CN112639362B - Crane control device, control method for crane control device, control program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

The crane is caused to perform an appropriate job based on the state of the refuse in the refuse pit. A crane control device (50) is provided with: a first determination unit (71) that determines, by means of first fuzzy reasoning, whether or not to cause a crane (14) to execute a first job having a predetermined priority; and a second determination unit (73) that determines whether or not to execute a second job having priority of execution of the crane (14) that is inferior to that of the first job, by means of second fuzzy reasoning, when the first determination unit (71) determines no.

Description

Crane control device, control method for crane control device, control program, and recording medium

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a crane control device and a control method thereof.

Background

In a refuse incineration facility, refuse to be carried in is temporarily accumulated in a refuse pit, and the accumulated refuse is sequentially fed into an incinerator to be incinerated. Among the garbage carried in, there are both garbage which is easy to burn and garbage which is difficult to burn and contains a large amount of moisture. Therefore, in order to realize stable garbage incineration, it is important to homogenize garbage by stirring the garbage in a garbage pit by a crane.

As crane control techniques related to such stirring of garbage, for example, techniques described in patent documents 1 and 2 are known.

Prior art literature

Patent literature

Patent document 1: japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2007-126246 (24 days of 5 months of 2007)

Patent document 2: japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2017-125627 (published on 20 days of 2017, 7 month)

Disclosure of Invention

First, the technical problem to be solved

However, when the garbage is stirred in order to homogenize the garbage property (i.e., whether the garbage is suitable as a fuel) in the garbage pit, the following problem may occur. That is, when the surface of the garbage accumulated in the garbage pit is extremely inclined or large irregularities are formed on the surface, the crane is difficult to grasp the garbage, and the grasping operation must be performed a plurality of times. In this case the efficiency is reduced and the waste cannot be stirred according to the operating schedule of the crane. Therefore, the crane is controlled so as to perform the operation of stirring the garbage, and also to appropriately perform the operation of flattening the height of the garbage accumulated in the garbage pit.

That is, in crane control, it is required to efficiently execute an appropriate job in response to various changes in the state of garbage in a garbage pit. The various operations executed by the crane (i) have a degree (priority) to be prioritized, and (ii) change the degree (emergency degree) to be urgently performed in response to a change in the state of the refuse in the refuse pit.

The prior art described in patent documents 1 and 2 has a disadvantage in that it is necessary to perform an appropriate operation on a crane.

An object of one embodiment of the present invention is to realize the following technique: the priority and the urgency of various operations of the crane are considered based on the state of the garbage in the garbage pit, so that the crane can execute appropriate operations.

(II) technical scheme

In order to solve the above-described problems, a crane control device according to an aspect of the present invention is a crane control device for causing a crane for transporting refuse in a refuse pit to execute a plurality of predetermined operations, the crane control device including: a first determination unit that determines, for a first job having a predetermined priority among the plurality of predetermined jobs, whether to cause the crane to execute the first job, in accordance with a first degree of urgency calculated by a first fuzzy inference based on a plurality of pieces of information associated with the first job; and a second determination unit that determines whether or not to cause the crane to execute the second job based on a second degree of urgency calculated by a second fuzzy inference based on a plurality of pieces of information related to a second job having a priority next to the first job, when the first determination unit determines that the first job is not to be executed.

In order to solve the above-described problems, a control method of a crane control device according to an aspect of the present invention is a control method for causing a crane for transporting refuse in a refuse pit to execute a plurality of predetermined operations, the method including: a first determination step of determining, for a first job having a predetermined priority among the plurality of predetermined jobs, whether or not to cause the crane to execute the first job, in accordance with a first degree of urgency calculated by a first fuzzy inference based on a plurality of pieces of information associated with the first job; and a second determination step of determining whether or not to cause the crane to execute a second job whose priority is next to the first job, based on a second degree of urgency calculated by a second fuzzy inference based on a plurality of pieces of information related to the second job, when it is determined that the first job is not executed by the first determination step.

(III) beneficial effects

According to one aspect of the present invention, the priority and the emergency degree of various operations of the crane are considered based on the garbage state in the garbage pit, so that the crane can be caused to execute an appropriate operation.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the main part configuration of a crane control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a refuse incinerator provided with a refuse pit.

Fig. 3 is a view showing a state in which the garbage storage unit and the garbage hopper are viewed from above.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing a setting example of a pile in the garbage storage unit.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view for explaining an example of three-dimensional arrangement of piles set in the garbage storage unit.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing the overall flow of processing performed by the crane control apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing executed by the job determination unit of the crane control apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the membership function, (a) is a diagram showing the membership function related to the hopper height, (b) is a diagram showing the membership function related to the hopper height lowering speed, and (c) is a diagram showing the membership function related to the urgency of the input work.

Fig. 9 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of the first fuzzy inference.

Fig. 10 (a) is a diagram showing an example of a function of the relation between the flatness s and the flatness value sv, and fig. 10 (b) is a diagram showing an example of a function of the relation between the stirring degree m and the stirring value mv.

Fig. 11 is a diagram for explaining selection of a specific range in the stirring zone.

Fig. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the membership function, (a) is a diagram showing the membership function concerning the flatness s, (b) is a diagram showing the membership function concerning the stirring degree m, and (c) is a diagram showing the membership function concerning the urgency of the stirring operation.

Detailed Description

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to fig. 1 to 12. The present invention relates to a crane control device and the like for controlling the operation of a crane for transporting refuse in a refuse pit. Therefore, a refuse pit and a refuse incinerator including the refuse pit will be described first with reference to fig. 2.

(outline of refuse incineration facility)

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a refuse incinerator provided with a refuse pit. The illustrated refuse incineration apparatus comprises: a refuse pit 1 for temporarily storing refuse carried in the refuse collection vehicle P, and an incinerator 2 for incinerating refuse in the refuse pit 1. The refuse pit 1 is connected to the incinerator 2 via a hopper 12 for supplying refuse to the incinerator 2, and the refuse in the refuse pit 1 is sent to the incinerator 2 via the hopper 12 to be incinerated.

The bottom of the pit 1 is a garbage storage 11, and the garbage collection truck P pours garbage from the carry-in door 11a into the garbage storage 11, and the garbage is stored in the garbage storage 11 (garbage G shown).

The garbage storage 11 and the garbage hopper 12 are covered with a building 13, and a crane 14 is provided at a zenith portion of the building 13. The crane 14 includes: a main beam 15, a traversing crown block 16, a grab 17, a wire rope 18, and a hoist 19. The main beams 15 are disposed so as to be bridged between guide rails (extending in the depth direction of fig. 2) provided on the opposite wall surfaces of the building 13, and are movable in the depth direction of fig. 2 along the guide rails. The traversing crown block 16 is provided on the main beam 15 and is movable on the main beam 15 in the right-left direction (direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the main beam 15) of fig. 2. A hoist 19 (e.g., a winch) is mounted on the traversing crown block 16, and a grab 17 for grabbing the garbage G is provided at the tip of a wire rope 18 extending from the hoist 19. The grab 17 can be opened and closed.

