JP4670517B2 - Work machine and control method of work machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a work machine such as a crane or an excavator, and more particularly to a work machine with antitheft measures and a method for controlling the work machine.

In recent years, thefts of working machines such as cranes and excavators are increasing. The stolen work machine is used, for example, for looting an installed ATM, and the damage is serious. Therefore, various methods have been proposed as antitheft measures for the work machine (for example, described in Patent Document 1).
In the conventional example, the following two methods are often used. That is, as a first method for preventing theft, a technique is used in which a key lock is applied to a mechanical key for starting an engine, and the key lock is released by input and verification of an ID. Further, as a second method, a technique is also used in which the engine can be started only when a pre-registered fingerprint template matches an input fingerprint by fingerprint authentication.
JP 2002-145020 A

However, the above-described conventional technology has the following problems.
First, both the first method and the second method have a problem that the user has to input a fingerprint or an ID when starting the engine, which increases the engine starting procedure.
Further, the first method has a problem that it is possible to start the engine due to the destruction of the mechanism for performing the key lock, which is insufficient as a countermeasure for theft. In addition, even when a control device that performs ID verification directly controls engine startup without using a mechanical method such as key lock, the certainty of prevention of theft due to ID leakage There is a problem that the decline in the price is inevitable.
In the second method, it is considered that the certainty of theft prevention is high, but it is impossible to start the engine by a worker whose fingerprint is not registered. As a result, it becomes difficult to cope with situations such as an emergency change of workers, and the workability of the work machine is clearly impaired.
As described above, the certainty of theft prevention and the workability are generally contradictory. In other words, from the standpoint of preventing theft, in order to reliably control the damage caused by theft, it is considered that workability must be reduced.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the purpose of the present invention is to prevent damages such as ATM robbery by a stolen work machine as much as possible without impairing its workability. And a control method of the work machine.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a work machine including a drive source that drives an operation unit that performs a predetermined operation, and stores one or a plurality of work place candidates in which the work machine can be used in advance. In addition, the location of the work machine is received from an external radio base station by radio signal, and it is determined whether the location of the work machine matches any of the work places. Only the work machine that can start the drive source.
As a result, even if the work machine is stolen, it is impossible to use the work machine at the stolen destination, so that damage such as ATM robbery by the stolen work machine can be prevented. Is possible. Further, the present invention is not an invention from the viewpoint of preventing theft, but suppresses starting of the work machine after the theft, so that the workability before the theft (that is, at the work place) is lost. It will not be.
Note that the above configuration alone is not configured to prevent theft from the work place at all. Therefore, it is also sufficient to take antitheft measures such as ID verification as in the first technique. Conceivable.

When the determination unit that determines whether the location of the work machine matches any of the work locations also serves as a start control unit that starts the drive source, There is an effect. That is, when the determination unit determines that the location of the work machine matches any of the work locations, the key lock applied to the key of the drive unit is to be released. There is a risk that the drive unit is started due to the destruction of the key lock. However, if the determination unit directly starts the drive source, the drive unit cannot be started by means of partial destruction of the work machine, and the drive at a place other than the work place is not possible. It is possible to prevent the starting of the part more reliably.
By the way, in a situation where it is impossible to receive a radio signal, for example, inside a tunnel, it is conceivable to both enable and disable the drive unit.
In other words, since it is assumed that the work machine will be used even inside the tunnel, etc., it can be considered that the drive unit can be started even if no radio signal is received ( It is difficult to assume that damage such as ATM robbery will occur inside the tunnel). On the other hand, in this case, the driver can be started by intentionally blocking the reception of the radio signal by the theft. Therefore, if you are concerned about such a situation, it should be impossible to start the drive unless a radio signal is received.

