JP6825727B2 - Work vehicle fuel management system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a fuel management system for a work vehicle.

When the vehicle runs out of fuel, it is necessary to remove the air in the engine system. In order to prevent this, a technique is known in which a fuel detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of fuel is provided in an automatically traveling work vehicle, and a means for stopping the fuel supply is activated when the amount of fuel becomes less than a set amount (Patent Document 1). ..

Jitsukaisho 61-9336

However, if the running stopped in the field during autonomous running, the worker had to enter near the vehicle in the field for fuel supply and vehicle movement. It is difficult to walk in the field, and if you are working on tilling or scraping, it will also damage the ground after work, so it was necessary to improve the stopping of vehicles in the field. ..

An object of the present invention is to provide a fuel management system for a work vehicle that can prevent a stop due to running out of fuel in a field.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the fuel management system of the work vehicle according to one aspect of the embodiment includes a fuel remaining amount sensor that detects the remaining amount of fuel in the fuel tank, and includes a control unit that controls traveling. In a work vehicle that performs work while autonomously traveling along a planned travel route stored in advance in a control unit in a field, the control unit receives a signal from a positioning device that detects its own position provided in the work vehicle. The work area is provided with the field area and work width information stored in advance, the work area is calculated from the work width information and the traveling locus calculated by the positioning device, and the unit area is calculated based on the amount of fuel consumed during the work. The fuel consumption amount of the above is calculated, the remaining working area is calculated from the field area and the working area, the required fuel amount is calculated from the fuel consumption amount per unit area and the remaining working area, and the remaining amount of fuel is calculated. By comparing the required fuel amount, it is determined whether or not the work in the field can be completed with the remaining fuel.

According to one aspect of the embodiment, it is possible to prevent a stoppage due to running out of fuel in the field.

Schematic diagram of fuel management system configuration Control block diagram of fuel management system Schematic diagram at the time of field shape measurement Schematic diagram at the time of field shape measurement Side view of work vehicle and unmanned aerial vehicle when refueling Floor plan of work vehicle in the field

Examples of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a fuel management system. The tractor 1 as an example of the work vehicle in the present invention of the present invention appropriately decelerates the power generated by the engine E and drives the rear wheels 3 or the front wheels 2 to travel.

The engine E is provided inside the bonnet 5 and generates power by burning the fuel stored in the fuel tank 4 inside. A working machine (not shown) such as a rotary tiller is mounted on the rear of the tractor 1. The power generated by the engine E is used not only for driving the vehicle, but also for driving the work equipment through a PTO shaft (not shown) that extracts the power to the outside.

The cabin 6 is composed of a front frame 6f, an intermediate frame 6m, a rear frame 6r, a cabin roof 8, and the like, and is provided so as to cover the driving portion. A side window 6w is provided between the rear frame 6r and the intermediate frame 6m, and a door portion 6d on which the driver gets on and off is provided between the front frame 6f and the intermediate frame 6m.

A seat 9 for the driver to sit on when manually driving is provided at the rear of the interior space of the cabin 6, and a steering wheel 10 for steering the front wheels 2 is provided in front of the seat 9. The steering wheel 10 is electrically and automatically rotated by a steering motor (not shown) during automatic traveling.

A forward / backward lever 11 for switching between forward and reverse movement of the vehicle is provided below the steering wheel 10, and a clutch pedal 12 is provided near the left foot when the driver is seated on the seat 9 below the steering wheel 10, and an accelerator pedal is provided near the right foot. 13 etc. are provided.

The above-mentioned fuel tanks 4 are provided on the lower left and right sides of the cabin 6, and an oil supply passage 14 is provided along the left front frame 6f of the cabin 6 from the fuel tank 4 on the left side upward, and the fuel tank 4 is provided on the cabin roof 8. A fuel filler port 15 is provided above.

A landing platform 16 for an unmanned aerial vehicle 30, which will be described later, is provided around the fuel filler port 15, and an in-vehicle GPS antenna 17 as a positioning device is installed in the center of the front part of the cabin roof. On the opposite side of the fuel filler passage 14, a tail pipe 18 for discharging engine exhaust to the outside is erected along the right front frame 6f of the cabin 6.

The tractor 1 transmits and receives signals by communicating with a mobile terminal 20 such as a tablet. The mobile terminal 20 is configured to be able to communicate with the unmanned aerial vehicle 30 described later, and also has a function as a controller for remotely controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle 30 with the operation sticks 20L, 20R and the like.