Thus, the main beam 15 can move in the depth direction of fig. 2, and the traversing carriage 16 can move in the left-right direction of fig. 2, so that the grab bucket 17 can be moved to an arbitrary position in the garbage storage 11 by a combination of these movements. Further, the wire rope 18 is extended from the hoist 19 to lower the grab 17, and the garbage G in the garbage storage 11 can be grabbed by the grab 17. Further, the gripped garbage G can be transferred to another position in the garbage storage 11 or put into the garbage hopper 12 by controlling the operations of the main beam 15, the traversing crown block 16, the grab bucket 17, and the hoist 19.

The operation control of the crane 14 may be performed manually from the working room 21 provided in the side wall portion 13a of the building 13 so as to be able to monitor the inside of the garbage storage 11, or may be performed automatically by a crane control device as will be described later.

Although only one crane 14 is shown in fig. 2, a plurality of cranes 14 may be provided. The provision of a plurality of cranes 14 can more sufficiently stir the material than when only one crane 14 is provided. For example, when two cranes 14 are provided, one of the cranes 14 is used for transferring garbage and inputting the garbage into the garbage hopper 12, and the other crane 14 can be used exclusively for stirring.

The incinerator 2 includes: a combustion chamber 3, a garbage guide passage 4, an ash extraction port 5 and a flue 6. The garbage G charged into the garbage hopper 12 is sent to the combustion chamber 3 through the garbage guide path 4 to be burned, ash generated by the burning is taken out from the ash taking-out port 5, and smoke generated by the burning is discharged from the flue 6. Although not shown, the incinerator 2 is provided with a boiler, and the heat generated by burning the garbage G is supplied to the boiler, and power generation is performed by using steam generated by the boiler.

(refuse storage portion)

Next, details of the garbage storage 11 will be described with reference to fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a view showing a state in which the garbage storage unit 11 and the garbage hopper 12 are viewed from above. The illustrated garbage storage unit 11 is a horizontally long rectangular shape, and has three entrance doors 11a on one long side thereof, and has one garbage hopper 12 on the opposite long side. In the illustrated example, the garbage storage 11 is divided into 80 sections (piles) of vertical 5×horizontal 16. The two rows of sections on the side of the carry-in door 11a are receiving areas for the carried-in refuse, and the three rows of sections on the side of the refuse hopper 12 are stirring areas for the refuse.

During the operation of the refuse pit 1, it is important to efficiently operate the crane 14 in the refuse storage portion 11 having a limited capacity to properly agitate and transport refuse. The shape of the garbage storage portion 11 is not limited to a rectangular shape, and may be a square shape. The position, number, and shape of the refuse hoppers 12 are not particularly limited.

(outline of crane control device according to one embodiment of the present invention)

The crane 14 performs various operations in the garbage storage 11 as described above. As the work that the crane 14 needs to execute, there are: a loading operation for loading garbage into the garbage hopper 12, a transferring operation for transferring garbage in the receiving area, and the like. Further, as important operations to be performed by the crane 14, there are a stirring operation and a leveling operation.

The stirring operation is an operation of breaking up the garbage bag and crushing the garbage to mix the garbage. Specifically, in the stirring operation, the garbage is gripped by the grab 17 of the crane 14, and after the crane 14 is moved (or is not moved), the operation of releasing the gripped garbage is performed, whereby the garbage is stirred. As a result, the refuse to be charged into the incinerator 2 can be homogenized in its refuse properties, and stable combustion can be performed in the incinerator 2. Here, the refuse property is an index indicating a refuse state, and relates to whether or not the refuse is suitable as fuel. For example, since it is related to whether the type of refuse, moisture, the proportion of combustible components, or the like is suitable as the property of the refuse fuel (in other words, flammability), at least one of these pieces of information can be used as the information indicating the nature of the refuse.

The leveling operation is an operation performed to level the height of the garbage stored in the garbage storage unit 11 and accurately grasp the garbage in the grab bucket 17 of the crane 14. For example, in the leveling work, the main beam 15 or the traversing crown 16 is moved in a state where the grab bucket 17 is brought into contact with the surface portion of the garbage stored in the garbage storage 11, so that the grab bucket 17 slides on the garbage, thereby reducing the variation in the garbage height. Further, the leveling operation may be an operation of grabbing the refuse at a high position from among the refuse in the range to be leveled and dropping the refuse at a low position (but there is no need to raise the refuse to a high position as in the stirring operation). The above-described leveling operation is required for the following reasons. That is, since the garbage is put into the garbage storage 11 from the carry-in door 11a (platform), the garbage is deposited in the receiving area at a high level. Therefore, the waste in the waste storage portion 11 is likely to be inclined. Further, the stirring operation may cause a difference in level on the surface of the garbage stored in the garbage storage portion 11. The grab 17 of the crane 14 has difficulty in accurately grabbing the refuse in a state having a height difference or a state having an inclination. Further, the above-described flattening operation may also be referred to as an averaging operation or a flattening operation.

The crane 14 cannot execute a plurality of jobs (job modes) in parallel (or simultaneously). Therefore, when determining a job to be performed by the crane 14, it is necessary to select one job from a plurality of selectable jobs.

At this time, there is an order in which the above-described plurality of optional jobs should be prioritized. In other words, the degree (priority) to which each of the various jobs that the crane 14 needs to execute should be prioritized is different. This priority is always considered in order to smoothly perform garbage disposal in the garbage incineration facility. For example, the above-described input job is generally the job with the highest priority. This is because if the amount of waste in the waste hopper 12 is insufficient, the amount of waste fed into the incinerator 2 is reduced, and there is a possibility that combustion of the waste in the combustion chamber 3 is affected.

In addition, various operations performed by the crane 14 are changed in accordance with a change in the state of the refuse in the refuse pit, and the degree to which a certain operation should be performed urgently (degree of urgency) at that time is changed. The urgency of a job may also be referred to as the desirability of the job at that time.

Conventionally, when the above-described various operations are performed by operating a crane by a person (operator), there are problems such as a degree of stirring of garbage and a difference in crane operation technique due to the difference in operators.

In addition, in the case of garbage incineration facilities in daytime and daytime where garbage collection is performed, garbage collected and carried into the garbage incineration facilities is frequently put into the garbage storage 11. Further, if the garbage in the receiving area in the garbage storage 11 is excessively deposited, new garbage cannot be taken in, and the deposited garbage may collapse, so that a transfer operation for moving the garbage in the receiving area to the stirring area is also required. In order to stably generate electricity, it is necessary to continuously perform the loading operation in addition to the transfer operation, the stirring operation, and the leveling operation. Thus, the state of the pit 1 changes drastically with time. Thus, it is required to quickly and appropriately select the work to be performed by the crane 14 according to the state.

Accordingly, the crane control apparatus 50 determines whether or not to execute the jobs in order of higher priority for the various jobs executed by the crane 14. When it is determined that the first job having a high priority should be executed, the crane control device 50 controls the crane 14 to execute the first job. When the first job is determined not to be executed, it is determined whether or not a second job having a priority next to that of the first job is executed. Further, the crane control apparatus 50 uses fuzzy reasoning in determining whether or not to execute each job.

