Muck loading machine in muck discharging system and automatic operation control method thereof

Abstract

To provide a muck loading machine that can achieve shortening of a construction period of tunnel by suppressing cycle loss due to waiting for muck discharge.SOLUTION: A muck loading machine scrapes up muck conveyed by a wheel loader to a predetermined spot and loads the muck onto a subsequent transport device. When receiving a muck loading completion notice from the wheel loader, an automatic operation control device 250 recognizes a muck region at the predetermined spot based on image data obtained by a visible light camera S22 and a thermal camera S23 respectively and a three-dimensional data obtained by a three-dimensional scanner S21, scrapes up the muck in the muck region of a temporary muck storage place and loads the muck onto the subsequent transport device, and stops a muck scraping-up mechanism and a loading mechanism when a specified quantity of muck is loaded onto the subsequent transport device.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 10

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a rubble removal system, and more particularly to an automatic operation technique for a rubble loader that loads rubble from a temporary rubble storage site onto a rubble transporter. [Background technology]

[0002] In mountain tunnel construction, the blasting method is used to excavate rock. The debris generated in front of the tunnel face by blasting must be quickly removed to the tunnel entrance. This debris removal work accounts for a large part of the tunnel construction cycle. Therefore, several efficient debris removal systems have been proposed to shorten the construction period of tunnel construction.

[0003] According to the method of removing rubble disclosed in Patent Document 1, a temporary rubble storage area is provided midway between the face and the crusher, a rubble loader is placed there, and a rubble transporter is placed on the tunnel mouth side of the rubble loader. A wheel loader shuttles between the front of the face and the temporary rubble storage area, transporting rubble generated in front of the face by blasting to the temporary rubble storage area and loading it. The rubble loader scoops up the rubble loaded in the temporary rubble storage area and loads it onto the rubble transporter. The rubble transporter shuttles between the rubble loader and the crusher, feeding the loaded rubble into the crusher. The rubble crushed by the crusher is transported toward the tunnel mouth by a continuous belt conveyor.

[0004] By providing a temporary rubble storage area halfway between the tunnel face and the crusher and positioning a rubble loader there, the post-processing of the rubble at the tunnel face after the blasting process can be completed in a shorter time than before, thereby improving the efficiency of tunnel construction, and ultimately shortening the construction period and reducing costs. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2011-047209 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] However, the wheel loader transports the debris on the tunnel surface immediately after blasting, and is forced to move back and forth in a narrow, limited space. For this reason, the time it takes for the wheel loader to load the debris in front of the tunnel face and transport it to the temporary debris storage area is not constant and varies depending on the situation. This kind of time fluctuation in work results in cycle losses for the debris loader and the downstream debris transporter due to waiting for the debris to be transported, making it difficult to further shorten the construction period of the tunnel construction.

[0007] The present invention has been devised in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its object is to provide a muck transport system, a muck loader, and an automatic operation control method thereof that can reduce cycle loss due to waiting for muck to be transported, thereby shortening the construction period for tunnel construction. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a debris removal system for tunnel construction, in which at least a wheel loader, a debris loader and a subsequent transport device are arranged between a tunnel face and a tunnel entrance from the tunnel face to the tunnel entrance, and debris in front of the tunnel face is transported to the tunnel entrance through at least the wheel loader, the debris loader and the subsequent transport device, the debris loader comprising a debris raking mechanism that raks debris loaded at a predetermined point on the tunnel face side of the debris loader by at least the wheel loader, a loading mechanism that loads the debris raked in by the imprint raking function into the subsequent transport device, a sensor unit including a 3D scanner, a visible light camera and a thermal camera, and a sensor unit including the wheel loader and and an automatic driving control unit that controls the debris shoveling mechanism and the loading mechanism based on the output of the sensor unit, wherein the automatic driving control unit a) upon receiving a debris loading completion notification from the wheel loader, recognizes the debris at the specified point based on the three-dimensional data obtained by the 3D scanner and the image data obtained by the visible light camera and the thermal camera, respectively, b) drives the debris shoveling mechanism and the loading mechanism to shovel the debris at the specified point and load it onto the subsequent conveying device, and c) stops the debris shoveling mechanism and the loading mechanism when a specified amount of debris has been loaded onto the subsequent conveying device. According to one aspect of the present invention, the system further includes a second sensor unit including a visible light camera that images the muck loading section of the subsequent conveying device, and the automatic driving control unit can recognize the muck loading status of the subsequent conveying device based on the image data obtained by the second sensor unit. According to one aspect of the present invention, when a loading completion notification indicating that the specified amount of rubble has been loaded is received from the subsequent conveying device through the communication unit, the automatic driving control unit can stop the rubble shoveling mechanism and the loading mechanism. According to one aspect of the present invention, the muck loader further comprises a traveling mechanism for moving the muck loader, and the automatic driving control unit can control the traveling mechanism based on the three-dimensional data from the three-dimensional scanner. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the loading mechanism further has a third sensor unit including a 3D scanner, a visible light camera, and a thermal camera for capturing images of the debris, and the automatic driving control unit can recognize the debris loading status of the loading mechanism based on the 3D data and image data obtained by the third sensor unit. According to one aspect of the present invention, the automatic driving control unit can adjust the operating speeds of the rubble rake-up mechanism and the loading mechanism according to the rubble loading status of the loading mechanism. According to one aspect of the invention, the subsequent transport device may include at least one of a shear vehicle, a crusher, and a dump truck. In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an automatic operation control method for a debris loader in a debris removal system for tunnel construction, in which at least a wheel loader, a debris loader and a subsequent transport device are arranged between a tunnel face and a tunnel entrance from the tunnel face toward the tunnel entrance, and debris in front of the tunnel face is transported to the tunnel entrance through at least the wheel loader, the debris loader and the subsequent transport device, the debris loader comprising a debris raking mechanism that raks the debris loaded by at least the wheel loader at a predetermined point on the tunnel face side, a loading mechanism that loads the debris raked in by the debris raking function into the subsequent transport device, a 3D scanner, a visible light camera and a server. The loader has a sensor unit including a thermal camera, a communication unit capable of communicating with the wheel loader and the subsequent conveying device, and a processor unit, wherein the processor unit a) upon receiving a notification of completion of debris loading from the wheel loader, recognizes the debris at the specified point based on the 3D data obtained by the 3D scanner and the image data obtained by the visible light camera and the thermal camera, respectively, b) drives the debris shoveling mechanism and the loading mechanism to shovel the debris at the specified point and load it onto the subsequent conveying device, and c) stops the debris shoveling mechanism and the loading mechanism when a specified amount of debris has been loaded onto the subsequent conveying device. According to one aspect of the present invention, the system further includes a second sensor unit including a visible light camera that images the muck loading section of the subsequent conveying device, and the automatic driving control unit can recognize the muck loading status of the subsequent conveying device based on the image data obtained by the second sensor unit. According to one aspect of the present invention, when a loading completion notification indicating that the specified amount of rubble has been loaded is received from the subsequent conveying device through the communication unit, the processor unit can stop the rubble rake-up mechanism and the loading mechanism. In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a debris transport system for tunnel construction, in which at least a wheel loader, a debris loader and a subsequent transport device are arranged between a tunnel face and a tunnel entrance from the tunnel face toward the tunnel entrance, and debris in front of the tunnel face is transported to the tunnel entrance via at least the wheel loader, the debris loader and the subsequent transport device, wherein the wheel loader has a debris loading unit, a first sensor unit including a 3D scanner that outputs 3D data, a visible light camera that outputs visible light image data, and a thermal camera that outputs infrared image data, and at least The present invention has a first communication unit capable of communicating with a muck loader, and a first automatic driving control unit that controls the travel of the wheel loader and the drive of the muck loading unit based on the output of the first sensor unit, and the first automatic driving control unit a) recognizes the completion of blasting at the face and the muck area in front of the face based on the three-dimensional data, visible light image data and infrared image data obtained by the first sensor unit, and b) when it recognizes the completion of blasting, loads the recognized muck in front of the face onto the muck loading unit, moves from the muck loader to a predetermined point on the face side, and loads the muck onto the muck loading unit. dumping rubble into said predetermined point, and c) when a predetermined amount of rubble has been dumped into said predetermined point, sending a dumping completion notice to said rubble loader, and said rubble loader then includes a rubble rake-in mechanism that rakes in the rubble loaded by said wheel loader at said predetermined point, a loading mechanism that loads the rubble rake-in by said imprint rake-in function into said subsequent transport device, a second sensor unit including a 3D scanner that outputs 3D data, a visible light camera that outputs visible light image data, and a thermal camera that outputs infrared image data, and a sensor unit capable of communicating with said wheel loader and said subsequent transport device. a second communication unit; and a second automatic driving control unit which controls the shear sweeping mechanism and the loading mechanism based on the output of the second sensor unit, wherein the second automatic driving control unit d) recognizes the shear area at the specified point based on the three-dimensional data, visible light image data and infrared image data obtained by the second sensor unit, e) drives the shear sweeping mechanism and the loading mechanism to sweep in the shear at the specified point and load it onto the subsequent conveying device, and f) stops the shear sweeping mechanism and the loading mechanism when a specified amount of shear has been loaded onto the subsequent conveying device.It is characterized by the above. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, when a notification of the end of debris loading is received from the wheel loader, the debris area at a specified point is recognized by image recognition, the debris raking mechanism and the loading mechanism are driven to load the debris onto the subsequent transport device, and the debris raking mechanism and the loading mechanism are stopped when a specified amount of debris is loaded onto the subsequent transport device. This makes it possible to reduce cycle losses due to waiting for debris to be removed and shorten the construction period of tunnel construction. It also makes it possible to reduce the labor and manpower required for excavation debris loading work, and by quickly processing the debris at the tunnel face after blasting, the tunnel face work area can be released early, making the tunnel excavation cycle smoother. According to one aspect of the present invention, the automatic operation control unit recognizes the muck loading status of the subsequent conveying device by image recognition, so that it is possible to automate the start and stop of the muck loading operation using only the muck loader. According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to automate the start and stop of the muck loading operation by receiving a loading completion notification from the subsequent transport device. Since the automatic operation control unit does not need to recognize the muck loading status, the load on the automatic operation control unit can be reduced. According to one aspect of the present invention, a 3D scanner enables the debris loader to travel, allowing debris to be dumped at specified locations more efficiently and easily to keep up with the temporary debris storage area that moves as tunnel construction progresses. According to one aspect of the present invention, the automatic operation control unit recognizes the muck loading status of the loading mechanism by image recognition, so that it is possible to automate the start and stop of the muck loading operation using only the muck loader. According to one aspect of the present invention, the operating speeds of the rubble rake-up mechanism and the loading mechanism can be adjusted according to the rubble loading status of the loading mechanism, thereby making it possible to more efficiently remove the rubble. According to the present invention, the wheel loader, the muck loader and the muck transporter carry out their respective tasks while communicating wirelessly, so that the muck in front of the face can be efficiently and automatically transported to the crusher. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical cross-sectional side view of a tunnel for explaining the operation of the muck transport system using the muck loader according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical cross-sectional plan view of a tunnel for explaining the operation of the shear transport system illustrated in FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing the configuration of a wheel loader in the muck conveying system illustrated in FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a functional configuration of a wheel loader in the muck conveying system illustrated in FIG. [Diagram 5] 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an automatic driving control device for a wheel loader in the muck conveying system illustrated in FIG. 1. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an image in front of the working face recognized by an automatic driving control device of a wheel loader in the muck transport system illustrated in FIG. 1. [Figure 7] 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of an automatic driving control device for a wheel loader in the muck conveying system illustrated in FIG. 1. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a side configuration diagram of the muck loader according to the present embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing the functional configuration of the muck loader according to the present embodiment. [Figure 10] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an automatic driving control device for a muck loader according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 11] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a forward image recognized by the automatic driving control device of the muck loader according to the present embodiment. [Figure 12] 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the automatic driving control device for the muck loader according to the present embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 2 is a side view of a muck transport vehicle in the muck transport system shown in FIG. [Figure 14]14(A) is a front view of the muck cart as seen from the direction of the arrow I in FIG. 13, and (B) is a cross-sectional view of the same muck cart taken along line II-II in FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the components described in the following embodiments are merely examples, and are not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention.

