MONITORING SYSTEM FOR ANTICIPATING DANGEROUS CONDITIONS DURING TRANSPORTATION OF A CARGO OVER LAND

• US 20180128640A1
• Filed: 05/12/2015
• Published: 05/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pedro Renato Gonzalez Mendez
• Original Assignee: Pedro Renato Gonzalez Mendez
• Inventors: Gonzalez Mendez, Pedro Renato
• Granted Patent: US 10,690,510 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/00 Arrangement or adaptation of signal devices not provided for in one of main groups B60Q1/00 - B60Q7/00 , e.g. haptic signalling
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/0229 for displays, e.g. cathodic tubes
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/04 Monitoring the functioning of the control system
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/06 Improving the dynamic response of the control system, e.g. improving the speed of regulation or avoiding hunting or overshoot
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/165 combined with non-inertial navigation instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/18 Stabilised platforms, e.g. by gyroscope
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

A monitoring system for anticipating dangerous conditions during the transportation of a cargo over land detects and reports instability and the risk of tipping of a cargo. This is accomplished by measuring, registering and analyzing the physical dynamics of a cargo transported over land, by a vehicle, and by generating and displaying in the driver'"'"'s cabin of the vehicle anticipatory alarms specific to conditions of risk of instability and of tipping associated with the route via which the vehicle is travelling. These alarms are displayed in the cabin of the vehicle itself so that the driver can perform actions to reduce the condition of risk. The system has a modular configuration so that it can be installed in any vehicle.

Claims

1. A dynamic-physical condition monitoring system of a land freight transport that allows anticipating risk conditions during travel of the freight transport, CHARACTERIZED in that the system includes at least:

a) sensor equipment which is attached to a container for transported cargo, which sensor measures and registers, during its travel displacement, the path, tri-dimensional acceleration, tri-dimensional orientation, velocity and georeferenced cargo position of the cargo;

b) a microcontroller of the sensor equipment, programmed with firmware that processes data from;

georeferenced position, tri-dimensional acceleration, tri-dimensional orientation, speed, weight, gravity centre position and cargo container dimensions, the microcontroller being configured to generate hazard alarms during travel of the container;

c) a memory module, of the sensing equipment, which stores the information collected during the travel for each of one or more combinations of route, cargo and cargo container;

d) display equipment located in the driver'"'"'s cab, which display equipment receives via a remote server data from the sensor equipment during or prior to travel, and displays one or both of audible and visual alarms, as appropriate;

e) a memory module installed in the display unit which stores information on georeferenced risk points and areas associated with each of the one or more combinations of route, cargo and cargo container combination;

f) the remote server is configured to have software that receives, stores and processes the information obtained from the sensor equipment and to transmit the information to the display equipment from specific georeferenced points and risk areas for each of the one or more route, cargo and cargo container combinations;

g) a wireless communication channel configured to operate between the sensor equipment and the display equipment during travel of the load being transported; and

h) communication means configured to operate among the sensor equipment, the display equipment and the remote server via a cellular network.

2. A monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that said system allows georeferenced information to be obtained from risk areas and points of risk including, but not limited to:

instability during a journey, lateral overturning risk, lateral slippage risk, excessive or prolonged braking, excessive frontal acceleration, vibrations over a certain threshold and exceed of the maximum road speed determined for each route, cargo and cargo container combination.

3. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the sensor equipment in the container comprises at least:

a tri-dimensional accelerometer, a tri-dimensional gyroscope, a GPS module, a GPRS module, a memory module, a power supply, a microcontroller and a radio transceiver.

4. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the sensor equipment can generate and transmit alarm information to the display equipment by means of a radio link or to a remote server through a cellular network.

5. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the information extracted from the sensor equipment is processed on the remote server with a specific software, generates a set of points and/or risk areas including, but not limited to, lateral overturning, lateral slippage, advance braking, dangerous frontal traction, force on different points of the cargo container, all georeferenced and associated with a particular route, cargo and cargo container combination.

6. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that if the operation does not generate alarms, the sensor equipment attached to the container generates information that will be used to generate preventive alarms in subsequent routes between the same points and the same load and containers.

7. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the display equipment includes at least one of a sound horn, a radio transceiver, a microcontroller, a memory, a power supply, a GPS module, an alphanumeric display, a light indicator and fixing means.

8. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that prior to travel, the display device receives and processes from the remote server data from:

cargo, cargo container, origin and georeferenced destinations, which will later generate alarms based on these previous measurements with the same cargo combination, cargo container and route.

9. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the microcontroller firmware of the display equipment receives indistinctly from the remote server or from a computer connected to it processed data in the remote server that it is used to generate preventive risk alarms, for each cargo combination, cargo container type and determined route.

10. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the sensor device generates information of points and risk areas that feeds a database stored in the remote server that contains each combination of but not limited to route, load, cargo container, time and date previously registered and that is updated with the information of each of the following trips.

11. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the information for each route, cargo and cargo container combination, stored in the sensor equipment, disclose and reproduces parts or the total physical cargo trajectories.

12. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that it incorporates cargo and container cargo data such as, but not limited to:

license plate, tare, capacity, dimensions, container type, cargo type, cargo layout and filling percentage.

13. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the cargo characteristics, cargo container and its displacement are fed into the remote server, such as, but not limited to:

origin, destination, weight, density, type of cargo, center of gravity, date and time.

14. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that during the first measurement and recording of acceleration, orientation, georeferenced position and speed on a determined route, load and cargo container combination, carried out with the sensor equipment, it generates data that is subsequently extracted and processed on the remote server to generate information from georeferenced points and risk areas of, but not limited to, instability during a journey.

15. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that for each previously stored record, acceleration, orientation, georeferenced position and speed over a determined route, load and cargo container combination, the sensor equipment again generates data that is later extracted and processed in the remote server to generate complementary information on geo-referenced points and risk areas.

16. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the geo-referenced point and risk area information associated with each combination of path, load and container of the load previously generated in the remote server, is stored and sent to the display equipment so that it can be processed and use them when the same combination of load and container of the load is moved again in the same route and in this way it operates generating the aforementioned risk anticipatory alarms based on the made measurements.

17. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the display equipment through the microcontroller firmware, selects and uses during each displacement the specific data set corresponding to that route and thus operates with the capacity to generate the aforementioned specific risk alarms associated with each specific cargo and cargo container combination.

18. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that when the display equipment, before a new pathway begins, it receives and/or contains previously processed information on the remote server about points and/or risk areas and that this or part of it corresponds to the current route, load and cargo container, then the display equipment can operate with the ability to generate anticipatory risk alarms previously mentioned during that journey even if no sensor equipment it is installed in the cargo container.

19. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that when the fed origin and destination data are already registered but if any of the data of:

weight or percentage of fill or load type are different from those already registered for the same journey, the server software processes this information and generates a new set of data points and/or risk areas for the same route;

thus, the same origin-destination-container-load set may have several sets of risk points different from each other.

20. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the sensor equipment through the firmware microcontroller, receives and stores all the processed datasets in the remote server for different routes and selects and uses them to generate the specific alarms for each route, weight values, filling percentage and load type combination.

21. The monitoring system, according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the information extracted from the sensor equipment is processed in the remote server, generating new risk points and is sent back to the sensor equipment for use in future displacements that coincide with both georeferenced origin and destination.