JPH08263140A - Turn steering device for automatic traveling vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To make a U-turn approximately according to a specific turn radius even in a slanting place where the tilt angle is large by making the steering quantity of the vehicle to make a turn larger or less than the steering quantity of the turn on flatlands according to the output signal of a tilt sensor. CONSTITUTION: The output signal of the tilt sensor 13 is read in and when it is decided that a U-turn by a speed sprayer 1 is not on a slanting land, the U-turn is made with the steering quantity of the turn on the flatlands. When it is judged that the turn is made upward on the slanting land, the steering quantities of both front wheels 2 and both rear wheels 3 by a hydraulic cylinder 9 for automatic steering are made larger than those when the turn is made on the flatlands and the turn is made with the increased steering quantities. When it is judged that the turn is made downward on the slope, the steering quantities of both the front wheels 2 and both the rear wheels 3 by the hydraulic cylinder 9 for automatic steering are made less than those when the turn is made on flatlands and the U-turn is made with the less steering quantities.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a steering device for turning a vehicle in a U-turn form in an automatic traveling type vehicle such as a speed sprayer for spraying chemicals in an orchard. Is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally,
As shown in FIG. 1, a speed sprayer, which is one of the autonomous traveling vehicles, sews a guide cable B between each tree A, for example, between a number of trees A planted in an orchard. By embedding it in the guide path, a zigzag-shaped guide path is formed, and the speed sprayer C that sprays the medicine is automatically driven along the guide path such as the guide cable B (for example, the actual flat plate 6). -7862 gazette etc.).

In automatic traveling along this guide route, it is necessary to turn the speed sprayer in a 180-degree U-turn shape. In the conventional speed sprayer, the speed sprayer is turned. Since the steering amount at this time is set in accordance with the steering amount when turning in the flatland traveling, and the steering amount is invariable, there are the following problems.

That is, generally, as shown in FIG. 2, an orchard is generally constructed on a sloping land D, and the speed sprayer C is run from the state where the speed sprayer C is running along the contour line on the sloping land D. When making a U-turn turn in the up or down direction with respect to the sloping ground D, the speed sprayer C may slide down toward the bottom of the sloping ground D due to its own weight in the latter half of the U-turning turn. The tendency to skid occurs.

In this case, the speed sprayer C
When the steering amount at the time is always the same as the steering amount at the time of turning when traveling on a level ground as in the conventional case,
As described above, when the speed sprayer C makes a U-turn turn in a downward direction with respect to the sloped land D while traveling on the sloped ground D along the contour line, the turning radius is due to the skid. When the speed sprayer C makes a U-turn in an upward direction with respect to the slope D from a state in which the speed sprayer C is traveling on the slope D along its contour line. At, the turning radius becomes smaller than the turning radius previously planned for the skid.

Therefore, when the U-turn is turned, the speed sprayer C is largely separated from the guide path such as the guide cable B, so that the medicine cannot be sprayed on the trees, or in some cases, The speed sprayer may collide with trees or the like, or the automatic travel control of the speed sprayer may be disabled.

Since this tendency can be increased in proportion to the inclination angle θ on the slope D, the conventional speed sprayer C can be applied only to the slope where the inclination angle θ is relatively small. It is a technical object of the present invention to solve the above problem and provide a turning steering device capable of turning a U-turn substantially along a predetermined turning radius even on a sloping land having a large tilt angle.

[0008]

In order to achieve this technical object, the present invention provides, in an automatic traveling type vehicle configured to automatically travel along a guide route preset on the ground or the like, A tilt sensor that detects the tilt in the left-right direction of the vehicle is provided, and the steering amount when turning the vehicle is increased or decreased in accordance with the output signal from the tilt sensor, compared with the steering amount when turning on a flat ground. The above-mentioned steering amount adjusting means is provided. "

[0009]

[Operation] With this configuration, when a vehicle such as a speed sprayer makes a U-turn turn in an upward direction on a slope from a state where the vehicle is traveling on the slope along the contour line, steering at that time is performed. The amount of steering can be made larger than the amount of steering at the time of turning on the level ground by the steering amount adjusting means, while the vehicle is moved downward from the state where the vehicle is traveling along the contour line on the slope to the slope. When making a turn, the amount of steering at that time can be made smaller than the amount of steering when making a turn on a level ground by the steering amount adjusting means. The turning radius when making a U-turn in the direction becomes smaller when turning in the up direction or when turning in the down direction due to skidding. It is possible to reliably prevent the size from becoming large.

[0010]

According to the present invention, therefore, when a vehicle such as a speed sprayer makes a U-turn turn in an upward direction or a downward direction with respect to a sloped ground while the vehicle is traveling along the contour line, Since it is possible to reliably prevent the vehicle from greatly deviating from the preset guide route, it is possible to improve the accuracy and stability of the control of automatically traveling the vehicle along the guide route, and to cope with the slope with a large slope angle. Also, since it can be applied, it has an effect of expanding the application range.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings (FIGS. 3 to 6) applied to the speed sprayer. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a pair of left and right front wheels 2,
Similarly, a speed sprayer having a pair of left and right rear wheels 3 is shown. The speed sprayer 1 has a medicine spraying section 4 at its rear part, and a handle 5 and a control seat 6 for manual operation in the middle part thereof. Each of these speed sprayers 1 is provided with a driving operation unit 7 including and, and the front and rear wheels 2 and 3 are driven by the power transmission from the engine 8 as shown by arrows. It is configured to travel forward.

