Work surface failure prediction and notification system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10279930-B2
Application number	US-201615199109-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2016
Priority date	Jun 30, 2016
Publication date	May 7, 2019
Grant date	May 7, 2019

Abstract

A failure prediction and notification system for a work surface that has a raised contour includes a perception sensor mounted on a machine and a controller. The controller determines an initial physical characteristic of the initial topography of the work surface adjacent the raised contour, generates an electronic map of a current topography of the work surface based at least partially on the raw data points, and determines a current physical characteristic of the current topography. The controller further determines a difference between the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic, compares the difference to a characteristic difference threshold, and generates an alert upon the difference exceeding the characteristic difference threshold.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A failure prediction and notification system for use at a work site, the work site having a work surface including a raised contour, and the work site further including a plurality of dump targets adjacent the raised contour, comprising:
a perception sensor mounted on a machine for generating raw data points reflective of a perceived work environment associated with the machine;
a controller configured to:
store a characteristic difference threshold;
store an electronic map of an initial topography of the work surface adjacent the raised contour;
determine an initial physical characteristic of the initial topography of the work surface adjacent the raised contour;
receive the raw data points from the perception sensor;
generate an electronic map of a current topography of the work surface adjacent the raised contour based at least partially on the raw data points;
determine a current physical characteristic of the current topography of the work surface adjacent the raised contour;
determine a difference between the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic;
compare the difference between the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic to the characteristic difference threshold;
generate an alert upon the difference between the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic exceeding the characteristic difference threshold, the alert including target instructions to direct haul machines to avoid dump targets adjacent a portion of the raised contour at which the difference between the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic exceeds the characteristic difference threshold, and further including inspection and/or repair instructions to direct an inspection and/or repair of the portion of the raised contour; and
generate haul machine movement commands based upon the alert to move each haul machine to one of the dump targets while avoiding dump targets adjacent the portion of the raised contour at which the difference between the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic exceeds the characteristic difference threshold.

2. The failure prediction and notification system of claim 1 , wherein the raised contour includes a top wall, and the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic comprise a height of the top wall above the work surface.

3. The failure prediction and notification system of claim 1 , wherein the raised contour includes an inward edge, a top wall, and a sloped sidewall extending between the inward edge and the top wall, and the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic comprise an angle of the sloped sidewall.

4. The failure prediction and notification system of claim 1 , wherein the raised contour includes a crack and the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic comprise a length of the crack.

5. The failure prediction and notification system of claim 1 , wherein the raised contour includes a crack and the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic comprise a width of the crack.

6. The failure prediction and notification system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to transmit the alert to a system remote from the machine.

7. The failure prediction and notification system of claim 6 , wherein the alert includes a request for human inspection.

8. The failure prediction and notification system of claim 1 , wherein the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic comprise a slope of the work surface adjacent the raised contour.

9. The failure prediction and notification system of claim 8 , further including a position sensor on-board the machine for generating position signals indicative of a pose of the machine, and the controller is configured to determine the pose of the machine based upon the position signals, determine a slope of the work surface adjacent the raised contour based upon pose of the machine, and the characteristic difference threshold comprises a slope change threshold.

10. The failure prediction and notification system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to store a characteristic threshold, compare the characteristic threshold to the current physical characteristic of the current topography, generate a second alert upon the current physical characteristic exceeding the characteristic threshold, and transmit the second alert to a system remote from the machine.

11. The failure prediction and notification system of claim 1 , wherein the characteristic difference threshold is stored by an on-board controller on the machine, and the on-board controller is configured to compare the difference between the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic to the characteristic difference threshold.

12. The failure prediction and notification system of claim 1 , wherein the characteristic difference threshold is stored by an off-board controller remote from the machine, and the off-board controller is configured to compare the difference between the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic to the characteristic difference threshold.

13. The failure prediction and notification system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to store a plurality of characteristic difference thresholds, the plurality of characteristic difference thresholds corresponding to different soil conditions of the work surface.

14. A method of failure prediction and notification for use at a work site, the work site a work surface including a raised contour, and the work site further including a plurality of dump targets adjacent the raised contour, comprising:
storing a characteristic difference threshold;
storing an electronic map of an initial topography of the work surface adjacent the raised contour;
determining an initial physical characteristic of the initial topography of the work surface adjacent the raised contour;
receiving raw data points from a perception sensor mounted on a machine;
generating an electronic map of a current topography of the work surface adjacent the raised contour based at least partially on the raw data points;
determining a current physical characteristic of the current topography of the work surface adjacent the raised contour;
determining a difference between the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic;
comparing the difference between the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic to the characteristic difference threshold;
generating an alert upon the difference between the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic exceeding the characteristic difference threshold, the alert including generating target instructions to direct haul machines to avoid dump targets adjacent a portion of the raised contour at which the difference between the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic exceeds the characteristic difference threshold, and further including generating inspection and/or repair instructions to direct an inspection and/or repair of the portion of the raised contour; and
moving each haul machine to one of the dump targets based upon the alert while avoiding dump targets adjacent the portion of the raised contour at which the difference between the current physical characteristic and the initial physical characteristic exceeds the characteristic difference thresho

Assignees

• Caterpillar Inc

Inventors

• Hukkeri Ramadev
• Struble Joshua C
• Kini Ananth P

Classifications

• G01S17/931

  of land vehicles · CPC title

• G01S17/89

  for mapping or imaging · CPC title

• G01S15/931

  of land vehicles · CPC title

• G01S15/89 Primary

  for mapping or imaging · CPC title

• B64G1/16 Primary

  Extraterrestrial cars · CPC title