Building Maintenance Cradle Orientation Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing building maintenance units require complex mechanical understanding and separate control of multiple drives, making intuitive and safe operation of cradles challenging, especially when maintaining high-rise buildings like glass fronts.
Innovation Solution
A building maintenance unit with a control system that sends coordinated control signals to multiple drives to maintain cradle orientation during movement, using a relative coordinate system for intuitive user commands and incorporating sensors for closed-loop control, allowing for smooth and accurate cradle movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If separate control of multiple drives is used, then mechanical precision is maintained, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple drive controls (first drive for first arm, second drive for second arm, third drive for support element) into a single intuitive control interface. The control unit receives a single movement command and automatically coordinates all drives to execute the desired cradle movement while maintaining constant orientation, eliminating the need for operators to understand or control each drive separately.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit acts as an intermediary between the operator's simple movement command and the complex multi-drive mechanical system. It translates high-level directional commands into coordinated control signals for multiple drives, managing the complexity internally while presenting a simple interface to the user.
2Ease of operation
If complex mechanical understanding is required, then control precision is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates sensors that provide feedback to the control unit about the actual positions and orientations of the arms and cradle. The control unit continuously monitors this feedback and adjusts the drive commands to ensure the cradle maintains constant orientation during movement, achieving precise control without requiring operator expertise in the mechanical system.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system performs self-correction by automatically adjusting the coordination between drives based on sensor feedback. The system monitors its own state and makes necessary adjustments to maintain precise cradle orientation, eliminating the need for operators to understand or manually compensate for mechanical complexities.
3Reliability
If constant cradle orientation is maintained during movement, then safety is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Sensors continuously monitor the cradle's orientation and position, providing real-time feedback to the control unit. This feedback enables the system to automatically adjust the coordination between multiple drives to maintain constant cradle orientation during movement, enhancing safety without requiring additional mechanical complexity in the cradle itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical orientation-maintaining mechanisms with a control-based solution. Instead of using additional mechanical linkages or guides to physically constrain the cradle's orientation, the system uses coordinated control of existing drives based on sensor feedback to achieve the same safety effect through software control.
Data Source
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AI summary
A building maintenance unit (10) comprising a base (12), a first rigid arm (16), a second rigid arm (30), a rigid support element (38), a plurality of drives (44, 46, 48), and a control unit (50) wherein the control unit (50) is adapted, if the control unit (50) receives a movement command to move a cradle (40) of the building maintenance unit (10) from a present position to a new position, to send control signals such that the cradle (40) at least substantially maintains a constant orientation during a movement to the new position until the new position is reached. Further, a building (42) having a building front (60) and a building maintenance unit (10) is disclosed.