Method of controlling motor grader and motor grader

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10961685-B2
Application number	US-201716082655-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2017
Priority date	Mar 23, 2016
Publication date	Mar 30, 2021
Grant date	Mar 30, 2021

Abstract

A motor grader includes a blade between a front wheel and a rear wheel, the blade being attached to a swing circle which adjusts a blade angle. A control method performed in the motor grader includes obtaining current topography in front of the motor grader and adjusting the blade angle to an angle in accordance with the current topography by revolving the swing circle.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of controlling a motor grader, the motor grader including a blade between a front wheel and a rear wheel, the blade being attached to a swing circle which adjusts a blade angle, the method comprising:
obtaining current topography in front of the motor grader;
determining whether the obtained current topography includes a recess; and
adjusting the blade angle of the blade to an angle in accordance with the current topography by revolving the swing circle, wherein in the adjusting the blade angle, when the current topography is determined as including the recess, the swing circle is caused to revolve such that the blade angle is larger than the blade angle set by an operator of the motor grader.

2. The method of controlling a motor grader according to claim 1 , further comprising determining a size of the recess, wherein
in the adjusting the blade angle, when the recess has a first size, the swing circle is caused to revolve such that the blade angle is set to a first angle larger than the blade angle set by the operator, and when the recess has a second size larger than the first size, the swing circle is caused to revolve such that the blade angle is set to a second angle larger than the first angle.

3. The method of controlling a motor grader according to claim 2 , wherein
in the determining a size of the recess, the size of the recess is determined based on at least one of a size of an opening of the recess and a depth of the recess.

4. The method of controlling a motor grader according to claim 1 , wherein
in the obtaining current topography, the current topography is obtained by picking up an image of the current topography with an image pick-up apparatus or scanning the current topography with laser.

5. A method of controlling a motor grader, the motor grader including a blade between a front wheel and a rear wheel, the blade being attached to a swing circle which adjusts a blade angle, the method comprising:
obtaining current topography in front of the motor grader;
determining whether the obtained current topography includes a projection; and
adjusting the blade angle of the blade to an angle in accordance with the current topography by revolving the swing circle, wherein in the adjusting the blade angle, when the current topography is determined as including the projection, the swing circle is caused to revolve such that the blade angle is smaller than the blade angle set by an operator of the motor grader.

6. The method of controlling a motor grader according to claim 5 , further comprising determining a size of the projection, wherein
in the adjusting the blade angle, when the projection has a first size, the swing circle is caused to revolve such that the blade angle is set to a first angle smaller than the blade angle set by the operator, and when the projection has a second size larger than the first size, the swing circle is caused to revolve such that the blade angle is set to a second angle smaller than the first angle.

7. The method of controlling a motor grader according to claim 6 , wherein
in the determining a size of the projection, the size of the projection is determined based on at least a height of the projection.

8. The method of controlling a motor grader according to claim 5 , wherein
in the obtaining current topography, the current topography is obtained by picking up an image of the current topography with an image pick-up apparatus or scanning the current topography with laser.

9. A method of controlling a motor grader, the motor grader including a blade between a front wheel and a rear wheel, the blade being attached to a swing circle which adjusts a blade angle, the method comprising:
obtaining current topography in front of the motor grader;
obtaining, from an image pick-up apparatus arranged in front of the blade, an amount of soil on a front surface of the blade; and
adjusting the blade angle of the blade to an angle in accordance with the current topography and the amount of soil by revolving the swing circle.

10. The method of controlling a motor grader according to claim 9 , further comprising determining a size of a recess included in the obtained current topography, wherein
in the adjusting the blade angle, when the size of the recess is larger than the amount of soil, the swing circle is caused to revolve such that the blade angle is larger than a current blade angle.

11. A motor grader comprising:
a swing circle configured to adjust a blade angle;
a front wheel;
a rear wheel;
a blade attached to the swing circle, the blade being provided between the front wheel and the rear wheel;
a sensor arranged in front of the blade and configured to obtain current topography in front of the motor grader; and
a controller configured to control revolution of the swing circle, the controller being configured to adjust the blade angle of the blade to an angle in accordance with the current topography by having the swing circle revolve, wherein the controller is configured to:
determine whether the obtained current topography includes a recess, and
when the current topography is determined as including the recess, have the swing circle revolve such that the blade angle is larger than the blade angle set by an operator of the motor grader.

12. The motor grader according to claim 11 , wherein
the controller is configured to
further determine a size of the recess,
when the recess has a first size, have the swing circle revolve such that the blade angle is set to a first angle larger than the blade angle set by the operator, and
when the recess has a second size larger than the first size, have the swing circle revolve such that the blade angle is set to a second angle larger than the first angle.

13. The motor grader according to claim 12 , wherein
the controller is configured to determine the size of the recess based on at least one of a size of an opening of the recess and a depth of the recess.

14. The motor grader according to claim 11 , wherein
the sensor is implemented by an image pick-up apparatus configured to pick up an image of the current topography or a laser emission apparatus configured to scan the current topography.

15. A motor grader comprising:
a swing circle configured to adjust a blade angle;
a front wheel;
a rear wheel;
a blade attached to the swing circle, the blade being provided between the front wheel and the rear wheel;
a sensor arranged in front of the blade and configured to obtain current topography in front of the motor grader; and
a controller configured to control revolution of the swing circle, the controller being configured to adjust the blade angle of the blade to an angle in accordance with the current topography by having the swing circle revolve, wherein the controller is configured to:
determine whether the obtained current topography includes a projection, and
when the current topography is determined as including the projection, have the swing circle revolve such that the blade angle is smaller than the blade angle set by an operator of the motor grader.

16. The motor grader according to claim 15 , wherein
the controller is further configured to
determine a size of the projection,
when the projection has a first size, have the swing circle revolve such that the blade angle is set to a first angle smaller than the blade angle set by the operator, and
when the projection has a second size larger than the first size, have the swing circle revolve such that the blade angle is set to a second angle smaller than the first angle.

Assignees

• Komatsu Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ono Yutaka

Classifications

• E02F3/765 Primary

  with the scraper blade being pivotable about a horizontal axis disposed perpendicular to the blade · CPC title

• E02F3/76

  Graders, bulldozers, or the like with scraper plates or ploughshare-like elements (soil-working A01B); Levelling {scarifying} devices {(street cleaning E01H; construction of roads E01C19/00, E01C23/00)} · CPC title

• E02F3/845

  using mechanical sensors to determine the blade position, e.g. inclinometers, gyroscopes, pendulums · CPC title

• E02F3/8152 Primary

  Attachments therefor, e.g. wear resisting parts, cutting edges (E02F3/8155, E02F3/8157 take precedence; teeth per se E02F9/28) · CPC title

• E02F9/262

  with follow-up actions to control the work tool, e.g. controller · CPC title