JPH06336340A - Piled detecting device for reclaimer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make automatization concurrently serve as a turn inverting function and a step switching function by hanging down a distance sensor, mounting a balance weight so as to obtain a fixed tilt angle of directivity relating to a horizontal surface, in the point end right/left of a boom. CONSTITUTION:A distance sensor, for instance, an ultrasonic sensor 2 is mounted respectively on the right/left in the vicinity of the point end of a boom 33 of a reclaimer. This ultrasonic sensor 2 has a fixed tilt angle alpha of direction relating to the perpendicular line. A balance 3 is fixed to the ultrasonic sensor 2 so as to obtain the center of gravity in a direction at a 90-alpha degree to the direction of the ultrasonic sensor 2. Hanging down is performed by using a chain or a link so that the balance weight 3 is always directed to the perpendicular downward. By this method, regardless of any elevation angle of the boom 33, by the balance weight 3, the direction of the ultrasonic sensor 2 holds the fixed tilt angle alpha relating to the ground surface. Thus by only two sets of the distance sensors 2, automatization can be attained of a turn inverting function and a step switching function.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a reclaimer pile detection device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the iron and steel industry, thermal power plants, mines, and the like, machines that run on the rails of a raw material yard and handle ore, miscellaneous raw materials, coking coal, etc. are used vertically and horizontally. The types of raw material handling devices that travel on such rails can be roughly classified into a stacker that deposits raw materials in the raw material yard and a reclaimer that cuts the raw materials deposited there from the raw material yard. In the past, remote automation has been promoted for stackers that are relatively easy to automate in terms of work mode and functions.

However, since the reclaimer grasps information such as the position and shape of the raw material piles that have already been deposited and cuts out from that, remote automation is not easy. Among the remote automation functions of the reclaimer, the turning reversal function and the step change function are important elemental technologies, but it has been conventionally difficult to automate them. This technique will be described with reference to FIG.

The reclaimer is roughly composed of a traveling part 31, a revolving part 32 mounted on the upper part thereof and accompanied by a revolving operation, a boom 33 having a conveyor, and a bucket wheel 34 installed at the tip of the boom 33 to scoop the raw material from the raw material pile 1. It consists of and. The operation mode of the reclaimer is the traveling rail 3
5, a reciprocating motion of reciprocating above 5, a swing motion of the boom 33,
The operation of cutting out the raw material accumulated in the yard is executed by three combinations with the elevation operation of the boom 33. In this raw material cutting work, as shown in FIG. 5, the raw material pile 1 is cut out while forming benches 21, 22 and 23 in a terraced manner, and the raw material is cut out from each bench by turning the boom 33 and reversing. This is performed by repeating the running plunging operation of the portion 31. For example, when the boom 33 turns rightward and cuts out the raw material pile 23 bench, and when it reaches the right end, which is the ridgeline of the raw material pile 1, the traveling plunge operation is performed and the traveling unit 31 is moved forward with respect to the raw material pile bench. Then, the material surface of the bucket wheel 34 is cut.
Next, the raw material pile bench is cut out while turning the boom 33 to the left, and this operation is repeated thereafter. After reclaiming one raw material mountain stack bench, for example, the bench 23 to a certain extent, the vehicle moves backward and the lowering operation is performed to lower and raise the lower bench 2.
Move to 2 and reclaim the raw material of the lower bench.

The turning and reversing function of the reclaimer is to change the traveling position in the plane as the reclaiming work progresses, and in the elevation, the turning and reversing position is accurately changed every moment by the change in the elevation position. To control. In other words, the turning reversal position control is nothing more than detecting the ridge line of the raw material pile and performing the turning reversal operation based on this detection. The efficiency of the reclaiming work largely depends on whether or not this is properly controlled. If the turning reversal angle is smaller than the position of the actual ridge line, the material is left unloaded. Conversely, if the turning reversal angle is large, the bucket wheel 34 at the tip of the boom 33 of the reclaimer will idle. This causes a dead time. In order to make the function of reversing at an appropriate turning reversal angle work well, FIG.
Sensing technology that accurately detects the ridgeline of the raw material Sekiyama 1 shown in M and N is required.

