Automated excavation machine
First Claim
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1. An excavation method, comprising:
- providing an excavator comprising a cutter head for excavating in situ material, a body engaging the cutter head, and a plurality of grippers for applying pressure against opposing surfaces of an excavation to maintain the body in a selected position and orientation;
manually positioning the excavator in a selected first position adjacent to an excavation face;
comparing selected excavator sensed parameters against predetermined values to confirm that the excavator is properly configured;
commencing an automated first excavation sequence in which a first set of grippers engage opposing excavation surfaces of the excavation to maintain the body in a selected position and the excavator excavates material from the excavation face;
when a thrust actuator engaging the cutter head is extended a predetermined distance, commencing an automated repositioning sequence to reposition the excavator to a second position adjacent to the excavation face, wherein, in the automated repositioning sequence a second set of grippers, but not the first set of grippers, engage the opposing excavation surfaces; and
when the excavator is in the second position, confirming that the excavator is properly configured for an automated second excavation sequence; and
when properly configured, commencing an automated second excavation sequence, wherein the excavator has a rotatable boom engaging the cutter head and wherein the cutter head excavates the in situ material by rotating the boom back and forth across the excavation face while the cutter head is in contact with the excavation face for at least a portion of each boom rotation, and wherein a swing cycle optimization module automatically reverses the direction of boom rotation when at least one of a hydraulic pressure measured in at least one thrust actuator and a swing torque drops below a predetermined threshold.
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to an excavator that is operable in manual and automatic modes and uses state machines to effect unit operations, rotationally offset swing actuators to rotate boom and cutter head, a fail safe hydraulic system to maintain gripper pressure in the event of a malfunction of the hydraulic system, differing position and pressure control functions in the hydraulic actuators, a kinematic module to effect pitch and roll adjustments, a cutting face profile generator to generate a profile of the excavation face, and an optimization module to realize a high degree of optimization of excavator operation.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. An excavation method, comprising:
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providing an excavator comprising a cutter head for excavating in situ material, a body engaging the cutter head, and a plurality of grippers for applying pressure against opposing surfaces of an excavation to maintain the body in a selected position and orientation; manually positioning the excavator in a selected first position adjacent to an excavation face; comparing selected excavator sensed parameters against predetermined values to confirm that the excavator is properly configured; commencing an automated first excavation sequence in which a first set of grippers engage opposing excavation surfaces of the excavation to maintain the body in a selected position and the excavator excavates material from the excavation face; when a thrust actuator engaging the cutter head is extended a predetermined distance, commencing an automated repositioning sequence to reposition the excavator to a second position adjacent to the excavation face, wherein, in the automated repositioning sequence a second set of grippers, but not the first set of grippers, engage the opposing excavation surfaces; and when the excavator is in the second position, confirming that the excavator is properly configured for an automated second excavation sequence; and when properly configured, commencing an automated second excavation sequence, wherein the excavator has a rotatable boom engaging the cutter head and wherein the cutter head excavates the in situ material by rotating the boom back and forth across the excavation face while the cutter head is in contact with the excavation face for at least a portion of each boom rotation, and wherein a swing cycle optimization module automatically reverses the direction of boom rotation when at least one of a hydraulic pressure measured in at least one thrust actuator and a swing torque drops below a predetermined threshold. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An excavation method, comprising:
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providing an excavator comprising a cutter head for excavating in situ material, a body engaging the cutter head, and a plurality of grippers for applying pressure against opposing surfaces of an excavation to maintain the body in a selected position and orientation; manually positioning the excavator in a selected first position adjacent to an excavation face; comparing selected excavator sensed parameters against predetermined values to confirm that the excavator is properly configured; commencing an automated first excavation sequence in which a first set of grippers engage opposing excavation surfaces of the excavation to maintain the body in a selected position and the excavator excavates material from the excavation face; when a thrust actuator engaging the cutter head is extended a predetermined distance, commencing an automated repositioning sequence to reposition the excavator to a second position adjacent to the excavation face, wherein, in the automated repositioning sequence a second set of grippers, but not the first set of grippers, engage the opposing excavation surfaces; and when the excavator is in the second position, confirming that the excavator is properly configured for an automated second excavation sequence; and when properly configured, commencing an automated second excavation sequence; and wherein the cutter head is mounted on a boom and comprises one or more excavating devices and at least one thrust actuator operatively engages at least one variable orifice valve for supplying hydraulic fluid to the at least one thrust actuator and further comprising; monitoring a parameter that is at least one of (a) a thrust force applied on the cutter head by the at least one thrust actuator, (b) a force on a cutter;