In short, the crane control device 50 performs fuzzy reasoning on various jobs executed by the crane 14 using information related to the job to be determined, and calculates the degree of urgency of the job. If the calculated degree of urgency is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the job is to be executed.

As described above, the crane control apparatus 50 performs fuzzy reasoning in a hierarchical manner to determine whether or not to execute each job. This makes it possible to quickly and appropriately select which operation to execute by the crane 14 in accordance with the current state in the pit 1. Further, by flexibly performing the judgment using fuzzy reasoning, crane control that satisfies both the garbage stirring degree and the garbage flattening degree to a certain extent can be realized. The meaning of "satisfied to some extent" is as follows. That is, it is impossible to achieve a state in which both the stirring degree of the garbage and the leveling degree of the garbage meet the target within a certain period. In this case, the crane control device 50 controls the crane 14 such that the sum of differences between the current state and the ideal state is minimized for both the garbage stirring degree and the garbage flattening degree, for example.

(Crane control device)

The crane control device according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the main part configuration of the crane control apparatus 50. The crane control device 50 may be disposed in the working chamber 21 or may be disposed at another position.

As shown in the figure, the crane control device 50 includes: a control unit 51 for comprehensively controlling the respective units of the crane control device 50; and a storage unit 52 for storing various data used by the crane control device 50.

The control unit 51 includes: pit state information updating unit 61, pit state evaluating unit 62, job determining unit 63, and crane control unit 64. The job determination unit 63 further includes: the first determination unit 71, the second determination unit 73, and the third determination unit 75. The storage unit 52 stores: job priority information 81, section information 82, fuzzy rules 83, and membership functions 84.

The crane control device 50 further includes: an input unit 53 for receiving an input from a user to the crane control device 50; and a communication unit 54 for communicating with the crane control apparatus 50 and other apparatuses. The input unit 53 may be, for example, a mouse or a keyboard, or may be a touch panel.

The crane control device 50 can communicate with the garbage height detection device 26 and the stirring information generation device 27 via the communication unit 54, and can communicate with the hopper height detection unit 31 and the input request signal generation unit 32 provided in association with the garbage hopper 12.

The garbage height detection device 26 is a device that detects the garbage height of each pile (section) in the garbage storage 11. The method for detecting the height of the refuse is not particularly limited. For example, the refuse height detection device 26 may calculate the refuse height of a pile based on the length of the wire rope 18 when the crane 14 is lowered to the surface of the pile. The height of the garbage height detecting device 26 may be detected by a distance sensor, for example, or may be detected by analyzing an image of the garbage storage 11 captured by a camera.

The agitation information generating apparatus 27 generates agitation information indicating the number of agitation per stack. The stirring information generating device 27 manages the three-dimensionally divided sections in the pit 1, for example, and generates stirring information in which coordinates (position numbers) of each section (pile) are associated with the number of stirring times. For example, the stirring information generating device 27 generates stirring information by the following model.

That is, when the refuse is carried in, the agitation information generating apparatus 27 sets the number of times of agitation of the refuse in the pile that has received the refuse to zero. In addition, in the case of performing the stirring operation by the crane 14, since the garbage at the garbage gripping position moves to the garbage discharging position, the stirring information generating device 27 updates the stirring frequency of the garbage in the pile at the garbage gripping position to zero (a value indicating that the garbage is not present), and updates the stirring frequency in the pile at the garbage discharging position to a value of the stirring frequency at the garbage gripping position plus 1.

In addition, in the case of performing leveling work by the crane 14, the refuse in the pile M1 at a relatively high position is moved onto the pile M2 at a relatively low position by the movement of the grab 17 of the crane 14. Accordingly, the agitation information generating apparatus 27 updates the agitation times of each pile in accordance with the movement of the refuse. For example, when all the garbage in the pile M1 moves onto the pile M2, the stirring information generation device 27 updates the stirring times of the garbage in the pile M1 to zero (a value indicating that no garbage is present), and updates the stirring times of the pile immediately above the pile M2 to the same value as the stirring times of the pile M1.

The model used for updating the number of stirring times is only an example and is not limited thereto. The pit state information updating unit 61 may update the number of times of agitation.

It is possible to preset how to divide each section in the pit 1, in other words, to preset the shape and volume of each section. The preset sections are also commonly used in various processes executed by the crane control apparatus 50.

The stirring information is not limited to the information on the number of stirring times described above. Any known technique can be suitably applied as long as it is information indicating the degree of stirring of the refuse in the refuse pit 1. For example, the height of the garbage thrown from the crane 14, the fine grain size, the bulk specific gravity, and the like of the garbage when stirring the garbage may be used as information indicating the degree of stirring the garbage.

The hopper height detecting unit 31 includes a device for detecting the height of the garbage in the garbage hopper 12, and is, for example, a camera for capturing images of the garbage hopper 12. For example, a garbage height measuring belt is provided on an inclined wall surface of the garbage hopper 12, and the garbage height in the garbage hopper 12 can be detected based on the length of the garbage height measuring belt exposed upward from the garbage surface in the garbage hopper 12. The above-described method is merely an example, and a specific method for detecting the height of the garbage in the garbage hopper 12 is not particularly limited. In the present specification, the height of the garbage in the garbage hopper 12 may be referred to as a hopper height. The hopper height may be the maximum of the height of the waste within the waste hopper 12.

When the hopper height detected by the hopper height detecting unit 31 is lower than a predetermined threshold value, the input request signal generating unit 32 generates an input request signal requesting that garbage be input into the garbage hopper 12. The generated input request signal is transmitted to the job determination unit 63 of the control unit 51 via the communication unit 54.

(control part)

Each part of the control unit 51 provided in the crane control device 50 according to the present embodiment will be described in brief below. The respective parts of the control unit 51 will be described in detail in accordance with the processing flow executed by the crane control device 50.

The pit status information updating unit 61 holds pit status information including: (i) Information associating the coordinate value, the garbage height, and the number of stirring times with each of the sections (piles) three-dimensionally divided in the garbage storage unit 11; and (ii) information related to the height of the waste (hopper height) of the waste hopper 12. The pit state information updating unit 61 updates pit state information based on signals (information) received from the refuse height detecting device 26, the agitation information generating device 27, and the hopper height detecting unit 31. In addition, pit status information may also contain other information.

(section setting)

Here, an example of setting a segment (stack) will be described with reference to fig. 4 and 5. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of setting of a pile in the garbage storage unit 11. Fig. 5 is a perspective view for explaining an example of three-dimensional arrangement of piles set in the garbage storage unit 11.

In the example of fig. 4, the garbage storage unit 11 is divided into 80 piles of vertical 5×horizontal 16 in a plan view. Fig. 4 also shows the garbage height and the number of stirring times of each pile (pile corresponding to the uppermost layer of garbage). Although the dividing method is not particularly limited, if a range corresponding to one gripping by the crane 14 is set as a stack, the garbage state in the garbage pit 1 after the crane 14 is operated is relatively easy to update, and the like, and is therefore preferable.