On the other hand, for the stage changing function, a sensing technique for detecting the step difference of each bench of the raw material pile 1 is required. An accurate detection technique of the position P in FIG. 5 when changing the stage from the right turning end and an accurate position Q in FIG. 5 when changing the stage from the left turning end is required. Conventionally, the following method has been adopted for automating the turning reversing function and the step changing function. (1) An ultrasonic sensor is used to determine the ridgeline of the raw material pile or the step of each bench of the raw material pile. (2) The operator appropriately determines the ridgeline of the pile of raw materials, determines the turning reversal angle, presets this, and repeats the operation within the turning angle range. Also, the operator appropriately presets the step position of each bench of the raw material pile and performs the step change operation.

[0007]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention
In the above, there is a risk that the operator's burden is heavy and the setting is inaccurate, the reclaiming efficiency is lowered, and the bucket wheel collides with the raw material pile. Regarding (1) of the prior art, an ultrasonic sensor for detecting the ridge line (M in FIG. 5) of the raw material when turning right is attached to the right side of the tip of the boom 33, and the ridge line N is also formed. An ultrasonic sensor for detecting is attached on the left side of the tip of the boom 33, and an ultrasonic sensor for detecting the step P of the bench of the raw material pile when changing the stage at the right turning end is provided on the left side of the tip of the boom 33. Similarly, an ultrasonic sensor for detecting the step portion Q must be installed on the right side of the boom tip, and if there are not four ultrasonic sensors in total, the swivel reversing function and the step change function must be achieved. There is a burden of not being able to. In addition to this in automation of reclaiming,
Since various automation sensors must be attached to the boom tip, there are space restrictions, and the weight increase at the boom tip of the reclaimer, which is a balancing machine, is not preferable from the viewpoint of weight balance.

Each of the four ultrasonic sensors has a boom 3
3 is a fixed setting, and moves the same as the boom 33. Therefore, there is a drawback that the directivity angle of the ultrasonic sensor with respect to the raw material pile is not constant due to the change in the vertical angle due to the elevation movement, and the detection accuracy and the detection timing vary from bench to bench of the raw material pile.

[0009]

The present invention was developed in order to solve the above-mentioned problems. Distance sensors are attached near the tip of the boom of a reclaimer and on the left and right, respectively, and the direction of the direction of the distance sensor is a vertical line. Has a constant inclination angle,
It is a pile pile detection device for a reclaimer characterized in that it is suspended with a constant declination determined from the angle of repose of the raw pile pile with respect to the boom axis direction. That is, the pointing direction of the distance sensor is always kept at a constant angle with respect to the vertical line, that is, a constant angle α with respect to the horizontal plane, regardless of changes in the boom's elevation angle, and the boom is made of raw material. When reaching the ridge line, the direction of the sensor deviated from the raw material pile and the deflection angle θ was set to the left and right with respect to the longitudinal direction of the boom. This declination θ can be determined by the angle of repose of the raw material pile and the turning angle of the boom.

[0010]

The purpose of the present invention is to first try to use both the conventional turning reversal position detecting sensor and the bench step detecting sensor. The first feature of the present invention is that the sensor is always oriented at a constant angle with respect to the horizontal plane regardless of the change in the elevation angle of the boom with respect to the raw material pile 1. The conventional sensor is fixed to the boom 33. That is, the turning reversal position detection sensor is aligned with the longitudinal direction of the boom 33, the bench step detection is fixed in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the boom 33, and the pointing direction is completely controlled by the boom. It was

A second feature of the present invention is that the distance sensor determines whether or not there is a raw material pile, and that the distance sensor detects a ground surface other than the raw material pile when the boom reaches the raw material pile. That is. This makes it possible to use both the turning reversal position detection and the bench step detection. The conventional sensor is designed to detect whether or not there is a raw material pile, that is, the air when the raw material pile is deviated, in detecting the turning reversal position.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 are explanatory views for explaining the mounting direction of a distance sensor of the present invention, for example, an ultrasonic sensor. FIG. 1 shows the relationship between the raw material pile 1 and the boom 33 in the cross-sectional direction of the raw material pile 1, and is a schematic diagram for explaining the operation of the turning reversal position detection. The boom 33 extends from the fulcrum A of the swivel part 32 of the reclaimer to the first and second steps of the raw material pile 1.
Running position corresponding to each of the three-tiered benches 21, 22, 23
The elevation position is changing.

