JPH0364652B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] This invention uses an excavator such as a shovel machine to excavate soil and stones on the underwater bottom, that is, a dredge machine, and an ultrasonic sensor such as a sonar that detects the underwater situation. The present invention relates to an excavation method for underwater excavation using an excavator and its equipment.

[Conventional technology]

An excavator for underwater excavation is a dredge boat, which has a bucket installed at the tip of the digging arm using a bent link mechanism, and a shovel machine installed on a barge to push or pull the bucket. For example, a backhoe ship having a structure in which a backhoe is installed on a ship is well known from the Civil Engineering Equipment Encyclopedia [published by Sangyo Kenkyukai Co., Ltd., December 1978].

For example, a bottom sonar is well known as an ultrasonic detection device that uses an ultrasonic beam to investigate the underwater situation during excavation. Publication No. 55-33028 discloses an ultrasonic sensor means for conducting an investigation by changing the direction of an ultrasonic beam. There are two methods: a method in which the beam direction is controlled by electronically controlling the phase of each element of the array type transceiver element, and a method in which the beam direction is controlled by electronically controlling the phase of each element of the array type wave transmitting/receiving element. It is known by, for example,

In this invention, the transducer part that changes the direction of the ultrasonic beam to detect the underwater topography is equipped with an exploration type ultrasonic sensor, and the center direction of the horizontal directivity of the ultrasonic beam is Detecting the direction of the ultrasonic beam and moving the ultrasonic beam is called exploration.

FIG. 10 shows the working situation when a submarine drilling boat 11 is used, and the boat 11 performs the work by fixing its barge 14 with spuds 13 driven into the bottom of the water. ing. .

The excavator, that is, the backhoe 15 is the excavator arm 2.
The excavating arm 20 is composed of a boom 17, a bucket 19, a control platform 16, a rotating seat 21, etc.
A link mechanism is formed in which the arm 18 and the bucket 19 attached to its tip are driven by a linear power source such as a hydraulic cylinder, and this link mechanism is bent and extended to move the bucket 19 up and down and back and forth. , is designed to excavate the water bottom 12, and the excavation arm 20 can change the excavation direction by rotating the rotating seat 21, and these bending/extension/swivel operations are controlled by the operating device in the control platform 16. It's getting under control.

The operator operates these control functions to perform the desired excavation work.

When this operating mechanism is schematically illustrated, as shown in FIG. 11, the boom 17, arm 18, and bucket 19 are
Boom rotation axis 22, arm rotation axis 23, respectively.
With the bucket rotation shaft 24 as a fulcrum, the boom angle α・
The arm angle β and bucket angle γ can be varied.

Then, rotate the swing seat 21 to direct the digging arm 20 toward the target direction, manipulate the bucket angle γ to place the claw 25 downward, and manipulate the boom angle α and arm angle β to extend the digging arm 20. , forward objective underwater 1
After dropping the bucket 19 onto 2, the boom angle α・
Manipulate the arm angle β to excavate the water bottom 12 while pulling the bucket 19 toward you, and dig to the target position in front (the point where the bucket 19 is expected to be full of soil and stones).
When it reaches this point, adjust the bucket angle γ to adjust the opening surface 1.
9A horizontally, and after operating the boom angle α and arm angle β to bring the bucket 19 above the water surface 26, rotate the swivel seat 21 to position it on the loading platform of a ship or truck for transporting earth and stone, and place the bucket The bottom of the water is excavated by repeatedly manipulating the angle γ to open up and unload soil and stones.

