Lift Platform Reachability Using Load-Map Position Determination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing reaching apparatuses, such as booms and telehandlers, lack effective systems to determine their operational range and position accurately, leading to potential inefficiencies and safety risks due to unclear reach capabilities.
Innovation Solution
A range and position determination system for lift machines that includes a base unit, human machine interface, and processing circuits to determine platform position, weight, and operational envelope, providing real-time feedback on reachability and safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a range and position determination system is implemented, then measurement precision and reliability are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The base unit is designed to perform multiple functions: determining platform position, calculating distance and orientation to desired positions, querying the load map, and generating status indications. By consolidating these functions into a single multi-functional device, the system achieves high measurement precision without proportionally increasing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The load map serves as an intermediary data structure that pre-stores operational envelope information. Instead of performing complex real-time calculations to determine reachability, the base unit queries this pre-computed load map, significantly simplifying the determination process while maintaining high accuracy in position and reach assessment.
2Reliability
If real-time feedback on reachability is provided, then operational safety is improved, but use of energy increases
Solution Approach 1:
The operational envelope and load map are pre-calculated and stored before operation. During actual use, the base unit only needs to query this pre-prepared information based on current position and weight, rather than performing energy-intensive real-time physics calculations. This allows continuous safety monitoring with minimal energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically determines reachability and generates status indications without requiring external computation or intervention. The base unit independently queries the load map and provides safety feedback, enabling continuous monitoring with efficient energy use.
Data Source
AI summary
A lift machine including a frame, a platform movable relative to the frame and structured to support a user, and a range and position determination system. The range and position determination system including a base unit coupled to the frame and structured to determine a platform position relative to the frame, a human machine interface structured to identify a desired position, and one or more processing circuits structured to: receive a total weight of the platform, determine distance and orientation information of the desired position, query a load map, return an acceptable status when the distance and orientation information and the total weight are within the operational envelope, return an unacceptable status when the distance and orientation information and the total weight are outside the operational envelope, and output the acceptable status or the unacceptable status to the human machine interface for display to the user.