JP7715530B2 - Reclaimer - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to industrial machinery equipped with a boom.

In industrial machinery equipped with booms, such as cranes and reclaimers, the angular position of the boom is measured and various controls are performed based on the measured angular position of the boom (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Conventionally, the angular position of the boom has been measured using a rotary encoder attached to the boom's rotation center.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-61777

However, when using a rotary encoder for measurements, it is difficult to measure the boom's angular position with high accuracy due to the fact that the coupling connecting the rotary encoder to the boom is prone to twisting, that the rotary encoder and boom are prone to misalignment, and that the rotary encoder itself has a relatively large detection error.

The present invention was made in consideration of these circumstances, and aims to provide industrial machinery that can accurately measure the angle or height position of a boom.

An industrial machine according to one aspect of the present invention includes a base having a support shaft, a boom supported by the support shaft and rotating around the support shaft, and a computing device that acquires or calculates a reference point distance, which is the distance between a base reference point provided on the base and a boom reference point provided on the boom, and calculates the angular position or height position of the boom based on the reference point distance.

With this configuration, the boom's angular position or height position is calculated based on the reference point distance, which is the distance between the base reference point on the base and the boom reference point on the boom. In other words, to calculate the boom's angular position or height position, it is sufficient to acquire or calculate the reference point distance, and a rotary encoder is not required. Therefore, the measurement accuracy issues inherent to rotary encoders do not arise. Therefore, with the above configuration, the boom's angular position or height position can be measured with high accuracy.

The above configuration makes it possible to provide industrial machinery that can accurately measure the angle or height position of the boom.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an industrial machine. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the telescopic member and the displacement measuring device. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 2. FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an expandable member and a movement amount measuring device according to a modified example. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an expandable member and a movement amount measuring device according to another modified example.

The following describes an industrial machine 100 according to an embodiment. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the industrial machine 100. The industrial machine 100 according to this embodiment includes machines equipped with a boom, such as cranes and reclaimers. As shown in Figure 1, the industrial machine 100 includes a base 10, a boom 20, an expandable member 30, a movement amount measuring device 40, and a computing device 50. These components will be described in order below.

<Foundation>
The base 10 is a part that supports the boom 20. The base 10 has a support shaft 11 that rotatably supports the boom 20. The position of this support shaft 11 relative to the base 10 is not particularly limited. Furthermore, the base 10 of this embodiment has wheels 12 and is movable. However, the base 10 does not have to be movable.

<BOOM>
The boom 20 is a part that performs various tasks while changing its angle and height. The boom 20 is supported by a support shaft 11 of the base 10, and is driven by a drive mechanism (not shown) to rotate around the support shaft 11. As the boom 20 rotates, the angle and height of the boom 20 change.

Here, the above-mentioned "angular position" refers to a position expressed as an angle with a reference axis (for example, a horizontal axis passing through the support axis 11 of the base 10) when the boom 20 displaces while changing its angle with respect to that reference axis. Furthermore, the above-mentioned "height position" refers to a position expressed as the vertical distance between a point on the boom 20 and a reference point (for example, the ground) when a point on the boom 20 (for example, the tip of the boom 20) displaces vertically with respect to the reference point (for example, the ground) as the boom 20 rotates.

<Expandable member>
The telescopic member 30 is an extendable member that connects a base reference point 15 provided on the base 10 and a boom reference point 25 provided on the boom 20. The base reference point 15 and the boom reference point 25 only need to be located at positions away from the support shaft 11, and the position of the base reference point 15 relative to the base 10 and the position of the boom reference point 25 relative to the boom 20 are not particularly limited.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the expandable member 30 and the movement amount measuring device 40. Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III in Figure 2. As shown in Figure 2, the expandable member 30 has a fixed portion 31, a movable portion 32, and an arm 33.

The fixed part 31 has a cylindrical fixed part main body 34 and a fixed part side connecting part 35 provided at the end of the fixed part main body 34. A slit 36 extending in the axial direction is formed in the fixed part main body 34. The fixed part side connecting part 35 is located at the axial end of the expandable member 30 and is rotatably connected to the base reference point 15 of the base 10 (see Figure 1).

The movable part 32 has a rod-shaped shaft 37 and a movable part-side connection part 38 provided at the end of the shaft 37. The shaft 37 is configured to be able to move axially inside the fixed part main body 34 of the fixed part 31. The movable part-side connection part 38 is located at the axial end opposite the fixed part-side connection part 35 of the telescopic member 30, and is rotatably connected to the boom reference point 25 of the boom 20 (see Figure 1).

As shown in Figure 3, the base end of the arm 33 is fixed to the shaft 37 of the movable part 32, and extends outside the fixed part main body 34, passing through a slit 36 formed in the fixed part main body 34 of the fixed part 31. Therefore, when the movable part 32 moves along the axial direction of the fixed part 31, the arm 33 also moves along the axial direction of the fixed part 31.

In this embodiment, as described above, the fixed part 31 is connected to the base 10, and the movable part 32 is connected to the boom 20. However, the fixed part 31 may also be connected to the boom 20, and the movable part 32 may also be connected to the base 10.