[0012] 1. System Configuration As shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, on the floor 11 of the tunnel 10, a wheel loader 100, a muck loader 200 according to the present embodiment, a muck carrier 300, a crusher 400 and other equipment are arranged in this order from the face 12 to the mouth of the tunnel. Here, the wheel loader 100, the muck loader 200 and the subsequent transport device constitute a muck carrying system. Here, the subsequent transport device may be one or more combinations of the muck carrier 300, the crusher 400 and the subsequent work equipment, and further a dump truck (not shown). The wheel loader 100, the muck loader 200 and the subsequent transport device communicate wirelessly with the respective subsequent work equipment, thereby enabling efficient muck carrying work. Alternatively, a monitoring system 500 installed outside the tunnel may monitor the operation status of these devices via wireless lines.

[0013] One or more wheel loaders 100 are placed near the face 12, and transport the debris 13 in front of the face to the temporary debris storage area 14 while moving back and forth in the direction of arrow A. The temporary debris storage area 14 is provided at a predetermined point on the face side from the debris loader 200. In this embodiment, the temporary debris storage area 14 is the debris rake-in area of ​​the debris loader 200. The wheel loader 100 according to this embodiment is of a side dump type, and the wheel loader body is rotated as little as possible in the narrow space in front of the face. As will be described later, the wheel loader 100 can load the debris 13 in front of the face by automatic driving while recognizing the conditions of the face 12 and the debris 13 in front of the face, and transport it to the temporary debris storage area 14 located at a predetermined point.

[0014] The temporary rubble storage site 14 is provided at a point between the tunnel face 12 and the crusher 400, preferably at a point closer to the tunnel face 12 than the midpoint. For example, the temporary rubble storage site 14 is provided at a point about 1 / 4 the distance between the tunnel face 12 and the crusher 400, for example, about 30 m away from the tunnel face 12. Therefore, in this case, the transport distance of the wheel loader 100 is about 30 to 50 m. Naturally, the temporary rubble storage site 14 advances in accordance with the excavation of the tunnel face 12.

[0015] The temporary rubble storage area 14 is provided on one side of the tunnel floor 11 in the width direction, extending, for example, about 20 m in a narrow shape along the length of the tunnel, as shown in Figure 2. The temporary rubble storage area 14 may be separated from the tunnel floor 11 by a number of poles or partitions so that it is easy to recognize that it is a temporary rubble storage area. As shown in the example of Figure 2, a rubble loader 200 and a rubble transporter 300 are also arranged on one side of the tunnel floor 11 in the width direction in accordance with the arrangement of the temporary rubble storage area 14.

[0016] The muck loader 200 is positioned on the pit mouth side of the muck temporary storage site 14. When a loading notification to the muck temporary storage site 14 is received from the wheel loader 100, the muck loader 200 scoops up the muck from the muck temporary storage site 14 and loads it onto a muck transporter 300 waiting on the pit mouth side of the muck loader 200. The detailed configuration and operation of the muck loader 200 will be described later.

