U.S. patent application number 12/912865 was filed with the patent office on 2012-05-03 for can-based system to calculate the weight of milled materials.
Invention is credited to Kyle E. Grathwol.
Application Number | 20120104828 12/912865 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 45995881 |
Filed Date | 2012-05-03 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120104828 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Grathwol; Kyle E. |
May 3, 2012 |
CAN-BASED SYSTEM TO CALCULATE THE WEIGHT OF MILLED MATERIALS
Abstract
A milling machine adapted to remove milled material from a road.
The milling machine may include a CAN based grade system
operatively connected to a sensor and a milling drum, and a CAN Bus
adapter operatively connected to the CAN based grade system. The
milling machine may include a programmable logic controller
operatively connected to the CAN Bus adapter. The milling drum
selectively removes the milled material from the road, and the
sensor provides a signal to the CAN based grade system, and the
milling drum is positioned based on data from the CAN based grade
system.
Inventors: |
Grathwol; Kyle E.;
(Sandusky, OH) |
Family ID: |
45995881 |
Appl. No.: |
12/912865 |
Filed: |
October 27, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
299/1.5 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E01C 23/088 20130101;
G01G 11/08 20130101; G01G 19/08 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
299/1.5 |
International
Class: |
E21C 25/06 20060101
E21C025/06; E21C 35/24 20060101 E21C035/24 |
Claims
1. A milling machine adapted to remove milled material to be
weighed from a road, comprising: a CAN based grade system
operatively connected to a height sensor and a milling drum; a CAN
Bus adapter operatively connected to the CAN based grade system;
and a programmable logic controller operatively connected to the
CAN Bus adapter, wherein the milling drum selectively removes the
milled material to be weighed from the road, and the height sensor
provides data to the CAN based grade system, and the milling drum
is positioned based on data from the CAN based grade system.
2. The milling machine of claim 1, wherein the height sensor is a
potentiometer.
3. The milling machine of claim 1 further comprising a crawler and
a track operatively connected to the milling machine, and having a
plurality of pads secured to the track defining gaps between the
pads, and further comprising a sensor positioned to detect the
relative positions of the pads and thereby detect movement of the
milling machine.
4. The milling machine of claim 1 further comprising a human
machine interface operatively connected to the programmable logic
controller.
5. The milling machine of claim 4, wherein the human machine
interface is adapted to calibrate selected activity of the milling
machine.
6. The milling machine of claim 1 further comprising a width sensor
operatively connected to the programmable logic controller and
further comprising a crawler, wherein the width sensor is adapted
to detect an edge of the crawler.
7. The milling machine of claim 1 further comprising a crawler and
a track operatively connected to the milling machine, and having a
plurality of pads secured to the track defining gaps between the
pads, and further comprising a sensor positioned to detect the
relative positions of the pads and further comprising a width
sensor operatively connected to the programmable logic controller
and further comprising a crawler, wherein the width sensor is
adapted to detect an edge of the crawler.
8. The milling machine of claim 7, wherein the height sensor is a
potentiometer.
9. A milling machine adapted to remove milled material to be
weighed from a road, comprising: a CAN based grade system
operatively connected to a height sensor and a milling drum; a
programmable logic controller operatively connected to the CAN Bus
adapter, wherein the milling drum selectively removes the milled
material to be weighed from the road, and the height sensor
provides data to the CAN based grade system, and the milling drum
is positioned based on data from the CAN based grade system.
10. The milling machine of claim 9 further comprising a CAN Bus
operatively connected to the CAN based grade system, wherein the
CAN Bus adapter selectively filters data from the CAN Bus.
11. The milling machine of claim 10 further comprising a crawler
and a track operatively connected to the milling machine, and
having a plurality of pads secured to the track defining gaps
between the pads, and further comprising a sensor positioned to
detect the relative positions of the pads and thereby detect
movement of the milling machine.
12. The milling machine of claim 10 further comprising a crawler
and a width sensor operatively connected to the programmable logic
controller wherein the width sensor is adapted to detect an edge of
the crawler.