In fig. 4, the positions of the stacks are represented by coordinate values (x=1, 2,..16), (y=1, 2,..5) of (X, Y). The region setting is indicated by differentiating colors (described in detail later with reference to fig. 6). Specifically, the range of X is more than or equal to 3 and less than or equal to 14, and Y is more than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to 3 is set as a stirring area; setting the range of X being more than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to 16, Y being more than or equal to 4 and less than or equal to 5 as a receiving area; the ranges of X.ltoreq.2, Y.ltoreq.3 and 15.ltoreq.X.ltoreq.16 and Y.ltoreq.3 are set as non-stirring areas not used for stirring.

As shown in fig. 5, if the garbage storage unit 11 is divided three-dimensionally, each pile can be specified by the coordinate value of (X, Y, Z) obtained by adding the coordinate value of Z to X, Y described above. The pit status information includes information in which the coordinate values of (X, Y, Z), the height of the refuse, and the number of stirring times are associated with each pile in the refuse storage unit 11.

(zone setting)

The garbage storage 11 of the garbage pit 1 is divided into a plurality of areas for management according to the purpose. It is set manually or automatically in advance how to divide the inside of the garbage storage 11 into a plurality of areas. In the present embodiment, the garbage storage 11 is divided into the following three areas.

(A) Receiving area: is a region provided on the side of the carry-in door 11a, and is a region for receiving the garbage carried in by the garbage collection truck P.

(B) Stirring area: is a region where stirring is performed. The stirring zone is generally divided into two parts, and the garbage is moved from one zone to the other to stir the garbage. In addition, the receiving area can be used as a stirring area even at night or the like when garbage is not carried in. That is, the zone setting may be changed corresponding to the period of time.

(C) Non-stirring zone: is an area not used for the stirring operation. Is a region where refuse unsuitable for incineration disposal is accumulated.

For example, the receiving area and the stirring area may be partitioned by a retaining wall or the like. In addition, other areas than the above (for example, an area for storing garbage before being input into the garbage hopper 12, that is, an input area for accumulating garbage with a high garbage property level, etc.) may be set in the garbage storage unit 11.

In the crane control apparatus 50 according to the present embodiment, information on the settings of the above-described stacks and various areas is stored in the storage unit 52 as the section information 82. The section information 82 may be set in advance in the pit status information updating section 61.

The pit state evaluating unit 62 of the control unit 51 evaluates the garbage state in the garbage storage unit 11 based on the pit state information acquired from the pit state information updating unit 61. The garbage state evaluation by the pit state evaluation unit 62 will be described in detail later.

(job determination)

The work determination unit 63 of the control unit 51 determines which work is to be performed or not performed by the crane 14. The crane 14 performs one of a variety of prescribed operations. In the present embodiment, the plurality of predetermined operations are a throw-in operation, a transfer operation, a stirring operation, and a leveling operation.

Here the number of the elements to be processed is,

and (3) input operation: is an operation of throwing garbage into the garbage hopper 12 from the stirring area;

And (3) transferring: the garbage is transferred from the receiving area to the stirring area;

stirring: the operation of grabbing the garbage in the stirring area and releasing the grabbed garbage in the stirring area is adopted;

leveling operation: is a work for flattening the height of the garbage stored in the garbage storage unit 11.

The predetermined priority is set for each of the plurality of predetermined jobs. The input operation has the highest priority, and the transfer operation has the priority inferior to that of the input operation. The stirring operation and the leveling operation have the same priority and are lower than the transfer operation. The predetermined priorities of the plurality of predetermined jobs are stored in the storage unit 52 as job priority information 81.

The job determination unit 63 performs fuzzy inference on the above-described plurality of predetermined jobs in a hierarchical manner by using the first determination unit 71, the second determination unit 73, and the third determination unit 75, and determines which job is to be executed by the crane 14. The first determination unit 71 includes a first fuzzy inference unit 72, the second determination unit 73 includes a second fuzzy inference unit 74, and the third determination unit 75 includes a third fuzzy inference unit 76.

The first determination unit 71 determines whether to execute the input work, which is the work with the highest priority, by the crane 14 based on the first degree of urgency calculated by the first fuzzy inference unit 72. Thus, when the state is reached in which the input work is required, the input work can be quickly performed.

When it is determined that the above-described input work is not to be performed, the second determination unit 73 determines whether or not to execute the transfer work having priority of the crane 14 next to that of the input work, based on the second degree of urgency calculated by the second fuzzy inference unit 74. This makes it possible to quickly perform the transfer operation without requiring the input operation and without requiring the transfer operation.

When it is determined that the transfer operation is not to be performed, the third determination unit 75 determines, based on the output value of the third fuzzy inference unit 76: the crane 14 is caused to perform either one of the stirring operation and the leveling operation or not to perform either one of the stirring operation and the leveling operation. In this way, the crane 14 can be caused to perform one of the stirring operation and the leveling operation, which is more preferable, without requiring any one of the input operation and the transfer operation. In addition, when it is not necessary to perform either one of the stirring operation and the leveling operation, either one of the stirring operation and the leveling operation may not be performed. The third determination unit 75 performs the above determination for the predetermined range selected from the stirring zone. The prescribed range will be described in detail later.

(flow of processing)

Next, a flow of processing (control method of the crane control apparatus) performed by the crane control apparatus 50 will be described below with reference to fig. 6 to 12. Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing the overall flow of the processing executed by the crane control apparatus 50.

As shown in fig. 6, first, the crane control apparatus 50 receives (i) height information on the height of the refuse and (ii) stirring information in the refuse storage 11 from the refuse height detection device 26 and the stirring information generation device 27 (S11).

Further, the crane control apparatus 50 receives information on the height of the garbage (hopper height) in the garbage hopper 12 from the hopper height detection unit 31 of the garbage hopper 12 (S13). The above-described S11 and S13 are not limited to this order, and may be reverse order, or the above-described S11 and S13 may be executed in parallel.

Next, the pit state information updating unit 61 updates the pit state information based on the information received in S11 and S13 described above (S15). More specifically, the pit state information updating unit 61 updates the pit state information indicating the garbage state in the garbage storage unit 11; and the bin height of the waste bin 12. The information indicating the garbage state includes at least the stirring area in the garbage storage unit 11, the garbage height and the stirring times associated with the coordinate values of each three-dimensionally divided pile.

Next, the pit state evaluating section 62 evaluates the pit state using the updated pit state information (S17). The result of this evaluation is used in the process of S23.

Next, the job determination unit 63 determines whether or not the input request signal is received (S19). Here, when it is determined that the input request signal is received from the input request signal generating unit 32 (yes in S19), the job determining unit 63 performs a process of determining a job to be executed by the crane 14 based on the priorities and urgency of a plurality of kinds of jobs (S23).

On the other hand, when it is determined that the input request signal is not received from the input request signal generating unit 32 (no in S19), the job determining unit 63 determines whether or not the job executed by the crane 14 the previous time (before the current time) has ended.

Here, when it is determined that the job is not completed (no in S21), the job determination unit 63 returns to the process of S19. This means that the work being performed by the crane 14 is continued at the present moment.

