Cut width determination for a milling machine via rotor loads
AssigneeCaterpillar Paving Products Inc.
InventorsEric S. Engelmann, Sean Robert Laclef
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A milling machine can include a frame; a milling assembly coupled to the frame and including a drum housing and a cutting rotor located within the drum housing; a plurality of load detection sensors extending along a width of the cutting rotor; and a controller operatively coupled to each of the plurality of load detector sensors and configured to determine an active cut width of the cutting rotor based on load information received from the plurality of load detector sensors.
Claims20
A milling machine comprising:
- a frame;
- a milling assembly coupled to the frame and including a drum housing and a cutting rotor located within the drum housing;
- a plurality of load detection sensors extending along a width of the cutting rotor;
- and
- a controller operatively coupled to each of the plurality of load detector sensors and configured to determine an active cut width of the cutting rotor based on load information received from the plurality of load detector sensors.
A milling assembly comprising:
- a drum housing including a discharge port;
- a cutting rotor located within the drum housing;
- and
- a plurality of load detection sensors extending along a width of the cutting rotor and associated with individual cutting bits of the cutting rotor;
- wherein the plurality of load detection sensors are operatively coupled to controller and the controller can determine an active cut width of the cutting rotor based on which of the cutting bits are under load and which cutting bits are not under load.
A method of determining the active cutting width of a cutting rotor, the method comprising:
- positioning a plurality of load detection sensors across a width of the cutting rotor;
- receiving at a controller load information from each of the load detection sensors;
- and
- the controller determining active cutting width of the cutting rotor based on the load information received from the load detections sensors.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.