13. The milling machine of claim 9 further comprising a CAN Bus
operatively connected to the CAN based grade system, wherein the
CAN Bus adapter selectively filters data from the CAN Bus and
further comprising a crawler and a track operatively connected to
the milling machine, and having a plurality of pads secured to the
track defining gaps between the pads, and further comprising a
sensor positioned to detect the relative positions of the pads and
thereby detect movement of the milling machine and further
comprising a width sensor operatively connected to the programmable
logic controller wherein the width sensor is adapted to detect an
edge of the crawler.
14. The milling machine of claim 10, wherein the height sensor is a
potentiometer.
15. The milling machine of claim 10 further comprising a human
machine interface operatively connected to the programmable logic
controller wherein the human machine interface is adapted to
calibrate selected activity of the milling machine.
16. The milling machine of claim 15 wherein the human machine
interface is adapted to calibrate an actual weight of milled
material.
17. A milling machine adapted to remove milled material to be
weighed from a road, comprising: a CAN based grade system
operatively connected to a height sensor and a milling drum; a CAN
Bus adapter operatively connected to the CAN based grade system; a
programmable logic controller operatively connected to the CAN Bus
adapter; a crawler and a track operatively connected to the milling
machine, and having a plurality of pads secured to the track
defining gaps between the pads, and further comprising a sensor
positioned to detect the relative positions of the pads; and a
width sensor operatively connected to the programmable logic
controller, the width sensor being adapted to detect an edge of the
crawler, wherein the milling drum selectively removes the milled
material to be weighed from the road, and the height sensor
provides data to the CAN based grade system, and the milling drum
is positioned based on data from the CAN based grade system.
18. The milling machine of claim 17 further comprising a human
machine interface operatively connected to the programmable logic
controller wherein the human machine interface is adapted to
calibrate selected activity of the milling machine.
19. The milling machine of claim 18 wherein the human machine
interface is adapted to calibrate an actual weight of milled
material
20. The milling machine of claim 17, wherein the height sensor is a
potentiometer.
Description
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Application No. 61256428, filed Oct. 30, 2009.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Accurately weighing materials in road construction
operations is important. Loading milled materials into a dump truck
in excess of truck capacity or allowable limits can be undesirable.
Excessively heavy dump trucks can be hazardous on roadways and
violate laws that set maximum weights for the dump trucks and their
loads.
[0003] Current attempts to properly weigh milled materials have
been largely unsuccessful. There remains a long-felt need for a
suitable means to weigh milled materials.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0004] FIG. 1 is a view in elevation of the right side of a milling
machine in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0005] FIG. 2 is a schematic view of selected components used in a
method to calculate the weight of milled materials of FIG. 1.
[0006] FIG. 3 is a top plan view of a simplified view of milling
machine of FIG. 1 making a second pass on the road being
milled.
[0007] FIG. 4 is a main (first) screen of the HMI of FIG. 1 showing
the width of cut by the milling machine and the depth of cut.
[0008] FIG. 5 is a second screen of the HMI of FIG. 1 showing
various calculated values from use of the milling machine of FIG.
1.
[0009] FIG. 6 is a third screen of the HMI of FIG. 1 allowing for
calibration of the milling machine of FIG. 1.
[0010] FIG. 7 is a material-selection screen of the HMI of FIG. 1
which may be employed to enter or estimate density of the milled
material.
[0011] FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the CAN Bus and other
components used in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
[0012] There is provided a milling machine adapted to remove milled
material from a road. The milling machine may include a CAN based
grade system operatively connected to a sensor and a milling drum,
and a CAN Bus adapter operatively connected to the CAN based grade
system. The milling machine may include a programmable logic
controller operatively connected to the CAN Bus adapter. The
milling drum selectively removes the milled material from the road,
and the sensor provides a signal to the CAN based grade system, and
the milling drum is positioned based on data from the CAN based
grade system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0013] Preliminarily, it should be noted that certain terms which
may be used herein, such as for example above, below, upper, lower,
left and right, are used to facilitate the description of the
invention. Unless otherwise specified or made apparent by the
context of the discussion, such terms and other directional terms
should be interpreted with reference to the figure(s) under
discussion. Such terms are not intended as limitations on the
position in which the invention or components may be used. Indeed,
it is contemplated that the components of the invention may be
easily positioned in any desired orientation for use. Likewise,
numerical terms such as for example "first", and "second" are not
intended as a limitation or to imply a sequence, unless otherwise
specified or made apparent by the context of the discussion. The
term "operatively connected" is understood to include a linking
together of the portions under consideration and may include a
physical engagement and/or a functional or operational
connection.
