Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Method and system for rock drilling equipment function
parameter settings
Field of the invention
The present invention relates to rock drilling
equipments, and particularly to a method for setting rock
drilling equipment function parameters according to a method
for setting at least one rock drilling equipment function
parameter, which rock drilling equipment comprise functions
arranged to be operated by manoeuvring means, where the
effect of the manoeuvring means on a function is dependent
on said function parameter.
The present invention further relates to a system
according to a system for setting at least one rock drilling
equipment function parameter, which rock drilling equipment
comprise functions arranged to be operated by manoeuvring
means, where the effect of the manoeuvring means on a
function is dependent on said function parameter.
Background of the invention
Rock drilling equipment may be used in a number of
areas. For example, rock drilling equipment may be used in
tunnelling, underground mining, rock reinforcement and raise
boring.
These applications often use big machines that are
complex and very expensive. Further, the machines often
work in a very exposed environment with tasks that in short
time give rise to wear and limited functionality.
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The current machines often have an internal computerized
control system that among other things collect status
information for a number of functions. These functions may
consist of e.g. oil temperatures, hydraulic pressures,
penetration rate etc. The control system may further create
event and error logs in order to enable subsequent analysis of
what has happened and when. The control system may further
collect statistics of how the machine has been working and how
much.
The control system is further used to supply control signals
to various means on the rock drilling equipment, e.g. a
hydraulic cylinder, an engine, or a percussion mechanism. An
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operator that wishes to affect these means uses manoeuvring
means in the form of e.g. a control stick. The signals of the
manoeuvring means to the means that is to be operated is then
affected by the control system by way of various function
parameters, such as e.g. drill pressure setting values,
feeding values, percussion values, settings for movement of
the rock drilling equipment or settings for any other means in
connection to the function of the rock drilling equipment. The
value of these rock drilling parameters may in simpler systems
be adjusted by e.g. potentiometers, while in computerized
systems the function parameters may be adjusted via e.g. a
keyboard or a touch sensitive display. The function parameters
are often set to a certain value in the manufacturing plant,
but are later adjusted by an operator in order to make the
machine work according to the operator's desires. Different
work situations may require different function parameter
settings, just as operators work differently and therefore
want different function parameter settings.
Operator is here intended to mean any of driller, service
personnel of a manufacturer's customer, the manufacturer's
service personnel, or any other person with tasks connected to
the rock drilling equipment.
Operators may further want personal settings of the machine
display or monitor, e.g. in which language information is to
be presented or which colours that are to be used.
A problem with the current systems is that it is difficult for
an operator to set his own function parameters.
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Another problem with the current systems is that
it is hard for an operator to use his personal settings when
changing machines.
Summary of the invention
The object of the present invention to provide a
method for setting rock drilling equipment function
parameters that solves the above mentioned problems.
Accordingly, in one aspect of the present
invention, there is provided a method of taking rock
drilling equipment into use, which rock drilling equipment
comprises manoeuvring means to be operated by a user, where
the effect of the manoeuvring means on a function is
dependent on a function parameter, the method comprising
setting said function parameter following an initiation by a
user, and when setting said function parameter: transmitting
at least one function parameter setting programmed in a
portable unit for the function parameter to the rock
drilling equipment from the portable unit via a wireless
interface, so as to allow the user to get the effect of the
manoeuvring means on said rock drilling equipment adjusted
according to the transmitted personal function parameter
settings.
Another object of the present invention to provide
a system for setting rock drilling equipment function
parameters that solves the above mentioned problems.
Accordingly, in another aspect of the present
invention, there is provided a system of taking rock
drilling equipment into use, which rock drilling equipment
comprises manoeuvring means to be operated by a user, where
the effect of the manoeuvring means on a function is
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dependent on a function parameter, characterized in that the
rock drilling equipment is arranged to receive at least a
one function parameter setting, programmed in a portable
unit, for the function parameter from the portable unit via
a wireless interface, so as to allow the user to get the
effect of the manoeuvring means on said rock drilling
equipment adjusted according to the transmitted personal
function parameter settings, where the transmission is done
= following initiation by a user.
When setting a function parameter, at least one
value for the function parameter is transmitted to the rock
drilling equipment from a portable unit, e.g. a smartcard,
an ID card, a Bluetooth transponder, a computer or a hand-
= hold computer, e.g. a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), via
a wireless interface. This has the advantage that the
operator easily gets access to his personal function
parameter settings without inputting them via a keyboard or
connection of some external unit to the machine.
