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EP-4740080-A1 - TRANSFER VEHICLE, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GUIDING A VEHICLE INTO A CARGO SPACE OF A TRANSFER VEHICLE

EP4740080A1EP 4740080 A1EP4740080 A1EP 4740080A1EP-4740080-A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a transfer vehicle (10) comprising a frame a cargo space (40) attached to the frame for a vehicle to be transferred (20) to be loaded onto the transfer vehicle (10), a ramp (45) that leads to the cargo space (40), and geopositioning means for determining a position of the transfer vehicle (10), wherein the geopositioning means comprises at least two geopositioning devices (50) for determining a position and an orientation of the cargo space (40) of the transfer vehicle (10). The invention also relates to a system and to a method for guiding a vehicle (20) into a cargo space of a transfer vehicle (10).

Inventors

  • HÖYLÄ, Teijo

Assignees

  • Sleipner Group Oy

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20240520

Claims (15)

  1. 1. A transfer vehicle (10) comprising - a frame - a cargo space (40) attached to the frame for a vehicle to be transferred (20) to be loaded onto the transfer vehicle (10) , - a ramp (45) that leads to the cargo space (40) , and - geopositioning means for determining a position of the transfer vehicle (10) , characterized in that the geopositioning means comprises at least two geopositioning devices (50) for determining a position and an orientation of the cargo space (40) of the transfer vehicle (10) .
  2. 2. The transfer vehicle (10) according to claim 1, characterized in that the transfer vehicle (10) includes - wheels (31, 32) for supporting the frame on a substrate, and - lifting means for lowering the cargo space (40) in order to transfer the vehicle to be transferred (20) into the cargo space ( 40 ) .
  3. 3. The transfer vehicle (10) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the geopositioning means comprises three geopositioning devices (50) for determining a position and an orientation of the cargo space (40) of the transfer vehicle (10) .
  4. 4. The transfer vehicle (10) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the geopositioning means comprises two geopositioning devices (50) for determining a position of the cargo space (40) of the transfer vehicle (10) and a gyroscope for determining an orientation of the cargo space (40) of the transfer vehicle (10) .
  5. 5. The transfer vehicle (10) according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that the geopositioning devices (50) are satellite geopositioning devices, preferably GPS geopositioning devices.
  6. 6. A system for guiding a vehicle (20) into a cargo space (40) of a transfer vehicle (10) , wherein the system includes - a vehicle to be transferred (20) which comprises geopositioning means for determining a position of the vehicle (20) and a guidance system for guiding the vehicle (20) based on positional data provided by the geopositioning means and route points (80) entered into the guidance system, and - a transfer vehicle (10) for transferring the vehicle (20) to be transferred, characterized in that the transfer vehicle (10) is a transfer vehicle (10) according to any one of claims 1-5, and the system comprises software means with which a route point (80) generated from the position and the orientation of the cargo space (40) of the transfer vehicle (10) is configured to be entered into the guidance system of the vehicle to be transferred (20) .
  7. 7. The system according to claim 6, characterized in that the vehicle to be transferred (20) is configured to approach the transfer vehicle (10) from a designated direction in order to load it into the cargo space (40) of the transfer vehicle (10) in order to transport the vehicle to be transferred (20) in an automated manner.
  8. 8. The system according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the vehicle to be transferred (20) is a drill rig, preferably with a tracked chassis (60) .
  9. 9. The system according to any one of claims 6-8, characterized in that the vehicle to be transferred (20) includes geopositioning means (62) for a vehicle to be transferred (20) , based on which the vehicle to be transferred (20) is configured to move autonomously to designated route points (80) .
  10. 10. The system according to any one of claims 6-9, characterized in that the system (52) further includes a satellite geopositioning station (100) for generating a geopositioning corrective signal in order to improve a precision of the geopositioning means (62) of the transfer vehicle (10) and/or of the geopositioning means (62) of the vehicle to be transferred (20) .
  11. 11. A method for guiding a vehicle (20) into a cargo space (40) of a transfer vehicle (10) , wherein the vehicle to be transferred (20) comprises geopositioning means (62) for determining a position of the vehicle (20) and a guidance system for guiding the vehicle (20) based on positional data provided by the geopositioning means (62) and route points (80) entered into the guidance system, in which method - the position of the vehicle to be transferred (20) is determined by the geopositioning means of the vehicle to be transferred (20) , - the vehicle to be transferred (20) is driven into the cargo space (40) of the transfer vehicle (10) and is transferred to a designated site on board the transfer vehicle (10) , characterized in that the transfer vehicle (10) is a transfer vehicle (10) according to any one of claims 1-5, and in that in the method - a position and an orientation of the transfer vehicle (10) are determined by geopositioning means of the transfer vehicle (10) , - a virtual route point (80) is generated from the position and the orientation of the transfer vehicle (10) for the vehicle to be transferred (20) into the cargo space (40) of the transfer vehicle (10) , - the virtual route point (80) is set as destination in the guidance system of the vehicle to be transferred (20) , and a route (90) is determined for the vehicle to be transferred (20) that leads to the destination, - the transfer vehicle (20) is guided along the generated route (90) into the cargo space (40) of the transfer vehicle (10) .
  12. 12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the transfer vehicle (10) is driven close to the vehicle to be transferred (20) , preferably to less than 100 m away, and the transfer vehicle (10) is stopped prior to the generation of the virtual route point (80) .
  13. 13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that with the geopositioning means of the transfer vehicle (10) at least one virtual route point (80) , preferably two virtual route points (80) , are determined outside the transfer vehicle (10) , which are aligned with the virtual route point (80) formed in the cargo space (40) of the transfer vehicle (20) and a longitudinal centreline of the frame of the transfer vehicle (10) .
  14. 14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that the at least one virtual route point (80) is at a selected distance from the cargo space (40) , which distance is preferably at least 5 metres, more preferably at least 10 metres.
  15. 15. The method according to any one of claims 11-14, characterized in that a geometry of the transfer vehicle (10) is determined relative to an arrangement of the geoposition- ing means of the transfer vehicle (10) , and a position and an orientation of the transfer vehicle (10) are subsequently determined with the geopositioning means of the transfer vehicle (10) .

