APPARATUS, PROGRAM, AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING AUTOMATIC SPRAY OF ANTIFREEZING AGENT

• US 20160281312A1
• Filed: 11/06/2014
• Published: 09/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bridgestone Corporation
• Original Assignee: Bridgestone Corporation
• Inventors: NAKAZAWA, Kazuma, WAKAO, Yasumichi, HANATSUKA, Yasushi, MORINAGA, Hiroshi, OHIRO, Tomonori, NAGAYA, Go, TSUCHIDA, Shinya
• Granted Patent: US 10,227,743 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 12/12 responsive to conditions of ambient medium or target, e.g. humidity, temperature position or movement of the target relative to the spray apparatus B05B12/082, B05B12/084 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 13/005 mounted on vehicles or designed to apply a liquid on a very large surface, e.g. on the road, on the surface of large containers
• 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

The invention provides an apparatus, program, and method for controlling the automatic spraying of an antifreezing agent that can reduce the cost of the antifreezing agent and the impact of salt damages caused by the antifreezing agent. This is accomplished by reducing the amount of antifreezing agent to be sprayed automatically according to road surface condition and reducing the amount of the antifreezing agent left unused on completion of the spray operation by grasping in advance the total spray amount of the antifreezing agent. Thus, the antifreezing agent automatic spray control apparatus comprises a spray section setting unit for setting a spray section, a road surface condition data acquiring unit for acquiring road surface condition data, a spay condition data acquiring unit for acquiring spray condition data, a spray condition determining unit for determining the spay conditions for each of unit sections, a total spray amount advance calculating unit for calculating in advance the total spray amount of antifreezing agent to be sprayed for the spray section, a current position data acquiring unit for acquiring current position data, a unit section identifying unit for identifying a unit section corresponding to the current position, and a spray condition outputting unit for outputting the spray conditions for each of the unit sections to an antifreezing agent spraying unit.

Claims

1. An antifreezing agent automatic spray control apparatus comprising:

a spray section setting unit for setting a spray section for which an antifreezing agent is to be sprayed;

a road surface condition data acquiring unit for acquiring road surface condition data showing a road surface condition for each of unit sections within the spray section from a storage means;

a spay condition data acquiring unit for acquiring spray condition data including splay amount of the antifreezing agent set according to the road surface condition from the storage means;

a spray condition determining unit for determining spay conditions for each of the unit sections based on the road surface condition data and the spray condition data;

a total spray amount advance calculating unit for calculating in advance a total spray amount of the antifreezing agent to be sprayed in the spray section based on the spray conditions determined for each of the unit sections;

a current position data acquiring unit for acquiring current position data consisting of a latitude and longitude of a current position from a position detecting means;

a unit section identifying unit for identifying a unit section corresponding to the current position based on the current position data; and

a spray condition outputting unit for outputting the spray conditions for each of the unit sections to an antifreezing agent spraying unit for spraying the antifreezing agent.

2. The antifreezing agent automatic spray control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the spray condition determining unit has a spray algorithm setting unit for setting a spray algorithm to be used in calculating the spray amount for each of the unit sections.

3. The antifreezing agent automatic spray control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the spray algorithm uses a greater of the values of spray amount corresponding to the road surface condition of the unit section for which the calculation is made and the unit section at least next to said unit section as the spray amount for the unit section for which the calculation is made.

4. The antifreezing agent automatic spray control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the spray algorithm uses a largest of the values of spray amount corresponding to the road surface condition of the unit section for which the calculation is made and the unit sections at least before and after said unit section as the spray amount for the unit section for which the calculation is made.

5. The antifreezing agent automatic spray control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the antifreezing agent spraying unit is configured to have spray nozzles swingable right and left for spraying the antifreezing agent and the spray condition determining unit sets swing directions such that the spray range of the spray nozzles covers approximately a middle range between a driving lane and a passing lane when an antifreezing agent spray vehicle carrying the antifreezing agent spraying unit sprays the antifreezing agent wile running on the driving lane of two lanes on one side.

6. The antifreezing agent automatic spray control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the road surface condition data is generated by a road surface condition determining unit for determining a road surface condition by acquiring tire vibration from an acceleration sensor disposed on an inner circumferential surface of a tire of a snow &

ice cruiser, calculating a vibration level from a time-series waveform of the tire vibration, and checking the vibration level against a correspondence map showing a relationship between various road surface conditions and vibration levels.

7. An antifreezing agent automatic spray control program for having a computer execute the steps of:

setting a spray section for which an antifreezing agent is to be sprayed;

acquiring road surface condition data showing road surface condition for each of unit sections within the spray section from a storage means;

acquiring spray condition data including a splay amount of the antifreezing agent set according to the road surface condition from the storage means;

determining spay conditions for each of the unit sections based on the road surface condition data and the spray condition data;

calculating in advance a total spray amount of the antifreezing agent to be sprayed in the spray section based on spray conditions determined for each of the unit sections;

acquiring current position data consisting of a latitude and longitude of a current position from a position detecting means;

identifying a unit section corresponding to the current position based on the current position data;

and outputting the spray conditions for each of the unit sections to an antifreezing agent spraying unit for spraying the antifreezing agent.

8. A method for controlling automatic spray of an antifreezing agent, comprising the steps of:

setting a spray section for which the antifreezing agent is to be sprayed;

acquiring road surface condition data showing road surface condition for each of unit sections within the spray section from a storage means;

acquiring spray condition data including a splay amount of the antifreezing agent set according to the road surface condition from the storage means;

determining spay conditions for each of the unit sections based on the road surface condition data and the spray condition data;

calculating in advance a total spray amount of the antifreezing agent to be sprayed in the spray section based on the spray conditions determined for each of the unit sections;

acquiring current position data consisting of a latitude and longitude of a current position from a position detecting means;

identifying a unit section corresponding to the current position based on the current position data; and

outputting the spray conditions for each of the unit sections to an antifreezing agent spraying unit for spraying the antifreezing agent.