On the other hand, when the job determination unit 63 determines that the job is completed (yes in S21), the process proceeds to S23. That is, if the crane 14 is in a state where the job is ended and the input request signal is not received, the determination of the job to be executed next by the crane 14 is executed (the process of S23).

Then, the crane control unit 64 causes the crane 14 to execute the job determined by the job determination unit 63 in S23 (S25). When the job determination unit 63 determines that no job is being executed in S23, the crane control unit 64 suspends the crane 14.

In addition, the crane control apparatus 50 according to the present embodiment performs the processing of S23 when the crane 14 is executing a certain job (no in S21) and the input request signal is received (yes in S19) as described above. This means that when the input request signal is received, interrupt processing is performed. Thus, even when the crane 14 is executing a certain job, if the input request signal is received, it can be quickly determined whether to execute the input job having the highest priority.

(details of the job determination processing)

The process performed in S23 will be described in detail with reference to fig. 7. Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing executed by the job determination unit 63 of the crane control apparatus 50.

As shown in fig. 7, the first fuzzy inference unit 72 of the first determination unit 71 performs the first fuzzy inference based on the plurality of pieces of information related to the input work, and calculates the urgency level of the input work. Specifically, the first fuzzy inference unit 72 calculates the degree of urgency using the hopper height and the speed of lowering of the hopper height as information related to the input work. The information related to the input work is calculated in S17 of fig. 6 and can be acquired from the pit state evaluating unit 62. The hopper height can be determined from the detection value of the hopper height detection unit 31. The rate of lowering of the hopper height can be calculated from the time-series change of the hopper height. The information used in the first fuzzy inference is not limited to the above information as long as it is information about the degree of urgency (or margin) of the input work.

The first fuzzy inference will be described below with reference to fig. 8 and 9. Fig. 8 (a) is a diagram showing an example of a membership function related to the hopper height. Fig. 8 (b) is a diagram showing an example of a membership function related to the hopper height decreasing speed. Fig. 8 (c) is a diagram showing an example of membership functions related to the urgency of the input work.

In the membership functions shown in fig. 8 (a) and 8 (b), three fuzzy sets are defined: VS (Very Small), ME (Medium), VB (Very Big). In addition, in the membership function shown in fig. 8 (c), five fuzzy sets are specified: VS, MS (Medium small: slightly smaller), ME, MB (Medium Big: slightly larger), VB.

In the membership function shown in fig. 8 (a), the horizontal axis represents the hopper height (the higher the right), and the vertical axis represents the fitness (0 to 1). In the membership function shown in fig. 8 (b), the horizontal axis represents the hopper height decreasing speed (faster to the right), and the vertical axis represents the fitness (0 to 1). In the membership function shown in fig. 8 (c), the horizontal axis represents the degree of urgency (0 to 1) of the input operation, and the vertical axis represents the value of the membership function μ. An urgency level of the input operation of 1 indicates that the urgency level is maximum (input operation needs to be performed urgently), and an urgency level of the input operation of 0 indicates that the urgency level is minimum (there is a sufficient time margin until the state in which input operation needs to be performed urgently is brought).

The fuzzy rule used in the first fuzzy inference can be represented by a rule table shown in table 1 below.

(Table 1)

The rule table shown in table 1 contains five fuzzy rules in total. For example, the fuzzy rules shown in the lower right of table 1 are: "if the hopper height is VB (very high (Japanese: high. I. も)), and the lowering speed is VB (very fast (Japanese: high. I. も)), the urgency of the put-in operation is MB (slightly high (Japanese: high. I. Do. So))".

The first fuzzy inference unit 72 performs a first fuzzy inference based on the values of the hopper height and the hopper height decreasing speed received from the pit state evaluation unit 62. A specific example of the first fuzzy inference will be described below with reference to fig. 9. Fig. 9 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of the first fuzzy inference.

As shown in fig. 9, for example, the minimum value of the obtainable values of the hopper height is set to H0, the maximum value is set to H1, the minimum value of the obtainable values of the hopper height lowering speed is set to V0, and the maximum value is set to V1. For example, the hopper height received from the pit state evaluating unit 62 is set to Ha, and the hopper height lowering speed is set to Va. Here, ha is a value slightly higher than the center of the numerical range (H0 to H1) of the hopper height, and Va is a value slightly higher than the center of the numerical range (V0 to V1) of the hopper height lowering speed.

In this case, the first fuzzy inference can be performed in the following manner based on the rule table shown in the above table 1. The suitability of either the bin height or the bin height decrease speed for the fuzzy set of VS is 0. Therefore, the following two fuzzy rules are satisfied.

Rule 1: if the height of the refuse in the hopper is VB (very high) and its lowering speed is VB (very fast), the urgency of the input operation is MB (slightly higher).

Rule 2: if the garbage height of the hopper is ME (normal), and the lowering speed thereof is ME (normal), the urgency of the input operation is ME (normal).

Both rules 1 AND 2 described above combine the two preconditions parts (IF) with an "AND". Therefore, the value of the suitability of the smaller of the two precondition portions can be used as the suitability of the precondition portion of the rule by using the rule of the fuzzy operation. The suitability of the precondition part of the rule obtained is the membership function value (μ) of the conclusion part (THEN). As a result, the result of reasoning in rule 1 is a trapezoid part (diagonal line part) in the membership function of MB, and the result of reasoning in rule 2 is a trapezoid part (diagonal line part) in the membership function of ME.

The first fuzzy inference unit 72 calculates the barycenter position of the graph formed by overlapping two trapezoids obtained as the inference results of rule 1 and rule 2 as the urgency level (first urgency level) of the input operation (S33).

Next, the first determination unit 71 determines whether or not the input job needs to be executed using the urgency of the input job, which is the calculation result of S33 (S35). Specifically, when the urgency of the input work is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold, the first determination unit 71 determines that the input work is to be executed (yes in S35), and causes the crane control unit 64 to execute the input work (S37).

On the other hand, when the urgency of the input operation is less than the predetermined threshold, the first determination unit 71 determines that the input operation does not need to be executed at that time (no in S35), and transmits an event signal to the second determination unit 73.

When the second fuzzy inference unit 74 of the second determination unit 73 receives the event signal transmitted from the first determination unit 71, it performs the second fuzzy inference based on the plurality of pieces of information related to the transfer operation, and calculates the degree of urgency of the transfer operation (S39). Specifically, the second fuzzy inference unit 74 calculates the degree of urgency using information related to the transfer operation, which is an average garbage height of each stack in the receiving area and a maximum garbage height of the stacks in the receiving area. The information related to the transfer operation is calculated in S17 of fig. 6, and can be acquired from the pit state evaluation unit 62. The information used in the second fuzzy inference is not limited to the above information as long as it is information about the degree of urgency (or margin) of the transfer operation.

The fuzzy rule used in the second fuzzy inference can be represented by a rule table shown in table 2 below.

(Table 2)

As membership functions related to the average garbage height, the maximum garbage height, and the urgency of the transfer work, membership functions having the same fuzzy sets as those of fig. 8 may be used, for example. The second fuzzy inference is the same as the first fuzzy inference described above, and therefore a detailed description of the second fuzzy inference is omitted.