Now, in the present invention, even if the angle of depression and elevation of the boom 33 changes, the direction of the ultrasonic sensor is always maintained at a constant inclination angle α with respect to the ground surface.
It is attached to the tip of 3. The optimum angle of α is 25 ° to 30 °
Is. By doing so, the ultrasonic sensor has one stage, two
The relative positions of the raw material surface and the bucket wheel 34 are the same in each of the three-tiered benches 21, 22, and 23.
The points B, C, and D are directed. Therefore, the bucket wheel 34 is scooped into the bucket at the same position. Since the conventional ultrasonic sensor is fixedly attached in the longitudinal direction of the boom 33, it is directed to the raw material surface on the extension line of the boom 33, and the detection position differs for each bench.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing the relationship between the raw material pile 1 and the boom 33 in the cross-sectional direction of the raw material pile 1, in which the bench 2 is used.
It is a figure explaining the mechanism of the level difference detection of 1, 22, 23. In the step change operation, only the traveling operation is performed while keeping the elevation angle of the boom 33 at a certain value, the boom 33 is retracted with respect to the raw material pile 1, and the elevation angle of the boom 33 is changed after detecting the step of the bench. To do. Even in this operation, the ultrasonic sensor always maintains a constant inclination angle α with respect to the ground surface, and at the time of bench transition from the three-stage bench 23 to the two-stage bench 22, the point E, the two-stage bench 22 to the first stage When the bench is moved to the bench 21, the step position of the bench is detected at the point F. This is extremely important for automation because the tip of the boom 33 and the limits E of the step of the bench are always detected in a state of facing each other in the same positional relationship.

Since the conventional ultrasonic sensor is fixedly attached so as to be oriented at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the boom 33,
The boom faces the raw material surface on the line at right angles, and the limit detection position of the step differs for each bench. In the present invention, since one ultrasonic sensor is used for both turning reversal position detection and bench step detection, the conventional boom is neither in the longitudinal direction nor in the perpendicular direction, and has a constant inclination angle with respect to the ground surface. It is oriented to be α.
That is, it is oriented in the middle of the mounting direction of the conventional two types of ultrasonic sensors. Therefore, in the present invention, a measure as shown in FIG. 3 is taken in the plane direction of the mounting direction of the ultrasonic sensor. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the boom 33 and the bucket wheel 34 as seen from above, showing a planar mounting direction of the left and right ultrasonic sensors 2.

Since the conventional ultrasonic sensor for detecting the turning reversal position is mounted facing the longitudinal direction of the boom, the ultrasonic sensor detects the cut surface of the material pile when the boom is within the turning reversal position. If the boom is outside the turning reversal position, the air will be detected, so that the distinction could be made clearly. In the present invention, since the mounting direction of the ultrasonic sensor is directed downward with respect to the longitudinal direction of the boom, the slope of the raw material pile is detected even when the boom is out of the turning reversal position, so that a large change in the detected value can be achieved. Absent. Therefore, in the present invention, FIG.
As shown in, the left and right ultrasonic sensors 2 are swung by a certain angle θ with respect to the longitudinal direction of the boom. This angle θ is set so that when the boom reaches the turning reversal position, the direction of the ultrasonic sensor reaches the ground surface and the difference from the detection value when detecting the cut surface of the raw material pile becomes large. To This angle θ can be appropriately determined by the angle of repose of the raw material pile and the turning angle of the boom.
The effect of the depression and elevation of the boom can be ignored.

