Determine optimal frequency to load haul truck

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11560676-B2
Application number	US-201916274449-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 13, 2019
Priority date	Feb 13, 2019
Publication date	Jan 24, 2023
Grant date	Jan 24, 2023

Abstract

A method of determining optimal frequency to load haul trucks can include a central controller receiving an indication of the amount of paving material at a paving machine, and an indication of production rate of the paving machine. The central controller can then determine when more paving material should be provided to the paving machine. Based on this determination, the central controller can provide alerts or triggers to a paving material plant to indicate when haul trucks should be loaded to provide additional paving materials to the paving machine.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for controlling frequency of loading for a load truck, the method comprising:
receiving, from a paving machine, a signal indicating an amount of paving material currently at the paving machine and a production rate of the paving machine;
determining a time at which to provide additional paving material to the paving machine based on the amount of paving material at the paving machine and on the production rate; and
providing an alert to trigger loading paving material into a haul truck based on the determined time, wherein the trigger is provided based on an estimated time between loading paving material into the haul truck and arrival of the haul truck at the paving machine.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
adjusting the determined time for the trigger based on availability of another haul truck for providing paving material to the paving machine.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
adjusting the determined time of the trigger based on estimated cooling of the paving material between loading the paving material into the haul truck and arrival of the haul truck at the paving machine.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the haul truck, a haul truck location signal indicative of a location of the haul truck.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
providing an estimated arrival time of the haul truck at a paving material plant based on the location of the haul truck; and
providing a trigger to trigger production of a batch of paving material based on the estimated arrival time.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
accessing at least one of traffic information and weather information within a range of the location of the haul truck; and
adjusting the estimated arrival time based on at least one of the traffic information and the weather information.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving temperature information from the paving machine indicative of temperature of the paving material during at least one of: loading of the paving material into the paving machine, application of the paving material to a surface, and a time subsequent to application of the paving material to the surface.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
adjusting the determined time for the trigger based on ambient temperature and on temperature of the paving material.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving information from the paving machine indicating overcooling of the paving material at a hopper of the paving machine; and
adjusting the determined time for the trigger responsive to receiving information indicating overcooling.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving information from the paving machine indicating overheating of the paving material at a screed of the paving machine; and
adjusting the determined time for the trigger responsive to receiving information indicating overheating.

11. A system for controlling frequency of loading a haul truck, the system comprising:
a network interface device to receive a signal indicating an amount of paving material currently at a paving machine and a production rate of the paving machine; and
a hardware processor coupled to the network interface device and configured to:
determine a time at which to provide additional paving material to the paving machine based on the amount of paving material at the paving machine and on the production rate; and
encode, for transmission over the network interface device, an alert to trigger loading paving material into a haul truck based on the determined time, wherein the trigger is provided based on an estimated time between loading paving material into the haul truck and arrival of the haul truck at the paving machine.

12. The system of claim 11 ,
wherein the estimated time between loading paving material into the haul truck and arrival of the haul truck at the paving machine is based on at least one of traffic information, weather information, location information of the haul truck, and location information of the paving machine; and
wherein the hardware processor is further configured to adjust the determined time of the trigger based on estimated cooling of the paving material between loading the paving material into the haul truck and arrival of the haul truck at the paving machine.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the hardware processor is further configured to trigger production of a batch of paving material based on at least one of estimated time of arrival of the haul truck and estimated cooling of the paving material.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the hardware processor is further configured to:
receive information indicating at least one of overheating and overcooling of the paving material; and
adjust the trigger time responsive to receiving the information.

15. A computer-readable medium including instructions that, when implemented on an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform operations including:
receiving an indication of an amount of paving material currently at a paving machine and a production rate of the paving machine;
determining a time at which to provide additional paving material to the paving machine based on the amount of paving material at the paving machine and on the production rate; and
encoding an alert to trigger loading of paving material into a haul truck based on the determined time, wherein the trigger is provided based on an estimated time between loading paving material into the haul truck and arrival of the haul truck at the paving machine.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the operations further include:
adjusting the determined time of the trigger based on estimated cooling of the paving material between loading the paving material into the haul truck and arrival of the haul truck at the paving machine.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the operations further include:
receiving, from the haul truck, a haul truck location signal indicative of a location of the haul truck;
providing an estimated arrival time of the haul truck at a paving material plant based on the location of the haul truck; and
providing a trigger to trigger production of a batch of paving material based on the estimated arrival time.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the operations further include:
accessing at least one of traffic information and weather information within a range of the location of the haul truck; and
adjusting the estimated arrival time based on at least one of the traffic information and the weather information.

Assignees

• Caterpillar Paving Products Inc

Inventors

• Mcalpine Jacob J
• Marsolek John L
• Raghunathan Muthushankar

Classifications

• E01C19/1063 Primary

  Controlling the operations (E01C19/1068 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E01C19/1068

  Supplying or proportioning the ingredients · CPC title

• G06Q10/06313 Primary

  Resource planning in a project environment · CPC title

• E01C19/46

  for preparing and placing the materials {, e.g. slurry seals}({E01C19/002, } E01C19/45, {E01C21/00, E01C23/065} take precedence) · CPC title

• E01C19/08

  Apparatus for transporting and {heating or} melting asphalt, bitumen, tar, or the like (stationarily-arranged melting boilers for tar, asphalt, or the like, in general C10C3/12) · CPC title