Asphalt finisher
View Patent ↗An asphalt finisher includes a tractor, a hopper disposed in front of the tractor and configured to receive a pavement material, a conveyor configured to convey the pavement material in the hopper to a rear side of the tractor, a screw configured to spread the pavement material conveyed by the conveyor at the rear side of the tractor, a screed configured to compact the pavement material spread by the screw at a rear side of the screw, an information acquisition device configured to obtain information on a road to be paved, and a control device. The control device is configured to support an operation of aligning the center of the tractor with the center of a pavement target area based on the information obtained by the information acquisition device.
1. An asphalt finisher, comprising:
a tractor;
a hopper disposed in front of the tractor and configured to receive a pavement material;
a conveyor configured to convey the pavement material in the hopper to a rear side of the tractor;
a screw configured to spread the pavement material conveyed by the conveyor at the rear side of the tractor;
a screed configured to compact the pavement material spread by the screw at a rear side of the screw;
a positioning device configured to detect a position of the asphalt finisher;
a camera configured to capture an image of a space in front of the asphalt finisher;
a display configured to display the captured image; and
a hardware processor configured to
derive a center line of a pavement target area of a road based on a maximum width of the pavement target area included in design data stored in a non-volatile storage and on the position of the asphalt finisher detected by the positioning device, the center line of the pavement target area not coinciding with a center line of the road in all of the pavement target area,
support an operation of aligning a center line of the tractor with the derived center line of the pavement target area, and
superimpose a figure representing the center line of the tractor, a figure representing the derived center line of the pavement target area, and a figure representing an amount of misalignment between the center line of the tractor and the derived center line of the pavement target area on the captured image displayed on the display, the figure representing the amount of misalignment being an arrow pointing to a direction in which the derived center line of the pavement target area exists relative to the center line of the tractor.
2. The asphalt finisher as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the hardware processor is configured to control movement of the tractor to align the center line of the tractor with the derived center line of the pavement target area based on information on the target pavement area included in the stored design data and on the position of the asphalt finisher detected by the positioning device.
3. The asphalt finisher as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the hardware processor is configured to report a magnitude of a distance between the center line of the tractor and the derived center line of the pavement target area by using at least one of sound, light, and vibration.
4. The asphalt finisher as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the positioning device is attached to the tractor.
5. The asphalt finisher as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the screed includes a front screed and a rear screed that are shifted from each other in a vehicle length direction;
the rear screed includes a left rear screed configured to be extended and retracted at a left side of the front screed and a right rear screed configured to be extended and retracted at a right side of the front screed; and
the center line of the pavement target area is determined such that an amount of extension of the left rear screed and an amount of extension of the right rear screed become equal to each other.
6. The asphalt finisher as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the rear screed is configured to be extended and retracted during traveling.