[0014] Referring now to the drawings, there is illustrated in FIGS.
1 through 8 a milling machine indicated generally at 20, according
to the invention. The milling machine 20 is provided to remove
material 24 from a road 28, such as for example a paved city
street. The term "milled material" as used in this application may
be understood to include, but is not limited to, any raw or
processed material used which makes up a road. Non-limiting
examples of "milled material" includes chip seal, rock, asphalt,
bituminous road pavement, binder, mineral constituent, concrete,
sand, stone, aggregate, and the like.
[0015] Referring now primarily to FIG. 3, the milling machine 20
may be positioned to make more than one pass on the road 28 to be
milled. In FIG. 3, the milling machine 20 has made a first pass 100
on the road 28 and is now positioned to make a second pass 104 on
the road 28. It will be noted that the second pass 104 slightly
overlaps the first pass 100 on the road 28. The overlap is
represented approximately by the distance D1. The milling machine
20 can be adapted to continue to remove milling material 24 in a
matter that does not create significant gouges in the first pass
100 of the road 28 and the second pass 104 of the road 28.
[0016] The milling machine 20 can be configured in a wide variety
of ways. The illustrated milling machine 20 includes four crawlers
32a, 32b. The term "crawler" as used in this application may be
understood to include, but is not limited to, any device that is a
generally continuous belt of plates. If we imagine that we are
looking at the milling machine 20 from the right in FIG. 1, we see
the right front crawler 32a and the right rear crawler 32b. The
left front crawler and left rear crawler are not shown in FIG. 1.
Each crawler 32 includes a rotating track 36 which operates to move
the milling machine 20 generally forwards and backwards on the road
28. Each track 36 includes a plurality of pads 40. The illustrated
pads 40 are each about six inches long bounded by a gap 44 between
each pair of pads 40. It will be noted that a sensor 48 may be
positioned to detect the relative positions of the pads 40 and the
gaps 44 and thereby detect movement of the milling machine 20 in
approximately six inch increments. The sensor 48 may generate data.
One example of a suitable sensor 48 is made by Balluff--part number
BOS 18M-PA-1HA-S4-C.
[0017] The sensor 48 is shown operatively connected to the first
programmable logic controller (PLC) 52--or a personal computer (PC)
may be used as desired. The term "sensor" as used in this
application may be understood to include, but is not limited to,
any device that responds to a physical stimulus, (such as for
example, heat, light, sound, pressure, magnetism, or a particular
motion) and generates or transmits one or more impulse (such as for
example, for measurement or operating a control) or data. The term
"data" as used in this application may be understood to include,
but is not limited to, any numerical or other information or values
represented in a form suitable for processing by a computer,
programmable logic controller, or the like.
[0018] The sensor 48 shown is a laser photo sensor, but may be any
suitable sensor, which detects the gaps 44 in the right front track
36 and responds to a physical stimulus and transmits an impulse or
data to the first PLC 52. Other sensors which detect movement of
the milling machine 20 may be employed as desired. The sensor 48
may also be employed to determine total distance traveled, length
traveled, number of feet traveled per minute for the milling
machine 20 and the like. The sensor 48 may be employed as a length
sensor.
[0019] The term "PLC" as used in this application may be understood
to include, but is not limited to, any device, such as for example
a digital computer, used for automation of electromechanical
processes, such as control of machinery. To perform the
functionality attributed to the PLC herein, the PLC may employ a
program to control or direct operation of components disclosed.
