Caterpillar Trimble Control Technologies LLC

Caterpillar Inc.

Patrick Pecchio

Christopher A Padilla

Nathan Ennis

Jason Hill

Colin Daniell

Geoffrey Mills

Shawn Zeller

Kenneth Lee Stratton

Steven R Krause

Richard J Skiba

Steven R Genseal

Systems and methods for providing grade control on a motor grader without the use of masts attached to the blade. Embodiments include a body angle sensor configured to detect movement of a construction machine's body, a front 3D positioning device configured to detect a geospatial position of the construction machine's body within a world space, a drawbar angle sensor configured to detect movement of the construction machine's drawbar, and a blade angle sensor configured to detect movement of the construction machine's blade. Two positions on the blade may be calculated first within a machine space and subsequently within the world space. Movement of at least one articulating connection may be caused based on the blade positions within the world space.

Motor grader 3D grade control

Systems and methods for providing grade control on a motor grader without the use of masts attached to the blade. Embodiments include a body angle sensor configured to detect movement of a construction machine's body, a front GNSS receiver configured to detect a geospatial position of the construction machine's body within a world space, a drawbar angle sensor configured to detect movement of the construction machine's drawbar, and a blade angle sensor configured to detect movement of the construction machine's blade. Two positions on the blade may be calculated first within a machine space and subsequently within the world space. Movement of at least one articulating connection may be caused based on the blade positions within the world space.

A system for automatically moving a work implement of a work machine includes a position monitoring system configured to track a position of the work implement relative to a mapped landscape and programmable to incorporate an electronic representation of at least one entity designated to be avoided into the mapped landscape. The system also includes a controller configured to initiate movement of the work implement in response to information from the position monitoring system, including movement of the work implement to avoid the at least one entity. The work machine has a longitudinal axis aligned with a direction of travel of the work machine and the movement of the work implement includes movement of an edge of the work implement, nearest to the at least one entity, relative to a vertical plane containing the longitudinal axis.

Work implement side shift control and method

The present invention provides an apparatus and method for determining a status of a relief valve located within a fluid system having a pump and an actuator valve. The fluid system is located on an earth moving machine, and the pump delivers fluid to the actuator through the actuator valve . The system includes a pressure compensation assembly adapted to control the fluid pressure of the system by bypassing fluid flow. The system also includes a relief valve, and a pressure sensor. The method includes the steps of positioning the actuator valve in a closed position, deactivating the pressure compensation assembly, and sensing a relief pressure of the system.

Method and apparatus for determining the status of a relief valve

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Peoria, IL, United States of America

Patrick Pecchio