Search

CN-122029329-A - Systems, methods, and computer program products for determining work implement wear, damage, or modification

CN122029329ACN 122029329 ACN122029329 ACN 122029329ACN-122029329-A

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer program products may determine wear, damage, modification, or other characteristics of a portion of a front link (4) of an excavator (1, 120). Systems, methods, and computer program products may include determining that an excavator (1, 120) is in a predetermined state of weighing at least a portion of a front link (4) of the excavator (1, 120) based on signals from at least one sensor (22 a-22 c,23 a-23 d) of the excavator (1, 120), determining a weight of a portion of the front link (4) of the excavator (1, 120) if the excavator (1, 120) is in a state of weighing a portion of the front link (4) of the excavator (1, 120), determining that the determined weight of a portion of the front link (4) is outside of a predetermined weight range, and electronically outputting information regarding further actions to be taken with respect to a portion of the front link (4) of the excavator (1, 120).

Inventors

  • C. A. Junker
  • C. J. Moberg

Assignees

  • 卡特彼勒SARL

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20241015
Priority Date
20231020

Claims (15)

  1. 1. An excavator (1, 120), the excavator comprising: A lower traveling body (2); An upper rotating body (3) operatively coupled to the lower traveling body (2) and configured to rotate relative to the lower traveling body (2); A front link (4) having a first end operatively coupled with the upper swivel body (3), the front link comprising a boom (5), an arm (6) and a work tool (7, 127) at a second end opposite the first end; a plurality of Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensors (22 a-22 c) including a first IMU sensor operatively coupled to the upper rotating body, a second IMU sensor operatively coupled to the boom, and a third IMU sensor operatively coupled to the stick, and -A circuit (25) configured to: Determining that the excavator (1, 120) is in a predetermined state of determining the weight of the work tool (7, 127), the predetermined state being based on a position of the front link (4) determined from feedback from the second and third IMU sensors and a position of the upper rotating body (3) determined from feedback from the first IMU sensor, Determining the weight of the work tool (7, 127) under the condition that the excavator (1, 120) is in the state of determining the weight of the work tool (7, 127), Determining that the determined weight of the work tool (7, 127) is outside a predetermined weight range, and -Electronically outputting information at the excavator (1, 120) and/or remotely from the excavator (150), the information indicating that further action is to be taken in relation to the work tool (7, 127) based on the weight of the work tool (7, 127) being outside the predetermined weight range.
  2. 2. The excavator according to claim 1, wherein the electrical circuit (25) determining that the determined weight of the work tool (7, 127) exceeds the predetermined weight range involves a predetermined amount of reduction of the determined weight of the work tool (7, 127) from within the predetermined weight range, the predetermined amount being indicative of damage to the work tool (7, 127).
  3. 3. The excavator according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry (25) determining that the determined weight of the work tool (7, 127) exceeds the predetermined weight range involves a reduction of the determined weight of the work tool (7, 127) from within the predetermined weight range by an amount less than a predetermined threshold value.
  4. 4. The excavator of claim 1, wherein the circuitry (25) determining that the determined weight of the work tool (7, 127) exceeds the predetermined weight range involves altering the determined weight of the work tool (7, 127) to correspond to weights associated with different jobs.
  5. 5. The excavator according to claim 4, wherein the circuit (25) electronically outputs the information at the excavator (1, 120) in the form of an alarm to an operator of the excavator (1, 120), the information indicating that the operator updates one or more work tool parameters corresponding to different work tools as a further action to be taken.
  6. 6. The excavator according to claim 1, Wherein the predetermined state in which the weight of the work tool (7, 127) is determined is a state in which the work tool (7, 127) should be free of a payload, and Wherein the circuitry (25) determining that the determined weight of the work tool (7, 127) exceeds the predetermined weight range involves the determined weight of the work tool (7, 127) increasing from within the predetermined weight range.
  7. 7. The excavator according to claim 6, wherein the circuitry (25) electronically outputs the information at the excavator (1, 120) in the form of an alarm to an operator of the excavator (1, 120), the information indicating that the operator controls the excavator (1, 120) to perform another payload unloading operation.
  8. 8. The excavator according to claim 1, wherein said circuit (25) electronically outputs said information at a distance from said excavator (1, 120), said information indicating that a further action to be taken in relation to said work tool (7, 127) is to arrange for replacement of said work tool (7, 127) or a part thereof.
  9. 9. The excavator according to claim 1, wherein said circuit (25) automatically determines said weight of said work tool (7, 127) and without input from an operator of said excavator (7, 127) in said condition that said excavator (1, 120) is in said state determining said weight of said work tool (7, 127).
  10. 10. The excavator according to claim 1, wherein said circuit (25) determines said weight of said work tool (7, 127) in said condition of said excavator (1, 120) being in said state of determining said weight of said work tool (7, 127) with said excavator (1, 120) stationary.
  11. 11. A method (300) in connection with an excavator (1, 120), the method comprising: Determining that the excavator (1, 120) is in a predetermined state (302) weighing at least a portion of a front link (4) of the excavator (1, 120) based on signals from at least one sensor (22 a to 22c, 23a to 23 d) of the excavator (1, 120); Determining a weight (304) of the portion of the front link (4) of the excavator (1, 120) under the condition that the excavator (1, 120) is in the state of weighing the portion of the front link (4) of the excavator (1, 120); Determining that the determined weight of the front link (4) is outside a predetermined weight range (306), and Electronically outputting information (308, 310) about further actions to be taken with respect to the portion of the front link (4) of the excavator (1, 120), Wherein the predetermined state is a state in which a work tool (7, 127) of the front link (4) of the excavator (1, 120) is expected to be free of any payload.
  12. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the portion of the front link (4) is the work tool (7, 127).
  13. 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the further action comprises one of inspecting the portion of the front link (4), replacing some or all of the portion of the front link (4), arranging for replacing some or all of the portion of the front link (4), updating one or more parameters corresponding to a different portion of the front link (4) that replaces the portion of the front link (4) associated with the determined weight, or performing another payload unloading operation.
  14. 14. The method of claim 11, wherein determining that the determined weight of the portion of the front link (4) exceeds the predetermined weight range involves reducing the determined weight by at least a predetermined amount from within the predetermined weight range.
  15. 15. The method according to claim 11, Wherein determining that the determined weight of the portion of the front link (4) exceeds the predetermined weight range involves increasing the determined weight from within the predetermined weight range, and Wherein the method further comprises electronically outputting to an operator of the excavator (1, 120) said information regarding said further action to be taken with respect to said portion of the front link (4) of the excavator (1, 120) in the form of an alarm, said information indicating that said operator controls the excavator (1, 120) to perform another payload unloading operation (310).