This program may use information from the CAN bus 62, typically
ASCII values, and convert or transform them from ASCII into
hexadecimal values. Then, the high and low bytes may be swapped,
and the hexadecimal values may be converted and scaled into the
depth of cut from the left side and depth of cut from the right
side of the milling machine 20. The PLC 52 may calculate the weight
of the milled material 24 by multiplying the depth of cut, times
the width of cut, times the distance traveled by the milling
machine 20, times the weight per cubic yard for the milled material
24. Each of the other components shown herein is operatively
connected to the PLC 52.
[0020] The PLC 52 is shown operatively connected to a touch screen
HMI 56 and a display scoreboard 60. The term "HMI" as used in this
application may be understood to include, but is not limited to,
any Human Machine Interface in a manufacturing or process control
system. The HMI 56 shown may provide a graphics-based visualization
of an industrial control or monitoring system which allows a user
to input and/or monitor output via the milling machine 20 or any of
the milling machine's component parts. The HMI 56 may be employed
to enter such data as the desired depth of cut in the road 28, the
desired width cut of the road 28, calibration of the density of the
milled material 24 removed from the road 28, and the like. The HMI
56 may be employed to input user data and to provide a user
interface to interact with a program to operate a scale. The HMI 56
may be employed to input manual or automatic depth, full width pass
or manual width of cut. The HMI 56 may display the data collected,
such as total tons, total cubic yards, tons currently being loaded
into the dump truck 96, and the like.
[0021] One example of a suitable HMI display 56 which may be
employed is made by Parker CTC-P1 PowerStation. One example of a
suitable display scoreboard 60 which may be employed is made by Red
Lion, part number LD2SS6PO. One example of a suitable PLC 52 which
may be employed is made by Allen Bradley--part number
Micrologix1200 1762-L24BXBR.
[0022] The HMI 56 may be configured in any suitable manner. The HMI
56 shown includes four screens, shown in additional detail in FIG.
4 and FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 and FIG. 7. The illustrated FIG. 4 provides
for functional inputs. For example, the human user (not shown) may
select that the milling machine 20 execute a preprogrammed
five-foot width of cut during each pass of the milling machine 20
along the road 28--or a preprogrammed four-foot width, or a
preprogrammed three-foot width, or a preprogrammed two-foot width.
The human user may also enter another suitable custom width as
desired.
[0023] The illustrated FIG. 5 may be a screen configured to provide
for calculating outputs. The outputs may accumulate during a day
when the milling machine 20 is being used. As may be appreciated,
the screen may allow for navigation to other screens, such as the
main menu or other desired screen. The daily tonnage, number of
trucks loaded, square yards milled, and total wait time may be
calculated and displayed as desired.
[0024] The illustrated FIG. 6 may be a screen employed to calibrate
selected activity of the milling machine 20. As shown, the scale
setup may employ a predetermined weight per cubic foot of material
to be milled. For example, a previously determined number of 2.11
pounds per cubic foot may be entered on the scale set-up when
asphalt is the material to be milled. The input adjustments of -200
and +200 may be employed to more specifically incorporate actual
weights of milled material 24 loaded into the waiting dump truck
96. The dump truck 96 is shown to the right of the milling machine
20, though may be placed at any suitable location for use. For
example, if the dump truck 96 filled with milled material 24 is
slightly lighter than anticipated when the dump truck 96 is
weighed, an input adjustment of +200 may be input into the HMI 56.
When this occurs, the next dump truck 96 may be loaded with
slightly more milled material 24 to compensate. This can be
accomplished by the milling machine 20 moving an appropriate
distance further along the road 28 while the milling drum 76
engages the road 28.
[0025] Conversely, if the loaded dump truck 96 is slightly too
heavy, the input adjustment of -200 may be input into the HMI 56.
When this occurs, the next dump truck 96 may be loaded with
slightly less milled material 24 to compensate. This can be
accomplished by the milling machine 20 moving an appropriate
distance less along the road 28 while the milling drum 76 engages
the road 28. It will be appreciated that the weight of milled
material 24 loading into the dump truck 96 can be regulated by the
distance the milling machine 20 moves while the milling drum 76
engages the road 28.
[0026] The illustrated FIG. 7 may be a screen employed to calibrate
or estimate the density of the milled material 24 gathered from the
road 28 by the milling machine 20. For example, a previously
determined memory value of 2.11 pounds per cubic foot may be
entered on the scale set-up when asphalt is the material to be
milled. A different memory value may be employed for concrete. A
yet-different memory value may be employed for material obtained
from a particular job location. For example, a given stretch of
road may yield 2.34 pounds per cubic foot of milled material 24. If
that same milling machine 20 is used along that same stretch of
road the very next day, beginning the milling process by having the
milling machine 20 set at 2.34 pounds per cubic foot would
predictably yield a dump truck 96 of approximately the same weight
each time the milling machine 20 moved that given distance with the
same depth of cut and width of cut.
[0027] The milling machine 20 also may include a CAN Bus Adapter 64
and a CAN based grade system 68 and one or more linear motion
potentiometers 72L, 72R, which may also may be simply referred to
herein as potentiometers. The potentiometers 72L, 72R are sensors.
One example of a suitable CAN Bus Adapter 64 is made by
Gridconnect--part number CAN-232. One example of a suitable CAN
based grade system 68 is made by MOBA--the MOBA-matic.
[0028] The potentiometers need not be linear motion type. Since the
right side of the milling machine 20 is shown in FIG. 1, the right
linear motion potentiometers 72R is shown in FIG. 1. The linear
motion potentiometers 72L, 72R measure axial displacement. In
general, linear motion potentiometers 72L, 72R operate on the
principle of a linear resistive voltage divider, i.e. a wiper
slides along a resistive track causing the output voltage of the
wiper to be proportional to its position on the track. The
potentiometers 72L, 72R are coupled with the milling drum 76--also
known as a cutter. The position and depth of cut of the milling
drum 76 are thus determinable, and can be processed by the first
PLC 52. The first PLC 52 may use the position and depth of cut of
the milling drum 76 to calculate the weight of milled material as
desired. Any suitable sensor may be employed in place of, or in
addition to, the potentiometer shown.
[0029] The potentiometers 72L, 72R provide signals to the CAN based
grade system 68. The term "signal" as used in this application may
be understood to include, but is not limited to, any impulse or a
fluctuating electric quantity, such as voltage, current, or
electric field strength, whose variations represent coded
information. The milling drum 76 is positioned based on data from
the CAN based grade system 68 using the signal from the
potentiometers 72L, 72R. The potentiometers 72L, 72R may be
employed as a height sensor to generate height data.
[0030] The milling machine 20 also may include a width sensing
device 84. The width sensing device 84 may be operatively connected
to the first PLC 52. Any suitable width sensing device 84, or
numbers of width sensing devices, may be employed, including but
not limited to sonar, vision system, laser, mechanical means, or
the like. In operation, the width sensing device 84 may be
positioned generally proximate to one or more of the crawlers 32.
The width sensing device 84 is a sensor.
[0031] The width sensing device 84 may be employed to detect the
edge(s) of the one or more of the crawlers 32. The width sensing
device 84 may be employed to detect the edge(s) of the milling drum
76. The edge(s) of the one or more of the crawlers 32 and the edges
of the milling drum 76 may be positioned in a known relationship to
each other. The milling machine 20 may be optimally positioned on
the road 28 and, with data from the width sensing device 84 which
may automatically sense the width of cut, optimize removal of the
milled material 24 proximate to the exposed edges of the road 28 to
be processed with the milling drum 76.
[0032] One possible width sensing device 84 that may be employed is
an IP68 Sealed Camera available from Banner Engineering Corp. Other
Banner sensors may be employed as the width sensing device 84, as
may various other types of devices available in commerce. Another
example from Banner is the iVu Series TG Image Sensor.
[0033] Any suitable milling drum 76 may be employed. The milling
drum 76 may be fixed in length of about six feet wide or about
seven feet wide--or any other suitable width. The milling drum 76
may include carbide teeth for removal of asphalt milled material 24
from the road 28. The milling drum 76 may rotate at any suitable
rate, often ranging within the range of from about 50 RPM to about
2,000 RPM as desired. Milled material 24 removed from the road 28
by the milling drum 76 may be generally augured toward a discharge
area and generally directed toward the lower conveyor 88 then
conveyed to the upper conveyor 92 and into the waiting dump truck
96. When the dump truck 96 is appropriately filled with milled
material 24, the dump truck 96 can be weighed, and moved, typically
being driven to a destination where the milled material 24 can be
removed from the dump truck 96. The CAN based grade system 68 and
one or more linear motion potentiometers 72L, 72R are useful to
adjust the relative position of the milling drum 76 to allow the
milling machine 20 to mill the road 28 appropriately.
[0034] Referring now primarily to FIG. 8, a computer program may
process the data present on the CAN bus 62, data from the sensor
48, data from the width sensing device 84, and data from the
potentiometers 72L, 72R. The data may be hexadecimal data that may
be filtered from other data on the CAN bus 62 by the CAN bus
adaptor 64. The data may be provided to the first PLC 52 and may be
converted and scaled into the depth of cut from one or more sides
(such as left and/or right) of the milling machine 20. The first
PLC 52 may calculate or estimate a weight for the milled material
24 by multiplying the depth of cut by the width of cut and the
distance traveled by the milling machine 20 and weight per cubic
yard value for the type of material being milled from the road
28.
[0035] The depth of cut can be determined from the CAN bus 62 of
the CAN based grade control system 68. The CAN Bus 62 is shown
operatively connected to the CAN based grade system 68. The CAN
based grade system 68 may alter the depth and/or the angle of
operation and/or orientation of the milling machine 20. The term
"angle" as used in this application may be understood to include,
but is not limited to, any structure or functionality which defines
or creates a corner. The corner may constitute a projecting part or
an enclosed or partially enclosed space. The corner may be
generally straight, generally curved or arced--or partially
straight or curved. The term "angle" may also include the space
between two lines or surfaces at or near the point at which they
touch or intersect.
[0036] Detecting the depth and/or the angle of operation and/or
orientation of the milling machine 20 may be accomplished by using
the CAN bus adaptor 64 which may use the CAN data from the CAN bus
62 and convert it to a protocol that the first PLC 52, or
microcontroller, or PC, or the like can use or interpret. A program
may be employed to convert this data which may be in hexadecimal
format into real numbers which may be used in mathematical formulas
and may be displayed to the operator on the HMI 56. A depth-of-cut
value may also be calculated using data from the potentiometers
72L, 72R. The potentiometers 72L, 72R may provide an analog value
that can be scaled and converted as desired for processing.
[0037] The illustrated milling machine 20 also includes five
PLC-type controllers 101, 102, 103, 104, 105. Any suitable number
and types of controllers may be employed as desired. For purposes
of clarity, the five PLC-type controllers 101, 102, 103, 104, 105
may be referred to as the second 101, third 102, fourth 103, fifth
104, and sixth 106 controllers. The second controller 101 may be
employed for use in the conveyor functions of the milling machine
20. The third controller 102 may be employed for use in the milling
and water systems (not shown) of the milling machine 20. The fourth
controller 103 may be employed for use in the engine and propel
systems (not shown) of the milling machine 20. The fifth controller
104 may be employed for use in the raising and lowering of portions
of the milling machine 20 and automatic grade control (not shown)
of the milling machine 20. The sixth controller 105 may be employed
for use in steering of the milling machine 20. These five
controllers 101, 102, 103, 104, 105 share data on the CAN bus 62
using a CAN embedded networking protocol. The CAN-based grade
system 68 may also share data with the fifth controller 104 using
the CAN bus 62. The illustrated CAN bus 62 may be a two-wire CAN
bus. When the potentiometers 72L and 72R move or otherwise detect a
change in position, the data associated with this change of depth
may be broadcast and/or carried on the CAN bus 62.
