Monitoring integrity of charging rail system
AssigneeCaterpillar Inc.
InventorMichael Dennis Braunstein
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Machines can operate based on electricity received from a charging rail system installed along a route at a worksite. Sensors on the machines capture image data indicating locations and/or orientations of components of the charging rail system. Machine controllers of the machine, and/or a worksite controller, can monitor the integrity of the charging rail system by detecting possible faults if the locations and/or orientations of one or more components vary by more than a threshold amount from target locations and/or orientations. The machine controllers and/or the worksite controller can also initiate one or more response actions when a possible fault in the charging rail system is detected.
Claims20
A computer-implemented method comprising:
- displaying, via a user interface, a map of a charging rail system at a worksite, wherein the charging rail system is configured to provide electricity to machines at the worksite;
- determining an integrity status of at least one component of the charging rail system, based at least in part on a position of the at least one component indicated by an image of the at least one component;
- and
- presenting, via the user interface, and in association with the map, an indication of the integrity status of the at least one component of the charging rail system.
A computer-implemented method comprising:
- receiving, by a worksite controller, a set of images that depict a component of charging rail system at a different times, wherein the charging rail system is configured to provide electricity to machines at a worksite;
- determining, by the worksite controller, and based on the set of images, positions of the component at the worksite at the different times;
- determining, by the worksite controller, and based on the positions of the component at the worksite at the different times, a movement trend of the component;
- and
- predicting, by the worksite controller, based at least in part on the movement trend of the component, a future time at which a difference between a position of the component and an expected position is likely to exceed a threshold.
A computing system, comprising:
- one or more processors;
- and
- memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
- receive sensor data associated with a charging rail system at a worksite, the charging rail system being configured to provide electricity to machines at the worksite;
- determine, based on the sensor data, a current position of a component of the charging rail system;
- determine that the current position is different from a target position by at least a threshold amount;
- and
- identify, based on the current position being different from the target position by at least the threshold amount, a possible fault in the charging rail system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.