[0017] When a predetermined amount of rubble has been loaded from the rubble loader 200, the rubble transporter 300 stops the loading operation of the rubble loader 200 by wireless communication. Next, the rubble transporter 300 moves to the crusher 400 in the direction of the mine mouth and dumps the rubble into a hopper 401 of the crusher 400. The rubble transporter 300 repeats the rubble transporting operation while reciprocating in the direction of arrow B. Note that the rubble may be directly loaded from the rubble loader 200 to the crusher 400. Alternatively, the rubble may be directly loaded from the rubble loader 200 to a dump truck and transported toward the mine mouth.

[0018] The rubble fed into the crusher 400 is crushed. The crushed rubble is loaded onto the conveyor belt 402 of the crusher 400 on a tailpiece dolly 403 onto the conveying path of a continuous belt conveyor device 404, and is transported toward the pit mouth by the continuous conveyor belt 404. Alternatively, the rubble can be loaded onto a dump truck from the crusher 400.

[0019] In this way, the wheel loader 100 moves back and forth between the face 12 and the temporary rubble storage site 14, the rubble loader 200 scrapes off the rubble from the temporary rubble storage site 14 and loads it onto the rubble transporter 300, and the rubble transporter 300 moves back and forth between the rubble loader 200 and the crusher 400, thereby transporting the rubble 13 in front of the face in the direction of the mine mouth. The configurations and functions of the wheel loader 100 and rubble loader 200 in the rubble transport system will be described in detail below.

[0020] 2. Wheel loader 2.1) Configuration As shown in FIG. 3, the wheel loader 100 comprises a main body 120 and an automatic driving control device 140, and the driving and muck conveying operations of the wheel loader 100 are automatically controlled by the automatic driving control device 140.

[0021] In the main body 120, a bucket 122 is rotatably mounted on the tip of a boom 124, and the bucket 122 and the boom 124 are driven by a plurality of hydraulic cylinders 126. The main body 120 has steering wheels (front wheels) and driving wheels (rear wheels) formed by tires 128. The main body 120 further has a control unit 150, a driving / braking system 160, an engine 170, and a hydraulic system 180, and has the following configurations and functions.

[0022] 4, control unit 150 includes a travel control unit 151 and a bucket boom control unit 152, and executes automatic operation of main body 120 under the control of automatic operation control device 140. Typically, control unit 150 is configured, for example, by an electronic control unit, and can realize programmed travel control and bucket boom control.

[0023] The driving control unit 151 controls the drive and braking system 160, and controls the driving of the main body 120. Specifically, it performs on / off control of the engine 170, which is the power source, adjustment of power transmission, rotation speed control, steering amount control, braking control, etc.

[0024] The drive / braking system 160 is equipped with a steering actuator, brakes, and brake actuators, none of which are shown. The steering actuator changes the steering angle of the steering wheels. The brakes brake the steering wheels and drive wheels. The brake actuator drives the brakes. Note that, although a wheel loader has been described in this embodiment, the same applies to heavy machinery whose main body travels by crawlers. The engine 170 provides a rotational drive force to the drive wheels as a power source, and is not limited to an internal combustion engine, but may be a motor (electric motor).

[0025] The hydraulic system 180 has hydraulic cylinders 181 including the multiple hydraulic cylinders 126, hydraulic motors 182, control valves 183, hydraulic pumps 184, and hydraulic oil tanks 185. The control valves 183 control the operations of the bucket booms 122 and 124 through the bucket boom control unit 152. That is, the control valves 183 control the operations of the bucket booms, such as extension, revolving, and raising and lowering, by changing the hydraulic cylinder to which the pressure oil is supplied. The hydraulic pumps 184 are driven by the engine 170, which is the power source, and supply pressure oil from the hydraulic oil tank 185 to the control valves 183. The pressure oil is supplied to the desired hydraulic cylinders 181 and hydraulic motors 182 through the control valves 183, and is then collected in the hydraulic oil tank 185, and circulates within the hydraulic system 180.

[0026] As illustrated in FIG. 5, the automatic driving control device 140 uses the output signal of the sensor unit S1 to perform automatic driving control of the main body 120 of the wheel loader. The sensor unit S1 includes a three-dimensional scanner S11, a video camera S12, and a thermal camera S13. The three-dimensional scanner S11 outputs three-dimensional data (X, Y, Z point cloud data) of the front of the main body 120 (here, the face direction) or its surroundings. The video camera S12 is a visible light camera, and outputs visible light image data of the front of the main body 120 (the direction in which the video camera S12 faces, here, the face direction). The thermal camera S13 is an infrared camera, and outputs infrared image (temperature distribution image) data of the front of the main body 120 (the direction in which the thermal camera S13 faces, here, the face direction). For example, the three-dimensional data of the three-dimensional scanner S11 can be used to recognize water flow, unevenness (protrusions), depth, distance, etc. In addition, the visible light image data from the video camera S12 can be used to recognize wall surfaces, debris areas, etc., and the infrared image data from the thermal camera S13 can be used to distinguish between debris and machinery and to recognize water areas, etc.

[0027] The automatic driving control device 140 has an interface 141 for inputting output data from the sensor unit S1, and further has a processor unit 142 consisting of at least one processor including a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), a data storage unit 143, a communication control unit 144, and a wireless communication unit 145. The communication control unit 144 is connected to the control unit 150 of the main body 120, and transmits control signals from the processor unit 142 and receives detection signals from the control unit 150 of the main body 120 indicating various states.

[0028] The wireless communication unit 145 notifies the following muck loader 200 of the end of muck dumping or muck loading in accordance with a command from the processor unit 142. This notification of the end of muck dumping or loading also serves as a start command to start the loading operation of the muck loader 200, as will be described later. Alternatively, the wireless communication unit 145 may be of a type that performs wireless communication with the monitoring system 500.

[0029] The processor unit 142 can realize various functions by executing programs stored in a memory (not shown). In this example, the processor unit 142 is assumed to be equipped with a control unit 142.1, a blasting completion recognition unit 142.2, a rubble area recognition unit 142.3, a position detection unit 142.4, and an automatic control unit 142.5.

[0030] The blasting completion recognition unit 142.2 recognizes that the blasting process is completed mainly using visible light image data from the video camera S12. The rubble area recognition unit 142.3 recognizes the rubble area in front of the tunnel face after blasting mainly using visible light image data and infrared image data from the video camera S12 and the thermal camera S13. The position detection unit 142.4 detects how far the main body 120 is from the tunnel face 12 and the tunnel wall using three-dimensional data from the three-dimensional scanner S11. More specifically, the recognition of the tunnel face and wall, whether or not blasting has been completed, and the rubble area in front of the tunnel face are possible based on the information from the video camera S12. In addition, the recognition of water (spring water) and the recognition of the machine and rubble are possible based on the information from the thermal camera S12, and the recognition of the distance from the main body 120 to surrounding objects such as the tunnel face and rubble are possible based on the information from the three-dimensional scanner.

[0031] The automatic control unit 142.5 controls the control unit 150 of the main body 120 while referring to the position of the main body 120 detected by the position detection unit 142.4 and the position of the rubble area in front of the face recognized by the rubble area recognition unit 142.3, and executes a series of automatic operation operations, such as loading rubble 13 in front of the face, transporting it to the temporary rubble storage area 14, dumping rubble into the temporary rubble storage area 14, and moving to the front of the face. However, when blasting, the machine is required to retreat in advance to a location at least about 100 m away from the face 12 toward the mine mouth.

