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(11) | EP 0 471 840 A1 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
| published in accordance with Art. 158(3) EPC |
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| (54) | ELECTRONIC CONTROL TYPE HYDRAULIC DRIVING MACHINE |
| (57) This invention relates to an electronic control type hydraulic driving machine which
does not require any exclusive equipment butpermits an unmanned operation through
a remote control operation, can select and set easily each work mode by an external
memory such as an IC card, and enables an operator to experience the operation of
a vehicle or working machine by gripping an operation lever even during automatic
operation. This machine includes an electronic control type hydraulic valve device
(2) for making supply control of a pressure oil to hydraulic actuators (1a, 1b) for
driving the working machine, an electronic controller (3) for the valve device, an
electrical operation lever device (4) for outputting a lever operation signal and
a work automation controller (8) for outputting an operation signal to the electronic
controller. It may include further an external memory reader (18), a radio control
reception controller (11) for the remote operation, a radio control/manual operation
switching device (10), and the like. |
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates to an earth moving vehicle for conducting excavation work and the like, and more particularly to an electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicle provided with an work automation control device so that it can automatically conduct an earth moving operation repeatedly.
BACKGROUND ART OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Prior art earth moving vehicles such as power shovels and the like having no work automation device have required provision of an equipment or a vehicle for exclusive use in order to conduct unmanned operation.
[0003] To conduct unmanned operations of the above-mentioned prior art vehicles, the scale of the equipment and the running cost thereof will become unavoidably very large and high.
[0004] Further, there are a variety of operational modes for automatic controls of such electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicle. In prior art automatic vibration modes out of such a variety of operational modes, the arrangement is made such that to select each of the automatic vibration modes each of switches b, c and d provided on a panel "a" as shown in Fig. 1 is manipulated.
[0005] In the above-mentioned prior art automatic vibration modes, selection of each of the modes requires complicated operations of the switches b, c and d on the panel "a".
[0006] For example, to set automatic vibration mode, it is required for the operator turn on and off each of a vibration mode change-over switch b, a vibration section selection switch c and a vibration width selection switch d to thereby select three or four necessary items.
[0007] Further, such electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicles are provided with a work automation control device which can fulfill functions of automatic vibration and teaching playback. However, either in automatic vibration mode or in teaching playback mode, when the work implement is conducting vibrational operation or operation based on the teaching, the operating lever remains to be stopped at its neutral position.
[0008] Such being the arrangement, there is a problem with the prior art electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicles in that the operator cannot feel actually operations of the work implement and the vehicle body in comparison with the case he operates the operating lever manually to conduct operations of the work implement and the vehicle body.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances in the prior art, and has for its object to provide an earth moving vehicle wherein unmanned operation can be conducted simply without the need for provision of an equipment or vehicle for exclusive use and the unmanned operation can be conducted by remote control.
[0010] Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicle wherein change-over of operational modes is not made by change-over of switches, and instead each operational mode can be selectively set simply by using an external storage device such as an IC card or the like.
[0011] A still further object of the present invention is to provide an electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicle arranged such that during a playback operation the operating lever is moved by a manipulated variable corresponding to the amount of work to be done by the work implement, and the operator can feel actually operations or movements of the work implement and the vehicle body by grasping the operating lever by his hand.
[0012] To achieve the above-mentioned principal object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicle comprising: a plurality of hydraulic actuators for actuating a work implement; an electronically controlled type hydraulic valve device for controlling fluid under pressure to be supplied to these hydraulic actuators; an electronic control device for sending a predetermined control signal to this hydraulic valve device; an electrical operating lever device for outputting a manipulated variable of an operating lever in the form of an electric signal; and a work automation control device adapted to store the operation signal transmitted by the electrical operating lever device and output the stored operation signal to the electronic control device when it receives a command of playback.
[0013] To achieve the above-mentioned second object, according to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicle as set forth in the above-mentioned first aspect, characterized in that it comprises further an external storage reader connected with the work automation control device to read out the information stored in an external storage device such as an IC card or the like, the arrangement being made such that the work automation control device outputs a signal based on the signal read out by the external storage reader to the electronic control device.
[0014] To achieve the above-mentioned third object, according to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicle as set forth in the above-mentioned first aspect, characterized in that the electrical operating lever device comprises an actuator for actuating the lever attached thereto, and a control device connected with the work automation control device for controlling the actuator.
[0015] According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicle as set forth in the above-mentioned first aspect, characterized in that the work automation control device comprises a radio control/manual operation change-over device connected with the work automation control device and also connected with the electrical operating lever device, a ratio control signal receiving control device connected with the ratio control/manual operation change-over device, and an electrical operating lever device adapted to send a lever operation signal by wireless to the radio control signal receiving control device.