If such underwater excavation is carried out without any observation means, it becomes so-called blind digging and is inefficient, so a method of conducting underwater observation using an exploration-type ultrasonic sensor in parallel with the excavation is recommended. It is being

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The conventional method of simply observing the water using an exploration-type ultrasonic sensor vaguely observes the entire area, making it unclear to grasp the situation at each excavation, making it impossible to fully understand the implementation, and making it impossible to fully understand the situation in each excavation.
9 pollutes the water and generates bubbles, making detection impossible and disturbing the observation image, which discourages observation and often leads to discontinuation of use, so improvement is desired. There are problems such as:

As a detection method for grasping the excavation status point by point, an ultrasonic sensor is installed on the bottom of the barge 14 at the center of rotation of the excavation arm 20, that is, directly below the rotation axis 21A of the rotation seat 21, and the detection is performed. The direction of the excavation mark of the bucket 19 and the direction of the detection beam of the ultrasonic sensor can be easily matched by simply matching the rotation of the excavation arm 51 with the rotation of the pointing direction of the ultrasonic sensor. In the method,
There are problems in that the water bottom 12 is very shallow, making it impossible to detect the water bottom situation in front of the water, making it impractical.

[Means for solving problems]

In this invention, an excavator, that is, a bucket hoe is installed on a barge 14 as in the conventional case, and an ultrasonic sensor is installed on the side of the barge 14 where excavation is performed. The direction angle value that allows the direction of the ultrasonic sensor to be directed onto this excavation trajectory is determined by the excavation arm 20.
By determining the pointing direction of the ultrasonic sensor based on the direction angle of the excavation arm 20, it is possible to solve the problem of the inability to detect the The state of being off the bottom 12, that is, the state of being off the bottom, is determined by comparison detection with a preset reference height, and information on the bottom shape is obtained based on the signal from the ultrasonic sensor during this off-bottom period. By taking steps to obtain
By making it possible to obtain exploration information in a state where there is no underwater disturbance due to the excavation operation of the bucket 19, it is possible to solve the above-mentioned problem of disturbance of observation information.

〔Example〕

Examples will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, the ultrasonic sensor 33 is an exploration type ultrasonic sensor, which is installed on the front side of the barge 14, that is, on the excavation side, and changes the vertical exploration angle θ of the ultrasonic beam B to detect the bottom of the water. By receiving and receiving the reflected signal R, the shape of the water bottom can be explored, and the target direction can be explored by changing the pointing direction of the ultrasonic beam. Changing the pointing direction and transmitting and receiving for exploration are controlled by the operator. It is controlled by an arithmetic processing section 31, which will be described later, provided in the stand 16.

The pollution prevention fence 27 is a banner to prevent water pollution caused by the bottom excavation of the bucket 19 from reaching beyond the target range, and is located between the floating body on the water surface 26 and the bottom 12, and is located between the floating body on the water surface 26 and the bottom 12. The excavation area, for example, extends over a rectangular area. The other parts have already been explained with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11.

The attachment part A of the ultrasonic sensor 33 is such that the ultrasonic sensor 33 is positioned inside the pollution prevention fence 27 and can be folded onto the barge 14 side, and is fixed on the barge 14 as shown in FIG. The ultrasonic sensor 33 is attached to the float 2 of the pollution prevention fence 27 by support arms 36 that are supported by a mounting seat 35 and protrude on both sides of the ultrasonic sensor 33.
It is located in the water beyond 7A.

The mounting seat 35, the support arm 36, and the ultrasonic sensor 33 are rotatable on a support arm rotation shaft 37 and a sensor rotation shaft 38, respectively, and the ultrasonic sensor 33 is attached to the support arms 36 on both sides as indicated by 33'. Store it inside the horizontal bar 3
6A, and the supporting arm 36 can be rotated as shown at 36' and stored on the barge 14.

In this embodiment, the ultrasonic sensor 33 has a direction angle of the ultrasonic beam B of the single-beam transducer 33C, that is, a pointing direction angle Φ, and a vertical direction exploration angle, that is, a vertical exploration angle θ. The angle detector 33 is mechanically rotated by the electric rotation mechanism 33B.
A device for detecting the vertical exploration angle θ using D is housed in a protective case 33A.

Note that, in the figure, the arrangement of a connection cable connecting the ultrasonic sensor 33 and the arithmetic processing section 31, which will be described later, is omitted.

In the arrangement with the above configuration, the center of rotation of the direction change of the excavating arm 20, that is, the center point of the rotation axis 21A, is set as P1, and the center point of the rotation axis 34 in the direction of the ultrasonic beam B is set as P2, and the pollution prevention fence is When the excavation situation of the bucket 19 in the excavation area 27 is viewed from above, it becomes as shown in FIG.