In the speed sprayer 1, in addition to a steering mechanism (not shown) for simultaneously steering all of the front wheels 2 and the rear wheels 3 with the manual steering operation handle 5, As shown in FIG. 5, with the hydraulic cylinder 9 for automatic steering, the both front wheels 2 and the both rear wheels 3 are
Is provided with an automatic steering steering mechanism 10 for simultaneously steering all of the
A pair of left and right inductive sensors 11 and 12 for detecting the inductive cable B embedded in the ground 15 are attached to the lower surface of the front part of the vehicle, and the speed sprayer 1 travels forward. A tilt sensor 13 is provided for detecting the tilt in the left-right direction at this time.

Reference numeral 14 indicates a controller mounted on the speed sprayer 1, and the controller 14
Operates the hydraulic cylinder 9 for automatic steering with the output signals from the pair of inductive sensors 11 and 12 as inputs, thereby causing the speed sprayer 1 to travel forward along the inductive cable B. .. Further, the controller 14 causes the speed sprayer 1 to make U-turn turning start points B ′, B ″ in the middle of the guide cable B.
The steering amount of the front and rear wheels 2 and 3 by the hydraulic cylinder 9 for automatic steering, the inclination sensor 1
A control means is provided as described below on the basis of the output signal from 3.

That is, as shown in the flow chart of FIG. 6, first, in step S1, the output signal from the tilt sensor 13 is read, and then in step S2, the U-turn turning of the speed sprayer 1 goes up on the slope. It is determined whether or not the turn is in the direction. If the turn is not in the up direction, U of the speed sprayer 1 is determined in step S3.
It is determined whether or not the turn is a downward turn with respect to the sloping ground. If the turn is not a downward turn, the process proceeds to step S4, and a U-turn turn is performed based on the steering amount when the turn is made on a level ground. To do.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S2 that the vehicle is turning in the upward direction with respect to the sloping ground, the process proceeds to step S5, in which the front and rear wheels 2 and 3 are moved by the automatic steering hydraulic cylinder 9. The steering amount is made larger than the steering amount when making a turn on the level ground, and the U-turn is made by the increased steering amount while the step S
When it is determined in 3 that the vehicle is turning in the downward direction with respect to the inclination, the process proceeds to step S6, and the steering amounts of the front and rear wheels 2 and 3 by the hydraulic cylinder 9 for automatic steering are
The steering amount is made smaller than the steering amount when the vehicle makes a turn on the level ground, and the U-turn is turned with this reduced steering amount.

As a result, when the speed sprayer 1 makes a U-turn turn in an upward direction with respect to the sloped ground from a state where the speed sprayer 1 is traveling along the contour line, the steering amount at that time is used when turning on a flat ground. On the other hand, when the speed sprayer 1 makes a U-turn turn in a downward direction with respect to the slope from a state where the speed sprayer 1 is traveling on the slope along the contour line, the steering amount at that time is changed. , Since it can be smaller than the steering amount when turning on a flat ground, the turning radius when making a U-turn in an up or down direction with respect to the slope on a sloping ground is the same as in the conventional case, because of skidding. It is possible to reliably prevent it from becoming smaller when turning in the up direction and becoming larger when turning in the down direction. Since kill, speed sprayer 1
When the vehicle makes a U-turn turn in an upward direction or a downward direction with respect to the sloping ground from a state of traveling on the sloping ground along the contour line, it is ensured that the speed sprayer 1 largely deviates from the preset induction cable B It can be prevented.

In the above embodiment, the speed sprayer 1 is automatically run along the guide cable B buried in the ground, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the speed sprayer 1 and the like are not limited thereto. It is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to a case where the vehicle is a pre-installed sign on the ground or a tree is used as a guide route and the vehicle automatically travels along the guide route.

Further, the steering amount for each wheel may be increased or decreased in the upturn or downturn U-turn turn with respect to the slope in the latter half of the U-turn turn. Furthermore, the steering amount at the time of making a U-turn turn in an upward direction or a downward direction with respect to a sloping ground may be configured to be increased or decreased in proportion to the inclination angle on the sloping ground. The accuracy and stability of the control of self-driving along can be reliably achieved on all slopes.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an orchard.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a sloped orchard.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a speed sprayer.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the speed sprayer.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a steering mechanism of the speed sprayer.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of turning control.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Speed Sprayer 2 Front Wheel 3 Rear Wheel 9 Hydraulic Cylinder for Automatic Steering 10 Steering Mechanism for Automatic Steering 11, 12 Inductive Sensor 13 Tilt Sensor 14 Controller 15 Ground B Inductive Cable

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An automatic traveling vehicle configured to automatically travel along a guide route preset on the ground or the like, the vehicle being provided with a tilt sensor for detecting a lateral tilt of the vehicle, and An automatic traveling type characterized by comprising steering amount adjusting means for increasing or decreasing a steering amount when turning a vehicle in accordance with an output signal from the inclination sensor, compared with a steering amount when turning on a level ground. A turning steering device in a vehicle.