US 12,246,916 B2
Automatic control of a refuse front end loader
Ralph Waldo Whitfield, Jr., Rainbow City, AL (US); Brian Huston Ham, Huntsville, AL (US); John M. Curotto, Sonoma, CA (US); Andrew Blaine Cooper, Signal Mountain, TN (US); and Brian T. Parker, Signal Mountain, TN (US)
Assigned to The Heil Company, Chattanooga, TN (US)
Filed by The Heil Co., Chattanooga, TN (US)
Filed on Jun. 27, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/342,330.
Application 18/342,330 is a continuation of application No. 17/816,541, filed on Aug. 1, 2022, granted, now 11,718,471.
Application 17/816,541 is a continuation of application No. 16/229,070, filed on Dec. 21, 2018, granted, now 11,407,585, issued on Aug. 9, 2022.
Application 16/229,070 is a continuation of application No. 15/244,291, filed on Aug. 23, 2016, granted, now 10,196,206, issued on Feb. 5, 2019.
Application 15/244,291 is a continuation of application No. 14/276,423, filed on May 13, 2014, granted, now 9,428,334, issued on Aug. 30, 2016.
Claims priority of provisional application 61/824,605, filed on May 17, 2013.
Prior Publication US 2023/0339678 A1, Oct. 26, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. B65F 3/04 (2006.01); B65F 3/02 (2006.01); B65F 3/14 (2006.01); G06Q 10/30 (2023.01)
CPC B65F 3/041 (2013.01) [B65F 2003/025 (2013.01); B65F 2003/0279 (2013.01); B65F 2003/146 (2013.01); G06Q 10/30 (2013.01); Y02W 90/00 (2015.05)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A refuse vehicle, comprising:
a container coupled to a chassis of the refuse vehicle;
a lift coupled to the container, the lift comprising an arm assembly configured to engage a refuse receptacle;
a plurality of sensors configured to monitor the lift and output sensed data, the plurality of sensors comprising an overhead obstruction sensor configured to sense a distance between (i) the refuse vehicle and (ii) objects within the space that are external to the refuse vehicle;
an automatic control system comprising a processor configured to execute instructions stored in memory to:
based on at least a portion of the sensed data, instruct the lift to execute a dump cycle to dump refuse from the refuse receptacle into the container; and
inhibit one or more functions of the lift in response to a determination that the distance is less than a predetermined threshold distance; and
an operator interface unit configured to display a state of the lift based on at least a portion of the sensed data,
wherein the plurality of sensors further comprises an arm position sensor attached to the arm assembly of the lift, and wherein the sensed data comprises a value from the arm position sensor indicative of a position of the arm assembly, and
wherein the processor of the automatic control system is further configured to execute instructions stored in memory to:
i) determine a measured angle of the arm assembly of the lift relative to the refuse vehicle based on the value from the arm position sensor, and
ii) determine that the refuse receptacle has been dumped based on the measured angle.