JPH0316452B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a construction method for finishing the ground into a predetermined shape in land development, road construction, etc., and particularly to automation thereof.

In the conventional construction method, a survey is conducted in advance, pilings are driven and staked according to the survey, and
Based on this standard, construction machinery, especially earthmoving machinery, has been used to level the ground or to form the ground.
Therefore, it took a lot of time to conduct surveying, driving piles, and setting piles, and the operators of earth-moving machines who carried out the leveling and ground preparation work in conjunction with pile driving and carving required a high level of skill. .

Particularly in the finishing process of road construction, an assistant on the ground stretches a thread between the tension tensioners, measures the deviation between the current level and the level to be finished, and tells the operator of the earth-moving machine the value. A highly trained operator and many auxiliary personnel are required to carry out small-scale work operations according to deviations.
It took a lot of time. The term "level" as used in this specification refers to altitude above a certain horizontal plane.

As a countermeasure to this problem, earthmoving machines equipped with automatic leveling devices, such as waterway construction machines and motor graders, have been proposed. According to it, during construction,
Strings are stretched on the sides in accordance with the tension, and a sensor attached to the working machine of the waterway construction machine or motor grader automatically raises and lowers the lift cylinder on the sensor side of the working machine. For cross slope,
The operator sets the desired inclination value of the work equipment according to the inclination value written on the tensioner, and the other lift cylinder is automatically adjusted so that the value measured by the inclinometer attached to the work equipment matches the set value. It is designed to be raised and lowered. To do this, it was necessary to tension the threads correctly, which required a lot of man-hours.
Also, for this purpose, the road shoulder is finished to the correct level in advance and then traced with a shoe attached to a sensor. It was even more difficult than trying.

Also, when leveling a wide road, it is not possible to level the entire surface in one operation, and the ground leveled next to it must be leveled based on the first leveled ground, resulting in a corresponding drop in accuracy. .

Furthermore, when leveling a large area, it is difficult to set a standard in advance using a method such as stretching a string and follow the standard when leveling the ground, so it has been proposed to use a laser beam as a standard. That is, a surface of light is created by rotating and projecting a laser beam, the slope of this surface of light with respect to the horizontal plane is adjusted in advance to the slope of the land to be finished, and a pole with a light receiving device at the tip is placed on the earth-moving machine. It is configured to stand on a working machine and automatically raise and lower the working machine so that the laser beam is always received at a specific position of the light receiving device.

This construction method, which uses the light surface of a laser beam as a reference, is effective for finishing large areas of land correctly and flatly, such as those used for plaza development, but it is also effective for finishing large areas of land, such as those used for plaza development, to accurately flatten them. It can be used in cases where the slope is not uniform, or where land is created in a curved shape with a low surrounding area to provide drainage effects, such as for factories or sports fields. The drawback is that it cannot be done.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art and provide a standard automated construction method for finishing the ground into a predetermined shape.

An object of the present invention is to provide a construction method that allows even an unskilled operator to easily and correctly finish the ground into a predetermined shape according to the design.

The structure, operation and effect of the present invention will be made clear by the following description of embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a light receiving device used in the present invention, and the light receiving device 10 includes n independent photoelectric conversion elements 10 ₁ , 10 ₂ , . . . , 10 _o+1/2 , . . . , 10 _o It is organized by columns. An automatic control device, which will be described later, controls the operation of the working machine so that a specific photoelectric conversion element, for example, the central photoelectric conversion element 10 _o+1/2 always receives the laser boom.

FIG. 2 shows another example of the light receiving device used in the present invention, in which the light receiving device 20 includes two photoelectric conversion elements 2.
0 ₁ and 20 ₂ are aligned with a central dead zone 21 in between. The two photoelectric conversion elements 20 ₁ and 20 ₂ are
Each has a light-receiving sensitivity that changes symmetrically with respect to the dead zone 21 so that the light-receiving sensitivity increases as the laser beam incident portion moves away from the central dead zone 21. two photoelectric conversion elements 20 ₁ ,
The automatic control device inputs the output of 20 ₂ to both inputs of a differential amplifier (not shown) so that the differential output becomes zero, that is, the laser beam always hits the central dead zone 21. Control your posture.

The rows of photoelectric conversion elements of the light receiving device shown in FIG. 1 or 2 are installed in the vertical direction for attitude control of the working machine, and are installed in the horizontal direction for steering control. In Figure 3, 3
Reference numerals 8 and 40 denote light receiving devices supported by balls 34 and 36 attached to both ends of the working machine 32 of the earthmoving machine 30, and 42 is a light receiving device supported by balls also attached to the working machine. The light receiving device shown in FIG. 1 or 2 is used.