When the inside of the pollution prevention fence 27 is set as the target excavation range, the excavation arm 20 is bent and extended while changing the excavation direction angle Ψ of the excavation arm 20 to excavate within this range with the bucket 19. For example, when the excavation direction angle Ψ of the excavation arm 20 is on the direction line C1, a band-shaped radial range obtained by subtracting the width of the bucket 19 with this radial direction line C1 as the center becomes the excavation locus 39, and this is also the excavation trajectory 39. When it is on the direction line, the excavation trajectory 39 becomes an even longer strip.

When the excavation direction angle Ψ is at C1, if the directional angle Φ of the ultrasonic beam B is set to a large value by adding a considerably large angle to the angular value of the excavation direction angle Ψ and placed on the direction line of B1, the ultrasonic beam The excavation trajectory 39 can be searched by the beam B, and on the direction line C3 where P1 and P2 are on the same line, the excavation direction angle Ψ and the pointing direction angle Φ may be the same, and from this direction line C3. It can be seen that when the excavation locus 39 is on the direction line C2 where the observed excavation direction angle Ψ is small, it is sufficient to search with a slightly larger pointing direction angle Φ, which is the addition of a small angle value to the excavation direction angle Ψ.

The relationship between the excavation direction angle Ψ and the orientation direction angle Φ can be easily determined mathematically, diagrammatically, or by a sketch.

In this embodiment, the simplest and most efficient method of exploration is to set the orientation direction angle Φ to be on a line passing through the center point P3 of the excavation trajectory 39, and set the orientation direction angle Φ with respect to the excavation direction angle Ψ. have been selected,
The corresponding curve of the angle value for each direction angle is shown in Figure 5. For example, when the excavation direction angle Ψ is 20°, the pointing direction angle Φ is determined to be approximately 30°. .

In FIG. 6, in the simplest case, the input of the detection signal is an excavation angle given by a detection means that detects the rotation angle of the rotation shaft 21A of the rotation seat 21 and outputs this as a signal of the excavation direction angle Ψ. Signal S
1, it is detected that the boom 17 is moving upward and exceeds a certain reference value, that is, the boom angle α is increasing and exceeds, for example, 120°, and the bucket 19 is released. A bottom-off signal S2 outputted from a detection means as a signal indicating that the bottom state is present, and a exploration angle signal S9 described later are input.

The interface circuit 41 receives each detection signal S
1, S2, and S9 are converted into signals suitable for arithmetic processing or instruction processing by the arithmetic unit 42, for example, digital signals.

The calculation unit 42 is mainly composed of a microprocessor consisting of a memory circuit, a calculation circuit, etc., and also serves as an information storage unit, and receives the excavation angle signal S.
1, a corresponding value according to the curve of FIG. 5 is calculated and outputted as a pointing angle signal S6A indicating the pointing direction Φ.

The formula for this calculation is
7 is set as a constant size, the relational expression for determining the pointing direction angle Φ passing through the center point P3 of the longest trajectory of the excavation trajectory 39 for any angle of the excavation direction angle Ψ is shown in FIG. It can be set to a simple formula such as

The calculation unit 42 further uses a signal obtained from the bottom-off signal S2 to instruct a period for capturing a detection signal S3 (described later) as an exploration information signal S4, and performs predetermined image processing, etc. on the captured exploration information signal S4. The signal obtained by performing this is output as the display information signal S5.

The transmitting/receiving circuit 43 converts the signal into a pointing direction setting signal S6 in order to rotate and set the pointing direction of the ultrasonic beam B to the pointing direction angle Φ using the pointing angle signal S6A.
At the same time, a signal for instructing transmission and reception while changing the vertical exploration angle θ of the ultrasonic beam B is outputted as an exploration control signal S7, and a received signal S8, which will be described later, is received and amplified for detection. It is output as a scanning signal S3.

