehicle body 1 and the work device 30 that form the work vehicle and the obstacle (obstacle region OB), that is, the possibility of interference, the complicated shapes of the vehicle body 1 and the work device 30 are simplified. The virtual body shape is replaced with the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA. The vehicle body occupying area VA and the work device occupying area WA indicate the sizes on the ground in a plan view, and the vehicle body occupying area VA and the work device occupying area WA indicate the size of the work area when traveling at the work area. A virtual work vehicle occupation area of the work vehicle to be occupied is determined. The positional relationship between the vehicle body occupying area VA and the work device occupying area WA and the own vehicle position is preliminarily tabulated, and the positions of the vehicle body occupying area VA and the work device occupying area WA at the work site (coordinate positions on the map). Can be calculated in real time.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle body occupying area VA is an ellipse or a circle that covers the outer shape of the vehicle body 1 in plan view, and the work device occupying area WA is the outer shape of the working device 30 in plan view. It is oval or circular covering. The shapes of the vehicle body occupying area VA and the work device occupying area WA may be polygonal shapes such as a quadrangle, but are set to a size capable of including the actual vehicle body 1 and the work device 30.

The interference between the obstacle and the vehicle body 1 is calculated as the overlap between the obstacle area OB and the vehicle body occupation area VA, and the interference between the obstacle and the work device 30 is calculated as the overlap between the obstacle area OB and the work device occupation area WA. Therefore, by guiding the work vehicle so that such an overlap does not occur, it is possible to avoid the interference between the obstacle and the work vehicle.

The sizes of the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA can be set arbitrarily. When it is desired to increase the safety factor for avoiding the interference with the obstacle, the sizes of the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA may be increased. From such a point of view, for example, when the work vehicle travels at high speed, braking accuracy and steering accuracy are inferior to those at low speed, and therefore the size of the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA at the time of high speed traveling. It is convenient to expand the value compared to when traveling at low speed. It is also possible to automatically expand or reduce the area according to the vehicle speed. Further, the sizes of the obstacle area OB and the vehicle body occupation area VA can be increased or decreased depending on the skill of the driver or the type of travel.

As described above, in this work vehicle, since the work device 30 is mounted on the vehicle body 1 via the elevating mechanism 31, the ground height of the work device 30 varies. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, when the ground height of the obstacle region OB is lower than the ground height of the work device 30, the work device occupation area WA can be eliminated (or reduced). Of course, since the vehicle body occupying area VA remains the same, traveling support for traveling the vehicle body 1 so as to avoid interference with the obstacle area OB is executed. Further, in the case where the front portion of the vehicle body 1, for example, the bonnet (including the frame) extends forward of the front wheels and, as a result, the vehicle body occupying area VA extends forward of the front wheels, the ground clearance of the obstacle area OB is increased. As long as the height is below the ground height of the hood, the vehicle body occupation area VA for the obstacle area OB can be reduced. This can prevent the vehicle body 1 from interfering with the obstacle region OB and suppress the problem that the non-working region remains.

In the example described above, the obstacle (obstacle region OB) is already described in the obstacle information of the work site, and the coordinate position on the map is also stored in the memory of the work vehicle. When the vehicle position is calculated, the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA are derived according to the vehicle position along with the map coordinates of the obstacles in the vicinity, and the distance between the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA is calculated. The interference possibility is calculated from. In the case of obstacles not described in the obstacle information, especially in the case of moving obstacles, if the work vehicle is equipped with an obstacle detection device using a monitoring camera or ultrasonic waves or laser, from the detection result, The obstacle area OB is generated in real time, and the possibility of interference is calculated from the interval between the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA. Further, it is also conceivable to provide a monitoring camera, an ultrasonic wave, a laser, etc. in the field and transmit the detection result to the work vehicle as obstacle information.

Next, one of the concrete embodiments of the working vehicle incorporating the driving support system of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, the work vehicle is a tractor that performs traveling work on a field (work site) bounded by ridges, as shown in FIG. 3. In this tractor, a steering section 20 is provided at the center of the vehicle body 1 supported by front wheels 11 and rear wheels 12. A working device 30, which is a rotary cultivating device, is mounted on the rear part of the vehicle body 1 via a hydraulic lifting mechanism 31. The front wheels 11 function as steering wheels, and the traveling direction of the tractor is changed by changing the steering angle. The steering angle of the front wheels 11 is changed by the operation of the steering mechanism 13. The steering mechanism 13 includes a steering motor 14 for automatic steering. During manual driving, the front wheels 11 can be steered by operating a steering wheel 22 arranged in the control unit 20. The tractor cabin 21 is provided with a satellite positioning module 80 configured as a GNSS module. As a component of the satellite positioning module 80, a satellite antenna for receiving GPS signals and GNSS signals is attached to the ceiling area of the cabin 21. The satellite positioning module 80 may include an inertial navigation module incorporating a gyro acceleration sensor and a magnetic bearing sensor in order to complement the satellite navigation.
Of course, the inertial navigation module may be provided in a place different from the satellite positioning module 80.

FIG. 4 shows a control system built in this tractor. This control system realizes the traveling support system using the obstacle information, the vehicle position, and the work vehicle occupying area (vehicle body occupying area VA and work device occupying area WA) described with reference to FIG. It is configured. The control unit 5, which is the core element of this control system, is provided with an output processing unit 7, an input processing unit 8, and a communication processing unit 70 that function as an input/output interface. The output processing unit 7 is connected to the vehicle traveling device group 71, the work device device group 72, the notification device 73, and the like. The vehicle traveling device group 71 includes the steering motor 14 and other devices (not shown) that are controlled for vehicle traveling, such as a transmission mechanism and an engine unit. The working device equipment group 72 includes a drive mechanism of the working device 30, a lifting mechanism 31 for lifting the working device 30, and the like. The communication processing unit 70 has a function of transmitting the data processed by the control unit 5 to the management computer 100 built in the management center KS at a remote place and receiving various data from the management computer 100. The notification device 73 includes a display, a lamp, and a speaker. Lamps and speakers are used to notify the driver and operator of various information that should be notified, such as approach information for obstacles that hinder driving and deviation information indicating deviation from the target travel route during automatic steering. To be Signal transmission between the notification device 73 and the output processing unit 7 is performed by wire or wirelessly.