There is an image display unit 21 in the center of the mobile terminal 20, and an image taken by the camera 31 of the unmanned aerial vehicle 30 described later, a control button of the unmanned aerial vehicle 30, and the like are displayed.

The attitude of the unmanned aerial vehicle 30 is controlled by the output balance of a plurality of motors 33 equipped with propellers 32, and the unmanned aerial vehicle 30 can freely move and hover by flight. The attitude control of the airframe is simultaneously controlled by an operation signal transmitted from the mobile terminal 20 and automatic control by a built-in acceleration sensor or the like.

A leg 34 for landing, a camera 31 for photographing the lower part, and a refueling tank 35 for loading fuel for refueling are mounted on the lower part of the unmanned aerial vehicle 30, and a refueling nozzle 36 is provided in the center of the lower part of the refueling tank 35. It is configured so that it can fly in a well-balanced manner. The refueling nozzle 36 is provided with a refueling shutter 37, and refueling can be interrupted at an arbitrary timing. In addition, a flight GPS antenna 38 is mounted on the upper part of the unmanned aerial vehicle 30.

FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of the fuel management system. The tractor 1 is equipped with a vehicle ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 50 as a control unit for controlling the running of the vehicle and a position information processing ECU 60 that processes position information based on a signal obtained by an in-vehicle GPS antenna 17.

The vehicle ECU has a signal from the vehicle speed sensor 51 that detects the traveling vehicle speed, a signal from the steering sensor 52 that detects the steering angle of the front wheels 2, a signal from the shift sensor 53 that detects the shift position, and a fuel tank 4. A signal from the fuel level sensor that detects the remaining amount of fuel inside is input. The vehicle ECU operates a signal for controlling the output of the engine E, an operation signal for the steering motor 55 for controlling the steering angle of the steering wheel 10, a shift operation signal for the transmission 56, and a brake for stopping the running of the vehicle. A brake operation signal to the brake cylinder 57 is output.

The position information processing ECU 60 and the vehicle ECU 50 can transmit and receive each other in the upper direction by wired communication, and various controls can be executed according to the position of the vehicle. The vehicle ECU 50 can also send and receive information to and from the mobile terminal 20 by wireless communication, and display the state of the vehicle and the working status on the image display unit 21 of the mobile terminal 20.

The mobile terminal 20 can also transmit and receive information by wireless communication with the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV: United Aerial Vehicle) ECU 70 for controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle 30 mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle 30. A position information signal from the flight GPS antenna 38, a video signal from the camera 31, an attitude information signal from the acceleration sensor 71, and the like are input to the unmanned aircraft ECU 70, and an opening / closing signal to the refueling shutter 37 and a motor 33 are input from the unmanned aircraft ECU 70. Output control signal is output.

3 and 4 are schematic views when registering a field shape for setting a route for self-propelled traveling of a vehicle. When the position information and the shape information of the field are measured by using the unmanned aerial vehicle 30 and registered in the mobile terminal 20, the unmanned aerial vehicle 30 is used as shown in FIG. While checking the image captured by the camera 31 on the image display unit 21, manually fly the unmanned aerial vehicle 30 above the corner A of the field to be measured, and adjust the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle 30 with reference to the marker 22. When the position setting button 24 is tapped, the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle 30 at that time is stored as a point. The coordinates at that time are displayed on the coordinate display unit 23.

In the same way, the corner B and the corner C are registered, and as shown in FIG. 4, when the setting end button 25 is tapped after registering the last corner above the corner D, the field shape is confirmed and the vehicle runs automatically. The traveling route is automatically generated based on the field shape information.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the tractor 1 and the unmanned aerial vehicle 30 as an example of a work vehicle at the time of refueling using the unmanned aerial vehicle 30. The refueling nozzle 36 is designed to be inserted into the refueling port 15 when the unmanned aerial vehicle 30 is landed on the landing platform 16 while checking the image of the camera 31.

When the insertion of the refueling nozzle 36 is confirmed, the refueling shutter 37 is opened and refueling is started. During refueling, when the detection value of the fuel level sensor 54 in the fuel tank 4 detects that the fuel has been filled within a predetermined range, that is, near the full tank, a signal from the vehicle ECU 50 is transmitted via the mobile terminal 20. The unmanned aerial vehicle ECU 70, which is transmitted to the unmanned aerial vehicle ECU 70 and receives the signal, closes the refueling shutter 37 and stops the refueling work.

