GPS Paint Carriage Control for Accurate Roadway Marking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current roadway marking technologies are manually intensive, pose safety risks to workers, and lack accuracy and efficiency in replicating existing marks on repaved or resurfaced roadways, with limitations in GPS-based systems for precise positioning and uniform material deposition.
Innovation Solution
A GPS-based control system that uses a vehicle-mounted apparatus with a movable paint carriage, GPS antennas, signal processors, and machine vision to accurately position and align paint nozzles over predetermined mark paths, incorporating filtering and smoothing of GPS data with Bayesian or Kalman filters to ensure precise and uniform marking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual methods are used to determine roadway center and apply markings, then workers can directly guide paint application, but worker safety is compromised and manual labor intensity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical guidance with an automated GPS-based control system. The system uses GPS receivers to track the vehicle's position, compares it with pre-stored roadway centerline coordinates, and automatically controls the paint carriage positioning and spray nozzle operation, eliminating the need for workers to manually guide paint application and thereby resolving the safety risk contradiction
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service operation where the GPS control system autonomously determines positioning, calculates deviations from the centerline, and controls paint application without human intervention. The vehicle's own GPS receiver and control system work together to automatically replicate roadway markings, reducing manual labor intensity while maintaining marking accuracy
2Productivity
If GPS-based automated positioning is implemented, then productivity and accuracy improve, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The GPS control system is designed to perform multiple functions: it tracks vehicle position, compares coordinates with stored centerline data, calculates lateral and longitudinal deviations, controls paint carriage positioning, and manages spray nozzle operation. By consolidating these functions into a single multi-functional system, the patent improves productivity while managing complexity through functional integration rather than separate dedicated components for each task
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a computer as an intermediary that processes GPS data, stores roadway centerline coordinates, performs coordinate transformations, and generates control signals. This intermediary simplifies the overall system architecture by centralizing complex computational tasks in a dedicated processing unit, allowing the GPS receiver, paint carriage, and spray nozzles to communicate through standardized interfaces rather than requiring direct complex interconnections
3Speed
If GPS data is used for positioning without filtering, then real-time positioning is achieved, but positioning accuracy deteriorates due to signal noise
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously receives GPS position data, compares it with the stored roadway centerline coordinates, calculates the deviation, and uses this feedback to adjust the paint carriage positioning in real-time. This closed-loop feedback mechanism allows the system to maintain real-time responsiveness while correcting for GPS signal noise through continuous comparison and adjustment, thereby improving positioning accuracy without sacrificing real-time performance
Data Source
AI summary
A GPS-based control system for positioning a nozzle projection onto a predetermined roadway mark path includes a vehicle having an attached paint carriage which is laterally movable with respect to the vehicle, a first GPS antenna, a first GPS receiver responsive to the first GPS antenna, a first signal processor for determining the geographical location of the first GPS antenna, a linear motion and position sensor, a GPS location processor for determining the absolute GPS location of the paint carriage, a coordinate transform processor for transforming the absolute GPS location of the paint carriage into a location in a coordinate system other than GPS, a comparator for comparing the location of the paint carriage in the other coordinate system to a desired roadway mark path according to the other coordinate system, and a control system for positioning the nozzle projection onto the roadway mark path.