The input processing unit 8 is connected to the satellite positioning module 80, the traveling system detection sensor group 81, the work system detection sensor group 82, the automatic/manual switching operation tool 83, and the like. The traveling system detection sensor group 81 includes sensors for detecting traveling states such as engine speed and gear shift state. The work system detection sensor group 82 includes a sensor that detects the ground height and inclination of the work device 30, a sensor that detects a work load, and the like. The automatic/manual switching operation tool 83 is a switch that selects one of an automatic traveling mode in which the vehicle travels by automatic steering and a manual steering mode in which the vehicle travels by manual steering. For example, by operating the automatic/manual switching operation tool 83 while traveling in the automatic steering mode, it is possible to switch to travel by manual steering, and by operating the automatic/manual switching operation tool 83 during traveling by manual steering. , Switch to automatic steering.

The control unit 5 has a work vehicle occupation area management unit 60 that manages the work vehicle occupation area divided into the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA described with reference to FIG. In addition to the above, the control unit 5 includes a traveling control unit 50, a work control unit 53, a vehicle position calculation unit 54, a traveling support unit 55, a work site management unit 56, a route generation unit 57, and a notification unit 58. ..

The work site management unit 56 manages field information (work site information) that is information related to the field where the work is performed. The field information includes, in addition to data such as the map position, shape, size, and planting variety of the field, obstacle information that is information about an obstacle existing in the field that interferes with traveling. This obstacle information includes the position and shape of the obstacle, the height above ground, and the like. Obstacles include not only facilities such as wells and utility poles in the field but also rocks, as well as surrounding ridges and fences that bound the field. The farm field information is downloaded from the management center KS in a remote place, the management computer 100 installed in the farmer's home, or the portable communication computer brought by the driver.

The route generation unit 57 reads out the contour data of the field from the field information and generates an appropriate travel route LN in this field. The generation of the travel route LN may be automatically performed based on a basic initial parameter input by the operator, or the input parameter substantially defining the travel route LN input by the worker is used. It may be performed based on. The travel route LN itself may be downloaded from the management computer 100.
In any case, the travel route LN acquired by the route generation unit 57 is expanded in the memory and used for the work vehicle to travel along the travel route LN regardless of the automatic steering traveling or the manual steering traveling. ..

The work vehicle occupation area management unit 60 sets a vehicle body occupation area setting unit 61 that sets a vehicle body occupation area VA occupied by the vehicle body 1 and a work apparatus occupation area setting that sets a work apparatus occupation area WA occupied by the work apparatus 30. And part 62. In the present embodiment, the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA have their respective occupied areas changed in size according to the vehicle speed of the work vehicle, and the occupied area becomes smaller during high-speed traveling than during low-speed traveling. .. Further, the work device occupation area WA is reduced or eliminated when the ground height of the work device is higher than the ground height of the obstacle. Therefore, the work vehicle occupation area management unit 60 is based on the vehicle speed data based on the vehicle speed detection sensor included in the traveling system detection sensor group 81 and the work device height detection sensor included in the work system detection sensor group 82. Work equipment height data is input.

In this embodiment, the size of the vehicle body occupation area VA and the size of the work device occupation area WA can be adjusted and set independently of each other. This area adjustment setting is performed through the area adjustment setting screen 4 displayed on the touch panel display. As shown in FIG. 5, the area adjustment setting screen 4 includes a vehicle body occupation area setting section 4A for setting the vehicle body occupation area VA and a work device occupation area setting section 4B for setting the work apparatus occupation area WA. There is. The vehicle body occupancy area setting section 4A includes a vertical size adjusting unit 41 for adjusting the vertical size of the vehicle body occupying area VA, a horizontal size adjusting unit 42 for adjusting the horizontal size of the vehicle body occupying area VA, and a vertical and horizontal direction. A vertical/horizontal size adjusting unit 43 for adjusting the sizes at the same time is arranged. An enlargement button and a reduction button are arranged for adjusting the size of the vehicle body occupation area VA. Furthermore, an adjustment level display section 44a for confirming the adjustment level of the vehicle body occupation area VA and an area shape selection section 44b for selecting the shape of the vehicle body occupation area VA are also arranged. In this embodiment, the shapes of the selectable vehicle body occupation area VA are a quadrangle and an ellipse (including a circle). Similarly, in the work device occupation area setting section 4B, a vertical size adjusting unit 45 that adjusts the vertical size of the work device occupation area WA and a horizontal size adjusting unit that adjusts the horizontal size of the work device occupation area WA. 46 and a vertical/horizontal size adjusting unit 47 that simultaneously adjusts the vertical and horizontal sizes. An enlargement button and a reduction button are arranged for adjusting the size of the work device occupation area WA. Further, an adjustment level display section 48a for confirming the adjustment level of the work device occupation area WA and a region shape selection section 48b for selecting the shape of the work device occupation area WA are also arranged. The shape of the work apparatus occupation area WA that can be selected is also a quadrangle or an ellipse (including a circle).

The own vehicle position calculation unit 54 calculates the own vehicle position based on the positioning data sent from the satellite positioning module 80. The notification unit 58 generates a notification signal (display data or audio data) for notifying a driver or a monitor of necessary information through a notification device 73 such as a display or a speaker.

