Systems and methods for monitoring wear of reducing elements

• US 10,227,755 B2
• Filed: 02/18/2015
• Issued: 03/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vermeer Manufacturing Company
• Original Assignee: Vermeer Manufacturing Company
• Inventors: Stock, Joseph D., Hartwick, Ty
• Primary Examiner(s): Lin, Abby Y
• Application Number:
  US15/120,401
• Publication Number:
  US 20170067229A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,483 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/002 specially adapted for covering the peripheral part of the vehicle, e.g. for viewing tyres, bumpers or the like integrated in the windows B60R1/001; combined with rear-view mirrors B60R1/08
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/802 for monitoring and displaying vehicle exterior blind spot views
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 5/08 with digging wheels turning round an axis E02F5/109 takes precedence; with digging wheels per se E02F3/18
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/2054 Fleet management
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/267 Diagnosing or detecting failure of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/268 with failure correction follow-up actions
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/2866 for rotating digging elements for milling machines B28D1/186; for mining machines E21C35/18
• CPC Class Codes: E21C 25/10 Rods; Drums
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 3/56 Investigating resistance to wear or abrasion
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/10 Automotive applications
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/34 for rolling or scrolling

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to display structures for displaying the wear status of reducing elements (e.g., chisels, teeth, etc.) on a reducing component. In certain examples, the display structure can include a matrix that visually depicts all of the reducing elements of the reducing component in a row and column format. The wear status of the reducing elements can be indicated by techniques such as different colors, different numbers, different letters, shapes, bar codes etc. Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to an autonomous system where a remote party can simultaneously monitor the wear status of the reducing elements of multiple machines on the display structure. For each machine, the remote party (e.g., operator, supply source, supervisor, and main office) can each receive a wireless signal indicating when the reducing elements are approaching a need for replacement.

Claims

1. A method for controlling an autonomous system, the method comprising:

sensing a wear state of reducing elements on a drum of an excavation machine;

sending a wireless signal of the wear state to a remote party; and

displaying the wear state of the reducing elements on a display monitor, wherein the display monitor is constructed to display a continuous scroll of the reducing elements, wherein a rotational position of the reducing elements relative to a reference location is displayed, and wherein the reference location is a change-out position.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote party is one of an operator and a third party.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the remote party is the third party, and the third party includes a supply source, a main office, or a warehouse.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the reducing elements are displayed all at once in real time on the display monitor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises automatically indexing the drum to the change-out position using an algorithm.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes the steps of monitoring multiple machines and displaying remotely on the display monitor the wear state of the reducing elements on each of the multiple machines.

7. An automatic control method for monitoring and diagnosing reducing elements on an excavation drum of an excavation machine, a sensing system being integrated with a control system for monitoring and diagnosing the reducing elements, the method comprising:

monitoring a wear state of the reducing elements during operation;

sensing a change in the wear state of the reducing elements;

sending a communication of the wear state of the reducing elements to a display structure integrated with the control system;

upon detection of the change in the wear state beyond a usable limit, alerting an operator to replace the reducing elements;

shutting down operation of the excavation machine based on the wear state of the reducing elements;

raising the excavation drum;

indexing the excavation drum to an ergonomic position in preparation of replacing the reducing elements; and

replacing the reducing elements while the drum is held at the ergonomic position for replacing the reducing elements.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the wear status is in the form of a code, the code is selected from the group consisting of:

color codes;

number codes; and

letter codes.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the display structure visually depicts all the reducing elements in a scrolling matrix.

10. The method of claim 7, further facilitating controls for use in autonomous situations where the operator is simultaneously monitoring multiple machines.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising sending a wireless communication to a third party upon detection of the wear state of the reducing elements beyond the usable limit.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the display structure is provided so that the operator utilizes the display structure to manually and ergonomically align the reducing elements on the excavation drum to a change-out position.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the control system includes an algorithm for automatically turning the excavation drum to a desired change-out position for replacement of the reducing elements.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the respective wear states of the reducing elements are displayed all at once in real time on the display structure.

15. A display structure, the display structure being integrated with a sensing system for monitoring and diagnosing reducing elements on an excavation machine, the sensing system including a control system in communication with a memory and the display structure, the display structure comprising:

a display including a display screen, the display being adapted to show a wear status of all of the reducing elements at once;

wherein the display is configured to show a rolling scroll of the reducing elements such that a rotational position of the reducing elements relative to a reference location is displayed; and

wherein the memory is configured to store information relating to the wear status of the reducing elements.

16. The display structure of claim 15, wherein rotational positions of all the reducing elements are shown in real time.

17. The display structure of claim 15, wherein the display is configured to display the wear status of reducing elements of multiple remote machines when the multiple remote machines are being monitored.