Generally speaking, the running direction control or steering control of an earthmoving machine does not require as much precision as the attitude control of a working machine, and manual steering by the operator is also possible. Therefore, an embodiment in which only the attitude control of the working machine is performed will be described first.

FIG. 4 is a plan view schematically illustrating a method for controlling the attitude of the work implement 32 of the earth-moving machine 30 as shown in FIG. The work equipment 32 is equipped with light receiving devices 38 and 40 for posture control as shown in FIG. 3, but this is because the leveled surface has a different slope depending on the location and the level of the work equipment 32 is different on both the left and right sides. The desired leveling surface is a uniform horizontal surface or a flat surface with a certain angle to the horizontal surface.
If the working machine can move in parallel, only one of the light receiving devices 38 and 40 may be used. 42 is a light receiving device for the steering shown in FIG. 3, that is, for steering control, and this steering control will be described later.
52 is a laser beam emitting device installed at a reference point, and the laser beam emitting direction is controlled by the control device 50.
controlled by. 54 is a device for measuring the distance from the reference point to the earthmoving machine 30, which is realized by various known methods as described below.

For example, the device 54 emits radio waves, and the earth-moving machine 3
By detecting and emitting the radio waves reflected back from zero and measuring the time required from when the radio waves are received until the reflected waves are received, the distance from the device 54 to the earthmoving machine 30 can be determined based on the time. In this case, if the emitted radio wave is modulated with a sawtooth wave, the distance can be determined from the phase difference between the emitted wave and the reflected wave.

Alternatively, the earthmoving machine 30 is provided with a corner cube reflector for laser beam reflection, and the laser beam is emitted from the laser beam emitting device 52,
As with radio waves, if you measure the time from when a laser beam is emitted until it returns, you can determine the distance based on that.

Alternatively, if the earthmoving machine 30 is provided with a light source of specific light, for example, infrared light, and the distance measuring device 54 is provided with a photoelectric conversion element having two telescopes, the distance can be determined by triangulation.

As described above, the distance measuring device 54 can be realized by various known methods, but it may be configured based on the most appropriate distance measuring method in consideration of the working environment, topography, and other conditions.

The terrain used for leveling and finishing work with earthmoving machines is not a fixed plane, but usually has a curved surface. According to the present invention, in order to finish the ground into a curved topography according to a predetermined design, a laser beam emitting device 52 is installed at a reference point.
The reference point and the earth-moving machine 30 to be controlled are
The current location of the earth-moving machine 30 is known by sequentially measuring the distance between the earth-moving machine 30 and the earth-moving machine 30 using the distance measuring device 54. From this measured value, it is determined from the design drawing how much the desired level at the current location of the earthmoving machine 30 should differ from the reference point, and the data stored in the memory in advance is read out and the laser beam is The control device 50 adjusts the emission direction and automatically controls the attitude of the work machine 32 so that the laser beam enters a specific vertical position, for example, the central part, of the light receiving device attached to the work machine 32 of the earthmoving machine 30. do.
When the desired level on the left and right sides of the working machine 32 is always the same, and when the left and right levels of the working machine are arranged to move in parallel, the light receiving device attached to the working machine 32 is either 38 or 40. As already mentioned, when the desired left and right levels often change depending on the location, both 38 and 40 are provided and the levels are controlled separately.

Next, the functions of the control device 50 will be explained. If we assume that the reference point where the laser beam emitting device 52 is located is the origin and the spatial coordinates are orthogonal x and y axes in a horizontal plane that includes the reference point and the vertical z axis, then desired coordinate values at various points on the ground surface can be determined. can be determined based on the blueprint. If these desired coordinate value data are stored in advance in a memory included in the control device 50, and the distance between the reference point and the earth-moving machine 30 is measured by the distance measuring device 54 provided at the reference point, The current position of the earth-moving machine can be determined from the direction of the laser beam, the desired level at the current position of the earth-moving machine 30 can be determined from the data stored in the memory, and the depression angle (or elevation angle) of the laser beam can be adjusted to match the desired level. Just control it. The direction of the laser beam is controlled by specifying the angle (depression angle and rotation angle). The control device 50 may be constituted by a microcomputer, in which case the desired coordinate values described above can be stored in the memory of this microcomputer, and the rectangular coordinates can be converted into polar coordinates by a mathematically well-known conversion formula. It is also easy to convert. However, if this conversion is performed in advance before work and stored in the memory provided in the control device 50, there is no need to perform detailed calculations during the work. No need to configure. It goes without saying that it is necessary to be able to correct the desired coordinates by using the installation level of the laser beam emitting device as an offset amount.

