Crawler Shovel Peripheral Detection for Offset Travel Direction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing shovel technologies lack an effective method to appropriately set and display a safety-conscious area around the shovel for object detection, compromising user safety and operational sensitivity.
Innovation Solution
A shovel management system incorporating a lower traveling body with crawlers, an upper turning body equipped with an image capturing device and a detecting part, which captures images and detects objects within a defined area, and a display device to show the situation around the shovel, ensuring safety by setting a detectable and displayable area.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the upper turning body is turned so that its orientation does not coincide with the crawler's moving direction, then the shovel can operate in different directions and improve versatility, but the area located in the moving direction of the crawlers may not be properly detected or displayed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a third dimension by adding a detection area that extends beyond the two-dimensional field of view of the image capturing device. When the upper turning body is rotated, the detection area is expanded to include regions in the crawler's moving direction that are not visible to the cameras, ensuring comprehensive object detection in all operational orientations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary detection mechanism that works in conjunction with the image capturing device. This intermediary system specifically monitors areas that the cameras cannot detect, such as regions in the crawler's moving direction, thereby complementing the visual system and ensuring no detection gaps when the shovel changes orientation.
2Device complexity
If the detection area is limited to only the area appearing in the peripheral image on the display device, then the system complexity is reduced, but safety is compromised because areas in the crawler's moving direction cannot be detected
Solution Approach 1:
The detection area is segmented into multiple zones: the primary detection area corresponding to the peripheral image display, and an additional detection area covering regions in the crawler's moving direction. This segmentation allows the system to maintain comprehensive safety monitoring while managing complexity through modular detection zones.
3Reliability
If the detection area includes the entirety of the area located around and relatively close to the shovel, then object detection coverage is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The detection area is designed to be dynamic rather than static. It automatically adjusts and expands to include areas in the crawler's moving direction based on the current orientation of the upper turning body. This dynamic adaptation ensures comprehensive coverage without requiring a permanently complex detection system for all possible directions simultaneously.
Data Source
AI summary
A shovel includes a lower traveling body including a pair of crawlers; an upper turning body; an image capturing device; an obtaining device that obtains information related to a situation around the shovel; a detecting part that detects a predetermined object around the shovel; and a display device that displays a peripheral image representing the situation around the shovel. A detection area of the detecting part includes the entirety of an area appearing in the peripheral image displayed on the display device. Areas located in a moving direction of the crawlers, in a state in which the orientation of the upper turning body does not coincide with the moving direction of the crawlers, are included in one or both of a detectable area in which the predetermined object is detectable by the detecting part and a displayable area that is displayable on the display device as the peripheral image.