US 12,404,638 B2
Retrofit intelligent compaction analyzer
Sesh Commuri, Reno, NV (US)
Assigned to NEVADA RESEARCH & INNOVATION CORPORATION, Reno, NV (US)
Appl. No. 17/782,329
Filed by NEVADA RESEARCH & INNOVATION CORPORATION, Reno, NV (US)
PCT Filed Dec. 18, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/066077
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jun. 3, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/133680, PCT Pub. Date Jul. 1, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/952,944, filed on Dec. 23, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2023/0020213 A1, Jan. 19, 2023
Int. Cl. E01C 19/28 (2006.01); G01N 33/42 (2006.01)
CPC E01C 19/288 (2013.01) [G01N 33/42 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for providing an estimate of the level of compaction of a layer of pavement materials in real time, comprising:
receiving, by a Retrofit Intelligent Compaction Analyzer (RICA) processor from a sensor module, vibrational energy data corresponding to impact responses of at least one drum of a roller machine during compaction of a pavement material over a section of pavement;
receiving, by the RICA processor from the sensor module, temperature data generated by at least one infrared temperature sensor over the section of pavement;
determining, by the RICA processor, an estimated level of compaction in real time of the section of pavement by:
monitoring the fundamental frequency of vibrations of the at least one drum of the roller machine during compaction as the at least one roller drum moves in both a forward and a backward direction over the section of pavement;
extracting an average vibrational energy at each of the harmonics of the fundamental frequency by filtering accelerometer data from at least one accelerometer;
normalizing the average vibrational energy of the harmonics in the accelerometer data; and
grouping the average vibrational energy at the fundamental frequency and the harmonics into a predetermined number of vibratory clusters reflecting increasing levels of compaction; and
displaying, by the RICA processor on a display device, a density level percentage of the section of pavement based on the estimated level of compaction for viewing by an operator of the roller machine.