Automation of hydraulic earth moving and construction equipment is of prime economic and social importance in today's marketplace. A human operator can be replaced or augmented with a robotic system when the job is too dull, dirty or dangerous. There are a myriad of applications in both Government and Industry that could benefit from augmenting or replacing an operator of hydraulic equipment with an intelligent robotic system. A specific important situation is the removal of unexploded ordnance (UXO). The removal of UXO is a troubling environmental problem that plagues people around the world. This document addresses the danger that UXO pose to military groups in applications such as active range clearance and disposal of unexploded or dud munitions. Disposing of these munitions is a difficult problem, which first begins by determining their location. The process can be aided through the use of teleoperated hydraulic equipment, which allows the operator to be located at a safe distance from these munitions. In the past, converting a large piece of hydraulic construction equipment for teleoperated use has been an expensive task. An important result of this research is demonstrating that through readily available commercial products and existing design methodologies, such robotic tasks can be accomplished at relatively low cost and in a timely, reliable fashion. / Master of Science

Traditionally, teleoperation has been an expensive and lengthy process. This thesis shows that by incorporating off-the-shelf technology into a modular design, teleoperation can be developed rapidly and inexpensively. Within six months and a hardware cost of $20k, a group of Virginia Tech students and faculty converted a Case CX-160 excavator to teleoperated control. With full wireless functionality of the excavator's six degrees-of-freedom, ignition, and remote cameras at 3000 ft., the teleoperated design meets or exceeds customer demands. For over a year, the teleoperated excavator has demonstrated effectiveness, robustness, and durability in multiple unexploded ordnance (UXO) site remediation projects. / Master of Science

The theme of this diploma thesis is design of walking excavator. Specifially, the thesis is focused on inovative possibility of remote controll and describe structural, technological and ergonomic aspects of this solution in respect of current trends.

The diploma thesis deals with the design of the measuring bucket of bucket wheel excavator KR400Nk. The main part of this thesis is the strength analysis of the supporting structure and the measuring bucket, which is done using the finite element method. In addition, examinations of the elements replaced in the finite element model are performed. Appropriate adjustments are proposed based on strength analysis. This diploma thesis was prepared in cooperation with company NOEN, a. s..

The document deals inspecting forces of the structure. The task of diploma thesis is analyze the crane load and chech up the stress of steel construction. Perform stress analysis forwarding bridge of bucket-wheel excavator by using finite element method. Further assess the consequences resulting from the design modifications. The project was carried out with cooperation with NOEN, a.s.

Energy saving and fuel consumption reduction techniques are among the principal interests for both academic institutions and industries, in particular, system optimization and hybridization. This paper presents a new hydraulic hybrid system layout for mobile machinery implemented on a middle size excavator. The hybridization procedure took advantage of a dynamic programming (DP) algorithm, which was also utilized for the hybrid components dimensioning and control strategy definition. A dedicated experimental activity on test bench was performed on the main components of the energy recovery system (ERS). The JCMAS working cycle was considered as the reference test for a fuel consumption comparison between the standard and the hybrid excavator. A fuel saving up to 8% on the JCMAS cycle, and up to 11% during the digging cycle, has been allowed by the proposed hybrid system.

Thesis (MScEng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / The input orientation of the excavators in use today usually comprises two joysticks that control the actuator links individually. In order to perform an excavation task, several different combinations of joystick inputs are required, placing high psychomotor demands on the operator. In training an operator this creates a steep learning curve, with a lengthy training time and a reasonable amount of experience being required to perform an excavation task skilfully. In this master’s thesis a haptic1 device was developed, resolving input ergonomics and creating a single input device capable of providing feedback to the operator. The design and construction of the haptic device, with the related control scheme, is presented and discussed. The control scheme combines position and rate control, and relates all the actuator joint positions to a single end-effector point. The control and ergonomic aspects of the haptic device were tested and compared to the traditional two joystick control setup by means of the implementation of a virtual excavator simulator. The simulation was developed in MATLAB, and virtual excavator displayed in an openGL window. The objective of this study was to evaluate the human factors related to the input orientation. Ten inexperienced test subjects were recruited to perform four sets of tests, where each test required a different level of operator skill. The results indicated that, on average, the test subjects had an increased level of performance after training on the haptic device. These results strongly support the hypothesis that haptic control simplifies the operational tasks required for operating an excavator. 1The word haptic means of, or relating to, the sense of touch, or tactile

<p>This masters thesis concerns a modeling project performed at Volvo Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. The main purpose of the project has been to develop a physical model of the climate in construction vehicles that later on can be used in the development of an electronic climate controller. The focus of the work has been on one type of wheel loader and one type of excavator. The temperature inside the compartment has been set equal to the notion climate. </p><p>With physical theories about air flow and heat transfer in respect, relations between the components in the climate unit and the compartment has been calculated. Parameters that has had unknown values has been estimated. The relations have then been implemented in the modeling tool Simulink. </p><p>The validation of the model has been carried out by comparison between measured data and modeled values by calculation of Root Mean Square and correlation. Varying the estimated parameters and identifying the change in the output signal, i.e the temperature of the compartment, have performed a sensitivity analysis. </p><p>The result of the validation has shown that the factor with the greatest influence on the temperature in the vehicle is the airflow through the climate unit and the outlets. Minor changes of airflow have resulted in major changes in temperature. The validation principally shows that the model gives a good estimation of the temperature in the compartment. The static values of the model differs from the values of the measured data but is regarded being as within an acceptable margin of error. The weakness of the model is mainly its predictions of the dynamics, which does not correlate satisfyingly with the data.</p>

This research investigates and proposes methods to be used for the automation of the conceptual design phases of variational mechanisms. It employs the concept of feature-based modeling approaches. A method is proposed for integrating the dimensional synthesis, mechanical design and CAD generation phases with minimal designer intervention. Extended feature definitions are used in this research to create a smooth data transfer platform between different engineering tools and applications. This paper also introduces another method by which a set of dimensional data collected from a family of existing products is used to predict possible solutions for a new design. This method, based on artificial neural networks for training and solution generation, is used with optimization algorithms for the dimensional synthesis of mechanisms. An excavator arm mechanism is used as a case study to demonstrate these methods. The design of this mechanism is carried out based on its digging mode configurations. / Engineering Design

This masters thesis concerns a modeling project performed at Volvo Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. The main purpose of the project has been to develop a physical model of the climate in construction vehicles that later on can be used in the development of an electronic climate controller. The focus of the work has been on one type of wheel loader and one type of excavator. The temperature inside the compartment has been set equal to the notion climate. With physical theories about air flow and heat transfer in respect, relations between the components in the climate unit and the compartment has been calculated. Parameters that has had unknown values has been estimated. The relations have then been implemented in the modeling tool Simulink. The validation of the model has been carried out by comparison between measured data and modeled values by calculation of Root Mean Square and correlation. Varying the estimated parameters and identifying the change in the output signal, i.e the temperature of the compartment, have performed a sensitivity analysis. The result of the validation has shown that the factor with the greatest influence on the temperature in the vehicle is the airflow through the climate unit and the outlets. Minor changes of airflow have resulted in major changes in temperature. The validation principally shows that the model gives a good estimation of the temperature in the compartment. The static values of the model differs from the values of the measured data but is regarded being as within an acceptable margin of error. The weakness of the model is mainly its predictions of the dynamics, which does not correlate satisfyingly with the data.