Method of sensing volume of loose material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9829364-B2
Application number	US-201615152111-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 11, 2016
Priority date	Aug 28, 2014
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

Abstract

A system for determining a volume of loose material within a container comprises a support arm mountable above the container, an array of one or more sensors mounted to the support arm, wherein each of the one or more sensors is configured to determine a discrete distance measurement between the array and a surface of the loose material or a surface of the container, and at least one processor in communication with the array of one or more sensors, the processor configured to estimate a volume of the loose material in the container from discrete distance measurements determined by the one or more sensors of the array.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for determining a volume of loose material within a container, the system comprising:
a support arm mountable above the container;
an array of one or more sensors mounted to the support arm, wherein each of the one or more sensors is configured to determine a discrete distance measurement between the array and an upper surface of the loose material or an inner surface of the container; and
at least one processor in communication with the array of one or more sensors, wherein the at least one processor is configured to estimate a volume of the loose material in the container from discrete distance measurements determined by the one or more sensors of the array, wherein each of the sensors is oriented in a common plane so that the array of sensors produces distance measurements in the common plane, wherein the at least one processor is configured to estimate the volume of the loose material by estimating a cross-sectional area of the loose material within the container in the common plane according to the equation

A
M

=

1
2

⁢

∑

i
=
0

n
-
1

⁢

x

i
+
1

*

y
i

-

y

i
+
1

*

x
i

where A M is the estimated cross-sectional area in the common plane, n is the number of sensors, and x i and y i , are the x and y coordinates of an end point measurement of each sensor of the array,
wherein x i is calculated by the equation
x i =D i cos(θ i )

where D i is a distance measurement determined by each sensor of the array and θ i , is an angle of a sensing signal of each sensor with respect to a horizontal axis, and
wherein y i is calculated by the equation
y i =D i sin(θ i ).

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more sensors comprises a linear distance sensor directed toward the container.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more sensors is oriented at a corresponding discrete predetermined angle relative to the container in order to determine distance measurements between the array and the upper surface of the loose material within the container or the inner surface of the container.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to integrate the estimated cross-sectional area along a length of the container to provide the estimate of the volume of the loose material.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising at least one movement device for moving the position of the support arm relative to the container.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the support arm comprises or is mounted to an unloading device for unloading the loose material into the container.

7. A system for determining a volume of loose material within a container, the system comprising:
a support arm mountable above the container;
a first array of one or more first sensors mounted to the support arm, wherein each of the one or more first sensors is configured to determine a discrete distance measurement between the first array and an upper surface of the loose material or an inner surface of the container;
a second array of one or more second sensors mounted to the support arm, wherein each of the one or more second sensors is configured to determine a discrete distance measurement between the second array and the upper surface of the loose material or the inner surface of the container, wherein the second array is angled relative to the first array of first sensors by an angle; and
at least one processor in communication with the first array of one or more first sensors and with the second array of one or more second sensors, wherein the at least one processor is configured to estimate a volume of the loose material in the container from discrete distance measurements determined by the one or more sensors of the array, and wherein the processor is configured to determine an orientation of the first array and the second array relative to the container based on the angle between the first array and the second array.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to estimate the volume of the loose material by estimating a cross-sectional area of the loose material within the container.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein each of the sensors is oriented in a common plane so that the array of sensors produces distance measurements in the common plane in order to estimate the cross-sectional area of the loose material in the common plane.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the cross-sectional area in the common plane is estimated according to the equation:

A
M

=

1
2

⁢

∑

i
=
0

n
-
1

⁢

x

i
+
1

*

y
i

-

y

i
+
1

*

x
i

where A M is the estimated cross-sectional area in the common plane, n is the number of sensors, and x i and y i are the x and y coordinates of an end point measurement of each sensor of the array, wherein x i is calculated by the equation:
x i =D i

Assignees

• Raven Ind Inc

Inventors

• Wilson Edwin Ernest
• Preheim John D
• Nelson Jr Robert Leonard

Classifications

• G01S17/42

  Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates (indirect measurement G01S17/46) · CPC title

• G01F23/2928

  using light reflected on the material surface · CPC title

• G01F23/0069

  Physics · mapped topic

• G01S17/88

  Lidar systems specially adapted for specific applications · CPC title

• G01F22/00 Primary

  Methods or apparatus for measuring volume of fluids or fluent solid material, not otherwise provided for · CPC title