Vehicle for spreading products on a road surface

• US 20090198421A1
• Filed: 10/13/2005
• Published: 08/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Epoke A/S
• Original Assignee: Epoke A/S
• Inventors: Barfod, Jesper Malm
• Application Number:
  US11/664,309
• Publication Number:
  US 20090198421A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/50
• CPC Class Codes: E01C 19/201 with driven loosening, discharging or spreading parts, e.g. power-driven, drive derived from road-wheels E01C19/205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: E01H 10/007 Mobile apparatus specially adapted for preparing or applying liquid or semi-liquid thawing material or spreading granular material on wintry roads

Abstract

A vehicle for spreading products on a road surface, in particular de-icing or friction-producing products, including distribution means adapted to spread said products, electronic control means cooperating with said distribution means to adjust spreading parameters, positioning means for generating a position signal correlated with the position of said vehicle, said electronic control means cooperating with said positioning means for controlling said spreading parameters in response to said position signal so as to associate said spreading parameters with the current position of said vehicle. According to the invention, the control means are vector-based, the control means also being adapted to control the spreading parameters in response to the speed and direction of said vehicle. This allows for optionally increasing the speed in some areas while automatically adjusting for instance the quantity of product spread in relation thereto, which enables the driver to concentrate more on the traffic.

Claims

1. A vehicle for spreading products on a road surface, in particular de-icing or friction-producing products, including

distribution means supported by said vehicle and adapted to spread said products on said road surface,

electronic control means cooperating with said distribution means to determine the spreading parameters in response to a preset route, said spreading parameters for instance being the quantity of product spread per unit area, the width and symmetry of the spreading,

positioning means for generating a position and direction signal correlated with the position and the direction of said vehicle, said electronic control means cooperating with said positioning means for controlling said spreading parameters in response to said position signal so as to associate at least one of said spreading parameters with the current position and speed of said vehicle, wherein the spreading defined by the preset route is initiated only when the position and the direction of said vehicle generated by the monitoring means substantially match a correlated position and direction determined in the preset route, said positioning means including a GPS-system and a gyro to enable the vehicle to also know the correct position and direction when there is no clear view of the GPS-satellites.

2. A vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that while driving, the driver is also navigated by means of said GPS-system, which is also used as a GPS-navigation system.

3. A vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that the control means furthermore are adapted to control the spreading parameters in response to the temperature, in particular the road temperature.

4. A vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that said control means furthermore are adapted to control the spreading parameters in response to the air humidity and/or the temperature.

5. A vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that the last known spreading parameters are maintained when the route is deviated from, and that the driver is simultaneously notified by an alarm from a remote control that he has left the route.

6. A vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that the route selected by the driver can be overridden along the route by means of a radio contact, such as a GSM-connection with the spreader.

7. A vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that the GPS-controlled spreading is combined with the continuous measurement of the road temperature in order to adjust the preset dosage.