Excavation Machine Safety Shield and Optical Detection System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing safety systems for excavation machines are limited by bulkiness, which restricts maneuverability and increases weight, leading to reduced stability and productivity, and often result in unnecessary machine stops due to debris triggering sensitive devices during operations like deep hole drilling or mixing.
Innovation Solution
A safety system utilizing sensitive devices positioned around the excavation battery with a shield to protect the monitoring area from debris, allowing for closer proximity to walls and obstacles while minimizing unwanted stops by separating the debris path from the sensitive devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If mobile barriers or guards are used to protect the dangerous area, then safety is improved, but the machine bulk and weight increase, reducing maneuverability and stability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical mobile barriers with an optical detection system comprising sensitive devices (laser beams, photoelectric sensors) that create an invisible monitoring area. This substitution eliminates the need for heavy physical guards while maintaining safety functionality, as the optical system can detect personnel presence without the bulk of mechanical structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a shield as an intermediary element that protects the sensitive devices from debris while allowing the optical detection system to function. The shield acts as a physical barrier for the sensors themselves, preventing debris interference without requiring large protective structures around the entire dangerous area, thus maintaining maneuverability.
2Reliability
If sensitive protection devices are used to detect personnel presence, then safety response is improved, but debris during operations can trigger false alarms causing unnecessary machine stops
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different functional qualities to different spatial zones: the shield creates a protected zone for the sensitive devices, while the monitoring area extends beyond it to detect personnel. The shield itself has selective permeability - it blocks debris paths from reaching the sensors while allowing optical detection beams to pass through for personnel monitoring, thus distinguishing between harmful debris and target personnel detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The shield serves as an intermediary that filters out harmful debris paths while allowing the optical detection system to maintain its monitoring function. It physically separates the debris generation zone (excavation area) from the sensitive devices, preventing false triggers while preserving personnel detection capability.
3Ease of operation
If mobile barriers are opened to allow manual interventions, then ease of operation is improved, but the dangerous area becomes accessible and safety is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical interlocked barriers with an optical monitoring system that continuously detects personnel presence. This allows the dangerous area to remain physically accessible for manual interventions while the optical system provides continuous safety monitoring, eliminating the need to mechanically block access while maintaining safety awareness.
Solution Approach 2:
The safety system provides self-service by automatically detecting personnel presence and triggering appropriate safety responses without requiring mechanical barriers to be physically opened or closed. The system continuously monitors and autonomously responds to personnel entry, eliminating the need for manual barrier operation while maintaining safety protocols.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively detects personnel presence while preventing debris from triggering false alarms, maintaining high reliability and safety without increasing machine bulk, ensuring efficient operation and accessibility in confined spaces.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of sensitive devices (8) configured to generate a monitoring area and to detect the presence and/or the passage of a body in such monitoring area, wherein the sensitive devices (8) comprise a receiver or reflector component configured to receive an electromagnetic signal
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2a~2b
Figure 3a~3b
AI summary
Safety system for controlling a dangerous area of an excavation machine (1) provided with a guide antenna (3), a rotary head (5) coupled in a sliding manner on the guide antenna (3) and arranged for supporting and moving an excavation battery (6), the safety system comprising: - a shield (9) couplable with the machine (1) so as to extend in a substantially radial direction around the excavation battery (6) defining an upper area of the guide antenna (3) and a lower area of the guide antenna (3) where the excavation occurs, the shield (9) being shaped so as to stop the raising of the material projected from the lower area towards the upper area. - a plurality of sensitive devices (8) intended to be positioned in the upper area and configured for generating a monitoring area, for detecting the presence and/or the passage of a body in the monitoring area and for generating, following such detection, a corresponding control signal adapted to at least stop the rotation of the excavation battery (6), said sensitive devices (8) being arranged on the machine (1) so that the monitoring area at least partially comprises the dangerous area.