Excavation Safety System Using Portable Sensor Pairs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing safety systems for excavation equipment, such as mobile barriers and sensitive protection devices, face limitations in confined spaces, are bulky, and can cause undesired machine stops due to environmental interference, and fail to detect personnel without sensors.
Innovation Solution
A portable sensor system where personnel wear sensors that communicate with a receiving unit to allow access only to authorized individuals, preventing entry into dangerous areas around drilling machines, and integrating with the machine's control system to manage operations safely.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If mobile barriers with interblock are used to protect dangerous areas, then safety protection is improved, but the system becomes bulky and causes machine stops in confined spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical mobile barriers with electromagnetic field-based sensitive protection devices. These devices use electromagnetic fields to detect the presence of personnel in dangerous areas, eliminating the need for physical barrier structures and their associated interblock mechanisms, thereby reducing system bulk while maintaining safety protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces electromagnetic fields as an intermediary between the dangerous area and the control system. The sensitive protection devices detect personnel presence through electromagnetic field interactions, serving as a mediator that triggers machine stop commands without requiring direct mechanical contact or physical barriers.
2Measurement precision
If sensitive protection devices are used to detect personnel, then detection capability is improved, but environmental interference causes undesired machine stops
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic evaluation of detection signals by the control system. Instead of immediately stopping the machine upon detecting any signal, the control system dynamically assesses whether the detected object is a real threat (personnel requiring protection) or environmental interference, making intelligent decisions about when to trigger machine stops.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent establishes a feedback loop where the control system continuously monitors signals from sensitive protection devices, evaluates their validity, and adjusts machine operation accordingly. This feedback mechanism allows the system to distinguish between genuine personnel presence and environmental interference, reducing undesired stops while maintaining accurate personnel detection.
3Productivity
If manual interventions are performed during work steps, then productivity is improved, but operator exposure to danger increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary protective actions by pre-positioning sensitive protection devices around dangerous areas before manual interventions begin. These devices are预先 configured to detect personnel presence and trigger machine stop commands, ensuring protection is already in place before any manual work starts, thereby allowing operators to perform interventions safely and efficiently.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention describes a safety system for controlling a dangerous area of excavation equipment provided with a guide antenna (3), as well as 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 dangerous area is delimited by a curve that develops at a predetermined distance from the excavation battery (6). The safety system comprises at least one pair of portable sensors (8C', 8D', 8E', 8F, 8C'', 8D'', 27) intended to be transported by the support personnel to the excavation equipment, wherein the two sensors of each pair are in communication with each other and at least one of such two sensors is capable of generating a signal further to the detection of the mutual presence of the two sensors themselves, and at least one receiving or individuation unit operatively connected to each pair of portable sensors, capable of receiving the signal emitted by at least one of such sensors.