The ultrasonic sensor 33 controls the horizontal rotation of the electric rotating mechanism 33B using the pointing direction setting signal S6, directs the ultrasonic beam B to a designated predetermined pointing direction angle Φ, and controls the electric rotating mechanism 33B using the exploration control signal S7. The vertical rotation of the ultrasonic beam B is controlled to change the vertical exploration angle θ of the ultrasonic beam B over a forward vertical range, for example, from the vertical direction to a depression angle of about 20°, while transmitting and receiving ultrasonic pulses. For each predetermined angle obtained by detecting the shape of the water bottom in front of the pointing direction,
For example, the detection signal S3 is
At the same time, a signal of the angle value of the vertical exploration angle θ detected by the angle detector 33D is output as the exploration angle signal S9.

In response to the display information signal S5, the display section 44 displays a water bottom cross-sectional image 51 on its display surface 44A, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, with horizontal scale lines 52 at every 2 m depth and vertical scale lines 53 at every 2 m distance. It is displayed on a cathode ray tube image overlaid with a grid image of .

Information processing in the arithmetic unit 42 when obtaining this display image is carried out by taking in the exploration signal S3 for a predetermined period of time after the bottoming signal S2. The selection process for obtaining the exploration information signal S4 from only the detection signal from the ultrasonic sensor 33 and the exploration angle signal S9 are used to convert the coordinates of the exploration information signal S4, that is, the vertical exploration angle θ
The conversion process converts detection information in polar coordinates to detection information in orthogonal coordinates of horizontal distance and vertical depth, stores this converted information, reads out the stored content, and calculates the upper edge contour of Contouring processing that calculates the line and stores the converted contour information value for displaying the water bottom cross-sectional image 51, and converts this contour information value to the scale of the horizontal scale line 52 and vertical scale line 53, for example, in units of 2 m. A display process is performed to obtain a display information signal S5 for displaying the scale in accordance with the scale.

Generally, the horizontal distance between the two turning centers (eccentric distance L ₀ described later) is, for example, about 4.5 m.
The excavation area range by the pollution prevention fence 27 can be set to, for example, about 12 m x 17 m, and the vertical exploration angle θ can be controlled, for example, at a pitch of 0.5°, and the vertical exploration in one direction can be adjusted in about 3 seconds. angle Φ
is set, for example, at a pitch of 1° over a range of about 90° on each side.

Next, as the input of the detection signal in Fig. 6,
By adding the boom angle α, arm angle β, bucket angle γ, etc., the arithmetic unit 42 determines the bottom-off state and the excavation trajectory 3.
9. Directional direction angle Φ and digging arm 20 and bucket 1
An embodiment will be described in which information signals for control and display are obtained by determining the posture of the robot 9.

In FIG. 2, angle detector 28, angle detector 29, angle detector 30, and angle detector 32 are respectively configured to have boom angle α, arm angle β, bucket angle γ,
This is an angle detector that detects the excavation direction angle Ψ, and is installed on or around the shaft.

Eccentric distance L ₀ (horizontal distance between each rotation center point of excavation arm 20 and ultrasonic beam B)・Boom length L ₁ (straight line distance between each center point of boom rotation axis 22 and arm rotation axis 23) )・Arm length L ₂ (straight line distance between each center point of arm rotation axis 23 and bucket rotation axis 24)・Bucket opening half length L ₃ (bucket rotation axis 24
(straight line distance from the center point of the opening surface 19A to the center point of the opening surface 19A), boom fulcrum height _L4 (vertical distance from the center point of the boom rotation axis 22 to the water surface 26), and bucket depth _L5 , respectively. In the configuration, it is a part of known values, and the information value of each of these values is stored in advance as data in the calculation unit 42.

The boom height H is the vertical distance between the center points of the boom rotation shaft 22 and the bucket rotation shaft 24, and the bucket distance L is the excavation distance from the center point of the boom rotation shaft 22 to the center point of the opening surface 19A. It is a horizontal distance in the direction of the direction angle Ψ, and can be calculated by mathematically calculating each using a well-known mathematical formula.

For example, the boom height H can be determined by the following equation (1).

H=-L ₁ cos α + L ₂ cos (β-α) (1) The calculation unit 42 performs calculations based on these formulas at predetermined intervals, for example, every 0.5 seconds, and applies the calculation results to the corresponding Store as information value.

