Technical Field

The present invention relates to a system that enables the volume of the load in a body of a truck to be measured with precision, in configurations where the load in the truck's body is priced in cubic meters, not by weight, in any facility or logistics area that buys/sells raw materials.

State of the Art

Although priced in cubic meters in Turkey, the weights of materials such as wood, sawdust, sand and gravel are measured by using a truck scale. Since the wood density varies greatly according to the tree type and moisture content, the weight measurement cannot go beyond giving a very rough idea regarding the cubic meter amount. Rough measurements are taken with long rulers to measure the volume of materials such as logs. This method does not provide an accurate measurement and is rather slow.

Today, Tunaylar Scale Systems company (www.tunaylar.com) has developed a system that measures box trucks. However, there is no solution that measures the open body load in the related solution.

Today, there are systems that only use LIDAR, but for these systems to work, it is necessary to measure twice, when the body is both full and empty.

The patent application document numbered TR2009/05454, which is in the state of the art, discloses a tumbler and a truck loading scale with at least two weighing loading pans. The relevant application document refers to a structure that enables the volume of the load in the truck's body to be measured with precision in configurations where the load in the truck's body is priced in cubic meters, not by weight.

Consequently, the inadequacy of the solutions to meet the above-mentioned requirements necessitated making an improvement in the relevant technical field. Objects of the Invention

The present invention was developed under the inspiration of available circumstances and aims to solve the aforementioned disadvantages present in the state of the art.

The object of the present invention is to provide a system that enables the volume of the load in a body of a truck to be measured with precision, in configurations where the load in the truck's body is priced in cubic meters, not by weight, in any facility or logistics area that buys/sells raw materials.

Structural and characteristic features of the present invention as well as all advantages thereof will become apparent through the figure described below and by means of the detailed description written by making references to these figure, and therefore, the necessary evaluation should be conducted by taking said figure and the detailed description into consideration.

The Figure to Assist in Understanding the Invention

FIGURE 1 illustrates the schematic view of the system of the present invention.

Description of the References of the Parts

1 . System

2. Pole

3. LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging)

4. Camera

5. Control Unit

6. Laser Distance Meter

A. Truck

B. Body

C. Load

D. Scale Detailed Description of the Invention

The detailed description provided herein is given for the sole purpose of ensuring a better understanding of the preferred embodiments of the system (1) of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a system (1) that enables the volume of the load (C) in a body of a truck (A) to be measured with precision, in configurations where the load (C) in the body (B) of the truck (A) is priced in cubic meters, not by weight, in any facility or logistics area that buys/sells raw materials.

The system (1), which is the subject of the invention, schematic representation of which is presented in Figure 1 comprises;

• A pole (2) that is placed next to the scale (D) for measuring the weight of the truck (A), and that stands in an inverted “L” shape, with one side on the side of the truck (A) and the other side on top of the body (B),

• two-dimensional LIDAR (3) that is placed on the part of the mast (2) that comes to the top of the truck (A) body (B), that scans the upper part of the approaching truck

(A) with laser beams to be weighed on the scale (D), that performs height measurements thousands of times by means of its scanning and thereby helping to measure the depth of the load (C) inside the body (B),

• camera (4) that is placed on the side of the pole (2) on the side of the truck (A) body

(B), and that is used both to measure the speed of the approaching truck (A) to be weighed on the scale (D) and to detect the bottom of the body (B) by detecting its height from the ground, by means of its side view of the truck (A), and

• control unit (5) that first determines the velocity of the truck (A) by processing the data coming from the camera (4), that synchronizes this velocity data with the depth data measured by LIDAR (3), that uses this data to create a 3D surface map of the top of the truck (A), that detects the amount of load (C) inside the body (B) and the way it is placed in the body (B) by using the 3D surface map it has obtained, that detects the underside of the truck (A) body (B) from the images coming from the camera (4) and measures the height of the body (B) from the ground, that subtracts this height from the depth data of the top surface of the truck (A), and that calculates the volume of the load (C) inside the body (B) with high precision at once by means of these measurements. In the system (1), by means of the side view camera (4), the height of the truck (A) body (B) from the ground is measured, and also the data of the LIDAR (3) is synchronized by measuring the transit velocity of the truck (A). Thus, the volume of the truck (A) load (C) is accurately measured in a single transition.

While the truck (A) passes under the pole (2) to which the LIDAR (3) is connected, thousands of height measurements of the top of the truck (A) are sent to the control unit (5) by the LIDAR (3). The control unit (5) processes the image coming from the camera (4) facing the side of the truck (A) on the same pole (2) and determines the velocity of the truck (A), and synchronizes this velocity data with the depth data coming from LIDAR (3).

The control unit (5) creates a 3D model of the upper side of the truck (A) by using these data. By means of said 3D model, the starting and ending parts of the truck (A) body (B) can be clearly understood. From the images coming from the camera (4), the underside of the truck (A) body (B) is also detected and the height of the truck (B) from the ground is measured. The control unit (5) subtracts this height from the depth data of the top surface of the truck (A), and calculates the volume of the load (C) in the truck (A) body (B).

In an embodiment of the present invention, the system (1) comprises a laser distance meter (6) that is developed as a precaution against possible speed problems that may occur in the networks of companies and, accordingly, possible delays in data transmission traffic, and that measures hundreds of distances per second to measure the velocity of the truck (A). Thus, the control unit (5) determines the velocity of the truck (A) by processing the data from the laser distance meter (6) facing the truck (A) when there is a delay in the images coming from the camera (4), and synchronizes this velocity data with the depth data coming from LIDAR (3). The control unit (5) creates a 3D surface map of the top of the truck (A) by using this data.