[0032] The blasting completion recognition unit 142.2, the rubble area recognition unit 142.3, and the position detection unit 142.4 are AI recognition units that use a learning model constructed by deep learning. As is well known, deep learning technology has excellent image recognition capabilities, and by providing a large amount of characteristic image data, such as actual blasting completion images and rubble images in front of the face obtained by a video camera and a thermal camera, and 3D data obtained by the 3D scanner S11 as teacher data, it is possible to adjust the neuron parameters and construct a learning model with sufficiently small errors.

[0033] The AI ​​recognition units of the blasting completion recognition unit 142.2, the rubble area recognition unit 142.3 and the position detection unit 142.4 can be constructed on a general-purpose server or a personal computer, but it is preferable to use a GPU to perform deep learning calculations. For example, the rubble area recognition unit 142.3 can recognize the situation in front of the face and estimate the rubble area based on the three-dimensional data of the position of the main body 120 from the position detection unit 142.4 and the visible light image data and infrared image data from the video camera and thermal camera from the rubble area recognition unit 142.3, as shown in Fig. 6.

[0034] As shown diagrammatically in Fig. 6, the rubble area recognition unit 142.3 uses a learning model to segment an image area 600 in the face direction into a face area 601, a tunnel wall area 602, a rubble area in front of the face 603, and a possible area 604 of the tunnel floor. Based on this segmented image, the automatic control unit 142.5 moves the wheel loader 100 in front of the rubble area 603, and executes a series of tasks including loading, transporting, and dumping the rubble. The overall control flow of the wheel loader 100 will now be described with reference to Fig. 7.

[0035] 2.2) Automatic Driving Control In FIG. 7, the control unit 142.1 of the automatic operation control device 140 controls the control unit 150 of the main body 120 to move to a location at least about 100 m away from the face 12 toward the mine entrance and wait before blasting the face 12 (operation 701).

[0036] The blasting completion recognition unit 142.2 detects that the blasting work has been safely completed from the data of the three-dimensional scanner S11, the video camera S12, and the thermal camera S13 (operation 702). It is extremely important for safety to estimate the possibility of the collapse of the tunnel or the outflow of spring water after blasting. The blasting completion recognition unit 142.2 can estimate the possibility of collapse near the face and the side of the tunnel by recognizing deformation of the shape from the three-dimensional data, infrared image data, and visible light image data, and can also estimate the possibility of spring water from the temperature distribution of the infrared image data.

[0037] Next, the rubble area recognition unit 142.3 recognizes the rubble area 603 in front of the face mainly from image data of the video camera S12 and the thermal camera S13, and identifies the position of the wheel loader body 120 relative to the rubble area 603 from the three-dimensional data acquired by the three-dimensional scanner S11 (operation S703). At that time, the amount of rubble in front of the face may be estimated.

[0038] When the position of the wheel loader's main body 120 relative to the rubble area 603 in front of the face is identified, the automatic control unit 142.5 controls the travel control unit 151 of the main body 120 to move the main body 120 to the front of the rubble area 603, and controls the bucket and boom control unit 152 to load rubble into the bucket 122 (operation 704). Next, the automatic control unit 142.5 moves the main body 120 in the direction of the tunnel mouth to the temporary rubble storage area 14, and the bucket and boom control unit 152 dumps the rubble in the bucket 122 into the temporary rubble storage area 14 (operation 705). The above operations 703 to 705 are repeated until all the rubble in the rubble area 603 has been transported to the temporary rubble storage area 14 (YES in operation 706).

[0039] The shear area recognition unit 142.3 determines that there is no shear remaining in the shear area 603. If the answer is NO in operation 706, the control unit 142.1 transmits a muck loading completion notification from the wireless communication unit 145 via the communication control unit 144 to the muck loader 200 (operation 707). After transmitting the muck loading completion notification, the wheel loader 100 returns to the waiting area before the next blasting operation is performed (operation 708).

[0040] Here, the completion of rubble loading is notified when all the rubble in front of the face has been transported to the temporary rubble storage site 14, but this is not limited to the above. For example, the completion of rubble loading notification may be sent to the rubble loader 200 when a predetermined amount of rubble has been dumped into the temporary rubble storage site 14. In this case, the rubble transporting operation of the wheel loader 100 and the rubble loading operation of the rubble loader 200 proceed in parallel, enabling efficient removal of rubble.

[0041] 3. Muck loader As described above, when the muck loader 200 according to this embodiment receives a muck loading completion notification from the wheel loader 100, it starts the muck loading operation of loading the muck from the temporary muck storage site 14 onto the muck transporter 300. The configuration and functions of the muck loader 200 will be described below.

[0042] 3.1) Configuration As shown in Fig. 8, the muck loader 200 includes a traveling body 210, a muck raking mechanism 220, a loading mechanism 240, an automatic driving control device 250, and sensor units S2 and S3. The sensor unit S2 acquires an image in the direction of the face. The sensor unit S3 is disposed on the tunnel mouth side of the loading mechanism 240, which will be described later, and acquires an image of the muck loading unit of the muck transporter 300. Note that in this embodiment, the muck loading status of the muck transporter 300 is recognized by the muck loader 200, but it may be recognized by the muck transporter 300, as will be described later.

[0043] The running body 210 includes a pair of left and right crawlers 212, a drive unit 214 that rotates the crawlers 212 forward and backward, and a body 216 supported by the pair of left and right crawlers 212. Note that the running body 210 can be configured in a variety of conventionally known ways.

[0044] The debris shoveling mechanism 220 includes a boom 230 and a debris shoveling bucket 221. The boom 230 includes a rear boom 234 swingably supported on the machine body 216 via a boom support frame 231, a horizontal rotating section 232, and a bracket 233, a front boom 235 swingably supported on the rear boom 234, a rear hydraulic cylinder 236 that swings the rear boom 234 up and down, and a front hydraulic cylinder 237 that swings the front boom 235 up and down.

[0045] The bucket 221 is provided at the tip of a front boom 235 so as to be able to swing up and down, and a bucket hydraulic cylinder 238 for swinging the bucket 221 up and down is provided on the front boom 235. Note that various conventionally known configurations can be adopted for the configuration of such a boom 230 and bucket 221. Note that a horizontal swivel part 232 to which the rear end of the rear boom 234 is connected is provided on one side of the machine body 216 in the width direction.

[0046] The loading mechanism 240 is composed of a conveyor device, and therefore, hereinafter, the conveyor device will be denoted by the reference number 240. The conveyor device 240 is supported on the vehicle body 216 and extends along the extension direction of the tunnel 10. The conveyor device 240 includes a conveyor frame 241, a driving roller 242, a driven roller 243, a belt 244 wound around the rollers 242 and 243, a tension device (not shown) for the belt 244, a pair of conveyor side plates 245, and a conveyor front plate 246. The conveyor device 240 is provided at the center of the vehicle body 216 in the vehicle width direction.

[0047] The conveyor frame 241 is supported by the machine body 216, and the drive roller 242, the driven roller 243, and the tension device for the belt 244 are supported by the conveyor frame 241. The belt 244 is wound around the drive roller 242 and the driven roller 243 to form a first conveying path 244A (outgoing path) for conveying the shear by the running of the belt 244, and a return path 244B below the first conveying path 244A, and a plurality of guide rollers (not shown) are arranged on the underside of the first conveying path 244A.

[0048] A pair of conveyor side panels 245 are provided on either side of the first conveying path 244A and have a slope in the width direction of the first conveying path 244A such that the height gradually increases from both sides of the first conveying path 244A, thereby ensuring smooth transport of debris along the first conveying path 244A.