In a preferred embodiment function parameter
settings are transmitted to the rock drilling equipment when
a portable unit is within a certain distance from the rock
drilling equipment. This has the advantage that as soon as
an operator comes near the rock drilling equipment he may
automatically get the rock drilling equipment adjusted
according to his personal function parameter settings.
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It is preferred that when the portable unit is removed from
the rock drilling equipment by more than a certain distance,
the function parameters may be reset to their previous values,
such that the machine again is available with a functioning
standard/initial setting of the function parameters.
The transmission may be carried out automatically or be user
initiated. The former has the advantage that operator doesn't
have to do anything when he arrives at the machine, the
function parameters are immediately correctly set when he
takes seat in the machine. The latter has the advantage that
resetting of a machine does not happen accidentally if an
operator happens to come near another machine that is working.
Each operator may best dispose an own portable unit with his
own function parameter settings programmed. Thereby each
operator always gets access to his personal function parameter
settings when he is to take a machine into use. The portable
unit may e.g. be integrated with the operator's ID card.
In an aspect of the invention the operator's function
parameter settings may be transmitted from the rock drilling
equipment to the portable unit. In this way an operator may
easily store new function parameter settings in his portable
unit when he has made function parameter adjustments that
works better.
The function parameters may consist of various settings for
hydraulic cylinder, percussion mechanism, drill pressure,
graphical settings, language settings, drill settings,
settings for the movement of the rock drilling equipment or
settings for any other means in connection to the function of
the rock drilling equipment.
Brief description of the drawings
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The invention will now be explained more in detail my means of
embodiments and with reference to the attached drawings, of
which:
5 Fig. 1 shows an example of a control system in a rock drilling
equipment.
Fig. 2 shows a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 3 shows an example of the use of the present invention.
Detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention
In the following description of the invention the term machine
is used to a large extent instead of rock drilling equipment.
Fig. 1 depicts an example of a structure of a rock drilling
equipment control system 1. In this case, the control system 1
is built up around a CAN bus 2 (Controller Area Network). The
CAN bus is a two wire serial bus, which is working with high
data integrity and which is suitable for use in environments
with much disturbance. A MMI (Man Machine Interface) interface
3, which can be used by an operator to communicate with the
control system 1, is connected to the CAN bus 2. A central
unit 4, which controls and supervises the system, is also
connected to the bus 2. The bus is further provided with a
number of input/output units 5, 6, 7 (I/O-units) for
communication with various parts of the rock drilling
equipment. These I/O-units may for example be used to provide
control signals to the means that control movement of the rock
drilling equipment. These means may consist of the engine(s)
that controls advances of the equipment, or, when the rock
drilling equipment comprises one or more drilling booms,
control of the movement and function of the drilling booms.
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In the control system, preferably in the central unit 4 or in
a separate memory module 8, there is further stored various
function parameter setting values. These may consist of
various setting values for e.g. hydraulic cylinders,
percussion mechanisms, drill pressure or other settings. The
function parameters may further consist of settings for the
MMI-unit settings, e.g. which language data is to be presented
in.
The function parameters are often tried out at the machine
manufacturing in order to provide it with an initial setting
such that the machine works properly at the delivery. However,
an operator that after that uses the machine often has his own
desires on how the machine should work and therefore often
wishes to adjust the function parameter settings in order for
the machine to work according to his desires. The operator may
have his own desires on e.g. how the machine should act during
movement or how the drilling booms or suchlike things should
move. Further, different operators often drill in different
ways, some drill more aggressive while others drill softer,
and different operators therefore have different desires,
which may reflect on function parameter settings.
Setting of these function parameters according to the prior
art may be tiresome and may easily cause errors, which leads
to a machine that does not work in an optimum way. It may also
be difficult to reset the parameter values to the initial
settings if many changes have been made and the machine
because of this does not function properly. Further, it is
difficult for an operator to save a properly functioning
setting that he is satisfied with. It may require that he
writes all setting values on a piece of paper to be able to
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reuse the machine settings at a later occasion when someone
else has been using the machine meanwhile or to be able to
bring the settings to another machine.
The present invention aims to simplify function parameter
settings.
In fig. 2 a preferred embodiment of the present invention is
shown. The figure shows a control system according to fig. 1
that has a new unit 20 connected to the bus 2. The unit 20
communicates with the rest of the control system and has a
transmitter and/or receiver to be able to transmit and receive
data wirelessly. Further, a receiver unit 21 is provided with
a transmitter and/or receiver 22 for wireless communication.
In this described embodiment the wireless interface consists
of a Bluetooth interface.
Bluetooth is a method/protocol for short distance
communication between various units in the frequency band 2.4-
2.5 GHz. The communication usually takes place between units
that are within 10 meters from each other. Bluetooth
represents prior art and will not be described more in detail.
The function of the invention will now be described more in
detail with reference to fig. 3.
In fig. 3, rock drilling equipments 30, 40, 50 provided with
units 301, 401, 501 for Bluetooth communication is shown.
Further, the figure shows a number of operators 31, 32, 33 of
the rock drilling equipments 30, 40, 50. The operators are
provided with portable units 34, 35, 36, which comprise means
37, 38, 39 for Bluetooth communication. The portable units
consist of a smartcard, an ID card, a computer or hand-hold
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computer, e.g. a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), with
integrated Bluetooth functionality.
The operators function parameter settings are programmed in
the portable units 34, 35 and 36, respectively. When an
operator 31 with a portable unit 34 is to take a rock drilling
equipment 30 into use he no longer has to input the function
parameter settings via the MMI unit. When he comes within a
radius of approximately 10 m from the machine a communication
link according to the Bluetooth technology is established
between the machine and the portable unit 34, whereupon the
function parameter settings that are stored in the portable
unit 34 is transmitted to the rock drilling equipment 30. The
data transmission may be arranged to be carried out
automatically as soon as a communication link is established,
i.e. as soon as the portable unit 34 comes within range of the
rock drilling equipment 30. Thereby the operator quick and
easy gets the machine set according to his own desires and may
at once go on with his tasks.
When the operator leaves the rock drilling equipment the
control system, when the operator with the portable unit has
come out of reach of the Bluetooth unit in the machine, may
reset to the previous parameter settings of the machine. In
this case the previous parameter settings have been stored in
a memory meanwhile so that they may be reused. The memory may
for example consist of a separate unit that is connected to
the control system bus or be integrated in the central unit of
the control system. Alternatively, if the rock drilling
equipment lacks possibility to store previous parameter
settings, the latest set of parameter settings will be valid
until another operator puts the rock drilling equipment into
use with other function parameter settings.
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During a shift the operator may perform additional adjustments
of the function parameters in order to get the machine to
function even more according to the operator's desires. The
portable unit may therefore have a possibility to receive
function parameter settings from the rock drilling equipment.
In this way the operator, when finishing a shift, may, e.g.
via the MMI unit, choose to transmit the current function
parameter settings of the rock drilling equipment to the
portable unit so that the operator may use these settings the
next time the same, or another similar machine, is taken into
use by the operator.
However, if the operator observes that he has made a number of
function parameter changes that deteriorate the function of
the machine, he may simply reset the machine to the settings
of the beginning of the shift since these are stored in the
portable unit.
If the operator by accident would have stored the function
parameter settings that give deteriorated performance, he may
send for e.g. service personnel with an own portable unit in
order to quickly set the machine to function properly again.
Preferably, each operator has his own personal portable unit
with function parameter settings programmed. The portable unit
may e.g. consist of an ID card with integrated functionality
to be able to send function parameter settings to the rock
drilling equipment.
The described method for transmission of function parameter
settings may be combined with the method for identification of
a user, which is described in the co-pending application
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0104382-7. In this case user login and function parameter
setting transmission is carried out concurrently, whereupon
the user at once gets access both to his personal settings and
the functions he has the right to use.
5
In the above described embodiment the transmission of function
parameter settings is carried out as soon as the rock drilling
equipment and the portable unit comes within a certain
distance from each other. It may, however, be suitable that
10 the transmission is user initiated. This may be solved in a
simple manner, e.g. by carrying out the transmission as soon
as the portable unit is turned on, provided that the rock
drilling equipment and the receiver unit are within range of
each other, or that transmission only may take place after a
user of the portable unit has activated some process or
function in the portable unit or in the rock drilling
equipment. This may be necessary when several operators are
present at the same machine, or if an operator often passes
other machines.
In the above examples the control system unit for wireless
communication has been described as a separate unit that is
connected to the bus. It should be understood, however, that
this unit may as well be integrated in any other unit
belonging to the control system, e.g. the central unit.
Further, the invention has been described with a Bluetooth
based interface. The invention may however be realised with an
arbitrary wireless interface, e.g. an IR interface or any
other radio interface, such as GSM or WLAN.