By the way, it is desirable that the candidate for the work place can be updated or added, but it is contrary to the object of the present invention to allow such update or addition without limitation. For example, if the work place candidate can be updated or added by the theft after the work machine is stolen, there is no effect in preventing damage caused by the theft.
Therefore, a specific place (for example, considered to be in the manufacturer's factory etc.) where the candidate for the work place can be updated or added is determined in advance. In addition, the location of the work machine can be received from an external radio base station by radio signal, and the work location candidate can be updated or added only when the location of the work machine matches the updatable location. It is desirable to have a configuration. Thereby, only a regular worker who knows the updatable place and can enter can update or add the candidate of the work place. In addition, it is conceivable that the updatable location itself can be updated or added only at the updatable location.
Further, the present invention may be regarded as a work machine control method.

  According to the present invention, even if the work machine according to the present invention is stolen, it is impossible to use the work machine at the theft destination. It is possible to prevent damage. Further, the present invention is not an invention from the viewpoint of preventing theft, but suppresses starting of the work machine after the theft, so that the workability before the theft (that is, at the work place) is lost. It will not be.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings so that the present invention can be understood. The following embodiment is an example embodying the present invention, and does not limit the technical scope of the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a working machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a main part of the working machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence performed at the time of engine starting by the control means which the working machine has.

Hereinafter, a crane A according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
A crane A (an example of a work machine) shown in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a self-propelled drive unit X1, an operation chamber X2, an arm drive unit X3, and an arm unit X4. The self-propelled drive unit X1 has a plurality of wheels 2 (operation units) driven by the engine 1 (an example of a drive source) shown in FIG. 2, and the crane A rotates and drives the wheels 2. It is possible to travel by (an example of a predetermined operation).
An operation unit 3 (see FIG. 2) having various buttons or operation levers is provided inside the operation chamber X2. An operator can perform various operation inputs via the operation unit 3 in the operation room X2, and can thereby operate each part of the crane A. The operation unit 3 has a key mechanism (not shown). When an operator inserts a predetermined key member into a key hole provided in the key mechanism, the operator rotates the key member around the axis of the key hole, thereby mechanically driving the drive operation unit 6 described later. It is possible to input a start command for the engine 1 (an example of a drive source). Note that such a start command is not necessarily input by a mechanical method using a key mechanism. Naturally, it is also conceivable to carry out by inputting the used radio signal.
The arm drive unit X3 incorporates a hydraulic actuator (not shown) having a hydraulic pump and various solenoid valves, and drives the arm unit X4 that performs, for example, an article lifting operation. The hydraulic actuator is mechanically or electrically connected to the engine 1 and can drive the arm portion X4 only when the engine 1 is in operation.

As shown in FIG. 2, the main part of the crane A according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the engine 1, the operation unit 3, a radio signal receiving unit 4, a storage unit 5, a drive control unit 6, and the like. It is roughly composed.
The radio signal receiving unit 4 is an interface that periodically receives a radio signal from, for example, a GPS satellite (an example of an external radio base station).
In the storage unit 5 (work place candidate storage means), in addition to a control program for performing overall control of the crane A, information on work place candidates that can be used by the crane A (for example, work place) Are stored in advance.
The drive control unit 6 includes an MPU, peripheral devices, and the like, and performs overall control of the crane A while referring to the storage contents of the storage unit 5. The drive control unit 6 refers to the information superimposed on the radio signal input by the radio signal receiving unit 4 and the stored content of the storage unit 5 so that the crane A is stolen. It is possible to limit the starting of the engine 1 in the above, thereby preventing damages such as ATM robbery after theft.

Hereinafter, the processing procedure when the engine 1 is started by the drive control unit 6 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Each procedure shown in FIG. 3 is executed by the drive control unit 6 in accordance with a control program stored in the storage unit 5. 3, S1, S2,... Indicate operation procedure (step) numbers, and a start command for the engine 1 is input via the key mechanism (not shown) of the operation unit 3. In this case, the operation starts from step S1.
In step S <b> 1, the drive control unit 6 inputs a radio signal from a GPS satellite or the like received by the radio signal receiving unit 4. The wireless signal is obtained by superimposing the current location information of the crane A measured by the GPS satellite , and the drive control unit 6 reads the current location from the wireless signal (an example of acquisition). . The wireless signal receiving unit 4 and the drive control unit 6 are examples of location acquisition means.
As soon as the current location information is read, the process proceeds to step S2. However, even if the current location information is not acquired, such as when the wireless signal cannot be received, the process of step S2 is performed. Proceed to
In step S2, the drive control unit 6 determines whether or not the current location has been acquired in step S1. If it is determined that it has been acquired, the process proceeds to step S3. On the other hand, if it is determined that acquisition has failed, the process proceeds to step S5.