Since the tractor is configured to be capable of traveling in both automatic traveling (automatic steering) and manual traveling (manual steering), the traveling control unit 50 that controls the vehicle traveling device group 71 has the manual traveling control unit 51 and the automatic traveling. And a control unit 52. The manual traveling control unit 51 controls the vehicle traveling device group 71 based on the operation by the driver. The automatic travel control unit 52 generates an automatic steering command based on the steering change data from the travel support unit 55, and outputs it to the steering motor 14 via the output processing unit 7. The work control unit 53 gives a control signal to the work device equipment group 72 in order to control the movement of the work device 30.

The traveling support unit 55 executes different control processing during automatic traveling and during manual traveling.
At the time of automatic traveling, the own vehicle position calculated by the own vehicle position calculation unit 54 and the traveling route LN generated by the route generation unit 57 are compared and evaluated, and a displacement occurs between the own vehicle position and the traveling route LN. For example, the function of generating the steering change data and giving it to the automatic travel control unit 52 is realized so that the vehicle body 1 follows the travel route LN. Further, when it is determined that the contour of the work vehicle, actually, the vehicle body occupying area VA and the work device occupying area WA which are virtual work vehicle occupying areas of the work vehicle, are determined to overlap with the obstacle area OB by continuing traveling. (Possibility of interference), obstacle avoidance steering data for avoiding that the work vehicle interferes with an obstacle is given. Alternatively, the work vehicle may be stopped and the avoidance steering of the obstacle may be entrusted to the driver.

During the manual traveling, the traveling support unit 55 compares and evaluates the own vehicle position calculated by the own vehicle position calculation unit 54 and the traveling route LN generated by the route generation unit 57 to obtain the own vehicle position and the traveling route LN. If the positional deviation has occurred, the function of giving the positional deviation data to the notification unit 58 is realized. As a result, the driver is notified of the positional deviation through the notification device 73. In addition, if it is determined that the work vehicle may interfere with the obstacle by continuing traveling as it is, the interference possibility data is given to the notification unit 58, and the driver is instructed to avoid the obstacle. prompt. Of course, it is also possible to stop the work vehicle in an emergency if necessary.

[Another embodiment]
(1) When the obstacle detection device is mounted on the tractor of the above-described embodiment, the obstacle area OB calculated from the detection data of the obstacle detected by the obstacle detection device is provided in the travel support unit 55. Given. As a result, even for an obstacle not managed by the work site management unit 56, particularly a moving obstacle, it is possible to provide traveling support for avoiding interference with the obstacle. Alternatively, the obstacle area OB calculated from the obstacle detection data detected by the obstacle detection device may be given to the work site management unit 56.

(2) In the above-described embodiment, the tractor equipped with the rotary cultivator as the work device 30 is taken as the work vehicle. However, other than such a tractor, for example, an agricultural work vehicle such as a rice transplanter or a combine harvester, or a work Various work vehicles such as a construction work vehicle including a dozer and rollers as the device 30 can also be adopted as the embodiment.

(3) Each functional unit in the functional block diagram shown in FIG. 4 is divided mainly for the purpose of explanation. In practice, each functional unit can be integrated with other functional units or divided into multiple functional units.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be applied to a work vehicle that performs ground work while traveling and a traveling support system that supports traveling of such a work vehicle.

1: Vehicle body 30: Working device 31: Lifting mechanism 4: Area adjustment setting screen 4A: Vehicle body occupied area setting section 4B: Working device occupied area setting section 5: Control unit 50: Travel control section 51: Manual travel control section 52: Automatic Travel control unit 53: Work control unit 54: Own vehicle position calculation unit 55: Travel support unit 56: Work site management unit 57: Route generation unit 58: Notification unit 60: Work vehicle occupation area management unit 61: Vehicle body occupation area setting unit 62: Work device occupation area setting unit 73: Notification device 80: Satellite positioning module LN: Travel route OB: Fault area VA: Vehicle body occupation area WA: Work device occupation area

The present invention relates to a work vehicle that travels on a work site and a travel support system that supports travel of the work vehicle.

The work vehicle includes a vehicle body having a traveling mechanism and a work device mounted on the vehicle body, and the work device performs work as the vehicle body travels. For example, rice transplanters, combine harvesters, tractors with cultivating equipment, and the like belong to such work vehicles.

Recently, to avoid interference with obstacles whose position is known in advance, such as fences and ridges that define the outer shape of the work site, ponds and structures existing in the work site, and rocks, which obstruct vehicle travel, The work vehicle is equipped with a function of checking the positional relationship with an obstacle based on the position of the vehicle calculated using GPS or the like and avoiding interference with the obstacle.

For example, in an autonomous traveling work vehicle according to Patent Document 1 in which a work device (plowing device) is mounted on a tractor vehicle body, a virtual work vehicle occupies a quadrangle area occupied by the entire length of the vehicle body and the width of the work device when traveling. The maximum occupied area is defined and stored in the memory of the control device. At the time of traveling, it is determined whether or not the maximum occupation area of the autonomously traveling work vehicle overlaps with that outside the field. If the vehicle is not within the setting range, the rear end or side edge of the working device may be located outside the field even if the vehicle body is within the setting range in the field. Instead, the driver adjusts the traveling direction of the autonomous work vehicle. The shape of the maximum occupied area is not limited to a quadrangle, and it is also proposed that the circumscribed circle of this quadrangle facilitates recognition of interference with ridges or the like when turning.

However, in the case of a work vehicle, the width of the work device is often larger than that of the vehicle body, and if the area of a quadrangle or circle that circumscribes the work vehicle and the work vehicle defined by the work device is the maximum occupation area of the work vehicle, Depending on the shape of the work device or the vehicle body, a relatively large area around the work vehicle is also included in the maximum occupied area. This means that if a travel locus is selected so that obstacles do not enter such a maximum occupied area in order to avoid interference with obstacles existing in the work area, the work vehicle cannot approach the obstacles and The problem arises that the area that cannot be processed becomes large.

