METHOD AND DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING A MATERIALS HANDLING AND/OR CONSTRUCTION MACHINE

Abstract

A method for controlling a materials handling and/or construction machine, such as a crane or cable excavator, wherein different control functions are selected on a screen of a controller with a touchscreen function by touching a control function symbol, and respective functional parameters of the selected control function are set. A working region boundary of a working region delimiting function for automatically deactivating and/or slowing down at least one actuator is displayed on the screen together with a display of the materials handling and/or construction machine and/or the work surroundings in the form of a touchscreen display element when the working region boundary is reached and is adjusted by touching and moving the working region boundary on the screen relative to the display of the materials handling and/or construction machine and/or the work surroundings thereof.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a materials handling and/or construction machine comprising a crane and/or a cable excavator, selecting different control functions on a screen of a controller with a touchscreen function, wherein the selecting comprises touching a control function symbol, and respective functional parameters of the selected control function are set; displaying on the screen a working region boundary of a working region delimiting function for automatically deactivating and/or slowing down at least one actuator together with a display of the materials handling and/or construction machine and/or the work surroundings in the form of a touchscreen display element when the working region boundary is reached and is adjusted by touching and moving the working region boundary on the screen relative to the display of the materials handling and/or construction machine and/or the work surroundings thereof.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising preconfiguring a contour of the working region boundary by touching one of a plurality of selection contours displayed on the screen.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising changing a contour of the working region boundary by tapping a contour point of the working region boundary and moving the tapped contour point by wiping along the screen.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising changing a contour of the working region boundary by adding an additional contour point, wherein the additional contour point is created by tapping a screen point spaced from the previously displayed working region boundary.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising moving and newly positioning the working region boundary relative to the materials handling and/or construction machine by touching on the screen and wiping along the screen.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a distinction is made between moving the working region boundary and changing the shape of the working region boundary by touching the screen differently, wherein touching the screen differently comprises tapping once or several times and/or by touching with one or more fingers.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a machine-readable code by an operating aid on the screen, and scanning the machine-readable code by a mobile terminal, wherein the scanning causes the mobile terminal to call up additional information on the selected control function and to display the additional information on the mobile terminal.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising automatically displaying the machine-readable code on the screen of the controller upon input of an erroneous and/or unforeseen control command.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising displaying the machine-readable code upon touching an auxiliary and/or information symbol displayed on the screen in the form of a touch screen display element.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising displaying the machine-readable code upon touching an auxiliary and/or information symbol displayed on the screen in the form of a touch screen display element.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating a representation of the work surroundings of the materials handling and/or construction machine displayed on the screen on the basis of image data from a camera and/or digital data from a building information model (BIM); and displaying an inputter for inputting control commands on the screen at least at times simultaneously with the representation of the machine surroundings and/or the work tool.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising generating a superimposed screen representation in a manner of a virtual reality image on the screen by a display controller, wherein the superimposed screen representation in the manner of a virtual reality image is assembled from a camera image of the machine surroundings and a virtual representation of the machine surroundings and/or a building part comprising the received image data of the camera and the received digital data from the building information model (BIM).

13. A device for controlling a construction and/or materials handling machine comprising a crane and/or cable excavator comprising: a controller which comprises a screen with a touch screen function, wherein different control functions are represented on the screen by control function symbols and are selectable by touching one of the plurality of control function symbols; and selectors on the screen for setting functional parameters of a respectively selected control function; wherein the controller comprises a working region boundary function adapted to display a working region boundary on the screen with a representation of the materials handling and/or construction machine and/or the work surroundings thereof in the form of a touch screen display element and to adjust the working region boundary on the screen relative to the materials handling and/or construction machine by touching and moving the working region boundary.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein a working region boundary function of the controller is adapted to preconfigure a contour of the working region boundary by touching one of a plurality of selection contours displayed on the screen.

15. The device of claim 13, wherein a working region boundary function of the controller is adapted to change a contour of the working region boundary by tapping a contour point of the working region boundary and moving the tapped contour point by wiping along the screen.

