Construction Vehicle Arm Control for Reverse Digging Spillage

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Heavy vehicles with controllable arms often experience material spillage during digging operations, especially when reversing, due to aggressive maneuvers, which increases task complexity and time.

Innovation Solution

A control system that automatically reduces the jerk of the controllable arm when the vehicle is in digging mode and reversing, by adjusting the aggressiveness of the boom and bucket movements based on sensor data and user-selected jerk levels, ensuring a lower aggressiveness during reverse operations to prevent spillage.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If the driver manually controls the controllable arm in rapidly performing consecutive maneuvers to increase efficiency, then the overall time to perform the required task is reduced, but material spillage from the bucket increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveoverall time to perform taskVSAvoidmaterial spillage
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSLoss of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The control system dynamically adjusts the jerk parameter of the controllable arm based on detected maneuver types. During identified aggressive maneuvers (such as rapid consecutive movements), the system automatically reduces the jerk parameter to a lower value, which smooths the motion and prevents material spillage while maintaining the overall efficiency of the operation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The control system continuously monitors the operation of the controllable arm and detects when aggressive maneuvers are being performed. Based on this feedback, the system automatically modifies the jerk parameter in real-time to prevent material spillage, creating a closed-loop control system that adapts to the operator's actions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Productivity

If the driver fully fills the bucket with loaded product to be more efficient, then the productivity increases, but the risk of spillage during maneuvers increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveefficiency of loading operationVSAvoidspillage risk
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

When the system detects that the bucket is fully filled and aggressive maneuvers are detected, it automatically adjusts the jerk parameter to a lower value. This parameter change smooths the arm movements during critical phases, preventing material spillage while allowing the bucket to remain fully filled for maximum productivity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

3Productivity

If the controllable arm performs aggressive maneuvers to complete tasks faster, then the productivity increases, but the spillage of loaded material increases forcing additional recovery maneuvers

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetask completion speedVSAvoidtime for recovery maneuvers
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The control system monitors the operation and detects when spillage is occurring or about to occur during aggressive maneuvers. It automatically adjusts the jerk parameter to prevent spillage, thereby eliminating the need for additional recovery maneuvers and the associated time loss.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentEP4083724B1Control system for controlling an arm of a construction vehicle
Publication Date: 2024.10.16 CNH IND ITALIA SPA
  • EP4083724B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4083724B1 patent drawingFigure 2

AI summary

Control system for controlling a controllable arm (12) of a vehicle (10), comprising: an aggressiveness switch (29) operable to manually select a jerk; a transmission state selecting mean (42) operable to select a transmission state; sensor means for acquiring sensor signals indicative of working conditions of the vehicle (10); and a control unit (30). The control unit (30) is configured to: receive, at a current time instant (t*) and during a preceding period of time (ΔT), the transmission state, the manually selected jerk and the sensor signals; if the transmission state at the current time instant (t*) is indicative of a forward state, generate a jerk command indicative of the manually selected jerk, otherwise compare the transmission state and the sensor signals acquired during the preceding period of time (ΔT), with reference signals; based on the comparison, generate at the current time instant (t*) the jerk command indicative of either the manually selected jerk or of a predetermined jerk. The jerk command controls a jerk of the controllable arm (12). The predetermined jerk is either a lowest manually selectable jerk, or is lower than the manually selected jerk.