In FIG. 3, the ultrasonic sensor 2a on the right side of the tip of the boom 33 detects the right turning reversal position, and detects the step at the time of shifting at the left turning end. Further, the ultrasonic sensor 2b on the left side of the tip of the boom 33 in the direction of FIG. 3 detects the left turning reversal position, and detects the step when changing the stage at the right turning end. The ultrasonic sensor 2 has a constant inclination angle α with respect to the horizontal plane in the longitudinal sectional direction of the raw material pile. This structure will be described with reference to FIG. First, the balance weight 3 is fixed to the ultrasonic sensor 2 so that the center of gravity is in the direction of an angle of 90-α with the pointing direction of the ultrasonic sensor 2. The ultrasonic sensor 2 thus processed is freely suspended from the tip of the boom 33. For the suspension, the chain 4 or the link is used so that the balance weight 3 always faces vertically downward. By doing this, the boom 33
The balance weight 3 maintains a constant inclination angle α with respect to the ground surface regardless of the depression / elevation angle of the ultrasonic sensor 2.

FIG. 6 is a chart showing the actual turning reversal position detection according to the embodiment of the present invention. The specifications of this example are: boom length of reclaimer: 35 m, turning angle: 15-8
0 °, position of the mountain: Bench 23 in Figure 5, angle of repose 3 of the mountain
5 °, Bench height: 2.1m Boom swing direction:
In the M direction in FIG. 5, α is about 45 ° and θ is 10 to 15 °. Although the detection value of the ultrasonic sensor was 2.09 m, it started to increase at time 41 and started detecting the boom turning reversal position. At time 42, the sensor was located at a point 6.0 outside the raw material pile.
7m is detected. At this time, the boom tip has reached the position of the edge ridge of the bench. This is because the ultrasonic sensor detects ahead of the boom tip by an amount corresponding to the angle of repose of the raw material pile. When the boom turning direction is reversed at time point 43, the sensor detection value changes to climb the slope of the raw material pile, and at time point 44, the bench height of 2.11 m is finally detected. The boom turns and flips when the bucket wheel just reaches the position of the edge ridge of the bench,
There is no waste in work.

FIG. 7 shows a chart of actual step detection according to the embodiment of the present invention. When the boom was moved backward on the bench with the elevation angle kept constant, the ultrasonic sensor detected 1.88 m of the ground on the bench, and when the time point 51 was reached, the detected value began to decrease, and at the time point 52. When it reaches, the detected value reaches 5.03 m, and then becomes a substantially constant value. That is, at the time point 52, the limit point of the step (for example, F in FIG. 2)
Has been detected, confirming that it has reached the bench below.

Conventionally, four ultrasonic sensors in the longitudinal direction of the boom and in the direction perpendicular to the boom are fixed to the left and right in the vicinity of the tip of the boom, and through complicated calculations of these detected values, the boom turning reversal position and step of the pile of raw materials are fixed. The replacement position was detected, but due to irregularities in the shape of the piles, accurate detection was difficult, and automatic operation without waste of the reclaimer was not achieved. In the present embodiment, only two ultrasonic sensors on the left and right sides are attached to the tip of the boom, complicated calculations are not required, and piles of any shape can be easily and accurately detected. Automatic operation of the reclaimer can now be easily achieved.

Although an ultrasonic sensor is used as a sensor in the embodiment, the invention is not limited to this, and a microwave sensor, a laser sensor or the like may be used.

[0022]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (1) It is possible to achieve automation of the turning reversal function and the step change function with only two distance sensors. (2) It is also possible to save space and weight at the boom tip. (3) By making the directivity angles with respect to the raw material piles the same, the detection accuracy is improved and variations in the detected values are eliminated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a raw material pile showing an operation of turning reversal position detection.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a raw material pile showing an operation of detecting a step on a bench.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a mounting direction of an ultrasonic sensor.

FIG. 4 is an elevation view showing the mounting of the ultrasonic sensor.

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view illustrating raw material cutting by a reclaimer.

FIG. 6 is a chart of turning reversal position detection according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a chart of step detection according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Raw material Sekiyama 2 (2a, 2b)
Ultrasonic sensor 3 Balance weight 4 Chain 21, 22, 23 Bench 31 Traveling part 32 Revolving part 33 Boom 34 Bucket wheel 35 Traveling rail

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A reclaimer is equipped with distance sensors near the tip of the boom and on the left and right, and the distance sensors have a constant inclination angle with respect to the horizontal plane, and the angle of repose of the raw material pile with respect to the boom axis direction. A pile pile detection device for a reclaimer characterized by being suspended with a constant declination determined from