Dump truck

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9291709-B2
Application number	US-201213811966-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 23, 2012
Priority date	Jun 7, 2011
Publication date	Mar 22, 2016
Grant date	Mar 22, 2016

Abstract

A dump truck includes a body and a plurality of cameras. The body includes an upper deck and a main frame disposed in a longitudinal direction. The cameras are configured and arranged to obtain images to be combined to generate a bird's-eye image to monitor a periphery of the dump truck. The cameras include a front camera, a rear camera and side cameras. The front camera is disposed at the front of the upper deck to obtain an image of an area in front of the body. The rear camera is disposed at a rear end of the main frame to obtain an image of an area in rear of the body. The side cameras are respectively provided on left and right sides of the upper deck to obtain images of an area between diagonally to the front and diagonally to the rear of the body.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A dump truck comprising:
a body including an upper deck where a driver's seat is disposed and a main frame disposed in a longitudinal direction of the dump truck; and
a plurality of cameras each configured to capture an image in a three dimensional capture range, the cameras being arranged to obtain images to be combined to generate a bird's-eye image to monitor a periphery of the dump truck, the cameras including
a front camera disposed at the front of the upper deck to obtain an image of an area in front of the body,
a rear camera disposed at a rear end of the main frame to obtain an image of an area in rear of the body, and
a plurality of side cameras respectively provided on left and right sides of the upper deck to obtain images of an area between diagonally to the front and diagonally to the rear of the body

the front camera, the rear camera, and the side cameras are arranged on the body such that the capture ranges of adjacent cameras among the front, rear, and side cameras overlap, and such that for any one camera among the front, rear, and side cameras whose capture range has a height dimension smaller than one-half a height of the upper deck at a prescribed portion of the periphery, there is another camera among the front, rear, and side cameras that is adjacent to the one camera and whose capture range has a height dimension of at least one-half the height of the upper deck at the prescribed portion of the periphery.

2. The dump truck according to claim 1 , wherein
the side cameras include a first camera configured and arranged to obtain an image of an area diagonally to the front of the body, and a second camera configured and arranged to obtain an image of an area diagonally to the rear of the body.

3. The dump truck according to claim 1 , further comprising
a plurality of radars that are provided to the body to detect objects present in the periphery of the body.

4. The dump truck according to claim 3 , wherein
the radars are provided at positions lower than those of the cameras on the body.

5. The dump truck according to claim 3 , wherein
the radars are provided between the upper deck and a lower deck, which constitute part of the body, or on the lower deck.

6. The dump truck according to claim 3 , wherein
the radars are ultra-wideband radars.

7. The dump truck according to claim 1 , wherein
the height of the upper deck is at least 4 meters from a ground in the periphery of the dump truck.

Assignees

• Mitsuta Shinji
• Harada Shigeru
• Tanuki Tomikazu
• Masutani Eishin
• Nakanishi Yukihiro
• Kurihara Takeshi
• Tsubone Dai
• Machida Masaomi
• Komatsu Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Mitsuta Shinji
• Harada Shigeru
• Tanuki Tomikazu
• Masutani Eishin
• Nakanishi Yukihiro
• Kurihara Takeshi
• Tsubone Dai
• Machida Masaomi

Classifications

• G01S13/931

  of land vehicles · CPC title

• B60R1/00

  Optical viewing arrangements; Real-time viewing arrangements for drivers or passengers using optical image capturing systems, e.g. cameras or video systems specially adapted for use in or on vehicles · CPC title

• G01S13/867 Primary

  Combination of radar systems with cameras · CPC title

• G06T1/0007 Primary

  Image acquisition · CPC title

• B60R2300/802

  for monitoring and displaying vehicle exterior blind spot views · CPC title