Trolley driven machine record and playback automation
AssigneeCaterpillar Inc.
InventorsEric J Ruth, Ken L Stratton
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for automatically guiding an off-highway truck having a pantograph over a route having at least one trolley-powered section. While the off-highway truck is operated over the route by a human operator, its position and the state of the pantograph at each position are recorded to produce a recorded sequence. The recorded sequence is retrieved and the off-highway truck is automatically controlled to sequentially match each position and each pantograph state at the associated position.
Claims21
A method for automatically guiding an off-highway truck having a pantograph over a route having at least one trolley-powered section, the method comprising:
- causing the off-highway truck to be operated over the route, including raising the pantograph to contact one or more trolley lines associated with the trolley-powered section and lowering the pantograph when the off-highway truck is still within the trolley-powered section;
- while the off-highway truck is operated over the route, electronically and periodically recording a current position of the off-highway truck and a state of the pantograph at each position to produce a recorded sequence;
- and
- retrieving the recorded sequence and automatically controlling the off-highway truck to sequentially match each position and each pantograph state at the associated position.
A system for automatically guiding an off-highway truck over a route, the off-highway truck having a pantograph, the route having at least one trolley-powered section, the system comprising:
- a pantograph actuator for raising and lowering the pantograph;
- a steering actuator for steering the off-highway truck;
- and
- a controller configured to record a sequence of data including periodic position data and periodic pantograph state data while the off-highway truck is operated over the route by a human operator, and to automatically control the off-highway truck in keeping with the recorded sequence of data via the pantograph actuator and the steering actuator.
A method for automating operation of an off-highway truck over a route having a trolley-powered section, the off-highway truck including a pantograph for drawing power to power the off-highway truck from one or more trolley lines associated with the trolley-powered section of the route, the method comprising:
- receiving a record command from an operator of the off-highway truck and in response to receiving the record command, recording a sequence of positions and pantograph states of the off-highway truck while the operator drives the off-highway truck and operates the pantograph over the route;
- and
- playing back the recorded positions and pantograph states to automatically operate the off-highway truck over the route.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.