On the other hand, the values of the bucket depth L ₅ and the boom fulcrum height L ₄ stored in advance as data or the water depth value at the relevant point on the water bottom 12 obtained from the previous detection are read out, and these values are read out. By adding and subtracting the value of , and the value read from the stored value of the calculated H value, it is determined that the bucket 19 has lifted off the bottom, that is, for example, the bucket depth L ₅ is the same value as the boom fulcrum height L ₄ . In the case of , the ultrasonic height H is in a state where it moves from the (-) value to the 0 value direction, and in that state, H = 0.
By calculating the amount of
9 is above the water surface 26 and sends a bottom-off signal S.
2 can be output.

In addition, by setting the calculation formula assuming that the center point of the opening surface 19A penetrates into the water bottom 12, and by storing the display graphic data of the boom 17, arm 18, bucket 19, etc. in advance, it is possible to The posture figure of the excavation arm 20 is obtained as shown in FIG. I can do it.

In the above explanation, each display has been described as being based on a cathode ray tube image, but this display may be any suitable display such as a liquid crystal display panel or other image display surface, or a recording display. refers to all of these display means.

(Modifications) This invention can be implemented in the following modifications.

(1) The ultrasonic sensor 33 is configured to be capable of transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves of two types of frequencies, high and low. It is displayed as an outline as shown in Figure 7.

(2) The information obtained by exploring the underwater cross section 51, megaliths 54, etc. with the ultrasonic sensor 33 is displayed as is, without converting them into outlines.

(3) Information on the bottom shape in the exploration information for each angle of the excavation direction angle Ψ is converted from polar coordinate values based on the vertical exploration angle θ to orthogonal coordinates based on water depth and horizontal distance, which corresponds to the bottom cross section 51 in Figure 7. Find the graphical information to The calculation unit 42 calculates and performs graphical processing such as converting and storing lines connecting unit depths, and as shown in FIG.
On the plane in the excavation area with 6, isodepth line 55
Display.

Furthermore, in the same way as in the case of FIG. 8, the information calculation unit 42 calculates and performs graphic processing for displaying the graphic information of each part of the excavating arm 20 stored in advance in the excavation direction angle Ψ direction. The planar figure of the excavation arm 20 is displayed superimposed on the above-mentioned equal depth display.

(4) The excavation trajectory 39 in Fig. 4 is calculated from the changed values of the excavation direction angle Ψ, boom angle α, arm angle β, and bucket angle γ and the stored data of the fixed value portion each time excavation is performed in that direction. The current excavation trajectory 39 is determined, and the calculation unit 42 calculates the orientation angle Φ connecting arbitrary specified points on the excavation trajectory 39 to control the orientation direction of the ultrasonic beam B of the ultrasonic sensor 33. do.

(5) In order to simplify the arithmetic processing of the arithmetic unit 42, only the values of the excavation direction angle Ψ, boom angle α, and arm angle β are used as variable elements, and other values are lowered by fixed values to perform each calculation.

(6) The ultrasonic sensor 33 is an array-type transmitting/receiving element that is electronically deflection-controlled, and its horizontal deflection control controls the directivity angle Φ, and the vertical deflection control signal controls the directivity angle Φ. Then, a search angle signal S9 is obtained.

(7) Either the pointing direction or the exploration direction of the ultrasonic sensor 33 is made into an array type wave transmitting/receiving element.

(8) Excavation direction angle Ψ at the time when the bottoming out signal S2 was obtained
After calculating the pointing direction angle Φ and controlling the pointing direction of the ultrasonic sensor 33, the vertical exploration angle θ is controlled and ultrasonic waves are transmitted and received to obtain the exploration information signal S4 during the bottoming period. .

