Mine vehicle and method of initiating mine work task

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10174614-B2
Application number	US-201515111297-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 14, 2015
Priority date	Jan 14, 2014
Publication date	Jan 8, 2019
Grant date	Jan 8, 2019

Abstract

A method and mine vehicle includes at least one scanning device for scanning surroundings of the mine vehicle and producing operational point cloud data. The mine vehicle has a control unit provided with reference point cloud data of the mine. The control unit is configured to match the operational point cloud data to the reference point cloud data in order to determine position of the mine vehicle. The control unit further includes a mine work plan, which is connected to the detected position of the mine vehicle.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A mine vehicle comprising:
a movable carrier;
at least one mine work device for executing mine work tasks in a mine;
at least one scanning device for scanning surroundings of the mine vehicle and producing 3D scanning data of the surroundings;
a control unit configured to receive data and process the data in at least one processor, the control unit including at least one point cloud matching program arranged to be executed in the processor;
an initial first point cloud data arranged to be input into the control unit, the first point cloud data including a stored reference 3D model of the mine including point cloud data in a mine coordinate system;
at least one second point cloud data produced by the at least one scanning device of the mine vehicle arranged to be input into the control unit, the second point cloud data including operational scanning data of the current position of the mine vehicle, the control unit being configured to process the second point cloud data by extracting point cloud data of the surrounding surfaces and removing point cloud data of other objects, whereby a simplified second point cloud data of the surrounding surfaces is created, to execute the point cloud matching program in order to match the simplified second point cloud data to the reference first point cloud data, and to determine position and direction of the mine vehicle in the mine coordinate system on the basis of the determined matching between the simplified second point cloud data and the reference first point cloud data;
the control unit including at least one mine work plan defining position of a mine work site in the mine coordinate system and mine work tasks to be executed at the mine work site; and
the control unit is configured to connect the determined position of the mine vehicle and the position of the mine work plan for initiating the mine work task at the mine work site.

2. The mine vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine an area or section of the mine where the mine vehicle is operating, and based on the position data, the control unit is configured to compare the scanned second point cloud data to partial point cloud data of the mine, whereby a dedicated and limited point cloud data is serving as the reference data in the comparison.

3. The mine vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the mine vehicle is a rock drilling rig including at least one drilling boom provided with a drilling unit, the control unit including at least one drilling pattern serving as the mine work plan and defining positions and directions of several drill holes in the mine coordinate system for a round to be drilled at the predetermined drilling position in the mine, the control unit being configured to connect the determined position of the rock drilling rig and the position of the drilling pattern for initiating the drilling at the drilling position.

4. The mine vehicle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the mine vehicle is operable in an excavated rock space having a tunnel line and a realized face in a depth direction of the tunnel line, the mine vehicle including at least one instrumented boom with measuring devices arranged to detect the face and determine a position of the face relative to the tunnel line in depth direction, and wherein the control unit is configured to define the position of the mine work plan on the basis of the determined depth position of the realized face.

5. The mine vehicle as claimed in claim 4 , wherein measuring devices are arranged to determine a greatest depth of the tunnel face in the depth direction of the tunnel line, and wherein the control unit is configured to determine the detected greatest depth to define the position of the face.

6. The mine vehicle as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the mine work device is located at a distal portion of the instrumented boom, a location of the face relative to the carrier being determined by arranging the mine work device in contact with the face and determining the location of the face by the instrumented boom having the measuring devices.

7. The mine vehicle as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the scanning device is arranged to scan towards the realized face, whereby point cloud data provided with coordinates is produced of realized surfaces of previously excavated at least one round, and the control unit is configured to determine properties of the realized surfaces on the basis of the produced point cloud data.

8. The mine vehicle as claimed in claim 4 , wherein position and direction of the mine work device is determined by scanning the surroundings of the mine vehicle, whereby point cloud data of the mine work device is created, the at least one control unit being provided with a reference point cloud data of the mine work device, and at least one point cloud processing program arranged to be executed in the at least one control unit for comparing the scanned point cloud data and the reference point cloud data in order to search and detect the mine work device in the scanned point cloud data and to determine position and direction of the mine work device.

9. The mine vehicle as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the control unit is configured to compare the point cloud data produced by means of the scanning device with the 3D model of the mine in relation to the detected position and is configured to detect in the scanning data new or changed surrounding point cloud objects at the scanned position allowing newly created or changed walls to be detected and recorded, and the control unit being configured to incorporate the new point cloud data to the point cloud data of the 3D model of the mine, whereby the mine control unit is configured to update the 3D model of the mine on the basis of the scanning data.

10. A control unit for determining position and direction of a mine vehicle provided with at least one scanning device, the control unit comprising:
a processor arranged in operational communication with the mine vehicle having the at least one scanning device, the processor being arranged to receive from the mine vehicle operational scanning data of the current position of the mine vehicle, the scanning data including operational second point cloud data produced by the at least one scanning device, and for processing the received operational scanning data;
at least one point cloud matching program arranged to be executed in the processor;
initial first point cloud data including stored reference 3D model of the mine including point cloud data in a mine coordinate system, the control unit being configured to process the second point cloud data by extracting point cloud data of the surrounding surfaces and removing point cloud data of other objects, whereby a simplified second point cloud data of the surrounding surfaces is being created, to execute the point cloud matching program in order to match the simplified second point cloud data to the reference first point cloud data, and to determine position and direction of the mine vehicle in the mine coordinate system on the basis of the determined matching between the simplified point cloud data and the reference first point cloud data; and
at least one mine work plan defining position of a mine work site in the mine coordinate system and mine work tasks to be executed at the mine work site, wherein the control unit is configured to connect the determined position of the mine vehicle and the position of the mine work plan for initiating the mine work task at the mine work site.

11. A method of initiating mine work task at a mine work site, the method comprising:
positioning a mine vehicle in a mine;
executing at least one operational sc

Assignees

• Sandvik Mining & Construction Oy

Inventors

• Puura Jussi
• Von Essen Tomi

Classifications

• G01S17/42

  Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates (indirect measurement G01S17/46) · CPC title

• G01S7/4808

  Evaluating distance, position or velocity data · CPC title

• E21D9/003

  Arrangement of measuring or indicating devices for use during driving of tunnels, e.g. for guiding machines · CPC title

• E21D9/004

  using light beams for direction or position control · CPC title

• G01S7/4865

  Time delay measurement, e.g. time-of-flight measurement, time of arrival measurement or determining the exact position of a peak (peak detection in noise, signal conditioning G01S7/487) · CPC title