<Movement measurement device>
The movement amount measuring device 40 is a device that measures the movement amount of the movable part 32 relative to the fixed part 31. The movement amount measuring device 40 of this embodiment is a so-called non-contact linear encoder. The movement amount measuring device 40 of this embodiment has a sensor unit 41 and a marking unit 42. The sensor unit 41 is fixed to the fixed part main body 34 of the fixed part 31 and extends in the axial direction of the fixed part 31. The marking unit 42 is provided at the tip of the arm 33, and when the movable part 32 moves relative to the fixed part 31, the marking unit 42 moves along the sensor unit 41.

The sensor unit 41 in this embodiment is configured to detect the position of the marking unit 42 using electromagnetic induction. Therefore, the movement amount measuring device 40 can measure the amount of movement of the marking unit 42 relative to the sensor unit 41, i.e., the amount of movement of the movable unit 32 relative to the fixed unit 31.

<Arithmetic device>
The arithmetic device 50 is a device that calculates the angular position or height position of the boom 20. The arithmetic device 50 has a processor, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, an I/O interface, etc. Various programs and various data are stored in the non-volatile memory of the arithmetic device 50, and the processor performs arithmetic processing using the volatile memory based on the various programs.

The calculation device 50 is electrically connected to the movement amount measuring device 40, and can obtain the amount of movement of the movable part 32 relative to the fixed part 31 from the movement amount measuring device 40. Note that in FIG. 1, the calculation device 50 is installed on the base 10, but the installation location of the calculation device 50 is not limited to this. For example, the calculation device 50 may be installed in the movement amount measuring device 40, or in a control room not shown. Furthermore, part of the calculation device 50 may be installed in the movement amount measuring device 40, and the remaining part may be installed in the control room.

When calculating the angular position or height position of the boom 20, the calculation device 50 first obtains the amount of movement of the movable part 32 relative to the fixed part 31 from the movement amount measuring device 40, and regards the obtained amount of movement as the amount of expansion/contraction of the expandable member 30 (i.e., obtains the amount of expansion/contraction of the expandable member 30).

The computing device 50 then calculates the length of the expandable member 30 based on the acquired expansion/contraction amount of the expandable member 30. For example, if the length (minimum length) of the expandable member 30 when it is shortest is stored in advance, the length of the expandable member 30 can be calculated based on this minimum length and the expansion/contraction amount of the expandable member 30. Note that in this embodiment, the length of the expandable member 30 refers to the length from the part of the fixed part side connection part 35 connected to the base reference point 15 to the part of the movable part side connection part 38 connected to the boom reference point 25.

Finally, the calculation device 50 regards the calculated length of the telescopic member 30 as the reference point distance X, which is the distance between the base reference point 15 and the boom reference point 25, and calculates the angular position or height position of the boom 20 based on this reference point distance X. For example, the length of line segment A extending from the support shaft 11 to the base reference point 15 and the length of line segment B extending from the support shaft 11 to the boom reference point 25 are known, and the calculation device 50 can calculate the angle α formed by line segment A and line segment B based on the length of line segment A, the length of line segment B, and the reference point distance X. Then, based on the calculated angle α, the calculation device 50 can calculate the angular position or height position of the boom 20.

In this embodiment, the calculation device 50 calculates the length of the expandable member 30 based on the amount of expansion and contraction of the expandable member 30, and regards the length of the expandable member 30 as the distance X between the reference points. This is equivalent to the calculation device 50 calculating the distance X between the reference points based on the amount of expansion and contraction of the expandable member 30.

As described above, with the industrial machine 100 according to this embodiment, the angular position of the boom 20 is not measured directly by a rotary encoder, but is calculated based on the distance X between the reference points, so the angular position or height position of the boom 20 can be measured with high accuracy.

<Modification>
In the above-described embodiment, the calculation device 50 considered the amount of movement of the movable part 32 relative to the fixed part 31 as the amount of expansion and contraction of the expandable member 30, but the amount of expansion and contraction of the expandable member 30 may be calculated based on the amount of movement of the movable part 32 relative to the fixed part 31, taking into consideration the shape and attachment position of the expandable member 30, etc. Similarly, in the above-described embodiment, the calculation device 50 considered the length of the expandable member 30 as the distance X between reference points, but the calculation device 50 may also calculate the distance X between reference points based on the length of the expandable member 30, taking into consideration the structure of the expandable member 30, etc.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the calculation device 50 calculated the distance X between the reference points using the expandable member 30, but the distance X between the reference points may also be obtained from a sensor that can directly measure the distance between the base reference point 15 and the boom reference point 25, for example.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the calculation device 50 calculated the length of the expandable member 30 based on the amount of expansion and contraction of the expandable member 30, but the length of the expandable member 30 may also be obtained from a sensor that can directly measure the length of the expandable member 30.