(c) a speed at which the boom is rotating, and (d) a swing torque by the boom; andwhen the parameter exceeds a selected threshold, opening the at least one variable orifice valve a selected amount to relieve a pressure in the at least one thrust actuator, wherein the selected amount is a function of at least one of the following; (i) the amount by which the cutter force exceeds a selected value; (ii) the speed at which the cutter force is increasing; (iii) an amount of time that the selected value has been exceeded; (iv) the amount by which the difference between a commanded boom rotational speed and an actual boom rotational speed exceeds a selected value; (v) the speed at which the speed difference is increasing; (vi) the amount by which the swing torque exceeds a selected value; and (v) the speed at which the swing torque is increasing. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An excavation method, comprising:
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providing an excavator comprising a cutter head for excavating in situ material, a body engaging the cutter head, and a plurality of grippers for applying pressure against opposing surfaces of an excavation to maintain the body in a selected position and orientation; manually positioning the excavator in a selected first position adjacent to an excavation face; comparing selected excavator sensed parameters against predetermined values to confirm that the excavator is properly configured; commencing an automated first excavation sequence in which a first set of grippers engage opposing excavation surfaces of the excavation to maintain the body in a selected position and the excavator excavates material from the excavation face; when a thrust actuator engaging the cutter head is extended a predetermined distance, commencing an automated repositioning sequence to reposition the excavator to a second position adjacent to the excavation face, wherein, in the automated repositioning sequence a second set of grippers, but not the first set of grippers, engage the opposing excavation surfaces; and when the excavator is in the second position, confirming that the excavator is properly configured for an automated second excavation sequence; and when properly configured, commencing an automated second excavation sequence, wherein the sensed parameters include hydraulic pressure measurements and cylinder displacement measurements, wherein the excavator comprises a boom engaging the cutter head and body, and wherein the commencing step comprises the substeps; rotating the boom a selected swing angle; while the boom is rotating, controlling a thrust pressure in a thrust actuator by monitoring at least one of an overall thrust force and an individual cutter force; when the hydraulic pressure in a swing cylinder and/or thrust actuator falls below a predetermined level, reversing rotation of the boom; while the boom is rotating, controlling a thrust pressure in a thrust actuator by monitoring at least one of an overall thrust force and an individual cutter force; and when the hydraulic pressure in the swing cylinder and/or thrust actuator falls below a predetermined level, extending the thrust actuator a predetermined distance in preparation for a next boom rotation; and wherein the method further comprises; detecting a stall condition when at least one of the following is true; a boom rotational speed is less than a first predetermined value; and a swing torque is less than a second predetermined value; and in response to detecting a stall condition, relieving the thrust pressure by an amount that is a function of the difference between the rotational speed and the first predetermined value and/or the swing torque and the second predetermined value; comparing pitch and roll commands against pitch and roll feedback signals; based on the comparison, outputting an error vector, the error vector comprising an adjustment for roll and an adjustment for pitch; converting the error vector into an equivalent adjustment in cylinder position of a selected gripper; and adjusting a cylinder position of the selected gripper according to the equivalent adjustment.
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18. An excavation method, comprising:
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providing an excavator comprising a cutter head for excavating in situ material, a body engaging the cutter head, and a plurality of grippers for applying pressure against opposing surfaces of an excavation to maintain the body in a selected position and orientation; manually positioning the excavator in a selected first position adjacent to an excavation face; comparing selected excavator sensed parameters against predetermined values to confirm that the excavator is properly configured; commencing an automated first excavation sequence in which a first set of grippers engage opposing excavation surfaces of the excavation to maintain the body in a selected position and the excavator excavates material from the excavation face; when a thrust actuator engaging the cutter head is extended a predetermined distance, commencing an automated repositioning sequence to reposition the excavator to a second position adjacent to the excavation face, wherein, in the automated repositioning sequence a second set of grippers, but not the first set of grippers, engage the opposing excavation surfaces; and when the excavator is in the second position, confirming that the excavator is properly configured for an automated second excavation sequence; and when properly configured, commencing an automated second excavation sequence, wherein the grippers comprise at least one hydraulic actuator and further comprising; setting at least one hydraulic fluid-containing cavity in each of a first set of the hydraulic actuators to a pressure control function in which a pressure in the cavity is controlled; setting at least one hydraulic fluid-containing cavity in each of a second set of the hydraulic actuators to a position control function in which a position of the corresponding actuator is controlled; wherein a gripper comprises first and second hydraulic actuators and wherein at least a first cavity in the first hydraulic actuator is set to the pressure control function and at least a second cavity in the second hydraulic actuator is set to the position control function; wherein a first hydraulic actuator comprises first and second cavities for receiving hydraulic fluid and wherein the first cavity is set to the pressure control function and the second cavity is set to the position control function; wherein the first and second sets of hydraulic actuators are at least partially overlapping; and setting at least one cavity in at least one of the hydraulic actuators to at least one of a differential position control function and a cooperating position/pressure control function.
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Specification