Blade control device and blade control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11933018-B2
Application number	US-201917047881-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 28, 2019
Priority date	May 29, 2018
Publication date	Mar 19, 2024
Grant date	Mar 19, 2024

Abstract

A blade control device includes: a corrected design surface generation unit that generates a corrected design surface connecting a first surface existing in front of a work vehicle and a second surface having a different slope from a slope of the first surface on an initial design surface indicating a target shape of an excavation object to be excavated using a blade of the work vehicle; and a blade control unit that outputs a control command to control a height of the blade based on the corrected design surface.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A blade control device comprising:
a blade of a work vehicle;
a corrected design surface generation unit that generates a corrected design surface connecting a first surface existing in front of the work vehicle of an initial design surface indicating a target shape of an excavation object to be excavated using the blade of the work vehicle and a second surface of the initial design surface, the second surface touching the first surface and having a different slope from a slope of the first surface on the initial design surface; and
a blade control unit that outputs a control command to control a height of the blade based on the corrected design surface,
wherein the corrected design surface generation unit generates the corrected design surface when a prescribed correction condition is satisfied, and
the correction condition is a condition that a traveling speed of the work vehicle entering the first surface is a speed threshold or more.

2. The blade control device according to claim 1 ,
further comprising an inflection position search unit that searches for an inflection position indicating a boundary between the first surface and the second surface on the initial design surface,
wherein the corrected design surface generation unit generates the corrected design surface based on the inflection position.

3. The blade control device according to claim 2 ,
wherein the corrected design surface generation unit generates the corrected design surface so as to connect a first portion of the first surface located at a first distance from the inflection position and a second portion of the second surface located at a second distance from the inflection position.

4. The blade control device according to claim 1 ,
wherein
the correction condition also includes a condition that an angle formed by the first surface and the second surface is an angle threshold or less.

5. The blade control device according to claim 4 ,
wherein the angle formed by the first surface and the second surface is smaller than 180[° ] on the initial design surface.

6. The blade control device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an actual height calculation unit that calculates the height of the blade based on vehicle data related to the work vehicle;
a target height acquisition unit that acquires a target height of the blade calculated based on the initial design surface; and
a target height correction unit that corrects the target height based on the corrected design surface to generate a corrected target height,
wherein the blade control unit outputs the control command so as to reduce a deviation between a height of a cutting edge of the blade and the target height in a state where the cutting edge of the blade is positioned on the initial design surface, and outputs the control command so as to reduce a deviation between the height of the cutting edge of the blade and the corrected target height in a state where the cutting edge of the blade is positioned on the corrected design surface.

7. A blade control method comprising:
providing a blade of a work vehicle;
generating a corrected design surface connecting a first surface existing in front of the work vehicle of an initial design surface indicating a target shape of an excavation object to be excavated using the blade of the work vehicle and a second surface of the initial design surface, the second surface touching the first surface and having a different slope from a slope of the first surface on the initial design surface; and
outputting a control command to control a height of the blade based on the corrected design surface,
wherein the corrected design surface is generated when a prescribed correction condition is satisfied, and
the correction condition is a condition that a traveling speed of the work vehicle entering the first surface is a speed threshold or more.

Assignees

• Komatsu Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ishihara Takao
• Noborio Daichi
• Nakayama Yutaka

Classifications

• E02F3/844 Primary

  for positioning the blade, e.g. hydraulically · CPC title

• E02F9/262

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

• E02F3/7618 Primary

  with the scraper blade adjustable relative to the pivoting arms about a horizontal axis · CPC title

• E02F9/20

  Drives; Control devices (gearings in general F16H; controlling in general G05; electric multi-motor drives H02K, H02P) · CPC title

• E02F9/265

  with follow-up actions (e.g. control signals sent to actuate the work tool) · CPC title