AUTOMATIC WATER SPRAY MILLING FOR COLD PLANER

• US 20200002902A1
• Filed: 06/19/2019
• Published: 01/02/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Caterpillar Paving Products Inc (Caterpillar Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Caterpillar Paving Products Inc (Caterpillar Incorporated)
• Inventors: Hogan, Lee M., Engelmann, Eric S., Lindholm, Timothy J., Koenen, Paul J., O'Donnell, Timothy Michael, Enot, Ryan Adam
• Granted Patent: US 10,640,932 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: E01C 19/176 Spraying or throwing elements, e.g. nozzles; Arrangement thereof or supporting structures therefor, e.g. spray-bars
• CPC Class Codes: E01C 23/07 Apparatus combining measurement of the surface configuration of paving with application of material in proportion to the measured irregularities measuring means only E01C23/01 G01B
• CPC Class Codes: E01C 23/088 Rotary tools, e.g. milling drums for forming recesses to receive marking materials E01C23/0946
• CPC Class Codes: E01C 2301/50 Methods or devices for preventing dust by spraying or sucking

Abstract

A spray system for a cold planer machine is disclosed. The spray system includes a spray bank disposed inside a housing and arranged to spray fluid directed at a drum and a spray controller. The spray controller is configured to receive an indication indicative of either one of a milling operation and a plunge cut operation is occurring and actuate fluid spray via the spray bank based at least in part on the received indication.

Claims

1. A spray system for a cold planer machine, the spray system comprising:

a spray bank disposed inside a housing and arranged to spray fluid directed at a drum; and

a spray controller, the spray controller being configured to;

receive an indication indicative of either one of a milling operation and a plunge cut operation is occurring; and

actuate fluid spray via the spray bank based at least in part on the received indication.

2. The spray system of claim 1, wherein:

the indication indicative of either one of the milling operation and the plunge cut operation is a position measurement indicative of a relative vertical distance between a vertical wall on the housing and a frame of the cold planer machine; and

fluid spray is actuated at least in part based on the spray controller determining that the relative vertical distance is above a first threshold height value.

3. The spray system of claim 1, wherein the indication indicative of either one of the milling operation and the plunge cut operation is an indication of a milling operation that is based on a detected speed of advance of the cold planer machine.

4. The spray system of claim 3, wherein the detected speed of advance of the cold planer machine is based at least in part on the spray controller receiving an activation status signal from a drive motor indicating the drive motor is activated.

5. The spray system of claim 1, wherein the indication indicative of either one of the milling operation and the plunge cut operation is an indication of a plunge cut operation that is based on a speed the drum is being inserted into a road surface.

6. The spray system of claim 1, wherein the spray bank comprises a first spray bank and a second spray bank and the spray controller separately actuates fluid spray via the first spray bank and the second spray bank.

7. The spray system of claim 6, wherein the spray controller actuates fluid spray from the first spray bank and the second spray bank based at least in part on a type of a road surface.

8. The spray system of claim 6, wherein the spray controller actuates fluid spray from both the first and the second spray bank based on at least one of an operating speed of a drive motor and a speed that the drum is being inserted into a road surface.

9. The spray system of claim 1, further comprising a conveyer system spray bank to generate fluid spray towards material being transported from the housing, wherein the spray controller is further configured to actuate fluid spray from the spray bank at a first time and actuate fluid spray from the conveyer system spray bank at a second time after the first time.

10. The spray system of claim 1, wherein the spray controller is further configured to:

actuate fluid spray via the spray bank after determining that a milling operation is occurring; and

secure fluid spray after a first time delay after detecting that the conditions for the milling operation is no longer occurring.

11. The spray system of claim 1, wherein the indication indicative of either one of the milling operation and the plunge cut operation is a position measurement received from a LIDAR sensor configured to output a position measurement indicative of a height of the vertical wall as related to the frame.

12. A spray system for a cold planer machine, the spray system comprising:

a spray bank disposed inside a housing and arranged to spray fluid directed at a drum; and

a spray controller, the spray controller being configured to;

receive an indication indicative of a milling operation; and

actuate fluid spray via the spray bank based at least in part on received indication.

13. The spray system of claim 12, further comprising a position sensing hydraulic cylinder system operably connected to a vertical wall of the housing and a frame of the cold planer machine and configured to generate a position measurement indicative of a relative height of a vertical distance between the vertical wall and the frame, wherein the indication indicative of the milling operation is a position measurement from the position sensing hydraulic system.

14. The spray system of claim 13, wherein:

the position-sensing hydraulic cylinder system comprises a first position-sensing hydraulic cylinder disposed at a front end of vertical wall and a second position-sensing hydraulic cylinder disposed at a back end of the vertical wall;

the position measurement is based at least in part on position measurements from both the first and second position-sensing hydraulic cylinders and corresponds to a height of a position of a bottom edge in proximity to a bottom of the drum; and

the spray controller actuates fluid spray responsive to determining the position measurement is less than a first threshold height value corresponding to a frame height at which the bottom of the drum interacts with a road surface.

15. The spray system of claim 12, wherein the indication indicative of a milling operation is a drive-motor status signal from a drive motor that is configured to drive a ground engaging member of the cold planer machine, and actuation of fluid flow via the spray bank is based at least in part on receiving a drive-motor status signal indicative of activation of the drive motor.

16. The spray system of claim 12, wherein the indication indicative of a milling operation includes at least one of a spray system operating in an automatic mode, a drive motor operating in a forward mode, and a relative height of the vertical wall being greater than a threshold height.

17. A cold planer machine, comprising:

a frame;

a ground engaging member adapted to interact with a road surface;

a retracting vertical actuator system disposed between the frame and the ground engaging member to raise and lower the frame;

a housing including a vertical wall movable relative to the frame;

a drum enclosed within the housing and arranged to rotate about a drum axis, the drum is connected to the frame and configured to plane the road surface during operation; and

a spray system, the spray system comprising;

a spray bank disposed inside the housing and arranged to spray fluid directed at the drum; and

a spray controller configured to;

receive an indication indicative of a road surface planing operation; and

actuate fluid spray via the spray bank based at least in part on receiving the indication indicative of the road surface planing operation.

18. The cold planer machine of claim 17, wherein:

the spray bank comprises a first spray bank and a second spray bank; and

the spray controller is further configured to actuate fluid spray from the first spray bank based on receiving the indication indicative of the road surface planing operation and actuate fluid spray from the second spray bank based on determining either one of the cold planer machine is advancing at a speed greater than a threshold speed and the drum is being inserted into the road surface at a speed greater than a threshold rate.

19. The cold planer machine of claim 17, the spray controller being further configured to receive a drive-motor status signal from a drive motor that is configured to drive a ground engaging member of the cold planer machine, and the indication indicative of the road surface planing operation is a drive-motor status signal indicative of the drive motor not being activated.

20. The cold planer machine of claim 17, the spray controller being further configured to secure fluid spray after a first time delay after a determination that road surface planing operation is no longer occurring.