Haulage vehicle

• US 9,771,078 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2014
• Issued: 09/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Construction Machinery Company Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi Construction Machinery Company Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Saito, Shinjiro, Ishimoto, Hidefumi
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Tuan C.
• Application Number:
  US15/124,074
• Publication Number:
  US 20170015322A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/04 including control of propulsion units
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/18 including control of braking systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0071 Controller overrides driver automatically
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0073 Driver overrides controller
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0091 of control inputs
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2300/125 Heavy duty trucks
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/10 Accelerator pedal position
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/12 Brake pedal position
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/18 Steering angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/215 Selection or confirmation of options
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/00 Input parameters relating to data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/18 Braking system
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/202 Steering torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2720/106 Longitudinal acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0025 specially adapted for specific operations
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0051 from occupants to vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0053 from vehicle to occupant
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0061 for transition from automatic pilot to manual pilot and vice versa
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0212 with means for defining a desired trajectory involving a plurality of land vehicles G05D1/0287
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 : Electric energy management in electromobility

Abstract

An autonomous mode controller (61) that outputs an acceleration command (SAa), a braking command (SBa) and a torque command (Ta) is connected to a steering actuator (33) and a traveling drive unit (52). The steering actuator (33) generates combined torque (T1) based upon steering torque (Tm) from a steering handle (32) and the torque command (Ta), and controls a steering angle (θ) of a vehicle based upon the combined torque (T1). The traveling drive unit (52) selects a larger one of an acceleration command (SAm) by an accelerator pedal (50) and the acceleration command (SAa) as an acceleration command (SA), and selects a larger one of a braking command (SBm) by a brake pedal (51) and the acceleration command (SBa) as a braking command (SB). The traveling drive unit (52) controls a vehicle speed based upon the acceleration command (SA) and the braking command (SB).

Claims

1. A haulage vehicle comprising:

an acceleration operation device that operates acceleration of a vehicle;

a braking operation device that operates a brake of said vehicle; and

a traveling drive unit that causes said vehicle to travel based upon an acceleration command by said acceleration operation device and a braking command by said braking operation device, characterized in that;

said traveling drive unit comprises;

an external input terminal for inputting another acceleration command and another braking command from an exterior;

an acceleration command selecting unit that selects a larger acceleration command by comparing said other acceleration command input from said external input terminal and said acceleration command by said acceleration operation device; and

a braking command selecting unit that selects a larger braking command by comparing said other braking command input from said external input terminal and said braking command by said braking operation device, wherein

a traveling drive of said vehicle is controlled based upon said acceleration command selected by said acceleration command selecting unit and said braking command selected by said braking command selecting unit.

2. The haulage vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising:

a steering operation device that operates a traveling direction of said vehicle;

a steering actuator that adds additional torque to steering torque of said steering operation device; and

a steering system that steers said vehicle based upon combined torque by combining said steering torque and said additional torque, wherein

said steering actuator generates said additional torque based upon a torque command from an exterior.

3. The haulage vehicle according to claim 2, wherein

said steering actuator is a power steering device that generates said additional torque for assisting in said steering torque.

4. The haulage vehicle according to claim 2, wherein

an autonomous mode controller is connected to said external input terminal of said traveling drive unit and said steering actuator to cause said vehicle to travel according to a predetermined travel trajectory, and

said autonomous mode controller includes:

a vehicle location calculation unit that calculates a position of said vehicle; and

a traveling trajectory trace unit that calculates said other acceleration command, said other braking command and said torque command based upon said vehicle position calculated by said vehicle location calculation unit and said predetermined travel trajectory.

5. The haulage vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

a mode selecting switch is connected to said traveling drive unit to permit or prohibit said other acceleration command and said other braking command from being input from an exterior.

6. The haulage vehicle according to claim 2, wherein

a mode selecting switch is connected to said traveling drive unit to permit or prohibit said other acceleration command and said other braking command from being input from an exterior, and

said steering actuator switches validity and invalidity of said torque command input from an exterior according to a selecting state of said mode selecting switch.