International Publication No. 2015/119266

In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, it is defined by the vehicle body and the working device, which are used to avoid interference with obstacles during traveling such as straight traveling or turning traveling with work, or straight traveling or turning traveling without work. There is a demand for a technique capable of appropriately setting the virtual maximum occupied area of a work vehicle.

A traveling support system according to the present invention for supporting traveling of a work vehicle having a vehicle body and a work device mounted on the vehicle body at a work site is a virtual work vehicle of the work vehicle occupying the work site when traveling. A work vehicle occupation area management unit that manages the occupation area by dividing it into a vehicle body occupation area occupied by the vehicle body and a work device occupation area occupied by the work device, and a work vehicle occupation area management unit that manages the work vehicle at the work location based on positioning data. a vehicle position calculation unit for calculating a vehicle position which is a position, on the basis on the vehicle position and the working vehicle occupancy area, and a driving support unit for supporting the travel of the work vehicle, the work areas When the height of the existing obstacle to the ground is lower than the height of the working device to the ground, the working device occupation area is reduced or eliminated at least while traveling around the obstacle .
The traveling of the work vehicle includes traveling such as straight traveling and turning traveling with work, and traveling without traveling such as straight traveling and turning traveling.

According to this configuration, the virtual occupation area occupied by the vehicle body and the work device with respect to the work site is managed separately, that is, divided into the vehicle body occupation area and the work apparatus occupation area, and therefore, the work apparatus Even if the width of the work vehicle is larger than that of the vehicle body, the work vehicle occupying area as a whole does not include a dead area where no member of the work vehicle exists. For example, even if the vehicle occupancy region and the work device occupancy region approach an obstacle, as long as one of the occupancy regions does not interfere with the obstacle, the vehicle is not allowed to perform a non-working operation even if the traveling assistance that allows the traveling is performed. It is possible to suppress the inconvenience that the region remains.
In addition, when the height of the work equipment is high, the work equipment may not come into contact with obstacles such as short rocks and wells existing in the work area, and obstacles such as low ridges and fences. Is high. When the interference relation regarding the height between the work device and the obstacle is known in advance, it is possible to determine the obstacle that does not need to consider the interference with the work device during traveling. According to this configuration, the problem of deteriorating the traveling efficiency is reduced by taking wasteful interference between the work device and the obstacle into consideration.

A traveling support system according to the present invention for supporting traveling of a work vehicle having a vehicle body and a work device mounted on the vehicle body at a work site is a virtual work vehicle of the work vehicle occupying the work site when traveling. A work vehicle occupation area management unit that manages the occupation area by dividing it into a vehicle body occupation area occupied by the vehicle body and a work device occupation area occupied by the work device, and a work vehicle occupation area management unit that manages the work vehicle at the work site based on positioning data. A working position calculating unit that calculates a position of the own vehicle, and a traveling support unit that assists the traveling of the working vehicle based on the own vehicle position and the working vehicle occupation area. When the working device is mounted on the vehicle body via the elevating mechanism for changing the ground height, the working device occupation area is changed according to the ground height changed by the elevating mechanism.
According to this configuration, the virtual occupation area occupied by the vehicle body and the work device with respect to the work site is managed separately, that is, divided into the vehicle body occupation area and the work apparatus occupation area, and therefore, the work apparatus Even if the width of the work vehicle is larger than that of the vehicle body, the work vehicle occupying area as a whole does not include a dead area where no member of the work vehicle exists. For example, even if the vehicle occupancy region and the work device occupancy region approach an obstacle, as long as one of the occupancy regions does not interfere with the obstacle, the vehicle is not allowed to perform a non-working operation even if the traveling assistance that allows the traveling is performed. It is possible to suppress the inconvenience that the region remains.
In addition, there is a work device that is mounted on the body of a work vehicle via an elevating mechanism. In such a working device, the possibility of interference with an obstacle varies depending on the position of the height above the ground. According to this configuration, the problem that the traveling efficiency is deteriorated is reduced in consideration of the interference between the work device and the obstacle.
The main reason for setting the vehicle body occupying area and work equipment occupying area is to replace the area of the own vehicle that is necessary to avoid interference with obstacles with a virtual shape that is simpler than the actual one, and to minimize the possibility of interference. It is a simple calculation. Therefore, it is preferable that the traveling support unit has a function of determining a possibility of interference between the vehicle body and the work device and an obstacle existing on the work site. Obstacles that exist on the work site and do not move themselves are obstacles that surround the work site, such as fences and ridges, and internal obstacles such as wells, utility poles, and rocks that exist at the work site. Is. Of course, if the work vehicle has an obstacle detection function, moving obstacles such as people, animals, and work vehicles can also be handled as obstacles in the present invention.

Therefore, it is convenient that the positions and sizes of obstacles such as ridges and fences that demarcate the work site, or utility poles, wells, and rocks existing in the work site are managed in advance. Furthermore, when the vehicle industry vehicle itself has an obstacle detection function, it is convenient if the position and size of the obstacle detected during traveling are managed at that time. To this end, in one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, a work site management unit that manages obstacle information including the position and size of the obstacle at the work site is provided. In this case, the traveling support unit can also support traveling of the work vehicle in consideration of the obstacle information.

Various running states occur in the work vehicle. For example, as factors that determine the running state, posture changes of working equipment, low speed or high speed running, straight running or turning running, high load work or low load work, and even rough ground or mud running ground, etc. Can be mentioned. Steering stability and braking performance of the work vehicle vary depending on the traveling state. In a traveling state in which the steering stability and braking performance of the work vehicle deteriorate, the work vehicle occupation area can be increased to improve safety. From this, it is convenient to provide a function of changing the size of the work vehicle occupying area according to the traveling state of the work vehicle.

