Excavator Bucket Alignment Control for Automatic Target Surface Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing shovels require manual selection of the target surface by operators, which complicates the operation of aligning the shovel to face the target surface straight, making the process less efficient.
Innovation Solution
A shovel with an upper swiveling body, boom, arm, and bucket, equipped with sensors and a control device that automatically selects and aligns with a straight facing target surface based on the position of the bucket, using a machine control device to guide the operator and assist in manual operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual selection of target surface is used, then operator control flexibility is maintained, but operation complexity increases and efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The control device automatically selects the target surface and calculates alignment directions without operator intervention. The system uses the bucket position detection device to obtain bucket coordinates, automatically identifies the target surface from multiple constituting surfaces, and computes the straight facing direction and projection line, enabling the shovel to perform alignment functions independently.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical operation with automated electronic control. The control device substitutes the operator's manual selection and calculation processes with automated computational geometry algorithms that calculate the projection line of the normal to the target surface and the straight facing direction based on bucket position data.
2Ease of operation
If automated target surface selection is implemented, then operation simplicity is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control device integrates multiple functions into a single system: it detects bucket position, identifies target surfaces from terrain models, calculates projection lines, determines straight facing directions, and provides guidance information. This multi-functional integration achieves automation while consolidating complexity into a unified control system.
Solution Approach 2:
The control device acts as an intermediary between the bucket position detection device and the display device. It receives raw position data, processes it through geometric calculations to determine alignment parameters, and outputs processed guidance information to the display, mediating between sensing and actuation subsystems.
3Measurement precision
If multiple constituting surfaces are used to represent target terrain, then terrain model precision is improved, but target surface selection complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control device uses feedback from the bucket position detection device to dynamically determine which target surface is relevant. By continuously monitoring bucket coordinates and comparing them with the three-dimensional terrain model, the system automatically identifies the appropriate constituting surface without requiring operator selection from multiple surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of target surface identification from manual selection to automated geometric determination. It uses the bucket's spatial coordinates as input parameters to calculate which constituting surface of the terrain model is the appropriate target, transforming the selection process into a computational geometry problem.
Data Source
AI summary
A shovel includes a lower traveling body, an upper swiveling body mounted to the lower traveling body, attachments including a boom attached to the upper swiveling body, an arm attached to an end of the boom, and a bucket, which is an end attachment, attached to an end of the arm, and a controller configured to select, as a straight facing target surface, one of a plurality of constituting surfaces that constitute a target construction surface based on a position of the bucket.