Work Vehicle Controller Virtual Design Surface Slope Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional systems for controlling work vehicles, such as bulldozers, face challenges in maintaining a smooth excavation operation when dealing with landscapes featuring upward and downward slopes, leading to irregularities and reduced efficiency due to repeated load adjustments and scaffold narrowing, which degrades the quality of the finished landscape.
Innovation Solution
A control system that includes a storage device and a controller, which acquires current landscape information and determines a virtual design surface with inclined angles to guide the work implement, allowing it to move along optimized surfaces for efficient excavation and scaffold formation, thereby maintaining a high-quality finish.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If load controlling is used to prevent shoe slip by lifting the work implement when load increases, then shoe slip is reduced, but the landscape develops large irregularities and excavation smoothness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The control device predicts future load increases based on current landscape information and design surface data before the load actually increases. When a load increase is predicted, the work implement is lifted in advance, preventing shoe slip before it occurs while maintaining excavation smoothness by avoiding reactive lifting that creates irregularities
2Reliability
If repeated load controlling is applied when load increases occur frequently, then shoe slip is prevented, but the landscape becomes rough and finish quality degrades
Solution Approach 1:
By predicting load increases before they occur, the system lifts the work implement proactively rather than reactively. This prevents the need for repeated reactive lifting that creates rough surfaces, while still preventing shoe slip. The prediction-based approach smooths out the excavation by anticipating and preparing for load changes in advance
Solution Approach 2:
The control device continuously monitors current landscape information and compares it with the design surface to predict future load conditions. This feedback loop allows the system to adjust work implement position proactively based on predicted load increases, preventing both shoe slip and surface irregularities
3Productivity
If excavation is performed on downward slopes, then the scaffold on the top portion is narrowed, but work vehicle stability and operation efficiency are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The control device predicts when the scaffold will be narrowed due to downward slope excavation and lifts the work implement in advance. This preliminary action maintains a stable working platform by preventing scaffold narrowing before it occurs, ensuring work vehicle stability and continuous operation efficiency throughout the excavation process
Data Source
AI summary
When a current landscape includes an upward slope and a downward slope existing ahead of the upward slope, a controller determines a virtual design surface including a first design surface inclined at a smaller angle than the upward slope and a second design surface inclined with respect to the first design surface at a smaller angle than the downward slope. The controller generates a command signal that causes a work implement to move along the virtual design surface.