Next, one embodiment of the laser beam emitting device 52 will be described with reference to FIG. The laser beam emitting device 52 includes a laser tube 60 that emits a laser beam,
A lens system 62 for controlling the emission direction of the laser beam, a lens system drive mechanism 64 including a motor for driving this lens system, a control device 50 for this drive mechanism, a mantle tube 68 for protecting the optical system,
A gimbal machine 70 and a weight 72 for maintaining the laser tube 60 vertically, a support 74 for connecting the laser tube 60 and the weight 72, a laser tube 60 and a lens system 6
2, and a tripod 78 to maintain the laser beam emitting device on the ground. The laser tube 60 is a gimbal mechanism 70
The laser beam is reliably maintained vertically by the weight 72 and the weight 72, and the laser beam is emitted in the vertical direction. laser tube 60
The laser beam emitted from the controller 50 in the vertical direction is refracted and projected in a substantially horizontal direction by a lens system 62 including a prism, but this direction is not controlled by the control device 50.
is controlled via a drive device 64. That is, the lens system 62 is driven by the drive mechanism 64 to change the projection direction of the laser beam, and the change is instructed by the control device 50. The control device 50 is the same as that shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of this control device 50 will be explained with reference to FIG. The control device 50 includes a memory device 80,
It includes a laser projection direction calculation circuit 82 and a comparison circuit 84, and the projection direction of the laser beam output from the laser projection direction calculation circuit 82, that is, the command values 86 of the depression angle (or elevation angle) and the turning angle, and the laser measured by the angle sensor 88. The comparison circuit 84 compares the actual value 90 of the beam projection direction, and a signal 92 representing the deviation is input to the lens system drive mechanism 64.
4 drives the lens system 62 to change the projection direction of the laser beam in a direction in which the deviation becomes zero. The laser projection direction calculation circuit 82 stores in the memory device 80 the distance measurement value from the reference point to the earth-moving machine 30 actually measured by the distance measuring device 54 and the desired coordinate value at the current position of the earth-moving machine 30, which can be determined from the emission direction of the laser beam. The width of a large number of pre-stored desired coordinate values is read out based on the design drawing, which is converted into the direction of the laser beam, that is, the angle of depression (or angle of elevation) and the angle of rotation.
It is output as 6. The coordinate data between the stored coordinate values can be calculated between the coordinate values before and after the stored coordinate values, for example, by linear interpolation.

For tilt control, that is, to control the inclination angle of the work implement 32 with respect to the horizontal plane, the two light receiving devices 38 and 40 are used as described above. 40 may be sequentially and alternately switched and fired at high speed. This work machine 3
If the value of the tilt, that is, the angle of inclination in step 2, is stored in advance in the memory device 80 as a desired value at each point, the desired tilt at the current location of the earthmoving machine 30 can be determined in response to sequential actual measurement data regarding the current location of the earthmoving machine 30. The value can be read out and included in the command value signal 86.

Next, we will discuss steering control. As described above, the steering control light receiving device 42 is provided for steering control. FIG. 7 shows an example of a laser beam emitting device 52 for performing both level control and steering control of a working machine. The same reference numerals as in FIG. 5 indicate the same components, and the same reference numerals with a dash indicate similar components.

In FIG. 7, 1/2 of the laser beam emitted vertically upward from the laser tube 60 passes through the lens system 62 directly, and 1/2 is refracted and projected horizontally. The beam is used to control the attitude of the work machine. In addition, the laser beam transmitted vertically upward is transmitted through the lens system 62'.
The beam is refracted by the beam, projected horizontally, and used for steering control.

The drive mechanism 64' for driving the steering control lens system 62' may be similar to 64. However, the control device 94 for controlling this drive mechanism 64' does not necessarily have to be similar to the control device 50 for controlling the attitude of the work machine, and can be used to control the steering command value at the current position of the earth-moving machine 30, that is, the current All that is required is to give a command value indicating in which direction the earth-moving machine should travel from the point to the automatic steering mechanism (not shown) of the earth-moving machine 30. Therefore, the control device 94 in this case includes the memory device 80 in the control device 50 for level control and the laser projection direction calculation circuit 82.
There is no need to provide a separate device.

It is easily understood that the laser beam for steering control can be easily detected by the light receiving device 42 by swinging the laser beam vertically up and down at high speed by the drive mechanism 64'. Swinging a laser beam in a desired direction at high speed can be easily realized in the current field of laser technology. When the laser beam for steering control is swung up and down at high speed, the control device 94 controls only the turning angle of the laser beam. Therefore, after setting the turning angle of the laser beam at the start of work, this turning angle may be set manually according to the position of the earth-moving machine, or by radio signals emitted from the earth-moving machine. or the memory 80 corresponding to the measured value of the distance measuring device 54.
It may be possible to automatically switch depending on the data read from.

