Mining Machine Proximity Detection With Zoned Visual Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Autonomous mining machines lack effective proximity detection systems that provide visual feedback to off-board personnel, posing safety risks due to limited awareness of potential collisions with objects.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising sensors, strobe lights, and an electronic processor to identify collision zones and generate distinct visual indications for potential and immediate collision zones, providing targeted optical feedback to external individuals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If autonomous mining machines use basic stack lights for operational feedback, then the machine can indicate its operational state, but the feedback is limited and ambient rather than targeted to specific collision zones
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting system is segmented into multiple independent light sources positioned around the mining machine, with each light source corresponding to a specific collision zone. This allows targeted feedback to different areas rather than general ambient lighting, resolving the contradiction between information completeness and system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Different segments of the lighting system provide different types of feedback based on local conditions - specific collision zones receive targeted illumination when objects are detected, while other areas remain dark. This local differentiation provides precise spatial information without requiring a uniformly complex system throughout.
2Reliability
If the mining machine provides no external indication of object detection, then the system remains simple, but off-board personnel have limited awareness of potential collisions
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements external visual feedback by illuminating specific collision zones when objects are detected, providing real-time information to off-board personnel about potential hazards. This feedback mechanism enhances safety awareness without requiring complex communication infrastructure, using simple optical signals to convey critical information.
3Loss of information
If the mining machine uses targeted optical feedback to specific collision zones, then off-board personnel gain awareness of collision risks, but the system complexity increases beyond basic stack lights
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting system is divided into multiple independent controllable segments, each corresponding to a specific collision zone. This segmentation allows the control system to activate only the relevant segments based on object detection location, providing precise spatial information while keeping the control logic manageable through modular operation.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple light sources are pre-positioned around the mining machine at locations corresponding to potential collision zones. This preliminary arrangement eliminates the need for complex real-time calculation of light positions, as the spatial mapping is predetermined and simply activated based on sensor detection, reducing control system complexity.
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
Enhances safety by allowing off-board personnel to be aware of collision risks and the mining machine's detection of their presence, preventing potential hazards through directed visual feedback.
Implementation Method 1
a first strobe light and a second strobe light... control the first light source to repeatedly flash
Data Source
AI summary
A system for detecting a potential collision between an object and a mining machine, the system comprising: a sensor, a first strobe light and a second strobe light, and an electronic processor configured to identify a virtual perimeter around at least a portion of the mining machine, identify a plurality of collision zones, the plurality of collision zones including at least one immediate collision zone and at least one potential collision zone, receive a signal from a sensor indicating detection of the object in one of the plurality of collision zones, determine, based on the signal, whether the object is in the immediate collision zone or the potential collision zone, generate, in response to determining that the object is in the potential collision zone, a first indication, and generate, in response to determining that the object is in the immediate collision zone, a second indication different than the first indication.