Use of wheel slip to help identify soft spots

• US 10,113,929 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2014
• Issued: 10/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Caterpillar Power Systems Incorporated (Caterpillar Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Caterpillar Power Systems Incorporated (Caterpillar Incorporated)
• Inventors: Frelich, Thomas J., Hendricks, Kyle David
• Primary Examiner(s): Betsch, Regis
• Assistant Examiner(s): Knox, Kaleria
• Application Number:
  US14/465,571
• Publication Number:
  US 20160054471A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,531 Days
• Field of Search: 701 22, 701 25, 404 75, 303 964
• CPC Class Codes: E01C 19/26 self-propelled or fitted to road vehicles E01C19/231, E01C19/235 , E01C19/27 - E01C19/29 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: E01C 19/288 adapted for monitoring characteristics of the material being compacted, e.g. indicating resonant frequency, measuring degree of compaction, by measuring values, detectable on the roller; using detected values to control operation of the roller, e.g. automatic adjustment of vibration responsive to such measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 11/00 Measuring steady or quasi-steady pressure of a fluid or a fluent solid material by means not provided for in group G01L7/00 or G01L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/39 the satellite radio beacon positioning system transmitting time-stamped messages, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System], GLONASS [Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System] or GALILEO

Abstract

A compactor gathers GPS, orientation and wheel slip data to identify the location of a soft spot in a surface that is being compacted and to isolate the soft spot to a particular side of the compactor if the wheel slip data indicates that the soft spot is located beneath only one of the compactor wheels. The GPS, orientation and wheel slip data are displayed as location information to an operator and/or sent to a remote location to facilitate the fast and accurate repair of the soft spot.

Claims

1. A system for identifying and mapping soft spots traversed by a vehicle, the vehicle including a first wheel and a second wheel, the first and second wheels disposed on opposite sides of the vehicle, the system comprising:

a first slip sensor for detecting a rotational speed of the first wheel and generating first wheel rotational speed data, the first slip sensor linked to a mapping system for transmitting the first wheel rotational speed data to the mapping system;

a GPS sensor for detecting and generating GPS data, the GPS sensor linked to the mapping system for transmitting the GPS data to the mapping system; and

the mapping system configured to identify a location of a first wheel slip based on the first wheel rotational speed data and the GPS data to provide location information for the soft spot;

wherein the location information is utilized by the mapping system to direct repair of the soft spot.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first slip sensor is a speed sensor.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first slip sensor is a pressure sensor in fluid communication with a hydraulic circuit of the vehicle that powers the first wheel of the vehicle.

4. The system of claim 1, further including an orientation sensor for detecting a directional orientation of the vehicle and generating vehicle orientation data, and

wherein the mapping system is linked to the orientation sensor for receiving the vehicle orientation data from the orientation sensor and determining vehicle orientation in addition to the location of the first wheel slip.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the mapping system is linked to a mapping network for transmitting the location of the first wheel slip to a remote location.

6. The system of claim 1, further including a second slip sensor for detecting a rotational speed of the second wheel and generating second wheel rotational speed data, the second slip sensor linked to the mapping system for transmitting the second wheel rotational speed data to the mapping system, and

the mapping system identifying the location and a vehicle side of a soft spot based on the first and second wheel rotational speed data and the GPS data.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the second slip sensor is a speed sensor.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the second slip sensor is a pressure sensor in fluid communication with a hydraulic circuit of the vehicle that powers the second wheel of the vehicle.

9. The system of claim 1, further including

an orientation sensor for detecting a directional orientation of the vehicle and generating vehicle orientation data,

a second slip sensor for detecting the rotational velocity of the second wheel and generating second wheel rotational speed data, the second slip sensor linked to the mapping system for transmitting the second wheel rotational speed data to the mapping system, and

the mapping system linked to the orientation sensor for receiving vehicle orientation data from the orientation sensor, and

the mapping system identifying the location and a vehicle side of a soft spot based on the first and second wheel rotational speed data and the GPS data, and the mapping system determining vehicle orientation in addition to the location and the side of the soft spot.

10. A compactor comprising:

a first side including a first wheel and a second side including a second wheel;

a first slip sensor for detecting the rotational speed of the first wheel and generating first wheel rotational speed data;

a second slip sensor for detecting the rotational speed of the second wheel and generating second wheel rotational speed data;

the first and second wheel slip sensors linked to a mapping system for transmitting the first and second wheel rotational speed data to the mapping system respectively;

a GPS sensor for gathering GPS data, the GPS sensor linked to the mapping system for transmitting GPS data to the mapping system; and

the mapping system configured to identify a location and a compactor side of a soft spot based on the first wheel rotational speed data, the second wheel rotational speed data and the GPS data to provide location information for the soft spot;

wherein the location information is utilized by the mapping system to direct repair of the soft spot.

11. The compactor of claim 10, wherein the first and second wheel slip sensors are speed sensors.

12. The compactor of claim 10, wherein the compactor further includes a hydraulic circuit for powering the first and second wheels, and

the first and second wheel slip sensors are pressure sensors linked to the hydraulic circuit.

13. The compactor of claim 10, further including an orientation sensor for detecting a directional orientation of the compactor and generating compactor orientation data,

the mapping system being linked to the orientation sensor for receiving compactor orientation data from the orientation sensor.

14. The compactor of claim 13, wherein the mapping system combines the first wheel rotational speed data, the second wheel rotational speed data, the GPS data and the compactor orientation data and generates the location, compactor side and compactor orientation of the soft spot therefrom.

15. The compactor of claim 14, wherein the mapping system records the location, compactor orientation and compactor side of the soft spot and displays the location, compactor orientation and compactor side to an operator.

16. The compactor of claim 10, wherein the mapping system is linked to a mapping network for transmitting the location of the soft spot.

17. A method of using wheel slip of a compactor to identify and locate soft spots comprising:

providing a compactor, the compactor having a first side including a first wheel and a second side including a second wheel;

detecting a rotational speed of the first wheel and generating first wheel rotational speed data;

detecting a rotational speed of the second wheel and generating second wheel rotational speed data;

collecting GPS data for the compactor;

determining if the first wheel slips based on the first wheel rotational speed data exceeding a predetermined value and, if the first wheel slips, identifying a first location where the first wheel slips based on the GPS data;

determining if the second wheel slips based on the second wheel rotational speed data exceeding a predetermined value and, if the second wheel slips, identifying a second location where the second wheel slips based on the GPS data;

identifying a soft spot location based on if a first location, a second location or both a first and second location have been identified; and

recording the soft spot location to provide location information;

wherein the location information is utilized to direct repair of the soft spot.

18. The method of claim 17, further including sending the location of the soft spot to a mapping network.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first and second wheels are driven by a hydraulic circuit and the rotational speed of the first wheel is detected based on an input pressure to the first wheel and the rotational speed of the second wheel is detected based on an input pressure to the second wheel.

20. The method of claim 17, further determining a directional orientation of the compactor and generating compactor orientation data indicative of the directional orientation of the compactor at the soft spot location.