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to this invention, as described above, since the ultrasonic sensor 33 is installed on the excavation side of the barge 14,
Compared to the case where it is installed directly under the rotation axis 21A, the pollution prevention fence 27 can be placed only in the target excavation area, and exploration can be carried out with the amount of fence and the area of pollution in the water kept to the minimum necessary. Since side detection is sufficiently performed and the pointing direction of the ultrasonic sensor 33 is calculated and oriented on the excavation trajectory 39, information on the excavation status can be accurately grasped, and the period when the bucket 19 is off the bottom can be determined. Because it incorporates exploration information from the inside, it has the advantage of not disturbing the observation image and providing a stable display.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 to 9 show embodiments of the present invention, with Figure 1 being a general side view of the configuration, Figure 2 being a schematic side view of the operating mechanism, and Figure 3 being a side view of the ultrasonic sensor mounting part. , Fig. 4 is a contrasting plan view of the excavation direction/ultrasonic sensor pointing direction, Fig. 5 is a corresponding curve diagram of excavation direction angle Ψ/direction direction angle Φ, Fig. 6 is a block configuration diagram of the ultrasonic exploration function part, Figures 7 to 9 are examples of display images, Figures 10 and 11 show conventional devices, Figure 10 is a perspective view of the overall configuration, and Figure 11 is a schematic side view of the operating mechanism. be. 11... backwater boat, 12... underwater, 13...
...Spud, 14...Barge, 15...Backhoe, 16...Control platform, 17...Boom, 18...
Arm, 19...Bucket, 20...Drilling arm, 2
1...Swivel seat 21, 21A...Swivel axis, 22...
Boom rotation axis, 23...Arm rotation axis, 24...
Bucket rotation axis, 25...claw, 26...water surface, 2
7... Pollution prevention fence, 28, 29, 30, 3
2...Angle detector, 31...Arithmetic processing unit, 33...
...Ultrasonic sensor, 34...Beam rotation axis, 41...
...Interface circuit, 42...Arithmetic unit, 43
...transmission/reception circuit, 44...display section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Excavating the water bottom by changing the boom angle and arm angle of the excavating arm and moving the bucket in a radial direction, and changing the turning angle of the excavating arm to change the direction of excavation. In the method of excavating the underwater bottom using a variable excavator and an exploration-type ultrasonic sensor for exploring the shape of the underwater bottom, a. equipment arrangement means installed on the excavation side; b. pointing direction setting means for determining the excavation locus in the excavation, directing the pointing direction of the ultrasonic beam on the excavation locus and searching in the vertical direction; c. Based on the signals obtained by the exploration during the period when the bucket is away from the bottom of the water,
An excavation method comprising: underwater bottom information means for obtaining detection information of the underwater bottom shape. 2. The excavation method according to claim 1, characterized in that the directional direction of the ultrasonic beam in the directional direction setting means is set in the direction of a line passing near the center point of the excavation trajectory. . 3. Excavation that is installed on a barge and excavates the water bottom by changing the boom angle and arm angle of the excavation arm and moving the bucket in a radial direction, and changing the direction of excavation by changing the rotation angle of the excavation arm. A drilling device that performs underwater excavation using a probe and an exploration type ultrasonic sensor that explores the shape of the underwater bottom, comprising: a) the ultrasonic sensor installed on the excavating side of the mount; b) at least the each detector for detecting a boom angle, the arm angle, and the rotation angle of the excavation arm; c. means for calculating based on required detection values by each of the detectors, the means for calculating the excavation locus of the excavation; a trajectory calculation means; a pointing angle calculation means for calculating an angle of the pointing direction for directing the ultrasonic beam on the trajectory of the excavation trajectory;
an arithmetic unit having a bottom-off calculation means for calculating whether the bucket has left the bottom; d. a display for displaying the signal obtained by the exploration during the period calculated by the bottom-off calculation means as detection information; An exploration drilling device characterized by comprising: 4. The exploration type excavation device according to claim 3, wherein: a) the calculation unit calculates posture information for displaying the posture state of the excavation arm based on required detection values of each of the detectors; 1. An exploration type excavation device comprising: (b) superimposition display means for superimposing the attitude information on the detection information and displaying the same on the display section. 5. The exploration type excavation device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein: (a) the calculation by the bottom separation calculation means includes means for calculating that the bucket has left the bottom of the water and is on the water surface; An exploration type drilling rig that is characterized by: