U.S. patent number 3,831,683 [Application Number 05/285,645] was granted by the patent office on 1974-08-27 for system for controlling the level of an earth-removing blade of a bulldozer.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Toshimichi Ikeda, Masataka Kawauchi, Atsushi Matsuzaki, Masayuki Suzuki.
United States Patent |
3,831,683 |
Ikeda , et al. |
August 27, 1974 |
SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING THE LEVEL OF AN EARTH-REMOVING BLADE OF A
BULLDOZER
Abstract
A system for controlling the level of an earth-removing blade of
a bulldozer. The system comprises a first circuit means adapted for
manual control of the level of the earth-removing blade and a
second circuit means automatically operative to keep the
earth-removing blade at a predetermined level. The first circuit
means is usable in usual earth excavating and removing operation of
the bulldozer while the second circuit means is usable to produce a
flatly bulldozed earth surface. The second circuit means includes
electric and hydraulic circuits. The electric circuit includes an
input setting unit, a gyro-means to measure the actual level of the
blade, and a circuit for comparing the signals from the input
setting unit and gyro-means to emit an instruction signal. The
hydraulic circuit includes valves operative in response to the
instruction signal to control the amount and direction of the fluid
to be fed from a fluid source to a cylinder for the actuation of
blade supporting arms of the bulldozer for thereby automatically
controlling the blade level.
Inventors: |
Ikeda; Toshimichi (Ibaraki-Ken,
JA), Kawauchi; Masataka (Tokyo, JA),
Matsuzaki; Atsushi (Tokyo, JA), Suzuki; Masayuki
(Kashiwa, JA) |
Assignee: |
Hitachi Construction Machinery Co.,
Ltd. (Tokyo, JA)
|
Family
ID: |
13362527 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/285,645 |
Filed: |
September 1, 1972 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
|
|
|
|
|
Sep 6, 1971 [JA] |
|
|
46-68049 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
172/4.5;
37/907 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E02F
3/844 (20130101); Y10S 37/907 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
E02F
3/84 (20060101); E02F 3/76 (20060101); E02f
003/76 () |
Field of
Search: |
;172/4.5,2
;37/DIG.20 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Pellegrino; Stephen C.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Craig & Antonelli
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A system for controlling the level of an earth-removing blade of
a bulldozer, comprising:
a. a hydraulic fluid source for feeding a hydraulic fluid under
pressure to a cylinder operative to upwardly and downwardly actuate
arms supporting said blade,
b. a manual controlling means including a manually operated
direction control valve located between said hydraulic source and
said cylinder to change over the direction of feed of said
hydraulic fluid from said hydraulic source to said cylinder for
controlling the level of said blade, and
c. an automatic controlling means including a controlling circuit
which comprises means for setting a desired level for said blade
including an input setting unit emitting a first signal
representing the desired blade level set, a measuring unit on said
bulldozer detecting the angle of inclination of said blade
supporting arms to measure the actual level of said blade and
emitting a second signal representing the measured actual blade
level, a comparing circuit responsive to said first and second
signals and operative to detect a deviation of said second signal
from said first signal and emitting a third signal representing the
deviation, on-off action type and continuous control action type
control valve means located between said hydraulic source and said
cylinder and operative in response to said third signal to control
the amount and direction of said hydraulic fluid to be fed into
said cylinder in such a manner as to compensate for said deviation
to thereby automatically control the level of said blade.
2. A system as claimed in claim 1, in which said hydraulic fluid
source comprises:
a. A first pump located between said hydraulic source and said
continuous action type control valve means and in fluid
communication therewith for feeding an amount of said hydraulic
fluid to said continuous control action type control valve means,
and
b. a second pump located between said hydraulic source and said
on-off action type valve means and direction control valve and in
fluid communication therewith for feeding a larger amount of said
hydraulic fluid than that by said first pump to said on-off action
type valve means and said manually operated direction control
valve.
3. A system as claimed in claim 1, in which said measuring unit on
said bulldozer included in said automatic controlling means
comprises a detector mounted on a blade supporting arm of said
bulldozer to detect the angle of inclination of said arm for
measuring the level of said blade.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a bulldozer and, more
particularly, to a system for controlling the level of an
earth-removing blade pivotally mounted on the forward end of a
bulldozer.
2. Description of Prior Art
In general, a bulldozer is designed to perform not only a heavy
operation in which the bulldozer is operated to scrape raised
portions of the ground and forcibly push, transfer or heap up the
scraped earth and sand, but also a light operation, such as ground
conditioning or production of building lots, in which the bulldozer
is operated to produce substantially flatly bulldozed or levelled
ground surfaces.
There is an increasing demand for the application of bulldozers to
light operations, such as ground conditioning, production of
building lots, or road reparing and improvement, in which
bulldozers are required to produce accurately finished
substantially flat ground surfaces.
In bulldozer operation to produce a generally flatly levelled
ground surface, it is very difficult and requires skilled technique
to manually keep the blade of the bulldozer at a controlled
substantially fixed level because the bulldozer body is subjected
to pitching due to rugged ground surface. More specifically, if a
ground surface produced by removal of the earth by means of an
earth-removing blade of a bulldozer is once rugged for some
reasons, the caterpillars of the bulldozer moving across the rugged
ground surface are caused to alternately ride on raised portions of
the ground and fall down in recessed portions thereof for thereby
causing pitching of the bulldozer body, with a result that the
ground surface becomes more and more rugged. In order that the
rugged ground surface may be flatly bulldozed, an operator is
required to operate an operating lever of the bulldozer to control
the earth-removing blade thereof while the operator carefully
investigates the state of the portion of the ground surface which
is located forwardly of the earth-removing blade and which is
included in the dead angle of view sight as viewed from normal
operating position and while the operator watches the movement of
the earth-removing blade relative to the rugged ground surface. It
takes a great amount of time for a man to become skilled in such
complicated control operation. Particularly, the blade control
operation is very difficult and needs highly skilled technique when
the bulldozer moves at a higher speed.
For the reasons, there has been proposed a system for automatically
keeping the earth-removing blade of a bulldozer at a predetermined
substantially fixed level even if the operator of the bulldozer
frees the blade control lever out of control by his hand. For
example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,225 issued on Jan. 19, 1971 discloses
a system for automatically keeping the earth-removing blade of a
bulldozer at a predetermined controlled level. The system utilizes
an optical level reference device disposed outside the bulldozer
body, i.e., placed for example on the ground so that the level
reference is followed to control the blade level. The automatic
blade level control system of this type, however, fails to provide
a satisfactory blade level control and an improved working
efficiency.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system for
controlling the level of an earth-removing blade of a bulldozer
which enables the blade to produce a substantially flat bulldozed
ground surface.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system
of the kind specified and which is operable not only to
automatically keep the earth-removing blade of the bulldozer at a
predetermined substantially fixed level but also to manually
control the blade level.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system
of the kind specified and which is operative to control the
bulldozer blade level with good response and controllability.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a
system of the kind specified and in which a selected one of
automatic and manual controls of the blade level can be performed
by the use of a selected hydraulic power source for economical and
efficient operation of the system.
In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention
provides a system for use with a bulldozer which has an
earth-removing blade, arms supporting said blade and a
hydraulically operated means such as a cylinder for actuating said
blade supporting arms to control the level of said blade. The
system includes an automatic control means comprising an input
setting unit for setting a desired level for the blade and emitting
a first signal representing the desired blade level set, a
measuring unit detecting the angle of inclination of the blade
supporting arms relative to a reference plane to measure the actual
level of the blade and emit a second signal representing the actual
blade level measured, and a controlling circuit operative to detect
a deviation of the second signal from the first signal and actuate
the hydraulic cylinder in such a manner that the deviation is made
"zero." The input setting unit of the automatic control means is
installed within a body of the bulldozer rather than being disposed
outside the bulldozer body as is the level reference device of the
prior art. The automatic control means is operative to compare the
first and second signals from the input setting and measuring
units, respectively, and automatically control the blade
substantially at the desired or predetermined level in such a
manner as to compensate for the deviation of the second signal from
the first signal. The system of the invention also includes a
manual controlling means which is manually operable by an operator
independently of the automatic control means to control the blade
level, i.e., upwardly and downwardly adjust the blade level.
As discussed above, the system of the present invention comprises
independent controlling means which are operative not only to
automatically control the level of an earth-removing blade of a
bulldozer substantially at a desired or predetermined level but
also to manually control the blade level. A selected one of the
independent controlling means can be used for a most suited
particular application of the bulldozer operation. In other words,
the system of the present invention enables a bulldozer to be
highly efficiently and accurately controlled not only in a usual
earth-pushing operation but in another kind of operation, such as
production of building lots and roads, in which the bulldozer is
required to produce substantially precisely, flatly levelled or
bulldozed ground surface.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present
invention will be made apparent by the following description with
reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatical illustration of the hydraulic circuit of
a preferred embodiment of the system according to the present
invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram mainly showing the electric circuit of
the preferred embodiment of the system according to the
invention;
FIG. 3 illustrates in side elevation the details of an input
setting unit employed in the system of the invention; and
FIG. 4 shows a modification of the measuring unit employed in the
system of the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring first to FIG. 1, there is shown a preferred embodiment of
the system for controlling the level of an earth-removing blade of
a bulldozer according to the present invention. The bulldozer is
generally indicated at 1 and generally shown as having track frames
2 (only one of which is shown), caterpillars 3 (only one of which
is shown) operatively mounted on the track frames 2, a tractor body
4 mounted on the track frames 2, a blade 5 for removing the earth,
arms 6 (only one of which is shown) pivotally mounted at their one
ends on the track frames 2 for supporting the blade 5 on the other
ends, and hydraulic cylinders 8 (only one of which is shown) each
having a piston rod 7 secured at one end to a piston in the
cylinder 8 and pivotally connected at the other end to the
associated blade supporting arm 6 for controlling the level of the
earth-removing blade 5.
The illustrated embodiment of the system of the invention includes
a first pump 9 and a second pump 10 having a greater capacity than
that of the first pump 9. The pumps 9 and 10 form hydraulic
pressure sources for the system of the invention. In a pipe line
extending between the first pump 9 and the cylinder 8 is provided a
control valve 11 of continuous control action type. In the
illustrated embodiment of the invention, the control valve 11 is
preferably a serovovalve. In a pipe line extending between the
second pump 10 and the cylinder 8 is provided an on-off type
control valve 12, which forms a part of an automatic control means
of the system of the invention, and a manually operated direction
control valve 13 forming a part of a manual control means of the
system of the invention. The valves 12 and 13 are in parallel with
the servovalve 11. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention,
the on-off action type valve 12 is preferably a solenoid operated
valve.
The servovalve 11 and the solenoid valve 12 are operative to
automatically maintain the earth-removing blade 5 at a controlled,
substantially predetermined level. This will be called "automatic
control" hereunder. The direction control valve 13 is manually
operable by an operator to vary the level of the earth-removing
blade 5. This will be called "manual control" hereunder. The valve
13 is operable by means of an operating lever which can be held in
a locked position by a locking lever 21 during automatic control of
the blade level. The hydraulic circuit in which the servovalve 11
is provided includes a filter circuit 14 provided in the circuit on
the outlet side of the servo-valve 11 for filtering and removing
foreign materials such as dust particles contained in the fluid
returned through the circuit from the cylinder 8. The circuit also
includes a shut-off valve 16 provided between the filter circuit 14
and the cylinder 8. The shut-off valve 16 is changed over, when the
system of the invention is manually operated, by a return spring 15
from a position indicated at A in which the servovalve 11 has been
communicated through the shut-off valve 16 with the cylinder 8 to a
position indicated at B in which the communication between the
servovalve 11 and the cylinder 8 is blocked by the shut-off valve
16. On the outlet side of the first pump 9 in the hydraulic circuit
including the servovalve 11 is provided an unloading circuit 19
which is operative to unload and return the hydraulic fluid from
the pump 9 to a reservoir 20 during manual control of the system of
the invention. The unloading circuit 19 includes a pressure control
valve 17 and a solenoid operated valve 18 which serves as a pilot
valve for the pressure control valve 17. As shown in FIG. 1, the
filter circuit 14 comprises a combination of conventional check
valves 14a and filters 14b.
When the afore-described hydraulic circuit of the system of the
present invention is operated to level the surface of the earth,
i.e., when the hydraulic circuit is operated to automatically
control the level of the earth-removing blade 5 so that the cutting
edge of the blade 5 is positioned in a reference plane which, for
example, may be the plane in which the treads of the caterpillars
of the bulldozer are included, the servovalve 11 and the solenoid
valve 12 are automatically operative to make "zero" the deviation
of a value representing the actual level of the blade 5 relative to
another value representing a predetermined level of the blade 5
with respect to the reference plane.
The above-described automatic control can be performed by an
electric circuit shown in FIG. 2 in which reference numerals the
same as those used in FIG. 1 represent the same parts as those
shown in FIG. 1. The electric circuit for the automatic control
includes an input setting unit 22 for setting a desired level of
the blade 5 and emitting an electrical signal representing the
desired blade level set, a measuring unit 23 operative to detect
the actual angle of inclination of the blade supporting arms 6 with
respect to the horizontal and measure the actual level of the blade
5 on the basis of a value representing the actual inclination of
the arms for emitting a second signal representing the actual blade
level measured, a comparator or comparing circuit 24 operative to
compare the signal from the input setting unit 22 with the signal
from the measuring unit 23 for determining the deviation of the
latter signal from the former one and for emitting operating
instructions to the servovalve 11 or to the solenoid valve 12 in
accordance with the amplitude of the deviation, an electric power
source 25, a switch 26 for the electric power source, means 27 for
detecting a trouble in the automatic control circuit used in the
course of an automatic control of the system of the invention and
means 28 for changing the hydraulic circuits when an automatic
control is changed to a manual control or vice versa.
In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the
measuring unit 23 is preferably mounted on a blade supporting arm 6
to measure the angle of inclination of the arm 6 with respect to a
reference plane so that the level of the blade 5 is directly
measured on the basis of the angle of inclination of the arm 6.
A description will be made with respect to the details of the
elements of the above-described electric circuit. As will be seen
in FIG. 3, the input setting unit 22 comprises a potentiometer 29
which is a displacement-voltage transducer, a lever 31 operative to
move a contact 30 of the potentiometer 29, a friction disc 33
mounted on a pivot 32 of the lever 31, a breaking member 35 urged
by a spring 34 against the friction disc 33. The input setting unit
22 is arranged such that the angular movement of the lever 31 for
an angle about an axis of the pivot 32 is operative to rotate the
contact 30 for causing the potentiometer 29 to emit an electric
signal corresponding to the angle of desired inclination of the
blade supporting arms 6. When the angular movement of the lever 31
is discontinued at an angular position, the lever 31 will be held
in that position by the cooperation of the friction disc 33 and the
breaking member 35.
The measuring unit 23 is mounted on a blade supporting arm 6 in
such a manner that the unit 23 is guarded against exterior shock
and foreign material such as dirt and sand particles. The measuring
unit 23 preferably include several attachments such as a detector
36 comprising a gyroscope, means 37 for driving the gyroscope,
means 38 for unlocking the gyroscope in stationary position, and
means 39 for holding or locking the gyroscope. The measuring unit
23 is arranged such that, when the switch 26 is switched on, the
gyro unlocking means 38 is operated and the detector 36 is driven
by the gyro drive motor 37 to measure the angle of inclination of
the arms 6 and, when the switch 26 is switched off, the operation
of the motor 37 is discontinued and the gyro locking means 39 is
operated to lock the gyroscope. The measuring unit 23 may be formed
of gyro units of the type disclosed in Japanese Pat. Publication
No. 3699/1962 published on June 6, 1962 and relating to "A Method
of Starting Operation of a Gyrocompass," Japanese Utility Model
Publication No. 22601/1970 published on Sept. 7, 1970 and relating
to "A Gyro Clamping Mechanism," and Japanese Pat. Publication No.
298/1962 published on Jan. 25, 1962 and relating to "An Apparatus
for Centering and Holding a Gyroscope," while the detector 36 may
be of the type disclosed in "Electric Measurement Handbook" by Jiro
Yamauchi, 3rd print published on May 30, 1970, paragraph 2.2.1
"Orientation and Position Measuring Devices," pages 984 to 987.
Alternatively, the measuring unit 23 may comprise a pendulum or a
manometer.
The comparing circuit 24 includes an adder 40 which detects the
deviation of the signal from the gyro-means 23 with respect to the
signal from the input setting unit 22 and emits a signal either to
instruct the servovalve 11 to operate when the deviation is lesser
than a predetermined value, or to instruct both servovalve 11 and
solenoid valve 12 to operate when the deviation is greater than the
predetermined value. The comparing circuit 24 also includes a servo
amplifier 41 of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,000,121
issued Sept. 19, 1961 which is operative to amplify the servovalve
operation instruction signal from the adder 40 and send the
amplified signal to the servovalve 11, and an amplifier 42 of the
type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,225 issued Jan. 19, 1971
which is operative to amplify the solenoid valve operation
instruction signal from the adder 40 and supply the amplified
signal to valve 12.
The trouble detecting means 27 includes a block detector 43
operative in response to an accidental block of the filter circuit
14 on the outlet side of the servovalve 11 to switch-off the
electric power source switch 26.
The block detector 43 detects blockage of the filter circuit 14 on
the basis of the pressure differential between the inlet and outlet
sides thereof and operates a relay to control switch 26 and may be
of the type disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No.
32050/1968 published on Dec. 26, 1968 and relating to "A Device for
Indicating Block in a Filter." The detector means 27 also includes
a gyro nonoperation detector 44 operative in response to the
inclination of the blade support arms 6 beyond the measuring
capacity of the gyroscope to switch off the switch 26 and, at the
same time, cause the gyro locking means 39 to operate to lock the
gyroscope.
The hydraulic circuit changing means 28 includes a shut-off valve
actuator 45 which is operative, during automatic ocntrol of the
earth-removing blade 6, to retain the shut-off valve 16 in a
position A against the return spring 15 so that the servo valve 11
is in communication with the blade operation cylinder 8. The
changing means 28 also includes an unloading circuit actuator 46 by
which the unloading circuit 19 is maintained in a position in which
the hydraulic fluid from the first pump 9 is not unloaded. The
actuators 45 and 46 may be amplifier arrangements which provide an
amplified signal necessary for the control of the valve 16 and
circuit 19 and may be of the type desclosed in "An
Electric-Hydraulic System for Controlling the Turning-up Depth of a
Plow Mounted on a Tractor" which is an introduction by Japanese
Magazine "Hydraulics and Pneumatics", Vol. 8, No. 3, published in
March, 1970. The detector 36 of the gyro-means 23 detects the
voltage of electric current from a voltage regulator 47 and apply
the detected voltage to the adder 40 of the comparing circuit 24.
The actuators 45 and 46 and the voltage regulator 47 are
electrically connected through a switch 49 and a delay switch 50 to
the power source switch 26. The switch 49 is connected to an
automatic-manual selector 48 provided for the operating lever 31 of
the input setting unit 22. The switch 49 has contacts which are
opened when the automatic-manual selector 48 is changed-over to a
manual control position to thereby open the circuit for the supply
of an operation signal to the actuators 45 and 46 and the voltage
regulator 47. In response to the opening of the contacts of the
switch 49, the shut-off valve 16 is moved by the return spring 15
to its B position in which the communication between the servovalve
11 and the cylinder 8 is shut-off while the unloading circuit 19
discharges the hydraulic fluid from the first pump 9 into the
reservoir 20 to minimize the power loss of the first pump 9.
In the course of the automatic control of the level of the
earth-removing blade 5, since the hydraulic pipe line for the
control of the blade level is so arranged as to appropriately
adjust the blade to a desired level by the manual operation of the
direction control valve 13, the closing of the power source switch
26 energizes the gyro-drive motor 37 of the gyro-means 23 so that
the gyro-detector 36 is driven by the gyro-drive motor 37. When the
gyro-detector 36 attains a state sufficiently stable to detect the
angle of inclination of the blade supporting arms 6, the contacts
of the delay switch 50 are closed. When the automatic-manual
selector 48 is set in the automatic control position and the switch
49 is actuated to close its contacts, the electric current from the
power source 25 is fed to the actuators 45 and 46 and the voltage
regulator 47. The actuator 45 will then emit an instruction signal
whereby the shut-off valve 16 is changed-over from the B position
to the A position in which the servovalve 11 is in communication
with the cylinder 8 for the operation of the blade 5. Similarly,
the actuator 46 will emit an instruction signal by which the
unloading circuit 19 is made inoperative to unload the hydraulic
fluid from the first pump 9 into the reservoir 20, whereby the
fluid is fed from the pump 9 to the servovalve 11 so that the
system attains a state in which it is prepared for the automatic
control of the level of the earth-removing blade 5 of the
bulldozer. In this state of the system, the bulldozer may be laid
on a substantially horizontal surface of the ground. Assuming that
the substantially horizontal surface mentioned above is selected as
the reference plane, the blade 5 is so adjusted that the cutting
edge of the blade is positioned substantially at the same level as
the treads of the caterpillars 3. If the input setting unit 22 is
so set that the deviation of the signal from the gyro-means 23
relative to the signal from the input setting unit 22 is "zero,"
the forward movement of the bulldozer causes the blade 5 to produce
an earth surface which is substantially co-plannar or flash with
the reference plane. In a case where the level of the blade 5 is
varied with respect to the reference plane during forward movement
of the bulldozer due, for example, to rugged ground surface, the
variation is detected by the comparing circuit 24 in the form of a
deviation of the signal from the gyro-means 23 with respect to the
signal from the input setting unit 22. The adder 40 of the
comparing circuit 24 operates to emit and feed through the servo
amplifier 41 to the servovalve 11 an instruction signal for causing
the servovalve 11 to operate to compensate for the deviation, i.e.,
to make the deviation "zero," with a result that the servovalve 11
is moved from its neutral position to one of its operative
positions so that the hydraulic fluid from the first pump 9 is
introduced into the cylinder 8 through one of the inlets thereof
until the level of the cutting edge of the blade 5 is adjusted to
be the same as the reference plane. When the blade 5 has attained
this position, the adder 40 discontinues emitting the change-over
instruction signal to the servovalve 11 so that the latter is
restored to its neutral position. As is apparent to those in the
art, the servovalve 11 has an inherent characteristic that, even if
it is in its neutral position, the servovalve 11 is inoperative to
block or shutoff the hydraulic fluid being supplied to the blade
operating cylinder 8. Thus, the cylinder is operable by the
hydraulic fluid from the first pump 9 to keep the blade in the
adjusted level.
The automatic control above described may be performed in a case
where the variation of the level of the earth-removing blade 5
relative to the reference plane is lesser than a predetermined
value. In a case where the variation is greater than the
predetermined value, the adder 40 of the comparing circuit 24 will
emit and feed through the servoamplifier 41 and the solenoid
energization circuit 42 to both of the servovalve 11 and the
solenoid valve 12 a signal for instructing the servovalve 11 and
the solenoid valve 12 to operate to make "zero" the variation.
Thus, the servovalve 11 is operated in a manner as described above
and, in addition, the solenoid valve 12 is also operated to feed a
greater amount of hydraulic fluid from the second pump 10 into the
cylinder 8 through one of the inlets thereof in accordance with the
direction in which the variation of the blade level has taken
place, to thereby adjust the varied level of the blade 5. The
greater amount of the hydraulic fluid from the second pump 10 in
combination with the smaller amount of that from the first pump 9
are effective to quickly compensate for the greater variation of
the level of the earth-removing blade 5 from the reference plane.
The system is operative to repeat the described controlling
operation to enable the blade 5 to produce a substantially levelled
or flatly bulldozed earth surface.
If the filter circuit 14 is blocked in the course of an automatic
control of the blade level, the block detector 43 detects the block
of the circuit 14 and operates to open the contacts of the power
source switch 26. In addition, if the angle of inclination of the
blade supporting arms 6 relative to the reference plane exceeds the
range within which the gyro-means 23 is operative to measure the
inclination, the gyro-non-operation detector 44 detects the
non-operation of the gyroscope and operates to open the contacts of
the power source switch 26 to interrupt the automatic control of
the blade level, by which the operator can be advised of the
trouble in the circuit for the automatic control.
The control of the level of the earth-removing blade 5 by means of
the afore-described automatic control circuit can be performed in
the following manner: The operating lever 31 for the input setting
unit 22 may be operated to move the contact 30 of the potentiometer
29 of the unit 22 to a position which corresponds to a desired set
value on the input setting unit 22. The servovalve 11 and the
solenoid valve 12 are operative to control the amount and direction
of the hydraulic fluid to be fed into the cylinder 8 in such a
manner that the deviation of the angle of inclination of the blade
supporting arms 6, as measured by the gyro-means 23, relative to
the set value is made substantially "zero," with a result that the
blade 5 is moved to a level corresponding to the value set on the
input setting unit 22. In such manner, any desired value may be set
in the input setting unit 22 for a desired angle of inclination of
the arms 6 relative to the reference plane to enable the bulldozer
to be operative to excavate and remove the earth as a conventional
bulldozer is.
Selective operation of the automatic-manual selector 48 makes it
possible to obtain repeated and alternate performance of automatic
and manual controls of the earth-removing blade 5. More
specifically, if the automatic-manual selector 48 is moved to its
manual control position, since the contacts of the switch 49 are
open and the contacts of the switch 26 are closed, the gyro means
23 is driven by the gyro drive motor 37 and is maintained in its
measuring position. However, as the operation instructing signal to
the voltage regulator 47 is shut off, the gyro-means 23 does not
feed to the adder 40 of the comparing circuit 24 a signal obtained
from the detection of the angle of inclination of the blade
supporting arms 6. Since the operation instructing signal to the
shut-off valve actuator 45 is shut off, the shut-off valve 16 is
moved by the return spring 15 to the B position to shut-off the
communication between the servovalve 11 and the cylinder 8. As the
operation instructing signal to the unloading circuit actuator 46
is shut off, the unloading circuit 19 is in a position in which the
fluid from the first pump 9 is not passed to the servovalve 11 but
returned to the reservoir 20. Thus, the circuit for the automatic
control of the blade level is inoperative. On the other hand, the
manually operated direction control valve 13 is operative to
actuate the cylinder 8. The operating lever for the direction
control valve 13 may be unlocked to move the valve 13 to a desired
position so that the operator can manually control the level of the
earth-removing blade 5. If the automatic-manual selector 48 is then
moved to an automatic control position, the contacts of the switch
49 are closed to allow the electric current from the power source
25 to be fed to the actuators 45 and 46 and the voltage regulator
47 so that the gyro means 23 is maintained in its measuring
position and the shut-off valve 16 is moved to its A position in
which the servo valve 11 is communicated with the blade operation
cylinder 8 and the unloading circuit 19 does not unload the
hydraulic fluid from the first pump 9 to the reservoir 20 but is
operative to feed the fluid to the servo valve 11 for the automatic
operation of the system of the invention.
The manually operated direction control valve 13 alone may be used
to manually control the level of the blade 5. In this case, the
contacts of the power source switch 26 are opened to make
inoperative the gyro-means 23, the comparing circuit 24, the
servovalve 11 and the solenoid valve 12. The gyro-locking means 39
are operative in response to the opening of the power source switch
26 to lock or hold the gyro-means 23.
As described above, the system of the present invention has a blade
level control circuit which is automatically operative, regardless
of the inclination of the bulldozer body substantially in a
vertical plane including the longitudinal axis of the body, to
control the angle of inclination of the blade supporting arms
relative to a reference plane for thereby maintaining the blade
substantially at a predetermined, desired level. The automatic
control circuit has incorporated therein an input setting unit by
means of which a set value may be appropriately varied to lift or
lower the blade in a manner substantially similar to that in which
the blade of a conventional bulldozer is operated. Moreover, the
system of the invention includes a manually operated direction
control valve which is manually operable to control the blade as in
conventional bulldozer. Thus, it will be appreciated that the
bulldozer which employs the system of the invention can have a
widened range of application and operation.
Furthermore, the system of the invention can make use of selected
one of hydraulic power souurces in the course of automatic or
manual control of the blade level. This not only minimizes the
power loss but also provides an improved controllability of the
earth-removing blade of a bulldozer.
The system of the invention may be modified within the spirit of
the invention. FIG. 4 shows a modification of the invention which
comprises an inclination detector 51 mounted on the body 4 of the
bulldozer 1 to detect the inclination of the bulldozer body 4
relative to a reference plane and a position detector 52 mounted on
a blade supporting arm 6 to detect the inclination of the arm 6
relative to the bulldozer body so that the level of the
earth-removing blade 5 is indirectly measured on the basis of the
signals from the detectors 51 and 52.
In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the input setting
unit is of proportional action type while the control valves in the
control circuits are of on-off type and continuous control action
type, respectively. However, the input setting unit may
alternatively be of integral control type and the control valves
both may alternatively be of either on-off action type or
continuous control type.
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