In the above embodiment, it has been explained that the laser beam for controlling the attitude of the work equipment and the laser beam for controlling the steering of the earthmoving machine are projected separately, but only one receiver is required for controlling the attitude of the work equipment. In this case, by integrating the light receiving device for attitude control and the light receiving device for steering control, it is possible to control both with a single laser beam. FIG. 8 shows an example.

In FIG. 8, a large number of optical fibers (not shown) are embedded in a light-receiving device 100 with its light-receiving surface as an end face, so as to receive an incident laser beam. The optical fibers belonging to the two areas 101 ₁ and 101 ₂ surrounded by the one-dot chain line constitute the light receiving device 38 (or 40) for level control of the working machine, and the number of optical fibers is equal to the horizontal center line passing through the center 103. The amount of light received increases as the distance from the center increases, and the change in the amount of light received is symmetrical with respect to this horizontal parallel center line. This is as explained in relation to Fig. 2, and if the amounts of light obtained by the optical fibers in both regions are converted into electrical signals and input to both inputs of a differential amplifier (not shown), as shown in Fig. 2. A light-receiving device as described above can be obtained. Two areas 102 ₁ , 10 surrounded by two-dot chain lines
The optical fiber belonging to 2 ₂ similarly constitutes the light receiving device 42 for steering control of the earth-moving machine, and its configuration is exactly the same as the light receiving device for level control, but the arrangement is rotated by 90°. The only difference is that In the figure, the edges of the regions 101 ₁ , 101 ₂ and 102 ₁ , 102 ₂ are shown to be shifted from each other, but this is done intentionally to make it easier to understand. If the light receiving device is configured in this way, only one laser beam is required for attitude control and steering control, and if the incident position of the beam on the light receiving device 100 deviates from the center point 103 to the left or right or up or down, The deviation is extracted by each differential amplifier, and the laser beam is always kept at this center position 10 by attitude control, steering control, or both.
It is controlled so that it comes to 4.

Further, each light receiving device may be automatically oriented so that its surface faces directly toward the direction of incidence of the laser beam so that the amount of laser beam received is always maximized, or it may also have a curved surface shape. .

With the above configuration, according to the present invention, even an inexperienced operator can automatically finish the ground surface not only to a flat horizontal surface as designed but also to an inclined or curved surface. Furthermore, this method can be applied to curved roads as well.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of a light receiving device used to implement the method according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing another example of the light receiving device, and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing another example of the light receiving device used to implement the method of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a perspective view schematically showing an example of an earth-moving machine; FIG. 4 is a plan view schematically showing the relationship between the earth-moving machine and a laser beam projection device as an example of implementing the method according to the present invention; FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing one example of a projection device; FIG. 6 is a block diagram for explaining a method of controlling the projection direction of a laser beam; FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing another example of a laser beam projection device; FIG. The figure is a plan view showing another example of the light receiving device. Explanation of symbols, 10, 20, 38, 40, 42,
100... Light receiving device, 30... Earthmoving machine, 32...
...Working machine, 50...Control device, 52...Laser beam injection device, 54...Distance measuring device, 60...
Laser tube, 62, 62'...lens system.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A construction method in which the ground is finished into a predetermined shape by running an earth-moving machine equipped with a working machine whose attitude with respect to the earth-moving machine can be adjusted. A process that includes the following steps: (a) a process in which the earth-moving machine moves in a predetermined direction; (b) a process in which data regarding the current position of the earth-moving machine relative to a reference point are sequentially measured; and (c) a process to be carried out. a step of sequentially reading out data regarding the desired finished surface of the ground at the current position of the earth-moving machine from a memory device that previously stores data regarding the desired finished surface at each point on the ground; (d) a laser beam provided at the reference point; a step of sequentially adjusting the projection direction of the laser beam projected from the injection device in a direction corresponding to the desired finished surface of the ground read out sequentially; (e) a light receiving device mounted at a constant height on the working machine; a step of successively adjusting the attitude of the working machine with respect to the earthmoving machine so that the laser beam is incident on a predetermined part in the vertical direction; 2. In claim 1, the light receiving device is provided at each end of the working machine in the lateral direction, and is configured to receive the laser beam projected from the reference point, The construction method is characterized in that the inclination of the working machine with respect to the horizontal direction can thereby also be controlled. 3. In claim 1 or 2, a further steering control light receiving device is attached to the working machine at a fixed height, and a laser beam separately projected from the reference point is provided. The construction method is characterized in that the steering of the earth-moving machine is automatically controlled so that the light is incident on a predetermined horizontal position of the steering control light receiving device. 4. In any one of claims 1 to 3, the steps (c) to (e) are performed by a microcomputer including the memory device. The said construction method.