[0016] According to the present invention incorporating the above-mentioned aspects, unmanned operation can be conducted simply without having to use an equipment for exclusive use. Further, the unmanned operation can be conducted by radio control operation and the operational safety can be improved.
[0017] Further, change-over of operational modes is not mode by change-over of switches, and each of operational modes can be selectively set simply by using an external storage device such as an IC card or the like.
[0018] Further, in the electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicle provided with the work automation control device so that it can automatically conduct work repeatedly, during a playback operation the operating lever attached to the electrical operating lever device is moved by a manipulated variable corresponding to the amount of work to be done by the work implement, and the operator can feel actually operations or movements of the work implement or the vehicle body by grasping the operating lever by his hand so that he can realize the automatic repeating operation as actual feeling.
[0019] The above-mentioned and other objects, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art by making reference to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings in which preferred embodiments incorporating the principles of the present invention are shown by way of example only.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0020]
Fig. 1 is a schematic front view showing a panel switch used in a prior art electronically controlled type hydraulically driven equipment,
Figs. 2 to 5 are block diagrams showing different embodiments of the present invention, and,
Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing a work automation control device for use in the embodiment as shown in Fig. 5.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0021] The present invention will now be described in detail below by way of several preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompnaying drawings.
[0022] Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention. In the drawing, reference numerals 1a and 1b denote hydraulic actuators for actuating work implements of an earth moving vehicle such as a power shovel or the like, and 2 a hydraulic valve for controlling fluid pressure supplied to each of the hydraulic actuators 1a, 1b. This hydraulic valve 2 is of an electronically controlled type which is actuated by electronic control. Reference numeral 3 denotes a electronic control device for sending a predetermined control signal to the hydraulic valve 2.
[0023] Reference numeral 4 indicates an electrical operating lever device adapted to convert the turning angle of an operating lever 5 in the form of an electric signal. The operating lever 5 has a teaching switch 6 and a playback switch 7. Reference numeral 8 denotes a work automation control device which is controlled by the above-mentioned teaching switch 6 and playback switch 7 and adapted to store a lever operation signal transmitted by the electrical operating lever device 4 when the teaching switch 6 is turned on, and output the stored lever operation signal to the electronic control device 3 when the playback switch 7 is turned on. Further, the above-mentioned work automation control device 8 is adapted to be turned ON and OFF by means of a starting switch 9 mounted externally. When the starting switch 9 is turned OFF, the lever operation signal sent from the electrical operating lever device 4 is transmitted directly to the electronic control device 3 so that the manual operation can be conducted.
[0024] In the above-mentioned arrangement, the procedure to be taken in case of automatic operation of the earth moving vehicle will be described hereinbelow.
[0025] First of all, a skilled operator ride in the vehicle and turns the starting switch 9 and the teaching switch 6 on, and then manually operates the operating lever 5 of the electrical operating lever device 4. As a result, an operation signal which is in proportion to the turning angle of the above-mentioned operating lever 5 is transmitted by the electrical operating lever device 4 through the work automation control device 8 to the electronic control device 3. Then, the electronic control device 3 will transmit a control signal to the electronically controlled hydraulic valve 2 to thereby actuate the latter so that the hydraulic actuators 1a and 1b are moved by an amount in proportion to the turning angle of the operating lever 5 of the above-mentioned electrical operating lever device 4, thereby conducting a predetermined earth moving operation. The manipulated variable of the operating lever 5 at that time is stored in the work automation control device 8. Stating in brief, the exact actions or movements of the hydraulic actuators 1a, 1b in an operation are stored in the work automation control device 8.
[0026] To conduct the above-mentioned stored actions automatically, the playback switch 7 is turned on. As a result, the above-mentioned lever operation signal stored in the work automation control device 8 is outputted to the electronic control device 3 so that the hydraulic actuators 1a and 1b will conduct repeatedly entirely the same operation as the above-mentioned manual operation.
[0027] At that time, if the playback switch 7 is installed on the outside of the vehicle, the above-mentioned repeating (playback) operation can be conducted without the operator riding in the vehicle, i.e., in unmanned condition.
[0028] While in the above-mentioned embodiment there is described the case of operating the hydraulic actuators 1a and 1b by means of the operating lever, it is not applicable only to operation of the operating lever, and in case of vehicles, by teaching data on running such as forward running, reversing and turning, etc. by means of the teaching switch, running operations can be conducted at the time of playback.
[0029] Fig. 3 shows a second embodiment of the present invention wherein an electrical operating lever device 4 and a radio control signal receiving control device 11 are connected through a radio control/manual operation change-over device 10 with a work automation control device 8, and an antenna box 12 is connected with the radio control signal receiving control device 11. Reference numeral 13 denotes an electrical operating lever device for radio control operational purposes. A lever operation signal generated by the electrical operating lever device 13 is sent under radio control (wireless control) to the above-mentioned antenna box 12. Reference numeral 14 indicates accessories such as a display unit or a buzzer, and 15 a vehicle condition detector such as a means for detecting engine's cooling water temperature or the like.