In particular, the vehicle speed of the work vehicle not only greatly affects the steering stability and braking performance of the work vehicle, but also affects the calculation accuracy of the vehicle position. From this, it is advantageous to adopt a configuration in which the size of the work vehicle occupying area is changed according to the vehicle speed of the work vehicle.

The vehicle body occupying region and the work device occupying region are mainly used by the traveling support unit to realize traveling that avoids interference with obstacles. Further, the damage caused by the interference with the obstacle also differs depending on the type of the work device. When traveling with large damage due to interference, it is preferable to reduce the risk of interference with an obstacle by increasing the occupation area of the work vehicle. Therefore, the weight of the vehicle body occupation area and the work device occupation area, in other words, the importance of the size of the occupation area is different for each work site or each traveling. Therefore, in one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the size of the vehicle body occupation area and the size of the work device occupation area can be set independently of each other. As a result, it is possible to select an appropriate traveling in consideration of both safety and traveling efficiency.

Further, the present invention also includes a work vehicle incorporating the above-described driving support system. In such a work vehicle according to the present invention, the vehicle body occupies a vehicle body, a work device mounted on the vehicle body, and a virtual work vehicle occupying area occupying the work site when traveling on the work site. When the ground height of an obstacle existing in the work area is lower than the ground height of the work device, at least the periphery of the obstacle is managed by dividing into a vehicle body occupying area and a work device occupying area occupied by the work device. A work vehicle occupation area management unit that reduces or eliminates the work device occupation area while traveling, a vehicle position calculation unit that calculates a vehicle position based on positioning data from a positioning module, and the vehicle position And a travel support unit that supports travel based on the work vehicle occupation area. Such a work vehicle can also obtain the same effects as the above-described driving support system, and can incorporate the various preferred embodiments described above.

In particular, if the traveling support unit has a function of determining the possibility of interference between the vehicle body and the work device and an obstacle existing in the work area, the vehicle may be identified as an obstacle based on the determined possibility of interference. Driving that avoids interference can be realized.

Therefore, in such a work vehicle, obstacle information including the position and size of obstacles such as ridges and fences that demarcate the work site or utility poles, wells, and rocks existing in the work site, and further, It is preferable that a work site management unit that manages obstacle information including the position and size of the obstacle detected during traveling is provided.

Further, the work vehicle traveling on the work site can travel along the guide travel route by manual steering or automatic steering. In a work vehicle that performs manual steering, when the notification unit that notifies the possibility of interference is provided, the driver can perform driving that avoids interference with an obstacle due to the notified possibility of interference. In addition, a work vehicle that performs automatic steering includes an automatic traveling control unit that automatically steers the vehicle so that the vehicle travels along a guide traveling route. It can be configured to automatically steer to avoid objects.

It is an explanatory view explaining that a virtual work vehicle occupation area of a work vehicle is divided into a vehicle body occupation area occupied by a vehicle body and a work apparatus occupation area occupied by a work apparatus. It is explanatory drawing explaining expansion/contraction of a work apparatus occupation area according to the height relationship of a work apparatus and an obstacle. It is a side view of a tractor showing one of the embodiments of a work vehicle. It is a functional block diagram which shows the control system of a tractor. FIG. 7 is an operation screen view for adjusting the sizes of the vehicle body occupation area and the work device occupation area.

Before describing specific embodiments of the driving support system and the work vehicle according to the present invention, the basic principle of the driving support system will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the work vehicle includes a vehicle body 1 having a traveling function and a work device 30 mounted on the vehicle body 1 via an elevating mechanism 31. Further, this work vehicle is equipped with a satellite positioning module configured by a GNSS module or the like, and positioning data indicating the coordinate position of the vehicle body (hereinafter simply referred to as the own vehicle position) is output. Note that the position of the vehicle represented by the positioning data is based on the position of the antenna, but the position correction process is performed so that the position of the vehicle is not the position of the antenna but the optimum position of the vehicle.

In FIG. 1, the ridges or fences that form the outer boundary area of the work site and the installations existing in the work site that hinder the traveling of the work vehicle are regarded as obstacles and occupy the work site of the obstacles. The area is illustrated as a failure area OB. The travel route LN set as the travel target of the work vehicle, which is set on the work site, is formed by a straight route extending in parallel with each other and a 180° turning route connecting the straight routes. When the work vehicle travels by manual steering by the driver, a function of notifying the deviation between the travel route LN and the position of the own vehicle works to assist the work vehicle traveling along the travel route LN. In addition, when the work vehicle travels along the travel route LN by automatic steering, a travel assist function is performed in which the steered wheels are controlled so as to correct the deviation between the travel route LN and the vehicle position.

In the example of FIG. 1, the coordinate position on the map of the obstacle, its size, and the ground height are registered in advance in the control system of the work vehicle, and the obstacle region OB corresponding to the obstacle is set. Further, in order to simplify the calculation of the positional relationship between the vehicle body 1 and the work device 30 that form the work vehicle and the obstacle (obstacle region OB), that is, the possibility of interference, the complicated shapes of the vehicle body 1 and the work device 30 are simplified. The virtual body shape is replaced with the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA. The vehicle body occupying area VA and the work device occupying area WA indicate the sizes on the ground in a plan view, and the vehicle body occupying area VA and the work device occupying area WA indicate the size of the work area when traveling at the work area. A virtual work vehicle occupation area of the work vehicle to be occupied is determined. The positional relationship between the vehicle body occupying area VA and the work device occupying area WA and the own vehicle position is preliminarily tabulated, and the positions of the vehicle body occupying area VA and the work device occupying area WA at the work site (coordinate positions on the map). Can be calculated in real time.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle body occupying area VA is an ellipse or a circle that covers the outer shape of the vehicle body 1 in plan view, and the work device occupying area WA is the outer shape of the working device 30 in plan view. It is oval or circular covering. The shapes of the vehicle body occupying area VA and the work device occupying area WA may be polygonal shapes such as a quadrangle, but are set to a size capable of including the actual vehicle body 1 and the work device 30.

