METHOD AND EQUIPMENT FOR AUTOMATIC GUIDANCE OF EARTHMOVING MACHINES AND ESPECIALLY MACHINES FOR LAYING DRAINAGE ELEMENTS

摘要

The method for automatic guidance of a machine of the crawler type for laying drainage piping or any similar earthmoving machine consists in preliminary recording, in digital form and on a moving magnetic recording medium, of all the planimetric and altimetric data relating to the operations to be performed with reference to datum points and to a reference plane. There are then placed on the ground of the drainage site fixed beacons for marking the location of the selected datum points as well as a rotating laser beam emitter for defining the desired reference plane. The crawler machine to be guided is equipped with a microprocessor control-module for reading the indications recorded on the magnetic recording medium and controlling two guidance modules, one module being employed for planimetric guidance of the crawler machine and the other module being employed for altimetric guidance of the drain-laying or digging tool of the machine. These two control modules produce action respectively on the steering control of the machine and on the system for controlling the height-setting of the tool with reference to the fixed locating beacons and to the plane defined by the rotating laser beam.