[0030] In this embodiment, when the radio control/manual operation change-over device 10 is changed over to the driver riding-in side, an operation similar to that in the case of the embodiment shown in Fig. 2 is made.
[0031] Whilst, when the radio control/manual operation change-over device 10 is changed over to the radio control operation side, a radio control operation is conducted by the electrical operating lever device 13 for radio control operational purposes.
[0032] In the next place, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Fig. 4. Further, since the component parts indicated with the same reference numerals used in Figs. 2 and 3 are elements having the same functions, description of them is omitted herein to avoid duplication of explanation.
[0033] In this third embodiment, there is provided an electric motor 16 for actuating the operating lever 5 attached to the electrical operating lever device 4 so that the operating lever may be turned by the electric motor 16 in addition to manual operation. Further, the electric motor 16 is arranged to be controlled by a motor control device 17. The work automation control device 8 in this third embodiment is arranged to output a lever operation signal stored therein to the electronic control device 3 and the motor control device 17.
[0034] Automatic operation of a work implement by the electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicle is nearly the same as that in case of the first embodiment, but the arrangement is made such that when a lever operation signal is outputted from the work automation control device 8 to the electronic control device 3 the lever operation signal is also outputted to the motor control device 17 so that the electric motor 16 is driven in response to the output signal and the operating lever 5 attached to the electrical operating lever device 4 will conduct the same operation as that in case of the above-mentioned teaching operation. Therefore, the operator riding in the vehicle at that time can feel actually the operation of the earth moving vehicle by gripping lightly the operating lever 5 by his hand as if operation of the lever is made by himself.
[0035] Further, the electronic motor 16 provided on the above-mentioned electrical operating lever device 4 for actuating the operating lever 5 may be replaced by a hydraulic actuator.
[0036] In the next place, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to Figs. 5 and 6. Further, since the component parts indicated with the same reference numerals used in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are elements having the same functions, description of them is omitted herein to avoid duplication of explanation.
[0037] In the drawings, reference numeral 18 denotes an external storage reader adapted to read the information stored in an external storage device 19 such as an IC card and output the information read out thereby as a signal. Reference numeral 8 denotes a work automation control device, which comprises, as shown in Fig. 6, an analog-digital (A/D) converter 20, an arithmetic and logic unit 21, a digital-analog (D/A) converter 22, a RAM 23, and a change-over switch 24, etc. The arrangement is made such that a teaching signal from the above-mentioned electrical lever device 4 and signals from the external storage reader 18 and a panel switch 25 are inputted to the above-mentioned arithmetic and logic unit 21.
[0038] In the above-mentioned arrangement, when the external storage device 19 such as IC card is inserted in the external storage reader 18, the data stored in the storage device 19 is read by the reader 18 and inputted to the arithmetic and logic unit 21 of the work automation control device 8, which then outputs a signal based on the data to the electronic control unit 3, so that the hydraulic actuators 1a and 1b will conduct operation which corresponds to the data stored in the external storage device 19.
1. An electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicle comprising: a plurality
of hydraulic actuators for actuating a work implement; an electronically controlled
type hydraulic valve device for controlling fluid under pressure to be supplied to
these hydraulic actuators; an electronic control device for sending a predetermined
control signal to this hydraulic valve device; an electrical operating lever device
for outputting a manipulated variable of an operating lever in the form of an electric
signal; and an work automation control device adapted to store the operation signal
transmitted by the electrical operating lever device and output the stored operation
signal to said electronic control device when it receives a command of playback.
2. An electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicle as claimed in claim
1, characterized in that it comprises further an external storage reader connected
with said work automation control device to read out the information stored in an
external storage device such as an IC card or the like, the arrangement being made
such that the work automation control device outputs a signal based on the signal
read out by the external storage reader to said electronic control device.
3. An electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicle as claimed in claim
1, characterized in that said electrical operating lever device comprises an actuator
for actuating the operating lever attached thereto, and a control device connected
with said work automation control device for controlling the actuator.
4. An electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicle as claimed in claim
1, characterized in that said work automation control device comprises a radio control/manual
operation change-over device connected with the work automation control device and
also connected with said electrical operating lever device, and an electrical operating
lever device for radio control operational purposes adapted to send a lever operation
signal by wireless to a radio control signal receiving control device connected with
the radio control/manual operation change-over device.
5. An electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicle as claimed in claim
3, characterized in that said actuator is a hydraulic actuator.
6. An electronically controlled type hydraulically driven vehicle as claimed in claim
3, characterized in that said actuator is an electric motor.