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EP-4575093-B1 - ROAD PAVING MACHINE AND HOPPER CONTROL SYSTEM FOR ROAD PAVING MACHINE

EP4575093B1EP 4575093 B1EP4575093 B1EP 4575093B1EP-4575093-B1

Inventors

  • MINO, HISAHO

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20241022

Claims (4)

  1. A road paving machine (100) comprising: a tractor (1); a hopper (2) that is installed in front of the tractor (1) and receives a pavement material (PV) from a vehicle (200) transporting the pavement material (PV); a conveyor (CV) that feeds the pavement material (PV) present in the hopper (2) to a rear of the tractor (1); a screw (SC) that spreads the pavement material (PV) fed by the conveyor (CV) in the rear of the tractor (1); a screed (3) that levels the pavement material (PV) spread by the screw (SC) in a rear of the screw (SC); an object detection device (51) that detects an object around the road paving machine (100); and a control device (50) that controls opening and closing of the hopper (2) based on a positional relationship between the vehicle (200) detected by the object detection device (51) and the road paving machine (100), characterized in that the control device (50) starts a control to automatically close the hopper (2) in different stages between an open stage and a fully closed stage in a case where the pavement material (PV) is completely supplied to the road paving machine (100) from the vehicle (200).
  2. The road paving machine (100) according to claim 1, wherein the control device (50) opens the hopper (2) in a case where a distance (DS1) between the vehicle (200) positioned in front of the road paving machine (100) and the road paving machine (100) is equal to or shorter than a predetermined distance.
  3. The road paving machine (100) according to claim 1, wherein the control device (50) closes the hopper (2) in a case where the vehicle (200) is not present in a predetermined range in front of the road paving machine (100).
  4. A hopper control system (SYS) for a road paving machine (100) that supports construction performed by a road paving machine (100) including a tractor (1), a hopper (2) that is installed in front of the tractor (1) and receives a pavement material (PV) from a vehicle (200) transporting the pavement material (PV), a conveyor (CV) that feeds the pavement material (PV) present in the hopper (2) to a rear of the tractor (1), a screw (SC) that spreads the pavement material (PV) fed by the conveyor (CV) in the rear of the tractor (1), and a screed (3) that levels the pavement material (PV) spread by the screw (SC) in a rear of the screw (SC), the hopper control system (SYS) comprising: an object detection device (51) that detects an object around the road paving machine (100); and a control device (50) that controls opening and closing of the hopper (2) based on a positional relationship between the vehicle (200) detected by the object detection device (51) and the road paving machine (100), characterized in that the control device (50) starts a control to automatically close the hopper (2) in different stages between an open stage and a fully closed stage in a case where the pavement material (PV) is completely supplied to the road paving machine (100) from the vehicle (200).

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present disclosure relates to a road paving machine and a hopper control system for a road paving machine. Description of Related Art In the related art, a road paving machine including a hopper, which is used to receive a pavement material to be transported by a dump truck, is known (refer to PTL 1). The road paving machine is adapted to receive the pavement material from a loading platform of a dump truck, which is dumped up, into the hopper, which is in a fully open state, in a state where rear wheels of the dump truck and a push roller provided at a front end of the road paving machine are in contact with each other (a coupled state or a docked state). The hopper is adapted to be opened and closed in response to an operation of an operator. PTL 2 discloses an asphalt finisher that includes a hopper for pavement material, a conveyor, a screw, a screed, and a controller configured to estimate a volume of the pavement material discharged from the hopper. Citation List Patent Literature [PTL 1] International Publication No. 2017/010541[PTL 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2023-149222 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION However, in the above-described configuration, a driver of the dump truck cannot bring the rear wheels of the dump truck into contact with the push roller in a case where the operator of the road paving machine forgets to bring the hopper into the fully open state. The reason for this is that there is a concern that the loading platform of the dump truck comes into contact with the hopper wing. For this reason, the operation of the hopper to be performed by the operator of the road paving machine is an important operation that should not be forgotten for smooth supply of the pavement material. Further, there is a concern that such an operation of the hopper which should not be forgotten may be work having a burden on the operator of the road paving machine. Therefore, it is desired to provide a road paving machine that can reduce a burden on an operator related to an operation of a hopper. A road paving machine according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a tractor, a hopper that is installed in front of the tractor and receives a pavement material from a vehicle transporting the pavement material, a conveyor that feeds the pavement material present in the hopper to a rear of the tractor, a screw that spreads the pavement material fed by the conveyor in the rear of the tractor, a screed that levels the pavement material spread by the screw in a rear of the screw, an object detection device that detects an object around the road paving machine, and a control device that controls opening and closing of the hopper based on a positional relationship between the vehicle detected by the object detection device and the road paving machine. The control device starts a control to automatically close the hopper in different stages between an open stage and a fully closed stage in a case where the pavement material is completely supplied to the road paving machine from the vehicle. The above-described road paving machine can reduce a burden on an operator related to the operation of the hopper. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a side view of an asphalt finisher and a dump truck during construction.Fig. 2 is a top view of the asphalt finisher and the dump truck during construction.Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a hopper control system.Fig. 4 is a flowchart of an example of hopper opening processing.Fig. 5 is a flowchart of an example of hopper closing processing.Fig. 6 is a side view of the asphalt finisher and the dump truck during construction.Fig. 7 is a top view of the asphalt finisher and the dump truck during construction.Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram showing another configuration example of the hopper control system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Fig. 1 is a side view of an asphalt finisher 100, which is an example of a road paving machine according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and a dump truck 200. The road paving machine may be a base paver, a tack paver, a multi-asphalt paver, or the like. The dump truck 200 is an example of a transport vehicle for supplying (inputting) a pavement material PV into a hopper 2 of the asphalt finisher 100. Fig. 2 is a top view of the asphalt finisher 100 and the dump truck 200, and corresponds to Fig. 1. Specifically, Fig. 1 is a side view of the asphalt finisher 100 and the dump truck 200 during construction (during the laying of the pavement material PV), and Fig. 2 is a top view of the asphalt finisher 100 and the dump truck 200 during construction (during the laying of the pavement material PV). The asphalt finisher 100 mainly includes a tractor 1, a hopper 2, and a screed 3. Hereinafter, for convenience, a direction of the hopper 2 viewed from the tractor 1 (+X direction) will be defined as a front, and a direction of the s