[0038] The CAN bus adaptor 64 may be programmed to selectively
filter the CAN network traffic and extract the data that reports
the depth of cut measured by 72L and 72R and send it to the first
PLC 52 to be used to calculate and/or estimate the weight of milled
material 24 being loaded into the dump truck 96. The CAN bus
adaptor 64 may be used to selectively read and filter data on the
CAN bus 62 and send the filtered message to the PLC 52. For
example, changes in the depth of cut may be filtered by the CAN bus
adaptor 64 and be broadcast to the PLC 52. The changes in the depth
of cut may be selectively filtered from other bus traffic by the
CAN bus adaptor 64.
[0039] In addition to use on roads, the milling machine 20 and the
disclosed system may be employed for use in a variety of surface
mining operations. Desired modifications may be made to optimize
such a use. In general, the milling drum 76 could be used on the
surface to be mined in similar fashion to the way it can be used on
the road 28 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 to remove material from the
surface to be mined.
[0040] The definitions used herein are provided solely to
facilitate an understanding of the invention--not to limit the
invention. In operation, the milling machine 20 and various
components of the milling machine provide a mechanism to collect
milled material 24 and optimize use of the dump truck 96 without
over loading the dump truck 96.
[0041] The term "axis" as used in this application may be
understood to include, but is not limited to, a generally straight
line about which a body or a geometric figure rotates or may be
supposed to rotate. The "axis" may be a generally straight line
with respect to which a body, component, or figure may be generally
symmetrical or positioned. The "axis" may be a reference line of a
coordinate system.
[0042] The illustrated milling machine 20 is shown positioned to
travel generally along the x-axis, shown on FIG. 1 and FIG. 3. The
x-axis may be useful to represent the length dimension of the
milling machine 20 and the road 28 as shown. The y-axis may be
useful to represent the width dimension of the milling machine 20
and the first pass 100 on the road 28 and the second pass 104 on
the road 28. It will be noted that the x-axis and the y-axis are
shown generally perpendicular. The illustrated linear motion
potentiometers 72L, 72R are shown positioned to move generally
along the z-axis, shown on FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. The z-axis may be
useful to represent the height dimension of the milling machine 20.
It will be noted that the x-axis and the y-axis and the z-axis are
shown generally perpendicular with respect to each other. For
purposes of clarity, the height dimension of the milling machine 20
generally corresponds to the depth of cut into the road 28 and
displacement of the potentiometers 72L, 72R.
[0043] The milling machine may employ a CAN based grade control
system. The CAN bus adaptor may be connected to the CAN bus of the
grade control system. The CAN bus adaptor may be set at a suitable
baud rate to read the CAN data, such as 125K any other suitable
rate. One or more filters may be configured within the CAN bus
adaptor to selectively filter the depth of cut CAN messages for the
left and right potentiometers from other CAN bus traffic and the
like. The CAN messages for the depth of cut that were filtered from
the bus may then be sent to a PLC to convert raw hexadecimal data
into real numbers that can be used in calculations for weighing of
the milled material.
[0044] A program for the PLC 52 may be employed to receive the
depth of cut CAN messages generated from the potentiometers 72L,
72R. The bytes may be swapped and the value scaled to represent the
depth of cut in inches or centimeters. The PLC program may process
data from the sensor 48. The sensor 48 may selectively send data
when a pad 40 passes by the laser. This input, when transitioning
from true to false, signals that the milling machine 20 has moved
about six inches. The PLC program may also process the width of cut
data. The width of cut may be detected or may be an input from the
HMI selected by the operator. This will give the PLC 52 the depth,
width, and length of cut. With this information, the weight, square
yards and cubic yards can be calculated and displayed to the
operator. The HMI 56 and a display scoreboard 60 may be configured
and programmed as desired to receive and display the data for
cooperation with the PLC 52.
[0045] It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in
its application to the details of construction and to the
arrangements of the components set forth in the accompanying
description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is
capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out
in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology
and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description
and should not be regarded as limiting. The disclosure may readily
be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures,
methods and systems for carrying out the present invention. It is
important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including
equivalent constructions. Further, the purpose of the foregoing
abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the
public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers and
practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal
terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory
inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of
the application. The abstract and disclosure are neither intended
to define the invention of the application, which is measured by
the claims, nor are they intended to be limiting as to the scope of
the invention in any way.
* * * * *