In step S3, the drive control unit 6 (an example of a first drive source start control unit) is stored in the storage unit 5 (an example of a work location candidate storage unit) according to an embodiment of the present invention. A plurality of candidates for work places where the crane A can be used are read out. Further, it is determined whether or not the current location of the crane A acquired in step S1 matches any of the candidates for the work location, and if it matches, the process proceeds to step S4. If it is determined, the process proceeds to step S5.
In step S4, the drive control unit 6 controls the start of the engine 1, and then ends a series of processes shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 (END). In step S5, the drive control unit 6 ends the series of processes shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 without starting the engine 1 (end). As a result, the engine 1 (an example of a drive source) is started only when the current location of the crane A matches any of the candidate work locations.

By the way, it is desirable that the work place (stored contents of the work place candidate storage means) where the engine 1 of the crane A according to the embodiment of the present invention can be started can be updated or added. However, if such renewal or addition of the work place is allowed without limitation, the object of the present invention for preventing damage after theft cannot be achieved.
Accordingly, an updatable place representing an updatable place of the work place (stored contents of the work place candidate storage means) is stored in advance in the storage unit 5 (an example of the updatable place storage means) together with the work place. . The updatable location is determined at a location such as a factory where the crane A is manufactured, for example, and the information is given only to an administrator or a part of the operator of the crane A manufacturer.
Also, through the operation unit 3 (an example of an input unit), an operation input for requesting the update or addition of the work place candidate stored in the storage unit 5 (of the work place candidate storage unit), and further update and addition It is possible to perform an operation input representing the contents of
If there is such an operation input, the drive control unit 6 (an example of a work place candidate setting means) receives the wireless signal from the wireless signal reception unit 4 GPS satellites, etc. received by, the current Read whereabouts information. Further, it is determined whether or not the updatable location stored in the storage unit 5 matches the current location, and if both match, based on the input information from the operation unit 3, The work place candidates stored in the storage unit 5 are updated or added.
When the crane A is in the updatable place, it is possible to make the updatable place updatable in the same manner as the work place. The drive control unit 6 is an example of an updatable place setting unit.
As described above, even if the crane A is stolen, it is impossible to start the crane A at the stolen destination. Is possible. In addition, since no functional restriction is performed at the work place, workability is not impaired at all.

In the above-described embodiment, when the crane A according to an embodiment of the present invention is at a work place, the drive control unit 6 directly controls the start of the engine 1, but the present invention is not limited to this. It is not something that can be done. For example, the engine 1 is usually operated by key-locking a key mechanism that mechanically starts the engine 1 and removing the key-lock only when the crane location matches the work location. It is conceivable that the engine can be started.
However, in this case, it is not always desirable because the engine 1 can be started at a place other than the work place due to the destruction of the key lock.
In the above-described embodiment, the engine 1 is started only when the location of the crane A matches the work location (the engine 1 is not started if they do not match). In addition to this, even when the engine 1 is driven, the control for forcibly stopping the driving of the engine 1 is performed when the crane is removed from the work place as it travels (moves). It is possible to do it.
In the above-described embodiment, the candidate for the work area is determined in advance. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is also conceivable to determine the candidate for the work prohibited area. Of course, when it is confirmed that the location of the crane A is in one of the work prohibited areas, the engine 1 is not started (or if the engine 1 is being driven, the engine 1 is forced to be driven). Stop). However, this is equivalent to defining the work area other than the work prohibition area, and is basically the same as the embodiment.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the engine 1 is not started when a radio signal is not received has been disclosed, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, when the wireless signal is not received by the wireless signal receiving unit 3 (an example of the whereabouts acquisition means) in consideration of performing work even in a place where the reception of the wireless signal is impossible, such as inside a tunnel (whereabout) However, it is also conceivable to start the engine 1 in the drive control unit 6 (an example of the second drive source start control means).
In the above example, the drive control unit 6 can start the engine 1 under the condition that the location of the crane A matches the work location, that is, the start of the engine 1 is restricted. However, it is not limited to this. That is, instead of the engine 1, it is conceivable to limit the start of a hydraulic actuator (not shown) that drives the arm portion X4 (see FIG. 1, an example of the operating portion).
Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, a crane has been described as an example of a working machine. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to an excavator, a loader, a dozer, and other dedicated machines. Needless to say.
In addition, various modifications can be adopted without departing from the gist of the present invention.