As described above, the second fuzzy inference unit 74 calculates the degree of urgency (second degree of urgency) of the transfer operation by the second fuzzy inference (S39).

Next, the second determination unit 73 determines whether or not the transfer operation needs to be executed using the result of the calculation in S39, that is, the urgency of the transfer operation (S41). Specifically, when the degree of urgency of the transfer operation is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold, the second determination unit 73 determines that the transfer operation is to be executed (yes in S41), and causes the crane control unit 64 to execute the transfer operation (S43).

On the other hand, when the urgency of the transfer operation is less than the predetermined threshold, the second determination unit 73 determines that the transfer operation does not need to be executed at that time (no in S41), and transmits an event signal to the third determination unit 75.

Next, if the third fuzzy inference unit 76 of the third determination unit 75 receives the event signal from the second determination unit 73, the third fuzzy inference unit performs third fuzzy inference on the specified range in the stirring zone based on information (a flat value and a stirring value described later) on the garbage state of the range (S45). Then, the third determination unit 75 determines that: the crane control unit 64 is caused to perform either the stirring operation or the leveling operation or not (S47). The processing of S45 and S47 will be described in detail later.

When it is determined in S47 that the stirring operation is performed or it is determined that the leveling operation is performed (yes in S47), the third determination unit 75 causes the crane control unit 64 to perform the operation determined to be performed (stirring operation or leveling operation) (S51). On the other hand, when it is determined that either the stirring operation or the leveling operation is not to be performed (no in S47), the third determination unit 75 causes the crane control unit 64 to suspend the operation of the crane 14 (S49).

(details of third fuzzy inference)

The determination of S45 and S47 will be described below with reference to fig. 10 to 12. Here, first, the flatness s and the stirring degree m used in the third blur correction will be described.

The flatness s is an index indicating the degree of flatness of the garbage in the pile in a predetermined range. The flatness s is maximum if the refuse heights of the piles in the predetermined range are all the same, and the flatness s is lower as the height difference of each pile is larger. When calculating the flatness s of the range A1 of the 3×3 9 stacks as shown in fig. 11, the pit state evaluation unit 62 calculates the difference between the garbage height of the stack in the center and the garbage height of the stack adjacent to the stack, and calculates the total value of the differences. This sum is referred to as a flat value sv. In addition, the "neighbor" described above is a neighborhood (noman neighborhood) on the X, Y plane. The pit state evaluating unit 62 also calculates the flattening value sv for the range A2, and similarly calculates the flattening value sv for each range in the stirring zone. The pit state evaluating unit 62 determines the largest flat value among the calculated flat values sv as the largest flat value msv. The pit state evaluating unit 62 normalizes the flatness value sv in each range by using the maximum flatness value msv, and takes the normalized value as the flatness s. The pit state evaluating unit 62 can calculate the flatness s by using, for example, the following equation (1).

Flatness s=1- (flatness value sv)/(maximum flatness value msv) mathematical formula (1)

If the expression (1) is expressed in a graph, as shown in fig. 10 (a). As illustrated, the flatness s is a value from 0 to 1. More specifically, the flatness s is a value that is closer to 1 as the flatness value sv is closer to 0 (the stack within the predetermined range is closer to flat), and is a value that is closer to 0 as the flatness value sv is closer to the maximum flatness value msv. The flatness s is not limited to this example, as long as it indicates the degree of flatness of the garbage in the pile within a predetermined range. For example, an average value of the flatness values sv in each predetermined range may be calculated, a value indicating a deviation from the average value may be calculated for each predetermined range, and a value obtained by normalizing the value may be regarded as the flatness s. Further, the flatness s may be calculated using, for example, a model that has been learned, which is constructed by machine learning by taking an image of the garbage surface whose flatness s is known.

On the other hand, the stirring degree m is an index indicating the stirring degree of the garbage at each position (position indicated by the coordinate value of X, Y) in the garbage storage portion 11. For example, when calculating the stirring degree m, the pit state evaluation unit 62 may first calculate the stirring value mv at each position in the stirring zone by using the following equation (2). Further, the following evaluation coefficients are set so that: the number of stirring of the pile close to the surface of the refuse has a larger influence on the stirring value mv than the number of stirring of the pile far from the surface of the refuse (pile at a deeper position). For example, the following evaluation coefficients may be used: the evaluation coefficient of the pile corresponding to the surface of the refuse is set to the maximum value, and the value of the evaluation coefficient decreases as the distance from the surface becomes smaller. The reason for using such an evaluation coefficient is that the garbage put into the garbage hopper 12 is garbage near the surface. Alternatively, the evaluation coefficient may be set to be larger as the distance from the position of the grab 17 of the crane 14 where the garbage is discharged to the garbage surface in the height direction in the garbage storage unit 11 is larger. This is because the greater the falling distance of the refuse, the better the stirring effect.

Stirring value mv=Σ (stirring times of coordinates (X, Y) ×evaluation coefficient) mathematical expression (2)

The stirring degree m can be calculated from the calculated stirring value mv by using the following equation (3). The stirring degree m, which is obtained by normalizing the stirring value mv in the range of 0 to 1, can be calculated using the above formula.

Stirring degree m= (stirring value mv)/(maximum stirring value mmv) mathematical formula (3)

If the expression (3) is expressed in a graph, as shown in fig. 10 (b). As shown in the figure, the stirring degree m is a value from 0 to 1. More specifically, the stirring degree m is a value that is closer to 0 as the stirring value mv is closer to 0 (the stirring number is small), and is a value that is closer to 1 as the stirring value mv is closer to the maximum stirring value mmv. The stirring degree m is not limited to this example, as long as it indicates the stirring degree of the garbage at each position in the garbage storage 11.

As described above, since the flatness s is calculated for the predetermined range of the garbage storage unit 11, the pit state evaluating unit 62 first performs range selection when calculating the flatness s. For example, the pit state evaluating unit 62 may select from the objects such as the range A1 and the range A2 shown in fig. 11 according to a predetermined criterion. The predetermined reference is not particularly limited, and may be selected sequentially from the upper left corner toward the lower right corner of the garbage storage 11, for example.

The pit state evaluating unit 62 calculates the stirring degree m representing the selected range from the stirring degree m of each position (X, Y) in the range. For example, the pit state evaluating unit 62 may calculate an average value of the stirring degrees m at each position in the above range, or the like, as the stirring degree m representing the range. Through the above processing, the pit state evaluating unit 62 can calculate the stirring degree and flatness in S17 of fig. 6.

The third fuzzy inference performed by the third fuzzy inference section 76 will be described below with reference to fig. 12. Fig. 12 (a) is a diagram showing an example of the membership function related to the flatness s. Fig. 12 (b) is a diagram showing an example of a function related to the stirring degree m. Fig. 12 (c) is a diagram showing an example of membership functions related to the urgency of the stirring operation.

In one example of the membership functions shown in fig. 12 (a) and 12 (b), three fuzzy sets are defined: VS, ME, VB. In addition, in an example of the membership function shown in fig. 12 (c), three fuzzy sets are also defined: VS, ME, VB.

In the membership function shown in fig. 12 (a), the horizontal axis represents the flatness s (the higher the right), and the vertical axis represents the fitness (0 to 1). In the membership function shown in fig. 12 (b), the horizontal axis represents the stirring degree m (the higher the right), and the vertical axis represents the fitness (0 to 1). Here, in the membership function shown in fig. 12 (c), VB indicates that the urgency of the stirring operation is high, and VS indicates that the urgency of the stirring operation is low (the leveling operation should be made more preferable). The membership function is not particularly limited as long as it can achieve the purpose of determination (in this case, determination of which one of stirring work and leveling work should be performed). For example, VB may be set to be high in urgency for leveling work.

In the case of the membership function shown in fig. 12 (c), in the case where the final output result of the third fuzzy inference corresponds to VS, it means that the crane 14 should be caused to perform the leveling operation. If the final output result of the third fuzzy inference matches VB, it indicates that the crane 14 should be caused to perform the stirring operation. In addition, when the final output result of the third fuzzy inference matches ME, the crane 14 may be caused to perform any one of the stirring operation and the leveling operation, for example, the stirring operation, in accordance with a predetermined rule.

The blurring rule used in the third blurring estimation may be any one as long as it can determine which one of the stirring operation and the flattening operation should be performed based on the magnitudes of the flatness s and the stirring degree m, and may be, for example, the following rule.

Rule 1: if the flatness s is VB (large) and the stirring degree m is VS (small), stirring operation (VB) should be performed.

Rule 2: if the flatness s is VS (small) and the stirring degree m is VB (large), it is supposed that the flattening operation (VS) should be performed.

In addition to the above-described rule 1 and rule 2, other rules can be appropriately set. For example, if the stirring work is executed when the final output result of the third fuzzy inference matches ME as described above, the following rule can be set. For example, in addition to the above-described rule 1 and rule 2, further settings are made: if the flatness s is VB (large) and the stirring degree m is ME (normal), a rule of performing stirring operation (ME) is selected; and if the flatness s is VS (small) and the stirring degree m is ME (medium), a rule of leveling operation (VS) and the like should be performed.

In addition, when the flatness s is VB (large) and the suitability is 1, for example, and the stirring degree m is VB (large) and the suitability is 1, for example, the third fuzzy inference unit 76 may determine that either the stirring operation or the leveling operation is not performed. In addition, for example, when the flatness s and the stirring degree m are both VB and the fitness is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold, the third fuzzy inference unit 76 may determine that either the stirring operation or the leveling operation is not performed. Thus, the stirring operation and the leveling operation can be performed in a range where the flatness s and the stirring degree m are not sufficient. In this case, the third fuzzy inference unit 76 may determine which of the stirring operation and the leveling operation is to be performed in the other range by using the flatness s and the stirring degree m calculated by the pit state evaluation unit 62 for the other range.

In addition, a case where the flatness s is ME (normal) and the stirring degree m is also ME (normal), or a case where the flatness s is VS (small) and the stirring degree m is also VS (small) may be considered. As described above, when the final output result of the third fuzzy inference matches ME, the third fuzzy inference unit 76 may determine that either one of the stirring operation and the leveling operation should be executed. In this case, it is sufficient to define in advance which one of the stirring operation and the leveling operation should be executed.

For example, the following is also considered: according to the setting of the fuzzy rule by the third fuzzy inference section 76, the final output result of the third fuzzy inference does not conform to any one of VS, ME, VB. In this case, the third determination unit 75 may directly use the previous determination result. This makes it possible to stabilize the processing executed by the crane control apparatus 50.

The membership functions and the fuzzy rules described above are stored in the storage unit 52 as membership functions 84 and fuzzy rules 83. The membership functions and the fuzzy rules may be stored in the first fuzzy inference unit 72, the second fuzzy inference unit 74, and the third fuzzy inference unit 76, respectively, in advance. The membership functions and fuzzy rules described above are merely examples and are not limited thereto. The membership functions and fuzzy rules can be changed appropriately.

(modification)

(a) As described in the above embodiment, when the crane 14 ends the work in S21 (see fig. 6), the work determination unit 63 may perform the following processing. That is, the first determination unit 71 may determine whether or not to cause the crane to execute the loading operation, by triggering any one of the loading operation, the transfer operation, the stirring operation, and the leveling operation, when the loading request signal is not received. This can suppress the time for which the crane 14 is unnecessarily suspended, and can effectively perform various processes in the pit 1.

(b) The present invention can be applied to not only the crane control device but also an information processing device having no crane control function as in the above embodiment. In this case, the information processing apparatus may specify a job to be executed by the crane, and notify the specified job to the crane control apparatus.

(c) A plurality of waste hoppers 12 may be provided in the pit 1. In this case, the crane control 50 receives information from the two waste hoppers 12, respectively. The first fuzzy inference unit 72 may determine whether or not the input work needs to be performed on each of the two garbage hoppers 12 based on the information received from the two garbage hoppers 12.

(d) The input request signal generating unit 32 may generate the input request signal at predetermined time intervals.

(example implemented with software)

The control modules (particularly, the respective parts included in the control section 51) of the crane control device 50 may be realized by a logic circuit (hardware) formed on an integrated circuit (IC chip) or the like, or may be realized by software.

In the latter case, the crane control device 50 includes a computer that executes a command of a program, which is software for realizing each function. The computer includes, for example, one or more processors, and a computer-readable recording medium storing the program. In the computer, the processor reads the program from the recording medium and executes the program, thereby achieving the object of the present invention. As the processor, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit: central processing unit) can be used. As the recording medium, a "non-transitory tangible medium" may be used, and for example, a magnetic tape, an optical disk, a card, a semiconductor Memory, a programmable logic circuit, or the like may be used in addition to a ROM (Read Only Memory) or the like. Further, a RAM (Random Access Memory: random access memory) or the like for expanding the program may be provided. The program may be provided to the computer via any transmission medium (communication network, radio wave, or the like) capable of transmitting the program. The present invention can be realized by a data signal embedded in a carrier wave, which is embodied by electronically transmitting the program.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining the embodiments disclosed in the above-described embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

(appendix matters)

A crane control device according to an aspect of the present invention is a crane control device for causing a crane that conveys refuse in a refuse pit to execute a plurality of predetermined operations, the crane control device including: a first determination unit that determines, for a first job having a predetermined priority among the plurality of predetermined jobs, whether to cause the crane to execute the first job, in accordance with a first degree of urgency calculated by a first fuzzy inference based on a plurality of pieces of information associated with the first job; and a second determination unit that determines whether or not to cause the crane to execute the second job based on a second degree of urgency calculated by a second fuzzy inference based on a plurality of pieces of information related to a second job having a priority next to the first job, when the first determination unit determines that the first job is not to be executed.