Description

TRANSFER VEHICLE, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GUIDING A VEHICLE INTO A CARGO SPACE OF A TRANSFER VEHICLE The invention relates to a transfer vehicle comprising a frame, a cargo space attached to the frame for a vehicle to be transferred to be loaded onto the transfer vehicle, a ramp that leads to the cargo space, and geopositioning means for determining a position of the transfer vehicle. The invention also relates to a system and to a method for guiding a vehicle into a cargo space of a transfer vehicle. Autonomous vehicles, for example drill rigs like the Sandvik DR412i AutoMine Surface Drilling rig, are currently used in mining areas. Autonomous vehicles according to the prior art comprise a guidance system for guiding a vehicle based on geographic data provided by a geolocalization system such as GPS. For example, it is possible to determine route points for an autonomous drill rig based on coordinates determined for drilling sites, wherein the drill rig autonomously navigates from one drilling site to another according to the route points. For long distances, drill rigs and other heavy machinery are typically transferred in mining areas using a separate transfer vehicle. The transfer vehicle can be a self-propelled transfer vehicle or a trailer towed by a separate towing vehicle. However, the autonomous vehicles according to the prior art are not able to drive autonomously into a cargo space of a transfer vehicle, so that guiding a vehicle to be transferred into the cargo space of the transfer vehicle requires the presence of a human being, or the autonomous vehicle needs to comprise a complex guidance system for this purpose, for example based on cameras and/or lidars. For example, the patent publication AU 2023200477 Al discloses an autonomous vehicle which is configured to drive autonomously into the cargo space of a trailer. The vehicle in question comprises perception means for perceiving the contours of the transfer vehicle, which perception means comprise distance sensors and cameras. The solution according to the prior art is problematic due to its high cost and error- proneness stemming from the complexity of the system. The object of the invention is to provide a transfer vehicle, a system and a method with which a vehicle can be guided into a cargo space of a transfer vehicle more easily and more reliably. The characteristic features of a system according to the invention are set out in the attached patent claim 1, the characteristic features of a system according to the invention are set out in the attached patent claim 6, and the characteristic features of a method according to the invention are set out in the attached patent claim 11. A transfer vehicle according to the invention comprises a frame, a cargo space attached to the frame for a vehicle to be transferred to be loaded onto the transfer vehicle, a ramp that leads to the cargo space, and geopositioning means for determining a position of the transfer vehicle. The geopositioning means comprise at least two geopositioning devices for determining a position and an orientation of the cargo space of the transfer vehicle. Modern transfer vehicles can comprise geopositioning means for determining a position of the transfer vehicle. It is surprising, however, to arrange two or more geopositioning devices in a transfer vehicle. This gives rise to the advantage that it is possible to determine, in addition to positional data, also an orientation of the transfer vehicle. The positional and orientational data can thus be used to guide the vehicle to be transferred into the cargo space of the transfer vehicle. Determining the orientation is important because the vehicle to be transferred can only be loaded onto the transfer vehicle from one direction via the ramp of the transfer vehicle. The transfer vehicle according to the invention does not require lidar or other complex systems to load the vehicle to be transferred into the cargo space of the transfer vehicle, but loading can occur based solely on the position and the orientation determined by the geopositioning system, so that the transfer vehicle is simpler, more reliable and cost-efficient. When the geometry of the transfer vehicle is known, the position and the orientation of the cargo space can be determined based on measurement data of the geopositioning means. Preferably, the transfer vehicle includes wheels for supporting the frame on a substrate, and lifting means for lowering the cargo space in order to move the vehicle to be transferred into the cargo space. This allows the transfer vehicle to be moved by means of the wheels while a loading of the vehicle to be transferred into the cargo space of the transfer vehicle can be facilitated by lowering the cargo space. In one embodiment of the invention, the geopositioning means comprises three geopositioning devices for determining a position and an orientation of the cargo space of the transfer vehicle. The transfer vehicle can compr