The perspective view of the working machine which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The block diagram of the principal part of the working machine which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the process sequence performed at the time of engine starting by the control means which the working machine which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention has.

Explanation of symbols

A ... Crane according to an embodiment of the present invention (an example of a work machine)
X1 ... Self-propelled drive unit X2 ... Control room X3 ... Arm drive unit X4 ... Arm unit 1 ... Engine 2 ... Wheel 3 ... Operating unit 4 ... Radio signal receiving unit 5 ... Storage unit 6 ... Drive control unit

Claims (6)

A work machine having a drive source for driving an operation unit that performs a predetermined operation,
Work place candidate storage means for storing in advance one or more work place candidates that can be used by the work machine;
A location acquisition means for acquiring a current location of the work machine by receiving a radio signal from an external radio base station;
A first drive source that can start the drive source only when the current location acquired by the location acquisition means matches any of the work location candidates stored in the work location candidate storage means Start control means;
Updatable location storage means for preliminarily storing an updatable location representing a location where the storage contents of the work location candidate storage means can be updated;
A means for recording or updating the work location candidate in the work location candidate storage means based on input information through a predetermined input means, wherein the current location acquired by the location acquisition means is the A work location candidate setting means that enables recording or updating of the candidate for the work location only when it matches the updatable location stored in the updatable location;
A working machine comprising:   When the first drive source start control means matches the current location acquired by the location acquisition means with any of the work location candidates stored in the work location candidate storage means, the drive source The work machine according to claim 1, wherein the work machine is started. Further comprising start command acquisition means for acquiring a start command of the drive source in response to an operation on a predetermined operation section;
3. The work machine according to claim 1, wherein the first drive source start control unit can start the drive source when the start command is acquired by the start command acquisition unit. 4. . When the start command is acquired by the start command acquisition means, a second drive source start control means is provided for starting the drive source when the current location cannot be acquired by the location acquisition means. The work machine according to claim 3.
A means for recording or updating the updatable location in the updatable location storage means based on input information through a predetermined input means, wherein the current location acquired by the location acquisition means is the update 2. The work machine according to claim 1 , further comprising an updatable location setting unit that allows the updatable location to be recorded or updated only when the updatable location matches the updatable location stored in the updatable location. A work machine control method for controlling a work machine provided with a drive source for driving an operation unit that performs a predetermined operation,
The work machine stores in advance a work location candidate storage unit that stores in advance one or a plurality of work location candidates that can be used, and an updatable location that represents a location where the storage contents of the work location candidate storage unit can be updated. An updatable location storage means ,
A start command acquisition step of acquiring a start command of the drive source in response to an operation on a predetermined operation unit;
A location acquisition step of acquiring a current location of the work machine by receiving a radio signal from an external radio base station;
When the start command is acquired by the start command acquisition step, the current location acquired by the location acquisition step matches any of the work location candidates stored in the work location candidate storage means. A first drive source start control step for starting the drive source only when
Ri name have,
A process of recording or updating the candidate for the work place in the work place candidate storage means based on input information through a predetermined input means, wherein the current whereabouts acquired by the whereabouts acquisition process is A method for controlling a work machine, characterized in that a candidate for a work place can be recorded or updated only when it matches the updatable place stored in an updatable place storage means .

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