The interference between the obstacle and the vehicle body 1 is calculated as the overlap between the obstacle area OB and the vehicle body occupation area VA, and the interference between the obstacle and the work device 30 is calculated as the overlap between the obstacle area OB and the work device occupation area WA. Therefore, by guiding the work vehicle so that such an overlap does not occur, it is possible to avoid the interference between the obstacle and the work vehicle.

The sizes of the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA can be set arbitrarily. When it is desired to increase the safety factor for avoiding the interference with the obstacle, the sizes of the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA may be increased. From such a point of view, for example, when the work vehicle travels at high speed, braking accuracy and steering accuracy are inferior to those at low speed, and therefore the size of the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA at the time of high speed traveling. It is convenient to expand the value compared to when traveling at low speed. It is also possible to automatically expand or reduce the area according to the vehicle speed. Further, the sizes of the obstacle area OB and the vehicle body occupation area VA can be increased or decreased depending on the skill of the driver or the type of travel.

As described above, in this work vehicle, since the work device 30 is mounted on the vehicle body 1 via the elevating mechanism 31, the ground height of the work device 30 varies. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, when the ground height of the obstacle region OB is lower than the ground height of the work device 30, the work device occupation area WA can be eliminated (or reduced). Of course, since the vehicle body occupying area VA remains the same, traveling support for traveling the vehicle body 1 so as to avoid interference with the obstacle area OB is executed. Further, in the case where the front portion of the vehicle body 1, for example, the bonnet (including the frame) extends forward of the front wheels and, as a result, the vehicle body occupying area VA extends forward of the front wheels, the ground clearance of the obstacle area OB is increased. As long as the height is below the ground height of the hood, the vehicle body occupation area VA for the obstacle area OB can be reduced. This can prevent the vehicle body 1 from interfering with the obstacle region OB and suppress the problem that the non-working region remains.

In the example described above, the obstacle (obstacle region OB) is already described in the obstacle information of the work site, and the coordinate position on the map is also stored in the memory of the work vehicle. When the vehicle position is calculated, the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA are derived according to the vehicle position along with the map coordinates of the obstacles in the vicinity, and the distance between the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA is calculated. The interference possibility is calculated from. In the case of obstacles not described in the obstacle information, especially in the case of moving obstacles, if the work vehicle is equipped with an obstacle detection device using a monitoring camera or ultrasonic waves or laser, from the detection result, The obstacle area OB is generated in real time, and the possibility of interference is calculated from the interval between the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA. Further, it is also conceivable to provide a monitoring camera, an ultrasonic wave, a laser, etc. in the field and transmit the detection result to the work vehicle as obstacle information.

Next, one of the concrete embodiments of the working vehicle incorporating the driving support system of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, the work vehicle is a tractor that performs traveling work on a field (work site) bounded by ridges, as shown in FIG. 3. In this tractor, a steering section 20 is provided at the center of the vehicle body 1 supported by front wheels 11 and rear wheels 12. A working device 30, which is a rotary cultivating device, is mounted on the rear part of the vehicle body 1 via a hydraulic lifting mechanism 31. The front wheels 11 function as steering wheels, and the traveling direction of the tractor is changed by changing the steering angle. The steering angle of the front wheels 11 is changed by the operation of the steering mechanism 13. The steering mechanism 13 includes a steering motor 14 for automatic steering. During manual driving, the front wheels 11 can be steered by operating a steering wheel 22 arranged in the control unit 20. The tractor cabin 21 is provided with a satellite positioning module 80 configured as a GNSS module. As a component of the satellite positioning module 80, a satellite antenna for receiving GPS signals and GNSS signals is attached to the ceiling area of the cabin 21. The satellite positioning module 80 can include an inertial navigation module incorporating a gyro acceleration sensor and a magnetic bearing sensor in order to complement the satellite navigation.
Of course, the inertial navigation module may be provided in a place different from the satellite positioning module 80.

FIG. 4 shows a control system built in this tractor. This control system realizes the traveling support system using the obstacle information, the vehicle position, and the work vehicle occupying area (vehicle body occupying area VA and work device occupying area WA) described with reference to FIG. It is configured. The control unit 5, which is the core element of this control system, is provided with an output processing unit 7, an input processing unit 8, and a communication processing unit 70 that function as an input/output interface. The output processing unit 7 is connected to the vehicle traveling device group 71, the work device device group 72, the notification device 73, and the like. The vehicle traveling device group 71 includes the steering motor 14 and other devices (not shown) that are controlled for vehicle traveling, such as a transmission mechanism and an engine unit. The working device equipment group 72 includes a drive mechanism of the working device 30, a lifting mechanism 31 for lifting the working device 30, and the like. The communication processing unit 70 has a function of transmitting the data processed by the control unit 5 to the management computer 100 built in the management center KS at a remote place and receiving various data from the management computer 100. The notification device 73 includes a display, a lamp, and a speaker. Lamps and speakers are used to notify the driver and operator of various information that should be notified, such as approach information for obstacles that hinder driving and deviation information indicating deviation from the target travel route during automatic steering. To be Signal transmission between the notification device 73 and the output processing unit 7 is performed by wire or wirelessly.

The input processing unit 8 is connected to the satellite positioning module 80, the traveling system detection sensor group 81, the work system detection sensor group 82, the automatic/manual switching operation tool 83, and the like. The traveling system detection sensor group 81 includes sensors for detecting traveling states such as engine speed and gear shift state. The work system detection sensor group 82 includes a sensor that detects the ground height and inclination of the work device 30, a sensor that detects a work load, and the like. The automatic/manual switching operation tool 83 is a switch that selects one of an automatic traveling mode in which the vehicle travels by automatic steering and a manual steering mode in which the vehicle travels by manual steering. For example, by operating the automatic/manual switching operation tool 83 while traveling in the automatic steering mode, it is possible to switch to travel by manual steering, and by operating the automatic/manual switching operation tool 83 during traveling by manual steering. , Switch to automatic steering.