[0049] In plan view, the first conveying path 244A passes through the center of the machine body 216 in the width direction, and the upstream end 247 of the first conveying path 244A protrudes toward the face 12 side more than the running body 210 and the machine body 216, and the downstream end 248 of the first conveying path 244A protrudes farther toward the tunnel mouth side than the running body 210 and the machine body 216. In addition, in a side view, the first conveying path 244A is provided with an upstream end 247 located near the tunnel floor surface 11, and with an inclination that gradually rises from the upstream end 247 toward the downstream end 248. The height of the downstream end 248 is set so that the front part of the muck transport vehicle 300 can enter below the downstream end 248 and muck can be dropped from the downstream end 248 onto the muck transport vehicle 300 described later. The conveyor rear plate 246 is provided at the upstream end 247 of the first transport path 244A and connects the rear ends of the conveyor side plates 245 on both sides, and the driven roller 243 is located on the face 12 side of the conveyor rear plate 246.

[0050] The rubble scraped off by the bucket 221 is loaded onto the upstream end 247 of the first transport path 244A on the inside of the conveyor rear plate 246 and both side conveyor side plates 245, and the rubble is dropped from the downstream end 248 onto the rubble loading section of the rubble transport cart 300. The sensor unit S3 is disposed near the downstream end 248 of the conveyor device 240, and captures an image of the rubble loaded onto the rubble loading section of the rubble transport cart 300 located below. Note that the conveyor device 240 can be configured in a variety of conventionally known ways.

[0051] 9, the operation of the muck loader 200 is controlled by a control unit 260. More specifically, the control unit 260 includes a loading control unit 261, a traveling control unit 262, and a packet boom control unit 263, the loading control unit 261 controls the conveyor device 240, the traveling control unit 262 controls the traveling body 210 and the drive unit 214, and the packet boom control unit 263 controls the muck rake mechanism 220 through a hydraulic gauge 270. The control unit 260 is controlled by an automatic driving control device 250, which will be described later.

[0052] As illustrated in FIG. 10, the automatic operation control device 250 performs automatic operation control of the muck loader 200 using output signals from the sensor units S2 and S3. The sensor unit S2 includes a three-dimensional scanner S21, a video camera S22, and a thermal camera S23. The three-dimensional scanner S21 outputs three-dimensional data (X, Y, Z point cloud data) of the front of the muck loader 200 (the direction in which the three-dimensional scanner S21 faces, here the face direction) or its surroundings. The video camera S22 is a visible light camera, and outputs visible light image data of the front of the muck loader 200 (the direction in which the video camera S22 faces, here the face direction). The thermal camera S23 is an infrared camera, and outputs infrared image (temperature distribution image) data of the front of the muck loader 200 (the direction in which the thermal camera S23 faces, here the face direction). The sensor unit S3 includes a video camera S31, which is a visible light camera.

[0053] The automatic driving control device 250 has an interface 251 for inputting output data of the sensor units S2 and S3, and further has a processor unit 252 consisting of at least one processor including a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), a data storage unit 253, a communication control unit 254, and a wireless communication unit 255. The communication control unit 254 is connected to the control unit 260, and transmits control signals from the processor unit 252 and receives detection signals from the control unit 260 indicating various states.

[0054] The wireless communication unit 255 can be wirelessly connected to the wheel loader 100 at the front stage and the muck transport vehicle 300 at the rear stage. As described above, the wireless communication unit 255 can receive a muck loading completion notification from the wheel loader 100, or can notify the wheel loader 100 and the muck transport vehicle 300 of the operating status of the muck loader 200. Alternatively, the wireless communication unit 255 may be of a type that performs wireless communication with the monitoring system 500.

[0055] The processor unit 252 can realize various functions by executing programs stored in a memory (not shown). In this embodiment, the processor unit 252 is equipped with a control unit 252.1, a situation recognition unit 252.2, a rubble area recognition unit 252.3, a loading situation recognition unit 252.4, and an automatic control unit 252.5.

[0056] The situation recognition unit 252.2 recognizes the situation in front of the muck loader 200 (here, in the direction of the face) using the three-dimensional data from the three-dimensional scanner S21 and the visible light images from the video camera S22. The muck area recognition unit 252.3 recognizes the muck area in the temporary muck storage area 14 using the three-dimensional data from the three-dimensional scanner S21 and the visible light images and infrared images from the video camera S22 and the thermal camera S23. The loading status recognition unit 252.4 recognizes the loading status of the muck loading section of the muck transporter 300 using the visible light images from the sensor unit S3. This loading status is the loading state of the muck put into the muck loading section, and the loading status recognition unit 252.4 recognizes whether muck has been loaded up to the upper limit of the muck loading section.

[0057] The automatic control unit 252.5 controls the control unit 260 while referring to the position of the muck loader 200 and the position of the muck area in the temporary muck storage site 14 obtained using the three-dimensional data from the three-dimensional scanner S21, and executes a series of automatic operation operations, such as operating the muck rake-in mechanism 220 to load the muck from the temporary muck storage site 14 and operating the conveyor device 240 to feed the muck into the muck transporter 300. When it is recognized from the image data of the sensor unit S3 that a predetermined amount of muck is to be loaded onto the muck transporter 300 based on the loading condition of the muck transporter 300, it notifies the muck transporter 300 of this fact and stops the operation of the muck rake-in mechanism 220 and the conveyor device 240.

[0058] As described above, in this embodiment, the sensor unit S3 is disposed near the downstream end 248 of the conveyor device 240, and the image data thereof can be used to recognize the loading status of the muck on the muck transport vehicle 300. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and another sensor unit S3a may be provided on the conveyor side wall plate 245 of the conveyor device 240. In this case, the sensor unit S3a can image the upstream of the belt conveyor, and estimate the amount of muck loaded on the belt conveyor using the image data. For example, the sensor unit S3a is composed of a 3D scanner, a thermal camera, and a video camera, and the thermal camera can distinguish between the muck and the belt 244 / conveyor side wall plate 245. Therefore, the loading status recognition unit 252.4 can determine whether the amount of muck loaded on the belt conveyor is sufficient or not by AI processing using a machine learning model by acquiring three-dimensional data, infrared image data, and visible light image data from the sensor unit S3a. For example, if the amount of debris loaded is small, the speed of the Belcoton Bear can be slowed down or the movement of the boom 230 can be made faster, thereby making the removal of the debris more efficient.

[0059] In this embodiment, the situation recognition unit 252.2, the rubble area recognition unit 252.3, and the loading situation recognition unit 252.4 are AI recognition units that use a learning model constructed by deep learning. As is well known, deep learning technology has excellent image recognition capabilities, and by providing a large amount of characteristic image data, such as images of the actual rubble at the temporary rubble storage site 14 obtained by a video camera and a thermal camera and images of the rubble loaded on the rubble transporter 300, as well as three-dimensional data obtained by the three-dimensional scanner S11 as teacher data, it is possible to adjust the neuron parameters and construct a learning model with sufficiently small errors.

[0060] The AI ​​recognition units of the situation recognition unit 252.2, the rubble area recognition unit 252.3, and the loading situation recognition unit 252.4 can be constructed on a general-purpose server or a personal computer, but it is preferable to use a GPU-equipped computer to perform deep learning calculations. For example, the situation recognition unit 252.2 and the rubble area recognition unit 252.3 can recognize the situation as shown in Fig. 11 based on three-dimensional data of the position of the rubble loader 200 and visible light images and infrared images obtained by the video camera S22 and the thermal camera S23, and identify the rubble area in the temporary rubble storage area 14.

[0061] 11, the situation recognition unit 252.2 and the rubble area recognition unit 252.3 use a learning model to segment an image area 800 in the face direction into a face area 801, a tunnel wall area 802, and a rubble area 803 in the temporary rubble storage area 14. Based on this segmented image, the automatic control unit 252.5 drives the rubble rake-in mechanism 220 and the conveyor device 240 of the rubble loader 200, and rakes the rubble in the rubble area 803 into the conveyor device 240 and feeds it into the rubble transport vehicle 300.

