JPS5932005A - Automatic traveling truck - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To decrease the resetting time to a boundary and to improve accuracy of the copying traveling control, by having a larger steering control amount for the 2nd and subsequent times than the 1st time. When a traveling direction is shifted from the boundary where the copying traveling is carried out at the time of the automatic steering control. CONSTITUTION:The an automatic traveling lawn mower, for example, the steering control is performed for front wheels 2 by detecting boundaries of copying sensors 5A and 5B provided at front and left/right sides. For this automatic steering control, a pair of optical sensors S1 and S2 discriminate the boundary between mowed and unmowed areas. Then a solenoid valve 14 and a hydraulic cylinder 8 are driven intermittently from the arithmetic result of an arithmetic controller 12 containing a primary part usig a microcomputer. In this case, the driving speed of the cylinder 8 is accelerated at and after the 2nd steering control in order to decrease the turning radius of the mower body. Thus the mower can be reset at the boundary area in a short time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention (self-driving work vehicle, in detail 1'i, one end of the working area') to the other end; In order to automatically travel along the border between the processed work area and the rice processing work area, a copying sensor member Kyo Shichime that detects the boundary is provided, and the four balls of the Senbu-senbu no longer detect the boundary. Case 1 relates to an autonomous working vehicle i which is designed to automatically perform intermittent steering operations to return the vehicle body to the boundary of the lever.

In the conventional work vehicle of this type (ζ), the state of the boundary 1 was irrelevant (because it was designed to control turning with a constant steering rainbow, so if the boundary was a sharp curve, Alternatively, in cases where the direction is drastically changing, such as at the edge of a work area, the time required to return M, that is, the scanning sensor to the boundary area where scanning is to be carried out, increases, There was a drawback that the accuracy of tracing was reduced. As a result, when such an autonomous working vehicle is configured as a ground work vehicle such as a lawn mowing vehicle, there is no need to leave work traces such as undulations, etc. This has caused problems such as untreated portions and spoiling the aesthetic appearance.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to shorten the time required to return to the boundary when the direction of traveling force deviates from the boundary to which tracing traveling is to be performed, thereby improving the accuracy of tracing traveling control. The goal is to make things better.

In order to achieve the above object, the automatic traveling work vehicle according to the present invention is configured to control the steering amount in the second and subsequent steering operations to be larger than the steering amount in the first steering operation in the automatic steering control. It has characteristics.

Due to the above characteristic structure, the following excellent effects have been achieved.

That is, when the condition of the boundary to be followed is relatively good, such as a straight line, a single steering operation of a predetermined amount is sufficient, so that the vehicle can independently control its running direction in a predetermined direction without causing unnecessary hunting. If the boundary condition is bad, such as a sudden change in direction, the steering is controlled toward the boundary using a large amount of steering from the second time onward, making it possible to reliably return the driving direction to the boundary in a short time. I was able to do it. In summary, large changes in the direction of travel relative to the boundary can be quickly responded to with a large amount of steering, and small changes in the direction of travel can be responded to with a small amount of steering without causing a large change in the vehicle's direction of travel. It is.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in Fig. 1, the front and rear wheels of the vehicle body (1) +21,
A lawn mowing device (4) is suspended in the middle part of +31 so as to be able to move up and down, and a lawn mowing device (4) is suspended in the middle part of the vehicle body (1) to determine the boundary between unmowed and mowed lawn areas, which is the boundary of the running area. Copying sensors (5A) and (5B) having the configuration described later are provided on the front left and right sides of the vehicle body (1), respectively.

(5B) The lawn mowing work vehicle is configured as an automatic driving work vehicle that can automatically travel along a predetermined travel course by performing automatic steering control through intermittent steering operations based on the boundary detection result of (5B).

In addition, this lawn mowing work vehicle has the lawn mowing device (
A grass collecting bag (6) is provided as a device to temporarily store the grass cut in step 4).This grass collecting bag (6) is connected to the duct +7.
It is connected to the lawn mowing device (4) via f7+, +71, and a blower mechanism (not shown) removes the cut grass with the mowing bag M(4).
61, and the grass is deposited in the grass collecting bag (6).

As shown in FIG. 2, the grass bag (6) is provided with an exhaust port (6A) on its rear upper blade for exhausting only the air blown from the ducts +71 and +71, and can be opened and closed with a zipper or the like. When discharging the grass accumulated in the grass collection bag (6) by installing a reed with a freely adjustable lid (6B),
The lid (6B) is configured to be fixed in an upwardly open state, and in this state, the exhaust port (6A) is closed with the lid (6B), and the exhaust port (6B) which is the opening of the lid (6B) is closed. 6C) It is configured such that the grass accumulated in the grass collection bag (61) can be forcibly discharged by the air force from the duct (7).

