JP3375092B2 - Radio control equipment for construction machinery - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a radio control device of a construction machine for enabling radio control of a normal construction machine operated by an operator on board. . 2. Description of the Related Art When working with a construction machine, for example, a hydraulic shovel, working in a place where there is a risk of a landslide or the like is dangerous for a hydraulic shovel operator.
Further, depending on the type of work, it is necessary to perform the work while observing the tip of the bucket or other attachments, but it may not be possible to perform reliable observation from the cab of the hydraulic shovel. In order to solve these problems, there has been provided a hydraulic excavator capable of performing both a boarding operation in which the hydraulic excavator is mounted and operated and a wireless operation in which a transmitter is externally operated to drive the hydraulic excavator. . In addition to the normal operation and drive mechanism, such a hydraulic shovel is provided with a receiving structure for processing a signal from a transmitter in wireless operation and connecting to the operation and drive mechanism.
This receiving structure will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the above-mentioned receiving structure.
In this figure, 1 is a printed circuit board, and 2 is an antenna for receiving a radio signal from a transmitter. The printed circuit board 1 includes a receiving circuit unit 1a that receives a signal from a transmitter, a microcomputer (CPU) 1b that processes the received signal,
Also, an interface unit 1c for connecting to an operation and a driving mechanism is arranged. From the receiving circuit unit 1a, for example, an 8-bit parallel signal corresponding to the received signal is C
The signal is output to the PU 1b, and the CPU 1b outputs an 8-bit parallel signal obtained by processing the input signal to the interface unit 1c. A signal from the interface unit 1c is output to the operation and drive mechanism, whereby the hydraulic excavator is wirelessly operated. [0004] The above-mentioned hydraulic excavator capable of performing both the on-board operation and the wireless operation is manufactured for the purpose, and therefore does not cause any problem. However, the need to prevent the danger of the operator or to make the observation more reliable is a demand that arises even in the case of an operating hydraulic excavator that is manufactured only for boarding operation. However, these hydraulic excavators have many different types of operating mechanisms and driving mechanisms, and it is impossible to apply the printed circuit board 1 shown in FIG. 2 as it is. Therefore, the printed circuit board 1 may be configured so as to be adapted to each type of hydraulic excavator. The design of the receiving circuit section 1a belongs to the communication field, while the interface (CPU 1b and CPU 1b) The design of the interface unit 1c) belongs to the field of hydraulic excavators having knowledge of each model, and it is not easy for any field to design and manufacture a printed circuit board for a large number of models. An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and to provide a radio control device for a construction machine which can be easily designed and manufactured and can suppress malfunction. [0007] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a hydraulic pump, a plurality of hydraulic actuators driven by the hydraulic pump, the hydraulic pump and each of these hydraulic actuators. A plurality of control valves interposed therebetween to control the driving of each of the hydraulic actuators; a plurality of control valve driving solenoid valves each of which drives these control valves with a pilot pressure according to an electric signal; In a construction machine having a plurality of operation levers each outputting an electric signal corresponding to an operation amount to a control valve driving solenoid valve, a construction machine having a transmitter that wirelessly controls the construction machine from outside is received and responded to the signal. A receiver that outputs a serial signal, and when receiving a serial signal output from this receiver, converts it to a parallel signal according to this At the same time, an exciting current corresponding to the parallel signal is output to the control valve driving electromagnetic valve, and when an operation signal is received from the operation lever, an exciting current corresponding to the operation signal is transmitted to the control valve driving electromagnetic valve. By providing a controller as an output interface, a radio control device for a construction machine was constructed. The radio control device for a construction machine according to the present invention is provided with such means. When the control lever is operated during boarding control, the controller receives an operation signal from the control lever and receives an operation signal from the control lever. Then, an exciting current corresponding to this is output to the control valve driving solenoid valve. Then, the control valve driving solenoid valve outputs a pilot pressure according to the operation signal from the operation lever to drive the hydraulic valve, and as a result, the hydraulic valve operates the hydraulic cylinder according to the operation signal of the operation lever. Control the drive. On the other hand, when radio control is performed, the receiver receives a signal from the transmitter and outputs a serial signal corresponding to the signal. The serial signal output from the receiver is received by the controller. The controller converts the serial signal into a parallel signal, and then outputs an exciting current corresponding to the parallel signal to the control valve driving solenoid valve. Then, the electromagnetic proportional valve outputs a pilot pressure according to the excitation current from the controller to drive the hydraulic valve, and eventually, the drive of the hydraulic cylinder is controlled according to the signal of the transmitter. . As described above, the radio control apparatus for a construction machine according to the present invention can output a serial signal to a receiver without employing a receiving structure as in the prior art in which the function of the receiver and the interface are integrated. When the radio control device is attached to a hydraulic excavator, the design and manufacture of the receiver should be left to a specialized manufacturer in the communication field, and the interface should be configured separately from the receiver. The design and manufacture can be freely performed by a manufacturer in the field of construction machinery alone so as to be compatible with the operation mode and drive mode of the construction machine. Therefore, it is possible to easily design and manufacture the radio control device of the construction machine. Further, the installation location of the receiver and the interface can be freely selected in consideration of noise, cost and the like. In the related art, the transmission and reception of signals between the receiving circuit unit and the interface are performed by parallel signals, so that the number of signal lines increases, noise is likely to be mixed, and a malfunction may occur. Since the output of the receiver is a serial signal, the signal line is simplified and the risk of malfunction is reduced. In particular, according to the present invention, the interface is constituted by a controller, and the serial signal output from the receiver and the operation signal output from the operation lever can be selected and processed by the controller. There is no need to provide a component such as a changeover switch for switching between control and radio control. Further, even when the control method is switched from one of the boarding control and the radio control to the other control method, the operation signal output during the control is selected by the controller and automatically processed. Steering can be performed without manually operating such operating means, and operations for boarding steering and wireless steering can be reliably and simply performed. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless control device of a hydraulic shovel according to an embodiment of the present invention. The radio control apparatus according to the present embodiment is an apparatus applied to a model in which the output of the operation lever is an electric signal corresponding to the operation amount, the electromagnetic signal is driven by the electric signal, and the hydraulic valve is driven by the output pilot pressure. It is. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a hydraulic pump, 11 denotes a hydraulic cylinder as a hydraulic actuator driven by the hydraulic pump 10, and 12 intervenes between the hydraulic pump 10 and the hydraulic cylinder 11 to control the driving of the hydraulic cylinder 11. The hydraulic valve 13 is a tank. An operation lever 15 outputs an electric signal according to the operation amount to operate the hydraulic cylinder 11, and an electromagnetic lever 16 outputs a pilot pressure according to an input signal to drive the hydraulic valve 12 as a control valve driving electromagnetic valve. It is a proportional valve. Reference numeral 20 denotes a transmitter which is carried by the operator of the excavator and wirelessly controls the excavator from outside.
Is an antenna of the transmitter 20, and 20L is a control lever of the transmitter 20. Reference numeral 21 denotes a receiver placed at an appropriate place such as a driver's cab of a hydraulic shovel that receives a signal from the transmitter 20 and outputs a serial signal according to the signal, 21A denotes an antenna of the receiver 21, and 21S denotes a receiver 21. An operation switch 22 is an output line (cable) of the receiver 21. Reference numeral 24 denotes an interface inserted between the operation lever 15 and the hydraulic valve 12, and is constituted by a controller 241 using a microcomputer. When receiving the serial signal output from the receiver 21, the controller 241 converts the serial signal into a parallel signal according to the serial signal, and outputs an exciting current corresponding to the parallel signal to the electromagnetic proportional valve 16. Further, an operation signal from the operation lever 15, that is, the operation lever 1
When an electric signal output in response to the operation of No. 5 is received, an exciting current corresponding to this is output to the electromagnetic proportional valve 16. As described above, the controller 241 has a function of selectively processing the serial signal output from the receiver 21 and the operation signal output from the operation lever 15 and outputting the excitation current to the electromagnetic proportional valve 16. Since the radio control system of the hydraulic excavator according to the embodiment is provided with the above-described means, when the control lever 15 is operated in the on-board control, the control lever 15 generates an electric signal corresponding to the operation amount. Is output to the controller 241, and the controller 241 outputs an exciting current corresponding thereto to the electromagnetic proportional valve 16. Then, the electromagnetic proportional valve 16
Outputs the pilot pressure according to the electric signal from the operation lever 15 and drives the hydraulic valve 12. As a result, the hydraulic valve 12 controls the driving of the hydraulic cylinder 11 according to the operation of the operation lever 15. On the other hand, when performing wireless control, the operator turns on the switch 21S of the receiver 21, and then carries the transmitter 20 to operate the corresponding control lever 20L from outside the excavator. Then, antenna 2
From 0A, an operation signal corresponding to this operation (a signal indicating which control lever is operated in which direction and by how much) is output and input to the receiver 21 from the antenna 21A of the receiver 21. The receiver 21 converts the received operation signal into a digital signal, and outputs the digital signal as a serial signal from the cable 22 by a predetermined process. Such a configuration of the transmitter 20 and the receiver 21 and a means for converting the signal into a serial signal are well known, and a description thereof will be omitted. When a serial signal is input from the receiver 21, the controller 241 converts the serial signal into a parallel signal, and outputs an exciting current corresponding to the parallel signal to the electromagnetic proportional valve 16 by a predetermined process. . Then,
The electromagnetic proportional valve 16 outputs a pilot pressure according to the exciting current from the controller 241 to drive the hydraulic valve 12. After all, the hydraulic cylinder 11 drives the hydraulic cylinder 12 according to the operation of the control lever 20 L of the transmitter 20. Is controlled. As described above, in the present embodiment, the receiver 21 is configured to output a serial signal in particular without adopting a receiving structure as in the prior art in which the function of the receiver and the interface are integrated. , The interface 24 is configured separately from the receiver 21. Therefore, when the radio control device is attached to the hydraulic excavator, the design and manufacture of the receiver are left to a specialized manufacturer in the communication field, and the interface 24 is designed and manufactured. Manufacture can be freely performed by a manufacturer in the field of the excavator alone so as to be adapted to the operation mode and the driving mode of the excavator. Therefore, it is possible to easily design and manufacture the radio control device of the hydraulic shovel. Further, since the receiver 21 and the interface 24 are separate from each other, the installation locations of the two on the hydraulic excavator can be freely selected in consideration of noise, cost, and the like. That is, the receiver 21 is installed as far away from the noise source as possible, and the interface 24