[0062] The loading status recognition unit 252.4 can also recognize the loading status at the muck loading section of the muck transporter 300 by constructing a machine learning model in a similar manner. The overall control flow of the muck loader 200 will now be described with reference to FIG.

[0063] 3.2) Automatic Driving Control In FIG. 12, it is assumed that the control unit 252.1 of the automatic driving control device 250 receives a muck loading completion notification from the wheel loader 100 in a standby state (YES in operation 901).

[0064] The situation recognition unit 252.2 recognizes the situation ahead (the direction the camera is facing, here the face direction) from the data of the three-dimensional scanner S21, the video camera S22 and the thermal camera S23, and the rubble area recognition unit 252.3 identifies the rubble area 803 in the temporary rubble storage site 14 from the data of the three-dimensional scanner S21, the video camera S22 and the thermal camera S23 (operation S902). At that time, the amount of rubble in the temporary rubble storage site 14 may be estimated.

[0065] When the rubble area 803 is identified, the automatic control unit 252.4 controls the loading control unit 261 and bucket boom control unit 263 of the control unit 260 to cause the bucket 221 to scoop the rubble into the conveyor device 240, and the rubble transported by the conveyor device 240 to be dumped into the rubble transport vehicle 300 (operation 903). The loading status recognition unit 252.4 recognizes the loading status of the rubble loading section of the rubble transport vehicle 300 using data from the sensor unit S3 or sensor unit S3a, and judges whether a predetermined amount of rubble has been dumped into the rubble loading section.

[0066] Operations 902 and 903 are repeated until the amount of dumped muck reaches a predetermined amount or until the muck area recognition unit 252.3 recognizes that there is no more muck remaining in the temporary muck storage site 14 (NO in operation 904, YES in operation 905). The amount of muck dumped into the muck transporter 300 may be estimated by the muck loader 200, or the muck transporter 300 may measure the weight and notify the automatic driving control device 140 when the predetermined amount is reached. In this embodiment, the predetermined amount of muck for the muck transporter 300 is multiple times the transport amount of one wheel loader 100, for example, the amount of 4 to 5 wheel loaders. Therefore, the dump amount of the muck transporter 300 can also be estimated from the transport amount of the wheel loader 100.

[0067] When the temporary rubble storage area 14 runs out of rubble (NO in operation 905), the control unit 252.1 notifies the wheel loader 100 or the monitoring system 500 of this fact via the wireless communication unit 255. When a predetermined amount of rubble has been fed into the rubble transport vehicle 300 (YES in operation 904), the control unit 252.1 stops the rubble rake-in mechanism 220 and the conveyor device 240 (operation 907), and transmits a rubble feeding completion notification to the rubble transport vehicle 300 (operation 908). In this case, it is also possible to prepare multiple rubble transport vehicles 300 and continuously load rubble onto the rubble transport vehicles for transport to the crusher 400.

[0068] It should be noted that the muck transporter 300 can start the transporting operation of transporting the loaded muck to the crusher 400 by receiving a notification of the end of muck input from the muck loader 200 .

[0069] 3.3) Effects As described above, the muck loader 200 according to this embodiment can scrape up the excavated muck transported to the temporary muck storage site 14 by the muck scraping mechanism 220, and feed it directly into the muck transport vehicle 300 arranged at the rear by the conveyor device 240. In this embodiment, the sensor units S2 and S3 / S3a and the AI ​​recognition unit of the automatic driving control device 250 can realize automatic muck loading work without the need for an operator.

[0070] This not only makes it possible to reduce the amount of labor and manpower required when loading excavated debris, but also allows the face work area to be released sooner by quickly disposing of the debris after blasting, making it easier to move on to the next process of support work, thereby smoothing the tunnel excavation cycle.

[0071] 4. Muck transport vehicle As described above, when the amount of loaded rubble reaches a predetermined amount, i.e., the upper limit of the rubble loading section, the rubble transporter 300 starts the rubble transporting operation of moving from the rubble loader 200 to the crusher 400. Reaching of the predetermined amount of loaded rubble can be detected by receiving a rubble input completion notification from the rubble loader 200, as described above. However, the rubble transporter 300 described below is provided with a sensor unit for determining the rubble loading status.

[0072] 13 and 14(A) and (B), the muck transporter 300 comprises a running body 310, a muck loading section 320, an automatic control device 330, and a sensor section S4. The running body 310 is configured to include a pair of left and right crawlers 311, a drive section (not shown) for rotating the crawlers 311 forward and backward, and a body 312 supported by the pair of left and right crawlers 311. Note that the running body 310 can be configured in a variety of conventionally known ways.

[0073] The muck loading section 320 is configured to include a conveyor device 321. The conveyor device 321 is supported by a frame 313 on the machine body 312. The conveyor device 321 is configured to include a drive roller 322, a driven roller 323, a belt 324 wound around the rollers 322 and 323, a tension device (not shown) for the belt 324, a pair of conveyor side plates 325, a conveyor rear plate 326, and a conveyor front plate 327, and the conveyor device 321 is provided in the center of the machine body 312 in the vehicle width direction.

[0074] Belt 324 is wound around drive roller 322 and driven roller 323 to form a conveying path 321A (outward path) along which the shear is conveyed by the movement of belt 324, and a return path 321B is formed below conveying path 321A, and multiple guide rollers (not shown) are arranged on the underside of conveying path 321A.

[0075] The downstream end of the transport path 321A is a transport path protrusion 328 that protrudes further toward the tunnel mouth than the running body 310 and the frame 313. The protruding length of this transport path protrusion 328 from the running body 310 and the frame 313 is formed with a dimension that allows the end of the transport path protrusion 328 to be positioned inside the hopper 401 of the crusher 400, and the height of the transport path protrusion 328 from the tunnel floor surface 11 is set to be higher than the hopper 401 so that the rubble can fall into the hopper 401 of the crusher 400.

[0076] A pair of conveyor side plates 325 are provided on either side of conveying path 321A on frame 313, and have a slope in the width direction of conveying path 321A such that the height gradually increases from either side of conveying path 321A, and a conveyor rear plate 326 is provided at the upstream end of conveying path 321A, and a conveyor front plate 327 is provided on the end of frame 313 in the downstream portion of conveying path 321A.

[0077] The conveyor front plate 327 is moved up and down by the extension and contraction of a lifting hydraulic cylinder, and gates 329 which are opened and closed by the up and down movement of the conveyor front plate 327 are provided at the well mouth side ends of both conveyor side plates 325. Note that the conveyor device 321 can be configured in a variety of conventionally known ways.

[0078] In this embodiment, belt 324 has a width of 1.4 m, and rubble loading section 320, which is made up of a pair of conveyor side plates 325, conveyor rear plate 326, and conveyor front plate 327, has a rectangular outline in a plan view with long sides of approximately 5.5 m and short sides of approximately 3 m, and a depth of approximately 1.5 m. The rubble loading capacity is multiple times the transport capacity of one wheel loader 100, for example the capacity of 4 to 5 wheel loaders 100.

[0079] The muck transport vehicle 300 is disposed so that the second transport path 321A is located below the downstream end 248 of the first transport path 244A of the muck loader 200, and the muck drops and is loaded onto the muck loading section 320 of the muck transport vehicle 300. At that time, the muck transport vehicle 300 may be moved in the direction of arrow B so that the muck is loaded onto the entire area of ​​the muck loading section 320 of the muck transport vehicle 300.

