Tracked vehicle, monitoring and/or control and/or management system of tracked vehicle and related method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025022323-A1
Application number	US-202418767303-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 9, 2024
Priority date	Jul 13, 2023
Publication date	Jan 16, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

Tracked vehicle, such as a snow groomer for preparing ski slopes, including a plurality of devices, a vehicle control device coupled to the plurality of devices, a human machine interface, an asynchronous communication network; and a first synchronous communication bus assembly in particular comprising at least one synchronous communication bus, such as of the CAN-bus type. The human machine interface and the network device are coupled together via the asynchronous communication network. Additionally, the vehicle control device, the human machine interface and the devices are linked in communication with each other via the first synchronous communication bus assembly.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A tracked vehicle comprising:
a plurality of devices, wherein at least one device of the plurality of devices is selected from an assembly comprising at least two of: a drive unit, an electric rotating machine unit, a power transmission unit, a hydraulic pump, an actuator, a plurality of tracks, a drive wheel, a signalling device, a conditioning unit, a sensor configured to detect a dimension of the tracked vehicle, a winch unit, a tiller unit, a shovel, a blade, a control input device; a vehicle control device coupled to the plurality of devices and configured to:
send command signals to the devices, and
receive at least one of detection signals and command signals from the devices;
a radio link device configured to transmit data, via radio waves, to a data processing system remote from the tracked vehicle and comprising at least one of: a remote-control device, a remote human machine interface, a personal computer external to the vehicle, a tablet external to the vehicle, and a mobile phone external to the vehicle; a human machine interface comprising a processing unit, a memory, a screen and a selection device configured to receive commands from an operator; a network device coupled in communication from one side with at least one of the human machine interface and the vehicle control device, and from another side with the radio link device, wherein the network device is configured to couple, in radio communication, the at least one of the human machine interface and the vehicle control device with the radio link device to communicate data with the data processing system; an asynchronous communication network configured to couple the human machine interface and the network device together; and a synchronous communication system comprising: a first synchronous communication bus assembly configured to link, in communication, the vehicle control device, the human machine interface and the plurality of devices, to each other, and a second synchronous communication bus assembly configured to communicatively connect the vehicle control device to the network device.

2 . The tracked vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the human machine interface and the vehicle control device are communicatively connected to each other via the asynchronous communication network.

3 . The tracked vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the human machine interface receives at least one of the detection signals and the command signals from the first communication bus assembly of the synchronous communication system and sends the at least one of the detection signals and the command signals to the network device via the asynchronous communication network.

4 . The tracked vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the memory of the human machine interface stores at least one of current working parameters, operation parameters and configuration parameters of the plurality of devices and the human machine interface is configured to send, via the asynchronous communication network, the data present in the memory to the network device and the network device is configured to send, via the radio link device, the data present in the memory of the human machine interface to the data processing system.

5 . The tracked vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the human machine interface is configured to receive, via the asynchronous communication network, at least one of the command signals and instructions from the network device and is configured to send the at least one of the command signals and the instructions to the first communication bus assembly of the synchronous communication system to send commands to the device from the data processing system.

6 . The tracked vehicle of claim 1 , wherein at least one the human machine interface and the vehicle control device are configured to detect at least one of errors and problems of the tracked vehicle and send the result of the detection to the network device via at least one of the asynchronous communication network and the synchronous communication system; and the network device is configured to send, via the radio link device, data in the memory of the human machine interface to the data processing system.

7 . The tracked vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle control device is configured to send, via the second synchronous communication bus, a first set of values relating to a first set of tracked vehicle operating parameters to the network device and the network device is configured to send, via the radio link device, a selection of values relating to the first set tracked vehicle operating parameters to a fleet management system.

8 . The tracked vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the human machine interface is configured to receive a second set of tracked vehicle operating parameters via the first communication bus assembly, wherein the second set of tracked vehicle operating parameters comprises the first set of tracked vehicle operating parameters and additional tracked vehicle operating parameters different from the first set of tracked vehicle operating parameters, the human machine interface is configured to send, via the asynchronous communication network, the second set of tracked vehicle operating parameters to the network device and the network device is configured to send, via the radio link device, the second set of tracked vehicle operating parameters to the data processing system.

9 . The tracked vehicle of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the devices of the plurality of devices comprises a dedicated control unit communicatively coupled with the vehicle control device to at least one of send and receive, via the first synchronous communication bus assembly, at least one of the command signals, wherein the vehicle control device comprises at least a memory which stores at least one of operational parameters and configuration parameters of at least one of the device.

10 . A tracked vehicle management system comprising:
a tracked vehicle comprising:
a plurality of devices, wherein at least one device of the plurality of devices is selected from an assembly comprising at least two of: a drive unit, an electric rotating machine unit, a power transmission unit, a hydraulic pump, an actuator, a plurality of tracks, a drive wheel, a signalling device, a conditioning unit, a sensor configured to detect a dimension of the tracked vehicle, a winch unit, a tiller unit, a shovel, a blade, a control input device;
a vehicle control device coupled to the plurality of devices and configured to:
send command signals to the devices, and
receive at least one of detection signals and command signals from the devices;

a radio link device configured to transmit data via radio waves;
a human machine interface comprising a processing unit, a memory, a screen and a selection device configured to receive commands from an operator;
a network device coupled in communication from one side with at least one of the human machine interface and the vehicle control device, and from another side with the radio link device, wherein the network device is configured to couple, in radio communication, the at least one of the human machine interface and the vehicle control device with the radio link device;
an asynchronous communication network configured to couple the human machine interface and the network device together; and
an synchronous communication system comprising:
a first synchronous communication bus assembly configured to link, in communication, the vehicle control device, the human machine interface and the plurality of devices, to each other, and
a second synchronous communication bus assembly configured to communicatively connect the vehicle control device to the network device, and

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Assignees

• Prinoth Spa

Inventors

• Paoletti Alberto
• Salis Francesco

Classifications

• E02F9/26

  Indicating devices {(E02F5/145 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• E02F9/205

  Remotely operated machines, e.g. unmanned vehicles (E02F3/8866 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E02F3/769

  Graders, bulldozers, or the like comprising loaders · 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

• B62D55/06 Primary

  with tracks without ground wheels · CPC title