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EP-4737648-A1 - METHOD OF SUPPORTING THE EXECUTION OF A MISSION OF AN AGRICULTURAL OR WORK VEHICLE AND A CONTROL UNIT IMPLEMENTING THE METHOD

EP4737648A1EP 4737648 A1EP4737648 A1EP 4737648A1EP-4737648-A1

Abstract

Method of supporting the completion of a mission of an agricultural or work vehicle operated by a computer, wherein the vehicle is equipped with an articulated arm (A) connected to a chassis (F) of the vehicle such as to assume a plurality of operational configurations, a propulsion system such as to allow movement of the vehicle with respect to a support surface, the method including monitoring (step 1) of a mission of the vehicle within a continuous and predetermined time interval and when it appears (steps 2 and 3) that the mission coincides with a pick & place mission, then the method comprises a step of suggesting (step 4) to the user or automatically operating the activation of a function of parallel movement of forks operationally connected to said articulated arm.

Inventors

  • NISTLER, JONATHAN
  • GRAVILI, ANDREA
  • VENEZIA, ANTONIO
  • LIBERTI, STEFANO
  • De Giorgi, Simone

Assignees

  • CNH Industrial Italia S.p.A.

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20251029

Claims (9)

  1. Method for supporting the execution of a mission of an agricultural or work vehicle operated by computer, wherein the vehicle is equipped with - an articulated arm (A) connected to a chassis (F) of the vehicle such as to assume a plurality of operational configurations, - a propulsion system such as to allow movement of the vehicle with respect to a support surface, the method including monitoring (step 1) of a mission of the vehicle within a continuous and predetermined time interval and when it results (steps 2 and 3) that the mission coincides with a pick & place mission, then the method comprises a step of suggesting (step 4) to the user or automatically operating the activation of a parallel movement function of forks operationally connected to said articulated arm.
  2. Method according to claim 1, further comprising a verification step (step 3bis = yes) for inhibiting the suggestion or activation step (step 4) of the parallel movement function, when it is found that the vehicle is equipped with an articulated arm constructively designed to ensure parallel movement of the forks operatively connected to the articulated arm.
  3. Method according to claim 2, wherein said verification step is configured to enable (step 3bis - no) the suggestion or activation step (step 4) of the parallel movement function, when it is found that the vehicle is equipped with an articulated arm with independent segments.
  4. Method according to any of claims 1 - 3, comprising in cyclic succession: - Step 1: Observation of frequency and temporal duration of each operational configuration of the arm and activation of the propulsion system; - Step 2: determination of the current mission of the vehicle; - Step 3: checking whether said vehicle mission coincides with a pick&place mission; - Step 4: prompting (step 4) to the user or automatically activating the parallel movement function of the forks operatively connected with the articulated arm.
  5. Method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising a further step of setting a smooth mode of movement of the articulated arm in response to a determination that the current mission is pick&place.
  6. Processing unit (VCU) for a work or agricultural vehicle (VEH) equipped with an articulated arm (A) connected to a vehicle chassis (F) such as to assume a plurality of operational configurations, a propulsion system such as to allow movement of the vehicle with respect to a support surface, at least one work light and a flashing light, the processing unit (VCU) being configured to monitor a vehicle mission within a continuous and predetermined time interval and configured to suggest (step 4) to the user or automatically operate the activation of a parallel movement function of forks operationally connected to said articulated arm, in response to the detection that the current mission coincides with a pick & place mission.
  7. A computer program comprising instructions for causing the processing unit of claim 6 to implement the method according to claim 1.
  8. A computer-readable medium having stored the program of claim 7.
  9. A work or agricultural vehicle (VEH) equipped with an articulated arm (A) connected to a vehicle frame (F) such as to assume a plurality of operational configurations, a propulsion system such as to allow movement of the vehicle relative to a support surface, a processing unit (VCU) configured to perform a parallel movement of forks operationally connected to the articulated arm, wherein said processing unit is according to claim 6.

Description

Field of the invention The present invention relates to a method of supporting the execution of a mission of an agricultural or work vehicle and a control unit implementing the method. State of the art Agricultural or work vehicles are equipped with at least one work tool, such as an arm or a lift and a transmission that has the purpose of allowing the vehicle to be moved. The transmission can be driven by a prime mover, generally internal combustion, although in recent years vehicles have been developed in which the prime mover is defined by an electric motor. As regards the movement of working parts, such as arms, lifts, blades, etc., they are driven by double-action hydraulic actuators. A directional valve is arranged to connect one of the opposing chambers of a hydraulic actuator to a source of pressurized hydraulic oil and at the same time the other chamber to a hydraulic oil collection tank, generally at low pressure, i.e. at ambient pressure. The source of pressurized hydraulic oil is generally a hydraulic pump driven in rotation by the prime mover or by a dedicated electric motor. It is known that the same vehicle can be involved in different missions. Some missions involve the cyclical execution of a sequence of vehicle movements. Furthermore, in the same mission, similar movements, such as the vehicle's advancement, may require two different execution speeds. In fact, while a loader loads material with the bucket in the dig position, the forward movement of the vehicle requires low speed and high torque. On the contrary, when the vehicle has to move from the loading location to the unloading location, the forward movement of the vehicle requires a relatively higher speed and a lower engine torque. The main missions for wheel loaders and excavators are: Truck loading: removal of material or soil by throwing it directly into a truck via a bucket;Hauling: transporting a load of material various distances across a construction site via a bucket;Pick & Place: using the fork or bale clamp to pick up and lift the material and then place it at a destination on the ground or on a shelf;Material accumulation: definition of a pile by means of the bucket, in a storage location for bulk materials, which is part of the bulk material handling process;Roading: when the vehicle moves on the road or in any case on relatively long routes for a significant time interval, i.e. more than 10 minutes. In relation to the different missions operated by a vehicle, the operator has the possibility to modify various operating parameters of the vehicle. For example, he can increase or decrease the response of the actuators. If the vehicle performs rough operations, then it is possible to set more aggressive response parameters to maximize productivity by reducing the implementation time of the operations. Conversely, when the vehicle performs delicate operations, then it is appropriate to set softer response parameters in order to give the operator full and constant control of the actuation of the arm and possibly also of the vehicle transmission. The Pick & place mission is particularly facilitated in those vehicles equipped with an articulated arm that structurally guarantees the parallelism of the forks with respect to the support surface of the vehicle itself during the lifting or lowering of the forks. However, most agricultural or work vehicles are equipped with articulated arms in which the segments are independent. In particular, if a second segment is hinged to a first segment and the first segment is hinged to the vehicle chassis, an activation of an actuator serving the first segment has no impact on the angle formed between the first and second segments. Some of these vehicles may be equipped with functions implemented in a processing unit designed to control the actuation valves of the segments that make up the articulated arm to coordinate the relative actuators in order to automatically ensure the parallelism of the forks with the support surface of the vehicle. Examples of articulated arms of vehicles that are not structurally designed to ensure parallelism of the forks are shown in figures 1a and 1b. The applicant attributes the commercial name "Zbar" to the arm shown in figure 1a and "XT" to the arm shown in figure 1b. There is a further configuration very similar to the Zbar, called "XR". This differs from the Zbar only in that the main arm has a longer connection. Vehicles that implement such independent segment kinematics are equipped with processing units implementing a parallel fork movement function. Machine learning and deep learning are well-known concepts. The implementation of deep learning in all fields seems to have considerable development. The same applicant holds a European patent application no. 21217267 which describes a technique for conditioning signals to be input to a neural network, in order to recognize a current mission of the work vehicle. Unless specifically excluded in the detailed