[0080] The sensor unit S4 is disposed above the conveyor front plate 327, and is composed of a video camera for image monitoring of the amount of rubble loaded on the rubble loading unit 320. The automatic control device 330 uses visible light image data from the sensor unit S4 to perform AI image recognition of the amount of rubble loaded on the rubble loading unit 320 or the loading status of the rubble. As another example, the sensor unit S4 may be composed of a video camera and a 3D scanner, and perform AI image recognition of the amount of rubble loaded on the rubble loading unit 320 and the loading status using three-dimensional data from the 3D scanner and visible light image data from the video camera. This AI image recognition can be realized using a machine learning model, similar to the situation recognition unit 252.4 of the rubble loader 200 described above.

[0081] The automatic control device 330 is installed in the machine body 312, and has a control unit that controls the drive unit and the running body 310, and a wireless communication unit that can wirelessly communicate with the muck loader 200 or the monitoring system 500. When the automatic control device 330 determines that a predetermined amount of muck has been loaded into the muck loading unit 320 by the sensor unit S4 (muck loading completion), it notifies the muck loader 200 of this fact through the wireless communication unit, and controls the running body 310 to make the muck transporter 300 travel from the muck loader 200 toward the crusher 400. Furthermore, when it receives a notification of the completion of muck loading, it stops driving the bucket and boom of the muck rake-in mechanism 220 of the muck loader 200 and the belt conveyance of the loading mechanism (conveyor device) 240.

[0082] The automatic control device 330 of the rubble transport vehicle 300 positions the transport path protruding portion 328 above the hopper 401 of the crusher 400 and stops the vehicle. Then, the conveyor front plate 327 is raised to open the gate 329, the conveyor device 321 is driven, and the belt 324 is caused to run, causing the rubble loaded on the transport path 321A to fall into the hopper 401 of the crusher 400.

[0083] After all the rubble loaded on the transport path 321A has been dropped into the hopper 401 of the crusher 400, the conveyor front plate 327 is lowered to close the gate 329, and the rubble transporter 300 travels toward the rubble loader 200 and stops with the rubble loading section 320 positioned below the downstream end 248 of the transport path 244A of the rubble loader 200. At this time, the automatic control device 330 may send a notification to the rubble loader 200 that loading preparations are complete. In this way, the rubble loader 200 starts the rubble loading operation, and dumps the rubble from the temporary rubble storage site 14 into the rubble loading section 320 of the rubble transporter 300.

[0084] 5. Muck conveying system The wheel loader 100, muck loader 200 and muck transporter 300 described above operate while communicating wirelessly with each other or according to instructions from the monitoring system 500, and can efficiently and automatically transport the muck 13 in front of the face to the crusher 400.

[0085] The wheel loader 100 recognizes the completion of blasting at the face based on the visible light image in the face direction, recognizes the rubble area 603 in front of the face based on the 3D data, the visible light image, and the infrared image, and after blasting is completed, transports the rubble in front of the face to the temporary rubble storage area 14 and dumps it into the temporary rubble storage area 14. The rubble loader 200 scrapes up the excavated rubble transported to the temporary rubble storage area 14 using the rubble scraping mechanism 220, and dumps it directly into the rubble transporter 300 located behind it by the conveyor device 240. The rubble transporter 300 transports the loaded rubble to the crusher 400.

[0086] The rubble fed into the hopper 401 of the crusher 400 is crushed in the crushing section of the crusher 400, transferred from the belt conveyor 402 to a tailpiece cart 403, which loads the rubble onto the upstream end of the conveying path of a continuous belt conveyor device 404, and transported by the continuous conveyor belt 404 toward the mine mouth.

[0087] It is also possible to directly load the rubble from the rubble loader 200 into the crusher 400 without using the rubble transport vehicle 300. In this case, the rubble loaded from the rubble loader 200 into the crusher 400 is crushed by the crusher 400, and the crushed rubble is transported toward the pit mouth by a subsequent transport device. Alternatively, the rubble may be directly loaded from the rubble loader 200 into a dump truck (not shown) and transported toward the pit mouth.

[0088] According to the debris removal system of this embodiment, the wheel loader 100 only needs to travel back and forth between the tunnel face 12 and the temporary debris storage area 14 to transport debris from the tunnel face 12. The temporary debris storage area 14 extends from a location approximately 30 m away from the tunnel face 12 toward the tunnel mouth by approximately 20 m, so the wheel loader 100 only needs to travel a distance of 30 to 50 m, which is shorter than the conventional distance of 100 m. Note that a shuttle car can be provided on the tunnel face side of the debris loader 200 to further shorten the distance traveled back and forth by the wheel loader 100.

[0089] In this case, just before the tunnel face 12 advances about 30 m, in other words, just before the rubber belt stored in the storage cassette is stretched, the wheel loader 100 only needs to travel a distance of 60 to 80 m, which is shorter than the conventional distance of 130 m. Therefore, the rubble generated after the blasting process can be transported to the temporary rubble storage area 14 by the wheel loader 100 in a shorter time than before, and the post-processing of the tunnel face 12 after the blasting process can be completed in an extremely shorter time than before. This makes it possible to carry out various tasks before the next blasting process, such as the process of spraying concrete on the tunnel wall surface near the tunnel face 12, the process of placing rock bolts, and the process of drilling charge holes using a drill jumbo, at an early stage, which is advantageous in improving the efficiency of tunnel construction and shortening the construction period of tunnel construction.

[0090] In addition, the distance between the debris loader 200 and the crusher 400 over which the debris transporter 300 travels is 33 to 53 meters, which is roughly the same as the distance traveled by the wheel loader 100. This is roughly the same as the time required by the wheel loader 100 to perform post-processing of the face 12 after the blasting process, and the time required for all of the debris generated after the blasting process to be dumped into the hopper 401 of the crusher 400 can be shortened.

[0091] In this case, just before the rubber belt stored in the storage cassette is stretched, the distance between the muck loader 200 and the crusher 400 over which the muck transporter 300 travels is 63 to 83 m, which is shorter than the distance of 130 m traveled by a conventional wheel loader. Moreover, in this embodiment, the amount of muck loaded on the muck transporter 300 is several times the amount transported by one wheel loader 100, so the number of times the muck transporter travels back and forth between the temporary muck storage area 14 and the hopper 401 of the crusher 400 is reduced. [Explanation of symbols]

[0092] 10. Tunnel 11 Tunnel floor 12 Cutting Edge 13 Cutting edge forward 14 Temporary rubble storage area 100 Wheel Loader 120 Body 122 Bucket 124 Boom 140 Automatic Driving Control Device 150 Control section 160 Drive and braking system 170 Engine 180 Hydraulic System 200 Muck Loader 210 Vehicle 220 Shear sweeping mechanism 240 Loading mechanism (conveyor device) 250 Automatic Driving Control Device 251 Interface 252 Processor Section 252.1 Controls 252.2 Situational Awareness Section 252.3 Shear area recognition unit 252.4 Loading Situation Awareness Section 252.5 Automatic Control Units 253 Data Storage Unit 254 Communication Control Unit 255 Wireless Communication Division 260 Control Unit 261 Loading control section 262 Driving control unit 263 Packet Boom Control Unit 300 Muck Carrier 400 Crusher