In addition, while the above-described embodiment uses a non-contact linear encoder as the movement measuring device 40, a so-called contact linear encoder as shown in FIG. 4 may also be used. The movement measuring device 40 shown in FIG. 4 has multiple rods 43 fixed to the fixed part body 34 of the fixed part 31 and extending in the axial direction of the fixed part 31, and heads 44 provided at the tip of the arm 33 and through which each rod 43 passes. When the movable part 32 moves relative to the fixed part 31, the heads 44 move along the rods 43. The heads 44 are configured to detect their relative position with respect to the rods 43 using electromagnetic induction. Therefore, the movement measuring device 40 shown in FIG. 4 can measure the movement of the heads 44, i.e., the movement of the movable part 32 relative to the fixed part 31.

Alternatively, a so-called wire-type encoder, as shown in FIG. 5, may be used as the movement measurement device 40. The movement measurement device 40 shown in FIG. 5 includes an encoder main body 45 fixed to the fixed part main body 34 of the fixed part 31 and having a spool inside, and a wire 46 wound around the spool and fixed at its tip to the arm 33. When the movable part 32 moves relative to the fixed part 31, the wire 46 is pulled out from the encoder main body 45, causing the spool to rotate. The encoder main body 45 is configured to detect the rotation angle of the spool and measure the amount of wire 46 pulled out. Therefore, the movement measurement device 40 shown in FIG. 5 can measure the amount of wire 46 pulled out, i.e., the amount of movement of the movable part 32 relative to the fixed part 31.

<Summary>
As described above, the industrial machine according to this embodiment comprises a base having a support shaft, a boom supported by the support shaft and rotating around the support shaft, and a computing device that acquires or calculates a reference point distance, which is the distance between a base reference point provided on the base and a boom reference point provided on the boom, and calculates the angular position or height position of the boom based on the reference point distance.

With this configuration, the boom's angular position or height position is calculated based on the reference point distance, which is the distance between the base reference point on the base and the boom reference point on the boom. In other words, to calculate the boom's angular position or height position, it is sufficient to acquire or calculate the reference point distance, and a rotary encoder is not required. Therefore, the measurement accuracy issues inherent to rotary encoders do not arise. Therefore, with the above configuration, the boom's angular position or height position can be measured with high accuracy.

In addition, the industrial machinery according to this embodiment further includes an extendable member that connects the base reference point and the boom reference point, and the computing device acquires or calculates the length of the extendable member and regards the length of the extendable member as the distance between the reference points, or calculates the distance between the reference points based on the length of the extendable member.

In this configuration, the distance between reference points is calculated mechanically using an expandable member, so the boom's angle position or height position can be reliably calculated.

Furthermore, in the industrial machinery according to this embodiment, the arithmetic device acquires or calculates the amount of expansion and contraction of the expandable member, and calculates the length of the expandable member based on the amount of expansion and contraction of the expandable member.

In this configuration, the length of the telescopic member is calculated using the amount of extension and contraction of the telescopic member, which is relatively easy to obtain or calculate, so the angle position or height position of the boom can be calculated with a simple configuration.

In addition, in the industrial machinery according to this embodiment, the telescopic member has a fixed part connected to one of the base and the boom, and a movable part connected to the other of the base and the boom and movable relative to the fixed part, and the industrial machinery further includes a movement amount measuring device that measures the amount of movement of the movable part relative to the fixed part, and the calculation device acquires the movement amount measured by the movement amount measuring device and regards the movement amount as the amount of expansion or contraction of the telescopic member, or calculates the amount of expansion or contraction of the telescopic member based on the movement amount.

In this configuration, the amount of movement of the movable part relative to the fixed part of the telescopic member is considered to be the amount of extension and contraction of the telescopic member, or the amount of extension and contraction of the telescopic member is calculated based on that amount of movement. As a result, the amount of extension and contraction of the telescopic member can be easily obtained or calculated, and ultimately the angle position or height position of the boom can be calculated with a simple configuration.

10 Base 11 Support shaft 15 Base reference point 20 Boom 25 Boom reference point 30 Expandable member 31 Fixed part 32 Movable part 40 Distance measuring device 50 Calculation device 100 Industrial machine X Distance between reference points

Claims (3)

a base having a support shaft;
a boom supported by the support shaft and rotating around the support shaft;
a drive mechanism that drives the boom;
a telescopic member that is attached to the base and the boom separately from the drive mechanism and that connects a base reference point provided at an arbitrary position on the base away from the support shaft and a boom reference point provided at an arbitrary position on the boom away from the support shaft;
A reclaimer comprising: a computing device that acquires or calculates the length of the telescopic member, and regards the length of the telescopic member as a reference point distance, which is the distance between the base reference point and the boom reference point, or that calculates the reference point distance based on the length of the telescopic member, and calculates the angular position of the boom based on the reference point distance. The reclaimer described in claim 1, wherein the computing device acquires or calculates the amount of expansion and contraction of the expandable member and calculates the length of the expandable member based on the amount of expansion and contraction of the expandable member. The elastic member is
a first portion connected to one of the base and the boom;
a second portion connected to the other of the base and the boom and movable relative to the first portion;
The reclaimer further includes a movement measuring device that measures a movement amount of the second portion relative to the first portion,
The reclaimer described in claim 2, wherein the calculation device acquires the movement amount measured by the movement amount measuring device and regards the movement amount as the expansion/contraction amount of the expandable member, or calculates the expansion/contraction amount of the expandable member based on the movement amount.