Construction Machine Obstacle Detection Control System
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing construction machines face challenges in preventing collisions with obstacles due to temporary detection failures and limitations in detecting vertically positioned obstacles, leading to potential collisions when obstacles re-enter the collision prevention area or fall out of the detection range.
Innovation Solution
A construction machine equipped with a control system that includes a three-dimensional range sensor for obstacle detection and a control flowchart that executes emergency and continuous stop-processing, ensuring operations are halted and maintained stopped even if obstacles temporarily exit the detection area, using electromagnetic inverse-proportional valves to manage hydraulic pressure and maintain safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the operation restarts simply by the obstacle temporarily exiting the collision prevention area, then the operation can resume quickly, but the operation cannot be stopped immediately when the obstacle reenters the collision prevention area, causing potential collision
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit stores manipulation information before the obstacle exits the detection area, and uses this stored information to determine whether to restart the operation after the obstacle exits. This preliminary action ensures that the system has the necessary data to make safe decisions about operation resumption, preventing collisions while allowing quick restart when safe.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit continuously monitors the detection area for obstacles and uses feedback from the obstacle detection device to control the driving mechanism. When an obstacle is detected, the system stops the operation and uses feedback about the obstacle's continued presence or absence to determine whether to restart, ensuring safe operation resumption.
2Area of stationary object
If the device for detecting an obstacle is a millimeter-wave radar, then the detection range is extended, but obstacles that are vertically out of the range of the radio wave cannot be detected, leading to false safety conclusions
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit proactively determines that an obstacle may still be present in the detection area even after the obstacle detection device stops detecting it (e.g., when the obstacle falls out of vertical range). This preliminary anti-action counteracts the false sense of safety by maintaining the stopped state and preventing operation restart until the obstacle is confirmed to have left the detection area through alternative means or timeout.
3Reliability
If the operation is forcibly stopped when an obstacle is detected, then collision prevention is achieved, but the operation cannot resume even when the obstacle temporarily exits the area, reducing productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit dynamically adjusts the operation state based on real-time obstacle detection results. When an obstacle is detected, the operation is stopped; when the obstacle exits the detection area and manipulation information confirms safety, the operation restarts. This dynamic approach balances collision prevention with operational continuity, avoiding unnecessary prolonged stoppages.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A construction machine includes a vehicle body (2) having, a moving section (23,123), a driving mechanism, a manipulation device (63) that receives a manipulation, a controlling unit (31), a manipulation detecting unit (64) that detects the manipulation given to the manipulation device, and an obstacle detecting device (32) that detects an obstacle in a periphery of the vehicle body. The controlling unit executes emergency-stop-processing and continuous-stop-processing. The emergency-stop-processing is executed to stop the operation of the moving section regardless of a signal from the manipulation detecting unit upon detection of the obstacle by the obstacle detecting device when the controlling unit controls the driving mechanism to drive the moving section. The continuous-stop-processing is executed to keep the operation of the moving section stopped when the obstacle detecting device does not detect the obstacle and the manipulation detecting unit detects manipulation when the operation of the moving section is stopped by the emergency-stop-processing.