Unified Sensor System for Load Weighing and Stability Monitoring
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing monitoring systems for material transfer vehicles require separate sensors and units for accurate weighing and stability monitoring, which are costly and occupy valuable space in the cabin, and do not effectively account for uneven ground or vehicle movement when assessing overturning risks.
Innovation Solution
A unified monitoring system that uses a single set of sensors, including strain gauge transducers for weighing and gyroscopes for angle measurement, to provide both load weighing and stability monitoring, with a common user interface and processing unit, allowing for compensation of weighing signals and real-time stability assessment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If separate sensors and units are used for weighing and stability monitoring, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a multi-functional monitoring system where a single sensor unit performs both weighing and stability monitoring functions. The sensor system measures forces in multiple directions (vertical, lateral, longitudinal) to simultaneously determine load weight and vehicle stability parameters, eliminating the need for separate dedicated sensors for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines previously separate weighing and stability monitoring systems into a unified monitoring system. The processing unit integrates data from the same sensor array to generate both weighing results and stability assessments, reducing system complexity and component count while maintaining measurement accuracy through coordinated signal processing.
2Measurement precision
If separate sensors and units are used for weighing and stability monitoring, then measurement precision is improved, but production and installation costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a multi-functional monitoring system where a single sensor unit performs both weighing and stability monitoring functions. The sensor system measures forces in multiple directions (vertical, lateral, longitudinal) to simultaneously determine load weight and vehicle stability parameters, eliminating the need for separate dedicated sensors for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines previously separate weighing and stability monitoring systems into a unified monitoring system. The processing unit integrates data from the same sensor array to generate both weighing results and stability assessments, reducing system complexity and component count while maintaining measurement accuracy through coordinated signal processing.
3Reliability
If separate camera systems and monitors are added for environment monitoring, then reliability is improved, but device complexity and cabin space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates camera-based environment monitoring into the existing unified monitoring system. The same processing unit that handles sensor data for weighing and stability also processes camera feeds, and the single user interface displays both types of information, reducing overall system complexity compared to completely separate systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The processing unit and user interface are designed as multi-functional components that handle diverse monitoring tasks including sensor data processing, stability analysis, and camera feed processing, allowing the system to provide comprehensive monitoring capabilities without requiring separate dedicated hardware for each function.
4Device complexity
If weighing sensors are used without compensation for vehicle movement and uneven ground, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback-based compensation mechanism where the sensor system continuously measures forces in multiple directions, and the processing unit uses this information to calculate and compensate for the effects of vehicle movement and uneven ground on the weighing measurement. The system dynamically adjusts the weighing result based on real-time stability parameters.
Solution Approach 2:
The processing unit acts as an intermediary that receives raw sensor data, separates the components related to vehicle movement and ground unevenness from those related to actual load weight, and reconstructs the accurate weighing measurement by eliminating the interfering factors through computational compensation.
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
This solution reduces production and installation costs, optimizes cabin space, and provides accurate weighing and stability monitoring, while enabling user-specific safety restrictions and efficient hydraulic system control, all while integrating camera and distance detection for comprehensive vehicle management.
Implementation Method 1
strain-gauge transducers can be used as weighing sensors
Implementation Method 2
at least one second sensor, a gyroscope, for measuring angle of a base, boom and/or bucket
Implementation Method 3
pressure sensors may be installed in the lifting cylinders, which pressure sensors measure the pressure of the hydraulic liquid in the cylinder
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
AI summary
This invention relates generally to a monitoring system of a material transfer vehicle. The present invention can be applied in weighing a load of the vehicle and in monitoring physical stability of the vehicle. The material transfer vehicle may be e.g. a wheel loader, a forklift, an excavator, a dumper, a forwarder, a harvester, a crane, a passenger hoist, a timber jack, or a truck such as a fire truck, a forklift truck, a pallet truck, a reach truck, or a garbage truck. The object of the invention is met by a solution, wherein a material transfer vehicle has at least one sensor for weighing and at least one sensor for measuring acceleration and/or angle of the vehicle or part of the vehicle in order to compensate the weighing data. In the inventive system a same part is used for both weighing a load of the carrying means and for monitoring a risk of overturning.