Snow Plow Blade Control Using Boundary Signal Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Snowplows often cause significant damage to surrounding lawns, landscaping features, and obstructions due to the inability to accurately navigate and adjust the plow blade's position, especially when markers are damaged or obscured, leading to costly repairs and disruption.
Innovation Solution
A plow collateral damage mitigating system that includes a signal transmission cable around the plowing area, receivers on the snowplow, and a positional indicator mast that provides visual cues to the operator, allowing for automatic elevation, tilting, or pivoting of the plow blade to avoid hazards and maintain contact with the ground, while also using actuators to adjust the blade's orientation based on signal strength.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the plow blade is kept in full contact with the ground for complete snow removal, then snow removal effectiveness is improved, but damage to surrounding lawn and landscaping features increases
Solution Approach 1:
The plow blade is made dynamically adjustable in position and orientation through actuators that respond to real-time signals from receivers detecting boundary markers. This allows the blade to transition between full contact mode for snow removal and elevated/angled modes for avoiding obstacles, resolving the contradiction between removal effectiveness and damage prevention
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback through receivers that detect electromagnetic signals from buried boundary cables or GPS coordinates, providing real-time information to the control system. This feedback loop enables automatic adjustment of blade position to maintain snow removal effectiveness while preventing collateral damage to identified protected areas
2Measurement precision
If markers are used to indicate boundaries and obstructions, then navigation accuracy is improved, but markers are obliterated or knocked down by snowfall and cannot be replaced
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces electromagnetic fields as an intermediary between the boundary markers and the plow navigation system. Buried cables carrying electromagnetic signals or GPS satellite signals serve as durable intermediaries that are not physically vulnerable to snowplow damage, yet provide precise boundary information to receivers on the plow
Solution Approach 2:
Physical mechanical markers (stakes, paint, etc.) are replaced with electromagnetic signal transmission systems. The boundary information is conveyed through electromagnetic fields rather than physical objects, eliminating the vulnerability to physical damage while maintaining navigation precision
3Strength
If the plow blade is raised to avoid obstructions, then equipment damage is reduced, but residual snow accumulates on the surface
Solution Approach 1:
The plow blade position is dynamically controlled based on real-time feedback from the boundary detection system. The blade is raised only when approaching identified obstructions or protected areas, and lowered when safe to maintain contact for snow removal, optimizing both equipment protection and snow removal completeness
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs periodic scanning and detection of boundary markers combined with continuous adjustment of blade position. This rhythmic cycle of detect-adjust-maintain ensures the blade periodically engages for snow removal while avoiding sustained contact that would cause damage or accumulation
4Manufacturing precision
If automatic control systems are implemented for plow blade manipulation, then operational precision is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control system is designed to perform multiple functions: detecting boundary markers, calculating optimal blade position, controlling actuators, and providing operator feedback. By consolidating these functions into an integrated control unit, the system achieves high precision while managing complexity through functional integration
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates self-calibration and self-adjustment capabilities where the control system automatically learns boundary configurations and optimizes blade positioning without requiring complex manual programming. This self-service approach reduces operational complexity while maintaining precision
Data Source
AI summary
A plow collateral damage mitigating system for the minimization of collateral damage done by otherwise routine and/or careless usage of a plow blade is disclosed herein. In one or more embodiments, the system includes a signal transmission cable configured to be disposed around a periphery of an area that is to be plowed; one or more receivers on a snow plow device or vehicle that are configured to receive at least one signal conveyed by the signal transmission cable; at least one actuator controlling an orientation of a plow blade of the snow plow device; and a control unit configured to automatically control the orientation of the plow blade by means of adjusting the at least one actuator based upon the at least one signal of the signal transmission cable so as to avoid damaging a boundary feature and/or obstruction disposed at the periphery of the area being plowed.