Claims

1. A muck loader in a muck carrying system for tunnel construction, in which at least a wheel loader, a muck loader and a subsequent transport device are disposed between a tunnel face and a tunnel entrance from the tunnel face to the tunnel entrance, and muck in front of the tunnel face is transported to the tunnel entrance through at least the wheel loader, the muck loader and the subsequent transport device, a rubble raking mechanism that raks rubble loaded at least by the wheel loader at a predetermined point on the face side of the rubble loader; a loading mechanism that loads the scrap scraped by the scraping function onto the subsequent conveying device; a sensor unit including a 3D scanner, a visible light camera, and a thermal camera; A communication unit capable of communicating with the wheel loader and the subsequent transport device; an automatic driving control unit that controls the grit raking mechanism and the loading mechanism based on an output of the sensor unit; having The automatic driving control unit, a) upon receiving a notification of completion of loading of debris from the wheel loader, recognize the debris at the predetermined point based on the three-dimensional data obtained by the three-dimensional scanner and the image data respectively obtained by the visible light camera and the thermal camera; b) driving the debris rake-in mechanism and the loading mechanism to rake in the debris at the predetermined location and load it onto the subsequent transport device; c) stopping the rubble rake-in mechanism and the loading mechanism when a predetermined amount of rubble is loaded onto the subsequent conveying device; A muck loader characterized by:

2. 2. The muck loader according to claim 1, further comprising a second sensor unit including a visible light camera that images the muck loading unit of the subsequent conveying device, and the automatic driving control unit recognizes the muck loading status of the subsequent conveying device based on the image data obtained by the second sensor unit.

3. 2. The muck loader according to claim 1, wherein the automatic operation control unit stops the muck rake mechanism and the loading mechanism when a loading completion notification indicating that the predetermined amount of muck has been loaded is received from the subsequent conveying device through the communication unit.

4. A muck loader as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a traveling mechanism for moving the muck loader, and the automatic driving control unit controls the traveling mechanism based on three-dimensional data from the three-dimensional scanner.

5. The muck loader according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a third sensor unit including a three-dimensional scanner, a visible light camera and a thermal camera for capturing images of the muck of the loading mechanism, and the automatic driving control unit recognizes the muck loading status of the loading mechanism based on the three-dimensional data and image data obtained by the third sensor unit.

6. 6. The muck loader according to claim 5, wherein the automatic operation control unit adjusts the operating speeds of the muck rake-in mechanism and the loading mechanism according to a muck loading condition of the loading mechanism.

7. 4. The muck loader according to claim 1, wherein the subsequent transport device includes at least one of a muck carrier, a crusher, and a dump truck.

8. A method for automatically controlling operation of a debris loader in a debris transport system in tunnel construction, in which at least a wheel loader, a debris loader, and a subsequent transport device are disposed between a tunnel face and a tunnel entrance from the tunnel face to the tunnel entrance, and debris in front of the tunnel face is transported to the tunnel entrance through at least the wheel loader, the debris loader, and the subsequent transport device, comprising: the muck loader has a muck shoveling mechanism that shovels muck loaded by at least the wheel loader at a predetermined point on the face side, a loading mechanism that loads the muck shoveled by the muck shoveling function onto the subsequent transport device, a sensor unit including a three-dimensional scanner, a visible light camera, and a thermal camera, a communication unit capable of communicating with the wheel loader and the subsequent transport device, and a processor unit; The processor unit, a) upon receiving a notification of completion of loading of debris from the wheel loader, the method recognizes the debris at the predetermined point based on the three-dimensional data obtained by the three-dimensional scanner and the image data obtained by the visible light camera and the thermal camera, b) driving the debris rake-in mechanism and the loading mechanism to rake in the debris at the predetermined location and load it onto the subsequent transport device; c) stopping the rubble rake-in mechanism and the loading mechanism when a predetermined amount of rubble is loaded onto the subsequent conveying device; A method for automatically controlling operation of a muck loader, comprising:

9. 9. The method for controlling automatic operation of a muck loader according to claim 8, further comprising a second sensor unit including a visible light camera for capturing an image of the muck loading unit of the subsequent conveying device, wherein the processor unit recognizes the muck loading status of the subsequent conveying device based on the image data obtained by the second sensor unit.

10. 9. The method for automatically controlling operation of a muck loader according to claim 8, wherein the processor unit stops the muck rake-in mechanism and the loading mechanism when a loading completion notification indicating that the predetermined amount of muck has been loaded is received from the subsequent conveying device through the communication unit.

11. The method for controlling automatic operation of a muck loader according to any one of claims 8 to 10, further comprising a third sensor unit including a three-dimensional scanner, a visible light camera, and a thermal camera for capturing images of the muck in the loading mechanism, and the processor unit recognizes the muck loading status of the loading mechanism based on the three-dimensional data and image data obtained by the third sensor unit.

12. 12. The method for automatically controlling operation of a muck loader according to claim 11, wherein the processor unit adjusts the operating speeds of the muck rake mechanism and the loading mechanism according to a muck loading condition of the loading mechanism.

13. A system for transporting debris in tunnel construction, comprising: a wheel loader, a debris loader, and a subsequent transport device disposed between a tunnel face and a tunnel entrance from the tunnel face to the tunnel entrance; and transporting debris in front of the tunnel face to the tunnel entrance through at least the wheel loader, the debris loader, and the subsequent transport device, The wheel loader, A muck loading section; a first sensor unit including a three-dimensional scanner that outputs three-dimensional data, a visible light camera that outputs visible light image data, and a thermal camera that outputs infrared image data; A first communication unit capable of communicating with at least the muck loader; A first automatic driving control unit that controls the travel of the wheel loader and the drive of the muck loading unit based on an output of the first sensor unit; having The first automatic driving control unit, a) recognizing the completion of blasting at the face and the debris area in front of the face based on the three-dimensional data, visible light image data and infrared image data obtained by the first sensor unit; b) When the completion of blasting is recognized, the recognized debris in front of the face is loaded onto the debris loading section, and the debris is moved from the debris loading machine to a predetermined point on the face side, and the debris loaded onto the debris loading section is dumped into the predetermined point; c) when a predetermined amount of muck is dumped at the predetermined point, sending a dumping completion notice to the muck loader; The muck loader, a rubble shoveling mechanism that shovels rubble loaded by the wheel loader at the predetermined point; a loading mechanism that loads the scrap scraped by the scraping function onto the subsequent conveying device; a second sensor unit including a three-dimensional scanner that outputs three-dimensional data, a visible light camera that outputs visible light image data, and a thermal camera that outputs infrared image data; A second communication unit capable of communicating with the wheel loader and the subsequent transport device; A second automatic driving control unit that controls the shear raking mechanism and the loading mechanism based on an output of the second sensor unit; The second automatic driving control unit includes: d) recognizing the debris area at the predetermined point based on the three-dimensional data, visible light image data, and infrared image data obtained by the second sensor unit; e) driving the debris rake-in mechanism and the loading mechanism to rake in the debris at the predetermined location and load it onto the subsequent transport device; f) stopping the rubble rake-in mechanism and the loading mechanism when a predetermined amount of rubble is loaded onto the subsequent conveying device; A muck removal system comprising:

14. The muck removal system according to claim 13, characterized in that the muck loader further has a third sensor unit including a visible light camera that images the muck loading unit of the subsequent conveying device, and the second automatic driving control unit recognizes the muck loading status of the subsequent conveying device based on the image data obtained by the third sensor unit.

15. The debris removal system according to claim 13, characterized in that when a loading completion notification indicating that the predetermined amount of debris has been loaded is received from the subsequent conveying device through the second communication unit, the second automatic operation control unit stops the debris rake-in mechanism and the loading mechanism.

16. A muck transport system according to any one of claims 13 to 15, characterized in that the muck loader further has a traveling mechanism, and the second automatic driving control unit controls the traveling mechanism based on three-dimensional data from the second sensor unit.

17. 16. The muck transport system of claim 13, wherein the subsequent transport device includes at least one of a muck hauler, a crusher, and a dump truck.

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