Vermeer Manufacturing Company, Inc.

Joseph D Stock

Ty Hartwick

Robert D Franz

The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for sensing wear in machines designed to reduce or break-down material. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for sensing wear of reducing elements used by excavation machines such as surface excavation machines. The present disclosure relates to a wear sensing system including a multi-level wear sensor protection system. The multi-level wear sensor protection system includes a first level of protection, a second level of protection, and a third level of protection.

Systems and methods for sensing wear of reducing elements of a material reducing machine

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to display structures for displaying the wear status of reducing elements (e.g., chisels, teeth, etc.) on a reducing component. In certain examples, the display structure can include a matrix that visually depicts all of the reducing elements of the reducing component in a row and column format. The wear status of the reducing elements can be indicated by techniques such as different colors, different numbers, different letters, shapes, bar codes etc. Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to an autonomous system where a remote party can simultaneously monitor the wear status of the reducing elements of multiple machines on the display structure. For each machine, the remote party (e.g., operator, supply source, supervisor, and main office) can each receive a wireless signal indicating when the reducing elements are approaching a need for replacement.

Systems and methods for monitoring wear of reducing elements

The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for sensing wear in machines designed to reduce or break-down material. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for sensing wear of reducing elements used by excavation machines such as surface excavation machines. The present disclosure relates to a wear sensing system including a multilevel wear sensor protection system. The multi-level wear sensor protection system includes a first level of protection, a second level of protection, and a third level of protection.

Growing community of inventors

Newton, IA, United States of America

Joseph D Stock