Excavator Hazard Zone Lighting for Falling Load Awareness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing work machines, such as excavators, lack effective safety measures to prevent objects from falling during lifting and moving operations, which can pose significant hazards to workers and equipment.
Innovation Solution
A work machine, like an excavator, is equipped with a management system that includes a lighting device to illuminate a hazardous zone around the lifted object, specified by a control device, ensuring it is visually recognizable to workers, thereby enhancing safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a restriction area is displayed on the road surface around heavy construction equipment, then the hazardous zone is visually recognizable, but the safety is insufficient when objects are lifted and may fall
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional road surface markings to three-dimensional spatial illumination by projecting light into the air space around the lifted object. This creates a volumetric hazardous zone indication that vertically extends above the ground, providing workers with intuitive spatial awareness of the danger area in three-dimensional space rather than just on the ground plane.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a light projection system as an intermediary between the control device and workers. The light serves as a visual mediator that communicates the hazardous zone defined by the control device to workers in real-time, enabling them to understand and respond to the spatial danger area without direct intervention from the control system.
2Reliability
If the hazardous zone is illuminated to alert workers, then safety is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic illumination by controlling the light projection to activate only during specific operational phases when hazards exist (when objects are lifted). The illumination is turned off during non-critical periods, creating an on-demand lighting system that provides safety coverage only when the attachment is in potentially hazardous positions, thereby reducing overall energy consumption while maintaining safety effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent dynamically adjusts illumination parameters (intensity, duration, spatial distribution) based on the attachment's operational state. The light projection intensity and coverage area are modified according to the lift height, attachment position, and operational context, optimizing energy usage by providing higher illumination only when and where hazards are present rather than maintaining constant maximum illumination throughout the workspace.
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 alerts workers to potential hazards by illuminating a hazardous zone, reducing the risk of accidents and ensuring their safety even if an object falls during lifting and moving operations.
Implementation Method 1
a lighting device (300) and a control device (30). The lighting device (300) is configured to emit light
Data Source
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AI summary
A work machine includes an attachment and a control device. The control device is configured to specify a hazardous zone in which a degree of hazard increases when an object falls during an operation of the attachment to lift and move the object, and make the specified hazardous zone visually recognizable.