On the other hand, said! The iTJ wheels +21 and +21 are steering wheels that are normally automatically steered intermittently by a predetermined amount in the left and right direction by a hydraulic sill (8) based on the boundary detection results of the copying sensors (5A) and (5B). It is composed.

The tracing sensors (5A) and (5B) are a pair of optical sensors (S, , S, ), (S:, S
ζ).

The light sensor (S,, S,), (S;, S;
) are U-shaped sensors located adjacent to the vehicle body (1) in the left and right direction, respectively, as shown in FIG.
7 frames (91, (91 is attached to the lawn mowing device (4)), and light emitting elements (p, >, (p, ) and photodetector (P, ),
(P,) are provided as a pair. Then, by sensing the presence or absence of grass that is introduced as the vehicle body (1) travels between the light emitting element (Pl) and the light receiving element (P,), it is possible to distinguish between uncut land and mowed land. It is configured to separate the boundaries.

As shown in FIG. 4, a copying sensor (5A) consisting of the optical sensors (S, , S) or an optical sensor (S;
,,S;) When the point of the tracing sensor (5B) consisting of -r-
(S;) is steered so that only the mowed area (IIc) is on the mowed area (IIc), and when it reaches the turning area (IID) around the lawn mowing area (IIA), it is on the unmoved area (IIB) side. It is controlled so that it turns in the direction of the scanning sensor located at the top. 4. As will be described later, the turning point (IID) Vi was artificially made into a cleared area in advance, leading to this turning point (IID). The thing is the imitation sensor (5A).

(5B) Light-1! v − (s, ), (S
t), (St), and (S',) are all determined by detecting already mown areas.

In addition, the copying sensors (5A) and (5B) are not limited to the optical sensors (S,,S,), (S',,S',)'5r, but are also contact type and non-contact type. It may be composed of any type of sensor, regardless of the type of sensor.

Hereinafter, copying sensors (5A) and (5B) having the above configurations will be described.
A control system that controls the steering operation of the front wheels +21 and (21) based on the boundary detection results will be described.

As shown in FIG.
“Ace 113) through the copying sensor (5A),
(5B) signal is input, these sensors (5A),
Based on the signal from (5B), electromagnetic /(/l/ )11
41 Fully operate the hydraulic cylinder (8), which is the actuator, to operate the front wheels +21 and +21 by turning the output interface 7 ace (l■
It is configured to output a control signal which is the calculation result.

Next, the operation of the arithmetic and control unit (121) will be explained based on the boundary determination table shown in FIG. 6 and the flowchart shown in FIG.

That is, when the work is started, the copying sensor (5A
), (5B), the optical sensor v-(S, )* (sm
) * (Sl), (S;) detection signal states are checked based on the table shown in Fig. 6, and depending on the combination, 4 states of 5tate signals and one F indicating the steering direction are detected.
I! Calculate the ag signal.

Then, based on the 1.5tate signal and the Flag signal, the electromagnetic pulp
1,! 21 by a predetermined amount, or put it in a neutral state and allow it to pass through directly.

On the other hand, the number of steering operations is determined by the tracing sensor (
5A) and (5B) from the boundary, and in the second and subsequent steering operations, the duty ratio (D
T) is changed to increase the W and vJ speeds of the hydraulic cylinder (8), thereby reducing the turning radius of the vehicle body (1) and returning it to the boundary direction quickly.

Moreover, the optical sensor-(S,), (S,), (S2),
e (S?) If all mown areas are detected and the turning point (110) shown in Fig. 4 is reached, either maximize the duty ratio of the pulse signal or turn off the pulse drive. Stop, and continue driving the electromagnetic pulp (I
ID), the driving direction is automatically changed, and the flag signal indicating the steering force direction is inverted to invert the steering direction. Then the light sensor (
When any of S, ), (S,), (Sj), and (S;) detects an uncut area, the iC steering control resumes tracing control and automatically runs along the boundary. The operation is repeated.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the self-driving work vehicle according to the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is an overall plan view of the lawn mowing work vehicle, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of main parts of a grass collection bag, and Fig. 8 is a main part of a copying sensor. FIG. 4 is a front view, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of automatic driving, FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the control system, FIG. 6 is a boundary determination table, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control device. (5A), (5B)... Copying sensor. 67 Figure 3 0 1 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] Along the boundary between the treated working area and the submerged working area, so that ground work within the working area is carried out from the 112th edge of the working area to the 112th end of the river. In order to automatically run, the leopard copy sensor (5A, 5B) that detects the border of the leopard is controlled.
A. When the 5B7 no longer detects the border: Automatically moves the vehicle to the border of the lever (and automatically performs loss control with intermittent steering operations). It is a work vehicle, and the steering control 1 is set so that the steering amount for each steering operation from the second time onwards is controlled more sharply than the first steering amount. A self-driving work vehicle that is characterized by: