Method of sensing volume of loose material

A system for determining a volume of loose material within a container, the system comprising:

• a support arm mountable above the container;
• a first array of one or more first sensors mounted to the support arm, wherein each of the one or more first sensors is configured to determine a discrete distance measurement between the first array and an upper surface of the loose material or an inner surface of the container;
• a second array of one or more second sensors mounted to the support arm, wherein each of the one or more second sensors is configured to determine a discrete distance measurement between the second array and the upper surface of the loose material or the inner surface of the container, wherein the second array is angled relative to the first array of first sensors by an angle;
• and
• at least one processor in communication with the first array of one or more first sensors and with the second array of one or more second sensors, wherein the at least one processor is configured to estimate a volume of the loose material in the container from discrete distance measurements determined by the one or more sensors of the array, and wherein the processor is configured to determine an orientation of the first array and the second array relative to the container based on the angle between the first array and the second array.

A method comprising the steps of:

• providing or receiving an array of one or more sensors configured to determine a position of a surface relative to the array;
• orienting each of the one or more sensors at a corresponding discrete predetermined angle relative to the container so that each of the one or more sensors is in a common plane so that the array of sensors produces distance measurements in the common plane;
• scanning a container holding a loose particulate material with the one or more sensors of the array to determine position measurements of one or more surfaces within the container;
• and
• determining an estimate of the volume of the loose particulate material in the container based on the position measurements of the one or more surfaces within the container, wherein determining the estimate of volume comprises calculating an estimated cross-sectional area AM of the loose material in the common plane using the distance measurements in the common plane according to the equation
• A
• M
• =
• 1
• 2
• ⁢
• ∑
• i
• =
• 0
• n
• -
• 1
• ⁢
• ⁢
• x
• i
• +
• 1
• *
• y
• i
• -
• y
• i
• +
• 1
• *
• x
• i
• where n is the number of sensors, and xi and yi are the x and y coordinates of an end point measurement of each sensor of the array,
• wherein xi is calculated by the equation
• xi=Di cos(θi)
• where Di is a distance measurement determined by each sensor of the array and θi is an angle of a sensing signal of each sensor with respect to a horizontal axis, and
• wherein yi is calculated by the equation
• yi=Di sin(θi).

A method comprising the steps of:

• providing or receiving an array of one or more sensors configured to determine a position of a surface relative to the array;
• scanning a container holding a loose particulate material with the one or more sensors of the array to determine position measurements of one or more surfaces within the container;
• and
• determining an estimate of the volume of the loose particulate material in the container based on the position measurements of the one or more surfaces within the container by estimating a cross-sectional area of the loose particulate material within the container and integrating the cross-sectional area across a length of the container,
• wherein integrating the cross-sectional area of the loose particulate material comprises scanning a plurality of cross sections of the container and determining a corresponding cross-sectional area of the loose particulate material for each of the plurality of scanned cross sections and estimating the volume using the plurality of determined cross-sectional areas.