It can be installed as close to the hydraulic valve 12 as possible. In the prior art, the transmission and reception of signals between the receiving circuit unit 1a and the interface 1c are performed by parallel signals, so that the number of signal lines is increased, noise is likely to be mixed, and a malfunction may occur. In the example, since the output signal of the receiver 21 is a serial signal,
The number of output cables 22 of the receiver 21 is reduced to one, so that noise can be suppressed, malfunction can be prevented, and cost can be reduced. In particular, in this embodiment, the interface 2
4 is composed of a controller 241, and the serial signal output from the receiver 21 and the operation signal output from the operation lever 15 can be selected and processed by the controller 241. There is no need to provide a component such as a changeover switch for changing over. Further, even when the control method is switched from one of the on-board control and the wireless control to the other control, the operation signal output during the control is selected by the controller 241 and automatically processed. The operation can be performed without manually operating such operation means as described above, and the operations for boarding operation and wireless operation can be reliably and simply performed. In the description of the present embodiment, the hydraulic cylinder 11, the hydraulic valve 12 and the operating lever 15 for driving the hydraulic cylinder 11 have been described as an example. It is natural that the hydraulic valve and the operation lever exist. In this case, the controller 241 is provided with the same number of output terminals as the hydraulic actuator, and the electromagnetic proportional valve 16 is connected to each of these output terminals. Become. In the description of this embodiment, an application example of a hydraulic shovel has been described, but it is apparent that the present invention can be applied to other construction machines. As is apparent from the above description, the radio control device for construction equipment of the present invention employs a receiving structure as in the prior art, in which the function of the receiver and the interface are integrated. Instead, the receiver is designed to output serial signals, so that the interface is configured separately from the receiver.When the radio control device is attached to the construction machine, the design and manufacture of the receiver are required. Entrust the design and manufacture of the interface to the operation and drive modes of the construction machine, leaving it to a specialized manufacturer in the communication field.
It can be done freely by the manufacturer in the field of construction machinery.
Therefore, the design and manufacture of the radio control device of the construction machine can be easily performed. Also, the installation location of the receiver and the interface can be freely selected in consideration of noise, cost, and the like. Furthermore, since the output signal of the receiver is a serial signal, the number of output cables of the receiver becomes one, and noise can be suppressed to prevent malfunction.
In addition, costs can be reduced. In particular, according to the present invention, the interface is constituted by a controller, and the serial signal output from the receiver and the operation signal output from the operation lever can be selected and processed by the controller. There is no need to provide a component such as a changeover switch for switching between control and radio control. Further, even when the control method is switched from one of the boarding control and the radio control to the other control method, the operation signal output during the control is selected by the controller and automatically processed. Steering can be performed without manually operating such operating means, and operations for boarding steering and wireless steering can be reliably and simply performed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a radio control device of a hydraulic shovel according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a receiving structure of a conventional device. [Description of Signs] 10 Hydraulic pump 11 Hydraulic cylinder 12 Hydraulic valve 15 Operating lever 16 Electromagnetic proportional valve 20 Transmitter 21 Receiver 24 Interface 241 Controller

   ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page       (56) References JP-A-48-70304 (JP, A)                 JP-A-2-190538 (JP, A)                 JP-A-5-93489 (JP, A)                 JP-A-1-290830 (JP, A)                 JP-A-2-283905 (JP, A)                 JP-A-5-255953 (JP, A)                 JP-B-52-15881 (JP, B1)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claim 1] A hydraulic pump, a plurality of hydraulic actuators driven by the hydraulic pump, and each of these hydraulic actuators interposed between the hydraulic pump and each of these hydraulic actuators A plurality of control valves for controlling the driving of the control valves, a plurality of solenoid valves for driving these control valves at pilot pressures corresponding to the electric signals, and a plurality of solenoid valves for controlling the control valves. A construction machine comprising a plurality of operation levers each outputting a corresponding electric signal, a receiver for receiving a signal of a transmitter for wirelessly controlling the construction machine from outside and outputting a serial signal in accordance with the signal; When a serial signal output from the receiver is received, it is converted into a parallel signal according to the received signal, and excitation is performed according to the parallel signal. A controller is provided as an interface that outputs a current to the control valve driving solenoid valve and, when an operation signal is received from the operation lever, outputs an exciting current corresponding to the operation signal to the control valve driving solenoid valve. A radio control device for a construction machine, comprising: