Systems, Devices, and/or Methods Regarding Excavating

• US 20080282583A1
• Filed: 05/16/2008
• Published: 11/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Large Drives LLC (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Industry Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Mazumdar, Joy, Robertson, Daniel W., Furem, Ken, Koellner, Walter G.
• Granted Patent: US 7,832,126 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 37/348
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 3/304 with the dipper-arm slidably mounted on the boom E02F3/305 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 3/48 Drag-lines
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/262 with follow-up actions to control the work tool, e.g. controller
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/264 Sensors and their calibration for indicating the position of the work tool

Abstract

Certain exemplary embodiments can provide a system, which can comprise a bucket excavation controller. The bucket excavation controller can be adapted to control one or more digging functions of a mining excavator. For example, the bucket excavation controller can be adapted to automatically control a crowd motion of the mining excavator.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a bucket excavation controller adapted to;

responsive to an automatically detected stall condition at a hoist motor of a mining excavator, automatically control a crowd motion of said mining excavator, said crowd motor adapted to adjust a position of a bucket of said mining excavator in an earthen material bank; and

responsive to an automatic determination that a speed of said hoist motor exceeds a predetermined threshold, automatically control said crowd motor to adjust said position of said bucket in said earthen material bank.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

said mining excavator.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a mining haulage vehicle adapted to receive earthen material from said mining excavator, the earthen material obtained from said earthen material bank.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a material weight processor adapted to determine a weight of earthen material in said bucket while said bucket is digging in said earthen material bank.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a material weight processor adapted to determine a total torque used to hoist said bucket through said earthen material bank, said material weight processor adapted to determine a weight of earthen material in said bucket based upon said total torque.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a material weight processor adapted to estimate a weight of earthen material in said bucket while said bucket is digging in said earthen material bank based upon a detected volume of earthen material in said bucket.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a mining haulage vehicle position processor adapted to automatically determine a desired location of a mining haulage vehicle relative to said mining excavator, said mining haulage vehicle position processor adapted to automatically prompt an operator of said mining haulage vehicle regarding said desired location of said mining haulage vehicle relative to said mining excavator.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a mining haulage vehicle load processor adapted to, based upon a received scan of a bed of a mining haulage vehicle, automatically determine a desired location of said bucket relative to said bed of said mining haulage vehicle.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a mining haulage vehicle load processor adapted to, based upon a received scan of a bed of a mining haulage vehicle, automatically swing said bucket to load said mining haulage vehicle.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said stall condition is detected based upon a deviation between a desired speed of said hoist motor and said speed of said hoist motor.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein:

said stall condition is detected based upon a determination that said speed of said hoist motor that is below a predetermined threshold and a hoist torque that is above a predetermined threshold.

12. A method comprising:

responsive to information obtained as a mining excavator is digging in an earthen material bank, automatically estimating a weight of earthen material in a bucket of said mining excavator, said mining excavator comprising a processor adapted to, responsive to said weight and an automatically detected stall condition at a hoist motor of a mining excavator, automatically control a crowd motion of said mining excavator, said crowd motor adapted to adjust a position of a bucket of said mining excavator in said earthen material bank.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein:

said weight is estimated based upon a torque of said hoist motor.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein:

said weight is estimated based upon a scanned volume of earthen material in said bucket.

15. A method comprising:

automatically causing a relocation of a mining excavator based upon an estimate of a count of mining haulage vehicle loads extractable from an earthen material bank at a preferred location, a bucket excavation controller of said mining excavator adapted to select said preferred location from a profile of said earthen material bank and measurements of said mining excavator, said preferred location having a higher estimated count of extractable mining vehicle loads that any other of said plurality of projected locations, said bucket excavation controller adapted to, responsive to an automatically detected stall condition at a hoist motor of a mining excavator, automatically control a crowd motion of said mining excavator, said crowd motor adapted to adjust a position of a bucket of said mining excavator in an earthen material bank at said preferred location.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

based upon a detected position of said mining excavator relative to said earthen material bank, automatically positioning said mining excavator.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

establishing said preferred location based upon a measurement of a laser sensor.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

establishing said preferred location based upon a measurement of a radar sensor.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

automatically beginning a digging cycle at said preferred location, said position of said bucket of said mining excavator automatically established based upon an automatically detected profile of said earthen material bank at said preferred location.

20. A machine-readable medium comprising machine-implementable instructions for activities comprising:

automatically causing a relocation of a mining excavator based upon an estimate of a count of mining haulage vehicle loads extractable from an earthen material bank at a preferred location, a bucket excavation controller of said mining excavator adapted to select said preferred location from a plurality of projected locations of said mining excavator, said preferred location having a higher estimated count of extractable mining vehicle loads that any other of said plurality of projected locations, said bucket excavation controller adapted to, responsive to information obtained as said mining excavator is digging in said earthen material bank, automatically estimate a weight of earthen material in a bucket of said mining excavator.

21. A system, comprising:

a mining excavation simulator adapted to render a simulated mining excavator, said simulated mining excavation simulator adapted to;

responsive to an automatically detected stall condition at a simulated hoist motor of a simulated mining excavator, automatically control a simulated crowd motor of said simulated mining excavator, said simulated crowd motor adapted to adjust a position of a simulated bucket of said simulated mining excavator in a simulated earthen material bank; and

responsive to an automatic determination that a speed of said hoist motor exceeds a predetermined threshold, automatically control said simulated crowd motor to adjust said position of said simulated bucket in said simulated earthen material bank.