Further, the unmanned aerial vehicle ECU 70 receives a signal of the refueling stop operation from the mobile terminal 20, or receives a signal when the detection value of the fuel remaining amount sensor 54 does not change for a predetermined time, or the fuel remaining amount sensor 54. The refueling shutter 37 is closed and the refueling operation is stopped even when a signal is received when the detected value of is indicating an abnormal value.

With the above configuration, even if the work vehicle is stopped in the field due to lack of fuel, the worker can perform the refueling work without entering the field.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a work vehicle in the field. When the fuel level sensor 54 detects a value equal to or less than a predetermined amount at the intermediate position 1b while autonomously traveling on the planned traveling path R set in the field, the tractor 1 shifts to the refueling standby mode and interrupts the work. It automatically travels to the position of the ridge 1a and stops. Since the engine is stopped in this state, the operator can directly refuel the fuel tank 4 from the top of the ridge without entering the field. The position information processing ECU 60 stores the halfway position 1b when the work is interrupted, and when the work restart operation is performed after the refueling work is completed, the position information processing ECU 60 automatically returns to the halfway position 1b and the work is restarted.

If the fuel level sensor 54 does not detect an increase in fuel even though the refueling shutter 37 is open during the refueling work by the unmanned aerial vehicle 30, the refueling tank 35 of the unmanned aerial vehicle 30 is empty. It is expected that. Therefore, the tractor 1 shifts to the refueling standby mode while fixing the unmanned aerial vehicle 30 on the landing platform 16, and automatically moves to the ridge 1a. At this time, if the GPS antenna 38 on the unmanned aerial vehicle side has higher accuracy, this positioning information may be used. At this time, the positional relationship between the position of the landing platform 16 and the front end, the rear end, and the left and right side surfaces of the vehicle is stored in advance, and the tractor can be accurately added to the positioning information of the GPS antenna 38 on the unmanned aerial vehicle side. It is possible to bring 1 together.

Further, the vehicle ECU 50 stores the work width W in advance, and calculates the work area from the work width W and the traveling locus. The fuel consumption per unit work area can be calculated from this work area and the amount of fuel consumed during the work. The area of the field can be obtained from the coordinates of the corners A, B, C and D. The remaining working area is obtained from the difference between the field area and the working area, and this is multiplied by the fuel consumption per unit area to calculate the required fuel amount. By comparing the required fuel amount with the remaining fuel amount, it is determined whether or not the work in the field can be completed with the remaining fuel.

If the remaining amount of fuel is insufficient, a notification to that effect is transmitted to the mobile terminal 20 and the administrator is notified. As a result, the manager can determine in advance whether or not fuel supply is necessary, and if necessary, it becomes easy to arrange refueling work at an appropriate timing.

Further, although the tractor 1 has been described in this embodiment, it can be applied to a combine harvester, a rice transplanter, and other work vehicles.

E Engine R Scheduled travel route W Work width (work width information)
1 Tractor (working vehicle)
4 Fuel tank 17 Positioning device (GPS antenna)
20 Mobile terminal 30 Unmanned aerial vehicle 37 Refueling shutter 50 Vehicle ECU (control unit)
54 Fuel level sensor

Claims (2)

Equipped with a fuel level sensor that detects the amount of fuel remaining in the fuel tank
Equipped with a control unit to control driving
In a work vehicle that works while autonomously traveling along a planned travel route stored in advance in the control unit in the field.
The control unit receives a signal from a positioning device provided in the work vehicle to detect its own position, and receives a signal.
With pre-stored field area and work width information,
The work area is calculated from the work width information and the traveling locus calculated by the positioning device, and the fuel consumption per unit area is calculated based on the fuel consumption during the work.
The remaining working area is calculated from the field area and the working area.
The required fuel amount is calculated from the fuel consumption per unit area and the remaining working area.
By comparing the remaining amount of fuel with the required amount of fuel, it is determined whether or not the work in the field can be completed with the remaining fuel.
Fuel management system for work vehicles. The control unit sends and receives signals to and from the mobile terminal.
When the remaining fuel amount is compared with the required fuel amount and it is determined that the remaining fuel amount is insufficient, the determination result is transmitted to the mobile terminal.
Work vehicle fuel management system

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