The control unit 5 has a work vehicle occupation area management unit 60 that manages the work vehicle occupation area divided into the vehicle body occupation area VA and the work device occupation area WA described with reference to FIG. In addition to the above, the control unit 5 includes a traveling control unit 50, a work control unit 53, a vehicle position calculation unit 54, a traveling support unit 55, a work site management unit 56, a route generation unit 57, and a notification unit 58. ..

The work site management unit 56 manages field information (work site information) that is information related to the field where the work is performed. The field information includes, in addition to data such as the map position, shape, size, and planting variety of the field, obstacle information that is information about an obstacle existing in the field that interferes with traveling. This obstacle information includes the position and shape of the obstacle, the height above ground, and the like. The obstacles include not only facilities such as wells and electric poles in the field and rocks, but also surrounding ridges and fences that demarcate the field. The farm field information is downloaded from the management center KS at a remote place, the management computer 100 installed at the farmer's home, or the portable communication computer brought by the driver.

The route generation unit 57 reads out the contour data of the field from the field information and generates an appropriate travel route LN in this field. The generation of the travel route LN may be automatically performed based on a basic initial parameter input by the operator, or the input parameter substantially defining the travel route LN input by the worker is used. It may be performed based on. The travel route LN itself may be downloaded from the management computer 100.
In any case, the travel route LN acquired by the route generation unit 57 is expanded in the memory and used for the work vehicle to travel along the travel route LN regardless of the automatic steering traveling or the manual steering traveling. ..

The work vehicle occupation area management unit 60 sets a vehicle body occupation area setting unit 61 that sets a vehicle body occupation area VA occupied by the vehicle body 1 and a work apparatus occupation area setting that sets a work apparatus occupation area WA occupied by the work apparatus 30. And part 62. In the present embodiment, the sizes of the vehicle body occupied area VA and the work device occupied area WA are changed according to the vehicle speed of the work vehicle, and the occupied areas are smaller during high speed traveling than during low speed traveling. .. Further, the work device occupation area WA is reduced or eliminated when the ground height of the work device is higher than the ground height of the obstacle. Therefore, the work vehicle occupation area management unit 60 is based on the vehicle speed data based on the vehicle speed detection sensor included in the traveling system detection sensor group 81 and the work device height detection sensor included in the work system detection sensor group 82. Work equipment height data is input.

In this embodiment, the size of the vehicle body occupation area VA and the size of the work device occupation area WA can be adjusted and set independently of each other. This area adjustment setting is performed through the area adjustment setting screen 4 displayed on the touch panel display. As shown in FIG. 5, the area adjustment setting screen 4 includes a vehicle body occupation area setting section 4A for setting the vehicle body occupation area VA and a work device occupation area setting section 4B for setting the work apparatus occupation area WA. There is. The vehicle body occupancy area setting section 4A includes a vertical size adjusting unit 41 for adjusting the vertical size of the vehicle body occupying area VA, a horizontal size adjusting unit 42 for adjusting the horizontal size of the vehicle body occupying area VA, and a vertical and horizontal direction. A vertical/horizontal size adjusting unit 43 for adjusting the sizes at the same time is arranged. An enlargement button and a reduction button are arranged for adjusting the size of the vehicle body occupation area VA. Furthermore, an adjustment level display section 44a for confirming the adjustment level of the vehicle body occupation area VA and an area shape selection section 44b for selecting the shape of the vehicle body occupation area VA are also arranged. In this embodiment, the shapes of the selectable vehicle body occupation area VA are a quadrangle and an ellipse (including a circle). Similarly, in the work device occupation area setting section 4B, a vertical size adjusting unit 45 for adjusting the vertical size of the work device occupation area WA and a horizontal size adjusting unit for adjusting the horizontal size of the work device occupation area WA. 46 and a vertical/horizontal size adjusting unit 47 that simultaneously adjusts the vertical and horizontal sizes. An enlargement button and a reduction button are arranged for adjusting the size of the work device occupation area WA. Further, an adjustment level display section 48a for confirming the adjustment level of the work device occupation area WA and a region shape selection section 48b for selecting the shape of the work device occupation area WA are also arranged. The shape of the work apparatus occupation area WA that can be selected is also a quadrangle or an ellipse (including a circle).

The own vehicle position calculation unit 54 calculates the own vehicle position based on the positioning data sent from the satellite positioning module 80. The notification unit 58 generates a notification signal (display data or audio data) for notifying a driver or a monitor of necessary information through a notification device 73 such as a display or a speaker.

Since the tractor is configured to be capable of traveling in both automatic traveling (automatic steering) and manual traveling (manual steering), the traveling control unit 50 that controls the vehicle traveling device group 71 has the manual traveling control unit 51 and the automatic traveling. And a control unit 52. The manual traveling control unit 51 controls the vehicle traveling device group 71 based on the operation by the driver. The automatic travel control unit 52 generates an automatic steering command based on the steering change data from the travel support unit 55, and outputs it to the steering motor 14 via the output processing unit 7. The work control unit 53 gives a control signal to the work device equipment group 72 in order to control the movement of the work device 30.