Description

Systems, methods, and computer program products for determining work implement wear, damage, or modification Technical Field The present disclosure relates to systems, methods, and computer program products for determining work implement wear, damage, or modification. Background Work tools on work machines may wear, may be damaged, and may change over the life of the work machine to which they are connected. Determining excessive wear or damage can be challenging for an operator of the work machine, and when a work tool actually changes, the operator may forget to change the selected work tool in the control system/display. This may result in undesirable downtime of the work machine or use of unsuitable parameters. U.S. patent No. 9,315,970 ("the' 970 patent") describes a stress and/or cumulative damage monitoring system for earth moving equipment such as excavators, trucks, wire rope electric shovels and drills, hydraulic shovels, wheel loaders, and graders. According to the' 970 patent, the system includes a strain gauge located at one of a plurality of strain gauge locations, a data acquisition unit for acquiring real-time strain data from the strain gauge, a processor and memory for processing the acquired real-time strain data to calculate one or more measured values of actual cumulative damage and/or actual transient stress, and at least one output device for providing information comparing the measured values to corresponding reference values. Disclosure of Invention In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a method relating to an excavator may be performed or implemented. The method may include determining that the excavator is in a predetermined state of weighing at least a portion of a front link of the excavator based on signals from at least one sensor of the excavator, determining a weight of the portion of the front link of the excavator if the excavator is in the state of weighing the portion of the front link of the excavator, determining that the determined weight of the portion of the front link is outside a predetermined weight range, and electronically outputting information regarding further actions to be taken with respect to the portion of the front link of the excavator. The predetermined state may be a state in which the work tool of the front link of the excavator is expected to be free of any payload. According to another aspect of the disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, may be executed or implemented. The method may include determining that a work machine is in a predetermined state for weighing a work tool of the work machine based on signals from at least one sensor of the work machine, automatically determining a weight of the work tool without input by an operator of the work machine in the state where the work machine is in the state for weighing the work tool, determining that the determined weight of the work tool is outside a predetermined weight range, and electronically outputting information regarding further actions to be taken with respect to the work tool. Alternatively, the predetermined state may be a state in which the work tool is expected to be free of payload. The further action may include one of inspecting the work tools, replacing some or all of the work tools, arranging for replacement of some or all of the work tools, updating one or more parameters corresponding to a different work tool that has replaced the work tool associated with the determined weight, or performing a payload unloading operation. According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, an excavator may be provided or implemented. The excavator may include a lower traveling body, an upper rotating body operatively coupled to the lower traveling body and configured to rotate relative to the lower traveling body, a front link having a first end operatively coupled to the upper rotating body, the front link including a boom, an arm, and a work tool at a second end opposite the first end, a plurality of Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensors including a first IMU sensor operatively coupled to the upper rotating body, a second IMU sensor operatively coupled to the boom, and a third IMU sensor operatively coupled to the arm, and circuitry configured to determine that the excavator is in a predetermined state that determines the weight of the work tool based on feedback from the second IMU sensor and the third IMU sensor of the front link, and a position of the upper rotating body determined from feedback from the first IMU sensor, and to take an electronic action indicating that the weight of the work tool is in excess of the predetermined state of the work tool, and to take an electronic action beyond the predetermined state of the excavator in a predetermined state that determines the weight of the work tool is