16. The device of claim 13, wherein a working region boundary function of the controller is adapted to change a contour of the working region boundary by adding an additional contour point, wherein the additional contour point is generated by tapping a screen point spaced from the previously displayed working region boundary.

17. The device of claim 13, wherein a working region boundary function of the controller is adapted to move and position the working region boundary anew relative to the materials handling and/or construction machine by touching on the screen and wiping along the screen.

18. The device of claim 13, wherein a working region delimiting function of the controller is adapted to distinguish between moving the working region boundary and changing the shape of the working region boundary by touching the screen differently, wherein touch the screen differently comprises tapping once or several times and/or by touching with one or more fingers.

19. The device of claim 13, wherein an operating aid on the screen comprises a machine-readable code which, when scanned by a mobile terminal, causes the mobile terminal to call up additional information on the selected control function and display the additional information on the mobile terminal.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the machine-readable code comprises a QR code.

21. The device of claim 12, wherein said operating aid is adapted to automatically display a machine-readable code upon input of an erroneous and/or unpredictable control command.

22. The device of claim 19, wherein the operating aid is adapted to display the machine-readable code upon touching an auxiliary and/or information symbol displayed on the screen in the form of a touch screen display element.

23. The device of claim 18, further comprising a display controller for generating a superimposed screen representation in the manner of a virtual reality image on the screen comprising a camera image of the machine surroundings and a virtual representation of the machine surroundings and/or a building part comprising the received image data from the camera and the received digital data from the building information model (BIM).

24. A materials handling and/or construction machine comprising a crane or a cable excavator, wherein the machine comprises the control device of claim 13.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] The invention is explained in more detail below on the basis of a preferred exemplary embodiment and the corresponding drawings.

[0039] FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a construction machine in the form of a crane at a construction site, which requires working region boundary for the crane.

[0040] FIGS. 2a-2d illustrate schematic representations of the touchscreen display of the controller of the crane of FIG. 1, wherein the partial views of FIGS. 2a to 2d show different screen representations for setting the working region boundaries on the touchscreen display in different setting steps.

[0041] FIG. 3 illustrates a representation of the screen view in crane operation, which, in addition to displaying relevant sensor values, also shows the display of the set working region boundary and the approach of the crane to this limit.

[0042] FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic representation of a machine-readable code shown on the touchscreen display of the controller of the crane of the preceding figures, additional information being displayed on the mobile terminal when the code is scanned by a mobile terminal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] As FIG. 1 shows, the materials handling and construction machine may be a crane 10 used at a construction site 100. The buildings to be erected on the construction site 100, as well as other materials handling and/or construction equipment such as other cranes, cable excavators and the like, create obstacles for the movements of the crane 10. To prevent collisions, working region boundaries are specified for the crane 10, and when these boundaries are reached or exceeded, one or more drive devices of the crane 10 with which the crane 10 is moved are deactivated or at least slowed down.

[0044] For example, as FIG. 1 shows, the crane 10 may be configured as a revolving tower crane, the boom 200 of which is supported by a tower 300, the tower together with the boom or the boom 200 being rotatable relative to the tower 300 about an upright axis by a slewing drive. A trolley 400, which is only indicated, may be mounted on the boom 200 and is movable along the longitudinal axis of the boom 200 by a trolley drive. A hoisting cable with a lifting hook extends from the trolley 400, which can be raised and lowered by spooling or unwinding the hoisting cable from a hoist drive.

[0045] In order to comply with said working region boundary, an electronic controller 1 may stop one or more of said drives, that is, for example, the slewing gear drive and/or the cross travel drive and/or the hoisting gear drive and slow them down before reaching a working region boundary. Said controller 1 may be electronic in nature, and may include a microprocessor or other processor capable of processing from an electronic memory device a program block stored therein. Said controller 1 may be part of the crane control system integrated in the crane 10.

[0046] As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the controller 1 comprises a screen 2 with touchscreen function, on which different touchscreen display elements can be displayed and operated or controlled by touching the screen.

[0047] In order to set up a working region boundary 3 or a whole limiting region 4, the screen 2 shows the crane 10 and its theoretically possible working region 5. In the exemplary tower crane shown, the theoretically possible working region 5 is a circle when viewed from above, which is determined by the maximum possible outreach of the trolley 400, which essentially corresponds to the length of the boom 200, cf. FIG. 2a.

[0048] Omitted for reasons of clarity, but nevertheless shown on screen 2 is a picture or representation of the crane's surroundings, which, as FIG. 1 shows, can be a construction site with the buildings to be erected there, access roads, other cranes and the like. Such an image of the work surroundings or machine surroundings, which may be superimposed on the working region boundary or limiting region 4 shown in FIG. 2, may be an actual image of the machine or work surroundings and/or a virtual representation of the work surroundings or the structure to be built and/or other components or information useful for the work process.

[0049] For this purpose, the screen 2 or the controller 1 may be connected, for example via a router, to a BIM, that is to say a so-called construction site data model, which may be stored in the controller 1 itself or to which the controller 1 has access via said router or other data communication means. Corresponding digital building information and/or construction site information or other relevant digital information that can be displayed on the screen 2, in particular superimposed with the working region boundary 3 to be set, can be imported via a corresponding data interface to the controller 1 from the construction site information model BIM. Virtual representations of the building to be erected and/or of the work surroundings of the crane can in particular be displayed with reference to said BIM data.

[0050] Alternatively or additionally to such a virtual representation, however, a real camera-generated representation or a representation generated by another imaging sensor system of the crane surroundings and/or the lifting hook can also be used on the screen 2. For example, at least one camera whose live images are transmitted to the screen 2 can be installed at the crane 10 for this purpose. Such a camera can, for example, be installed on the crane operator's cab or another machine operator's station and can advantageously have at least approximately an axis of view that corresponds to the axis of view of a crane operator in the crane operator's cab or of a machine operator and/or goes from the machine operator's station towards the work tool—in case of the crane 10 towards the lifting hook.

[0051] Alternatively or additionally, however, different cameras and/or representations can be recorded from different perspectives and can be transmitted to the screen 2 to be displayed there together with the working region boundary 3. For example, an aerial drone that is equipped with at least one camera or another imaging sensor can be used and can be moved by remote control along with and/or relative to the crane 10.

[0052] As FIG. 4 shows, during working operation of the machine, the current position of the crane 10, in particular of the boom 200 relative to the working region boundary 3 and/or the limiting area 4 in the work surroundings and/or in the theoretical working region 5 can be displayed in order to show the machine operator always up-to-date how close the machine is to the working region boundary 3. As FIG. 4 shows, other relevant operating parameters can be displayed on the screen 2, for example in the form of bar graphs showing, for example, sensor values such as the outreach of the trolley 400, the lowering depth of the lifting hook or the hoisting load.

[0053] To set or change the working region boundary 3, the working region delimiting function may first be accessed by touching the touchscreen display 2 or a function symbol arranged thereon. For example, as FIG. 4 shows, different function symbols 6 can visualize different selectable control functions on a lower edge, each in the form of a touchscreen display element, so that a machine operator can select the desired control function by tapping the relevant function symbol 6.

[0054] After selecting the working region delimiting function, the controller 1 first displays on the screen 2 the theoretical working region 5 of the crane 10 together with a representation of the crane 10 and any superimposed representation of the work surroundings, cf. FIG. 2a.

[0055] To set a working region boundary 3 as efficiently as possible with respect to the required contouring, different selection contours 7 are again proposed or displayed on the screen 2 in the form of touchscreen display elements which respond to touching of the screen. Advantageously, these selection contours 7 may be displayed in a border bar of the screen 2 and may comprise, for example, a rectangular selection contour, an arc strip selection contour 7 and a sector-shaped selection contour 7. It is understood that other, differently shaped selection contours can be kept ready if necessary.

[0056] If the machine operator, on the basis of the displayed image of the work surroundings or also on the basis of his own perception from the crane operator's cab, determines that, for example, for a working region boundary 3, with which collisions with a building are to be prevented, the rectangular selection contour 7 is best suited, this selection contour 7 is selected by touching the screen 2 and displayed in the work surroundings 5, cf. FIG. 2b.

[0057] After this pre-configuration step, the working region boundary 3 may be positioned with respect to its position relative to the crane 10 and/or relative to the work environment, may be resized, and may be modified with respect to its shape.

[0058] For example, to position the preselected working region boundary 3, the working region boundary 4 surrounded by the working region boundary 3 can be tapped with two fingers simultaneously, and then moved to a new position by wiping along the screen 2 with both fingers.

[0059] For example, to change the contouring or shape of the working region boundary 3, a contour point 3a of the working region boundary 3 may be tapped and held touched, for example for a longer period of time, to indicate or instruct the controller 1 or the visualization control module to control the on-screen visualization that a contour change should occur. The contour point 3a touched by a finger can then be moved to a new position on the screen 2, for example, by wiping along the screen, cf. FIG. 2d.

[0060] Alternatively or additionally, a change in the contour of the working region boundary 3 can also be achieved by setting an additional contour point, for example by tapping and, if necessary, holding a point outside the pre-configured boundary region 4 and inside the working region 5, cf. FIG. 2c. To indicate to the controller 1 or the visualization control module that a new contour point is to be set, it may be required that the boundary region 4 to which an additional contour point is to be set is touched beforehand and, if necessary, remains held in order to activate the relevant boundary region 4.

[0061] Alternatively or additionally, the addition of a further contour point and/or the moving of an existing contour point can also be indicated by moving or touching a corresponding function control symbol. As shown in FIGS. 2c and 2d, for example, a representation of different setting functions by corresponding function symbols 8 may be provided in a border bar during the setting operation or to the setting screen to select the corresponding setting option by touching the corresponding function symbol 8. Advantageously, said function symbols 8 are again in the form of touchscreen display elements which respond to touching the screen 2. In the screen display shown in FIG. 2c, the function symbol 8 has been selected to add a contour point for the working region boundary 3, which is then represented by highlighting the symbol or excluding it from the toolbar. According to FIG. 2d, the function symbol 8 has been selected for moving an already existing contour point, whereupon this contour point can then be moved by touching a contour point in the displayed working region boundary 3.

[0062] Once the working region boundary 3 or the boundary region 4 on the touchscreen display 2 is positioned in the desired manner, contoured and set in size as desired, the controller 1 can be signalled that the setting of the working region boundary 3 has been finalized by pressing an enter key, which in turn can be displayed as a touchscreen display element, for example in the form of a tick, the controller 1 adopts the working region boundary 3 configured on the screen 2 and converts it into corresponding values for the working region boundary function, so that the controller 1 can slow down and deactivate the associated actuator when a relevant machine part approaches said working region boundary 3, for example when the lifting hook approaches a building contour or when the boom 200 approaches the tower of another crane.

[0063] If problems arise when setting the working region boundary 3 or when setting other relevant function parameters, screen 2 proposes an additional help function that provides the machine operator with additional information. As FIG. 4 shows, a machine-readable code 9 may be displayed on the screen 2, for example in the form of a QR code. When said machine-readable code 9 is scanned by the camera of a mobile terminal, such as a mobile phone or tablet computer, the scanned code 9 causes the mobile terminal to call up a support resource stored in the mobile terminal itself, but in particular also provided externally by a web server or other database device. For example, the scanned code 9 can cause the mobile terminal to call up a corresponding Internet page on which the relevant information is provided, so that said information is then displayed on the terminal.

[0064] The display of the code 9 on the screen 2 may be automated, in particular in response to an erroneous control input or an unexpected control input. For example, if the function symbols 8 for generating a new contour point and moving an existing contour point are touched simultaneously in the screen display shown in FIG. 2b or FIG. 2c during the previously explained setting of the working region boundary 3, the screen 2 can display a QR code 9 that causes a mobile terminal scanning the code to display a help page for actuating the function symbols 8.

[0065] In particular, any error message displayed on the screen 2 may also be presented together with such a machine-readable code 9.

[0066] Alternatively, or in addition to such automated code display, the machine-readable code may also be deliberately retrieved or displayed on the screen 2 by the machine operator, for example by touching a help or information symbol 10 displayed on the screen 2 in the form of a touchscreen display element. Such a help symbol 10 may be displayed for each setting step or representation on the screen 2, cf. for example FIG. 4.