The traveling support unit 55 performs different control processing during automatic traveling and during manual traveling.
At the time of automatic traveling, the own vehicle position calculated by the own vehicle position calculation unit 54 and the traveling route LN generated by the route generation unit 57 are compared and evaluated, and a displacement occurs between the own vehicle position and the traveling route LN. For example, the function of generating the steering change data and giving it to the automatic travel control unit 52 is realized so that the vehicle body 1 follows the travel route LN. Further, when it is determined that the contour of the work vehicle, actually, the vehicle body occupying area VA and the work device occupying area WA which are virtual work vehicle occupying areas of the work vehicle, are determined to overlap with the obstacle area OB by continuing traveling. (Possibility of interference), obstacle avoidance steering data for avoiding that the work vehicle interferes with the obstacle is given. Alternatively, the work vehicle may be stopped and the avoidance steering of the obstacle may be entrusted to the driver.

During the manual traveling, the traveling support unit 55 compares and evaluates the own vehicle position calculated by the own vehicle position calculation unit 54 and the traveling route LN generated by the route generation unit 57 to obtain the own vehicle position and the traveling route LN. If the positional deviation has occurred, the function of giving the positional deviation data to the notification unit 58 is realized. As a result, the driver is notified of the positional deviation through the notification device 73. In addition, if it is determined that the work vehicle may interfere with the obstacle by continuing traveling as it is, the interference possibility data is given to the notification unit 58, and the driver is instructed to avoid the obstacle. prompt. Of course, it is also possible to stop the work vehicle in an emergency if necessary.

[Another embodiment]
(1) When the obstacle detection device is mounted on the tractor of the above-described embodiment, the obstacle area OB calculated from the detection data of the obstacle detected by the obstacle detection device is provided in the travel support unit 55. Given. As a result, even for an obstacle not managed by the work site management unit 56, particularly a moving obstacle, it is possible to provide traveling support for avoiding interference with the obstacle. Alternatively, the obstacle area OB calculated from the obstacle detection data detected by the obstacle detection device may be given to the work site management unit 56.

(2) In the above-described embodiment, the tractor equipped with the rotary cultivator as the work device 30 is taken as the work vehicle. However, other than such a tractor, for example, an agricultural work vehicle such as a rice transplanter or a combine harvester, or a work Various work vehicles such as a construction work vehicle including a dozer and rollers as the device 30 can also be adopted as the embodiment.

(3) Each functional unit in the functional block diagram shown in FIG. 4 is divided mainly for the purpose of explanation. In practice, each functional unit can be integrated with other functional units or divided into multiple functional units.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be applied to a work vehicle that performs ground work while traveling and a traveling support system that supports traveling of such a work vehicle.

1: Vehicle body 30: Working device 31: Lifting mechanism 4: Area adjustment setting screen 4A: Vehicle body occupied area setting section 4B: Working device occupied area setting section 5: Control unit 50: Travel control section 51: Manual travel control section 52: Automatic Travel control unit 53: Work control unit 54: Own vehicle position calculation unit 55: Travel support unit 56: Work site management unit 57: Route generation unit 58: Notification unit 60: Work vehicle occupation area management unit 61: Vehicle body occupation area setting unit 62: Work device occupation area setting unit 73: Notification device 80: Satellite positioning module LN: Travel route OB: Fault area VA: Vehicle body occupation area WA: Work device occupation area

Claims (8)

A traveling support system for supporting traveling of a work vehicle having a vehicle body and a work device mounted on the vehicle body at a work site,
Work vehicle occupancy that manages a virtual work vehicle occupying area of the work vehicle occupying the work area during traveling by dividing into a vehicle body occupying area occupied by the vehicle body and a work apparatus occupying area occupied by the working apparatus. Area management department,
A vehicle position calculation unit that calculates a vehicle position that is the position of the work vehicle in the work site based on positioning data;
A travel support unit that supports travel of the work vehicle based on the own vehicle position and the work vehicle occupation area;
When the height of the obstacle existing on the work site above the ground is lower than the height of the work device above the ground, the travel support system reduces or eliminates the work device occupation area at least while traveling around the obstacle. .. A traveling support system for supporting traveling of a work vehicle having a vehicle body and a work device mounted on the vehicle body at a work site,
A vehicle body occupation area in which the vehicle body occupies a virtual work vehicle occupation area of the work vehicle that occupies the work area during traveling, and which is configured as a virtual shape including the actual vehicle body, A work vehicle occupying area management unit that manages the work apparatus by occupying it and dividing it into a work apparatus occupying area configured as a virtual shape including the actual work apparatus.
A vehicle position calculation unit that calculates a vehicle position that is the position of the work vehicle in the work site based on positioning data;
A travel support unit that supports travel of the work vehicle based on the own vehicle position and the work vehicle occupation area;
When the working device is mounted on the vehicle body via an elevating mechanism that changes the ground height of the working device, the working device occupation area is changed according to the ground height changed by the elevating mechanism. Driving support system. The traveling support system according to claim 1, further comprising a work site management unit that manages obstacle information including a position and a size of the obstacle at the work site. The travel assistance system according to claim 1, wherein the size of the work vehicle occupying area is changed according to the traveling state of the work vehicle. The travel support system according to claim 4, wherein the size of the work vehicle occupied area is changed according to the vehicle speed of the work vehicle. 6. The travel support system according to claim 1, wherein the size of the vehicle body occupying area and the size of the previous working device occupying area can be set independently of each other. 7. The travel support system according to claim 1, wherein the travel support unit has a function of determining a possibility of interference between the vehicle body and the work device and an obstacle existing in the work site. The car body,
A working device mounted on the vehicle body;
The virtual work vehicle occupying area occupying the work place during traveling at the work place is divided into a vehicle body occupying region occupied by the vehicle body and a work device occupying region occupied by the work device, and managed. When the height of the obstacle existing in the ground is lower than the height of the ground of the work device, a work vehicle occupation area management unit that reduces or eliminates the work equipment occupation area at least while traveling around the obstacle. ,
A work vehicle including: a vehicle position calculation unit that calculates a vehicle position based on positioning data from a positioning module; and a travel support unit that assists travel based on the vehicle position and the work vehicle occupation area.

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