The first operation may be an operation of charging the garbage in the garbage pit into a garbage hopper, wherein the first fuzzy inference uses a fuzzy rule that includes a plurality of pieces of information on a garbage state of the garbage hopper in a precondition part and a value of a conclusion part is the first urgency degree, and the first determination unit may calculate the first urgency degree and determine whether to cause the crane to execute the charging operation based on whether the calculated urgency degree is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value.

Further, the second operation may be a transfer operation for transferring the refuse from a receiving area for receiving the refuse carried into the refuse pit to a stirring area for performing an operation for stirring the refuse, wherein the second fuzzy inference uses a fuzzy rule that includes a plurality of pieces of information on the state of the refuse in the receiving area in a precondition part and that a value of a conclusion part is the second urgency degree, and the second determination unit may calculate the second urgency degree when the first determination unit determines that the input operation is not to be performed, and determine whether to cause the crane to perform the transfer operation based on whether the calculated urgency degree is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value.

Further, among the plurality of predetermined operations, the operation having a priority lower than that of the transfer operation may be an agitating operation for agitating the refuse in the refuse pit by the crane and a leveling operation for leveling the refuse in the refuse pit, and the crane control apparatus may further include a third determination unit for determining, when the second determination unit determines that the transfer operation is not to be performed, whether to cause the crane to perform the agitating operation or the leveling operation or not to perform any one of the agitating operation and the leveling operation by a third fuzzy inference using a fuzzy rule including, in a precondition section, agitating degree information and leveling degree information of the refuse in the refuse pit and determining that a result of either one of the agitating operation or the leveling operation or not to be performed is a conclusion section.

Further, the first determination unit may determine whether or not to cause the crane to execute the loading operation, by using any one of the loading operation, the transfer operation, the stirring operation, and the leveling operation as a trigger.

The crane control device according to one aspect of the present invention is a crane control device for causing a crane for transporting refuse in a refuse pit to perform a plurality of predetermined operations including a stirring operation for stirring the refuse in the refuse pit by the crane and a leveling operation for leveling the refuse in the refuse pit, the crane control device further comprising a determination unit for determining whether to cause the crane to perform the stirring operation or the leveling operation on the refuse in a predetermined range in the refuse pit or not to perform any one of the stirring operation and the leveling operation by fuzzy reasoning based on a stirring degree indicating a stirring degree of the refuse in the predetermined range and a leveling degree indicating a leveling degree of the refuse in the predetermined range.

A control method of a crane control device according to an aspect of the present invention is a control method for controlling a crane for transporting refuse in a refuse pit to execute a plurality of predetermined operations, the method including: a first determination step of determining, for a first job having a predetermined priority among the plurality of predetermined jobs, whether or not to cause the crane to execute the first job, in accordance with a first degree of urgency calculated by a first fuzzy inference based on a plurality of pieces of information associated with the first job; and a second determination step of determining whether or not to cause the crane to execute a second job whose priority is next to the first job, based on a second degree of urgency calculated by a second fuzzy inference based on a plurality of pieces of information related to the second job, when it is determined that the first job is not executed by the first determination step.

In this case, it is also within the scope of the present invention to make the computer operate as each part (software element) of the crane control apparatus, thereby realizing the information processing program of the crane control apparatus by the computer and the computer-readable recording medium storing the information processing program.

Description of the reference numerals

1-a garbage pit; 12-a garbage hopper; 14-a crane; 50-a crane control device; 71-a first determination unit; 73-a second determination unit; 83-fuzzy rule.

Claims (5)

1. A crane control device for causing a crane for transporting refuse in a refuse pit to execute a plurality of predetermined operations, characterized in that,

the crane control device is provided with:

a first determination unit that determines, for a first job having a predetermined priority among the plurality of predetermined jobs, whether to cause the crane to execute the first job, in accordance with a first degree of urgency calculated by a first fuzzy inference based on a plurality of pieces of information associated with the first job; and

a second determination unit configured to determine whether or not to cause the crane to execute a second job whose priority is lower than that of the first job, based on a second degree of urgency calculated by a second fuzzy inference based on a plurality of pieces of information related to the second job,

The first operation is an input operation of inputting the garbage in the garbage pit into a garbage hopper,

the first fuzzy inference uses a fuzzy rule that includes a plurality of pieces of information on a garbage state of the garbage hopper in a precondition section and that a value of a conclusion section is the first urgency level,

the first determination unit calculates the first degree of urgency, determines whether to cause the crane to execute the input work based on whether the calculated degree of urgency is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold,

the second operation is a transfer operation of transferring garbage from a receiving area for receiving the garbage carried into the garbage pit to a stirring area for stirring the garbage,

the second fuzzy inference uses a fuzzy rule including a plurality of pieces of information on the garbage state of the receiving area in a precondition part and a conclusion part value of the second urgency degree,

the second determination unit calculates the second degree of urgency when the first determination unit determines that the loading operation is not to be performed, and determines whether to cause the crane to perform the loading operation based on whether the calculated degree of urgency is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold,

among the plurality of predetermined operations, the operation having a priority next to the transfer operation is an agitating operation of agitating the garbage in the garbage pit by the crane and a leveling operation of leveling the garbage in the garbage pit,

The crane control apparatus further includes a third determination unit that determines whether to cause the crane to perform the stirring operation, the leveling operation, or neither the stirring operation nor the leveling operation by third fuzzy reasoning when the second determination unit determines that the transfer operation is not performed,

the third fuzzy inference uses a fuzzy rule that includes, in a precondition section, stirring degree information and flatness information of the refuse in the refuse pit, and that makes a determination result of either the stirring operation or the leveling operation or not performed by the crane as a conclusion section.

2. The crane control according to claim 1, wherein,

the first determination unit determines whether or not to cause the crane to execute the loading operation, by using as a trigger any one of the loading operation, the transfer operation, the stirring operation, and the leveling operation, which has been completed by the crane.

3. A crane control device for causing a crane for transporting refuse in a refuse pit to execute a plurality of predetermined operations, characterized in that,

The plurality of predetermined operations include an agitating operation for agitating the refuse in the refuse pit by the crane and a leveling operation for leveling the refuse in the refuse pit,

the crane control device further includes a determination unit that determines whether to cause the crane to perform the stirring operation or the leveling operation on the garbage in the predetermined range in the garbage pit or not, by fuzzy reasoning based on a stirring degree indicating a stirring degree of the garbage in the predetermined range and a flatness indicating a flattening degree of the garbage in the predetermined range.

4. A control method of a crane control device for causing a crane for transporting refuse in a refuse pit to execute a plurality of predetermined operations, characterized by,

the plurality of predetermined operations include an agitating operation for agitating the refuse in the refuse pit by the crane and a leveling operation for leveling the refuse in the refuse pit,

the control method of the crane control device includes a determination step of determining whether to cause the crane to perform the stirring operation or the leveling operation on the garbage in the predetermined range in the garbage pit or not, by fuzzy reasoning based on a stirring degree indicating a stirring degree of the garbage in the predetermined range and a flatness indicating a flatness degree of the garbage in the predetermined range.

5. A recording medium which is readable by a computer and which stores a control program for causing the computer to function as the crane control apparatus according to claim 3, and for causing the computer to function as the determination unit.